“ your shit ? abraham, i left you in a supermarket. i went on without you and it almost killed me. it killed our family. ” her brow furrows, frustration is more at home on her face. she was never one quick to anger, preferring to cool his fire with laughter rather than build it up brighter. negan’s done that for her, and now her abraham’s burning up inside.
she shoves her left hand at him, her ring finger having been bare by necessity. someone tried to steal it from her, before they realized it was a fake. could never afford a real gem when they got married, and by the time they could their son needed to go to college. dawn never minded, still doesn’t.
her fingers lie across his palm, freezing and thin and rougher than they used to be. they never needed to pull a triggerwhen she was typing away on an old macintosh at the office. her eyes are hard and serious. “ give it back to me, my marriage. i want it, abe, i want you. ”
he was talking about sneaking her out, getting her supplies enough that she could make a run for whatever safety she’d found before they brought her in. dawn had to explain to him there was nothing out there for her. just cold stone and a slow death at her final resting place. whywould she leave, when she’d spent so long worrying how he died ?
“ you think you’re the only violent one, now ? you’re his dog, not a wolf chasing me through the woods. the people left out there, love… they’re not natural. ” her eyes soften, almost pleading. “ you want this, too. why won’t you let me back in ? do you hate me that much ? ”
❝ yeah , my shit , ❞ he snarled , catching a glimpse of the ring resting ‘pon her ring finger as she shoved her dainty left arm towards him . there she was , like a ghost of the past , asking the question a part of him yearned for but one that terrified him all the same in the enormity of its significance . ❝ i killed our family . ❞ the statement rang like a brass bell in a room far too tight and small for such an avowal , chest aching with open wounds that now seemed to bleed through his linen shirt with aches of the words of the past , promises left unsaid .
bringing himself to look at her was not an easy task , but seaglass eyes rose to steal a glimpse from beneath baldachins of dark - chestnut eyelashes . ❝ if you mean it , and only if you really fuckin’ mean it , ❞ he couldn’t risk making her miserable again , not when he barely recognised his own reflection and the blood never seemed to leave his hands .
dawn’s words scathed his skin like daggers , the meaning behind words too cruel to be true ; there was no single atom in his body that could hate her . not when she left him after he tried his best and failed , not when she deprived him of the chance of being a father , a protector of the kids he loved more than life itself . ❝ trust me , i want nothing more . but then there’s no turnin’ back , i —— ❞ his growl shifted into a stutter , bruised fingers bathed in callouses and scars involountarily curling against her wrist as cold eyes once again glared at the ring . ❝ i was so lost without you . ❞