This Night

Chapter 246

Author's Note: I am amazed and thankful that people are still finding this story. I know I should cut it up and post the other chapters under a new story, but I like the flow of this. Please review.

Jes and Jewel POV:

Jes looked around as they got out of the cars. "I'll stand first shift," she told the group.

"You stood first shift and last shift the past three nights we stopped. I'll stand first watch," Rick told her.

Jes shook her head. "You've got a newborn, and three other children plus a wife, plus a group who depends on you. You're the one out of all of us, except for maybe Jewel that needs to rest. Go on, I'll be fine."

Jewel watched Jes for a moment. "Rick take Hope inside, get everyone settled. Carl, help your dad, I'll be in a few," she said.

Rick took Hope. "Don't be to long," he said as he kissed his wife.

"I won't," Jewel assured them as she watched everyone enter the house.

Jes looked at her. "I don't need a babysitter," she told her.

"I'm not being a babysitter, got enough kids to worry about. You're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. That's what I'm worried about," Jewel told the other woman.

"What?" Jes asked with a tilt of her head.

"You're so used to taking care of yourself, being on your own that maybe that's what you're thinking about doing. I saw you at Terminus, how freaked out you got when you admitted letting yourself care for us," Jewel told her.

"I was pretending to be one of those freaks, I was a little emotional," Jes tried to explain.

Jewel smirked. "You and I both know it was more then that," she said as she bumped the other woman with her shoulder. "I've done the whole isolating thing, all of us Dixon's do it."

"So you think I was somehow separated at birth?" Jes asked.

Jewel laughed. "God I hope not since you and Merle were…you know what I don't want that image in my head," she told the other woman. "When Rick and I was starting out, I tried to give him back to his ex wife, Lori, Judith's mom."

Jes arched an eyebrow. "Why'd you do something like that?"

"Because I didn't think I deserved love, that I wasn't good enough. I was quite content on living in this world, like I had before. Raising my teen daughter, relying on Daryl when I needed it and hating Merle. I would have never gave Rick a chance, and he wouldn't have given me a chance, if Merle was around. But, maybe that was all in JC's plan," Jewel told her.

"Oh this is going to be interesting," Jes said as she turned to look at her.

"Well, you and Merle both wound up in Woodbury, Merle wound up kidnapping Glenn, Maggie and me and bringing the Governor into our lives. I wouldn't have lived if you hadn't been there to get me out. Things happen for reasons that we don't understand. They always have and they always will. We may not understand them, or like them, but in the long run, it all connects together. You didn't just save me Jes, you saved yourself. You found a family. A very different family that you ever thought you'd want or need. You don't just have to save us, that's not your job anymore. We all love you, and you love us. You'd leave a big empty place in this makeshift family if you decide to run. And, we'd come looking for you," Jewel warned.

"You're scary," Jes told her.

Jewel shrugged. "If it keeps you around, then I'll take it as a compliment. Plus, Joey would go with you. He respects you more then anything in this world," she said. "A good friend of mine, like a mother figure to me, said that family isn't the one you are born with, the ones who blood is running through your veins, it's the people who stick by you no matter what," she told her.

Jes looked at her then back out front. "I'm not leaving," she told her. "I wasn't thinking about it either," she told her with a smirk.

"Then why did you let me go on like that?" Jewel asked.

Jes shrugged. "You had something to say, so I listened."

Jewel shook her head. "No wonder you and Merle got along, you're both pain in the asses," she answered. "I'm sending Abraham out in two hours," she said as she went into the house.

Summer and Beth's POV:

"Dad, is it ok if Beth and I take one of the room upstairs? We can take guard shifts later," Summer volunteered.

Rick nodded. "Not necessary. You both went out clearing."

"Beth, I need to talk to you," Maggie told her.

"Not right now, Maggie. I'm tired, and I want to spend some time with my best friend. Maybe tomorrow," Beth told her as she went up the stairs.

Glenn grabbed her arm as she went to follow her younger sister. "Maggie, come on, let her be for now. Talk to her tomorrow, but talk with her and not down at her. Hershel wouldn't want the two of you to be like this," he told his wife.

"I know," Maggie told him as she looked up the stairs.

Beth shut the door of one of the rooms. "She's going to get on my nerves real quick."

Summer put her bag down. "She loves you," she told her.

"I know she didn't look for me. I overheard Abraham say he didn't even know that Maggie had a sister. That all the signs she left was for Glenn. Don't try to defend her either," Beth said as she flopped on the bed.

Summer sighed as she sat next to her. "Beth, I can't tell you what she was thinking. Only Maggie can tell you what she was thinking. But you're here, you're breathing, and you're still kicking. I know mom talked with Maggie. She had her you're going to listen to me weather you want to or not face on. I've been the recipient of that face more then I want to admit. So maybe mom made her listen to some things that were hard for Maggie to hear, but even if she did, it's you that has to make her understand how you feel."

Beth sighed. "I know, but I don't have the patience to deal with her tonight. So, you know what happened with me, now I want to know what happened with you. Jewel said something about Molly and Lizzie dying when they were with you. What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it Beth," Summer told her.

"To bad. I can see that something happened, something that's haunting you, eating you up from the inside out," Beth told her. "You can talk to me."

"You'll hate me, I hate myself," Summer admitted.

Beth squeezed her hand. "I'm not."

Summer took a breath and looked at her. "Lizzie….something was wrong with her, she thought the walkers were like us, that they understood. I got shot, and she was waiting for me to die, so I could come back."

"You got shot again?" Beth asked with the shake of her head. "Go on."

"Carol, Ty, Joey and I decided we were going to split up, that Joey and I would head to Terminus to check it out, while they stayed with the girls. Carol, Ty and Joey went out early to try to catch a deer or something, I fell asleep with Judy. I woke up, Judy wasn't with me, and I had this horrible feeling. Mom would say it was my inner voice telling me something was wrong. It wasn't telling me, it was screaming. I jumped out of bed and went to the front door and on the porch. Lizzie was standing there with a knife over Molly….she had killed her. She looked at me, so calmly, so eerily calm, it was freeky," Summer told her as she looked down at the ground. "Then she said that she was going to do Judy next, and I got her to talk and got to Judy. I had promised Lori that I'd protect her…and I got to Judy. Lizzie agreed that it would be a mute point, then she turned the knife on me. I begged her not to make me do it…." she said as she cried. "I killed her. We haven't told Mika…the only thing she knows is that Lizzie and Molly are dead. I couldn't…I couldn't tell her. I still can't look at her in the face," she admitted.

Beth hugged her. "You saved Judy, and you saved yourself. You have nothing to feel guilty about."

"I keep seeing Lizzie," Summer admitted.

Beth hugged her. "You're going to get through this. I'm here to help you. Anyone else know?"

"Joey, Carol and Ty. I told Michonne. But no one else," Summer said.

"No one will find out from me," Beth assured her. "We're gonna be alright, we are."

"We are," Summer repeated.

David and Joey POV:

Joey bounced Judith as he walked around. "Come on baby girl, it's time to close those eyes of yours," he told her as he kissed the top of her head. "You're to afraid you'll miss something in this world, huh? Trust me there's nothing much to miss, nothing you have to worry about. You just close those eyes and drift off to happy dreamland. Dream of unicorns and fairies, and rainbows. I wish I could dream of those things," he told her.

David leaned against the door frame. "You got stuck watching one of the kiddos?"

"Didn't get stuck, I volunteered," Joey told his older brother. "I slept in the van. We all help out, and this is one of the more enjoyable things. Yes, getting to hold on to something innocent."

"You just trying to make brownie points with Summer? Another way to get into her pants?" David asked.

Joey lifted his eyes and looked at him. "Don't talk about Summer like that."

"Oh come on, Joey, you both may be dead tomorrow. Tell me you haven't thought about it?" David asked.

Joey stepped forward and looked at him. "You keep talking like that, you aren't going to make it til tomorrow."

David shook his head. "What happened to you? You've turned into some one with scruples? I was the one with scruples."

Joey shook his head. "I was a nobody who thought he was going to be a somebody. But in truth, I was going to windup just another statistic. Yeah, I've changed, for the better I think. It has nothing to do with wanting to get into Summer's pants," he said as he kissed the top of Judith's head. "You didn't hear that sweetheart. I changed because Jes believed in me. She didn't know me, but she could see that I was better than dad. I could have easily became one of those dickheads we've ran across. But, I was able to see what the Governor was. I can't imagine what happened to you out there, or how it was not having a lot of people around, or groups you can trust. But things are different now, we do things different. We're trying to hold onto our humanity."

David snorted. "How long is that going to last? You've all killed people. I saw it at the church, remember? That didn't seem like you all had your humanity intact," he told him.

"Didn't say it was intact. It's broken, it has to be. The people we killed they would have killed and ate all of us. You saw what they did to Bob, one of them killed Merle. We kill when we're attacked, but deep down we know it isn't what we want to do. It's what keeps us alive, all of us. But, I swear to God if I hear you talk about Summer like that again, I'll kill you," Joey warned as he rubbed Judith's back.

"Say what about Summer?" Daryl asked coming into the room.

Joey glanced at David. "We were just having a conversation, things got said, I put David in his place."

Daryl nodded. "Go put lil ass kicker down Joey," he said as he blocked David's way to leave. "You and I are gonna have us a conversation."

Joey sighed. "Come on Judy, let's leave before this gets real bad."

Daryl glanced at Joey as he left and closed the door. "You want to tell me what you said about my niece?"

"Not really," David admitted.

"To damn bad," Daryl said. "Cause I'm real interested what you would say that got your brother threatening your life. Now, when I threatened my brother's life, it usually had to do with something about him disrespecting Mar. We both used to beat people up for saying they wanted to get in Jewel's pants. Now you wouldn't be stupid enough to say something like that about Summer would you?"

David glanced around the room. "I didn't say that I wanted to get into her pants."

"But you implied that Joey did?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah, alright I did. I asked him if he was watching the kid so he could get brownie points with her to get into her pants, alright? I'm sure you've said things like that about the women in this group," David said.

Daryl looked at him. "Why because I'm some kind of redneck hick?" he asked. "First of all, even rednecks should respect women. Second of all, every woman in this group has earned the same respect as any of us, even more then you have at this point. If Merle was alive, he would have just sliced you with his knife for even talking bad about his niece. Jewel, she would tie you up and throw knives at you, making sure to hit all the important parts. Rick, well, he'd probably just use his red handed machete. Me, well, you can come on the next hunting expedition with me. Now, I can't absolutely guarantee that you won't be attacked by walkers' and there was nothing I can do about it."

"I'm not scared of threats," David said.

"Dixon's don't make threats, they make promises. So, if I was you, I'd apologize to Joey about the comments that came out of that mouth, and make sure that I don't get wind of anything like that being uttered by you again. Are we clear?" Daryl asked.

"Yes," David answered.

"Good, because that's one promise I won't mind carrying out if I hear you say something disrespectful like that again," Daryl warned as he looked at David.