No Sanctuary For Old Men [18+] |Negan| ✔️ Complete

LIII • Realization

The crack of a gunshot startled Daphne from retreating into her mind, and Jared shrieked. His body flopped off of her, and she took the opportunity to ram her bound feet into his stomach. He clutched his shoulder, hand stained red with waterfalling blood. He shakily raised his wounded arm, gun in hand, and then his forehead exploded.

Daphne flipped over to see Daryl standing there, in all his redneck glory, staring down at her with something resembling concern on his face.

"You okay?" He knelt and pulled the gag down, and she nodded jerkily, trying to roll forward to hide her exposed breast. He took pity on her and peeled off his t-shirt, slipping it over her head. He sat her up and pulled the garment down over her torso, armholes hanging limply due to her secured hands beneath.

"Thanks," she said quietly, and he nodded, pulling her skirts back down to cover her legs.

"Who was he?" Daryl asked gruffly.

She gritted her teeth. "An asshole from one of our outposts." She kicked the corpse, happy he was taken care of, but a bit disappointed she hadn't been able to dispatch him herself. Also, with him dead, she had no idea where Letty was, or if she needed help. She didn't want to convey this to Daryl in case he took it upon himself to murder her while she was passed out. At least this way she had a chance of waking up before getting eaten, maybe.

She realized she had an opportunity here, and blinked a few times, taking in a ragged breath. Her captor knelt and searched her face, and she could see the trepidation there. He hated her, hated everything she stood for, hated the Saviors, but the crux of this matter was that she was a woman who had just been almost assaulted. And as much as Daphne had no nice things to say about Alexandrians, she had a gut feeling that this man wouldn't be one to shrug off something like that.

"Sorry." She hung her head, avoiding his gaze to hide behind her hair. "You don't owe me anything."

"No, I fuckin' don't," he rasped, clenching a fist. "And it was one of your Saviors that just tried to rape you."

She fought back a snarl. Jared was no fucking Savior.

"I know," she said instead, taking a deep breath and raising a big-eyed gaze to his. "And I know how fucked up that must seem to you. That I'm so loyal to an organization like that. But they're not all like that. Negan isn't like that. We're a family. We take care of each other. I know you understand that, because that's what you're doing too. That's why you're okay kidnapping me but not okay assaulting me. Because you're trying to take care of your family. I get it, Daryl. I do."

"Shut up." He pulled the gag back up over her mouth and she cried out, trying to keep him from silencing her. But the look in his eye was only annoyance. He'd seen through her facade, smart little fox.

Daphne grunted and leaned back against the tree he'd tried to prop her on. The worst part was, it wasn't a total facade. She really could see the situation from the perspective of Alexandria, even Hilltop. She knew everyone was just doing their best to protect those closest to them.

In this world it wasn't a battle of good versus evil, but who had the biggest army to defend their nearest and dearest.

She knew she had the biggest army at her back, though she wasn't sure of the size that Negan was going to be rolling in with. Would he have his lieutenants with him? Just Arat? Was Simon okay to be limping about?

She chewed on the gag with worry. Were they really going to just waltz into Hilltop? Would Jesus just put a bullet in his head as soon as he came through the gate?

A vision of Negan's beautiful head exploding through the center of the forehead flashed through Daphne's mind and took the wind out of her. Her chest constricted and her breathing stopped and her whole body felt cold and dead. It was as if time slowed, and she didn't have to fake the moisture brimming up over the bottom of her eyelids this time when she blinked.

A rivulet of salty tears spilled over her cheek and hit the fabric around her face. A ragged intake of breath sent oxygen to her fear-laced brain and she realized in that moment that the most important thing in her world right now was Negan. She didn't know how it had happened, or when, or really why, but from the pain in her chest and the crippling worry crushing her spirit, this was definitely something more than just a lieutenant caring about her boss.

Daryl's gaze softened the tiniest fraction, but he simply stared at her as if unsure of what to do about it.

She pretended there wasn't a shirtless redneck squatting in front of her bound form in the dirt as she cried, terrified that her boss and lover was waltzing right into a trap. But she needed to pull herself together. She needed to do something—anything—to help the Saviors and their fearless leader.

And that moment of empathy from her prisoner-turned-captor was just the spark that she needed.