Dear Father

Disclaimer: I do not own AHS

A/N: Been super busy with work and school but I finally managed to sit down and work on this. Thanks again to all of you who have reviewed/favored/followed Dear Father. It means so much!

Chapter 8- Veracity

Lana sat impatiently in the kitchen. She had begun to grow more nervous by the hour. Her hands shook from the nerves and the fear that was starting to creep up behind her once more. She knew Luis was going to have a fit when he discovered that she had left work in the middle of something important (if didn't already know). If he did the phone would be ringing off its hinge right now. But the phone had been dead silent. Perhaps he had called while they were out at the carnival. Lana had not seen Johnny smile that much in a very long time. But her heart broke whenever she saw the bruise on his face. Her poor baby boy. Well, mama bear wasn't going to let it slide so easily. She was going to find those responsible and make sure they were punished. But she had promised Johnny she would not make a big deal of it. She could never say no to him. Her life and her world revolved around him. It was funny how things turned out to be. She loathed Oliver Thredson but she adored the son he fathered.

The entire house was silent. Lana sighed. She stood from the chair pushing the thought aside. She paced back and forth thinking about the phone call she had received at work earlier that day. "He's alive" it's all they said. They weren't clear on who they were talking about but of course Lana knew whom they were referring to. Oliver. She shook her head and walked to the kitchen counter where she pulled out a bottle of scotch from a lower cabinet and poured herself a glass. But the alcohol wasn't enough. She needed a smoke to calm her nerves. But it was ridiculous to think Oliver was alive when she herself had killed him. Her bullet had gone right through his neck. The phone call could have been but a mindless prank...but who else knew about her and Bloody Face? She had worked so hard to keep it a secret all these years. It couldn't have been a prank. She had to take this seriously. But it had been almost eight years since his death. If he had lived they would have surely told her. But soon after they took his body Lana left without a trace. And when she stopped the woman from killing the baby growing within her she ran ever farther and when she decided to take him home she moved even farther then that. She kept moving so no one could ever find them. So no one could remind her of Bloody Face. She had been careless. She should have stayed to make sure he rotted in the ground. She took a long drink from her scotch and set the glass down wishing she had a case of cigarettes hiding in the cookie jar like she used to when Johnny was a toddler.

Feeling trapped, she went outside to the backyard for some fresh air. Perhaps the cold night air could calm her nerves and stop her heart from beating so viciously. She leaned against Johnny's swing set and bit back a cry. She began to lose the feelings in her legs so she walked over to one of the swings and sat down. The swing set was already there when they moved in and it seemed to lift Johnny's spirits.
"Mom?" Lana looked up to see Johnny standing in the doorway. He was in his pajamas and his hair was messy. "Johnny." she said surprised to see him.
Johnny frowned lightly at the sight of his mother crying, "What's wrong, mom?" He asked. Lana shook her head and wiped away her tears, "Nothing baby, I'm fine. Go back inside and I'll be there in a moment, ok?"
Johnny looked at his mother unsure and nodded, "Okay." and hurried inside as he was told.

Lana wiped away the incoming tears. She had to think of something but all she could think about was him, Oliver Thredson. She had lived with his ghost for many years and that alone was enough to torment her. That phone call. It was a warning. A warning she should have not been ignoring. It was then Lana smelled it, the sweet smell of nicotine smoke. She looked to the next yard over where a little old woman stood on her back yard porch having a smoke. Lana's lips parted at the sight of the beautiful escape and stood walking over to the wooden fence. She starred at the little old woman. She was her neighbor's grandmother. A quirky little woman. "Excuse me," Lana's voice was almost a whisper. The old woman turned to her. Lana looked at her cigarette, "Do you mind if I bum a smoke?" The old woman took one good look at Lana and stepped off the porch handing her a cigarette and brought out a lighter lighting her smoke. Lana inhaled the warm relief; letting it fill her lungs to burst, it had been many years since she had a smoke and at that moment it was one of the best things she had ever had. Lana missed smoking almost as much as she missed sex with Wendy. She let the smoke back out in to the night as she tilted her head to the sky. "Oh thank you," she said mostly to herself.

"Looks like you really needed that" the old woman said. Lana looked to her remembering she wasn't alone, "Yes, thank you."
The old woman nodded, "You're that little boys mother, the one with the glasses?"
"I am." She said giving the old woman her attention. The woman nodded and took a drag from her smoke, "Sweet boy. Now, what's got you out here like this? You look like you haven't had a smoke in years."
"That's because I haven't" she answered.
"Ah," the old woman said, "Well that's a shame."
"It is." Lana lowered the cigarette down feeling somewhat guilty for breaking her streak. "Gave it up for your boy?"
"Yes." Lana answered.
The woman nodded, "You must love him then. I gave up smoking for my daughter and look at me now, can't enjoy a smoke without her pestering me. Have to sneak it out here."

Lana took another long drag. She didn't know why she was out there with the old woman small talking but it seemed to calm her- that or the cigarette. "Sometimes we just need some kind of escape." Lana said as she put out her finished cigarette leaving only the butt. The old woman nodded in agreement.

Johnny sat on his bed and exhaled. It was then something caught the corner of his eye and he frowned to find his glasses on his night stand. He was sure he had dropped them when the boys tackled him to the ground. He picked them up and studied them. Someone had attempted to fix them.

"Johnny?" Lana walked in to his room. Johnny looked up startled. He hid his glasses under the covers.
"Yes?"
"Johnny boy, why are you still awake?" Lana asked as she took a seat on his bed.
"I can't sleep." He answered.
Lana smiled weakly and ran her fingers through his hair, "All that cotton candy finally got to you, didn't it?" He nodded. Johnny tilted his head to the side, "Mom, why do you smell funny?"
Lana then realized she still smelled of smoke, "Johnny," She said avoiding his question. She said his name in a tone Johnny knew very well. It was the same tone she had when she told him he was going to private school or when she was going to make a drastic change like moving again. So he braced himself. "I was thinking maybe you and I could take a little vacation." Lana knew it wasn't the perfect time to leave town. She and Luis were on the verge of cracking a new story with the disappearance of Mrs. Clayton but the phone call had left her on edge. She couldn't risk it.
Johnny looked at her for a moment, uncertain of how to respond, "A vacation?"
Lana nodded, "Yes. A tiny vacation. Just you and me."
"No one else?" He asked wearily.
Lana shook her head, "No one else. Just the two of us." She placed her hand on his and gave it a small squeeze. Johnny smiled too, "Okay." He liked the sound of it. They had never gone on vacation before. Besides the countless times they had moved when he was younger but that did not count. "Where?"
"Anywhere." She said, "Anywhere you want." Johnny pondered for a moment, "Um, can we go to Australia?"
Lana laughed lightly. She could feel the tears threatening to break, "All the way down there?"
Johnny nodded, "Yeah, they have koalas and kangaroos and all kinds of animals."
Lana nodded, "Fine, Australia it is."
Johnny grinned, "Cool."
"Very cool." Lana agreed. "Now, how about you try and get some sleep. Its late." Johnny nodded and let her tuck him in, "Koalas and kangaroos," She said in amusement as she kissed his forehead goodnight.
"Night, mom."
"Goodnight, baby. Sweet dreams."

It was around three in the morning and Lana had had her fourth glass of scotch. The one cigarette had not been enough and the voice on the phone had begun to plague her. She knew all the scotch was not the answer but she found no other escape to settle her nerves. And then it was when he appeared again. Standing behind her like always. "Don't you think you've had enough?" His voice spoke ever so soothingly yet she found it to be so condescending. Everything she did, it was never good enough for Oliver Thredson's ghost.
"Oh, shut up," Lana sighed as she reclined against her chair. The alcohol had begun to make her head spin. She was too exhausted and too stressed to deal with an imaginary voice; especially when liquor had touched her lips. After her simple response she remained quiet and continued her work the best she could. She didn't want to feel insane any longer. But concentrating was proving to be quite difficult. Her vision began to blur from the alcohol that invaded her body. She stood to her feet and walked across the living room. She had forgotten to close the window this time letting the fresh night air in to the house. She hovered over the small table against the wall where she had placed her bottle of scotch. Next to the bottle was a school photograph of Johnny in the first grade; dressed nicely in his school uniform. She poured herself a fifth drink and tilted her head back to let the strong liquor pass her lips. Oliver's ghost's looming presence was such a distraction. However, she often found herself thinking of him. The way his body pressed hard against hers. The feeling of his warm breath against her skin lighting goose bumps along the way. And the way his strong hands made themselves ever so welcome on her body. Lana closed her eyes and fought back the tears. Those thoughts remained to torture her. How she hated them. If only forgetting was that easy. But it was a high cost she had to pay. A high cost for a good story. And now he haunted her dreams and plagued her days with countless unnecessary memories of his voice and of his touch. His presence made it impossible for her to move on in life. That's all she ever wanted. To forget his voice and his touch. To forget every single atrocity he had done to her.

She had fought with herself so many times over the same thing. She wished he had never laid eyes on her outside of Briarcliff but that wish would come at a great price: the existence of her son. If he had never done so, Johnny would not be alive. Oliver had truly provided her with the biggest happiness she could have ever asked for. And deep inside she hated herself, for it felt like a betrayal to Wendy. If she could choose to have one at that very moment, she would choose Johnny. It would always be him. And the very truth hurt her. And she knew it must have hurt Wendy wherever she was. But Wendy would have understood. The children, she always worried about the children after all.

"He's beautiful." Oliver's voice suddenly crept up from behind her. He stood by her desk where he picked up a smaller framed photo of Johnny from when he was only two years old. "Who would have thought that the two of us, such horrid people, would make such a precious child. Am I right?"
Lana froze. His voice was so real this time. It had always sounded real. As if he was truly alive. But this time his voice sent chills down her spine and her skin instantly covered in goose bumps. His presence felt very much real.

"He has the best of both of us," She admitted out loud, letting herself speak to his ghost. Little did she know, his ghost was very much alive and not a part of her imagination at all. The Oliver she was now speaking to was on the side of reality. "But to be quite honest with you, Oliver, there never was anything good about you." Her words slurred.
Oliver chuckled softly but her words had a way of stinging him, "I appreciate your veracity, I really do."

She looked up for a moment and slowly turned around to see Oliver standing there. The walls danced around him as the liquor began to hit her harder. She was starting to lose sense of almost everything. Stuck between reality and a drunken stupor. But he looked so different from the ghost that appeared to her during all those years. There was something so off about him. So terrifyingly real. It was then she realized it…he was real.

He smirked at her, "Did you miss me, Lana?" Lana took half a step back crashing against the table and muttered an incoherent response before her vision blurred and everything went black. Oliver smiled, "I'll take that as a yes."