Don't Fear The Reaper (R. Grimes & D. Dixon)

57

Their quiet but tense meal was brought to a halt by arguing outside. Negan sighed, tossing his napkin on the table, waltzing out, only briefly coming back to get his jacket. After everything was put away, they walked outside to see negan and Spencer playing pool in the middle of the street. The members of Alexandria slowly moved to form a half-circle to watch.

"That's actually what I came to see you about. I want to talk to you about rick." Kit's eyes narrowed, crossing her arms, wanting nothing more than to wring the pathetic man child's neck. Negan tried to hide his smile, seeing her attitude out of the corner of his eyes as he bent over, lining up his shot.

"Talk to me, spencer. Talk to me about rick." He said, hitting the cue, the balls scattering, stripe sinking.

"I get what you're trying to do here, what you're trying to build-" Spencer continued to try and suck up as negan played away, the stripes on the green steadily dwindling. "- I'm not saying I agree with your methods, but I get it. You're building a network. You're making people contribute for the greater good. It makes sense. But you should know that rick grimes has a history of not working well with others."

Negan hummed and knocked another ball but did not sink it "is that so?" He asked, kissing his teeth as Spencer moved to take his turn. Kit knew Spencer was a coward, but being a snake made her blood boil.

"Rick wasn't the original leader here. My mom was. She was doing an excellent job of it. Then she died not long after rick and kitten showed up. Same with my brother and dad." Kit clenched her jaw, shaking her head, slowly walking down the steps of the house. Her actions were noticed by negan and arat, who shifted to see the now known loose cannon better. Negan crossed his arms lazily, holding his glass of whiskey. Thru all of his probably unhealthy focus researching kit, he learned from her reaction that Spencer's claims were not 100% true, but at the minimum, he would meet her wrath when the saviors left.

"So everything was peachy her for what years? And then rick and my wife show up, and suddenly you're an orphan? That is the saddest story I've ever heard. Isn't it, sweetheart?"

"Yeah. Real sad story." She sassed, not taking her eyes off Spencer, who harshly swallowed. He had thought she would have been with rick and Daryl, which clearly showed in his demeanor.

"Good thing for you ricks not in charge anymore," negan sang

"Doesn't matter. His egos out of control. He'll find a way to screw things up, try and do things his way, and take over. Or he'll use kit to do it. That's what he did with my mom. That's what he'll do again." Spencer pressed, swallowing his fear

Arat held up the pool triangle, keeping kit from walking any closer. Negan smiled behind his glass, stepping closer to Spencer, watching both women stare each other down. He could tell the weaker man was only talking because he thought the trio was gone. He saw the shift in him when he saw kit.

"What exactly are you proposing to be done about that?" Negan asked

"I am my mother's son. I can be the leader she was. That's what this place needs. That's what you need."

Negan smiled a little "so I should put you in charge. That's what you're saying?" Taking another drink

"We'd be much better off," Spencer said confidently.

"You know I'm thinking, Spencer. I'm thinking about how rick threatened to kill me, how he clearly hates my guts. But he is out there right now gathering shit for me to make sure I don't hurt any more of the fine people here. He is swallowing his hate and getting shit done. That takes guts." He drops the pool stick on the table, bouncing. "And then there's you. The guy who waited for Rick to be gone thought kitten was gone, so he could sneak over and talk to me. To get me to do his dirty work so he could take ricks place. So I gotta ask if you wanna take over, why not just kill rick yourself and just take over?" Negan moved to stand only inches away from Spencer, who was looking between kit and negan, stumbling over his words, backpedaling