The warm and humid Fall days began to pass slowly by. And at the Sanctuary, for the first time in a long time, things felt like they were progressing well.

The workers were happier than they had been probably since they had arrived here. The lieutenants spent their days feeling much less harassed and pressured than they had been before.

And all of this was likely down to two people.

Negan had been in a much improved mood these past few weeks. Barely seen barking orders at his higher-up generals or threatening anyone with Lucille as everyone was so used to seeing him doing.

Not that he wasn't still just as intimidating as before. But nowadays, the dark-haired man's attention was fully turned upon a pregnant Blake….who seemed these days to be on a cloud-nine of her own.

But it wasn't just these things that had changed the general atmosphere of the normally gloomy and subdued community.

In the day that followed Negan's revelation to Blake about his long deceased wife, the bearded leader had gathered everyone, including the wives, together for a meeting, and there he had told everyone that the women in question were free to go and do as they pleased from that point onwards. A quiet muttering had soon filled the large hall, but Negan from high up on the walkway above, had just lazily waved his hand, grinned, and informed everyone that there was a new queen in town. And then if anyone had any issue with that, they could come and tell him directly. And that they were under no circumstances going to bother said-queen who was currently approaching her second month of her pregnancy.

Blake of course had only heard about this meeting from varying sources, Negan wanting to keep her out of it, although upon his return to their room later that morning, Blake had thanked him for the gesture in her own very special way….

This act from Negan, freed up Amber to leave the wives quarters, return to Mark and take up a position down in the laundry room. As did Layla who, confident by herself, had taken up residence downstairs with the rest of the workers too. Whereas the other three women, Tanya, Frankie and Michelle, obviously feeling a little nervous about what was ahead of them from now on, went to Balke for a advice a little later that day, who had nudged them and reassured the three women that they were free to stay upstairs and that Mia, upon Negan's suggestion, did still need childminders.

And so the three of them had stayed, retaining little of their status of wives and earning their keep along with everyone else in this place. And strangely that made these women as happy as everyone else. To be free at last. Yet still here, under the protection and care of not only Negan now, but Blake too.

It was no secret that Blake was truly loved here.

She had come as a well-needed contrast to Negan. And, without realising, had ended his harsh regime and made the place a better one for everyone living in it.

Mainly due to that soft-spot Negan had had, and still had for her.

Over the long couple of weeks that followed since Negan's announcement about Blake's pregnancy, the caramel blonde woman had received no end of well-wishes, hugs and even gifts from the workers and lieutenants that shared her home.

Feeling utterly hormonal, only yesterday for example, Blake had burst into happy tears down in the large cavernous dining hall at breakfast as one of the older workers had given her a beautiful white baby blanket, hand-embroidered with tiny flowers all along the edges.

It had been strange to Blake to feel these first stages of pregnancy all over again, after so many years.

But as much as she wanted to say she was having it easy, it had been early one morning that she had felt the first wave of nausea hit her.

Flinging off the covers, as Negan had grizzled and shifted under the warm sheets beside her, Blake had quickly hopped out of bed and run to the bathroom, just about managing to reach the toilet before retching hard.

But this first little bout of morning sickness hadn't lasted by the time Negan had even made it to the bathroom door, Blake had already been at the sink brushing her teeth and offering him a moody look.

"You realise this is all your fault," she had scolded him, rubbing at her tender belly.

But Negan had just chuckled, leaning his tall and completely naked frame up against the bedroom door.

"I ain't apologisin', Sweetheart'," he said smugly. "An' it ain't exactly the first time you've hurled in my bathroom now is it?"

And so every morning that followed, Blake had woken up early with the same feeling of nausea hitting her.

But at least those early starts had meant that she had been able to get out into the garden early as planned.

Despite Negan's protest, Blake had been working hard out in the gardens, not doing anything too strenuous of course, but still helping with getting in the last of the seasons harvest, before winter set in.

And having first pickings of the ripest tomatoes, was also a bonus too.

But apart from a little morning sickness, and slightly tender boobs, Blake was very much coming around to the idea of being pregnant again.

It felt good to have a little life growing inside her, and every morning since she had found out, Blake had stood in front of the floor length mirror that hung inside Negan's closet door and turned to the side, running a hand over her flat abdomen, picturing what she would look like in a few months time with a humongous bump.

Negan had caught her doing this a couple of times, coming up behind her and threading his leather clad arms around her, leaning his stubbly chin onto her shoulder.

Blake had indeed never felt more loved as she did at this very moment in time.

Negan was obviously head over heels for her, making no bones to anyone about how in love with her he was.

He had made it perfectly clear that she was his absolutely fucking everything, stalking around the Sanctuary after her and Mia, like a wolf protecting his pack.

Life seemed good…

Great, even…

For everyone at the Sanctuary, not just Negan and Blake.

It had reached the middle of October by the time the residents had awoken to find that the first of the season's frost had settled over the gardens and the lots surrounding the large, looming factory.

And Blake, up early as always with both morning sickness and Mia, who was suffering from a bit of a sniffle and was acting up, pouting and whining whenever she got the opportunity, was currently pulling an oversized wooly black sweater over a tshirt and a pair of skinny black jeans, as she chatted away to Negan, who was perched on the end of their bed, pulling on his boots.

"I dont know, Negan," the blonde woman grumbled. "What if something happens to her?"

Negan, feeling a little irritable from being kept awake much of the night, by Mia's moaning and snuffling, had just suggested that the room next door to this one, currently uninhabited, be turned into a bedroom for the little toddler.

"The kid'll be fuckin' fine, Darlin'," Negan huffed, his dark eyes darting over to where Mia was sat on the large leather sofa across the room pouting and attempting to pull of her teeny socks. "I think we both could do with a fuckin' good night's sleep, an' hell, Beansprout can't be sharin' a bed with us forever."

Blake knew he was right. Mia was only getting bigger and at the rate Blake's stomach would be expanding, there soon would certainly not be room for all three of them in that king size of theirs.

But Blake smirked, raising an eyebrow in Negan's direction.

"Well you're always free to sleep on the couch, Daddy…" she purred fiendishly, causing Negan to offer her a glowering look, giving another huff and he pulled himself to his feet, strutting over towards her slowly.

This morning, he already had his black leather jacket slung on over a grey t-shirt and grey jeans, and fixed a playful sort of frown between his brows as he came to stop just in front of her.

"That fuckin' so?" he growled in return, staring down at Blake with a look of bemused disbelief crossing his long and tanned features. "Jeez, you wanna remind me again when the hell you became leader of my damn empire, Peaches?"

But Blake smiled, lifting her hand up and toying with his jacket zipper.

"Probably when you got me knocked up," she said in a simpering voice, giving his zipper one hard tug with the final couple of words. "And, hey, it's not my fault people like me more than they like you, Papa-bear."

With that, she turned away from him, throwing him one last teasing look, as she moved over to the couches, where Mia giving a sharp wail suddenly threw one of her tiny white socks onto the floor huffily.

"Hey, hey," Blake said suddenly in a warm yet slightly scolding voice. "What wrong, Sweetie?"

But Mia merely scowled, folding both her arms over her tiny body, blatantly imitating Blake with that particular pose.

"I don' wantu weir swocks!" she cried shrilly, as Blake moved around the sofa and came to perch on the edge of the seat, facing the unhappy little toddler.

From across the room, Negan's eyebrows were already in his hairline as he leaned back on his long legs, eyeing Mia incredulously.

"Wow, someone's already gettin' fuckin' mood swings, huh?" the bearded Saviour said loudly. "She'll be paintin' her damn nails an' sneakin' out of this place to meet boys soon."

But Blake just rolled her eyes and ignored him, turning her full attention to Mia instead, lifting her hand to brush back the tufty strands of brown hair from her face.

"Well you don't have to wear socks if you don't want to baby," Blake said gently.

But before her hand could reach Mia's hair, the little girl had jerked herself out of Blake's reach and slid from the couch, running across the room hurriedly.

Blake gaped a little, feeling a little hurt all of a sudden, and glancing up to see Mia disappearing in through the open bathroom door.

Balke chanced a glance at Negan before getting quickly to her feet and following Mia into the large, tiled bathroom.

But Blake had barely poked her head around the door, to suddenly see Mia, with one leg up on the edge of the bathtub, leaning over and turning on both taps, before she hopped back down again.

"Mia-" began Blake, giving a confused frown, marching over to the tub to turn off the hot and cold running taps.

But Mia merely scooted around the tub at this, poking at her tongue angrily at Blake.

"I don' liak Bwakey!" Mia suddenly cried.

But Negan, who had appeared around the bathroom door right at that second, raised his eyebrows once more, not looking very impressed by the tone of the toddler's voice.

"You'd better watch that attitude,Beansprout, or someone's goin' on the damn naughty step," he said in a slightly aggravated tone, pointing at her. "An' by naughty step, I mean you'll be sleepin' outside with the damn chickens tonight."

But Mia, obviously never having heard Negan speak like this to her before, suddenly stopped at the far end of the bathroom, and stared at him, giving a grotesque little sniffle….

Then another….

Then another….

And before Blake or Negan could do anything to stop her, the teeny girl had thrown her head back, given a wail and begun to cry loudly.

Blake from the bathtub, stood up straight, chancing another glance at Negan before cocking her head to the side and moving slowly over to Mia, crouching down in front of her.

By now, Mia's face was red and blotchy and her face was completely wet with a mixture of tears and snot.

She looked terrible, and Blake lifted a hand to her tiny forehead to find it scalding hot.

"She's burning up," said Blake, glancing at Negan over her shoulder.

He looked stony-faced but still rather more sympathetic than he had done a mere moment before.

It really was no surprise that Mia would be acting like this, especially if she was feeling out of sorts. Things like this were very common for kids Mia's age.

Blake pulled the tiny girl into her arms and shushed her.

"Come here, baby," the blonde woman uttered soothingly.

"Let's get you back into bed shall we?" she asked in a gentle voice, but Mia, still sobbing her little heart out shook her head. "Noh, I 'ot. Ca' I av' baff, pwease?"

Blake offered Mia a sorry look. "Aww, of course you can, Sweetie," she replied, before looking to Negan poignantly, who stared back at her for lengthy moment, before giving a humongous roll of his eyes.

"Jesus fuckin' Christ," he huffed, sounding about irritable as Mia had been. "You wanna wear my damn balls around your neck while your at it, Sweetheart?!"

But Blake just shot Negan a teasing look.

"You wanna try running the bath instead of your mouth there, Errand-boy?" she uttered with a smirk.

But this only caused Negan to huff again, marching over to the tub and turning on the taps, filling the bath with a small amount of lukewarm water.

Blake at once, scooped a, still sobbing and snotty, Mia up into her arms with a small groan, carrying her across the room, as Negan eyed her.

"You sure you should be carryin' her in your condition, Peaches?" he said in a low voice, as she came to stand beside him, near to the tub, but Blake chanced a glance his way giving a small frown.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said blinking a little and feeling slightly defensive at his tone. She sighed. "You can't wrap me up in cotton wool, Negan…...we've talked about this..."

But the dark-haired man just raised both his hands aloft in a look of defeat.

"Fine, fine," he said tutting, and spinning around on his heel, heading back towards the bedroom. "But I ain't takin' no for an answer in gettin' her her own room. Damn kid's gonna wear you out an this fuckin' rate."

And Blake knew he was probably right.

She had been feeling much better since Carson had prescribed her some pre-natal vitamins to take, and had had much more energy and gusto of late than before.

But even so, she knew that it wouldn't be long until the second and third trimesters of pregnancy would begin to take their toll. And despite how much Tanya, Frankie and Michelle helped out with her, Balke would need to start taking it easy when it came to Mia.

But for now, the teeny, sniffly little girl was still her top priority.

"Ok, fine," she sighed, resigning herself to the idea of Mia getting her own room next door. "But she needs a bed, and a dresser, and-"

But Negan cut across her with a grin.

"Consider it done, Darlin," he said confidently, offering her one last lingering look. "I will see you later, Momma-bear."

And with that, he shot her a smug wink, that caused Blake to smirk and roll her eyes before, leaving the room. And a moment later, the blonde hearing the door to their bedroom closing too, knew that Negan was gone.

But turning her full attention back to Mia, Blake gave a warm smile.

"Come on, let's get you into the bath," she said gently. "See if we can't wash away this silly old fever, hey?"

And Mia, with a pout, pressing her chubby fingers to her mouth, gave a nod, as Blake began to remove her top and leggings.

"I dwo luvv Bwakey wreallee," said the toddler suddenly in a quiet voice, giving a small sniffle and looking very sorry.

And Blake just smiled, cupping the tiny baby's cheek gently.

"I know," she replied in a soothing voice. "I love you too, Sweetie."

And Blake knew that she truly, truly did.

I hope you liked the short passing of time. I hope it came across ok.

Thanks to adistantdreamer, AllieRoexxx, CaptainWilliamsN7, CLTex, Green, GamerGirl2211, rissbenzo, Cassia320, LJH, MJ and ShadowQueen3304 for commenting on the last chapter.

I'd really like to know what you thought about this one, and how the story as a whole is going. Are you guys still enjoying it?

Please review, you'd genuinely make my weekend! Have a lovely few days guys! :)