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

Happy Birthday, Peaches

It was just gone 1am by the time Blake finally wandered the lonely corridor up towards Negan's room.

She had stayed up late, hoping of course to have seen in her birthday with the dark-haired Saviour himself. But despite leaving almost five hours ago now, with Simon, Arat and a few of the others in tow, there was no sign of him returning any time soon.

Blake, had intended, after finishing off her dinner alone in the canteen, to just head back on over to her room...maybe use that TV and VCR than Negan had given to her, what felt like a lifetime ago now, to watch a movie. But before she had even made it up to the second floor, she had been accosted by Frankie, Michelle and Tanya in one of the hallways, who had squealed and thrown their arms around Blake as though she had been their best-friend since childhood.

From the sounds of it, all the wives were pretty happy to see her back, telling her that the place hadn't been the same without her here, and informing her about Negan's terrible moods since she had been gone. The idea that Blake's presence here had even the slightest effect on anyone, really tugged at the back of her stomach and made her feel more happy than she had felt in a long time.

She truly felt at home here. And facts like those just helped to confirm that to her even more.

The three women had swiftly convinced Blake to come back to their plush room with them, and from there, Blake had spent the rest of the night, sitting with them on luxurious couches and squishy cushions, drinking wine and catching up on all the gossip.

Not that there had been much from this end, mind you.

"Ugh, you know what it's like here," Tanya had huffed, after Blake had enquired. "Boring as usual."

Frankie had nodded in agreement.

"Only one of us has been called up to see Negan too, since you've been gone," the red-haired woman said conversationally. "But even then, he sent me away almost straight away in a fucking horrible mood."

The women all around had nodded.

"So," said Michelle lightly, arching an eyebrow up towards Blake. "Are you and him-"

But she had trailed off before uttering another word.

Blake, however, of course, knew what she was getting at. She had chewed on her bottom lip, her eyes falling to her glass in her lap, as she shrugged her shoulders.

"I....I don't know..." she had replied in a quiet voice, her heart pounding as the words slipped from her mouth.

Blake had felt her cheeks immediately reddening.

But the wives had just smiled encouragingly.

"Listen," said Tanya, pursing her lips and placing her hand on top of Blake's. "He's a monster...and some of the things I've seen him do...."

The dark-haired woman paused, and sucked in a breath.

"...but he seems different with you. Like he actually gives a crap about you. And you should have seen the kinda mood he was in, when you were gone. I mean, all those guys downstairs had to do was breathe the wrong way, and he'd be using that stupid baseball bat of his, on them before they had time to even apologise. So don't feel guilty. Having you here....it makes life better.... for all of us."

The women had all nodded at this, and Blake had felt herself giving a relived sort of sigh, as she had brought her drink up to her lips.

The conversation soon after that, had moved onto, firstly how Blake's plan for a garden was getting on. For not having ventured outside yet, Blake was so so please to hear that the Saviours had manged to get a hold of several large greenhouses which had been assembled around the disused part of the lot. And work had also begun on digging a plot for some vegetables.