sweet caroline | n.

iv. no tears.

sweet caroline. chapter four.
SUMMARY ; negan has seen some pretty awful things in his life, but nothing quite like this.

❝ it's time to be a big girl now
and big girls don't cry ❝
——

caroline didn't sleep a wink that night, not after that incident, and she knew negan didn't either, but unlike her he didn't hide it. he sat straight up against the tree right next to her, arms crossed over his chest, his muscles never relaxed. caroline laid on her side for the rest of the night, she didn't move once, though her eyes never closed and she never grew tired. she wished negan hadn't told, her father and alpha already think she's so weak, this will only add to it.

"n-negan?" caroline's voice cracked due to not being used in hours. the man turned his head to switch his attention onto her instead of the unconscious whisperer slumped on the ground across from him. "yeah?" the man responded, his voice sounded hoarse, either from lack of water or from all the yelling he did earlier he wasn't too sure, maybe both.

"i'm sorry."

"what the hell are you sorry for?" negan spoke as soon as the two words left her mouth. his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes narrowed as he awaited caroline's response. the blonde shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut as tears threatened to leave her eyes. she could not keep crying, she'd be in so much trouble if her father or alpha found out.

"caroline, that was not your fault. how could you possibly think that any of this was your damn fault?" negan spoke since caroline wouldn't. the girl didn't respond, she was too afraid she would start crying if she tried. the area fell silent, making the birds beginning to chirp more audible. the sun began to rise, lighting up the campsite.

"thank you. for stopping him." caroline said, as she remained laying on her side. negan licked his lips, eyes falling shut as he slumped his head back against the tree behind him. it saddened him to know that all of the people in the young girls life had been so nasty to her that she felt the need to thank negan for doing such a human decency act.

"don't thank me, blondie."

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negan watched the whisperer that he should've killed the previous night rise up from his position on the ground, with his face throbbing and the events not kicking in his memory yet, he slipped off his walker mask to see what was happening, though when he saw negan death glaring him from a few feet away he remembered what had happened. he watched the man stand to his feet, and walk away. negan will kill him after this is all over with, he was sure of it.

the group was traveling that day, since there were absolutely no animals in the area of the woods they had been staying in, they were forced to go look elsewhere. negan pretended not to notice how closely caroline was beginning to hang around him, never more than one person in between them at all times, he was always within her eyes, and vice versa.

negan didn't trust the whisperers, not with himself and surely not with caroline. she deserved someplace better, a safer group with actual people that cared about her, most of all she deserved a warm bed to sleep in. negan had noticed that caroline was the only one in the group that carried a backpack, it was small, but still the only belonging that belonged to anyone. he knew her mask was in there — which he was still dying to see — but wasn't too sure about anything else.