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

Where I belong

"Admit it, Peaches," Negan chuckled, pressing a scratchy kiss to Blake's damp shoulder. "The only damn reason you came back was to get me to do this kinda shit for you."

Blake smiled closing her eyes as Negan's hands kneaded down onto her muscles from behind.

The pair were currently sat in the bathtub adjacent to their room, which was filled halfway with a fragrant hot water, that lapped around their naked bodies. Negan with his back against the warm porcelain tub, and Blake leaning against his lean form, having her knotted shoulders slowly coaxed into relaxing by the dark-haired man's talented fingers.

"Oh no, you've seen right through me," said Blake in a voice thick with sarcasm, wrinkling her nose in delight, causing Negan to chuckle into her ear once more and graze his bearded cheek against hers.

Cold from being out on that rooftop, Blake and Negan had headed back inside and ended up here, both wanting to be close to one another as the night drew in, but neither ready for sleep just yet.

Negan's confession up on that rooftop was a stark realisation for the both of them. Both of them knowing now that if this was the path they were about to go down, then this place, their lives, well, they might never be the same again.

But as much as Blake had tried to convince him, Carl and Tara too. It had ultimately been Negan who had come to this decision by himself, urged on by his devotion to Blake and Mia, his family.

But that decision, those changes, and how it was all to be implemented, could wait until morning.

For tonight...well, both adults had ultimately decided that this was their time.

Time they could spend together after so long apart.

Mia had been put to bed by Tanya, and for once, it was unlikely they were about to be disturbed any time soon. And so both were free to enjoy each other in whatever way was needed.

And almost immediately, sitting here in the tub, Blake had drawn Negan's attention to her shoulder blades, stiff from sleeping on a lumpy mattress on a cold floor for nights on end.

On reflection it had still been a damn sight better than the days where she had been forced to sleep, holed up in barns or on draughty floors in boarded up buildings or even sometimes out on the road with just a musty smelling sleeping bag, with nothing to defend her against the elements. But her life over the past year or so had changed dramatically, and used to a soft mattress and a proper bed now, Blake's shoulders had forgotten what it was like to sleep rough as she had done for so long, crying out for some attention instead...

...which luckily Negan, tonight, was willing to provide.

Blake smiled blissfully, so truly glad to be back here with the man she loved.

She regretted leaving, she did. But at the time, felt like she had had no other choice. Feeling so broken and completely removed from herself.

For those long and dark days, she had felt like she was so alone, and despite having Negan and Mia and everyone here who adored her, that anxiety had still risen to the surface, consuming her.

But she was back now and determined to make amends for leaving like she had done.

For, losing a baby.... well, the loss hadn't just been on her, but Negan too. And she had ultimately left when he had needed her.

And so for Blake, that was something she so desperately wanted to prove to him she wasn't about to do again.

"I love you, y'know..." she said in gentle voice, nudging the side of her head against his warmly.