sweet caroline | n.

viii. body heat.

sweet caroline. chapter eight.
SUMMARY ; the temperature drops below freezing.

❝ i'm laughing on the outside, crying on the inside
cause i'm so in love with you ❝
——

CAROLINE AND the others had settled into a spot in the woods for the night, the usual nightly routine beginning to happen— the same few whisperers heading out to catch whatever they could for dinner, including negan. caroline was leaned back against a tree, legs pulled up and bent to cross over one another, hands folded in her lap, her eyes followed negan as he past in front of her to follow the others.

caroline quickly leaned forward and reached out to squeeze the back of his boot to catch his attention. negan turned around to face the girl as he continued his slow pace backwards, a small grin spreading onto his face at the sight of caroline sitting there with a half smile on her mouth. "i'll do the tents for us," the blonde offered, shrugging a shoulder. negan furrowed his eyebrows, a questioning expression washing over his face.

"you remember how i showed you?" he questioned, eyes narrowing though a playful grin was on his face, it would be an understatement to say he was surprised at how loud caroline was speaking to him, almost like the whole day of her avoiding him had never happened. caroline nodded her head. "mmh," she hummed, blinking at him as she awaited for his approval.

"okay, then you go do that and i'll go do this."

|

well this was unbearable. caroline has never felt more cold than she had in that moment, she had mostly grown numb in her feet, hands, nose and ears, the chilly gusts of wind that had been blowing straight through the thin material of the tent were not helping any. she had positioned herself on her stomach though pulled her legs up and bent them underneath her to lay half herself over on her thighs, her arms wrapped around them. her whole body had been shaking for hours, her skin was covered in goosebumps and her teeth were shivering together.

one thin blanket was not enough to provide any source of warmth throughout the middle of the night in the winter, it wouldn't have surprised caroline if she peeked outside and saw snow falling from the sky. her throat was so dry she couldn't swallow, and truthfully all she wanted to do was cry, it was purely inhumane to be sleeping in the woods in that time of the year. her wandering thoughts led her back to her father, truly he did not care any for his daughter to know she was out in that, no real father would've allowed it.

caroline buried her numb nose into the rough sleeve of her coat, even the material of her clothing had grown to be cold, the dirt ground she laid on top of was freezing beneath her and only added to her state. caroline couldn't help the sob that escaped her mouth when a gust of wind blew past and into the tent, she had curled up as much as she possibly could, nothing she was in power of doing was helping any, all that the blonde could do was sit in absolute torture until morning. caroline would've done anything if it meant bringing some sort of warmth— and feeling—back into her body.

"caroline?" the tent unzipped quickly and a familiar voice called out for her. the girl was purely too afraid at how much worse her physical state would get if she dared to move from her curled up position. she shook her head against her arm with her eyes squeezing shut, and caroline couldn't help the quiet cry that left her lips when the wind blew by once again though this time it went straight into the tent due to the opening.

"fuck, sweetheart. c'mere, c'mere, it's alright," negan immediately reacted at the sound of caroline crying, he had never heard it before and frankly he was not a fan of it, it broke his heart to know she was out in that, she didn't deserve any of this, and if negan could help just a tiny bit he was going to do just that. negan entered the tent without a second thought, zipping it shut behind him, he made sure to lay a hand on her back first to alert his presence. the fact that caroline didn't move one muscle from her position and simply continued to miserably cry into her arms, showed him how bad this was. negan's previous thoughts of how freezing he himself was somehow completely vanished at the sight of caroline, she was his priority in that moment, he couldn't have cared less about himself.