Blake awoke early the next morning, it taking a her a few moments to remember the events of the previous day.

But of course, they soon came rushing back to her, jabbing at her senses like a knife to the stomach.

Just the way Negan had looked at her…with pure hatred and anger in his eyes…that had hurt more than Blake could even say.

But what had hurt more had been his words. Had Negan really supposed that she and Steve had slept with one another, back in Alexandria? Did he really think that little of her?

She had told him at the time, when Negan had walked in on Steve trying to kiss her in that kitchen, that there had been nothing to worry about…so why now had he changed his mind and began not to trust her? After all they had been through together?

The pair had said a lot of hurtful things to one other over this past week but it was the lack of trust that pained her the most…

…but then perhaps Negan was merely hurting Blake in retaliation for all the things she had accused him of….for not caring…for only being concerned with himself.

Blake had given a sigh, rubbing her face with her hand now…praying she wouldnn't start to cry again.

Last night she had stood in the garden alone, sobbing, long after the sky above her had grown dark, and the lots surrounding the Sanctuary had emptied completely.

She had gone inside and not bothered grabbing anything to eat, not feeling up to it right now and so had gone straight to her room collapsing onto her bed, with puffy eyes and red, tear-streaked, cheeks.

But this morning Blake knew she needed to pull herself together. There were lots to be getting on with in the garden and she would try and use that as a good distraction. For what else did she have right now…?

She had contemplated leaving. But where would she go? She had cut herself off from Rick and the people back at Alexandria….aligned herself with the Saviours who, of course, had enemies everywhere.

She was screwed. So she would stay here…for as long as she could bare at least…

Although at the rate she was currently going, that wouldn't be long.

But Blake, shook herself now. For this wasn't the time to start feeling sorry for herself. She still had it good here…with three meals a day…running water….whatever supplies she needed…

…she of course knew that life could be a lot worse out there on the road all alone.

And so, lifting herself up and out of bed, the caramel-blonde woman, grabbing towel and a bottle of shampoo she had taken from the marketplace downstairs, padded out into the hallway, heading to the bathrooms.

Less than thirty minutes later, with stomach rumbling, Blake walked into the large canteen, damp hair tied up in a loose knot on top of her head, with a pair of indigo jeans on and a white blouse.

She gazed about now, spotting Arat, Danny and a couple of other Saviours chatting in the corner, but no Negan today, which was a relief. For Blake was not yet ready to face the dark-haired Saviour again. Not after what had been said between them last night.

The place was fairly busy today with most of the Sanctuary's residents frequenting here at this time of the morning to pick up whatever sustenance their points could afford them, before beginning the working day.

Even Dr Carson could be seen on the far side of the large hall sat alone at a table eating a plate of waffles with a book spread out on the scrubbed wooden table before him.

Blake walked across the room, avoiding the eye of most people as she did so, before reaching the end of the short line for breakfast. And from the glorious smell that was wafting towards her, it looked like they were serving eggs, with waffles, and syrup, as well as freshly baked bread. Just that alone was enough to make Blake's mouth water these days.

And so in less than a minute she had reached the front, coming to stand before the two Saviours stood behind the makeshift serving counter.

Blake recognised the pair of them immediately, them being the same watery-eyed red-head and the white haired man, who had been here just last week when Negan had made the woman cry. And yet again, today the woman was stood serving, while the older man stood beside her, crossed out items and scored off points in a huge ledger.

The woman offered Blake an immediate warm smile and busied herself piling Blake's try high with food items.

But as Blake reached out a hand to take the tray from the woman's grasp, giving her a brief thank you of sincere gratitude, the white-haired man at her side suddenly snatched the woman's hand back.

"Wait," he said, his fingers running across a place in the large book before him, not even raising his eyes to look at either of them. "She doesn't have enough points for that."

Blake blinked and stared at him suddenly, the hint of a smile dropping from her features.

"Yeah, she's got enough for the waffle and the syrup but not for the eggs or the roll," he uttered again, to the red-head beside him, speaking as if Blake wasn't even there.

The female Saviour almost immediately retracted the tray, looking guilty, as she scraped the eggs from the plate back down into the vat before her.

But Blake could only gulp now as she stared up in shock at the pair in front of her now.

"I…errr…I don't understand…" she said in a quiet voice.

But the white haired man gave a short huff, scratching out points against Blake's name, before finally gazing up at her beneath arched eyebrows.

"We've had the order to add you to the points system as of yesterday," he said shortly. "And working in that gardens for what…ten hours… that gets you forty points."

Blake felt her heart pounding as her eyes drifted down to the plate of waffles and syrup before her, a nervous frown appearing between her brows.

"So if I take this…does that mean I won't have enough points to eat later this afternoon…o-or this evening?" she asked, her voice wavering slightly as she spoke.

But the man gave a grumbling sigh.

"Well I guess you can take just the bread," he said huffily. "And that'll mean you might have enough for a portion of fresh vegetables tonight…depending on how hard you work today."

Blake felt her heart plummet into her stomach now, feeling the eyes of the people stood behind her in the line on her now, causing her cheeks to burn red.

She gave another gulp, her eyes drifting down to the plate before her.

"I-I'll just take the bread then," she said, hearing her voice begin to break.

But she willed herself to hold it together as the red-haired woman looking sad, switched the plates over, instead handing Blake a small plate with a single bread roll on it.

"If you want spread, that'll be five extra points," said the man turning back to his book disinterestedly, and calling forward the next Saviour in the line. "Next!"

Blake gave another hard gulp, staring down at the piece of bread in her hand, feeling so guilty for the amount of food she had been entitled to these weeks living at the Sanctuary while everyone around her, not in Negan's favour, had scraped by just to fill their bellies even half full.

Quietly, feeling wholly embarrassed, Blake hurried over towards the long table far off in the corner of the room, sitting alone now not wanting any more attention.

She wasn't however, aware of Arat's eyes following her across said dining hall, stopping abruptly in her conversation with Danny.

Blake took a seat, with her back to the grimy wall, tearing apart the dry bread roll with her fingers and eaten it silently, thinking on everything.

She wasn't surprised of course that Negan would make her work for points. For that was, of course, how things worked around her for everyone else. Why shouldn't she be any different?

But, feeling utterly despondent, Blake barely noticed the curly-haired general come to stand before her.

"Hey," uttered Arat, breaking Blake suddenly from her thoughts, as she blinked up at her.

Blake gave a gulping attempt at a smile now, worried that Arat might have come to her to give her orders from Negan to leave…

But instead the woman just shifted her weight from foot-to-foot and chewed on her lip for a moment, before speaking again.

"..listen…" she said, giving a a small frown. "…for the record…I think putting you on the points system is kinda a shitty move."

Blake bit at her own lip now, gazing up at the tough looking Saviour before her.

For she knew it took a lot for Arat to speak out about Negan, as loyal as she was to him.

"…and I just wanted you to know that…" Arat gave a small sigh, peering down at Blake earnestly. "….that if you need anything….anything that you don't have enough points for…I'll get it for you….no questions asked."

Blake felt tears pricking at the back of her eyes now at Arat's generosity at her own risk.

"T-Thank you," stuttered back Blake, as Arat gave a swift nod before turning on her heel and marching swiftly back over to the small group of generals on the far side of the room.

That was the second time in just a few days that Arat had reached out to her, and Blake honestly appreciated it. Feeling less alone here now that she should have done.

For at the end of the day, even without Negan, Blake still had Arat, the wives, Eugene…

She was not alone.

She had hope.

Hope for a better life that she would have out there anyway. Even it did involve working for her supper.

And Blake had barely been sat alone for even a minute, when suddenly, a young boy of about seven or eight years old approached her looking a little nervous, holding out a plate piled high with yellow scrambled eggs.

He had short brown hair and was missing a front tooth, but smiled politely, setting the eggs down onto the table before her.

"These are from us…" he said in a sweet-little voice, pointing back over his shoulder, to where a couple in their forties, who must have been the boy's Mom and Dad, sat alongside a few other skinny-looking Saviours.

They all grinned over at Blake, and the caramel-blonde woman almost immediately recognised the teenage girl she had one given the tampons to, back in the marketplace several long weeks ago now.

"Thank you so much," said Blake to the kid, giving a shaky gulp, as the boy skipped happily away, heading back over to his parents.

She felt overwhelmed now, that people would think about her and be so generous.. especially when they themselves had so little to give. She promised herself she would return the favour one day.

But this had been exactly what Blake had been trying to tell Negan all along.

Sure, he had an empire here, but sometimes being good and kind to other people would get you so much further than a dictatorship where people were starved and forced to work for very little.

Blake ate every last morsel of what was on her plate…hoping to god she could drag out her points enough to manage to get herself up to at least two meals a day.

Working out there in the garden was exhausting and without some sustenance, that kind of toil would be hard.

And so, picking herself up and clearing her plates to the side, she began to head out of the dining hall, making for the corridor that led out to the walled garden.

But before Blake could make a move, she heard a sudden voice behind her.

"Hey! Blake, wait up!"

She recognised the voice, instantly, grimacing a little as she swung around, coming face to face with –

"Hi...Steve…" she murmured, a little irritably, gazing up at the tall, brown haired man as he crossed the room towards her, drawing the eyes of several women as he did so.

He was conventionally handsome, with large tanned biceps bursting from the tight white t-shirt he had obviously loaned from the marketplace.

He ran a hand through his ruffled hair, as he beamed down at her. Happier than he probably should be here, noted Blake.

What was his MO?

Surely he hadn't seriously come here to become a Saviour or one of Negan's men? Right?

Blake eyed him a little cautiously, but Steve seemed unperturbed.

"God this place is like a maze isn't it?" he grinned, stepping closer to her now, looking like a hulking great puppy with wide cheerful eyes. "I came down here earlier looking for you, but didn't manage to spot you."

But Blake scratched at her arm, giving a dry gulp.

"Yeah…I was just about to head out to get some work done on the garden," she muttered back in an attempt to get away from Steve. The more the pair of them hung out the more likely it would look to Negan and the rest of the Saviours, that what Negan had implied, had indeed been true

But Steve clapped his hands together brightly.

"Great, I'll join you," he uttered happily as a couple of skinny women waltzed by, looking him up and down as they passed the pair of them. "It'll give me something to do around here…so I can get some points to my name…. and prove myself a bit, y'know?"

Blake did know….

And that was what worried her.

For she knew just how far Negan would make his men and women go to 'prove' themselves to him…

"I dunno," she said, darting her eyes away and chewing on her lip.

But Steve took another intimate step into her, grasping hold of her upper arm gently and coaxingly. "Oh come on," he urged nudging her slightly, and leaning into her. "Give me a chance to prove myself to you too, huh? How about it?"

Blake didn't want to, but the way Steve was looking at her, almost pleading right now, his face right up close to hers, she didn't have much choice.

And besides, he was bound to be safer with her in the garden, keeping out of Negan's way, than he was walking the halls and getting under people's feet with his eagerness to help.

"Ok, fine," she said with a soft sigh, twitching a smile up towards him. And with that the shoved past him, making her way out of the marketplace towards the long corridor, bumping Steve's shoulder as she did so.

"But you can do all the heavy lifting, we clear?" she murmured.

And Steve gave a chuckle and barely lingered for a second, before following obediently behind her out of the large open-plan room.

But what neither of them had noticed, was that on the walkway high above the room, Negan was stood, jaw clenched watching the pair's every move….their closeness…their touching….the way Blake had just smiled gently before leading Steve away…

His blood was boiling with fury and pure jealously now, his grip tightening on the barbed wire covered baseball bat in his hand….

But what the fuck could he do now?

Kill the stupid fucking son of bitch? After Blake had defended him?

Nope. For Negan knew that if he did that, he might as well send her away right now, for she would never ever fucking forgive him.

But Negan was angry…hurt…and wasn't happy about the pretty-boy's fucking appearance here, not one fucking bit.

But turning on his heel...he headed once again from the canteen...heading up to his office...determined to keep an eye on the pair of them...even if it was the last thing he fucking did.

It was long after lunch, as Blake picked herself up stiffly, a short spade in one hand, covered in dirt and fresh soil... that a large bag of fertilizer was suddenly dropped down at her feet, making her jump in fright.

"That's the last sack of it," said a sudden panting Steve from her left coming to stop just a foot or two away from her now.

The pair had worked here all morning in the morning sunshine, Blake putting the brown-haired guy to work moving bags of compost from one end of the lot to the other, working as far away from her as he could possibly get.

But Blake, who clutched her hand to her chest, glancing up at him now…. gulped almost immediately at the sight that met her eyes….

For there was Steve with his shirt off, revealing a taut and tanned torso, almost hairless, perfect-looking and beaded with perspiration.

What the hell was he doing?!

There were plenty of other Saviours working out here now…a few men just a few feet away from them in fact. And none of them had felt the need to start working without their tops on.

Blake averted her eyes almost instantly.

"Oh…right…ok…" she nodded, placing her hands to her hips, trying to search for something to say.

But she barely needed to. As before she could utter another word, Steve had stepped close to her….

Blake's breath caught in the back of her throat now, staring up….

…as the brown-haired man suddenly leaned in towards her…

Fuck.

Blake held her breath, her mouth going completely dry…as Steve lifted his smooth hand to her face….

Fuck, was this the kitchen all over again?!

Here in front of everybody? Really?

No, no, no…

Had she led him on in any way? Given him even a hint that she was interested in him?

But to Blake's utter relief….Steve merely brushed at her cheek gently with his thumb.

"You had some dirt on you," he uttered with a warm smile, licking gently at his lips.

And Blake couldn't help but let out a shaky breath as she realised just how close they were now…

His lips just an inch or two from hers….

Blake peered up at him…hoping to god he wasn't about to try anything…when suddenly, something glinting in the sunshine, caught her eye….

…movement in a window…high above the garden….

Blake at once squinted against the sun and blinked suddenly…seeing a figure stood there….

….a figure now watching the pair of them….

Blake hurriedly pulled away from Steve, taking a couple of sudden steps back as she frowned darkly…

...realization of just who that person was, dawning upon her, as she took him in…

Negan.

Stood in that window, leather jacket shrugged over his shoulders… watching her….no, spying on her…

Checking up on what she was doing with Steve…

And in that moment, Blake let out a roar of anger, tossing down her spade with a loud clang, drawing the attention of every single person in that garden at that very moment.

That was it.

Fuck it, she had had enough.

And so, shoving Steve aside, Blake stormed back into through the large doorway that led back into the Sanctuary…her teeth gritted tightly together…

…angrier than she had been in a long, long time…

...heading off to find Negan...

Sorry if this chapter was all filler, no killer, I'm still not feeling 100%. But hopefully I can post again tomorrow (-my last for this week as I'm away this weekend).

Thanks to chelseajowhite, Hmc09, NerdSwag4Life, Guest, MsSharingIsFun, CLTex, Keward2592 and JasminJW for commenting on the last chapter.

Are you guys still happy for me to continue with this? I'd hate for you all to become bored of my writing as I know I've done a hell of a lot of chapters on here.

Please review if you get a chance. Thank you!