Bates

15

   "MOTHER!"

   Norma shot up from the bed and exploded across the hallway into her son's room.

   "Norman, honey, what's wrong?!" she asked, wrapping her arms around him.

   Tears were his only response.

   Norma glanced over to the doorway to see that Alex was standing there, a tired expresssion on his face. She nearly started sobbing. "He keeps waking up like this, Alex. I don't know if I should take him to a doctor..."

   "I think it'd be best to wait it out. If he's still like this by tomorrow, we'll take him to a child psychologist."

   Her shoulders sagged. She kissed her son's forehead gently. "Come on, kiddo, you're alright--"

   Dylan rolled over in his own bed and rubbed his eyes. "He can sleep with me if he needs to."

   Norma smiled a little. "Hey, what do you think about that, Norman? You wanna have a sleepover with your brother?"

   The little boy nodded. Norma helped him into Dylan's bed, which was almost too small for the two. She tucked them in and kissed them both goodnight before turning out the light. "Hey Mom," Dylan called.

   "Yes, Dyl?"

   "Can you leave the door open just a crack?"

   "Of course."

   She left the door cracked, then wandered towards the kitchen. Alex's brow furrowed. "What-- what are you doing?"

   "I can't sleep, not after that. And besides, I've got some paperwork from the motel to go over. Someone's got to do it," she explained.

   He shrugged, then began to walk away. "Let me know if you need me."

   "Will do."

   It was thirty after five. Perfect time for work.

   She started up the coffee maker and got to the table, first sorting things as thoroughly as she knew how. The job went with such o that she almost turned a little music on, except for the fear that she might keep Alex and the boys awake.

   Going through files, one after another. Throwing away what was trash, shredding a few things, and pondering the more important files to try and understand the legality of it all. So far, nothing she found said anything about what would happen to the motel after it stopped being a crime scene.

   Keith was in jail for murder and involuntary manslaughter. No death penalty, but he would be behind bars for the rest of his life for the Chinese girl they found in the shed. The rest "had not the sufficient evidence to be proven."

   It ate Norma up, but she knew she couldn't let it bog her down for the rest of her life. Besides, she'd already spent plenty of restless nights crying over what Caleb did to her. She didn't want Alex to see her break again, and for the moment, there were more important matters to be handled.

   Keith would have to wait.

   At first, she hadn't realized what got it all stirred up again. Most of these papers were mundane and had nothing to do with Keith. Then, she considered the contract before her. She immediately recognized Joyce's signature, but this paper was quite a bit different from the others.

   She lowered the paper. Sat it back down on the table. Should I...

   The bathroom door creaked, breaking her train of thought. "Hey, Norma, there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

   She glanced at the clock. Six thiry. Time for the man of the house to start getting ready for work. "I need to start breakfast," she blurted, rushing to the stove in a hurry.

   "Hey, don't worry about it today, I'll get something out," he said, sauntering closer towards her.

   "Are you sure?" she asked, pulling a frying pan out from under the cabinet. "I can have it ready by the time you're out of the shower--"

   "Don't rush yourself," he stood closer to her. Lifted her chin. She giggled like a schoolgirl as he kissed it, then pulled away to get the eggs. "Really, though, there's something we need to talk about."

   "Go on."

   "Look, Norma," he paused, watching as she cracked the egg directly into the frying pan. "You staying with me...us living together like this-- isn't really good for my public image."

   "Oh?" she asked. The egg sizzled in it's pan.

   "Yeah, you know, with the fact that we're not married..."

   "Well, you shouldn't have to worry about that anymore," she said, trodding over to the table to pick up the contract she had just recently viewed. "Because according to this, I now own the Seafairer Motel."

   His eyes were as round as saucers. "What?"

   "If this is real, then I own the Seafairer. Joyce...it says that if anything happened to her or Keith...that the Motel would be in my name." She turned away from him, holding the paper up to the light as if to examine it's authenticity.

  When the turned back around to confront him, he was knelt on one knee.

   "Norma Bates, would you marry me?" the words came out as a near mumble, yet Norma understood them clearly. She had heard these words twice before, but never before had she actually believed she could say "yes" without hesitation.

   And then it happened. She remembered why she married John. The torment that Caleb put her through. How she cheated on John, because she didn't really love him. Left him for Sam, who ended up being a stupid, drunk jerk. She had upended her own life and the life of her sons, all because of lies.

   She couldn't ruin this man's life. She wouldn't. "I'm sorry, Alex. It-- it's not you, I promise it's not you--"

   "Then what?"

   "You're perfect-- and I'm not."

   "Norma, that's not true."

   "You don't know anything about me!"

   He paused. She was right. It had been almost four years, and he only knew that she was a woman who'd left her husband to save her children. That she suffered at the hands of the man who he thought was his best friend. And he hadn't seen all of that. He had to have faith that she was telling the truth, and wasn't lying to his face.

   "I don't care."