A/N: So to be honest I never intended on doing Bates Motel fanfics, I've loved the show since the day it aired but I never felt like I had the correct writing style to pull off these fantastic characters. That being said I noticed there was a huge lacking of Bates stories and figured I might as well give it a try. This story will be centered around the Bates family, Alex, and how the group could have came together back in 2002. If you think it's worth sticking around for let me know, I got a lot in mind for this story going forward.

There was something about the feeling you get after a storm is over, Norma thought, when the rain stops and the sun starts to shine through the clouds. It's a calming effect, like the universe telling you even though things are dark and gloomy it doesn't mean that things can't change, that it might all be worth it when the rainbow appears. Sadly though her life was like monsoon season, good things never lasted long.

She pulled her old station wagon into the driveway, barely getting the car into park before her eleven year old son hopped out and headed for the front door.

"No thanks, Dylan, I can get the groceries." Norma said aloud to herself sarcastically.

"I'll help bring in the bags, mother." Norman said from the backseat, she glanced back at him with a sweet smile. He was only seven years old but already she could tell he was going to be different, there was a pureness about him that she loved. The both of them climbed out of the car and around to the back, she opened the trunk and found a few of the lighter bags to hand to him and took the heavier ones for herself before closing the hatchback and going inside their home.

"You can set the bags down here, I can take them the rest of the way." Norma said, noticing him struggling to keep them in his small grasp.

"No, I got them." He said shifting the bags and taking a couple steps before dropping two of them to the ground, a loud shattering noise following afterwards. Norma set down her bags and rushed over to where he was, he looked at the splattered red sauce all over the carpet then up at his mother, tears already filling his eyes.

"Norman, it's okay honey." She bent down and placed both hands on his shoulders to reassure him. "It was an accident, you don't have to be upset about it."

He reached up and rubbed his eyes, his face still scrunched up. "I just wanted to help you, I didn't mean to drop it."

"I know you didn't mean to, here, come here." She said then pulled him into a hug till she felt him start to calm down, when he stopped crying she leaned away and ran her hand on his face, wiping away the tears from his cheeks. "How about you go and wash your face and I'll clean this up, we can just order a pizza for dinner tonight, how does that sound?"

"That sounds good." Norman said with a faint smile on his face.

"Alright, go wash up." She patted his arm and he walked off towards the bathroom, on his way down the hall Dylan looked out from their room at him.

"What was all that noise, Sam get home already?" Dylan asked, sitting up on his bed, taking a mental note of Norman's puffy eyes.

"No, I dropped a bag and the glass jar broke."

"Norma yell at you about it?"

"No, she wouldn't yell at me."

"Then why were you crying?"

"Because I made a mess, now she has to clean it up."

"Geez Norman, that's nothing to cry about. She doesn't even work, it's not like cleaning up a spill is going to get in the way of her busy schedule."

"I don't like making things harder for her, she should always be happy."

"That's not life Norman, people are never happy all the time, the sooner you realize that the better." Norman's face filled with disappointment, Dylan instantly felt bad for ruining his hopes but it was how he truly felt. He looked down and noticed sauce on Norman's khakis then stood up and went into the dresser, grabbing out a clean pair of pants and walking over to him. "You should change, you have sauce all over your pants."

"Thanks." Norman said, grabbing them from his brother and walking towards the bathroom.

"Norman." Dylan said, causing him to stop. "Maybe people can be happy, we might still have a chance someday." He nodded back at him, feeling slightly better as he continued to the bathroom.

Out in the living room Norma had already brought all the bags to the kitchen and was on the ground picking up pieces of the broken glass, tossing them into the trash bin. Dylan walked out beside her and looked at the mess on the floor.

"You need any help?" He asked and Norma looked up at him surprised he had even asked.

"No, that's okay, I don't want you to get cut."

He nodded then stood silent a moment. "Is it okay if I go for a bike ride while the rain is stopped?"

"Yeah, just don't go to far in case it starts again." She said and he headed out the door without another word. Once all the pieces she could find were off the floor she went to the kitchen to get something to clean the carpet with, trying to figure out what would be best so it wouldn't stain. While she was looking she heard the front door open and she stood up to walk back into the living room. "Well that was a quick bike ride." She said smiling, it faded when she saw it was Sam who had entered and was now staring angrily at the spill on the carpet.

"What the hell is this?" He asked, throwing the folders in his hands to the couch so aggressively that the papers inside flew everywhere.

"I'm cleaning it up right now."

"Cleaning it up, it's a giant fucking pile of red sauce on my carpet." Sam said loud enough to echo through the whole house. Norma heard Norman's bedroom door shut, she told him long ago that anytime he heard Sam getting angry that he was to shut his door and hide in the closet or under his bed. "How did this happen?"

"Norman was helping me carry in the groceries and he lost hold of the bags."

"And where were you when this went down, kicking back on the couch while the six year old does all the work?"

"I was right behind him carrying in my own set of bags." Norma said, starting to raise her voice a few notches. "And he's seven years old, not six."

"If this happened when you got home from the grocery store why isn't it cleaned up already?"

"Because we just got home ten minutes ago and my superhero cape is at the cleaners so I couldn't magically clean in warp speed."

"You know what time I get home at, why weren't you here already home and done with making dinner ten minutes ago? You needed more time at the store to spend my paychecks?"

"It was down pouring out, I was waiting till it stopped to drive home with the kids."

"You worry about driving home with them in a little bit of rain but you'll use them to carry in your bags."

"I wasn't using him to do anything, he wanted to help me."

"Yeah, great help he was. My floors ruined and brand new food was wasted."

"It was one jar of sauce, I don't think we're gonna be short on the mortgage payment because of it."

"You think this is funny? That money is something you can just throw around whenever you want? How about you try working a day in your life and you might think twice about what kind of crap you buy."

"I work every single day, I'm raising two young boys all on my own since you are either at work, the bar or too drunk to stand up straight. So don't act like your six hours of sitting on your ass filling out insurance paperwork is some big job." Norma screamed, she knew what would happen now but once she started something in her wouldn't stop, couldn't stop.

"What did you just fucking say to me?" Sam already started walking towards her and she shrugged knowing there was no turning back.

"Guess your job doesn't come with good health insurance because if you didn't hear me you should have had your ears checked out long ago." Just like that his hand smacked across her face, she reached up and held her cheek which was already burning from the hit. The next thing she felt was his hands on her arms shoving her towards the wall and slamming her into it, her head knocking into the drywall. She braced herself for what was next when she heard a scream from the hallway.

"Stop!" Norman yelled and they both turned to look at him. "It was my fault dad, don't hurt her!"

"Norman, sweetie, go back to your room." Norma said in a calm tone, hoping he would be comforted enough to turn around.

"I didn't mean to drop the bags, I'm really sorry."

"How is it a kid talks to me with more respect than you do, huh?" Sam said, twisting her arm and making her scream. A few seconds later a set of little hands landed on him and started pulling at him.

"Let go of mother, you're hurting her." Norman screamed, trying with all his might to get him to let go of her. Sam got out of his grip in seconds and shoved him down the hallway, causing Norman to land on the floor and start crying. He finally let go of Norma and started walking towards his son, Norma didn't let him get more than a few feet away from her when she knew she had to stop him.

"Sam." Norma said grabbing his arm and rubbing it gently. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean what I said. I know you work hard and I was just stressed out so I took it out on you, I'm sorry baby." She looked at Norman still planted on the hallway floor wanting nothing more than to run over and comfort him but knowing she had to calm Sam down first before he could do anymore to either of them. "I'll get the mess cleaned up right away and start on dinner, if you want you can go to the pub and have something to hold you over and I'll come pick you up."

Sam shook her hand off of him. "I don't need you to pick me up, I can find my own damn way home. You'd probably get lost on the way there anyways, you've always been useless."

Norma took all the strength she had not to say anything back to him as he walked away and left the house, once the door closed she ran straight to Norman and got down on the floor next to him. "Are you okay, are you hurt?"

"No, I'm not hurt." Norman said, his words still not stopping her from checking him for injuries. "Mother, I'm okay."

"I'm so sorry he did that to you, I never wanted you to get in between our battles."

"I'm sorry I left my room, I know you tell me never to do it but I didn't want him to hurt you for something I did wrong."

"I know, you were doing what you thought was right but we are never going to have to deal with this kind of thing anymore. I will not allow him to lie another hand on you ever again."

"How do you know he won't come find me in my room if I do something wrong again and hurt me like he hurts you?"

"Because we are leaving." Norma stood up and pulled Norman to his feet with her, she grabbed his hand and lead him to his room. She opened up the closet and grabbed out two suitcases they had from a trip Sam's work had sent them on the year before, she opened Norman's and set it on his bed before filling it with several sets of clothes. "Fill this the rest of the way with anything else you want, we can't bring everything."

"Okay mother." Norman said and started looking around the room for the things he most wanted to keep while Norma did the same with Dylan's stuff. "It won't all fit." He said trying to shut his jam packed bag, Norma looked over before going back to the hook on the wall and grabbing off both their backpacks, dumping the contents onto the floor and throwing one of the bags over to Norman. Once they had all the bags filled she grabbed a few garbage bags to put their bedding in then she went and made her own suitcase while Norman filled up what was Sam's suitcase with stuff around the house they would need. As the last step Norma had Norman go bag up food for the road while she went into the hall closet where she knew Sam had a stash of money at, it was only a couple hundred but it would get them by for awhile.

"Let's load the car quick and hopefully your brother will be back by the time we're done." A few minutes later the car was loaded and Norma had her youngest set up in the car, she looked around the neighborhood hoping to see Dylan round the corner any second but after waiting twenty minutes she decided it might be better if they went and found him themselves. She climbed in the car and turned it on then started pulling out of the driveway.

"Are we leaving without Dylan?" Norman said in a worried tone.

"No, we are going to look for him, we would never leave without your brother." She said and they drove up a few blocks, she switched her wipers on as the rain started again. Good, she thought, Dylan knows to come home when a storm starts. She got to the stop sign and was about to make a U-turn when Dylan biked out in front of the car, she quickly put it in park and hopped out. "Dylan, get off your bike and get in the car."

"Why? Am I in trouble?" Dylan asked, going through his head of the things he'd done wrong lately she could be scolding him for.

"No, just push your bike aside and let's go." He climbed off his bike and before he could question anything she grabbed it and wheeled it onto the sidewalk then directed him to the back seat of the car.

Dylan looked out the window of the car at his bike as Norma hopped back into the driver's seat and started driving off. "We can't leave my bike there, someone might steal it before I go back to get it."

"We aren't going back."

"What are you talking about?"

"We're leaving." Norman said, earning a confused look from his brother.

"What?" Dylan says and looked and the rearview mirror where Norma is looking back at him. "Where is Sam at?"

"Sam's not coming with us."

"You're leaving him?" Dylan asks and no one answers, making it clear that was the intention. "Just like you left my dad, you never change."

Norma slammed her foot down on the break and if the boys weren't already seatbelted in they'd be hugging the back of the front seat right now, she clipped her belt and threw it to the side then turned around to face Dylan. His expression quickly changed from tough to a scared little boy just from the look on her face. "You want to stay here?" She asked, he worried for a moment she was going to push him out of the car and drive off till she spoke again. "I will turn this car around right now and we will stay, but let me tell you not to expect a warm welcome from Sam when he finds out what I'm trying to do. You do not know what I have put up with with that man or your father for that matter so if you think you know better than me tell me right now and we'll go back."

"I don't want to go back mother!" Norman said in a panic, Dylan still sitting with a shocked expression on his face.

"So what will it be, Dylan?" Norma asked. "Back to Sam or a new life somewhere we don't have to live in fear everyday?"

Dylan glanced over at his little brother, his blue eyes pleading for a better life away from his father. He turned back to Norma. "Do you promise it will be better?"

"I can't promise that but I'll do everything in my power to make it happen."

"Then-" Dylan started to speak until he saw a figure approaching the passenger side window, his eyes widened. "Go, Norma, drive!" He yelled and Norma looked over to see Sam walking up to the car, she turned around and threw it into drive before pulling away. He pounded on the side windows as they drove away from him, screaming out her name over the sound of the pouring rain but she doesn't slow down till his figure was gone from her mirror.

Dylan stared out the back window still expecting to see Sam following them, he's long gone and has been for several hours now, but he also knows how determined his step father can be and he worries that the quick stop they made earlier to eat and take a bathroom break may have gave him time to catch up to them. Norma peeks in her rearview mirror and notices him looking back at the road behind them.

"You okay, Dylan?" Norma asks, he turns back around in his seat and nods, pretending he has no worries in the world.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He says then they both sit quietly, Norman sleeping peacefully in the backseat beside him. "Hey, Norma?" Dylan said, sitting up straighter in his seat so he could see Norma in her mirror. "What made you decide to leave now?"

She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Sam hasn't been a good man for a long time, if we'd stayed who knows what would happen next."

"But you have been dealing with him like that for years now, what changed?"

Norma glanced back at Norman a moment before turning back to watch the road. "Norman came out and tried to defend me, he pulled on Sam to try and get him to let go of my arms and Sam shoved him to the floor."

Dylan looked over at his sleeping brother, the small boy who went up against his own father just too protect their mother. "He hurt Norman?" He asked, looking back at Norma.

"He said he didn't get hurt but I wasn't willing to let anything like that happen to him again, or to you."

"I'm sorry for what I said before, I'm glad we left." He saw Norma's lip curl into a smile, he was never one to apologize but he knew he had been wrong and that she was only doing what she thought was best. He sat back and looked out the window as they passed a sign telling them they were entering Pasadena. "So, where are we going?"

"Portland, Oregon."

"Why there?"

"It's a long story."

"How long of a drive is it?"

"About fourteen more hours, not counting stops."

"I think you have time to tell it." He says and they both smile before their conversation is cut off by Norman mumbling in his sleep.

"Mother, no, let go of her, stop it!" Norman squealed, tossing and turning in his seat.

"Norman, sweetie wake up." Norma says gently, trying to wake him up with only her voice but he continues saying no.

"I got it." Dylan said then he reached over and placed his hand on Norman's shoulder, squeezing it softly. "Norman, wake up." His tired eyes started to open and he looks around the car, still foggy on what is happening. "It's just a dream, you're okay."

Norman rubbed his eyes starting to wake up fully and Dylan removed his hand, he squinted up at the front seat. "Mother, I need to pee."

"Okay, let me find somewhere we can go."

They drove up the road several miles till she pulled off into a rest stop, the three of them went in together and Dylan kept a close eye on his brother while they waited for Norma to finish. Afterwards the boys talked her into buying them a hot cocoa from the vending machine and she got a coffee for herself before they headed back to the car. Norma grabbed out a couple of blankets and pillows from the trunk and set them up in the backseat, Norman falling back to sleep before she even shut his door then she returned to her seat to start driving again.

"When are you going to sleep?" Dylan asked her.

"When we get to Portland."

"That's way too long, it's ten o'clock, you must be tired already."

"I got coffee, I'll be fine."

"There are people over there sleeping in their trucks, you can park next to them and sleep awhile."

"I'm fine to drive Dylan."

"We have been on the road long enough, he's not going to find us here anymore than he would in Portland, pull over there and get some rest."

Norma smiles back at her oldest then starts up the car, he figures she is gonna drive away but she pulls over to the other side of the parking lot reserved for long stops like sleeping. Dylan reaches in the back and grabs Norma a pillow and blanket before climbing into the passenger seat, she looks over at him while he's getting settled.

"If I sleep up here you can put your seat back."

"Well don't get too comfortable there, I'm only sleeping a couple hours."

Five hours had passed before Norma was ready to get back on the road, she had woke Dylan and made him move to the backseat again so he could keep sleeping till morning. Throughout the day they would make stops to eat, use the restrooms and stretch their legs then hurry back into the car to try and make it to Portland before suppertime since Norma promised them a nice dinner out once they got there.

"Are we almost there?" Norman asked. "I'm hungry."

"We're gonna be there in an hour, have some of your snacks if you don't think you can wait that long." Norma said while they drove on the outskirts of some small town in Oregon. Norman reached back into their bags and grabbed out a small bag of chips, he opened it up then him and Dylan ate a few out when the car started to make a loud sound and stopped running. "Are you serious?" Norma said to herself as she pulled off to the side of the road, she turned her key and tried to start the car several times but nothing happened.

"What's wrong with it?" Dylan asked but Norma ignores the question and keeps trying to start the car. When it makes no attempt at restarting she takes the keys out of the ignition and throws them against the passenger side window making both boys jump at the sudden noise. They are used to what's coming, when Norma gets overwhelmed she doesn't tend to hide it well, she used to try but after so many years of pain it became pointless.

"Of course, of course this stupid car would break down! One hour, this piece of junk only had to make it one more hour and we would be able to start over!" Norma screamed with a hint of sadness in her voice, she wouldn't cry though, she was too stubborn for that. Instead she just slammed her hand into the steering wheel over and over again making the horn honk several times, none of them noticing the car pull up behind them..