Chapter Text
"...We're supposed to be together aren't we, Norman?" "Yes we are Mother....Forever."
Epilogue:
"You cheated!" Norman said accusingly, with just the slightest hint of laughter in his voice. He held the cards high above his head as his mother tried to reach for them. He batted her hands out of the way.
"Come on, Norman, you know I didn't....just let me have the cards back!" Norma said her voice rising. She was grabbing for the small stack of cards that Norman kept just out of her reach. She looked away for a moment trying to hide the laughter that was bubbling up within her and noticed that a bit of skin from Norman's belly was exposed while his arms were lifted. His shirt tail had come un-tucked and his normally well kept appearance was getting disheveled with their tousling.
Norma took her opportunity and dived right into his ribs beginning to tickle him for all he was worth. Norman was taken off guard and he burst out into laughter. Dropped were the cards, now forgotten and scattered on the carpet. He ineffectually tried to push her hands away from his ribs as he gasped for air.
"Motherrrrr...STOOOOP!!" He whined, trying to remove himself from her clutches. She laughed and redoubled her efforts.
"What's wrong, Norman? Don't think that two can play at your games?" She found a particularly sensitive spot above his navel and Norman gasped and finally gained purchase of her hands. He forced them behind her back and met her struggles with his own.
Norman laughed without reservation and held a strong grip on his mother's hands. "You know, you shouldn't take advantage of my innocence, " he said bringing himself closer to her kissing her on her nose, "or underestimate it."
Norma became serious and looked at her son, who was calming himself and leveling her with a serious look of his own. "I would never do that....not in a million years." She kissed his upper lip and Norman closed his eyes to her softness.
"Is this how it's going to be with us now, Mother?" Norman asked, hesitant. He brushed a strand of hair away from her face with loving care and traced her cheek with his finger.
"Yes, Norman...I think I'd like that." She said and she truly meant it. "But I'm still afraid and I want to take this slow....and I'm still your mother....I will be who I always am like me or not."
"I wouldn't have you any other way..." Norman said. "But I will have you....forever...my own."
Norma yawned, suddenly sleepy. "Let's go to bed, honey," she told Norman as she had always done, without thought and without implying anything of what was a possibility to come. She smiled at her son and ruffled a hand through his hair bringing it down to his cheek and he closed his eyes and kissed her palm.
Norman held his hand out to his mother at the bottom of the stairs and she put her hand into his with confidence and love. He led her up the stairs thinking to himself over the night's events, satisfied that things were just the way he wanted them. To sleep, perchance to dream...