"It looks to be a fracture, you'll need to keep weight off of it for at least six weeks but luckily I have an ankle brace I can give you"
He begins to strap my foot into the immobilizing device.
"goddamn, that hurts. Do you have any pain meds?"
"Yes. I have some ibuprofen" he walks over to his cabinets and begins searching for the medication.
While he is busy, Opie, who is standing by my side begins to converse with me.
"So when Negan gets back are you gonna tell him who did this to you?"
"Hell yeah, he can't get away with this and I'm gonna talk to him about Jackie too"
I won't let Simon push me around, I already have to put up with Negan's arrogance every day.
He looks at me with slight worry, "Are you sure you want to do that? It could cause a domino effect"
"Trust me, I thought about that, if Negan punishes Simon, Jackie is probably going to be a little mad at me for a while but it's what has to be done"
"Ok, it's your decision. all I know is I don't want to be around when you tell him," he says with relief and we both share a laugh.
"Don't worry, I'm going to tell him in private. I don't need everybody in the Sanctuary knowing what happened to me"
I smile at him reassuringly.
"good choice," he pats me on the top of my head.
Our conversation is interrupted by Dr.Carson, he walks back over to me and hands me a pill bottle. "here, take two every eight hours for as long as the pain persists"
"thanks, " I take them from him.
"You're welcome, don't forget to make sure you get some rest," he says as he marks something down on his clipboard.
"Okay, I'll try to take it easy" I slowly stand up off the examination table. My foot aches a little causing me to let out a little groan.
"Let me help you" Opie offers to pick me up and I gladly accept. "We don't want you to get any more hurt than you already are"
________________________
Opie carries me all the way to Negan's room and gently places me down on the bed.
"Are you alright to be alone?" he asks.
"Yeah it's fine, I should get some sleep anyways".
"Cool, well you know where to find me" he starts to walk away but I stop him, "wait! Can you bring me something to eat?" I flash him a big smile.
He looks back and playfully rolls his eyes, "sure, princess Carmen, I'll be back in a couple of minutes"
He opens the door then closes it back, leaving me by myself.
My ankle brace hugs my foot tightly, serving as a constant reminder of my situation. The only thing I can think of is what am I going to say when Negan gets back.
I toss around many scenarios in my head on how this is all could play out. I'm his 'wife' but at the same time I know I'm truly only a toy to him. For all I know he might not even care that Simon hurt me, especially considering the fact that he allowed him to hurt Jackie as well.
I tuck myself under the covers, trying to find the perfect position to get comfortable in. It's at least going to be a couple of hours until the Saviors get back.
I reach for a book that's on the nightstand, it's a bible surprisingly. I never took Negan to the religious type, maybe he uses to as motivation to get through the hard days.
I open the book and turn to a page about midway through that has a sticky note attached to it but before I could read it a knock on the door gets my attention. I can't believe Opie is back so soon, I hope he didn't change his mind about bringing me food.
"come in" I yell to him.
The door creaks open and my eyes grow wide when I realize it's not who I expected.
"Simon, get out!" I scream at him and jump to my foot, forgetting about my injury.
"Calm down, I just came to talk," he says in a sinister tone and closes the door.
"There's nothing to talk about!" I take a step back as he gets closer to me.
"Don't be like that, you know what happened earlier was an honest mistake. I didn't mean to hurt you" he reaches his hand out and tries to caress my face but I back away even further from him.
"So when you choked me, what exactly were you trying to do?"
"My anger got the best of me, it's a problem I've been working on. All I'm asking is for you to forgive me." his eyes stare intensively into mines, his manipulation tactic is obvious.
"I'm not stupid Simon, I know you're just saying all of this so I don't tell Negan the truth but I don't care about your games. He's going to know every detail!"
His face angrily distorts at my resistance to him, "You don't want to do this Carmen. You have too much to lose"
"What are you talking about? you're the one who is at fault here" I continue to stand my ground.
"I'm talking about Nate, it would be easy for me to splatter his pathetic brains all over the walls of that cell. You know better than I do, that Negan sure as hell wouldn't have a problem with it"
My blood runs cold, I should've known that he would stoop that low. It's in his personality to be this stoic and heartless.
"You asshole! You better not touch him or I-"
"You'll do what? Hop around with that fucked up foot of yours"
His devilish smile appears at the fact that I am helpless to do anything. He has the upper hand in almost every way.
"Simon please don't. he's all I have left" I try my hardest to hold back my tears.
"You don't have to beg me. The ball is in your court. You want him to stay alive, then you'll keep your mouth shut" he puts a finger in front of his mouth signifying silence.
"So how am I supposed to explain this to Negan?"
"I don't know, say you fell down the stairs" he chuckles.
"He's not gonna believe that, " Negan isn't an idiot, he can tell when a person is lying.
"Oh yes he will, he already thinks you're an airhead. It wouldn't be hard for him to believe that you took a little tumble" Simon's overly confident aura shines through.
"Fine, but if I ever hear that you hurt Jackie again, I'm not biting my tongue next time"
"Whatever you say, Carmen, I'll see you later" he brushes me off, assuming that I'm not serious with my threats.
I wait for him to leave and once he's gone I seat back down on the bed.
I question my willingness to go along with this plan, I could tell me Negan what Simon threatened to do to Nate, maybe he'll protect him but at the same time, he might not do shit.
About 10 minutes later, Opie comes back with my food, it's a sandwich and an apple on the side. He still has work to do so he doesn't stay long.
The rest of the day I spend in bed reading through the sticky notes that were in Negan's Bible and the other books he has on his shelves. They all share a common theme about empowerment and strength. They even give me a glimmer of courage in this time of fear.
It's later in the afternoon when I hear the gates open outside, letting in the Saviors. A feeling of uneasiness takes over me, I put the book I was currently holding down and walk over to the large window.
I see Negan and his crew getting about of their vehicles, they all look exhausted but telling by the amount of stuff they've scavenged, today was a success for them.
I sit back down when I notice Negan walk into the building, it's only a couple of minutes before he comes to the door.
My stomach tingles in anticipation but I didn't know what for. Usually, I dread this moment but after today's incident, I'm anxious at what is his reaction going to be to my ankle brace. He's a wild card, I never know what I'm going to get from him.