𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐋 𝐆𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒 [ 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬 ] ✘

Call Me Lucy [Pt. 3]

Note: Finally the last part to my Call Me Lucy one shot trilogy lol ;) Sorry this is posted so late btw - I was busy watching Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets XD

3 days. 3 whole days. 72 complete hours since I'd last seen Carl. I'd scream if I'd had any voice left to - I'd done that in just the first few hours after dad had locked me in my room. A frustrated sigh emitted from my lips as I lay in my bed, staring out the window, my fingers absentmindedly playing with the hem of my The Neighbourhood tank top. I wonder what Carl was doing right now - if he was thinking about me.

In all honesty, he was probably disgusted with me. For all the lying, the deceit. He probably never even wanted to see me again. Maybe that was for the best, though. Maybe I shouldn't ever see him again. It was best for the both of us. 

Dad surely agreed with that logic, at least. When he'd discovered that my reasoning for sneaking out all the time had been to see "that one-eyed kid", he was livid. Because apparently after "all his examples" and "all he taught me", I should "know better". Yeah, right. He'd never "taught" me anything. I'd grown up learning on my own. 

Gosh, it wasn't as if he'd actually been there for the first five years of my life anyway. Mom had died when I was just 2 so after that the foster system got me for the next three years. Negan had barely been in the picture when I was born. In fact, he'd still been married to his first wife before meeting my mom. Somehow though, he'd found out what had happened after mom passed and came to get me. I still remember meeting him in fact. 

A tall man with dark, slicked back hair and a leather jacket on. He didn't look like "dad" material at all. But since legally and biologically he was my closest living relative, they had to let him take me. Five years down the road, this apocalypse began. And life officially changed. For all of us. 

Dad became in charge of an expanding group of people, "married" a lot of women, and we all settled in a place we called the Sanctuary. But it had always been more of a prison in a lot of ways. That's why I'd felt so drawn to these Alexandrians, I suppose. They weren't just a community - they were a family. And for the first time in my teenage life, I'd found a boy my own age that I'd developed a crush on. And gosh, I missed him now like crazy - his laugh, his smile, his soft brown hair, and bright blue eye... 

Everything about him in fact. Night fell faster than expected and soon, my room was enveloped in darkness. Oh, had I forgot to mention dad cut all power in my room? No? Well, he did - that jerk! Just as my eyes and finally adjust to it though, I heard a light ping in the stillness. 

My head shot up and I waited with baited breath for the sound to come again. Ping! There it was again! Slowly, I slid off my purple satin sheets and padded over to my window where I thought the ground had come from. But the figure standing down below looking up at me made my heart leap into my throat. Carl. 

Quickly, I unlatched the window and pushed it open.

"Carl! What are you doing here?!" I hissed, secretly glad to see him.

"What? I can't hear you! I'm coming up!" he whisper-yelled up to me and I sighed, shaking my head as he began to scale the wall.

His Sheriff's hat threatened to slip a couple of times but after a few minutes, he'd finally made it to the top. As soon as his boots hit the carpet, he'd pulled me into his arms, shocking me completely.

"Um...Carl?" I asked him in confusion, my heart beating fast in my chest.

I thought he'd be mad - so mad he wouldn't even want to speak to me. I was well aware of dad's extra-curricular activities and just who it had cost his group so I wouldn't have blamed Carl one bit. But as he pulled back from me and his forehead rested against mine with that lone blue eye gazing back at me, I knew I'd been forgiven. A sigh escaped his mouth as he held me, warm breath emitting into my dark hair.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" he asked me softly.

Hot tears pricked my eyes but I blinked them back as he faced me once more.

"I was scared. I thought...I thought you wouldn't want to see me anymore if you knew..." I admitted, my eyes flicking down to my shoes.

Suddenly, two fingers slipped under my chin and Carl forced me to meet his gaze.

"I would never judge a person by their parents' actions. You should know me better than that by now," he said, his voice deep but gentle as he held me tightly in his embrace.

Then all of a sudden, his mouth was on mine - lips soft as rose petals and a velvet tongue that tasted like cotton candy. But just as soon as it happened, he pulled away and passed an empty bag to me. I glanced down at it briefly, eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"What's this?" I asked him.

"I thought that was obvious," he replied with a shrug, "I...I want you to run away with me,"

"But...but what about your dad? Your family?" I stuttered out.

He shot me a slightly rueful smile, his hand finding mine in the darkness as he stepped closer to me.

"I talked it over with dad. I didn't tell him who's daughter you were but I told him about you...about the way I feel about you...and he understood. He understood it completely. He protect his girl and...I have to protect mine," he told me softly, pushing a strand of hair gently behind my ear.

Shock radiated through me but slowly, a smile crept onto my face and I nodded to him earnestly, agreeing to go. Within minutes, I'd packed a bag full of the belongings I had worth taking with me and scaled the wall with him. We were far off into the distance when the lights began to come on at the Sanctuary. I was far away from daddy's grasp now. Now he couldn't catch me. Carl held onto my hand as we trekked through an open field, his fingers intertwined with mine.

"You know, as much as I hate Negan for all the things he's done...I think it's nice that he named his most prized possession after you, Lucy," he told me, shooting me a small smile as he did.

I stopped dead in my tracks then, releasing his hand from my grip, "Um, Carl..."

"Well, I mean, yeah, it's still a bit twisted but-" he started to say but I cut him off.

"Carl," I said again, more forcefully.

With only the moon overhead to light up his features, he finally turned around to face me.

"What?" he asked in confusion, completely dumbfounded.

"...I was named after the bat."