Despite the fact that it was very late at night, Norma was still sitting in the motel office. She was standing against the wall behind the counter, her hands over her face. She tensed up slightly as car lights flashed up on the window, giving the pitch black room a little bit of light. Her hands started to wrap around the gun she had close to her, but loosened once she realized who it was. Alex. She breathed out a sigh of relief, putting the gun down. She was happy to see him, but why was he here so late? "Alex.." she said as he walked in, frowning at the expression on his face. He looked angry, almost a little bit sad. "What's wrong....why are you here?"
Alex shrugged. "You tell me, Norma. Why am I here? Why do I care about you so much...hmm?"
Norma came from around the desk slowly, looking confused. "I....I don't--Alex, what's going on?"
"Tell me, did you ever even care about me at all? Or I have I always just been that guy that you know you can call when shit gets bad?!" he said in an angry tone, stepping back when she stepped closer to him.
She stood there speechless, not knowing how to answer his questions. "Where the hell is this coming from all of a sudden?"
"And there you go, avoiding my questions." He laughed, shaking his head. "I knew it was too good to be true. Bob was right."
"Wait....Bob?? You were just with Bob, is that what this is all about?" Norma said, slowly starting to put all the pieces together.
"Yeah, yeah I was. Caught you out has he-" Alex was about to continue on yelling, until car lights shone through the window, lighting up the room. And that was when he saw it, a big bruise on her cheek. His expression softened, and he stepped closer to her. "Wait...w-what happened.." he brought his hand up to touch her face, frowning.
"Get off me." Norma said as she slapped his hand away, stepping away from him. "Bob freaking Paris, that's what happened! Do you not get what's going on here?! He knows that you're protecting me, he knows he can't get to me without getting through you first. So what does he do? Let me see, he gets you to meet him at his office, feeding you all this bullshit about me that's supposedly going to keep you away from me. And while that's happening, he has his little minions come here to my motel, demanding for their god damn flash drive back!!" she yelled, her eyes filling with tears.
Alex listened to her, his face falling. Oh crap. Bob had tricked him, and he'd well and truly fallen for it. "But-you don't have the flash drive."
"Oh no....not anymore I don't, you're right there...because they have it. But yes, I did have it...and you know why?! While I was taking care of you after your little drinking session, I took it from you. I took it from you because I didn't want you involved in all of my shit anymore! You'd already been shot because I was too stubborn to give a stupid piece of plastic up, and I knew that the longer you kept the more trouble you got in....so I took it back." She yelled, tears managing to make their way down her face. "You are the one person in this crazy ass town that I trust, yet you decide listen to Bob, of all people, over me." She scoffed and shook her head. "Get out."
Alex watched her as she grew angrier, knowing that she was just getting more upset. He spoke quietly and calmly, trying to calm her down. "But, Norma...I didn't kn-" he began.
Norma stared at him, screaming. "I said GET OUT!!" She pointed to the door.
Alex frowned, nodding and walking out. As he walked out, he passed Emma and Dylan who appeared to have just arrived home. He walked away from them quickly, not allowing them to see him upset. He got into his car and drove straight home.
Emma watched as Alex hurried off, having a bad feeling about this. She went into the office to find a very upset Norma sobbing into her hands. "Hey, hey....sshh.." she pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back. "It's okay." she said reassuringly, even though she didn't have the slightest idea what was going on. She kept hugging her for a while, until Norma calmed down a little. She pulled back from her slightly, keeping her arms around her. "Come on, it's really late...let's get you back up to the house okay?"
Norma relaxed into the hug, just sobbing against her chest until she eventually managed to calm down. If being too tired to cry was a thing, then that's what was going on right now. She nodded at Emma's suggestion, leaning into her side.
Emma started walking with her, rubbing her arm comfortingly as they walked. She looked at Dylan as they passed him, whispering. "Lock up here, i'm gonna take her up to her bed. She's probably too tired to explain whatever has happened, so i'll let her get some rest and maybe she'll tell us in the morning." she placed her set of keys into his hand, holding it for a moment as she saw his worried expression. "I'll look after her, I promise."
Dylan frowned and nodded, stroking Emma's palm with his thumb before letting go of her hand to lock up the office. He had no clue what was going on, but if Alex had said or done something to hurt her...he would gladly kick his ass.
When Emma eventually got Norma up to the house and inside, she helped her to bed and tucked her in. It wasn't until she watched her lying there that she noticed the bruise on her cheek, and her eyes widened. "Oh my god, Norma..." she frowned. "Alex didn't do that, right? He wouldn't do that..."
"Oh god no, no no. It wasn't him." Norma frowned, sniffling and shaking her head.
"But all this...why you're upset, that's because of him, isn't it?" Emma asked, almost certain that this was the case.
Norma nodded, wiping her eyes. "But it's not his fault, not really. I just over-reacted, like I do with everything." she sighed, sinking her head back into the pillow, trying hard to stay awake. "This guy Bob Paris, he tried to convince Alex that i'm using him. That he should stay away from me because I only show affection towards him when I need his help. And he believed him, but it's not true Emma, it's not.." She said, her voice all wobbly like she was about to cry like a baby.
Emma listened to her, thinking. She watched her eyes flutter, almost as if she was fighting to keep them open, as well as the whiny tone in her voice. "Okay wow you need sleep, I can tell...so you do that, and we can talk more in the morning." she stood up, pulling the covers over her. "Everything's going to be okay, I promise." she said, knowing exactly what she was going to do.
Norma simply nodded, closing her eyes and falling asleep almost straight away despite everything that had just happened. Had it been a little bit earlier, she would've gone into one of her (not so) little hissy fits.
Emma walked out, watching her as she fell asleep, a small smile on her face. As soon as she walked out, she saw Dylan, standing outside the door. "Hey..." she said, speaking quietly and gesturing for him to do the same. "She was way too sleepy for a full conversation-so I just let her be. But from what she told me, I think her and Alex had a huge argument. She has a bruise on her cheek but it's not from him, I think it has something to do with some Bob Paris guy...I don't know." she shrugged.
Dylan listened to Emma, not fully convinced that it wasn't Alex who hit her until she mentioned the name Bob Paris. He knew that was the name of the guy who was after that flash drive. "So what do we do tomorrow?"
"We call Alex." Emma insisted, nodding. "You know what she's like—what both of them are like. Neither of them will admit that they want to see each other, so we'll just have to bring them together instead."
