sweet caroline | n.

v. show and tell.

sweet caroline. chapter five.
SUMMARY ; when caroline has trouble falling asleep, negan is there to keep her company.

❝ i need another story
something to get off my chest
my life gets kinda boring
need something that i can confess ❝
——

CAROLINE WAS never a big fan of sleeping in the woods, on the cold hard ground, surrounded by nothing but trees and dirt, it was only as comfortable as you can imagine. she always woke with a stiff back and achy shoulders, every bone in her body seemed to crack when she stood in the morning after laying there for hours. the blonde had grown so used to being having goosebumps scatter her body and shivering throughout the night she's almost forgotten what it felt like to be warm and safe, tucked under a thick blanket and an actual pillow under her head instead of her folded arms.

the nights were worse than the days, caroline would've preferred walking for miles in the silence than laying in the woods. she was constantly on edge and glancing over her shoulder, she would never admit to being afraid — that was truly forbidden by her father — but that didn't stop the feeling from creeping up the pit of her stomach and into her chest throughout the night, it was truly horrible, she never got more than an hour of sleep.

ever since that night when one of the fellow whisperers had attempted to harm her — the one negan still shot daggers at whenever he laid eyes on — had just multiplied her fear by one thousand. not only did she have to worry about the dead coming to overrun them in their sleep, but now also the alive ones next to her. it was a never ending battle, she lived in constant fear, and caroline was so desperate to rid of the feeling, anything to make her feel safe again. she knew it was childish, she knew it was pointless to even think about ever feeling safe again.

"pssss... caroline? you awake?" caroline internally sighed and rolled her eyes behind her closed lids at the sound of his voice. of course negan was awake, she didn't think he was much of a fan of sleeping on the ground either, considering she rarely ever saw him asleep. she debated ignoring him, act like she was indeed not awake, and could only hope he would be quiet. but then second guessed herself, there was no point in lying there alone, there was no harm in talking to him if no one else was awake.

"yeah." caroline responded, giving him both the opportunity to leave it at that or continue a conversation. she heard rustling around behind her, she could tell it was coming from the right of her, she quickly popped up to see what it was, thus causing her heart rate to quicken at the thought of something — or someone — being there. instead she was met with the sight of negan simply switching his seating position, he tilted his head at the girl, eyebrows furrowing.

"sorry, 's just me, i didn't mean to scare you-"

"i wasn't scared," caroline quickly corrected him, that was a forbidden word in her father's eyes. she feared the consequences she would face if her father heard negan say what he just did, implying that caroline was indeed scared for a small moment. negan breathed out a heavy sigh through his nose, crossing his arms over his chest to lean back against the tree, he was sitting diagonal from the blonde, about seven-eight feet away. caroline copied his actions, instead she pulled both her legs up to her chest to wrap her arms around them as a breeze blew past.

"of course not," negan responded to her earlier claim, the blonde turned her head to look at him, she could only make out the outline of him through the darkness, but still she could tell he had that look on his face, the one that told her he was about to tell her exactly what he was thinking. "but let's just say for shits and giggles you were... there's nothing wrong with that. i'm scared sometimes, and i'm at least three times your size-"