Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This

Chapter 101

Author's Note: I'm tired of being sick. Just tired. Alright, sorry I'm whining, but dang it going on two weeks. This sucks! Anyway review? We all know Jewel's the voice of reason for Rick, and we all know that she isn't going to let him turn over Michonne. So Rick's not going to keep it from anyone, since this isn't a dictatorship (Plus Jewel would kill him) Make my day! Review!

Prison POV:

Rick took a breath as everyone gathered around the table. Jewel looked at him and without a word knew that it had went exactly how they expected. Badly.

"So what happened? What did he say? Did he agree to terms?" Beth asked.

"Bethy let the man speak," Hershel said.

"He didn't come there to negotiate, he had no intention on coming to any terms," Rick answered.

Merle huffed. "And that comes as some sort of surprise to you Officer Friendly? I tried telling you that."

Jes sighed. "Do you just like hearing people say 'shut up Merle?" she asked. "Men like the Governor always have an ulterior motive. What did he want?"

"He wants us to hand over Michonne," Rick said as he looked over at the samurai.

"Dad you didn't agree to that did you?" Carl asked.

"We can't go down that road, Rick. It's not who we are," Glenn said.

"Maybe it's who you need to be," Merle answered.

"Wonder how'd you feel if it was your head he was askin' for on a post Uncle Merle," Summer stated.

"You aren't considering it are you?" Carol questioned.

"You said a while ago that we don't kill the living, Rick. If we do this, it's signing her death warrant, you know that," Daryl told the other man.

"Do we have any proof that he'd leave us alone if we did just turn her over?" Tyreese asked.

"Ty, I can't believe you even asked that," Sasha said.

Rick held up his hand. "No one is getting turned over to anyone. I'm not your Governor. I'm just a man who you trust with to help keep you safe. But you've all been part of that, and sometimes I need the help being reminded that we all survive together. I'd be lying if I said I was tempted to come in here and round up Michonne and hand her over, just so that maybe one person wouldn't die. But that's not the type of man I am, not the type of man I want to be. Have I made mistakes in the past year? Yeah, I have," Rick said. "But I'm not going to blame those mistakes on other's. I'm going to owe up to them," Rick said. "First one, Merle, I shouldn't have lost my temper with you, I shouldn't have left you handcuffed to a roof like a dog. I came back, but that's on me. I live with it every day," Rick told him.

Jewel glanced over at Merle. "Don't even think about ruining it with your big mouth," she warned.

"So what do we do?" Lexi asked.

"We fight," Jewel said simply.

"And we lose, lil sister," Merle answered.

"No Merle, we don't lose. We may lose people, but we can never truly lose when we know what we're fighting for," Jewel answered. "Yeah we may be adding to our losses, I don't admit I'm not scared of that, but like hell am I going to roll over and not even fight."

Jes nodded. "Well you know I'm with you, Rick. I aint got no reason not to be. I put my hide on the line when I brought Jewel back. We've been fortifying the prison but we may need to buy some time."

Everyone turned there attention to Merle. "What are you all lookin' at?"

"Are you with us?" Mar asked.

"My family is here, I'm with you," he answered.

"We need you to be here for all of us, Uncle Merle. Just not your blood. It doesn't work that way, not now," Summer pointed out.

"I'm here damn it, let's do this," Merle answered as he got up.

Jewel and Merle's POV:

Jewel watched Merle as he cut up mattresses. "What are you doing?"

"Just looking for a little vacation, a little dope, little sister. Best dope I ever had was in a mattress. I mean my life is going so perfectly now, why ruin it right?" Merle asked. "This place must not have been any fun at all."

"That isn't going to help, Merle, and you know it," Jewel told him. "Make yourself useful," she said as she threw him a gun. "Clean."

"You've gotten bossy," Merle told her as he sat down.

"Always was, when it came to you," Jewel told him. "You don't agree with Rick. About not givin' Michonne over."

"It would buy time," Merle told her. "Look, I should have known….about what the Governor was going to do to you. I should have protected you. Never was really good at that, though. But I swear to God, that if I had known…."

"I know Merle," Jewel said as she looked at him. "You and Daryl taught me how to protect myself, how to defend myself. I wouldn't have made it this far without that. I was weak once, I didn't fight once. I blamed you all those years, and I knew that you would have killed him if you had known. It was just easier to blame you then blame myself. What you did to Glenn, that was wrong. What happened to Maggie. That was wrong. All I can think of is what happens if he gets his hands on Beth or Summer, and that is all I need to fight."

Merle cleaned the gun. "I'm here," he simply stated.

"Need you to be here for more then Daryl, Summer and me," Jewel answered.

Merle sighed. "You're just going to make me say it aren't you?"

Jewel smirked. "Yeah," she answered.

"Isn't it enough that I'm here? I'm sittin' right here, I'm willin' to take a bullet for any of them, so why do I have to say it?" Merle asked.

"Because I'm askin' you too. Because I need to know that if you are willin' to take a bullet for anyone here. Because if you say it, if you promise it, then I know it's the damn truth. Dixon's don't break promises. We may be a lot of things, but we don't break promises to each other. That's how we survived, and damn it Merle I need for you to promise me now," she said as she looked at him.

Merle sighed. "You're a pain in the ass, you know that?"

"And you aren't?" Jewel asked. "Say it."

Merle sighed. "Fine, you want me to promise you that I would die savin' for anyone here, I promise. But what you really want me to promise you is if it's Rick or me, that I'd give my life for his. You don't have to deny it baby sister, don't blame you. I'd take a bullet for Officer Friendly, not because I like him, not because I respect him, not because he's a great man. But, because if I can save you from heartache, that's what I'm goin' to do."

Jewel nodded. "Appreciate that," she said as she nodded and got up.

Jes and Merel's POV:

Jes smirked at Merle as she came out of the mess hall. "You're a sap, you know it? I heard you promise your sister," she told him.

"Yeah, and eavesdropping' is rude," Merle told her.

Jes arched an eyebrow. "And you're worried about something' being rude? Seriously," she told him. "So you got an opinion about this whole Michonne thing."

"Yeah, we should at least make it look like we're complyin' with his request," Merle told her.

"It's not a request, it's a death warrant, for Michonne," Jes told him.

"It's a death warrant for us either way," Merle told her. "Don't sit right just letting him come up to the gates."

"He's going to come one way or another, Merle. You know it," Jes told him.

"I'm just supposed to sit here and let him come shootin' and not do a thing?" he asked her.

"Yeah, you are, Merle. This aint the time for you to be playing no damn hero, Merle. I need you to be selfish, I need you to think about what is gonna happen if you let that brain of yours do whatever the hell you're thinking. We are stronger with you here. Your family is stronger here then without you," Jes told him.

"Don't got nothing' going around in my head," Merle answered.

"Well usually, I wouldn't argue with you about that Merle. But your family is involved, and you may act all tough and pompous and well a well rounded dick, but I know that you'd do anything you can to protect them. Right now you're thinking about how to give them more time to prepare," Jes informed him.

"More time to come to there damn senses and run," Merle told her.

"They aren't going to run, Merle. They are doing what they think is right, they are protecting what's important. You owe your family to respect that, even if you don't agree with it. Do the damn right thing for once Merle, for them. So you don't agree? So what? They are doing what they feel is right, Merle. If they die," Jes said.

"When they die," Merle told her.

"Stop being so damn pessimistic, Merle. IF they die, they are surrounded by the one thing they care about. Each other. And, maybe that's enough for them, maybe it needs to be enough for us," Jes said as she stood up.

"You ever going to stop trying to be my voice of reason?" Merle asked.

"Yeah, when you realize I'm right," Jes answered as she turned her back on him.

"Hey Jes?" Merle called after her.

"Yeah Merle?" Jes answered as she turned and looked at him.

"I'm sorry," Merle answered as he hit her causing her to fall. He took a breath as he took her gun.

Group POV:

Mar came down the steps and saw Jes laid out on the floor. "Jes! Rick! Daryl! Need your help!" she called as she ran down. "Hey easy."

"What the hell happened?" Daryl asked as he came in and bent down.

"I just found her," Mar said. "Hand me some water. Hey Jes, come on need you to wake up. What happened?"

Jewel walked in with Rick. "What happened?" Rick asked.

"We haven't got that far yet," Daryl explained as he helped Jes up.

"Merle, where's Merle?" Jes asked.

"Merle? You want Merle?" Jewel asked.

"NO, your stupid son of a bitch brother cold cocked me," Jes told her. "We were talkin', and I knew he didn't agree with just waiting around. I never thought the bastard would sucker punch me, I'm going to make him regret that," she said as she stood up.

"Easy, not to fast," Mar told them.

Daryl and Jewel looked at each other. "Anyone seen Michonne lately?" Daryl asked.

"He wouldn't," Rick told them.

"He would, if he thought it was the right thing," Jewel answered.

"And he thinks it'll be buy you time, so yeah he's going to try and do what he thinks is right. No matter how dead wrong he is," Jes said.

"Let's go," Daryl told Jewel.

"Wait, you two can't think going after him is a good idea, you'll be walking into the trap that the Governor was setting up," Mar told them.

"We got to," Daryl told her.

"We aint got a choice," Jewel said. "We'll be back, with Michonne and Merle," she said as she squeezed Rick's shoulder.

"Hit the bastard for me," Jes told them.

"Rick, you can't be alright with this….letting them go after Merle," Mar told him as they walked out the door.

Rick looked at Mar. "We agreed not to let go Michonne go, and they are going to get her back. They have to do it, and either one of us stopping them, if something happened to Merle, they'd never forgive us. I don't like it, Mar, but they're doing what they have to do it. If we love them, we support them," he told her as he kissed the top of her head. "They'll be alright."

TBC