A special thanks to my friend Hayley for showing me the movie Flesh and Blood, the one used in this chapter. And thanks to her baby, Suzanne Pleshette, for picking amazing movies to be, such as a movie about incest.

Chapter 4: A Little Problem

"What do you think about this?" Emma questioned, holding up a small black dress with a skirt that slightly flared out.

The sound of the young girl's voice brought her back from her thoughts. She had been sitting in the back of the office trying to work on the budget when Emma came back to ask her opinion on a couple of things she had bought.

There wasn't any time for her to be wasting, but it wasn't like she was able to getting anything done anyways. Norma's mind had been wandering. It was hard to concentrate. There were a lot of things that had been going unnoticed by her, past due bills that she would rush to scrounge up money for at the very last minute, damages done to a couple of the rooms.

"Look at that," she replied, offering a half smile that failed at veiling the pure exhaustion in her glazed eyes.

She stood and walked over to her, feeling the fabric of the new dress between her fingers. Her eyes moved to follow the silhouette of the form fitting outfit.

It was hard for her, knowing that this dress would be used to try and impress her son. It lit a small flame a jealousy within her. There had to be a show of normalcy though. And it wasn't as if she held any disdain towards the young girl, she actually cared about her. Even when she was being nosy. She just didn't care for the fact that she was trying to take her son away from her.

"You buy this for a special occasion?" Norma asked, desperately clinging onto her smile as she continued to examine the garment.

Emma smiled in response. It meant a lot to her that Norma approved. All she wanted was to be included in this little family. They went through a lot, but she wanted to be included. No one else here really treated her as nicely. Most people seemed to either avoid her, ignore her.

"Just whenever," she replied with a shrug.

She folded the dress and placed it back into the bag. Although she was happy right now, there was still something that had been bothering her for a bit. There was something wrong. All three of the family members had been acting weird.

Returning to her seat at the front desk, Emma looked back to see Norma still standing there, her eyes fixated on the bag. It looked like she was mentally somewhere else, there was something that was worrying her.

"Is everything okay?" She asked, a genuine concern visible in her eyes.

As soon as she heard the question she moved to act casual. The last thing that she needed right now was to have Emma prying. She didn't even like thinking about the whole situation let alone talking about it. Besides, she didn't need anyone else knowing what happened. Dylan had taken care of everything. It was done.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?" She responded as enthusiastically as she could manage.

"You just seem like you're preoccupied," Emma answered.

Norma shrugged before turning and making her way back to her seat in the back room. "I'm a little tired, that's all."

Emma turned in her chair to fully face the woman. As convincing as she sounded, it still didn't fool her. There was something going on around here.

"Norman's been acting weird too. I figured there was something wrong," she added.

Although she had known that Norman was acting different lately, and why he was that way, the mention of his behavior still piqued her interest.

"What's he doing?" She inquired, trying to hide the anxiety slowly building within her. There was this chance that he was blacking out more often or doing things that would bring attention to himself.

"He just seems like he's not there," she started as she began to play with the hem of her skirt. "Kind of irritable."

He was acting a lot like Norma was at the moment, but she didn't want to come out and say that. Something told her that it would only annoy Norma.

"I'll talk to him when he gets home then," Norma curtly replied, not really knowing what else to say.

It felt like anything she said now would be questioned. It would be used to make some sort of assumption. All she wanted to do was end this conversation and try to get back to the tasks that she knew she wouldn't complete. Not anytime soon at least.

Emma just nodded before turning back around in her chair. It was frustrating when things got like this, something happening and her having no idea what it actually was that was wrong. What made matters worse was that her own boyfriend wasn't even talking to her. He should have been able to tell her anything.

oooooo

Dylan sat in his room at the house. A couple of weeks after the incident with Caleb, Norma had asked him to move back in with them. He took some time to think about it, with everything going on back at the farm, but he eventually decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea.

The only thing that bothered him here was Norman. He didn't seem to be mad at him anymore, they would have normal conversations. He even told him that he had forgiven him. However, he still seemed mad over events that had taken place a little over a month ago. He would catch Norman glaring at Norma here and there. He was still mad that he didn't know what had happened that night. He was jealous of him.

He felt uncomfortable more than anything. It was as though were stepping in on someone else's territory, like he was some outsider. That was what he received from Norman at least. Norma, on the other hand, seemed to love having him back home. She was stressed, more so than usual. He would be the one to remind her of things that had to be done and even did a few of her chores for her.

A part of him still felt guilty. He was the reason that Caleb was staying in town, and no one could convince him otherwise. All he wanted was to be able to get to know his father. That shouldn't have involved putting his family in danger. He supposed that he truly did have to choose though, between his parents.

He was in the middle of reading as he heard Norma and Norman begin to fight. Sighing, he set the book down on the bed beside him. It was common to hear them fight lately. They were either at each other's throats or getting along too well for his liking. Then again, there was never an in between for them.

"Fine! I suppose I'm just completely unnecessary then!" Norman yelled.

That was when Dylan decided it was time to get up and go intervene. He headed over to the door and looked out into the hall to see his brother storming out of the bathroom.

"What the hell's going on?" He questioned, looking to him with apprehension.

Norman stopped and turned to him for a second. He looked to him, snarling with disgust. "Why don't you ask her? She'll talk to you!" He spat before starting down the stairs.

Dylan rushed to follow Norman, grabbing his arm and stopping him on the middle

of the staircase.

"What is wrong with you?" He demanded.

He pretty much knew what was going on here, but he wanted to hear from his brother what it was that was upsetting him so badly. He had been acting like a brat lately and it was even starting to annoy him.

"I'm not the one acting irrationally here! She's the one that's pushing me away for no good reason!" Norman argued, motioning towards the top of the staircase.

"Let him go Dylan," Norma weakly instructed. She stood, leaning onto the railing right outside of the bathroom door as she watched the two, dark circles encasing her eyes. "He needs to get down to the office before Emma goes on her break."

Norman looked up to her, a longing in his eyes behind the anger. All he wanted was to go back to how things used to be between them, to being the one that she told everything to. He saw that she wasn't feeling well and it hurt him that she wouldn't let him take care of her. It felt to him that she didn't want to be anywhere near him lately.

"Why don't you send Dylan?" Norman asked. Realistically he knew that it was a ridiculous question, but he wanted to stay here.

"Because you're the manager Norman. Now go do your job," she sharply told him.

Dylan stood there, looking between the two as they talked. Once Norma told Norman to leave, he let go of his arm, watching as he continued down the stairs, sulking.

It wasn't until Norma was sure that he was gone that she felt comfortable turning her attention back to Dylan and asking a favor. "I need you to do something for me," she told him.

Dylan looked up to her, concerned. "What is it?" He cautiously inquired. He has this feeling that this was going to be something that he would hate.

Norma sighed. This wasn't easy for her, but she needed to know. She needed to finally do something about the situation. Once she had her answers, she was sure that she would feel better.

She took a second, sucking in her bottom lip as she canted her head at a slight angle. "I need you to go pick up a pregnancy test for me," she requested.

A pregnancy test. The woman expected him to run to the store, purchase a pregnancy test, and bring it back home for her.

"Mom," he sighed, looking to her with disbelief. Partially because he couldn't believe that that was even a possibility, and also because he has no idea what he even had to look for.

"Dylan please. I can't. I can't deal with anyone asking questions right now," Norma pleaded.

"I don't know," he said with an exasperated sigh.

oooooo

Sighing, he made his way through the store, trying to get to the register as fast as possible. In his hand he held the first test that he had spotted on the shelf. Perhaps he should have taken the time to look through them and find a decent one, but he wasn't all too sure what a good test was. They all seemed the same to him. All of them did the same exact thing.

This was the last thing that Dylan wanted to be doing today, but he knew that Norma wasn't about to go out and buy one herself. He also figured that if she saw that she wasn't pregnant, that it could lessen the tension. Of course, there was the off chance that was, in which case things would only get worse. He just could not bring himself to believe that there was a baby.

"Dylan?"

The familiar voice coming from behind him made him internally cringe.

"Emma?" He asked, turning around to face her. A nervous laugh was emitted from his lips as he tried his best to act natural. "What are you doing here?"

The young girl smiled as she approached him. As of lately he had become one of her better friends, at least that was how she saw him. And there were some deeper feelings, ones that she didn't care to admit since she was dating his little brother. Either way, she was happy to see him.

As she caught up to him, she held up a bag of chips. "I figured that I would take my hour to go out and get something since Norman seemed to want to be alone," she explained.

Once she stopped, her eyes moved to inspect the item in Dylan's hand. Once she saw what it was, her smile faded. They weren't dating or anything, but the fact that he could be buying that for a girl that he messed around with bothered her. It shouldn't have, but it did.

Dylan saw as she moved her attention from the test to him, perplexed. "It's not for me," he said, an ill attempt to ease the awkwardness that had fallen between them.

"I think that's kinda obvious," she replied, forcing a small laugh. "You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but who is it for?"

"Just for a friend. She didn't want anyone asking questions until she knows for sure," he informed her, hoping that it was enough of an answer.

"I see," she flatly replied.

Dylan could sense that she was a little hurt and wanted to just try and get out of here. He would tell her more later when everything was settled.

"Here, I'll buy this for you," he told her as he took the bag from her hands.

"You don't have to do that," she argued as she went to take back the item.

He lifted it higher and turned to continue on his way towards the registers. "It's a couple dollars. And this way I won't feel weird having to use my card to just pay for one item."

oooooo

Norman sat in the office, watching a movie that he found online. There was no business, nothing to do, and he had finished his homework. It was an old movie about a mother and son from the late seventies starring Suzanne Pleshette and Tom Berenger. He wasn't even sure how he ended up watching this movie, but something about it was appealing to him.

He contently stared at the screen as Suzanne sat in the chair by the Christmas tree, a drink in her hand as she smiled to Tom Berenger.

"Yeah. Well you look beautiful." - Tom Berenger

"Well I got myself a new dress." - Suzanne Pleshette

"Yeah I noticed. I gotta say you look terrific in it." - Tom

"What are you lookin at me like that for?" - Suzanne

"I- I don't know. You look real good, that's all." - Tom

"Well, you look pretty good yourself." - Suzanne

"Oh I can't help it." - Suzanne

"Hm?" - Tom

"I still like the old songs you know? New songs I don't even understand the words. I mean they have no, feeling you know? They have no tenderness. It's just not for me." - Suzanne

There was something about the two characters, the fact that they were getting ready to dance together. It reminded him of when he and Norma still got along perfectly. Back before they moved.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Norma approaching the door to the office. Instantly he panicked as if he were watching porn or something illegal. He quickly and clumsily moved to click off the screen and slammed the laptop shut as his mother entered the room.

"Hello mother," he greeted.

Norma just looked to him, confused for a second before she headed to the back room and grabbed a few papers.

"I thought since Emma left, I would come down here in case you needed anything," she said as she headed towards the desk and laid the papers down before her.

All she wanted to do was make sure that she could be down there for when Dylan returned. She had to make sure that she could grab the bag from him and quickly go to hide it. The longer she had to wait for him, the more anxious she grew.

Leaning against the counter, she grabbed a pen and began to mindlessly skim the papers. Truthfully, she wasn't even all that sure of what it was that she was looking at. It could have been a bill, or a list of things that needed to be done. It didn't matter.

"I think I can handle sitting down here and waiting for a guest," Norman coldly stated.

Setting down the pen, she looked up to him. She hated the fact that he was still upset with her. She wanted to be able to tell him everything, but she couldn't. It would all only upset him, and in all honesty it wasn't something that she wanted to discuss.

"Norman, I'm sorry. Okay? I've been irritable lately and I know that I've been taking it out on you when I shouldn't be," she told him.

"Why won't you tell me what's going on?" He asked without so much as a pause.

"How would you be acting if you had someone like Caleb in your life and you suddenly found out that they had been staying in town without you even knowing? He could have ran off to live behind my dumpster for all I know," she lied. Norma took a couple of steps towards Norman, looking to him with genuine worry in her eyes. It wasn't for the reason that she had told him, but she was most certainly stressed. "I'm just jumpy, Norman. I'm scared."

Norman looked to her, going over her story in his mind. His expression softened as he began to feel bad for being mad at her. "Well, you don't have to be. I told you I wouldn't let anything happen and I won't," he assured her.

She forced a small smile as she went in and hugged him. "Thank you," she said.

Norman tightly gripped onto her as he returned the hug. He missed her, even if he thought she was playing games with him. He knew that she was pushing him out of her life. That was why he had to prove to her that he was the better son, that he was the better man to keep.

The hug was ended as soon as Dylan pulled into the parking lot. Norma quickly tore away from him and rushed out the door.

"Mother?" He called out to her as she left, taking only a few steps in her direction.

When it failed to grab her attention, he walked over to the window and began watching the scene outside.

Dylan had pulled up and got out of the car, the paper bag in his hand. As he was about to start heading up towards the house, he heard the door close and wheeled around to see Norma coming over to join him. Right behind her, he could see Emma pulling up to park. There was a small chance that she wasn't paying attention to what was happening, but he knew that she knew what was in that bag. And he didn't really care about Emma knowing, Norma would, but no one else had to know that Emma knew.

"Thank you," Norma said as she wrapped her arms around him, planting a small kiss on his cheek. She quickly grabbed the bag and continued on her way.

Emma stepped out of the car and started towards him. "Did she think there was something else in that bag?" She asked, knowing full well that Dylan would have stopped her if that bag wasn't for her.

He looked back to make sure that Norma was far enough away from them before he said anything. "You can't tell anyone, alright? Not even Norman. She doesn't want people knowing unless she knows for sure there's something to tell people about," he firmly informed her.

Emma nodded. "I won't tell anyone, I promise," she rushed to tell him. There was a small pause. "Is she okay with this?" She asked, glancing up to the house. She figured that Norma wasn't, she had been tense for a while. This explained why. She still had to ask though.

Dylan shook his head. "Look, just try and keep Norman busy for a bit," he said, looking up towards the house. He figured he ought to go see what was going on up there. He then returned his attention to Emma. "I'll let you know in a few minutes."

"Alright," she replied before watching start off towards the house.