A/N: Thank you for all the lovely reviews and messages! Enjoy this next chapter :)

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Chapter 4: Decisions

Grace and Kate managed to convince Elliot to take just one more test, and so he ended up staying at the hospital an extra night for a CT scan to be done on his head. Luckily, the doctors couldn't find any signs of a concussion or any lasting damage from the attack, meaning Elliot was cleared to be discharged soon after it was done. As he was finishing up paperwork and waiting for the nurse to bring him his discharge papers, however, his friends Roger, Barry, and Craig all stopped by to visit him. The latter two hadn't been there during the attack, since they had left in Barry's car before it happened, but they still felt responsible for not being there to help. They apologized profusely to Elliot, who simply brushed off their apologies as needless.

"I'm completely fine guys - the doctors say I'll have full use of my arm back by next Friday. Although I think maybe we'll skip drinks at the bar and just have a few beers at my place." He grinned, and the other guys couldn't help but smile back.

Lucia was not going to be discharged anytime soon, however. Since she was having her healthcare being paid for by Christian and Ana, the doctors now wanted to run a whole battery tests on her to ensure she was completely healthy. Grace suggested she be transferred to the nearby Children's Hospital, since the medical professionals there would be more equipped to help her should there be any serious complications. Christian and Ana agreed, mainly because they trusted Grace's judgement on this more than they trusted their own.

"Do you think we're doing the right thing?" Christian asked Ana as they watched the EMTs strap Lucia into a gurney that looked far too big for her tiny frame. "I mean, we don't even know this girl, and yet we're paying for her medical bills and shuttling her between hospitals."

"We are doing the right thing," Ana said insistently. "This girl has had a rough life, but you and I are able to make a difference, at least with her medical care… don't you think that would matter a lot to someone like her?"

Christian didn't answer - his eyes were glued to the little girl as she was being pushed away on the gurney by the paramedics. Ana knew he was remembering the time when he was in her position, alone and afraid, with no one to help him in his time of need. He probably would have welcomed the kindness of a good samaritan.

"Christian - Ana," Colleen suddenly approached them with a couple clipboards in her hands. "Sorry, but I have some more forms for you to sign."

Christian and Ana accepted the papers from Colleen, which were just more transfer forms, and they signed them as they listened to her explain once again what was going to happen to Lucia during and after her stay at Children's Hospital. While Christian and Ana were both grateful to Colleen for helping them with everything, they found themselves wondering if there could've been a better way to help Lucia without having to jump through so many regulation hoops.

"I know, this is like the millionth thing you signed today," Colleen said sympathetically, as if she knew what Christian and Ana were thinking as they scrawled their signatures on the transfer forms. "But I promise these are the last ones until Lucia is discharged from Children's Hospital, or when she's assigned to a foster family."

"It's fine," Ana smiled as she and Christian handed the papers back to her. "We understand."

Colleen smiled back at them. "Well, I know I've said it before, but I think what you're doing for her is wonderful. Do you mind if I ask - are you two parents?"

"No, we aren't," Ana said, shaking her head.

"We actually just got married a couple months ago," Christian said, a note of pride in his voice as he slipped his arm around Ana's waist. She looked up at him with a loving smile, and he smiled back.

"Well, congratulations," Colleen said sincerely. "Still in the honeymoon phase, I take it?"

Christian chuckled as Ana let out a giggle. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Well, I know you two probably have a lot of life plans ahead of you," Colleen said understandingly. "But, as a social worker, I feel it's important to let you know that we are always looking for new foster parents to come in and take care of children who are still waiting to be adopted. Young couples such as yourselves would certainly find it to be a rewarding venture."

Ana and Christian glanced awkwardly at each other - neither of them had ever discussed the idea of being foster parents before, so it was a little weird to discuss with Colleen at the moment.

"We're just taking this whole thing with Lucia one step at a time," Christian said to Colleen after a second. "I think we're only committing ourselves to paying for her hospital bill at the moment."

Colleen nodded. "That's fine. Just know that the option to become foster parents is always on the table."

Christian and Ana simply nodded, and at that moment an EMT approached them to say that the ambulance was ready to transfer Lucia to the new hospital. Colleen quickly pulled out a business card and handed it over to Christian and Ana, imploring them to call her if they had any questions regarding Lucia's care. They agreed, and the three of them said goodbye before parting ways, Ana and Christian still thinking about what Colleen had said to them.

Seattle Children's Hospital was about a million times nicer than the previous hospital they were at, mainly because Lucia was put into her own private room instead of being stuck in a crowded ER. The wallpaper in her room was a light yellow color with pictures of boats along the molding, and there was a large window dominating the north wall, overlooking the city of Seattle. The room had a large HD television, a couch, a leather armchair, and even a small shelf containing lots of toys for Lucia to play with.

In addition to her new room, Lucia also had a new pediatrician named Alianna Singh. While initially Christian and Ana wanted Grace to be the girl's doctor, Grace had her own patients at her own hospital to tend with. She knew Dr. Singh personally, however, and assured Christian and Ana she was one of the best people to be treating Lucia.

"First of all, we plan on running a few standard blood tests, and if those reveal any underlying issues, we'll treat her for that," Dr. Singh explained to Christian and Ana after Lucia was settled into her bed. Dr. Singh was an older Indian woman with long gray hair in a low chignon, but her sweet and loving personality reminded Ana a lot of Grace. "So far, though, I don't think she's exhibited any serious medical problems, but we're going to be safe and test her anyway."

"Thank you," Christian said as Ana nodded.

Dr. Singh closed her file folder before turning to smile at Lucia, who was lying in the hospital bed beside them. "She is a sweet girl. I'm sure I will very much enjoy having her as my patient… isn't that right, Lucia?"

Lucia didn't respond - Ana and Christian weren't entirely sure if she could speak, since neither of them had heard her say a word to anyone. She simply stared up at Dr. Singh with her large brown eyes, clutching in her arms the stuffed elephant Ana had given her the other day. Ana and Christian looked back up at the doctor.

"She's not very talkative," Ana said apologetically. "She couldn't even tell the doctors over at the other hospital her name."

"It's not uncommon for children who have undergone abuse to exhibit psychological symptoms like that," Dr. Singh said knowledgeably. "We actually have a child psychologist on staff here, Dr. Kent, who can maybe work with her a little."

"Sure," Ana said gratefully. She discreetly slipped her hand through Christian's elbow, knowing he was probably a bit affected by Dr. Singh talking about young children being abused.

"I'll call a nurse to get Lucia's blood sample, and afterward you two could probably head on home. Just give me a call if you have any questions."

"Will do," Christian said, and Dr. Singh smiled before turning to leave. Once she was gone, Ana looked back up at Christian.

"You okay?" she asked worriedly, and Christian looked at her before letting out a sigh.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "It just feels strange thinking there's another person who is going through what I did all those years ago."

"I know," Ana said sympathetically. She turned and walked over to Lucia's bedside, sitting down on the edge of it. "I'm sure it's not easy thinking about all that stuff, especially since it happened to you when you were younger, but in the end, it's worth it if we get to help a little girl in need."

Ana looked down at Lucia, who gazed back up at her innocently. Lucia's large brown eyes, long straight black hair and thin, pale face gave her an almost doll-like appearance, and Ana put her arm around Lucia's shoulders, smiling lovingly down at her.

Christian couldn't help but feel his heart swell when looking at the scene in front of him - while he had always thought Ana was beautiful, her acting so sweet and caring to Lucia had its own special kind of beauty to it. He couldn't explain it, but it was nice.

"It's not as bad as I thought," Christian said after a moment, and Ana looked up at him. "Talking about my past, I mean… it's not as hard as it used to be. I know I thought I had reverted a bit when I attacked that doctor, but I also know that since you've come into my life and my nightmares have gone away for the most part, things have gotten a lot easier. My childhood can still be painful to think about at times, but I know my life has gotten infinitely better since then, and I'm able to focus on that more than my past. And her," he nodded to the little girl on the bed. "I like to think helping her helps me too."

Ana stared at Christian for a second before her face broke out into a smile. "I think that's one of the sweetest things you've ever said, Christian."

Christian returned her smile, his heart pounding in his chest. Ana always had a way of making him feel at peace with himself, and he knew he was one lucky son of a bitch to have her as his wife. Christian walked forward and leaned down to kiss her deeply on the lips, cupping her face in his hands as he did so. Ana kissed him back, smiling against him.

At that moment, a nurse knocked on the door to take Lucia's blood sample, and Christian and Ana broke apart. Lucia hadn't made a sound since she had been brought into the room, but the frightened look on her face as she watched the nurse walking in with her needles and blood sample kit was evident. Ana simply held onto Lucia's hand, reassuring her once again that everything was going to be okay.

"Do you want kids?"

Ana had been gazing idly out the car window as Taylor drove them back to Escala when Christian suddenly asked her that question. She blinked before turning to look back at him, surprised.

"Uh, what?" she asked, though she was sure she had understood what he said.

"I was just thinking about earlier…" Christian said hesitantly. "I saw the way you were acting around Lucia, and how much you were doting on her and stuff. Are kids something you might want to have someday?"

Ana shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose. As long as I have them with you, I'd want kids someday. But that probably won't be for awhile - I mean, I'm not even twenty-two yet."

"I've never thought about being a father," Christian admitted, frowning to himself. "It's never really felt like an option for me. Especially with my past…" he trailed off, not elaborating, although Ana knew what he was trying to say.

"Your past is behind you," she said firmly. "It doesn't have to define you, Christian - like what you were saying earlier in the hospital room, dealing with everything from your past has gotten a lot easier. You already know that you're capable of moving on… and for the record, I think you'd make a great dad someday." she added with a smile.

Christian smiled back at her. "And you'd make an excellent mother, Anastasia Grey."

Ana giggled before rolling her eyes. "Colleen, that social worker woman, thought we were already parents. Isn't that crazy?"

Christian chuckled. "I know - I almost laughed out loud when she said that."

"And then she asked us if we wanted to be foster parents…" Ana shook her head, smiling at the very notion.

"I know. But it sort of makes sense that she asked," Christian said fairly. "We're already helping that little girl out financially, so it wouldn't be a far leap for us to consider taking her in as a foster child."

"That's true," Ana nodded. "But honestly, would you ever consider becoming a foster parent?"

"I don't know," Christian said truthfully. "Would you?"

Ana didn't answer right away - Christian looked at her, and noticed she had her brow furrowed as she thought about her answer. After a moment, she shook her head.

"It's ridiculous," she insisted. "People like us couldn't be foster parents… for one thing, we both work full time jobs at Grey House and Grey Publishing… and Child Services would have to inspect our home, so our playroom is probably going to arouse a lot of suspicion with them…"

Christian nodded, conceding. "That's true," he said, but left it at that.

Neither of them spoke for the rest of the trip home. Christian knew Ana was thinking over the same thing he was - that maybe, despite their reasons against it, becoming foster parents wasn't as crazy a notion as they had previously thought.

~One week later~

"Knock knock," Grace smiled upon entering through the open door of Lucia's hospital room. She was carrying a saran wrapped plate of chocolate chip cookies in her hands.

"Hi Mom," Christian smiled in greeting. He and Ana were sitting next to Lucia's bedside - she was looking much better than from a short week ago. Her pale complexion had more color in it, and her brown eyes looked much brighter.

"Hi Lucia," Grace smiled at the little girl before sitting down in the extra chair at her bedside, putting her plate of cookies on the end table. "She's looking much better than when she first came in."

"I know," Ana smiled proudly. "She's been eating a lot since she's been here, and the doctors said she's responding well to antibiotics."

"That's great," Grace said approvingly. "So what problems did the doctors find?"

"Nothing too serious," Christian said. "The worst thing she had was a urinary tract infection that had apparently been left untreated for months. The doctors noticed she wasn't going to the bathroom at all, and she started flipping out when they tried to put a catheter in her."

Ana grimaced sadly at the memory of that incident from only a few days ago, when Lucia's terrified, pain-filled screams filled the entire hospital floor as the doctors and nurses tried to hold her down. Ana just wanted to pull her into her arms and take the pain away.

"And what about her haphephobia?" Grace inquired. "Are the doctors trying to help her with that?"

"Well, we spoke with the child psychologist here," Christian said, exchanging a glance with Ana. "He said she likely doesn't have haphephobia, at least to the extent that I had it. However, the doctor did say she seems to have an aversion to aggression, more so than a child her age should have."

Grace frowned. "So they do actually think she was abused?"

Ana nodded sadly. "Yeah, it really looks like it."

As hard as it was thinking about an innocent child being abused, it seemed even more difficult to think that that child was Lucia. Christian and Ana had really come to care about her over the past week or so - even though Lucia still couldn't speak, she could still convey a lot through her expressions and gestures. She could nod and shake her head, point to things in the room, and even smile from time to time. It was clear she had grown very attached to Ana and Christian - whenever they came to visit her (which was at least once a day), her eyes would light up excitedly and she would immediately start showing them the toys she was playing with or the food she was eating. It was simply adorable, and Ana and Christian both found themselves enjoying their visits with her more and more as the week progressed.

Lucia really was starting to have quite an effect on their lives.

"Hello," Dr. Singh now walked into the room, smiling at them all. "Hello Dr. Trevelyan."

"Dr. Singh," Grace greeted her with a smile. "How are you?"

"I'm very well, thank you. I just wanted to come in here and tell Christian and Ana the good news about Lucia's condition." Dr. Singh looked down at her chart. "It appears as if her UTI has completely cleared up after one round of the antibiotics, and she should be well enough to be discharged by the end of the day today."

Ana knew she should have been pleased by this news, but she couldn't help but feel a bit sad her and Christian's visits with her were now over. When she glanced over at Christian, his expression mirrored her own.

"Well, that's wonderful news," Grace said sincerely, smiling widely. "I'd hoped she would be healthy enough to be let out of the hospital sometime soon. I actually made her some chocolate chip cookies if she was feeling better - is it alright if she has one?"

"Of course it is," Dr. Singh smiled. "I'm sure that'll be a nice treat compared to all the yucky hospital food she's had to eat."

Ana and Christian laughed as Grace unwrapped her plate of chocolate chip cookies and started passing them around to everyone. They looked delicious, and Lucia immediately perked up when she detected the scent of chocolate under her nose.

"Here you go, Lucia," Grace smiled sweetly down at her as she handed her a cookie, and Lucia took it eagerly.

"Can you say thank you, Lucia?" Ana asked her, knowing she wasn't going to say a word.

There was a brief moment of silence between all of them before Lucia's tiny, subdued voice carried throughout the entire room: "'Dank you."

Everyone froze and stared at her, shocked at what they had just heard.

"Oh my gosh," Ana brought her hand to her mouth.

"Did she just say thank you?" Christian turned to Grace and Dr. Singh, as if wanting them to confirm it for him.

"She did," Grace nodded, smiling widely.

"Sweetheart, can you say that again?" Dr. Singh asked Lucia. "Can you say 'thank you'?"

"'Dank you," she said again, her quiet voice a little stronger than before. She shyly began eating her cookie, aware that all the adults were still looking at her.

Ana turned to Christian with a huge beaming smile on her face, and Christian smiled back. After a week of believing this girl was so traumatized by her abusers that she couldn't even speak, she surprised them all by saying her first words right in front of them. She was finally starting to recover, and there suddenly felt like there was so much more hope for her future.

Ana and Christian continued to look at each other, and it seemed like their silent communication confirmed what they truly wanted to do. What they had been thinking about all week, but had been too nervous to explore any further.

They had finally made their decision.

"Colleen?"

Colleen glanced up from the papers she was looking over at the nurse's station to see Christian and Ana walking toward her.

"Christian - Ana," she greeted them, smiling. "How's Lucia?"

"She's great," Ana smiled, glancing up at Christian. "We, um… we wanted to ask you something."

"Of course."

Christian wrapped his arm around Ana's waist. "Has Lucia been assigned to a foster family yet?"

Colleen thought for a second. "Um… I don't think so. Why?"

Ana and Christian glanced at each other before looking back at her, their expressions torn between anxious and excited. "Because we would like to take her in as a foster child."

Colleen stared at the two of them for a moment before a large smile broke out across her face. "I'll get the paperwork."

A/N: Yay! Hope you all liked that chapter! If you did, please leave a review :)

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