A/N: I was able to keep my word this time and update sooner, I know for a while there I wasn't doing so well at getting them out in a timely manner so let's hope I'm back to my old ways now. I'm sorry about the last couple chapters, they didn't turn out the way I had wanted them to and really just ended up sucking. I'm feeling a little better about this chapter but honestly at this point in the fic I felt like I was losing the ambition to keep it going, luckily I didn't give up but that doesn't mean my writing didn't suffer from that. But for those of you who are still sticking with this story thank you! Let me know what you think and enjoy.
Life was never easy, that was no shock to anybody at this point. Bad things had become like a routine. It always felt like a game they used to have in school where you walk up and pull a piece of paper out of a bag to determine which chore you would do in the classroom, but in this instance it was a bag half full of terrible things that could happen to you and half of good ones. Alex had never been very good at that game, he tended to get stuck with the worst one every time around. It wasn't till the last day when he finally got the best chore in the bag, going around the room with the push vacuum. If his life events were that bag Norma would be vacuuming.
Alex rolled over slowly on his bed, making sure not to wake Norma who was sleeping beside him. He took in every feature of her face and smiled at how peaceful she looked, he reached over with his hand and ran it gently through her hair to move it aside for a better view.
"You're not being very conspicuous." Norma said, opening her tired eyes and smiling at him. Alex scooted closer to her and leaned in to kiss her, wrapping his arms around to her backside and pulling her body close to his. "What do you think you're doing?" She asked with a laugh, pulling back from him some.
"It's Christmas, I'm opening my present." He said, letting his hand drop to the hem of her nightgown and pulling it up some when she stopped him.
"That's not a good idea." She said, glancing behind him at the clock.
"Why?" Alex moved back some, giving her some space till he knew what was going on. "I mean I don't mind, but is something wrong?"
"Because it's a minute till seven."
"I didn't know presents had an expiration time." He said with a chuckle.
"Just watch." She told him then a moment later the clock hit seven and the bedroom door flung open.
Alex looked over at the boys coming inside and rushing over to hop onto the the bed with them. "What is happening?"
"It's Christmas!" Norman said excitedly.
"I told Norman it might not be the best idea to barge in here but he insisted." Dylan said.
"It wouldn't be Christmas without my seven am wake up call." Norma said, looking over at Alex. "They do this every year. I once told them if they woke me up even a minute before seven I would throw all their presents out, they took the time limit very literal."
"So can we open presents now?" Norman asked.
"You know that isn't how this works, first things first." Norma said and opened up her arms, both boys crawled further onto the bed and gave her a big hug. Alex admired the sight of it, even with all the hell he knew their family had gone through he could see Norma every Christmas making sure they had every bit of happiness for at least one day.
"You going to get in here?" Norma asked, looking at Alex.
"It's our Christmas hug, all family is required." Dylan said and Alex smiled, wrapping one arm behind Norma and his other around both the boys.
The morning had been nothing like Alex had ever experienced, first Norma made everyone a huge breakfast then they all went out into the den to get started on presents. He wasn't even sure when Norma managed to get downstairs and place dozens of gifts perfectly under the tree, even adding the ones he had wrapped to the mix. They let the boys go first, each of them getting everything they had on their lists and then some. Norma had noticed neither of them asked for many things this year, probably assuming they didn't have the money for more. But Norma had been taking as many extra hours at the motel as she could and saved up enough to go a little overboard.
"Alright, these ones are from Alex." Norma said, pulling out a couple presents from under the tree and handing them to the boys.
"You got us presents?" Norman asked, looking at the somewhat messy wrapping around the gift.
"Of course." Alex said then both the boys shared a look before ripping into the paper.
"Oh, cool!"
"These are awesome." Dylan said, looking at the Nerf gun sets each of them got. Each package containing a big gun, a small gun and a ton of extra bullets.
"I thought you might like something you could use inside the house, maybe you can stop shooting the slingshots in your room now." Alex said.
"You told him?" Dylan asked, looking over at Norman.
"He didn't have to. Every time I walked down the hallway I could hear those bouncy balls hitting the walls or one of you saying ouch, you hit me."
"Dylan kept aiming at my chest." Norman said.
"Well I would have went for your head but you never stop moving." Dylan said then stood up, walking over and grabbing four presents they had set under the tree yesterday. He walked over and handed two of them to Norma and two to Alex before sitting back down. "Those are from me and Norman."
"Which one should we open first, blue penguins or red reindeers?" Norma asked, looking at the colorful wrapping paper.
"Doesn't matter." Dylan said then she picked up the red reindeers, Alex copying her. "That's from me." He said then they both ripped off the paper and opened up the blank box to find what was inside, pulling out some tissue paper before getting to it. They made sure to pull it out at the same time and looked it over. They were handmade coffee cups with each of their names on them. "They let us make two cups each in class, I'm not sure if I'd trust it to actually use cause it might break into a million pieces."
"What are you talking about, these look amazing." Norma said, rubbing the sides of the cup which were perfectly structured. "I love it, thank you Dylan."
"She's right, these are great. Thank you Dylan." Alex said, gently setting it back inside the box.
"Open mine now." Norman said, smiling wide.
"Alright." Norma said then they grabbed the blue penguins and opened them up. Inside was a hand painted clay Christmas ornament, Norma's was in the shape of a music note and Alex's was a dog. "This is very cute, thank you Norman."
"Is this Chevy?" Alex asked and Norman nodded excitedly. "You know this is perfect because I was just thinking our tree was missing something." He said then stood up, reaching over to get Norma's too before walking over to the tree. He placed them both in clear view and backed up, looking over their first Christmas tree together. "There, that was it."
"Hey, do you guys know there are still a few presents under there?" Dylan asked, smiling because he knew from the fancy wrapping on each of them who they were for.
"Why don't you grab them out." Norma said then both the boys went under the tree and got them, setting a few each in front of Norma and Alex.
"I guess I should have made sure we had even amounts." Norma said, looking at her three gifts next to his two.
"I'm sure I'll love them no matter how many there is." Alex said with a smile. "You can open one of yours first."
"Any particular order?"
"Any way you like." Alex said then Norma picked up the smallest one, a very thin rectangular object. She grabbed a corner of the wrapping paper and gently ripped it open, pulling a photograph out from inside.
"A picture of some trees?" Norma asked.
"Guess you don't have to worry about buying him less presents." Dylan joked.
"Dylan." Norma said, trying not to chuckle and Alex smiled over at him.
"They aren't just any trees, they are fruit trees. It's better to plant them in the spring so you don't run the risk of the ground being frozen, but once it's warm enough those are your trees."
"I always wanted fruit trees so I could make my own jam."
"I know, I remember you talking about it once." Alex said, earning a smile from her. "So which one should I open first?"
"Oh, do the big one." Norman said.
"You don't even know what's in it." Dylan said.
"That's why I said to do it first, I want to see."
Norma nodded at the big one and Alex grabbed it, picking slowly at the wrap just like she had done to mock her. "You're hilarious."
Alex smiled and quickly tore the paper off, revealing a box under it. "I always wanted a big brown box with car tires drawn on it."
"It was the only empty box that I could find, the boys used to play with it."
"And it's not just tires, there are headlights on the front too." Dylan pointed out.
"But no licence plates?" Alex asked.
"It wasn't really a problem when we didn't live with a cop."
Alex smiled and got up on his knees, pulling out his pocket knife to open the box with. Once it was open he looked inside and pulled out one of the boxes, it was a fishing rod. "You picked this out?"
"Well technically I made the guy at the store pick it out." Norma confessed. "He offered to give me pointers on which one to buy but I told him just to grab whatever one he thought was best for it."
"This is perfect." Alex said then pulled out the other box the was a complete tackle box set.
"I know you already have some fishing stuff-" Norma said then Alex cut in.
"These are much better than the old ones I have. Although Oliver is going to be upset when he sees that I finally have a better rod than him." Alex said, setting everything back in the box and moving it aside. "Your turn again." He said with a smile.
Norma grabbed the medium sized gift next, opening it up. Inside was a large velvet box, when she opened the lid she saw a pearl necklace inside. "This is beautiful." She said, lifting it out of the box and holding it up.
"I had some outside help picking mine out too." Alex said, glancing over at the boys.
"We told him about the one you got from your grandma, that one you always used to wear before it got stolen when we had the break in at the old house." Dylan said.
"I love it." Norma said, holding it up to her neck. Alex leaned toward her and grabbed the backs of it, clipping it together for her. "Thank you."
"It looks amazing on you." Alex whispered to her before sitting back down and grabbing his next present, a somewhat large rectangle one. He ripped it open and pulled the cover off of the box inside then pulled out a brown leather jacket, smiling over at Norma.
"I thought about getting you a black one to match your old one but the brown looked like more of your style now." Norma said and Alex threw it around him and put his arms inside. "It fit good?"
"Yeah, it fits perfectly. It's gonna be tough to get me out of this one now."
"We'll see about that." Norma said with a sly grin.
"There are children present here, if you haven't forgotten." Dylan said.
"Did you hear something?" Alex asked, pretending to look around.
"I can't really hear anything around me when I'm looking at you in that jacket." Norma said.
"Alright you two have had your fun, can you just open your last present so we can have lunch already?" Dylan asked and they both smiled at him.
"I'll take it off so your mother will stop staring at me." Alex said and pulled it off, setting it back in the box. "Thank you, Norma." He said and gave her a quick kiss.
"Okay, let's see what's in this one." Norma said and grabbed the last gift, opening it up to a plain brown box.
"Sorry I didn't have time to color on it." Alex said, handing her his pocket knife.
Norma smirked and opened up his knife, cutting the tape off. She reached in and pulled out one of the bubble wrapped items, pulling it off to see what was inside. "Are these what I think they are?" She asked, opening up another one.
"Yeah." Alex said then the boys looked at them curiously.
"What are they?" Dylan asked.
"Glass frogs." Norma said, showing them off. "On our first date we went to an event in town and they had an auction. Everyone was guessing which thing would go for the most and I told Alex it would be the glass frogs, which it ended up being."
"Well who wants some dumb tractor figurines over glass frogs?" Alex joked.
"How did you ever get these?"
"The lady who bought them is the mother of one of my officers, I went and asked her if I could buy them from her. She hustled me though, I had to pay almost twice as much."
"This is the most thoughtful gift I've ever gotten."
"Hey, I handmade my gift." Dylan said.
"Me too." Norman added.
Norma smiled at them both. "Aside from your gifts of course."
"Well I just wanted us to have something to always remember from our first date."
"Thank you, Alex." Norma said, setting them back in the box. She scooted over and gave him a kiss then went over to both her sons and gave them a peck on the cheek.
After lunch the four of them went into an all out Nerf gun war through the house. Norma paired with Norman, and Alex with Dylan. They let the kids use the big guns while they stuck with a smaller ones. The rules were simple, one hit meant a point to your team. They were currently tied up at nineteen points.
"Stay down lower." Dylan whispered to Alex as they hid behind the loveseat.
"I'm a grown man." Alex whispered back. "If I go down any lower I'll just be laying on the ground, unable to move."
"And you call yourself a marine."
"Just get to the dining room, I'll cover you." Alex said then Dylan sped walked to the dining room and hid behind the table, he was about to follow when there was a knock at the door. He stood up straight and walked over to the foyer, opening the door.
"Romero." The man at the door said.
"Mayor Chambers." Alex said, greeting the man. He watched him glance down at the nerf gun he still had in his hands. "Sorry, I'm playing a game with my girlfriend and her sons." He said, setting the gun down on the bench.
"I'm sorry to bother you on Christmas."
"Not a bother at all, what's up?" Alex said then he felt a foam bullet hit him in the back of the neck, he turned and saw Norman standing there with a smile. "Time out soldier, the mayor is at the door."
"Norman, Dylan, time for a break." Norma told them. "Come on, let's go get set up to make those cookies." She said and they followed her into the kitchen.
"Sorry about that." Alex said.
"It's alright, they look like a nice bunch."
"They are." Alex said with a smile.
"You mind if we step outside a moment?" The mayor asked and Alex nodded, stepping out onto the porch and closing the door behind him. "You know I've spoke with Oliver several times, each one he couldn't speak highly enough of you."
"We've been friends a long time."
"So I heard." Chambers paused. "He told me something that I didn't expect, something you had been keeping a secret."
"Really?" Alex asked, suddenly worried. "What's that?"
"That you were the one who found the evidence for your father's case, you were the one who caught onto him in the first place."
"I'm sorry we lied about it, I didn't think it would have went as well if it came from me."
"No need to apologize, I understand the situation you were put in. It was very noble of you to give that victory away, it says a lot about the kind of officer you are." Chambers said then reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a badge. "I'm sure Oliver already told you but I felt it was right for me to bring you this in person." He said, setting it into the palm of Alex's hand. "Alex Romero, you are officially White Pine Bay's interim sheriff."
"Thank you sir." Alex said, closing his hand around his new badge.
"I know this is something you surely have thought about but I wanted to give you one order."
"Of course, anything."
"Find the bastard who shot Oliver, no one is getting away with harming any of my officers."
"I will, it's my top priority."
"Enjoy the rest of your holiday." Chambers said, stepping off the porch.
"You too sir." Alex said then watched as he got into his car and drove off. He looked down and opened his hand back up, looking at his sheriff's badge. He turned around and headed back into the house, walking straight to the kitchen.
"What did the mayor want?" Norma asked.
"He wanted to come over and give me this in person." Alex said, holding up his badge. "It's official, I'm the interim sheriff."
"Congratulations." Norma said, walking over and pulling him into a hug.
"Now we're really going to have to work on your ability to crouch, you're gonna be a walking target." Dylan said and they all glared over at him. "Oh, and congrats."
"Thank you Dylan." Alex said.
"So does this mean you get to take the sheriff's car home like Oliver did?" Norman asked.
"I suppose I could."
"Cool, can we drive it too?"
"No!" Norma said. "You need to be fifteen to drive."
"But if we are driving a sheriff's car we aren't going to get pulled over."
"He makes a good point." Alex said then Norma looked back at him.
"Don't think I don't have the power to get this job taken away from you, I don't care if you just got it."
"Alright, no driving till you're fifteen." Alex told the boys.