Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This

Chapter 88

Authors Note: So I started to work on this chapter with Daryl and Mar, and it was going slow. So the next chapter will be what I was working on with them. So please review and Happy Holidays!

Group POV:

Glenn leaned against the wall. "We can't even go outside, what if there's another sniper? A wooden pallet won't stop that."

"Not in the say light anyway," Beth said.

Summer sat down on the stairs with the baby. "Dad says we're not running, we're not running."

"No just better to live like rats," Merle told his niece. "What are you holding and who am I killing?"

"Shut up Merle," Jewel said.

"You got some better idea?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, we should have slid out of here last night and lived to fight another day. But we lost that window didn't we? I'm sure he has scouts on every road by now," Merle told them.

"Do you have a mouse in your damn pocket Merle? There is no we, there's an us and there's a you," Jewel said.

"We aren't scared of that prick," Summer told her uncle.

"Well you should be dear niece. That truck through the fence that's just him ringing the doorbell," Merle told them.

"He's right, that is just the Governor's way to say hello," Jes told them.

"We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to," Merle told them.

Jewel looked at him. "I swear that mouse must be talking for you, big brother. You caused this. We would not have been dealing with this problem if you hadn't been a prick and kidnapped Maggie, Glenn and I," she told her brother.

"Jewel, who cares who damn fault it is. I'm here, right in the thick of it with you, so it really doesn't matter now does it?" Merle asked. "I say we leave."

"Oscar's dead, I'm just learnin' how to shoot, maybe we should run," Axel told the group.

"We're not running," Carol told him. "This is our home, we're going to fight for it," she told him.

"We've lost people, we've spread blood, if we're going to make a stance, I say do it here, do it now," Summer said.

"Put him in another cell block," Glenn told Rick nodding to Merle.

"You know I'm surprised you all survived this long. Officer Friendly says jump you say how high," Merle told them.

"This isn't a dictatorship, Merle, not like your Governor was," Rick told him.

"I hate to say this, I hate to even admit it, but Merle does have a military background. Even though he did get kicked out for hitting a commanding officer," Jewel told the group.

"Don't underestimate his loyalty to family," Hershel said.

Summer gave a laugh. "Yeah some loyalty, he shot at my mother."

"It was a window!" Merle told him.

"Could have just said 'hey Jewel come out and let's have a nice friendly chat," Summer said.

"That would have been too easy," Jewel told them.

"We put our lives in each other hands, now we got to decide what to do. And Merle is here, so I say we use it to our advantage," Hershel told them.

"Can't we just turn him back over to the Governor? Call a truce?" Tyreese asked.

Jes huffed. "I wouldn't trust a word that came out of that man's mouth even if his tongue was notarized. He'd kill me and Merle, then come and kill everyone else. And he'd make you watch Rick as he did it, first your son, then your daughters, and he'd make you watch while he had his way with Jewel. He's got no loyalty, let alone a soul. We can't run, and then we fight. I get it that you all don't trust Merle here, but trust me when I say he'd do anything for his family," Jes informed him.

"Yeah funny way to prove it," Glenn said. "Rick come on, him staying here isn't going to cut it."

"I can't kick him out, as much as I want to," Rick said as he squeezed Jewel's hand. "He's here, if he makes one wrong move, I'll take care of him myself."

"I wouldn't ask you to stay under the same roof as Shane after he tried to kill you!" Glenn exclaimed.

"I'll be Merle's guard," Jes offered.

"You trust her and not me?" Merle asked.

"Unlike you, she saved me and didn't shoot at me," Jewel said as Judy started to fuss.

"Gonna go feed her and put her to bed. Say nighty night, Ladybug," Summer said as she stood up and got up.

"I think we all need a break," Jewel said. "Behave," she hissed at Merle as her and Rick went their own way.

Rick and Jewel's POV:

Rick kissed Jewel's neck after they got into their cell. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Jewel answered as she squeezed his hand. "Think Daryl and Mar are using the control room to work things out," she said as she leaned against him.

Rick chuckled. "Probably doing more than talking," he told her as he kissed her neck again. "I was thinking about going to Kings County."

Jewel turned and looked at him. "For what? Why?"

"We need weapons, armory, and there's a lot at the station," Rick told her as he kissed her. "Maybe take Carl and Michonne."

"You don't want Michonne and Merle in the same place?" Jewel asked.

Rick nodded as he kissed her. "Don't know if I can trust either one."

"I'm going with you," Jewel told him.

"Jewel…you aren't up to it. You're still healing," Rick informed his wife.

"The clinic is only about 40 minutes outside Kings County, you'll be passing it. Trust me Jane would have hidden things that no one but us would know," Jewel informed him. "I can't stay here at the prison with Merle, not right now. I'm not ready to be under the same roof as him. I just need to take a breather. Mar will be here with Summer. We're going to need medical supplies also," Jewel pointed out.

Rick sighed. "I hate it that you are so logical at times."

"No Mr. Grimes, you hate it when I'm logical and can't argue with me," she said as she kissed him.

Rick laughed. "You're right, Mrs. Grimes," he said as he touched her face. "I don't like it."

"Well it's not like I'm going to be alone. You don't know what you're walking into Kings County either. You don't even know if the guns are still there," Jewel pointed out as she kissed him.

"Got to take a chance, don't we?" Rick asked.

Jewel nodded. "Only thing we got now a day is a chance," she told him. "I'm not asking you to tell me we're going to survive this, because I know you can't…"

Rick pressed his head against her. "We are going to fight; we are going to do anything that we can do in our power to make it through."

"We may lose people, Rick…one of us may die, one of the kids…." Jewel said as he held her.

Rick kissed her. "I want to tell you that we are all going to be fine, but I can't. I wish I could promise you that. But I can't," he told her. "What I can tell you is that you are the best thing to ever happen to me besides my children. I would have never made it this far without you. I would do anything I can to make sure you, Carl, Summer, and Judy be alright."

Jewel nodded. "I know."

"And the only thing I need to know is that you are with me," Rick told her.

"You know I am Rick, I'll always be with you," Jewel told him she said as she looked into his eyes. "You never have to doubt that."

Rick kissed her. "I'd do anything to have this be all a bad dream and wake up in a nice bedroom with you beside me, Summer on a phone with a boy, Carl going to a baseball game on a Saturday morning, Judith snoring next to us. Us planning on having Daryl and Mar over for dinner. Needless to say that Merle wouldn't have been invited," he told her.

Jewel smiled. "Jane would be there."

"Yeah," Rick said. "I thought that we could be safe. I let my guard down, and now there's a homicidal maniac knocking on the gates."

Jewel took his face in her hands. "Look at me Mr. Grimes," she ordered.

Rick raised his head and looked at her. "Yes Mrs. Grimes?"

"I don't need a nice bedroom; I don't need a big kitchen. I wouldn't have given you a chance in that world. This world gave me you. This world let me open my heart to you. This world made me see how precious life and love can be. We'll fight Rick, and we'll win. We are fighting for something that a man like the Governor won't understand. He doesn't know what love is. He doesn't know what it is to have something to fight for, we do. And that is why at the end of this, people like us will survive. I'll always know that you loved me, and you'll always know that I loved you. The kids know and will always know that we loved them. We fight for love, Mr. Grimes," she told him as she kissed him.

"Love," Rick agreed.

Jewel smiled as she kissed him. "We'll win this; we'll be able to continue to make this our home. Our family may expand, Maggie and Glenn may have a baby, anything is going to be possible, because we are going to win," she told him as she kissed him.

Hershel, Jes and Merle's POV:

Jes sat in the corner of the cell and watched Merle and Hershel. "Well, if you aren't the two most talkative people in the world," she said. "I could take a nap over here."

Hershel laughed. "She always like this?"

"Unfortunately yes," Merle answered. "I appreciate you sayin' what you did about my loyalty to my family. I don't always show it. That's pretty profound comin' from a farmer."

"And you're a black sheep, Merle," Hershel told him.

"How'd you lose it?" Merle asked as he nodded to his leg.

"Merle, seriously you just met the man," Jes said as she shook her head.

"Got bit," Hershel answered as he laughed.

"Bit? You hack it off yourself?" Merle asked.

"No Rick did. Jewel used her shirt as a tourniquet," Hershel explained.

"Well that's awful kind of Rick. My sister, well she's always been good like that," Merle told him.

"They gave me more time with my girls. Gave you more time with your family, can't put a price on that," Hershel replied.

"You can't put a price on anything anymore, Hershel. Some people, like the Governor, tries, but his price is too high," Jes told him.

Hershel nodded. "That it is," he said. "I found this in one of the cells," Hershel said. "Lost my way there for a while, lost more than the good book. Jewel and Rick they helped me find my way back. And if your right hand offends you, cut it off, cast it from it is profitable that one of your members should perish-"

"And not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. Matthew 5:29 and 30," Merle finished. He looked at Jes. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing, not a thing," Jes answered.

"Woodbury had a nice fine library, only thing I miss about the place," Merle told him. "Like Jes said earlier when the Governor returns, he's going to kill Michonne first, then your girls, then you, Summer, Carl, Daryl, the baby and whoever's left. He's going to leave Rick, Jes and me for last. He's going to make me watch as he torments my sister, and he's going to love every damn minute of it. He's going to make Rick last, because he's going to make him watch him torture his family and friends die ugly. He's going to make Rick beg him to kill him after he watches them die. And maybe, just maybe, he'll kill him, if you catch him on a good day. But, most likely or not, he'll leave him alive to remember the screams of his family and friends as they died. To make him remember the anguish in Jewel's face as he tortured and raped her. That's why type of man you're dealing with Hershel. I'm sorry for what happened to Maggie, I'm sorry for what I did to Glenn. I'm not a good man Hershel, I never was. I don't know why I'm the way I am. I never protected Jewel and Daryl like I was supposed to, I know that. It took me fifteen years to rectify something that I shouldn't have let happen to Jewel, but I did it. I don't want a thank you; I don't expect a thank you from her. It's what I should have been able to do a long time ago. But she didn't think I would have believed her. The best thing to ever happen to them was being a loud mouth and getting handcuffed to a damn roof. Both of them stopped living under my shadows. Jewel, she got smart early on saw that I was a piece of shit, but I was her brother. I should have been there more," Merle told him.

"You're here now," Hershel reminded him.

Merle laughed. "Right, like she's going to give me the time of day. You saw how she was, how hurt she was. Aint ever going to be able to make it right, not with everything I've done," he said.

"Jewel is a fair person, a person who will fight for her family. Glenn and Maggie are her family. Rick and the kids are her family. You are her family. She won't forget about what you did, but she'll listen. Just can't go at it like a bull in a china shop. Actions speak louder than words, Merle," Hershel told him. "Make this right, between the two of you. Tomorrow's not guaranteed, not in this world," he told the other man.