This Night

Chapter 257

Author's Note: Don't worry Rick is still going to hit Aaron. Jewel was screaming at me in that scene. She actually screams a lot at me. I mean you would think she was a Dixon or something. Oh wait, that's right, she is! Now I've got Ronnie having a not so nice conversation with Pete when they first arrive. These people! They are the reason this story is so long, blame them! Seriously, it's not me! Jewel is daring you all to complain. But she'd much rather you review. So this chapter took a long time to get out, because the whole house came down with the plague (flu) Please review.

Sasha and Lexi POV:

Lexi looked at Carl when they started to get settled in the barn. "I'm going to go sit by Sasha."

Carl looked at her. "You think that's a good idea? I mean with the way she's acting?"

"She's still my sister, Carl. Ty wouldn't want us to be like this," Lexi told him as she kissed Judith's hand. "He always said that sometimes you have to be the bigger person and make the first move. So that's what I'm going to do, be the bigger person," she said as she went over and sat down beside Sasha. "Hey…" she greeted tentatively. "You know we need to figure this out before one of us isn't hear anymore," Lexi told her.

Sasha looked at her. "Figure what out?"

"How to be just Sasha and Lexi with out Ty. I know it isn't going to be easy. I don't expect it to be easy, but we have to at least try to figure it out. Before one of us is gone and the other one of us has to live with the guilt," Lexi told her.

Sasha looked at her. "You don't understand."

"What don't I understand Sash? I may be a teenager, but I know how you felt about Bob. You fell in love while we were all trying to find each other. If you're saying that I don't understand how it is to be in love, you're right, I don't. But I do know what it feels like to lose someone I love. Everyone here, well mostly," Lexi said as she glanced back at Eugene, "is family. Every time we lose someone, it hurts. You aren't the only one who lost Bob, and you certainly aren't the only one to lose Ty, Sash," she told her sister.

Sasha kissed the top of her head. "Just need time," she told her younger sister.

"Time is something we don't have a lot of," Lexi told her.

"Ty used to say that you were the smart one," Sash told her. "I'm sorry….I'm sorry that I've acted like you don't exist," she told her. "I just can't handle about caring about another person."

Beth looked up from her spot. "Sorry Sash, hurt is part of the package when you care about someone. You don't get to decide you just don't care about the people around you to save you from it. It doesn't work like that," Beth told her.

Lexi shrugged. "See you have no choice," she said.

"I still have a lot of things to work out," Sasha told them.

"I get it, but I'm here," Lexi told her as she leaned her head on her older sister's shoulder.

Group POV:

Jewel kept Hope next to her chest wrapped in a blanket then zipped up in her jacket. She watched as Daryl and Rick tried to get the fire started as the rain and thunder kept falling. She bounced Hope slightly and rubbed her back through her coat. "It's just rain and thunder baby girl," she soothed.

Daryl sat back after trying to get the fire to go more.

"I'll try," Glenn said.

"Nah to wet," Daryl told him.

Summer came over with a pile of magazines and books. "I found these under a bible, they're a lot dryer then the wood," she said. "Let me say I do not believe in burning of books, and would prefer to not watch you throwing the pages into the fire, but since we're cold, I will force myself to be brave and know that they died for a good cause," she said as she sat down.

Glenn looked at her. "Just when I think you can't get any weirder, you do something to prove to me that you can."

Mar shook her head. "That's just our Summer."

Rick gave a small smile as he looked back at the kids sleeping.

"They'll be ok, they bounce back more then any of us do," Carol told him.

Jewel placed a hand on Rick's shoulder. "She's right, they'll be alright. We all will."

Rick looked at Jewel as he kissed her then at the group. "I used to feel sorry for kids that have to grow up now, in this. But I think I got it wrong. Growing up is getting used to the world. This is easier for them," Rick responded.

"This isn't the world," Michonne responded. "This isn't it," she repeated.

Glenn looked around then at them. "It might be. It might," he told them.

"Even if it's not, even if there is something in Washington, are we going to be able to trust them? Are we going to be able to believe a word they say?" Summer asked as she looked around at them. "Oh come on, I can't be the only one thinking it."

"You aren't," Mar told her.

"We'll be cautious, we'll be on guard. But accepting this for the world, that's giving up," Michonne informed them.

"It's reality," Glenn told her.

"It's a reality that I don't want to accept. Not for them, and certainly not for us," Jewel responded.

Rick nodded. "Until we see otherwise, this is what we have to live with. When I was a kid... I asked my grandpa once if he ever killed any Germans in the war. He wouldn't answer. He said that was grown-up stuff, so... so I asked if the Germans ever tried to kill him. But he got real quiet. He said he was dead the minute he stepped into enemy territory. Every day he woke up and told himself, "Rest in peace, now get up and go to war. And then after a few years of pretending he was dead... he made it out alive. That's the trick of it, I think. We do what we need to do and then we get to live. But no matter what we find in DC, I know we'll be okay. Because this is how we survive. We tell ourselves... that we are the walking dead," he told them.

The group looked at each other not saying a word as Rick's word settled on them.

"We're not them," Daryl said as he stood up.

"Hey, we're not," Rick told him.

We ain't them," Daryl said as he turned around to leave.

Mar watched him pick up his bow and arrow and looked after him. "He understands what you mean Rick."

"It'll just take him time to wrap his mind around it," Carol answered.

"We should all try to get some rest," Summer said as she stood up.

Jewel and Rick's POV:

Rick came up behind her and rubbed her back. "You want me to take her so you can get some sleep?"

Jewel shook her head. "I finally got her to stop crying from the thunder," she said as she turned and looked at him. "You aren't wrong, you know? What you said?"

"Not everyone appreciated it," Rick told her as he kissed her neck.

"I think that's how anyone survives in a bad situation. You put yourself in the mindset just to get through another day, no matter what it takes. I think that's how Merle, Daryl and I survived our childhood, at least I did. Everyday he didn't kill me, was another day that I won," Jewel told him as she leaned against him.

"I want us to have something better then this. You, Hope, Judith, Carl, Summer and the rest of the kids, deserve better," Rick told her as he breathed into her ear.

"We all deserve better, but until then this is our life, Mr. Grimes. And, there is no one that I'd rather be walking through hell with," Jewel told him.

Rick let a rare smile grace his lips. "There's no other person I'd rather be walking through hell with Mrs. Grimes," he said as he kissed her.

Jewel turned her head as the sound of thunder getting louder and got up on her feet seeing Daryl, Sasha, Lexi, Joey and Summer trying to hold the door closed to keep the walkers outside. "Go!" she told Rick. She immediately started unzipping her coat as Carl, Mitch and Mika woke up. "Mika," she yelled as she took Hope away from her chest. "You stay here with Judith and Hope. Bundle her up in my jacket, stay over here with them," she instructed as Carl and Mitch had already ran to the door. Jewel ran over, sliding herself under Abraham's arm, turning herself so her back was to the door. She glanced over and nodded at Rick as he was on the other side of Daryl. Ronnie put her hand on Abraham's back as did David and pushed there weight against him to give more support. Jewel felt Beth edge her way in as her feet was trying to go from underneath her due to the mud. They all fought to keep the door closed against the wind and walkers for what seemed like an eternity, hesitant to let go after the storm was over.

"It's over," Ronnie said as they all cautiously untangled themselves.

"We're still standing," Glenn whispered.

"We did what we always do, we worked together," Maggie said.

"We need to get some sleep, we still have to find Jes in the morning," Rick instructed.

Daryl and Summer's POV next morning:

Summer sat up and saw Daryl sitting by the barn door. "You get any rest at all last night Uncle Daryl?"

"Wanted to make sure things stayed quiet," Daryl told her.

"It's alright to let other people do the heavy lifting you know?" Summer questioned as she looked at Sasha sleeping.

Daryl handed her the music box. "The gearbox had some grit in it," he told her.

"Carl found this for me, you know. I realized he didn't even know the story on how I insisted on dressing up in pink tutus and slippers when I was five, way past Halloween."

"Drove your Uncle Merle crazy. He didn't understand how you were such a girley girl. Your momma would just look at him and say, let her have a childhood," Daryl told her.

"I think that's one of the last girley girl thing I ever did. I discovered I liked hunting to much," Summer told him.

"Got you your first set of arrows that year with your own little bow. I was hoping when you came over that you'd be interested in those bows, and I could take you out hunting, and your uncle would stop moaning about tutus and pink when you came over," Daryl said.

"It worked, except when I insisted on going hunting with you in that tutu," Summer said with a grin. "Uncle Merle was so high that weekend when mom dropped me off. He took one look at me in a tutu and boots and said 'what the hell are you doing to this kid," to mom," Summer said.

Daryl laughed. "In true Jewel fashion, she looked at him and said, 'well Merle, she has no older brothers to wear there hand-me-downs from. If she wants to wear a tutu and boots while hunting, she's wearing a tutu and boots. I got a crown in the car too," he reminded her. "Of course you insisted on wearing that crown too. Though I finally convinced you that it wasn't a good idea when you got it caught on the branches for the fourth time."

"Next time I wore regular clothes," Summer told him. "You never complained."

"Was no reason too, you were going to turn out alright, even in tutus and slippers. Your Uncle died a good man, the man he always should have been," Daryl told her.

"He was a fighter, so was Ty," Summer said as she glanced over to Sasha. "Last night, if Sasha and I really wanted to die, if we really didn't care, we wouldn't have thrown ourselves on the door with everyone else. We just needed a reminder of what was important. Joey's gonna want to go find Jes soon. You think she made it?"

"I know she did," Daryl told her.

Summer stood up. "I'm going to wake Sash up, take a short walk around. Won't be to long," she said as she went over to Sasha. "Hey, come on," she told her as she woke the other woman up.

TBC