A/N: Thank you all for the amazing feedback, I'm glad you enjoyed it enough to stick around. I'm happy that you guys feel like they are in character because that's what I worried most about when I'm writing, I think going forward in this story you will see a lot of differences from what we saw on screen but that's because I felt that being ten years prior opened up new doors to change how these people became in the future and really show how certain things can affect their lives, be it for the better or for the worse. Anyways, hope you enjoy the second chapter and let me know what you think!
He wasn't one to flirt, never really saw the point of it. If you were meant to be with someone you would both feel it, you wouldn't need some ridiculously sculpted line just to get their attention. Yet here he was, sitting just a little too close to the front desk clerk at the station he worked for, making her giggle like a schoolgirl. It wasn't because he liked her, she was sweet and nice to look at but she just wasn't his type. It was because he found that flirting could be useful in getting someone comfortable around you, and when people were comfortable you could get away with more than usual. Sneaking around the station hadn't been an issue a few months ago, the former clerk was hard of hearing and liked their naps so when the new girl showed up he had to come up with something.
"I can't believe you ran fourteen blocks just to catch him." Chloe said, still laughing from the story he told her.
"Well I felt bad for the kid, he didn't stop crying till I got his stolen gameboy back."
"I don't know how you kept up with a teenager, I could never have done that."
"I bet you could of, and you would have looked way better running down the street in a uniform than I did." He said, flashing her a fake smile and making her blush. He looked over at the clock quick then back at her. "We should probably get back to work, I've taken up enough of your time with my herotic stories."
"Yeah, I suppose we should." She said with a laugh then he scooted his chair back to his spot, she stood up from her desk and looked over at him. "I'm gonna grab a soda and some chips from the machine quick, you want anything?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Any in particular?"
"Surprise me." He said with a smile, she walked out into the hallway and he watched for the door to close completely behind her before he stood up and hurried over to an office near him. He immediately started searching through everything, the desk, the cabinets, even looking under anything sitting on the surfaces. Just when he thought he had looked everywhere and was ready to give up he noticed a framed photo sitting on the desk. "When have you ever kept photos on display." He said to himself then grabbed the photo and opened the back of it, once he pulled the stand off there was a key taped to the backside of the photo. He looked at it and let out a quiet chuckle. "Should have hid it in a bottle of whiskey, I wouldn't have looked twice at it." He shoved the key in his pocket before he heard a couple voices outside of the office, he quickly put the photo frame back together and made his way to the door, not in time though because a uniformed man entered the office. "Hey, Michael."
"What are you doing in here?" His fellow officer asked, looking around the office for anything off.
"Sheriff Romero asked me to see if he left his wallet in here, he had got a call and rushed out of here so quickly he didn't think to check if he had it."
Michael nods, fully believing his lie. "Were you able to find it?"
"He called while I was looking, turns out it was in the pocket of the coat he took the whole time. He left it in the car when he got hot, I warned him it was too warm out for a jacket but he didn't listen."
"Yeah, he's not an easy man to give advice to." Michael said with a chuckle, he smirked back.
"That he is not." He said then after a short silence he spoke again. "Well I should get going, I'm officially off the clock for today and I got a nice stack of unfinished paperwork at home waiting for me."
"See you later man."
"See you later." He said and gave Michael a pat on the shoulder as he passed him and walked back out of the office. Chloe was already sitting back at her seat with the items she retrieved from the vending machine.
"I got you skittles." She says, holding out a small bag.
"Thank you." He said as he walked over and grabbed it from her. "I'm gonna head home, I'll see you tomorrow." He started to walk away when she stopped him.
"Don't worry, I won't tell your dad you were in his office."
He looked back at her, feeling slightly guilty for using her crush on him to snoop around his father's office. "Thanks."
"Have a good night, Alex." He nodded back at her then left the police station. Afterwards he drove a few miles to a large house in town, lucky for him it was very secluded so there were no neighbors to see him sneak around the backside. He found the one faulty window in the whole place and pulled it open from the outside, he carefully popped the screen out of place and climbed inside. Once inside he walked a few feet only stopping when he heard a noise upstairs, the noise became louder and moved to the stairway. He reached into his pocket and grabbed what he was going to need, the sound got closer and finally reached him, the force of the dark figure slamming into him almost knocked him over.
"Chevy!" Alex yelled as the German Shepherd assaulted his face with kisses. "Get down boy, sit." He said and the dog listened to his command, taking a seat on the floor. "Good boy." He said and handed the dog the treat from his hand, rubbing his head while he ate it. Alex walked over and found the light switch turning it on so he could finally see, he walked to the staircase and went straight up to the master bedroom. Walking over to the bed he kneeled down and reached underneath, pulling a lock box out and setting it on top of the bed. He grabbed inside his pocket and took out the key then opened the safe with it, he skimmed through the files inside then stood up and walked to the home office. He used the scanner to make copies of everything he found before going back to the bedroom and putting all the original papers back into the lock box and leaving with the new ones.
The next day Alex sat alone at the diner in town, sipping his coffee and watching the door for a familiar face to walk inside.
"Can I getcha anything else, hun?" The waitress asked, holding a pen and paper in her hands.
"No, I'm good for now."
"Okay, if you need anything give me a holler." She said and walked away, just as he looked back towards the door a man sat down across from him.
"Oliver." Alex said, greeting the man.
"Whatever you dragged me out of bed at six in the morning for better be worth it."
"Having breakfast with your partner isn't worth getting up early for?"
"I see that mug of yours five, sometimes six days a week, this is my day off. Whaddya got?"
"I came across a huge break on the drug trade industry, and one of the main players is on the force. I want you to be the one to alert the DEA."
"Why are you giving me all this information?" Oliver asked surprised. "A bust like that would not go unnoticed, you'd be promoted and probably even commended."
When Alex was about to speak the waitress returned to their table. "Oliver, you want some coffee, sweetheart?"
"Sure, thank you." Oliver said politely and the waitress filled him a cup and walked away. Alex waited till she was at a different table then slid over a file to his partner, he opened it up and read through the first few parts of it before looking up at Alex shocked. "Your dad is in on it?" He whispered.
"I've known for awhile but I never had enough proof."
"You know this will put him behind bars, likely for a very long time." Alex only nods in response. "And you're okay with that, you won't end up regretting this?"
"My only regret is that I couldn't do it sooner." Alex said truthfully.
Only a couple weeks had passed and his father was already taken into custody with enough evidence to put him away for life, along with his deputy who was implicated in the crime. Alex couldn't stop picturing his father's face when the DEA came and cuffed him, he must have still believed Alex wasn't apart of the bust when he asked him to find his stash of money and come bail him out. He'd know by now when Alex never showed up that he was wrong, his son was much stronger than he ever thought he could be to take his own father down. Oliver was promoted to the new interim sheriff and he couldn't think of anyone better than Alex to be his deputy, after the big break he handed over to him. Alex knew his partner would make a great sheriff, that's why he gave him the break after all. It was his first day off since becoming Deputy but he went into the station to help Oliver with some leftover paperwork. On his way home he noticed a station wagon ahead parked on the side of the road, as he got closer he heard honking and decided it was best to pull up behind the car and see what was going on. He put his SUV in park and glanced into the car in front of him, it seemed whoever was in the driver's seat was having some kind of fit. Alex leaned over and reached into his glove box pulling out his gun and slipping it into the back of his jeans, he stepped out of his car and threw on his leather jacket before walking towards the car. When he got next to the car he saw two young boys in the back staring at the brown haired woman, they didn't look scared although he wasn't sure why since she was smacking every part of the car she could reach. He knocked on her window causing her to stop and look at him, she didn't blush or look embarrassed at all, she just rolled down her window.
"What?" She said, clearly annoyed with his interruption.
"Are you having car trouble?" Alex asked.
"No, I decided the side of the road in the middle of nowhere was a great place to park." She replied sarcastically. "Of course I'm having car trouble."
"You should have your hazards on."
"Why, is that gonna make my car magically start working again?"
"It's so you don't get hit by other cars."
"If they are on the side of the road they have clearly been drinking too much to be driving anyways so I don't think a couple of flashing lights is gonna stop them."
Alex getting fed up with all the back and forth leaned into her car and pressed the hazard light button. "Try starting it."
"I've tried like ten times already, it's not starting." Norma said and he squinted at her in annoyance.
"Just turn the key, I want to hear how it sounds."
She looked around the car. "Where's the key?"
"You threw it that way." The older boy said, pointing towards the passenger side. She looked over and saw them lying on the floor of the car, she unclipped her seatbelt and climbed over the seat to get them. Alex quickly looked the other way when he saw her bent over, not that he would be opposed to looking, psychotic breakdown or not she is an attractive woman but her kids are in the backseat. Norma grabbed hold of the keys and sat back in her seat, she put them in the ignition and turned the key, the car making little effort to try and start.
"See." She said to him.
"Open your hood." He said and walked around to the front, she reached down and pulled the lever to open it. He looked under the hood a few moments before shutting it and walking back to her window. "It's your belt, it must have snapped."
"Why would it do that? I was driving normal."
"It wears out over time, it's better if you fix it before it breaks."
"A little late for that, I guess."
"Just a bit."
"Do you know how much they cost to fix?"
"It can run between one and two hundred most the time."
Norma exhaled, throwing her hands up into the air dramatically. "Well that's just perfect."
"Do you live close by?" Alex said and pointed towards his SUV. "I have tow ropes, I could tow it to a shop and get you back to your house."
"I'm on my way to Portland, we were gonna stay at a hotel till we found a place to live."
"At the speed I'd have to go while towing that would take hours, I could bring you to a hotel in town that you could stay at till your cars fixed."
"I don't have extra cash right now to fix it."
"We can drop it at the shop and see what they can do, maybe it's less than I think it is."
"If you don't mind."
"I'll pull my car in front of yours, just stay inside." Alex said then walked back to his car and climbed inside, he pulled up in front of her car and parked it. He hopped back out and went to the right side of his car opening the passenger side door and the one right behind it before going back to Norma's door, he looked to make sure no cars were coming then he opened her door. "You and your sons can get in the car already, but have them get out on the right side so they aren't walking in the street."
Norma stepped out and walked to the other side of her car opening the back door and letting both the boys out while Alex went into his trunk and got out his tow ropes. "Give me your hands till we get to his car." She said then took both her sons hands and started walking, behind the SUV Alex crouched down to hook the ropes and his leather jacket hiked up a few inches. Dylan looked at him then suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and pulled Norma and Norman back with him. "Dylan, what are you doing?" She asked and Alex gave a sideways glance back at them, wondering what was going on.
Dylan leaned towards her and whispered, "He has a gun."
Alex watched as her gaze shifted to his lower back, he turned his body a bit to peak behind him to see what she was looking at when he felt his gun shift and realized what they must be staring at. "It's okay, I'm a cop." He said and kept setting up the ropes.
"Funny, most cops don't store their gun there." Norma said, pulling her sons behind her.
"I'm off duty but when I saw someone swinging around like a mad woman in their car I thought it would be safer to have it with."
"You have a badge on you?"
"Seriously?"
"I'm about to put my kids in a car with you, I'd like to be sure you're not some gun toting murderer." Norma said then Alex dropped the ropes to the ground and stood up to face them, he reached into his front coat pocket and grabbed out his badge showing it to her. "Deputy Romero." She read aloud then he closed his badge and shoved it back into his pocket.
"And I never got your name."
"Norma.. Norma Calhoun." She said then both her boys looked at her oddly.
"Missus Calhoun, now that you know I'm not gonna shoot you, go get in the car." Alex said then they got inside his car while he went back to hooking up the tow ropes.
"Why did you say Calhoun?" Dylan said as soon as the car door shut. "Your last name is Bates."
"We can't use our real names, Sam could start looking for us and I don't want anything he could track us down with, we're making a clean break which means we are the Calhoun's now."
"We have to use it too?"
"Yes, it's the only way this will work."
"I don't even know how to spell that."
"You'll learn." Norma said just before the driver side door opened and Alex got inside.
"It's all hooked up, the shops not too far from here so it shouldn't take long." Alex said, starting up the car and pulling back onto the road then taking off towards the town. "So what is in Portland?"
"Huh?" Norma replied.
"You said you were moving to Portland, did you or your husband get a new job there?"
"No, I was going to look for one when I get there, and I'm not married." Norma said and Dylan rolled his eyes, figuring he is flirting with her.
"What line of work do you come from?"
"I was employed independently, the man I worked for had a job with a lot of hours so I'd do the cooking, cleaning and caring of his son."
"What happened that you left?"
"Gee, you writing a book?"
"Nevermind." Alex said then he stopped talking, after a few moments she spoke again.
"I found out he wasn't a very good person and I decided I didn't want to be around someone like him anymore, besides I'm kinda sick of the whole being your own boss thing." Norma said and Alex just nodded. "So where are we anyways?"
"White Pine Bay."
"I have never heard of it before, I only came this way because of a detour."
"It's a small town." Alex told her as they got to main street, she looked around at the town as they drove.
"Looks peaceful here."
"Yeah, looks that way." Alex said, he made a turn and pulled into the auto shop parking lot. "You can stay in the car with your kids, I'll let them know what's going on." He said and hopped out of the car before she had a chance to respond then he unhooked the tow ropes and threw them in the back before walking away. On the way in Norma watched him walking towards the front door when a man purposely ran straight into Alex's shoulder.
"Sorry, deputy." The man said with a sarcastic smile.
Alex quickly turned around and stepped forward getting right the into mans face and making him tense up. "What the hell's your problem?"
"No problem here." He said, stepping back a little.
"If you have something to say to me, say it."
"I don't have anything to say to you."
"Well I'd keep it that way, and watch where you're walking." Alex said then turned away from him.
Inside the car Dylan moved to get a better view of what was going on outside. "Why did that guy run into the cop?"
"I'm not sure, must have been an accident."
"Didn't look like one." Dylan said as Norma watched Alex walk inside and the other man leave, not looking quite as tough as he did a minute before.
"I'm gonna put all our stuff in the back, stay in the car with your brother." Norma said getting out of the car.
Alex walked up to the front desk and Earl the owner of the shop looked over at him. "Deputy, coming to arrest me too?"
Alex stared at him, ignoring the question and moving on. "I have a car that needs a new belt, I just need you to look it over and give me a price."
"Sorry, I've got a full schedule today." Earl said with a chuckle then Alex looked around at the empty shop.
"Doesn't look to be the case."
"There's another shop thirty miles up the road, why don't you give that one a try."
Alex nodded his head then walked over to a car part sitting on the counter, he ran his hand across it then looked back at Earl. "Why don't you find a gap in your busy schedule or I'll start looking into why you are using parts with scratched off serial numbers on them."
"Is that blackmail, deputy?" Earl asked and Alex shot him and intimidating look in return. "Seems you're more like your father everyday."
"Nevermind, I'll take the car somewhere else." Alex said and started to walk away.
"I'll look at it tomorrow if I find the time."
Alex turned around and threw the keys onto the counter in front of him. "If there are any more problems with it tomorrow or any parts missing I'll put your ass behind bars." He added before walking out of the shop. When he got back outside he found Norma putting the last of her stuff into his SUV, she closed his hatchback and walked to her door. "You all ready?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm ready." She said but made no effort to get inside the car. "What happened with that guy when you walked inside, it looked like he wasn't happy with you."
"It was nothing, he wasn't looking where he was going." Alex said walking in front of the car and heading towards his door hoping that would end the conversation.
"Unless he's blind, he saw you."
Alex ignored her comment and got inside, she followed right after getting into her side. "We have a motel that runs about thirty dollars a night, if that gonna be alright for you?" He asked while he put on his seatbelt and started the car.
"That's fine, I have enough to hold us over for a few days till I can start working."
"What about dinner?" Norman asked from the backseat. "You said we could eat when we got to Portland."
"Do they have room service?" Norma asked Alex and he shook his head no in response then she turned back to the boys. "We have enough food in the bags to hold us over till tomorrow, we can make peanut butter sandwiches."
"But I wanted chicken strips."
"We can get them tomorrow, okay sweetie?"
"Okay." Norman said sadly.
Alex glanced back in his mirror at the two young boys, they looked exhausted and restless, probably from the long car ride. "I-ah, I was going to go have dinner at this restaurant we have in town, we could stop there before the motel."
"Really?" Norma asked.
"Yeah, it's right up the road if you want to go."
"Sure, that would be nice." She said and Alex took a right turn into the parking lot.
The four of them walked inside and found their way to a booth at the end of the restaurant, Dylan climbed right into one side and Norma got into the other, quickly followed by Norman taking a seat next to her. Norma and Dylan both picked up a menu and started reading it while Alex stood beside their table.
"I'll be at the table over there, you can let me know whenever you are ready." Alex said, pointing to a small table across the way.
"Are you meeting someone here?" Norma asked.
"No."
"So you are just going to sit at a tiny table and eat all by yourself?"
"I do it all the time."
"That's silly, sit down with us and eat." Norma said and he looked awkwardly at them. "The boys don't drool or throw food around, you'll be fine sitting with us." She said patting on the table, Alex didn't say a word, just took a seat next to Dylan on the booth. Moments after a young waitress came up to their table and smiled at Alex.
"Evening, deputy. What can I get you guys?" She said, grabbing out her pen and notepad.
"Are you ready to order?" Alex asked, looking over at Norma.
"Yeah." Norma said then placed her hand on Normans back. "He'll have the chicken strip meal."
"That comes with cut fries or we just got some fries in that look like smiley faces." The waitress said.
"Oh, I want the smiley faces." Norman replied excitedly.
The waitress smiled at him and wrote it down. "What to drink?"
"Chocolate milk."
"You know what you want Dylan?" Norma asked.
"I'll have the same."
"And you miss?" The waitress asked.
"I'll just have an ice water."
"You aren't getting anything to eat?" Alex asked.
"I'm not very hungry."
"You sure?" Alex asked again and Norma nodde, he turned to the waitress. "I'll just have a turkey club and a water.
"I'll be back with your drinks" She said then walked away.
Norman peeked around the restaurant and noticed a toy crane machine in the corner, he turned to his mom pointing at the machine. "Mother, can I play the toy game?"
"Yeah." Norma said fishing some quarters out of her purse and handing them to him, he got up and took off towards the machine. "Dylan, you want to go play too?"
Dylan glanced over at Alex then back at his mom. "No."
"They have a game too, you don't have to do the toy one."
"I don't want to." He said, his voice laced with attitude.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, I just don't feel like playing."
"Okay, you don't have to."
Alex looked at them both oddly then stood up. "I'm gonna go wash my hands, I got dirt and stuff on them from the car."
Once he was out of view Norma leaned towards Dylan. "Really Dylan, is something wrong?"
"Why did you invite him to sit at our table?"
"What? Is that what you are acting so weird about?"
"I'm not acting weird."
"What was wrong with inviting him to sit with us?"
"You left your husband yesterday, it's a little too soon to be looking for a replacement."
Norma snorted the air out of her mouth and chuckled. "I invited him to sit with us, I didn't propose to him."
"He is clearly flirting with you."
"He is not flirting with me."
"Did your husband get a new job? No, I'm not married." Dylan mimicked their conversation from earlier.
"That's a conversation, it's how you talk to someone you just met."
"You can't be that naive Norma."
"Trust me, he has no interest in me whatsoever, he's just trying to help."
"I haven't seen him smile once, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy that goes around handing out favors."
"Can we just drop this, he isn't flirting and I'm not interested in a relationship anyways if he was. But like I said, he is not." Norma said as the waitress set down their drinks. "Thank you."
Alex finished washing up then left the bathroom, he was about to go back to their table when he saw Norman at the toy chest machine trying to line up the claw with a stuffed owl below. When he got it where he wanted it he pressed the button dropping it down, it touched the owl but didn't grab a hold of it. He reached into his pocket and searched for another quarter but came up with nothing but lent. "You want the owl?" Alex asked from behind him.
"I'm out of money." Norman said turning back to him, Alex grabbed into his pocket and pulled out a quarter and held it out to him.
"Try again, I'll help you." Alex said then Norman took the quarter from him and put it in the machine. Alex walked to the side of the machine and started to direct him. "Go over towards it.. Now a little bit towards you.. And back to the left a tap.. Drop it there."
Norman pushed the button then the claw moved down and grabbed the owl, picking it up and dropping it into the opening. "I got it!" He squealed excitedly.
"Good job."
Norman pulled the stuffed owl out of the slot then ran back towards their table, Alex following behind him. "Mother, I finally got one!" He said, holding up his owl triumphantly.
"That's great sweetie." Norma said with a big grin.
"The policeman helped me."
"He did?"
"He controlled it, I just told him where to move it." Alex said earning a smile from Norma as he and Norman took their seats.
Shortly after the food arrived Alex even managed to talk Norma into taking half his sandwich, claiming he only ever eats half anyways. Not being one for chit chatting Alex sat quietly while Norma and her younger son did most of the talking to each other, Dylan looking as though he had no interest to anything other than his food.
"Look, I made ketchup squeeze out of his eyes and mouth." Norman said, showing off his smiley fry to everyone at the table.
"Very cute." Norma said then Norman picked it up and bit it, when he was done chewing he looked over at Alex.
"So do you get to shoot bad guys all day?"
"Not all day, but some of the time it's necessary." Alex replied then Dylan spoke without even looking up from his plate.
"You ever kill anyone?"
"Dylan!" Norma hissed.
"What?" Dylan said looking at Norma. "Cops kill people all the time, don't you watch the news."
"We don't ask those kinds of questions."
"Nah, it's okay." Alex cut in. "No Dylan, I haven't killed anyone."
"Like you'd tell us if you did."
"Dylan, knock it off right now or we will leave." Norma said.
"I'm just having a conversation, you're the one who says I don't socialize enough."
"Well this conversation is over, finish eating your food." Norma said then they ate in silence the rest of the time.
They all stood up from the table and collected their things, both the boys already walking to the door. "Are you ready to leave?" Alex said when he noticed Norma standing still.
"I have to pay first." Norma said grabbing her wallet out of her purse.
"It's already covered, I have a tab here."
"No, I can't let you pay for it, you're already doing too much for us."
"I get a discount, it's only a few bucks so I think I'll be fine without it."
"What's your discount?"
"Ten percent." Alex said with an exhale, Norma dug through her purse and pulled out a few bills then handed them over to him. "This is more than what your food costed."
"I added half of your sandwich."
"Of course you did." Alex said shoving the money into his pocket. "After you." He said raising a hand for her to pass then they were on there way, next stop, The Seafairer Motel.