Alex was just about to leave his office for the day, when his phone rang. He was looking through a couple of reports in another room when he heard it, and wasn't able to answer. He hadn't had a good day, so when the familiar tune started playing he sighed.
Whoever called didn't do it again, so he ignored it. It wasn't until he was walking to his car that he picked up his phone.
Missed call from Norma Bates
One new voicemail
He stopped. She had left a voicemail. He had talked to Norma on her porch just earlier that day, and even though she didn't want to admit it, Alex could tell she was scared. It had hurt a bit, to see her lie to him again, but in a way he understood her. He may never have been a parent himself, but he had seen how far a parent's love could go. In Norma's case however, it might not be so bad if she let go a little.
But with Norma you could never be sure. For all he knows, she could have just called to ask him what curtains he thinks she should get for the motel office.
He raised his phone to his ear, and his heart skipped a beat when he heard Norma's voice.
She was crying.
Norma's cries always made him feel like he wanted to lock her up somewhere safe and hug and kiss her until nothing was wrong anymore, but he had never had the courage to even reach out to her. Now she was at the other end of the phone, which just served as another reminder of how he would never be able to do that. When the only thing she could think about was Norman, she would never let him in.
So instead he listened patiently as he heard Norma tell him about how she was worried about Norman, how he should be admitted right now, and his heart ached at how scared she sounded.
As she started talking about how grateful she was for what he had done for her, he was already running back into the station. The only thing that mattered now was getting to the Bates Motel, and fast.
"Derek, come with me!" He shouted. The young deputy reacted quickly, and was soon seated in the passenger seat of Alex's car. He turned on the lights of the car, and sped out of the parking lot. The only thing he could think was;
Is it too late?
Alex slammed the breaks, just able to stop his car from crashing into the motel. His body was pumping with adrenalin and fear. The young deputy next to him looked alarmed, but he was a quick thinker and was soon running up the stairs with Alex.
Soon enough he's up the stairs, through the door and in her hallway. He can feel himself start to panic, and his head starts going over all the worst-case scenarios. His brain feels disconnected from his body, like he doesn't have control over it.
"Norma!" He screams out. He needs to know where she is. He needs to get to her. He needs to hold her and kiss the top of her head and tell her everything will be alright. He needs to get to her.
"Norma, where are you?" He's going mad. If anything has happened to her, he doesn't know what the hell he'd do.
He feels like he's about to cry when he hears voices coming from downstairs, and without even thinking he rushes down.
Norman is standing in front of the stairs. Alex turns around and sees Norma, and he can see both of their cheeks are wet from crying. He tells himself to take a deep breath and calm down.
"You need to come with me, ok? We're going to take you to get some help." Norman just stares at him, and Alex stares back. He doesn't know what's happened here tonight, and he won't ask in front of Norman. He has never seen anything even resembling Norman's mental state, and he frankly does not know how to act around him.
"Let's go." He pushes Norman in front of him, and starts to walk up the stairs.
"He won't sign the papers." Norma has turned to him. She looks tired and scared, tired of always having to worry, scared of not knowing what's going to happen next.
If he doesn't sign the papers, and Norma doesn't want to admit he's dangerous, he won't get into Pineview. He will have to take him to county, and even though Norma doesn't want that, it's Norman's problem in the end. All he knows is he won't leave Norman here. Not after what he heard on the phone.
"I'll have to take him back to county, I'm not letting him stay here." He says, and walks up the stairs before he does something stupid.
It doesn't matter how much he wants to kiss her, hug her, hold her or love her, keeping her safe is the most important thing.
So as Norma comes sprinting down the stairs, begging Norman to sign the papers, he knows it's going to be ok.
As long as she's safe, everything is ok.