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Love Above All Else: Part Two

I'd advise you to go back to chapter 10 and refresh your memory a bit before reading this. I think I'm adding a part three, though (because this is too short!). I just wanted to upload this brief shot for my beloved guest.

Happy birthday, hun! This one is for you.

______

"What'd you say?"

Alex looks down, stepping away from her as if touching her all of a sudden burned his skin. Why would he say that? He means it, but why would he tell her that he loves her when he's sure she doesn't feel the same way?

Norma continues to stare at the back of his head, she watches as he glides his fingers through his hair, brushing it in frustration. She knows admitting it after all this time wasn't easy for him.

"Alex..." she roams to him, her hands encircling his waist, hugging him from behind. "I know you do... I know you always have."

"That obvious, huh?" he sighs, staring at his porch. He could feel his face turning an angry shade of red, his ears burning with embarrassment.

"When you know, you know," she whispers, but he's able to hear her very clearly. Her mouth is pressed upon his back, her hot breath calming his nerves almost instantly.

Alex looks down at her hands, how easily they wrapped around his torso. She's keeping him close to her, her own fingers locking each other with protectiveness, her cheek pressed against his back. He could stay like this forever.

His own large hands come to rest lazily on top of her own. They swayed softly in front of his house, the lighting the house provided enough for them to see their surroundings.

"I don't want you to do anything you'll regret later, Alex," she whispers kindly, her cheek still pressed against him.

"You have to trust me," he tells her again. He needed to do this. He wasn't going to stand back and let Bob Paris destroy the woman he loves.

"Alex?" her tone of voice so fragile, so scared. He turns around in her arms, catching her sad, expressive eyes. He cups her cheeks, his thumbs drawing lazy circles on her cheekbones. It was so easy for him to get lost in her eyes, to forget about the rest of the world when she was in his arms. She consumes all of him, and he didn't care.

"I'm really, really scared," her eyes filling with immediate tears. "I'm really scared of what might happen to Norman... What might happen to you... If-if you die trying to protect me... Alex... I won't be able to live with that."

He looks down, ashamed for scaring her, for alarming her and in a way, for betraying her. Those were not his intentions, he could never hurt her on purpose. But they were in this situation because of him and it was up to him to fix it with his bare hands.

"Look at me," her voice breaks. He sees her chin quivering the way it always does when she's trying hard to hold back her tears.

She tightens the grip on her hands, his body being pulled forcefully by her submissive hands. But he refuses.

"Alex..." she implores, knowing that he would do anything to protect her. "Please. Don't."

"I'll be damned if I let Bob Paris lay a hand on you, Norma. He already tried to scare you off the road, and I almost killed him for that."

"This is different," she says again, trying to prove her point.

"It's the same thing. He's trying to mess with you. Over my dead body, you hear me?"

"That's what is going to come down to. And what am I going to do without you, huh?"

"Norma, if that's what it takes to keep you safe—"

"No!" she exalts rather loudly, interrupting him mid-sentence. "How can you say that?"

"Norma—"

"Don't Norma me," she says with authority. "Don't use that tone."

"Just trust me."

"You don't control things. You don't know the future. You don't know what's going to happen."

"I do know."

"You don't!" she cries, her eyebrows curled in annoyance at him.

But he takes the chance to admire her demeanor. Her fury. How determined she is to do whatever and say whatever to keep him from doing anything that could put his life in danger.

"I love you, Alex," she says with tears in her eyes. "I love you and I don't want to lose you."

His heart freezes and he can't help but wonder if this is really happening or if he's solely imagining it.

"I don't know why it took me this long to accept it," she says casually, looking away from him. But she does know.

His hands seize her chin, forcing her to look at him.

"Say it again," he whispers and she can't help the smile that creeps on her face, reaching her eyes in the most unique way.

"Alex!" she complains, chuckling a little bit and wiping away her own tears.

He smiles and her knees go weak at seeing that enormous grin. He looks so happy, so at peace.

"Say it again," his voice husky and deep, their bodies connecting and closing the tiny gap between them. Her hands encircle his waist again.

She feels like a teenage girl, the one obsessed with her boyfriend. One that melts after every casual phrase, every word he's ever spoken.

"Come on, say it," he snickers at her, his voice too deep and sensual.

Norma looks down with shyness, feeling a weird sensation, a feeling she's never experienced before. But her face falls and Alex notices. He gives her a minute, waiting to see what she will say or do. When he's about to speak Norma starts talking.

"I'm scared of how much I'm capable of loving you," she tells him sadly. "Of how strong this love is. I don't think I want to find out. I don't want to do that, Alex. I don't want to find out if I'm even capable of surviving in this world without you."

"Then you know how I feel, why I'm doing this," he tells her, cupping her cheek again. She couldn't tear her eyes off him. "Because I love you is why I need to make sure he's gone forever, baby. I'm afraid of losing you just as much as you're afraid of losing me. Do you get it now? Do you understand my motives?"

Her hand glides to the back of his neck, keeping it in place.

"Of course I get it. I get it and—"

She stops talking but continues staring at him.

"What?" he asks worriedly, furrowing his eyebrows.

"I'd do the same for you."

How strong is her love for him, then? If she's willing to do just as much for him, for the sake of keeping him safe and sound?

"Please," he implores one last time. "All I want is for you to trust me. Trust this. Trust our love, please. That's all I want."

Our love.

"You'll be careful?" she whispers, her implores and need for assurance broke him.

"I will," he smiles, resting his forehead against hers. "I have to come back to you."

"In one piece," she instructs, a bit of joy in her tone of voice.

"Yes, ma'am."

Norma takes the opportunity to look him in the eyes. Although her world was crumbling down before her eyes, she couldn't help but find tranquility in his arms, in his warmth.

Then she starts thinking if she's always loved him. If her love for him blossomed when he rescued her from the Keith and Shelby's mess. He saved her that night, didn't he? That was only the beginning; the first of many heroic rescues.

Now, he's thinking of getting rid of Bob Paris, of killing his childhood friend for her with no hesitation and remorse. He's always loved her, hasn't he?

"Alex?"

"Mm?" he brushes his nose against hers.

"Make love to me."