Better Days

Chapter 275

Author's Note: Thank you Jay and Alyssa who have recently found this story and for your comments! I'm surprised it only took you seven days! Your compliments and those of others, is exactly why I put my heart in it. When I get bad reviews I think of all of you! There are some OC's I need to introduce, but haven't had the place for it yet, so let's continue with our irregularly scripted program. This is the first full day they are in Alexandria, so senses are still on alert. UGH. Jewel is already thinking about how she's going to handle the new character they introduced last night. Yeah, Rick wouldn't want her to get involved, hehe. But she will. Oh she will. Review please.

Mika, Beth, and Summer's POV:

Beth had decided to check out the park in Alexandria and had stopped into the house to take Judith and Hope to get them some fresh air. Summer and Mika decided they wanted to go with them.

"Haven't had this much space since the farm," Beth told Summer as she pushed Judith in her stroller.

"You would have loved the farm, Mika. It had a lot of animals, and so much land," Summer told Mika as she readjusted Hope in her arms.

"It was safe for a little while," Beth said.

Mika looked at them. "This place isn't going to last is it? I want to believe it will, I really do, but nothing lasts in this world."

Beth and Summer both looked at each other. "How about we go on the swings, and talk there?" Beth asked.

"I'll sit on the ground with the babies, and we'll talk," Summer said as Mika nodded and went to the swings. "I don't want to answer that question."

"Neither do I, but we need to be honest with her. She's been living the same nightmare as we have," Beth said as they got to the swings. "Been a while since I've been on a swing set," she said as she sat down next to Mika. "Mika we could lie to you, we could tell you that this place is safe, that this place is going to stand," she started to say.

"But, we respect you to much for that. My whole life, no matter how old I was, mom and Uncle Daryl were honest with me. They figured if I was old enough to ask, I was old enough to know the truth. The worst thing for us to do is lie to you then ask you to trust us at another time," Summer told her.

"We don't know what's going to happen Mika. This place has been able to keep standing, which is amazing. You're part of the family, what do you think of this place?" Beth asked.

"They wouldn't survive out there," Mika answered. "I shouldn't have survived, but I had all of you, and I learned how to use a knife. I'd like to think that I could have killed someone if they had threatened Judy or Hope, but I'm not confident that I could have."

Summer and Beth looked at each other. "You would have, because it wouldn't have been for you, you would have been protecting these two. But, just like we protect them, we protect you," Beth told her.

"What if we can't stay here? What if they see us like we saw Lizzie? That we are crazy? That we aren't safe?" Mika asked. "Will we leave? Will some of us stay?"

Beth rubbed her back. "Take a deep breath Mika. First of all, after all we've been through, nothing's going to break this family up."

Summer nodded. "It doesn't matter what they think about us, Mika. We can't think like them. Right now, we need to take one day at a time, one moment of a time. Nothing more or less. If we do, then it's going to drive us crazy. We all want this to work out, for Judy for Hope, for you, for Mitch, for all of us," she said as she saw Mika look past her. "Mika? What's wrong?"

"They have a dog…." Mika said. "We just ate dogs not to long ago….to survive. And they are walking a dog on a leash," she said incredulously.

"Daddy used to say there was two way to look at things, the glass is either half full or half empty. In this situation, we can be thankful that these people haven't had to go through what we have or we can feel pity for them because they don't know how strong they are," Beth told her.

"Beth's right, Mika. We know how strong we are, we've survived, we've been tested. How about we go back to the house? Carol and Mar will have dinner ready. Might as well enjoy this while we can," Summer told them.

Team Family POV:

Mika put some silverware on the table as Summer sat at the bar in the kitchen.

"She's quiet tonight, she's alright?" Carol asked.

"She's adjusting as we all are," Summer answered. "Mom, dad, did Deanna talk to you about me joining the supply team?"

Rick and Jewel exchanged a look. "She mentioned it," Rick answered.

"And?" Summer asked.

"Deanna's daughter was here today, and she mentioned that if it was her daughter, she wouldn't let her do it because she thinks her brother is reckless," Jewel answered.

"Tara and Noah are on the team, so is Glenn. Glenn will have my back," Summer told them. "Glenn tell them you're going to have my back."

"Leave Glenn out of this," Glenn told her. "But, you know I would," he said.

"I don't want this place to make me forget what it's like this. Let me try it once, let me go out with Tara, Noah and Glenn, so each of us have another person to watch the other. You both taught us how important it is to be there for each other, you know I'm capable of it, that I'm good at it," Summer told them.

"If she doesn't go, Deanna said I'll have a spot," Joey told them. "I'd rather be on it then Summer."

"Oh you said the wrong thing, Joey," Mitch said as he shook his head.

Summer looked at him. "I'm not going to stay behind, so you can be a supply runner just because you are worried about me."

Rick tried not to laugh as he looked at Summer. "We trust you, we trust Noah, Tara and Glenn, but we don't know Aiden and Nicholas."

Jewel nodded. "We'll let you go this time, but I want you to do what you normally do. If Aiden has a problem with it, Glenn you can tell him that if my daughter gets hurt, I will kick his sorry little but from one side of Alexandria to the other. And Dixon's don't…" she started to say.

"Break promises," Glenn and Rick told her.

Tara hugged Summer from behind. "Like we're going to let anything happen to our kid sister," she said.

"Tara we're almost the same age," Summer told her.

"Yet I'm still older by a few years," Tara told her.

"Alright, everyone it's time for dinner," Carol announced as they gathered around in the room.

Lexi and Carl's POV:

Carl washed his plate as he saw Lexi coming over. "Can we talk?" he asked.

"If it's about today, it's fine Carl," Lexi told him.

"No, it's not. I shouldn't have stayed, I should have came after you to see if you were OK. You would have came after me," Carl told her.

"You're right, I would have," Lexi told him. "But, it's different now, you aren't stuck talking to me because I'm the only one about your age. I get it."

"Lexi, it isn't like that. I'm not stuck with you. You're my friend, no matter what. I told dad, I don't want this place to make us weak. You were right," Carl told her.

"I usually am, Carl. Can you be more specific?" Lexi questioned her friend.

Carl gave a small smile. "About us living through the deadliest video game ever. I tried to forget, just a little while, what was out there. I tried to remember what it was like to be a normal teen, but we can't be normal," he told her.

"Maybe we are the normal ones," Lexi told him. She sighed when she saw him tilt his head slightly meaning that he needed more of an explanation of her logic. "What's out there, that's the world now. We can hide from it, we can pretend just for a little while, but it always comes in. They've been protected, they don't know they are sitting on borrowed time, but we do. We know that the living are more dangerous than the dead, we know what it's like to live for days without food or water. Months without showers. Some of these people look like they haven't missed a meal in there whole lives. That's not normal now a days. It's like Father Gabriel, how he survived almost two years in a church without getting his hands dirty," she told him. "Enid seemed like she could handle herself out there," she said casually.

Carl looked at her. "Yeah I guess," he told her. "We didn't talk a lot. None of us really did," he told her.

"Yeah, I guess I can understand that," Lexi said as she saw Sasha coming through the door. "Sash, we saved you some dinner."

"Good, I'm hungry," Sasha told her as she looked between the two teenagers.

That night Jewel, Michonne and Rick:

Jewel stood slightly behind Rick as he stared out the window. She ran her hand up and down his back gently. She turned her head as she heard movement, thinking it may be Hope or Judith. She gave a small smile as she saw Michonne get up. "We're not the only two up."

"You know, you two have a bedroom if you want some alone time," Michonne told them.

Jewel gave a small smirk. "We stay together, that's the deal," she answered.

Michonne nodded. "Deanna hasn't given me a job yet," she told them.

"You want one?" Rick asked.

"Don't you?" Michonne asked.

"That's a good question, Rick," Jewel told him.

"That's signing the papers. That's saying yes, this is how it is," Rick told them.

"You afraid to do that?" Michonne asked.

Rick sighed. "For my children, for Jewel, for my family, I'd do anything. But, this, I'm still not sure that this place isn't hiding something. Are you afraid?" he asked Michonne.

"No," Michonne answered. "Jewel?"

"Deanna didn't offer me a job, her daughter did earlier today. I said maybe after everything calms down. But I don't know if it means that we're admitting this is how things are," Jewel said as she rubbed Rick's back.

"Then why are the three of us still up?" Rick asked. "I'm going to take a walk," he told them.

"Not alone you aren't," Jewel told him. "Hope shouldn't be up for a couple more hours, can you keep an ear out for her or Judith?" she asked Michonne.

"Of course," Michonne responded as Rick and Jewel went to get jackets and put them on.

Rick and Jewel's POV:

Jewel leaned into Rick's shoulder, as she stuffed one of her hands in his pocket with his hand. "Almost could pretend we're a normal couple, living in a normal world, taking a walk under a full moon."

Rick kissed her. "Are you regretting giving me the gun?" he asked quietly.

Jewel shook her head. "No, not at all. I don't trust this place any more then you do. It's just…" she said. "Never mind, it's stupid," she told him.

Rick smiled as he kissed the side of her head. "Now you have to tell me Mrs. Grimes."

"It's just that being out here, taking a walk under a full moon, I swear I can hear Jane laughin' telling me, see I told you so," Jewel confessed to him. "The end of the world comes, the dead come back to eat the living, the living becomes more dangerous then the dead, and I finally get to take a moonlight stroll with my husband. Yeah that sounds about right," she said with a laugh.

"You're Rick, and you're Jewel," a male's voice said from a porch, causing both of them to stop and look at the man in the shadows.

Rick looked at Jewel as he gripped her hand a little bit tighter. "Yeah, yeah we are."

"My wife offered to cut your hair," the man said.

"I was already planning on doing it myself," Jewel answered. "But it was nice of her to offer. We're at a disadvantage, you know our names, we don't know yours," she told the man.

"Pete," the man said. "You're the one who just had the baby on the road."

"She was," Rick answered.

"You should come to the infirmary, get checked out, make sure everything is in working order," Pete told her.

Jewel could feel the hair on the back of her neck stand straight up. "I've already been checked out by Ronnie. But thank you for your concern," she simply said.

"Welcome to Alexandria," Pete said.

Jewel and Rick both nodded as they walked away. "You alright?" he asked Jewel. "You tensed up when he spoke."

"It was the tone in his voice, plus with what Ronnie told us, and him not showing his face, guess it made me uncomfortable," Jewel admitted. "Let's go around the block then back to the house," she said as she kissed Rick.