Norma felt herself moving back and forth on the dance floor of the bar she was at. A gentlemans arms wrapped around her, holding her close against his body. She felt warm and comfortable. No, it was safe. That's what it was she was feeling. Safe. Norma had about 4 drinks so she was feeling a little bit buzzed, or maybe more than just buzzed. Her head started to feel dizzy so she closed her eyes hoping to steady her racing head.

"Do you want to get out of here?" The man whispered in her ear.

She barely lifted her head and nodded in response giving him the okay to lead them out of the place.

Inside the man's vehicle they sat down. He reached over and grabbed her to bring her close to him and placed his lips onto hers. Squeezing the back of her hair into his fingers. She kissed him back softly and he pressed his lips forcefully into hers. She attempted to pull back from him a little to slow him down but he wasn't realizing it or he just didn't care. She broke out of her drunken haze and pushed him off her separating them from each other.

"What's wrong baby?" He slurred his words to her while touching her face with his hand.

She pushed his hand away from her face. "I need to go home. I ...I - I don't even know what I'm doing here. I don't even remember your name." She was starting to panic now. She went to reach for the door handle of the man's truck until she felt his heavy body hovering over her and grabbing onto her hand holding it down tight to the door handle, so that the handle had been jamming into her hand.

"Your not going to just leave now." He angrily told her.

She tried her best to free her hand from his but wasn't making any progress, he was too strong. So, she brought her knee up and slammed it into him.

"What the hell is your problem woman?!" He yelled.

"Let me go!" She screamed and fought with him.

There was then a knocking on the window next to them and a flashlight being beamed into it. The man immediately jumped off of her body and into the seat next to her. She quickly opened the door and practically fell out, banging her head on the truck on her way, then she felt somebody catching her before she could hit the ground. She reached up to grab the back of her head where she had banged it. She opened her eyes slightly.

"Norma?" The police man was saying her name. "Norma? Are you okay?" She heard the man's voice but she could not see clearly. She could not make out the blurry face above her head. She could only tell that it was a dark haired man. How did he know her name? She gave up trying to figure this out and closed her eyes again tightly. Maybe if she rested her eyes for a moment she would be able to see clearly.

A few minutes passed and Norma started to wake up. She looked up to the man who was still holding her in his arms.

"Alex..." She finally spoke his name. She could see him better now. Her head was spinning, she didn't know if it was from the drinks or banging her head, or maybe a little bit of both. She clenched her eyes shut again trying to stop the dizziness she was feeling. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach. Alex watched her as she reached her hand to cover her stomach. He was kneeling down on the ground with her now, her in his lap. "You're going to be okay, I got you." He told her.

"I think I'm going to be sick." He started to lift her up to her feet now, wrapping her one arm around the back of his neck. The other officers were taking care of the man she was being assaulted by.

"Can you walk?" He asked.

"Yeah. I can walk. I'm walking." She told him trying to sound reassuring while stumbling at the same time.

He grabbed onto her to not let her fall down. He walked to her a bench that was out front of the bar and sat her down, and sat down beside her.

She closed her eyes and leaned back letting out a groan. She really wasn't feeling well. She didn't understand how she could be that drunk off as many drinks as she had. She opened her eyes to see the dark sky above her and very little stars. She was searching for more stars but she couldn't find them anywhere, her eyes moving slowly around the night sky.

"Why are you -" she began to question him as to why he was there with her. "Here." Her eyes still staring into the sky.

"We got a call about someone being assaulted in the parking lot. Someone that was outside the bar heard yelling from a pickup truck. Said it sounded like a woman was in danger." He was watching her face. Her face was white as can be and her eyes were still looking to the sky. He always did think she was beautiful. Even in her state right now, she still was.

She didn't respond. She took in a deep breath. He noticed she seemed to be getting whiter by the second. He reached his hand to her forehead to touch it. She felt cold and somewhat clammy. Her eyes were closed now and she leaned her head back onto the brick wall behind her.

"I don't feel too well." Her voice sounding weak.

"Do you need to go to the hospital?" He asked. "You don't look too good."

She shook her head no. She closed her lips together and swallowed. "I'll be fine. I just...had to much to drink I guess."

"You hit your head." He reminded her. "You could have a concussion."

"I don't. I didn't hit it that hard." She was sure she didn't need a hospital with a bunch of doctors surrounding her to make her more dizzy. She felt a wave of sickness come over her just at the thought of going. The look on her face couldn't hide the feeling that came over her body.

Alex knew Norma wouldn't listen to him. She didn't listen to anybody. So he would give up on the hospital idea.

"Did he hurt you?"

She finally looked at him for the first time since they had sat down on this bench. Her eyes looking so very innocent and bright. The blueness radiating through the glossiness that covered them. He couldn't tell if she was sad, drunk or tired. He would take a guess she was a little bit of all of them.

"I'm fine." Her eyes still locked into his. "I'm just me." She looked down to his hand that was resting on his thigh. "It's just me. I shouldn't be doing the things that I do. I just - " she stopped suddenly feeling stupid. She shouldn't be sitting here telling him her thoughts and her secrets. Secrets that she kept inside of her that nobody knew. How could she even think for a second she could blurt anything out to a cop? A sheriff no less! She was glad she stopped herself before she ruined everything.

Boy she was confusing. He had no idea what this woman was talking about, or trying NOT to talk about. He felt as if she wanted to tell him something, or was about to. But she wouldn't let it happen. She put the wall back up again. He pretended to ignore everything she had just said.

"How's your head feeling?" He asked.

"It hurts." She said simply.

"Do you know that guy? Is he your boyfriend?"

"I met him here. At the bar." She looked down to the ground. "Why do you care?" She snapped at him.

"I'm just trying to figure out what happened to you." He told her with a serious tone. "Making sure you're okay."

She instantly regretted her words. "I'm sorry."

His eyes never left her.

"I don't really know what I'm doing..." She started breathing heavily, starting to panic.

He watched her as she started to cry and fight to catch her breath. She was trying to slow her breathing down but her chest was too tight. She had started to realize how stupid she must look right now, which made her panicking worse. Why did he have to be the one to get this call? She didn't want him to see her like this. He reached to grab her, not knowing what else to do. He wrapped his arms around her body, trying to hold her still. "Shh, it's okay. You need to breathe. Just breathe." He was trying to hold her still but her arms were trying to break lose from him. After some time of struggling with her, he could feel her body begin to weaken. He held her a little tighter in hopes of making her feel safe. He could feel her breathing start to slow down. She was softly whimpering now into his chest. He began to stroke the back of her hair. "Your going to be okay, Norma."

The Sheriff waited for Norma to completely calm down before he let go of her. She was quiet now and just resting her head on his chest.

"Why don't you let me take you home? You should get some rest."

She nodded and lifted herself up off of him. She went to stand up and started to stumble. He stood up behind her to block her from falling down, her back now against his chest. She felt his fingers gently gripping around her arms holding her steady. Bringing her hands up to hold onto his she then turns herself around to face him.

"Are you okay?" He asked her trying to ignore how close she was to him now. He could feel her breathe, hot and smelling of alcohol, on his face. She started to form a small innocent looking smile. "I'm just fine. How are you?" She sounded flirtatious now.

He was definitely surprised at her change in mood. She was not in the correct state of mind right now. If she knew she was acting this way tomorrow, she would be extremely regretful, Romero was thinking. While he had become completely lost in his thoughts he was snapped back into reality when he felt her hands touching the buttons on the front of his uniform shirt. She leaned into him, laying her head to rest on his chest. She remembered what it had felt like just moments ago, while sitting on the bench and how perfect it actually felt.

He wasn't sure exactly what to do except to hold her there. He placed his one arm around her and started to rub her back softly. Her shirt was open in the back so he could feel how soft her skin was. He knew she was vulnerable and after her panic attack she just had, he didn't want her having another one. She nuzzled her face into him. "Thank you." She mumbled into his shirt while her one hand made her way to his shirt pocket, sticking three fingers inside it to grip onto it.

He was still sliding his hand up and down her back gently. He would comfort her, if that's what she needed right now. By this time the other police and that guy were now gone. They were the only ones in the empty parking lot, other than Norma's car parked a few spots away. It was silent other than the few cars that would pass by down the street.

They stood there for what seemed like a long time, but had probably been about 5 long minutes. She wrapped her one arm around and placed her hand onto his back, as if she was trying to squeeze him closer to her, if that was even possible.

"Do you have to go?" She broke the silence.

"What?" Feeling distracted, he answered right away.

"To work. Aren't you on duty? Sheriff?" There was something in her voice that was different. Different than her normal voice that he is used to hearing.

"My shift was over about 35 minutes ago."

She backed away slightly from him so she could see his face, leaving her body against the front of his and letting her hands stay in the same position. "Plus, your the Sheriff anyways. You can do whatever you want, right?" There was a playfulness in her voice that he's never heard before. He was pretty good at reading people, it was his job, so if he was reading her correctly he would think she was flirting with him. Norma could see the unsure shock on his face. He couldn't help but smirk at her.

"I guess so, yeah. Seems like you're feeling better now, huh? Do you want another drink?" He joked.

She let out a small laugh. She took the hand that had been holding onto his shirt pocket, slowly running it down towards the side of his waist where his gun was placed. Protectively, he immediately reached to grab her hand.

"What are you doing?" His hand gripping hers tight making her unable to move it.

"Can you teach me how to use your gun?" She tried to seem serious.

"No."

"Come on..." She whined.

"I need a lesson from the sheriff. He knows best."

"You're playing with me, right." He was serious.

"I am." She licked her lips. He slowly let pressure off her hand, but still held his hand on top of hers.

"I think I need to get you home." This was getting dangerous now. He didn't know how much of this he could take. His mind was starting to fill with not so good intentions with this woman.

"Yeah, you should do that, Sheriff. Take me home." Her words sounding like nothing other than an invitation.

"You are not going to like that you said that to me, tomorrow."

"How do you know?"

All he could think about right now was doing the unspeakable. Something he had been denying for so long, was directly in his face. Waiting and wanting him. He tried to deny his feelings for her for too long. He knew she had been drinking, but something told him she was trying to tell him something by her last words. Maybe she has wanted him too all along and the feelings were mutual.

TBC????? I know I haven't updated "That Night" (I'm working on it) but I had an idea for a different short story maybe? and just went with it. I don't know if I'm going to go further or not with this. I don't even know where this came from lol but it's here. Sooo let me know your thoughts!

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