Safe

"I always felt safe with you around. Y-you made me feel safe," Norma confessed, feeling the gnawing in her stomach increase as she uttered that deep truth to him. Because that's what it was. With everything that had happened to her since they got here, with everything that had happened her whole goddamn life, she had almost never felt safe anywhere. With anyone. But she felt safe with him.

Alex smiled and shook his head. "You never made me feel safe."

Norma frowned. "Well, okay, thanks."

He reached out of the open window of his truck to grab her arm, stopping her from running away. "No, I mean…that's the thing, Norma," he said earnestly. It was hard finding the words to explain. He hadn't even found the words inside his own head yet. Not really. "I want you to feel safe," he told her. "I wanna help you. I…damn, you turn me upside down."

Norma had no idea what to do with that. She'd said her piece, not expecting a response. Except he gave her a response. "I-I don't…um…okay," she stammered.

But Alex just smiled again, letting her go and taking his hand back into the car. "I'll see you around, Norma."

"See you around, Alex," she answered. She took a few steps away from the truck and let him drive away. Norma stood there for a little while, watching until the vehicle was out of sight.

That night, after he finished the dinner he'd brought home from the diner and in the midst of trying to put some stuff away in his newly finished house, Alex's phone rang. The name Norma Bates flashed on the screen, and immediately his heart plummeted into his stomach.

"Norma, what's wrong?" he demanded, not even saying hello when he answered the phone.

"Nothing's wrong," she said. Her voice was soft. Calm. Alex wasn't really used to that. More often than not, she was demanding or sarcastic or angry or threatening or evasive. Or some combination of those. On very rare occasions, he had heard that softness in her voice. He had heard her be gentle and honest. And that's what he heard now.

"Okay," Alex answered warily.

"I just uh…" Norma trailed off, chewing her lips, wondering if she was brave enough to say what she'd wanted to say. She'd called him and felt like backing off. But then she just blurted it out. "I miss having you around. I was looking out the window to watch for your car and then I remembered you aren't coming to the motel and I just…missed you."

Alex felt something build inside his chest. A kind of ache he wasn't sure he'd ever felt before. Or if he had, it had been such a long time that it felt like a distant dream now.

Norma Bates missed him. And shit, he missed her, too.

"My house is all done and I'm moving stuff back in, if you wanna come by and see. Might help us both transition back to normalcy, maybe." Alex had the urge to bang his head against the wall as soon as those words came out of his mouth. God, what was he saying!?

Norma's heart skipped a beat. "You inviting me over?"

"Yeah." Alex held his breath.

Twenty minutes later, he opened the front door to Norma Bates standing on his porch.

"Come on in," he greeted. It was weird having her here. It was weird but…good.

She followed him into the house and stood there as he shut the door behind her. "Alex," Norma murmured.

He turned around, standing probably too close to her but also not nearly close enough. "Norma," he whispered in return.

His dark eyes could look right through he, she though. Those dark eyes. They could be cold. They'd been cold when they looked at her plenty of times. When he saw through whatever bullshit she was trying to make him believe. The truth she wished was real. But more often, and right now, those dark eyes were warm and inviting and absolutely incredible.

Norma hardly realized what she was doing until it was done, until her hand landed on his cheek and gently pulled his face towards hers.

Alex's hands found their way under her jacket and traced the line down her ribcage to her trim waist and the flare of her hips. And then he kissed her.

The slow burn between them erupted into a raging fire. Their mouths moved together. Hot and messy. The way her tongue caressed his was a heady drug, making him dizzy with want.

Alex couldn't stop himself from moving his hands up to cup her breasts. Norma moaned into his mouth at his touch. Her own hands wandered his body, reaching around to his ass, squeezing it and pulling his hips against hers. Alex tore away from her kiss, breathing heavily as he looked at her with dark, lust-filled eyes.

Without a word, Alex put one arm under her knees and scooped her up to carry her into the bedroom. Norma wrapped her arms around his neck and dragged her kisses up and down his neck. He was gonna go weak in the knees and drop her if she kept that up.

As soon as he put her down on the bed, she popped right back up. Norma kicked off her shoes and started kissing him again. She couldn't get enough of him. It wasn't like she'd had much of a drought in the last year, but kissing Alex Romero wasn't like kissing anyone else. It was every yearning she'd ever felt was being satisfied. She wanted more. More, more, more.

They wasted no more time undressing each other. Clothes flew off and landed haphazardly all around them. A few things may have ripped. They weren't paying attention. Alex's shirt and pants, his belt buckle landing with a thump. Norma's dress lost a couple buttons. Her bra was pale blue with lace that caused a soft scratch against his hands. Alex was already hard by the time they were naked, and Norma made no attempt to hide the way she marveled at his proud erection.

With a smug smirk, Alex pulled her back into his arms, feeling the hot, soft, incredible flesh of her pressed up against him. His cock was trapped between their bodies, but Norma didn't shy away. She didn't shy away from much. He hadn't expected her to.

Alex began to kiss a line down her neck, though avoiding too much irritation anywhere that might be visible. Just in case. But his mouth journeyed down to her breasts, devouring one, flicking his tongue against her hardening nipple and sinking his teeth in hard enough to make her let out a high-pitched gasp. He moved his lips to trace the curve of her other breast with his tongue and sucking on the sensitive underside as she panted with her arousal.

Norma clung on to Alex's shoulders for dear life, her whole body seeming to vibrate from the delicious things he was doing. But Norma wanted more. She pried her own hands away from him so she could pull back and lay herself on the bed. Her legs were spread wide in front of him, coaxing him to her.

That was more than enough of an invitation for Alex. He crawled across the bed to her, kissing her lips lightly, smiling as he did, and then moving down her body. Neck and chest and belly until he settled himself between her open legs. Her thighs were soft as velvet. Alex pulled her hips forward and draped her left leg over his shoulder. And with gusto, he buried his face between her thighs. His tongue licked a few testing swipes over her folds, making her shiver. He dipped inside her briefly before sucking hard on her clit. One finger slid inside her first as his tongue flicked at her, almost lazily at first.

As Norma's melodic moans grew louder, Alex's efforts increased. He added another finger inside her, thrusting in and out faster and faster while his mouth teased her and brought her higher and higher. Her inner walls were fluttering, and he added a third finger to plunge into her and curl to find where she would come undone. A visceral cry fell from the back of Norma's throat as her body clenched him inside her and radiated pleasure through every nerve ending. Alex didn't quite want to finish his feast of her, but he slowed anyway. Something told him Norma was going to get impatient.

Sure enough, when Alex lifted his head, Norma reached out blindly to pull him toward her. Though her body was practically limp and boneless, she took his face in her hands and kissed him messily, tasting herself on his tongue and lips. "God, you're incredible," she mumbled into the kiss.

Alex did not respond. He only smiled. He needed more. Much, much more.

His hand was damp from being inside her, but he sat up and grabbed hold of her hips to maneuver her in place. Alex lined himself up to her entrance but paused.

Norma shivered to feel his hot breath on her neck. "Please," she moaned. Her hips shifted, trying to get him to move, to give her what she needed, to fuck her till every bad thing was erased from her memory.

Alex thrust inside her in one hard motion. The both of them groaned at the sensation. He tried to keep himself steady, to savor the beautiful feeling of being inside her, but Norma wrapped her legs around his waist and rocked against him. He couldn't resist. He pulled almost all the way out before slamming back in.

Norma got exactly what she wanted. The world seemed to fall away. The sounds of their bodies slapping together with each one of Alex's powerful thrusts mixed with the grunting and panting and moaning over which they had no control. She could feel his lips dragging over her neck as he moved deep inside. She held him tight against her, never wanting to let him go. There was a lot of sex in Norma's past. A lot of it pretty good. But here and now with Alex, this was one of the most erotic things she'd ever experienced.

Her whole body was tensed tighter and tighter until she finally snapped as she came hard. Alex finished at almost the exact same time, spilling inside her as her body continued to clench around him.

They both collapsed down onto the bed, breathing heavily. Alex rolled off her, but Norma rolled with him. He lay on his back trying to catch his breath, and Norma's body was draped over him. He softly kissed her temple in a tender way that made Norma feel so very warm inside.

Alex could hardly move or think, but his hand landed on her back, caressing the slick skin as their sweat cooled.

They didn't talk. They didn't move. But that was okay. They didn't need to figure out what this was or what this meant.

Norma lay there in Alex's arms, soft and quiet. And he felt safe.