Better Days

Chapter 357

Author's Note: Can I say yes to almost being done with these dang flashbacks? This episode was 90 minutes long so it was longer then normal and that means more of those pesky flashbacks. I'm going to change the confrontation with Carter from Eugene to one of the kids. I just think one of them would have more impact. Plus I find Eugene very hard tow rite for when he is in cowardly mode. Please review, let me know you all are still interested.

Jewel and Summer's POV:

Jewel saw Summer coming in from outside. "Excuse me Quinn, I'm going to see how it's going out there," she told the other woman as she walked to her oldest child. "Everything going alright?" she asked.

"People are doing what they need to do," Summer answered.

"Why do I feel like there is a but coming?" Jewel asked.

"Dad was going to let Carter, Spenser, and some of the other inexperienced Alexandrian's handle the walkers' all by themselves," Summer told her mother.

"They have to learn," Jewel answered.

"Yes, I totally agree, but with our help, not by themselves, where they will certainly die," Summer responded. "We were all ready with our weapons, ready to help, but dad told us not to, he wanted them to do it. But they got to close, and Morgan jumped in and we all followed suit, we had to."

Jewel ran her hand through her hair. "I know that your dad is being very cautious with the Alexandrian's," she started to say.

"Cautious isn't the word that I would use mom, he's being careless, at least what he did out there was restless," Summer told her mother.

Jewel sighed. "Summer, he's doing what he thinks is best to keep us alive, and that may mean not risking us for the Alexandrian's," she said as she looked at Quinn, "at least the useless ones."

"I know Carter is useless, I know he should be dead by now, I know that he isn't going to live long when he gets out there," Summer said. "But we shouldn't just set him up for death like that," she told her mother.

"You didn't agree with your father saying to let them handle it," Jewel said.

"Right," Summer answered.

"You didn't object, you followed his orders. Why?" Jewel questioned her daughter.

Summer looked at her. "We've always listened to dad," she explained.

"There's more to it then that. If you truly believed he was wrong, you would have made the first move, you wouldn't have waited for Morgan, the same with everyone else. Yes, we've always listened to Rick, but in this instance why did you hesitate? Why did you wait until someone else did something?" Jewel asked.

Summer sighed. "Mom do you have a point?"

"We all have free will, we're all alive right now because we've always worked together. We know how each other thinks. You're an adult now, Summer, in more ways then one, so there must be a reason that you hesitated, that you didn't move forward. I want you to be honest with me, then you are being honest with yourself," Jewel told her.

"We've always trusted dad, he's always got us out of the rough spots," Summer said. "He's always done what he has to do to keep us alive."

"Yes he has, we have done what we have to do to keep each other alive," Jewel told her daughter. "How did we learn that?"

"By trusting each other, by learning to work with each other," Summer answered.

Jewel nodded. "We've had two years, and the people who joined us, they learned or they didn't stay with us. The Alexandrian's are being forced to realize that the world is harsh, that the world isn't safe. There's some that see that, Quinn and the others who stood up to Deanna last night. But there's some like Carter, who isn't going to get it. He just wants to sit around and see what happens. That's going to get him killed, and possibly someone around him. I wasn't there to see what happened with the walkers' but if I was, I'm not sure I would have disagreed with what your father did. We know what we're doing, we know we can take out walkers' without blinking, but they don't. They were waiting for you all to help, didn't they?"

"Yes, Carter even asked for it," Summer admitted to her mother.

"Exactly. They can't depend on us, because we may not always be there. I'm 100% sure that you're father wouldn't have let them die," Jewel said.

"I'm sure that he wouldn't have let us die, them not so much," Summer responded.

Jewel kissed the top of her head. "We do what we have to do, that's how we are still standing. We'll teach them, and I just wished we had more time to do it, so I knew that I could trust them to make sure you and our family come back alive," she told her. "Now you have a job to do, don't you?"

"Yes ma'am," Summer answered as she started to walk away. She turned and looked at her. "Mom?"

"Yeah?" Jewel asked.

"Thanks," Summer said.

Jewel smiled. "You're always welcome, baby. I love you," she said. "Go on, I want to know that someone is there that I know can clean the weapons correctly."

Rick and Daryl's POV:

Daryl and Morgan waited for Rick at the gate. Daryl took the shovels from Noel's arms as he walked in. "I'll put these away," Daryl told him.

"Thanks," Noel answered as he walked away.

"You two have something to say to me?" Rick asked.

Daryl shrugged. "Figured Morgan did, so I thought I'd stay and try to calm things down if it got bad. I'm used to be the peacekeeper," he said with a smirk.

"I hope both Rick and I are men enough to have a reasonable conversation without it getting heated," Morgan told Daryl.

"Rick?" Daryl asked.

"You can stay, Daryl. There's nothing that you have to say that you can't say in front of Daryl," Rick told him.

Morgan nodded. "You shouldn't have taken that chance," he simply said.

"You shouldn't have came to there rescue," Rick responded.

"I did what I thought was right. I think that your people knew it was right, other wise they wouldn't have jumped in. You jumped it to," Morgan pointed out.

Daryl glanced at Ricks stance. "You really ddin't give any of a choice when you jumped in," Daryl told Morgan. "I get why Rick wanted them to handle it. They don't know the first thing about killing them, the first thing about staying alive. We may not always be there to bail them out."

"But we were there," Morgan said.

"We were," Rick agreed. "We took care of the walkers' for them," he pointed out. "But, what did they learn? What did they do? Nothing. They are in the same position they were before, helpless. Do you really think I would have let anyone die, Morgan? Do you think I would have stood there and let them die? No, I wouldn't have. I wanted them to do something, anything other then back away like cowards. We already know they are cowards, if Abraham and David hadn't been out at the construction site, Francine would have been dead by now. Carter asked for help, I wanted him to do something other then a half hearted attempt to try and hold them off. Two years, Morgan, this has been going on for two years, and they don't even know how to kill one of them," Rick pointed out. "They can't always depend on one of us to bail them out, Morgan. That's not helping them, not in the least. That's just allowing them to stay weak," he told him.

Daryl fixed his bow on his shoulder. "He's right. I know Rick, I respect him. He wouldn't have let them die, he would have stepped in. You stepped in to soon, which made us step in. It's done now, but they still don't know anymore they they did before. We should get inside and tell everyone we can carry guns inside, may want to think about Summer and Joey giving a class to everyone about cleaning weapons. We need to set up self defence classes, for other weapons besides guns, maybe let Rosita, Jewel and Mar do that," he said.

Rick nodded. "Yeah, we don't want to waste bullets if we don't need too," he responded as he looked at Morgan. "I guess I can't convince you to carry a gun, can I?"

"No, Rick, you can't. You don't need to kill, none of you do," Morgan said.

Daryl huffed. "Guess you almost wasn't someone's dinner," he said. "That may make you feel differently," he responded as he walked in.

Jewel nodded at Daryl as she watched Morgan and Rick walk inside. "Heard it didn't go to well out there."

"It was good til the end," Daryl told his sister. "Summer tell you?"

"Yeah, she had a problem with what happened. You?" Jewel asked her brother.

"It went the way it needed to go, I understood where Rick was coming from," Daryl answered as Rick and Morgan came up.

Jewel kissed Rick. "Summer said there was a run in with walkers'?" she asked.

"There was," Rick answered. "I should go talk with her."

"It's alright, I talked with her, she gets it," Jewel answered. "What else went on?"

"Deanna say anything when she came in?" Rick asked.

"No, she went right passed us. When Spenser came in, Quinn went up to the house with him. Why?" Jewel asked.

"She said we could carry weapons inside the gates," Rick told her.

Jewel nodded. "Good, that's good," she responded. "We need to be protected. Maybe talk to Rosita, Michonne and Mar about weapon training with other weapons," she said.

Daryl gave a small laugh. "We were thinking Rosita, Mar and you. I mean you can throw a knife and hold a baby, don't think there's anyone else they should be learning from."

"I think Rosita, Michonne and Mar would do better then I would training these people. Beth and Maggie too," Jewel responded.

"Why do you think so little about your abilities?" Morgan asked.

Jewel glared at him. "It's not that I don't trust my abilities, I don't trust myself from throwing a knife in one of there heads," she responded to Morgan. "As you can imagine, Morgan, I am quite busy trying to make sure my children don't die. I'm trying to make sure that I know where everyone is so they don't die. I also want to be out there with all of you, but I know I need to be in here. I'm worrying that one of them is going to get someone I love killed, or worse, you get someone I love killed because you won't kill people. The fact is that people are worse then walkers'. You forget how dangerous they can be, and when you think they can't get any worse, they surprise you. I'm struggling to keep my sanity, we all are. I can't decide about you yet," she told him.

Morgan looked at Rick and Daryl then at her. "What do you mean?"

"I can't decide if you've lost your sanity, or if you seriously think you can live in this world without killing. And if that's the case, then you are more dangerous then the people who don't know how to defend themselves," Jewel told him.

"I'm not your enemy, Jewel," Morgan pointed out.

"Enemy no, dangerous to the safety of the ones I love? Now that's a whole different story," Jewel told Morgan. "We should go tell everyone we can carry weapons," she said as she walked away.

Morgan looked at the two men. "Is she always so intense?"

Rick smirked. "Yes especially when she is protecting those she loves. I wouldn't change her for the world," he said as he went to follow her.