Sorry for the brief hiatus. I've had the flu, but am on the road to recovery now. So please forgive this chapter for being a little boring. But I promise you, good things are coming... :)

The next few days passed in a hurry, and before Blake had realised it, Mia had already been with them at the Sanctuary for a week.

The little girl was as popular as ever with the Sanctuary residents, and even some of the more hardy lieutenants could be found backhanding the toddler candy and pieces of fruit when no one was looking, which she always took gratefully with a shy and grateful 'Fanks'.

But for Blake, taking care of such a small child, was turning out to be far more exhausting that she had expected.

And although Mia was not exactly a demanding little girl, she did require constant attention and care, from taking at least three urgent bathroom breaks every hour, to wanting to play all the time, to her endless stream of questions.

"Why dat dere?"

"Who dey?"

"Wen will I get bwoobies laik Bwakey?"

But Blake utterly adored her, there was no doubt about that.

Having Mia around made everything feel worthwhile...like it all had a purpose now.

She was happy. They both were.

However the same could not be said about Negan, who had been in a bit of grumpy and put-out mood for the last few days.

But Blake could of course see why…

Having Mia around was extremely time consuming, which meant that Blake had been unable to devote as much time to the dark-haired Saviour as she usually did.

And during the times that Negan did come to see them both, Mia had either talked his ear off non-stop, or complained to Blake that she needed to go potty or that she was cold, or hungry... dragging the blonde woman away, much to Negan's annoyance.

And although Blake did think that it was probably good for Negan to not be able to get his own way all of the time, she did miss his touch...his kisses...and oh so much more...

But the pair of them getting any time alone together had proved to be impossible over the last few days.

For Blake feeling utterly tired by the Mia's bedtime came around, had crashed out three nights in a row by 7pm!

Over the last two days however, Negan had been out on a run with Dwight, Simon and a few of his other loyal men to one of the outposts.

He was due to be back later today, but not having his presence around her, the blonde woman found herself getting antsy.

She wasn't particularly worried about him, knowing that Negan had a job to do...but she felt strained, yearning for him, missing him last night as a heat passed over her.

He was her mate and it was easy to forget when Mia was around, just how much she needed him.

It was a primal urge….desperate and urgent….and although Blake often feigned teasing uninterest, it was true that she wanted the dark-haired Saviour just as much as he wanted her.

Although Negan had indeed seemed a little distant of late, Blake felt that had nothing to do with Mia or his lack of sex with the caramel-blonde woman.

Ever since they had returned from Alexandria, Negan had been restless at night. Blake had heard him stirring on more than one occasion, and just two evenings ago, she had woken to find him in the midst of what seemed like a nightmare, coated in perspiration and mumbling out incoherent words. And every morning Blake had woken to find Negan already awake by the time she had gotten up, either in the bathroom, or the room already absent of him completely, the dark-haired man already up and dressed and out to make sure Sanctuary life was ticking over for the day.

Today Blake had no idea when Negan or the others would be back, but with Mia balanced on her hip this mild afternoon, the blonde woman wandered down an empty hallway that led to the outside, as the tiny toddler (today dressed in a red dress, white leggings, with her hair tied up in a tuft on top of her head) blabbered away into Blake's ear.

"Ca' I growd stuff laik Bwakey?" said Mia, her sticky fingers grasping a long strand of Blake's hair.

The pair had been talking about Blake's garden for the past ten minutes or so.

Blake had been absent from it for over a week now, and if she was honest she missed it. A lot!

It wasn't just the work she missed but it had been nice to give something back to the people. To provide them with a stable source of food that did not rely on tributes from other sites.

But unfortunately the work was indeed something Blake just could not do with Mia in tow.

"Yeah, of course you can grow stuff in the garden," said Blake with a smile to the baby girl. The blonde woman was today dressed in a white t-shirt and tight navy jeans, held up at the waist by a belt with a large brass buckle.

She soon gave the door just ahead of her, a shove open with her free hand, revealing the walled garden beyond.

Today there were several workers dotted around here and there, weeding, tending to the vegetables and much more.

But Mia, never having ventured out into this part of the factory before, stared around with wide eyes at the plants and greenhouses that had been erected around the large space.

But after a second or two she gave a small pout.

"Wher' tha flawers?" she asked sounding affronted.

At this Blake stifled a small laugh.

"Oh no, it's not really that kind of garden, Sweetie," said Blake in a kind voice. "We grow vegetables here. And fruit too. All sorts of nice things you can eat."

But this obviously was not what Mia had been imagining the garden to be like.

"I wan' flawers," she said in a bossy little tone, which caused Blake to 'shhhhh' her soothingly, pressing a kiss to the side of the girl's tuft of hair, as they walked through the bean poles.

"Lots of vegetables have flowers," tried Blake with another smile.

But Mia gave a shake of her head, pressing her chubby hand to Blake's shoulder. "Noh. I wan flawer for Bwake."

With that, the caramel blonde woman tilted her head to the side, eyeing the tiny girl warmly.

She really was the sweetest thing….

...but all of a sudden Blake came across all woozy, Mia's tiny face swimming before her eyes.

What the-?

She blinked a moment, taking an unsteady step back, before righting herself.

God, what was wrong with her this week?

She had been feeling tired for days now, but had chocced that down to having Mia around. But these spells of lightheadedness were getting to be more and more of a regular occurrence these past few days.

Perhaps she was just a little under the weather….she hadn't been eating as much as she normally did, barely finding the time to and rarely having much of an appetite.

But Blake stared around knowing one thing that might encourage that appetite of hers.

Blake had had such a hankering for tomatoes this past week, and hugging Mia close to her now, the caramel blonde woman marched over to the large greenhouse that she knew housed three large potted tomato plants.

Inside she found John, one of the older workers that helped tend the garden, who offered her a large smile as she entered the narrow glass house with Mia in tow.

"Well hi there cherub," the grey-haired man wearing a checked shirt uttered, his bright eyes twinkling at Mia as the little girl smiled shyly, burying her face into Blake's shoulder.

Blake beamed softly back at John.

"You got any ripe tomatoes I can have?" Blake asked interestedly, as the man, stiffly stood up straight, staring at the tall blonde woman from the corner of his eye.

"You know you asked me that same thing last week," he commented, narrowing his smiling eyes at her for a moment.

But Blake merely stared around, admiring the swift-growing plants.

"I guess I've just got a thing for tomatoes at the moment,"she said breezily, watching as the old man examined the plants and plucked a couple of the large ripened fruit, passing them over to her.

"A craving for tomatoes, huh?" John said again, the corners of his lips twitching up into a grin.

But Blake, who was far too preoccupied with handing the large fruit over to Mia, barely noticed this.

"I guess so," she replied, stroking her thumb down Mia's cheeks. "How's it been around here anyway?"

At her words John gave a mild shrug. "Fine, not been the same without you 'round here though. Joyce misses you and those pumpkins will need tending to in the next week or so," said the man pointing vaguely to a small pumpkin patch at the far end of the garden.

Blake let out a small sigh, jiggling Mia on her hip as the teeny girl examined the tomatoes in her hand.

Blake oh-so desperately wanted to come out here again. The nights were drawing in now and Fall really did feel in full force. In a month or so, winter would well and truly be upon them, making it near to impossible for Blake to spend much time out here anyway.

But Mia demaded so much time these days, and although this was what Blake had always wanted, a baby girl of her own, she still yearned for warm sunshine and the satisfying feeling of growing something out here.

But before Blake could comment back to John about how much she missed this place too, a tiny voice whispered into her ear.

"Bwakey, I hungwy" said Mia in a shy voice into Blake's ear.

The blonde woman blinked her eyes closed for a happy second.

"Well then I guess we'd better you get you something to eat, baby."

And at that Blake couldn't help but smile, hitching Mia further up her hip, and offering the old man before her an apologetic look.

"I'll see you around," she said gently, exiting the greenhouse and heading inside, as Mia snuggled herself warmly into her.

It was barely an hour later, having taken Mia to get some lunch (the toddler having an apple and crackers and Blake helping herself to some lettuce and tomato sandwich) that they had heard through the usual Sanctuary whisperings that the trucks were back.

And that only meant one thing to Blake.

That Negan, of course, was here.

God, she had missed him. Like crazy…

But by the time both she and Mia had made it down to the large marketplace at the centre of the Sanctuary, hand-in-hand, with Blake feeling even more tired than usual, a few rays of warm afternoon sun could be seen glinting down onto the busy room below through the high stained glass window panels, illuminating the hundreds of figures that were packed down here.

It was often like this after a big run out….people wanting first dibs on the new items they could use their points for.

They were barely inside the room, when a couple of Saviours Blake recognised stopped to talk to them for a brief moment, but it was obvious that Blake was of course not listening, even as they offered their goodbyes, her eyes drifting about the busy room, searching for one person.

Blake could see Dwight and Simon….so that must mean…..

Then she saw it...

...a sight that made Blake smile.

Negan.

..strolling into the room, Lucille cocked up onto his broad leather-clad shoulder, running his other free hand down his chin.

But his chocolate eyes were darting lazily about….as though searching for something himself in the crowd…

...until he found what he was looking for, his gaze reaching Blake's, a wide grin dancing it's way across his long and tanned features.

Her heart jolted, as it always did, as a warmth washed over her….

A love...and at the same time, a need, a yearning.

But Blake's attention was suddenly dragged away by a tiny hand tugging at her own.

"Bwakey, I need potty," came the quiet voice of Mia.

Blake at once pulled her eyes away from Negan and instead glancing down at the baby girl at her side.

"Can it wait a second, Sweetie?" asked Blake in a kind voice,desperately just wanting to spend a second with Negan who was currently battling his way through the crowds towards them, across the wide room.

But Mia gave a sad-looking pout and shook her head, hopping up and down a little on the spot.

"I need potty naw, Bwakey…" she said, her lips quivering slightly as she spoke, and Blake knew that there really was no holding on.

She gave a small disappointed sigh, lifting her head again and looking Negan's way, but this time his grin diminished a little, seeing the apologetic expression on her face, as she mouthed an earnest 'sorry' in his direction, turning on her heel and heading swiftly out of the room.

There was a bathroom at the very end of the winding hallway, that Blake hoped they would get to on time, as Mia gave a whine, urging them forward clutching onto Blake's hand tightly.

But a couple of seconds later, a sudden voice called out to them.

"You got somewhere to fuckin' be, Peaches?"

Blake pulled Mia to a gentle halt and turned around to see that Negan had followed them out into the dimly lit corridor, a confused frown fixed between his eyebrows.

"Mia needs to use the bathroom," Blake explained, but Negan, a strained expression upon his face, let out a small frustrated huff.

"I don' get to see you for two fuckin' days, an' now youre runnin' the fuck out on me already?" Negan said in a loud, exasperated-sounded voice.

But Blake pursed her lips together.

"Give me like five minutes," Blake said shaking her head, but she knew that it would likely to of course be more than that.

It was always more than that.

Even if it was five minutes, even if they did get time together, Mia would be bored in a while, wanting to play...to be entertained...but Blake, feeling as tired as she was, just did not have the energy to do that.

Right now she felt like crying….feeling as frustrated as Negan looked.

But Negan, digging his tongue into his cheek, dropped his eyes to the floor momentarily.

"S'alright," he said sounding as though everything was anything but alright between the pair of them right now. "You both do what you gotta do. Hell I'm gonna shoot some pool with the guys or somethin'."

Along with Mia, the Saviours had also managed to bring back a humongous pool table from Alexandria….that now sat down in the lieutenants rec room on the South side of the building.

Blake wanted to say something….but she was soon interrupted.

"I need to go potty, Bwakey," said Mia, in an almost tearful voice, tugging at her hand now.

And Blake could tell that this was urgent, the tiny girl not even acknowledging Negan's presence today, as she usually would have done.

And so, with great reluctance, and knowing she had very little other choice…

...Blake, giving Negan one last hopeless look and sighing, turned away, heading back down the winding corridor again...in the direction of the bathrooms….

...leaving Negan standing there alone….

The dark-haired Saviour lingered there for a long moment staring after them….

This fucking run out had been a fucking shit show and throughout all that had kept Negan going was the thought of seeing her.

Seeing Blake.

Last night's dreams had come to him the same once again...him stumbling across that pit and it being too late….again he had been too late to save her..hearing her screams as she was brutally ripped apart.

And so coming back here Negan had hoped for some time with her.

He had been starved of sex and love and even contact for days now...not since that night in the shower….

...and the dark-haired Saviour felt almost delirious with need for her.

But he was being a selfish fuck and he knew it.

He could see that Blake had bigger things than him to worry about these days...but having the kid around full time 24/7 was not only taking its toll on their sex life...but on Blake too…

Negan had, of course, noticed that she had seemed tired and drawn this past week.

But hell, he wasn't about to argue with her about taking care of the fucking kid.

Peaches was strong enough to know what she wanted.

But Negan only hoped that at least sometime soon, she might have a goddamn minute to fucking spare him.

And so gazing after the two girls with a sad sort of looked etched across his dark features, Negan lifted his gloved hand a dragged it down his face in utter frustration, before bowing his head in defeat and turning on heel….marching away without even a backwards glance.

Sorry guys, moody babies are moody!

Thanks to Kara315, CLTex, chelseajowhite, Moonwolf27, Sarabeth, rissbenzo, Cassia320, MJ, angelvoice15, Hoodd, tastethechaosxx, kagomesdance, Guest, Nicole, Guest, Izzy, shesxperfect and NedStark39 for commenting on the last chapter.

Please review! :)