"Rosie, where's Lydia?" Negan asked for a second time when Rosie didn't answer the first.
"What are you-? Why are you wearin' that?" Rosie asked, her eyes wide and her voice shaky. She felt like she was going to pass out, seeing Coach Smith in the same mask as the people who killed her friends and family.
"You just need to trust me right now, Rosie. I'm helping you. Where is Lydia?" Negan asked once again. Rosie wouldn't answer. She didn't know if she could trust him or not. "If I don't get her out of here, Alpha's gonna kill her. Where is she?"
"How do I know you ain't gonna kill her?" Rosie asked, a ball of anxiety growing in her chest.
"Rosie, please just trust me on this. Please," Negan pleaded, giving Rosie a desperate look.
"I can't- I- I can't trust you," Rosie said, shaking her head.
"Yes, you can. You can. You know that, Rosie. Please. You need to find her and get the hell out of here before Alpha kills you both," Negan said. He'd been with Alpha every second of every day for the past few weeks. He gained her trust and now he knew what she wanted. She wanted both Lydia and Rosie dead.
"No," Rosie said, shaking her head. She already had a job to do, and she couldn't trust a word out of Negan's mouth anymore. He was wearing the mask. He was with Alpha. He hanged those people from Hilltop. He participated in burning it to the ground. "I need to find the kids and make sure they're ok," Rosie told him.
Negan scoffed at that, shaking his head. "No. You need to get the hell away from here. As far as you can get. That old man's got the kids," he said. Rosie shook her head again. "You leave. I'll find Lydia. I'll get her out. But you gotta go."
"Shut up. I'm not leavin' again. I'm not leavin' 'em. I left the others in the shed and Alpha killed 'em. I left Siddiq with Dante and Dante killed him. And I left Connie and Magna in the cave, and now they're dead. I'm not lettin' the kids- I'm not leavin' 'em," Rosie said. Her voice was shaky and she was terrified, but she wasn't leaving those kids like she left everyone else. "I promised Daryl. I gotta," she said. So before Negan could stop her, she ran off.
"No!" Negan shouted. He was stuck with the decision between letting her run off to find the kids and saving Lydia instead, or stopping Rosie and getting her far away from there. Rosie's mind was set. She was leaving and she was finding those kids. But Negan's mind was set on keeping her alive. It always had been. So he ran after her, grabbing her arm and holding it tight. "The longer you stay out here, looking for those kids, who I saw go off with the old man, the closer you are to having your head put on a stick!"
"Shut up! I can't trust you!" Rosie said, trying to pull her arm out of his grip. "You're with her! After all she did, you're with her."
"I'm out here to kill her," Negan admitted, his voice quiet, but harsh. Rosie wasn't sure if she could believe him. "You know I wouldn't put you or Lydia in danger."
"You just did!"
"I tried to stop her, but I needed her to trust me. Please, find Lydia and get her far away from here. I'm gonna lead Alpha out and kill her. I need you gone," Negan said.
"No!" Rosie shouted. She reached for the knife on her belt, ready to use it against him. She wasn't going to kill him. She wasn't sure if she was even capable of killing him. She didn't think her brain would let her do it. But she could hurt him just fine. However, before she could stick the knife into his hand to loosen his grip on her arm, she was hit in the head hard enough to make everything go black.
God fucking damn, was she sick of this.
•
When Rosie opened her eyes again, she could hear someone saying her name over and over again. "Rosie! Rosie, wake up. Please, please, wake up," that voice pleaded. Rosie's head shot up and her eyes darted around until they landed on Lydia. She was tied up in a chair across the room. Rosie looked down at herself, only to see that she was tied up, too. "Rosie," Lydia breathed out in relief.
"That stupid fuckin' asshole!" Rosie shouted angrily, immediately trying her hardest to get the hell out of that chair.
"Calm down! We can get each other out," Lydia tried to calm her, even though her own heartbeat was racing, too.
"I was s'posed to- I was tryin' to find the kids. Daryl told me to make sure they're okay," Rosie panted, trying to calm her breathing. Her throat felt like sandpaper.
"It's ok, Rosie. It's ok. Earl took them. I saw him," Lydia told her.
"Earl's an old fuckin' man!"
"We just need to leave before my mom gets to us. Calm down, please, and we can help each other get out," Lydia said, her voice shaky.
"He's not bringin' her to us! He's hidin' us. He's gonna kill 'er," Rosie said, using all of her strength to try and pull her hands out of the rope bindings. It was no use, though. Not unless she wanted to break her bones. "That stupid fuckin' asshole! God damnit!"
"Rosie, stop yelling!" Lydia said loudly. Rosie was pretty sure that she had never heard Lydia yell before. She was always so quiet. It was weird to hear her like that. "We're never gonna get out of here if you don't stop freaking out. And you're yelling is gonna draw walkers toward us and we won't be able to kill them without our hands or feet. So, please, Rosie, calm down and help me," Lydia said, much more calmly this time.
Rosie took a deep, shaky breath, closing her eyes and tilting her head back. "I'm sorry. I just- I'm supposed to be helpin' those kids and if somethin' happens to 'em because I'm not there... I don't know. Everythin' feels like it's my fault and the kids gettin' hurt would just..."
"None of this is your fault, Rosie. Just because you were there, doesn't mean it was your fault. You did all you could. You have to stop blaming yourself for this stuff," Lydia said. Rosie's eyes burned, so she kept them shut and focused on breathing. She didn't like being tied to a chair in the middle of nowhere. "Rosie?" Lydia asked, her eyebrows slightly raised.
Again, Rosie couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe at all.
"Rosie? Are you ok?" Lydia asked her with a worried shakiness to her voice.
"In and out, hon. In and out," Maggie said, breathing in and out with her. Rosie's eyes opened again and she looked up at the ceiling, still trying to get her breathing to match Maggie's.
Yes, that was all Rosie had to do. She had to breathe in and out, in and out, in and out. It was ok. Earl had the kids. He would keep them safe. He was capable of that, right? In and out, in and out, in and out. They would get out of there and they would find Daryl and he would tell them that the kids were just fine and everything was ok. In and out, in and out, in and out.
"Rosie?"
"I'm ok. I'm ok," Rosie breathed out, opening her eyes once again.
"Yeah?" Lydia murmured.
"Yeah. Let's get the hell out of here," Rosie said. She let her eyes scan over the room. It was an old shed with worn-down planks and broken windows. Lydia was across the room from her. She needed to get to Lydia. "We can, like, scooch our chairs or somethin'," Rosie said, raising her eyebrows.
"Yeah. Let's try that," Lydia responded, nodding her head in agreement.
They both started to jerk their bodies in the chairs, ever so slightly pushing their chairs forward. The chairs moved about half an inch with each hard jerking motion. It was tiring and the ropes left burns on their skin, but they kept going, anyway. They also felt really stupid, thrashing around in those chairs in an attempt to get closer to each other. Rosie couldn't help but giggle as the two of them shoved themselves forward. She felt like a roly-polie lying on its back, trying to flip itself back up onto its feet.
"Why are you laughing?" Lydia asked, trying not to laugh herself.
"I don't know," Rosie said, pressing her lips together to try and suppress her smile.
It took almost a whole five minutes, but the two girls were able to get close enough to each other for them to be able to reach each other's hands. Rosie started to use her fingers on her right hand to pull apart the ropes around Lydia's left wrist. It took a while, but Rosie was able to undo the first knot. As soon as Lydia's left hand was free, she was able to untie the other rope around her right wrist, and then the ropes around her ankles. Once Lydia was free, she began untying Rosie's wrists.
The problem was that Lydia just couldn't get the knot on Rosie's left wrist untied. She pulled at it and pulled at it until the rope left her skin red and raw. Still, nothing. "What the hell did he do? Super-glue this thing?" Lydia murmured, pulling and pulling.
"Lemme try," Rosie said, using her right hand to reach over and try to untie her left. She tried for about five minutes before giving up. "It's no use. We need a knife or somethin'," she huffed. The two girls let their eyes scan around the room, but they couldn't find anything. "Negan took my knife," Rosie said, furrowing her eyebrows as she looked down at the empty knife slot on her waist.
"He took mine, too," Lydia said, her eyebrows furrowed as well. The only two weapons left in the room were Daryl's crossbow and Lydia's stick, which were both tucked away in the corner. The problem was that neither had anything sharp enough to cut through the thick rope.
"This is bullshit. Just take your stick and go find Daryl," Rosie said, growing more and more impatient.
"Well, what about you? You want me to just leave you? What if a walker gets in?" Lydia said, her eyebrows pinched together. She shook her head. "We gotta figure something else out."
"Do you have a knife?" Rosie asked rhetorically. Lydia didn't give an answer. Neither of them had a knife. "We don't have another choice unless you wanna sit here and chew through this rope. Just give me a bolt and if a walker gets in, I'll kill it."
"Are you sure?" Lydia asked warily.
"Yeah, I'm sure. I just wanna get the hell outta here. Sooner you find a knife, sooner I get out. So please just go," Rosie pleaded.
After a moment of hesitation, Lydia sighed and gave in. She grabbed a bolt from Daryl's crossbow in the corner and brought it over to Rosie. She placed the bolt in Rosie's right hand and squeezed her fist shut over Rosie's. "Don't die," she said, a serious look on her face.
Rosie nodded. "You don't die, either," she replied, just as serious.
"Yeah," Lydia said, a little smile gracing her face. She gave Rosie a soft kiss on the cheek, making Rosie's whole face turn to a deep shade of pink. Rosie twisted her lips to the side, hiding her giddy smile. "I'll be quick," Lydia promised, stepping away toward the door.
"Yeah. See ya," Rosie said quietly. Lydia gave her one last little smile before leaving. She used the rope that bound her to her own chair to tie up the door, making sure that no walkers could get in whatsoever, before rushing off to find the others.
With a heavy sigh, Rosie leaned back into the chair, deciding to count the panels of wood that made up the little cabin's walls.
•
"Rose?" Daryl's voice called out, momentarily startling Rosie. Her head shot to the door, which was where the sound came from. On the other side, Daryl cut through the ropes that Lydia tied.
"Thank fuckin' God," Rosie huffed as Daryl swung open the door. Her left wrist was raw at this point, as she had been continuously trying to get herself out of the ropes, even though she knew there was no hope without a knife.
Daryl let out a quiet sigh of relief, seeing that Rosie was alive and ok. He couldn't help but panic, back when he found the kids and Rosie wasn't with them. When Lydia found him and explained to him what had happened, he was both overwhelmed with relief and filled with frustration. Negan just couldn't stop fucking with Rosie's head; teetering on the edge of good and bad; giving Rosie hope just to crush it for the thousandth time.
"Thought I told you to cool it with the F-word," Daryl muttered as he pulled his knife out of his sheath. He approached Rosie and carefully cut the thick rope around her wrist with some effort, before moving on to the rope around her ankles.
"Took ya long enough to show up," Rosie complained. It felt like she'd been sitting in that god-forsaken chair for days on end, when in reality, she had only been stuck there for a little over two hours. "Where's Lydia?" she asked.
"I told her to stay back and get some rest," Daryl said. Lydia, of course, didn't want to stay back and get some rest, but Daryl didn't give her much of a choice. He didn't need her out there anymore. Not with everything that was going on with the Whisperers. "Speakin' a' her. You didn't care to tell me that you kissed her?" he said, raising his eyebrows.
For the second time that day, Rosie's cheeks turned a deep pink color. She hadn't told Daryl because she was mad at him, and once she was done being mad at him, it didn't really feel like the appropriate timing for that. Not with everything that was going on. But Lydia had told Carol after the older woman said that it was ok to move on from Henry; that Lydia deserved to be happy. And Carol had mentioned it in an attempt to find common ground with Daryl with how tense things were between them. It only made things more tense, though, because Daryl didn't have a clue that Rosie had kissed Lydia at all.
"Well..." Rosie murmured, rubbing the red skin around her left wrist, "she kissed me, technically."
And that was even more surprising. He honestly hadn't expected Lydia to ever like Rosie back. Not because Rosie wasn't good enough or anything, but because Daryl didn't think Lydia would be able to move on from what happened with Henry. And, honestly, he didn't think Lydia liked girls.
"When?" Daryl asked, his eyebrows slightly raised.
That was an awkward question to answer. Yeah, you remember when you were passed out in the woods, half dead? It was then.
"In the woods... when you were, uh- when you were passed out," Rosie admitted to him, chewing on the inside of her lip.
"Jesus," Daryl huffed, rolling his eyes at her. Once she was free, Rosie got up out of that damn chair and quickly brushed past Daryl, over to where the crossbow was leaned up against the wall. But Daryl grabbed her arm, stopping her. "Hold on a sec," he said, squeezing her shoulders. "You're ok and everythin'? Ain't hurt or nothin'?" he asked.
"I'm ok. Just pissed off," Rosie said, giving him a half-assed smile.
"Me, too. I'mma beat his fuckin' ass," Daryl said, pulling Rosie towards his chest. He was sick of thinking she was dead or dying. She just kept scaring the shit out of him. Of course, it wasn't intentional, but he was still sick of it. He kissed the top of her head, muttering, "Can't believe ya didn't tell me she kissed you."
Then came Negan's voice from outside the cabin, calling out, "Hey, guys. Sorry about... shit."
When the door swung open, Daryl scooped up his crossbow and landed a hard punch on Negan's jaw, shoving him back against the wall before pointing the crossbow right between his eyes. "Where's Alpha?!" Daryl shouted.
And even though Rosie was pissed at Negan, she didn't want Daryl to kill him. "Wait, wait, wait! He was killin' Alpha!" she shouted. At least, that was what Negan said he was out there doing.
"Where is she?!" Daryl carried on, anyway.
Negan held his hands up in surrender. "She is dead. She is dead. I killed her," he said.
"You liar," Daryl growled, not lowering his weapon.
"I am not lying," Negan insisted, his eyes wide. Rosie believed him, but Daryl still wasn't quite convinced. "I have something in my pocket. It's not a weapon. I am slowly gonna reach for it," Negan warned. He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a mask. A walker mask. Alpha's walker mask.
"Her mask ain't her head," Daryl said, glaring at him.
"Oh, I know. I am getting to that," Negan said.
"Then, get to it," Daryl grumbled, jerking his crossbow up once again.
Negan took a shaky breath, pressing himself back against the wall even further. "The whole reason I threw in with them was so I could get close enough to Alpha to slit her throat. Now, you talk about silencing the Whisperers. I silenced the Alpha. Why the hell else you think that your girlfriend let me outta that cell?"
"What?" Rosie asked, furrowing her eyebrows with confusion. "Connie wasn't even there. She couldn't a' let you out."
"Connie? I'm talking about Carol," Negan said, now just as confused as Rosie.
"He doesn't like Carol. He likes Connie," Rosie corrected.
"I told you, it ain't like that! With neither of 'em," Daryl insisted, already frustrated with the two.
"That doesn't matter. I'm telling you, Carol let me out as long as I promised to kill Alpha and I did."
"Yeah, well ya didn't have to fuckin' kidnap me, you fuckin' dick."
"Watch your mouth," both Negan and Daryl huffed in unison.