Better Days

Chapter 303

Author's Note: A done with one episode, now on to the next one. Yeah I can make those episode's long. I really understand now why the writers ignore some of the characters. Oh well, I don't. I don't here you guys complaining. I am limiting contact between random hair cut lady and Rick. I am doing this for a reason. Rick is going to go after Pete because of Jewel not Jessie. You'll see, just got to set it up. Please review.

Ronnie and Gabriel's POV:

Ronnie watched from a distance as Gabriel walked into the church and gave him a few minutes alone before going up the steps. She glanced at him as he ripped pages out of the bible. "I'm thinking that that's frowned upon," she stated as she got his attention.

Gabriel jumped slightly at the sound of her voice. "I didn't expect any of you to come into the church."

"Any of us?" Ronnie asked as she walked over to the bowl of strawberries. "Mind if I take one?"

"Take the whole bowl," Gabriel answered.

"I think that would be rude to Rosemary, don't you?" Ronnie asked as she took a strawberry. "So what did you mean any of us?"

"Your group," Gabriel answered.

"You came with us, that makes it your group too," Ronnie pointed out.

"I came because I wouldn't have lived otherwise," Gabriel responded.

Ronnie nodded as she walked over to the bible. "You ripping out pages of a Bible, that's telling me you still feel guilty about what you did."

"I will never forget what I have done," Gabriel answered.

"The question is, are you going to do it again?" Ronnie asked.

Gabriel looked at her then went back to the Bible. "Why are you with them? You aren't like them. You value life."

"I do, but I value staying alive too," Ronnie answered as she sat down in the first pew. "You may think we are monsters, you may think that killing people are wrong, you may think that there must have been a different way to handle what happened at the church," she told him. "I was locked in a train car, with the others, with Mitch, Carl, Lexi, and we were going to be slaughtered for dinner. They came into the church with one intention, to kill us all, including the babies. They were telling you a big lie about letting you walk away. They cut Bob's leg off, and ate it in front of him," Ronnie told him. "What kind of people does that? Monsters, barbarians', and the devil himself. They might not have been able to take us all down, but Judith and Hope, they would have had a chance if you had went out. Then Rick and Jewel would have killed you. I think you know that they were lying, but it's easier for you to paint us as the villains, to make you forget what you did."

Gabriel looked at her. "Why are you here?"

"Because you need someone from our group on your side," Ronnie told him. "I'm pretty much the only one who doesn't think of you as a coward."

"What do you think I am?" he questioned.

"Just someone who made a bad decision at the beginning of this thing," Ronnie told him. "A lot of us made decisions in the beginning of this thing that we wish we could go back and change. We all had to make decisions that we would have never thought of before; it's just how life is now a days."

Gabriel looked at her but didn't say a word as he went back to tearing the bible. "Do you regret what you've done now?"

"You want me to repent? Sorry, Father, but I'm not going to repent, knowing that I'm alive right now, knowing that they are alive right now because of actions we've took. Did you tell Deanna about what you did?" Ronnie questioned curiously.

"What I've told her is between us," Gabriel told her.

"And everyone else that lives here. The tapes are for anyone to watch, transparency," she said as she got up. "I need to get to the clinic."

Jewel and Daryl's POV:

Jewel walked over to where Aaron was packing up the car. "You got a minute Aaron?" she asked.

"Sure, of course. Now if you're going to talk my ear off about a pasta maker, I'm already obliged to bring Mrs. Neudermeyer one," Aaron answered teasingly.

"I'm not the cooking type," Jewel answered. "I'm trusting you to watch my brother's back out there. I just lost one, and I won't lose another one."

"Daryl knows how to survive out there, and both of us are going to do the best we can to make sure that both of us come back alive," Aaron told her.

"I don't think you understand, Aaron. If he doesn't come back, you better think long and hard about coming back here at all. Because if he doesn't walk in those gates with you, then I am going to make sure that you wind up having a very painful death. Daryl's not the only Dixon who knows how to make a body disappear. He comes back injured, I'm going to injure you. Do I make myself clear?" Jewel asked.

"Yes ma'am," Aaron answered.

"Jewel are you threatening Aaron?" Daryl asked as he kissed the top of her head from behind.

"Do you really have to ask that question?" Jewel asked as she looked at him.

"Just making sure you're watching after me," Daryl responded with a wink.

"You make sure Aaron comes back too, or I'll kick your ass for Erik," Jewel warned as she walked away.

"You're sister's pretty scary," Aaron told him as Daryl went to get on his bike.

"Oh you should see her when she's seriously ticked off," Daryl told him as he revved up the motorcycle.

Eugene, Noah, Tara, Glenn, Maggie, Quinn and Summer's POV:

Summer carried Hope in her carrier, while she pushed Judith in the stroller. "We just wanted to say bye," she told them.

Tara bent down and kissed Judith's nose. "You keep your big sister out of trouble, alright?"

"I'm going to be here with everybody, you're going out with them," Summer said as she tilted her head toward Nicholas and Aiden. "Plus, Eugene is going. I really feel like I should rip this sling off and go with you."

"No, you don't. I don't want to face the wrath of Jewel over not protecting you," Glenn told her. "You better listen to Aunt Tara, and keep this one out of trouble Judy, she trips over her own two feet," he said to Judy. "And, you Hope, well you just keep being cute."

"Be careful, all of you," Summer told them. They're attention was drawn to Noah and Eugene.

Eugene looked at the gun Noah was holding out to him. "Oh no thank you."

"Just take it," Nicholas told him as he passed them carrying supplies.

"Come on, you got to protect yourself," Noah told him.

"Not if I don't go," Eugene told him.

"We're not driving all that way so we can just drive back with the wrong shit," Aiden told him.

"It's a dozen of these," Eugene said as he held out the box he was holding. "They are consistent in appearance across manufacturers. The shit will be right. I will install said shit. Then the grid will be fully operational again," Eugene told them.

"I think the important question here is, you do know how to shoot don't you?" Quinn asked as she joined them from carrying things out from the garage.

"I certainly do not," Eugene answered.

Quinn looked at him. "But you survived out there."

"By lying and telling us he knew how to end this thing," Summer pointed out. "Getting my uncle Merle and Bob killed in the process," she said.

Quinn sighed. "I for one think unless it's absolutely positively necessary, Eugene doesn't get to carry a gun. I don't want to get accidentally get shot by friendly fire," she said. "But Aiden is in charge, so he makes up the final decision," she pointed out as she turned to Aiden. "What do you think?" she questioned in front of there parents.

Aiden sighed. "He's carrying a gun, it's safer for him to be carrying."

"Sorry, Eugene, I tried," Quinn said. "But, dear little brother is in charge," she said as both her and Aiden went to say goodbye to there parents.

Reg smiled. "You got everything?"

"First aid kits, yellow pages. Glenn made a check list. We're good, I swear," Aiden told them.

"And before you ask dad, I packed food, in case there's any problems and we can't make it back tonight. Plus extra water," Quinn told them.

"I know, I'm just a worrier. That's how the wall wound up around us," Reg told his children.

Aiden smiled as he bent over to kiss Deanna's cheek.

"Love you," Deanna told him as Quinn did the same. "Don't kill each other out there," she warned them both. "Aiden's in charge, Quinn. I know that you don't like it, but he is. I expect you to listen to what he says."

"I'm going to listen to every word he says, Mom. I'm going to do everything he says. I'm proving a point," Quinn told her. "Love you dad," she said as she hugged her father.

"I'll help Gus with the girls," her father told her.

"Thanks," Quinn told him as she went to the back of the van.

"Take care dad," Aiden told his father.

"I'm supposed to be saying that to you," Reg told his son.

"That everything?" Glenn questioned. Tara nodded as she passed.

Maggie smiled as she looked at Glenn. "You got this, you always do," she assured him.

"Yeah," Glenn said as he kissed her.

Noah went to jump in the van and Summer looked at him. "Excuse me? You think you're leaving without a hug?"

Noah laughed as he hugged her. "I'm not sure if I'm ever going to figure you out."

"Good, that's what keeps me interesting," Summer told him. "Be careful, all of you."

"Power grid was a prototype, I'm surprised that it took this long to act up," Reg told them.

"We'll get it going," Glenn said.

"Glenn's one of the best," Summer said. "Besides me of course," she teased.

"Well, I did train you," Glenn teased as he hugged her.

"Be careful. Love you big brother," Summer told him.

"Love you too, little sister," Glenn responded.

"Day light's burning, let's go," Aiden said as he got into the van.

Summer went to stand by Maggie as Deanna went up to Glenn. "I know I said it before, but thank you."

Glenn looked at her. "Yeah," he told her as he jumped in the van.

"They'll be fine," Summer said as she squeezed Maggie's hand.

Maggie nodded. "I'll push Judith back to the house for you," she offered.

Summer nodded. "Thanks."

Jewel and Rick's POV:

Jewel walked by Pete and Jessie's house and saw Jessie picking up pieces of metal in her garage. "What happened here?"

"I don't know, maybe someone doesn't like owls," Jessie answered.

"Does this type of thing happen often? Vandalism?" Jewel asked as she bent down and started helping her.

"It never happens here. This type of stuff never happens here," Jessie responded. "You don't have to help. You should be resting, I saw Summer pass with Judith and Hope, earlier," she told the other woman. "You should take advantage of the time to rest."

Jewel laughed. "Yeah, I hear that a lot. I think if Ronnie could lock me away in the bedroom for a month, she would. But seriously, I could find Michonne or Rick, they could look into this Owl Hater for you."

Jessie laughed. "It's no big deal, it's an owl."

"But it was your owl," Jewel pointed out as she looked at the pieces of metal. "My brother Merle used to destroy things when he got angry after my father beat him. Or when he got really angry about things after he got high. He was really angry on the day I graduated, and I told him that I didn't want him there. I came to get dressed and he had taken scissors to my cap and gown. He didn't even remember doing it since he was so high," she told her. "You know anyone angry enough to destroy your owl?" she asked as she looked up at her.

Jessie watched her. "No," she answered hesitantly. "I mean it's just a bunch of metal pieces."

"Maybe the owl looked at someone the wrong way. Owls can be very strange creatures," Jewel teased.

Jessie laughed. "I'll have to tell my owls not to glare at anyone," she said.

"Jewel?" Rick called out from the edge of the garage. "What happened?" he asked as he came in.

"There seems to be an owl killer on the lose," Jewel said as she stood up. "Someone destroyed her owl. And, she doesn't know anyone who hates owls."

"Trying to take my job, are you?" Rick asked as he kissed her.

"Hey what can I say, I've learned from the best," Jewel told him. "I suggested you might be able to check into this for her."

"Of course, that's what I'm here for," Rick answered as he looked at Jessie.

"It's not necessary. I mean what are you going to do if you find this person?" Jessie questioned.

Rick wrapped his arm around Jewel's waist. "Some kind of consequences," he answered. "You ever heard of the broken window theory?"

Jessie shook her head. "No," she answered.

"Boils down to this- you keep the windows intact, you keep society intact," Rick answered.

Jewel nodded. "We obviously know that someone that we're all living with, did this. May be someone you know well enough to think it would never be them. The constable here will find him or her."

"But it's just an owl," Jessie said.

"Now it's just an owl, maybe later it's something more. Something more physical," Jewel told her. "Plus Rick needs something to make him worthwhile of the uniform," she teased as she kissed him.

"It'll give me something to do today. Though I'm thinking about handcuffing you to the bed so you'll actually rest," Rick warned.

"You need to go hunt down the owl killer," Jewel told him. "Let me know if you need help cleaning this up," she told Jessie.

"Thank you, both," Jessie answered as they walked out.