Better Days

Chapter 360

Author's Note: Anyone else devastated by Sunday nights episode? I hope I'm not alone. Jewel wasn't going to be in the line up, she was going to stay at home, but momma bear is screaming at me. If you all saw the episode, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Now Jewel just wants to yell at someone. Review please.

Jewel's POV:

Jewel knocked on Noel's door and waited for him to open it. She tapped her fingers on her hip as he opened the door. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Noel opened the door wider. "Hello to you too Jewel. Why don't we take this inside?"

Jewel pulled him out on the porch and closed the door. "This is the perfect spot as any. I mean you didn't respect my privacy when you went to my husband and talked to him about my drinking problem, a problem which hasn't been a problem in years. So why should I give a damn about making a scene?"

Noel looked at her. "That's exactly why I went to Rick."

Jewel glared at him. "Excuse me? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she questioned.

"You just said it hasn't been a problem, and you know as well as I do, it's always a problem for us. It always should be a problem, so we are aware that it's there. Just because you've not taken a drink in ages, that doesn't mean you've conquered it. What would Jane say?" Noel asked.

Jewel looked at him. "What did you say?"

"Jane was your sponsor, right? Rick mentioned her name. Did I get it wrong?" Noel asked.

Jewel looked at him and shook her head as she sat down on the porch steps. "No...you didn't get it wrong."

"You didn't like me saying her name, did you?" Noel asked as he sat down beside her taking off his glasses.

"You don't know me, and you don't know her. You have no right to say anything about her, or about me," Jewel told him softly.

"Yet when I mentioned her name, you quieted down. Why is that? Is that because she wouldn't like you trying to do this on your own?" Noel questioned her.

"I'm not alone," Jewel answered.

Noel looked at her. "You know exactly what I mean, Jewel. Is it so damn hard for you to accept the fact that someone wants to help you and not have an agenda? How the hell did you ever trust Rick enough to let yourself fall in love with him?"

"I tried to give him back to his ex wife," Jewel admitted.

Noel looked at her. "No?" he questioned.

"Yeah," Jewel answered.

Noel started to laugh. "OK that's funny," he said as he saw her glare at him. "Come on, you don't think that's funny? Looking back on it, you don't find it funny? You obviously changed your mind."

"Obviously," Jewel answered as she rolled her eyes.

"You learned to trust him, you learned to trust all those people that you call family. That's all I'm asking you to do with me, trust me," Noel told her.

"Everyone that we've trusted recently haven't worked out to well," Jewel told him.

"So you're going to hold everyone that you meet responsible for those people? You're never going to trust anyone else again? You obviously had to have some trust in Aaron, Eric and Phoebe to come in here in the first place," Noel pointed out.

"Why do you care? Why is keeping me from drinking so important to you?" Jewel questioned.

"Because there's not a lot of us living and breathing people left. There's even less of us who know how hard it is to be sober, to stay sober. I apologize that I went to Rick with this, but you didn't seem to interested in listening to me. I know you are fine now, but can you say that is going to remain the case? It may take just one more thing to break you, or it may be twenty things, or it may never be anything. But you shouldn't have to do it alone if you get the urge to take a drink. You don't have to do it alone if you don't need to," Noel told her. "I know you feel like you need to be strong for everyone else, but sometimes even the strongest branch needs support," Noel told her.

Jewel gave a small smile. "That sounds like something Jane would have said," Jewel admitted. "I appreciate that you are concerned, and I appreciate that, I really do. But I don't have the time to think about picking up a drink. These people outweigh any desire that I have to pick up a bottle."

"Have you been tempted?" Noel questioned her.

"Ever?" Jewel asked.

"The past two years, being out there, doing the things you've had to do," Noel said.

Jewel sighed. "I'd be lying if I said no, as you know the temptation is always there. I'm not stupid to know that I'm never going to be tempted. It's a disease, and I haven't forgotten that. I've picked up a bottle, after I found Jane as a walker. I couldn't put her down, Rick had to do it for me. i found a bottle in the clinic, and I took it. It was just a little bottle, but it was still a bottle. I had Rick take it. I recognized the reason that I took it, the reason I wanted it. And I also recognized how much danger it would put my family in, put me in, if I managed to take that drink," she explained.

"See we're having a impromptu meeting, on the front porch of my house," Noel said with a smirk.

Jewel shook her head. "I promise you that I will come and tell you if I am tempted or wanting a to take a drink and that's all I can promise you right now," Jewel answered.

"That's all I wanted to hear," Noel told her.

"I expect you to do the same," Jewel said as she stood up. "Thank you," she said as she walked away.

Quinn's POV:

Gus looked out on the street as he saw Carter and Spenser walking out of the pantry with Carter holding his nose. "Quinn, something happened," he yelled inside the door.

Quinn came out and looked at him. "What?" she asked.

Gus nodded to Spenser and Carter walking down the street. "He's holding a bloody rag in his hand up to his nose."

Quinn sighed as she walked down the steps. "What the hell did you do, Carter?"

Carter looked at her. "Why do you assume it's me?"

Quinn glared at him. "You're holding your nose, it's bleeding and I don't think you ran into the wall. So what the hell did you do? Spenser? What happened?"

Spenser looked at Carter. "You need to tell her. She's going to find out one way or another, and she has a right to know."

"Carter, didn't Rick go into the pantry a while ago?" Gus asked.

Quinn looked at him. "Did Rick do this? What did you do to provoke him?"

"Why do you think I did anything to provoke getting hit in the nose by Rick or anyone else?" Carter asked.

"Because otherwise he wouldn't have hit you in the nose," Quinn told him.

"He didn't do it, Jewel did," Spenser said as Carter gave him a betrayed look. "What? I don't condone what you did."

"Jewel hit you? Carter, what did you do? I have a right to know, mom has a right to know," Quinn told him.

"I want to take this town back from Rick and his group," Carter admitted.

"Rick isn't in control of this town, mom is," Quinn informed him.

"No she isn't, Quinn. She lost all control of this town the moment they walked into this town, even if she didn't know it," Carter said.

Gus crossed his arms. "So you tried to get people to side with you?" he asked as he glanced at Spenser. "You were going to side against your mom, against your sister, with him?" he asked.

"No, we didn't agree with him, we were trying to talk him out of it," Spenser said.

"Obviously he didn't listen if he got his face punched, looks like his nose might be broken. So Rick and Jewel came in and overheard it? Is that why you got punched by her?" she asked as she caught Spenser's guilty look. "OK damn it, we've got dead ones outside waiting to take out this town, mom is grieving dad and Aiden, and I'm trying to help her by keeping it all together, so I need one of you to tell me what happened. If Jewel punched you Carter, it has to be something more then trying to take over the town. She wouldn't have hit you for just that," she reasoned.

"Eugene and Mika came in, they overheard, Carter pointed a gun at them," Spenser told them.

Gus ran his hand over his face. "Shit, Carter. Really?"

"You held a gun on a ten year old? And you're still alive? I have to congratulate Jewel on her self restraint, because if you held a gun to one of my girls, I'm not sure if only a broken nose would have been your only injury," Quinn admitted. "What possessed you to do something so incredibly stupid?"

"They are going to get us killed," Carter pointed out. "They've already got some of us killed. Aiden, your dad, Pete," he reminded her.

Gus looked at him. "You were the one that was holding the gun on a ten year old, and you're worried about Rick being dangerous?"

"Aiden got himself killed, Nicholas got Noah killed, Pete killed dad, Rick killed Pete. And, don't you think you're off the hook Spenser. Carter, back off, keep your mouth shut and listen to Rick and his people. Nicholas not listening and panicking is what got Noah killed. I don't want to hear you doing anything like that ever again. I will exile you, Carter. I'm not going to condone you holding a gun to anybody, especially a ten year old. Spenser, you need to tell mom about this. Carter, get off my porch, go to the infirmary and get the nose checked out," Quinn said as seh went inside slamming the door behind her, leaving the three men to stare after her.