Balke gave a groan as a sharp pain sliced through her temples.

"Ughhh," she moaned out gently, blinking her eyes open, only to scrunch them tightly shut again, at the dull morning light, that was currently shining in through the large window at the far end of her room.

She shifted down uner the covers, turning over and instantly feeling a warm body beside her, stirring slowly beneath the sheets.

"Holy fuckin' hell," came Negan's sudden grizzled voice, Blake hearing him drag a hand down his scratchy, bearded face. "I feel like shit."

But the caramel-blonde woman, giving another moan out, merely ignored him and nuzzled her face into her pillow.

She was in her room, she knew that much, but the events of the previous evening were still pretty fuzzy in her head….something about a cut up foot and stolen wine.

Blake couldn't even remember getting back to her room. But despite this, she was still happy that Negan had spent the night here with her.

She gave a huge stretch now, before letting out a difficult sigh and opening her bleary eyes.

It looked like early morning, but even so, the bright grey light was enough to make her pounding head feel about a million times worse.

And by the looks of the dark-haired man in bed beside her, he was fairing no better with his own hangover.

"Shit, I mean, I know I have said this a thousand fuckin' times," he groaned out. "But I am never fuckin' drinkin' again…"

Blake pursed her lip. If she had had the energy, she would have rolled her eyes, not believing for one second that Negan would ever give up drinking as long as he lived.

"I don't even remember going to sleep," she soon murmured, giving a small yawn now, as she glanced beneath the sheets at her half-naked from, clothed now, in just her lacy underwear. "Did we have sex last night?"

But Negan gave a gruff huff, smacking his bearded lips together and raising an eyebrow.

"Nope," he said matter-of-factly, tugging at the covers a little. "You had a goddamn gigglin' fit, an' in all honesty we were both probably too fuckin' wasted to have carried on with that shit anyway."

Blake gave a hum of almost-recognition, a bleary memory of uncontrollable laughter appearing in her clouded mind.

"Hmmm…" she murmured out, musing, just as Negan gave a loud growl of annoyance.

"Jesus, Sweetheart," he said in a loud, carrying voice, that caused Blake to wince in annoyance. "You wanna steal the goddamn covers a bit more?!"

But Blake tutted, relenting a little of the white sheet she was currently clutching over her body.

"Well, sooooOOoooorry!" she snapped back in a huffy voice. "It's not my fault you take up most of the bed."

But Negan's dark brows shot immediately up into his hairline as he offered Blake an incredulous look of utter disbelief at what she was saying.

"Me?!" she retorted. "I ain't the one who likes to spread out like a goddamn starfish when I sleep, Darlin'!"

Blake smirked a little but turned her head away trying to hide it from the dark-haired leader of the Saviours, not wanting him to know he had a good point, instead reaching up and grabbing an old bottle of water from her nightstand.

Was it wrong for there to be butterflies in her stomach right now?

Probably.

But even so, just the way that she and Negan knew one another and their habits so well now, made her happy.

She knew very well, that sound Negan made in the back of his throat when Blake did oh-so many dirty things to him….

…she knew his scent….musky and heady, like a burning wood fire and dark whisky…

….and she knew that look he got in his eye sometimes when he thought she wasn't looking….that look that told her that she would always be his, and he would always be hers.

But Blake shook herself a little now, unscrewing the cap off of her bottle and pulling it to her lips.

They were just friends…

Ok, friends who have sex and sleep in each other's beds….

Friends who care oh-so completely about the other…

But all the same…just friends…

For that's all it could be in this world.

Blake loved those women downstairs too much to ask him to give them up now. They needed his protection, and as long as they held their titles of wife-to-Negan, they would always be safe…their families would always be looked after…

But it was because of that fact that Blake could never become one of them. She didn't need Negan's protection. She could fend for herself….

And she knew that no matter how much she wanted it to be true. She would never be the only woman in his life.

He was probably too proud and had too much of a reputation to uphold to allow her to be that.

And so they would stay like this for as long as Blake could bare. That was her decision now.

Because in reality, this life of theirs wouldn't last long.

Both of them could be dead tomorrow….

….barely remembered in ten years' time…

So they would have fun today….to ties…not even to each other….

….no family…no children…

…because that was the way of the world. Cruel and hard.

And Blake had to just deal with that…

…. instead, enjoying these small moments, where she would pretend, for just a second, that they were together, for real, living in a big house in the suburbs with a couple of kids and a dog downstairs….happy.

She took a long sip of water before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, as Negan took the bottle from her grasp swigging down a few long gulps of his own, before passing it swiftly back to her…

...just as their came a hard knock upon the door.

Blake gave a groan.

God, that was the downside of sleeping with Negan…having him be constantly in demand. For she knew that it was very doubtful that that knock would be for her.

But even so, she gave a small sigh now, making to lift the sheet slightly and shift over to the edge of the bed and hop out.

But before she could do so, she felt a sudden growl in her ear and a warm hand tug swiftly at her waist, pulling her backwards.

And Blake, giving the smallest squeal of laughter, felt Negan' pull her back down against the mattress once more, taut against his own body, as his lips found her ear through her mountain of caramel-hair.

"Let me fuckin' get up, Doll-face," he murmured in a low, gentlemanly voice, making Blake feel warm inside and completely and utterly protected, as he pressed a weary, yet gentle, kiss to her shoulder, before heaving himself up off of the bed.

He gave a groan at this, grasping up his abandoned t-shirt from the floor, before tugging it over his head and snatching up Lucille from the couch as he went.

Blake propped herself up onto her elbows to watch him admiringly, his face set into a deep scowl at this most recent disturbance of their alone time, as he soon tugged open the door to Blake's room.

From her position on the bed, Blake could just about make out the blonde figure of Dwight, stood on the other side, looking a little sheepish, but even so, his head was held high and defiant.

"Negan," he said firmly. "Sorry to disturb you-"

Blake smiled to herself now, loving the fact that of course, Negan's men had known where to find him. God, were she and him really that predictable?

But Negan, his jaw clenched tightly, suddenly bashed the spiky end of his baseball bat against the open doorframe, causing Blake to wrinkle her nose at the harsh sound and shuffle back down under the covers once more.

"D," he said simply. "Whatever it is, I have got a hell of fuckin' hangover, and a super-hot girl in bed behind me. So unless it's life or fuckin' death right now, Dwight, it can goddamn wait."

But Dwight merely stayed standing where he was.

"Sir, we've got an orange situation…" uttered the blonde man bluntly. "Tony's gone. With his wife and kid, and they've taken six guns between them. Word from one of the outposts is, that they've been seen heading towards the Hilltop."

Even from the bed, at Dwight's words, Blake heard Negan give a dark growl under his breath.

"An' what? No one at the fuckin' outpost thought to fuckin' stop them?" barked the dark-haired Saviour angrily, suddenly bashing Lucille against the doorframe once more, causing the entire room to shudder. "Jesus fuckin' Christ! The shit I have to put up with sometimes, D."

Blake blinked a couple of times, watching as Negan dragged a hand over his chin, his mind obviously whirring away quickly.

He was very smart man, Blake had realised that from the first moment she had met him. He was calculating and unpredictable and that always put him one step ahead of everyone else. Always.

So it was strange to see him undermined and set on edge, by someone other than herself for once.

"Fine," he finally murmured out, running his hand over his dark hair until it landed on the back of his neck, as he closed his eyes, his pounding headache obvious for anyone to see now. "Normally I'd say that this was fuckin' grunt work, but this ain't the first time Tony has fucked up, and here's hopin' that a little fuckin' fresh air might clear this goddamn hangover of mine. So I'll come with. Lucille could do with a lil' run out anyway…"

Dwight shifted his weight from foot-to-foot.

"You want me to load up the trucks and get them ready to move out, Boss?" Dwight asked curtly.

But Negan gave dismissive nod, waving his hand easily.

"Yeah, load them up ready for move out in ten," he murmured, as Dwight almost instantly nodded back, turning promptly on his heel and heading off, without even another word.

Closing the door with a gentle snap again, Negan gave a long and carrying huff, as Blake looked his way, sitting up properly now and bringing her knees up to her chest beneath the white sheet.

"Trouble?" she asked in a warm voice, wanting nothing more right now, than for Negan to get back into bed with her now and spend the rest of the morning sleeping off their hangover together…perhaps enjoying a little of what they had missed out on last night to ease their sore heads.

But Negan, merely pressed his tongue to his back molars, before crossing the room, and to Blake's dismay, making for his abandoned boots and leather jacket.

"Mmmhmmm," he replied, a frown hovering between his brows now. "That asshole Tony's done this before, but what I don' want is ol' Gregory up at the Hilltop, or worse, your old-buddy Rick the fuckin' Prick, gettin' a hold of those guns. So fuck it, if I can't trust my men to sort this shit out for me, I'm gonna have to do it my fuckin' self now aren't I?"

But Blake gave a lick of her lips, as she stared up at the dark-haired man before her, eagerly, opening her mouth slowly to speak…

But before she could do so, Negan shot her an apologetic look, pointing Lucille in her direction playfully.

"Sorry, Sweetheart," he murmured. "Looks like that blow-job you owe me is gonna have to wait."

At this, Blake frowned slightly, a vague recollection of that promise coming back to her hazily.

But she quickly brushed his comment aside.

"Can I come with you?" she asked suddenly, blinking couple of times up at Negan, who stopped in his tracks, one arm already threaded through the sleeve of his jacket, as he stared her way.

She hadn't been out of the Sanctuary in almost two weeks now and perhaps Negan was right. Maybe a little fresh air would clear her hangover. Besides, it would be good to do something other than gardening for just one day.

But Negan pursed his lips now, looking a little stern.

"Hmmm, I ain't so sure, Darlin'," he uttered, eyeing her as he shrugged the rest of his jacket slowly onto his shoulders. "This ain't gonna be no field trip to the fuckin' Smithsonian. An' I don't want you in the line of fire on this one."

But Blake tilted her head to the side, her green eyes meeting with his chocolate ones, as butterflies swarmed inside her stomach.

It was obvious how much he cared for her…but even so, she bit down onto her lip and gave the smallest of sighs.

"Negan….we've been over this," she said in a gentle voice, knowing that this was what their argument back in the woods had been about. "You can't keep me cooped up here forever. And I can hold my own out there….you know I can."

But Negan gave a loud huff, frowning darkly.

She could tell he didn't want her going as she had told him, she wasn't one of his wives. and he couldn't just keep her here like a prize. That wasn't who she was. She had spent enough time out there, surviving...staying alive….she could handle this. Definitely.

"Peaches, this ain't up for fuckin' discussion..." said Negan warningly, but Blake just cut across him, slipping swiftly from the bed in just her underwear and padding across the room toward him now, bringing herself up to her full height and coming to step just in front of the dark-haired Saviour, jabbing him in the chest with her finger.

"No, Negan," she began firmly, shaking her head, her caramel-blonde hair trickling over her bare shoulders. "..it's not. Because I'm coming with you and that's final."

And with that, before he could retort, Blake had marched over to her open closet, tugging out a clean pair of black jeans and a tight black sweater before flinging them onto the bed.

She was coming with him and that was that.

She wasn't his wife and as 'friends', he really had no right to argue with her. She knew that. And by his silence, Negan did too.

But she paused, glancing over her shoulder now, hearing him strut towards her, Lucille now up on his shoulder and that frown still sat between his dark brows.

"Alright," he growled, raising his eyebrows and pointing down at her now, sternly. "But you ain't leavin' my goddamn sight, Sweetheart. We clear?"

And at this, Blake just smiled to herself, turning back around to fish out some clean underwear, knowing that she had won.

"We're clear," she murmured back, ignoring his unimpressed features on purpose, airily. "See you out at the trucks in ten then."

And she didn't have to turn around, hearing Negan give an irritable huff of annoyance, before he marched swiftly out of the door, slamming it loudly shut behind him….

..with Blake giving a smirk to herself. Her hangover feeling better already…

I'm trying as hard as I can to keep motivated. As already mentioned to someone I'm trying to rewatch S7 for inspiration and while I'm at it, cant help but imagine what it would be like if Blake was in every scene with Negan, shutting his smart-mouth down. God, how much would I have to pay to have the writers put her in the show, hmmm? ;)

Thanks to DreamersChance, Guest6, Hmc09, Jam86, alliesmiley2, B, CLTex, kaylee00, rissbenzo, Frangogh, Hannah, MissIndependent101, Guest, BeOurGuest, chelseajowhite, MothGod, HeavenlyCondemned, angelvoice15, Boo, ElysiumPhoenix, Screamdream99, sreid045, strawberryfruitsnaxs and Ac for reviewing. And thanks to everyone who has binge read this fic lately! I love that!

Sorry this was so short, not sure when my next update will be, but hopefully it will be soon if I can manage it. I really love 'Nake' and have some good plot ideas on the horizon. Wish me luck…

Please review!