Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This

Chapter 73

Author's Note: Well maybe I should write more heart wrenching things before I go to bed, I slept well. Well the good place I got for scripts (it was in French but hey it told me who was doing what) doesn't have the rest of the episodes out and online. So, bear with me while I try to remember who does what and where. Not that matters much since I'm diverging from the plot. Review please!

Group POV:

Jewel bent down and took her daughter in her arms. She rocked her back and forth caressing her hair.

Mar held onto the baby and took her to Hershel. "She's healthy, but she's going to need food. Soon."

Hershel nodded. "Or she isn't going to survive."

"No way no how, we're not losing anyone else," Daryl told them. "Not her."

"I'll go with you," Rick said as he released his son.

Daryl shook his head. "Your family needs you Rick," he said as he nodded to Carl, Summer and Jewel. "You take care of them, I'll take care of this one.

"I'll go," Mar said as she rocked the baby.

"No, Glenn and I'll come with you. Daddy will need you to help with the baby," Maggie said.

Mar nodded as she looked at the baby then at Mitch. "I need you to go with Beth and get some blankets, some of the baby clothes we got."

Mitch nodded as he went with Beth.

Jewel stood with Summer. "I'm going to go take her back to her cell…get her cleaned up a little."

"I'll…I'll go with you too," Carl said.

"You don't have to Carl," Jewel told the boy.

"We promised mom….that we'd look out for each other, that we'd look out for the baby," Carl said.

Rick took a breath as he took the baby out of Mar's hand. "Hey, hi," he said as he cradled her.

"Let's go we're losing day light!" Daryl said as he took off to the cars.

"Be safe, we don't want to lose anyone else," Mar told him.

Mar took the baby back from Rick. "I've got her. They need you," she told the other man.

Jewel's POV:

Jewel got up from the side of Summer's bed and went outside the cell. "She's not talking…not really respondin' to anything," she told Rick and Carl.

"Mom…she knew…I mean she made the decision to save the baby. Summer didn't want too….she wanted to come back for help. Mom she knew there wasn't any chance. She made us promise," Carl told them.

Rick embraced his son. "I am sorry that both of you had to go through that.."

"Did…I mean…" Jewel asked as she looked at Rick.

Carl nodded. "I took care of it. I couldn't let her turn. No more kids stuff," he told his father repeating his words to him from the farm.

Rick nodded. "She'll be alright, Jewel, she's strong," he said as he squeezed her hand.

"I'll sit with her….maybe we can bring the baby to her later? Mom made her promise that she would watch after her like she was her own sister," Carl said. "She needs a name."

Jewel smiled. "How about you guys talk about that?" Jewel suggested.

Carl nodded. "Alright," he said as he went inside the cell.

"We won't be far away," Rick told his son as they walked further down the cell block. "She'll be alright," Rick told her as he kissed her.

"She's sixteen Rick….not only does she have to deal with the prospect of maybe not seeing a tomorrow because the dead come back to living, but she just had to perform a c section on a woman who died. She wasn't trained, not like Mar and I, and I don't even think we could have handled it," Jewel said as she wiped her eyes. "Carl had to put down his mother. Would we be able to come back from that Rick? How are they supposed to?"

Rick caressed her face. "It won't be easy, but we'll get them through it. All of us," he told her as he kissed her. "Andrew did this. I'm responsible for this. I locked him out, I should have killed him. But, I left him in the courtyard, for the walkers'. When you, Maggie and Glenn were in the other corridor, Oscar and Axel were with Mar, Daryl and me, we found him. Oscar had my gun, Andrew was yelling at him to kill me. Oscar killed him…he didn't have to but he did," he told her as he kissed her.

Jewel shook her head. "We don't kill the living Rick…not unless we don't have a choice. You chased him out to a courtyard full of walkers', for most people that would have been a death sentence. I would have done the same," she told him as she kissed him. "You should go check on the baby."

Rick shook his head. "She's in good hands, right now Summer and Carl need us. Mar or Beth will bring her up."

Mar's POV:

Mar handed the baby to Beth. "There you are sweet girl. They should be back soon," Mar told Beth.

"Hopefully they find somewhere near to raid," Beth whispered as she took the baby.

Hershel grasped Mar's shoulder. "She isn't going to wake up if you talk loud Bethy, babies can sleep through anything."

Mitch touched the babie's foot. "We're going to protect you baby. Just like Summer, Beth and Carl protect me, but I'm getting bigger now and I can throw a knife real good. You'll be safe."

Beth smiled. "Yes she will be."

Mar smiled softly. "Maybe I should go help Glenn with the graves…" she said sadly.

"I'll go down, it looked like he needed some time alone," Hershel said. "You going to be alright with the baby Bethy?" Hershel asked.

"I've got Mitch to help, and I'm sure Summer will be up and around soon and her and Carl will come see the baby," Beth told them.

Mar nodded as she went out with Hershel. She looked at the two prisoners. "I'll talk to them…" she said as she walked over. "I'm sorry, everything's been so hectic, I didn't get to introduce myself. Mariah…Mar for short. I wanted to thank you for what you did killing your friend," she told them.

"He wasn't any friend of ours," Oscar said. "I'm Oscar this is Axel."

"The little boy yours?" Axel asked her.

"No he might as well be. I have a son about his age…but he was in Boston with my ex, his father when all this went down. The group found me a couple weeks before Christmas, they had Mitch with them, we kind of adopted each other," Mar told them.

"The girl? The one who was holdin' the baby? Is she Jewel's sister?" Axel asked.

Mar shook her head. "Her daughter. Carl's Rick's son, the baby belonged to Rick's ex wife and ex partner when he was on the force. I never met Shane, but from what I hear, I wouldn't have liked him. Maggie and Glenn are together, Maggie and Beth are Hershel's daughter. Daryl as you know is Jewel's brother. And we lost Carol, T and Lori…" she said sadly. "I know what it's like to come into this group as an outsider. I was one. They had been together for a while, but I knew Daryl, Summer and Jewel before. Lori and Carol didn't like me, for various reasons. But we all became friends. You proved yourself to Rick, to all of us by doing what you did. You fought with us, you saved one of us."

"When they found us, and Tomas made rude comments to Jewel, T and Glenn I think is his name called Jewel there sister, we never asked why," Oscar told them.

"They met at the quarry, outside Atlanta when all this went down. They just lost three of the original group….T, Carol and Lori. It hits them especially close since they knew each other at the start of this thing. I consider them all family too…but things happened that Hershel, Beth, Maggie and me we could never get. Things happened to all of us that you two won't get, but we go forward," Mar explained. She looked up as Jewel came up toward them. "Summer?"

"No change, Rick sent me down to get something to eat before I pass out. The baby?" Jewel asked.

"Alright for now, hoping that Daryl and Maggie get back soon," Mar said as she rubbed her friends back. "You guys need me to take over for a bit?"

"We're good for now," Jewel said as she turned to the two men. "Rick told me what you did, Oscar. Thank you. Thank you both for fighting with us."

"We're sorry for your loss," Axel said. "Mar was just filling us in on the dynamics of the group."

Jewel gave a faint smile. "Mar always was a gossip."

"Hey if they're going to be part of this family they need to know what to expect," Mar said as she hugged her friend.

"You asked us a question after I killed Tomas Axel. If Rick and I were together before this," Jewel said.

"None of my business really. It's just that the two of you seem to be a perfect fit, soul mates," Axel told her.

Mar and Jewel exchanged smiles. "Only took the end of the world for us to meet," Jewel said. "We met at the quarry…when this all started after he woke up from a coma. I fought it….falling in love, with him…with anyone. But he's one of the best things to happen to me, and as you saw, I'd do anything to protect him or any body in this family. That goes to the two of you too," she said as she turned and saw Beth and Mitch coming out with the baby.

"Summer? Carl?" Beth asked.

"Carl's being strong, Summer's still in shock," Jewel said. "May I?"

"Course. I want to go sit with Summer anyway, she sat with me when I was going through a bad time at the farm," Beth said as she handed the baby over.

"Hello, baby girl. What a way to come into the world isn't it? I know, this mean old world is horrible," Jewel said. "You are loved, you are adored and that's all that matters right now. Yes, Daryl and Maggie should be back soon with something for you to eat," she said as she rocked her.

(TBC next chapter. Summer's going to get most if not her own chapter in the next one)