This Night

Chapter 177

Author's Note: I am so happy you all liked Jes's past! Believe me she ONLY shows me it pieces at a time, unlike Jewel and Mar. Yeah that Jes is a pain! But I guess I'll forgive her, like I have a choice huh? Let's see if we can get her to talk more, shall we? Review please.

*Warning both Merle and Jes have a few colorful choice words*

Jes and Merle's POV:

Jes hadn't let Merle say anything in over two hours. She'd cut him off if he attempted anything more then a grunt. It was more then pissing Merle off and he was going to end it now. "Jes," he said as he knelt down at the tree with the mark.

"Did I give any sign that I was ready for you to speak?" Jes asked as she crossed her arms.

Merle huffed. "You want to find Jewel right?" he asked.

Jes tilted her head at him. "What did you find?"

"This," Merle answered as he pointed to a hole in the tree trunk.

Jes bent down. "Could have been made by anything. Could have been made by a woodpecker."

Merle raised an eyebrow as he pulled out a piece of blanket. "Know any woodpeckers that happens to carry 'round pieces of blankets?"

Jes touched the hole. "She was leaning, if she was full height the hole would have been further up. She probably didn't want them to notice. Kids tracks are next to her…turned as to shield her from doing it," she said as she stood up and walked a further bit away. "Truck tracks, leading in the direction of Terminus. Jewel and who ever she's with, they got picked up taken there."

Merle stood up and started to walk away. "Let's go."

Jes sighed. "Merle, remember we decided that I'd take lead on this. That you are a hot head, that you'd go in there guns blazing without knowing the facts. That you really can't afford to lose another body part."

Merle turned and looked at her. "You weren't talkin' to me about two minutes ago? You remember that? You remember why you weren't talkin' to me? Because I dared to get to close to breakin' the ten foot wall you built around you Jessica Sanchez."

"Jes," she simply answered.

"Yeah short for Jessica," Merle huffed. "So we're arguing' about your name now? And yet, you're supposed to be GI Jane and go in to the unknown and we can't even fuckin' agree about your name."

"It's Jes. Says so on my dog tags, said so on my ID. Didn't think Jessie or Jessica was tough enough, same with names like Emily or Beth. I wanted something tough, something that described me, so went for Jes. It fit. So yeah, I'm going to be pissed if you call me the wrong name," she informed him.

"Well damn, you told me something new without getting pissed. I'm impressed. Now my sister is in this Terminus place, we don't know if she went willingly or was taken, so I'd like to go and see for myself. Now you comin' or not?" Merle asked.

"Stop alright! Just…stop," Jes said as she grabbed his arm. "Look, you know that I'm good at planning, and waiting and that I can blend into any situation, you've seen me do it. We don't know how many people we are dealing with, we don't know what kind of fire power we are going to face. I'm not getting caught unaware again, not like Woodbury."

Merle looked at her. "I was the one that brought you to Woodbury."

"And disarmed me, which I've almost forgiven you for," Jes told him.

"I'm not leavin' my sister and who ever she is with in there alone. Jewel's one tough cookie, but she's pregnant, very pregnant," Merle reminded her.

"Yeah, I remember. We're not going to leave her alone, Merle. First we are going to set up a vantage point, and we're going to get a feel, see if we can see Jewel. Then, I'm going to go in," Jes told him.

"By yourself? Have you completely lost your mind?" Merle questioned her. "You think I'm gonna just let you go into an unknown situation by yourself?"

Jes took a breath. "First of all, when have you EVER let me do anything Merle Dixon? Yeah, that's not how I tick, and if you think you're going to start now, you've got less brain cells then I thought. Second of all, I can move faster by myself. As you said, Jewel's pregnant and if she somehow can't defend herself and that little girl she's with, and it's trouble, then I'm going to have to move fast, and quick and probably at night. If I have to do that, then I'm going to need someone on the outside, just to cover."

"What happens if you get into trouble?" Merle asked.

"That's my third point, Merle. If I do get into trouble, then I'm going to need you to get me out, to get your sister out. You may think I'm a heartless bitch, that I don't care, but the truth is Merle, it's easier to care without emotional attachments. See, I'm going in there, but I'm going in there with a soldiers mentality, I'm going to scout things out. I'm going to assess the situation, and then I'm going to make the best decision. Just like I did in Woodbury. We both know our people are going to see those signs, and we both know that they'll follow them there. It'll be a lot easier, if there's trouble for a group of us to be there. There's another thing we need to add to the equation."

"What's that?" Merle asked.

"Jewel might be in labor…close to having the baby. There was a bit of blood inside the car, on the driver's seat, her tracks were further apart. By that tree back there, the way her foot prints were….leading up to where the truck was, she was being helped. I can tell you as tough as she is, if she is in labor or had that baby, she's going to be sore and she isn't going to be moving fast," Jes informed him.

Merle let out a low whistle. "You know you're not helping' your case about why I shouldn't go in with guns blazin'," he informed her.

"Even if these people don't have any screws in the toolbox, like the Governor, they aren't gonna see Jewel as a threat. If she is in labor, it's a lot safer for her in there then out here," Jes told him as she raised her hand. "I don't like it any more then you do. But she's gonna be alright. She's a Dixon right? Let's say worse case scenario, she had that baby, she's going to need at least a day, two, hell a week would be ideal, to rest and get her strength up. Hopefully, two or three days, the rest of the group finds us. If that place is bad, I'm not gonna risk her or anyone else. If it is bad, then me being on the inside, I can get a plan together, and you being out here, you can help us. Just…trust me alright? I'm not leaving anyone behind, Merle. You trust me right?" Jes asked him.

"Yeah, Jes I trust you, more then you trust me," Merle told her.

Jes nodded. "Guess I deserved that," she said as she walked with him. "He'd be twenty three…the boy I gave birth too. Maybe that's why I attached myself to Joey, when all this happened. He was just a few years younger. I guess that's why I always wanted to protect the younger soldiers coming in, because older I got, younger they got. Past few years, before this happened, I'd always look at the young soldiers, looked at where they came from if I could, always trying to spot something that reminded me of myself. Then I realized, that there wasn't anything that I would recognize because I didn't even recognize myself in the mirror. I had changed, so many times, wore to many disguises that I wasn't even sure who I was anymore. Maybe you were right, maybe being alone anymore, maybe that isn't enough. Maybe Rick is right when he says that we've got to keep our humanity to survive. But what if you didn't have any to begin with?"

"If you didn't have any humanity, you think that you'd be here, that you'd be willin' to go into a place that you know nothing' about, facin' the unknown for someone who isn't related to you? Do you think that if you didn't care, you would have gotten Jewel out of Woodbury? No, Jes, just like me, we care, we just didn't want anyone to know," he told her. "We should be getting close."

Jes nodded. "We need to get a vantage point. I've got night goggles," she told him.

Merle looked at her. "You got some whiskey hiding in that bag? Now why didn't I know about those?"

Jes smiled. "Now if I told you all my secrets, Dixon, you wouldn't need me anymore, would you? Had them hidden at the cabin along with all these other goodies."

TBC

Author's Note: So a little bit more of Jes's past! She's an onion, she's got layers! Please review