After three bottles of wine, including champagne, it was trustworthy to say that Norma relished the evening and complimentary meal more than anticipated.

They went from talking about their past marriages to how well behaved they were as kids, and it seemed to change the mood, the diverse topics and exposures making them feel at ease by their second bottle of wine.

Alex has never witnessed her like this. He's never endured this side of Norma, and he loved every minute of it. The tension caused by Norman's disease and current state obstructed her from appreciating the current events. But nothing that alcohol wouldn't fix.

"I still don't know the names of the girls," her voice a quiet whisper, leaning her head on his shoulder, not overlooking his firm grasp around her waist. Her heart was hammering vigorously against her chest.

"What girls?" he asked with a slight grin forming on the side of his lips. He fished for his car keys inside his pocket, not remembering exactly where he had parked his SUV. The parking lot crowded and cold. He wanted to get Norma home.

"The women you've slept with," she replied quietly, looking up to meet his gaze. "Why won't you tell me?"

"Why are you so eager to know?" he questioned, looking down and meeting her eyes. She was tipsy, or perhaps sufficiently drunk, but he couldn't tell. Alex broke their gaze, still trying to find their method of transportation.

"I'm just curious," she stated. "I can't ask?"

He smiled. "It's okay to be curious. There's nothing wrong with that."

Norma groaned. "I feel funny."

"I think you're drunk," he deadpanned.

"But I feel relaxed, Alex."

"That's part of it," he clarified, feeling like he was explaining the effects of alcohol to a teenager, and not to a grown woman. "The magic of alcohol, I tell ya'."

"Dinner was excellent," she confessed, leaning her head on his shoulder again. Her left hand sneaked behind his back, grasping onto the hem of his jacket for support. "I'm glad you have friends who own restaurants."

Alex chuckled at her words. Knowing that she meant every phrase, but the tone of her voice made it seem like she didn't, at all.

"I'm glad you enjoyed dinner," he grinned happily, spotting the SUV and turning the other way, walking towards it as he despised himself for making her walk more than she had to in her state.

"I wanted dessert."

"You said you were full."

She let out a loud groan, making him smile at her frustration.

"I didn't mean it," she confessed. "Is it too late?" Norma looked back over Alex's shoulder, staring blankly at the restaurant in the distance. "I wanted chocolate cake."

"I can get you chocolate cake," he offered, standing still with his arm still wrapped around her waist, admiring the change in her attitude as he offered her the cake she's been craving all night.

"Really?" she looked back at him with dreamy eyes, the same look a little girl gives you on Christmas morning when she sees the pink and purple bike adjacent to the tree.

"Yes."

"Okay," her tone satisfied and free of guilt. "I'll share."

Alex starts walking again, the same smile plastered on his face. He was happy. He felt genuinely happy, and he had Norma to thank for that.

The happiness seemed to be enough that it had prevented him, for a split second, to capture the figure of a woman leaning against the trunk of his SUV. A redhead that insisted on meddling in his business. The last person he wanted to see.

He stops dead in his tracks, making Norma look up at him in confusion, discovering that his eyes were fixed on someone else other than her. She follows his gaze and finds a strangely slim redhead inclining on her husband's SUV.

"So it's true?" the thin ginger grunted, glimpsing down at the couple, taking in their posture and their proximity, holding onto each other protectively. "Alexander Romero is a married man."

"I am," he responded dryly, pulling Norma closer to his body. "What are you doing here?"

Norma gazed back at him, discerning the tone of his voice, a not very pleasant one. She had no idea who the redhead was, but the interaction between her and Alex was sufficient to detect the exasperation within the pair.

"You know," arrogance in her tone. "People around town were talking, saying that the Sheriff got hitched this morning. I couldn't believe it. I had to see it for myself."

"So you followed us? Who does that?"

The redhead laughed mockingly at him. "You're not that important, Alex."

"Leave."

"Why? This is a free country. I am allowed to be here as much as you two."

"What's your problem?" Norma finally spoke, her voice trembling a bit, straightening her back as she leaned away from Alex a little.

The redhead finally turned to Norma, making it obvious that she's been trying to neglect her for as long as she could. Eyeing her up and down, taking in her features. Her eyebrows go up in judgment.

"What's your name?" the redhead asked ordinarily.

"I told you to leave," Alex cut Norma off, pulling her again towards him, closing the gap between them. His tone was still sharp.

"I see," she smiled. "Your wife doesn't feel well?"

Norma's intoxicated condition was indisputable, and Rebecca enjoyed observing her in such state, not finding her amusing at all because of it.

Alex opened his mouth to intervene again, but Norma beat him to it.

"I'm fine," her voice steadier than before, "Who are you?"

Rebecca gulped hard, clearing her dry throat. "I'm Rebecca."

Norma looked down at her extended hand, Rebecca waiting for Norma to introduce herself formally. She went to grab it, but Alex rudely patted off Rebecca's hand, alarming Rebecca in advance.

"Don't you touch my wife," he exclaimed, standing between the two. "You think I don't know what you're doing? The reason behind this funny little encounter? Stay the hell away from us, Rebecca. You don't want to mess with me. You don't."

The singer managed to keep a straight face. "Mind telling me what it is? Since you think you know everything?"

Alex looked down at his feet, turning his eyes into the distance before focusing them back on Rebecca. "You don't intimidate me. This act? It's bullshit. Who sent you?"

Rebecca grinned gleefully. "It's funny how you always assume someone's after you, Alex. That's not healthy. You should go and get that checked. It's not right."

"You're full of it," he breathed close to her face, Rebecca inhaling his wine breath.

Rebecca looked over his shoulder, spotting Norma behind him, her eyebrows furrowed and hands intertwined resting firmly on her chest.

"She's pretty," Rebecca whispered, coming closer, just an inch away from his face. "More beautiful than me, I suppose? Is that why you married her and not me?"

His face displayed the same sentiments as a stone. The woman he had in front of him could never and will never be associated with the one he just married. He knew that Rebecca's little act came from a place of possessiveness.

Rebecca spotted Norma again and spoke over Alex's shoulder, directing the next words to her. "I don't know what you did, lady. But whatever it was, make sure you share it with the rest of us. Don't be greedy."

"What are you talking about?" Norma had enough of the little act the redhead continued displaying for them both.

Alex turned around, finding Norma's frown already on him. His hands reach for her, keeping her on her feet, preventing her from walking towards the woman that apparently had nothing better to do than ruin their perfect and pleasant evening.

"Let's go home," he told her, forgetting about the figure that was still leaning on his car.

"Who is she?" Norma whispered and looked into his eyes, finding nothing but pure affection in them. She seemed soberer now than she did a couple of seconds ago.

"She's no one," Alex confessed to his new bride, meaning every syllable.

Rebecca somehow overheard his last remark, roaring mockingly in the background. Norma's eyes darted back to the giggling redhead, somehow resenting this woman's attitude and childish little game.

"It's funny, you see," Rebecca spoke directly to them even though they were not paying the inadequate attention to her. "When a man tells you that he will never get married, it usually means that he will never marry you."

Rebecca's last comment caught Norma's attention. Her blue eyes were spears, digging into her creamy flesh. Norma's eyes went back to her husband, casually but surely putting two and two together.

"You can't force someone into marrying you, ma'am."

Alex smiled at her criticism, boastfully relishing the way Norma was behaving.

Like a real dame.

"You can't trick them either," Norma looked back at him, giving him a side smirk, commemorating the morning of her unexpected proposal.

"It's obvious what Alex sees in you," Rebecca stated. "You're nothing but a—"

"Watch your mouth," Alex blurted, turning back to her, his hand protectively stretching for Norma's waist, keeping her behind him. "If I have to ask you to leave one more time, I will—"

"What?" Rebecca cut him off. "Calling the cops on me again, Sheriff?"

"Do I have to?"

Norma appeared from the shield Alex was putting up for her with his body, walking stumblingly but steadily over to the bothersome redhead.

"Ratbecca, you said?"

The ginger straightened her back, finding it hard to keep her eyes fixed on the woman that had the life she's always wanted.

With Alex.

"Rebecca," she corrected her with a sparse artificial grin, disregarding her mild offense.

"Oh, right," Norma's tone flat and judgy. "Rebecca, I don't know what your problem is, but you need to let it go."

Norma knew perfectly what her problem was. She knows what it feels like to be rejected by men. But Alex is now hers, and she is proud to be wiping it all over Rebecca's face.

"I understand how you feel, I understand very well your frustration," Norma leaned closer to the redhead, her lips only millimeters away from Rebecca's ear. "But we can't have it all, can we?"

Norma inclined backward just in time to read and welcome Rebecca's troubled expression. Sleeping around with Alex was no longer a choice for Rebecca. Norma relished winning and gaining a different type of self-confidence.

To know that Alex had the chance of marrying Mary Jane's double, but didn't, made her feel the hottest chick on Wine Pine Bay, and as much as she hated to admit it, she felt impregnable with her now bloated ego.

"Norma?" his voice arose from behind her, bringing her back to earth and her surroundings. He pulled her to him again, for the hundredth time, instantly feeling the warmth of her body radiating towards his.

"Yes, honey?" her tone firm and Alex had to do a double take on her words. He knows she's doing it on purpose. To piss Rebecca off. But her pure expression made his heart jump.

"We—we should go," he stuttered, moderately recovering from her wonderful words. They started to walk around the SUV but stopped as soon as Rebecca opened her mouth again.

"You see, Norma," Rebecca stated coyly. "It must feel nice to know that the Sheriff of this town is your husband. I bet it feels great. Excellent, to put it mildly."

The couple's eyes followed the ginger that wandered back to them, that slight smirk never leaving her face.

"But... Can I tell you something?"

Norma took a deep breath, exasperated by her lack of class and manners.

"He's incredible in bed."

"Enough!" Alex exclaimed, his voice stronger and louder than Norma's ever witnessed before.

It appeared that the reason for her confrontation was to rub it in Norma's face. That she's slept with him. That she's been in the same bed, naked, with her new husband. That's all Rebecca wanted because as soon as she saw the damage in Norma's eyes, Rebecca winked at Alex, blowing him a kiss and walking right past them, disappearing into the night.

After making sure that she was completely gone, he turned around as soon as he heard Norma's door slamming after her. He puffed a short but long breath, hating Rebecca for ruining their almost perfect night.

As soon as he hopped in, he indulged her appearance. She didn't look drunk, nor tipsy. Her hands were folded upon her chest, her foot tapping continuously against the rubber mat, as her eyes focused on something outside the window.

"Norma..." his voice quiet and thoughtful, the air was so thick with tension you could cut it with a knife. "I didn't want our night to end like this. I'm sorry."

"No big deal," she said dryly, her blue eyes still looking out the window. "Take me home, please."

Without another word, he started the engine and drove away from the restaurant that now held many memories from this night, their first dinner as husband and wife, including the memories of their past.

It's been a little bit more than fifteen minutes on the foggy road, and Norma was still looking out the windowpane, the only difference was that her foot decided to stop its tapping against the rubber mat. The constant noise was making him feel more uneasy by the second.

Alex tried to steal a few glances at her, but she failed to meet his eyes. After a long and inopportune silence, Norma uttered.

"I didn't know you had a thing for redheads."

He turned back to her, staring at the side of her cheek. He was glad she was talking to him but despised that she had let Rebecca get the best of her.

Before he could say anything at all or process what her words meant, they had arrived, the gravel bringing him back to reality. She jumped off the SUV and slammed the door after her once he came to a complete stop.

"Norma!" he called to her, his voice sharp but tenderly.

Ignoring him was her best choice, as she continued to climb the stairs with difficulty. Alex caught up with her, walking past her and standing in front of her, blocking her way. His hands held her shoulders gracefully, his eyes begging for a response.

"What's wrong?" he questioned, feeling stupid for asking such an obvious question. "What did I do?"

"Why was she there? Am I going to be followed everywhere I go now by your psycho ex-girlfriend?"

"She—she was never my girlfriend," he declared openly. "She doesn't mean anything to me."

"Well, that's just great," she tried to walk past him, but he was faster and stronger than her.

"What—why are you acting like this?" he pulled her back to him, holding both sides of her face, forcing her to face him.

"Let—let me go," her voice faltered, making him aware that she didn't mean it. Not after feeling her hands gliding up his torso. "Let go of me."

"No," he murmured kindly, his thumbs caressing her rosy cheekbones lovingly. "Why do you care, huh? Why do you care so much? Why are you acting like this?"

Her tongue darted out to wet her dry lips, and his eyes found beauty in such a small but genuine gesture. He did the same.

"Alex, just—"

"Tell me," he implored. "I need to know."

"I don't know," she whispered. "I don't—I don't want to talk about this."

Their breathing had quickened in a matter of seconds, their eyes devouring each other. Possibly the alcohol in their system was after every glance, behind every touch. But whatever it was, at that moment, it felt perfect.

"Norma..." he leaned his forehead against hers, closing his eyes as a result of losing all sense of rightness in front of this woman. "Please."

"How long?"

He easily followed her question.

"Not long. We only saw each other a couple of times."

"Recently?" she gulped hard.

"No," he said immediately.

"Define not long."

"Norma," he protested.

"Tell me."

He couldn't deny her anything. Not even the details of his personal life. Not when she was desperate to know.

"Why?"

"I want to know how long you've been screwing her."

He tilted back, capturing her eyes. "Why does that matter?"

Norma looked away, and he had the answer he wanted all along.

"Hey," he rustled with a slight grin plastered all over. "Why?"

"She's that good? That you had to screw her more than once?"

He couldn't expunge the stupid look on his face. She was jealous. Norma Bates was jealous of Rebecca Hamilton, and he's never felt this happy before.

"I'm not discussing this with you, Norma."

"It was stupid of her to show up like that. What was her purpose? What was she trying to get out that?"

He lowered his gaze and Norma resumed.

"Rub it in my face? That she's had you? Pretty childish of her," she mocked. "What is this? High School?"

Norma spun around, and Alex had no choice but to stare at the back of her head. He was shocked when she turned back to him again, stopping dead in her tracks.

"Alex..."

His eyes met hers, and he then knew he had lost.

"I just don't want whatever that was to ruin this."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want Rebecca to blow our cover."

Those words stabbed Alex in the heart several times. He was mistaken. She wasn't jealous. Norma was just worried about Norma. It had nothing to do with jealousy, it meant nothing to Norma, and he nearly laughed at himself for thinking differently.

"I see."

Norma sighed. "We are married now. What people think and say about us matter."

"Not to me," he said curtly. "But I understand that it's not just me anymore."

"You know what," she paused for a few seconds. "Just forget everything I said. I don't care if you, you know, keep seeing her. Just be cautious when it comes to that. I don't want people to talk."

Norma started to walk up the stairs again, and this time, it was Alex who caught up with her. Again.

"You mean that?" he challenged, holding her by her refined arms. "You think that I will continue to sleep around while being married to you? I'm not that type of man, Norma. If that's what you think of me, then you're completely wrong."

Norma held onto him when she didn't feel his hands on her anymore.

"Alex, I—" her voice weak and staggered. "I don't think that."

"Really? Because you sound convinced."

"I don't," she declared with confidence. Her blue eyes were infiltrating his soul. He knew she was honest. "I don't think of you like that, I just—"

His calloused palms find her face again, keeping her imminent to him. "Just say it, please." Alex was tired of this game. Of all the unspoken words among them.

"I know you did all of this because you want to help me, but I don't think I deserve it. I don't want this to keep you from living your life the way you lived before today. I don't want your world to change because of me."

"You mean you want me to keep acting like a bachelor? Even though we're legally married?"

Norma tried dropping her glare, but Alex didn't let her. Their eyes were stuck together. "I don't want this fake marriage to change your life. To change who you are and who you sleep around with."

"You talk like you drove me into marrying you, Norma," he said. "That was my choice."

"I know," she murmured. "But it's not fair to you."

"So, basically, you-you want me to act like I'm still single?"

Norma panted lightly at Alex's question. Fake marriage or not, he doesn't consider himself available to anyone else anymore.

"You can do what you want," she said with difficulty, not meaning any of it. "It won't matter to me. I just want you to know that I'll be okay with it."

"You will?" he asked sternly, hating that she's acting like none of this concerns her. Like seeing Rebecca being so territorial over him didn't affect her at all.

She broke their gaze, lowering her head and Alex letting her. He was hurt. The moment she showed up on his doorstep that morning and proposed to him, he knew that it meant nothing to her, that she was just asking for his help because she was desperate. Her son needed treatment, and this was the way out. But listening to her say it sure hurt like hell.

Norma furrowed her eyebrows, and he could see tears building in her eyes. He couldn't read her. He was a cop, for God's sake. This was easy for him, a piece of cake. But right at that moment, with Norma so close to his body and with the alcohol still in their system, it was tough to read her, and he despised it more than anything in the world.

"Norma."

"I'm sorry," she cried, her hands holding onto his forearms, pleading for support. "I don't want you to go through this. I don't want to make you miserable."

"You're making me miserable by not being honest with me," he breathed.

She stared back at him, inhaling and looking away shortly after seeing everything she needed to see in his eyes. The pureness in them making her falter and tremble in his arms.

"You won't care?" he questioned quite hurt. "I know what this marriage means to you, and I know what it means to me. But coming home to you after sleeping around is what you want me to do? Is that what you want? For me to act like I don't have a wife? Just because it's not real?"

He yearned she would stop saying that it's not real. A fake wife wouldn't care about Rebecca nor any other woman in his life. A fake wife wouldn't be acting the way she was.

"Yes," she said almost too soon as if she's been patiently waiting for him to ask her that question, avoiding eye contact. "Yes, that is exactly what I want you to do. Just continue living your old life, don't let this marriage change anything. Don't let it."

"Look me in the eye and say it," he raised her chin, and she met his eyes immediately. "Tell me that you want me to sleep around, to screw Rebecca after work and come home to you like nothing happened," talking to her like this was never his purpose, but he wanted to perceive what she was trying to say. "Tell me that's what you want, and I promise you, Norma, that that's what I'll do."

Norma started to breathe profoundly, her chest rising and falling at a constant pace. The drowning tears in her eyes pleading for an outlet. The grip on her hands stiffened around his wrists, and that's when Alex knew that she didn't mean any of it. None of that absurdity.

But he needs to see it in her eyes, that this is what she wants. Her words mean nothing to him if she can't face him, if she's too unreasonable to hide behind a fake smile and useless words.

"Tell me that you don't care," he whispered, his lips millimeters away from hers, their eyes screaming at each other what they're hesitant to accept.

"No," she cried, her eyes shutting in dismay.

"No, what?" Alex asked, taking in her features, trying to figure her out.

"No."

Alex pressed her closer and asked again. "No, what?"

"Don't make me say it," she cried, the tears dancing freely down her cheeks, dissolving as they touched his skin.

He knew, then.

He knew everything.

"Say it," he implored. "Norma, please."

"No," she sobbed noiselessly, and Alex made a bold move and came even closer, leaning their foreheads together. His eyes closed, he couldn't bare being so close to her. Her wine breath making him senile, a mixture of it with her fancy perfume.

It was a strange combination of pure bliss.

"Please."

Alex lost track of time. It was just them. Standing in the midst of the stairs, the climate turning her cheeks and nose a rosy color. But nothing else mattered. Not to them. Not the world, not the reality they had to face after this.

Norma opened her eyes and took a quick glance at him, at the way he had his eyes shut, the way his hands were deliberately holding her face. How his hot breath was keeping her warm even though she was freezing to death.

He sensed her eyes on him, and he drifted back a bit to stare back at her. What he saw frightened him. And it was arduous, almost impossible, to intimidate Alexander Romero.

"You're my husband now," Norma whispered. "I don't want anyone else to have you. Not anymore."

What he felt in his chest after hearing those words was unutterable. He admired that her voice didn't tremble. She didn't look away nor tried to sound convincing.

"You don't?" he wanted to hear more, Alex was dying to hear her repeat it. "You don't want anyone else to have me?"

"No," she spat and frowned, letting him worship the way her face had transformed when he said it out loud. "And I don't want that redhead anywhere near you."

Alex beamed like a child. His mighty arms locate the curve of her hips, pulling her amazingly closer. If likely.

"I just don't like that Rebecca woman," Norma said defensively. "I don't like her at all, and I don't want her to, you know, think that you're available."

Alex stared at her, the way she swayed and made her skirt dance in the cool breeze. Norma was trying to play it off, that she wasn't making a scene, insisting that she didn't care about his choices when it was destroying her that Alex still had a chance to continue whatever he had with Rebecca.

He cleared his throat and wished that she could see his good intentions. "This might be fake, Norma, but I would never do that to you."

"I know," she muttered. "I know that."

They studied each other for a while, Alex stealing glances and small smirks from her every now and then. Their bodies danced to no music, enjoying the moment of closeness and explosion of openness between the two.

Norma looked down and tittered. "I've made a fool out of myself, haven't I?"

He smirked. "Not at all."

"Alex!" she teasingly shoved him a little, granting Alex the access of swaddling his arms around her waist again. "I'm serious."

"You haven't," he repeated, inspecting her demeanor softly.

The tie around his neck suddenly had all her attention. Purposely avoiding his eyes and sumptuous but giddy smirk. "Stop looking at me like that."

"Looking at you, how?" Alex chuckled and proceeded to stare at her with the same tenderness and hope.

"Like you just discovered my biggest secret."

"I may have," he said in a small voice. His eyes traveled down to her lips, Norma's tongue darting out mechanically, making his insides twist in delight.

"Can I tell you something?"

Norma nodded in response.

"I've never had a thing for redheads," he leaned in and delicately pressed his lips incredibly close to her earlobe. "I've always had a thing for blondes."

Norma's face beamed with happiness and he could see it in her eyes before even looking back at her.

"Yeah?" she bit her lip unconsciously, taking pride in what he just said. Wanting also to rub that in Rebecca's face.

Alex wanted to stop time the second he looked back into her captivating eyes. They know this marriage is nowhere near fake. Her intention always explicit, since the day she proposed, making Alex understand that she'd do anything to protect her son.

But Norma coming to him for help was what delight him the most. She trusted him to do such thing, not caring that he was the law and knowing that she was breaking it at all extend. She wanted to marry Alex, her confidant, not the Sheriff of White Pine Bay.

When he told her that he wouldn't marry her, the look on her face terrified him. He didn't know that Norman's condition was as critical, that same motive urging him to check on her, to try and find answers to his numerous questions.

Her eyes, a light shade of blue that afternoon, told him everything he needed to know. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for Norma Bates. A person he wouldn't destroy for Norma Bates. And she knew that. Norma was more than aware of the things Alex would do for her and evidently he was aware of it too.

But here she was— staring back at him the way she's done it a hundred times. Granting him the honorable pleasure of keeping her close to his body. Her hands gently resting firmly on his chest, her fingers toying inoffensively with his black tie.

Alex is relieved to know and to assuredly discover what's been eating him alive since the moment he met Norma. Maybe what just happened between them will stay restricted, neither of them allowed to talk about it until the end of time.

He loves this woman. He couldn't deny her anything— not even marriage.

Alex smiles at her, happy to know that somewhere inside of her, deep down, she felt the same way. No one has to tell him any different, her actions and body language betraying her, granting Alex the satisfaction of knowing that this marriage was never meant to be fake after all.

"Come on," she broke their spell, moving away from him and grabbing his arm. She didn't seem like she wanted to talk about anything anymore. Insinuating with a knowing look that they will talk when the time is right. "I'm freezing."

He followed her, urgently holding her by her arm as she almost stumbled upon her own two feet, giggling again at herself and clumsiness.

"Are you okay?" he chuckled and held her still for a couple of seconds.

"Yeah," Norma laughed. "I'm all right."

Alex joined her, standing in front of her to guide her way. Norma held his hands and was more than okay with the way he was helping her. By the time they got to the porch, Norma was still a complete mess.

"What's so funny?" he grinned happily after seeing her this bubbly and exuberant after such an emotional confrontation only a few minutes ago.

Norma fished for the house keys in her purse and opened the door to their cozy and warm house. Alex followed her gladly, still trying to hold her protectively.

"Are you all right?"

Norma swung the door open. "Yeah," she responded cheerfully. "Sooner or later I'm gonna break my neck on those stupid stairs."

Alex turned to close the door properly, his attention back on Norma almost instantly.

"Hey, look, more stairs."

His hands moved to her lower back, helping her keep her posture, if possible.

"Whoa," he said cheekily. "Here, wait, wait, let me help you."

"This is like an Olympic sobriety test."

He laughed at her sensation of giddiness. Glad to know that she had a good time after all. Maybe dropping hints on the way she feels about him lift a weight off her shoulders and she felt satisfied enough to laugh and appreciate the remaining of the night.

Here he goes, holding his most valuable possession in his hands, helping her in something so simple, to climb up the stairs, understanding that even now Norma needed him to achieve this task.

But he'll always be there for her, no matter the obstacles, no matter the misery.

Because he loves her.

His wife means everything to him.

And he will prove it to her, one way or another.