Don't own AHS

A/N: Hi, everyone! Haven't been updating much lately but I promise I am alive and totally fine. Hope everyone else is doing well and having a good start to the new year. Finally updating this chapter and hope to get to the other fics very soon!

Ps. No pun intended with this chapter's name. lol

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TWELVE

Always

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Oliver filled with a panic but for Lana's sake did not show it. He instead took her by the hand and led her to his room. "Come with me." He sat her on his bed and handed her a book from the nightstand. "Read this for a little okay? I'll come right back. Don't leave the room."

Lana took the book and hugged it to her chest, "Okay. Hurry."

He smiled genuinely, "I will."

Oliver left Lana in the room and went to answer the door. Before he did, he took a deep breath and prepared himself for what he would say if it was someone from Briarcliff. He could just imagine Sister Jude standing there demanding for her missing patient.

Oliver opened the door but instead of facing Sister Jude's hard scold, his eyes met plain air. Confused for a moment, he heard a small voice, "Hi, Sir." And glanced down to see a young red headed Girl Scout with a red wagon in tow. "Would you like to buy some cookies today?"

Still confused, Oliver looked around the yard but saw no one he recognized from Briarcliff. He was sure they had noted Lana's absence by then and were on the search for her. It wouldn't be long until they showed up at his door.

"Um, sure." Oliver said digging into his pocket for his wallet. "How much?"

When Oliver closed the door, two boxes of cookies in his hand, he called out for Lana. She appeared out of his room and out of the hall.

He held a box of cookies up, "I have something for you."

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The day went on with no further interruptions. Oliver often peered outside the window but saw no one, not even a single car creeping outside his home. Had no one noticed she was gone? Did anyone care? Of course they didn't.

With each passing hour, Oliver was convinced that Briarcliff covered up their patients' disappearances. Why else had no one contacted him? Then again he had quit and perhaps they didn't think him a suspect. Still, it was for the best. Lana was better without them.

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The next few days with Lana were odd ones filled with more downs than ups. Lana was coming down from a lot of her medication and often had fits of frustration and rage. It seemed like everything set her off. Whether it was the phone ringing or the fact that she couldn't figure out how to change the channel on the television. It was as if she had to learn to live all over again.

One night, Oliver was woken by horrid shrills coming from his bedroom. He bolted up from the sofa in the living room and rushed right to his bedroom to aid her. When he opened the door, he turned on the light and found Lana cowering in the corner of the room. Her face was drenched in tears and mucus and her hands were covering her ears. She had jammed herself so far into the corner, her feet were sliding against the carpet, burning her skin.

Oliver quickly rushed to her, "Lana! Lana!"

She jumped at his touch and cried, "Please let me go! Please let me go!"

He calmly shushed her, "Hey, it's me, Oliver. I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe."

Lana's body trembled something awful and Oliver thought she'd break. "No more! No more!" Her fingers went to her temples where she had the scars from the electro shock therapy. "I won't anymore."

Oliver realized she had spoken much more in that moment than in any other.

"Won't what, Lana?" He asked calmly.

"I won't think about her…" She cried silently and fell into Oliver's arms.

Oliver sighed and hugged her close, gently rubbing her back. "No one's going to hurt you. You're safe now. You're safe." He repeated the same words over and over until she stopped shaking.

At one point Lana looked into his eyes, her own puffy red and still streaming with tears, "Are you going to save me?" She whispered in a broken voice.

Oliver felt his heart ache something heavy and cupped her face in his hands, "Yes."

Oliver gave her a small pill to ease her nerves and attempted to lay her back down in his bed but she refused to let him leave her side. Instead, he lay a few blankets down on the floor of the living room and lay with her. Lana seemed to find comfort in their simple little set up. She snuggled close to his side, gave a heavy sigh and let the little pill take her back into a calm slumber.

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Caring for Lana was harder than Oliver had anticipated. Aside from having the same capacities of a child, she was quite attached to him, making going out to work almost impossible. Oliver had enough saved to take some time off work but he wished to return soon to be able to not only support himself but Lana as well. He didn't know how long it would be until she could go back to society and live a normal life.

So in the confides of their home, Oliver gave Lana therapy sessions in where he let her express herself and coaxed her into speaking full sentences. He explained to her how things worked around the house and was awfully patient when it came to her slip ups. Luckily none of his neighbors had heard her screams during the night. The last thing he wanted was for people to believe that he had some poor girl kept prisoner in his home. In case they did hear, he had planned to tell them she was an old high school sweetheart who had gotten into a car accident and with no other family, he was the only one who could care for her. He was lucky Lana was as attached to him as she was to make his plan believable.

Slowly but surely they would make progress.

One day, early in the morning, there was another scream. However, that one was more shocked than terrified. Still, Oliver rushed from the kitchen where he was making Lana breakfast to his room. He had finally convinced her to return to sleep in the bed.

"What's wrong?" He asked upon entering the room.

Lana glanced down at the bed sheets below her with a horrified look. There was blood smeared between her thighs and pooling onto the sheets. It wasn't much, but enough to scare her. Oliver quickly knew what it was and cleared his throat.

"Lana, it's fine. It's—" he didn't quite know how to say it, "It's normal."

Lana looked at him like he had suddenly grown a hand out of his forehead.

"It happens to every woman." Oliver stood her from the bed and led her to the bathroom where he turned the shower on. He couldn't believe Lana had forgotten what menstruating was. Hell, he hadn't even thought about it. He had never found her in such conditions before at Briarcliff. Hell, perhaps all the malnutrition and the stress of living in such a place had put her menstruating cycle on hold. He read that was possible.

He helped Lana get in the shower and turned away while she removed her clothes. "Just clean up and I'll come back." He took her clothes, awkwardly holding them at a distance, not sure how to treat them. He wasn't disgusted by her body's natural functions but by the fact that she was watching him do it.

Lana did as she was told while Oliver took her bloody clothes and the sheets from the bed to wash them. By the time he returned to her with dry clothes, she was already done and looked quite embarrassed and a bit frustrated that she had forgotten how her own body worked.

"I suppose I'll have to run to the store to pick up some….necessities for you." He took her to the kitchen and sat her down on a chair. He had purchased her some panty liners when he first went to the store. He wasn't sure what she would use them for but grabbed them anyway. However, what he did not grab were sanitary napkins.

So off he went to the store to retrieve some. There were multiple boxes of multiple brands on the isle at the store. Oliver stood before them at a loss. Women filed in and out of the isle, grabbed what they needed and left. But not without giving him a side glance and a few giggles.

One woman said to him, "What a lucky girl you have there." He didn't know what she had meant at first but then he took a guess. Most men didn't want to be caught buying such things for their girlfriends or wives. As a doctor, Oliver knew it was a natural bodily function and there was nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. In the medical field, a healthy menstrual flow was a usually the sign of a fertile woman going through her body's monthly function. In those regards, Oliver was relieved.

He cleared his own throat. Not for his sake but for Lana's. He was sure at one point she would want a family of her own, some children, maybe a husband. Oliver shook his head at the thought. Lana was a lesbian. She most likely had no intentions in even marrying a man. Still, he was relieved her body was regaining its once healthy state.

Even though he wasn't embarrassed about a woman's natural body function, he was embarrassed of his lack of knowledge on the sanitary products. There were so many he didn't know which would be best. So he read the boxes and the pros they each had before he finally chose a couple of different brands. Lana would know which she liked best.

The young girl at the check out counter only gave him a smile.

Oliver chuckled nervously, "Wives." And that was that.

At home, he was more than relieved when Lana knew how to use them. That was something he did not want to get into details with. And for the rest of the day, Lana snacked and slept with the television on in the living room, giving Oliver some time to himself.

He sat in his office and typed up his progress with Lana. He wanted to keep notes on her progress to go over them later and see what worked best. His thoughts began to wander far from his work and far from the present. He imagined the day Lana would be sane enough to leave his care and Oliver found that the thought of her not being there was an odd one. To him it felt as if Lana had always been in his life. Always.

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