A/N: Thank you for the reviews, guys! It was so great to see that you're all still here, enjoying this, including my lovely guest reviewers. And it makes me so happy to read your thoughts; you have no idea. So please never stop (imagine the smiley with the heart eyes).

(And since I can't contact you otherwise: Thank you to the guests who left me such wonderful reviews on my oneshot "At all costs". Somehow I suppose at least one of you also reads/reviews this story. Therefore I hope you will read this.)

The usual disclaimer applies.

Norma knows Alex will contact her after what happened between them, especially after their encounter on the previous evening. His text messages start around noon.

Can we talk?

They should, but she wouldn't know what to say. Her feelings confuse her. Would it be advantageous to be in a relationship with the sheriff since he is one of the most powerful men of White Pine Bay, if not the most powerful? Yes, it would, for sure. Astonishingly enough this is not the first thing that comes to Norma's mind when she thinks of Alex though. He is different than any other man she has been with before and that makes her feel different about him. She wants… him, the fact that he is the sheriff only of secondary importance, but whenever she tries to imagine a scenario of Alex, her and her sons, Norman in particular, her mind comes up blank as if it was preposterous of her to believe it could work. Norma rubs her temple, trying to figure out her conflicting emotions as her phone buzzes again.

I feel terrible about what happened. That's not why I came over.

Confirming her suspicion that Alex wants more than to hook up with her occasionally. In a way it would make things a lot easier if he wanted just that. Norma sighs and puts her phone away.

"Hey, there you are."

Norma went grocery shopping to distract herself after Alex's messages. When she comes back, she finds Dylan and Norman in the kitchen. They fall silent the moment she enters the room as though she interrupted them in the middle of an argument.

"What is it?" Norma asks.

"Nothing," Dylan replies as Norman mumbles something that probably is supposed to mean the same.

Norma looks back and forth between her sons. "Ok then, feel free to tell me what's going on..." She starts putting the groceries away, adding, "...or not," when they don't react.

"Was someone here last night?" Norman asks out of the blue.

"Why would you ask that?" Norma answers his question with a question, unpacking the groceries without interruption, her tone of voice casual. "No," she eventually says when Norman doesn't respond. "There was no one here. What do you want for dinner? Turkey pot pie or something else?"

Norma turns around, only now noticing the way Norman is looking at her, the coldness in his eyes so unfamiliar that he doesn't even resemble the son she knows and loves. Then Norman smiles at her and steps closer, helping her unpack.

"I just thought I heard something, but I must have been mistaken."

Over Norman's shoulder, Norma looks at Dylan who raises his eyebrows in a don't ask me what's going on kind of way.

"So… turkey pot pie it is?" she asks when they have put the groceries away. It's one of Norman's favorite meals.

"I'm not hungry, mother," Norman states to her surprise though. "I'll go to my room." He kisses her on the cheek and leaves. Friendly but too polite, a distant version of himself.

Norma can't tell whether it angers or scares her. Either way, she shrugs it off. There is too much going on. She can't let every little mood swing of her sons get to her.

"What about you?" she addresses Dylan.

"I'm about to go to town and meet some guys. I'll eat something there, don't bother." It's obvious that the idea of having dinner alone with Norma makes him uncomfortable.

"Fine." Norma closes the door of the refrigerator too forcefully.

"Norma..." Dylan takes a step towards her, reaching out to soothe her before he changes his mind and lowers his arm. "Look… I won't be here for much longer. These guys, I'm going to meet? They offered me a job. It will be good money and as soon as I will have saved up a bit, I'll leave."

"What kind of job did they offer you?"

He only shakes his head. Don't ask.

"I don't like that, Dylan."

But he has already walked past her on his way out.

"Dylan!"

Her answer is the front door that closes behind him.

This is just great. Both of her sons apparently decided to shut her out. Arms akimbo, Norma tilts her head back and takes a deep breath, the house feeling much too big and much too silent all of a sudden.

When Norma goes to bed later, she checks her phone. Another message from Alex.

I need to talk to you. Please.

For a brief moment, the urge to call him and hear is voice is overwhelming. He would talk to her, comfort her; Norma feels certain about that. Her finger hovers over the call button before she puts the phone down on her nightstand. Not now. This has to wait. She has to handle the weird atmosphere between her and her sons first.

The next day, Norma wants to talk to Norman after school, but he doesn't come home until four hours later. On any other day she would have called the police. Considering the way he has been behaving lately, she knew, though, that it was just another thing he did to hurt her although she doesn't understand why he would feel the need to do so.

"Norman?" Her voice stops him on his way upstairs after he sneaked in. She is sitting in the living room, has been reading the same page of her book for the last two hours, the letters a blur because all she could focus on was hoping to hear his steps outside.

He approaches her slowly, hesitating before he sits down next to her.

Norma feels the almost magnetic pull; they are close but not close enough. Usually they are hugging or touching in some way when they are on the couch together, watching an old movie or just talking, the space between them odd like a foreign object that doesn't belong in the room.

Then Norman reaches out to touch her arm, tugging at her sleeve like a child to make her look at him.

"I'm sorry, mother." He tears up. "I didn't mean to hurt you or make you worry about me. It's just that..." He falls silent.

"It's just what, Norman?"

"It's just that so much has happened lately. The man you killed in self-defense and your blackouts. I'm always worried about you." He almost starts to cry, leaning into her so that Norma can finally take her son in her arms.

"Shhhh…" She rocks him gently. "It's all gonna be good." He's still a teenager and very sensitive. In the middle of recent events, Dylan's sudden appearance, her health problems and this thing between her and Alex, whatever it is, she almost forgot that.

They hug some more, talk some more and it feels good, like old times.

Alex gave Norma a 24 hours break, obviously accepting the unspoken or rather unsent but nevertheless clear message from her that she needs time to think about things. She didn't believe he would forget about it, just hoped he would give her more than only one day. So when her phone rings and his name comes up on the display, Norma doesn't answer, the beep afterwards informing her that he left a voicemail. What else did she expect? That a man like Alex Romero would simply give up?

It's me. Alex. As if she wouldn't recognize his voice. Please give me a call.

And a couple of hours later...

Norma, it's me. If we are not… If you don't want it to be… He starts and stops, eventually pausing for a longer moment and she can only guess where his thoughts might have wandered. To the moment in her vestibule? To the night before? The morning after? Because her thoughts wander there all the time. I just want to understand. And then the line goes dead.

It hurts when she listens to his message, to the sadness in his voice. Why do relationships have to be so complicated? Again, Norma considers calling Alex, and again, she doesn't do it, her talk with Norman from the day before still on her mind. Norman is so confused already. He wouldn't handle a new man in her life well, not that soon after his father died and they moved. It's too much. She has to give him more time.

Count on Alex to up the ante though. When she lets his next call go to voicemail once more, he is barely able to suppress his anger.

If you don't call me back, I'll come over after work. And I won't leave until we talked, no matter who is there with you and no matter who you don't want to know about us.

Not only she has a temper; Alex Romero has one too. She knew it, heard rumors in town about him save that he didn't reveal it in her presence until now. Norma knows a threat she has to take seriously when she hears one. She dials his number, rather flattered than upset. Maybe she just wanted to see how far he would go to make her listen to him.

"Can we talk?" she asks instead of a greeting when he answers after the first ring.

"I don't know, Norma, can we?"

She deserves his anger. "I'm sorry, Alex," Norma hears herself say. Now where did that come from? But then she realizes that her apology was sincere. She is sorry. She does want to talk to him.

Her words encounter his silence at the other end of the line.

"We shouldn't do this on the phone," he then says.

"Yes, we should," she disagrees.

"Why?" Still angry.

She knows why, but the words are stuck in her throat.

"Why, Norma?"

"Because if you were here, we wouldn't talk," she whispers. Alex has that effect on her. Merely hearing his voice makes her remember everything that happened between them in vivid detail, her body reacting.

It takes him a moment to understand.

"I need to see you, Norma," his voice is raw with need. Apparently she has the same effect on him.

She clears her throat. "Give me a few days, Alex. The situation with my sons… It's complicated. I need to figure some things out first, ok?"

There is a pause while he probably is trying to assess whether she is stalling for time or not.

"I'm not putting you off, Alex." It's true. The longer she talks to him, the harder it gets to deny the obvious. To be honest, she would prefer to deny it if it was possible, but they are beyond that point; the realization has been sinking in since he answered her call. Norma swallows. "I want this, Alex. Us," she admits, lowering her voice to a whisper again, the words holding a meaning so deep that it scares her. "Just give me a little more time."

Another pause.

"Can I text you?"

She giggles. "If you don't expect me to answer every time. You're quite chatty, Sheriff."

Norma isn't sure, but it sounded as if he chuckled. "Ok. Bye, Norma."

"Bye, Alex." She misses his voice already.

Norma is upstairs folding laundry when she hears the front door and recognizes Dylan's steps in the kitchen. He is rarely home anymore. Ever since he went to meet those dubious guys in town, she hasn't seen him. Sometimes his bed looks as if he slept in it, but she never hears him come home at night or leave in the morning. This is her chance to talk to him to clear the air, just like she talked to Norman.

"Dylan?" she shouts. "Come up here."

Dylan's clothes are stained with dirt, his shoes muddy. Due to his new job; Norma is sure of that, but she bites back the need to ask what it is that he actually does.

"Can we talk?"

"Sure." Dylan is playing it cool, as always. He looks around. "Where's Norman?"

"Down at the motel. Dylan, I wanted to talk to you about what you said. That you want to leave."

"Yeah?" His tone indifferent while his eyes are searching her face.

Norma puts the laundry down. "Maybe you shouldn't." She realized that after she had talked to Alex. There used to be a time when she barely could stand to be in a room with her firstborn. He was a difficult child, a rebellious teenager, but things have changed. These days, the awareness of him being somewhere out of her reach, most likely mingling with the wrong people would weigh heavily on her.

Dylan stares at her as if he can't believe she said what she just said. "No?" he then grates, trying to hide how much this affects him to no avail.

"No." Norma smiles at him. "We have enough space; it's a big house. And there is still so much work to do at the motel and here. Plus I think it's good for Norman. You know, so that he's not the only man living here." She twists her mouth in a half smile, half grimace while hunching her shoulders, the mix of facial expression and posture her trademark when she is trying to sell something important in passing.

Dylan stares at her until it makes her uncomfortable. "What about you?" he then asks.

"What about me?"

"Do you want me to stay?"

"As I said, there's still a lot of work to do at the motel..."

"...and here in the house, yeah yeah, and it's good for Norman, but what about you?"

Norma's smile turns wistful. "You helped me when I was sick. We haven't been on good terms, Dylan. Maybe not ever, but it has been feeling different lately. So yeah, I want you to stay. That's why I asked."

Dylan clenches his teeth, and for a moment, Norma thinks he will tear up or hug her. Instead he announces, "I'll pay you rent."

"Ok." The motel doesn't make any money yet. She needs every dollar for the renovation.

They look at each other for another moment before he turns around to go to his room.

"And take off these dirty shoes, Dylan. For God's sake. You're ruining my carpet," her tone is condescending. Norma loves this bedraggled, vintage house as if it was a castle. Dylan stops with his back turned on her so that she can't see he is smiling fondly when he does as told. "And put your dirty clothes in the laundry. I'll wash them later," Norma huffs as if she didn't enjoy this. No matter how old her sons are; she will always boss them around.

She starts to hum when she walks down the stairs. Tonight she will make her sons her famous turkey pot pie, come what may.

Things seem to be fine between Norma and her sons, at least more or less. Despite her hope that it would be good for Norman to have another man in the house, there is tension between her sons. For now, Norma is happy, though, that she is on good terms with them. The rest will work itself out over time; she is confident of that.

The one thing marring her mood is that she has been feeling nauseated again lately. Thankfully there have been no blackouts, but there is this voice in her head reminding her that they only haven't happened yet since it always was the same in the past. First the sickness, then the blackouts.

Aside from that, Norma misses Alex all the time. When they have dinner, she imagines him sitting at the table with them, raising his glass to her. When she wakes up, she imagines him lying in bed with her, giving her a good morning kiss. And when she goes to sleep she imagines things that make her wish she wasn't alone with her fantasies.

When will be the right time to let her sons know about him? Well, Norman. Dylan won't really care. One more week? Two? Norman has been acting quite ordinary lately; so maybe he has recovered enough to process the information. If it was up to her, she would tell them right now.

It's been a week that Norma hasn't seen Alex. Eight days to be exact, not that she's counting. His text messages have gone from sweet Good morning. I hope you slept well. over funny I arrested two really bad guys. So how was your day? to contemplative Thinking of you. I miss you. and finally to… Just took a shower. Would've been more fun if you had been with me. His absence is like the fourth person in the house. Someone that is supposed to live with them and just left for a while. Norma has never felt something like that for a man before. Quite the contrary. She always was relieved when her former husbands were not at home. With Alex everything is different. It's scary and exciting and makes her constantly wonder whether it's a delusion or real. After a couple of more days, Norma can't stand it any longer. She needs to know what this is between Alex and her.

Norma is sitting in her car in front of Alex's house, waiting for him. By now, she knows his daily schedule. If there was no emergency, he will be home soon. She bites her lower lip. Every minute that passes without him showing up, makes her more insecure. What if he doesn't come home? What if he is with another woman right now and all that texting was just to make sure she would remain available to him? Or even worse, what if he came home, bringing another woman with him? It would be so embarrassing if they saw her.

Just when Norma is about to leave, Alex's squad car approaches. As soon as she has made out that he is alone, Norma walks up to the car, hopping in the moment he turns off the engine.

"Hey. What a nice surprise." Alex looks at her, grinning broadly.

"Hey." She felt the urge to come and see him but now that she's there, Norma doesn't know what to say.

He senses something is going on and takes her hand. How does he always know what she needs? Anything else would have been too much. So he does this and it feels just right.

"Why do you have this magical ability to make me feel calm?"

"I'm not magical."

But it feels as if he is, his fingers gently caressing the back of her hand. Norma can't stop looking at his lips. He is such a good kisser. She wonders whether some woman told him that before, probably yes. His lips can do other wonderful things too.

Norma leans forward and Alex meets her halfway. Kissing him is like coming home, a moan or rather relieved sigh building in her throat. The kiss remains soft though, not turning into the passionate encounter she expected it to be, his lips breaking away from hers much too soon.

"How are you?" Alex asks, one of his hands gently encompassing the side of her face as she snuggles into it. These hands feel like they were able to protect her against the rest of the world. "What about your blackouts? Did you have another one?"

So that's why he was holding himself back. Because he needs to know that first.

"I'm fine."

The fact that she averts her eyes and even leans away from him telling him that she's not.

"Norma..."

She sighs exasperated. She didn't come here to talk about her blackouts or her health in general. "Just feeling a little nauseated now and then," she admits reluctantly. "But no more blackouts. I'm fine." Emphasizing the last word doesn't make it more believable.

"I could give you the address of a doctor I know."

Norma is on the brink of jumping out of his car and driving home. She wants protective, but she doesn't want to be treated condescendingly. Albeit she knows it's not his intention, it feels like it.

"We've been there, Alex. I don't have the money and I have no insurance."

"And I told you that I would give you the money. Or lend you," he adds when she darts an angry glance at him.

Norma opens the door to get out just as Alex reaches out his hand and slams the door shut again, a tense silence following his action.

"You can't ignore what's going on with you," Alex states calmly.

Norma still seethes. "I'm not. I just need to do it my way." Which means ignoring it; they both know that, but either he accepts it, at least for now, or she will leave.

"Okay," Alex gives in after a long pause. "Just know that I'm here for you and that my offer stands."

He stares out of the windshield. Looking at her would be too painful, the fear that she could be seriously ill, that this could be over before it even began eating away at him. Then he feels her hand touching his in an almost timid way.

"Okay. Thank you."

This is Norma Bates, an endless cycle of push and pull, and when he finally looks at her again, Alex knows that no matter how often she will push him away, he will be there whenever she needs him, one look into her mesmerizing eyes enough to make him forget everything else. Like now.

"Do you want to come inside?" he asks.

Norma's glance darts back and forth between his front door and his face.

"I don't know," she eventually says, the idea of being in his house with him feeling like a decision too far-reaching to make it right away.

Alex nods. To her surprise he doesn't seem to be offended.

"Then what do we do now?" he wants to know.

He didn't need to ask, the atmosphere despite their argument charged with their longing for each other. Whether they are inside or not, this is what is going to happen next, Alex's house fortunately secluded, no curious neighbors able to watch them.

Alex reaches out to touch her knee. Norma is wearing a dress underneath her burgundy coat and no pantyhose since it's still warm enough, or maybe it's not, but it felt like the right choice considering where she was going. His fingers draw lazy circles on her skin, now and then taking a detour to the inside of her thigh. It makes her feel everything she has been missing since she saw him for the last time. Norma closes her eyes, writhing like a lazy cat in the sun when he moves his hand just a bit higher.

Then he stops.

Norma opens her eyes. "What?"

"You didn't do it to make it all about sex and push me away. You did it because you wanted it." It's a statement not a question, it referring to the evening he came to see her and they ended up in her vestibule.

"Yes." Norma confirms his words. It was about sex, but for the right reasons. She did it because she wanted him so much that she couldn't resist. She touches his face, her finger brushing the corner of his mouth. Then and now, always the same. Despite her twisted past, Norma has always liked sex. It just never was the right man until Alex unleashed something inside her.

Alex looks away for a moment as if he was contemplating whether to get on with whatever is on his mind or leave it be. Then he looks back at her. "What did you do afterwards?"

"Afterwards?"

"After I left. If you did… what you did because you wanted it, then..."

Norma raises her eyebrows, holding his gaze for another moment before she blushes as she remembers how she prepared the sandwiches for her sons in a hurry, eager to deliver them and lock herself in her room to…

"Show me," Alex demands in a whisper, raw lust written all over his face, the bulge in his pants obvious.

With any other man, Norma would have said no, but this is not some kind of twisted foreplay. She actually wants to show him, resting her right hand on her leg before she hesitatingly moves it upwards, pulling her dress up in the process. Alex's hand that is still on her other leg twitches as he tries to keep it perfectly still, watching her. She covers it with her left hand, and for a moment, they remain like this as her chest rises and falls, her fitful breathing the only sound in the car. Then Norma pulls her hand even more upwards towards her center, slowly pushing it into her panties.

"Oh," she breathes, surprised at how wet she is already. Well, she shouldn't be, surprised that is, considering the vivid memories the situation brings along as well as the fact that Alex is watching her. Nevertheless she refrains from touching herself at first because she has never done this before in someone else's presence.

But then Norma's fingers start to move of their own accord. She closes her eyes, letting the moment and her feelings take over when she feels his lips against hers, initially soft before he pushes his tongue inside her mouth almost impatiently. Norma lets go of Alex's hand that she was pinning down on her thigh, and as if he had been waiting for it, the knuckles of his hand press against the fabric of her panties from the outside, the anticipation that his fingers could join hers any moment sending Norma in a sensual frenzy. It was almost embarrassing how aroused she was that night, how fast she made herself come, but today might be a close second.

"You are beautiful."

Even Alex's voice feels like a gentle touch. For some reason it reminds Norma that by now he must have seen her scar on her leg, the one she never talks about. Of course he doesn't mention it, though, saves the question for later.

Then his fingers finally slip under the fabric of her panties and inside her in one smooth move as his thumb encircles her right where she needs it, the contact making Norma arch her back before she continues to rock her hips, adjusting to his rhythm. Her thighs start to tremble; she is so close.

"Come for me."

Did he really say that? By now Norma can't tell anymore whether this is real or a dream. Alex is alternately kissing her mouth and neck; she can hear his breathing getting quicker next to her ear. She is floating and wants to stay in this place forever, pushing her hips into his touch. Once, twice, she wants to make it last but can't, clenching around his fingers again and again.

"Oh my God." Norma grasps Alex's wrist to keep his hand still since she is oversensitive at the moment.

She expects him to stir and sit back on the driver's seat now that it's over, but he doesn't. Instead he keeps holding her while she comes back down.

"I think we're even now," he announces when Norma finally opens her eyes to look at him. His grin can only be described as smug. Well, he did a pretty good job; she has to give him that. And yet...

"Not even close," she counters, her glance briefly riveting on his lap. "I think I want to go inside now."

To be continued