Beauty and the Beast. (Negan.)

10.

"I-I-I," she stuttered, shutting up when the man in front of her started mocking her in a stupid high pitched voice. 

"Arms up," he instructed and she quickly did so, spotting the large amount of men who were behind him, "You got weapons?"

"Only my knife," she mumbled as he began patting her down, "It's by my feet." 

"I find it very hard to believe that this is all you've come out here with." 

"Well believe it," Blake shrugged, "I don't do guns." 

The man pulled her old purse from her backpack, which he was now going through, "What's this?" 

"It's old. I just use it for photos of my kids." 

"You're a momma bird?" he asked, opening it to look at the photos, "Congratulations, they're cute." 

"Thank you." 

The man continued to look through the purse, finding her driver's licence and took it out, "Let's find out who we've got here. 

Blake Caldwell. 

He recognised the name immediately, "You from Alexandria?" 

"How do you know that?" she asked. 

She took a step back when he took one forward, "You said we. Who's we?" 

"Some others from Alexandria. We...we had to split up." 

"And they let you wander out here on your own?" 

She shrugged again, body going rigid when he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, "W-what are you doing?" 

Why the hell were all these people so touchy feely?

"We're gonna take you back with us. There's a storm coming. Can't have you getting caught in it. Negan's taken a shine to you." he said, holding up his hand for me to shake, "The name's Simon." 

She debated with herself for a moment before placing her smaller hand in his to shake. It made no sense in wandering around in the cold rain, wandering in the wrong direction for who knows how long until she found the others. 

"You've made the right choice, Little Bird." 

~*~

Blake sat shivering in the back of Simon's truck, an old tattered blanket around her shoulders. 

They had been driving for a decent amount of time and she couldn't help but wonder what he meant by Negan having taken a shine to her. 

Had he been speaking about her to him? The mere thought of it made her cheeks redden. 

"Sorry!" Simon yelled from up front when they hit a particularly large pothole, sending Blake flying from the box she was in, onto the floor, "We're almost there! Come take a look, Birdy." 

She timidly made her way through the vast amount of stuff that Simon and the men had acquired for Negan and peered up the empty road from between the front seats. Up ahead on the left, she could see this huge factory with smoke billowing from one of the chimneys on the roof, "Is that...?" 

"Yep. That's where we're going." he said happily, looking at her for a second, "We'll tell Negan you're here, get you some dry clothes and get you settled in." 

"What?" she whispered, "No, I-I have to get back to the group," she stuttered, "Or better yet, back to my kids. Can't someone just take me back?" 

He shook his head, "No can do. Whenever there's a storm, the place is on lockdown." 

"But-" she stopped when there was thumping on the side of the truck, "Is that walkers?"

"You know it!" he said enthusiastically, "You know, they make for great protection once they're chained up and shit." 

"Really?" Blake whispered, "That's...that's quite smart." 

"Well," Simon laughed as the truck came to a halt and he turned in his seat again to look down at her, "We didn't get this far by being dumbasses, did we?"

She felt a smile tug at her lips, "I guess not." 

"Come on," he said quietly, "Let's get you inside." 

Blake moved towards the back of the truck, already being able to hear the men pulling in behind them with their own trucks and she ran her fingers through her damp, knotted hair in an attempt to try and make herself more presentable. 

She was so focused on beautifying herself that she didn't notice the crate of canned food until it was too late and she was tripping over it, falling face first out of the stupid truck and landing awkwardly on her ankle and in a puddle. 

Excellent.

She had put her hands out to stop her fall so they were all scraped to hell and her ankle was probably sprained. 

"Jesus Christ, are you okay?" Simon asked, rushing to her side and she gave him a weak smile. 

"I'm fine. That crate came out of nowhere."

"Yeah, they'll do that." 

She pushed herself up and found herself leaning onto him for support with her ankle and he helped her get under cover of the door alcove. 

"I'll be with you in a minute." 

She nodded and pulled the blanket, which was now just as wet as she was, tighter around her.

~*~

Simon had pulled her through the building so quick that she didn't even get a chance to look around. He had said that Negan likes to give the tour to guests. 

As she sat in what Simon had said was his office, she couldn't help but bite her nails in worry about her kids. 

If Rick and the others had met up and saw that she wasn't there, they'd think she was dead and if they went back to Alexandria, the girls were going to be told. 

"No," she muttered to herself, sitting down on the sofa that was by her. She was just going to have to tell Negan that she had to get home. Tonight. 

~*~

this is really just a filler chapter