"You what?" Sheriff Greene asked as she watched Samantha place her badge and gun on the desk.

"I quit." Samantha said. "I failed. White Pine Bay's serial killer is running free because of some technicality…"

"It's not your fault, James. You were one of our best—"

"He did ALL of this because of me! If I didn't look like his mother, he probably wouldn't have been so obsessed."

With a sigh, she left the station.

Alex, Zack, I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…Samantha thought.

Once she got home, she didn't want to look behind her across the street where…it happened. Everyone she knew was able to move on from the murders and chaos, but not her.

Life went on for them and she had no idea how else to move on with her life. After all, she got rid of almost anything that reminded her of the past and tried talking to a therapist about her nightmares.

"He wouldn't even hurt a fly" was what the lawyer said the day HE was released. Hearing that just made Samantha want to vomit. Yes, he was harmless when they first met, but it was different now.

"Damn it…" she said to herself.

All she wanted was to lock herself inside her own home and not see his face again.

If I see him, I'll fight him or run. Samantha thought.

However, before she could open the door, a familiar voice behind her called her name…

Moments earlier…

Norman paced around back and forth, running his hands through his hair and trying not to panic.

What was he going to do once he saw Samantha again?

She's only your ex and you still love her. Mother isn't here to stop you from pursuing her like she did with the others…he thought.

The motel had been shut down for a while due to the lack of business related to the murders that happened. If she was still alive, his mother would've fought to keep it open despite the incident.

Now, here he was trying to fix things up and readjusting to society after his time in prison (which he was doing well at).

"What do I do? What should I say? I'll tell her that I still love her…but what if she doesn't feel the same after that long?" he asked himself.

While he was locked up, Samantha was the only thing in Norman's mind that still remained: he could still smell her perfume and feel her hair even if she wasn't there. Oh, how he couldn't live without her…

His thoughts were distracted when he saw a car pull up to the house across the street. It was perfect timing…

That must be her. Norman thought.

He took a deep breath, waiting for Samantha step out. It was now or…now. There wasn't any time to just wait, it was the point of no return…

Across the street, she had gotten out of her car and was making her way to the door.

"Here goes nothing…" Norman said, walking towards her. "Sam!"

Samantha let go of the door handle and backed up against it as if she were some cornered animal. What if he was going to kill her again and this was all just a façade to lure her into a false sense of security?

Why are you being such a coward, Sam? Just play along with it and if he tries to kill you, fight back or run. she thought before forcing a fake smile and walking up to him.

"Hey, Norman…it's been awhile, hasn't it?" she asked.

Suddenly, she felt her entire body freeze up as he pulled her into a hug. It was a bad time to yell at her ex to not do that or even think about it, but she knew that she had to continue to play along in order to not make him snap.

Samantha hugged him back despite that she was shaking in fear. He only held onto her harder once he realized this and shushed her while saying that it was all going to be fine since he was here. This made her even more scared than earlier.

"I've missed you."

"I missed you more, Sam."

Norman couldn't help, but notice a few things were different about Samantha: her perfume smelled different than what he loved and remembered, she acted worried, which wasn't like her at all, and she had her magenta scarf tying her hair back.

"Anyways, it's been a long time, hasn't it?" Samantha asked, which got him out of his thoughts.

"Two years…I think. It's all been a blur to me." Norman said. "But we're together again. That's all that matters, right?"

Together even after you tried to kill me? Keep telling yourself that, Bates. Samantha thought.

"I guess…we never did get the chance to catch up when we last met."

"Then, we should do it right now if you want. Let's go to the motel office and we'll talk. It's no rush."

Samantha's eyes widened upon hearing that. Why would she ever want to go back to that place? It held too many bad memories for her and being stuck there with her psycho ex-boyfriend was the last thing she wanted…

However, she HAD to remain calm and go with it.

"Sure, why not? I'm not busy." Samantha said, shrugging.

Norman smiled at her and immediately grabbed her hand, saying, "Then, let's get going! I can't wait to hear about what you've been doing and I can tell you how I've been."

Samantha gulped as they walked to the motel together. She was probably so screwed…