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

Frustrations and Old Friends

Tara had long since disappeared off back inside by the time Blake had finally reached the bottom of the porch steps.

Taking a deep breath in as she climbed the small staircase slowly, her eyes remained fixed on the open front door ahead.

Blake hadn't wanted to come here today.

She hadn't wanted to see Tara....or Eric or Aaron...or any of these people she had once considered her friends.

Blake had moved on now, feeling freer and happier than she had ever done before, with the Saviours and with Negan...where she belonged..

But yet here she was again, back here, in this same old place, where the memories of David's fists, of his temper, of being a kept a prisoner here, returned to her as clear as anything, like a movie playing out in front of her eyes.

It hurt.

All of it. Those horrid memories of a time long since passed.

And so Blake could only take another shallow and steadying breath, as she took a wide step through the front door, entering the large hallway.

Blake had been here many times. The last time she specifically remembered was the night before she had been taken to the Sanctuary....before she had been knocked out by David and taken there...

That night, her, Rosita, Tara and David had enjoyed a meal here, catching up, laughing and joking as friends did, like there was nothing wrong, as though everything was fine. But it wasn't.

By then green and yellow bruises had already littered almost the entirety of Blake's skin, covered by clothes even in the sweltering heat of summer, and unbeknownst to Blake, David already had plans underway to get the two of them to the Sanctuary to make a deal with Negan.

She could still smell that night on the air in the lemony fragrance of Tara's house, fresh and homely...the memory filling Blake's nostrils, and causing her stomach to lurch.

But she tried as had as she could to not let this upset show on her face now, as she moved around the corner, stepping into Tara's familiar living room.

Here the dark-haired woman was currently stood in front of the window, thumb-nail between her teeth, her eyes flickering up towards Blake as she entered the room.

Blake instantly stared about, it was quiet and tidy in here, save for the two or three small toys that littered the polished hardwood floor.

Were these Mia's?

Just the idea of her being nearby making Blake's heat beat ever faster.

A long moment of silence fell between the two women now, as everything else, the rest of the world, the Saviours, Rick, Michonne, even Negan, was forgotten.

But it was Blake that finally spoke, her voice quieter than it had been outside. A tension filling up the room instead in its audible absence.

"Where is she?" the caramel-blonde woman asked, holding her gun tensely at her side, although the safety was now firmly back on.

She would not risk bullets here with Mia close by.

But Tara just gave a sad shake of her head.

"I thought you were dead, Blake..." she murmured out. "W-We found Rick's car burned-out at the side of the road...."

But Blake just kept staring dead ahead.

"Just take me to her, Tara, please..." Blake whispered out after a second or two, causing Tara to run her hand over her forehead and give a bemused and heavy sigh.