My Safe Space

seven

the pounding in her head only intensified when her eyes opened. it was daytime, though it felt late. her body felt like it was hit by a semi truck. annabelle groaned and turned her head to the other side, attempting to work up the courage to sit forward.

she groaned as she tried to push herself up but failed. "don't do that, doc says to take it easy."

she looked to her other side to see negan sat in a chair by the bed with a book in his hands. black glasses that matched beautifully with his hair sat on the bridge of his nose. "you have a concussion, a few stitches to your head."

roman.

annabelle immediately shot forward without a care for all the pain and drowsiness. "where's roman?!"

"calm down, he's out on a walk with dwight." negan chuckled. though the small grin faded into an almost upset look. "anna.. what happened? why didn't you take the car i left you? i told you it was at the road, where the keys were."

"i was gardening with roman then they just.. came out from everywhere. the- the cabin the forest, the road. they were just everywhere. the car- you lied negan, there- there was no car." annabelle groaned as she clutched her pounding head.

when she looked at negan she saw the unmistakable look of rage both in his eyes contributed with the lip raise. without a word negan stood and reached for his bat before walking out of the room with it. she sighed and laid back, in and out of consciousness for what felt like hours but in reality was just minutes.

until the door opened and a large weight was thrown onto her. wet kisses in her face. she laughed as she fought roman to get out of her face. when he settled annabelle looked up to dwight who stood at the end of the bed laughing. "i was hoping to get him back before you got up but i thought he could use a good walk after yesterday."

"thank you," annabelle smiled at him before kissing on roman. that was when there was distant and muffled yells. she sat forward again in concern. dwight sighed and dropped his head. "what's going on? what is that?"

no response. "dwight, what's going on."

"negan." he sighed.

annabelle pushed herself to the edge of the bed and tried standing but immediately got dizzy. dwight grabbed her arm, helping her balance herself. "hey you really need to lay down you shouldn't be up."

"no," she wasn't budging. dwight sighed and walked to the closet grabbing the wheelchair. he helped her in and rolled her out of the room. toward the yells. more specifically, negans.

"i just don't understand," negans laugh echoed louder the closer they approached. "i don't understand.. what is so motherfucking hard about following my fucking directions!"

annabelle glanced back at dwight who continued to push her down the hall. his head as dropped as he listened to him. knowing what was going to happen. they finally reached the overtop of the main room where negan stood by a man on his knees in the middle of a big circle of his men.

annabelle closed her eyes when she heard a yell from the man before a loud wack. she kept her eyes squeezed shut as she heard the continuous beating of the man's head. when it went silent she opened her eyes only to look back down and meet negans eyes who stared back up at her. he sighed and handed off the bat before walking around and up the stairs.

without a word dwight backed up and negan took his spot. he rolled her toward a familiar room - his room. negan rolled her over to the couch where she pushed herself up. he whispered as he grabbed her arm to help. "hey, careful."

she paused too look at him in the eye while she stood. he had a glimmer of sadness radiate from him. "i left you a car."

"negan," she sighed but was cut off.

"no. i left you a fucking car and he fucking took it- he put you in harms way-" he cut himself off when he realized he was angering himself more. "this is why i left it- i didn't want anything to happen to you~"

"negan, it's okay. i know you left me a car. it's okay." annabelle attempted to calm him. "i'm okay."

negan sighed and rubbed his eyebrows before he placed a hand on her lower back. "come on, sit down you need to rest."

negan helped her sit and joined beside her. he stared at the stitches to her forehead. "how are you feeling annie?"

annabelle sighed and felt her eyes begin to water. she dropped her head in attempt to hide it but negan knew, he could feel her hurt. she rubbed her eyes and looked up at him but she couldn't fight the tears the flooded her eyes. "i-i was so scared.."

negan quickly wrapped his arms around her, clutching her head into his chest as she cried. he buried his face in her hair and squeezed his eyes closed. "it's okay, it's okay. i've got you."

"i'm not like you guys, i can't live in a world like this negan i'm scared al the time and-" she sobbed into his chest. "i never had to.. had to.."

"you never killed a walker," negan sighed and held her closer at the reminder of how scared she must have been. the thought of it broke his heart, it was one thing he never wanted her to feel. something he certainly wasn't going to let it happen again. no matter what it took. "annabelle, hey, look at me. look at me baby."

annabelle raised her head off his chest to look up at him. her pretty green eyes glossed over, her water line a dark red. "everything's okay now. you're safe, i'm not gonna let anything happen to you or the little beast over there ever again."

annabelle laughed when negan nodded over to roman who laid on the rug. she glanced back at him, examining his face. she whispered softly, "thank you negan.. for everything."

negan brushed a rolling tear from her cheek as he watched her eyes close and body relax. "can't let anything else happen to the pretty face now can i?"

she laughed and rested her head back into his shoulder. he smiled and ran his hand through her hair. "never thank me princess, never."

she smiled against his shoulder. "princess?"

"i feel like it fits how i feel about you." he whispered. annabelle's smile only grew wider before she hugged into him a little more. he reached to his left and pulled the blanket over her before placing a kiss into her head. "get some rest."