She Has Fire

Chapter 18

Mary's POV

Mornings were hell. If I didn't vomit, I sure as hell felt like I was going to. I had avoided leaving the room for a few days. I didn't want to do much more than sleep. Negan forced me to eat. We both knew we'd see it later. Carson said it was normal. Keeps making me drink that gross ginger tea. It helps some, not enough. Today, I was supposed to help Arat with training. I didn't want to be a flake. I promised I would help her.
I was taking my time walking down stairs when I felt a hand on my back. I looked up at Negan and smiled. There was clear worry in his eyes.
"You think you should be out of bed?" He asked.
"Relax. I'm fine. Besides, it's just vomit. Make the new recruits clean it up." I joked. He didn't laugh.
"Just...take it easy. No actual fighting, right? Just teaching." He said.
"No fighting. That's what Arat is for." I promised. I kept walking. Negan was still beside me. I looked up at him with a cocked eyebrow.
"You don't have to walk me down to training." I told him.
"I'm not. We just happen to be going the same way." He said.
"You're a better liar than that." I snorted.
"I just want to make sure you get there okay. There aren't any accidents." He said. I rolled my eyes, but didn't bother to argue. Since he'd gone back to work and I was stuck in bed, we'd seen less of each other. He was busy planning something, I was busy being sick. To his credit he did come back to the room whenever he could. He and Simon were still phasing the wives into the regular folk. I realized that today might be the first time I see Lacey and Angela since I'd been back. I had no idea if they hated me or not.
"I can handle it from here." I told him as we reached the training room.
"Alright," he put his hand on my belly, "Be safe." He told me. I leaned up and kissed him.
"I will. Go kick ass." I smiled and walked in. Arat was standing watching a group of girls talking. I looked over and recognized them immediately.
"Oh shit. He made you three saviors?" I laughed. Angela, Lacey and another former wife Becca, turned around. They squealed and ran over.
"You're the trainer? The two girls from the last round said the trainer was this badass chick who didn't fuck around. I assumed they meant Arat." Angela said.
"They probably did." I laughed.
"This is cool! We'll get to work together then! Well, for a little while..." Lacey said.
"Oh! Yeah! You have to tell us if the rumors are true. All Negan told us when he phased us out was that he found you and you were all he needed. Which was sweet, but then rumors started flying about you being knocked up. So?" Angela smiled.
"Why does everyone use that term? Knocked up, sounds so redneck. But yeah, it's true." I said. They all jumped around, excited.
"I guess that's why you look like shit." Angela laughed.
"That would be a correct assumption." I said.
"Alright, chit chat is over. Let's get to business, so I can get out of here." Arat sighed.

Negan's POV

"Hey Boss, wanted to show you some of the stuff we picked up last run. There's another truck coming in later. Should have a ton of baby stuff in it. They were going to see if the toys-r-us had anything of use." Simon said as we walked to the storage building.
"Did you find that paint I asked for?" I asked.
"Found a bunch of different ones. Have your pick. Couple of the guys offered to help out with the nursery. I think everyone's pretty excited to have a baby to think about. Really boosted morale." Simon said.
"Well, it's going to be the best damn baby ever. They should be excited. I was going to make some of them help with the door anyway. Nice to have people willing and wanting to help though." I said as we entered the building. We walked over to a pile of pastel colored shit. I had no clue what any of it was.
"Here's the paint Boss." Simon said pointing to a stack of paint cans. I stared at them for a moment.
"What the hell do you think?" I sighed.
"Well, I always think keeping it neutral is a good idea. Sonograms can be wrong. Yellow is nice." Simon said. I looked at him interested. Didn't know he knew what a sonogram was. I barely knew.
"Eh...let's go with green. Mary fucking loves green." I said. Simon nodded and picked up the two large buckets of paint and started out. I stopped by the pile of baby shit again. I picked up something that looked like a torture device.
"What in the holy fuck is this fucking thing?" I asked. Simon turned and chuckled.
"It's a breast pump. For Mary." He said.
"A breast pump? What the fuck she need that for?" I asked.
"Okay, I'll radio the guys, make sure they pick you up some books. Clearly you need them. It's to pump the milk from her breasts. Pretty self explanatory." He said.
"Isn't that what the baby is for?"
"Well, she'll more than likely have way more than the baby can eat in a sitting. She'll need to pump or it can get painful. Sometimes, babies don't like to breastfeed and it's easier with bottles. Also, so you can feed the baby when she isn't around. It's pretty important." He explained. I stared at him, dumbfounded.
"How the hell do you know that shit?" I asked.
"I had a wife and we had a baby before all this.I had a shit dad, I didn't want to be one. I made sure I knew everything." Simon said, a sad look coming over him. Damn. I knew better than that. We got upstairs with a few saviors willing to help.
"Alright boys. Paint it green." I instructed. We all got to work. I wanted to paint it. I wanted to be apart of making the nursery. It felt wrong to just have someone else do it. This was my baby. I would personally make sure they had a nice place to sleep.
We finished rather quickly. It look pretty damn good. Peaceful. I made the boys clean up and headed downstairs. The truck would be coming in from the run. I wanted to meet it. Simon and I got down just in time. The truck pulled in and a few Saviors started unloading it. Gunshots rang out and that dumbass kid in the hat jumped out with a gun in his hand. My men on the ground, dead. The heat was radiating off me as the anger grew. They got him to the ground pretty easily.
"Oh kid, this was a real bad fucking idea. I was having a good day. Now you come along and fucked it all up." I growled.

Mary's POV

"Wow, I was not prepared for what a workout that was." Lacey said out of breath.
"Really kicking us back into shape." Angela laughed.
"You'll be getting into shape, while I'll be getting round." I laughed.
"Are you excited?" lacey asked.
"Yeah. It feels like it's not real. Like it happened in a dream or something. But I am." I said.
"If you need anything just tell us. We'll help out. Babysit when you need it." Angela smiled.
"Thanks." I smiled.
"Need a few extra people out front. We have a situation. Don't tell Mary." Arat's walkie crackled with Negan's voice coming through. Arat sighed and looked at me with a sympathetic look. I grabbed it from her.
"Don't tell Mary what exactly?" I barked into the device.
"It'll upset you. I don't want you upset." Negan sighed. I growled and shoved the walkie back to Arat and started for the front gate.
"Maybe listen to him. It might not be great for your condition to be so riled up." Arat said. I shot her a look and she put her hands up. I burst through the doors, spotting the leather jacket.
"What happened Negan?" I growled. He turned, his eyes wide.
"Sugar, you're not going to like it." He sighed. There were men on the ground around him.
"Who...who killed them?" I questioned. Negan sighed and stepped to the side. Carl was on the ground with two Saviors holding him.
"...Carl?" I gasped.
"Sugar-" I put my hand up, stopping him from speaking.
"Are you that arrogant and stupid? You come in here and kill our people for what? What were you trying to do?" I barked.
"I wanted to kill him!" Carl growled looking to Negan. My face was burning hot I was so angry.
"I told you to be better! This isn't better!" I yelled. "Let him up. He won't hurt me." I told the Saviors. They looked to Negan who gave a nod. Carl stood and walked over to me.
"You shouldn't be so sure." Carl growled.
"You'd hurt your family?" I asked.
"You aren't family. You decided that when you left. You aren't my family!" He growled.
"Go home Carl. Before you do something stupid enough I can't save you."
"I don't need you to save me."
"Go. Home. Don't be like dad."I said. He screamed and threw his fist, connecting with my cheekbone. It sent me flying to the ground. He jumped on top of me, throwing hit after hit, until they finally were able to get him off.

Negan's POV

It all happened so fast. Like watching your worst nightmare in slow motion. I was scared. I was angry. I couldn't move fast enough to stop him. I should have stopped him.
"You son of a bitch!" I yelled. I brought Lucille up to beat the fucker.
"Negan!" Mary yelled, her voice cracking. I turned to see her still on the ground, Simon crouched next to her. There were tears in her eyes. Her hand was raised, there was blood. There was blood on her pants, on the ground around her. I dropped the bat and ran to her.
"It's okay. It's fine. Carson will fix it. Arat!" I screamed, unable to hide my emotions. She came running over.
"Help me get her to Carson." I said as I picked her up.
"Boss, the kid?" Simon called.
"Put that worthless piece of shit in a cell. I'll deal with him later." I growled as I ran inside. She was crying in my arms. It broke my fucking heart. I burst into the infirmary and laid her on the closest bed.
"What happened?" Carson gasped as he saw her, blood everywhere.
"She got the shit beat of her. Help her!" I yelled. Carson nodded and started working on her. He rolled a machine over put some goo on her belly. He moved the wand around staring at the screen intensely.
"Is...it..okay?" Mary croaked.
"It looks like you have a subchorionic hematoma."
"Fucking english!" I growled.
"It's a bleed between the uterus and the placenta. It's a bit big, but not the worst I've seen. It's what's causing the bleeding. It can resolve itself. But we need to watch that the bleeding does lessen and eventually stops." Carson said.
"So...she isn't having a miscarriage?" I asked, my voice trembling against my will.
"No. But if we're not careful, it can cause miscarriage." He said.
"Shit. Thank god." I sighed grabbing her hand. I looked to her, tears streaming down her face. Her cheek bruised and swollen. Blood falling from her eyebrow.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't stop him." I said shaking my head.
"No. I trusted him. It's my fault." She cried. Carson cleaned her up, gave her a few stitches and I took her back to bed. I laid her down on the bed and went to grab a bag of ice. I wrapped it in a towel and put on her cheek.
"It felt real." She murmured.
"What?"
"When...when I fell. When he hit me. It felt real. It felt like we were having a baby and about to lose it at the same time." A tear fell down her cheek. I sighed and hung my head. I thought I had lost everything in a moment. What the hell was I going to do with the kid?