All Nightmare Long

Chapter 566

Author's Note: Another chapter for you all. Jewel and Rick need a little bit of chat between them. I think I'm going to have Mar stay with Daryl. Please review.

Jewel and Rick's POV:

Jewel stood on the porch of the building they were put up at the night before and turned her head slightly as Rick came out. "You didn't sleep much, Mr. Grimes," she said as he came out and kissed her.

"I could say the same about you Mrs. Grimes," Rick responded. "I was thinking," he added.

"I'm going to need you to be a little bit clearer about what you were thinking about. There's a lot to think about," Jewel told him.

"Daryl," Rick said.

Jewel nodded. "He can't go back to Alexandria," she said as she looked out at the Kingdom.

Rick gave a small laugh. "I should stop being surprised that we are on the same wavelength," he told her. "He's not going to like it."

"I don't like it, but it's going to be the first place that Negan is going to look for him, the Hilltop being the second," Jewel said.

"We could ask The King," Rick said as he rolled his eyes.

Jewel laughed as she shook her head. "He has a tiger, a living breathing tiger. I swear everyone has a gimmick now a days," she stated.

"So, we'll ask Ezekiel, then talk with Daryl," Rick suggested.

"Mar should stay with him. It'll make it easier for Daryl to have someone with him, plus Negan doesn't know that they are together, and I'd rather keep it that way," Jewel pointed out. "Mitch is going to want to stay too."

"As much as I want him too, he can't. If Negan comes looking for Daryl and Mitch isn't there," Rick started to say.

"I know, but you know that I'm not going to let him take Mitch, it's not going to happen," Jewel informed him.

Rick squeezed her hand. "We're not going to let it happen. We're not," he assured her as he kissed her.

Jewel nodded. "Do you think King Ezekiel is going to join us?"

"It can go either way," Rick surmised.

"Your story was inspiring, I expect you to tell the girls that story when they get older," Jewel told him.

"I was planning on it," Rick said as he kissed her. He pulled back as he saw Richard approach them.

"The King is ready to see you now," Richard told them.

Jewel nodded, going and opening the door. "It's time," she told the group.

"Not a big one on words, are you?" Richard questioned.

"Don't need them," Jewel answered as she stepped off the porch as the others came out. "They understood," she said as she hugged Carl and nodded at the others. They followed Richard to where the King was watching his people.

"This is life here, every day," Ezekiel stated as he watched two girls fire bows. "But it came at a cost. I wanted more of this. I wanted to expand. Create more places like this. Men and women lost their limbs, children lost there parents, because I sent them into battle against the waisted when I did not need to," he told them.

"This is different," Rick told him.

"It isn't," Ezekiel answered.

"It is," Rick responded. "The dead don't rule us. The world doesn't look like this outside your walls. People don't have it as good, some people don't have it good at all," he told the other man.

"We know all about hardships, all about kids without parents. Our son lost his eye, yet he is still willing to fight. Mitch lost both of his brothers near the beginning, found two amazing people that became his parents, probably better than he had it before. Rick and I are raising a girl, Mika, who lost her father and older sister, she is our daughter now. Mika would be here, ready to fight if she wasn't home helping with her baby sisters. We've all lost to the dead, and we've lost to the living. What you have built, it's amazing, but it doesn't mean a damn thing if Negan takes half of it, hell more than half," Jewel told him.

"I have to worry about my people," Ezekiel answered.

Rick sighed as he turned and walked away.

"You call yourself a damn King, you sure as hell don't act like one," Daryl told him.

"All of this came at a cost. It was lives, arms, legs. The peace we have with the Savior's is uneasy, but it is peace," Ezekiel told Rick and Jewel. "I have to hold on to it. I have to try. Although the Kingdom can not grant you the aid that you desire, the King is sympathetic to your plight. I offer our friend Daryl asylum for as long as he requires it. He will be safe here," the King assured. "The Savior's do not set foot inside our walls."

"How long do you think that's going to last?" Daryl questioned before he walked away.

"We appreciate your offer; we don't want him to stay alone. We ask that Mar be allowed to stay with him," Jewel questioned as Ezekiel nodded.

"I want to stay too," Mitch interrupted.

"Mitch," Mar stated. "We'll talk about it," she said as they started off after Daryl, the others following him.

"Well that worked out well," Lexi grumbled as she walked beside Sasha.

Sasha nodded as she walked nearer to Rosita. "I knew what was coming. I knew that King guy would say no, but it still pissed me off."

"Why the hell you telling me for?" Rosita questioned. "We both had sex with the same dead guy, doesn't make us friends."

"Would you two stop?" Lexi questioned as she rolled her eyes. "We're family, and I know what happened with Abraham sucked Rosita, but he did it. And Sasha, she has a right to be mad. But you both lost, we all lost Abraham and Glenn," she told the two older women as she walked away.

Rick looked at Morgan. "You can change his mind, but you won't," he told Morgan.

"You can stay, we can talk," Morgan told him.

"We have to get back home, Negan will be coming and looking for Daryl," Jewel stated.

"How many people do we have?" Richard asked as he came up beside them. "To fight, I'll go with you."

"While we appreciate your willingness to fight with us, you're just one person. And we need more," Jewel said.

"She's right, we don't even have enough to take on one outpost, face to face yet," Rick said.

"So, the Kingdom has to get involved, or the Savior's will always be in charge. We're making them stronger, the more food we give them, the more arms, the more everything, every day any of us give them something, they become harder and harder to beat," Richard says.

"And they take people, try to make them part of them. That's what they tried with Daryl," Jewel said.

"Alright, open it up, we're gone," Daryl said.

"You're not," Rick told him as Jewel, Mar, Mitch and himself stopped.

"I'm not staying here," Daryl told them.

"We're staying here, you and me," Mar said.

"You have to, it's the smartest play, you know it," Rick said.

"We don't want it to be this way, you know that Daryl. I don't want you here anymore then you want to be. I want you home, with us, but right now, it can't happen," Jewel told him.

"Try to talk to Ezekiel, or stare him into submission, whatever it takes. We'll be back soon," Rick assured him.

"And I'll be right here. Mitch you have to go with them," Mar said.

"I want to stay," Mitch told them.

"Hey, Mitch, how about you come with me? I'm heading to meet up with Jes," Joey offered. "You can tell Negan when he shows up that he's out on a supply run with me and Jes. Keeps him out of Negan's way, and gives him something to do."

"Yeah that sounds good. What about it Kid?" Mar questioned.

"Fine," Mitch said with a sigh.

"Be good," Daryl said as he hugged Mitch.

"We'll be back," Jewel assured Daryl as she hugged them and walked out of the gate with Rick.