Better Days

Chapter 287

Author's Note: This chapter just did not want to be written, at least the first half with Deanna. My computer deleted it twice. Yeah, I had to walk away from Mr. Computer for a bit. Let's see if it likes me now. Review please?

Maggie, Rick, Michonne and Jewel's POV:

Jewel noticed that a lot of the people were avoiding eye contact with them. "You know if I was worried what other people thought of me, I'd be offended," she said as Rick held his hand on her back.

"I don't think they're necessarily looking at you, but Rick and me in these monkey suits," Michonne told her. "Maggie's meeting us there?"

"She's Deanna's assistant. Summer gave me her lunch," Jewel told them.

"I wonder if she was Miss. Happy Homemaker before all this," Michonne answered.

Rick glanced at Jewel then at Michonne. "She was a stay at home wife and mother."

Michonne looked at them. "Sophia right? She was with you for a while right?"

"At the beginning," Jewel answered as she saw Maggie waiting for them on the porch. "Here we go," she said.

Rick went in front of her and kissed her and whispered in her ear. "You ready for this?"

"Absolutely," Jewel answered as she walked up to the porch. "Maggie," she smiled as she hugged her.

"You just saw me last night," Maggie told her as she hugged her back.

"How long have we all been together? Around each other twenty four seven? A long time, so you are getting a hug. And lunch courtesy of Carol," Jewel told her as they walked in.

Quinn turned and smiled. "There's no little person attached to you," she said.

"Little people are out with siblings delivering home made lunches from Carol to our people," Jewel said as she stood by Rick.

"It's not your people and my people anymore, Jewel, it's all of us together," Deanna said as she poured water.

"Mom, it's going to take them time," Quinn said as she stood across from Rick and Jewel.

Deanna nodded. "Of course," she answered as she looked at Rick and Michonne. "You protect and serve. You patrol, walk the wall, watch out for the kids. If there's a conflict, you solve it. And people will listen to you," Deanna told them.

"Because we're wearing windbreakers?" Michonne asked.

"Because they believe in this. Because I'm telling them to. A police officer used to live here, so we had these jackets and I wanted to make it official, so now it's official," Deanna told them.

"You've been here for two years. There isn't any one here that you believed could do what you're asking Rick and Michonne to do?" Jewel asked.

"We tried it once, but mom had to exile the person who she put in charge," Quinn answered. "Plus, you all have been out there, you know what it takes," she told them.

Jewel glanced at Rick as she ran her hand over his back. "Alright," she answered.

"There's gonna be a government here one day. That's why I want Maggie working with me. There's gonna be a police force, that's why I want you two to start it. There is going to be a history of this town, that's why I have Quinn doing it, now Jewel. Even the printing of a one page pager which Em does is something of normalcy. I see a vibrant community here with industry, commerce, civilization. Real lives. It might be horses and mills, but," Deanna said as she noticed both Rick and Jewel looking away from her. " What? Does that sound like pie in the sky?" she asked.

Maggie spoke up first. "No," she answered.

"No," Michonne followed.

"No," Rick reluctantly answered as Jewel kept quiet.

"Jewel?" Deanna asked.

Jewel glanced at Rick then across to Quinn then finally Deanna. "It's a reasonable dream, it's a dream that we had back at the prison. But it's not something that's as easy as you make it seem. We aren't like most of the people out there. Most of the people out there only want what they can get from you, no matter what it takes. And, to get that, they'll come in here and they'll kill you, kill everyone and you know what this place will be? Another place not destroyed by the walkers' but destroyed by humans. We don't want that, not for anyone in here. This only works if you listen to us and let us help you," she told her.

Rick squeezed her arm. "We need to talk security, to keep us all safe," he said as he and Jewel walked out together.

"Are they always like that? It's like they read each other's mind. Rick didn't want to speak the truth and Jewel did it for him," Deanna noted.

"Rick and Jewel fell in love at my daddy's farm, they've always been like that. We would have never survived this long without Rick's leadership and Jewel being able to keep him focused," Maggie said as they walked out to the gate.

"I've made suggestions before Rick, but she is stubborn," Quinn told him as they walked.

"Stubborn gets you killed these days," Jewel answered.

Rick kissed her as Deanna and Maggie came up. "We need a constant patrol along the walls. Not just looking for damage, but signs that anyone climbed in from outside. You can move right up the supports, that's what Jes did," Rick told Deanna.

"Jes is the best person to tell you the weak spots in security. She's been doing this longer then just the end of the world. You want this place protected, she's the one to trust," Jewel answered.

Rick nodded. "People are the real threat now."

"Rick, I know you think that we should all be armed within the walls. I- I can't do that," Deanna responded.

Jewel felt Rick's grip on her back tighten momentarily as he looked at her. "You make these changes, we won't need to," he told her.

"One of those changes need to be a constant guard on duty on the guard tower, I'd like two at a time, just like at the prison," Jes said as she came up with Sasha.

"I want to volunteer to be one of the lookouts in the clock tower," Sasha told her.

"There hasn't been a need for someone up there twenty four seven. We've been safe," Deanna told the group.

"I've told you that we need somebody up there mom," Quinn responded.

"It's the only way we'll be able to see if someone's coming at us," Michonne told Deanna.

"If you had someone up there when we came in, then they would have saw me climb up and over. If I had wanted to, I could have made it to the weapons stash, knocked out Olivia and took as many guns I had wanted and got back out even before they got here. Olivia wouldn't have even known it was me," Jes told her. "You have to wake up, take this leader thing seriously."

Jewel knew she had to diffuse the situation and quickly. "Jes, easy alright?" she asked as she turned to Deanna. "Stop thinking like a leader, think like a mother and grandmother. As a mother you want to protect Quinn and your sons, your granddaughter, and you can't do that if you don't think everyone is going to come in nicely. Trust me Deanna when I say the guilt you'd have over losing someone because you could have made a different decision, protected them better, that's a feeling I don't want anyone else to feel because it eats you up, inside out. You start thinking about what you could have done differently, question every decision you've ever made, go over it ten thousand times. You can't close your eyes because you wonder what if's. You're afraid that someone else is going to die because of what you do next. You're a good leader, you know what you're doing, but you brought us in for a reason, you know you need us, just like we need you and this place," she told Deanna.

Deanna looked up at her. "You would have been a good politician," she told Jewel.

"I had to many skeletons in my closet," Jewel answered. "That's when skeletons stayed dead."

"Okay, okay we'll make shifts," Deanna said.

"I want to take as many of those as I can," Sasha told her.

"Why?" Deanna asked.

"Sasha is one of the best shots, right behind Jes. They can do it," Maggie said.

Deanna looked at them. "I'm going to put Spencer up there today," she said.

"Can he shoot? Can he hit a moving target?" Jes asked.

"Not as well as he should be able too," Quinn answered.

"Then I'll be up there with him," Jes answered.

"Jes, I am in charge of this town," Deanna reminded her.

"You're right, you are. The tower happens to be outside the gates, and Sasha and I are offering to keep everyone in this town safe. That's something you should want," Jes answered.

"Jes has saved my life more than once," Jewel answered.

"I'll consider you being our primary lookout, but I want something in return. Tonight I'm hosting a welcome for all of you at my home. I want you both to be there," Deanna told them.

"Why?" Sasha asked.

"Whose going to be up in the tower?" Jes asked.

"I will, if that means I don't have to go," Jewel answered.

Quinn tried not to laugh. "Yours and Rick's presence is mandatory, sorry. I told her to bake you all a cake, she didn't listen."

"Come tonight, then we'll talk about it," Deanna told them as she walked away.

"Jewel, I've got a couple dresses I think would look great on you," Quinn answered.

Jewel kept from rolling her eyes. "I'll be there later today…" she said as she walked off with Rick. She waited until they got out of earshot. "Are we really going to do this? Go pretend that everything's alright? Normal? I should warn you the only kind of party Daryl and I are familiar with are the ones we went to haul Merle out of, and most of them ended with someone getting punched."

Rick kissed her again. "We'll go, make an appearance, nothing major. It'll look weird if we didn't," he told her.

"I'm not as good as an actress as Carol," Jewel pointed out.

"But all of it wouldn't be an act would it? We'd be there as a loving married couple, showing off our kids, being with family," Rick told her.

"No, that part wouldn't be a lie. And it would give us more time to work on Deanna," Jewel said.

"It would also give Carol time to sneak in the Armory," Rick told her.

"That was part of the meeting today?" Jewel asked.

"Yeah, you still OK with that?" Rick asked.

"We try both ways, that's what we agreed on," Jewel said as she kissed him.