Rick Grimes was looking for his soon to be ex wife and son after he woke up from coma. He found them but he also found thirty year old Jewel Dixon (OC played by Elizabeth Mitchell) the younger sister of fellow survivors Daryl and Merle Dixon. Jewel...
Jewel leaned over the sink in the bathroom and took a breath as she looked at herself in the mirror. She rubbed her stomach as she took a deep breath and straightened up. They had been lucky to find the hotel pretty much cleaned out the way that Rick and the group had left it a couple weeks before they found the prison. Mika had helped her move the dresser in front of the door and they window had already been boarded up. She hoped that some of the group would think to come here. She walked out of the bathroom and found Mika sitting on the bed. "How's the head?"
Mika looked up. "Good, how's the side?"
"A little bruised, but I had a good nurse to help me clean it up," Jewel told her as she winked at her. "I found a brush, sit up and let me brush your hair before we try to get some sleep."
Mika sat up. "How's the baby?"
Jewel sat down behind her. "We're doing alright," she answered.
"I heard you crying. You miss Rick?" Mika questioned.
Jewel started brushing Mika's hair. "I miss them all," she told her.
"I remember Summer saying something about Rick waking up from a coma or something and finding him and his mom when this all started," Mika stated.
"That's right, he joined us in the quarry. He ran into the group when they were in Atlanta, handcuffed Merle to the roof," Jewel stated. "Why?"
"He found Carl once, now he'll find you and the baby. And Summer. He didn't give up then, and he won't give up now," Mika said confidently.
Jewel placed a kiss on Mika's head. "What made you so smart?"
"My mother said that things happen for a reason. We may not understand them, but they do," Mika answered.
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"She was right," Jewel answered. "Sometimes I may forget that, so I'm going to need you to remind me. You think you can do that?"
"I can do that," Mika answered. "You're different then Carol."
Jewel continued to brush her hair. "What do you mean Mika?"
"Carol would get annoyed when I got scared, she said that we needed to learn to fight or we wouldn't survive in this world," Mika answered.
Jewel started braiding her hair. "Mika, Carol loves you very much. Did you know she had a daughter? Sophia?"
Mika shook her head. "No, she never said. Did she get bit?"
Jewel nodded. "Yes, she did. We had been telling Carol that Sophia needed to learn to fight walkers, that she needed to learn to protect herself. She was sweet, a lot like you but she got scared a lot. I don't blame her, it was all new to us. I still get scared, it's alright to be scared. She died before we found the prison. I think, in a way, Carol thinks that if she was stronger, if she taught herself, and then Sophia to fight, she'd still be here. I think that's why she wanted all you kids to learn."
"Do you think she was wrong?" Mika asked as she turned around.
"No, sweetheart, I don't think she was wrong. She did what she thought was right, she did it in a different way then I would have. She did what she thought would keep you alive. Just like I'm going to do. Sometimes we don't like what we have to do, but sometimes those things keep us alive and those we love alive," Jewel said as she kissed the top of Mika's head. "I'm never going to ask you to do something you aren't comfortable with, sweaty."
"But sometimes you have to do what you aren't comfortable with, if that means keeping those we love safe," Mika told her. "I'm going to do my best to keep you and the baby safe."
Jewel smiled. "And I'm going to do the same with you. We're not only trying to find Rick, Carl, Summer, Judith and the others, we're trying to find Lizzie too. I know you miss her."
Mika nodded. "Yeah, sometimes we didn't get along. We're different."
Jewel laughed. "Oh Mika, siblings are different and they disagree. Merle and I...we didn't get along for years, not until after he got back from Woodbury. It took me that long to realize no matter how different we were, how many disagreements we had, how many times he did something idiotic, stupid, and was just a royal pain in my rear end, he was still family. He was still, in the end, someone that I could count on. In this world, that is hard to come by," she said as she kissed the top of her head. "You can't be Lizzie any more then I can be Merle or Daryl. We're all different, we all have our strengths, and that's what makes each of us special and unique. And, I don't ever want you to lose what makes you Mika. That sweet smile, that innocent way of looking at this world. This world is going to need people like you Mika, people that can be strong and soft, people that can see the good in almost everybody."
"But I'm not strong," Mika told her.
Jewel brought her face up to her and met her eyes. "Yes you are Mika. Look at what you did today. The bus crashed, and you saved me. You kept a level head and you knew you had to help me or neither one of us were going to survive. You gathered the food like I said. You helped me get here, you kept an eye out for walkers. You even insisted to come in here and helped me clear out this place. You helped me push that dresser in front of the door. And, you helped me with that old car out there. Tomorrow we're going to get in that old piece of crap and we're going to go as far as it takes us. Then we'll walk. We keep looking until we can't look anymore. We leave clues for everyone. Now a person who isn't strong wouldn't be able to do all that," she said as she hugged her.
"No matter what happens we face it together right?" Mika asked.
"That's right, Mika," Jewel told her. "We should try to get some sleep, it's going to be a long day tomorrow. You got your knife next to you?"
"Yes," Mika answered. "Do you mind if I stay in the bed with you? You know...just in case you get scared."
Jewel tried not to laugh. "I'd love for you to stay in here with me. Just so I don't get scared," she said with a soft smile.
