Was she seeing things?
Blake blinked once, then twice more…
As she glanced up at Negan, who was staring at her darkly from around the bookshelf.
He shot a her a questioning look…
…but Blake could only stare back at him….mouthing at the air for a small second, before turning back to the dark, and now, open vent…
…unable to believe what she was seeing…
For inside, crouched there, with a pink smock on, tiny giraffe leggings, and her short mousy brown hair tied up in a tuft on top of her head….was a teeny little girl.
She couldn't have been more than two and half years old, and peered up at Blake with the roundest blue eyes, her face red and wet with tears, looking terrified.
What the hell?
Blake breathed hard…frowning….
What the heck was a toddler doing hiding in a vent?
The tiny girl peered up at Blake before sniffling again, giving a whining cry, before turning and crawling further away down the small metal shaft, looking scared.
Blake's eye immediately drifted back up to Negan, blinking again for a long second, before her gaze once again feel to the little girl, who had sat herself back down, her face turned away.
Even from here Blake could see that she looked frightened….left alone in here, for God knows how long.
Blake lowered the knife to her side once again.
"H-Hey, sweetie…." she said in a soft voice, placing a hand to the grate opening.
But at the sound of Blake's voice, the girl gave a sudden whimper and began to cry loudly.
"Jeez, is that a fuckin' kid in there?" said Negan suddenly from behind her, giving a dark frown.
But Blake ignored him, kneeling forwards and leaning further in towards the grate.
"Hey, shhhh…its ok…." said Blake in a quiet tone. "…everything's gonna be ok…."
But the girl's cries inside the echoing vent were loud enough to wake the dead. Quite literally.
But the little child, on squatted legs, looked at Blake over her shoulder, her lip jutted out.
Blake gave an immediate warm smile.
"Sweetie, it's ok…." she uttered in a kindly voice. "There's no need to cry."
The tiny toddler sniffled, wiping at her wet nose with her tiny hand, her eyes still on Blake.
And at this Blake softened completely.
Who the hell would just leave a kid here like that?
"S-She must belong to one of the people who ran away…." said Blake to Negan, shaking her head. But she didn't look up at him.
Negan seemed to shift his weight from foot-to-foot.
"Well, hell, we checked the rest of this place out and there ain't nobody else left here…." he said bluntly.
Blake shot him a quick look.
"What about the guy downstairs?" she asked frowning, talking about one of the two men they had manage to capture earlier this morning.
But Negan gave a sigh, running his free hand down his face, before gesturing with the, now, bloody Lucille.
Blake should have figured it out sooner of course.
Why had she thought Negan had been any different now?
"Peaches, I-" he began, but Blake gave an immediate scowl, knowing exactly what he had done.
"You're disgusting, you know that?" she swiped back angrily, before turning back to the toddler, still in the vent.
If there was no one else here from the group that had just left, what the hell were they going to do with this little girl?
Blake forced another smile in the teeny child's direction.
"Sweetie," she tried gently. "You wanna come out of there? It can't be very comfy for you sat there like that, now can it?"
The little girl just looked at her curiously.
And it was a long drawn out second before she finally shifted on her tiny legs coming to face the caramel-haired woman, once more.
Blake tilted her head.
She knew how scary this world was for a fully-grown adult, let alone for a two year old girl.
"You gonna come out?" Blake asked her in a quiet voice once again, giving her a warm smile. "Pretty please?"
The toddler peered back at her, thinking.
But, before Blake could say another word, the teeny girl crawled suddenly forwards and into Blake's outstretched arms.
Blake immediately, pulled the tiny girl into her, hauling her hurriedly from the vent, just as the child burst into tears once again.
"Awww….shhhhh…its ok….shhhh….I've got you…" muttered Blake, readjusting her grip on her, as the toddler buried her face into Blake's shirt.
Blake pulled her close, feeling beneath her butt, which was wet and soggy to the touch.
God knows how long she'd been in there for, trembling in Blake's arms, her skin freezing despite today's sweltering temperatures.
"Shhhh. Its ok…its ok…"murmured Blake in soothing voice…looking up at Negan.
But the dark-haired Saviour just stood there ,a frown fixed across his bearded features.
She knew what he was thinking.
But she carefully ignored his gaze, heaving both herself and the tiny girl to her feet instead.
"Hey, hey, hey," said Blake pulling back slightly and peering down at the tiny girl, stroking back her tuft of short brown hair. "You thirsty, sweetie?"
With that, the little girl peered up at Blake through wide, wet eyes, clutching onto Blake's shirt with one sticky paw, and nodded.
"Yeah?" smiled Blake. "Then let's get you something to drink, shall we?"
The toddler gave a small sniffle, as Blake walked past Negan, heading towards the door the led back down to the staircase.
And it wasn't long before Negan, as always, followed her, looking grumpy.
It hadn't been five minutes ago that the pair of them had been making out against a wall. And it was of course unusual for Negan to not get his own way….
Blake walked slowly down the stairs, finally reaching the bottom and turning left, heading back down the corridor towards the main entrance to the building.
She had barley reached the large front doors that led out to the lot when a minute voice, came suddenly from her arms.
"Ca' I av' juice pwease…"
Blake looked down suddenly, to see the little girl staring up at Blake, chewing on her own pudgy, and now very drooly, hand, as she did so.
Blake smiled, cocking her head to the side.
"Uh, I don't think we have some juice for you right now," said Blake running a thumb across the toddler's tear-strewn cheek. "But how about we get you some water for the time being, and see about juice later, ok?"
"Okway," said the toddler in reply.
Blake bit at her lip.
At least she was talking. That could only be a good thing, right?
But as Blake turned towards the trucks, lined up in the yard, several Saviour's, who were loading various weapons and cases full of ammo, stopped suddenly to look at her.
She knew what they would think. But right now she didn't care.
Blake ignored them. Just as she had Negan, instead heading over towards the cab of the truck they had come here in.
She gently shifted the little girl onto her hip and heaved open the door, grabbing a bottle of, now, warm water from inside.
"Here we go," she said in a gentle voice, unscrewing the cap and offering the bottle to the little girl slowly, tipping it up, so that she could drink. "You must be very, very thirsty."
And she was right. The teeny girl drank and drank and drank, the water spilling down over her lips messily, until she pushed it away from her gently after a time, panting.
"That better?" asked Blake, wiping at her chin carefully, as the tiny toddler nodded.
Blake smiled in return, just as a figure suddenly appeared beside her.
She of course knew who it was without even looking, as the teeny girl buried her face suddenly in Blake's shirt again, turning away from him.
"Her family have gone," Blake said, shaking her head and staring up at Negan, who was stood beside her, Lucille slung loosely over his shoulder.
But Negan just looked at Blake darkly.
"We aint takin' her, Peaches…" he said sternly.
But at this, Blake gave an immediate scowl.
"You really gonna stop me?" she uttered in an angry tone, narrowing her eyes in his direction.
And that was when Blake knew for a fact that he wouldn't.
That soft spot, finally coming in handy.
Negan gritted his teeth, looking irritable, making to speak. But Blake cut across him before he could do so.
"I'm not just going to leave her here, Negan," Blake muttered curtly. "If you weren't so bloodthirsty, we could have asked that guy you had locked up, if he was her father, or least if he was able to tell us where her parents were. But no. Yet again, there you go…killing first and asking questions later."
"You're blamin' me for this, Doll-face?" said the dark haired Saviour in an incredulous voice. "Hell, I wasn't the one to leave my goddamn kid in a fuckin' wall and run the fuck away…"
But Blake scowled in his direction.
"One, don't be an asshole," she said leaning in close to him. "And two, don't swear in front of her."
Negan's eyebrows instantly shot up into his hairline, as he mouthed at the air like a fish.
But Blake didn't give him the satisfaction of giving her a response, as she shoved hurriedly past him, and pulled herself, and the toddler, up into the cab of the truck.
She knew Negan wasn't likely to let it lie any time soon, but wanted to get the teeny girl into the shade.
She moved the little girl around on her lap to face her. Prising her from her chest.
"Hey, hey, it's ok…" she said gently. "There's no need to be scared. "That's just Negan."
Blake pursed her lips, glancing at the Saviour through the door, seeing him obviously seething, now deep in conversation with Arat.
"And I'm Blake, " sighed the caramel-blonde woman, giving a sweet smile and turning back to the girl.
Blake pointed to herself, smiling and peering into the child's large blue eyes.
She was as cute as anything with a teeny button nose and the softest little tuft of brown hair Blake had ever seen, tied up on top of her head with a tiny pink bow. She looked a little older than Judith had back in Alexandria, but still looked very small for her age, with chubby little legs and pudgy rosy cheeks.
"And what's your name, sweetie?" she asked carefully, tilting her head to the side once again.
The little girl stared up at Blake, her mouth fixed into a tiny O-shape…..but before she could answer, the door to Blake's left was suddenly hauled open, with Arat hopping up into the driver's seat.
She shot Blake and the girl a troubled sort-of look, before huffing and turning on the ignition.
And it wasn't a second after that, that Negan himself joined Blake once again on her right, sliding into the seat beside her easily.
Blake threw him a questioning look, but Negan read her easily, giving a growling huff.
"Don' say a fuckin' word, Darlin'," he sighed, pursing his lips together and slamming the door shut beside him. "I ain't doin' this outta the goodness of my fuckin' heart. I'm doin' this because I wanna screw you, we clear?"
Blake couldn't help the smirk that twitched its way up onto her own lips, as she stared at him.
He was obviously angry with her, but Blake knew how much she could get away with. And if using his soft-spot for her to save this tiny girl's life was possible, then she would use it to her advantage.
And so Blake turned back to the road ahead, as Arat started up the engine…
…and it wasn't another moment later that Negan gave another huff and placed his arm on the back of the seat around Blake's shoulders possessively…
…as the toddler in her arms snuggled back into her chest…hiding from the dark-haired Saviour beside them.
Just a short one today, I have a few things on my mind at the moment...and am feeling a bit worried. Sorry.
Thanks to DJDragon1, Hmc09, Dollfacex94, xojade, FriendsWiithTheMonster, Guest, angelvoice15, Kosongbird, bookworm125, Guest, Xmidniteangel15X, Guest, sreid045, Mike and MisfitCarter for reviews.
Hope it was alright?
Please review