True Blue

Chapter Seven

Alex had given them twenty four hours. And still, neither one of them had been seen in or around the motel. It was like they were avoiding him. Though, now that he thought of it, he hadn't seen Norman since their talk. It's possible Norman could've run away.
So, around noon, Alex made his way up the steps to Norma's house. He knocked on the door and waited a few minutes but no one answered. So he tried again, this time hearing a commotion inside. The door opened and Norma appeared before him in the same wrinkled clothes as the day before, her eyes puffy and bloodshot.
"I'm here to see Norman." he says, ignoring her appearance.
"I told you, he's not feeling well-"
"No, no, I know what you told me. I need to see him in the flesh right now." Alex demands.
"Okay, as soon as he's up, i'll send him down." she says tiredly, already moving to close the door.
"No, you're not hearing me and i'm tired of being nice about it." he says, pushing the door open.
"Out of my way." he says, moving past Norma who quickly follows after him.
"You can't! Come on, you don't have permission to be here." she shouts as he ascends the stairs.
"Yeah, well, call somebody. Whoever you want." he says, the last part slipping out as he thought of the man she's always hugging.
"Why are you doing this?" she cries out, chasing after him.
"Okay, he's not there."
This stops Alex in his tracks as he looks back to her to see if she's lying but her face was showing nothing but fear. He moves towards Norman's room anyways, taking a look inside before going back out to her.
"Where is he?" he asks, trying to figure out if Norma would actually try to hide her son from him just to stop an investigation.
"Where is he?" he asks again when she fails to respond.
"Nick Ford has him." she says, her voice sounding so small and broken. He looks at her with disbelief, wondering how Norman became a target to Nick Ford.
"He took him. He said if I told anyone, he would kill him."
"What?" Alex asks with shock. None of this was adding up.
"He's evil. He's pure evil, I should've listened to you and stayed away from him. I thought he could help me stop the road. I'm an idiot. He took advantage of me." she tells him, her walls crumbling down around her.
"Why did he do it? Did he tell you why?" Alex asks quickly.
"To force Dylan to kill somebody."
And there it was. The key to the equation. It always came back to Zane fucking Morgan.
"All right. Okay. I'm on it." he says, walking down the steps.
"What are you gonna do about it?" she asks with worry as he passes by her.
"Please stop asking me that question."
"I trust you, okay? I totally trust you." she says as he reaches the last of the steps, her words making his heart skip a beat. There she was, lining the ball up again.
"Well, then let me take care of it." he says, walking out.
He knew he should've been more patient with her, he could see how much shit she was dealing. He just couldn't shake the feeling that she was using him. He understood now why she was trying to hide it from him with Nicks threat. But it still hurt that she didn't come to him sooner.
After Alex had found Dylan on the side of the road and learned that he had killed Nick Ford, it only took them less than a day to find Norman. He felt bad for the kid, another traumatizing event that happened to an already traumatized kid. But that didn't negate the fact that Alex still needed to question him.
The next morning, Alex made his way to the motel office to tell Norma just that. He found her sitting in the back office, closing a laptop she had just been typing on when she saw him come in.
"Hi, Alex." she says softly. She still looked just as tired as before.
"How's Norman doing?" he asks gently, approaching the desk she was working at.
"He's much better. Still not quite himself." she replies sadly.
"Well, glad he's doing better." he says to her, earning a soft smile. She really did love this side of him.
"I, uh...I scheduled that polygraph test." he says, taking a paper out of his pocket.
"Here's the address, date and time."
She snatches it out of his hand with a roll of her eyes. She glances at it before looking back up at him.
"This soon? He needs to rest. He's been through so much-"
"No, Norma. It's got to happen. I'm not happy about it, but we need to know. There's enough circumstances here. I can't look away. I'm sorry."
And he really was sorry.
"But I may have sent the wrong guy to prison for a crime he didn't do. And I can't live with that. And the only way I'm not gonna reopen this case is if he passes that test."
She looks away with a sigh, unknowingly biting her lip before looking back to him.
"Okay." she breathes out with defeat. It took everything in him not to reach out and comfort her, he couldn't stand the tears that never seemed to leave her eyes lately. But instead, he turned and walked away.

A lot happened in those next few days. Alex had somehow been roped into a plan with Dylan to take out Zane Morgan once and for all. It was honestly a relief for Alex. As soon as that man came into town, his work seemed to triple. Norman somehow managed to pass his polygraph test which was a relief because it meant Norma didn't have to go through all of that, but a small part of Alex felt that Norman was still somehow involved in the crime.
He didn't see Norma for a while after that. After the death of both Nick and Zane, Alex finally had a handle on the drug problem in town, having burned down 27 fields of marijuana. His stack of paperwork on his desk had dwindled back down to its usual size. And his workers called him to let him know his house was finally finished being rebuilt. Not only that but it seemed the only thing to survive the fire was his mother's box of belongings.
He had just finished loading his last box of things into his car when he saw Norma walk out of one of the motel rooms with Emma behind her.
"Norma." he called out as she began to walk toward the office.
She quickly spun around and began walking towards him, her steps faltering as she realizes what he's doing as he closes the trunk of his car. Her heart dropped.
"You're leaving?" she asks. She hadn't prepared for this. The thought of Alex eventually moving out of the motel room hadn't even crossed her mind.
"Yeah, the house is finally ready." he says, stopping in front of her.
"Oh." is all she can manage to say.
"Yeah, uh, it's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in a motel room over three months." he says with a slight laugh. She forces a breathy laugh of her own, trying to mask the shock.
"Oh, here." he says, retrieving his room key from his pocket and handing it to her.
"And this is for all the time I spent here." he adds, holding out a check for her.
"No, no, no. No." she says, waving it away.
"Norma, you're gonna take the money-"
"No! No, you're a family friend, I'm not-"
"The bypass is half paved, they're starting cars on the finished part tomorrow. You're gonna need it. I'm not taking no for an answer." he says firmly, pushing the check into her hands.
She glances at it before looking back to him with surprise. He can see her trying to think of something to say before finally settling on a soft, "Thank you."
He looks away from her, trying to think of something to say, trying to prolong his departure.
"All right. Well, goodbye. And thank you, for everything."
She smiles sweetly at him, enjoying how much he is struggling in her presence.
"Sure. Sure." she says, still trying to figure out why this felt so awkward for them. It wasn't like it's goodbye forever.
"So, uh, I don't know. I guess I'll see you around." she says with a slight laugh, watching as he continues to stare at her. She couldn't quite read his expression as he reached towards her with one hand before stopping himself with an awkward laugh. She reaches out to take his hand until she realizes he's moving closer to hug her.
"Okay." she laughs out as she begins to hug him. His scent quickly surrounded her and she found herself nestling her nose into his neck to breathe it in deeper. It was calming, but it also set her on fire.
He could feel her unsteady breath on his neck and he found himself tightening his grip on her, one of his hands rubbing her back slightly before she began to pull back. He turned his head to see if she was alright only to find her already turned towards him, their lips mere centimeters apart. Before he could fully process it, he felt her lips against the skin of his cheek, pecking twice before she pulled away completely.
"Bye." he mutters as he turns away from her, his heart beating too fast to be in her presence any longer.
"Bye." she replies softly, watching him get into his car. She felt as though a rug was being pulled out from under her. Once he's gone, she'll be truly alone. She didn't realize how much she took him being there for granted until now.
The sound of his engine pulled her from her thoughts and brought her to action as she ran out to stop him from leaving. He rolls down his window as Norma approaches, still trying to find the words.
"Um, I just wanted to tell you...um..." she trails off, looking away from his warm, brown eyes as she tried to keep her voice from cracking with emotion.
"I always felt safe when you were here." she finishes lamely, wanting to say so much more but knowing he deserved more than her.
"Thank you, Norma." he says, looking at her one last time before driving off.
Norma watched as his car disappeared down the road, tears welling in her eyes as she realized she didn't know when she would see him again. His business with Norman was done, he didn't live there anymore, there was no reason for him to be there for her anymore.
And that thought sent a stabbing pain through her heart.