"What do you mean she's gone?" uttered Blake in a deadly voice, her green eyes searching Tara's face.

It was as if the entire world had fallen silent, the only sound Blake being able to hear now being the rushing of her heartbeat inside her eardrums.

But the dark-haired woman before her merely shook her head, staring around wildly.

"I-I left her upstairs, she was playing…." she said wringing her hands in panic. "I don't know how she could have gotten out-"

But Blake gave a sudden growl at this, taking a step into Tara suddenly.

Was this really some sort of stupid game to all of them? Did they really think that she would be that naive?

"I do," Blake suddenly snarled in response. "You've hidden her. You're trying to keep her from us, is that it? Fuck, Tara, I know Rick was stupid, but this is just something else!"

Bu Tara gave another panicked-looking shake of her head.

"N-No, B-Blake…I'm telling you the truth-"

But Blake merely shoved past her friend abruptly, her teeth clenched together, striding out of the wide living room and into the hallway beyond.

She could feel her blood boiling in her veins now, even more than before. Incited by Tara's lies.

Why the fuck would she believe anything that came from these people's mouths?

If she let her guard down for even a second they would try to take advantage. But, hell, if they thought they were going to use Mia as leverage, then they certainly had another thing coming!

The caramel-blonde woman stormed through the hallway and began to climb the carpeted staircase up to the first floor, taking the steps two at a time, as she heard Tara rush to follow her, stopping at the bottom with one hand on the railing.

"Blake-" Tara attempted, but Blake was no longer listening, reaching the small landing and heading into the bedroom on the far right.

She knew that this was Tara's spare room, but even so, Blake came to an abrupt halt as she took a step inside, her lips parting slightly.

For in here, Tara's disused spare room was now decked out with toys and games and even a little table and chairs just big enough for a toddler that was currently littered with crayons and paper.

This was Mia's bedroom.

There was no lie in that now.

Blake could almost smell her, as weird as that was. That gorgeous baby scent that Blake had wanted to breathe in forever on that last afternoon they had been together.

But it wasn't just this, that was a tell-tale sign…..as Blake took a tentative step or two into the room, her eyes now fixed on the drawings at the teeny table.

A tear slid down her cheeks as she bent down to pick up the picture closest to her, the one she has noticed almost immediately, crying out to her from across the room.

It was of a man and woman, crudely drawn in crayon. The woman with long blonde hair and pink lips drawn into a smile, and the man, with black hair and a black jacket, carrying a large orange stick in his hand.

Blake couldn't help herself now, clutching hand over her mouth, as she whimpered out.

There was no doubt now that Mia had been here...and that she missed them as much as they missed her.

And that thought alone broke her heart.

Blake spun around suddenly, as she heard a creak from behind her, spotting Tara stood in doorway with sad and worried eyes, staring back at her.

But Blake, with angry tears sloshing down both her cheeks, brandished the drawing out towards her dark-haired friend.

"Look…look at this…" she bit. "I-I love her ,Tara…and I can't tell you how it feels to be this close…."

But Blake dropped her arm, her head falling slightly as a sob suddenly escaped her mouth,

And it wasn't a moment later that she felt Tara reach out and pull her into a hug.

"I'm so sorry, Blake," Tara said, her own voice wavering slightly as she spoke. "I'm so sorry…"

And Blake could only cry into Tara's shoulder, her chest heaving, racked with painful sobs.

This was all too much to bear.

Mia had been here. Blake had been this close to getting her little girl back…and now…that was yet again snatched away from her.

A long moment or two seemed to drift by and eventually Blake was aware of vaguely hearing footsteps on the staircase just outside the room.

And a brief second later she pulled her face away from the dark-haired woman, staring up, to see the tall and looming figure of Negan stood in the doorway watching the pair of them with dark chocolate eyes, with Rick at his shoulder.

But Blake wiped at her cheeks, as her gaze suddenly met with his, communicating with him wordlessly as they often did these days, so in tune with one another.

"Tara left her here," Blake finally whispered, her voice breaking as she did so. "B-But she's gone….she can't have gone far, Negan."

Negan was silent for a long minute….

…as Blake held her breath, waiting….

Watching as he tilted his bearded face….

… as he blinked a couple of times...the cogs visible turning inside his brain.

Right now, he looked as upset as she was…..perhaps not first-hand for Mia…but certainly for Blake. Wanting so badly for her to be happy. And that was why she loved him. Why she truly and utterly loved him.

Nobody had ever put Blake first in her entire life.

Nobody.

And yet here he was. In this world where there was very little to give away anyway, giving her his everything..

Negan at once lifted his chin slightly, beckoning her towards him and holding out his free hand.

And Blake didn't delay, wanting so desperately to be close to him now, as she moved to the bearded Saviour, dropping the crayon drawing to the floor.

Quietly, and despite the presence of the two Alexandrians' watching them, Blake slipped her hand into his, feeling Negan immediately entwine his fingers with hers, as if that's where they were always supposed to be.

The pair of them made a good team, formidable and strong. And yet it was moments like these that proved just how much they truly cared for one another.

Negan was indeed a ruthless dictator….and had been since all this began. And yet, Blake's presence in his life had changed him. Made him stronger in ways that no one had thought imaginable.

And so, with that, Negan turned on his heel, shoving past Rick abruptly, pulling Blake from the room.

And it wasn't until the pair had headed back down the stairs and back outside, did Negan finally speak, addressing an awaiting Simon and Arat who were waiting for him at the bottom of the porch steps.

"The kid's missin'," he said in a loud and hard voice, but despite this, Blake still felt his calloused thumb rubbing soothing circles against hers. "So I want you to gather everyone together an' search every last inch of this fuckin' place until we find her. Hell, she's a goddamn baby, she can't have gone fuckin' far."

Simon and Arat immediately nodded, moving swiftly away to address the rest of the Saviours and put them to work.

Just as Rick appeared, once again, at Negan's shoulder, moving around him, his eyes on the ground.

"We can help…" he said in a gravelly tone, letting a gulp trail down his scrubby throat.

But Negan, at Rick's words, looked furious, far more than he had before, and turned to Rick suddenly, pressing the spikey end of Lucille into Rick's chest.

"Oh you fuckin' will help, Rick…" Negan growled, his eyes black and dangerous. "Because if we don' find her. You don' want to see what I'm fuckin' capable of, because fuck me, you haven't seen nothin' yet."

Right now Negan looked perhaps almost more angry than Blake had ever seen him. The only other occasion he had even got close, was the time with the Wolves when he had seen Blake tied to that tree.

Currently Negan looked like a force no one would ever want to reckon with.

So it wasn't a surprise that Rick bowed his head low, twitching slightly as he gave an obedient nod, shuffling away, just as Tara emerged from the house, coming to stand in the doorway, arms clutched over herself looking just about as tearful as Blake looked right now.

But Blake tugged her eyes away from her now, feeling Negan lean his lips into towards her ear.

"We'll fuckin' find her, Peaches," he uttered in a low voice. "I fuckin' promise you."

And with that, with no shame in his affection for her, Negan pressed a kiss into the side of her caramel-hair.

Blake gave a sniff and a nod of her own now, as she turned her head, staring up towards the dark-haired bearded Saviour.

So full of utter love and devotion for his strength and ability to help her right now.

But before her damp green eyes could linger on him for very long, her gaze suddenly flickered across to a looming object directly behind the bearded Saviour…

An obvious object…

As frightening in its closeness than anything else….

An object that was barely even thirty feet from Tara's house, causing Blake's heart to crash to a sudden stop….

The gates.

Wide and ominous now, as Blake stared at them, currently being manned by Gabriel, and half shrouded with vehicles in the confusion of the arrival of the Saviours.

Fuck.

Tara's home was the closest building to them.

How easy would it have been for Mia to disappear through them unnoticed, with two of the Alexandrian's cars parked near to the entrance and with the gate half open?

Had they been open at all this afternoon during the commotion?

And so Blake, without another word, and her eyes fixed on the gates themselves, abruptly pulled her hand from Negan's, stalking across the paved road and over to the tall gates to Alexandria, as he watched her go, his mouth opening questioningly.

But Blake gave a gulp as she strode up towards Gabriel who backed up a little as he saw her stalking towards him, with one fist clenched, and the other she used to pull the gun from her pants once more.

"How long have you had these gates open for today?" she barked at him, long-forgotten tears strewn across her face.

But right now this was no time for crying. This was life and death.

Gabriel mouthed at the air like a fish for the longest of moments shaking his head.

"I-I-I don't know…" he stuttered out, holding his hands aloft.

But Blake did not appreciate his idiocy or his incompetence at all, and in the blink of an eye had lifted the barrel of her gun to the space underneath Gabriel's chin.

"Long enough for fucking child to walk out of there, huh?!" she yelled now into his face, as he winced, blubbering out.

"Yes-Y-Yes…m-maybe….I-I-I don't know…I'm not sure!" he wailed, as beads of sweat trickled down from his brow, dripping off the end of his nose.

And that was when Blake realised how quiet the area around her had gotten, with everyone, including Negan, and Rick, and Tara, the Alexandrians, and all of the Saviours, merely staring at her. No one wanting to get in her way now…seeing the fury and rage flying from her.

This was the closet she had ever felt to being a mother.

And this mother was going to protect what was hers. There was no questions of that.

And so, pressing the barrel of her gun harder into the priest's throat, Blake leaned into him, growling out her words.

"Open the gates," she uttered in a commanding voice, and almost at once, Gabriel carefully backed away from her, and immediately began to wheel open the large iron gates.

And Blake, then, without more than a care for either herself or anyone stood behind her, and without even a glance back behind her at the watching crowd, or even Negan himself, stepped right through…

…past the gates….

….out towards the awaiting Saviours trucks, and far past them….

…stalking swiftly into the tree line….

…alone and trembling with fear and guilt and utter uncontrollable fury….

….like a hurricane…

….intensifying by the minute and ready to devastate anything in its path…

…determined to get her little girl back.

Guys, I am so sorry this was just a short one. My baby hamster James got really sick early this week and I had to had to take him to the vets to have him put to sleep on Tuesday night. And I literally haven't stopped crying. I know some of you might think, ok you're 29 years old, it's just a hamster, but I can't tell you how much he meant to me. I saw him every day and we would sit on the sofa eating biscuits (and hammy safe biscuits) together almost every night. So I am heartbroken and it's all come about so suddenly. I haven't been in a good place lately and this has really upset me more than anything. So I'm going to take my time and get the next chapter out to you next week. Sorry for the delay. I'll make it a good one I promise.

Thanks to you all for sticking with me, and this fic, through thick and thin. It means a lot. Especially right now. *hugs*

Thanks so much to Kathiena, DreamersChance, chelseajowhite, alliesmiley2, AllieRoexxx, comet92, AmberRose32, angelstuffing, Brookeworm3, CLTex, guest, Keward2592, MagiKat409, Kara315, JasminJW, Hmc09, Booboo, NedStark39, angelvoice15, Keyadae and MisfitCarter for reviewing.