A/N: I'm sad this story is coming to an end, like really sad (imagine me saying that in Norma's voice like she did in the scene where she is talking about the death of her mother in S3). This story was very emotional for me to write and, judging from your reviews, for you to read and I loved every minute of it.

So here's the big finish everyone has been waiting for. XD

Thank you so much for reading and for your support. Writing would be a lonely business without you.

The usual disclaimer applies.

It's late when there's a knock at Alex Romero's door. It's her. He doesn't have to check to feel certain. It was the engine of her car pulling up, her steps approaching, and this is her impatient knock. On some days he wonders if there's anything he doesn't know about her.

Alex considered following Norma after she had left the bar but decided against it. She was agitated and hurt because she believed his words had been a lie. I love you. He still doesn't remember saying it to her when he was drunk. However learning that he did wasn't as big a surprise as Norma probably thought it was. It had been a matter of time, anyway. You can hide the truth only for so long. If Norma hadn't such a problematic history with men, she would have known for quite a while now that he has fallen for her. It pained Alex to experience her low self-esteem first hand. They have a long way to go. That's why he has been hoping that it would be her who would take the first step by coming to him. Whatever happens next has to happen on her terms.

When he opens the door, Norma walks past him right into his living room, a paragon of anxiety and blonde locks, a breeze of cold winter air following her inside. She is still wearing that flimsy burgundy coat and her knee-high boots, her clothes arousing the memory of how she pressed herself against him at the bar.

"Why don't you come in?" Alex jokes in an attempt to leaven the mood, but she doesn't even seem to hear him, pacing back and forth until she eventually stops to look at him.

"I couldn't..." She wrings her hands. "With Dylan and Norman gone and now Richard, too." Alex flinches when she mentions her husband's name, reminding him that it was another man's privilege to live with her. Well, ex-husband by now; the awareness is comforting. "The house is so empty. I couldn't stay there and I didn't know where else to go."

This is what she does. When she has nowhere to go, no one to turn to she comes running to him. He is her last resort when he wants to be her first choice.

"Why don't you sit down? Let me take your coat."

Norma looks uncertain, fidgeting around with its belt. "I don't know. It's late. I really don't want to..."

"Norma… your coat."

She sighs and lets the fabric slide off her shoulders eventually so that Alex can take it. Even though the coat as well as the rest of her clothing are way too flimsy for this time of the year, he can feel the heat her body radiates. It's as if she's burning up inside. Norma is wearing a dress he has never seen before. It's a wrap dress with a rather modern cut, the floral pattern making it her unique style. It hugs her curves at the right places, his eyes drawn to the knot holding it together. One pull and it would slide open.

As Alex hangs up her coat, Norma still doesn't make a move to sit down and when he steps closer, she looks at him cautiously. He realizes she expects him to make another pass at her. As if that was the price to let her stay.

He takes hold of her under the chin, not touching her otherwise. "Everything will be ok, Norma. You did the right thing."

She looks as if she is going to cry. "How can what I did possibly be the right thing?" she breathes.

"Because unconventional situations require unconventional measures. And your life is anything but ordinary."

That earns him a timid smile. "Yeah, maybe."

Something changes in the air between them, molecules that were raised before, waiting for a confrontation, settling down to see what would happen next.

Norma leans forward, her lips brushing his, her breathing erratic even though they are not doing anything yet. It's their closeness, the knowledge that this time there will be nothing and no one stopping them from going through with what they are about to do.

"I don't think we should do this," Alex tries to stop her half-heartedly like he did at the bar. She is so vulnerable right now. He wants her, more than anything, but he doesn't want Norma to do something she might regret later.

Her fingers trace the outline of his jaw, her breaths caress his face. He can feel her heartbeat racing, just like his.

"I want to be close to you," she whispers. "But I'm afraid you'll hurt me."

Alex knows she is not talking about physical hurt.

"I would never do that."

Norma screws up her face as if she is going to cry, leaning back, away from him, and for a moment, he thinks this is it, that she is leaving. But then she looks into his eyes and it's clear that she has come to a decision.

I trust you. I totally trust you. Deep down she knows he would never intentionally hurt her, that his love confession wasn't a pretense to score with her. Maybe it wasn't the alleged lie that threw her off balance in the first place, maybe it was the awareness that it had been the truth all along.

When Norma kisses him, it feels as if everything is happening in slow motion. Her soft lips pressing against his, her fingertips touching his face, her tongue probing his mouth. They kissed before, but this is even better. Their emotions are stripped-down to the here and now, to the essence of them, every breath, every touch an unspoken promise until they eventually can't hold back any longer and the kiss turns into something else. An all-consuming passion.

Alex wraps his arms around Norma, walking them backwards until she is pressed against the doorframe, a déjà vu of the day when they fought and he pressed her against it with similar force but for different reasons. He fumbles around with the tie belt of her dress to no avail, sensing Norma twist her mouth while they are kissing, the ghost of a smile playing around her lips. Her hands replace his, undoing the knot easily, and then the fabric of her dress slides open to reveal matching underwear. Blue, lace-trimmed silk.

For a moment Alex just stands there, devouring her with his eyes.

"You are beautiful," he murmurs, his words making her blush. Whether out of modesty or self-consciousness he can't tell although it's hard to believe that a woman like Norma is actually insecure regarding her looks.

For some reason Alex is reminded of a school excursion to a museum where the teacher constantly warned them to not touch the art. Oh, he will touch this piece of art, over and over. His fingers brush her collarbone and then slide down to her breasts, cupping and kneading them. They are a perfect match for the size of his hands. His touch becomes agitated when his fingers get entangled in the lace of her bra, slipping underneath the soft fabric unintentionally, something he has been planning to save for later. Norma doesn't seem to mind though. She sighs and lets her head fall back against the door frame. A hint of a smile flickers across her face, giving away that she knows exactly what effect she has on him. Then his hands follow their path downwards, admiring her slender waist before they come to rest on her hips, his fingers digging into smooth flesh as she makes this low hum in her throat again he has heard and come to love at the bar for the first time.

Alex kisses Norma's neck, his hands never leaving her body, her sensual whimper his new favorite sound. Just when he is looking for a sign as to his pace – is this too fast? too slow? – she spreads her legs a little to give him better access. The tip of her tongue sneaks out, licking her lips in anticipation right before his hand slips into her panties, meeting wet heat.

Norma arches her back violently, the tender, yet relentless push and pull of his fingers between her legs almost too much. She is openly moaning now. Alex has never met a woman who exudes sensuality like Norma. She just has this aura even doing ordinary things or wearing demure clothes. Seeing her like this is like watching a fantasy unfold and even more. He can't get enough, relishing the opportunity to study her as his fingers set a steady rhythm that he aligns with the movements of her hips. Her moans are getting louder. Norma's eyes are closed, a concentrated frown appears on her face as she bites her lip. So that's what she looks like shortly before she comes. But suddenly her hand grabs his wrist to stop him.

"Not like that," she pants, looking around and focusing on his favorite armchair.

She makes a face Alex interprets as that will do before she gently shoves him towards it, indicating that she wants him to sit down there but not until she has gotten rid of their clothing as far as required. The fact that she only takes off her panties and is still wearing her bra and her dress that is loosely hanging open as well as her knee-high boots is a sight as sexy as Alex would never have dared to imagine.

He half sits down, she half presses him down, positioning herself above him before she lowers herself on him agonizingly slow.

"God, Norma..." It takes all the willpower he has to let her do this at her pace and not push himself inside her remorselessly.

"Shhh..." She puts a finger on his lips, and if it's meant to calm him, it's not working at all because she replaces her finger with her tongue, licking his lips several times before she deepens their kiss.

She's everywhere. Her soft skin under his hands, her perfume in his nostrils, her moans filling him up until Alex can't stand their slow dance any longer, wrapping one arm around her hips and the other around her shoulder for leverage and increases the speed. He is prepared to stop in case Norma should show any indication that she doesn't like this, but she lets him take over, alternating between hugging him close and leaning back, her weight resting in his arms.

He watches her, the unmistakeable pleasure on her face. This is it. She is giving herself to him. No holding back anymore. Their hips collide in a rhythm that is getting more and more erratic; they both will have bruises tomorrow. Then she holds her breath, grabs his face and opens her eyes to look at him.

Despite the fully dilated pupils, Norma's eyes are so light as if they were translucent, a window leading into another world. They have stopped moving; Alex feels the one or other ripple flooding through her. Then she pushes herself up on trembling thighs and down another time, met by his upward movement and collapses on him with a stifled cry. As much as he would like to prolong this, he stands no chance when he feels her tightening around him, only realizing afterwards that it was him who uttered that guttural sound of relief. She is his. Finally.

Alex doesn't tell Norma he loves her, not that night. He does it the next night after they made love in her bedroom. She takes a deep breath when she hears the words but doesn't say it back, only intertwines their fingers and holds his hand this way until they fall asleep. Alex tells her every day after that. At breakfast before he leaves for work, after dinner when they're getting ready for bed, in between when he calls her just because he wants to hear her voice. He notices the changes in her reaction from uncertainty over happiness to pure glee. And then, one day, she says it back.

It's been a perfect Sunday morning so far. Slow love making, Alex is downstairs to prepare breakfast so that they can eat it in bed, and the sun is shining. Something that practically never happens in White Pine Bay.

He comes in, carefully balancing the tray so that the coffee won't spill over. It tastes delicious and even from a distance Norma can see that Alex put exactly the right amount of marmalade on her toast, just as she likes it. He also put flowers on the tray.

"Oh, Alex, that's so sweet," Norma gushes. "You're spoiling me."

He puts the tray down on the bed and then steps back to look at her.

"Come join me." She pats on the bed next to her.

But Alex keeps looking at her, his expression and posture tense.

"Alex? What's up?"

Then she sees it. A ring. Carefully placed on the tray next to the flowers.

"Alex?"

"I've been thinking," he says casually as if he was talking about the weather, but his eyes never leave her face. "I have insurance. You need insurance. So maybe I could marry you."

For a moment there is no sound save for the ticking of the clock. Then Norma reaches out and takes the ring with shaking hands, turning it around to admire its beauty, the brilliant sparkling in the sunlight. Richard signed the divorce papers yesterday. She told Alex as soon as she knew and he clearly doesn't intend to waste any time.

"And aside from that..." His voice is closer now; she didn't notice him approach the bed through the blur of tears. Tears of joy. Alex grabs Norma's hand that holds the ring, taking the ring from her to put it on her finger. It fits perfectly. "I need someone to take care of my mother's ring for the rest of my life."

A sob escapes Norma's throat. Alex puts the tray down on the floor last minute. Otherwise she would have spilled the coffee all over the bed when she threw herself in his arms.

"Is that a yes?" he asks, holding her.

Norma is crying and laughing at the same time. Then she sniffles and shrugs.

"Well, it's not like I'm doing anything else."

The End

...I hope the ending was not too sappy, but the closer the premiere of S5 gets, the more I feel the need to put Alex and Norma in a romantic bubble and protect them. So in this version they live happily ever after and nothing bad will happen to them. EVER.

And because some of you asked: Yes, I will write more Normero. Currently I'm working on a story about the fallout regarding their marriage because Alex and Dylan went through with their plan of the required two signatures to commit Norman to Pineview (can you tell I love the angst? and obviously I like to break my own heart). Anyway, I'm hoping to post that one soonish in case you're interested.