Winter began to slip by in a flurry of bitterly cold winds, frosts and treacherously icy roads.

It had already been nine weeks since the generator had stopped working, and for the Saviours, each of the days that passed seemed to feel achingly longer than the last.

Life at the Sanctuary had changed dramatically for everyone there during that time and not one person there could say it was for the better.

Days now were hard for all, and the nights even harder. There was no respite from the freezing cold and the chill that constantly caused everyone's bones to ache.

There was no freedom from the darkness, and there was certainly a distinct lack of anything that now resembled warmth.

The days just existed, one after another, with no sun in the sky, nothing to heat the large and drafty rooms for even a moment.

Because of this the majority of the rooms on the basement and upper floors had become uninhabitable, too cold to be lived in any longer without a central heat source. The Sanctuary residents had in fact become so desperate to keep warm, that the only solution had been to turn the large dinner hall into a makeshift shelter where almost all of the Saviours could reside. Beds and mattress had been moved down into the space, hanging sheets used to divide off spaces between families and large groups, creating what you could barely call privacy in these testing times.

Even Negan, Blake and Mia had been forced to moved downstairs, now inhabiting one of the small rooms just off the main area. Negan hadn't liked the idea of him or Blake being so exposed, especially while they slept, not trusting his men one little bit. And so this room had been a solution of sorts.

It wasn't ideal, but it sure was far warmer than upstairs.

In this cold weather it was as if the Sanctuary was shrinking. Not just in space either.

The people were far less productive with the temperatures as low as they were, with no one having the energy, or feeling in their fingers or toes, to do anything but sit around the fire shivering.

Every time the lieutenants came back from their runs it took each of them at least a day or two to warm up and get back the strength to head out again. This in turn made the search for the part for the generator, they so desperately required, very slow indeed. Group upon groups, upon groups had searched what seemed to be every factory, small holding and store in a twenty mile radius, to no avail as of yet.

And as the days slid by, the Sanctuary residents began to grow more and more despondent about the hope of ever finding the part. About ever getting out of this mess.

But Blake, throughout everything, tried to remain visibly upbeat. These were her people and they looked to her for guidance during this dark time.

Without having a garden to tend to, these days the blonde could be seen down in the dining hall talking to the workers, sitting amongst the families as Mia played on her lap.

To them she was a ray of sun, guiding their way in this dismal time. She was there when they needed her, smiling, reassuring them that everything was going to be ok.

But deep down, and knowing she would never admit this to any of the worried Saviours, she really wasn't so sure it would be.

Negan had been restless at the lack of progress they were making to sort this situation. He had been out almost every moment he could manage, often coming home visibly aching from the cold. He would often come back late from runs, collapsing down onto the creaky camp bed beside Blake and Mia in the dead of night, groaning at the impact of the lumpy mattress on his pained muscles.

Blake had of course, insisted she help out on runs too, but Negan had put his foot down, telling her he did not want to risk her out there on the roads.

She knew why of course.

The reason why Negan had been irritable, stressed, desperate to get power up and running at the Sanctuary again.

Months had passed since Blake and Negan had first found out about the pregnancy.

Blake now even had the smallest hint of a bump, which she was grateful, that the many layers she had on, shrouded.

They still hadn't told anyone about it. No one but her, Negan and Carson knew. And Blake wanted to keep it that way, knowing something like this, for her, was likely not to endure. For Blake had not been able to carry a baby to term before, so what made now any different?

But that exact reason was what had Negan so tense.

Carson had not yet been able to scan Blake, to see how everything was going. And Blake knew full well that without light or power, losing a baby could be a huge threat to her life.

But what else could Blake do?

She knew that worrying and fretting would only make things worse.

And so each and every cold day that passed, Blake put on a brave face. She smiled and laughed, and hugged those who needed it. Because that's what had she to do. That's what a queen was supposed to do.

That still didn't make it any easier though. And this week, the Saviours found that the situation was only worsening.

The snow outside had been thick and deep for a while now, but the last few days had brought constant snow storms.

The moment the Saviours felt like they had the upper-hand on the snow, using all their strength and manpower to clear the paths out of the Sanctuary, the next day there would likely be another foot or two of snow blocking their path once more.

The situation was indeed dire, and no one wanted to risk going out on runs, just in case they would not be able to find their way back again.

With snow coating the landscape like a blanket, they had already lost two lieutenants in the last week, with no one knowing where they were, or if they were even alive.

Rumours had of course quickly started to spread, of the pair abandoning the Sanctuary, finding another place with power and heat, some suggesting they had gone to Alexandria or the Kingdom.

Negan had been quick to try and quash that gossip. But his usual aggressive manner only sought to make peoples bitterness and worry about the entire situation, far worse.

And that was something that was certainly not needed here and now.

Today the Sanctuary residents had woken to yet more snowfall. The decision had already been made that due to poor visibility it was too risky to venture out today, which in turn meant that because of everyone having to stay inside all day, cooped up together, arguments were likely to break out and tensions were bound to be high.

Blake was currently stood alone in the tiny room just off the large dining area, leaning over a large bowl of cold water.

The room she now had taken residence in was a far cry from the room that Negan and her had shared upstairs, with only a mattress, a small wooden cabinet with a mirror balanced on top of it, and a tiny crate of Mia's toys.

Reaching her hands down into the bowl, Blake sloshed the icy water onto her face, causing her breath to catch at the back of her throat at the contact.

Grabbing a towel she wiped at her face, before standing up straight again and letting out a long sigh.

Today Blake felt very, very pregnant.

There really was no other way to put it.

Thankfully her morning sickness was long gone, but right now she felt hungry all the time, bloated, and needed to pee practically every five minutes.

Reaching down she ran a hand over her barely-there bump, obscured today with a pale lilac cardigan, just as there came a small knock upon the closed door just over her shoulder.

She removed her hand, turning and placing the towel down behind her.

"Yeah?"

A second later the door was gently pushed open by a smiling Tanya.

"Hey, Blake," said the dark-haired woman making a face. "Just thought you oughta' know that someone's puked like three times outside the girls bathrooms next door, so I'd avoid it if I were you.

Blake grimaced.

"Someone cleaning it up?" she asked wincing, and trying to keep her nausea at bay at the very thought.

Tanya grinned, nodding.

"Yeah, but the entire place is like a hellzone out there," she sighed. "Y'know Pam's the third person to start puking this week. Carson's on it, but the smell-"

But Blake held a hand up, stopping Tanya before she could say another word.

"Ok, I get it," she said giving a hard swallow, trying to keep her stomach level. "I'll speak to Carson, see if he knows what's going on."

"Cool," Tanya replied with a nod, before staring around the room for a moment. "Mia not around this morning?"

Blake shook her head, folding her arms over herself before moving over to Tanya and pushing past her out of the door, closing it behind her.

"She's with Negan," she said with a smirk, lifting two fingers either side of head making quotation marks. "'Doin' the rounds'".

Tanya smirked back.

In a bid to keep her warm and stop her complaining about the cold so much, Negan had taken to doing laps of the place with Mia in tow. Together they looked like a real little double act. The big bad wolf and the tiny little toddler.

Blake immediately blanched as she stepped into the large ex-dining hall, that now housed the majority of the Saviour's morning, noon and night, the pungent smell of vomit hitting her hard.

"See what I mean," said Tanya, catching her look.

Blake pursed her lips moving further into the room heading in between the rows of beds and sheets.

Yet again today, like every day, families were sat around, huddled together looking despondent, peering up at the blonde as she passed.

She offered them all smiles, but right now knew she could give them very little more.

It was freezing in here, cold breaths curling into mist above the heads of the Saviours in the room.

Heading over to a room just off the far end of the space, Blake lifted up the sheet, the only privacy in place of a door, to see Carson inside.

But this time, unlike the last few times Blake had been inside the makeshift medical room to find the doctor dealing with a patient or two, there were now seven beds crammed into the tiny space.

Blake stared around wide-eyed as she ducked under the sheet and moved inside the room.

"What's going on?" she said in a hushed whisper.

Carson, who was leant over a sickly-looking patient immediately stood up straight, looking Blake's way and giving a carrying huff, lifting his hand and running it through his messy strawberry-blonde hair.

"It's been like this since yesterday," he explained with a shake of his head. "Seven now. Any more, and were going to have to find another room for them."

Blake immediately frowned at his words staring around at the people in the beds. They all looked deathly pale and sweaty. Some of them coughing, and heaving, and some of them barely moving at all.

"What's wrong with them?" she whispered.

"The flu most likely. Something like this was bound to spread like wildfire in conditions like this," Carson muttered.

Fuck.

Blake had known that people getting sick was inevitable in this kind of environment, but to see it so stark like this…

"W-Why didn't you let us know sooner?" she asked Carson with a frown between her brows.

A sickness like this was a dangerous thing. People could die!

So why had the doctor kept it from them? Was this some sort of ploy from him-

"Negan knows," he said with a shake of his head, frowning himself. "I told him the moment the second person got sick."

Blake, at this, parted her lips.

"W-What?"

She had seen Negan only this morning and he had told her nothing of this.

Was he really keeping things from her now?

Carson pursed his lips, tilting his head to the side as he stared at her, his gaze earnest.

"I thought Negan had told you."

Blake gritted her teeth suddenly.

"Son of a bitch," she uttered under her breath, turning on her heel and shoving past Tanya, and stalking from the room, as the dark-haired woman and the doctor exchanged nervous glances.

Both of them knew this wasn't going to end well.

For Negan especially…

Thanks for reading everyone.