Better Days

Chapter 340

Author's Note: I knew how I wanted to start this chapter, but I couldn't decide who I wanted to be the one who started it. I debated between Lexi and Summer, both who are dealing with losses. Summer also is dealing with what she has done to stay alive, but I decided on Brianna, Reg's granddaughter, with the help of Summer. The scene with Daryl and Lexi, I can just see happening because well, because Daryl is awesome. Please review, let me hear from those who have been quiet for a while.

Summer's POV:

Summer walked out of the infirmary and started walking home. She hated the fact that she had to go past the site where Reg was killed. He was a good man, and didn't deserve to be murdered the way he was. It had been murder, plain and simple, by someone that had been part of the community. As Summer got closer, she saw someone on there hands and knees with a bucket. "Brianna?" she questioned to herself as she started to run to her. "Brianna…," she said as she spoke softly and dropped to her knees. She grabbed the girls hands and made her look at her when she didn't respond. "Bri, what are you doing out here? Does your mom know you're here?"

Brianna looked at her with tears in her eyes. "I had to come out here, to see it….I didn't believe he was dead. Then I saw the blood, and I didn't want it to be here in the morning, for gramma, mom and Uncle Spenser to see it. I have to get it up, it has to come up," she babbled as she tried to pull her hands away from Summer's grasp.

Summer looked at her and pulled her into a hug. The last thing she wanted or needed was to let herself get attached to another person, another teenager, but it had been her job from the beginning, and she just couldn't leave the mourning teen. "Shh…I know," she told her.

"He can't be gone….this is all some sick joke. Uncle Aiden died, now this. How do you do it?" Bri asked as she pulled away and looked at her.

Summer looked at her. "How do I do what?"

"You've been out there, you had a lot of people die, people that you cared about, but you have it all together. You just keep going. How do you do that? Dad died before this, fighting a war, but this…this is senseless. How do you keep going without giving up?" Bri questioned.

Summer took a breath. "Bri, I don't have it all together, far from it. I know it's not what you want to hear, I know that you want to hear that somehow this is all going to make sense someday. I don't think anyone can ever make sense out of the dead coming back to life. Or people being worse than that. But there's always been abusers, like Pete, and there's always been senseless murders like your grandfather's. I've seen good men and women die, people that I've respected, people that I've counted among my family. I've slipped into despair, I've done reckless things. But that tells me that I'm alive, and that I still have a heart," she told the younger teen.

"Have you killed people?" Brianna asked.

Summer looked at her. "Yes."

"Why?" Brianna questioned.

"It was either them or someone I loved. One person I killed because they were going to kill Judith, and I couldn't let that happen, I wouldn't let it happen. If they are shooting at me, then it's either going to be them or me, or someone I love, so I do what I have to do to survive, to make sure the people I love survive. Sometimes it doesn't work though," Summer told her.

"Do you regret it? Do you think about them? Or are you heartless like your dad?" Brianna asked.

"Who said dad was reckless?" Summer questioned.

"I heard some of the women talking," Brianna answered.

Summer rolled her eyes. "People talk because we're something that they've never had to deal with. People are scared of things they don't understand. Dad scares them because he's not afraid to do what has to be done. That in no way makes him reckless, that makes him a survivor. Would you want Pete walking around after he killed your grandfather?"

"No," Brianna answered.

Summer nodded and looked at the bucket. "Do you want help?"

Bri looked at her and nodded.

"You're right, you know? Your family shouldn't have to see this. You thinking about your family, coming out here to clean this up, despite your grieving, that takes a lot of courage, and I respect that. Not a lot of people would think of others when they lost someone close," Summer told her as she picked up a sponge. "Let's get this up alright?" she questioned as Bri nodded.

Lexi's and Daryl's POV:

Lexi sat on the porch swing reading, waiting for Sasha. She wanted to just see her sister, to reassure herself that she was alright, especially with everything that happened that night. She raised an eyebrow as Ron came and sat down on the seat beside her. "Ron? What are you doing here? You should be with your mom and brother, they need you right now," she told him.

Ron looked at her. "Do you know where Carl is?"

Lexi looked at him. "I'm not his keeper, Ron. Your father just died and your worried about where Carl is? You should be at home with your mother and brother. You're only going to regret not being there later."

"My father was murdered. He didn't die, not of a heart attack, not by a roamer, but by Rick, Carl's dad," Ron told her.

"You're not thinking straight right now, Ron. You're grieving, it's normal. Everyone grieves differently, and you wanting someone to blame, it's normal. But Rick, he doesn't kill just for the sake of killing. Your dad took Michonne's sword and went to the meeting with intent on killing Rick," Lexi told him.

"How do you know that? You can't," Ron told her.

"He broke into one of our houses and stole a sword that belongs to one of us and went to a meeting yelling 'he's not one of us,'" Lexi told him calmly. "Reg tried to intervene, and he got his throat slashed. Rick did what Deanna told him. He didn't do it because he's a vengeful man, or that he likes to kill, he did it because your dad killed Reg. You know that your father wasn't a good man, Ron. You know that he drank to much, that he hurt your mother, that Sam was afraid of him. Right now, the anger is blinding you from the truth, and even if I knew where Carl was, I wouldn't tell you. Not with you being this angry, not with you blaming Rick."

"I know where Carl is. He's with Enid, I saw them sitting on the dock, holding hands. Doesn't that make you angry?" Ron questioned.

"Why should it?" Lexi questioned.

"Because he's your boyfriend," Ron informed her. "Enid is my girlfriend. She should be with me instead of holding hands with the son of the man who killed my father."

Lexi sighed. "Ron, it's getting late and this conversation is going nowhere, you need to leave."

"Why are you protecting them? Why aren't you appalled that you are with a bunch of murderers?" Ron questioned.

Lexi stood up. "Ron, they are my family. Everything that they've done, I've had to do similar things. If you consider them murderers, then I'm a murderer too. What I know is that you all need us, because otherwise you're all going to die. I'd protect any of them with my life, just like they would with me. If you were standing in the way, I'd put a bullet in your head, and step over your dead body to save any of them. You wouldn't survive out there. You want to blame everyone else, not see what's right in front of you. You came here tonight for one thing and one thing only, to make me jealous because Carl is spending time with Enid. You expected me to throw some hissy fit? To run right over to the dock and pull Carl home and tell Enid to go to you for comfort? Those kind of girls don't exist anymore, Ron. If they do, they've been hidden behind some comfy walls, not out there. Have you ever given some thought to why Enid would want to be friends with Carl or me? It's because we get it, we know what it's like to watch people we love die, and still have to go on. You can try to understand all you want, Ron, but you won't get it, you can't truly get it. Enid's going to have bad days, days that she's still out there, days that she feels trapped in here behind these walls. She's had to deal with being alone for a long time, even after she got in here, she was still alone. Now she has people who understand, and I'm not going to begrudge her of a friendship with Carl. If I was you, I'd try to understand where she's coming from, other than being a jealous idiot. Go home Ron," Lexi told him again.

Ron looked at her before moving closer and kissing her.

"What the hell?" Lexi asked as she pushed him away. "I said go home, not to assault me!"

"I kissed you, it's not like I raped you or anything," Ron told her, still standing close to her.

"A kiss that was uninvited, and unwanted! GO. HOME. RON," she said again. She saw the door to the other house open and a figure step out. She knew that figure belonged to one person. Daryl. She glanced at Ron who hadn't moved and knew what she was going to do. "I said go Ron!" she told him loudly.

"What if I don't want to go?" Ron told her. "What if I enjoyed that kiss? What if I want more?"

Lexi smirked as she saw Daryl coming from the other house. "I would say that you'd have a problem with him," she said as she nodded toward Daryl.

Ron turned around and saw Daryl standing there. Daryl crossed his arms and looked at him. "Lex, you alright?"

"It could have been worse," Lexi answered.

"Not what I asked," Daryl said as he put himself in the middle of Ron and Lexi. "What the hell do you think you're doing kid?"

"Nothing, this is between Lexi and me," Ron told him.

Daryl glanced back at Lexi. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No, you're good," Lexi told him.

"Well then, that makes it between you and me, kid. Now, I'm going to ask you again what the hell do you think you are doing? Now next time I ask, my foot is going to be in your skinny ass," Daryl told him.

"I just kissed her, and she freaked out," Ron told him. "You know how women are," he tried to sound confident.

Daryl grabbed him then turned around and looked at Lexi. "You alright? He try anything else?"

"No, I'm fine. Just a little shook up," Lexi told him.

Daryl nodded then looked at Ron. "So you're trying to be a prick like your father was? You trying to show that you have power over females? You were trying to take something by force?"

"All I did was kiss her," Ron told him.

"Oh yeah, that's how it all starts. OH, I just kissed her. Did you ask for permission? Did she give you any indication that she wanted you to kiss her? I know how women are. They don't like to be forced to do anything. You kissed her, she obviously told you to leave. I heard her tell you to go, twice. You didn't even budge, what was the next step going to be, you little prick? Were you going to try to go further? Don't even try to answer that with a pathetic excuse, kid. You're on my shit list, and that's somewhere you don't want to be. I'd take you over to your mother right now, if I thought I could control my temper. I'll leave that to Rick and Jewel tomorrow. Right now, you really need to get the hell out of my sight because I can't promise what I'm going to do in the next five seconds. GO!" Daryl screamed at him as he watched him go. He turned to Lexi. "Hey, you're alright," Daryl told her as he hugged her. "Where's Sasha?"

"I was waiting for her, on the porch reading, when he came up," Lexi told him.

"Go get a bag, you're staying the night over at our house," Daryl told her.

"Do you think he'd really do something?" Lexi asked.

"I'm not taking that chance, Lex. You're family and it's my job to make sure nothing happens to you. Go get that bag," he told her as she gave him a hug and went to do what she was told.