Disclaimer: I don't own Bates Motel or any of the characters on the show.

AN: Since some of you asked, here is a second part on what happened after they left and what life could be for Dylan and Emma outside of WPB. It's mostly fluff, so enjoy :)


They go for a drive like they always do. They stop by the Decody's house and then by the cemetery before leaving White Pine Bay behind us with no intention of coming back and two and a half millions hidden in the trunk.

Their joined hands rest on the console and it all feels very Bonnie and Clyde.

They change cars before changing states. It should feel like goodbye but as she meets Dylan's eyes and smiles all she wants to say is Hello.

/

It's just the two of them and the open road, in this new car Dylan loves so much. Every night they stop in a new motel and the irony always makes her smile. Dylan is just nervous and uncomfortable with this cosmic joke until she drags him to the bed and kisses him and makes him forget in a thousand delightful ways everything but her skin against his.

There is a shyness to him when they're together that she wouldn't have expected. Like he can't believe her legs around his waist, her fingers in his hair and her lips on his. So she cups his jaw and forces his blue eyes to meet her gaze and whispers sweet nothings to him while her other hand, southbound, slides down his stomach

/

They're not running, not really. They just left. Their departure might have angered the wrong people though, not just Norma and Norman but his business partners too, and they have to be careful about staying under the radar.

Because it's easy to disappear in a crowd, because he does better in big cities, and mostly because she has always wanted to go to California they find themselves in Los Angeles. She can see the ocean from their new flat, it's not perfect, but she can't imagine anything better.

They celebrate with a bottle of Veuve Cliquot. It's the first time Emma tastes champagne, and the bubbly sensation she gets is similar to what she feels when Dylan looks at her.

He raises his glass. "To a new life," he says, his eyes devouring her.

"To a new life," she echoes, and around her the world is spinning but she can't be sure whether it's the champagne or Dylan.

Soon his lips crush hers, and their drinks are forgotten but the sparkling taste of his lips is heavenly. She melts into his arms, and after his expert touch turns the sparks into a blazing fire he's inside her and she's seeing stars.

/

"White is boring," she declares, studying the wall.

"How should we paint it then?" he asks. He stands behind her, his arms around her small frame.

"Blue," she answers without having to think about it. It's her favourite colour now, her lucky one. Blue like the ocean, like the California sky, like his eyes.

He kisses her hair. There has been no big declaration between them, but these small gestures, all these moments adding up speak louder than they ever could. He kisses her hair, and all that needs to be said is said. She leans back into his embrace.

It should feel strange—it all happened so fast—but it doesn't. They've waited long enough.

They had no one, now they share the same bed and starting a new life together.

It feels like he was reborn when she first kissed him. She accepted him, welcomed him, wanted him in a way no one else ever had. She made him hers without even realizing what she was doing.

They go to the farmer markets together, walk by the beach, cook together and make love a lot. It's almost an accident when he gets a job as a mechanic. Not long after she's hired by one of her new friends from yoga class in an interior design firm.

She asked him as they left White Pine Bay disappear in the rear view mirror whether they needed new names and cover stories now.

He had laughed. "It's not like in the movies."

When people ask, she says that they left their small town after her father died. Nothing was holding them back, they needed a change. Something new. "And I'd always wanted to see LA," she adds. It's such a stock answer, but no one would think to question it.

She likes to tell people that Dylan and her are high school sweethearts. Soon none of this feels like a lie.

/

"I feel like all we're talking about is my boyfriend drama. How come we never talk about yours? How do you and Dylan never fight?" her friend Jaya asks her one day as they sip smoothies together after work. Jaya and her boyfriend are going through yet another round of epic fights.

"I don't know," Emma answers. She never really asked herself this question before. She's still amazed by how good it all feels, how well they're doing.

"But you never fight, right? You must have a secret."

They have plenty of secrets. And maybe that's part of the reason they never fight. They share too much. They're connected to each other in a way no one can understand.

"I don't think we ever had a fight. We do get upset at each other sometimes. But mostly it's always about the same things. Like I get upset when I feel like he's not sharing stuff with me because he thinks I'm too fragile to handle it. Or he gets upset when he thinks I'm not sharing stuff with him because I don't want him to worry."

Jaya rolls her eyes. "That's like disgustingly adorable. Do you have fights about who cares about the other the most too?"

"Maybe," Emma says, mischief and pride sparkling up her eyes.

"God, you know, this is so ridiculously sweet that I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen you two together. And now you just have to tell me your secret. How do you do never yell at each other over stupid things?"

Emma takes a long swallow of her drink and thinks. "Well, I guess we have a lot of perspective."

"Oh right, because of the whole lung disease thingy," Jaya says, nodding toward the oxygen tank.

Maybe it should be offensive, but it's actually one of the thing Emma likes the most about her new friend, she doesn't treat her any different because of her CF.

"Yeah. But it's not just that. We both had shitty childhood and come from fucked up family. From the beginning we always had our eye on not being like them. We understand each other and always look out for one another."

"You're best friends."

"I like to think of us more like accomplices. You wanna know something weird though?"

"Sure," her friends says, biting the end of her straw.

"We've never said I love you."

It's something Emma has been thinking about more and more lately. Whenever they're together, there is no doubt in Emma's mind that he loves her. Or never in so many words at least. Dylan is more of the silent type.

Her friend almost does a spit-take. "What the hell? You guys live together, you left everything behind to be together, you're practically married for god's sake and you've never said I love you to each other, not even once? Why?"

She shrugs. It never felt necessary.

"I know how he feels. And you might have noticed but Dylan isn't much of a talker."

"Then what's your excuse? Did you ever tell him?"

She says it during sex sometimes. She's not sure whether he hears it or not, but it always seems to her that he'll hold her longer and tighter after it when she does, but somehow she doesn't think it counts.

"Is that bad?" she asks.

"Girl. You go right now. I don't want to see you until you've fixed this. Go home and tell this man you love him. Go!"

It's crazy and stupid and she's not even sure Dylan will care anyway but she still does it. She picks up her bag with her tank in it and doesn't stop until she finds him.

He's in the kitchen, drinking coffee, when she walks in.

"Hey," she calls, biting her lips nervously.

"Hey," he says looking up from his drink to meet her equally warm coffee-eyes, "you're home early."

"I love you," she says, blurting it out without preamble, but it had been sitting on the top of her tongue for too long.

He freezes in his sit at first, his blue eyes almost cold from the shock. But then he smiles and stands up to meet her in the middle of the room. He cups her blushing cheeks to force her averted eyes to meet his gaze, she sees the smile and the happiness there. He kisses her.

"I know," he whispers against her lips. And before she has time to berate him for quoting Star Wars to her when they're having a moment, he adds, "I love you too, Emma Decody."

/

But love is not always enough to keep the darkness at bay. They've lived here for two years now. They're settled, with steady jobs, a beautiful apartment and lots of new, normal friends. And despite that, some days it still feel like they're drifting, running away.

When they both get this haunted and restless feeling they do what they always do. They go for a ride.

They let the top down, the warm breeze hits them, her hand on his over the console and their future right ahead, on the open road. Yet somehow the ghost of White Pine Bay can still be seen in the rear view mirror, so they don't look back.

But these are just impromptu getaways, midnight road trips, they always come back to the apartment with the blue walls and the balcony over-looking the sea.

It's 2 am and they're driving in the desert, somehow they've almost made their way from LA to Palm Springs. She's wearing a floral sundress and nothing else, she kicked off her sandals hours ago. It was warm when they left, but the desert is a cold and strange place. Foreign in a way to anything human. Maybe that's why they always seem to come back here, this otherworldness.

She already has a blanket wrapped around her, but Dylan still shrugs off his jacket and gives it to her. And maybe it's this little act, this ordinary and so familiar act of kindness and devotion—making her feel safe and loved—that prompts her to tell him what's on her mind.

"You're my family," she says.

He smiles, eyes on the road and presses her hand.

"And you're the only family that I've got. But you, you still have other people. Do you still think of them like that? Do you still consider them your family?"

This time he looks at her. "I was never a part of their family, Emma. Before you, I was alone. And now it's just the two of us."

She remembers her father's funeral and the loneliness she felt. She remembers the crowd of strangers and Dylan's arm around her when she needed it the most.

"Just the two of us," she echoes musingly. "It doesn't have to be."

She swallows, tries to gauge his reaction. But he stares straight ahead.

"What do you mean?" he asks. He's not sure what she's getting at but he can feel the nervous energy running through her body.

"It doesn't have to be just the two of us. We could expand our family. We could be three. Dylan, I'd like to have a baby. With you."

He stops the car. "Is that—Is that even possible?" The emotion in his voice is unmissable.

"I've never considered it before, but I asked my doctor and he said I yes. I'd have to be careful but I'm healthy enough to do it if that's what I want. And I think I want that very much. What do you think?"

She knows he would do anything for her, to make her happy. He likes kids, he's good with them. Even if he didn't want one he would probably say yes. But there is no mistaking the look of sheer love and devotion in his eyes when he answers.

"Yes. Yes. I would like that very much."

Soon she gets rid of her oxygen tubes and they're both breathless, making out in the front seat like a pair of teenagers in love. She rides him right here and there with a combination of passion and carefulness until he spends himself inside of her as she absorbs his nonsensical words of eternal love with kisses.

They used to be alone, but they've found each other, and now they're creating something else altogether. Something new.

FIN


This time it's for real, guys. There's no moving forward from here. But I'll probably write more of this pairing if you like it, particularly now that they've had their first real scene together and that w've found out she knew so much about his job mh...the possibilities!

Leave a review and let me know what you think :)