31.

~ The house felt empty and hollow and Norman knew right away that he was alone there. Rebecca had a habit making a lot of noise to chase away the perpetual feeling of loneness that seemed to emanate through the walls.

She'd play the radio loudly in the living room or watch a movie on the laptop they shared. Anything to make their space seemed less ghostly.

But when Norman woke up that first morning, and he heard nothing, he knew she was gone. Knew that she'd left in the night or was dead.

The thought chilled him that she was most likely dead. Rebecca wouldn't have left without warning. She really had nowhere else to go. She'd been running on empty when she stumbled upon him. Ready to turn herself in and give herself up to the law when they'd met. Her few months with Norman had been a reprieve from that sentence. A way to hide out and pretend they were living a normal life.

She could be useful again and so could he. They could be themselves and not live in fear anymore.

Now, with the house echoing his calls for her, Norman knew she was dead.

He'd woken up wearing the dark blue dress she sometimes wore around the house. His body aching as though he'd lifted weights all day.

"Rebecca?" he called intruding into her bedroom and seeing her library books were still on her bedside table. Her clothes from the day before were still in the hamper and her shoes were neatly tucked under her bed.

Rebecca was a very orderly person. Everything had its' place. The doors were still locked to the house. Bolted from the inside as she usually liked to do. As his mother had liked to do. It had made both women feel safe.

Norman couldn't remember if Rebecca left the house or not. If he'd bolted the doors behind her. But he never did that. Never would do that. He'd always leave her a way back in, even if they'd had a fight.

Nevertheless, he went to the motel and checked each room after he'd properly showered and dressed himself. The hipsters were in a good mood and ready to check out. Another car had pulled in just as they were leaving and Norman checked them in. It was getting onto the busy season and he'd spent the next hour cleaning the rooms and checking in new guests.

Finally, after looking through the empty cabins, and finding no Rebecca, he went back to the house. She had to be here, but where?

Norman started at the basement and knew exactly where she'd be. Exactly where Mother would put her.

Chick Hogan hadn't delivered any new animals for him lately and so he had plenty of space there. Lots of room in the chest freezer in the back of the basement. Norman winced before he cracked it open.

Rebecca's pale eyes stared back at him and for a moment, he thought she was alive.

'Found you.' he wanted to jokingly say but realized from the pallor of her skin and the haze over her once brown eyes that she was dead.

"Oh." he said and turned away. Her face, her clever face, was blank and staring. She wasn't his Rebecca anymore but some kind of object.

He touched her skin and she was ice cold. Her red hair tangled and her neck bruised from where she'd been strangled.

"Oh, Mother." Norman sighed. "What have you done?"

~ Norma couldn't stop the waves of anxiety that were washing over her. She'd barely been able to sleep that night and as soon as Alex left to do his security rounds, she packed Julian's bag to take him to Emma and Dylan. She didn't want her son here when she confronted Alex.

The admissions director and later Doctor Edwards at PineView, had told her all she needed to know. That her son Norman had been released over two months ago and had returned home to White Pine Bay. All his mail had been forwarded there as well as his medications.

She'd been upset she hadn't been notified and how could such a thing have happened when Norman had been committed against his will? Doctor Edwards was very collected when he said that Norman Bates had demonstrated exceptional recovery over the past year. That he had worked well with group and individual therapy and had demonstrated no violent tendencies.

Norma had almost argued with the doctor on this but had stopped herself. They'd never told him about their suspicions of Blair Watson or Audrey Decody.

"We sent written communication to you and your son Dylan a week prior to his release." Doctor Edwards said.

"I didn't get that." Norma spat.
"Your husband did." Edwards told her. "Called here, two weeks after Norman was released asking the same questions."

Norma was thunderstruck.

"Mrs. Romero?" Doctor Edwards asked.

"Are you sure Norman is in White Pine Bay? At the old motel?" she asked.

"It's the contact information he gave us and his pharmacy." Edwards said.

It had been late when Norma called the old number to the Bates Motel. Alex was at the gym and Julian had been napping. Her husband had taking up boxing and was coming home sweaty and smelling awful. She couldn't argue with the results though. He was becoming much more tone and reminded her of the Sheriff she'd once known. It wasn't something to complain about.

Her son had picked up the phone and she almost stopped breathing. It was Norman. After all this time it was Norman's voice.

"Norman?" she asked. "Honey, is that you?"

He hadn't said anything and when she begged him to talk to her, begged him to say something and tried to tell him she didn't know he'd been released, he hung up the phone.

It felt like she'd been stabbed in the heart and when Alex came home, looking winded and worn out, he'd asked her what was wrong.

"Nothing." she said and started dinner.

Now things were different. She'd have Emma and Dylan look after Julian for a few days and go and see Norman herself. She wasn't going to abandon her son. If Doctor Edwards said that he was better, than he must be.

~ "Norma?" Alex questioned seeing her leave the building with their son and not looking back. It was unusual for her to leave this time of day. She normally did all her errands in the afternoon and left the baby with him.

"Julian's going to stay with Dylan and Emma for a few days." she said casually over her shoulder and walked quickly out the building. Towards her car.

Alex glanced back at the man watching the front desk and silently told him to stay there.

"Norma!" he called and was amazed at how quickly she moved across the parking lot. Her faithful Mercedes was waiting for her with Julian's car seat int he back. Their son sleeping soundly for once.

"Norma, what's going on?" he demanded.

She didn't answer him. Just finished securing Julian in his car seat and gently closing the door.

"I told you. I'm going to drop him off with Dylan and Emma." she said and refused to look at him.

"For a few days?" Alex demanded. "Why?"

Her gaze was harsh and cutting.

"When were you going to tell me Norman was back home?" she asked.

Alex took a step back. It had finally happened.

"We were planning to tell you." he admitted. "Norma stop." he said trying to prevent her from walking around to the driver's side. "Where are you going?"

"Julian's staying with Dylan and Emma, and I'm going to see Norman." she said.

The statement was so insane Alex thought it was joke at first. She might as well have said she was going to the moon. As far as he was concerned, that's where Norman Bates lived. On another world.

"No, you're not." he said.

"He's my son!" Norma snapped. "You kept the fact he was home from me for over two months, Alex. How could you do that? I thought I could trust you."

She looked fearsome when she was angry. As though she could attack him and overpower him instantly.

"You know what he's done. What he's capable of." Alex said in a calm voice. He didn't want to provoke his wife anymore that needed.

Norma looked livid.

"Doctor Edwards thinks he's fine now." she said.

"Doctor Edwards is wrong." Alex said. "And you know it."

Norma shook her head. She was refusing to see it again. Refusing to see what was so plain to everyone else. That her son was a murder.

"He doesn't know what we know, Norma." Alex insisted.

"I'm going to see him." she said resolutely.

"No, you're not." Alex told her calmly. He shrugged and tried to smile. "If I have to tie you to the bed, you're staying here. Julian needs his mother."

~ "He looked healthy. Well fed." Alex admitted once they were back in the apartment and Julian had been put down for a nap.

Norma dried her eyes but looked ready to be angry again.
"The Sheriff?" she asked.

"Didn't believe me for a second." Alex told her. "Norman is very good with the charm. He turned it on for her full blast."

"And now he owns the motel." Norma sighed.

"He will own it. He hired some fancy financial lawyer to help him." Alex said.

"Where did he get the money to do all that?" Norma asked. It wasn't the son she knew.

"He's driving now. A truck. He's made repairs to the motel. Sheriff Greene says he's apart of the small business club and everything."

Norma rolled her eyes. Who was this man pretending to be her son?

"I told him you left me." Alex said. "That we weren't together. I had to protect you. Protect Julian. It was the only way. So that he wouldn't know about…"

Alex looked away. They both knew that knowledge of Julian's existence would push Norman over the edge.

Norma sighed and looked exhausted.

"I want to see him. Please, can't I just see him?" she asked.

Alex shook his head.
"You'll want to talk to him and we both know it will upset him. He refused your letters and visitation. He hung up the phone on you." Alex reminded her.

Norma looked hurt but nodded.

"I hope he's better." Alex said. "I honestly do. But I won't have the mother of my child near that psychopath."

"Don't call him that!" Norma cried and there was a howl from Julian's room.

"I'm sorry." Alex recanted. "But I don't want you around him. Not after what he did. He pushed you down a flight of stairs and held a gun on you. We can't just forget all that. Imagine what he'd do if he found out we're still together. If he found out about Julian."

Norma stood up and went to collect her other son. Her innocent son. The one who still loved her and needed her.

~ Julian's first memory, a thing he knew was real, was hiding in the closet with his mother. He remembered the way she smelled and the way their winter coats smelled. How dark the closet was and how the lights from the hallway shone in under the door and how his mother had whispered into his ear not to be afraid and that it was only a game.

He could remember the clunking of footsteps outside, through the kitchen and in each room. Someone looking for them. His mother holding him tighter and kissing him and his heart racing.

He could see a shadow fall across the floor and the door to the hallway closet open with a start.

"Found you!" his father laughed and dragged Julian away from his mother who said the fun was over and it was bath time.

"No!" Julian had screamed and tried to kick and maneuver away from his father. But the old man was too strong. He easily threw his three year old son over his shoulder and if he were nothing and carried him into the bathroom.

"Wash your hair, wash your face." his mother had ordered.

"No!" Julian had complained and told his father he wanted the fireman pajamas.

"Start the water and I''l get them for you." his dad said.

His mother leaving the two men alone to begin dinner.

His dad always stayed in the bathroom with Julian while he had his bath to make sure he wouldn't drown and this was where Julian asked all his important questions.

"Dad?"

"Yeah."

"Where do we go when we die?"

"To a better place."

"We don't become ghosts?"

"No, that's just in movies." his dad said so confidently that the child believed it.

"What would happen if the world stopped turning?"

"One side would get hot, the other side would get cold."

"Would we all die?"

"Probably."

His dad made him wash his hair and rinse.

"Dad?"

"What?"

"How did you meet mom?"

"She used to own a motel in Oregon." his dad said.

"Back when you were a Sheriff?"

"Yeah."

"And you went to check on her? Make sure she was okay?"

"Yeah."

"Because that was your job?" Julian prompted.

"Sure was."

"Was she pretty?"

"Very pretty. She's still very pretty."

"Did you know then that you were going to marry her?"

"No, not then."

"When did you know you were going to marry her?"

His father looked thoughtful.

"When she told me to." he answered and smiled.

"Tell me about when I was born."

His father smiled.

"Your mother woke me up in the middle of the night and said it was time." he said. "We drove to the hospital and you started coming out before we got there."

"I couldn't wait." Julian nodded.

His father agreed.

"How did I come out?" Julian asked.

"You'll have to ask you mother about that."

"Was it bad?"

"No, not at all." his father said.

"Why don't I have any brothers or sisters?"

"Because your mother and I waited a very long time to have you." his father explained. "Most people who have lots of children, have them when they're younger."

"You're not old." Julian said.

"We're not young either."

"Are you and mom going to die?"

"Not for a long time."

~ Julian loved dinner time the best. He loved being fresh out of the tub and in his warm pajamas with the rain outside and his parents both inside. It felt very safe that there was bad weather outside but the two adults in his life where around him and protecting him.

His mother cooked him food and he ate it. They talked about things and his father carried him to bed after his mother kissed him goodnight.

He could hear his parents doing the dishes. Hear them talking as he went to sleep. He never heard them fighting and he didn't have any worries till his mother woke him up the next day for breakfast.

Sometimes he would go and spend time with Aunt Emma and Uncle Dylan, but most of the time he was with his parents. It felt very good and comforting to be in this world where they both lived and worked in this building and could always be found. Where his father was a former cop and who was so strong and brave.

These were his early memories and they didn't include any mention of someone named Norman Bates. It wasn't until he was ten years old that the horrible news broke about Norman Bates and what he had done.

I wanted to make a special Father's Day chapter for everyone. Alex being a good dad to Julian. Hope you all had a great Father's Day.