Magda woke up to the sound of Anya crying. She smiled. The other women she knew told her how hard it would be to deal with a crying baby, but she didn't mind it. She hadn't slept well before the baby came either. It was better to be woken up by her beautiful daughter than by a nightmare of the horrors she had lived through in her childhood.

Anya was a light in the darkness of Magda and Erik's lives. The past was behind them. Anya was their future. Before she had been born, Magda had never believed she would love anyone other than Erik that much ever again. Then she gave birth to Erik's daughter. Her daughter. The child their love had made together. Anya was their chance to give the life neither of them had, that both of them wanted, to someone else.

"Hush, my Anya. You're alright. Mama's here. Mama loves you. Papa loves you. Oh, my little Anya, Mama and Papa love you so very much."

Magda fed and changed Anya and sang her a Polish lullaby her mother had sung to her when she was little. Oh, her poor mother. If only her mother were here to see her granddaughter. Magda knew her parents would have loved Anya so much. They would have loved Erik too. If only they could have seen how happy Magda and her family were now.

When Magda was sure little Anya was asleep again, she laid her back in her cradle and crawled back into bed with Erik.

"Thank you, Erik," she whispered softly, trying not to wake him. "Thank you for giving me a daughter. I do still envy your ability to sleep."

Magda lay in bed trying to sleep again. Sleep had never come easily to her. Even when she was a girl she didn't sleep, but that was more to do with her active imagination. She had stayed up late nights imagining the characters from her favorite stories coming to life and going on adventures with them.

In a way, her imagination was still what kept her awake. It wasn't the fantastical imaginations of a child with happy endings anymore, but it was still that part of her mind. It was still her innate curiosity, this time tormenting her instead of giving her fun. It was the part of her mind that forced her to wonder "What if?"

What if she hadn't been good at pretending she wasn't sick when the guards made their selections? What if the camp hadn't been liberated when it was? What if the soldiers were even one week later than they were? What if she had been taken to be experimented on? Would she have been as strong as Erik was? What had happened to her Erik in Schmidt's office? What if the horrors he had lived through were worse than the scars on his body suggested? What if the people here knew she was a Gypsy? What if it happened again, here?

She stopped herself from those thoughts. She had Anya now. There were happier questions now.

What would be Anya's first word? Magda and Erik jokingly fought over whether it would be "Mama" or "Papa." When would Anya learn to crawl? When would she learn to walk?What would she be like? Would she like exploring like Magda had as a child, or would she prefer quiet activities like Erik had as a child? When would she find a boy? Would Anya have puppy love like she and Erik had when they were kids? What would her friends be like? Would she be popular, or prefer to have a small group of friends?

Ah, yes. Those were much better questions to wonder about.