Disclaimer—I don't own or make claim to the characters from The Walking Dead. I only own my original characters

I wake up with a start. I open my eyes but don't register anything except that it's still dark. I'm cocooned in a cave of warmth, but something's off, something's wrong. Why am I so warm, I remember being chilly as I went to sleep? As I start to more fully wake, I realize that someone's arm is wrapped around my waist. What the hell? I take a couple deep breaths and then turn my head as my eyes adjust to the dark. I feel breathing on my hair. But then I feel it, that spark, as I crane my neck to see, as my heart picks up the tempo and I realize that it's Rick. I relax, but then I tense again. No, I shouldn't feel safe in his arms. I shouldn't even be in his arms. What did he do, sneak up and cuddle? My mind boggles at this, why would he think I would welcome this? A little rebellious part of my mind tells me that I do welcome this, that it feels comforting and safe. It's been a long time since I felt safe. I squash it down. No. I have a mission today and Rick is the last one I want around while I tackle this one. I don't even have to ask to know he won't let me do this. In fact he's shot it down a few times already and was suspicious enough yesterday to make me promise I wasn't going to try to take Negan out, that we'd follow the plan and hit the outposts. Hence the reason I don't plan on asking for permission or let people know what I'm doing until it's too late to stop me. One way or another, Negan dies today.

I start to slide out of his arms very carefully. I freeze when he moves and starts muttering something under his breath. All I understand is, "Keep you safe," as he grabs me more securely, shifts me in his arms and wraps his arm tighter. Crap. Even in his sleep he's trying to protect me. Does he know what I'm planning, is that why he's wrapped himself around me, to keep me from executing my plan? I wait for what seems like forever, but is probably only 5 or 10 minutes. Finally he relaxes into deeper sleep and his hold loosens. This time I grab my pillow and stick it under his arm as I slide out. Success! I put my shoes on and stand up looking at him with his death grip on my pillow. I smirk thinking about the shock he's going to have when he wakes up. Serves him right for sneaking up on me in my sleep and then making it feel so good to be held. I shake my head to clear my thoughts and stride away, keeping an eye on the current sniper sentry. Luckily they are watching the Sanctuary, not me, and everyone else is sleeping. I'm able to sneak down the rooftop entry into the building below without notice.

I case the joint and pick a door on the opposite side from the Sanctuary that only has a few walkers around it. I manage to open it allowing only one to enter and then shut it without the others becoming aware. I take the walker down with a machete to the head and lay him out on the floor. I put my riot gear on then pull a poncho out of my backpack and drape it over my head. I try to get a grip on my gag reflex--I've never done well with really strong, disgusting, smells. There is a reason Dave was the designated kid vomit cleaner in our house. I just threw up in sympathy. I chop into the walker while holding my nose. Man, this is disgusting. Finally, I stick earplugs up my nostrils in desperation to keep me from gagging. Once I get it all chopped up, I reach inside to use the ooey, gooey insides to smear all over my poncho. I'm so glad I have gloves on, but it's still disgusting. By the time I'm done, I am covered in goo and even through the plugged nose, I can smell it.

OK. It's now or never. I truly smell disgusting, so let's hope they think so as well. I open the back door and start to make my way around the building. The two walkers there look at me curiously, but don't seem to be fazed. I triple check all my weapons, just to make sure and then lumber my way around the corner of the building. Luckily the sun is now rising, so I can see where I'm going. I turn another corner and then I can see it ahead of me. The trailer where Negan is hiding. That's my goal. It is more crowded now, more difficult to make my way toward the trailer. The dead are gathered around it--they know their next meal is inside. Several are on the stairs, wanting to get in. I push a couple out of my way as I climb the stairs and I open the door. When I swing it open, I swing with it and hit the side of the trailer before I drop down to the ground. Negan tries to grab it back, but several walkers are already pushing their way inside. I hear him yell, and then I hear some thwacks of his bat. Damn. I was hoping he'd lost the stupid bat. Ah well, even if I take some hits, he's going to die. I see walkers being mowed down as he runs down the stairs trying to make a run for it. I trip him and he goes down, but pops up again too fast. Damn, that would have been the easy way, for the walkers to have piled on him as he was on the ground. I guess it'll be the hard way then, I sigh in resignation. He whirls around to try and find what made him fall, but I've already blended to the other side of the crowd. I hear Rick shouting my name from the rooftop. He's always been an early riser. Well, I guess he's figured out what I'm doing then. Too bad he's too late to stop me.

Negan makes a run for it, hitting any walkers in his way and runs up the stairs to the dock. He makes it to the door and my heart is in my throat thinking he's going to get away, when he bangs on the door in frustration. I suppress a laugh. They locked him out. What did he really expect when he ruled in fear? They probably thought he was already dead after being out here overnight.

I avoid the stairs where walkers are already surging in pursuit and boost myself up the edge of the dock. Negan turns and sees me and realizes I'm not a walker. He walks closer, examining me. "Sandi? Is that you?" I nod at him and walk to the right putting him between me and the walkers coming up the stairs. "Darlin' what are you doing out here in this?" he asks. "Did you miss me so much you had to come back?" I glare at him and pull out my machete. I swipe at him and he retaliates with a blow to the side of the face. Ouch. I shake my head, shake it off. He smiles and says, " I guess not." I glare and pull out my knife. I throw it at him, landing it in his side, near his ribs. "That's for Dave," I growl. I have him riled up now, I can see the change in him. He's out for blood now, he knows I intend to kill him. How he thought I'd ever forgive him for Dave, I don't understand. He pulls the knife out and tosses it to the side. This time he punches me in the ribs and I can feel the pain radiate through me even through the riot gear. Hopefully he didn't break them--it'd suck to finally kill him only to die of a punctured lung. I hear Rick yelling some more. I have to tune him out, no distractions. Just as I think that, Negan lets loose with a roundhouse kick to my thigh. I go down hard, my head smacking on the hard concrete of the dock. I guess the helmet would have been a good idea.  I lie on my back as he walks over to me to gloat. "Well darlin'," he says, "we could have had something good. But you had to go thinking you could kill me. Haven't you learned yet? Nothing kills Negan." He smirks and swishes his bat around through the air. I look behind him and see the first walkers break free from the stairs. Good. Timing is everything. "Now I'm gonna have to kill you and that's a damn shame," he continues with a final swish of Lucille. I eye that bat. I hate that bat almost as much as I hate Negan. He pulls the bat back for the kill. I hear Rick yell "NO!" I pull out the gun I have hidden beneath my poncho and shoot Negan, twice, between the eyes. Immediately after, I see two more sniper shots hit him. His face is a mask of disbelief as he falls backwards into the walkers that are approaching. I lie there in relief that he's dead. He's really, truly, dead. I watch with dazed pleasure as the walkers descend on him and start to feast. Nobody deserves it more. "I got him Dave," I whisper.

After a few more moments of recovery, I roll over to the edge of the dock and look up to the sniper roof and meet Rick's eyes. I can see from here he's clenching his jaw so hard he's liable to break a tooth. He glares at me as I slowly lower myself off the edge of the dock and back into the horde of walkers. I begin to make my way out of the Sanctuary's yard and I see him abruptly turn away from the edge of the roof and walk away. I wonder what the chances are that I can make it out of here before he gets to me. I wince as a walker stumbles into me and bite my tongue to keep from yelling out in pain. Yeah, those chances are not good. I am not fast right now. On the other hand, I am surrounded by walkers so it's not like he can just waltz out here and grab me. I look toward the sniper building I am approaching. Rick, Daryl, Abraham and a few others are at the door already clearing a path for me. Right. Maybe he can just waltz out and grab me. I forgot we were talking about Rick Grimes here. I continue to stagger toward them and soon Rick grabs my hand and hauls me through the door after them, slamming it and then gently leaning me against it. I start to say, "Rick, I'm sorry, but I knew you wouldn't..." when he cuts me off, "Don't," he grinds out. "Just don't."

Before I could grasp his intent, Rick braces his hands on the door behind me, leans down and kisses me hard. The kiss was as forceful, demanding and as mind boggling as I'd imagined it would be. He didn't start soft, didn't coax his way inside my mouth and didn't tease me into returning the kiss. His lips moved with rough possession over mine, his tongue shoving past my trembling gasp to forage inside my mouth and stroke, lick and explore. To take. All I can do is hang on to his shoulders as the intense sensations sweep over me.

There was a buzzing in my head. When Rick finally pulls back, moving his hands down to grip my shoulders and I was allowed a breath, the buzzing resolved into voices. Daryl telling Rick to back up, that I needed air. Sasha telling Rick to help her get me to a chair. Maggie telling Rick that we need to get Dr. Carson to look me over. Maggie? When did she get here? I thought she was back at Hilltop. Rick still has a hard grip on my arms, but he looks at me and then looks at everyone surrounding us. He shushes them and the next thing I know, I'm in the air, he's carrying me over to a chair. He sets me down gently and Maggie is there supporting me and helping to pull the disgusting poncho off, trying to get a look at my wounds. It finally registers that he kissed me while I was covered with walker guts. Gross. I can see the front of him covered with it as he stands there staring at me like he's not sure what to do with me. Daryl gets his attention, telling Rick that we need to clean things up at the Sanctuary now, to end this. Rick nods. He gives me an strong look and says, "Stay put, let Maggie take care of you," and walks off with Daryl and the others to plan how to divert the walkers so they can take out the rest of the saviors inside the Sanctuary.

Sasha joins Maggie as they look me over. After several minutes of deep breaths, I tell them, "I'm actually not too bad, I think I mostly just had the wind knocked out of me." Maggie looks at me in disbelief and says, "I saw what he did to you, no way you are not hurting badly." I roll my eyes, "It was mostly bluster," I say. Sasha finishes probing around my ribs about now and says, "I don't think they're broken. You are very, very lucky, you know that?" I smile. Negan's dead and I'm alive to tell the tale. I know just how lucky I am. They wrap my ribs and that helps with the pain a lot. With them supported, it doesn't feel like a raging fire every time I take a breath...just a small campfire now. Maggie probes my head and decides I likely have a small concussion from the large goose egg she finds back there. They determine I shouldn't go to sleep anytime soon.

Soon there is activity in the yard. Loud music starts playing and then slowly drawing away. I wince and look at Sasha and she explains, "They call it the Fat Lady. They used it to draw walkers away but we found some saviors trying to get to it so they could save them. We took them out and took the Fat Lady. Now we can use it to finish this." I nod. Within the hour, most of the walkers are gone. The rest, the stragglers, are taken out by the team. Abraham is having a hayday cleaning up the courtyard. I start to walk around in the courtyard once things are safe. I need to ambulate and get my body functioning again and with my ribs wrapped, I can manage it. As Abraham passes me he compliments me on my very large lady balls. I just roll my eyes and chuckle, I'm glad someone doesn't look at me all disapproving. I see Rick stare at me from time to time, checking up on me I guess. I don't know what other trouble he thinks I can get into now. My mind keeps wandering back to that kiss. I don't know what I'm going to do with Rick. Without the war to concentrate on, I suspect he's going to be concentrating on me. I'm not sure I can withstand his attentions, and I seriously doubt he'll accept the non-relationship status I had decided on. I guess I should have talked to him before and explained my stance. I might have had a chance to get him to accept it before, but now, after that kiss...

My mind has been obsessed with revenge for Dave for so long, now it's free to think about other things and it keeps wandering back to him. Rick Grimes. The most intense man I've ever met. I make up my mind that if I get a chance, I need to think things through before we talk again. If he talks. After that kiss, I can't even predict what his next move is going to be. My hand wanders up to my lips. Rick glances my way and sees my hand. He smirks at me. My spine straightens with resolve. He may think he has me cornered, but I need to think before we talk. I need some space to figure things out and that kiss is one thing that needs figuring out. I start plotting as he and the crew enter the Sanctuary for the final confrontation. I hear gunshots and soon they all return, intact. I'm relieved when I see Rick stride into the courtyard, unharmed. It looks like the war is over and the saviors lost. Negan lost. Dave is avenged. Now, maybe I can let him go.

A/N Sandi is certainly determined on her course, isn't she? She stuck to the plan though...mostly. Rick is furious with her, and what about that kiss??!

I was just too excited to post both the war and Sandi's revenge. She finally has some closure for her husband's death. Thanks for reading, I really appreciate you all coming back for more. If you liked this chapter please consider voting and I would love some comments!