Blake followed Negan swiftly back into the living room, gazing about.

Negan was right, the place did indeed look pretty looted. With all that was left being a few items of rickety furniture and the dusty old decor of a family long since departed one way or another.

The blonde woman gave a small sigh, picking up a well-out-of date trashy magazine showing pictures of z-list celebrities Blake barely cared to remember, before flinging it back down again, making her way over to the door on the far side of the hallway, which Negan had checked just a few short minutes ago.

It looked like a bedroom, dark and gloomy with a small twin bed sat in the centre and the drapes drawn tightly.

It smelled of dried blood in here and Blake didn't care to linger on thoughts of what might have happened here long ago.

From behind her she could hear Negan still shuffling about in the living room, from the sounds of it, flicking through a stack of CDs which she had noticed had been sat on a shelf near to the fireplace.

Blake tried the next room, the large family bathroom with a pretty, if not a little dated, shell-shaped tub which filled one corner, next to a washbasin and toilet.

She checked the small mirrored medicine cabinet which hung over the sink, but found it empty, much like the rest of the house, save for a couple of pink-fairy-covered band-aids. But Blake pocketed these nonetheless, thinking of Mia, before heading into the room just across the small hallway.

The door was slightly ajar and Blake gave it a sharp shove open to see that inside was a small child's bedroom. With soccer balls painted onto the light green walls and a small twin bed squashed into the corner beside a nightstand adorned with a star-shaped nightlight.

Blake hovered here for a long moment, her digits tensed around the door handle, but she didn't venture in, giving a small gulp, before pulling the door shut-to once more.

But as she turned around she noticed a door just to her right which she hadn't noticed when she had first entered the small shadowy hallway.

Had Negan?

The door was indeed closed, unlike the other rooms that Negan had searched.

She turned her head, still hearing the sound of Negan flicking through CDs and records in the other room.

"Baby, you tried this room?" she called through to him gently.

But before he could answer she had moved tentatively over to the door, shuffling along the small windowless corridor, her fingers tensing around the brass door knob.

"What you say, Darlin'?" he said suddenly, his head appearing around the doorway that led into the living room, just as Blake tried the door handle, feeling it twist beneath her grasp.

It was obvious that Negan hadn't noticed this room either, the handle stiff beneath her grasp, like it hadn't been opened in years.

He was at her side in a flash, pulling his knife from his belt swiftly.

But as the door relented and swung open, to both of their relief, they found the room to be devoid of any walkers…

….but instead, Blake gave a small blink, staring around, her lips parting gently.

This was the reason she had been right to search this place...

...her eyes widening.

She took a step inside to see a small room painted all in white, with beautiful pink and purple vine-covered flowers hand-painted onto the walls.

And inside the very centre of the room sat a small white, empty crib.

Blake stared at it, as did Negan, both of them silent for a very, very long moment.

After a long few second had passed, Blake silently moved over to it, peering down inside to find a gorgeous hand crocheted comforter and a small brown teddy bear.

The woman who lived here, part of that family, had been pregnant….

...or perhaps she had had the baby before the world went to shit, but Blake doubted it...

The entire room looked unused and undisturbed, like a shrine to a child, unborn.

There was a closet and a changing table on the far side of the small white space, with at least two boxes of what looked like diapers and other baby supplies in baskets stored underneath.

And beneath the the large net-covered window, sat a small rocking chair made of wicker, with a fleecy blanket draped over it.

Blake felt tears welling in her green eyes, unsure of whether this was happiness or sadness now, as she stared around.

But she didn't get the chance for any tears to fall, as she felt Negan's sudden strong arms wrap around her waist from behind, angling Lucille away from her as his stubbly chin dropped down onto Blake's shoulder.

"You alaright, Peaches…" he muttered in a low and serious voice, as always, reading her like a book.

But she nodded.

"Yeah," she replied gently, moving her hand over his, as his calloused digits skimmed over her abdomen

And she was.

She was here, alive and so was Mia and the baby growing inside her.

She had a chance here that few others had. A chance to love something brand new in this dead and decaying old world.

She felt Negan press a scratchy kiss to the place just below her ear before he pulled gently away, letting out a hot sigh against her skin.

"You think we should take some of this shit back with us?" he uttered with a hum. "Shit looks like its fresh from the store."

Blake pondered this for a lengthy few moments before nodding again.

"Yeah I think that would be good," she murmured back in reply.

It was time for her to start thinking about this sort of thing.

It had taken them long enough to get Mia's room in order, and the baby currently growing inside her belly would be here in a few months and they would indeed need things for him or her...like any other healthy baby outside of this damn apocalypse would have had.

So they might as well start somewhere.

"You think we can get all this in the truck," Blake asked, placing her hands to the side of the white painted crib.

"No fuckin' problem," said Negan pushing himself off of her with a huff and arching his spine, marvelling at the piece of furniture, before standing up once again and pointing a finger towards her. "But I'm doin' all the heavy liftin', no arguments."

Blake gave a smile, lifting her palms up to either side of her shoulders in a gesture of defeat, rolling her eyes.

"Fiiine," she said in a happy, teasing voice, making to open her mouth again to speak.

But before she could do so there came a sudden creak of floorboards behind the pair of them.

Instantaneously both Negan and Blake swung around, with Negan lifting his barbed wire- covered baseball bat, just as the click of a gun was heard.

And Blake's eyes seemed to widen in their sockets as her gaze fell on the figure of a man with long brown hair and a dirty brown beard.

Neither of them recognized him for a moment, until a stark realisation suddenly washed over Blake.

For she saw that it was the man from the photograph, now sitting on the mantelpiece above the fireplace back in that living room in there.

But he looked a lot different that he had done back then that was for sure.

Now his hair was far longer, a unkempt matted mess, his clothes were filthy and torn and coated in sweat and grime. And to Blake it looked as though he had long stopped taking care of himself. Surviving out here alone for years.

He stood there now, pointing a gun at them with one hand, holding a knife, blackened with crusty blood, in the other. But there was no sign of the rest of the family that Blake had seen in the picture. With her realising it was likely that they had died a long, long time ago. The house still left like a shrine of sorts, a tell-tale sign of that sorry fact.

"You're trespassing," the man suddenly barked, his eyes wild and staring.

He looked completely unstable at this very moment swaying back and forth on his tall, stocky legs.

Blake gave a gulp, placing a hand protectively to her stomach, as Negan took a sudden step forwards.

"Whoh now look. at. you, big guy," Negan snarled, a hint of a narrowed-eyed grin etching its way across his face, cocking his tanned head to the side. "With your big, weighty fuckin' balls steppin' up to me an' my-"

But the man cut across him suddenly, before Negan could finish.

"This is my house!" the brown haired-man shouted. "Y-You come into MY house and y-you think you can touch my things...my wife's things...my kid's things….."

Blake gave a worried frown, as she saw Negan lower his chin darkly.

"We weren't-" she began in a soothing voice, but the man cut her down taking a sudden and unpredicted step forwards, staring at her with wide, blown eyes.

"You were trespassing!" shouted the man again, sounding as though he was close to tears, dragging his sleeve across his sweaty brow. "O-On my property...y-you're both gonna die for that."

At her side, she heard Negan let-out an angry growl.

"Only one fuckin' fucker is gonna die today," said the dark-haired Saviour furiously. "An' that's gonna be you, asshole."

Negan took another step forward, sliding in front of Blake and shielding her from harm's way.

But Blake had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, worried not only for herself and the safety of her unborn baby, but for Negan too.

This man looked unstable and it seemed almost impossible to predict what he would do next.

The man stared to Negan suddenly, pointing his gun square between the Saviour's eyes.

Fuck.

Blake felt her blood run cold. And before she could stop herself, she took took a quick step towards the man.

"Your wife and son," she said suddenly. "W-Where are they now?"

She noticed he still hand his gold wedding band on one finger, as his wild eyes shot her way.

But the man faltered for a second, his gun trained on Negan.

"M-My wife and son?" he repeated, gaping at the air a moment, before blinking several times in quick succession.

He hovered for a lengthy moment, shifting his weight back and forth between his feet.

"They're…." he began, frowning slightly. "...well, they're…"

But he stopped, blinking again in confusion, before suddenly and without warning turning the gun on Blake.

"Shut up!" he yelled suddenly, his hand shaking. "Shut up!"

Beside her, Blake saw Negan tighten his grip on Lucille suddenly, his hackles raising.

"Don't you dare speak to me," shouted the man again, his finger tensing around the trigger. "Don't you dare stand in my house, touching my things, OUR things."

And it was in that second that Blake felt her heart stop, fear coursing suddenly through her, terrified now of dying and not being able to see the baby that was growing inside her. Realising just how much love she felt for the child she had never ever met yet.

Suddenly Negan let out a roar, lifting Lucille above his head and swinging it back down.

But the man was quicker than either of them thought he would be, and dodged out of the way as the bat swished through the air.

Negan staggered for a moment, teeth gritted and wild-looking himself, just as the man gave a yell of his own and made to lunge knife-first at Blake.

But the blonde woman saw red quicker than she had ever done before in her life.

There was no logic here.

No time to be sensible or think this through.

So she did what her instinct told her, tugging the gun suddenly from her belt…

...pointing…

….and shooting.

The gunshot rang through the small house, ringing through Blake's ears.

Negan gazed up as the man stared up at her too….

….blood flowing on his sweat stained shirt, as he dropped suddenly to his knees, lips mouthing pointlessly at the air.

But Blake watched and kept watching as he slumped sideways, falling to the floor, his gun and knife tumbling from each of his hands.

But Blake felt no remorse now as she watched him die.

For no one was ever going to threaten their unborn baby. Not ever.

Negan stood up straight, placing his hand to her arm and lowering it, sliding the gun gently from her fingers, his other arm wrapping around her.

"I ain't even gonna bother askin' you if you're alright, cause I know what the damn answer is gonna be, Darlin'," he said with a heavy sigh.

But Blake's eyes found his, as she frowned slightly and shook her head.

"I'm good," he said in firm voice, gazing at him reassuringly. "Really I am."

And she was.

Truly.

She was the queen to his king. And nothing, NOTHING was going to get in the way of that.

They were a family now. And the baby growing inside her only served as a reminder that the two of them would go to the ends of the earth to protect, not only each other, but the life growing inside Blake.

Their life.

Her hand slid to Negan's leather-clad sleeve, her fingers tightening around the stiff material.

"Come on," she said giving his arm a squeeze. "Let's pack this stuff up and get out of here."

And with a nod, Negan brushed his own coarse fingers gently over her cheek affectionately.

"Mhmmm," he agreed "...lets go home, Peaches."

Oh, phew, well I'm glad all that's over aren't you….hmmmmmmmmmmm…

Thanks you so much to those who reviewed the last chapter: ShadowQueen3304, BlueBloodsSVUOrder, V, Annonymoosed, LJH, CLTex, MJ and Guest.

More coming soon…