I think I liked you better when you didn't have a knife in your hand, Peaches

The Countdown

On some days in this part of the country, the humidity was often so unbearable that it was a good thing when a storm finally crashed its way across the sky, breaking up the low-lying cloud and threatening a heavy downpour at any second.

But not today.

Today Blake wanted the closeness of the air....to feel the thick heat against her perspiration-covered skin as she stood in front of the tall, looming gates to the place she had once called home, watching them roll slowly open.

"You alright, Peaches?" came the familiar low hum of Negan who was stood close at her side now, his chin lifted firmly and his eyes fixed on a point straight ahead of him.

But Blake merely raised her own chin now, mirroring his intimidating stance.

She was alright.

Being back here, only serving to remind her of the hell she had been through living here with David...and how alien it had felt to return here afterwards....how these people had made her feel like an outsider...locked her in her house like she was some sort of prisoner.

But no more.

For even since then....just a few short weeks ago, Blake had changed for the better.

She was stronger now and through Negan and the rest of the Saviour's assurances, she knew that she didn't have to put up with people treating her like shit anymore.

She was more than just David's fiancée now.

She was a queen. Headstrong and willing to fight for, not only herself, but her people too.

For that was what they were now, the Saviours. Far more so than the people here at Alexandria had ever been at least...

"I'm good," Blake murmured back, reassuring the man she loved now that they were on the same page.

Both of them knew how wily the people here could be. And one wrong move...if either of them seemed like they were in any sort of danger, both Blake and Negan knew that they would take the shot or the swing and bring that person, whoever it was, down. No exceptions.

Blake had Negan's back, just as he had hers, each one of the formidable pair standing tall and intimidating, side-by-side as the gates opened fully before them.

But Blake tensed as she caught sight of what was on the others side, a small almost invisible gulp trailing its way down her slender throat. But even so, she kept her head held high as both she and Negan, followed close behind by Arat, strolled through the open entranceway.

"Well hello there, Rick," said Negan, a small smirk inching its way over his bearded lips. But Blake's eyes were not trained on him now, but instead the sight dead-ahead of her.

For there was Rick and Michonne, stood just in front of a large group of Alexandrians, all of which Blake recognised, all of whom were currently staring at her with a look of utter shock and disbelief plastered across their faces.

But Blake, like she had done at the Hilltop, no longer cared about what these people thought of her, as Rick hovering there, with narrowed beady eyes, gazed at her and only her, tilting his head questioningly and opening his mouth to speak.

But Blake did not give him time to say anything.

"Where is she?" she murmured in a threatening voice, low and dark.

But there followed only silence...

From Rick...

From Michonne...