I think I liked you better when you didn't have a knife in your hand, Peaches

A return to Alexandria

Blake sat up in the cab of truck staring out at the dusky open road.

The sky was purple above them now, the sun setting slowly behind the trees lining either side of the dusty track ahead.

It would be dark by the time they would reach Alexandria, of that Blake was certain...yet still, a quiet sense of foreboding filled the vehicle.

Almost immediately after she had uttered her need to be sent back there, to Alexandria...Negan had sloped off, with a hard gulp...barely even giving her a second glance...

And within ten minutes, the trucks had been ready, Simon and a couple of other burly Saviour loaded into one van, while Negan had immediately pulled open a door to a beaten up, red pick-up truck, finally staring up at Blake.

She hadn't even been given any time to grab anything from her room or say any goodbyes. But she knew that allowing her that right now would not be fair. It was her decision to leave after all....

But part of her, had desperately wanted Negan to say something. To ask her to stay. But he didn't. And that said more than a thousand words ever could.

Maybe he didn't want her to stay. Maybe he was truly done with her.

There were no smart-mouthed Negan comments this time, no devilish grin....just nothing....as Blake had sidled past him and hopped up into the passenger seat and Negan had slammed the door closed behind her.

It was just the two of them now, as it had been for the past hour...sitting in the truck in silence...while the others followed in the van behind.

Blake knew why they had followed the pair of them of course....if Rick or someone from her group ever foud that Negan was alone...without his usual protection, they would surely try to kill him. So he kept his right-hand man, as well as others, close by in case any trouble kicked off. Because was the kind of leader he was. Clever and calculating, and always one step ahead.

Blake who was sat on the far passenger side of the truck now, hands in her lap, chanced a glance up at the silent man.

He was still in his usual dusty old leather jacket, his beard looking flecked with more grey than she had noticed before, in warm dusky evening light.

But Negan, as he always was, was quicker that Blake gave him credit for.

His dark brown eyes drifting over to hers in the evening haze, catching her looking his way.

Blak felt like she could cry again, her breath hitching slightly in her throat.

But all this....leaving...it was a good thing, surely?

Now Negan could go back to his life at the Sanctuary...his wives...his people...

And Blake could live out her life back in Alexandria....alone...

Negan's eyes slowly drifted from hers and he pursed his lips together momentarily, before finally speaking for the first time since back there in the hallway.

"You think ol' Rick the fuckin' Prick, will be hanging out the streamers when he finds out you're back?" he said in a low voice, as the truck skimmed easily around a wide bend.

Blake stared at the tall, dark-haired Saviour as he slid one gloved hand smoothly down the steering wheel, before tilting her head to the side gently.

"I doubt it," she uttered back in a quiet tone. "I'm guessing he'll be more interested in what I can tell him about you."

With that, Negan looked back at her and for the first time in a hours, a hint of a smile drifting its way across his bearded face.

"An' what exactly are you gonna tell him, Peaches?" uttered the dark-haired man interestedly.