Pray For Me

Briarcliff Exposed

Two weeks later

"It's starting!" Kit exclaims, falling onto the recliner in the corner. Jude, Timothy and Lana are all sitting on the couch, eagerly awaiting Lana's first television appearance. Octavia is asleep in Timothy's arms, and Johnny is on Lana's lap. Julia and Thomas are sitting on the floor next to the coffee table, playing with blocks.

Lana looks nervously to Jude the second the program starts, but Jude doesn't notice. Lana didn't actually edit out the parts exposing her and Timothy, but rather pinned the worst of the sins on Arden and Mary Eunice, who had both disappeared since Jude and Timothy fled.

Seeing the footage from the inside of the institution gave a Jude a deeply uncomfortable feeling, and she had to go out on the porch for a smoke before the first commercial break.

Timothy came out during the commercial, without Octavia.

"Are you alright, Rara Avis?"

Jude nods and stubs her cigarette out on the railing of Kit's porch.

"Just, seeing the inside again, after knowing I would have been a patient there... I don't know."

"Jude, I thought we were past this."

"Me too, Timothy," She sighs, looking up at him before heading back inside.

Jude didn't look at Timothy when he returned from the porch. Everyone in the room, including the children, could feel the tension.

The second half of the special was focused on the corrupt staff at Briarcliff. Lana began fidgeting, and Kit could tell it wasn't going to end well.

"The church appointed Timothy Howard, monsignor at the time, to head the institution. He then chose Sister Judy Martin to run everything. Patient care was her specialty. He was the name of the institution, while she was the man in charge."

Jude chuckles and hits Lana's arm playfully.

"During my stay at this institution, I saw many things that were downright vile. The patients were treated terribly, and the methods of treatment were archaic. Of course, these were orders direct from the state of Massachusetts. Monsignor Timothy Howard, took it upon himself to hire a medical doctor into the institution."

"Oh, God," Timothy whispers, covering his face.

"Doctor Arthur Arden, a former Nazi war criminal, was hired at Briarcliff in the spring of '62, and he began to run human experiments under the supervision of second in command, Sister Mary Eunice."

Jude sits up straight and looks at Lana.

"You said you were gonna take it out," Jude says, fuming. She didn't want the blame put on anybody else. They committed crimes. They sinned. Mary Eunice was always so pure and innocent, until she became possessed. Timothy was the one at fault for the great loss of life under the roof of that institution.

"I just... shifted the blame."

"Lana, Timothy and I are the ones who deserve all the blame. You should have left it in, and on us. I'm not proud of what I did, but I did it. Timothy knew about the experiments. Not Mary Eunice."

Lana looks at Jude as she stands.

"I'll be back."

When Jude returns from her smoke break, the program is almost over.

"Between the sexual relationship between the Monsignor and Sister Jude, the secret, human experiments being conducted under the eye of the church, and the patient neglect, it was no wonder Sister Jude and Monsignor Howard felt they needed to flee."

Jude stiffens.

"I'm sorry, sexual relationship?"

Lana tenses. Timothy stares at Jude, getting ready to stand and keep her from Lana's throat if necessary.

"Timothy and I didn't even enter any sort of relationship until we were both gone. How could you? Spreading these lies about us, about what it was like there! Of course, it was terrible, but these are bullshit lies, Lana!"

"Jude, it's what the people want."

"Fuck you," Jude screams, on the verge of sobbing. Timothy stands and moves towards Jude.

"Don't touch me!"

She slams the front door behind her and runs out to the car. Timothy collects their things and takes Octavia from Kit.

"That was fucked up," He says, shaking his head before going after Jude.

He sees her in the car, sobbing. Quietly, Timothy loads the bags into the car. He slides into the front seat beside Jude and rocks Octavia lightly to keep her asleep.

Jude looks up to him after a while.

"I'm sorry. Just, seeing it all over again, hearing the lies she was telling... it was too much."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me, Jude. I can't imagine what you're feeling. I would be pissed if the roles were reversed."
Jude sniffles and slides closer to him.

"I love you, Timothy," She smiles softly, kissing his cheek and laying her head on his shoulder, looking down to the baby in his arms.

"Do you want to go back in and talk to Lana?"

"No. She said she was going to take it out. I can't believe her."

"Maybe the network was pushing for it."

"No. She's dead to me."