Chapter Text
"Whatever happened to that sick girl? That seemed like the hell of a stressful night for her. The way she was carrying on, she was married to Number Two, right?"
Number Two..
Rick felt his fingers tingling.
Hearing Negan talk about Glenn's death was so offensive that he wanted to punch the self-proclaimed savior right in the face.
How the hell could someone like him call himself a "Savior"? What cruel joke was this?
But Rick's hands were tied.
This wasn't just about him, not just about his life. If it were just about him, hell would break loose on Negan right now. But it was about more..it was about everything. About Alexandria, the people who trusted him, who relied on him.
Michonne counted on him, Carl depended on him..the whole group. And then, of course, all the people who had lived here before. Who had lost their leader just a few weeks ago.
And he had no intention of losing a single one of them to Negan's unpredictable and barbaric whims.
His eyes, however..well..they spoke a different language.
"Careful. Careful how you're lookin' at me, Rick."
He forced himself to look away. To avert Negans intensive stare..so as not to provoke the other man further.
He was like a dog that had been beaten.
Yes, that's what he was now. They had all seen it. Seen how Negan had dragged him to the RV..on all fours.
But this wasn't about pride..this was about sheer survival.
But how could all those who were seeing the Saviors for the very first time even begin to comprehend that?
And, oh yes, he felt their stares.
The gazes of the people of Alexandria, who were watching this whole scene unfold. Their leader..the one who had promised to protect them all from the monsters that many of them had never faced eye to eye before.
He wanted to protect them from the Walkers.
But how could he have known that the biggest thread was no dead man walking, but a cruel, bat swinging sadist, calling himself a savior?
Yes, the group had faced threats from people before..the Govenor, Terminus..
Shane.
But this was different.
Negan had taken all their accomplishments and washed it all away with a swing of his bat, alltogether with his confidence.
All they could see right now was a broken man.
And they condemned him.
From a safe distance.
Just as they had always done..behind their high walls, the grand promises of a new civilization, the naive illusions of their now-dead leader.
Go ahead and judge me..but none of you were there.
None of you were out there..
Not a single one of you left these walls.
Was there in the clearing.
At the line-up.
Had to watch as two of his friends were brutally beaten to death.
One of them a soldier. Probably the strongest warrior in their entire group. A man like a wall. Unshakable, unbroken.
Broken to pieces before their very eyes. Literally.
And then one of his best friends..
The one who had saved him back then. In the city. Who had guided and led him. To the others, to the farm, to an uncertain future.
But always with confidence in his eyes.
He had been the heart of the group..
Now their hearts were broken.
The heart of his pregnant wife..Rick could still hear her blood-curdling screams.
Never in his life had he seen something like that..never experienced this amount of pain and helplessness.
How he couldn't look and couldn't look away at the same time.
Lost in thought for a moment, he almost missed the other man speaking again.
"Widows..especially ones that look like that.." Negan continued, exhaling, "..they are special. I love 'em. Right after their husbands go, they're just..empty inside. But usually not for long."
His dark chuckles went straight to Rick's guts, sending a shiver down his spine.
Now he was wide awake.
Maggie..
Empty inside..not for long..
Rick's hand closed tightly around the weapon Negan had used to murder Glenn. How ironic and satisfying it would be if, right here and right now, at this very moment, he were to meet his own end with his beloved bat.
He was so close..just one single, well-aimed blow..one single, targeted swing.
Just one..
Negan's voice snapped the policeman out of his fantasy once again.
"Ahh, where is she? I would love to see her!"
Rick's hand clenched the bat as he cursed himself for not being more vehement.
She should have stayed in Hilltop..they had all told her so. Michonne, Jesus, himself.
But right after it happened, he hadn't even had the strength to stand up to the biggest and most pathetic weasel earth had ever seen.
Gregory had shaken his head, nervously running his hand through his hair, muttering to himself incessantly.
"You said you got them all..what a mess..what a mess...GET OUT OF HERE...GET OUT OF HILLTOP!"
When Jesus and the others tried to talk some sense into him, Maggie shook her head.
She wanted to go back.
She wanted to go back to her house.
He didn't understand her decision and would have gladly overruled Gregory.
But Maggie was Maggie, and she had a mind of her own.
"I'm not running away from anyone, Rick. This is my home. Glenn's home.."
Rick prayed they had hid her well.
"She's..she's.." Ricks voice was shallow, thin while he tried to get his mind to come to some sort of excuse. A split second later he was already staring into the expecting and searching eyes of Negan.
"Yeah, Rick? You wanna say something?"
"She's not here.." he told the Savior, looking straight into the other's eyes, trying not to give anything away. For a long moment the two men looked at each other, while Negan squinted his eyes, searching for something, staring Rick down. A moment where you could have heard a pin drop, tension building up more and more.
Then, suddenly, the Saviors lips turned back into his usual, devilish grin, giving Rick a pat on the cheek, breaking the tension as fast as it built up.
And still, not really..
"Well, obviously.." Negan stated, making a sweeping gesture with his arms, shaking his head, as if Rick had just offended his watching skills, "thank god you're still able to observe the scene, Rick. Not like I bashed YOUR head in with Lucille."
His laugh was as loud as it was ominous.
The leader looked around and then back at the former cop.
"I didn't want to know where she's not, Rick.." Negan grabbed the other by the chin, cupping it, "I want to know where she IS."
Without letting go of Rick, he barked an order at two of his men, "Find the widow and bring her to me!"
As the two men looked each other in the eye—one with a mixture of amusement and impatience, the other with forced submission—the policeman opened his mouth several times to speak, but closed it again each time.
"Yes, Rick? Is there anything else you'd like to tell me? Something helpful this time, perhaps?"
Oh yes, I'd love to.
But you won't like any of it, you disgusting asshole.
It took the policeman a lot of effort to get the next words out, and when he did, they were little more than a whisper.
"What do you want from her?"
The tension between the two men was palpable as no one spoke for several agonizing seconds.
The question, which implied so much, hung in the air between them like that impalpable feeling before a bad storm, while Rick heard someone behind Negan take a deep breath.
Daryl.
He had been there.
His best friend.
Tortured, beaten..broken?
It was unbearable to look at the otherwise tough man. To see him staring humbly at the ground.
What atrocities had he experienced in the Sanctuary...what had his eyes seen?
Then, out of nowhere, Negan began to grin and the tension eased again as he patted Rick on the shoulder.
"No need to wet yourself, Rick..." The Savior's hand patted the other man's shoulder so hard that he slumped down a little. Just a few days ago, such a blow would not have hurt him in the slightest, but now...
Now everything had changed.
"..I just want to make sure she's okay. After all, she's under my protection now, Rick.."
Another sweeping gesture as he let his gaze wander over Alexandria.
"..besides.."
Before looking directly into Rick's eyes again.
"..you all belong to me."
---
The room she was sitting in was small.
And she wasn't sitting there voluntarily.
Enid and Sasha had brought her here. Apparently, she was their most important interest.
She had been sitting at the table trying to get a few bites down when she heard the heavy vehicles.
Saviors.
It didn't take long after that for the two women to storm through the door and drag her upstairs.
Sasha had placed a hand on Maggie's belly, murmured a thoughtful..
"You are the future."
..and maneuvered her and Enid into the closet.
She hadn't intended to hide.
Not from the Saviors and certainly not from Negan.
She would have loved to put a bullet in his head herself..no, not a bullet..that would be too quick and too merciful. This man..this monster deserved something much worse.
But now, as she heard footsteps coming closer and closer, she couldn't deny that she was afraid.
Not for herself..but for the little human being growing inside her belly.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of you.."
Her whispered promise was underscored by a tender caress on her belly. A gesture that, even in the midst of chaos, both inside and out, had a strangely calming effect.
Her father had once told her how she herself had done somersaults in her mother's belly and only calmed down when she had placed her hand on her belly.
Her mother..
Her father..
Beth..
Glenn.
Maggie's hands began to tremble as the memory hit her like a slap in the face. And just as tears began to well up in her eyes, the closet door opened and two satisfied, grinning men stood before her.
"Well, look who we have here."