36.
~ Alex noticed the red jeep in the driveway as soon as he came home. It was parked menacingly next to Norma's white SUV like a spider ready to pounce.
He put his own vehicle in park and got out. He looked carefully over at the drivers side of Rebecca's Jeep. She wasn't there. She wasn't waiting for him; sitting in her car like some kind of stalker.
It wasn't at all what he expected when went inside. It was far worse. To see Rebecca sitting comfortably with Norma in the small breakfast nook. The two of them caught in mid conversation by his sudden arrival.
"Alex." Rebecca said cheerfully.
Romero looked worriedly at Norma who looked somberly at Rebecca. The two of them had been alone together long enough to enjoy a cup of tea. Norma looked nervous, however. Her body hunched over and her realized she was wearing one of his old dress shirts. The garment slightly baggy on her and hid well the slight distortions of her body.
"What are you doing here?" Alex demanded.
"Rebecca was kind enough to stop by." Norma said. "Apologize for the accident."
Her voice was strange and horse sounding. Her gaze refusing to meet his.
"I'd lost control of my car." Rebecca said innocently. Her expression wide eyed and innocent. Alex could see right through it. "My lawyer said not to contact the victim, but I felt so incredibly bad about it. Especially when I heard the news."
Norma looked up at Alex now. Her eyes flashing cruel and angry. He shook his head. He didn't tell Rebecca about the baby. He only told Dylan and Doctor Edwards. This was a small town, word traveled fast.
"I just had to let her know this wasn't intentional. The rain makes the roads so slick, i lost control." Rebecca shrugged and looked especially dumfounded.
"I think you should leave." Alex said after what felt like an eternity.
Rebecca gave him a clever smile. A smile he knew all too well. A smile that said she'd done what she came here to do.
"Of course, it's getting late." she said happily. Her voice slightly lazy now. "I'll leave you two newlyweds alone."
"It was nice meeting you." Norma said in a hollow voice and Rebecca smiled happily at Alex.
Romero waited until Rebecca closed the door behind her and heard the sounds of her Jeep start up. The headlights turned on and she started to turn around in the driveway.
"Are you okay?" he asked at last. The feeling that he'd been holding his breath for too long had made him feel dizzy and sick.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Norma asked.
"She shouldn't have come here." he said.
"You told me that you had no idea who hit me." Norma accused. "You said you were still investigating it."
Alex opened his mouth to say something but closed it again.
"Rebecca told me they had arrested her." Norma said. "Her lawyer bailed her out. She was arrested less than four after the accident. She said she was going to turn herself in, she felt so bad about it, but she had to hire a lawyer first."
Alex let out a laugh. He couldn't help it. Surely Norma wouldn't have fallen for such a lie as Rebecca turning herself in.
"She wouldn't have turned herself in, Norma. I know her." Alex said.
"She told me all about that to." Norma said coldly. She stood up carefully. Alex noticing how she had to take a wide stance to keep her balance when standing back up.
Once more, Alex fell silent.
"It was a long time ago, Norma." he said soberly.
"Before the pandemic?" she asked collecting the two cups.
"I never saw her during the pandemic, no." he admitted truthfully.
"When you were staying at the motel? Right after the fire? When you still thought Norman had murdered Miss Watson?" she asked setting the cups in the sink and looking back at him. She already knew the answer. Doubtless, Rebecca had filled her in on all the dirty details.
Alex was silent for a moment, but knew it was best not to lie.
"I saw her then. Yes. Only a few times." he admitted.
"At my motel?" she asked.
"Once." he said. "But it's been over since the pandemic started. I promise." he said truthfully.
Norma looked away from him. Her face gloomy and disappointed. He knew then that Rebecca had told her all sort of things about him. Private things and certainly a fair amount of fairy tales.
"What else did she tell you?" he asked feeling uneasy to have his private life exploited in such a way.
"Enough." she said with a shrug. "She told me enough to make me question things."
"Question what things?" he asked.
Norma was about to answer when her cell phone rang out.
"Telemarketer." she sighed looking at the unfamiliar number.
"It's Norman." Alex told her. She looked up at him in shock. He nodded. "Answer it, it's Norman. I talked to his doctor today. Norman is scheduled to call you."
Norma quickly grasped her phone like a dying woman and cradled it to her ear.
"Hello?" she asked timidly. She let out a soft cry of relief. "Oh, Norman! Honey!"
Alex walked out of the room to leave mother and son to talk in private.
~ Norman hadn't believed it when the nurse came into his room; telling him he had a phone call. The light around him feeling strange and he was eager to go back to sleep.
"What?" he asked looking at the nurse curiously.
"Doctor Edwards has set up a call." The nurse said. "He's going to monitor you from his office. We talked about it this morning."
Norman blinked. He didn't remember what had happened this morning.
The nurse looked worriedly at him till Norman roused himself out of bed and followed her. He knew his personal hygiene was suffering. He no longer saw the need for a shower. He never went out anywhere and slept in his clothes. His normal pristine appearance was tarnished by the wrinkled slacks and shirt. His well groomed was hair dirty and sticking out at odd angles.
"Hello, Norman." said a calm voice Norman vaguely recognized. Had he dreamed this person? Was this real?
"What's going on?" Norman mumbled and looked around a large, comfortable office with jazz posters on the wall.
"We were hoping you might like to talk to your mother." The voice was saying.
Norman nodded, then shook his head. He talked to 'Mother' every night. She came to him in terrifying dreams with a raspy voice and hands that hurt.
"I… Mother." Norman said feeling his throat go dry.
"I'm going to call her." The man with the soothing voice said. "And you can talk to her. I'll have to stay in the room with you I'm afraid."
Norman nodded. The man was well dressed and smelled of clean clothes. He smelled like home and Norman knew mother, his real mother, would like him.
"Okay." the man said and the idea that the man's name was Edwards roamed into Norman's memory. He had talked to this man before. To this man Edwards. In this very room. How could that be? He'd been sleeping the few days he'd been here.
"Hello, Mrs. Bates?" came Doctor Edwards voice again and Norman looked up. The man was on the phone and talking. Explaining who he was and that Norman was there, waiting to talk to her.
Edwards smiled softly and handed Norman the phone. Norman took it carefully. The weight of the device felt strange.
"Hello?" he said. Half of him expecting all this to be an elaborate joke and for him to be cast down into the locked room again.
"Oh, Honey!" came an all too familiar voice. It was very feminine and almost girlish in inflections. Norman quickly sat down. It was his mother, his own real mother on the other end. Not that thing that haunted his dreams.
"Honey, I miss you so much." Norma Bates gasped on the other end.
Norman was quiet for a moment. He looked to Doctor Edwards who walked around to his desk and sat down. No privacy for Norman and his mother.
"Norman, it's going to be okay. Are you eating enough? I've been thinking about you everyday." she was saying.
"Come get me." Norman said in a muffled tone. He didn't want Edwards to hear. This place was full of ears, of people listening.
She was quiet for a moment.
"Norman." she said calmly.
"I want to come home." he said as though it were one word.
"Norman, you need to stay up there. You need to see that doctor. Talk to him. Talk to him about… all those bad feelings you've been having. You need to work all this out so that you can come home. I need your help running the motel." her last words were cheerful and almost mocking him in brightness. As if they could just pick up where they had left off and she had nothing to feel bad about.
Hadn't she been perfectly fine with dumping him in this wasteland? Forgetting about him like some kind of tragic hero purposefully shut away in a prison. A thing best left behind and never thought of again.
"I need to come home." he said clearly. He glared at Doctor Edwards who looked concerned. "This place isn't what you think it is."
"Norman, We can't do anything right now because of the quarantine." she said softly. "As soon as it's lifted… we can visit you."
"I don't want to be visited." Norman said feeling an odd energy start to take hold of him. I need to come home. You know you're not safe."
"Norman, I'm perfectly safe." she sighed.
"Come and get me." he ordered curtly. "Now."
"Norman. We can't. You know you need-"
"We?" he accused hotly and the memory of his mother skirting down the steps to visit Romero in his motel room came back to him. How she would sneak out at night like a cat in heat and go directly to him.
"I will never forgive you for this." he aid coldly cutting her off before hanging up the phone.
He stood up and glared at Doctor Edwards who looked a little shocked.
"I want to go back to my room now." he said.
"I'd prefer it if you didn't." Edwards told him. "We have an art class starting soon. Physical therapy. I think it would be best-"
Edwards didn't get a chance to finish. Norman had swiped dangerously at the man and knocked several items off his desk. Norman didn't remember shouting and screaming. But orderlies were shouting and screaming at him. Pulling him down to the ground and pushing his arms into restraints.
Then, he was in a new place. A dark and small room. It seemed forever he was in that place. That place where it was nothing but bare walls and one door with a tiny window. Norman slept, cried and slept some more. His body was weak and frustrated and he felt he would die soon.
~ Norma felt beaten and defeated when she went to bed after the phone call. It was already dark outside and she was too tired to think about anything other than going to sleep and not waking up for a few days.
"Are you hungry?" she asked Alex. He was sitting up in bed, looking over his laptop. Work seemed to follow that man everywhere.
"Not really." he said seeing how exhausted she looked. "How'd it go?"
Norma shook her head.
"He wants to come home." she said climbing into her side of the bed. She wanted to go back to sleep. It was too early in the evening, Dylan and Emma weren't even back yet, but she wanted this day to be over.
Alex shook his head.
"He can't come home, Norma." he said.
"I know that." she snapped bitterly. "He's my child, you think I'm just supposed to stop caring about him? This is hard for me."
She hadn't meant to be so angry but Alex didn't understand. He couldn't understand the bond she'd always shared with her youngest son. He wasn't a parent, not yet anyway. How could he know that Norman was her own special soul mate? Her own best friend that she'd made herself. That she'd felt lonely and isolated all this time, no matter how close Alex or Dylan were to her.
"I'm sorry." she said and fought the urge to cry. "I just… this whole situation. This wasn't how it was supposed to be."
Alex was quiet. He closed his laptop.
"You're wearing my shirt." he said at last.
Norma tugged at the fabric of the collar.
"Nothing else is really fitting." she said.
"We need to get you some maternity clothes." he said reasonably. His voice optimistic.
Norma shook her head.
"Maternity clothes and start picking out baby furniture." he offered hopefully.
Norma shook her head again. She didn't want to think about the baby. Didn't want to plan for it till the day they put that squirming bundle in her arms and she could feel it's strong, tiny body. Feel the fierce grip of hands around her finger and hear it's loud, healthy cries. Then it would be real. Then it would be fine.
"Come here." Alex was saying and pulled Norma to him. His hands on her hips and positioning her body on his lap. One leg on each side.
"You do look very nice in my old clothes." he was saying with an impressed smile. His gaze drinking in her body and she could feel him responding to her. She tried not to smile. Tired to ignore her own arousal that was causing her to shift her weight to accommodate him better.
His hands were gripping her hips, running up her back and his fingers were undoing the buttons of the shirt she was wearing. He was exposing her bare flesh, inch by inch. Taking all of her nudity in as he did so. She remained still fo him; her hips moving slightly with his growing arousal. Allowing him to admire her upper body as though he were looking at artwork. She gasped slightly when his rough hands ran over her tender nipple. He looked concerned at the reaction and then slightly pleased. His hands caressing her breasts and she allowed him to explore as he wanted. His attention finally diverted to her belly.
"You're showing." he said in a voice that didn't sound like his at all. His voice coming out strained and in need of release. His hands roughly pulling off his shorts and panties at once. He slipped himself into her then. So easily Norma only gasped at the fact he hadn't done more to prepare her for it. He made her body ride him, he watched her full breasts move and she allowed him to look and feel and her as she rode him.
"I love you." he was panting when she felt him climax a few seconds later.
"I… I know." she said back slipping off him and curing up on his chest.
"I want you to have my last name." he said still out of breath. His body was relaxing, but his breathing was still heavy. "I married you. I married you; you're my wife. I want you and the baby to have my last name."
Norma nodded and moved off him. She was about to say soothing when she realized he was sleeping. His breathing coming long and heavy now. A slight nasal snore telling her he really was asleep.
Norma rolled her eyes. Suddenly she wasn't tired anymore. Her body felt rejuvenated and slightly happy. She slipped on the shirt he'd discarded. It didn't matter if Romero liked it or not, she wasn't going to wear tacky maternity wear with pink bows on it. She'd wear his old shirts until she outgrew them and that was it.
She found herself by the dock. The night was cool, but promised a hot summer. She could feel the wind wanting to blow in hot wind, but the mountains kept any warmth at bay. That was what she missed the most about Arizona. The burning heat. It was always cold here in White Pine Bay. Even in the summer.
Norma stepped into the shallows of the lake and felt the giddy thrill of natural water. The smells of cleansing plants that lived below and possibly fishes swimming by.
The water were still a little cold, only hours ago the sun was beating down and it would have been fine for swimming. Now, she had to wait for her body to adjust. No sense going into shock and having a miscarriage just to do a little midnight swimming.
She felt around into the waters until she was almost hip deep. She hand't bothered to put on her panties or shorts. Knowing it was so dark and private here on the lake at this hour.
She slipped off Alex's shirt and neatly tossed it on the rocky beach before diving in. Her nipples hardening and her body shivering in delight at the forbidden act of skinny dipping.
She swam around a little before floating on her back. The lake had a small current and she could feel its' movements. Feel it want to push and pull her out to sea. She wondered if she should let it. Allow the waters to just take her out to sea where she'd have no more troubles.