sweet caroline | n.

xi. medicine.

sweet caroline. chapter ten.
SUMMARY ; caroline gets sick, alpha unexpectedly rewards negan

❝ he don't wanna know me
said he made the big mistake
of dancing in my storm ❝
——

CAROLINE WOKE early that morning with a burning sensation in her nose and a pounding against her head, she winced as she brought her hand up to grasp at her forehead to try and dull the pain though it didn't work much. she sneezed against her sleeve into her elbow and the action only caused her head to throb even more so. she rubbed her face against the cool fabric she was pressed against, almost forgetting it belonged to negan's jacket, hoping that maybe it would soothe some of the pain.

"don't be wiping your snot on me," negan jokes, one of his hands reaching up to rest at the back of her head, practically cradling her against his chest. caroline lets out a small whine of complaint, her eyes squeezing shut when she sneezed for the second time. negan frowned, his head tilting down to look at the girl in concern.

"hey, look at me," he placed two of his fingers underneath her chin and tilts her head up. caroline does so but keeps her eyes closed, she was too afraid it would worsen her headache even more if she were to open them. caroline reaches up and wraps her hand around his wrist, clinging onto him. negan brushed the baby hairs away from her face as he examined her, it was clear her nose was more red than ever, and her cheeks were flushed. if she were to be getting sick, it wouldn't surprise him.

"your head hurt?" he questions with a voice of concern, caroline can only respond with a small nod. there's not much they can do, he was positive the whisperers didn't keep any medicine laying around nor was he sure if he would even be allowed to try and find some, which unfortunately meant this was something else caroline would just have to suffer with, just another thing to add to the list that made negan want to speed up his plans.

"h-hurts here too," caroline manages to speak out as she scrubs at her nose with the back of her hand. the older man frowns, then exhales out a heavy sigh. negan begins to rub gentle circles on both of caroline's temples to try and help ease the pain in her head, deciding they would have to make do without any sort of medicine. the blonde slumps forward into him, resting her forehead against his chest.

as she laid there in pain, caroline can't help but dread the rest of the day, she knew it was getting later into the morning by the way it wasn't completely dark outside anymore, she could see shadows of the trees lingering above the tent, meaning it was only a matter of time before negan had to leave to avoid being caught— again. she didn't want him to, she didn't want to get up, what she wanted was to lay there with him for the rest of the day, but that was clearly not possible, that was something caroline doesn't think she'll ever get.

"y-you should go, i don't want you to get in trouble," caroline sniffles, her voice sounds hoarse and it almost makes negan wince, he almost misses what she really said since he was too busy focusing on the sound of her voice, and how much more it only made his concern grow. it hurts caroline's throat and causes her head to throb even more to speak, but her worries for his well being were too high to keep quiet. despite his want to stay and provide at least a tiny bit of comfort to the blonde, he knows she was right.

"i'll check up on you throughout the day, so stay where i can see you," negan quietly speaks as he leans down and kisses the top of her head, letting his lips linger for a small moment. caroline nods, her eyes slipping shut as her one hand squeezed around his wrist and the other held onto the hem of his jacket. if she wasn't in so much pain and she didn't feel as nauseous as she did, caroline would've expressed how much it meant to her for him to worry about her being sick.