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

Nothing but the rain

Negan and Mia stayed for the entire afternoon, things feeling completely normal between the three of them as they enjoyed a hastily thrown together, very late lunch, after watching Mia blabber and play about on the mattress before them for what had felt like hours.

Blake was enamoured with the little girl, so excited to seeing her growing and developing day by day.

Gone was the shy little thing she had once met, hiding in a vent in the wall. And now Mia was flourishing, with her own little personality, completely bossy at times and often far too intelligent and quick for her own good.

It was late afternoon by the time Blake and Negan stood in the small white kitchen, Blake washing up what dishes Mia had used for lunch, using a little of the water boiled over the fire.

Negan stood at her side, his back against the counter to her right, popping yet another wild strawberry, Blake had found growing in the bottom of the garden, into his mouth.

Having five minutes peace from Mia, who had crashed out on the couch next-door after her lunch, Negan had been updating Blake on life back at the Sanctuary in her absence.

"...an' Simon is bein' asshole as always.." said Negan matter-of factly, mid-chew. "Damn shit-prick is making a mockery of my entire fuckin' set up."

Blake glanced up at him now, remembering suddenly back to how Simon had spoken to her back in Mia's bedroom on the night he had found her with Tara.

But she knew just how Negan would react if he ever found out, and the last thing she wanted was for Negan to lose one of his more loyal lieutenants because of a fleeting moment of Blake feeling slightly offended.

Because surely Simon hadn't meant to shout at her like that?

Right?

And so Blake held her tongue, but Negan, as always, was quicker than she gave him credit for.

"What?" he asked giving a small frown, his dark eyes grazing over her face. "That asshole done somethin' to piss you off too, Peaches?"

But Blake shook her head, placing a soapy dish onto the drainer.

"No..." she murmured. "It's nothing. I was just going to say that maybe you're too uptight for your own good."

At her words Negan raised both his eyebrows bemusedly, biting down hard upon his lip and pushing his long, lean form from the counter and closing the gap between the two of them.

"That so?" he uttered, leaning in towards her now, as Blake turned too, his face hovering a mere breath away from hers.

Blake smiled, savouring his closeness.

She had missed the intimacy. That feeling that she had shared with very few people in her life, Negan being one of those select few who she had given her everything to.

She had missed him like crazy. Missed their conversation. Their playfulness. Missed having someone hold her at night when the nightmares threatened to take hold...the constant, reoccurring dreams of a baby crying somewhere, where Blake couldn't get to it.

Negan didn't kiss her now, but instead leant forwards, grazing his stubbly lips over her brow, his hand pulling her shoulders into his chest and holding her there close to him.

She heard him sigh heavily, enveloping her in the warmth of his strong arms. And Blake, in that moment knew, that this was where she wanted to be forever.

"I'm sorry for leaving..." she whispered now, her face buried in his collarbone, breathing him in.

To her he smelled like burning wood smoke and gasoline, heady and strong, but oh-so familiar to her now.