Better Days

Chapter 320

Author's Note: Hmm, should I get Pete beat up in this chapter and Rick going crazy. Hmm…I don't know, maybe I can do another chapter before. But considering Jewel's itching for a fight, I'll let her take over. Jewel is coming from this in a whole different angle then Rick did. We all know Rick doesn't have romantic interest in random hair cut woman in this. Please review.

Jewel and Rick's POV:

Jewel and Rick sat on the porch of there house and watched Pete leave. "This is my chance to talk with Jessie."

"I'd rather you let me go with you, just in case something happens," Rick told her.

Jewel kissed him. "We've discussed this. I'll be able to get through to her, mother to mother. You have a whole town to protect, not to mention a son to ground. I'll be alright, Rick. I don't see anything good coming out of this if you go to talk with her. You've only seen the after effects of abuse. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a lot, I'm thinking Kings County, GA didn't have a whole lot of abuse victims."

"We were just like any other town," Rick told her. "While I was in the academy, I had to do a week of training in Atlanta. We had a call, the woman wouldn't press charges against her boyfriend. She was in real bad shape, already had a cast on her arm. Two days later we got another call, this time, she was dead, so was her three month old son. The boyfriend had killed himself. We should have insisted that she came with us before, her and her baby, maybe then they would have been alive. Whenever Shane and I got those calls, I always tried to convince them to come to the hospital, file a report, do something. I didn't want anyone I knew dying because of that."

"No one's going to die, Rick. We're not going to let it happen, I'm not going to let it happen. We do what we have to do, no matter what Deanna says. I hope she tries to exile us, maybe then she'll finally understand what it takes to be a leader," Jewel told him. "You need to shave again, we are not having a return of Grizzly Adams," she told him as she kissed him. "I know you'll have my back," she told him as she got up and walked across the street. She knocked on Jessie's door and waited for an answer.

"Jewel, what are you doing here?" Jessie questioned as she opened the door.

"Can I come in?" Jewel asked.

"Yeah, of course," Jessie answered as stepped out of the way to let her in and closed the door after the other blond walked in. "I'm sorry about Noah, he was a sweet kid. Tara's in good hands with Pete," she told her.

Jewel looked at her. "Ronnie's taking the most care of her. I'm spending some time there, to help out, but not when Pete's around," Jewel told her. "Did he tell you that he grabbed Summer yesterday? She has his finger prints around her arm, add that to a still injured shoulder, she's in pain. You might have noticed that bandage around his hand yesterday, that was from me throwing a knife at him. It took all I had not to throw it at his head, not to kill him for putting his hands on my child. Did he take his anger out on you last night? One of the boys?" she questioned.

"He didn't tell me…I'm sorry he shouldn't have grabbed Summer," Jessie told her.

"He shouldn't be raising his hands to you or the boys either. Sam wants a gun to protect you," Jewel told her. "A child shouldn't have to protect a parent, that's our job. That's why I threw that knife at him, to get his hands off my child. You still didn't answer me, did he take his anger out on you?" she asked as she walked over and grabbed Jessie's arm and lowered it to reveal a bruise on her shoulder. "This has to stop."

"It will," Jessie told her.

"He hasn't stopped yet, so why do you think he will now?" Jewel questioned.

Jessie looked a her. "There's things that's happened in his life," she started to say.

"Oh, please, that excuse?" Jewel told him. "There's things that happen in all of our lives, and not all of us turn out to be losers who beat there wives and kids."

"Jewel, you wouldn't understand…. Rick's a good guy," Jessie told her.

"Rick is a good guy," Jewel told her as she turned and raised her shirt. "But my father wasn't," she said as she turned around. "I could have used that excuse to beat Summer, but I didn't. Daryl and Merle could have used that excuse to hurt women, but they didn't. Yeah we did stupid stuff because of what he did. We all had low self esteem, thinking we didn't deserve anyone, especially Daryl and me. Merle turned to his drugs, had an anger problem the whole size of Georgia. But we made the decision we weren't going to be like daddy. I stopped drinking because if I hadn't, I would have wound up like my mother, dead, due to smoking in bed and drinking. She didn't care enough to protect us because at least he wasn't hitting her. But I know that you care about your sons, and I know that you don't want them to be hurt."

"He was like this before, and he got help. I helped him and things were good, I can fix it," Jessie told her.

"Do you see any crisis centers around here? Any alcoholic anonymous meetings he can go to? I've been here less than a month, and I've never seen the man sober. How the hell can he be a doctor?" she questioned with a sigh. "Rick and I can help."

"What are you going to do? Put him in jail? You both are going to make it worse," Jessie told her.

"Worse means you are dead, or it means one of your sons are dead. Pete's not only taking it on you and your sons, he hurt my daughter. I'm only giving you the common courtesy to tell you that the next time he makes one move toward my daughter, or your sons, I'll kill him. You want to try and 'fix' him, then that's on you. You are a grown woman, but your sons, they are just boys. You have a responsibility to them, even if you don't care about yourself," Jewel told him.

"I can take care of myself and my boys. We have to take care of ourselves," Jessie told her.

"Where were you when he hurt Ron? He can't lift his arm. Do you know how many times one of us had that same injury? How many times I saw that type of injury in the emergency room? He tried to interfere with you and Pete, didn't he? Daryl got the same injury one time, protecting me. Your other son, he asked for a gun to protect you. Both of them want you to live, both of them want to protect you. That should be the other way around, Jessie. You think you can fix him? A man like that, he has to want to change, he has to be willing to change. Pete hasn't given me the impression he wants to change. No, the man is a bully. He isn't used to women who stands up to him. He tried to push Ronnie around, out of the infirmary, he got told no. He tried to intimidate me, and he got a real awakening there. He told Rick that I'm to big for my britches, like he wanted Rick to put me in my place," Jewel laughed at that notion. "And, then he grabbed Summer, like he thought he could get away with it, because she's younger. She's a Dixon, she would have kicked his ass from one side of the street to the other. No, he doesn't want to change, he isn't going to stop, Jessie. I want to help you, and your sons. But you have to be ready to do it. I can see the pain in your face when I mentioned Ron's injury and Sam wanting a gun. You care about them, you don't want them to have to protect you. You're right, I don't know what it means to be an abused wife. If Rick or any man tried to hit me, he'd being singing soprano. The first thing to go when you're skinning an animal is the balls. A man who hit's a woman and his children, he's below an animal. At least an animal, you can eat, and that makes it useful. I know what it means to be an abused child, Jessie. And please believe me when I say, it's not something you forget. You carry it with you all your life. You fight it every single day of your life, to be better, to do better, to prove the abuser wrong. It doesn't matter if that abuser is alive or dead, because he will always be with you. I'm trying to save your sons from that, Jessie, but the truth is that they are your sons and the only way I can help them is if you want to help yourself. I'm willing to do anything to help you Jessie, to help your boys. If you want him out of the house, Rick will get him out of the house, if you want him dead, I can do that. It doesn't matter what Deanna thinks about it, because what needs to be done isn't always the easy thing these days. But the one thing that can't happen, that I won't let happen, is to be left to hurt your sons. The moment he touched my daughter, he made it my problem. This isn't just about you anymore, Jessie, it's about this whole community. If he'll touch one other person in this community, he'll touch more, he'll hurt more. But you are the one that can start to make the change, all you have to do is say the word."

"Why do you care? Why does Rick care? You don't even like me," Jessie told her.

"I didn't like the way you introduced yourself to my husband, but since nothing would ever come from whatever you were offering that day, I forgave you. You saw a new group of people, you saw Rick as a leader, someone who could help you," Jewel told her with a smirk. "Yeah, I knew after I figured out what Pete was doing. You're a lot like Rick's first wife, needing to be protected," she told her. "I understand. And the reason I want to help? I can't turn a blind eye. It's one of my weak spots. I just yelled at Enid for going out alone, and having Carl follow her. And, I don't need another child to take care of, I've got enough of them. So, I can't, I won't just sit by and let him do this. You're not alone, not anymore," she told her.

"Jewel what are you doing here?" Pete questioned as he came into the house.

TBC

Author's note: I know a cliff hanger! I'm bad. HEHE. Please review.