This is my first Normero fic and it's a one-shot, portraying Alex's perspective in the awkward scene in Season 1: Episode 8 ("A Boy and His Dog") where Norma visits his office asking for a political favor. I have my own interpretation of Alex's thoughts in this scene which I wanted to put down to words on the screen and just see what would happen…. Obviously, these characters are not my intellectual property and I disclaim any right to them, blah blah blah…. So without further ado!
The Scene: The Sheriff's Office at White Pine Bay Sheriff's Department, White Pine Bay, Oregon
(Alex's POV)
Norma Bates. Here we go. I knew she would be coming by at some point, looking all cute and putting on that irresistible charm of hers. That's how a woman like her survives in this harsh world. It's her most powerful weapon against all the bullshit that gets thrown at her. Chaos surrounds her and she's fending it off with a smile and those brilliant blue eyes that I avoid looking at for more than a second because if I look any longer I'll get sucked in and fall until I can't remember who I was or what my life was like without her….. No. I have to keep several arm length's between us and pretend she's just another constituent, another member of this godforsaken town. She walks in. God, the way she moves. Just look at this random piece of paper and write something. Don't look at her. I can smell her and feel her presence and it's oppressing me but I'm not going to let her do that thing she does with other men. I'm not Zac Shelby and I'm definitely not her late husband. She can't just bat her eyelashes at me and get me to do favors for her and save her ass. I covered up Zack's murder and Keith's murder because it was the right thing to do. Zack had a gun and was no doubt going to kill her and her sons. Keith raped her. Sure, she tried to cover up his death-to the point of dragging his fat ass down those marathon steps in front of her house. It still baffles me how she and Norman managed to do that. She flashed her gorgeous eyes at Zac and he, true to form, leapt for the bait and used her to get what he wanted while giving her what she needed, and I'll be damned if I'm going to be that guy. I'm not that guy. No matter how sexy she is I'm not going to let her play that game with me. I have to somehow let her know that this is not a game.
"So, what can I help you with, Mrs. Bates?" I ask her after letting her play with my paper weight for what seems like an eternity. Out of the corner of my eye I can see her replace it behind the computer on my desk.
"Oh please call me Norma-"
After everything we've been through. Like what, Norma? Jesus. This is going to tougher than I thought. Standing over my desk I find myself defenseless, even with the desk between us and I want to leap over it and start grabbing every part of her, but instead I fold my computer and resort to the relative safety of my chair. Forget about how soft you know her skin is and how firm she must be. Stoicism, Alex. It keeps you safe. It keeps you above the danger. Lonely, but safe and in control.
She's doing it, exactly what I knew she would do. She lost her protection in Zac and she's trying to latch on to me as her new knight in shining armor. She doesn't realize that this isn't how to get me to do what she needs. She's flirting with me. She thinks I'm just like Zack and probably every other man in her life until now. If she would just be honest with me…. I watch her, my face frozen, but I can't help feeling sorry for her. If only I knew telepathy, I could transmit the message to her: NORMA, STOP IT. TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON. THE TRUTH. I WANT TO HELP YOU BUT NOT LIKE THIS.
Just pop in and see me? My eyes glance down at her, her neck and the skin left bare from the way her dress-my eyes shoot back up after just a millisecond because dammit. I'm observing the care she put into her appearance before "just popping in" to see me, as if it was a spur of the moment decision instead of a premeditated game to suck me into her drama. She does look good, dammit. The way her blonde waves frame her beautiful face. Any other man, she'd already have what she needed. He'd be wrapped around her finger. I suppose she has already got me too, if I'm honest, but I'm not going to show it and I'm not going to play it her way. I'm not going to flirt back and tell her what she wants to hear. I want her to trust me, not manipulate me. I'm going to protect her, not manipulate her.
She seems to get some idea that she needs to change her tactic. I watch her shift uncomfortably in her seat. "So anyway…."
She gets to her point. The planned bypass off the highway in front of her motel. Bravo, Norma. Now we're getting somewhere. Just tell me the problem.
She leans her body weight on my desk and tells me she wants to find a way to "fight this….from the inside." She's looking at my eyes for the first time since she came in here, with those magnificent eyes of hers. I know what she's trying to do. How disappointing. Just when I think she might be on the cuff of honestly talking to me….she's back to her old tricks.
Don't respond. Don't say anything. Just let her talk.
"I see that there's a seat open on the city planning committee…. I wanted you to put me forward for it…. Then maybe I could influence their decision."
Bingo. I glance away from her, just to ground myself, gather my thoughts, think of how to deal with this. She wants my endorsement for a seat on the city planning committee? Jesus, Norma. That's not how this works. I can't put my career and reputation on the line for random pretty women who move to town, foolishly buying up foreclosed, partially-commercial real estate without doing the research on the community.
"Why would I do that?" I say finally. Honesty, Norma? Just tell me why I would do that. You know why Zack would do it.
"Be...cause….I thought you would."
"Why?"
Because of what we've been through? She thinks she's onto something now and gives me a crooked smile and does this thing with her fingers, indicating her and me, as if there is some mutual understanding between us. "We know things about each other."
What the hell? Is she trying to blackmail me? Dear god. Not that I believe in god. I don't. But dear god.
"We don't owe each other anything," I tell her. What I don't say is that I would love to get to know more things about her. I want to know the real her. I want the truth from her. I don't want this false Norma, this flirtatious and manipulative Norma. (Well, the flirting is ok, I can deal with the flirting, in fact in a different way, in different circumstances, I think I'd like it.)
"We're not friends," I tell her. "You don't know me in any social sense. Other than as your sheriff. Don't assume differently just because I was kind enough to save your ass once."
I am her sheriff and I will always protect her. Because it's my job to protect the residents of this county. If she wants there to be something more between us, there is a way to work toward that that doesn't involve manipulating me. But she isn't here because she likes me. She just wants me to save her ass again, to save her business from going under. I can't help but wonder exactly how far she'd be willing to go to get me to do as she asked, to "put [her] forward" for the open seat on the committee. I know the answer, of course. She'd do anything. Everything. The same way she did with men before, to solve her problems. Well, Norma, my name is Alexander Un-Fuck-With-Able Romero. Nice to meet you. This sheriff doesn't play that game. This sheriff will never play that game with you. (I might have dinner with you, though.)
She pisses me off with her retort about wasn't I saving my own ass? She's trying to spar with me now. The manipulative tactic failed, so now she's resorting to anger. Yes, Norma, Zack was my deputy. Goddammit. I stand up, my jaw clenched, and move to shut the door. Obviously, it's my turn to change my tactics. I need to make her understand. How can I make her understand? I have to brace myself before I sit on the corner of my desk and look at her in the eyes.
"Are you trying to say that you have something on me? Is that it?" She's uncomfortable under my steady gaze. I can see it. She doesn't know how to deal with a man like me. She is used to the kind of man who tells her what she wants to hear and whispers sweet nothings in her ear while telling her he will take care of her. (I will take care of her, of course, but we're not going to play like this.)
"'Cause if you did, that really wouldn't be good for you." (I managed to get that out, while staring at her, with only minimal stuttering. Hardly at all, actually. I'm doing rather well, I think, staying composed in the face of this unbelievably gorgeous woman.)
I really don't want to threaten her, but I don't know what else to do. I need to get her to stop this. Maybe if I put a little fear in her, she'll think twice before approaching her problems in this way. I have to talk to her the way I would talk to anyone who came to me to try to play without understanding the rules. I need to let her know the kind of danger she's playing with, without any clue as to what can happen to her.
"I might have to burn you down to the ground, you know?"
I can see it's finally getting through to her that she can't toy with me. I don't like that I've made her afraid of me. I hate the fear that has made her eyes widen and her body move away from me. I'm sorry, Norma, I try to tell her with my eyes. Take this as a warning.
She drives me crazy when she bites her lip. I try to be gentle when I say, "Don't ever try to intimidate me," because I want her to know that this is for her own good. I want her to stop the old tricks. I want her to try honesty for a change. "Don't walk into my office and ask me for political favors based on nothing. You and I have no connection." (Sadly.) "We're not on the same playing field. Don't ever assume that we are." I'm saddened by the truth of my words, that we have no connection, beyond being sheriff and constituent, but I can see the light dawning in her eyes. She's beginning to grasp my meaning. "You don't know what you're doing," I say almost gently. "Go home, Mrs. Bates."
I watch her leave with a heavy heart. I love watching her leave, of course I do. She's beautiful, the way she moves, and it's tempting to grab her and pin her to the wall and kiss her and touch her everywhere. But there's also this feeling that she now is afraid of me and maybe even hates me. I hate myself for making her afraid because all I want is for her to feel safe and to trust me. I know somehow, I can sense that she has never felt that before, from anyone, ever. I'm going to show her that I'm different from all the men in her life before. I'm going to prove to her that I'm trustworthy. Just trust me, Norma. Just trust me.