Okay so I was going to wait to publish this one since I JUST put out a new update for LOS but I'm too excited to wait! Can't wait to read your thoughts!

Happy Reading!

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Jo

I didn't even know where to start looking for Dwight. He usually just seemed to magically appear whenever I needed something. Now that I was thinking about it that right there should have been a red flag. I headed towards the market. It must have still been early because it wasn't very busy and the stalls that served breakfast and the ever important one that served coffee were just getting moving for the day.

I didn't see anyone I recognized and I stood up on my tip toes to see over the top of a few stalls. I gritted my teeth when I still didn't spot anyone I knew. Dwight was a worker so his apartment must have been near Merle and Kate's. I turned to head in that direction when I spotted Regina. She was cutting her way to the front of the coffee line, sneering at anyone who seemed to have a problem with that. I jogged over to her and heard a few exclamations of complaint behind us. I ignored them. I wasn't staying.

"Jo," she said in surprise. "I thought I heard you were down," she said and her eyes ran over me. They lingered a little long on my hair and I was sure it was a mess, sticking up in random directions but I didn't care. I had been through an explosion and slept on it.

"Yeah, I'm good," I responded curtly. "Look I need Dwight," I said firmly. "I need to know where his apartment is."

Regina's eyebrows rose and she immediately looked uncomfortable. She glanced at the people nearby and took me by the arm, pulling me aside so no one could overhear us. "Look Jo," she said uncomfortably. "I know what you said about not being one of Negan's but he's made it pretty clear how he feels and that he-"

I was shaking my head. "No, no, it's nothing like that," I assured her not bothering to even consider what she was implying about Negan. "I just need to speak with Dwight. It's urgent."

Regina looked at me uncertainly. She licked her lips and frowned. "Look, aren't you supposed to be in bed somewhere? After what happened yesterday, maybe you should visit Doc Carson..."

She was hedging, trying to get me to agree while not outright refusing to give me what I was asking for. If she was higher rank than me she would have just shot me down. I had seen how Regina treated the people under her, and it wasn't very nicely. I had a feeling this was Negan interfering somehow, but I wasn't going to let it bother me now. Not when it might prove actually useful. I might not enjoy playing the game here, but I certainly was starting to understand how it worked.

Weakness into strength.

I drew in a centering breath and let go. I let all the dark places that lived in the back of my head shine out my eyes as I leveled a severe glare at Regina. "Tell me where Dwight's apartment is," I commanded, using the same uncompromising tone I had often heard from Negan.

Regina's eyes widened and she took half a step back from me. Her hand twitched towards her gun and I cocked my head, my eyes following the motion. I let her see that I had noticed and my fingers traced the tops of my throwing knives. She swallowed thickly and she clasped her hands together in front of her and dropped her chin. "Workers apartments, east hall number twenty-nine," she reported robotically, her voice tight with fear.

"Thank you," I said and I flashed her a smile that was aggressive and had too much teeth.

She flinched again and dropped her gaze. There was a part of me that relaxed when she so obviously submitted to me. I clenched my teeth, hating it. I wasn't an animal, this wasn't a pack and I didn't need to be alpha.

I stepped around her and headed towards the hallway where Merle and Kate's apartment was. Dwight only lived a few doors down from them. I found the door with a 29 scrawled across it in sharpie and pounded on it with my fist, rattling the heavy metal door in the frame. When there was no immediate answer I knocked again.

"Yeah! I'm coming!" I heard a male voice on the other side of the door. I was fairly certain it was Dwight. From what I remembered he lived with only his wife and his sister-in-law, no other males. The door opened and Dwight was standing in front of me in nothing but his boxers.

I jerked my eyes up so I was staring him in the face. "Where is she?" I snarled at him. I didn't want to be here any longer than was necessary, but if I found out he had somehow been involved...he was going to pray for Negan's wrath over mine.

"Jo," Dwight breathed and his eyes were wide and frightened. His gaze dropped to where my hand was already touching the very tops of the knives strapped to my thigh. They were the fastest and my favorites.

"The woman," I said firmly, drawing Dwight's attention back up to my face. "Tell me where she is and what exactly the two of you have planned next."

Genuine surprise blossomed over Dwight's face.

"What woman?" a female voice called from further in the apartment.

"It's nothing Sherry, go back to bed," Dwight called, his voice rising with tension. He was trying to keep his wife away from the door. He turned back to me. "Jo, I have no idea what you are talking about." His eyes dropped once more to my knives and he shifted his weight so his body was blocking the majority of the door.

Maybe I was feeling a little on edge but it seemed to me he was being twitchier than usual. I glided my fingers down the handles and he tensed. He had been surprised when I mentioned the woman, but I couldn't tell if it was surprise because he didn't know what I was talking about or if it was because he hadn't expected me to figure it out.

My heart was hammering so loudly in my ears it made it difficult to focus. I took a menacing step towards him, forcing him to retreat back into the room. "You are going to tell me everything I want to know," I snarled dangerously.

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Negan

Someone pounding on my door woke me up. I groaned as I rolled over and looked at the clock. I had gotten less than two goddamn hours of sleep. Two hours in the last forty-eight.

I sighed as I flopped back on my bed. It was empty. Three weeks ago an empty bed would have been a rare thing for me. Now it was becoming habit. I pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers. I kept telling myself it was because things had been so crazy around the compound lately.

I had actually spent the last two nights with Jo. Not that it counted cause it certainly hadn't been in the fun way. One had been on the road and then last night I sat beside her bed like some damn pussy whipped schmuck waiting for her to wake up.

I had planned on dozing while I waited, but seeing her laying there had done something to me. It made my breath catch in my chest and I hadn't been able to breathe right until I saw those gorgeous green eyes open again. Then just when I thought I had myself together, she had been all soft and vulnerable. She was never like that, not with me. Not with anyone.

I scrubbed a hand over my face. I needed to get my head off the piece of ass and on to business. She was just a resource.

The pounding came again. I threw off the blankets and stomped to the door, jerking it open. "What in the shitting hell-" I started to rail but stopped when I saw none other than Merle Dixon standing outside my door. I cracked my neck and stared him down, waiting for him to make the first move.

Dixon pressed his lips together and I could tell he wanted to be anywhere but at my door. "She woke up," He reported. The bastard didn't even have the good sense to look sorry.

"Yeah she did that last night," I drawled with just the hint of an edge to my voice so Dixon would know I didn't appreciate him waking me up. "I was there. I spoke to her.I don't see why-"

"She remembered seeing a woman there," Dixon interrupted me. "She said something about Dwight. I don't know where the hell she went, but she was-"

I spun around and snatched up the pants I had thrown on the floor just a couple hours ago. I was doing up the belt as I moved to the dresser. I pulled out a t-shirt and slid my bare feet into my boots.

Merle had stopped talking but that was fine. I didn't need him to finish to know Jo was on the warpath. She may have remembered something useful, but she had also been hurt and was overtired. She just might do something she was going to regret.

I strided out of the door, snatching Lucille up from her place on my nightstand.

Dixon caught my arm as I moved to pass him. I turned to glower at him. I raised Lucille and pressed her against his sternum.

"You don't touch me," I growled.

Dixon held his hands up in surrender but he didn't back out if my way. "I know her," he said firmly. "Better then you. She's been doing real good coming back since she got here, since she met you," he added grudgingly and I could see it chapped old Merle's hide to admit that I just might be good for his niece. "But this shit..." he shook his head gravely. "I ain't seen her like this since she was in that cage."

I went very still. "You saw her in the cage?" I clarified.

That was news to me and it didn't sit right. I couldn't see someone like Dixon letting their niece get thrown into a cage without going down fighting. Not with how protective he was over those two girls. Something wasn't adding up. There was something going on I could smell it.

"For how long?" I asked tightly trying to remember his story, Kate's and the pieces of Jo's that she had been willing to confide in me.

Dixon's eyes hardened defensively. "That don't matter right now. Time is of the essence boss. Cause she is teetering on the edge of her control and you don't want to be there if she loses it."

I bristled. "I've been there," I snapped defensively. He was talking about Jo like she was some kind of animal, and I was beginning to take offense.

"Naw Boss," Dixon said shaking his head. "You've seen her scared or focused ya ain't never seen Barbie out of control. She will tear this place apart. Leave ya no choice but to shoot her."

"So why didn't you go after her then?" I snapped impatiently. She had just been hurt, again. We couldn't afford to get this wrong. "Don't have a solution other than knocking her out?" I snarled angrily. We didn't have time for this.

He just kept talking while Jo was out there. I had made it perfectly clear to my men that she was protected, but they were also very afraid of her. If she lost it all it would take was one asshole pissing their pants to take her from me. It set my teeth on edge. I should be able to keep her safe in my own damn house.

Dixon looked away from me, shame burning in his eyes. "I can't explain why. But if she loses it and I'm there it ain't gonna help her come back. It'll just remind her more of that place. She needs to feel safe. And after what happened yesterday and keeps happening here it's just building and building."

I nodded stiffly, not liking his implication that Jo didn't feel safe with me. I turned to the door. "We're gonna talk more about what happened back there once this is over."

"Looking forward to it," Dixon snarled back at me.

I passed him without looking at him. "Thanks Dixon." I called to him, pissed that in some way I felt like I owed him.

"I didn't do it for you asshole!" Dixon hollered after me.

I held my hand up over my shoulder and flipped him off. It was lucky for him he was related to Jo, or I would have thrown him out ten times over.

I didn't get to finish knocking before Dwight's door was jerked open. He stood in the doorway wearing nothing but his boxers. It looked like I wasn't the only one who got dragged out of bed. I used the handle end of Lucille to turn his chin to one side so I could see the thin slice of blood that ran just under his jaw. It wasn't a strike, but it sure looked like she had held one of her knives against his throat.

I tightened my jaw. I wanted to help her, but if she got too far ahead of me, too far gone...as much as I hated what it might mean for my Hot Friend, I would have to do what was right for my people.

"Where is she?" I asked in a low gravely voice.

I didn't want to do this. I could see exactly where this was heading and needed to stop it. I cursed Dixon up and down for not being able to stop her when she first woke up. She weighed one hundred and twenty pounds it couldn't be that hard to keep her in an apartment.

Dwight shifted his weight uncomfortably and wouldn't meet my eyes. "She wanted to know where a woman was staying. She was one of the ones who came from Woodbury. Jo and I had a run in with her that morning with the trucks and Jo claims she saw her yesterday before the bomb went off."

I nodded grimly. "Did you tell her?" I asked keeping my tone carefully controlled so Dwight would keep talking. If he thought I was pissed he was going to clench up so fast it would make his head spin and his ass hurt.

Dwight's eyes widened in fear. The bastard had. I grunted in annoyance but when I heard scuffled movement behind him I understood. His wife and sister-in law were home and he thought he had to protect them.

"Was anyone hurt?" I asked tightly as I looked over his shoulder to see the two women sitting together on the couch, both still wearing their pajamas. To my knowledge Jo had never attacked anyone who resembled a civilian but that didn't mean she hadn't started today.

Dwight shook his head. "Just scared. She didn't touch them. No one was hurt."

"Just you?" I challenged jerking my chin towards his neck.

Dwight swiped at his neck and looked down at the blood on his hand shrugging. "It's nothing."

It made me sick to my stomach that someone like this piece of shit worker seemed to have control over whether or not Jo lived or died. If he told me she had attacked the other women I would have had to do something about it. And time in a cell as punishment was not going to be an option like it was with other people. Something like that would not only take away my shot with her forever, but I wasn't convinced she would come back from it.

Dwight swallowed and crossed his arms over his chest. "She thought I had something to do with it."

I lifted by brows and tilted my head again to look at his neck. "Lucky you're still breathing. You must have been pretty convincing..." I dragged off thoughtfully. Jo had been so sure she could tell when someone was lying to her. I just wasn't certain how much I could trust her instincts right now. I didn't know where her head space was.

Dwight was already shaking his head. "I just told her I had nothing to do with it and she believed me. I told her where we sent the people who came from Woodbury and she left."

I nodded anxious to get moving. "You told her the north hallway?" I clarified.

Part of me hoped Dwight had been smart enough to send her on a wild goose chase. This factory was a maze and Jo didn't know it very well. It would have been pretty easy to get her lost and buy some time to get back up.

"Yeah," Dwight agreed. "I didn't know exactly what apartment that chick was in though. I didn't really recognize her except from when she dumped that bucket of pickles on Jo."

"Pickles?" I asked in disbelief.

Dwight nodded. "Yeah right before that run we were supposed to go on. Jo and I were headed to the yard and she slammed into us."

I ground my teeth and turned for the door. Dwight was an idiot. Mavis was the only one in this community who made pickles and she didn't let anyone else touch them. It had been that way since the beginning. Hell, Mavis had been here longer than me. Whoever had disabled the trucks had sent that woman to stall Jo and Dwight. If Dwight paid closer attention to what was going on around here instead of just worrying about himself we might not be in this mess.

"Jo say anything else?" I called back to Dwight.

He half followed me into the hall. "Yeah, she said there was a guy with the pickle chick. She didn't see his face though."

I nodded, that made sense. It made perfect sense actually. Seemed Jo was as brilliant as she was gorgeous and deadly. I just wished she had come to me or at least brought some back up with her. Of course she stood a better chance of catching them by surprise if everyone thought she was still unconscious.

I stalked walked down the hall. "Oh and Dwighty boy!" I hollered spinning back around.

Dwight stuck his head back out his door.

"Get dressed. Chop chop," I called with a smile. "probably going to be quite the mess to mop up."

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Jo

I was on my third door. The first two were families, too many people in a small space to be hiding the pickle woman. I was just raising my fist on the third when I heard my name from the end of the hall.

I whipped around to see Negan standing in the doorway. He exhaled when he saw me and stalked down the hall towards me. I didn't understand why he looked so worried.

And then I saw his eyes dropped to my left hand. I looked down and frowned when I realized I was holding a knife. I didn't remember drawing it. I tried to remember if I had been holding it when I spoke with those two families. I slowly slid it away as he approached.

"Hot Friend," he drawled. "You don't call, you don't write..." he held up his arms and fake pouted at me. "It's enough to make me think you don't like me any more."

"I had a lead." I muttered and I turned back to the third door. Negan was close now and his hand snaked out, catching my forearm before I could knock.

I was more on edge than I realized. I didn't think, my body just reacted. I twisted, my other hand coming up fast to punch him before he saw it coming. He blocked the movement as easily as if I had told him I was going to do it. My heart started to thunder in my chest and I moved to slam my knee up. He tangled one of his legs in mine and spun us around. Slamming my back a little roughly against the wall. His forearm was across my collar bones and shoulders, pinning me easily.

"Now think!" He barked sharply, pointing a finger in my face.

I was panting, my body screaming at me to fight. Every cell was trembling to be let loose. He would be an opponent. I had never fought someone as good as him and the dark place in the back of my mind was whispering to me all the ways we could defeat this enemy. Very few had anything to do with fighting.

I stood there, pinned to the wall and tried to convince myself I knew how to breathe. He was watching me closely, his eyes hard and wary.

He was staring at me from inches away, his eyes serious. I frowned as we stared at one another. It took being this close but I could at last see it. He was worried about me again. He wasn't just going to let me go until he was sure I was okay.

I forced myself to let the tension leak out of my body. "I was thinking. I know who did it," I said tightly. "We just have to find the pickle woman."

Negan snorted and coughed while trying to hold back a laugh. "Do you seriously call her the pickle woman?"

I scowled at him and wished he would just let me go. Speaking with him so close felt a little too intimate. I could feel every rise of his chest, the thunder of his heart beat and when he spoke his breath ruffled my hair.

"Just in my head," I muttered and he barked out what sounded like a relieved laugh. I still didn't understand what he had to be relieved about. I recognized he was worried but it didn't make sense. I had everything under control.

"I thought we-" he started to say but a door opened down the hall. Negan's head snapped to the side like a dog on point. A woman stepped into the hall.

"You," he commanded. His voice echoing down the concrete hall. He pointed with his bat at the woman and she wilted.

I grimaced. We were losing any element of surprise we had. The pickle woman would hear us out here interrogating people and she would have a chance to run.

"Come down here," he ordered and though his attention was on her he had yet to let me up.

The woman trailed towards us her eyes wide and fearful.

Negan glanced back to me, certain in his absolute control over his people. "Is this the pickle woman?" He asked and I could practically hear him laughing every time he said pickle.

"No." I grumbled, angry that he wasn't taking this seriously. I was so close to ending this. She was here, I just had to find her. "And if you keep yelling you're going to ruin our element of surprise."

Negan leaned in towards me so his lips were only inches from my neck when he spoke. "Watch and learn Hot Friend," he teased. I could just feel the feather of a touch from his lips and I couldn't contain my shiver.

He turned his full attention back to me for a moment. His eyes were dark with promise and my breathing kicked up. A lazy smirk stretch his lips and he winked at me. He was so much larger than me, it felt like he was surrounding me.

He turned back to the woman. "What's your name?"

She swallowed nervously and looked down at her fidgeting hands. "Alicia," she said in a voice so low I had to strain to hear her.

It was a welcome distraction. I needed to get my mind off of the feel of Negan right now.

"Hi Alicia. I'm Negan. Do you know who this is?" He asked pointing toward me with the bat.

Alicia looked back and forth between us. Her eyes were wide with fear but she nodded.

"Please," Negan encouraged with a smile. "Share it with the class."

Alicia hesitated. "Her-her name is Jo." She stammered out, still looking back and forth between Negan and I like she was trying to figure out what was happening. I was surprised she knew me, because I certainly didn't recognize her.

"Quick as you can," Negan snarled his patience waning.

Alicia flinched and I was close enough to see Negan's jaw clench. He didn't mind being feared, but he didn't seem to like it when he hadn't deliberately made the choice. He adjusted his hold on me so instead of pinning me with his forearm he only had a hand on my shoulder. I wasn't sure if he was trying to seem less intimidating to her, or reassure me. Either way I could get away from him like this if I had to, so I wasn't complaining.

When Alicia still didn't answer he turned towards her.  "There's fifty points in it for you if you answer all my questions."

Alicia's eyes snapped to attention hungrily. I still didn't fully understand the currency system, but I had a feeling fifty points was a lot. "She's Kate's sister," she reported.

"And Dixon's niece," Negan added but his eyes stared into mine as he spoke. A challenging glint swimming in pools of granite.

Alicia looked uncomfortable. "I didn't know that," she hedged. "But they came to Woodbury about a year ago. She was The Governor's girlfriend I think. Everyone was talking about it because she was new. Then she just sort of disappeared. Her sister didn't seem too upset," she added with a shrug.

I could feel the tension rising in Negan's body. He was too close for me not to. His eyes were snapping with anger on my behalf. I gritted my teeth and looked away from both of their eyes. I didn't want to talk about it, I didn't want to talk about any of it.

Negan nodded swiftly. "And did you ever see Jo fight?" He asked his voice hard.

She swallowed and her eyes flickered to the exit. I felt a little bad for her in that moment. Negan could be intimidating and he had a nose for people's weaknesses. He found her's.

He turned back to her and suddenly it didn't feel so much like he was restraining me as protecting me. His body was folded in towards mine, shielding me from the rest of the hall.

His eyes narrowed dangerously. "If you lie to me you won't get your points," he warned.

She nodded then, too many times and she didn't seem to be able to hold his gaze any longer. "Ye-yes," she confessed, a slight tremble to her voice.

He nodded but didn't look surprised. He kept his eyes on her, but his thumb skimmed across my collar bone soothingly. I tensed but it wasn't for the usual reason. Negan didn't know that however and without giving anything away he gently squeezed my shoulder reassuringly.

His gaze still locked on Alicia, he cocked his head to the side. "So...what did you think?" Negan pressed. It was a trap. She had to know it was a trap, but there was no way out of it now.

Alicia's eyes cut to mine and the way she looked at me convinced me had seen me fight and often. She looked at me the same way all those people from Woodbury had when I was in the ring. Like I was somehow less than human.

"It was fine," she responded tightly.

Negan leaned towards her but didn't let me go. His warm fingers against my skin was distracting and I couldn't decide if he was doing it on purpose or not. "Oh come. Just between us girls. I'll bet you loved it."

She swallowed and looked away ashamed.

Negan's jaw tightened again and the the tension was back in his shoulders. But this time it wasn't directed at me. He skimmed his hand up and down my arm.

"There's a woman who came from Woodbury," he turned to look at me and lifted his eyebrows, wanting me to describe her.

I licked my lips and took a step towards the woman as I realized exactly what he had done. The advantage he had given us. I was so intent on Alicia I hadn't realized I was a hairsbreadth from touching Negan. I could feel his warmth though and it helped me think clearly.

"She's very pretty, blonde, in her twenties or thirties. She's taller than me, and skinnier but she looks like her nose has been broke."

Alicia snorted. "And you don't know who she is?" She questioned in disbelief.

"What do you mean?" I asked frowning at her.

"You were the one who broke her nose. Her name is Marie. She dated The Governor after you. Only she actually dated him. You fought her in the ring."

"When was she with him?" Negan growled.

She shrugged "Right up until the end. They say you ruined brunettes for him. He only took blondes after you."

Negan's eyes were like pieces of flint as he glared down at Alicia. The woman was somehow oblivious to the rising storm of Negan's anger, but I could feel it radiating off of him.

"What room is she in?" Negan demanded tightly.

Alicia jerked her chin towards the end of the hall. "Seven."

Negan nodded. "Get out of here." He growled. She opened her mouth to protest but he turned on her, looming over her. "Get out of my sight."

I turned and headed towards the end of the hall, while Negan finished with Alicia. I hadn't thought about being able to bribe people into giving us information. It was handy. Negan shadowed me to the door.

"Is there another exit we should cover? She's going to try to run as soon as she looks out that peek hole and realizes it's us."

Negan snorted. "We aren't in the woods trying to sniff out a damn trail," he said sardonically. He reached into his pocket and twirled a set of keys around his finger. "What do you say we handle this like goddamn professionals?" There was a smile on his face but his eyes were hard and filled with a rage I didn't exactly understand. Maybe he was just that pissed over this woman's involvement in everything that happened.

I turned to lead the way to the door when Negan caught my arm once more. This time his fingers were gentle. as he pulled me towards him. He looked down into my eyes. "I need to know you've got it together," he said firmly. "Otherwise I'll stay here and you go get us some back up."

"I'm fine." I told him. It didn't matter either way. There was no way I was going to miss this.

He stared down at me for a few long seconds as though he could find the truth in my eyes. "You follow my lead." He ordered and I nodded. "And you goddamn listen." He added. He stepped away then, leading the way towards the apartment door. He twirled his bat in a circle and cracked his neck.

He slid what i assumed to be a master key into the lock and turned it. He opened the door and went in first. The apartment was identical to Merle and Kate's. Except it was empty. It was early but not so early she shouldn't have been up. The whole place was still dark. We took two steps into the room when the bedroom door opened. The blonde looked like she was headed to the bathroom wearing nothing but an oversized t-shirt, her hair still mussed from sleep.

"Now-" Negan started to say and the woman flinched.

"Caesar!" She screamed suddenly and then instead of running from us like I expected she launched herself straight at Negan.

Negan hadn't expected it because they both went down in a tangle of limbs. I could hear movement in the bedroom and ran for the door. I leapt through the doorway just in time to see a man lowering himself out the window. He must not have been expecting me because he didn't bother to try to hide his face. He glanced up and looked me straight in the eyes. My whole body went still.

Martinez

He flashed me an angry smile. "You're going to pay puta," he snarled and then his hand came up and I realized too late he had a gun.

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So...what did you think!?!?!?