Better Days

Chapter 301

Author's Note: Summer and Michonne will be having a heart to heart here or in the next chapter. I love writing for Summer, she's a teenager on the cusp of adult hood. But I think Jewel and Rick need some loving time before things go down. Review please.

Jewel and Rick's POV:

Jewel gave a small smile as she felt Rick kiss her shoulder blade. She turned over and opened up her eyes. "Morning, Mr. Grimes, exactly what time is it?"

"Six AM, figured Judy and Hope will be up soon, Mrs. Grimes," Rick told her as he kissed her neck.

Jewel smiled as she touched his face. "You want to talk about last night?"

Rick sighed as he rolled on his back. "What part? The so called party? How we nearly had a stand off between us and them in the middle of the street? How Summer seems so defeated?" he asked as he rubbed her back.

"Any of the above?" Jewel questioned as she kissed him. "Deanna made a move, wanting to talk to me alone, I challenged her. I don't think she's a bad person, I think she's naïve, and that makes her people naïve," she told him. "We got some of them thinking, some of them questioning if they are as safe as they think they are. Quinn had already been telling Deanna the same thing before we arrived, so she's hearing it from people who lived it," she answered.

"Do you think any of these people have what it takes to survive? Out there? If this place was destroyed? I'm not risking any of my family, I'm not risking you, if this place falls by saving any of them," Rick told her as he kissed her.

Jewel nodded. "Quinn, Aaron, Gus, Eric are the ones I'd bet on right now. Jes will find out more about Jill today. The step ford wives? Not a chance in hell," she answered. "Enid, she's survived out there alone for a while. Carl says she's one of us. I thought it was because he had a crush on her, but after seeing him give Lex a quick kiss, I wonder if it's just the humanity in Carl. The same humanity that had us save Gabriel," she told him. "He wants me to talk to her."

Rick gave a small laugh. "Are we adding another kid to our clan?"

Jewel laughed. "We seem to have that habit don't we, Mr. Grimes? No, I think she needs to know that she isn't alone. I think she escapes outside the walls because she doesn't feel like she belongs in here. We know what that feels like," she responded. "Maybe Summer should talk with her."

Rick rubbed her back. "I'd normally agree with you, but I think Summer's got enough to deal with. I think everything is finally hitting her and she doesn't know how to handle it. It's like what happened with Carl a while ago. Trying to be grown up and struggling to hold on to the good. I don't know how to handle it any more then I did with Carl. I thought going through it once, I'd have the answers," he told her.

Jewel kissed him. "It doesn't work that way, Mr. Grimes. If you haven't figured it out, there's a difference between men and women. I had to grow up fast, mind you it was a different way then Summer did. Now that she's slowed down, it's hitting her. And what Carol did and Summer catching her? That couldn't help. But you and I are to close to the issue, we're her parents. Michonne would be good to talk to her. She's always able to get through to our kids when we can't," she said as Hope started to fuss from her bassinet. "Well good morning to you too, Miss Hope," she said with a smile as she reached over and got her. "You should take a shower, you're supposed to meet Carol, Daryl and Jes."

Rick kissed the top of Hopes head. "You aren't coming?"

Jewel shook her head. "It would be to suspicious. I think I'll get Carl, and we can take the two monkeys visiting around," she said as she kissed him. "I love you, Mr. Grimes."

"I love you, Mrs. Grimes," Rick responded as he kissed her as he got up.

Sasha and Summer's POV:

Summer watched as Sasha leaned on the wall on the gate. She walked over to her. "You going out this early? By yourself?"

"Just going out to the gate tower, I'd invite you along, but your shoulder," Sasha said as she kept her arms crossed.

"Yeah, a reminder that people around here don't know what they're doing," Summer said as she rolled her eyes. "Where's your gun?"

"Deanna's getting it for me, Olivia wasn't there yet. I just hope she brings me mine and not someone else's from in here. I saw Olivia trying to clean one of them yesterday, she's hopeless," Sasha told her.

"Maybe I can offer to help, since I'm obviously not going on any supply runs with those idiots anytime soon, if ever. Got to do something," Summer told her. "You know you weren't the only one to lose it last night. I lost it with Joey, spent half the night up, thinking I need to go apologize. It's like standing right on the edge of fantasy and reality," she told her.

"Like we're still out there and this is a figment of our imagination?" Sasha asked.

"Yeah," Summer responded.

"Yeah," Sasha agreed solemnly.

"I meant what I said back at the barn, after the storm. We want to survive, we both know that deep down. It's just we're struggling to do it, but you aren't alone, remember that," Summer told her as she hugged her.

Sasha gave her a one armed hug. "Incoming," she told her as Summer released the hug and turned around to see Deanna.

"Deanna," Summer greeted her as she stood beside Sasha.

"You aren't going out there with that shoulder, are you?" Deanna asked.

Summer slightly shifted her posture. "No, I was just talking to my friend, to my sister," she simply told her.

Sasha kept her arms crossed as she struggled with her emotions.

Deanna looked at Summer. "I'd like to talk to Sasha alone, please."

"She can stay, she's family," Sasha told her.

Deanna nodded and looked at Sasha. "I'm trying to figure out what it is, what it is exactly," she told her.

Summer looked at Deanna then at Sasha, knowing that Sasha needed to be the one to answer.

Sasha looked back at the community then at her. "This…isn't real," she answered as she took the gun out of Deanna's hand.

"Sasha, you've been through a lot, all of you have," Deanna answered as she looked at Summer, "and I accept that, but what you just said…that's bullshit," she told her as she put the bullets in her hand. "There's ways to handle things, but what Jewel did last night, offering you to hit her, that's wrong. I can't and I won't have brawling in the streets."

Summer went to say something, as Sasha put her hand on her shoulder. "Jewel wouldn't hit me, she gave me her word that she wouldn't and when a Dixon gives there word on something, you take it as the truth. You may run this town, you may think that you know you're people, you may think that they have your back," Sasha told her.

Summer looked at Deanna as she took over from Sasha. "But the truth will come out when stuff goes bad, starting with your irresponsible son and his idiot friend. They'll be the first to run, first to save themselves," she said as she turned around and hugged Sasha. "Be careful, Lexi needs you, we all need you," she told her as she walked away as Deanna opened the gate.

Deanna sighed as she closed the gate behind her. "Summer wait," she called after the young woman.

Summer sighed and turned around to face the slightly shorter woman. Summer only had an inch on her, but she finally had someone other then the kids to look down too. "What is it Deanna?"

"I know you don't trust us, but you need to give us a chance," Deanna told her.

"Trust is a two way street, Deanna," Summer answered. "We gave up our guns, we came in here without weapons, knowing what people can do now a days. You've only put two people in roles that has any kind of power, and you did that without them having guns. They are constables, dad and Michonne, what are they supposed to do if something really happens?" she asked frustrated. "You didn't take Aiden and Nicholas off being leaders of the supply runs, when obviously they are scared of there own shadows. You aren't even listening to your own daughter when she says they shouldn't be in charge. You just asked me to leave so you could talk to Sasha alone, so you could tell her you didn't want a brawl in the street, that what mom did was wrong. Mom told you last night that she wasn't going to do anything, that she gave her word, but you didn't trust her. So, please Deanna give me something, anything, to trust you."

"I let you and Daryl keep your bow and arrows," Deanna reminded her.

"Because you didn't have a place to put them," Summer countered.

" What can I do to make you trust me?" Deanna asked.

Summer looked at her. "Give me a job at the armory, prove that you trust us. Sasha said that the guns aren't getting cleaned correctly. If you go in there right now, most of the only weapons that are cleaned are ours," she told her. "I can clean a gun with my eyes closed. If we need guns, you don't want them to misfire," Summer simply told her.

Deanna hesitated as she looked at her. "Summer," she started to say.

"Right, you don't trust me, you don't trust us," Summer answered. "Mom's not the only one that is going to tell you told you so, if something happens," she answered as she turned around.

"Summer, wait," Deanna called after her.

"Are you going to give me a job in the armory?" Summer asked as she kept walking.

"I can't do that," Deanna answered.

"Then I can't stop and give you anymore of my time with this conversation. I'm going to do something important, like playing with my baby sisters," Summer responded as she kept walking, leaving Deanna in the middle of the road.

TBC