Honey's night was uneasy and she barely slept, she checked the little watch that Simon had left on her pillow every few agonizing minutes, counting down the seconds until 2 AM, time seemed to be moving like a slug.

She restlessly tossed and turned on her little mattress as anxiety nibbled away at her like a termite, everytime a shadow walked past the door she stilled and her hackles instantly went up, and she had ripped a sharp spring from the bed for protection, ready to plunge it into anyone that dare invade the room.

She knew it was too risky to accept Simon's help, she knew that his retribution would rain down like hell fire on Alexandria, she would never risk her friends lives for her own comfort, and besides, she wasn't being tortured, she wasnt hungry, or cold, or thirsty and she knew the value of her situation...she was the girl on the inside, closest to Negan, and she was quickly realising she had the chance to wrap him around her little finger, afterall, she had tried to kill him, slapped him, spat at him, threatened him, rejected and defied him, yet she was still breathing.

She turned on her side for the 100th time, the slight sting between her thighs reminded her of that rough time with Negan. It had felt so good, and she laughed at the cliche when she thought something so wrong could feel so right at the time.

But she hated herself for enjoying it, and for giving in to his words and persuasions, no one had ever shown her what it was like to receive that amount and kind of attention, the small matter of survival shattering any chance at a cozy relationship with a man. Arms had only ever been pulled around her to keep her warm or for consolation when she felt overwhelmed, so familial and platonic. And she felt aggrieved at the world for taking the chance away from her and putting her in the situation where a man like this was the first to dish it up.

It'd be so easy to just give into it, I'm sure he'd do it again if you just asked, if you just said yes...Shut up! Over my dead body. Getting absolutely nothing is better than taking it from him! You could never pay the price, a few moments of bliss for a lifetime of misery, is that what you want? Don't forget how he's treated you, what he did.

The morning light flooded in through the little window, but Honey was already up and dressed before there was a knock at her door, wiping away the sleep from her eyes and tying up her laces and hair.

She opened it up hesitantly, the spring clutched behind her back to see Dwight standing outside with Daryl's crossbow slung over his shoulder.

"Dwight! Just the face I wanted to see first thing in the morning". She chirped, giving him a smirk and throwing the spring onto the mattress.

"Mornin' Sleeping Beauty! Good to see you're up and dressed, I bet you're so used to sleepin' on cold hard floors by now!" Dwight taunted as the sound aggravated her ears.

She had always been a Morning person, usually getting up before the sun to ready herself for long days and even longer nights. But her current state of insomnia made her want to punch Dwight in the face and crawl back into bed.

"Jesus, Dwight...what the fuck y'want." A profoundly tired Honey asked, face totally unimpressed and trying her best to seem impassive.

"To braid your hair and swap stories about our crushes". Dwight deadpanned as he chewed his gum, his attempt at humor lost on her as she sighed.

"Very good, Dwight...You know you should try stand up comedy, you have a habit of gettin' people to laugh AT you." She shot back as nonchalantly as possible whilst observing her chipped fingernails.

"Very smart, Honey...and I'm here to take you to the cafeteria. That's where you'll be slavin' away today, hope you enjoy dish soap and crusty bowls, Cinderella. Now come on...I've got better things to do than babysit your sorry ass".

"Like what, D? Walking behind Negan and holdin' his balls up?" She couldn't help blow an amused puff of air from her nose and smile.

He slid his crossbow to his other shoulder in frustration and rubbed his eyes, before pulling her out of the doorframe and slamming the door.

"Get MOVIN'!" He shouted and held up his hand in threat of a smack, but she knew he wouldn't dare as she started walking in the direction he pointed.

Honey and Dwight strode through the long corridors as her eyes took in the chipped paint and the curious stares of the people she passed. A slow grin spread across her face as she grabbed Dwight's arm, linking it with her's. "Follow the yellow brick road if I only had a pair of balls!" Honey playfully skipped along, laughing at her own joke as Dwight roughly ripped his arm from her's and pushed her into the wall. "Shut the fuck up, Alexandria. You look like one of those flyin' Monkey's, you're not in Kansas anymore! So behave!"

"No shit, Dorothy!" Honey deadpanned, Dwight tried to keep his lips straight but Honey beamed when she saw him stifle a smile.

Her nose began to sniff food and her stomach started to grumble, a light hum of voices like locust's on the wind drifted closer the further she walked.

When she arrived at the cafeteria her stomach dropped. It was huge and filled with little tables that looked straight out of a high school, a long service bar taking up all of the left-hand side, with a bustling kitchen tucked behind it and a deliciously tempting smell tickled her nostrils.

"Go talk to a woman named Ellis. She's the head of the kitchen, she'll find a job for ya to do". Dwight explained, enjoying her nervous expression and smirking at himself as he fumbled in his pocket for something.

"Well, what do I do after that?" Honey inquired, watching him curiously as he dripped a solution into his sore looking eye.

"What am I!? Your God damn keeper? I really don't care, just don't get yourself into trouble, your already on your last fuckin legs, you won't be able to take what happens to you if you screw around!" Dwight turned around and left her alone with a scoff and mocking wave, Daryl's crossbow jingling under his step.

Cocky Bastard.

Honey walked in further and instantly the humming atmosphere filled with a heavy chatter and clanging pots stopped dead, all eyes locking onto her.

It reminded her of the scenes in movies where an inmate would walk into the prison Caf and everyone stopped and stared, there eyes warning the newbie to not take a seat next to them.

Just imagine them all naked. No one's intimidating naked.

Honey took a deep breath, walking into the back of the kitchen to start her new prime operative.

"Hey, guys! Dwight said you have a job for me? I'm Honey, I need to speak to Ellis?" Honey chimed in her impression of someone with an airy disposition. In fact, she felt like a storm cloud, but she knew thundering in there was not the best course of action. Besides, these were just the worker bees.

"Start washing those pots over there". Who Honey presumed was Ellis huffed angrily, rolling her eyes so hard it could have left a groove. Honey followed the direction of her thumb to see what she reckoned was well over sixty plates and bowls, looking like a delicate porcelain mountain of crusted gunk.

With a heavy but silent dejected sigh, Honey walked up to it, rolling up her sleeves and grabbing a sponge and brush. After carefully testing the delicate structure, she took off the top bowl and got to it.

No one spoke to her for the next few hours, ignoring her polite attempts at conversation and keeping their backs to her. Mean whispers floated behind her, but they quickly stopped when she directed an icy, warning gaze towards them.

"Conspiring bunch of catty fuckers" She whispered under her breath, her hands were pruned and her sweater constantly rode up her stomach from leaning over the huge white pot sink.

By the time she had started on the next batch of utensils she let herself float into a daydream, her face hardening at the thought of her people scurrying around and desperately searching for items that Negan could pilfer and pillage whilst she did this.

He should have given me guard duty...Let me scavenge. Bastard.

"Negan...What a wanker". She murmured, scrubbing the brush harder into the knives and forks at the thought of him.

But she couldn't help but notice the little shiver that went up her spine when she remembered yesterday. His filthy words and pleasure filled moans, how he held her hands above her head...remembering the feeling of his lips on the most intimate part of her body made her stomach tighten, and a flash of heat wash through her stomach as she squeezed her legs closed.

What she didn't notice, as she was wrapped up in her warm thoughts, was Ellis and another woman creeping up behind her with a huge silver tin of lukewarm, sticky porridge.

In a flash, a landslide of sludge was poured over Honey, drenching her from head to toe, seeping into her open mouth and caking her eyelashes as she turned around looking horrified and indignant.

"What the fuckin fuck!" She snapped at the large woman with limp greasy blonde hair and fish like green eyes, who looked decidedly smug and grinned like a Cheshire cat.

Being rattled from her thoughts so suddenly immediately set her on edge, like she was a sleeping bear who had just been prodded. But the liters of sticky lumpy porridge that was poured over her added massive insult to injury.

"Screw yer, yer' little murderin' bitch!" Ellis warned, spittle flying from her thin mouth as her top rode up to reveal a few fat rolls.

Honey couldn't believe her ears, and she was confused at this sudden outburst from a woman she had never seen in her short life as she flicked porridge off her hands and spat on the floor.

"What the hell did you say to me!?" Honey bit back, now wiping away porridge with a tea cloth and pulling down her own sweater.

"You heard me. SCREW. YOU. BITCH!"

Honey's old friend anger started to sear inside of her, as her hands began to tremble and her lips sneered, showing her teeth like an angry Alsation.

"What the FUCK is your problem? Grease mop!" Honey barked, sincerely confused at her vitriol.

"You! You're my problem, who the hell do you think you are, swanning in here like head bitch?" Ellis retorted, acting if she was on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

The kitchen went quiet and everybody stopped to watch, poking their friends to direct their attention to the scene and putting down water jugs and spoons.

Honey tried counting to ten to steady herself, Dwight's words echoing in her head. 'Don't cause trouble', Alexandria.' But trouble had found her, she had never gone searching for it.

Another woman with yellow teeth and red frizzy hair chimed in like a ringing bell.

"We've not forgotten what you did! Your people killed my Brian! My Nephew! He'd just had a baby...He was only supposed to be in that outpost for a few weeks to fix some fences...He's never...Never comin' back, he'll never see his Sophie! She's 3 months old, without her daddy!". She wailed, covering up her eyes as if to block out the images and leaning forward on Ellis's shoulder.

Honey side eyed her, not giving her the pleasure of direct eye contact, digging her palms into her nails to try and calm herself.

10...9...8

The large, greasy woman spoke again, making her lose count.

"I'm glad your friends got what was comin' to them...They say the big guy with the ginger hair dropped like a tonne of bricks, that there was nothin' left of his head".

7...6...5...Fuck this!

Honey pounced like a hungry Jaguar, her feet leaving the floor at a lightning pace as she gracefully grabbed a pot and shattered it on the tiles, just before grabbing a shard of it. She then pounced on Ellis and pinned her against the table top, the shard dangerously close to her pulsating jugular as Honey slid it in-between her chins.

"You! You disgusting little fuck! You know nothing about me and my people...Is there anything else you wanna say when I can hear you LOUD and clear! Not when my back's turned like the cowardly FUCK you are!...The redhead's name was Abraham...And I'll carve his name into your forehead and gut you if you ever, EVER! Speak about him again!" Honey's eyes were wild but her hands steady and sure, droplets of her spit clinging to Ellis's now blanched face.

"No! No, PLEASE, Let me go. Please!" Ellis cried, her feet losing their footing on the slippy floor, bringing her artery closer to Honey's stabbing implement.

She wasn't about to let her go that easily.

"What do you say, motherfucker?!" Honey growled, her chest vibrating with her gravelly timbre and leaning down to almost touch her nose.

"Sorry! I'm sorry. Let me uppp!" Greasy chin's whined, her hands clinging to Honey's sweater like a grasping tentacle.

"Squealing like a stuck pig now aren't ya?" Honey laughed darkly, showing her teeth and enjoying her protestations slightly sadistically.

"Should I slice you, or let you go?! What do your friends think, ey?!" Honey mocked relentlessly, snapping her teeth an inch from Ellis' nose.

Ellis silently pleaded for help, her eyes desperately searching for someone to interfere.

"One more time, SAY IT!..." Honey hissed, licking her lips like she was looking at a steak after a famine.

"IM SORRY!" She wailed, very close to losing her bladder.

"Good girl." Honey breathed in mock relief, pulling her up straight by her dirty fleece and patting her arm, but not before squeezing some porridge out of her hair and ramming it into Ellis's mouth. "Eat that, bitch!"

Ellis choked and Honey stepped back, placing the shard at her side and smiling at her widely.

In Honey's maniacal rage, she didn't notice the deafening silence that took over the Kitchen.

"Now Ladies and motherfuckin' Germs! While we're at it and I have your unde-fucking-vided attention"...Honey hollered, reaching her arms out wide and waving.

"All Eyez on me, as Tupac would've said!" She singsonged, gently sashaying her hips and laughing.

"Is there anything else any fucker would like to add? You can say it to my face now and we can have a nice discussion with Mr. throat cutter here! Don't be shy, step right up!" Honey inquired, brandishing the shard threateningly and cupping her ear.

"Well...Any TWAT want to CHIME in!"

"I might have a few fucking words to say, sweetheart" A loud voice interjected, slicing through the silence.

Oh. Fuck.

Honey turned around slowly, her throat constricting and eyes closing involuntarily shut in recognition of that distinctive voice.

She and Negan were now the sole standee's, and he passed Lucille onto his other shoulder, twirling her enthusiastically and raising his brow at her porridgey appearance.

"Care to tell me what the fuck is going on here, Honey?" He quizzed with a now narrow, stern expression, his dark eyes glinting under the fluorescents.

Honey placed the shard of broken plate on the counter and tucked away a strand of free hair, swallowing nervously.

"This woman here thought it was a good idea to pour this shit on me and talk about my people" Honey replied matter of factly, pointing to grease mop who now had a smug smile gently tugging at her lips.

Honey went to kick it to the other side of her face, but her boot didn't reach high enough, instead, it collided right under her ribcage. Ellis's smile instantly died and she tumbled over to curl up on the floor like a sack of crap, clutching her side and wheezing.

"HEY! less of fuckin' that!" Negan commanded, and Honey looked at him like she didn't know what he was talking about, shrugging her shoulders and raising the palms of her hands, feeling very satisfied with Ellis's sobs.

"That one's for Abe, bitch." Honey sneered down at her, but the sound of Lucille banging against a countertop diverted her attention back to him.

"So she spoke about your people....that gives you fuckin' cause to try and slice her like open like a fuckin pinata?"

"Nah, lend me Lucille and I'll show you what I can do with this pinata" Honey snapped at Negan while pointing to Ellis's fetal form.

Negan stood up straighter and placed one hand on his hip, looking around slowly and tilting his head as if in thought.

"Do you find anything odd about this fuckin situation, sweetheart?". He questioned eagerly.

Honey knew exactly what he was talking about. He wanted her to kneel too, but Honey's pride would never allow it. For her, it was such a submissive and meek action...She would never ingratiate herself to that level, not to him. Not to no one. She was no docile pet for him to domesticate and teach tricks to.

Negan stepped closer in response to her silence and the grin plastered on her face. Licking his lips and narrowing his darkening eyes, but Honey stood her ground, tilting up her head for the height difference.

"Well let me help you out, Honey. I'll give you a fuckin clue". He explained, lightly tapping his temple and bringing Lucille down to his side.

"What's all these lovely as fuck people doing that you're not, hmm?"

Dwight and Simon jogged into the kitchen, Dwight with his crossbow raised, stopping just behind Negan and shaking his head in exasperation to chastise her.

Honey side eyed Negan and shifted the weight on her feet.

"Erm...Well, it looks like there all... kneeling for you" She stated bluntly, inspecting her fingertips to look nonchalant.

Honey knew she needed to stop, but she just couldn't. She didn't want to give into him in front of all these people, it would reflect poorly on Alexandria.

None of them were cowards.

She heard him breathe in heavy and she could have sworn he slightly vibrated. She caught Simon in the corner of her eye, he gestured for her to get down, placing a finger over his lips and shaking his head at her, urging her to behave and do as Negan say's.

"Fuckin' sharp eye you've got there, Honey. So...considering that little fuckin' chestnut, what should you ALSO be doing?" Negan growled, taking a step forward and scraping Lucille over a countertop.

A surge of confidence washed over her, the effects of the residual adrenaline. She put her hands defiantly on her hips and shrugged her shoulders, giving an over exaggerated yawn.

Negan weighed her up dangerously and took a step even closer, crunching broken porcelain under his steel capped.

The raucous had attracted the stragglers left in the kitchen, little heads peaked around the corner and over the serving table, amazed at the display playing out in front of them.

"You're skating on pretty thin fuckin ice, sweetheart. Now, give me a kneel". He growled, slowly moving his hand down to signify her lowering herself.

"Who's Neil, Negan? Never seen him before, maybe you should have got Dwight here to take a message." Honey smirked as her heart worked hard to pump blood throughout her body.

The rush she got after confrontations made her do such reckless, stupid things, and she continued her verbal assault.

"Like I explained to you before, my knee won't ever drop for no man, especially not an unhinged fuck face like you, you seem to like it a bit too much when men get on their knees for you!". She spat, her finger jabbing at him through the air.

"Maybe you should of asked Dwight or Simon to be number six!"

Oh dear, maybe you crossed the line there, Honey. You should have stopped at Neil.

Negan literally snarled, his white canine tooth peeking out from under his lip and his knuckles turned white around Lucille's handle.

He shot a glance at Dwight who rushed her and swiftly kicked the back of her legs, causing her to fall painfully to the ground with a yelp.

Negan then lept towards her, grabbing the scruff of her sweater and shaking her like a naughty puppy. She tried to pull away but he only gripped her arm bruisingly tight and dragged her away, Lucille dangerously close to her face.

"Oh...You're so gonna regret crossing me in a second, not fuckin cool, Hon. So not fuckin' cool, you must be a sucker for pain."