The warm summer sun seemed to still linger high in the sky, as the first few days of September drifted slowly by.
The leaves on the trees surrounding the dusty Sanctuary lots had begun to turn a golden brown colour, as the fruit and vegetables in the walled garden began to grow and grow, ripening and becoming perfect for harvesting, ready for the Saviours' suppers (if they had enough points for them of course).
Blake had spent the last few days, since her arrival back here at the Sanctuary after that fateful night with the Wolves, tending solely to said-garden, only leaving it to grab a bottle of water and a hasty bite to eat.
Toiling here, meant she was safe and distracted, and she didn't have to think about other things that were indeed currently weighing on her mind.
That one other thing, being a certain person she had not managed to subdue her stubbornness enough to speak to yet.
Negan.
She had seen him of course, every single day since. And each and every time, the pair had merely shot each other frowning, lingering glances, before Negan had clenched his jaw and Blake had given a small huff, and both had stormed swiftly away….both of them hurting.
For it was killing Blake to be apart from him. But the longer the two of them went without speaking, the easier it was for her to presume that he was the one that did not want to speak to her.
That had to be it….right?
And so each time they had seen one other, be it in the canteen, passing down a corridor, or heading through one of the lots, Blake and Negan had stormed hurriedly away, leaving in a much fouler mood than a few moments prior.
But so far today, as the sun drifted lower in the sky that afternoon, Blake had been without a glimpse of the dark-haired man since yesterday…which had both infuriated, relived and saddened her, in equal measure.
Now, as the sun began to set, Blake found herself knelt on the ground, with a pair of heavy duty green gloves over her hands, plucking gooseberries from a small potted bush.
She had a silly old pop song playing over and over in her head and felt contented, plopping two or three gooseberries into a basket beside her, before brushing down the knees of her tight black jeans….just as a large, looming shadow fell across her.
The caramel-blonde woman, glanced up, squinting through the sunlight now, to see a tall, black Saviour named Danny standing there, with something heavy held tightly between both his hands.
"Where can I put this?" he asked her, his voice sounding slightly strained under the weight of what looked like some sort of huge tree, stuck into a large brown pot, far too small for it.
Blake gave a frown, tucking a stand of hair behind her ear now, looking slightly bemused.
"I….uh...I guess…..over there.." she said taking off her gloves and dropping them down beside her, before getting swiftly to her feet, brushing down the back of her pants as she did so.
She pointed over to a sunny corner of the walled space, leading Danny over to it.
He followed her, looking slightly grumpy at being made to carry the huge, heavy tree, before plonking it hastily down at her feet.
Blake pursed her lips together, eyeing both the bald-headed saviour and the weary-looking plant between them.
"W-where did you even get this?" she asked in confused voice, giving the Saviour before her the slightest of frowns.
But Danny merely brushed together his dirt-covered hands and forced a small, uneasy smile in her direction, avoiding her gaze.
"Uhhhh, we, uhhh, we found it," he said obviously lying trough his teeth, scratching at the back of his neck with his hand, looking oh-so awkward right now, as Blake pouted, placing both her hands to her hips.
"Really?" she uttered out in a voice of utter disbelief, but Danny seemed to redden at this, searching desperately for something to say.
But in the end he just gave up, giving her another frozen smile and hastily turning on his heel, strolling quickly away.
Blake's eyes followed him as she went, smirking slightly.
What the hell had all that been about?
And why were the higher-up Saviours out and about finding stuff for her garden?
She glanced down at the tree.
And good stuff too! This looked like an apple tree of sorts and would of course be very useful to them here.
And so, giving a small bemused shake of her head once again, Blake bent down, repositioning the pot slightly….
….unaware that in a room high above the walled garden, she was, in fact, being watched….
Negan dragged a hand down his chin giving a sigh, staring down into the walled garden five floors down. Watching as Blake circled the apple tree, eyeing it admiringly.
Negan had found this room three days ago when he had been in a foul mood…stomping around the Sanctuary, searching for any sort of breathing space.
And that was when he had come across this disused office at the back of the factory….with just a desk and a few chairs inside, littered with papers strewn across the grimy floor.
But Negan, seething at the time had gone over to the window, noticing almost immediately that it overlooked the back of the looming set of buildings and overlooked the one place that Blake now seemed to spend most of her time. He had noticed of course, taking in every little thing she did, every little thing she wore…or spoke about…or looked at…even from a distance.
And so after a quick clean-up and a few homely touches later, this room, this office, had become Negan's own Sanctuary…where he could sit or stand, staring out of the window, down at the paradise below. Even passing on a trip to Alexandria today for the monthly offering, and sending Dwight and Simon instead.
And so Negan had instead stood here by the window from sun-rise, until way after sun-down, and watched intermittently, as Blake had toiled, still of course, furious about what she had said….mad at the entire fucking situation…but keeping a fond eye on her nonetheless.
But so far, days later, it was obvious now that she didn't want to speak to him, for if she had, she he'd have come to find him by now, approached him…and Negan was as stubborn as he was proud, and wasn't going to push her.
He still had that fucking soft spot for her, and so, no matter what, he wasn't about to kick her the fuck out of this place…
…but instead, he yearned for her almost constantly….
He had his wives, sure, but this wasn't just about sex.
It was about being with someone who meant more to him than just a quick screw, someone who had been through the same shit as he had….someone who had lost things and got hurt and managed to rebuild herself from the ashes of her old life.
Negan tore his chocolate eyes away from the window now, turning back towards his bare desk, decorated with just his trusty baseball bat and a single empty whisky glass.
He had fucked up.
Said stupid things which he hadn't meant because he had been angry.
But how the fuck was he meant to say sorry to her now?
The last few days…he had watched her….trying to create something fucking perfect down in that garden down there. And in his own stupid way he had tried to help….sending some of his men and women out on supply runs to search for things that could help her….
Tools, plants, shrubs….that kind of thing…
But even so, he knew that still wasn't really good enough.
He needed to grow some fucking balls here. Man up. Do the right fucking thing.
But Negan wasn't usually the one to back down first. To admit he was in the wrong.
And so, slumping down into his chair, jaw tensed, he grasped up the smooth wooden end of his barbed wire covered baseball bat, before letting out a roar of frustration and bashing the weapon down onto the table in sheer annoyance at himself, with a loud, carrying 'thwack'.
It was late now, the sun having long dimmed, leaving a grey and purple tinge across the sky above. But Blake was still out in the low walled lot, doing what she could to pass the time, as crickets and mosquitos chirruped and buzzed all around her.
Helping with the garden had indeed been a good distraction these past few days, but it was when the nights came, that Blake found it the most difficult….having trouble sleeping, lying awake for hours alone, wondering if Negan was, just two floors up, perhaps with one of his wives….having sex…kissing…laughing…joking….
It killed her to think that, but it was hard not to.
So Blake would spend as long as she could, each and every evening, alone out here, tending to the plants and the chicken coop, sweeping up and doing crappy tasks, long after the other Saviours who frequented this space and worked here alongside her, had gone indoors.
And tonight was no exception.
Blake having worked as admin in offices all her working life, hadn't even owned a garden in her small city apartment. But here it felt good and pure to be doing something like this, to be bringing life into a world full of the ever-walking dead….in a different way than the way she had always truly wanted to….
The caramel-blonde woman, who had been finishing off planting some spinach at the far end of the garden, tucked her hair behind her ear now, still humming that same old pop song from earlier, that seemed to be going round and round inside her head.
But she was mid-way through cheerily humming the chorus, when she heard a low toot of a car horn and the sound of a truck swinging around into the fenced off parking lot adjacent to the garden.
The Saviours only tended to use this part of the yard when they had a large haul to come in. So that of course meant they had today, gone to collect their monthly takings from one of their sorry groups.
Blake got to her feet, her interest peaked, wondering of course, where they had collected from this time….
The hilltop? Alexandria? Or maybe someplace else?
But perhaps that alone wasn't quite why she was quite so curious….
If there was a collection to be made, it was likely Negan himself had gone to fetch it. And that meant he would be there…close by….
And so, dusting herself down, Blake peered around the archway leading into the courtyard, keeping her head down and out of sight…eyeing Dwight as he hopped down from the front of the truck.
But there was no sign of the dark-haired leader of the Saviours however.
Blake pursed her lips, sighing internally.
All this, it was her own fault.
Perhaps she had been idiotic to let herself fall for Negan far too fast after David's demise.
But before she could drag her eyes away, her gaze was suddenly drawn by the man himself, strolling casually across the large darkening lot, towards the truck.
There he was. Negan.
Her breath hitched in her throat now, as she stared at him, her heart almost aching.
His dark brow was furrowed now, arching his leather-clad back as he came to a stop in front of Dwight, pointing up at the rear of the vehicle authoritatively with one hand, clutching Lucille loosely in the other.
The scrubby salt-and-pepper beard of his seemed ever so slightly longer now, but perhaps that was just her imagination…Blake remembering just how it had felt against her skin when he kissed her….
On her lips…
…her neck…
…the soft skin of her inner thighs…
Blake hastily shook herself, as she watched Dwight give a sudden obedient nod.
But before she could peel her eyes away, all of a sudden Negan, running a hand down his tired-looking face, spun around on his booted heel…his eyes drifting around and, by chance...coming to land on her.
For a moment the pair of them stared the other out…neither able to look away….with Blake's wide green eyes meeting Negan's chocolate ones'.
It was if they had been apart for years now….with Blake's heart utterly aching right at this very second.
She saw Negan's face soften before her very eyes, his expression sad…as a gulp trailed its way down his bearded throat.
And Blake right now, half expected him to turn away from her, as the pair of them had done each time that they had seen one other, for the past few days.
But to her surprise, Negan merely uttered something briefly to a passing Dwight, (who had got to work beginning to unload goods from the back of the truck) and hunched his broad, leather-clad shoulders slightly, before strolling slowly towards her.
Blake felt the top of her cheeks turning almost instantly pink, as she turned away quickly, pretending to look busy, brushing dust from her pants and turning back towards the rows of spinach.
But it wasn't a second later that she heard the familiar, chinking sound of boots on asphalt, trudging their way through the archway that led into the garden.
She glanced up over her shoulder again, her heart pounding in her chest like a drumbeat.
There he was, just a few feet away from her now…tall, looming, exuding that same old cockiness and swagger that he always did...but something about him was different now…softer…dejected-looking…
…but before she could help herself, her gaze flickered away from his...unable to hold it now at this close proximity to him.
This was killing her…as she felt a tug at the back of her stomach and her mouth go completely dry.
Negan gazed slowly around and was silent for brief moment, before finally speaking.
"Well ain't all this lookin' pretty fuckin' impressive these days…" he commented in that familiar low voice of his, his eyes drifting back to her now.
At his words, Blake instantly caught his gaze yet again, nodding almost immediately.
"Yeah..I..uhh…." she muttered in a polite, earnest reply. "…we have, um…pumpkins...umm...some other types of squash growing over there, the chickens of course….and someone brought down an apple tree earlier that might come good."
She pointed over to the potted tree in the corner of the garden conversationally, almost cringing at her own words.
Why the fuck was she talking to Negan about fucking plants?
But really, what else was she going to talk to him about these days with the situation as it was between them?
Mia? Rick? His wives?...His sex life?
Blake gave another small gulp, as Negan nodded, his lips pressed together, offering her a politely-impressed sort of look.
There was a short moment of silence, before the dark-haired leader of the Saviours spoke again.
"Well shit, darlin', you're makin' me hungry just talkin' about all that…" he sighed, offering her a small nod.
But Blake merely stared up at him nervously, as the pair fell into a pool of silence once more.
What the hell was she supposed to say? The awkwardness eating her up inside.
Think, Blake think…
…it had never been this hard for either of them before!?
She was about to open her mouth to speak, to say something completely inane about the cabbage plants, when Negan suddenly spoke again first-
"Listen," he said giving a small frustrated frown….as though he was desperately trying to communicate something to her. "….Peaches…I-"
But before Negan could utter another word, there came a loud carrying yell from over the wall, and the sounds of a small commotion breaking out.
Both Negan and Blake blinked suddenly, dragged from their moment…
And it wasn't a second later that she heard the dark-haired man give a short, furious growl under his breath, gritting his teeth together, before swiftly marching off in the direction of the noise. It was his duty to do so after all.
But Blake gave a frown of her own now, as the carrying shouts of Dwight, as well as couple of other men, could be heard just around the archway leading into the lot beyond.
And so, feeling curious, Blake promptly followed him…moving around the wall and over to the arched gap that separated the garden from the trucks beyond.
Negan was a little ahead of her now, standing there looking angry, Lucille clenched tightly between his gloved fingers….but all Blake could make out was a group of men scuffling about on the ground.
And it was a moment, pacing around the dark-haired Saviour, that Blake made out Dwight, Danny and another of the high-up Generals, all scrabbling to their feet and pointing their guns swiftly, at a now-kneeling figure…
A kneeling figure, that Blake only recognised when she had moved further into the lot properly, coming to stand just a few feet away.
But all the breath seemed to disappear from her lungs, as she took in the sight before her eyes…
...both of her green orbs widening in shock, as Blake looked upon the face of a man she recognised very well indeed…
….a man she had not seen since she had left Alexandria….uttering out his name in disbelief….
"…S-Steve?!"
I hope y'all remember Steve, and that his appearance wasn't too many chapters ago… :)
Thanks to EJM87, Kendra, CLTex, NegansLilBitch, Guest, Hmc09, MsSharingIsFun, NerdSwag4life, l0velylexx, Keward2592, anonymouslyindisguise, BeOurGuest and nfarrell1995 for commenting on the last chapter.
Please review if you have time to! I hope you all have a great weekend! :)