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

Way past midnight

It was way past midnight when Simon finally shoved the door to Blake's room open, holding it open for her to enter.

The caramel-blonde woman, letting out a shaky breath of air keeping her eyes trained on the ground before her, slid past him, going inside, into the darkness that was her ample bedroom on the second floor of the Sanctuary.

She was exhausted now...hurting.....but not just because of the cuts, bruises and scratches that littered her entire body....this was a different kind of hurt...one that rose from inside her...tugging at her stomach muscles...and causing her heart to ache sadly.

"You, uhh, you need anything?" asked Simon from behind her.

But Blake didn't look back at him again, merely giving a brief shake of her head. "N-No...I'm fine....thanks," she managed to murmur now sounding hollow, before hearing the door being pulled quietly shut behind her, just a second or two later.

The journey back to the Sanctuary had taken a long couple of hours, sitting in the front of a beaten up truck with Simon at the wheel beside her, not even uttering a single word to her throughout the entire journey home.

She hadn't seen Negan again after he had trudged off through the woods, and it was only when they arrived back at the Sanctuary, seeing the enormous silver RV parked up outside, did Blake even know that the dark-haired Saviour was already back.

But it hurt her now to think about him. To have seen how he had turned his back on her, just like that. So uncaring...after everything that had happened between them.

Blake had thought that maybe, just maybe, he had cared about her, felt about her, the same way as she felt about him. But obviously she had been wrong.

Perhaps this had all been just about finally getting what he wanted. He had pressed her, on many, many occasions, to be his wife. And perhaps that was all that he had actually ever wanted from her. For her to be just another submissive woman,sitting pretty up in that room with the other girls, wearing a skimpy black dress and waiting for him to come and pick her.

Maybe all this...maybe it had just been about the chase for him. And now that he had had her...maybe that was all that it ever was supposed to be. The thrill of the game was over for him now...and he the dark-haired leader of the Saviours had tonight proved that she meant nothing to him. Just nothing.

Blake clutched a hand to her mouth, stifling a harsh sob that escaped her lips before she could stop it.

She could smell antiseptic now on her hands and wrists from where Dr Carson had cleaned her up in the medical room just a few minutes ago...

The sandy-haired doctor, woken from his sleep because of her for the second time in only three days had just gave a dismayed sigh, wordlessly getting her cleaned up, wiping the dried blood from her neck and checking her over.

And it was only a minute or two after that that Blake had been brought here, to her room.

It was strange being here now...without a familiar figure beside her...

Even when she had gone to bed just a single night ago alone, she had been happy in the knowledge that Negan would of course be returning to her. And return to her he did, slipping inside the covers beside her in the early hours and pulling her close.

But that was over now.

There would not be any warm hands holding her tightly tonight.

She let another tear slip down her cheek silently as she sat down onto her bed....at a loss....hurting so so badly.

For the child she had lost...for Mia...and for Negan too. The man she had lo-

But Blake gave a hard, dry gulp...unable to think on this anymore. For it was truly tearing her up inside.

And so, in the dark gloom of her dusty, disused room, Blake lay back against the creaky mattress, staring up at the shadowed ceiling hopelessly.

Negan sat down on his leather couch, head in his hands.

His calloused fingers ran their way over the dark hair that reached the nape of his neck, before he stared up once again...at nothing....'

Shit.

He couldn't focus right now. Angry, no, furious.

At both himself and at Blake too.

She had proven tonight how little she thought of him. How she would never accept him as part of her life.

Even if Mia was alive, it would always be Blake and the baby girl....he was never considered anything more than a passer-by to her in this relationship.

For who was he trying to kid.

He'd never have a fucking family. Not in this world anyway.

It was just him now. Back on his own again.

Because fuck it. He had his wives who he could screw when he wanted....

He had his men, loyal until the end...

What more did he need?

Negan pulled a bottle of whisky from the table towards him now, but didn't make a move to open it....

For he knew what he needed right now, and that was not alcohol.

It was her.

The one person who had made him feel whole again after so so long.

But Negan now knew that he had to face fucking facts.

Because it was over, before it had even really begun

Blake had shown her true feelings tonight and that was that.

But even now, as Negan unscrewed the cap of the bottle of whisky, pouring himself a few glugs of the brown liquor into a dirty glass, he knew just how much it was killing him to admit that he was done.

But even if Negan hadn't wanted it to end, he had no choice in the matter. For as far as he was concerned, the person that he wanted, no longer, in fact, wanted him back.