Better Days

Chapter 315

Author's Note: I'm not going to be showing Aaron and Daryl, because they aren't going to change. I should have sent someone with them. Oh well, to late now. On to the action in Alexandria. Jewel gives Deanna a hint of how far she's willing to go to protect her family. You know what to do: Review! Let me here from son of the ones I haven't heard from lately.

Jewel and Rick's POV:

Jewel smiled as she felt Rick kiss her neck. "Good morning, Mr. Grimes," she said as she turned over.

"Good morning Mrs. Grimes," he greeted as he kissed her.

"What time did you get in? You should have woke me up," Jewel told her husband.

"It was three in the morning, and both baby girls were sleeping, which meant you were finally getting some good, uninterrupted sleep so I snuck into bed," Rick told his wife as he kissed her.

"That scares me," Jewel told him.

"What scares you? That I let you sleep?" Rick questioned.

"No, that I was sleeping well enough that you didn't wake me. I shouldn't be that comfortable, that at ease inside these walls," Jewel responded as she put her hand on his face.

"You just gave birth to a baby less than two months ago, we've been traveling, mostly by foot from Georgia to here, we've lost people, good people," Rick told her as he kissed her again. "Then we get here, and find that these people don't have what it make it in the world as it is now. You've been in mother hen mode since we walked in those gates, and that means for all of us, not just the children. I'm amazed you aren't more dead on your feet then you are. You're exhausted, so I'm not concerned about one night of good sleep," he assured her.

"We're all exhausted, Rick. And yes I know I just had a baby," Jewel responded to the unsaid response. "Did I hear Quinn last night? About what she left unsaid?"

"Do you think she was telling the truth?" Rick asked. "That she really means we can count on her for whatever we need?"

"I don't know, but I know Glenn told us what she did out there, for him. I saw the anger in her eyes when she got out of the van, how she reacted to her mother's question. I know that she genuinely feels bad for what happened out there, for not being able to stop it. I'm not going say anything to her, but I think we can trust her," Jewel assured him.

"Why don't you stay here today? I can talk to Deanna," Rick offered.

Jewel sat in bed. "That isn't going to happen, Mr. Grimes. But good try on your part," she said as she went over to check on Hope. "Good morning, little one. I got you before you started demanding food huh?" she questioned as she picked her up and kissed the top of her head. "I'm going with you to talk to Deanna and I'm going to talk to Jessie. I'm not Lori, I'm not going to let you do this alone. We have been a team before we were together, and just because we're in here that doesn't stop," she told him. "Tell daddy he's a silly goose!"

Rick smiles as he kisses Hope's hand. "I'm just trying to take a load off mommy, but she's stubborn. One of the many reason's I fell in love with her," he said with a smile.

"You go get Judith, feed her breakfast, and I'll tend to this one, and take a shower. Mika is helping Mar and Carol with them. I told everyone they could stay home from school today, they were up late," Jewel told Rick. "Don't you dare leave without me," she warned Rick.

"Wouldn't think of it," Rick told her as he kissed her.

Lexi and Rosita's POV:

Lexi walked into the infirmary with breakfast for her and Eugene. "Carol sent this over. How is she?"

Rosita took the food. "She hasn't gotten worse, and that's a good thing," she said as she kissed the top of Lexi's head.

"But she hasn't woke up either," Lexi answered.

"No, but she will, I'm confident she will," Rosita told her.

"You can't know that, not for sure. Everything was supposed to be different here, it was supposed to be safe. We weren't supposed to lose anyone else," Lexi told her. "Maybe we're destined not to be safe and happy. Maybe we're not allowed to forget what's out there, and we're supposed to keep reliving the nightmare," she told the other woman.

Rosita sighed and went in front of her. "You've been listening to Gabriel to much. We're allowed to be happy and safe. But death's still going to happen, because it's the world we live in. But you can't give up Hope. How can you? We have a little living piece of Hope to remind us of that," she told her with a smile.

Lexi smiled. "Yeah. Sasha didn't come home last night."

Rosita looked at her shocked. "She didn't?"

"No, I don't know why I should be surprised. She's doing stupid stuff and stupid gets you killed. Don't tell Michonne I stole that," Lexi stated.

"I don't think she'd mind," Rosita assured her. "Do you know who went on guard shift at the tower?"

"Jewel has that sheet that she keeps so she can keep track of us," Lexi answered. "I kinda like that you know. That she still is watching out for all of, that if something happens, she knows where to find all of us."

Rosita nodded. "Yeah, and I personally wouldn't want her to get mad at me for not signing it," she said with a grin.

"Sasha didn't sign it, and Carl lied about where he was. Jewel crossed off Noah's name….it made it real," Lexi explained. "Abraham is on guard."

"What do you mean Carl lied?" Rosita questioned.

"He followed Enid out of the gate again. I saw him and I would have followed him but I'm just to worried about Sasha," Lexi reported to her.

"After Mar gets here, I'll go tell Michonne what's going on, and we'll got find Sasha," Rosita assured her.

"I'm going with you," Lexi told her. "Please don't tell me it's not safe. I need to go with you," she simply told her.

Rosita nodded. "I get it," she told the younger girl as she let out a sigh.

Rick and Jewel's POV:

Jewel walked with Rick out to the grave yard and sighed. How many of these had they left in there wake? To many to count.

"We're sorry for what happened. How you holding up?" Rick asked.

"I'm not," Deanna answered.

Jewel glanced at Rick as to say that was a stupid question. "I know you don't feel like eating anything but you need to, you have to," she informed the grieving mother.

Deanna glanced at her. "You don't know what I need," she simply said.

Jewel put her hand on Rick's shoulder before she approached Deanna. "I know that you are grieving, I know that you have to decide whose telling you the truth. I also know that you're blaming yourself for this, and don't even try to deny it, because I can see the guilt all over your face. I've had that same look, on more occasions then I would even like to admit, so has Rick. It's a sign of a good leader, because no matter what happened out there, it falls at your feet. Not eating is going to harm only you, and not anyone else, until it does," she informed her.

Deanna glanced at Rick. "Is she always as tenacious as this?"

"This is calm. If it was any of her family, she'd tie us down and force feed us. You're getting off pretty easy," Rick told her. "We need to talk to you about Pete," he told her as he breached the subject.

Deanna sighed. "I hoped it would get better," she replied.

"You knew," Rick stated rather then ask.

"Summer said she thought you did. Why didn't you do something about him? How could you just let him keep hurting Jessie and the kids? How could you even suggest that it was one of us who hurt Summer when you knew what he was capable of? Do you know how hard it was for me not to put a knife through his head, to protect my daughter? Hells bells Deanna," Jewel shook her head.

It was Rick's turn to put his hand on Jewel's shoulder before he spoke. "Why didn't you do something about it?" he questioned.

"I hoped it would get better," Deanna answered.

Jewel shook her head as Rick spoke. "It hasn't got better, and it won't."

"An abuser never gets better, they just go on until someone dies," Jewel told her as she flinched her fist.

"Pete's a surgeon. He's saved lives, he might be saving Tara's life," Deanna reminded them.

"I'm not sure how he can even stand with as much alcohol as he consumes. He can barley stand up on most days. Ronnie spent all night by Tara's side last night, NOT Pete," Jewel replied as she tried not to get angrier.

"He's beating his wife, he grabbed our daughter. He left a visible hand print on her arm and I would hate to think of what he might have done if Jewel didn't stop it. He has to be stopped," Rick told her.

"And, I'm pretty sure he's taking it out on Ron too. They always start on the children, when they get bored of beating the shit out of the partner, when it loses the challenge. Ron can't lift his arm over his head. It's a common injury in abused children," Jewel informed her.

"I didn't know you studied those type of things in nursing school," Deanna stated.

Jewel laughed a hallow laugh. "I didn't need to, I lived it, Daryl lived it, and Merle lived it. Our mother didn't live long enough to try to help, if she even cared. It was people like you that turned a blind eye that kept giving my father a reason not to stop. Rick's right, we have to stop it."

"How?" Deanna questioned.

"We separate them, we tell him that's how is from now on," Rick answered.

"What happens when he doesn't want to do that?" Deanna questioned.

"It's not his choice," both Jewel and Rick told her.

"So what happens?" Deanna repeated.

"I kill him, we kill him," Rick answered.

"We don't kill people. This is civilization, Rick," Deanna responded.

"Then he's going to kill someone," Jewel responded.

"Warning someone to stop or die, that is civilized nowadays," Rick told her.

"Oh," Deanna responded as she lowered her head.

"So what? So we just let him hit her? We let him kill her?" Rick questioned.

"Or let him kill the boys? Or try to kill anyone of us? That's real smart," Jewel hissed.

"No, we exile him if it comes to that," Deanna told them.

"We do that, we don't know when he comes back and what he does to them. Letting him go makes this place vulnerable. You really want to wait till someone in that tower has to take care of it? And that's if we're lucky," Rick told her.

"It wouldn't just be anyone in that tower, would it Deanna? It would be one of us, wouldn't it? Then that would give you something else to blame us for," Jewel challenged her.

"We are not... executing anyone. Don't ever suggest it again. That sort of thinking doesn't belong in here," Deanna informed them as she tried to keep her cool.

"People die now, Deanna, they do. There's times like this you can decide who and when, or it can be decided for you," Rick told her.

"It already has," Deanna stated. "I wouldn't kill you, I'd send you away," Deanna warned Rick.

Jewel looked at her. "I told you the first day we walked in through those gates that I would hold you responsible for anything that happened inside these walls, because you were the leader. Do you really think that exiling Rick would be good for this community? For you?"

"You could stay, you and the kids. I don't know why you would think killing anyone is a good idea. I'll talk to Pete about Summer. I don't want to exile anyone," Deanna stated.

"You don't…you…unbelievable!" Jewel responded.

"You're going to see how tenacious she really is," Rick said.

Jewel took off her outer shirt and raised her tank top and turned backwards for Deanna to see. "This is what happens when no one stops a person, Deanna. When no one gives a damn to interfere," she told her as she turned around. "Daryl's are worse, because he tried to be a buffer between dad and me. Do you really think that we'd stay in here if any of us were exiled? I have a feeling we'd be walking out with more then we'd walk in with. You know we survived, you know we know what it takes to live out there. And, don't ever bring my kids into this again. I'm not going to let a man like Pete put a hand on my daughter, and I can assure you the next time he does it, and I see it, his hand won't be what I'm aiming at. And that's on you, Deanna. I'll be sure to tell everyone that you weren't strong enough to make the tough calls, that I had to kill him because you turned a blind eye. I won't interfere between him and his family, but I won't turn a blind eye either. But he touches anyone in my family, big or small, all bets are off Deanna. I can put that on video if you'd like. Transparency and all," she hissed. "What happens now, it's on you, and I'm not going to forget that," she said as she walked away with Rick.