The days at the Sanctuary seemed to slip slowly by and it wasn't long until it's residents found themselves in the midst of winter.
Temperatures had dropped dramatically and Negan, upon Blake's advice, had ordered for more rooms to be made up for Saviours to stay in, instead of the drafty communal areas some of the newest residents had found themselves camping in for a time.
But despite the bleak and harsh cold settling in, most of the Saviours were far more jovial than they had been during the last couple of winters. That likely having something to do with the bounty of food from the gardens they now had stored away. Because for the first time in years, the Saviours were going to bed with full stomachs, not having to rely so much on tributes from other camps for sustenance. It felt like a good life, after years of fear and malnourishment.
Brandon had left for the north outpost at dawn the morning after Blake's collapse. The blonde woman had felt bad that she hadn't got to say goodbye, but promised herself she would head out there sometime, one day to see him again. But at the moment the blonde woman had other matters to distract her.
Neither she nor Negan had told anyone about the pregnancy.
The only other person at the Sanctuary who knew was Carson, and after a couple of discreet visits to check her blood pressure and general health, Blake had made him promise not to tell a soul.
Luckily for her, on this occasion, it wasn't hard to keep it a secret.
Blake was feeling pretty good, with only a little nausea on waking in the mornings, but apart from that, her pregnancy was not hard to hide.
Most of the work, bringing supplies in from the gardens ready for winter, was now done, and so Blake didn't need to lie about why she was taking it easy, putting her feet up for much of the day.
She also had Negan to prowl around her the rest of the time, snarling at anyone who came too close or questioned her whereabouts too much.
But, for today at least, Blake had managed to somehow shake the dark-haired Saviour and found herself with a free morning, which she was currently spending in the warm rec room downstairs, curled up upon a small couch talking to Arat, as Mia played at their feet.
"So I told her to go screw herself," said Arat in an irritable tone, causing Blake to smirk. They had been talking for the last ten minutes about Arat's love life and one of the new arrivals she had started seeing."There's no way I'm spending another night freezing my ass off out there on the road, looting places to find shit that she wants, just to get a second date. She either wants me or she doesn't."
"You had a lucky escape," Blake mused, watching Mia instantly as she played with a little set of dolls on the rug before the two adults. "She sounds like too much hard work."
Arat at her side, gave a nod.
"Yeah I suppose," she sighed, folding her arms over her chest. "She was hot though."
At this Blake gave a laugh.
"So enough about my love life," said Arat lifting up a foot onto the edge of the couch and resting her forearm on her knee. "How's things with you and Negan?"
Blake smiled. "Fine," she shrugged. "Same as usual."
Yet again, Blake so desperately wanted to tell Arat about the pregnancy, but understood that the less people who knew the easier it would be in the long run, especially when the inevitable happened.
"I only ask because Negan has practically been your shadow these last couple of weeks," the curly-haired woman commented with a wry smile.
But Blake just shook her head.
"I think he's just being overprotective...after all that stuff with Brandon, y'know?"
Most people had now found out who Brandon was and so to her relief Arat gave a nod of understanding.
"Yeah I guess that makes sense," she sighed, both women watching as Mia stood and toddled over to them, brandishing a doll at Arat.
"Pway wif me naw plees," said the little girl in a rather bossy tone, placing a barbie down onto Arat's lap. "You hav tha won, and I hav this won."
With that, the little girl moved back over to her pile of toys and picked up a far more oversized doll with long brown hair set into braids.
Arat grinned. "What we playing?" she asked.
But Mia just turned around and beckoned the curly-haired Saviour to join her on the rug.
"Hurry ap," the toddler said again, patting the space beside her.
Arat quickly huffed and did as she was told, as Blake laughed, feeling so very contented right at this moment.
It was lovely and warm in here and the soft sounds of the two girls beside her playing, was making her drowsy.
And so with a soft sigh escaping her lips, Blake closed her eyes, feeling herself drifting away into the most comfortable mid-morning nap.
DRAAAANG DRAAAANG.
Blake gave a loud snuffle, the sound shaking her instantly awake.
What was that?
It took her a moment to realise where she was, still down in the rec room on the ground floor.
The light was still on overhead, but it only took a quick second of staring wildly about for Blake to realise she was alone.
DRAAAANG DRAAAANG.
The noise came again, loud and echoing, filling every inch of the room.
It seemed to be a siren of sorts, but Blake had never heard it before, in all the time she had been at the Sanctuary.
"Arat?" Blake said loudly. "Mia?"
But there came no answer, only the siren again.
Blake quickly pushed herself from the couch, panic starting to set in.
It was hard to tell here, in the windowless rec room, what time of day it was.
How long had she been asleep?
Why was she alone?
Where were Mia and Arat?
Blake knew she was not going to get any answers here and so, subconsciously pressing one hand to her flat stomach, she made for the door.
Once out in the empty hallway, she could hear the distant sounds of shouts and yells coming from somewhere across the Sanctuary.
What the hell was going on?
"Mia?" Blake attempted again in a carrying voice. "Arat?"
But again there was no answer.
The blonde woman, dressed in a black sweater and jeans, lifted her thumb to her mouth nibbling on her fingernail as she paced down the long and empty hallway.
Where was everyone?
It was rare that the Sanctuary was this quiet, especially on the ground floor and especially in the daytime.
But was it still day? It was hard to tell down here with no natural light.
Blake, right now, just needed to find someone, anyone, and find out what was going on.
She rounded the corner, passing rooms as she went, finding them all empty.
"Hello?" she said in a loud voice, hoping there would be someone to hear her, but still there was no reply.
The siren blared overhead again, as Blake winced against it. The sound was disorientating, along with everything else that was going on.
Why was she alone? Why was the alarm sounding? What had happened?
And with these thoughts swimming around in her head, Blake could hear her breathing shallow in her chest and her heartbeat inside her ears thumping louder and louder...
And so the sudden sound of the siren, accompanied by a tall looming figure suddenly rounding the corner towards her, almost bowling her over, causing Blake to jump out of her skin, letting out a small squeal of fright.
She made to back off quickly, as a sudden hand grabbed her upper arm.
"S'alright, Peaches, s'jus' me," came a low and husky voice, accusing Blake to quit struggling and stare up into the familiar face of Negan.
He was stood there now without Lucille, with sweat beaded at his tanned brow, eyes blown wide, looking wired.
"Negan, what's happened, what's going on?" the blonde uttered quickly, shaking her head. "I woke up...t-the alarms-"
"It's alright," Negan repeated again, stroking his large hand down the side of Blake's blonde head. "There's been an fuckin' issue with the generator, its set off all the damn sirens, busted the boiler too. I've got everyone an' their damn mothers in there tryin' to fix the fuckin' thing."
Blake stared up at him.
"W-What happened?" she asked her green eyes searching his.
But Negan shook his head. "I dunno, damn thing looks like its been on its last legs for a while. I got Dr Smarty Pants onto it, but shit, its goddamn chaos over there."
Negan glanced down suddenly, his eyes reaching Blake's stomach and for the first time Blake realised she had her hand protectively clutched there.
"I was worried about you, Darlin'" Negan said with a worried frown. "When I couldn't find ya-"
"I'm fine, I was just napping," she said with a shake of her head. "B-But Mia was with Arat, and I don't know where-"
"It's fine, they're fuckin' safe," Negan said, cutting Blake off. "Kid needed a damn potty break and the two of them got caught up in all the shit."
Blake's eyes widened in alarm. "But Mia's ok?"
"Yeah, yeah, kid's fine," Negan said in a soothing voice. "She's still with Arat. C'mon. I need to get back there, you can come with me."
Blake nodded hurriedly, and allowed Negan to take her hand as he led her back in the direction he had come in.
He looked strained now, walking quickly on his long legs, jaw tensed.
Blake could see that this was bad.
Negan was usually cool and collected no matter the situation and yet right now, he looked completely on edge.
A minute or so later, they found themselves in the large dining hall. The shouts and cries were much much louder in here and only a moment later, as they moved through the kitchens and into a large concrete storage area at the back of the rooms did Blake see where they were coming from.
The space wasn't that big and yet in this small, otherwise disused space, there must have been at least fifty people.
They were all crammed in, their attention solely on the large generator, and boiler that stood next to it.
The generator seemed to be emitting a loud and ominous whirring and clicking noise, while the boiler, just ten feet or so down from it, was hissing out steam, as water pooled at the feet of the people on the ground.
Blake could see Eugene currently up a ladder taking a closer look at the generator with a look of concern etched across his face, while lieutenants, including Simon, all shouted and yelled at each other to grab more towels to stem the leak.
"Told you, Peaches. Fucking chaos," Negan muttered in a dark voice, scowling, before detaching his hand from hers and stalking off and beginning to bark orders at his higher up men and women.
Blake gazed at the utter pandemonium that surrounded her at this moment as the sirens blared overhead again.
"Blake!" Came a sudden voice from behind her and the blonde turned quickly to see Arat coming towards her, with Mia attached to her hand.
"Oh, baby," said Blake hurriedly moving to Mia and scooping her up into her arms, before pressing a kiss to the side of her mousy head. "There you are."
"I'm so sorry, B," said Arat looking extremely guilty. "Mia needed to use the bathroom and I didn't want to wake you...a-and then the alarms started going off and-"
"It's fine," said Blake reassuringly, staring into Arat's brown eyes. "I'm just glad you're both ok."
The blonde moved her gaze to Mia as the little girl pulled herself back, smiling widely.
"I halp wif tha 'merjansy!" she said proudly, her chubby fingers toying with Blake's long hair.
Blake smiled back at the little girl raising both eyebrows, as she prised the strand of hair, that Mia was currently sucking on, from her mouth. "You did?"
Arat gave a nod.
"Oh yeah, Mia here was super helpful," said the curly-haired woman in a playful voice, shooting Blake a covert look over the toddlers head.
Blake smirked back at her, but before either adult could say another word there came a deafening rumble from behind them, followed by a high pitched whirring.
"Get back!" came Eugene's sudden yell. And Blake and Arat could only turn to see the portly man clambering swiftly down from the ladder.
"Get back now!" he yelled again.
And everyone in the vicinity, for once, did as they were told, hurriedly streaking immediately back away from the generator.
Negan's dark eyes immediately found Blake in the crowd and he marched over to her leading her away rapidly, one arm around her.
Blake placed a hand over Mia's head, heading into the furthest corner of the room and turning her back, shielding the little girl hurriedly.
The noise from the generator suddenly grew louder and louder, until finally there was an explosive bang, and the whole room was suddenly filled with smoke.
Blake coughed, closing her eyes and trying her best to shield Mia, her lungs filling with dust.
Beside her, she heard Negan cough loudly too, his arm still around her.
"Peaches-" *cough* "-you alright?" he managed to rasp, as the thick smoke surrounding them began to clear.
Everyone around them seemed to be murmuring between themselves between coughs, as Negan stood up straight and squinted around.
Blake's attention though was fully on Mia, peering down at the little girl in her arms who was whimpering, her face twisted into a sad look looking as though she was about to burst into tears at any second.
"It's ok, baby," said Blake smoothing down Mia's hair, holding the little girl against her chest soothingly. "It's alright, Mommy's here."
"I don' laik it…" Mia whined out, but Blake shushed her again gently, staring up to see the men, including Negan and Eugene, approaching the generator once again.
From here the blonde could see that the enormous generator was now blackened, with all signs of life now gone. No blinking lights, no sound, and Blake noted that even the sound of the siren had now ceased.
"Shit," she heard Negan mutter as he ran a hand over his bearded chin, staring up at the giant lifeless machine. "This our only fuckin' genreator?"
Simon at his side, hands on hips, slotting neatly back into place as Negan's right hand man despite all that he had done, nodded regretfully.
"Think so," he murmured.
Blake stared up with worry That generator powered the entire Sanctuary and without it…...what would they do?
Negan looked at once to Eugene.
"Hey Dr Smarty Pants, you think you can fix this shit?" asked Negan starkly.
And it took a moment or two for Eugene to reply, staring around at the crowd before him as he spoke.
"I'm not sure. This machine looks to be at least thirty years old, a-and finding the particular parts needed could be a stretch considering our current situation and climate-"
"Goddamnit, Eugene! Can it be fixed or not?" snapped Negan loudly, looking thoroughly annoyed, glaring at Eugene who merely stared back at the leader of the Saviours placidly.
"Perhaps," replied Eugene after a second. "But finding the parts needed. That could take weeks, months even. But that is where our dilemma unfortunately lies."
Blake saw Eugene give a visible swallow before continuing.
"See over the next couple of weeks the temperature is gonna drop even more, and well, without a generator, this place is gonna get, an' pardon my french, but one hell of a lot colder. And so what do you prioritise? Colder weather supplies or finding parts for that generator. B-Because even with all these men a-and women at your disposal, they won't have enough time to do both. It's gonna get cold, real cold, and without any sort of heat source, massive areas of this factory buildin' are gonna be off limits. There's gonna be no hot water, likely no hot food, no light sources apart from the partial natural daylight we get for a few hours during the winter. And that's not even taking into consideration what's gonna happen if there's any sort of blizzard on the horizon."
The entire room was silent for a long and drawn out moment as everyone tried to digest what Eugene had just said.
Even with the generator working the Sanctuary was already cold. And so delving into the deepest of winter without electricity or heat of any sort, was a frightening prospect.
"So what exactly are you sayin'?" uttered Negan with a low growl.
And the portly Eugene, with a grimace, finally answered.
"I'm saying we are in the deepest of shit….Sir."