All Nightmare Long

Chapter 505

Author's Note: I should be checking on Carol, but Jewel and Jes are both fussing at me. Demanding people that they are. So we're going to go to Alexandria, and check on things there. I'm thinking that someone is going to take Rick's place on the bridge, so we can have someone to follow when the movies and give someone heartache. I just don't know who. Please review.

Jes and Joey's POV:

Jes walked into the house she shared with Glenn, Maggie, Axel, Beth and Joey. She took a breath as she saw Joey sitting at the counter. "Joey," she said as she went up to him. "Those eggs look like you cooked them a while ago."

Joey didn't say a word as he played with the eggs on his plate.

Jes sat down on the other stool. "You want to talk about it?"

"They killed Glenn and Abraham," he answered without looking up.

"Jewel and Aaron told me," Jes informed him. "If I could have been there, maybe I could have stopped him. Jewel told me that I would have gotten myself killed, along with Abraham."

"He would have saw you as a threat," Joey told her. "Rick's not going to fight, Negan targeted Carl and Summer," he told her.

"Jewel told me. Until he is, then the rest of us has to do what we can," Jes told him.

Joey turned and looked at her. "You weren't there, you didn't see how he broke Rick down. I don't think he's going to ever be ready to fight"

"What about you?" Jes asked.

"What do you mean?" Joey asked.

"Will you be ready to fight? You were there, you went through the same thing. Summer is hurt, and she's at Hilltop, and Daryl is missing, and there's nothing we can do right now. And it bothers you, hell it bothers me," she told him. "But I can't do anything right now because I have not been able to observe Negan and his men. They are bullies, Negan is nothing more than a dictator and dictator's fall. They always have, and they always will. But each one is taken down differently," Jes said.

"Are you going to tell Rick this? Are you going to tell him that Negan can be taken down without anyone else dying?" Joey asked.

"I'm not going to tell him that no one is going to die, I can't tell him that. You didn't answer my question, will you be ready to fight?" Jes asked. "If we were able to fight right now, would you do it? What you saw, the image of Abraham and Glenn, the anger you feel for him taking Daryl, that is the fire that you are going to need to fight when we are ready."

"I'm ready to fight now," Joey said.

Jes shook her head. "No you aren't. You're angry, I give you that, but that is the wrong kind of anger. That kind. of anger is the kind that gets you killed," she said. "I'm going to go find Rick," she said as she stood up. "You should try to eat something, other than cold eggs."

Joey looked at her. "He's not going you want to talk to you, he's not going to want to talk to anyone right now."

"What makes you think he has a choice?" Jes questioned as she got up and left.

Jewel POV:

Jewel leaned back on a table in the pantry and looked at the bottle of booze in front of her, wanting nothing more to reach out and down the whole bottle but knew it wouldn't make things better, but only worse.

"I know that look, that's the look of someone wanting to make a deal with the devil for a day,"Noel said as he walked in.

"I saw the devil yesterday, and he doesn't make deals," Jewel said.

"You thinking about opening that?" Noel asked as he nodded toward the bottle.

"There's a reason it's over there and I'm over there," Jewel stated.

"How tempted are you?" Noel asked.

Jewel arched an eyebrow and looked at him. "Is this some kind of AA meeting?"

"It can be if you want it to be, or it can be an intervention. I can take the bottle away, out of your sight," Noel offered.

"You know if I really want it, I'd find another bottle," Jewel said. "And if I really wanted it, I would have drunk the whole bottle already."

Noel nodded. "So this is what? A stare down? It's a little unfair don't you think? The bottle doesn't have eyes," he teased softly.

Jewel glanced at him. "If this is a pep talk, you really suck at it."

Noel shrugged. "You are going to do whatever you want to do, you know that. All I can do is be support so you don't take that drink."

"It's tempting but it's not going to fix anything. And I swear if you say it only makes things worse, I may hit you," she warned.

Noel raised his hand. "Do you want to talk about what happened out there? Maybe it'll make you feel better?"

"It won't," Jewel answered.

"Neither did Aaron when I saw him, and Rick hasn't been out of the house. Aaron said that Glenn and Abraham are dead," Noel told her.

"They are. They were murdered, horribly. No one deserves a death like that," Jewel told him.

"And Daryl? Summer? Maggie? Sasha? Beth?" Noel asked.

"Negan took Daryl. Summer was hurt, Maggie needed to get to Hilltop, Sasha and Beth went with them," Jewel informed him. "I'm going to go back home."

Noel nodded walking out with her.

Jes and Rick's POV:

Jes walked into Rick's house and went upstairs. She leaned against the door as she watched him with Judith. "Hey Officer Friendly, got a minute?"

Rick looked at her then kissed Judith's head and put her down in the crib. "I thought Officer Friendly died with Merle."

"Thought you might need to be reminded of who you are," she said as he walked out of the room and closed the door.

"I'm not going to fight Negan. He's to big, he's got to many people," Rick told her. "I'm not risking losing anyone else."

Jes looked at him. "So what you think by getting him what you want, he'll not hurt anyone else? He'll be nice and polite? It doesn't work that way."

"You weren't there, you didn't see what he did, what he almost made me do," Rick told her.

"You're right, I wasn't. I've been told by a few people that I would have been killed along with Abraham. Look Rick, you can bow, you can give him everything he wants but he is always going to want more. That's what men like him do," Jes told him.

"He's got Daryl," Rick reminded her.

"Yeah he does. And if Merle was here, he would kick your ass for leaving him being taken. But, I am a little bit more understanding. But how long do you think Jewel is going to sit on her ass and let this go? Just remember you aren't alone, Officer Friendly, you never were," Jes told him as she walked out.