Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This

Chapter 39

Author's Note: I loved Glenn in the episode where he wakes up at the prison and finds Tara. Him rescuing her was so reminiscent of his 'Hey Dumbass' to Rick! Every time I keep getting more into the season, more places I'm trying to place Summer. But since there is going to be an OC added from Woodbury (Cough Joey London remember cough) he may be initially with her then meet up with others. Still deciding. Love that Michonne is opening up more! Alright, back to our originally somewhat scripted programs. 140 reviews! Make it more! Love you all.

Perfect quote don't you think?

"Most important thought, if you love someone, tell him or her for you never know what tomorrow may have in store-Walter Payton"

Jewel's POV:

Jewel walked out to the car where Rick was putting supplies in. "I still think Daryl or I should go with you and Shane. The two of you together isn't making me very comfortable."

Rick smiled as he kissed her. "Don't worry, this is something I need to do with Shane. Maybe when I come back you'll tell me where Maggie and Glenn's spot is," he teased.

"If you come back," Jewel told him as she cast a glance at Shane. "He threatened your life, you do remember that don't you?" she asked as she leaned back on the trunk of the car.

"That's one of the reason's I'm doing this. He needs to be set straight," Rick told her.

"About what Rick?" Jewel asked. "You know what…." she said as she started to pull away.

"Hey, what were you going to say?" Rick asked as he stopped her.

Jewel nodded to his tent. "I'm not going to cause a scene out here," she said as she walked to his tent.

Rick followed her.

"Rick are we doin' this or not?" Shane called after him.

"In a minute, Shane," Rick said as he went into his tent. "What don't I know?"

Jewel sighed. "You don't get to make me fall in love with you and then go do something as stupid as this, when you know the man wants what you have."

Rick looked at her. "What did you just say?"

Jewel stepped closer to him. "I love you. This is me caring, this is me wondering why I was so stupid to open my heart at the end of the world."

Rick kissed her as he took her face in his hands. "I love you. I am going to come back. Shane needs to understand that I am going to fight for what's mine. You, Carl, Summer, and if he puts Lori in danger, yes I'll fight for her too. He is done putting people I care about in danger. People I love," he told her as he kissed her again.

"So you are puttin' yourself in danger? Let me go with you, let Daryl go with you, don't go with him alone," Jewel begged.

Rick kissed her. "I am comin' back," he assured her. "I have to do this, alone with Shane," he told her.

"Don't you dare make me regret loving you, Rick. Cause if he kills you, I'm going to find your walker ass and stab you several times and cuss you out," Jewel warned him.

Rick laughed. "Very romantic of you," he said as he kissed her.

"Rick, come on, you want to do this or not?" Shane yelled.

"You have permission to abandon him with Randal. We can manage helping Lori and the baby," Jewel said as she kissed him and walked out of the tent.

"Alright, with me gone, Jewel's in charge," Rick said as he handed her her pistol. "We should be back by nightfall. Where is everyone?"

"Daryl has Mitch teachin' him huntin', Summer's with Maggie and Beth, Carol, Carl and Sophia are out picking peaches, Lori's at the house with Patricia and Hershel, and the rest of us are here," Jewel recited off her head.

"How do you do that?" Glenn asked.

"You know how to get in and out of places, I know how to keep track of people. Part of bein' an ER nurse, you needed to know who was where, with what patient, and what drugs were bein' issued. I was good at keeping' track, so they made me in charge of it every shift I worked. It's old habit," Jewel answered.

"And, you wonder why I nominated you as Rick's second?" Glenn asked.

"Still mad at you about that," Jewel reminded him. "Dale, I'll come bring you something' to eat after I check in on Summer."

"Don't worry about it, I'm good," Dale said.

"I'll be back," Jewel answered. "Be careful," she told Rick as she went to the house.

"What no wishing be careful for me?" Shane asked.

"Oh Shane I'm wishing something, but it sure the hell isn't careful," Jewel said as she walked away causing a chuckle from T Dog and Glenn.

Daryl's POV:

Daryl sat down next to Mitch and held out a peach. "We aren't goin' any further til you eat something kiddo."

Mitch looked at him and took it silently as he bit into it.

"So, I need to talk to you, man to man," Daryl said seriously. He looked at the young child. No one would ever think he was the fatherly type, but truth be told he had done this with Jewel and Summer. This kid could have been him at that age. "Are you gonna listen?"

Mitch nodded solemnly as he ate the peach.

"I'm gonna need you to answer me," Daryl said as he looked in front of him. "I don't hear head nods."

"Yes," came the soft voice.

Daryl nodded. "Those people back at camp, they care about you. They are worried bout you cause you aren't eatin', or talkin' with anyone. You're the youngest out here, you not communicatin' it makes it hard for us to know what you need. I'm not askin' you not to grieve your brothers', that's fine. I know how it is to lose a siblin' in this mess, let alone two. But, we all are lookin' out for you now, and if something' happens, our first thought is gonna be on you. So, when we call you, or tell you to run, you need to be able to respond and have the energy to do so. You've got all the momma's in the group worryin' over you, that's what women do, they protect there young. But Summer, she holds herself responsible, she's dyin' inside because you've locked yourself up inside. I ain't big on talkin' either, but we need to know what's goin' on in that head of yours. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Mitch answered softly.

Daryl scoffed at being called sir. "It's Daryl, I worked for a livin'," he told him. "You didn't say thank you when Summer brought you back some toys, and that's rude. Aint gonna have a rude kid around," he said. "It aint polite," Daryl told the boy.

"I don't have anyone, so what does it matter? I'm gonna become one of those things," Mitch told him softly.

Daryl glanced at him. "You heard a word I've been sayin'? You got us. You are now an honorary Dixon. And, nothing' can kill a Dixon but a Dixon," he said.

Mitch looked at him. "I'm a Dixon?"

Daryl nodded. "Summer and Jewel decided it, and I don't go against those two women, they are scary."

Mitch giggled.

Daryl grinned. "See they aint gonna come after you if you aren't eatin' or talkin', they are gonna come after me. And, that's one thing I'd like to avoid. I've had enough of my little sisters wrath to last a life time. So you want to help me out tryin' to avoid the wrath of the Dixon women?"

"Yeah," Mitch answered.

Daryl nodded as he watched the young child eat the peach. "You got a chance to survive this, we've made it this far kiddo, I'm tired of losin' people. But those people got to try and survive, I can't make them do it."

"I want to live," Mitch answered.

"Good, that's what I need to hear. Now, us Dixon's all knew how to hunt at your age, a little late is better then never. And when we get back to camp, you are gonna say thank you to Summer, understood?" Daryl said as he stood up.

"I understand," Mitch said with a smile.

Rick's POV:

Shane looked at Rick as he stopped the car. "I thought we were going further."

"We are," Rick said as he looked over at the other man.

"So why are we stopping?" Shane asked as he ran his hand over his bald head.

"I wanted to talk," Rick said as he got out of the car. "Come on."

Shane sighed. "Been waiting a week till we were gonna do this," he said as he got out of the car.

"I just wanna talk," Rick told him.

"We don't need to," Shane insisted.

"We do," Rick countered.

"No man, we don't. We're doing this. I get it. He was passed out when y'all brought him back, doesn't know where the farm is," Shane told him.

"That isn't what I need to talk to you about. I heard what really happened at the school," Rick said. "Was it to survive?"

"Yeah. One of us wasn't gonna make it out, it had to be him. One shot to the leg, Carl lives. Reality is he had no business being here…there," Shane said as he showed no emotion.

"Whatever," Rick said. You don't think I would've done it?" he asked.

"No, man, I know you wouldn't have," Shane said.

"You don't think I can keep Carl safe?"

" I didn't say that," Shane insisted.

"You don't think I can keep Lori and your baby safe? Or Jewel or Summer? My god you pushed a 15 year old girl down the stairs to distract her mother. I'm wondering if you are that heartless when it is going to be me ?

"Rick, you can't just be the good guy and expect to live. Okay? Not anymore," Shane said as he raised his voice.

"I'm not the good guy anymore. To save Carl's life, I would've done anything- anything. Now I would do anything to save Summer's. Or that baby Lori is carrying. Now Jewel says you're dangerous, Lori broke up with you and wanted me back because you are scaring her, and Summer doesn't even like bein' in the camp with you. But you're not gonna be dangerous. Not to us, not to me, not anymore," Rick told him. "I figured out you and Lori before all this happened. I'm not stupid Shane. You were going after her before all this. And we would have had to make it work then, as we do out here. Now, I know that you'd never do anything to Lori or Carl, because you actually care about them. But, I don't put it past you to do something to Jewel or to Summer. You are not going to. You stop being a threat right now, you start being that man I knew when we were partners. Now the only way you and me keep on Is that you accept everything I just said right here, right now, and we move forward with that understanding," Rick said as he started back at the car.

"When it started it was just- It was a couple of weird stories on the news. Then- then it was so quick. Everything- It just happened. Two weeks later, I'm in the hospital and there were soldiers shooting people in the halls. They were shooting people, man, not walkers. Then the walkers came through. You know, I tried to get you out, I tried, but we weren't gonna make it. Man, there was no way and I knew it. But I couldn't live with it.
I couldn't live, knowing- But I had to. I didn't keep Lori and Carl alive, man. They kept me alive. Yeah, I cared for Lori before this, but I never made a move on her. She was still your wife, separated or not. You came back, and my first thought was that you were going to take it away. But you didn't even try to get her back. What kind of man does that Rick? Carl's your's this baby is mine, you think we can all live in perfect harmony? And Jewel, I don't even know what you're doing with her," Shane said.

Rick turned and looked at him. "At a previous point, I would explain it to you. But now, it's not any of your damn business. You being like this it ends now. Understood?"

"Yeah, I understand," Shane said.

"Good, now let's get this finished," he said as he got back in the car. "We've gotta start using our knives more. If there's one walker, we use our knives. Jewel and Summer are both good at knives, they could give instructions. We keep things quiet. We save ammunition," Rick said as he started driving.

"Yeah," Shane agreed.

"We need dry goods ahead of the winter- Warm clothes fuel. Maybe we get a break. You gotta think the cold affects them. If it doesn't kill 'em, it's gotta slow 'em down. The second week of January last year, we got all that snow and ice. My cousin got stuck on 85 for 24 hours. Sitting in his car with a birthday cake for his girlfriend at Georgia tech.
He just sat and ate birthday cake and listened to the "Lord Of The Rings" book on tape. We get lucky, we get the same winter as last year. By December, it's a different world," Rick said. "Safer."

Shane nodded. "Maybe we could get snowmobiles to make runs," he said.

"That sounds good," Rick told him as he looked over at the other man.

Jewel's POV:

Jewel walked up to the RV. "Hey Dale food delivery," she said as she lifted the basket up to him.

Dale laughed and took it. "Come on up, I always hated to eat alone."

Jewel grinned as she climbed the ladder. "Damn this wound," she said as she rubbed her shoulder.

"Still givin' you problems?" Dale asked as he nodded to one of the chairs.

"Now and then, nothing major," Jewel answered.

"You're worried about Rick?" Dale asked as he sat down.

Jewel looked at him. "Does nothing' get past you Dale?" she asked as she laughed. "What do I have to worry about? I mean Rick's out there with Shane who threatened his life on more then one occasion," she said sarcastically.

"You're in love with that man," Dale pointed out.

"Yeah…I am…and I told him this morning before he left," Jewel said. "I know Jane's up there somewhere laughing at me. You know about Jane right?"

"Summer told me," Dale said.

"End of the world, and I fall in love. Not only do I fall in love, but I fall in love with the man who handcuffed my brother to the roof. Someone's got a real bad sense of humor," she told the older man.

Dale laughed. "It sure does give a person hope doesn't it?"

"What?" Jewel asked.

"End of the world, dying all around us, surviving one moment to the next, but even in all that, a glimmer of normalcy, just havin' someone to rely on. I've seen the way both you and Rick search each other from a distance, just to give each other silent support. And Lori's baby, a new life for all of us to look forward too," Dale said. "Nice necklace, new isn't it?" Dale teased.

Jewel laughed as she shook her head. "My birthday was a couple weeks ago, Rick found out, when he took Summer out to drive, he found it at someone's house. I'm tryin' not to think on that part."

"See hope," Dale said.

"You know what Dale? You are one of a kind, don't ever change. Keep telling us how it is, keep watching us, keep being our voice of reason," Jewel told him as she kissed his cheek.