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

Happy Moments

The sky outside had already grown dark by the time Negan and Blake had arrived back at the Sanctuary with their dusty truck piled high with their haul of furnishings fit for any newborn baby.

And as Negan barked orders to his obedient lienatants to 'get this shit unloaded and set up upstairs', Blake had already made her way inside and gone to collect Mia.

Although she had been excited about leaving the Sanctuary for a while, it had indeed stated her appetite and reminded her just how lucky she was to have this place, The Sanctuary, a safe-haven away from the mad and upturned world outside.

Perhaps she had been yearning for a freedom that was never even there and Blake knew now that being here, really was the best thing for her unborn child.

Something that she wanted to protect at all costs.

Silly little runs out just for the hell of it were not worth risking all that for now.

Negan had been right to want to protect her and she had been an idiot to push back like she did. But that was just what Blake was like, and she knew she probably wouldn't be where she was today if she wasn't up for challenging Negan every once in awhile.

For that was just what a queen was supposed to do, wasn't it?

She smiled now, as she sat on one of the large scrubbed wooden benches down in the bustling dining hall, watching Mia enjoying her evening meal of steamed carrots, peas and mashed potato, all fresh from the garden.

"Are you enjoying that, Sweetie?" she asked the mousy-haired toddler, running a hand through her soft, tufty locks.

The little girl peered up at Blake, brandishing a limp-looking carrot between her pudgy fingers.

"I eated all my karits!" she said proudly through a mouthful of food.

And Blake could only give a gentle laugh, her hand moving to stoke the baby-girl's warm back lovingly.

"I can see that," she purred.

Fuck, she loved her, and all that love, only seemed to be blossoming, as the days and weeks went on.

Just a few short week ago, Blake had been so certain that Mia had been lost for good, that her heart had seemed to ache every day.

But right now, it was like a warmth and a happiness was enveloping her.

For if this was her fairytale, and she could die happy tomorrow knowing that, even just for a little while, things had been perfect.

She thought back to months long past, when she had thought her life would have been with David....taking his fury and his wrath, covering up bruises, telling herself that it wasn't his fault...

And Blake had accepted that life was what she deserved...for it was all that she had had back then.

But now, it was crazy to see how far she had come...she had grown, and held her head above water to save herself from drowning.

And here she was, loved, not only by Negan and Mia, but by the people all around her.....the Saviours.

The people she had once feared in name and reputation, who had become her family.

She was their leader these days, just as much as Negan was, but she didn't need a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire to prove this....

Blake was kind and caring, and had stood up for those who couldn't stand up for themselves. And most importantly she had stood up to Negan when he had needed reigning in.

And as the wives and the workers told her, in anything but hushed whispers these day, she made this place better.

Everyone was smiling, and happy.