Better Days

Chapter 344

Author's Note: If my head didn't feel like it was floating away, I'd be a happy camper. Only a week until vacation, well til I'm at my destination. I only have on e more work day. Anyway, please review.

Eugene, Joey and Summer's POV:

Joey adjusted the rifle on his shoulder and headed to the gate to do another guard shift on the tower. "Eugene, did you switch gate duty with Holly?"

"No, I did not. Holly asked me if I could relieve her for a few ticks and did not wait for an answer, and here I am," Eugene explained.

"You've been hanging around Abraham to long, Eugene. Well, you're helping out, it's an easy task, and gives you something to do," Joey told him.

"You're going to the tower again? Isn't that your third time in less than a twenty four hour period?" Eugene questioned.

"Glenn, Summer and Tara are all out of commission because of injuries, Daryl's going out recruiting again soon, Carol is supposed to be Betty Crocker, Jewel and Rick are handling fall out, Mar is helping Jewel with the kids, Ronnie and Rosita are both busy with the infirmary, David, Axel and Abraham are all working on reinforcing the west gate, Maggie and Beth are both trying to help with Deanna and Quinn, Sasha just got off guard duty, Jes is on guard duty, and I think that most of the Alexandrians' would have a stroke if we put Carl and Lexi on guard duty. Jes is taking the brunt of it for now. I can tell her that you're willing to pull a shift, if you want," Joey told him.

"I think I would be worthless on that particular task," Eugene told him. "Now that you and Summer are sleeping together, will she be spending more nights at the house?"

Joey looked at him. "I guess you'll find out in the mornings' won't you Eugene?" he asked as he turned as he heard a man's voice.

"Man it's us, are you going to let us in or what?" the man on the other side of fence questioned.

Eugene opened up the gate slightly and looked at him. "I'm technically not authorized, so I will not be doing so," Eugene told him.

Joey looked at Eugene as he grabbed the inner part of the gate and opened it wider. "What Eugene is saying is that we don't know you," he told him.

"Who the hell are you?" the man asked.

"You first," Eugene told him.

"I'm Heath, I live here, my team's been on a run for the past month," Heath told them.

The car door opened as a man got out. "Heath what's the hold up? I haven't seen my wife in a month and we're trying to get pregnant. I'd like to work on that sooner then later," the man told him.

"I'm working on trying to get us inside Brad," Heath told the man as he came up to the gate.

"I'm Eugene, this is Joey," Eugene introduced.

"We're just cautious people," Joey told them.

"Aaron brought myself and my group here directly within that window, so we haven't had the chance to meet and I can't exactly confirm your residence," Eugene answered.

"Oh for God's sake, open the damn gate. We'd like to see our families," Brad said.

"If I do, how do I know you won't attempt to kill me?" Eugene questioned.

Joey looked at Eugene. "What am I Eugene chopped liver?"

Heath chuckled. "Look, I'm not going to kill you," he started to say.

"I may," Brad told him.

"Eugene, there's a simple way to figure this out. Whose in charge of the community? Well at least when you left," Joey corrected himself.

"Deanna, something change?" Heath asked as he glanced at Brad.

"That's still getting worked out," Joey said as he opened the gate.

"Thank you," Heath told him as him and Brad walked in, him motioning the car in.

Summer arched an eyebrow as she came to take duty. "Eugene where's Holly and who are these people?" she asked. "Hey, shouldn't you be out at the tower?" she asked Joey as she kissed him.

"Since when do we have someone on the guard tower?" Heath asked.

"Since one of our people dropped dummy over the gate," Summer answered. "Eugene, where's Holly?"

"She asked me to relieve her, that was five ticks ago," Eugene responded.

"Alright, so I'm here now," Summer said.

"With that, I am going to relive Jes at the tower. None of you happen to be good at shooting are you?" Joey questioned.

"I am, but I'm curious as to why we need someone on duty now," Brad answered.

"A lot has happened in the month you've been gone. Deanna lost Reg and Aiden," Joey answered as he kissed Summer. "Eugene get the gate," he told the other man.

The other two people got out of the car. "I'm Scott, this is Annie. How did Reg and Aiden die?"

"Aiden was killed on a run, he got one of our people killed. Pete killed Reg last night and my father killed Pete. So there is no shocks, the Alexandria you left isn't the one your coming back to. You all may have a chance to live now," Summer said.

"Summer, don't you think Deanna would have liked to fill them in on all the happenings, you know hear it from the horse?" Eugene questioned. "The horses mouth."

"So, I take it you don't like the way Deanna is leading things?" Heath asked.

"It got one of us killed. Eugene's right, you all should talk with Deanna or Quinn," Summer said.

"How many of you are there?" Annie asked.

"Twenty Eight of us, well twenty seven," Eugene answered.

"I'm sorry," Annie told them as they started to go there own way.

Jewel and Rick's POV:

Jewel and Rick walked inside the house that they had Morgan at and watched him swinging around the stick. "I have to say that's impressive," Jewel told him.

"Where did you learn that?" Rick asked.

"A friend," Morgan responded.

"Before or after?" Rick questioned. He glanced at Jewel as Morgan got quiet. "I ask, you answer. It's common courtesy right?"

"We try to keep some sort of decency and in this case, courtesy, present. We do it for the kids, Jenny's now included in that," Jewel told him.

Morgan laughed a little. "It was after, after everything."

"I take it that was after we visited Kings County? I think I would have remembered a big old stick among the stock pile of weapons," Jewel told him.

"It's called a Bo, and yes it was after," Morgan answered. "You don't let anyone get away with anything do you Jewel?"

"Not if I can help it," Jewel responded. "Jenny's spending time with Mika, she lost her sister not to long ago, she'll be able to help her. We don't get a lot of time to grieve, but we try to let the kids talk about it, grieve properly. You'll be able to see her at lunch," she told him as she watched him.

"Look, I'm sorry for this, for having to do this," Rick told him.

"But, we aren't the same people that were in Kings County, and obviously neither are you," Jewel told him.

"It's alright," Morgan assured them. "The way I look at it, sometimes you're safer when there's no way out. Got to get to know each other again. For the first time... Again," he told Rick.

"Yeah, I'd like that," Rick told him. "I think Jewel wants to talk to you privately before you get out of here," he said with a smirk.

Jewel shook her head and gave a small laugh. "I should have figured you knew why I wanted to come with you. We won't be long," she told her husband as she kissed him.

"Don't beat him up to bad," Rick warned, playfully, as he kissed her and left.

"You and Rick complement each other. I probably would have noticed it before, but," Morgan started to explain.

"But you weren't in your right mind? You were all about clearing, saying that we were wearing other people's faces," Jewel told him.

"I had lost it there for a while," Morgan admitted.

"But you were able to come back," Jewel told him.

"We all get to come back, you and Rick told me that," Morgan told her.

"We did," Jewel admitted. "But, I guess I wasn't expecting this much of a transformation. I mean usually people get rougher around the edges, and that never goes away. You really don't get to go back to the person that you were before, because to survive, you do horrible things and it stays with you. It's bound to make you harsher then you were, more cut throat. But just the opposite happened to you. I'll never be able to express how grateful I am that you saved Rick, then Daryl and Aaron now, but you have to understand that I'm a little bit confused by this transformation."

"People change," Morgan told her. "I don't know what happened last night when we walked in, but that isn't Rick, and I bet you don't approve, even though you would never say anything to Rick."

Jewel looked at him. "Morgan, please don't ever try to tell me what I approve of or not, because it's only going to end badly for you. I will defend your right to be in this family because of what you did, you were one of us before I was one of us. But," she said as she stepped closer, "if you and your inner Zen put my family in danger, I will hurt you. You'll be looking for that stick for a while," she warned as she turned around.

"You'd do anything for your family, wouldn't you?" Morgan asked.

Jewel turned and looked at him. "Yes."

"You've killed people so have I, but that doesn't mean you have to keep killing. You can help me talk with Rick, make him see that killing isn't always the way," Morgan told her.

Jewel laughed. "We used to say that we didn't kill the living, but then the living started to kill us Morgan. You can't live in this world without getting blood on your hands. You don't know what we lived through, obviously we didn't meet up with whatever changed you into a want-to-be Zen master. So, don't come in here and think you know us, because you don't. Like you said, first time again right? Rick's waiting," Jewel told him as she turned around to leave.