Disclaimer: I do not own AHS.

A/N: Thanks for the first reviews everyone! Super happy you all love it so far. I know a lot of you were confused about Lanchel, and for that all I have to say is just keep reading (:

…

CH 2- The Norms

…

Lana stretched, feeling her fingertips brush her soft, warm sheets. The first thing she heard were the pitter patter of rain drops against her window followed by the sound of cartoons coming from the living room. Lana sat up instantly, alarmed. There were moments in the morning in where she had to collect herself and remember that things were okay, that they had been okay and would continue to be so. It was just hard to adjust sometimes.

She still had nightmares of him, of Bloody Face. Lana often dreamt of the needle going straight through her eye and waking up in a new life in where she did everything Oliver did and in where Johnny called him "Dad". But they were just that, nightmares.

Lana pushed the comforters off and glanced to the clock on her nightstand. 7:15 in the morning. He was always up so early on Saturdays. Now, if only she could manage to get him out of bed so early on school days.

Lana stood off the bed and wandered in to her bathroom where she washed her face and brushed her teeth. She then wandered down the hall where she heard his laughter. She stopped at the end of the hall and spotted him.

Johnny sat on the couch with Scout at his side. His brown eyes gazed at the television screen. Lana's eyes followed the screen where she saw that large brown dog and the blond one called Shaggy running away from some kind of monster. Scooby-Doo, Lana remembered. That was the name of the show Johnny liked to watch so much.

But Lana smiled at her son, "Good morning."

Johnny looked from the TV to Lana. Scout lifted his head and jumped off the couch and ran up to Lana.

"Morning Mom." Johnny said with a smile.

Lana walked over to the couch. "Don't act like you don't know what day it is."

Johnny bit back a smile.

"Come on. Give your mother a hug." Lana demanded.

Johnny jumped off the couch and hugged Lana, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I hope you're not getting too old to hug your mother, now." Lana smiled as she held her son.

Johnny pulled away. "Maybe just a little." He teased.

Lana scoffed. "Very funny."

Johnny laughed.

Lana grabbed Johnny's face with both hands and brought up his eyes to meet hers. "That'll be the day." She smiled, "Happy Birthday, Johnny boy." She kissed his forehead.

Johnny smiled. "Thanks, Mom.

Lana let him go and wandered in to the kitchen, "Now, tell your mother what you want for breakfast."

"Cereal." Johnny answered as he sat back down on the couch. Scout jumped on the couch, next to Johnny. He licked the boy's cheek and looked back in the direction of the kitchen.

"Cereal?" Lana asked from the kitchen, "But it's your special day. How about some pancakes?"

"Pancakes?" Johnny asked as he kept his eyes on the TV screen, "They're not gonna have flour chunks again, are they?"

Lana stood in front of the open fridge, remembering her infamous, undercooked pancakes. "Ok, cereal it is." She reached in to the fridge and pulled out a milk carton.

…

Lana and Johnny sat at the breakfast table. Scout lay under the table by Johnny's feet hoping to lick up anything his boy dropped.

"Did you have fun yesterday?" Lana asked him.

Johnny nodded. "Tons." He said with a mouthful of cereal.

Lana smiled sheepishly. "Good." She then sighed, "I can't believe it's been another year."

Johnny set his spoon down. "You're not gonna cry, are you?"

Lana chuckled. "No."

"Okay, good. I don't want you to cry."

Lana smiled at her boy. He was always so sweet.

"That reminds me." Lana said as she stood from the table and walked across the kitchen. Johnny watched her go for a moment but then turned his attention to the cartoon still playing on the tv screen in the living room. They had finally unmasked the real "monster".

"I knew it was the old guy…" Johnny said to himself.

"Okay." Lana said as she approached the table with a box wrapped in red gift wrap, "Now, this is my gift to you."

Johnny turned from the tv and raised a brow, "More presents?"

Lana smiled. "Yes. I wanted to wait till your actual day to give you my gift."

"What is it?" Johnny asked as his eyes marveled over the rather big box on the table before him.

"Open it." Lana smiled.

Johnny eagerly commenced to open up his gift. Lana smiled as he did knowing perfectly well that he would love it but questioned if she had gotten him the right gift. Johnny stopped almost immediately and his eyes glossed over.

"Whoa!" Johnny said, "An Odyssey 200! Mom, you're the best!" He jumped off his chair and hugged Lana.

"Do you like it?" Lana chuckled.

"Like it? That's better than the 100!" Johnny said as he grabbed the video game console box and looked at the cover. "I love it."

Johnny took the box and hurried to the living room with Scout hot on his trail. Lana stood and followed after him.

"Now, I don't want you glued to the tv all day, ok?" Lana said, "And only after you've finished your homework and done your chores."

"Yes, Mom." Johnny said as he figured out how to connect his new console to the tv.

"I mean it, Mr. Winters."

"Okaaay, Mom." He said with that little mischievous smile of his and Lana instantly knew he was going to spend that first week glued to the screen playing whatever game that thing played.

Lana had no mind for such things. She had heard Johnny talk about it and point it out in tv commercials but didn't really see what her boy saw in that game. It appeared to be only a dot going back in forth between two paddles. Whatever made her son happy.

Lana and Johnny spend the rest of his birthday in doors due to the pouring rain but neither of them seemed to mind. Lana joined Johnny in his new game but was terrible at it. Johnny's stomach hurt from so much laughter at seeing his mother struggle with what he believed to be a simple and fun game but Lana was frustrated till no end and kept losing.

On Sunday, when the rain cleared, they spent the day with the Walkers and Kit taught Johnny how to catch and throw a baseball with his new glove and ball. But like always, the weekends came to an end so quickly and Monday rolled around again.

…

Lana stopped the car on the side of the school. She looked up at its grand exterior. It wasn't as big or as prestigious as Johnny's old private school but Johnny seemed to like it more than his old school.

"Do you have your lunch money?" Lana asked as Johnny grabbed his backpack.

"Yup." He said and reached for the door.

"Is it enough?" Lana questioned again, stopping him from exiting the car.

"I think so." Johnny said and tried to exit when Lana stopped him again.

"Do you have your inhaler?"

"Yes." Johnny sighed, "Mom, I'm going to be late."

Lana sighed softly. She didn't like saying good bye knowing that there was the possibility that Johnny could be bullied and she wouldn't be there to stop it. "Ok, go on then. Shoo."

Johnny jumped out of the car and closed the door after him. He then hung his backpack over his shoulder.

"Love you!" Lana called after him just as a group of girls passed by, "Be good!"

They all looked to Johnny, turned to each other and giggled up a storm.

"Mom!" Johnny whined, as his face grew red with embarrassment.

Lana bit her bottom lip. "Love you?" She repeated with a smile.

"Love you too." Johnny muttered and ran off, hurrying to class.

Lana watched him go until he was safely inside. That boy was something else.

…

Lana arrived at the office shortly after she dropped Johnny off at school. She greeted Bern at reception and was about to head to her office when Lou stopped her in her tracks.

"Winters! Get in here!"

Lana sighed to herself wondering why Lou never let her settle in before he began to rant on about whatever was ailing him that day. After the actual death of Bloody Face, Lana had made a well-known name for herself in her career. She was doing wonderful out in the field and was possibly discussing with Lou about appearing on screen. So far everything she had done had been on paper but to be an actual reporter on TV fascinated Lana and she was well on her way to do it.

"You yelled?" Lana asked as she stepped in to Lou's office.

"As a matter of fact, I did." Lou said. He stood behind his desk. There was a sly smile on his face.

"Oh, no." Lana said, "What now?"

"I got a job for you." Lou said with a grin.

…

Lana was walked out of Lou's office with a look of disbelief on her face. She looked around the office and collected herself before anyone noticed. She then made her way down the hall to her office when she spotted Rachel with a female coworker standing against the wall overlooking some paper work.

"Rachel," Lana said in a professional tone as she passed by them, "My office. Now."

Rachel looked up and her eyes followed Lana as she disappeared in to her office. Her coworker gave her a "good luck" look and left. Rachel took in a deep breath and followed in to Lana's office.

As soon as she stepped inside, the door closed behind her and she was pushed against the wall. Rachel was instantly greeted by Lana's lips against her own. She was surprised but pleased, nonetheless.

Lana pulled away. "I haven't seen you all morning. Where have you been?"

"Lou's been making me run errands all morning. I'm sorry." Rachel explained.

Lana kissed her again. This time her lips trailed off of Rachel's and along her jaw. She then left little kiss trails down to her neck. "I hate Lou for taking you away from me." She said in between kisses.

Lana had not had a lover in many years and her feelings for Rachel were constantly about to burst. She couldn't control herself around the young woman.

Rachel smiled sheepishly. "Lana, someone can walk in."

"Let them." Lana said fearlessly and kissed Rachel's cheek softly. "I missed you terribly."

Lana pressed her body against Rachel's. Lana's tenacity filled Rachel with both excitement and fear. She didn't care that they could be caught at any moment but Rachel couldn't lie to herself, she loved the way Lana kissed her, she loved the way she pressed her body against hers with so much lust and longing. She had only been seeing Lana officially for a year now but the excitement was still there. And not to mention the disbelief. After years of longing over Lana, she was finally hers. It was like a dream come true.

"I missed you too." Rachel said as Lana pulled away.

Lana looked in to Rachel's green eyes. It was hard to believe that a woman like Rachel felt so strongly for her, especially after she knew everything that Lana had been through. She truly cared about Lana. To her it didn't matter that Lana had been raped and conceived a child from it. Of course, it did hurt Rachel that something so horrible had happened to Lana but it didn't keep her from loving Lana. In fact, she admired her strength and her ability to keep moving forward with her son. She admired Lana so much.

Lana pulled away. "I'm really glad you went to the party."

"I told you I wouldn't miss it."

Lana walked to her desk where she set down the papers Lou had given her when she visited his office. "You have no idea how badly I wanted to kiss you when I saw you on the door step."

Rachel laughed. "In front of everyone?"

"In front of everyone." Lana stated, "I hate having to hide this."

"Me too…" Rachel said sadly as she sat down across from Lana's desk, "But hopefully soon we won't have to…right?" She looked at Lana with hopeful eyes.

Lana smiled. "Right."

"So," Rachel said, "How was Johnny's actual day?"

"Great." Lana answered with a soft smile, "It rained all day so I couldn't take him out to the lake like originally planned but I gave him his present and he spent the entire day in front of the tv."

Rachel laughed. "I told you he would love it."

Lana sighed as she pulled some folders from her desk and placed them in front of her. "I wish you could have joined us this weekend."

Rachel pouted slightly. "I know but you know…family calls."

The smile disappeared off of Lana's face and she stopped her task. "How was it?"

Rachel inhaled, taking in a deep breath. "Well, like always, my parents wouldn't see me."

There was a sadness in Rachel's eyes that Lana picked up right away. Like Lana, Rachel's family had disowned her when they found out she was a homosexual. Rachel had been trying to get back in contact with them for almost a year now but they wouldn't have her. Lana thought about her parents, she hadn't seen them in a very long time either but it was her choice—not theirs.

"But-" Rachel lightened up the way she always did when she looked at the bright side of things. It was something Lana loved about her, "I saw my sister."

Lana smiled. "Did you? That's great."

Rachel nodded. "Yeah. It was. And she brought my niece too. I was so happy, Lana. But scared. I didn't know what to expect."

"What did she say?" Lana asked.

"Well, she said she missed me and that our parents are wrong for denying to see me." A soft smile brushed Rachel's lips, "She said she wants to be a family again."

"That's marvelous." Lana stood and walked to Rachel. She took her hand and stood her up to her feet, "I'm really happy for you." She kissed Rachel. "Very happy."

Rachel pulled away. "You didn't tell me, what did Lou want?"

Lana took a step back and regained herself. She cleared her throat and looked at Rachel. All the happiness had drained from Lana's eyes and was replaced by a serious and solemn look. As if all the terrible moments she had lived where brought back in to existence.

"He wants me to continue my book about Bloody Face."