40.

~ Julian had a hard time believing that the withered man in front of him was somehow Norman Bates. Time hadn't been kind to him and the missing teeth, thinning, graying hair and sickly pale skin hadn't helped his overall appearance.

Norman looked nothing liked their mother had at the same age. When Julian had been a teenager, when their mother was the same age Norman was now, she'd still looked good; still vibrant and healthy. But his mother had always been the type of person to take care of herself. She ate right, and if the rank smells from the dining hall were to be believed, Norman Bates hadn't had a decent meal since he arrived.

Julian also knew that the inmates here didn't go outside or were exposed to much to enrich their lives. This made them all perpetually bored and gave everyone a mean, haunted look. As if they'd been left behind while the world went on without them.

In a way, that's exactly what had happened. Only now, Norman Bates looked ten years older than he actually was.

"You look familiar." Norman accused Julian by way of greeting. "Have we met before?"

"No." Dr. Romero said humbly. "I'm Doctor Julian Romero. I've requested to review your status so that you can be reevaluated."

"What?" Norman laughed as if he was about to make fun of the younger man. "So that I'll be released?"

"Do you feel you should be released, Norman?" Julian asked.

Norman roles his eyes.

"It doesn't matter what I think. What I feel." he said. "I've been in here for so long now, I know I'll never get out. I've got no home to go back to anyway."

He said this with a morsel of self pity that Julian shook off. He knew all the traps men like these would set.

'Oh feel bad for me, everyone. Never mind that I did terrible things, I've got nothing and no one now.'

It was what drove women to write to men like this in prison and fall in love with them. Wanting to comfort them and console them. These neat little traps of guilt and pity.

Julian side stepped them and didn't ask what Norman would do if he got out.

"I understand you're not allowed much in the way of reading material." he offered. "I can change that. What books would you like to read, Norman?"

Norman looked intrigued.

"I'd like to read your books." he said.

Julian raised and eyebrow and Norman shrugged.

"You're a doctor. Doctors like you have always written a book. Even if it's not well reviewed, I'd like to read it." Norman said.

"I'm afraid not." Julian said.

"Why? Because it would put us on equal footing?" Norman accused. His mother's own blue eyes going into snake like slits.

Julian shook his head.
"I write about killers. Like yourself. It would be inappropriate." Julian said calmly.

"I didn't kill anyone." Norman told him.
"I have confessions by you that say otherwise." Julian told him.
Norman shook his head.

"Do you mind if I record these sessions?" Julian asked bringing out his phone. Norman's eyes lit up at the newest phone technology. His large hands going out to handle the device and Julian letting him.

"Are you going to write a book about me?" Norman asked with a scowl.

"Do you want me to write a book about you?"

"Are you going to answer every question with a question?" Norman asked putting the phone down on the table between them.

Julian had to smile a little. Normally, these first interviews went more smoothly. Normally the subject liked to talk. The family members of the subjects liked to talk. Everyone involved liked to talk. Norman was the first person he'd ever interviewed that hadn't wanted to explain everything to him in a rush.

Who'd been more curious about him than telling his story. Killers were always fascinated by their own story. They loved themselves and their legacy.

"Fair enough." Julian said. He looked at Norman Bates and was once more struck by how old he seemed. "Tell me about Rebecca."

"You read the reports." Norman said stiffly and looked away. His eyes failing to make contact. Julian saw he looked hurt, maybe a little ashamed.

"I read them." Julian said sympathetically. "One person's opinion of something, and the coroner's report. I don't want to know the details about what you did to her, just how you felt about her."

"Why don't you want the details?" Norman demanded. "That's all anyone wants. They love to be horrified."

"I already know the details." Julian said wisely. "So, tell me about Rebecca."

Norman refused to look at Julian. Refused to speak.

"How did you two meet?" Julian prompted.

"She was my friend. Nothing more than that." Norman said bluntly. "I know you're trying to say I… did things to her. I didn't do things to her. Not like that. It was never like that."

Julian was quite. Norman was talking and that was good.

"She showed up at the house a few days or maybe it was just a day after I came back home from PineView. She… helped me. Told me what to do. She was good at that. I always felt better when she was around. Sometimes… you know sometimes it's nice to have a friend who looks out for you. Who keeps you safe." Norman explained.

Doctor Romero nodded. He did understand that.

"Rebecca helped you for how long?" he asked when Norman was silent for a long time. The older man's eyes growing wet with tears.

"Over a year… I think." Norman said not really sure. "I think a year."

"She lived with you for a year before she died?" Julian asked. Norman nodded.

"Maybe longer." he said. "Time is funny at the house. I… I know she helped me buy it… not sure if she helped me after that."

"How come one else saw her but you?"

"She stayed in the house all the time. Only came down to the motel when no one else was there to help me. The FBI was after her, I never really understood why. She didn't explain it to me." Norman shook his head.

"How did she help you?" Julian asked and wrote down this intriguing fact no one had bothered with. It had always been assumed Rebecca had been killed right away. No one had seen her since before the bank raid and Norman never elaborated how long his relationship with Rebecca had been.

Norman explained about Rebecca encouraging him to get his drivers license and filling out paper work to buy the motel and house from Dylan.

"She was very smart. The smartest person I ever knew. Maybe that's why the FBI was after her." Norman speculated innocently.

"Tell me about the last time you saw Rebecca alive." Julian asked. He kept his voice gentle. He didn't want to alarm Norman and cause him to go into defense mode.

Norman looked frightened and hurt.

"She looked, happy." he said. "I don't remember, I had been down at the motel. She was at the house. Like normal. Everything was normal. Everyday things."

He spoke slowly.

"I woke up and… couldn't find her. I looked. I looked everywhere. I finally found her in the basement. In the chest freezer. I don't know how she got there. They said I strangled her and put her in there. I don't remember doing that, but we were the only people in the house, so I guess it must have been me." he said blinking out tears.

Julian waited for Norman to compose himself. Normally, killers weren't this remorseful, but Norman looked very upset with himself. Not about murder. Murders usually weep and cry to God for forgiveness. Real Oscar performances. This was more like someone who'd lost his life savings at poker and had no one to blame but himself. Just now, Norman was blaming himself for what happened to his friend and it was a new and interesting ting that Julian had never seen before.

It was real guilt; real remorse and grief at losing his friend.

"Why did you put her in the larger freezer? Why did you preserve her?" he asked.

Norman looked out into space. His jaw with it's missing teeth setting hard and making him look older.

"I wasn't ready to say goodby to her." he said. "What was I going to do? Bury her in the ground? Let her rot? Throw her away? No. She was my friend. I made a very nice place for her. It was very nice. I… I dressed her and brought her presents. She was well taken care of."

Julian didn't flinch. He'd seen the crime scene photos of Rebecca's freezer room. It was oddly beautiful in a grotesque way. The kind of thing people who go to haunted houses love to see.

"I miss her a lot." Norman said at last. "She would have known what to do. If she had still been around, none of this would have happened."

"You mean you wouldn't have gotten caught?" Julian asked. "Rebecca would have helped you get away with it?"

Norman looked critically at Julian.

"No." he said in shock. "No. She wouldn't have let me have any girls in the house. She made sure I had my medications. She even used to lock me in my room when I was having my episodes. That's what she called them. My episodes. She looked out for me. Kept me out of trouble. If she was still here, I think we would still be at the house together. No one would have gotten hurt."

Norman let out a deep sigh and admitted he would like whatever books Doctor Romero deemed fit to give him. That he'd gone through all the books in the meager library here and would like something new.

~ "How long will you be in New York?" Norma asked her youngest child. She looked over at her husband who was contently watching a rerun of some crime drama. Alex never got tired of his 'Law and Order' reruns.

"About a week." Julian said. "Meeting with my editor; it takes time, mom."

"Then you'll be home?" she asked nervously. She hated it when her son was so far away from them. Dylan and Emma were still in Japan traveling and it was frighting to be alone. With old age came new fears she'd never had before and she wanted Julian to close by in case she needed him. Being across the country where planes fell out of the sky all the time wasn't relaxing to her.

Why couldn't he just take an apartment here at the building like they'd suggested fifteen years ago, get married, have kids and be happy? Why did he have to go around and talk to those awful people about those awful things? It had been that way ever since he'd found out about Norman.

Alex and Norma had worried about their son ever since he'd become so fascinated with his half-brother's crimes. Alex suggesting that it would be alright to let him research as much as he needed to and to fill in the rest as he got older.

Norma hadn't wanted any part of it. She felt something inside her die when she found out about the murders. Before, it had been so hard to believe Norman could do these things. There had to be another explanation to Blair Watson and Bradley Martian. She'd convinced herself that it was all a bizarre coincidence. As for his father, Norman was just protecting her. But knowing that he'd plotted and planned these crimes, that he'd locked a woman in a freezer for a decade, that he'd killed a teenage runaway as well as his long time lover, had all been too much. It was something she could no longer explain away and forgive.

She suddenly became like the family members in Julian's books. All of them dazed and heartbroken ghosts of their former selves. Norman Bates, her prized son, had destroyed her. He'd ripped her heart out and it took a long time to come back to herself after. To remember that Julian still needed her and Alex was still there for her.

"Then I'll be home." Julian promised eagerly.

"You need to fly the new Drawling Airways. They're supposed to be nice." Norma said pulling on her locket. A habit she had gotten into whenever she was nervous. Dylan raved about the new airline and how comfortable it was. She didn't want her son on anything that wasn't safe or comfortable.

"I will, mom." Julian said with a sigh.

"You're not eating junk food, are you?" she accused sharply. She just knew her son was stuffing his face with pizza from that rat infested city and would come home with the plague. She tugged on her locket harder.

"Mom, I need you to take you anxiety medication." Julian said.
"I will. I just want you home." she said feeling like she might cry. Why did everyone accuse her of having anxiety just because she was always scared and couldn't explain why?

"Did the home helper come by today?" Julian asked.

"Yes, he's a nice young man. Your father doesn't like him." Norma said and glanced at Alex who was still watching TV and oblivious to the conversation.

"Dad doesn't like anyone. He took you grocery shopping?"

"Yes." Norma said. "I got the kind of food you like for when you come home."

"In a few days." Julian reminded her. "I'll call tomorrow."

Norma was about to tell him about their new tenants and how she missed being a manager and it was a full time job taking care of his father when Julian hung up.

She looked at the new phone her son had gotten her and pocketed it.

Alex was still watching his crime show and when it ended, another episode loaded automatically.

Lately, Alex's memory was becoming just as bad as Norma's anxiety. The doctor said it was the first stages of Alzheimers but it hadn't progressed enough to become serious yet. He just had difficulty remembering people and things. Several times, he forgot he wasn't Sheriff of White Pine Bay anymore. His mind sometimes going back to when they first met and he'd be that cranky Sheriff she'd first met. More than once he told the home helper, thinking he was one of his numerous deputies:

'I'll go check on Mrs. Bates and her son myself'.

"Sheriff?" Norma called to Alex pausing his program.

Alex looked up hopefully at her. He didn't recognize her right away.

"Yes, ma'am?" he asked.

"I'm Norma." she told him and gently slapped his shoulder and smiled.

His eyes lit up as though it were Christmas.

"Oh!" he said delightedly. "I… I was just about to drive out and check on you."

Norma smiled.

Since his memory started to go, since he started to forget who she was, he let things slip about how he really felt in the early weeks and months of their relationship. Things he'd normally never admit to her if the Alzheimers hadn't altered his memory and he existed both in the past and in the present.
"Why were you coming to check on me?" she asked sitting down next to him.

"I like driving by your house." he admitted with a smile. "Sometimes you're in the office and… and you talk to me. You always look so pretty."

"Oh. You like it when I talk to you, Sheriff?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"What would you think if I told you we got married?" she asked.

He looked thoughtful.
"You want to get married?" he asked confused.

"No, we're already married, Sheriff." she held out her ring and he looked at in wonder.

"I don't remember that." he said honestly.

"Well, trust me, we got married." she told him. "We have a son to."

"Julian." he said immediately. He'd never forget his only child. Memories of their marriage coming back to him like a tidal wave.

She nodded. He looked at her like he did when they were first married. His eyes softening and looking happy.

"I'm glad." he said with an exhale of relief. "I'm glad I married you."

I know it's a little disturbing to think of Norma and Alex as old and Alex afflicted with Alzheimers but he's in his 80's by this point and think it's very sweet to show he had a little crush on Norma since the beginning.