Blackbird

                                    

                                          


                          
Rae turned into the drive that led to her house and without so much as a prompt Negan jumped out of the car to close the metal gates. She couldn't resist teasing him when he slid back into his seat, "aren't you the happy little helper?"
                          
Negan's face fell for a split second before he grinned, "you know me baby, ever the fucking gentleman."
                          
She laughed under her breath, deciding that a little altruism suited him and that she could definitely like Negan when he wasn't staring at her ass or turning innocent conversion into not so innocent innuendo. Except maybe that was a white lie, maybe a small part of her liked the innuendos that were so distracting she could almost forget about the halfers and find cause to laugh, for a split second maybe even feel normal. There hadn't been anything normal about the past couple of days with Negan yet at the same time she hadn't laughed as much since before she could remember.
                          
"I'm gonna have to leave today, take care of business on my end. I can only imagine the shit circus that the Sanctuary might have turned into without me there to ringlead the clowns." Negan leaned towards her, his face in her personal space like it so often was, his breath minty from the sticks of gum he'd found in her apartment, "you gonna miss me Red?"
                          
Would she miss Negan? "Like a hole in the head."
                          
"You'll miss me," he winked, "I'm a goddamn teddy bear and a fuck load more fun than the boys you have running around your matchstick fort baby doll."
                          
"Hamish is 82, I'd hardly call him a boy."
                          
"What about little Timmy? He need you to tie his shoelaces? Fix his glasses?"
                          
"Tim's a grown man, very athletic too." Rae didn't look at Negan as she spoke but her hairs prickled at the way she could feel him staring at her and she wondered why she was even saying 'very athletic' to him in the first place.
                          
Negan snorted dismissively, "athletic? Humph, how about you let the coach be the judge on who's athletic and who's an asshole."
                          
"Tim's not an asshole, he's pretty much the nicest person I've ever met, you know he used to volunteer at the shelter and every year he ran the blood drive."
                          
"All that goody goody bullshit, he's probably a fucking serial killer."
                          
Rae bit her tongue and stifled her laugh. The idea of Tim hurting a fly was ridiculous, he was sweet, overly so.
                          
"So, you think you can stay the fuck out of trouble until I come back?"
                          
Rae looked at Negan, he had his baseball bat snug between his thighs, his leather jacket was still speckled with blood, "can you?"
                          
Negan chuckled, the corners of his eyes crinkled with mischief that made him seem more boyish than Tim ever was, "definitely fucking not."
                          
Suddenly she wondered what other women were on the receiving end of his non stop flirtatious advances, she guessed more than one and sighed. "So, um..." pride tried to stop Rae but something stronger forced her tongue, "when will you come back?"
                          
"Sounds like you're missing me already baby doll," Negan said with a satisfied smirk. "I don't know when I can get back but I won't wanna go too long without the pleasure of your freckles."
                          
Rae's cheeks heated and her inner 15 year old touched the bridge of her nose where she used to cover up with a thick layer of foundations that was a closer match to a tangerine than her own ivory skin. Of all the things she wondered why he said freckles, not that she was going to ask.
                          
As she approached the front gate of her home she noticed Margo standing watch as gatekeeper, the position that was always filled by Mary during the day. Margo's face was even more displeased than usual and no doubt Rae would have to endure an earful about it later.