World Full of Surprises.

Negan smiled at the young woman as he watched her sheepishly shove the Mountain Dew into her bag. Hell, he wished he would have done the same. He dug into his hot pocket as they began to make their trek forward. He tried to savor it; trying not to think about the next time he might get hot food. Some people were being optimist, hoping and praying that everything would get back to normal eventually... but Negan had a very awful feeling. It was hard for him to try and stay optimistic.

He looked over at her as she questioned him, crumpling the cardboard from the hot pocket. He stuffed it in his pocket and took a swig of his water. He thought about her question for a moment, pondering over a few of the last home cooked meals he had.

He capped his water and wiped his mouth. Clearing his throat he began to reply to her, "Uh, probably steak. Steak and potatoes. Think the last time I had that though was my birthday last year."

He replayed the memory in his mind, picturing his late wife's face for a moment. He shook his head, beckoning the image to go away. He didn't want to resurface those emotions at the moment. He cleared his throat again, looking down at his feet as he watched them stir up dust as he walked. "What about you?"

Charlie couldn't help but let out a quiet laugh as she looked up to Negan after he answered her question. "You know, if I could say that I was the least bit surprised by that answer, I would but... I'm not." She turned back to her hot pocket, savouring the last few bites. She let out a quiet whine when she finished it, shoving the cardboard into her back pocket.

Tilting her head to the side, Charlie tapped her chin with a finger as she contemplated an answer. "Country fried steak, I think," she finally relented, offering a slight hint of a smile.

"I only ever got to have it at this local restaurant when Pop was feeling generous," Charlie commented quietly, shoving her hands into her pockets as they walked.

"You always seemed so grumpy back at the centre and now you're trying to be all nice," she spoke after a beat of silence, flashing a cheeky grin in his direction. "I must be just that charming."

Negan couldn’t help the smile that split onto his face. He was really trying here. There was something about the woman next to him that made him want to at least try to be nice. He knew that if he was going to survive, he still needed to have people on his team. And if being nice to some woman who needed his help was the way to go, he was going to do it. For now.

He was trying his best not to seem too indifferent, he didn’t want to be a dick right off the bat and then not have anyone who was willing to be there for him as well. And to be quite honest, it was nice for him to have a woman around. It was refreshing in a way he didn’t necessarily know he needed.

He shrugged as he continued to shuffle along. He looked over at her, offering her the small smile that was on his face, “Either you’re just that charming, or maybe I can be a nice guy every once in a while.”

Deciding that it was much too hot, Charlie reached up and pulled her hair into a bun. She squinted into the distance as they continued to walk along, tilting her head to the side as she glanced over to him.

"We might be able to happen upon an actual house or something that we can... clear?" Charlie's face scrunched at the thought of having to make sure a home was actually empty of the undead. She wasn't so sure would be capable but what other choice did they even have?

"Imagine that. Being able to sleep in a real bed for once!"

The thought of sleeping in a real bed was more that intriguing to Negan. The past couple of weeks he had been sleeping slumped up against the gym wall. If he was lucky, someone would offer up one of the wrestling mats and he would get a couple hours of solid sleep. But hell, he knew even that wasn’t enough.

He nodded in agreement, reaching up to wipe his sweat ridden forehead. He could definitely use a shower too. He knew of a few watering holes around the area, but he wasn’t sure how safe it was to get to them yet. “Sleeping in an actual bed would be a fuckin’ dream come true.”

Charlie nodded at his reply. Now that the idea had sparked in her mind, there was no getting around it now. She smirked at the thought and they continued on in near silence, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of their footsteps and the sound of movement in the trees every so often. Whether it was an animal or a walker, she didn't care to know.

Her movements slowed when they came upon a cabin that seemed to be in the of nowhere, just barely off the beaten path. Charlie motioned toward it, looking up to Negan with a small frown as she produced the hunting knife from her side. "We can at least check it out? Go from there."

Negan's eyes laid on the cabin and elation swept over his entire body. He wanted to lurch forward, to run full steam ahead at it. However, he continues himself, motioning for the both of them to slow their steps and keep quite.

"We need to make sure that everything is clear," he said quietly as he narrowed his eyes and tried to see if he could spot any movement through the dark windows. As they made their way closer, he strained his hearing and tried to notice anything strange.

Pushing the door open quietly, he kept Charlie behind him protectively. He looked around. The front room was cleared. He continued making his way toward the kitchen, a low choking noise coming toward the back of it. A saw a walker, almost skin and bones. Reaching down towards his boot, he produced one of the several knives he kept on his person. He lunged forward, plunging the knife into the eye socket of the undead. He removed his knife and turned to look at Charlie. "Looks like we only have two more places to clear. Then we need to secure the exits."

Charlie followed after Negan, a small smirk playing at her features. He seemed to purposefully be keeping her behind him and she certainly couldn't help the feeling that curled into the pit of her stomach. She couldn't quite place the reasoning and so she pushed it away, deciding to worry about it later.

After Negan dealt with the walker in the kitchen, Charlie headed down the short hallway to clear the bedrooms. She hesitated a moment, glancing behind her to catch sight of Negan. She flashed him a smile before she threw open the door. The action knocked the walker who had been hiding behind it right to the ground and she wasted no time in shoving the knife through its skull. Her face scrunched as she straightened and began to drag it out of the bedroom, toward the front door. She shoved it onto the porch before turning around to face Negan.

"What? I don't want to sleep with a damned walker in the same room!" She exclaimed with a shrug of her shoulders. "You're welcome to if you really want."

Negan rolled his eyes playfully at Charlie. He felt comfortable enough then to remove his back pack, tossing it by the front door. He walked back towards the kitchen, deciding that it would be a good time to go ahead and see if there was anything they could keep from the cupboards. He found a few items, gathering them in a group and setting them on the dining room table.

"Let's see if we can't find anything to board the windows and bar the door," He mentioned. "Not too sure about what will be around here later. And because of sleeping in an actual bed tonight, I would rather enjoy it then worry about what is able to get in or not."

Negan made his way outside, spotting a small shed off to the side of the hows. With his knife in hand, prepared to strike, he flung open the shed door. He exhaled the breath that he was unaware that he was holding in, relief washing over him with there was nothing waiting to get him on the other side. There was a few pieces of plywood, particle board, and other scrap woods. It seemed as though the person who once lived there was a carpenter. "How convenient," he mumbled as he grabbed the pieces he thought they could use.

The moment that Negan left the little cabin, she began to piece together some of the things they had gathered from the cabinets. It would make a decent enough soup without any meat but she thought it would be better than nothing. Thankfully the stove was a gas one and she was relieved. As small as she was compared to Negan, she was still hungry and she was sure that if she was, he must be.

Hearing the door open behind her, Charlie called out, a little grin on her lips. "I'm making a soup. It should be ready by the time you finish boarding everything up." The lights still worked which she was surprised about but she certainly wasn't going to argue with it. Flicking the lights on, Charlie began to hum to herself as she moved about the kitchen.

Negan’s lip twitched into a half smirk. The sight of her floating around the kitchen brought back flooding memories of when things were normal. Not just before everything in the world turned, but before his world turned. His eyes lingered on her figure for a moment, watching her move around with fluid movements. It almost seemed like she was in her element. Negan shook his head, blinking his eyes a few times to snap himself out of his thoughts. He let a small “thanks,” flow quietly from his lips as he dropped the supplies that were in his arms.

He went to work boarding up the windows and securing all the exits, the thought of a restful night’s sleep still at the fore front of his mind. He smiled to himself as he continued to work. Soon enough, the scent that was wafting to his senses made him drop the hammer. His stomach was growling, reminding himself that he was in fact starving. He looked around at his work, feeling good about the job he had done. He rubbed his hands together as he turned around, “We should be good to get some sleep tonight.”

Charlie took enough time to rinse the bowls that she found, not particularly wanting the soup she had cooked to be served with a heavy side of dust. She spooned enough to fill each bowl before she set them down on the table. She flashed a small grin as she headed over to her bag, kneeling down to produce a can of soda. The way she figured was that it was better to hold onto the bottles of water for as long as they could and they were likely to get all the exercise needed to stay fit either way.

"I think we should probably have a fire just to warm up the place before we head to sleep. You can have the bed and I'll take the couch," she offered with a quick nod. As much as she certainly wouldn't have argued sleeping in the same bed because she didn't think he would suddenly latch onto her or anything, she didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable by any means. Spooning some of the soup into her mouth, Charlie let out an appreciative groan. "It's honestly way better than I was expecting it to be, I guess my cooking didn't slip that much. I think you're pretty lucky, if you ask me."

Negan sat at the table across for her, appreciatively bringing his spoon to his mouth. He savored the taste. She was indeed quite the cook. He was easily impressed that she was able to pull together such a good meal with as little as they had. He listened to her speak, a small frown dawning his face when she mentioned her sleeping on the couch. He shook his head as he popped another spoonful in his mouth, waiting until he had finished swallowing before he spoke. “No, you take the bed, I’ll take the couch. Wherever I sleep in this house tonight is sure to be loads better than where we have been sleeping for the past while.”

After a few moments of silence, Negan began to feel the need to spark a conversation. He didn’t know why, he just wanted to break the silence that had fallen between the pair of them. He usually didn’t speak too much. When he was angry, however, that was another story. He cleared his throat, holding his spoon just barley to his mouth. Quietly, he spoke. “So what did you do before—“ he motioned with his hand. “All of this?”

Charlie cupped the bowl to her chest, slowly nursing it in silence. It wasn't that she felt uncomfortable with the silence by any means because she was used to figures like Negan in her life. Rough around the edges and maybe if you managed to work your way past them, you got to see they really weren't that bad. When Negan spoke, she looked up with a start, nearly spilling what soup she had left. She cursed under her breath before straightening out and deciding to just set the bowl down on the table so that she could finish.

"I was going to school to become a nurse. I was actually finishing up my last year so luckily, there's not much that I still needed to learn. Which is convenient in this mess, if you ask me," Charlie explained quietly, pushing around the soup in her bowl. She looked up to him with a small smile, tilting her head to the side. "And what about you? I mean, other than coaching and teaching."

Negan smirked, forcing himself not to laugh when she fumbled with her bowl. What she had explained to him was something that he never would have guessed. But then again, he barely knew the woman that was sitting across from him. He knew that if they were going to get along and make the most out of what was happening, there was going to be a common ground that needed to be met. Negan gave her a brief smile, “That is pretty damn convenient if you ask me.”

Negan cleared his throat again, immediately feeling his pulse in his ear. He wasn’t ready to speak of his home life yet. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to reveal that much to the woman in front of him. He decided to laugh it off, “Pretty much just coaching and teaching and living married life. Always tried to be ‘the cool teacher.’ Especially because I wanted my students to excel, especially those who had talent.”

At the mention of married life, Charlie looked up to him with a small frown. She wanted to ask but she thought if he wanted to tell her, he would. She wasn't going to nag him, she didn't think that was fair at all. Her shoulders sagged a bit as he continued, only giving a small nod of her head. "You were always such a hard ass back at the school after shit went down, kind of hard to imagine you as a cool teacher." Charlie couldn't help but tease him, letting out a soft laugh.

Charlie almost asked why but she thought that it could possibly have something to do with the fact that he was currently alone despite still wearing a wedding ring. "I bet she's proud of you," she finally settled with, tugging on her bottom lip. She refused to look up to him then, her heart beginning to race. "Sorry... I shouldn't have."

“Well of course,” he murmured. Taking control and being an ass came naturally do the man, what else was he supposed to do? Let everyone run around like chickens with their heads cut off? “I was always hard on the kids. But some of the boys from the teams would stop by the house and play games. Gotta make a connection with people if you want them to listen to you, right?”

Negan clenched his fist tightly. He wasn’t mad at her; she couldn’t know better… But then again, it was they prying he always hated. He inhaled a sharp breath and exhaled, calming himself before he decided to speak. He knew it was wiser to play the game with a level head. He couldn’t lose the one valuable asset he had. He shook his head and spoke in a low, dry voice. “It’s fine,” he said abruptly. “It’s in the past.”

Charlie turned to him, with a more detailed apology at the ready but it seemed to fall short the moment that Negan spoke out to her. She shrunk in on herself, giving a nod of her head. She finished off the last little bit of her bowl and stood, giving him a shy smile. "There's a bit left if you're still hungry after finishing," Charlie explained quietly, turning to head into the kitchen. She rinsed off the bowl despite knowing that they wouldn't be around much longer.

Lingering by the doorway of the kitchen, Charlie turned back around to face him. "Take the bed, you need the rest more than I do. I slept better than you at the school, so..." she trailed off with a shrug of her shoulders. She had briefly entertained the idea of offering just to share it but with the shift in Negan's mood, she didn't want to push her boundaries.

Negan took in a deep breath as soon as he realized his abrasiveness had upset her. He hadn’t meant to be—it just normally happened that way. He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head, deciding on vamping up his act for her. He flashed her an award winning smell and tilted his head a bit. He spoke in a soft voice, “You take the bed. Let me be a gentleman since I all but yelled at you.”

He stood up from the table and took his bowl over to the sink, tossing it in with what she had already placed in there. He turned to look at her, seeing her still standing in the same spot. “You look like you want to ask me something,” he huffed playfully. “Go ahead, I won’t bite this time.”

Charlie tugged her bottom lip between her teeth, turning to face Negan again when he pressed for what was on her mind. She exhaled slowly, her eyes slipping shut for the briefest of moments before she fixed her gaze on Negan. "I was just going to offer that we share the bed. I mean, we could both use the rest and I honestly don't think you're about to attack me because if you were going to, you already would have," she rambled on, only to stop suddenly when she realized what she had done. Charlie turned quickly to hopefully hide the blush that appeared on her cheeks.

"I only sleep in my shirt and panties though so I hope that's something you can handle," Charlie called over her shoulder. SHe was sure he would relent and come to the bedroom because the promise of a real bed was alluring to pretty much anyone now. She shed her pants and her jacket, climbing into bed the moment she had the chance. Charlie let out a content sigh, pulling the covers up to her shoulders.