Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This

Chapter 137

Author's Note: Season Five is getting good! But I won't spoil anything. Though I am getting ideas. Good thing right? Summer's Dixon temper is showing with Carol, of course she's worried about her mother and everyone at the prison. Please review. It really makes me happy!

Continuation of Carol, Summer and Rick's POV:

Summer looked at the pair then at Rick as they continued the conversation. "We'll be back for you after we get done sweepin' the houses," she told them.

"We can help," Sam said. "The more people against the skin eaters the better right?" he asked.

"Skin Eaters? We call them walkers'," Rick informed them. "For right now, sit tight. We'll circle back for you before dark," he told them.

"Or you could help us sweep the rest of the neighborhood," Carol suggested.

Summer gave her the Dixon glare before turning back to them. "You really should rest that shoulder," she suggested to Sam.

"We can help with the neighborhood, hit some of the houses. I can check out the green house see if it's safe, get some more fruit," Ana offered.

"Well it's nice for you to offer but your shoulder…." Rick started to say.

"As long as I don't put too much weight on this arm, I'm good," Sam told them.

"And I can still move pretty fast," Ana told them.

"I just don't think…" Rick tried again.

"We won't take any chances. We'll look, and if it's cake, we'll do it, if it's not, we'll just roll. I mean you don't look so good yourself, man," Sam said as he nodded to Rick's hand. "Are you a righty or lefty?" he asked.

"I can go with them," Summer suggested.

Rick turned and looked at her. "No, you're going to stay with me, that way I don't have to tell your mother that I let you out of my sight."

"You can't carry us man, it doesn't work that way," Sam said.

"Please we want to help," Ana said.

Rick nodded and took off his watch. "You'll need this, we'll meet back in two hours. You fire a shot, we'll come running," he told them.

"Be careful, don't separate, can't do it alone anymore," Summer told them as she walked them to the door. She closed the door behind them. "Carol, why did you do that?"

"They wanted to help," Carol simply said.

"You just popped the man's shoulder back in place for God's sake Carol! He should be resting, not out there looking for food! We could have handled it!" Summer told her. "But you're all about taking things into your own hands now aren't you?" she asked as she picked up her bow and arrow. "Are we doing this or not?" she asked.

Rick nodded. "Let's go, the next house," he said as he squeezed the teens shoulder. "Stay together," he told them as he went into the next house and cleared it. He went into the bathroom as Carol and Summer looked through drawers. "It's all expired by a year or so," he told them about the medicine.

"Better to take it, let Herschel decide what he needs," Carol said.

"Do you think it was right? Letting those kids come back with us?" Rick asked Carol as Summer looked through dressers then at him.

"I think it was the humane thing to do," Carol said.

"But did you think it was right?" Rick asked.

Summer closed the drawer she was looking in. "I'm going to check out the next bedroom."

"No, you're going to stay with me," Rick told her. "We do it together," he reminded her. "Do you think it was right Carol?" he asked.

"Look at us, digging through drawers hoping that a couple of cough drops, and some disinfectant might be the difference between dying and living a couple more hours," Carol said. "If they're strong enough to survive this thing, yeah, I think you made the right call."

"And if they're not?" Rick asked.

"Let's hope they are," Carol answered.

"We couldn't just leave them here, I couldn't just leave them here. It wouldn't have been right not to give them a chance," Summer said softly.

Carol nodded then looked at Rick. "I killed two people Rick and you haven't said a word about it," she said. "At least I know how Summer feels."

"What do you want me to say?" Rick asked.

"It's not about what you say, it's about facing reality. It always comes for us, and over and over again we face it so that we can live," Carol told him.

Summer bit the inside of her lip. "But you didn't give Ridge and Karen that chance, Carol."

"I was trying to give us the chance to live," Carol told her. "That's what it always comes down to. You and Jewel were good leaders, Rick. Better then I probably ever gave you credit for. You can be a farmer Rick, you can't just be a farmer," she told him.

"I never killed two of our own. I was ready to kill Shane because he was going to kill me, and Jewel. Jewel killed him to save our lives," Rick told her.

"So were they, they were going to kill us," Carol told them.

"You don't know that," Rick told her.

"It didn't stop it, Carol. Sasha, Glenn, Lizzie, Mitch and the others, they still came down with it. Once something like this starts, you can't stop it, unless you got the right drugs," Summer told her.

"If you thought it would save your mother and the unborn baby would you have done it Summer? Rick, if you thought it could save your family, would you have taken that chance, or would you have just went back to your crops, and hoped it would be alright? Neither one of you have to like what I did, I don't. You just have to accept it," Carol told them.

Summer took a breath "Dad, I need to take a breather, go into the next room, I'll leave the door open."

Rick looked at her and nodded. He knew that look in her eyes, it was the same one Jewel got when she was scared. "I'll come with you. Carol look through the closets," he instructed as he walked to the hall way with Summer.

Summer and Rick's POV:

Summer walked into the next bedroom with her bow and arrow out. She stopped right inside the door as Rick came in right behind her. She lowered her bow and arrow as she took the image of a nursery painted in green. Summer took a breath as she walked closer to the crib and let out a relieved breath when it was empty. She opened up her bag and walked over to the changing table and started picking up items. "I…can't accept what Carol did, dad. I want to see her side of things…but I can't. I thought maybe if I heard her reason, maybe heard some regret, I could forgive her. Maybe I could some time, but not today," she said as she bent her head and let the tears fall. "Does that make me a terrible person because all I can think of is mom or Judy or Carl or any of us?" she asked.

Rick went over and kissed the top of her head as he put his arm around her. "No sweetheart, that makes you a loving, caring person. Carol did what she thought was right, but that doesn't make it alright."

"But it doesn't make her like the Governor," Summer said. "I shouldn't have said that."

Rick gave a small smile as he kissed the top of her head. "No, you shouldn't have. A lot of things can be said out of anger, doesn't make it right."

"I should apologize, huh?" Summer asked. "Even…I mean…well, you know," she said as she glanced at the door.

"Yeah, even since we are doing what needs to be done," Rick told her.

"Do you think one day you'll be able to forgive her?" Summer asked.

"It's not about me or you forgiving her, sweetheart. It's about the safety of our family, about Tyreese being so angry that he almost killed me. It's about Ronnie finding out, what she'll do," Rick told her.

"Whose going to tell Uncle Daryl? And Axel?" Summer asked.

"I will," Rick told her. "You get everything from in here?" he asked.

Summer nodded. "Yeah, I got everything."

Summer, Rick, and Carol's POV:

Carol looked around as they stood at the car. "It's been to long," she told them.

"We should give him a couple more," Rick told her as Summer put things in the car.

"He might be fine, he really might be. But it doesn't matter, because he's not here, and we have to go. It was a nice watch," Carol told Rick.

Summer looked at her and took a breath. "Carol, I'm sorry about the comment I made about you sounding like the Governor. It was wrong."

"I know you were angry," Carol said as she tried the passenger side door of the car. "Rick?"

"They might have lived, Karen and Ridge. They might have lived, and now they're dead. That wasn't your decision to make," Rick told her. "When Tyreese finds out, he'll kill you. He damn near killed me over nothing. And Ronnie? You killed her husband, the man who meant everything to, the man who she shared a child with. I can't imagine what she'll want to do to you," Rick told her.

"I can handle Tyreese, I can handle Ronnie," Carol told them.

Summer looked at her. "You saw how angry Tyreese was, Carol. He wants someone's head on a platter, and I don't think anyone can stop him."

"When the others find out, they won't want you there. And if they don't make it back, if everybody dies of this thing and it's just us, I won't have you around my pregnant wife, Summer, Judith and Carl," Rick told her.

"No one else needs to know," Carol told them.

"But I know, Carol. All I can think about since I saw Ridge and Karen's bodies were what if it was mom. When I close my eyes, I see my mother's pregnant body laying there. Maybe one day, Carol, I'll be able to look at you and not wonder what would have happened if you heard my mother coughing. But right now, I can't look at you without seeing her being hurt. I love you Carol….but I don't trust you, not now," Summer said as she wiped her eyes.

Carol looked at her. "I don't know what I would have done if it was Jewel coughing, maybe I would have done something different, maybe I would have done the same thing," she admitted.

"That's why I can't have you around my family Carol. I'm making this decision for me, for them," Rick told her.

"I could have lied to you, could have pretended everything was alright. But I didn't, I had to do something. I stepped up," Carol told them.

"No you didn't," Rick said.

"If you think I'm going anywhere without Lizzie and Mica…and how do you think Axel is going to react to me being gone?" Carol asked.

"Lizzie's sick," Summer reminded her.

"And Mica's ten years old. You remember how hard it was out there with kids before. Axel doesn't believe in murder, I'll explain it to him. We'll take good care of Lizzie and Mica. You aren't the woman who is scared to be alone, not anymore. You're gonna start over, find others, people who don't know you, and you're gonna survive out there, you will," Rick told her.

"Maybe," Carol said as she went over to the other car. "Here," she said as she took off her watch. "Take it please, Ed gave it to me on our anniversary. I should have given it away a long time ago. Summer take care of Judith and this baby, they'll need you."

"I will, Carol. I'm…" Summer started to say.

"Don't say sorry, Summer. I'm not," she said as she got in the car and drove away.

Summer took a breath as she wiped her eyes. "We did the right thing right dad?"

Rick nodded as he kissed the top of her head. "We did the right thing," he assured her as they got in the car. "Let's go home."