Last One Fighting ~ Negan Fanfic

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Negan

The walk back took us hours. Jo was wound tighter than a top. Every little sound had her spinning around with a knife up. She was like having a damn guard dog out here, nothing was getting near us without her noticing it first. But as useful as it seemed, I recognized it for the problem it truly was for her. She couldn't turn it off. She was trapped in this constant state of hyper awareness, always expecting the next attack whether it was real or not. It made me want to go back to Woodbury and kill that bastard again. Only I wouldn't have been as merciful as Jo had been.

I let her lead. I wasn't great in the woods, but it was pretty straight forward. She moved parallel to the road. After a mile I wondered why we didn't go back to the road but she seemed determined and I wasn't about to argue with her. She was still chewing over what I had said about her Uncle. And all it was going to cost me was sleep for her to take the extra time to think it through. She was smart. Smarter than she gave herself credit for or I even realized at first. She was so overwhelmed with what that bastard had beat into her I needed her to feel safe enough to start using her brain instead of her instincts.

Merle Dixon was another problem I was going to have to deal with. I hadn't considered him in all of this. I generally considered him too smart to get mixed up in a coup. He knew a good thing when he saw one, but Jo had brought up a fair point. Whoever was on gate duty had to have either been involved or incompetent. Either way I was going to have to have a talk with Dixon once we got back. The trick was going to be getting Jo to back off enough for me to be able to have a conversation with her uncle. If she thought I was posing a threat to her family in anyway she was going to be a real pain in my ass.

In the trees it was so dark it was nearly impossible to see our feet. Jo stumbled over a branch in front of me and nearly went down. I reached forward and caught her with one hand on her elbow and placed a steadying hand on her low back. She jerked away from me like she sometimes did when I surprised her. As she scrambled back away from me her foot slipped and she pulled me off balance and we both fell. I twisted around so I wouldn't land on top of her. So it was my back that caught the branch. It crunched under me and I started to groan a second before she landed on top of me, knocking the air out of my lungs.

I grunted and coughed. "Well this-" I started wryly, but when I looked up I could see how wide her eyes were in the dark. She had gone completely still in the way she did when she was fighting the demons in her head.

It had seemed like she was doing better. Like she would let me help her. Right up until she found out about my wives. I wanted to know who had told her so I could kick their ass. Not that I was gonna lie to her, but I wanted to get her settled in and be on the road to recovery before I told her about them. And it wasn't just because I wanted her. I mean I did, but also because she had been willing to let me help her before and now she wasn't. She needed to trust someone, and as far as I could tell she hadn't felt safe with anyone but me. Now she was so busy trying to pretend she didn't feel what she did that she didn't realize she was shooting herself in the foot in her recovery.

"Jo," my voice came out low and gravely from lack of sleep.

She was still frozen, her eyes wide. I could feel the slight tremble to her muscles that reminded me of a deer about bolt. But Jo didn't run. She didn't have that in her anymore. Her only reaction was to fight. It was why she didn't think she was safe to be around other people. But the truth of it was Jo didn't want to hurt anyone. She could. Lord knew she could, but she didn't want to. Which was more than most of those assholes I worked to keep in line back home.