Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This

Chapter 20

Author's Note: Keep those reviews coming; I have a four day weekend and depending on how my back corporates I may get a few chapter's posted. I really want to finish Season 3 (watching) this weekend. I already told my son he's off to his dad's one day this weekend. Priorities people! Feels, lots and lots of emotional feels.

"The best kinds of relationships begin unexpectedly when you get the astonished feeling and everything happens so suddenly. That's why you don't look for love. It comes to you just at the right time, the time you never thought it would have-Anonymous"

Jewel glanced at Lori as she came back into the house. She had heard part of the conversation that Lori and Rick had been having on the porch. She couldn't blame the woman for feeling desperate; she had felt the same when Summer had been missing. But there had to be hope, especially when it came to the children of the group. "He's still asleep, Summer's drinking orange juice. Hershel doesn't want to take another transfusion from her, cause she's so small but she'll insist if Carl needs it. I was just takin' this out to Rick…" she told the other woman as she held up the glass of juice.

Lori nodded. "Thank you for comin' up here, you didn't have to. I know that you'd rather be looking for Luke," she told her.

Jewel squeezed the other woman's hand. "I'm where I need to be Lori. We're family, and you go where you're needed. He's strong and he's a fighter, he gets it naturally. Look at what Rick went through to get back….Carl is gonna be fine. So is Luke, and before we know it, we're gonna be back on the road to Fort Benning," she assured the other woman.

"You believe that? That everything is going to be fine?" Lori asked.

"I have to believe it," Jewel told the other woman. "Do you remember the first time you felt Carl kick when you were pregnant?"

Lori looked at her. "Yes…." She answered as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Do you remember how you felt at that moment? Do you remember what you thought at that moment? I know you and I were in diffen' spots in our lives, you were married, I was a teen. But I remember it like it was now. August 3. Three o clock in the afternoon. I was sittin' trying to get ahead in math homework, I was goin' to be missin' half a school year, wanted to get ahead. Anyway, I felt this little flutter, just enough to get my attention. I knew at that second, at that moment I was doin' something right. From that moment on, no matter what I did, I was responsible for somethin' bigger than me. Little Elvin needed me. Yes, Summer doesn't look much like an Elvin does she?" she asked with a small smile.

"No, not much," Lori answered with a small smile.

"Lori, I know every day out here is a survival, a fight, and I'm not stupid enough to thin' that I may be around forever, or that I may survive day by day. I also know what dangers lay out there for a teenage girl, more so than ever and even in the old world it was a struggle. But Summer, Carl, Sophia, Luke and Mitch, they all deserve to live as long as they can. And they need to know that if somethin' happens to one of us, they can rely on the other adults," Jewel told her as she hugged her. "Go sit with Carl," she told the other woman.

"I'll make sure Summer is alright," Lori told the other woman as she went out of her sight.

Jewel took a breath as she walked out on the porch. "Rick?" she asked softly as she put her hand on his shoulder.

Rick squeezed it. "Heard you talkin' to Lori," he said as he turned to her.

"Drink," Jewel ordered as she held up the orange juice glass.

Rick took it. "Guess you heard what Lori was sayin' earlier."

Jewel nodded. "It wasn't my place to interrupt, that's why I waited until she came in. The past couple days it's been hard with the kids…." She said as she felt him squeeze her hand.

"Thank you….I needed you here. Just not…for your medical skills," Rick told her with his voice cracking as he kissed her softly.

Jewel nodded. "I'm here, I'm not goin' anywhere," she assured him.

"Shane should be back…I wanted to go after him, but Lori said she needed me here," Rick told her.

"She does need you here, Carl needs you here. I'll go," Jewel told him.

Rick looked at her. "No, you need to be here. I'm not going to tell Daryl that I lost another one of his siblings. I'm kind of fond of you," he told her as he touched her face again. "Not to mention Summer would kill me."

"If it needs to be done," Jewel told him. "I'm not volunteering Glenn that would be a bit unfair; we're always volunteering him for something."

"How long did you work in the Emergency department?" Rick asked.

"Three years, and until right now I didn't quite remember why I had hated it so much. But I kept my skills up; I was on the Emergency response team. I shouldn't…I mean I can't help feel like I let Jane and the other people I worked with down by not bein' there," Jewel admitted.

Rick squeezed her hand. "You're here, where you're needed. I can't imagine doing this….any of this without you."

Jewel nodded. "Guess we both are where we are supposed to be," she told him.

"MOM! RICK!" Summer's voice called getting both of their attentions'.

Rick and Jewel both ran to the room. Lori was standing near the bed both saw Carl with his eyes open as Rick moved over to his son. "Hey little man," Rick greeted as Jewel put her arms around her daughter's shoulders.

"Where are we?" the boy asked.

"That's Herschel, we're in his house," Lori told him as she touched his face.

"There was an accident," Rick told him as he squeezed his hand.

"It hurts a lot," Carl admitted.

"I know baby," Lori said as she soothed him.

"You should have seen it," Carl told her.

"Saw what?" she asked her son.

"The deer, it was so close, so beautiful," Carl said as he closed his eyes and started to convulse.

Jewel let go of Summer's shoulders and moved over to the bed.

"Carl!" Lori screamed as she reached for him.

"Lori, it's a convulsion, if you hold him down….it could hurt him," Jewel told the other mother.

"She's right, just got to let him work it through it," Herschel told them.

Jewel checked his pulse. "It's bottoming out," she told the older man.

"His brain isn't getting enough blood, he needs another transfusion," Herschel told the group.

"Alright, take it, I'm ready," Rick said as he pushed up the sleeve of his shirt.

"Me too, that's why I'm here," Summer told him.

Herschel looked at Rick. "If I take any more from you could go into coma, or cardiac arrest. I could possibly take a little bit more from the girl, but that's up to you," he said as he looked at Jewel.

"Mom, we're not debatin' this," Summer told her.

Jewel nodded. "Go ahead, but you're layin' down after this and drinkin' lots of juice," she warned her daughter.

"Thank you," Rick told Summer.

"Don't thank me, Rick. He's family," Summer said as she stuck out her arm.

Jewel smiled as she kissed the top of her head. "I did somethin' right with you," she told her daughter as she got her ready. "I'm going to get you more juice. Don't let her move. Between her ankle and this, she'll be clumsier than usual," she teased her daughter.

"Thanks," Summer responded with a roll of her eyes.

"She's not goin' anywhere," Lori assured her.

Jewel nodded as left the room and walked into the kitchen.

"This Merle Dixon a friend of yours?" Jewel heard a woman ask T Dog as she worked on his arm.

"I wouldn't call him a friend," T Dog told her before he spotted Jewel. "Sorry."

"About what? You're right, he isn't a friend, not even to his siblings," Jewel told him. "I'm Jewel Dixon, I'm Merle's sister."

"He's no longer with us," Glenn told the woman. "Daryl, Merle and Jewel's other brother gave it to us," he said.

"I'm Patricia," the older woman greeted her. "Well today I'd call Merle Dixon your friend; the antibiotics saved your life. Do you know what he was takin' them for?"

"The clap," Glenn said as he glanced at Maggie. "I mean Venereal disease."

"Well I'd say that Merle Dixon's clap was the best thing that ever happened to you," Patricia told T Dog.

Jewel poured the juice as she coughed back a laugh. "Alright, those are words I never expected to hear….any time any place."

"How's Carl?" Glenn asked.

"Not good….Summer's giving more blood but she aint got much more to give. Shane and this Otis fellow need to get back," Jewel said.

"Should we…I mean go after them? They may need help?" Glenn asked.

Jewel glanced at him. "You volunteerin'? If you go, I go. We're not goin' out by ourselves," she told him.

"That's gonna endanger more people if you two go out," Maggie told them.

T Dog, Jewel and Glenn exchanged glances. "It endangers one of us if we don't," Jewel answered for them.

"Did you all know each other before any of this?" a young blond asked. "I'm Beth."

T Dog shook his head. "No, we all met either one the road or at the quarry after everythin' started," he explained.

"You all seem so close," Beth told them.

"We've been through a lot together in the past few months," Jewel answered. "Out there, you got to look out for each other."

"Daddy said you had a teenager, you don't look old enough to be a mother to a teen," Beth told her.

"Beth," Maggie scolded.

"It's alright, I had Summer young," Jewel admitted.

"When she's done givin' blood, she can look through my clothes, take a shower," Beth offered.

"That's nice of you, thank you. She'll love havin' another girl her age around, even for a little while. I'm going to take this to her," Jewel answered.

Herschel looked at her when she came in and motioned her over to where he was talking with Lori and Rick.

"Drink," Jewel instructed her daughter as she went over to them. "What's goin' on?"

"He's still losin' blood faster than we can replace it. And with the swelling in his abdomen, we can't wait any longer," Herschel told them.

"Glenn and I are willin' to go after Shane and Otis, give them back up," Jewel told Rick and Lori in a hushed voice.

"We don't have the time for that," Herschel told her. "I need to know right now if you want me to do this," he told Carl's parents. "I think your boys out of time. You have to make a choice," he told them.

"A choice?" Lori cried into Rick's shoulder.

"You need to tell me what it is," Herschel implored them.

"Lori?" Rick asked.

"Do it," Lori cried in anguished voice.

Jewel went over and took out the IV from Summer's arm. "Need you to stay out of the way baby," she said as she kissed the top of her head as she went over to the bed. "Grab the corner of the sheets."

Herschel looked at Jewel appreciatively. "On the count of three," he told the group as Jewel grabbed the IV bag and laid it on the bed as they moved him. "Rick, Lori, Summer you may want to step out," he told the group.

Jewel turned her attention to the window. "Rick!" she nodded at the headlights coming through the window.

"Stay with him," Rick told Lori as Herschel, Jewel and him ran outside as they saw Shane getting out of the truck.

"Carl?" Shane asked with concern as Jewel took the bag he was carrying.

"There's still a chance," Rick told his friend as he patted his shoulder.

"Otis?" Herschel asked.

Shane shook his head. "No…" he answered.

Jewel glanced at Shane as he handed Rick back his gun.

"We don't say anythin' to Patricia until this is over," Herschel instructed them.

"You're limpin, I'll check it out after…" Jewel told the other man as she glanced at him as they went into the room.