Chapter Text
Negan blinked.
It was suddenly so dark. Did the lights in the bar go out?
"Hey, Maggie?" He teased. "I can't admire my shiny new badge if your shoddy electrical system keeps breaking down. You should really do something about that."
"Yeah, yeah," came the unconcerned reply. "I tell you what. If you have a problem with the way I run things, then you can talk to my new security guy about it. He'll set you straight."
"Oh will he, now?" Negan laughed. "Actually, you know I think I WILL bring it up with him. Someone as good looking and intelligent as he is will definitely see my side of things."
"Good lord. You can't see my eyes right now," said Maggie, amused. "But just know that I AM rolling them."
Maggie paused, voice suddenly tense. "Wait, Negan! Something ain't right. It's TOO dark. I can't see anything at all. There's a full moon tonight. We should still be able to see SOMETHING."
"Oh shit, you're right... Uh, Margaret? I think we might have a bigger problem here."
"Ok...what is it?"
"Try touching your left hand to your right hand."
"Oh. Oh..." Her reply was so soft he could barely make it out.
"Exactly. There's nothing there. It doesn't even feel like I HAVE hands anymore. Are we...are we dead?
"Dead!?"
"I mean, I'm open to alternative explanations, sweetheart, but if something else happened to us then I have no memory of it. I was talking to you at the bar, and then I was here. I guess the building could have come down on us. Maybe we're sitting under a fuckton of rubble with our spines crushed to shit, and THAT'S why we can't feel anything."
The two fell silent.
"It's possible I guess," Maggie eventually admitted. "But...I don't feel injured. I feel fine. I just...can't move or feel my body at all... Oh god, maybe we DID get crushed."
Negan sighed. "Well, either way we're not going anywhere under our own steam. We've got no choice. We're just gonna have to wait and see what happens."
"Well shit. This is..."
"It's fucking bullshit, is what it is," He opined. "This is NOT what I had planned for tonight. Or, you know, ever."
"Agree."
"So uh...while we're waiting around..." Negan started to say. "Tell me...what was life like on the Rhee farm, growing up?"
"Greene."
"What?"
My maiden name was Greene...I took Glenn's name when we got married.
"Oh right. Sorry again about that."
"It's okay. Uh, let's see. So there was me and my sister Beth, and..."
"Why a baseball bat, if you don't mind my asking?"
"Oh. Ah... To explain that, I first need to tell you about my wife."
"You were married to someone before Annie? Was this before The Fall?"
"Yep. Her name was Lucille. Well, technically I had a bunch of wives while I running the Sanctuary as well, but we weren't really what you'd call 'family', if you get me. Then, yeah, there was Annie much later on...but, honestly, when I think about 'my wife', I'm always thinking about Lucille. She was amazing. She was everything to me... Not that I deserved her."
He was silent for a while before continuing. "Anyway, uh, she got cancer just before everything happened, and..."
"I was so embarrassed. Glenn and I were right there, up in that watch tower, half naked, and everyone was looking up at us from the ground and just smiling. Negan! Stop laughing!"
"Oh no, Lucille was the one who loved camping. I was NOT a fan. I hate sleeping outside. If you ever see me doing it, I may look like I'm fine on the outside, but on the inside I am very angry about the bugs and the dirt. I only ever went along with it because it made her happy..."
"I can't believe you got away with that, Maggie! What am I saying? Of course YOU got away with it..."
"...and you'll never believe who it was..."
"If you could live your life over again, would you still be a gym teacher? I mean, at least until everything went to shit."
Negan hummed, thinking about it. "If I didn't have any knowledge of the upcoming shitpocalypse? Sure. I love kids, but Lucille and I couldn't have any of our own, so teaching was a great way to stay involved with them. Teaching gym, in particular, was great because it kept me active and moving - so I'd pick it again over any other subject. But. If I DID know what was coming for us, I'd want whatever career would give me the most money possible in the shortest amount of time. Hedge fund manager or some shit, I dunno. Then I could buy up a bunch of land out in the sticks and fortify the hell out of it. I'd max out a shit ton of credit cards buying supplies, then sit back and relax."
"As long as you save some rooms in your compound for me and Hershel."
"Done."
"I'm so sorry you had to go through that."
"Thanks. Me too."
"I can't believe you cheated on her!"
"Well, I never said I was a GOOD husband!"
"Don't rush me, Negan, I'm thinking about it. Okay, I think...of those options, I'd pick 'flight'. But, I mean, you kind of need more than that to really make it work - like you need a whole bunch of other powers to make it viable. If you can't handle the cold, then you can't fly very high up. If you still need to breathe normally, it's the same thing. If you're not super fast, then it'll take you a million years to get anywhere. And! If your body isn't super strong then you can't handle very much speed anyway - even if you COULD fly really fast, the force of it would just turn you to pulp. In conclusion, I would still pick 'flight', but unless you give me some other powers as well, I would probably only use it to stay out of the mud, and maybe reach things that are high up on shelves and such..."
"...You still there?"
"Yep. Still here."
"You know, I think you were right, Negan. I think we ARE dead. We've been here talking for what seems like forever and nothing's really changed. If we WERE crushed under rubble or something, we'd definitely have passed away by now. No food, no water, no medical treatment..."
Yeah, it's pretty much looking that way, isn't it. Not how I would have pictured the afterlife, honestly, but here we are, I guess."
"How did we die, I wonder? I bet someone shot us. Two snipers placed outside the bar. Simultaneous shots - right to the head."
"Definitely possible. We DID have a lot of enemies between us. Mostly mine, to be fair. Though, we'd also managed to thin the herd quite a bit, actually. I'm honestly not sure who was left alive that could've or would've just sniped us out of nowhere in our own territory."
Maggie sighed. "I hope Hershel is doing okay."
"He is going to be just fine. You taught him everything you know, he's got good people around him, and a good path forward as a medic. There's no guarantees these days, but if anyone's capable of making it work, it's gonna be him."
"Thanks for saying that. God, I hope you're right."
"I'm always right."
Maggie snorted.
"Some people are so rude," Negan sniffed, before continuing. "He WILL be devastated about losing his dear old Uncle Negan, though, the poor boy. He's no doubt crying right now, bitterly regretting that he didn't give me that extra slice of pie the other night instead of selfishly taking it for himself."
Maggie snorted again, and then started laughing. "Poor old Uncle Negan," she snickered.
"Hey, I was a great uncle figure - saved his ass all the time."
"I know. I know you were." Her voice became a little wistful. "I wish...I wish you could have somehow been his uncle for real. You know, like been there from the start, and gotten to watch him grow up. You'd have changed his diapers so I didn't have to. As he got older, he could have gone to you for advice. Especially about girl troubles - you know, so you could have helped make them worse."
"Ouch. Very harsh, Maggie. You can't say things like that to a delicate flower like me. You'll hurt my feelings. I would have given him great advice, I'll have you know. I also would have taught him all sorts of manly things. Like how to fish. As soon as I found someone to teach me."
"You never learned to fish? Well, you're in luck, his mama DID learn. I'll teach you how, and then you can teach him."
"Perfect! He'll be a man in no time."
"Glenn and Lucille will be there too. Since we're dreaming, and all."
"Yeah, that...sounds great." Negan's voice was a little husky.
"Glenn and I will dump the kids on you and Lucille all the time. You guys can babysit them so that we can go on date nights. There will be at least five kids for you to look after."
"All named Negan Junior."
Maggie laughed. "None of them will be named Negan Junior."
"I bet Glenn would have liked you," she mused. "There weren't many people he didn't like. I'm even pretty sure he wouldn't have minded Hershel having another father figure in his life. I think he'd have just been happy that his son was so loved."
"Glenn...sounds like he was a really great guy. I wish I could have met him...under different circumstances, you know."
"Yeah, I know.
Negan was suddenly so tired he could barely think. "I'm gonna...get some sleep now."
Maggie was similarly struggling to stay conscious. "Me too. I'll see you...in the morning."
"Night Maggie."
When Negan next opened his eyes, it was still dark. But it wasn't AS dark as it had been before.
There were lights around him. He could feel a breeze on his face.
He was...outside in a forest?
What the hell?
He blinked, trying to focus his vision enough to let him see what was going on.
"Oh fuck."
There, right in front of him, was a group of people kneeling on the ground in a line, surrounded by some of his old men from the Saviors.
A very specific group of people. Rick, Daryl...
Was he dreaming?
Jesus Christ they were young back then.
Wait, where was...?
There! Next to Rick.
Maggie looked so different. So young, and with short hair - he almost hadn't recognized her.
She was staring up at him with a shocked look on her face.
"Negan, is that you?" Her voice wavered a little, as she asked.
"Maggie?"
"If it's really MY Negan in there, then what did I give you in that bar in Manhattan, the last time we saw each other?"
"You gave me a badge." He smiled. "I'm gonna run security for you, sweetheart."
"Oh thank god," her face crumpled with relief. "Help me up and give me a hug, you big idiot."
He moved to help her, then pulled her into a tight hug over by the RV.
"What the fuck is going on, Negan?" Maggie whispered to him.
"I'm not exactly sure," he whispered back. "Leading theories are currently 'extremely realistic dream' and 'time travel'. What are you thinking?"
"I don't think it's a dream. I'm in quite a bit of pain right now. Whatever this situation is - it's something else entirely."
"You're in pain? I didn't want to say anything, but you do kinda look like shit right now. Are you sick? Do you need a doctor?"
"Negan, you insensitive jerk! You're not supposed to say a lady looks like shit...oh wait. If we ARE back in time somehow, then I know what this is. I DO need a doctor - to take a look at Hershel."
"Hershel? But...?"
She took one of his hands and placed it over her belly. "Hershel," she repeated.
Negan's eyes widened as he looked down at where his hand was resting. "Oh. Oh wow. This is the craziest shit that's ever happened to me. And that's really saying something."
"Yeah, me too. Seriously."
"Hey, at least we're alive," he marvelled. "And look over there - Glenn is also alive and well. Even that big red-haired guy."
"The red-haired guy is Abraham," she smiled. "And yeah, I'm trying not to look at Glenn right now - I'm 100% going to start bawling my eyes out if I do."
"I'm so happy for you, Maggie. You deserve this. You deserve all the good things."
They grinned at each other like idiots before embracing in another desperate hug.
"It's so weird to be able to touch you again, instead of just hearing you," Maggie said.
"Definitely weird. I'm not complaining though."
Negan stepped back a little, holding her by the shoulders and looking her over. "Do you need the doctor right away? Or will tomorrow be early enough?"
"Tomorrow should be fine."
"Okay, and do you happen to remember what was wrong with you? Will he need to bring any specific medication or equipment or anything?"
"I have what's called a 'placental abruption' - it's when the placenta comes away from the uterine wall. It CAN be life-threatening, but my case was a fairly low-grade one last time, and I'm willing to bet it'll be the same this time. I mostly just had to rest up. Pain medication would be very much appreciated, however. We should have something at Alexandria, but if you have anything at the Sanctuary that might be better, I'll gladly take it."
"Placental abruption," he repeated. "Okay, leave it to me, Maggie. I'll get things sorted out for tonight with these guys, get you a doctor visit organized, and then we can talk tomorrow - figure out what the hell's going on and what we want to do."
"Thanks, Negan. I really appreciate it."
"Anytime, sweetheart. I'll help you up into the RV now, and you can get some rest."
Once Maggie was safely squared away inside, Negan turned to face two separate groups of very confused people.
Time to do some cleanup.