ELEANOR . NEGAN

110.

Carol deemed her Commonwealth life to be as normal as she could get it but trouble always followed, especially her. It was like she was two-timing a normal life and then a super secret one but she couldn't help it. Not when the kids in front of her did their school work on the dining table as she flipped through secret photos of the upcoming problem which was: Hornsby.

There was something sinister about the man and she clocked on as soon as she seen him. Just his perfectly pressed clothes and weird ass smile said enough for her. Even when she first arrived and they played the stupid advert... she knew something was up.

So she figured it out in secret... or as secret as she could. With Rosita looking after Coco and the rest AWOL, she let herself dwell in the problems while Eugene and Connie worked on their own. It all interlinked one way or another, she was just waiting for that bomb to drop.

And then her door echoed with a loud urgent bang, three following in a sequence. It overtook the cheering and the squalor of the outside protestors.

Carol went wide eyed and looked over at the table of kids. They must've known something was wrong because they scattered their homework and rushed to the back room, quiet and slow like this was a normal occurrence for a child. FYI, it shouldn't be.

When the room was clear, Carol took careful steps towards the wooden door... quiet but agile and as soon as she went to turn the knob, someone spoke.

"Pizza delivery!"

What. The. Fuck.

It was strange and familiar because it wasn't an American accent, or anything of the sorts and she knew she didn't order food after her sour attempts at blueberry pancakes. But the words and the voice was all too normal and safe for her to even register anything was wrong.

Yet, she still kept the door shut.

"Fuck me sideways, Carol, open the fucking door."

No fucking way.

Carol opened the door as soon as those words left the opposing persons throat. In that specific sentence, she knew who it was.

"Eleanor?"

She smiled brightly, teeth on show that somehow looked whiter beneath her tainted and fucked body. Carol gleamed back and carefully looked to the man beside her — Negan.

Carol spared one look on him before she dived forward and eloped Eleanor in a bone-crushing hug. "Oh, my God." She hummed into her matted hair, not caring if her fresh clothes might get dirtied. "You're back."

"I'm back."

Negan huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm also back—"

"Shut up." They chorused before looking back at each other.

"How- How did you even get here?" Carol mused, quickly ushering them inside the spacey flat.

Elle shrugged and looked around the room like it was heaven. It made her miss her old Alexandria house, and the painted door for Maya, and all the things inside that just made it home. But she pushed away those thoughts and focused back on Carol.

"Mercer helped us in." She looked over at Negan. "That is his name, right?"

He smirked. "Right on, doll."

Carol mentally cringed. "I have not missed that." She then pulled back the chairs of the round wooden table and got everyone to sit down. "What the hell happened, Elle? You look—"

"Like shit, I know." Elle scratched her eyebrow and deflated into the seat. "I had a run in with a crazy blonde."

"Leah?"