"This is going to be so much fun!" Sarah practically squealed as she slid an unidentifiable plate of food in front of Norma without asking. Norma tried to manage a smile, glaring when she noticed Alex sitting coolly at the breakfast table. She had barely slept, and had woken up much later than usual, to an empty bed and an unbearably humid room. Her hair was an untameable mass of blonde curls and she could already feel her shirt starting to stick to her in the heat that her Oregon body just wasn't used to. She murmured a sleepy thanks, staring down at the plate of grease and cheese in confusion.

"Morning." Alex said shyly from across the breakfast table and Norma glared at him.

"Why did you let me sleep so late?" She hissed at him, accusingly, her glare softening slightly when he wordlessly slid a cup of coffee over to her.

"You looked tired." He said, earning him another death glare that made Gabriel chuckle from behind his paper.

"Ooh. Bad move, buddy." He laughed, lowering his paper and smiling at Norma's grumpy little scowl. "What my inept older brother meant to say was: 'You looked so peaceful, I didn't want to wake you.'"

She took a sip of coffee, instantly feeling a bit calmer, and chuckled across at Gabriel as Alex rolled his eyes at them both.

"Jeez. You're not even married yet and you're already better at this than me." Alex said lamely.

"I have him well trained." Sarah piped up, sauntering over and pressing a brief kiss against his lips before sliding a plate of grey mush in front of him.

Norma found herself smiling warmly at their little display of affection, noticing Alex doing the same. For a moment, this all felt so normal - Just two normal couples, enjoying each other's company, sitting down to a breakfast of... She glanced down at her plate again, wondering what exactly was sitting in front of her.

"It's sausage and grits." Gabe offered, following her mildly disgusted gaze down to her food. She immediately rearranged her face into a smile, slightly embarrassed at having been caught with such an ungrateful expression. He smiled at her, leaning forward to whisper conspiratorially. "Don't worry. It tastes better than it looks."

"I heard that, ya know." Sarah said from the kitchen. "Honestly," She donned a southern drawl. "If my mama could hear ya' now..." She giggled to herself, before strolling back over with a jug of orange juice, and her own plate of food.

"Now Alex, are you sure I can't tempt you?" She said, fixing him with a serious look, and glancing pointedly at his plate, which, unlike theirs, which were piled high with cheesy messes, was home to a single grapefruit half.

"No, really. I'm fine." He patted his toned stomach, as if he were tremendously overweight. "I gotta watch my cholesterol." He glanced at Norma out of the corner of his eyes, flashing her a smug grin as she unenthusiastically pushed her food around her plate.

"You West Coasters..." Sarah murmured to herself, as if not wanting her greasy sausage and cheese creation for breakfast was the height of some pampered Hollywood diet.

Norma raised a forkful to her mouth, realising everyone seemed to be watching her, Alex raising his eyebrows smugly at her, as Sarah watched with an expectant expression. She took a bite, chewing slowly, a smile spreading over her face.

"Well?" Sarah said, biting her lip, her own bite hovering on her fork.

"Sarah. This is delicious!" Norma said, sincerely, scooping up another bite.

"Sarah's from South Carolina originally." Gabe explained.

"My parents owned a restaurant there. I was cookin' before I could walk." She said humbly, and for the first time, Norma detected a slight southern drawl in her accent. It made her smile, as she watched the girl take a bite of her own food, grinning to herself as she obviously thought of home.

Norma turned to Alex, theatrically enjoying her own food as he picked glumly at his own breakfast.

"How's your grapefruit?" She asked brightly.

"Great." He shot back, incredibly unconvincingly, as he hungrily watched a bite travel to her mouth.

"Great." She parroted back to him. "Glad to see you taking care of your cholesterol. Can't have you up and dying on me after two weeks of marriage." She said lightly, as he gently shook his head, chuckling at her.

She caught Gabe and Sarah watching them fondly, and was once again overcome with a sense of comfort and familiarity, as if this were all real.

They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes, before Gabe piped up.

"So, what do you girls have planned for today?"

They all jumped as Sarah clapped her hands together loudly, letting out a little excited gasp.

"Oh my god! We're going to have so much fun!" She said enthusiastically, and Alex flashed Norma a little smile.

"So, first we're going to the spa. Massages, pedicures, the works..."

Norma's face lit up.

"And then we're having dinner with some of my friends and then heading out for some drinks."

Norma beamed at her. Maybe she had misjudged the girl, mistook her youthful enthusiasm for immaturity? The day sounded perfect and she found herself smiling across the table at Alex, who shrugged back as if he too had misjudged Sarah.

"And what are you boys doing today?" Norma asked.

"Golf." Gabe replied simply, then, when she gazed at him expectantly, he continued. "And beer." He supplied, glancing at Alex as if confused that the women expected more explanation than that.

"Well, what a full day you have planned. However will you find the time to fit it all in?" Sarah teased.

Sarah let Norma help clear the table, after a classic "But you're our guest!" conversation that Norma inevitably won, and she was drying her hands when she felt someone come up behind her. She spun round, thinking it was Sarah, just as Alex moved to lean past her, placing his cup on the side, and they ended up face to face, their lips inches apart.

"Oh, sorry." She muttered, casting her eyes down, and moving to step to the side, just as he stepped in the same direction. He reached behind her to push his cup further back, and she leaned away from him, feeling a little trapped and something else she couldn't put her finger on.

"Sorry." He muttered, as he accidentally crowded her against the sink, looking sad as she flinched away from him. It was awkward and was one of those moments where Norma was painfully aware that this was all just pretend. The thought made her realise they weren't alone, and she glanced over to see Gabe and Sarah staring at them strangely. It took only a moment to realise that it must look very odd - A married couple, avoiding each other's eye contact, apparently so desperately uncomfortable to accidentally invade each other's space and she panicked, worrying that their cover was blown.

Glancing back at him, she found herself raising up on her tip toes, curling a hand round his neck, pulling him in to kiss her. He froze for a moment, before pressing his lips against hers, his hands coming to rest lightly on her waist. He tasted fresh and citrusy, and her body ached to deepen the kiss, but she didn't, kissing him for only a few moments before pulling back, breathlessly.

They stared at each other for a moment, his eyes darting unconsciously back to her lips, his hands not releasing her until there was a conspicuously loud cough from behind them and they jumped. She had forgotten they were there for a moment, which was absurd, because she had only kissed him to put on a show for Gabe and Sarah. Hadn't she?

"Come on, lovebirds! Plenty of time for that later on!" Gabe chuckled, and Alex cast one last lingering look at her lips before pulling away from her, letting her finally take the breath she had been holding. Alex waited a few feet away from her, hovering awkwardly, pretending he couldn't feel Norma's eyes on him while they waited for Gabe to say goodbye to Sarah.

"Till tonight, my love!" He announced dramatically, cupping her face like they were posing for the front cover of a romance novel. She giggled, and pretended to swoon in his arms, and he kissed her, her foot popping up behind her. They were as ridiculous as each other, half all-american good looks, and half absurd renaissance-era love affair and Norma felt herself smiling at all the little moments they shared. They were perfect for each other.

He turned to Norma, tipping an imaginary hat at her, and winking.

"Till this eve, milady." She nodded gallantly back at him.

Alex shifted slightly, suddenly realising it was their turn to say goodbye, once again feeling like he was a teenager on his first date. Couldn't their kiss a moment ago be enough? His heart rate still hadn't returned to normal yet.

He closed the short distance between them and watched as her breath quickened with his proximity.

"I'll see you later on." He muttered, pressing a feather light kiss against her cheek. She had to resist the urge to turn her face, and kiss him again. His hand ghosted over her lower back and she shivered. "Have a good day."

Her hand trailed down his arm so that, when he finally pulled away, she brushed his fingertips, before reluctantly letting him go. Her composure returned to her now that he was out of her personal space again, and she beamed at him as he moved away.

"Bye hun!" She said brightly, immediately realising that she had probably never said "hun" before in her life. It wasn't that she was worried that the other couple would notice, since they didn't know her, how could they know? But she watched Alex's step falter for a split second, and wondered if he'd taken it as a slight insult? In actual fact, he'd just caught her off guard and she'd called him the first pet name that he popped into her head, but she wondered if he thought she was making a point about them being fake?

It IS fake, remember? That voice reminded her. Right. Of course. This isn't real.

"You too are so cute!" Sarah cooed quietly, rushing over to link her arm through Norma's who was leaning against the sink trying to pretend she kissed Alex all the time, and wasn't, in fact, shell-shocked and flustered. Norma just smiled back, not knowing what to say.


A day at the spa was just what Norma Bates didn't know she'd needed. While she'd always enjoyed some of the feminine delights of pampering herself, she had never indulged in a full day of it, and, as she floated in a whirlpool of twinkly lights and bubbles, she wondered why. Probably because spending a whole day doing nothing seemed incredibly extravagant to a mother of two, who single-handedly ran a motel and spent all of her free time hiding her demons and trying to make sure their lives didn't crash down around them. Still, as her and Sarah chatted easily, drinking fresh-squeezed florida orange juice while various trained professionals soothed the tension out of their bodies, she vowed to try and take more time for herself from now on.

"What was your wedding like? Did you have a bachelorette party?"

Norma smiled nervously down at the bubbles. Who would she have invited? All the women in White Pine Bay hated her. She couldn't say that of course, so she fixed a smile on her face.

"No, no. Nothing like that. We just kept it very simple. Just a City Hall affair."

Sarah cocked her head, pouting at her.

"Aw..." She started sadly.

"It was exactly what we wanted." Norma said, a little defensively. "It was all very impromptu. One minute he was telling me he couldn't wait another day to make me his wife. The next day, I was his wife. We didn't want to wait." Norma lied smoothly, letting herself get caught up in her own imagination. She glanced over her shoulders, as if expecting Alex to appear and roll his eyes at her imaginary version of events. He probably wouldn't enjoy being painted as the hopeless romantic of the piece.

"Awww..." Sarah cooed, apparently pleased with this new version.

"Were your family there?" She asked casually.

"I don't have any family." Norma said, far too quickly. "I mean, apart from my son, but he was away at the time, so he couldn't attend." She felt a pang of guilt for leaving Dylan out of this narrative, but it would have been too complicated to explain at this point. Besides, she didn't want to mention that she had another son that was probably closer to Sarah in age than her husband-to-be was.

Sarah nodded gently at her, not pressing the issue at all.

"How about you? Will I be meeting many of the Miller clan tomorrow?"

Sarah cast her eyes down for a moment, a fleeting shadow of sadness crossing her features, before shrugging casually.

"Unfortunately not. It's just me and Ray." There was a pause. "He's my step-dad." She explained, smiling at Norma suddenly. "But he pretty much raised me. He's the best."

There was another uncomfortable pause, where Norma wasn't sure what to say and Sarah seemed to take her silence as a prompt to fill her in on the rest of the story.

"My dad split when I was a baby, and then my mom met Ray and he pretty much raised me as his own. Him and my mom owned a restaurant and he taught me how to cook. They divorced when I was twelve, but... "There was a pause, where she swallowed hard, keeping her eyes focused down.

"My mom's new boyfriend was kind of a dick." She said, almost too casually.

Norma took a deep breath, observing the way Sarah's hands were clinging to the edge of the jacuzzi, her knuckles white, the muscles in her face tight from trying to keep up a normal expression. She knew it, because it was a face she used herself alot of the time and she feared she could guess what kind of man Sarah's mom's boyfriend had been. She pressed her lips together, watching as the girl silently pulled herself back together before continuing in a sunny voice.

"So I went to live with Ray again. He legally adopted me a year later and the rest is history!" She finished brightly, smiling sweetly at Norma, who reached across to pat her hand reassuringly.

"He sounds wonderful. I can't wait to meet him."

Sarah said nothing, smiling through unshed tears that she pretended weren't there, clasping Norma's hand gratefully.

"So there's my sad story." She said a little breathlessly, glancing at the empty glasses of orange juice next to the jacuzzi. "Right, I think it's time for a real drink!"


I realised that they drink like ALOT in this fic, and I just wanted to clarify that this is not some intentional plot point - None of the characters have secret drink problems. They just seem like social situations were I personally might be driven to drink excessively. But then, I'm English, so I drink excessively just because it's tuesday sometimes. So.. yeah. :) Please don't worry about their drinking. (Though maybe worry about mine?)

Also, I'm posting this a day or two sooner than I usually would because I'm going to be away for a few days. Sorry it's a bit of a filler chapter. That's just the luck of the draw. The next chapter is a dooooozy though! Can't wait for y'all to read it.