35.

~ Alex had been amazed to see Norma's transformation over the next two months. Motherhood looked radiant on his wife. Her skin was clear, bright and youthful looking. Her breasts filled out more, but she'd already lost the extra weight around her face. She had plenty of energy, but was calmer than he'd ever known her to be. Even after getting a letter from Norman, or a phone call from Dylan, she was contented and happy.

The woman he'd married almost two years ago now, had perplexed him with her ever-changing moods and almost manic personality. Maybe it was a pregnancy past the age of 40 or maybe it was knowing Norman and Dylan were safe and doing well. Maybe it was because she was married to a man who didn't beat her or give her any reason to be afraid of him. Maybe it was a combination of all these things that kept her content and calm.

Whatever it was, Alex was grateful. He'd learned early in their marriage that a happy life meant keeping a happy wife. Most days since she told him about the baby, she had been happy. She cooked and cleaned and made little things for their expectant "house guest". She rarely got upset about things that he knew would have normally outraged her. In a way, he missed this about her. She'd always intrigued him with her fierce personality. The same way fire would intrigue someone who didn't know how badly it could burn.

Yet, she never burned him. She still had that fierceness, that fire he was so attracted to, but it was harmless to him now. He knew he was in no danger of awaking Norma's wrath.

~ Another pleasing aspect of the third trimester of their pregnancy was a sharp increase in her libido. She still felt her body was unattractive and refused to be wholly naked with him. Alex had noticed after Caleb's attack she had avoided mirrors and was slightly depressed for a few weeks.

She appeared to have let go of her brother a month before their due date. She showered regularly again and took more care with her appearance. She still was too uncomfortable with her body to allow her husband to have everything he wanted from her.

~ "No." she panted slightly when Alex tried to pull off the blanket and expose their skin to the night air. Norma was hardly naked. She still wore a sheer cotton night dress that at least made her feel modest. Yet sex wasn't as freeing as it should have been for Alex right now.

"Baby, you look beautiful." he whispered in her ear. His hand forcing her leg up higher as he spooned behind her. Carefully maneuvering himself to take her from behind.

"Keep the covers on." she insisted harshly. Her strong hands pulling the sheet back over her exposed legs.

Alex let out a frustrated sigh. He missed the carnal things he had enjoyed doing with his wife. Her body changing so rapidly was fascinating to him. Especially when her sexual needs came screaming back in the middle of the night.

She would sleep hard and then wake up to demand sex from him. Sessions that seemed to last forever until she was finally satisfied. Yet, she always insisted on wearing a night dress and keeping her distended belly covered.

"Come here." he ordered and pulled out of her unapologetically. She let out a cry of her own frustration before he maneuvered her on her back. Despite her protest that she was too large and unattractive, Alex had already had enough.

With a simple maneuver, he spread her legs and penetrated her without worry over how attractive she thought she was.

"Alex." she whimpered slightly. Her nightdress being pulled off by eager hands till her breasts, full and ripe were finally in full view.

"Lift your hips up." he ordered angrily increasing his movements.

Norma had let out a groan of happiness as he thrust himself in deeper. Her body excited him, no matter how she perceived it. Her breasts were tender and beautiful and she cried out at the slightest touch.

"Don't stop!" she cried shamefully covering her face with a pillow. Alex wouldn't even allow her the luxury of hiding her orgasam from him. He felt her climax hard on him and saw the outrage in her eyes when he took the pillow away from her face.

"I hate you." she said in a savage voice that only earned her a harder thrust from him. His assault made her grip his arms tighter while she begged for more and repeated how much she hated him.

~ "You woke the baby." Norma sighed when Alex had finally spent himself and rolled away from her. Their bodies lonely for only a moment before he wrapped his arms around her again.

"Oh?" he asked sleepily. His hand wandering down to her belly where their daughter kicked. Obviously put out at being disturbed.

"Sorry about that." he sighed lazily. His face burrowing in her hair.

"It's okay." she whispered and felt sleep want to come for her to.

"Do you really hate me?" he asked.

She threaded her fingers through his and enjoyed the feel of him naked, but disarmed, behind her.

"No." she smiled. "I never hated you."

"Not even that one time? Before we got married?"

"You told me you hated me first." she smiled.

"I didn't mean it. I never hated you. I wanted… I was angry you didn't want me. That you didn't trust me. That…"

"That I had lied to you about Sam?" she whispered.

"Yes."

"I trust you now." she admitted. Alex's daughter was kicking still but had seemed to calm down.

She enjoyed this moment for a few seconds before speaking.

"Norman killed Sam. I made it look like an accident. He had a lot of life insurance… and I… I made it look like an accident. I didn't want him to go to prison. Maybe I should have. Maybe if I had, those poor women would still be alive." she sighed.

"You and I never would have met." he offered.

"That's true." she smiled faintly.

"I'm glad we met."

Norma let her him untangle his fingers out of hers so that he could pull the covers over them. Their bodies warm, but with the sweat cooling them off, they would be chilled soon enough.

She was about to fall happily asleep when she asked what she had been too afraid to ask before.

"Did you kill Caleb?"

Alex was silent for just a few seconds before answering.
"Yes."

Norma swallowed a lump in her throat again and tried not to cry.

"He had hurt you. He could have easily hurt our baby. I couldn't allow that to ever happen again. I had to protect my family. You and this baby are all I have in the world."

"Did he suffer?" she whispered.

"No." Alex whispered quickly. "I shot him and he was dead in less than a minute."

"You won't get caught. Will you?" she asked nervously. The fear their child would grow up without a father, a father in prison no less, was horrifying.

"No." he assured her. "No one saw. I'll make sure no one connects him to us."

"I'm scared."

"Don't be. It's over." he said. His arms wrapping around her body tightly and she could feel him already becoming aroused again.

"You're always safe with me. Remember?" he whispered in her ear.

~ "Sheriff Romero I just have some questions about the body of Caleb Calhoun." the FBI agent said.
"Who?" Romero asked and sipped the coffee he'd gotten for this surprise visit from the feds.

"A couple of months ago a man was shot execution style in your county." the FBI agent, an attractive woman who couldn't have been more than thirty said. Her gaze was already suspicious of him and Alex knew she wanted him to confess right then and there.

"White male, about fifty?" Alex asked with a scowl. "Found next to a stolen van?"

"Caleb Calhoun was forty five, Sheriff." the agent said. "But you should know that, since he's your brother-in-law."

"Sorry?" Alex asked pretending to choke slightly on his coffee.

"Norma Bates? She was born Norma Louise Calhoun." the agent said. She had opened a file and showed him a picture of Norma as a young girl. The burly, angry looking preteen sitting beside her could only be Caleb.

"That's my wife." Romero nodded and handed the agent back the picture. "To be honest, Norma doesn't talk a lot about her childhood. I don't push the issue, but I suspect there was abuse. I didn't even know she had a brother."

"That's funny. Your step-son Dylan told us he never knew about Caleb until two years ago when he showed up in your county looking to see Norma Bates." the Agent said.
"You talked to Dylan? How is he?" Romero asked casually.

"He's going to jail if I find out he had anything to do with Caleb Calhoun's murder." the agent snapped.

"Why would Dylan kill anyone?" Romero asked innocently.

"Why would any of us kill anyone?" the agent shrugged.

"Agent, my understanding of the crime scene was pretty simple." Romero said cooly. "We finally identified Caleb Calhoun through dental records and finger prints. He'd been driving around the area in a stolen van with stolen guns and about three million in cash and a bunch of fake passports with Bob Paris' picture on them. We believe that he was working for Bob Paris. A man who went missing just before the DEA raided his house and seized all his accounts. We are working on the theory that Caleb Calhoun was one of Bob Paris' go to men. Someone who could help him leave the country. Caleb has had a long, sordid history with the law since he was eighteen."

"You remember a lot when you didn't even remember his name a few minutes ago." the agent pointed out.

"You jogged my memory. I've had a lot going on lately." Romero admitted.

"Yes, you're work with the DEA to clear out the last of the drug trade. Also I understand your wife is having a baby next month."

"Yes. I see you've done your research." Romero pointed out.
"Not all of it." The agent scowled over her paperwork. "I still need to speak to Caleb Calhoun's other family members."

"Other family?"

"Yes. Your wife Norma." the agent said. "Also her son, Caleb's other nephew…" she looked at her paperwork again. "A Mr. Norman Bates. He's out of state."

"Yes, he's… at school." Romero said carefully.

"Is that what they call places like that now?" the agent asked hatefully. "I tried calling Mr. Bates' school, as you call it, and the man in charge basically told me to fuck off."

"He's an acquired taste." Romero agreed. "Norman is an adult and can speak for himself."

I had trouble getting ahold of your wife this morning to." the agent said. She looked over her notes. "I went by the house-"

"She moved." Alex interrupted her. "She's not living at that big house by the motel anymore."

"No, I know she's living with you since some confusing incident last Christmas with a broken furnace landed her and her son in the hospital. I know she's living with you at your house. What I'm saying is, she wasn't there. Wasn't picking up the cell phone number her son Dylan gave me either."

Alex scowled at this information.

"She didn't answer her phone?" he asked.

"No." the agent said.

Romero stood and abandoned the agent to go to the front office. Regina was there at her desk, playing on her phone.

"Regina, give me the EMS 911 calls this morning." he ordered.

Regina sighed and set down her phone. She typed in key words and a list appeared.

"I had one call from the nursing home, cardiac arrest. One call from Otter Creek. An old lady fell down and couldn't get up." Regina rolled her eyes. "Oh, Sheriff. Thirty minutes ago your wife called an ambulance from your house."

"Sheriff?" the agent asked. Romero ignored her and grabbed his jacket before leaving.

"Sheriff?" the agent barked again.

"We're going to have to continue this conversation later." Alex said leaving the building. "My wife was taken to the hospital."

~ The ER never changed in White Pine Bay. The receptionist waved him in like she had done that night of the gas, that night Caleb attacked Norma. Swift was filling out paperwork in the same place. Seeming stuck in an loop of doing this paperwork and greeting Alex forever.

"There you are!" Swift said when he saw the Sheriff burst into his ER. "I was just about to call you."

"Where is she?" Alex asked. He was out of breath from worry and the brief run from the parking lot.

Swift nodded to the same room down the hall where Norma was stashed during her last visit.

"Sheriff?" Swift called back when Alex hurried to her room without asking what had happened.

Norma was half asleep when he let himself in. Her cheeks a bright pink as if she had also been running.

"Norma? What happened? Are you okay?" Alex breathed in relief. His hands clasping her face that shone so beautifully in that moment.

His wife gave him a tired smile and a knowing look.

"Turn around." she whispered.

"What?"

"Turn around." she said with a smile blooming across her face.

Sheriff Romero turned to see the ER nurse maneuvering a clear plastic bassinet on wheels towards them. The bundle inside wrapped tightly in pink.

"She just came so fast." Norma sighed. "I was in the shower and I didn't realize my water broke till she was crowning. Almost had her in the bathroom."

"We barely got them both in time." Swift said making a grand entrance with his large body. Alex watched the doctor, with capable hands, pick the bundle up.

"I guess this little lady was just eager to finally meet you, Sheriff." Swift said with grin. "I told her she could wait, but she wouldn't hear of it."

Alex almost stopped breathing at the sight of his daughter's face. Swift gently placed the newborn in his arms and the baby slept on indifferently. A pink cap had been secured over her head, but her face was red, scrunched up and unhappy looking.

"Alex, meet your daughter." Norma sighed sleepily. "Lucy Anne Romero."

He turned to his wife in surprise.

"Lucy?" he laughed. Such a funny old name for such a new person. "Why Lucy?" he asked examining the baby's face a little more carefully. In all honestly she did look like a brassy comedian who was always getting into trouble.

"I thought we agreed on just Anne." he whispered. Swift and the ER nurse had left the new family alone and Alex's gaze went from his wife to his new daughter.

"She told me her name was Lucy." Norma shrugged.

"She did?"

"Yes. She whispered it in my ear when they gave her to me. She said her name was Lucy." Norma explained simply.

"Oh." Alex nodded and looked back at the baby who decided to yawn in boredom.

He looked back at Norma.
"She's early. She's a month early. Is everything okay?" he asked worriedly.

"I counted toes and fingers. Twelve of each Sheriff." Norma said and grinned.

"Cute." Alex nodded. He looked back at his new daughter.

"I wanted to call you, but she came so fast. I'm sorry." Norma explained. "I'm sorry you missed the birth. I just wanted to get to a hospital as soon as possible. Did I interrupt anything?"

"Nothing important." Alex sighed and held Lucy closer to his chest. The baby sleeping contentedly. "She's really okay?" he asked again.

"She's fine." Norma sighed in annoyance. "Doctor Swift wants us both to stay overnight just to make sure. I swear I almost had her in the ambulance, Alex. I don't know why she was so impatient."

"Well." Alex sighed happily and marveled at the little wrinkled fingers Lucy was flexing out of her pink blanket. "Welcome to the world, Lucy."

I decided on the name Lucy. I know it was the name of the old car from TSCB. But I also feel it is a vintage name that Norma would have picked out. Thanks for all the feedback. Please tell me what you want IN and what you want OUT of the rewrite to That Same Color Blue. I've already heard no Juliet or less Juliet. Let me know.