The sky had long since turned an inky black by the time Negan and Blake's truck pulled slowly back through the looming Sanctuary gates, at what must have been gone midnight.

Blake noted that everything felt so still here at this time of night, with far less rowdiness and pomp from the Saviours as there was in the daylight at least.

A crew of three men, that the blonde vaguely recognised, were stood on the other side of the fence, their eyes travelling curiously over the cargo that sat in the rear of their pick up.

Although it had been a struggle to fit them all inside, every single person from Charles's group had was now perched in the back, looking windswept and rather cold in the cool night's air.

On the way back Blake had made sure Negan drove slowly and had reprimanded him when he had driven over more potholes in the road than were certainly necessary. She had of course seen the glint in his eyes each and every time THAT had happened…

Negan, with his is elbow resting cockily against the open driver's side window, slowed to a halt beside the three Saviours as they approached.

"Boys…" Negan said in an easy voice. "...it looks like we have some new arrivals to our lil' community."

He gestured with a soft jerk of his head towards the back of the truck, the three men following his gaze for the briefest of moments before turning back to the dark-haired leader.

"DJ," Negan continued. "You an' Mikey get them inside, get them fed and fuckin' watererd, and them make sure they're clear on the rules on their new home. Give them a nice warm welcome from all of us."

Blake pursed her lips, almost rolling her eyes at Negan's tone, his voice just loud enough for the folks huddled in the back to obviously hear.

He was so full of shit sometimes.

Smirking, she turned back towards her passenger side window, staring out onto the darkened lots beyond where she could just about make out the pale spectres of the walkers strung up all across the expensive chain link fences.

She didn't even notice that neither Mikey or DJ hadn't yet responded...

"There a problem?" Is all she heard Negan say in a low and deadly voice after a second or two drawing her attention back to him once again.

His brow was now furrowed, his eyes fixed on the three men before him, all looking sheepish, shifting their weight from foot-to-foot, looking between one another, none of them looking like they wanted to be the first person to speak.

"It's, uh…" DJ said, before gulping, his eyes meeting finally with Negan's. "...it's Simon."

There was a deadly pause as Negan gave a growl beneath his breath.

"What about Simon?" he hissed out in an icy tone.

And with a another visible gulp heading down his throat, DJ spoke again.

"He's inside...with a bunch of the men.." DJ wavered for a moment before continuing. "I-I think it's best you go take a look for yourself, Boss."

Negan sucked at his teeth, glanced darkly Blake's way for a brief second, communicating with her wordlessly as they often did these days, before giving his door a sudden shove open and stepping out into the night, taking Lucille with him.

Blake let out an internal sigh, before doing the same.

It was cool out now and she felt a sudden wave of guilt pass over her at just how cold and windswept the people all sat in the back of the truck must have been during the ride home.

She glanced their way, as they all sat their silently, worried looks etched across all of their gaunt faces, before tearing her eyes back towards Negan.

"Where is he?" she heard him growl at DJ.

And this time it was Mikey who, at once, answered.

"The dining hall," he said, as Negan's brow furrowed even more.

The dark-haired man looked Blake's way again, as she came to stand beside him, lifting her chin.

Negan gave an irritable huff.

"Y'know, you are are more than welcome to sit this one out, Darlin'," he said in a low voice. "God knows we ain't exactly had the best fuckin' day and I wouldn' blame you if you wanted an early night."

But Blake shook her head. If there was trouble, she wanted to know about it. This was her home too, alongside Negan now, for good. And she wanted to keep it that way.

Blake hadn't forgotten Simon's tone with her, that fateful night that Tara had gotten into the Sanctuary. There had been something off with the way he had spoken to Blake then, something that didn't sit all that well with her.

And as much as she had tried to push that aside, had tried to forget about it, it seemed that every time his name was mentioned, that memory of his poisonous tone would rear its ugly head again.

But Simon was loyal to Negan. Always had been.

And whatever was obviously wrong now….well, that couldn't be anything too bad, could it?

But judging by the fixed look on Negan's face, he didn't seem to agree.

Blake wasn't quite sure of the past that Negan and Simon shared but knew there had to be a reason for Simon being so under the thumb all this time.

Had Negan once put him in his place? Done to him what he had done to Dwight?

Surely not...right?

But Blake didn't want to question this further.

"No, I'll come with you," she said, hand moving to the knife that sat once again at her belt, now clean of Charles' blood.

Blake knew that Negan could read her pretty well these days, and so, with a brief nod from the dark-haired Saviour, the pair of them began to pace silently over towards the enormous, grey, Sanctuary building, as behind them, they could hear the three lieutenants offloading all of the new arrivals from the truck.

It was only when the two of them had reached the large set of metal doors that led inside, that Blake turned to Negan. And, chewing on her bottom lip a little, she spoke.

"So y-you think Simon's…" Blake ruminated over her choice of words for a brief second. "...done something? I mean….he wouldn't betray you….right?"

But her question earned her a grunt from Negan.

"Wouldn' be the fuckin' first time that thin-dicked prick has tried to stage a fuckin' coup…" Negan snarled bitterly.

Blake blinked, not quite able to imagine a time in which Simon wasn't as loyal as he always these days seemed.

"But...I thought-" Blake began, but Negan cut across her easily.

"When it comes to my men, Peaches...shit, they all think they can be the big dog. All think they can rule. But when it comes down to it, as loud as those cocksuckers can bark, it's always me that has the worse bite."

Blake stared at him for a long moment before giving a small sniff.

She knew Negan could handle himself. So could she.

But even so, in light of everything they were striving for, not having everyone on side could certainly be a problem.

But before Blake could say another word, Negan had given the door in front of them a hard shove open. And, cocking Lucille up onto his square shoulder, he had strolled easily inside.

Blake followed closely behind as the duo moved onto the balcony above the large hall, that normally housed only the long dining tables the Sanctuary residents used to eat their meals off….

...but tonight, it was filled as well, by a sparse group of men, that all stood silently below.

Negan moved to the balcony edge and placed his leather-clad forearms on the yellow railing, letting out a hard sigh at the sight that met both his and Blake's eyes….

Negan's right hand man, standing in the middle of the hard faced group of men, arms folded, and an an almost gleeful look in his eyes as he stared up at the pair of them.

"Simon," Negan uttered curtly, lifting his chin, his steely gaze fixed to the mustachioed man below.

And Simon, with narrowed eyes, merely smiled back.

"Welcome home, Boss."

What's Simon's problem? We'll see in the next chapter I guess.

Thanks to Elle Flanders, Megshinkley, CLTex, Green, Mimoo123, kagomesdance and BrookeWorm3 for reviewing the last chapter.

Please review if you get the chance! :)