Emma turned up at the motel, a little later than she usually would be. Like Alex, Norma had insisted that Emma stayed with them for the night. It was really rather late when they were all finished up and ready to go, so she didn't want her going home alone at that time of night. She'd stayed up watching some TV with Dylan, and ended up falling asleep on him.
Pulling her oxygen tank along with her, she was about to head inside the office when she almost collided with Alex as he was heading out of there. And with a smile on his face, too. "Good morning Sheriff Romero." Emma said sweetly, looking at him. "Feeling any better?" she asked, nodding towards his injury.
"Ah-you know." Alex lifted the sling up slightly. "It's gradually healing up." he nodded. "And you, how are you?"
"Eh." she shrugged, smiling sadly. "Good as i'll ever be, I suppose."
He frowned slightly, looking at her. "You take good care of yourself, okay?" he said with a small smile, gently squeezing her shoulder. He heard his phone ringing, and pulled it out of his pocket. "See you around Emma." He said, waving her off as he walked off to answer the call.
Emma smiled fondly, looking back at him. She was glad, at least, that she had all these nice people around her. The last thing she'd want to do in the time she had left was to be surrounded by horrible people. Sure, she never used to feel like she was a part of their family...but after the dinner last night, that changed. She shook her head slightly, realizing she was getting distracted with her thoughts and walked inside the office. When she walked in, she saw Norma at the front desk. The look on her face was a big smile, almost matching what Alex's was like actually. "Morning Norma, it's nice to see you smiling." she said as she walked past her on the way to the back room. "It wouldn't have anything to do with Sheriff Romero, would it?" she shouted from the back, sitting down at her own little desk.
Norma jumped slightly as Emma walked in, snapping out of her daydream. "Oh...good morning Emma. You're-" she was going to mention that Emma was late, but she let it slip. After all, it's not like they'd been swarming with customers anyways. In fact it was the complete opposite. She was about to go back to her paperwork, when she heard Emma's comment from the back. Her eyes widened, and she quickly covered her tracks. "Alex? Oh-no, no."
"Ah.." Emma pulled an amused smile as she heard Norma's failure of a cover up. "It's just, he seemed to have the same stupid grin on his face."
"Wait, he did?" Norma said, sounding way more happy about that than she should've done. "I mean...oh." she nodded, biting her lip as she tried to come up with something. "It must just be this beautiful day-" she trailed off, looking outside at the clear blue sky and sunshine. "-It must have put everyone in a good mood."
"Riiight." Emma said, not entirely convinced. The two of them seemed to be getting closer, she'd noticed that. Especially last night, giving each other little glances across the table. She wasn't stupid, there was something going on. And she was betting on it being that they both liked each other, but both of them were way too stubborn to say anything to the other. Yup, sounded like them.
Norma picked up the coffee pot, pouring herself a cup of coffee. She looked over at Emma. "Coffee?" she offered.
"Sure, thanks." Emma smiled over at her, nodding.
Norma poured another coffee for Emma, bringing both cups over into the back room. She placed Emma's in front of her, sitting down with her own and taking a sip.
"So-" Emma grabbed the handle of the coffee cup, slowly dragging it over to her. "Is this a 'coffee and a chat' type situation? It feels like it." she asked curiously as she took a sip of her coffee.
"Mmm, well. I think both of us have a lot to get off our chests. So, we can sit here in silence and enjoy the coffee...or we can talk." she said with a small smile.
"And what is it you're assuming I want to talk about?" Emma asked, slightly confused.
"Your involvement with my son." Norma stated, taking another sip of her coffee.
"Norman? Oh, Norma...you see I-" Emma began, before getting interrupted.
"Oh I wasn't talking about Norman, dear. Oh no." Norma shook her head, placing her cup back down. "I was talking about Dylan. You like him, don't you?" she tilted her head.
Emma started to panic slightly, wondering what Norma was going to say to her. Was she mad? The last thing she wanted to to was to make her mad. "I...well, as a friend, yeah-"
"Emma." Norma interrupted again, putting her hand on top of Emma's. "It's okay. I know you like him. You don't have to hide that from me. What did you think I was going to do?"
Emma was a little shocked by the sudden contact from Norma. She looked at their hands, muttering. "I don't know...I thought maybe, you might get mad." she shrugged.
Norma frowned, squeezing her hand slightly. "I could never be mad at you, you don't have to worry about that. Look, I know that Norman isn't exactly....well, boyfriend material...shall we say. He isn't well right now, and I don't think that's good for you to have to watch." she said, looking at her. "But Dylan, he's a very sweet boy. He cares about you, I know he does. You deserve that, Emma, you really do."
A small smile played on Emma's lips, and she pulled her hand away from Norma's to give her a hug instead. "Thank you Norma.." She closed her eyes, hugging her tightly. "You deserve someone who cares about you too, which is why--"
Norma hugged Emma back, rubbing her back softly. She smiled, opening her mouth to say something but stopping as she heard the crushing of the gravel on the driveway. She didn't think anything of it until she recognised the car registration number. It was Bob Paris, or his men at least. He was too much of a coward to come after her himself. She quickly pulled away from Emma, taking her hands and pulling her up. "Emma, you have to go. Now."
"No! Norma, you can't just change the subject every time I bring up Alex!" Emma protested, thinking that was Norma's reason for shooing her away.
"It's not that, look...I can't explain right now but you just need to go...I mean it. Whoever you see outside you do not go up to them, and you run far away from them okay? Dylan's gone to the farm, so you go drive and you find him. Quickly." Norma spoke in a panicked voice, gently pushing her towards the exit.
"Okay, okay....I'm going." Emma said, slightly confused, but the panic in Norma's voice made her want to listen. She walked out, going straight to her car quickly without giving a second glance to the men in the car. She got in and drove away, heading for the farm.
