Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This

Chapter 25

Author's Note: I am sorry about the cliffhanger! Really! I just needed to add this scene and nowhere else I could think of I could have fit it! Seriously sorry!

RIP Andrea and Milton. And seriously the governor is an empty tool box, has no screws left!

"You might mess with me, but never get brave enough to try to mess with my kids!-Author Unknown (But probably a mother)"

Jewel ran down the stairs and saw Summer at the bottom with Shane helping her. "What the hell happened Shane?" she asked as she bent down. "Summer? Baby answer me."

"She was comin' down the stairs to get something to drink, her ankle must have gave out, I tried to reach her," Shane answered.

Rick glanced at Shane as he bent down. "Get Herschel, Shane," he hissed.

"What happened?" Beth asked as she came downstairs to help.

"She fell," Shane said as he passed her.

"Why would she be comin' downstairs?" Beth asked.

Jewel looked at Rick as Summer stirred. "Shane said she was comin' down to get a drink, how would he know? I told her not to be by herself with him. I know that she wouldn't be havin' a conversation with him."

"Mom?" Summer asked as she tried to sit up.

"Beth can you go get Daryl for me please?" Jewel asked. "Hey baby, don't try to talk or move just yet OK?"

Beth nodded as she got up to go outside.

"Not a word til Shane can't hear us," Jewel warned Rick.

"Summer?" Lori asked. "Is she OK?"

"Easy help me get her to a chair," Herschel told them. "Summer do you remember what happened?" he asked as he got the flashlight to look in her eyes.

"I was comin' from the bathroom….I heard Shane call my name, I turned around…I must have lost my balance," the teen answered. "Everythin' just went black after that," the teen sighed.

"She al'right?" Daryl asked as he came in.

"You weren't coming down for a drink?" Rick asked.

"No, why?" Summer questioned. "I was headin' back to the room, Beth and I were gonna hang out for a bit. She had drinks in her room, had no reason to come down."

Rick nodded as he rubbed Jewel's back. "How you feelin' Summer?"

"OK…" she answered.

"We're going to go out to the tents, stay out there, be safer then in here," Jewel said. "Headache? Dizziness?"

"No," Summer answered.

"It was just an accident," Lori said. "She's been on that ankle a lot today."

"I'll feel a lot better if she was outside with Daryl and me," Jewel said as she looked at Lori. "I know she won't have any steps to fall down comin' downstairs to get imaginary drinks. That's what your boyfriend said she was doin'. He a mind reader now?"

"She needs a real bed, you and Daryl can take turns in her room, and I'll have Beth and Maggie stay with her," Herschel told her.

Rick nodded. "Carl's right next door, I can keep an eye on her too if you need to step out. You don't have to go searchin' tomorrow," he said as he squeezed her hand.

Jewel nodded as she looked at Shane. "It's about time you go out to camp isn't it Shane? To make sure everyone's all tucked in safe and sound?"

"I was sitting with Carl and Lori," Shane said.

Rick got up. "Shane, let's you and I take a walk down to camp," he said as Daryl went over to help Summer.

Herschel looked at Shane. "I'd appreciate it if only immediate family of the injured children stay in the house. Parent's and uncles are fine, boyfriends of parent's aren't," he said.

"Well that pretty well settles it doesn't it Shane?" Daryl hissed. "Stay away from my sister and niece," he said as he went upstairs with them.

"Take whatever this is outside, but I swear to God if you had anything to do with that child falling down those steps, I will ask you and just you to leave," Herschel warned.

Rick looked at Lori. "Go back up to Carl," he told her. "Shane outside now."

Lori went upstairs and grabbed Jewel's arm. "You can't think that Shane did anything on purpose do you?"

"Not only do I think he did, Lori, I know he did. Why don't you ask your boyfriend about the confrontation we had earlier," Jewel told her. "He's got a dark side, Lori. And, he's not safe around Carl," she warned. "You go take care of your child, I'll take care of mine," Jewel said as she walked into the other bedroom.

Rick's POV:

Shane shook his head as he walked outside with him. "I know you had to put on a front for your girlfriend, Rick. She's upset, you're trying to calm her."

Rick turned and looked at him. "Is that what you think I'm doing Shane? Just appeasing her by asking you outside? No actually I think I'm savin' your life, I could just let Daryl come and have a talk with you."

"You don't actually think I had anything to do with her falling do you?" Shane asked.

"I know what you said Shane, about you were the better man. That I was tearin' this group apart by looking for that little boy," Rick told him.

"Of course she came runnin' to you," Shane said.

"You think she came running to me? No, Shane, I practically had to pull it out of her. If you think that, you're wrong. Maybe that's something' Lori would do, but Jewel, she handle's things on her own. See I'm out here talkin' to you because if I let Jewel or Daryl out here, I couldn't guarantee your safety," Rick warned him. "I don't know what you're doin' Shane, what you think you're doin' but it needs to stop. You're sleeping with my ex wife, you're tryin' to take my spot as father to Carl, and you practically threatened my girlfriend? You and Lori, like I said I can deal with. Carl is MY son, and Jewel, well I'm not sure what we are yet, but I sure the hell know you need to back off," Rick warned Shane as he turned around.

"I can keep them safe Rick, you can't," Shane told him.

"Keep who safe Shane? Who exactly are we talkin' about?" Rick asked as he turned around to face him. "Are we talkin' about Lori now? Or are we talkin' about someone else? I'd really be interested to know."

"I can keep the group safe, Rick. I went out there and I brought back the items needed to save Carl. Me not you," Shane said. "I got them out of Atlanta, me not you. I was in charge of this group, I was handling it," he told the other man.

"I'm sorry for being alive, Shane. I'm sorry for ruining your little power trip. But if you noticed, I sure didn't try to get Lori back did I? If I really wanted to prove what a better man I was, I would have wouldn't I? Did she tell you that she told me that she had expected me to come to the tent that night I got back? So we could talk? That she thought maybe things had changed?" Rick asked. "No she didn't did she? See, she's a lot like you, Shane. She wants things she can't have. You've got Lori," Rick told him. "By the way, thanks for bringin' my gun back," he said as he walked back into the house.

Jewel's POV:

Jewel stood by the bedroom door as Daryl kissed the top of Summer's head before she went to sleep.

"You think Shane pushed her?" Daryl asked in a quieted voice.

"Yeah," Jewel answered.

"I'll kill him," Daryl hissed.

"I told Rick, what he said, what he did," Jewel told him.

"Good, but still doesn't mean I won't kill the SOB," Daryl told her.

"Aint got proof, just got a feelin'. She doesn't remember if he did or not," Jewel told him.

"You've got the instincts of a mother bear, that's enough. He comes near her or you again, he's going to be pullin' a bow out of his head," Daryl hissed.

Jewel smiled as she touched his hand. "Thanks big brother."

"No one messes with us Dixon's, you know that," Daryl told her. "If Merle was here…"

"Yeah, if Merle was here he'd beat it out of him," Jewel finished for him. "You go on back to the tent. You're searchin' tomorrow, you need your rest."

"I can sleep on the chair," Daryl told her. "I'm not goin' anywhere tonight."

"Can I come in?" Rick asked.

"Is that SOB with you?" Daryl questioned.

Rick gave a small chuckle. "No Shane isn't with me. I talked with him," he told them.

"Talkin' doesn't do any good, not with men like him," Daryl warned. "If he goes anywhere near them again," he said.

"I'm right there with you Daryl," Rick said as he lowered his voice. "He killed Otis."

Jewel and Daryl both gave each other a glance. "Figured that out did you?" Jewel asked.

"You confronted him didn't you?" Rick asked as he touched her face.

Daryl cleared his throat. "Sorry, still getting' used to that you and my sister are an item, keep the public pettin' down to a minimum. I'd hate for my fist to accidentally meet with your face," he warned.

"Daryl," Jewel said as she shook her head. "Sorry he's never had to play the protective big brother of a dating sister before. I didn't exactly confront him, but I did let him know I knew."

"I already yelled at her about it, and used her middle name," Daryl told the other man.

"And that's a secret that is never going to be told unless you'd like to be pulling an arrow out of someplace," Jewel warned Daryl.

Rick tried not to laugh. "Is she OK?"

"Yeah she will be," Jewel answered.