A/N: So here they are, the happily married couple. :) I thought Norma and Alex deserved to have a good time. Therefore parts of this chapter are as close as I will get to writing fluff. Of course there are also emotional intense moments and even a little bit of angst but knowing me, I guess you expected that and I hope it makes for a well-balanced mix.

Minor trigger warning for rape. It's only mentioned though, no actual rape taking place. So I think it's save for everyone to read.

As always a huge THANK YOU to everyone who reviews, favs, follows or supports my writing in any other way. This also goes for my other story Holding On. Considering the concept of the story, I didn't expect any favourable reviews and was super-pleasantly surprised. And since I have no way of contacting the guest reviewers, I hope at least some of you are maybe reading this too.

Alex doesn't believe in the concept of heaven and hell. People are alive or they are not. That's it. Save that living with Norma, being married to her feels like so much more than simply being alive. There are no words to describe it since he has never felt this way before.

Every day after he has woken up, there is this horrible split second when he wonders whether it all was just a dream. But then Norma stirs next to him or he inhales her scent and knows it was not. It's all real. So maybe this is his version of heaven.

As volatile as her moods are, Norma seems to be one of the people whose default setting in the morning is happiness. She always wakes up with a smile. It's the best thing in the world. Plus she really likes to snuggle. Sometimes she sneaks in his arms while he is still half asleep, burying her nose at his neck or simply laying her head on his chest. It makes him choke with love and gratefulness. I always feel safe when I'm with you, she told him during their wedding night. Similar words like the ones she had used when he had moved out of the motel and it was so hard for her to watch him leave, a thought that tugs at his heartstrings. He never would have left if he had known. But he's here now. Norma can very well take care of herself, but the idea to protect her has always been part of the attraction. She will be safe from now on. Always.

There is no huge flat-screen TV in his version of heaven though. That's kind of a problem. The lack of modern technology in the Bates mansion might be an authentic touch when it comes to the vintage style, but there are limits as to style authenticity for a football fan like Alex. He didn't expect that extent of resistance from Norma when he addresses the subject.

"A flat-screen TV?" Arms akimbo, a frown on her face. Hell, her entire body is a question mark, leaning away from him, not-so-subtly accusing him how he can dare to suggest bringing such a terrible, terrible thing into her lovely, lovely house.

"How am I supposed to watch the Super Bowl?"

She points at the tube TV.

Alex wouldn't touch that thing. It probably will explode if someone turns it on. "You're not serious."

Norma's face and posture say she is.

Alex throws his hands up in the air, sighing. "Okay, you win. I will watch it in the sports bar although I would rather be here with you."

Her look is piercing before she shrugs and turns around.

The next day Alex hears strange sounds when he comes home. It sounds like… But it can't be. He follows the sounds into the dining room to find a brand-new, huge flat-screen TV hanging at the wall.

He is so fascinated by his discovery that he doesn't hear Norma approach him and startles when she puts her arms around him from behind.

"Do you like it?"

Alex turns around. "Do I like it? It's perfect."

Norma smiles happily. "We can bring an armchair in so that you can watch your games." She makes a gesture that implies she has no idea what hideous rituals modern men indulge in. "And whenever you don't watch, I will put some cloth over it or whatever so that this thing doesn't ruin the entire room." She pouts, but it's faked. Norma is happy that he is happy.

"What changed your mind?"

She places her lips next to his ear. "I don't want you in a sports bar. I want you here with me."

Her words send shivers of excitement down Alex's spine that have nothing to do with football.

He watches the first games in an armchair while Norma is reading in the living room or keeping herself busy in another way only to find a redecorated dining room not much later when he comes home one day. The dinner table is still in it, but Norma found a way to fit in a small couch in addition. Actually she is sitting on it, pretending to read the newspaper when he walks in.

"Norma… What's this?"

"What? Oh… that..." She makes a dismissive hand movement. "There is this antique shop downtown that had this beautiful piece for sale." Her face lights up as she tells him. The couch is, indeed, beautiful. Dark green velvet that makes for a nice contrast with the red walls.

Alex sits down on it next to her. "So this has nothing to do with the fact that you might have missed me when you were sitting all alone in the living room?"

"Pffft… no, of course not." Turning the page, but he sees the hint of a smile before Norma hides it.

"That's too bad." He puts his hand on her knee, pushing the hem of her dress up her thigh ever so slowly. "Because I missed you very much whenever I was sitting in here on my own."

Norma drops the newspaper on the floor. "Don't even think about it. This is as far as it gets," she whispers, and for a moment, Alex is irritated and almost stops touching her. "That thing will never ever make it into our living room," Norma states before she leans forward to kiss him.

Alex couldn't care less. She bought him a big, beautiful TV and will watch football with him on their new couch. Not much more he could ask for.

Or maybe there is.

Despite the banter and the happiness and the sex they have in nearly every room of the house (it's fascinating how a simple challenge You won't be able to distract me so that I stop doing the laundry. – Oh, you think so? can get out of hand although it wasn't a real challenge since they both knew Alex was able to distract her easily and would go all the way to do it), anyway, despite all of this, there are two things that overshadow their lives: Norman's future and the fact that Norma never tells him that she loves him.

They can't do much about Norman's future. The investigation is ongoing, the trial upcoming. Norma has visited her son several times by now, mainly ignoring these facts. She can't ignore that his condition is getting gradually worse though. When she comes back from her latest visit, she doesn't even try to hide that she cried on her way back home, starting to cry again the moment she sees Alex.

"Nothing Norman says makes sense anymore," Norma sobs as Alex is holding her. "He told me he understands now. What game it is we're playing. And that he..." She cries harder, her words almost unintelligible, "That he is sorry he had to leave me alone underground before he brought me back." Norma pushes herself away from Alex so that she can look in his eyes. The pain and desperation on her face cut right through him. This is the one thing he will never be able to protect her from – her love for her son. It's a fire that burns inside her and will never die down. Norma takes a deep breath. "Norman believes he is still living with me, talking to me every day, that... this version of me plays the piano for him." She leans into him again. "I can play the piano for him." Norma sniffles. "I'm his mother. Not this… imaginative version of me. Can't you do something, Alex?" Her head rests on his chest, her words muffled by his shirt.

But for once he can't, no matter how much he wants to. No convincing arguments, no threats, no anything will change what Norman, and by extension Norma, are going through. Either his doctors will be able to help him or Norman's soul will be lost in the depths of his insanity soon.

"The next time you will visit him, I'll go with you."

In the past Norma fought his offer to accompany her. Repeatedly. All the same it's the only thing he can do to help her.

She neither says yes nor contradicts him, the latter being a first. Albeit Alex is aware this is something they have to wait out together, he wishes he could do something right here and now to make her feel better. Norman's health condition as well as the general situation he is in don't influence Norma's mood every moment of the day, or perhaps they do, but it's not that obvious, mainly in between the lines. Either way, it makes their genuinely happy moments rare and even more precious. He wishes he could give her more of that.

Alex remembers the last time he took Norma out for dinner. They had some wine and then some more or rather Norma had some more since he was the driver. She was already half-asleep on their way home, tipsy and plain happy. Sometimes alcohol does make things better, as he prefers to say (although it's a bitter pseudo-truth; he is aware of that). In this special case, though, it was nice to feel nothing but light-heartedness surround her.

When they arrived at the motel and he helped her out of the car, Norma giggled and leaned way more into him than necessary.

"You have caramel-colored eyes, Alex," she cooed. "Do you know that? You may think they are brown, but they are not. When the light is reflected in your pupils, they're like caramel." She touched his face, serious now. "You are so beautiful and you take such good care of me. I love you."

The moment she said it, something changed, her hand leaving his face abruptly. Norma turned around and walked up to the house much too fast considering her intoxicated state, practically running away from him. Even their light-hearted moments are never just that, light-hearted, the darkness always waiting to seep in.

Alex had been waiting for so long to hear her say those words to him and then that. It doesn't change what he is feeling for her though, never will.

"I love you," he murmurs.

Norma stirs, clearly remembering the same situation not long ago, tension creeping into her body as he is holding her even tighter. She won't outrun him or his love.

When Alex wakes up the next morning, Norma is already up. He can hear her making breakfast downstairs. They didn't talk much after his love confession the day before and went to bed in silence. Until then, Norma could pretend the fact that she had run away after she had told him she loves him never happened because she had been drunk. He actually couldn't tell how much she remembers until yesterday. Now he knows and she knows he knows. No more running away.

When Alex enters the kitchen and finds Norma swirling across it, it's obvious that this is going to be awkward. She is slipping away on purpose whenever his hands try to catch her. After a while he has had enough.

"Come here," he mutters, boxing her in between his body and the countertop.

She is exuding anxiety, barely able to keep still, avoiding his look.

"It's okay, Norma," Alex assures her in an effort to soothe her nerves. "No need to worry about anything, okay?" Her obvious inability to tell him she loves him hurts him. It doesn't change the fact, though, that they will work it out together, whatever it is that makes her behave this way. Provided she lets them.

She takes a deep breath, looking in his eyes. What she sees there makes her tear up. Norma looks down again, gently pushing him away. Alex steps back to give her some room.

Norma wrings her hands, her fingers playing with her wedding ring. "Can I…," she starts and stops, walking over to the other side of the kitchen table so that there is more space between them. And a physical barrier. "Can I not buy you a wedding ring?" Her voice is firm now. Her words, however, are not what Alex expected to hear. Not even close, save that he should have known that considering Norma's unpredictability.

"What?"

She straightens herself. "Would you mind not wearing a wedding ring?" Norma raises her hand to interrupt him in advance when Alex opens his mouth to respond although he has no idea what he would have said. "I know, I know, this is weird, but hear me out. You know this is my third marriage. I screw things up and I don't want to screw this up. Wedding rings are tradition and the one you gave me..." She admires the ring on her finger. "...is beautiful. But a ring also leaves wounds when the hand that is wearing it hits you. I know, I know..." Norma raises her hand another time. "You would never do that, but it happened and a man wearing a wedding ring is not a good memory for me. So maybe we can wait a bit before we get yours? Make this different so that it all will be good? I don't need you to wear a ring to know that you love me and to know that I love you." She whispered the last words. "I'm just so afraid to say it out loud. I don't want to jinx it. Nothing good that ever happened to me lasted. I want us to last."

Norma told Alex bits and pieces about her life and marriages, especially one story imprinted on his memory how she tried to leave her second husband and he forced her back into the house and their bedroom at gunpoint. She was crying so hard when she told him about it that he could only make out single words. It was enough to connect the dots though. Her husband raped her while Norman was in the room. Alex can't even begin to imagine how horrible that must have been for Norma as a woman as well as a mother and how equally horrible for Norman as a child who couldn't possibly understand what was going on except that his father who was supposed to protect them was hurting his mother. No wonder the bond between Norma and her son is so strong, considering what they went through together.

So her reluctance to accept that finally something good is happening to her makes sense, the realization devastating that all this time Norma has been afraid to do or say something wrong so that she could lose it again.

Alex approaches her. This time she doesn't shy away from him and lets him take her left hand.

"Norma Bates, I'm perfectly happy to be married to you without wearing a wedding ring, whether you will get me one at some point in the future or not. But I need you to tell me that you love me now and then. I just need to hear it. And I can promise you it won't jinx anything. Quite the opposite."

She is half-laughing, half-crying when he takes her in his arms, breathing the words right into his ear, "I love you. I love you, Alex. So much."

It's Saturday. They had planned to go to a potters market in a town nearby but eventually decided to stay home due to the cold and rainy weather. Alex has just finished repairing the lock of the backdoor so that the stormy winds of White Pine Bay won't push it open anymore when he notices Norma watching him.

"What is it?" He can't help it. His first reaction when something unusual happens, be it his wife watching him with this strange expression on her face, is worry.

But she smiles and he relaxes. No need to worry then.

"You have this little frown on your forehead when you concentrate," Norma says. "You always check the people around us when we are out having dinner or wherever we are in order to make sure that nothing bad happens to us. To me. You hold me after I had a nightmare until I fall asleep again even though the position we sleep in sometimes makes your back hurt judging from the way you move when you get up in the morning." She swallows. "I see you, Alex. And I see everything you do for me. I always have."

He abandons the tool box and is about to scoop her up when he realizes that his hands are covered in lubricating oil.

Norma giggles, shoving him towards the sink. She puts liquid soap on his hands before she begins to clean them, paying a lot of attention to his palms. It sets his nerves on fire. Alex moans quietly, kissing her despite the awkward angle since they are standing side by side.

He barely manages to turn the water off when Norma grabs him, deepening their kiss. Her hands are still wet and so are his when he eventually scoops her up, carrying her over to the couch, the bedroom too far away suddenly.

Perhaps heaven and hell aren't something from an afterlife, perhaps we all carry it around in ourselves and sometimes this has the upper hand and sometimes that.

When Alex wakes up later in the middle of the night, he is not sure what woke him, listening to any unusual noises. There is nothing though. The house is silent and Norma is sleeping safe and sound next to him. Then the display of his cell that is lying on the nightstand lights up briefly. He received a message. Not the first one tonight as he finds out when he checks. Apparently the light from the display disturbed his sleep. It's the same message again and again from an unknown number.

I know what you did.

To be continued