All Nightmare Long

Chapter 512

Author's Note: Mitch is bugging me. He's not happy with Rick and his whole do nothing attitude, kind of like Carl, Teenage boys, well teenagers in general can be pains, especially when dealing with family. I'm changing Mitch from Benjamin Stockholm to Maxim Knight from Falling Skies, effective this chapter. Please review.

Team Family (Alexandria):

Mitch sat silently at the counter at breakfast time with the rest of the family that was still there. He put down his fork and sighed. "Why are we sitting here?" he questioned.

Jewel glanced at Rick then at Mitch. "We're eating breakfast, as a family," Jewel answered.

"Like we always do," Mar added.

"But it's not just like always, is it?" Mitch asked.

"Mitch," Mar warned.

"He's right, it's not," Rosita hissed as she pushed her plate away.

"Why are we just sitting here, doing nothing?" Mitch demanded.

"There's nothing we can do," Rick answered.

"So that's it? We just wait around like sitting ducks?" Mitch asked.

"Mitch, that's enough!" Mar reprimanded.

"He's right, we are just sitting duck's. He's going to be here in a few days, and we're doing nothing," Carl interjected.

"We need to let things calm down first, go from there. Emotions are still running high," Michonne said.

"While he's doing whatever the hell he likes to dad?" Mitch angrily asked.

"Mitch, that's enough! Go upstairs," Mar instructed. She sighed as he left.

"Should I go try to talk to him?" Mika questioned.

Jewel shook her head. "No, finish eating."

"Rick, I'm sorry," Mar said. "I'll go talk with him."

Rick stood up. "You have nothing to be sorry for, I'll go talk with him," Rick said as he got up.

"Well, I guess the rest of us can stop pretending to eat," Jes said as she looked at Jewel.

"Yeah, go on," Jewel answered. She sighed as she watched everyone depart but Carl and Mika.

Mika glanced between the two of them. "I'm just going to see if I can help Lexi with anything," she told them as she scurried off.

Jewel looked at Carl. "I wash you dry?" she questioned.

"Yeah," Carl answered.

"You want to add something to what Mitch said?" Jewel asked as she cleared the table.

"You know he's right," Carl said as he helped her clear.

Jewel took a breath. "I know that right now, we aren't in any position to mount an attack on him. We don't know where his base is, we don't know how many people he has. Look at how many of them we already killed, and how many was out there with him."

"Are you giving up? Letting him win? Doing whatever he wants to with Daryl?" Carl questioned.

Jewel lowered her head and took a breath. "First, I'm not giving up, never. Are we clear?" she asked.

"Yes," Carl answered.

"Secondly, right now, he's won. He killed Glenn and Abraham, he threatened you, he hurt Summer, and he has Daryl. Threatening you and Summer, that was to break your father and I down, more your father. Your father and I would die for any of you, you know that. If it had been Lexi, I would have done the same," she said as she put her hand on his shoulder. Right now, your father is going to do everything he can to insure that no one else dies. I respect that," Jewel told her son.

"But,"Carl started to interrupt.

"I wasn't done yet, Carl. I respect that because he can't imagine something happening to you, or Summer, or Judith, Hope, Mika," Jewel explained. "And right now, that's the only ting he can think about, what Negan almost had him do to you. He can't see past that, it's to fresh. And fighting back right now, would endanger Daryl. I get all that, I do. Right now, I'm going to support your father, because that's my job. But I am also going to be working on how to fight back. I need you to know that I'm not just giving up, alright? We're all hurting, and I don't know how Summer is, I don't know how Maggie and the baby is. Or where Morgan and Carol are. And I can only imagine what Daryl is going thorough, and the hate that I feel for Negan, that's the only thing that's keeping me from breaking down completely. I'm using that hatred to keep me focused on doing what I need to do. Glenn counted on me to always be the calm one, and I am trying. I really am," she told her son.

Carl squeezed her hand. "I'll try to help,but I don't agree with just sitting around doing nothing,"Carl told her.

"Neither do I, but right now we don't have a choice," Jewel said.

Jes, Mar and Michonne's POV:

Jes leaned against the porch railing. "Well that was interesting."

Mar sighed. "He said what we were thinking. At least what I was thinking," she told them.

"I'm thinking it," Jes said as she glanced at Michonne. "But we weren't there," she added.

"I was there and I'm thinking it," Michonne told them. "This isn't Terminus, or the Governor we're dealing with."

"I've seen some of his numbers, she's right. We can't do it on our own," Jes stated.

"So, Mitch is right? We're sitting ducks?" Mar asked. "There's nothing we can do to save Daryl? He's probably dead already."

Jes shook his head. "Joey said Negan said he liked him, right Michonne?"

"Yeah, he tried to fight back, end it,"Michonne answered.

"Why does that matter?" Mar asked.

"He's going to try to get him on his side, turn him into one of is men,"Jes stated.

"Why? Daryl will never turn against us," Mar insisted.

"You know that, I know that, Negan doesn't know that. That's how men like Negan get his people. He takes them from his enemies, try to turn them, offer them big things. They also will use anything to use against them to try to get them to conform. Like he used Carl to get to Rick,"Jes said.

"Jewel's already told me to keep Mitch in the house, not let him know about us,"Mar said.

"Good make sure you do," Jes said.

Rick and Mitch's POV:

Rick sighed as he knocked on Mitch's door. "Mitch, it's Rick."

Mitch sighed as he got up out of bed and opened the door. "I don't want to talk," he said as Rick came in.

"Then listen alright?" Rick asked as he sat down at the desk.

Mitch sighed as he sat down on the bed. "Alright."

"The last thing that Summer said to me before she went to the Hilltop was that if I had listened, none of this would have happened. She was right, I didn't listen to her, and Glenn and Abraham are dead. And Daryl is Negan's hostage. I wish I could take it all back, I wish I had never went into that compound and killed those men. And even though we all agreed to do it, it's on me as the leader. I can't bring them back," Rick told him.

"But, you can rescue dad," Mitch told them.

"If I tried, he might die, others may die, you may die. I would do anything for this family, you know that," Rick said.

"We can't just leave him there, Rick. It's not what we do!" Mitch exclaimed.

Rick ran his hand through his hair. "I know, Mitch. But right now, it's all I can think of to keep everyone safe, including you. I can't lose anyone else, I won't lose anyone else. I'll do what Negan says, and maybe he'll give us Daryl back. It's all I can do right now," he told him. "Trust me alright?"

"We always have,"Mitch told him.