All Nightmare Long

Chapter 443

Author's Note: I've been anxiously awaiting this chapter for a while. It shows Summer really coming into her own and not agreeing with going after Negan. I always blamed Rick setting this in motion but after rewatching the episode it was actually Daryl and poor Maggie when she says it's going to cost them something, knowing that poor Glenn is going to get it. Picking right up where we left off. I know I was going to go check on Alexandria, but maybe next chapter. And Jewel will be getting her time with Gregory. She is so looking forward to it. Please review, it means a lot.

Group POV:

Andy looked up from the ground with Joey still over him with a gun and looked at Rick. "You killed Ethan!"

Rick looked at him. "He tried to kill Gregory than me," he pointed out.

Jewel and Michonne both glanced over at Crystal, who was running toward Rick. Jewel swung around and punched her, knocking her down. "Michonne," she said as she nodded toward her.

Michonne looked at the other woman and stood over her. "Don't move," she warned.

The man who was on guard when they came in, came up with a sword, followed by a red head in a kilt. "Drop it now!"

"Summer?" Archie asked.

Summer pointed her bow at him. "It's good to see you again, Archie, but if you don't put down that sword, I'm going to have to fire this at you," she warned.

"She won't be the only one," Joey said as he pointed the gun at him.

"Put it down!" Kal ordered.

"I don't think I will," Rick growled.

"Seriously, look around, do you think you even have a half a chance of overtaking us?" Jes questioned.

Jesus got up from helping Gregory and ran to the middle of them as he put his arms out. "Everyone this is over. It's over," he repeated. "Ethan was our friend but let's not pretend he was anything more than a coward who attacked us. He did this, and these people stopped him," he pointed out.

"And we'll stop all of you before you even have a chance to make a move," Jes warned.

"Jes," Jewel said as she lowered her gun and looked at Rick and nodded.

"What can I do?" Rick asked.

"Put the gun away. You've done enough, you need to know that things aren't as simple as they might seem. Just give me some time," Jesus said.

Jewel looked at Rick. "You OK?" she questioned.

"Yeah, I'm good," Rick answered.

Jewel glanced back at Gregory with the Doctor. "I'm going to go help the Doctor with Gregory, put a good front on," she said as she squeezed his hand. "I'll meet you guys downstairs, in a bit," she said as she walked into the house.

Jewel's POV:

Jewel went to the other side of Gregory on the steps and helped the doctor with him upstairs. "May I be of some assistance Dr. Carson?"

Gregory looked at her. "Why would he need someone's like yours help?" he asked.

"Someone like me?" Jewel asked. "You know what, don't answer that, because I wasn't talking to you Gregory. If I had been talking to you, I would have said may I be of assistance Gregory, but I didn't," she said as Dr. Carson opened the door. "I was an emergency room nurse before all this," she explained as she pulled down the bed. "I wanted to thank you personally Dr. Carson for taking care of Summer when she was injured," she said as she helped Gregory to the bed.

"I wish I could have got her to stay longer, to make sure her leg was completley healed, but she was insistent," Dr. Carson answered.

"It's a family trait," Jewel said as she took off Gregory's shirt. "It could have been worse," said as she inspected the wound.

"Worse? I've been stabbed for God's sake, Natalie," Gregory pointed out.

Jewel pressed down on the outer edges of the wound, causing him to hiss. "You're still alive. You're lucky that dick head didn't know how to use a knife properly, otherwise he could have really done some damage, or killed you. If it had been me, the wound would just be a little over to the side and you would be slowly bleeding out. Now, my name is Jewel," she told him as she stood up letting the doctor take up.

"It would be nice to have a nurse around here," Dr. Carson said.

"Sorry, where Rick goes, I go. Plus, I've got little people back at home," Jewel said as he worked on the wound. He looked up as a knock came on the door, Jesus and a younger teenage girl came in. "Come in," he said.

"Uncle Gregory, are you alright? Why would Ethan do something like that?" Raina asked as she stood by the bed.

Jewel didn't give Gregory time to answer before she did. "He was trying to save his brother," she explained. She looked at Jesus. "I don't think he was being a coward, he was trying to save his brother. I don't agree with how he went about it, but I understand it. My oldest brother died saving me, I would die for Daryl and vice versa. If you could have died for your brother, would you have? Would you have died so he could live?" she asked Gregory but didn't wait for an answer. "When someone's life is in danger that you love, you don't think, you do anything to save them, no matter what. We saved you because it was the right thing to do, but I'm not sure if I wouldn't do the same thing if it was Daryl was in danger. And if one of my children were in danger, I would kill anyone to save them," she explained. "Until you are in that position, you can't say what you would or wouldn't do. I mean I guess if you were out to save your own hide, and didn't care about anyone around you, you would protect yourself by putting others in danger, but I'm sure that no one here is like that," she said as she looked at Gregory.

Gregory cleared his throat and managed to look at the Doctor as he swallowed pills. "So what's the verdict?" he asked the doctor.

"You'll be in pain for a while, but Jewel is right, it could have been worse, far worse," Dr. Carson answered.

Jesus looked at Raina. "Stay with him?" he asked.

"Of course," Raina answered.

Jesus looked at Jewel. "You ready? I owe you all an explanation," he said.

"You do," Jewel said as she walked out of the room with him.

"I can see where Summer gets her tenaciousness from," Jesus told her.

"Another Dixon trait. I raised my daughter not to pull any punches," Jewel said as she walked down the stairs with him.

Jesus opened the door to Gregory's office, letting Jewel in. She went and leaned against the desk as he came in. "Doctor Carson was able to patch Gregory up. He's in pain but he'll live,"he told them.

"He's on some good pain medicine, that'll make things easier," Jewel added.

"So what happens now?" Glenn questioned.

"Things like that don't usually happen here, but ah, it's settled," Jesus replied.

"Is it?" Summer asked. "This is my second time here, and another dead body is associated with Negan," she said.

"We heard the name Negan a while back. Daryl and Abraham had a run in with his men. Summer said when she was here, he came with a group of men. When we found her, she was having a stand off with one of his men. Who is he?" Rick asked.

"Negan is the head of a group of people he calls the saviors. As soon as the walls were built, the savior's showed up. They met with Gregory on behalf of there boss. He made a lot of demands, even more threats, and he killed one of us, Rory. He was sixteen years old, he beat him to death, right in front of us. Said we needed to understand right off the bat. Gregory's not exactly good at confrontation. He's not the leader I would have chosen, but he helped make this place, what it is and the people like him," Jesus said.

"One of the people just tried to kill him, so I would argue with that statement," Jes said.

"He made the deal," Maggie said.

"Half of everything, our supplies, our crops, our livestock, it goes to the the savior's," Jesus said.

"Well, what do you get in return?" Glenn questioned.

"They don't attack this place, they don't kill us," Jesus said.

"But they aren't holding up to the deal, are they?" Summer said. "He came here, in person, with his men, and he used his bat and put a man on his knees, and beat him senseless, and smiled while he did it. And why? Because he was outside, and trying to get information on him?" she asked.

"There's more to it than that," Jesus said.

Jes crossed her arms. "Then explain it," she demanded.

"He was an ex Sgt, he thought he could get some information on the Savior's, make a plan, see how many people they actually had. He did it with out telling anyone," Jesus said.

"So is that a reason for him to be killed? It sounds like he was actually trying to do something, to make a difference for this community," Joey informed him.

"From what I've seen of Gregory, he wouldn't have backed any plan, even if this guy went to him," Jewel said.

"Why don't you just kill them?" Daryl questioned.

"Most of the people here don't even know how to fight, even if we had ammo," Jesus said.

"Well how many people does Negan have" Rick questioned.

"We don't know, we've seen groups as big as twenty," Jesus answered.

"Hold up. So they show up, kill a kid and you give them half of everything? These dicks just got a good story. Boogie man he aint shit," Daryl said.

"Well how do you know?" Jesus asked.

"A month ago, we took these guys out PDQ, left them in pieces in puddles," Abe said.

"But I've seen this boogie man," Summer said.

"Could it be some sort of act?" Jes questioned.

"You can't act that diabolical," Summer said.

"Yeah, we'll do it. If we go get your man back, kill Negan, take out his boys, will you hook us up? We want food, medicine and one of them cows," Daryl said.

"Confrontations never been something we've had trouble with," Rick said.

"I'll take it to Gregory," Jesus said as he walked out.

Summer shook her head. "We shouldn't be doing this, we shouldn't be getting involved," she said.

"You aint ever been one to back down from a fight," Daryl told her.

"I've seen what Negan can do, and I don't think we need to be drawing attention to ourselves," she said.