Straight Through the Heart

Negan had holed himself in his office for a few hours. He needed time to get his mind cleared and he knew that Lucille needed time to cool the hell off before he even was in her presence. Feeling satisfied that he had come up with a halfway decent start at a plan, Negan locked the paperwork up. Grabbing Lucille’s namesake, he walked out of his office, locking the door behind him as he did so.

Negan went to the cafeteria, grabbing two plates of food. He knew that Lucille wouldn’t venture too far by herself, and he was almost positive that she would be hungry. Negan thought this may be a good attempt at a peace offering, but only when he entered the bedroom is when he would know.

When Negan reached his bedroom door, he knocked on it quickly before he entered the room. “It’s just me,” he called out. He saw her sitting on the bed. “I brought you dinner.”

Lucille hadn't bothered to put her clothes on since they weee still in the process of drying. And she didn't want to put Negan's clothes back on, they were covered in her sweat and it was enough that she didn't want to wear them until they were washed again.

Looking up at the sound of a knock, Lucille's head snapped around to try and find some sort of weapon. It was pure instinct alone. Lucille sighed when Negan appeared, her eyes narrowing as she watched him. But true to his nature, he knew to bring a plate of food as a peace offering.

Lucille took the plate, thanking him quietly. She eyed the food for a moment before pulling her legs up so that he would have room to sit. Lucille waited a moment longer, huffing as she hesitated. "I'm sorry about earlier, Negan."

Negan balanced the two plated on one arm as he kicked the door shut behind him. He licked his lips in concentration as he set the bat down without disturbing the two plates of food on his arm. Negan offered her a half-cocked smile as he noticed the state she was in.

Listening to her words as he made his way over to the bed, he nodded. Negan could tell that she was half way forcing the words out of her mouth, but he appreciated the fact that she had. Normally, Lucille was never the first the first to apologize. To be honest, he was quite surprised that she had.

Negan shook his head as he handed her the plate of food he sat down. “Let’s not talk about that shit right now, baby. Let’s just eat and relax. Talk about it in the morning.”

Lucille let out a sigh, nodding slowly as she took the plate from his hands. She watched the food for a moment, wondering if she should even bother to eat. She didn't get to eat so much back at Alexandria because their supplies had been running low so everyone had had to take cuts. She had been fine with it, she was used to it growing up - that was something she could handle.

She slowly began to eat, Lucille looking up to watch Negan warily as they continued to eat. This was the sort of thing that she could get used to all over again, eating with Negan. Sharing a bed with him. Falling asleep with Negan's arms wrapped around her. Waking up and having him be the first thing that she saw in the morning.

"Even when we fight, I love you. Because you're stupid and hell, you're kind of cute. Stupidly cute?" Lucille spoke, her nose scrunching as she looked up to him. She was smiling tentatively as she tilted her head to the side, trying to gauge his reaction.

Negan couldn’t help the smile that was spreading across his face. He ate a couple more forkfuls of food before turning to respond to her, “Yeah and you are a pain in my fuckin’ ass so… Not to mention how god damn gorgeous you are. Guess that makes us even, doesn’t it?”

The rest of their meal was ate in a comfortable silence. Generally, Negan needed someone talking. Whether it be him, the person he was with, music on in the background… Something to fill the void of noise. But when he was with Lucille, he didn’t mind the silence. When he finished, he tossed his plate to the side of the bed. He reached over and gripped her shin, his finger massaging her leg that was underneath the covers.

“I just need you to know that I fuckin’ love you, Luce.” He started. “Everything I do is to keep you safe. I can’t have you away from me anymore…”

Lucille hated that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stay mad at Negan. Once he turned on the charm, Lucille lost. She knew that it wasn't worth fighting him because she would end up caving as soon as his arms were wrapped securely around her waist.

She exhaled slowly, focusing on Negan's touch. Even through the comforter, her skin felt like it was on fire. Lucille turned, laying on her side. She inched as close to Negan as possible while he was still able to run her leg. "I know you do and I need you to know that I'm not going anywhere. Any time soon. I'm too goddamned stubborn, James."

"But I swear that I'm capable. I wouldn't be alive right now if I wasn't. Abraham nod Daryl both made sure I knew how to kick some dead guy's ass," Lucille paused, unable to contain the smirk growing on her features. "I bet I could take you, old man."

Negan’s skin crawled when she mentioned two men from Alexandria. He hated that it couldn’t have been him to teach his wife how to survive this world. He couldn’t fathom other men putting their hands on his wife, showing her different moves, showing her how to kill. And most of all, he hated that it was those fuckers from Alexandria who infiltrated his set up and killed his men. He tried to keep the grimace of anger off his face, replacing it with a forced smile.

Negan rolled his eyes playfully at her, “Not a chance in hell, sweetheart. I may be an old man but I’ll be damned if I am going to let some woman out move me.”

Negan shifted on the bed, crawling to ay beside her. He wrapped an arm around her torso and pulled her into his chest. He pressed a chaste kiss to her lips, pulling back just enough to where their lips where brushing as he spoke, “Only time you are gonna take me is right here in this bed or anywhere else I decide to make love to you, doll.”

"You can keep the jealousy to yourself," Lucille muttered, watching the emotion flare in her husband's eyes. Though she had to appreciate that he hadn't actually said anything. But still - she had to call him out on it, right? "It was never anything like that. It was because they were friends and they cared but God, I don't even think Daryl knows what romance is and Abraham, he's got his eyes on someone else."

Lucille grinned as she was pulled into his chest, returning the kiss. She wondered what the other women in his life got - was it anything like their marriage or was it something like a power play? She wanted to ask but she also knew what sort of can of worms she would be likely opening and she didn't want to ruin the moment that badly.

"When you decide, papi? What about me? What if I want to shove you up against a door and have my way," Lucille whispered against his lips, her fingers teasing down his torso slowly until her hand rested against his jeans. "with you?" She smirked, giving a gentle roll of her hand before pulling away. "Can't have that. Big, bad Negan is in charge. Hm?"

Negan sucked in a deep breath as he watched Lucille. He knew exactly what the woman was trying to do to him. Sometimes Lucille gave him whiplash, the fiery Latina could go from pissed to turned on in less than sixty seconds. When her hand reached his jeans, he reached down and covered her smaller hand with his. He brought her hand up to his lips and pressed a small kiss to her knuckles. “Always in charge, baby, you should know this.”

Negan’s thumb ran small circles against the soft skin of her hand as he looked at her, “But I guess I can bend the rules for my girl sometimes…. If I absolutely have to.”

Negan was grinning at this point. Yet, in the back of his mind, he knew they would be repeating this conversation sometime soon. Purely because Negan wasn’t ready to loosen his reigns with her yet. He wasn’t sure if he would ever be. For this marriage to work there as going to have to be compromise, but Negan wasn’t quite too ready to take that leap yet. “You know I love you, right?”

Lucille would have liked to say that it didn't upset her when Negan stopped his movements but if she was being completely honest, she couldn't. But she wasn't about to say anything, she knew that it would only spark an argument and they were barely getting along as it was. She didn't want to put an end to that when she was almost positive it would end up short lived any way.

She let out a sigh, biting down on the inside of her lip as her eyes met Negan's. This was the thing that always managed to make Lucille weak in the knees, if she was angry or sad or just needed him, all Negan had to do was pull her close and look her in the eyes. She could get lost in those brown eyes for hours on end if she really wanted to.

"I love you, too," Lucille finally managed, leaning up to press her lips to his.She set a hand on the back of his neck, massaging gently. "You know, I never thought I would find you again. I can't believe I'm this lucky," she whispered. She was good at holding back the sappy emotions for the most part but it seemed to catch up with her all at once. "God, I miss you, you bastard," she mumbled, a small smirk coming to her lips as she looked up to him, tears pricking the corner of her eyes. "Negan, you're everything I could ever need. You know that right?"

Negan placed both of his hands on either side of her face and pulled her in for another kiss, his lips working against hers almost effortlessly. The action came so natural to him, he couldn’t imagine that he had gone without her kisses for such a long time. When he finally pulled away, he let out a small sigh as he gazed down it her. His thumbs reached up to brush the corners of her eyes, where the apparent tears were threatening to spill over, a soft smile on his lips.

“I told you I would find you,” he reiterated. “I told you I fuckin’ would and I did, didn’t Ii?”

Negan let out a genuine laugh as she said that she had missed him, his head leaning backwards and his eyes closing. “Well, we are peas in a damn pod again, baby. And nothing is ever going to get in the way of that again, you got it?’

Lucille let out a laugh, only for it to break off as she swallowed back a sob. "God, I hate you," she mumbled, pressing her face into Negan's chest. She sighed, breathing in his scent. "The world ends and you still get your fuckin' way. But I guess that's why I married you, isn't it?" Lucille asked, leaning back so that she could look at him. "Because you know exactly what moves to pull to get your way." She huffed as she said it, when she realized that it was true. No matter how many times she got angry with Negan or how truly angry she got, she always ended up forgiving him. That was just the way life was, you didn't really say no to him.

An idea popped into her head suddenly and she couldn't help but let her smile drop. "There's a creek a little ways off, isn't there?" She asked. "Maybe we could go swimming down in it? I mean, I know you probably have a lot of things that need tending to as the big man in charge but.." she trailed off, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't know, I just thought it might be a good idea. Get us away from everything for a few minutes."