A/N: Thank you all so much for letting me know what you think about this alternate universe. This includes the guest reviews, of course. A special thank you goes to the guest who left that long, lovely review. Whoever you are, you made my day.

This chapter is mainly about building and deepening the emotional basis so that it will feel natural when Alex and Norma will get involved at some point of the story (because of course they will, you didn't doubt that, did you?). ;) I felt very much reminded of season one or early season two Normero when I wrote it and basically wanted to yell at them to hurry up so that they can be together. But all in its proper time, right? Things will get more tense as the story progresses, plot-wise as well as when it comes to Norma and Alex.

So, here's the next installment. I hope you enjoy it.

Sometimes Alex thinks he can still smell her. They say scent is one of the strongest triggers to make you remember something, but in this particular case it's vice versa. He remembers her, and as soon as he does, her scent surrounds him, that mix of fresh oranges, lavender and something else, something sensual, like a summer day right before it's going to rain. She always finds a way into his thoughts, interrupts his daily schedule, whatever he is doing, because Norma Bates isn't someone you think of in passing. She demands his full attention even if she's not there. Like now.

Alex remembers how Norma felt in his arms when he carried her to his car after she had collapsed, how his body registered her soft curves pressed tightly against him, one of his hands touching bare skin where he held her legs, his other hand brushing the side of her breast. He is not a ladies' man, but Alex has had his fair share of women. Affairs mostly because he has a hard time trusting someone, let alone opening up about himself and that usually doesn't go down well with whoever he is sleeping with. This however. She. She's different in a way that annoys and excites him at the same time. He shouldn't have thought about her that way while he was carrying her, taking her to a hospital because she had been raped for God's sake. But he did, couldn't help it, didn't want to if he was honest.

Seems as if Norma Bates brings out the worst in him. Or best. In the end it doesn't matter since Alex has never been someone who thinks in black and white, has been living in a gray area all his life and that doesn't even refer to the legal limbo he practices as a sheriff but to who he is. Someone who lives in between, never getting attached to someone for the simple reason that so far it has never felt right. His world is different, dark and complicated, shadows of his past – the suicide of his mother, his father being in prison – constantly reaching for him, trying to pull him back into that abyss he wants to leave behind but knows he never will. And then this strange, beautiful woman appears out of nowhere and even if he had never seen her before, has no idea who she really is, he is drawn to her for reasons that go way beyond her looks.

He breached protocol for her. Alex should have stayed at the crime scene, should have made sure no one was able to enter it without authorization. Instead he took Norma to a hospital and pushed everything else to the back of his mind. She was unconscious but still breathing. It was an emergency but not a life-threatening situation. His free pass to not call an ambulance but take matters into his hands. He almost forgot to inform headquarters about what happened so that they could send forensics over.

Norma regained consciousness on their way to the hospital and kept telling him she was fine. He cringed at her words. When he had put her down on the back seat, Alex had seen the bruises on the inside of her thighs where Keith Summer must have pushed her legs apart forcibly. She wasn't fine. Not even close. And it moved him in a way he couldn't explain. He didn't breach protocol when he waited at the hospital until she was released albeit it was something the sheriff just didn't do. Usually he would send one of his deputies. Not this time. It didn't even occur to him.

"I did your rape kit," Norma hissed when she went past him as if she had done him a personal favor and it hadn't been an official procedure to gather evidence.

He didn't say anything in response, his instinct telling Alex that she had just released herself against medical advice. It was the way she stamped outside in a hurry, almost expecting someone to hold her back. He followed her, along with her son who hadn't left her side ever since she had lost consciousness. It was endearing and a tad creepy.

When they stood outside, in front of the hospital, Alex knew what would happen next. By now he had learned that Norma Bates acts on impulse, adjusting her actions to whatever is necessary. For example when she is standing on the street at night without her phone, her wallet or any money. She wasn't even wearing her own clothes. The hospital had taken them as evidence and given her a sweat suit from their stock. It was at least two clothing sizes too big; she looked like a little girl wearing the clothes of her older brother. The sight made him smile. Alex was pretty sure Norma Bates would never ever wear a sweat suit voluntarily.

She turned around, finding him right behind her and rolled her eyes, sighing. Then she shrugged and he understood. He was allowed to help her again and walked to his car, Norma and her son trotting along. It was late, they were tired, let alone that two horrible crimes had happened. And yet, Alex felt as good as he hadn't in a long time.

He takes a deep breath, trying to hold on to the memory as he catches the last whiff of a scent that isn't really there, thinking of a woman who invaded his life and has gotten under his skin. Alex saw Norma several times after that night in the context of the ongoing investigation. Actually he used every opportunity to go and see her. She was polite but distant. Probably being polite was already an accommodation on her part, acknowledging his role in all this. However it became clear rather quickly that she wasn't interested in him. Something that didn't diminish his interest in her in the least. Quite the opposite. Alex inhales again. He can still smell her.

"Morning, honey," Norma greets her son as she enters the kitchen. She is in her robe, has just woken up. "What do you want for breakfast?" She stops when she sees the dishes in the sink, the breadcrumbs next to the toaster. "Did you already have breakfast?"

Norman watches her with a thoughtful expression in his eyes. "It's noon," he eventually says.

"What?" She looks at the clock, realizing he is right. "How could I sleep that long?"

Norman averts his gaze. "I think… I think you had another blackout last night."

Norma tries to remember. They had dinner. Turkey pot pie. Then they watched a movie. And then… Nothing until she woke up only moments ago.

"Again?" she whispers. "It just happened two days ago and before that last week and before that…," her voice trails off. Before that it happened the night Keith Summers died. The night she killed him and still doesn't remember. Norma sits down at the kitchen table, her legs wobbly all of a sudden because her worst fear has come true. The blackouts are getting worse. She can't be sick. She has to take care of her son, has to start a new business. Then she realizes something. "Why are you not at school?"

"Because I couldn't leave you alone. I called and told them I wasn't feeling well. You just need to write me an apology."

"God!" Norma buries her face in her hands. "You can't skip school because of me."

Norman sits down next to her, taking her hand. "I had to. It's you and me, mother. It's always been you and me. I will take care of you."

He is right. It has always been the two of them. When she hid with him in the closet so that her drunk husband couldn't take it out on them or when she darned his clothes in a way so that his schoolfellows wouldn't see it and tease him because his father had spent all their money on gambling once again. But this… This is not her son's fight. Something has to change.

Norma squeezes Norman's hand. "Bring me a piece of paper and a pen so that I can write your apology, will you?"

She doesn't know how, but she will find a way.

Sometime later that day, Norma takes a deep breath and enters the book store. After the horrifying awareness that her blackouts are getting worse, she gave her situation some thought and came to the conclusion that she doesn't have many options if she wants to do something before the situation gets out of control. In fact, she has barely none. To begin with, she has no health insurance. Therefore going to a doctor under a pretense to get thoroughly examined in order to find or exclude physical reasons for her blackouts is not possible. And aside from costs, there is no way she can go to a psychiatrist. At least not now. Norman is still a minor and she can't risk to have them take him away from her in case they'd diagnose her with whatever mental disorder might cause memory gaps. Norma pushes the image of her mentally ill mother to the back of her mind who spent her life more or less in a vegetative state – unresponsive, unapproachable for her children who needed her so much. Maybe she had blackouts, too.

The shelves are filled with all kinds of books dealing with memory loss, brain damage, mental illness and such like. Who would have thought that there are so many books dwelling on such topics? Norma picks six of them intuitively. She will probably only understand half of their content, but this is all she can do. Help herself. That's what she's always done because no one else has helped her. Ever.

Deep in thought she pays, the situation weighing heavily on her. What if she finds nothing in these books that will make things better? What if the blackouts keep getting worse and she can do nothing about it?

She almost runs into Alex when she leaves the book store.

"Norma, how are you? Found something?" He points at her bag and she hopes he didn't catch a glimpse of the book on top about neurological disorders before she pushed it deeper into the bag. But he is so focused on her face and just her in general that he obviously didn't pay attention.

"Yeah." She smiles at him and watches him react, almost smiling back at her before he stops himself because he never smiles. "I needed a present." Norma tilts her head and he gets lost in her eyes. Everyone does. It's her secret weapon. God, men are so easy to handle.

Norma is aware that the sheriff is interested in her that way. He came by five times during the week after the incident as Norman and she call it. No cop does that unless he wants to arrest you or has something else in mind. Frankly, she expected him to offer her a deal, something like he would drop the investigation if she slept with him. It didn't happen, but he keeps coming over, just not that often anymore as if he realized she doesn't reciprocate his interest. It's not even that she is not interested. There is something about him that attracts and repulses her at the same time. Maybe the fact that he is dangerous. She doesn't know him; however she knows that, learned to recognize danger in its various forms the hard way at a very young age. His kind of danger is confusing though. He never smiles, is not even friendly when he talks to other people whereas he's different when he's with her and Norma doesn't know what to make of it. And as long as she doesn't know, it's safer to stay away. She was never lucky with men.

Alex looks over her shoulder, noticing something.

"What?" Norma turns around, following his gaze that is directed at the window of the book store.

"That guy seems to be a little too interested in you."

Norma squints through the window, making out the man behind the register that served her. As soon as he notices she is watching him, he looks away. A guy looked at her. So what? Most men do. She shrugs.

"Did he bother you?"

"No, I just bought some books."

"Buy them in another store in the future."

"What?" He has to be kidding. "Only because you helped me that night doesn't give you the right to..."

"He has a record," Alex interrupts her. "It was a long time ago, but… he's a sexual offender. Reintegrated into society. However there's no need to take a risk."

Norma studies Alex. There were other women in that book store, children even. That man wouldn't be allowed to work there if he was a danger to others. And yet, here he is, telling her to take no risk as if the rules were different when it came to her. It's almost as if he cares about her. Norma feels an ache in her chest, a longing. No one has ever cared about her aside from her son.

"Err… I need to go." Alex points at something down the street, apparently realized that he said too much.

"Sure."

He swallows before he practically has to tear his eyes away from her face and turns around. Norma watches him as he walks down the street, wondering what the hell just happened.

"How are you feeling, mother?" Norman sticks his head in at the door of her bedroom.

It's late, but of course Norma needed to take a look at the books she had bought as soon as she came home. And now, hours later, she feels dizzy due to the technical terms and an overdose of information. She snaps the book shut she was reading.

"I don't know," she sighs. "I'm trying to find out what's wrong with me, but obviously that's not easy." Norma reaches out her hand and Norman comes over, sitting down on her bed and taking her in his arms. "What am I going to do?"

He rocks her softly. "It's all gonna be good."

Despite her sad mood, Norma gives a laugh. She always said that to him when he was little because things were rarely good in the Bates household. And now she doubts that they will ever be. This was supposed to be their new beginning, but the shadow of her dead husband followed them here. Norma had her first blackout the night Sam died approximately six months ago. She only knows what happened from Norman. That a heavy shelf fell on Sam and that he hit his head so badly as a result that he died on the spot. She starts to cry silently. Ever since Keith Summers died, she fears that Norman sugarcoated the truth. That Sam didn't die because of an accident but that it was her who killed him. He used to hit her all the time. Maybe she had snapped, just like it happened with Keith Summers. But she is too afraid to ask. It's too much. Sometimes not knowing can be a blessing. So for now Norma exhales and concentrates on her son.

"Shhhh," Norman soothes her, repeating their mantra, "it's all gonna be good."

A few days later the final DNA results come in.

"Everything as we assumed," his deputy informs Alex. "It was Keith Summers' blood on Norma Bates' clothes and his DNA all over her as well as," he clears his throat, "inside her. There were also traces of your DNA and her son's on her, but that was to be expected since you both touched her." He hands the file to Alex. "It's your call. We can continue to investigate, but the evidence points at a rape / self-defense scenario. Even the number of stab wounds is comprehensible given what happened."

More than 30. Their angle and depth corresponding with someone of Norma's height and weight inflicting them. Norman told them that he found his mother straddling Keith Summers while stabbing him again and again when he came back into the kitchen. Stabbing someone that many times either points at rage or trauma and Norma for sure was traumatized. There is no need to investigate any further.

"Close the case and inform the DA," Alex decides, already reflecting when his schedule will allow him to drive over to the motel and tell Norma the good news.

Just when he is about to leave the office later, a call comes in though.

"Sheriff Romero? We need you over here."

"What happened?"

"We found a body in the lake. It's Matt Weary, the guy who works at the book store."

Therefore Alex drives to another crime scene and not to the motel. He is aware that it is ridiculous to be mad at a dead man; however he is. When he sees the dark clouds and hears the thunder, a late summer storm approaching, he can't help but think that the weather fits his mood perfectly.

Norma startles when she hears thunder outside. Another late summer storm.

"Norman! Make sure all the windows are closed," she yells, hearing her son run through the house in order to do so.

She was just doing the laundry when the thunder startled her, staring at a dress she doesn't remember wearing although it is dirty, smeared with mud. Why would there be mud on her dress? Norma rubs her eyes. She is always so tired these days. Let alone that she had another blackout yesterday. She didn't tell Norman about it since he was at school when it happened and she doesn't want him to worry even more. Maybe that's when she wore the dress. But what did she do? Norma throws the dress into the washing machine angrily. Reading all of these books didn't help one bit. Then she straightens herself and takes a deep breath to calm down. Inhale, exhale. In and out. She will get through this.

In his room Norman is listening to music, the headphones blocking out the sound of thunder and rain. He closed all the windows in the house as his mother told him to and it will take a while until dinner is ready. Therefore he has some time for himself and needs a distraction. His mother thinks he doesn't know, but he does and it's getting him down. She had another blackout yesterday. It is becoming increasingly difficult to protect her. However there is nothing more important in his entire life.

To be continued