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Throughout her whole life, Norma Bates had a tendency to be very alert. She had to be ready for any threat coming her way, because it always seemed like it was just one hit after the other. But while she was always alert, it made her forget about the rest of the world around her. Almost like she was on autopilot.
It only got worse when she had her daughter.
Not that she felt threatened or that she wasn’t enjoying it, it was actually quite the opposite. Her baby girl was amazing. She didn’t cry much, only when she needed something. But Norma was so used to raising her two other children herself that this was just another thing she would do on her own. It was like clockwork to her, even if she was exhausted and her whole body hurt while she did it.
But she forgot about Alex. Norma forgot that he was the father, and that he could lend a hand sometimes. That he should lend a hand. It just didn’t register to her for the first couple weeks after their baby was born.
Alex hadn’t gotten to simply hold his daughter nearly as much as Norma did, and it made him feel like he had to crawl out of his own skin. He wanted to help so badly. To be the father he had been waiting breathlessly to become for 9 long months. He wanted to be there, but Norma wasn’t letting him. Alex would always just give up and do some household chores to lift a weight off her shoulders in some way. He hated doing nothing.
He figured Norma was on autopilot, finding it easier to just do things herself. She was always like that, even before they had a baby. But it’s not like he didn’t know what he was doing, Norma had taught Alex how to feed their daughter and change her when she wasn’t even a day old. He succeeded in his lessons, and he took mental notes on everything his wife told him. He could do this. He wanted to do this, but he just couldn’t get past the brick wall that she had put up.
The first two weeks were agonizing for Alex, only because all he heard from Norma when he tried to help in any way went along the lines of ‘I’ve got it’, ‘I can take her’, or even ‘don’t worry about it’. But he was a new dad with no prior parenting experience, of course he was going to worry about it. Alex was going to worry about a lot of things, starting with Norma.
It was later in the afternoon, almost time to put the baby down for a nap. She slept a lot, which didn’t help with Alex’s need to spend quality time with his daughter. ‘Babies do that a lot for the first few months of their lives,’ Norma told him.
And of course, he found her slowly pacing around the kitchen while lost in some kind of trance with the tiny bundle in her arms. Norma had her usual light blue robe on, and her hair was a few inches longer. A similar length to when she first moved to White Pine Bay with Norman. She didn’t bother keeping up with it during her pregnancy, especially in the later stages. So she just let it grow out, telling herself she would worry about it later down the line. There were other priorities at hand, after all.
Alex leaned against the doorframe, taking in the sight before he said anything to interrupt it. Norma had never looked so at peace for as long as he had known her. It was nice to know that she was finally happy, that’s all he wanted for her.
“How is she?”
Norma hummed, not even looking up at Alex. Only down at her daughter.
“She’s fine, just tired. Poor girl had a long afternoon.”
And right on cue, the baby whined and rubbed her already shut eyes. Almost like she was fighting off the sleep.
“I know, baby, I know.” Norma cooed, her voice changing to a more hushed and gentle tone.
“I can put her down before I lock up the office.” Alex suggested. And just as he predicted…
“It’s alright, I can do that when she goes down.”
And bless Norma, she always had the softest smile when she said that.
But Alex pushed on.
“Hon, you’ve been on your feet all day. Just try to relax for a couple hours—“
“It’s not a problem, I can do it—“
“Norma.”
Alex didn’t raise his voice, but it did grow a little more stern. That seemed to knock Norma out of whatever dazed trance she had been in, truly looking at him for the first time in a couple of weeks. She was quiet, almost waiting anxiously for his next words. Was he mad at her? Oh god, don’t let him be mad at her. She couldn’t stand making him mad.
“You’ve kind of been hogging our kid…” Alex reminded Norma gently. “I haven’t held my daughter in days, I’m… kinda going a little crazy.” Again, he didn’t have a bark or a snap in his tone. He only wanted to bring his wife back down to Earth with him.
With her family.
“I…” Norma still seemed quite dazed, almost like she had just woken up from a two week coma. She looked around the kitchen, then at her baby, then at Alex.
“…I didn’t know.”
Alex felt like guilt had personified itself just to slap him across the face. He didn’t think he was being too harsh, was he? That’s not what he was trying to do at all.
“Norma—“
“Here, just… just take her. She needs to be put down for a nap anyways…” Norma suddenly handed the baby over to Alex, still looking distantly and avoiding eye contact. “…I’m gonna, um… I need to go do the laundry.” And she walked out of the kitchen, moving like a ghost.
“Norma, I already—“
But before Alex could finish what he was saying, Norma had gone down to the basement and didn’t bother shutting the door behind her.
“…I already did the laundry.” Alex muttered the rest of the sentence to himself in a defeated tone. He looked down at the baby girl in his arms. His baby girl. And now he was beginning to understand why Norma had refused to put her down these last couple weeks. He found himself smiling, even after all that.
“Look at you… hi, pretty girl!…” Alex spoke in a hushed tone. The baby responded with a stretch, a grunt, and more rubbing of the eyes.
“Ah, right. Let’s get you to bed, huh?… I can bore you to sleep with all of my work stories…”
Alex continued to talk to his daughter as he made his way up the stairs to where she slept.
And talk he did. He retold one of his favorite stories from when he got called out for a noise complaint, and the lady answering the door was so drunk out of her wits that she fell through the swinging screen door and into the bush next to the front steps. He also told the story of when he was on scene holding two people at gunpoint while their small kitten walked up to his partner. Norma wasn’t too much of an animal person, but that one was always her favorite story of his.
“…apparently, they found a new home for that kitten after all that. I hope it’s doing well, wherever it is now…”
Alex stopped his storytelling, looking down at his daughter to see her knocked out cold. He chuckled to himself.
“Works every time… even on your mom.”
He slowly and carefully transferred the baby to her crib, waiting a bit before he knew she wouldn’t wake up. Alex then slipped out and gently closed the door behind him, a swell of pride beaming in his chest before he suddenly remembered his conversation with Norma. He hoped that she was alright. Was she still in the basement? There was no laundry for her to do, so was she just hanging out down there?
Alex made his way down the stairs to the first floor, glancing around just to see if Norma had moved. When he didn’t see her, he finally went down to the basement. And sure enough, Norma was still down there. She just stood in front of the washer and dryer, staring blankly at them. She barely moved. Barely blinked. Had she been doing this the entire time?
“She’s asleep... I talked her ear off with my little cop stories.” Alex stated. Quiet enough to not startle Norma, but to still get her attention. She snapped her head around to look at her husband, regret and guilt thrown across her face like she was the canvas for one big, messy painting that made sense to no one. Not even the artist.
“I don’t know how to do this…”
“How to do what?”
Norma chewed on her lip anxiously, averting eye contact once again and running her finger along the small space between the washer’s door and the washer itself.
“…I don’t know how to share.”
Alex knew what she meant, but he couldn’t help his confusion at her wording.
“Share? Like… share our child?”
The concept of ‘sharing’ a child that the both of them made was admittedly a little funny to Alex. How Norma worded it almost made it seem like he wasn’t supposed to do anything to contribute to raising his daughter, and that she was supposed to do everything while he maybe ‘watched’ her every now and then if it really came down to that.
But frankly, that wasn’t Alex’s style. He had always been a man of strong commitment. If he wanted to do something, then by god, he was going to see it through to the fullest extent no matter what. He wanted to be a dad, so he was going to be the best one that he could be.
Norma sighed in defeat, almost overwhelmed with not knowing how to get her words out.
“I just… I’m so used to raising my kids on my own with barely any help. I still don’t have the hang of… this.” Norma waved in a vague gesture in Alex’s direction. This didn’t surprise him, but it didn’t make him any less angry at the people that had hurt her throughout her whole life. He knew that trauma and its responses didn’t heal overnight, sometimes it didn’t heal for years. Decades, even.
This is why Alex was here; to guide Norma out of the deep dark ocean that she was born drowning in, holding her hand tight as he led her to shore to see the sun for the very first time.
“You’re not used to the bare minimum?” Alex questioned. Norma shrugged, eyeing a small crack in the basement wall.
“Not really.”
Alex walked closer to Norma and placed his hands on either side of her waist. Her belly still hadn’t shrunk quite yet from her daughter’s birth not so long ago, but he didn’t mind one bit. He would never mind in any lifetime. She would always be so beautiful to him no matter what.
“Well, you’ve got it now… and so much more.”
Norma found herself leaning into Alex, wrapping her arms around him and squishing the side of her face against his chest. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she just let them fall as her voice cracked a little.
“I’m sorry for hogging our daughter, I didn’t mean to…”
“I know, hon…” Alex returned the embrace, kissing the top of her head as he rubbed comforting circles into her back. “…we’re okay.”
And they were. Norma believed him.
“Why don’t you go lay down for a bit, hm? You’ve been running around nonstop for two weeks.”
“Has it really been that long?” Norma questioned, her brows furrowing in confusion as she recalled her memories with the baby so far. “…feels like it’s been two days.”
“They grow up fast, don’t they?” Alex lightly joked as he guided Norma up the stairs and out of the basement with his hand on her back. She groaned.
“Don’t remind me… by the time we get upstairs, she’ll be graduating.”
Alex laughed warmly.
“Well, how about I watch her all night and make sure she doesn’t grow up too quickly on us? Does that sound alright?” He really just wanted to spend more time with their baby, but it didn’t mean Alex didn’t want to stop the world around his family for just a little while. Norma knew he was half-joking, but she would let him have this moment.
She would learn to let him have all the time in the world with their daughter. He deserved just as much to watch her grow up, if not more than Norma.
At least she told herself that he deserved it more than her.
“I guess that sounds fine.” Norma smiled, closing the basement door behind them and heading over to lay on the couch. Alex draped a nearby blanket over her as she hummed gratefully. She could already feel sleep taking over, her body aches growing a bit more dull when she finally took the pressure off her feet.
“I’ll feed her when she wakes up, okay?… I might also bring her out to the porch and talk to her some more. Maybe I'll give her the rundown of how we met.”
Norma chuckled.
“Yeah, she’ll like that...” She muttered sarcastically. “You said you told her your cop stories. Did you tell her about the kitten?”
“I did,” Alex nodded. “I also told her about the drunk woman and the screen door.”
Norma laughed from the chest, almost outright cackling like a witch.
“Oh, I love that one!” She smiled sweetly. There was a moment of silence between them, and she took that to her full advantage. Norma took the sliver of time to just look at Alex. To take in his dad aura properly. To see what she had spaced out on noticing for these last two weeks.
“I feel like I never say it, but you’re such a good dad… It was so nice seeing you with her when she was born. You were so sweet and gentle with her, I almost didn’t recognize you.”
Alex smiled as he remembered that day. The calm after the storm. The world had gone quiet, and it was just the three of them together. It felt bizarre, really. He had waited so long for this baby that a silly part of him felt like she would just never show up. But now she was actually here right in front of him. She had a face, a very weird and scrunched-up face at that. She had a tiny body that actually moved before Alex’s very eyes. She made actual sounds for him to hear and reply to. This hypothetical baby wasn’t so hypothetical anymore. She was here, and she was very real.
Alex would die for her already.
“It’s, uh…” He chuckled slightly. “…she’s turning me into a whole different man.” He remarked. Norma hummed, grazing her fingers along his forearm.
“I’ll kinda miss you being an asshole to everyone.”
“Hey, that can still be arranged. I’m just not an asshole to you and our daughter.”
Norma scoffed. “Well, I’d hope you wouldn’t be an asshole to our daughter, or you’d be getting something lodged up your own.”
Alex smiled proudly.
“That’s my girl.”
He leaned down for a kiss, intending for it to be just a quick one before he left to let Norma rest. But she had other plans. Before Alex was able to pull away too far, she pulled him right back in.
“Come here.”
Their kisses were slow and tender, both of them savoring every bit of it. Norma moaned gratefully into Alex’s mouth, cupping either side of his jaw with her hands as she ran her thumbs across the roughness of his five o’clock shadow.
But they weren’t going to take it any farther. They couldn’t even if they wanted to. That wasn’t possible for another few weeks.
“I appreciate you… I love you so much…” Norma declared in between kisses.
“I love you too, hon…” Alex replied before reluctantly pulling away. “…you rest up, I’ll go check on her.”
“Okay.” Norma uttered softly before her eyelids finally caved in from the weight of holding them up. Alex just stared in awe for a few moments before he got up to go check on their baby.
What kind of magic did his wife possess to always be the most beautiful woman in the world, no matter the situation?
Alex couldn’t wait until their daughter woke up. He wanted to tell her all about her amazing mother.