Better Days

Chapter 266

Author's Note: I'm probably not going to do everyone's interviews, but absolutely Jes and Summer will be added. Rick and Jewel's are important. I'm going to be changing a little in Rick's because of his added responsibility. Yep this story is gonna get longer! Please review.

Rick and Deanna's POV:

Rick looked around the room like he was in another reality, it definitely was different from what he had been living for the past two years.

"Hello, I'm Deanna Monroe," the short, brown haired woman introduced.

Rick glanced back at her. "Rick Grimes."

"You mind if I film this?" Deanna asked.

"What?" Rick asked as he looked back at her.

"Do you mind if I film our conversation?" Deanna asked.

Rick glanced at her. "This about the transparency thing Phoebe mentioned?"

Deanna gave a small smile. "That's right. We are all about transparency here. I heard that one of your members came in a unique way," she told him.

"Jes takes being told something is impossible like a challenge," Rick responded.

Deanna nodded to the chair. "Please," she said as Rick looked uncomfortable sitting in the clean chair. "How long have you been out there?"

"Since the beginning," Rick answered.

"How did you all find each other? Did you know each other before or-?" Deanna started to ask.

"We didn't know each other before," Rick answered.

Deanna nodded. "I was a congressperson. Ohio, 15th district. You?" she asked.

"I don't think it matters anymore. The only thing that matters is that I'm keeping my wife, my children, my family alive," he told her.

"I know it does, what you did before. It matters, Rick," Deanna told him.

"What is this place?" he questioned her.

"This is the start of sustainability. That's what the brochures we found say. This was a planned community with its own solar grid, cisterns, eco-based sewage filtration. Starting in the low 800,000s," she said as she laughed. "If there is such a thing. And they sold them all.

"How'd you wind up here?" Rick asked as he studied her.

"Well, my family and I were trying to get back to Ohio so I could help my district manage the crisis. And," she stopped to sigh, "the army stopped us on a back road and directed us here. They were supposed to come later. They didn't. But there were supplies here and we made the best of it," Deanna told him. "We were separated from our oldest, our daughter and granddaughter, we didn't know she was still in Washington. Luckily, thankfully, they got here about two months after it all started, with a help from a friend. I know I'm lucky everyday that my family is still fully intact."

Rick looked at her. "You put up the walls?"

"Well, there was this huge shopping mall being built nearby. And my husband Reg is a professor of architecture. And who he was mattered quite a bit. He got the first plates up with our sons. And after a few weeks, more people arrived and we had help. We had a community," Deanna told him.

"You've been behind these walls this entire time?" Rick questioned.

"We need people who have lived out there. Your group is the first we've even considered taking in for a long time. None of us ever looked for weaknesses in our fences, we never thought that we needed a permanent sniper up in the watch tower. We know there's dangers out there, but we never think it'll be us. You and your people opened up our eyes we need to be a little bit more diligent," Deanna told him.

"You should keep your gates closed," Rick told her.

"Why?" Deanna questioned.

"Because it's all about survival now. At any cost. People out there are always looking for an angle. Looking to play on your weakness. They measure you by what they can take from you. By how they can use you to live. So bringing people into a place like this now-" Rick told her.

"Are you telling me not to bring your people in? Are you already looking after this place? Aaron and Phoebe both tell me that I can trust you," Deanna told him.

Rick gave a small grunt. "They don't know me. I've killed people, I don't even know how many by now. But I know why they're all dead. They're dead so my family, all those people out there, can be alive. So I could be alive for them. They're dead so my wife and children can have another day without sick bastards being around," he told her.

"Sounds like I'd want to be part of your family. Rick, northern Virginia was effectively evacuated. Millions of people gone. For a long time, there's hardly been anyone here, living or dead, but still... we have lost people. And... I've done things," Deanna told him.

"What have you done?" Rick asked.

"I exiled three men who didn't work out. And we both know that's as good as killing them," Deanna told him.

"What do you want from us?" Rick asked.

"These families... these families should be able to raise their children in a safe environment. Your son, your daughters, that precious new born of yours, the other children in your group should have a place to grow up. What do I want? I want you to help us survive. I know you can help us do that," Deanna told him.

"How?" Rick asked.

"I am exceptionally good at reading people. If I didn't win reelection, I was gonna be a professional poker player," she said as Rick gave her an unbelievable look. "I'm not kidding. Rick... it's 3:37 P.M. You're skeptical. You have a right to be. But it's time to decide if you're the one who's doing the deciding," Deanna told Rick.

Rick looked at her. "I was a sheriff," he said as he wound his watch.

"Yeah, I knew it was something like that," Deanna said.

"I'm not the only one who is deciding. Jewel, my wife, she's been my second for a long time. When I'm not around, the group looks to her. I'm not deciding to bring our family in here with out her giving the OK," Rick told her.

"Then it looks like I need to talk to Jewel now," Deanna told him with a smile.

"I'll send her in, I want to tell everyone what's going on," Rick told her as he walked out of the room.

Group POV:

Jewel looked up as Rick walked out. "Rick?" she asked.

"Are we staying dad?" Carl asked.

"I haven't decided yet," Rick told them. "This isn't something I'm going to decide alone. Jewel?" he asked as he tilted his head to follow him.

"You get a bad feeling?" Jewel asked as she walked over with him.

"Uneasy, she wants us to give up our guns. That's something I'm not comfortable with deciding on my own," Rick told her as he looked at the group and touched Hope's head. "That's not something I can live with on my conscious if I make the wrong call. I told her I wouldn't make this decision without you talking to her," he told her.

Jewel nodded. "So if something happens, this can be on both of our consciousness?" she asked as she touched his arm. "It's a good call," she told him.

"Do you want me to take Hope?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, she just ate," Jewel told him as she handed her over. "Is there anything I need to know?"

"She's good at reading people, so are you, that's why I need you to gage her," Rick said as he took Hope. "That's my girl," he said as he kissed the top of her head. "She also said that she exiled three men, implied that meant that was certain death," he told her.

Jewel scoffed. "Yeah, this is going to be fun. I guess it's my turn to face the music," Jewel said as she squeezed his arm and walked away.

Deanna and Jewel's POV:

Deanna turned when she heard the door open. "Jewel I presume?"

Jewel looked at her then at the room. "Yeah, I'm Jewel."

"I'm Deanna Monroe, mind if I tape our discussion?" Deanna asked the taller woman.

"All about transparency right? That's what Phoebe said on the road. I don't mind if you tape this," Jewel answered not taking her eyes off Deanna.

"I was hoping you'd bring one of the little ones in with you. When Aaron told me you had a newborn out on the road….I don't think I could have done it," Deanna told her. "Please sit down."

Jewel glanced at the chair. "You sure you don't mind getting it dirty?"

"It's alright," Deanna told her. "Rick values your opinion. Were the two of you married before this?"

"No, we didn't even know each other before this," Jewel answered.

Deanna smiled. "You found love in a world like this, that's amazing. Aaron told me that you have an older daughter, did you lose her father?"

Jewel looked at her. "Rick's the only father figure she ever had. I was raped when I was fifteen. You want us to give up our guns, what are you willing to give up?"

"Direct and to the point, I like that. In here we don't need guns. You'll be able to get them out whenever you leave the gate," Deanna told her.

"So what are you going to do when a bunch of bad people come over those walls? Are you going to say 'excuse me, but we need to sign out our guns?" Jewel questioned.

"That's why you all are here, to help us," Deanna told her. "What did you do before this?"

"I was a nurse, worked in the emergency room for a few years," Jewel answered. "You want us to help you, to teach you, but you are going to fight us on learning what you need to know. You're asking me to bring in my children, my family and trust you that we aren't going to need guns. If we had been anyone else, Jes would have taken the shot, and you'd all be dead right now and we'd be eating your food and enjoying hot showers while burning your corpses. But, this whole entire time, with everything that we've been through the one thing that has kept us human, is trying to keep our humanity. The walkers' they're bad, but the humans', the humans you forget what they become, what they're capable of," she told her.

"That's why we need people like you, to help us learn," Deanna told her. "I am definitely going to talk with Jes, get her opinions on how to make this place stronger," she told her.

"You might want to put a real person up in the guard tower, twenty four seven," Jewel told her.

"My daughter has been telling me that for ages. She's going to love that she was right," Deanna said with a smile.

Jewel stood up and leaned over the chair and looked at her. "Rick told me that you exiled three men that didn't work out," she told her.

"You two had a major conversation in a few minutes," Deanna said. "Yes I did," she answered.

"You think that means that they're dead," Jewel stated.

"Don't you?" Deanna asked.

Jewel looked at her. "They may be, or they may have survived and they may be planning on a way to come here and kill you. We've tried to leave people alive, we've tried to walk away, but they always come back worse then before. Before you know it, you're looking at a one eyed man with a tank at your front gates, and you find yourself very pregnant on a bus that crashes and then you wind up giving birth at a place that you either become the butcher or the cattle. So, you have to be aware that some people do survive out there, and sometimes they become stronger then you think."

Deanna looked at her and stood. "Jewel, I want you to be safe here, I want your children to be safe here. That's all I want and I know that's what you want. So, I'm asking you, to give us a chance."

Jewel looked at her. "Fine, but the first time something goes wrong, I'm going to come find you and say 'told you so,'" she told her.

Deanna smiled as she looked up at her. "I have no doubt that you will," she told her. "Everyone has jobs here, that's how we survive. But I think you have the most important job here, a mother to a newborn. You haven't had a chance to rest, or recover properly from the birth. We have a doctor here, you should let him check you and the baby out."

"We have a doctor in our group," Jewel answered.

"That's good, she can go with you. I understand why you would be cautious of anyone," Deanna told her. "So Jewel, are you ready to try and give this a chance? Give us a chance?"

Jewel looked at her. "One hair on any of my family get's hurt, I'm holding you responsible. That's what a leader does, take responsibility," she said as she walked out the door and nodded to Rick.