The sky had now become dark and shadowy outside by the time Blake finally made it back to her room, shutting the door behind her with a snap.

She leant back against the dark wood and let out a shaky breath of air, closing her eyes as she did so, feeling tears slide down her cheeks.

Everything right now felt hopeless. More so than it had done since the very start of the apocalypse.

All of the things Blake had strived so hard to build here had vanished into dust. Leaving only her alone.

There was no Mia…no Tara, no Aaron or Eric having her back…she was on her own here, ready for whether fate awaited her.

And Blake did not have to wait very long…

…for she had only been back a minute or so….

….when behind her head, there came a sudden loud knocking upon the wooden door at her back.

The caramel-blonde woman gave a sudden gulp, blinking open her tearful eyes once more and turning around on the spot.

Had Negan sent his men to get her so soon?

Was she to spend the rest of the night in a cell?

Or worse?

Perhaps she would be dead by morning, for Negan had surely punished people for much less.

Blake had let Steve go…just like that.

And from what she had heard, Dr Carson's brother had been burnt alive for doing a very similar thing.

But, ready and willing to face what was coming, Blake let out a shaky puff of air, her fingers grasping the door handle tightly.

And so, composing herself, she took a step back, slowly pulling open the door and awaiting whatever fate beheld her.

But Blake gave a sudden gulp as her eyes landed on a familiar figure stood there, face set, barbed wire covered baseball-bat propped up against his leather-clad shoulder.

Negan.

Right now he looked more intimidating than ever before, but Blake was done with playing the scared little victim, lifting her chin up defiantly, her green eyes meeting with his.

"May I come in?" he growled in a low voice, his face unreadable now.

Blake waited for a long moment, before finally giving him a curt nod and standing aside for him to pass.

Was this it? Was he about to use Lucille on her?

If so, Blake was ready and oh-so willing to stand her ground.

She hadn't forgotten all the things that had happened between them lately. She had been stupid, granted. But even Negan himself wasn't blameless in all this.

Blake shut the door behind him as the dark-haired Saviour strolled into the room, rubbing a hand across his bearded chin as he did so.

His shoulders were slightly hunched now, his head facing the ground.

At his presence, the room almost immediately filled with a smothering tension. Blanketing both of them in ghosts and memories of their arguments over the past week.

Blake pressed herself back against the door once again, awaiting whatever was to come next from him.

Perhaps he was here to kill her himself? Perhaps he would ask her to leave?

But no matter, Blake was not about to go down without some sort of a fight.

For all this. All their arguments. All their betrayal an hurtful words. It was destroying her from the inside anyway.

"If you're here to kill me-" she began, her voice raised, but wavering more than she had expected it to.

But almost as soon as she had spoken, Negan stared up at her, his jaw clenched and his eyes dark.

"Jeez, sweetheart, I mean I know you have a fucking low opinion of me," said Negan suddenly, in a sarcastic voice. "But do you really fuckin' think I'm here to fuckin' kill you?"

Blake hesitated for a moment, another dry gulp sliding its way down her exposed throat.

"T-Then what are you here for?" she asked in a voice suddenly quieter than before.

Negan dug the inside of cheek with his tongue for a second or two before speaking again, lowering Lucille from his shoulder and rubbing at his chin once again.

"I just wanna talk," he said in a short voice, his chin dipped low, but his dark eyes meeting with hers.

His tone immediately caught Blake off guard, and before she could stop herself, she felt her hackles raising slightly.

He wanted to talk? Now? After everything?

But Blake wasn't standing for it, anger bubbling up inside of her.

"What? So you can tell me what great sex you had with Tanya earlier?" she stated in a scornful voice.

She hadn't realised just how hurt she had really felt about the entire situation until she said the words aloud, tears pricking at her eyes.

Negan stared at her.

"Nothing happened…" he said giving a short huff and shaking his head.

But Blake bit across him.

"And you expect me to believe that?" she yelled suddenly, pointing down at the floor, anger rising within her.

But Negan, suddenly taking two long-legged steps towards Blake, closed the gap between the pair of them, gazing down at her intimidatingly.

"Jesus Christ, Doll-face, you really think after everything, I would just jump into goddamn bed with those fuckin' girls?" he said in an incredulous tone, frustration in his voice.

But Blake breathing hard, fixed her eyes on his.

"Well that's what you thought I'd done with Steve," she said her voice breaking slightly. "And I didn't, Negan. I didn't do anything with him. I just thought-"

She trailed off…her eyes roving across Negan's long, tanned and fixed features.

"..I just thought he was a good guy….but I made a mistake about that….." she said licking her lips. "…so you were right…."

And with that, Blake dropped her eyes to the floor despondently and turned away from Negan now.

All this was her fault.

She had believed the wrong man and not for the first time in her life either.

God, she felt so stupid.

All of the tension all of the anger seemed to dissipate from the room now, leaving only an aching sadness between the pair of them.

Blake hugged her arms around herself, feeling a lone tear slide its way down her cheek, facing her bed. But she quickly swiped it away, as she heard Negan swiftly approach her from behind, placing a hand to her shoulder and tugging her back around to face him, before she could do a thing to stop him.

There he was.

The man who had changed her entire life.

Standing there as looming as ever…and just as formidable as the first day she had met him.

But here, now, Blake saw a softness in him under that hardened exterior.

A softness that had been hers to keep.

For a time anyway…

"Peaches…" Negan murmured, his eyes looking sad now, as Blake stared up into his long face.

But the dark-haired Saviour trailed off, blinking at her slowly.

There was so much between them.

These past few months had meant more than anything to Blake, and for the briefest few days she had felt truly happy for the first time in her life…here with him…

She wanted so much to be close to him now…to feel his warm skin against hers….

But she knew that it was probably too late.

That things had been said, that could not be unsaid.

The room was quiet, with both Blake and Negan standing merely a breath apart.

But to her it felt like an ocean between them now.

And it was moment later, that Blake said the words she knew would break her heart to say.

"Maybe this…us…maybe we were never meant to happen, Negan," she confessed in a sad voice, staring up into his deep chocolate eyes. "You have your wives, and I-…well, I'm here, and that's ok."

She tilted her head to the side, letting several messy strands of caramel hair trickle over her shoulder, as Negan gazed back at her, his eyes full of loss and pain and anguish…knowing that Blake's words were probably true.

And before she could stop herself, Blake had lifted her hand to Negan's leather-clad sleeve, grasping his forearm gently. Offering Negan the smallest of warm, caring smiles.

If this was definitely over, the Blake needed to say this.

She had to.

"But I'm still grateful to you," she murmured, as Negan stood in silence taking her all in, almost in awe of her every movement, of every syllable that spilled from her lips. "You're the most annoying, arrogant person I've ever met….and the most frightening sometimes. But you've given me more than I can you ever know….and I -"

But Blake stopped herself before she could finish, dragging her eyes back down to the floor.

But now it was Negan's turn, taking a step into her and placing her free hand upon her chin and lifting her gaze once again up to his face.

"Darlin', I made you into a queen," Negan uttered in a low growl of a voice. "And a queen's eyes should be anywhere but the goddamn floor, we clear?"

Blake felt a warmth and a calmness pass over her at Negan's tender words.

She knew how she felt about him deep down, but perhaps all this was for the best.

They could be here…side by side….but not together, if that was what it took.

It would be hard, but perhaps this was the way it had to be.

Blake gave a slow nod, staring into his eyes.

Wanting so desperately to say something else…

…but the moment never came, as suddenly, before either of them could make a move or utter another word, a figure suddenly burst through the door. Both Blake and Negan glanced around simultaneously, to see Dwight stood there looking ever so slightly harassed.

"Boss…" he stuttered out hurriedly, his eyes falling to the floor obediently. "I'm sorry for disturbin' you. It's just that we've got some trouble out at one of the outposts. Arat and Simon have taken a truck down there already, but I thought you should know…"

Negan looked severely put out for a brief moment, before giving a slow sighing nod.

"Alright then," he said tiredly waving his hand haphazardly. "Well round everyone up and load up the rest of the trucks for move out in ten."

Dwight nodded hurriedly, but lingered by the door waiting attentively for his dark-haired leader.

Blake almost instantly dropped her eyes down to the a space in between her and Negan, her hand dropping quickly from his arm.

Their conversation obviously over now. But maybe that was for the best.

Negan had not come here to kill her and Blake trusted him enough to know that he never would.

But at the loss of contact between them, Negan's attention turned back to her, as he chewed on his lip, a small frustrated frown line appearing between his dark brows.

And this time it was his turn for his hand to reach sleeve, giving her forearm a small squeeze, as he leaned in towards her, his mouth finding her ear.

"I'll see you later, Peaches," he murmured in a low warm growl that seemed to send shivers coursing through Blake's entire body, filling her with something she had not felt in days.

A happiness of sorts….and a feeling like everything might just turn out ok.

But in a moment, Negan pushed himself past her, dropping his grasp on her arm, and making his way over toward Dwight and the door, as Blake's lifted her eyes following him.

But it was only when Dwight had headed off out into the corridor and Negan, with one hand on the door, was almost out of the room, did Blake take in a deep breath and summon all her courage to say two little words.

"You promise?" she uttered suddenly.

And it was a short few seconds that Negan stopped in his tracks, bowing his head for a brief moment before glancing up at her again over his leather-clad shoulder.

And to her delight, the dark-haired Saviour's face broke into a wide grin, showing off his row of straight white teeth.

"Oh I fuckin' promise, Darlin'," he replied, giving her one last look, before heading off into the hallway and puling the door closed behind him.

And even standing there alone in the darkness of her room, Blake couldn't help but do the one thing she had not done since her birthday over a week ago now-

She smiled.

Sooo, this might be the last post from me in a while, equally it might not be. After having some health issues and a pretty crappy couple of months, we booked a holiday to Disney World in Orlando, supposed to be flying on Tuesday. But due to Hurricane Irma we might not make it out there in the end. I'm very sad about this as this was a little birthday gift to myself (my birthday is on the 18th) after all the unhappy moments in my life a couple of months ago. So naturally I'm feeling quite down at the moment. Even if we don't end up flying out, I might still not feel up to updating, so we'll see.

But putting that aside, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all of you who have supported me throughout this fic. You have got me through some terrible times lately and I am so so grateful for all of you taking the time out to comment each and every day. I adore you all. And maybe after doing this fic since May, posting almost every day, it'll be good for me to take a tiny break. So maybe I'll see you next week, maybe I won't. Either way I will be back with more Negan and Blake either next week or the week after, so don't forget about me just yet! I have some great ideas for future chapters I can't wait to share with you…that may or may not involve a bit of Nake! action and a certain baby diva making a reappearance…. :)

Thank you so much to chelseajowhite, Brookeworm3, sreid045, moglefrog, xojade, CrimsonSurvivor, Hmc09, ClTex, Green, Guest, Paradise, guest12354, Guest, JasminJW, MsSharingIsFun, alliesmiley2, Guest and Keward2592 for commenting.

Please review if you get a chance to. I'd really appreciate it. :)