Madison breezed through the door like it was nothing while Jayden watched her.

Like coming home, Norman thought wildly and caught a derisive snort in his throat, coughed once or twice and looked away from the door. He glanced back at it furtively as though this time it would show the snowy forests of Narnia and not the stylish sun drenched kitchen of Madison and Ethan's home.

Narnia failed to appear.

"Hey." Madison said warmly and wrapped her arms around Ethan's waist hugging him from behind; his forearms were buried in suds and hot water.

"Are you taking liberties Ms. Paige?" He asked.

"At every opportunity Mr. Mars."

Norman felt like he was watching a commercial for life insurance. Only it was all real.

"I'm going to check on Norman's room." She said and kissed Ethan on the cheek as he reached for a cloth to dry his hands.

"Hey, welcome." Ethan said as Norman entered the apartment and turned to close the door behind him. Four deadbolts and two chains greeted him.

"Is this a high crime neighborhood?" He asked lightly and immediately regretted it. Idiot Norman master of analysis had fucked up and prepared foot tartar again. Ethan looked startled and almost panicked for a moment then he swapped to a forced smile.

"I –"

"Your room's this way Norman, there' s a set of keys on the bureau they're for the building, elevator, and apartment. Pain in the ass but secure." Madison said as she re-entered the main living area. She paused and looked at the men and raised an eyebrow at Ethan.

"Norman noticed the locks, its fine." Ethan said in a stilted but calm tone.

"Ah, well, all things considered we're a little bit security conscious. Or y'know borderline obsessive." Madison joked easily.

Ethan relaxed slightly and Norman nodded once sharply then shifted his weight from foot to foot before clearing his throat.

"Right, uh I should…unpack." He said and flashed a nervous grin at his hosts and new roommates.

Norman beat a hasty retreat to his new room praying he wasn't actually blushing as he fled. Once in the room he let out a low appreciative whistle. It was all clean lines and good taste, a sliding glass door opened onto a balcony with a table and reclining padded seat. The room itself was almost a studio apartment, the bathroom alone was larger than his first apartment. The bureau held, as promised, a set of keys lying in a home-made ceramic bowl. Norman tucked the keys into his jacket pocket and picked up the bowl. He could see tiny fingerprints in the portions of the clay that hadn't been covered in quite enough glaze. The bowl itself was uneven but serviceable and painted in an almost painfully bright red shade.

Norman smiled and carefully, almost reverently set the bowl back onto the dark wood bureau. He looked at his lone battered bag, the empty bureau and spacious closet and felt a weird pang of homesickness.

Which was bizarre because he had hated his over-priced apartment and had never really felt home anywhere. Shaking his head, blaming stress he shoved the painful throb of nostalgia aside and began to unpack. As he was folding the bag to put it away in a bottom drawer of the bureau a light tap rang out from the door.

"Come in." He called.

"Hey there's towels in the cupboard in the bathroom and some toiletries in the top drawer. Ethan wasn't sure what you would need or prefer so we got a few things."

"Oh, that's…really considerate." He said softly, surprised at the thoughtful gesture.

"You okay? I know this is a lot to deal with." Madison said.

Norman relaxed a bit. "Yeah, it is. I…well I've lived alone since I graduated from the Academy. So it's just odd is all."

"Right because that's all that's weird about this." She teased.

"In my life?" He countered with a gleam in his eye.

"There you are!" She said with a grin, "Listen, take your time okay? Shaun is finishing his homework with Ethan in the kitchen. We're ordering pizza in an hour or so. It's been a long day, feel free to take a hot shower and hit the sack." She said gently.

All at once his raw rage was back. He held himself very still and looked past and through her, recognizing the blind rage as wholly, wildly, inappropriate. With enormous effort he managed to smile and say something banal and comforting to get her out of the room. Locking the door after her he snatched a heavy down pillow and buried his face in it, letting out a hoarse roar. All that penetrated the pillow, the heavily insulated walls, and surprisingly heavy door was a low brief growl that could have passed for a neighbor flushing a toilet. If Ethan and Madison actually had neighbors.

The noise of Norman losing his shit in the face of kindness was muffled by the radio playing in the main area as Ethan and Shaun tackled long division and state history.

"This is dumb, why do I need this?"

"Why? Well okay let's say you're going to a baseball game with your class, there's thirty people in your class including you, the tickets are paid for but you have vouchers for food and drinks. You have to make sure everyone in the class gets an equal share. How do you know who gets what without division?"

"I know about division Dad but I can do all this on my phone."

Ethan started to laugh, then he started to cry, only to return to great bellows of breathless laughter punctuated with wheezing.

"Dad!" Shaun said indignantly.

Drawn from their shared room by the racket Madison appeared dressed only in a bathrobe.

"What's so funny?" She asked running a towel over her short damp hair.

While an offended and annoyed Shaun explained Ethan managed to control his laughter and apologize.

Madison soothed Shaun's wounded pride. "Hey Shaun, why don't you go knock on Norman's door, if he answers see what kind of pizza he likes." She suggested gently.

Shaun looked hesitant for a moment then nodded fiercely and trotted to Norman's door.

Norman was lying fully clothed on the queen sized bed. One hand in his jacket pocket idly fingering the keychain he'd been gifted. He was staring at the ceiling and trying to decide between not moving ever again or making the effort to take a ridiculously long bath in the grand bathroom.

A light knock, so quiet he wasn't sure he'd heard it until it came again drew his attention.

"Come in." He called expecting it to be Madison with another friendly olive branch or maybe Ethan.

Instead a boy stood there, silhouetted in the sunlight spilling in from the main living area. His dirty blonde hair had grown darker to a true brown. His gentle features were leaner as he had shed some of his baby fat as he'd grown over the months. He was taller too. Still, Norman could see the boy he'd ruined his life to save in the person before him.

"Shaun." He said softly, almost reverently and slowly sat up on his elbows.

"Uh Madison wants to know what pizza you like." He said quickly, staring at Norman in that unselfconscious way only the elderly and children can get away with.

"I…Hawaiian I guess." Norman said after an awkward pause during which he realized he was staring at Shaun in the same way. Shaun turned to close the door content with the reply.

"Shaun wait!" Norman said, suddenly irrationally terrified at the thought of the boy leaving his sight. He looked up at Norman with dark colorless eyes, haloed by sunlight the way Madison had been haloed by the streetlight days before.

"How…uhm what pizza do you like?"

"Pepperoni of course." He said and closed the door.

"Pepperoni, naturally." Norman said with a small smile

"Mr. Jayden said Hawaiian." Shaun said proudly casual as he returned to the table. Madison had poured scotch for herself and Ethan and placed a pitcher of juice on the table for Shaun.

"So, long division." Ethan said gravely as his son sat down.

"Fiiiiine." Shaun whined dramatically.