Granted it was not even 9am yet, but even so, Negan was having a good fucking day so far.
Not only was he less than a mile away from Rick the prick's place at Alexandria, sitting up in the cab of his truck, as his right-hand man Simon, over to his left, drove.
But he had just left the woman he was head-over-heels about, back in his bed, looking like a goddamn wet dream, the two of them totally and utterly besotted with each other right now.
Negan had not felt this way about anyone since Lucille...that stomach-churning, desperate, devoted kind of love.
For that what it was.
Love.
The two of them finally getting the gall to confess it to one another, after all this fucking time.
Negan grinned to himself, smacking some scavenged gum between his teeth, as the truck approached the looming familiar gates to Alexandria. He peered up, as Simon slowed the vehicle to a halt, looking now, towards Negan for guidance.
"Well, we're here," the mustachioed man uttered, switching off the engine, but even so, leaving the keys in the ignition.
And at his words Negan gave a wicked smile.
"Yes we are, Si," said the dark-haired man with glee, snatching up Lucille from the seat beside him and shoving open the door beside him and hopping out.
It was hot and humid out today, a low thick sort of cloud clinging to the sky, the ground still sodden with last night's rain.
It was the type of weather that immediately made you feel sticky, and if Negan hadn't been so arrogantly going for the 'intimidating badass' kind-of look, he'd have taken his battered old leather jacket off straight away.
But he, like every other Saviour here with him today (of which there were at least twenty of them) knew that a little persuasion and intimidation went a long way. Especially when it came to Rick and his people here, of which Negan had had nothing but trouble from, since they had first darkened his door.
Negan stepped easily out into the close air, leaning back against his heels slightly and gazing around, surveying the area, as his men and women joined him.
He knew every one of them were loyal as shit, and he trusted the majority of them with his life. And so, with a twinkle in his eyes, he barely had to shoot even half of them a loo, as he stalked past them, knowing that they could handle whatever was to come at them from behind those tall gates.
"Oh, Riiiiiick," Negan called out now in a loud carrying voice, as he strolled casually towards said-gates, his trusty barbed-wire covered baseball bat slung up over his shoulder. "Daddy's home!"
There was brief pause, as a carrying silence drifted a across the open space.
But Negan let out a low satisfied chuckle as after a brief few second there was a screeching sound, as the fence covering the gates were hastily tugged open by a black guy in a dog-collar, and of course, the man of the moment, himself...
"Rick!" said Negan with glee, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he spotted the bearded man he had come to adore to wind-up, stood today in a pale blue shirt. "I knewyou wouldn't leave us waitin' out here in the cold for too long."
And with that Negan waved a hand easily up at the, anything-but-cold, air around him.
But Rick, who already had a sheen of perspiration across his darkened brow, cocked an eye in Negan's direction, tugging back the heavy iron gates with a huff.
"You can come in, take your stuff and then go," he replied in a drawling voice, sounding tired and worn-out. "We don't want any trouble here today."
Fuck had Negan actually done it? Had he ground Rick down that much?
But the dark-haired Saviour merely grinned, taking a long-legged step forwards, eyeing the leader of Alexandria as he did so.
Several people stood around now, just inside the walls of the community. Some of which Negan recognised, some he didn't, but all glaring at him with those same old insolent stares they usually carried.
Jeez, now he knew why Blake hadn't wanted to come back here...
With that, Negan's dark eyes lingered mometarily on the brown haired woman who had once fired a bullet into Lucille, staring daggers at him right now.
Not that he gave two shits about that of course.
"Now why would there be any fuckin' trouble, Rick?" Negan said in a loud innocent tone, smirking at the man, and placing his free hand to his heart dramatically. "We're good people. An' hell, we're not the ones pullin' guns on people when their backs are turned."
Negan's eyes suddenly flitted back over to the woman, his face a picture of gleeful wickedness, as she turned on her heel and stormed away, shoving past people as she went.
But this only served to add to Negan's happiness today, as he swung back around to face Rick, who was just an inch or two shorter than him, but stood there, head bowed a little, with hands on his hips, looking slightly stressed.
"Look, your stuff's over there, everything we could get, all ready for you to load up," he said unhappily pointing at a large pile or crates and boxes sat in the centre of the paved street. "Like I said. We don't want any trouble."
Negan's eyes lingered on the bounty of what looked like boxes of fresh tinned gods, vegetables, a couple of large battery packs, and a small box of weapons of various sizes.
Negan leaned back on his heels, marvelling at the pile, before turning back to Rick and clapping him hard on the back.
"Now that's what I like to see, Rick!" said Negan leaning into the brown-haired man and wrinkling his nose. "You and these fine people here finally realising your place in this great new world of mine."
But Rick stayed silent, keeping his eyes trained on the ground, his shoulders slumped dejectedly.
"Although," continued Negan, the grin on his face soon slipping just a little, as he closed the gap between himself and the Alexandrian leader a little intimidatingly. "I was doubting your fucking loyalty the last time we met. I mean, jeez, the way Peaches came screamin' outta' this place in that car. Almost getting' herself fuckin' killed...."
At once Negan came to stand before Rick, his eyes dark now, his long bearded face full of seriousness, as Rick gazed back at him questioningly.
"....and shit, even today she still won't tell me what happened that night....what you fuckin' said to make her so upset that she would fuckin' tear off like that," Negan carried on. "So don't think you and your people are off the fuckin' hook here, Rick. My Lucille is still real fuckin' thirsty and she doesn't like it when I'm pissed off."
Negan watched as a gulp trailed its way down the Alexandrian's throat. But to his surprise Rick, with his eyes narrowed, gazed up at the dark-haired Saviour defiantly.
"She's with you? You found her?" he asked in a scratchy voice. "Blake?"
Just at the mention of her name from Rick's mouth, Negan felt his lip curl and his jaw tense protectively.
He had no idea what had gone on between Blake and these people, but it was only on coming here now and seeing them for the first time since it had happened, did Negan feel far more possessive over his girl than he had felt over anything else in his entire life.
They had upset her...so much so, that Negan might have lost her for good. And it was thoughts like that, that made a dark fury bubble up inside him now.
"She's with me..." Negan answered, his voice low and black and fearsome, just loud enough for both Rick and everyone else standing around watching, to hear.
He wanted them to know now that Blake was his.
And that there was nothing he wouldn't do to protect her. Absolutely nothing.
Rick held Negan's gaze for less than a second, before tearing his eyes away again, his hair sticking to the sheen of sweat that now lingered across his forehead.
"Simon, Dwight," Negan suddenly barked, never taking his eyes off the leader of Alexandria. "Go take a look at what ol' Rick has kindly fuckin' scavenged for us and get it loaded up onto the truck. I think I need to stretch my legs. See what else this bountiful fuckin' place has to offer. I seem to remember a pool table that might do very fuckin' well in my rec room."
Simon and Dwight immediately got to work, along with a few of the other Saviours, shoving past a couple of meek-looking Alexandrians as they did so.
But Negan shot a meaningful glance at Arat who was stood just a few feet away from him now, face fixed and gun held tightly in her hand and dutiful as ever.
"Arat," Negan shot her way. "Come take a walk with me an' Rick here."
Negan knew he wanted one of his trust-worthy lieutenants close today....not trusting Rick or his people as far he could throw them.
Somehow they had manage to raise his hackles more than usual today, and Negan had a feeling that definitely had something to with how they had treated Blake.
Arat stepped forwards obediently, keeping her chin and her gun held aloft, as Negan turned on his booted heel grinning and bumping his shoulder hard against Rick's as he began to stroll easily down the paved street, swinging Lucille from his hand as he went.
He could of course see why these people liked it here...it being a far cry from the Sanctuary, that was for sure. And a part of him almost felt guilty for keeping someone like Blake in such a fenced-in industrial place like that.
He knew of course that the looming factory building was almost impenetrable, but even so, it wasn't the most homely of places.
So perhaps Negan could keep his promise to her after all and bring her back something nice like she had asked him to. Perhaps something from the house she used to live in here. A nice rug or some of her old clothes maybe. Although none of those ideas struck him as being particularly inspiring.
"Look, we've given you all we can spare," Rick uttered, suddenly appearing at Negan's shoulder as they walked.
But Negan, coming to a sudden stop half way down the expansive street, turned to Rick now, pointing the barbed end of Lucille at his chest.
"No, Rick, you haven't," uttered the dark-haired Saviour, saying the bearded man's name with contempt in his voice. "Now I am a fucking reasonable guy ,but I can see that you have plenty of shit to spare around here.....in fact, you're lucky I don't burn these houses to the ground to teach you a fuckin' lesson, Rick! Make you start over. Make you fuckin' realise how much you and your people actually fuckin' have at this very moment in time."
Rick blinked several times, his entire body flinching at each syllable Negan came out with.
But the dark-haired Saviour kept on staring, a smirk twitching at his lips now, glad that he had put Rick in his place yet again.
He let out a chuckle, easing himself back onto his heels, before lifting his free hand and running it down his face tiredly.
"Come on," he uttered, beckoning Rick to join him now, as he paced away, further around the wide bed of the street, lined with large white houses all prim and proper and filled with folks standing on their porches watching him, each one of them looking like they'd never killed one of those dead pricks in their life.
But he paid no attention to any of them, instead waving a hand in Rick's direction, gaining his responsiveness once more, as they walked.
"So, Rick," he said in a low goading voice. "You got any nice liquor stashed away here I don't know about? Or a nice bottle of champagne something? Cause' I know a gal who like to get wasted on shit like that all the live-long. An' I have a feelin' that fuckin' vixen is gonna get super fuckin' naughty with some expensive goddamn bubbles inside of her..."
Negan made a face, leaning in to Rick and nudging him in the ribs teasingly.
"Not that she isn't naughty enough already," he murmured to the brown haired man in a carrying voice, full of utter gleeful excitement, before pulling back and eyeing the man at his side.
Rick of course looked thoroughly fed up right now, but this was what Negan liked about coming here. He loved having the ability to get to these people so bad
And so, with one last lingering smug look, Negan gave a long carrying whistle, before standing up straight once again and heading off down the street on his long legs, barely paying any attention to the two figures sitting up on a looming porch just over to his left, with their heads both turned his way.
And it was only a second later, that the dark-haired man, lifting his barbed-wire covered baseball bat, up onto his leather-clad shoulder a little arrogantly, heard something he had never ever expected to hear again as long as he lived...
"Hai, Eggy!"
He came to a sudden stop.
There had only been one person to ever call him that.
One person who had come into both his and Blake's life and turned it completely on its head in just a matter of days.
One person who they both had thought was dead.
Because she just couldn't be alive. Not now. Not after everything....surely....
Negan froze, a frown coming to settle between his dark brows.
But it wasn't a moment later, as the entire street filled with a carrying silence, that Negan, almost in a bemused sort-of disbelief at what he had heard, arched his back and swivelled around on his heel...
... his chocolate eyes narrowing, as his gaze slowly landed on the two figures sat up on the porch....just a little way away from him.
One of which was a woman he vaguely recognised from one of his last visits to this godforsaken fucking village community. With dark-hair and worried eyes.
But the second, a tiny figure....who was sat on her little pyjama-covered butt, brandishing a limp apple slice clutched tightly between her pudgy fingers happily, was a face Negan had never, ever thought he would see again.
Not in a million years.
Mia.
The dark-haired man parted his bearded lips now, marvelling up at the small girl in total disbelief, his heart almost swelling.
Shit, out of all the people who had made it....Negan was sure fucking glad this kid had. Surviving with the best of them. Hell, he was goddamn proud of her for that...
...this tiny mousy-haired toddler, who was currently waving a teeny paw in his direction, looking as cool as anything as she sat there, eating her breakfast in the early morning humidity.
"Eggy, it you," she said again, smiling wide at him and clambering up onto on the seat of chair with great difficulty and standing up on pudgy legs, as the woman beside her stared aghast. "Wher Bwake?"
But Rick of course, at Negan's side, was doing exactly the same as the woman was, gazing back and for the between the leader of the Saviours and the baby girl in confusion.
"Wait..." he uttered out his eyes now wide and staring. "You know her?"
But Negan merely ignored him, taking a couple of long strides over towards the bottom of the porch steps, approaching the large house.
"Well, fuck. me. Hey there beansprout," he said in a warm voice, a wide grin sliding its way over his salt-and-pepper bearded mouth as his eyes fixed to the child, taking in her every move....still in utter disbelief that she was really here.
His thoughts immediately flickered to Blake and how truly happy she was going to be when he strolled back into the Sanctuary with the kid in his arms looking like a goddamn hero riding in on a white horse. God he was gonna get some great fucking head for that!
But grinning to himself, feeling smugly satisfied at this thought, Negan shot Mia a wide smile.
"So this is where you've been hidin' out, huh?" he commented contentedly. "Well shit kid, you really are somethin', aint ya? You can ride up front with me on our way back to base-"
But before he could say another word to her, the dark-haired woman sitting beside Mia, suddenly got to her feet, grabbing the little girl swiftly under the arms and hauling her hurriedly up.
At once, Mia gave an ear-piercing cry, dropping her piece of apple to the floor.
"Nohhh, I tawkin to Eggy!" she whined out, but the woman merely balanced a struggling Mia on her hip and rocked her back and forth soothingly, just as Rick suddenly stepped in front of Negan, shaking his damp head.
"She's not going anywhere with you," Rick suddenly said, his voice low and steady, and much more confident that before. Sounding like a true leader for the first time since Negan had broken him, back at the line-up.
But Negan gave a small growl now, not really used to being told what to do and not in front of his own men either. He chanced a glance now over at Arat, who had her lips pursed tightly together in a thin line waiting for an order, before staring back at Rick.
"Oh you are gonna give her to me, Rick," the dark-haired man suddenly bit, taking a small step into Rick now and leering over him intimidatingly. "I hope we're clear that this is not up for discussion right now."
Rick merely flickered for a brief moment, but still stood him ground firmly, his fists clenched at his side.
He shifted his weight from foot-to-foot, glancing up at where the dark-haired woman was clutching tiny girl protectively for a moment before gazing back to Negan.
"You've done a lot of things to us," you've killed some of us....you've taken some of our people..." said Rick gritting his teeth. "But takin' a kid. A baby girl. This is where I draw the line. An' I don't care how angry you get or which one of us you're goin' to punish for it-"
But Negan's eyes blackened at this response, hissing out sharply and raising his eyebrows...knowing that this was not good, on so many levels.
And if Blake found out what they were doing...what they were denying her of....there would definitely be hell to pay.
"Oh, Rick," said Negan in a lowered incredulous tone, shaking his head just once. "It's not me you have to worry about here."
Rick looked up at Negan a little questioningly, as just behind the two men, Mia gave a wailing scream, starting to cry.
Negan knew of course that he could take her now and no one would be able to do a thing about it. But something tugged at his stomach....not particularly wanting a showdown right here and cause the kid more upset.
And besides, any chance of gunfire, putting her in harm's way yet again would only anger Blake even further. And jeez, if anything happened to the tiny child now, on his watch, he knew deep down that she would never ever forgive him.
And that was something Negan just cold not risk happening.
And so, seeing just from the look on his sweaty face that Rick was not likely to back down any time soon, the leader of the Saviours gave a loud huff, lifting his hand and dragging it over his stubbly chin.
"You know what Rick, have it your way, But phew..." Negan murmured giving a whistle. "..when she fuckin' finds out..."
Negan glanced at Arat who gave him a meaningful look, the curly-haired woman agreeing full-well how mad Blake was likely to be at this.
She was fucking formidable force around the Sanctuary these days and having her being pissed off, was almost as bad as Negan being in foul mood...
"W-When who finds out?" asked Rick in a questioning voice but Negan, at this, merely gave a chuckling whine of tired laughter, dragging his hand down his face once more.
And with that, without answering the brown-haired man, Negan merely swung around on his heel throwing one final look up towards a red-faced Mia, who was sobbing loudly and trying hard as she could to push the woman holding her away.
"Noh, I wann Eggy!" she cried, tossing her head back and wailing to the heavens, as Negan pressed his lips together, a growl emitting from throat.
"Oh I'll fuckin' be back to to get her, Rick, don't you worry," threatened Negan as he turned on his heel, beckoning for Arat to follow him and making his way back towards the gates, and the Saviours' awaiting trucks.
Perhaps he wasn't going to be the one to take her back to the Sanctuary. But he knew a person who Rick was not going to argue with...especially not when he had seen her as Negan and the other Saviours had seen her. Wild-eyed and unrelenting.
A hurricane.
And so, with a wide grin to himself, Negan sloped off with Arat hot at his heels...
...intent on heading straight back to the Sanctuary...
...as a worried looking Rick and Tara exchanged nervous glanced between each other, behind him...
...as Mia carried on wailing. Watching through watery eyes, as Negan disappeared off around the corner and out of sight.