Irredeemable ⇝ Negan

2 ⇝ Adjust

"Dwight, you're dismissed," Negan ordered, his harsh leader mask back on. "Simon go see if you can find this girl some clothes that won't fuckin' fall off her." Both men nodded and headed from the room at the same time, leaving a nervous Nicole on her own with Negan.

"Eat," Negan commanded, motioning with one hand to the food that was now starting to get cold. Guilt started to eat away at Nicole as she picked up the plate and settled it back on her lap. She didn't want to waste food. After eating a few forkfuls, she put the plate back on the table. She hadn't even dented the mountain that Dwight had loaded her up with.

"Fuckin shit," Negan sighed as he looked at Nicole then at the food. "What the hell did they do to you?" She didn't answer, assuming it was a rhetorical question. Ezekiel taught her very quickly that it was wrong to speak out of turn with lessons she wouldn't soon forget. A shudder ran down her spine at the memories and Negan caught sight of it. He rubbed his scruffy chin for a moment, studying Nicole intensely before speaking again.

"How did you end up on the kings bad side?" It was a simple question he hoped she'd answer. She didn't appear very talkative, for reasons Negan fully understood, but regardless, he was trying to pry into her and see what he could get out.

"It's a," Nicole sighed as she thought about it. "It's a long story."

"I got time," Negan leaned back in his seat, picking up a bottle of rum that was sitting on the end table and tacking a swig directly from the bottle before smirking at Nicole. "I just wanna know all about little miss fuckin' mute." When his words didn't coax her into talking, he pressed again.

"Anything you say, stays just between us. Don't worry, I won't run off and tell the king what his little fuckin servant had to say," he leaned forward in his seat, swirling the bottle of alcohol in one hand as he met her eyes with a serious look, his playful smile fading. "You can trust me."

"My whole life," Nicole swallowed hard, staring down at her hands as she tried to find the nerve to keep speaking. "I've been told I can't."

"By who? The man who beat you everyday? The people who turned their fuckin backs on you? I don't know if you noticed but those aren't exactly the kind of people you should fuckin trust," Negan reasoned and Nicole simply nodded, trying not to wind up on his bad side too.

"My dad," Nicole took a deep breath, trying to steady her breathing and hoping that Negan wouldn't kill her once she told him. "My dad is King Ezekiel." She stopped speaking, raising her eyes and searching for some sort of negative reaction on Negan's face. Instead, he simply looked curious and motioned for her to continue explaining.

"Not my real dad. My mom was married to him before all this," Nicole sighed, picking at her nails as she thought about what to say next. "She cheated on him and got pregnant with me and then ran off with my biological dad left me with Ezekiel."

"So he hated you cause you weren't his kid?" Negan inferred and Nicole simply nodded. "He hated you so much that he would beat you? And have his fuckin community beat you?" Again, Nicole nodded as her response. "Jesus." He whispered, rubbing his hand over his beard as he thought. Nicole reached forward and grabbed the cup of water that was on the table, taking a small sip as she let Negan think. She didn't want to speak out of line.

"How long?" Negan asked, peering at her curiously.

"How long what?" She asked, genuinely confused as to what he was referring to.

"How long has he treated you like shit?" Negan clarified. Nicole thought for a moment, staring at her hands as she tried to work through the numbers in her head.

"Since I was old enough to walk," she got a distant look in her eyes as she responded, clearly remembering something that had happened to her. Negan stayed quiet as she went through whatever had happened to her and when he saw her eyes start to well with tears, he sighed.