A/N: This chapter is a little different because sadly, they didn't get many scenes together in the remaining episodes, so I used some of her scenes with Norman to try to fill in the blanks. Also, this is the last one. I know it was unannounced but it happened like that, but as a sorry, I made it really long. Thank you all for the lovely reviews that keep me writing. Hope you like this one.
Norma can't sleep. The temperature in the room is freezing. She looks at the empty space on her bed; the side where Alex used to sleep next to her and she turns her head away quickly. She can't think now of the vacant spot left by his absence because it makes the chill on her skin feel worse. It makes sense that she feels cold; there's no one to hold her tonight. She misses Alex so much.
Not even when Norman offers to sleep on her bed; like they used to do many times before, does she feel better. Something has changed and both of them can feel it. This is the bed she shared with Alex and it feels strange to have her teenage son and not her husband lying on it next to her. Neither of them hugs nor cuddles the other; each turning on their side and trying to find sleep.
She's elated when Alex calls her early the next morning and even happier when they make plans to see each other later.
"I love you."
"Yeah. I love you, too." Alex replies but he knows exactly when her attention has turned back to Norman and she hangs up the phone hastily.
She goes downstairs to make breakfast. Norman has already started the coffee machine.
"You got new curtains." Norman mentions.
"Yeah. I made them myself."
"I kind of like the old curtains."
He asks her if Alex had to live in the house. She answers with an affirmative. She gets up from the table to grab her cup of coffee when she becomes nervous of his questioning, and because she's remembering another conversation about said curtains right here on this kitchen. Alex had loved the new curtains; he also made love to her right there on the kitchen counter.
"We actually became good friends." Norma mentions softly; understatement of the year, she thinks.
They finish their breakfast and she gets ready to run a few errands.
"Hi. I missed you." Norma exclaims as soon as she sees Alex in his house. She kisses him lightly on the lips and holds his hands. He reciprocates her kisses and intertwines their fingers together but he's not in as good a mood as she's in.
"What?" She asks concerned.
"Did you know Norman came to see me this morning?"
She is surprised, scared, and then angry at hearing what her son told Alex.
"I think you have to tell him the truth, Norma. That we're together and that we love each other and it is not gonna change."
"Okay, but it's too soon."
"Waiting is only going to make it worse. I mean, what are you trying to accomplish here?"
"I will know when the time is right." She replies.
She's not entirely happy about either of them forcing her to make a decision. There's nothing Norma hates more than being told what to do. She feels like a caged animal and all she wants to do is escape.
Alex is frustrated too. He just wants to be with her and her reasoning for waiting doesn't make a lot of sense to him. But now he has to go back to work.
"I'm not giving you up." She tells him as he goes out the door.
"Well, then you got to tell him."
She watches from his porch as he gets into his SUV and drives off. She then goes to her car and takes out the container with food she brought for him. She knows he never used to eat healthy and just because he's not living at the house at the moment doesn't mean she can't keep feeding him. Last night she cooked enough food for three people; Norman, herself and Alex, with the clear intention of saving something for him. She places the plastic container in his fridge and leaves a written note on the table.
'There's a bowl with homemade chicken pot pie in your fridge. Please don't eat any of those frozen things you used to. I love you, Norma.'
"I like him." Norma tells Norman at the Christmas tree park.
They've been fighting and she thinks is best if she eases him into the reality of her relationship with Alex. But with a simple sentence she basically told him she's been sleeping with Alex because she wanted to, not because she had to, like he thinks. Norman has a very strong physical reaction to her news, but she wants to believe is because of his system still getting used to the meds.
Back at the house Norma suggest they go sleep at the motel since the heater is still broken. Norman is not talking to her, he chooses to stay in room 12, the farthest away from her possible. She texts Alex.
'I'll be spending the night down at the motel. Room 1. House is still freezing. Norma.'
'Ok. I'll swing by later.' He texts back.
When Alex arrives at the motel room Norma is softly crying and his heart breaks for her.
"I told him."
"How do you feel?"
"It was hard."
He can see a tear running down her cheek and he catches it with his thumb and then pulls her into a hug.
"Why do you have the magical ability to make me feel calm?" She whispers feeling already safer and relaxed in his arms.
He says the most ridiculous thing he could think of just to make her laugh; to make her forget whatever is making her sad. He tells her he's a unicorn. It has the desired effect: she laughs and then they're kissing.
They start to undress each other, unaware that they're being watched. On the other side of the wall Norman cries as he spies his mother about to have sex with a man he hates; a man he thinks is taking his mother away from him. He storms out the motel's office after Alex unclasps Norma's bra and he sees her letting it fall to the ground.
Norma lies back on the bed and Alex follows her, laying his body carefully on top of hers. He kisses the tip of her nose, the corner of her mouth, and her chin.
"Thank you for the food you left at my house."
"You're welcome. Did you eat it?" She asks with a raised eyebrow.
"I did. I was just arriving home when I got your text." He kisses her fully on the mouth. "I'm glad to be here with you. I missed you last night."
"I missed you too." She runs her arms down his back, grabbing his ass through his underwear and pushing her hips up to meet him.
They kiss, her soft lips seeking his, and his hands traveling to hold her face. She opens her mouth to him and he lets his tongue caress hers. His kisses start a path down her neck to the peaks of her breasts and Norma throws her head back, which only makes Alex keep going lower until he reaches the pearly colored satin of her underwear and slowly takes them off her body.
He rids himself of his last piece of clothing and quickly gets in position between her spread legs but she stops him with both hands on his chest and he is suddenly confused. He looks at her questioningly.
"I want to be on top." She simply states and a wide grin forms in Alex's face.
They change positions and when she is poised on top of him, his hardness being pressed between their bodies, she rolls her hips a little and bites her bottom lip making Alex shiver in anticipation. His hands grip her hips, fingers squeezing the flesh with need. She looks down at him, and puts each arm next to his head, bending over him.
"I love you." She whispers on his ear.
"I love you too, baby."
"And I love when you call me 'baby'."
His hands caress the curve of her ass and up her waist and her back and she quivers. Norma sits up again and takes him in her hand, stroking him a few times before guiding him into her, his hand firmly holding her hip, urging her on.
They both sigh in relief at being reunited this way again. Their coupling is passionate. Norma moves her hips in a sensual motion that is driving Alex crazy. Long moments pass and her movements become erratic and desperate, her sounds going to full throat moans. Alex is close, so close. He presses a thumb to her clit to help her along and after a minute she goes quiet, her head thrown back, nipples hard and pointing to the ceiling and then there's one more sound; a beautiful long moan when she convulses on top of him, her inner muscles contracting around him so hard it takes him over too, and he comes inside of her.
She collapses on top of him with ragged breaths. He rubs her back until he feels her breath becoming normal again.
"Are you leaving?" She asks moment later from her relaxing position against his chest. She's situated between his spread legs, her back to his chest, as he reclines against the headboard. Her naked breasts are fully visible, the sheet only covering their lower bodies.
"Not if you don't want me to." He murmurs against her ear.
"I don't want you to."
"Ok. I'll stay. Will have to leave early to go home and get ready for work. I'll try not to wake you."
He kisses the side of her neck. They hold hands and lace their fingers together, spreading their arms in the air like a bird taking flight. He then hugs her with both his arms and hers. It's a complete hug, four arms, against her naked chest. She turns her head a little to be able to kiss him.
"Alex… I wish we could just erase all the bad things that have happened."
"Don't be sad. We can't erase the past, but we can create a future. It's why I gave you my mother's ring. It's from the past, but I want it to be part of my future, and yours."
He has her hand in his, his finger lightly tracing the ring on her finger and he can't see that her expression is of pure awe. She turns around, sitting sideways, and putting her hands on his chest. He can now see the surprised look on her eyes.
"You… you gave me your mother's ring?"
He smiles sheepishly. "Yeah."
Norma's eyes water as she places her fingers on his face, the way she likes to do when she kisses him.
"I love you, Alex."
"I love you, too."
Norma is so nervous. She just wants the two most important men in her life to get along. She called Alex earlier today and asked him to come over for dinner. As soon as he arrives he makes her feel calm, telling her everything will be okay and for a moment, she believes him.
The evening did not go as planned. She knows she has fed Norman's need for her for many years, and yet she's also angry that he thinks she could stop loving him or love him any less just because she fell in love. There's room in the human heart for more than one person. It doesn't diminish the love that's already there. She tries to explain to him.
In the middle of dinner Norman screams at her, calls her a hypocrite and tells her he can't believe she now claims to love somebody else aside from him. He accuses her of being manipulated by Alex and suddenly she's fed up with his jealousy and his childish ways.
"Get this through your head. No one is making me do anything! I'm a grown woman! I love him, he loves me and that is it! And you have to deal with it!"
Norman storms out. Norma stays inside while Alex goes out to deal with him. When they come back, her son runs upstairs and slams the bedroom door. Her husband informs her he's not leaving the house tonight.
Norma goes upstairs and then comes back down with sheets and blankets for a make shift bed on the couch for Alex.
"I, uh, I think is better this way." She doesn't want to add more fuel to the fire and right now they are all on edge as it is.
"Yeah. I don't care where I sleep. I just want to be here to keep an eye on him."
She kisses him lightly on the lips. He's still angry, wired up by his fight with Norman and worried about protecting Norma but he kisses her too. They share a soft kiss, just lips touching, nothing that will lead to anything more passionate that they can't do anything about tonight. Although to be fair, neither of them is in the mood for anything else beside a goodnight kiss.
She leaves him in the living room and goes upstairs. Her feet feel heavy under her, she's a little light headed, and her heart beats tight against her chest.
Norma wakes up from a restless night and stays in bed for a moment thinking how she's going to make this right. She always finds a way to fix every one of her problems, by either attacking it or ignoring it, but she does.
She goes downstairs in a positive mood but quickly finds out Alex is not. He didn't sleep. They argue about Norman and whether or not he should be back in Pineview. In the end, they make up.
"I'm taking him to see Dr. Edwards today. I'll call you later, okay?" She says sweetly.
"Ok."
"You sure you don't want to take a shower here?"
"No. I'll go home and get ready there."
They share a sweet embrace and a loving kiss until Alex feels another person's presence and he looks up to see Norman creepily watching them, throwing dagger eyes at him. Norma sees her son too and becomes instantly nervous. Alex leaves.
Norma calls Alex, as promised, from Pineview but the tension quickly mounts again. Alex wants Norman in the facility, but Norman doesn't want to be there, and the situation puts Norma between the two of them again.
She hangs up the phone as soon as she sees her son come out of the building. Driving back to White Pine Bay, Norman can't keep quiet anymore about his mother's ring. He noticed it from the first moment he saw her picking him up two days ago but now wants to make his dislike of it clear.
"I see the sheriff got you a ring."
"What? Oh yes." She's so concentrated on driving that for a moment is caught off guard by Norman's conversation. She looks at the ring on her hand. "He did, yes. That's what you do when you get married."
"Are you going to bring him back into the house?" He asks petulantly.
"Norman, please don't start. Put on some music, and let me drive."
She cannot believe what Dylan is telling her. They can't go behind her back to try and take Norman away from her. She also can't accept that her son is dangerous. A mother can never think of her son as a killer, no matter the amount of evidence against him. This is her child. She hurts Dylan to drive him away. He hurts her too.
The fight with Dylan breaks her mother's heart in two. Choose to believe one son and condemn the other to a cell or lose her eldest in order to protect her youngest. She decides to protect the one she believes is her weakest progeny.
On the heels of that painful choice she goes to talk to Alex. Norman doesn't stop her, he's sure she will at least, defend him in front of her husband. He's winning her back.
But when Norma comes back her son can tell she's broken, like the fight has left her body. What happened? Has the sheriff convinced her to put him back in Pineview? He doesn't know that she and Alex had a fight. That she told him she could never trust him again. That ever since leaving his office she has felt dead inside.
"Mother?" He asks as he sees her in front of the open fridge, the light from inside bathing her silhouette in darkness against the brightness. A perfect metaphor for what she feels right now: a dark spot in a world of light. Her life will always be a stain in the universe.
"I'm sorry, Mother."
"It's okay. Another day, another dollar, whatever." She replies in the saddest monotone, her eyes filling up with tears.
Then she's hyperventilating, doubling over by the pain. She's sobbing loudly, gasping for air. He runs to her, helping her up. He can put her back together, he thinks he can. She holds on to him like he's a raft in the open water.
He wonders if she's crying for him, or over him. The latter being the sheriff.
'Dear Alex – I will always love you no matter what. I'm truly sorry. Love, Norma.'
She cries as she writes the letter and as she takes off the ring from her finger and places both inside the envelope which she addresses to him: Alex. The only man she has ever loved and who truly loved her back. There's no doubt in her heart of these two facts. But some things are just not meant to be; her entire existence has been a continuous lesson on it. She might as well accept defeat.
Alex is driving to his house after work, but at the last minute, turns toward the motel's direction. He has to talk to her; he has to make sure she understands that he's not trying to take her son away from her. More importantly, he needs to know she's okay. Even if she's still angry with him, he just wants to know she's safe.
One hour later Alex is still in shock, watching from Norma's porch as the ambulance and the funeral vehicle take the two bodies away.
"Sheriff? You need to come see this."
Alex can finally breathe more easily. The police investigation regarding the furnace accident is coming along nicely. And he can finally sleep in his own bed instead of standing vigil next to a hospital bed.
The initial recovery was hard; not only from the toxic inhalation but from receiving the news upon waking up three days later that her son had died in the gassing of the house. Norma had released only one guttural scream; but one that tore from the deepest parts of her shattered heart. She clutched at her stomach as if she could still feel the life inside of her being ripped out, the child she carried, the cord that once connected them and that now was figuratively and irrevocably broken at last.
Then came silence. No more screams, no more tears. Just a dull pain behind her once vivacious blue eyes.
Alex explained everything to her. He even showed her the letter Norman had written; his suicide letter. His obvious connection to the police department allowing him to make a copy so he could show it to her, the original being held as evidence by the investigation.
Her eyes went through each word her son had written explaining he was ending both their lives so they could be together forever. It almost read as a love letter dedicated to her. In it he also mentioned he was sorry for having, 'very probably, killed someone.' When she finished reading it she closed her eyes.
"You were right." Her voice sounded raw from screaming and crying.
"I didn't want to be right. I wanted to help him and I wanted to protect you." He had told her. He hoped he believed him, it was the truth.
Norma is being released from the hospital today. Alex drives her to the house and when she mentions she'd like to be alone he's terrified for a second. He wasn't expecting them going back to live happily inside their bubble as she angrily mentioned a week ago, after everything that's happened, but he doesn't want to leave her alone with her sad thoughts. He knows her emotional recovery will be harder that the physical one.
Even in her pain she can see he's worried about her; unable to leave her just like that.
"I'm not going to kill myself, Alex."
"Please let me stay. I won't bother you. I'll sleep on the couch, but please don't ask me to leave you alone. Not now."
"Ok. Fine."
She opens the door and steps in, going upstairs without taking a look back at him.
Today is Norman's funeral. Norma wears a simple black dress and puts on makeup if only to cover the dark circles under her eyes. She doesn't want to think. She's burying her son today.
When she goes downstairs she finds Alex in a black suit and black tie waiting for her. They do not speak. Alex doesn't know if she blames him for Norman's death; or the fact that he provided the information on the repairman that had visited the Bates' house. The man gave his testimony to the police, and assured them he had warned the residents that there was a faulty gas line that shouldn't be fired up.
The police searched down the entire house and the motel while Norma was still in the hospital and found enough evidence in the recovery of Audrey Decody's suitcase from the attic and Norman's DNA on it to start an investigation into his involvement in her disappearance. Norman's letter and the repairman's testimony all but made him guilty of Norma's attempted murder.
There's no one at the burial but Norma and Alex. They haven't had time to find Dylan after he left without leaving an address. Alex stays by her side until the coffin is lowered to the ground. Tears fall silently down her face and for a moment, she lays her head on his shoulder. He rubs her back as a soothing gesture and then takes a few steps back to give her privacy. After laying white flowers on the ground she starts walking slowly towards the car. Alex joins her not far behind.
"I don't blame you. For any of this." She murmurs when they're inside the car.
Slowly Norma starts to come back to Alex. One day she lets him touch her hand while they're sitting at the table having dinner. They haven't said anything about their relationship but they keep living together. He has moved to Dylan's old room again and goes to work every day and returns to her every night.
Another day she sits next to him to watch TV although he's sure her mind is not paying attention to anything on screen. He takes care of her each day though; he buys groceries and is vigilant that she's eating. He brings her flowers almost every day not as a romantic gesture but because he knows she loves them. He leaves them in wrapping paper on top of the kitchen table and is pleased to see that every time the flowers end up in a vase, carefully arranged.
They talk about mundane things. Hours turn to days and days turn to weeks. Then one day she announces she needs to talk to him. Alex's heart skips a beat on his chest. He will respect her decision if she wants him out of her life; but it will kill him.
"Alex, I want you to know that is not that I can't live without you. I can. But I don't want to."
His minds wraps around what she is saying.
"Life has always given me things only to take them back from me; my sons, happiness, love. I lost my kids, I almost lost my life. I don't want to lose you."
He stands in front of her without moving and only when she walks to stand in front of him, and he feels her soft hands gently wiping away his tears, does he realize he's crying.
One year later…
Norma comes into the kitchen holding her phone in her hand. The wedding ring on her finger catching the morning light and shining brightly.
"You're not going to believe this." She tells Alex with a surprised expression on her face.
"What?" He asks from the backroom in the kitchen, where he is repairing the screen door. It's Saturday morning, he doesn't have to go into work today.
"Emma just called to tell me I'm going to be a grandmother!"
Her face lights up with joy and Alex joins her in the kitchen. They hug.
"Wow! That's amazing. Are you happy?"
"Yes! Are you kidding? I'm gonna be a grandma! And you're gonna be a grandpa!"
"I guess that means we're officially old." Alex teases her.
"Talk about yourself. I plan to be a very chic, fashionable, 42 year young grandma."
"Yes, you will." He says hugging her more tightly and kissing her.
"I'm going out to run a few errands. Do you need anything from the store?"
"No. I'll be fine. Actually, can you get me a six pack? It's getting warmer and I want a beer."
"If you want a beer, then why do you need a six pack?" It's her turn to tease him.
"We're celebrating Dylan and Emma's news today!"
"Okay. I'll see you later."
"Don't stay too long." He speaks softly as she moves out of his arms and starts to walk away. She looks back at him, their coded conversation understood by both.
For the past year Norma has gone every Saturday morning to the cemetery to lay white flowers on Norman's grave. Alex knows her routine by now; at the beginning he used to follow her and watch her from afar to make sure she was okay. He had a hunch that she knew he was following her but neither ever said anything. After a few months, he just let her have this moment of solitude with her son's memory. He watched her many times to know that each time, she kneels on the ground and picks at the dirt and the grass, placing the new flowers on the vase and then stands up. She then cleans the tombstone's surface that simply reads "Norman Bates, loving brother and son" with a handkerchief, places a kiss on top of it, turns around and leaves.
"I won't. I promise." She smiles lovingly at him. Her eyes will now forever hold a hint of sadness in them, but her happiness is plentiful and her heart is full of love: for her husband, for her dead son, for the prodigal son who returned to her life a year ago, for her daughter-in-law and her soon to be born grandchild.
Alex hears her heels clicking on the hardwood floor and he runs after her, catching her at the door.
"Hey, I forgot to say this: I love you."
He wraps her again in his arms, kissing her lips gently.
"I love you, too. Forever."
She kisses him again, less gentle and full of love.
"What do you say we go out tonight? I hear they're playing that old movie you love again at the theater and it's a double feature or something." He offers.
"Yes. I'd love that."
"We have all the time in the world, right?"
She smiles. That's another one of their coded conversations. It's like a wedding vow to them now, whenever they mention it, it means they love each other and that they'll protect and cherish each other until they die. They don't remember how they came up with it, probably some silly drunken night, but it stuck.
"All the time in the world. A lifetime."
Norma promises and kisses him again. He kisses her back.
The End.
A/N: I know the ending is not canon, but I couldn't do it. I just couldn't stick with the events of episode 409 so I changed it a bit. I don't think you'll be too mad about it. ;)
