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Chapter 13: Adalay Ramkoff

"This can't be true, Dad."

Christian, Ana, Grace and Carrick had all moved inside the house and into the great room; Ana and Grace were sitting down together on the sofa while Christian paced the area in front of the coffee table, looking distressed. Carrick only stood off to the side, his arms crossed in front of his chest while staring down at the floor.

"I'm afraid it is, Christian," Carrick said solemnly, finally looking back up at his son. "This man is claiming to be Lucia's father - he was apparently romantically involved with her mother a few years ago, and if that's true, in all likelihood he is Lucia's biological father."

Christian stopped in his tracks before squeezing his eyes shut, shaking his head before running his fingers through his hair, tugging at his locks. He was clearly trying not to break down, and Ana quickly stood up and went to his side, placing a comforting hand on his arm. Christian seemed to calm down slightly from her touch, though he still seemed upset.

"Is there any concrete proof that this man is Lucia's biological father?" Ana asked desperately, looking over at Carrick. "Did he take a paternity test?"

"Not yet. He would have to go to court and take one," Carrick said, and Christian and Ana turned to stare at him.

"You mean we don't even know if he's her real father or not?" Ana asked, looking angry. "How do we know he's not just some random guy off the street?"

"He claims he has evidence to prove that Lucia is his daughter," Carrick explained, frowning. "He's willing to present it to a judge... but considering the fact that he even knows about Lucia and is willing to fight for custody of her really makes it seem like he is her father, whether he goes to court or not."

"Well, we can't just leave it up to chance - we need to be absolutely sure," Christian said firmly. "Dad, is it possible to get a court order to make this guy take a paternity test?"

"Yes, actually - you and Ana can file a Motion for Genetic Marker Testing and an affidavit to get him to court and take a test," Carrick explained.

"Yes, let's do that!" Christian insisted, but Carrick still looked forlorn.

"It's not that easy, son," he said, shaking his head. "You guys aren't Lucia's biological parents, so the courts aren't likely to favor you in a parental action suit. Not to mention, in the affidavit you have to explicitly state the reasons why you don't believe this man could be Lucia's father, and there's really no evidence to suggest he isn't."

"Then we'll find evidence!" Christian said firmly, resuming his pace around the great room. "My guys will perform a background check on him and find something to prove he isn't her father or that he's unfit to be her parent…"

"We could try, but paternity is something that's very difficult to prove or deny without an actual test," Carrick explained. "And as for him being an unfit parent… well, that could be even more difficult to prove."

"Carrick," Ana snapped at her father-in-law, and everyone looked at her in surprise. "Are you seriously forgetting the state in which Lucia was found by the authorities only a few months ago?"

No one said anything for a few moments after that, but the expression on Carrick's face was remarkably chastised. It seemed he had almost forgotten.

Ana took a deep breath: "I'm with Christian on this - whoever this man is, we can't let him take Lucia away. We don't know who he is, but considering the fact that he left his supposed daughter out by a dumpster, alone and afraid on the streets of Seattle with no food or clothing, I really don't want to know what else he is capable of. Do you?"

Carrick sighed deeply before giving Ana a small nod. "You're right, Ana. We should find a way to fight this with everything we've got."

"Do you have a file on this guy yet?" Christian asked his father, and Carrick nodded again before walking over to his briefcase sitting on a nearby table. He dug around in there for a second before pulling out a dark brown folder.

"This is just the standard check my firm does on new plaintiffs, but Welch might want to do a more thorough background check on this guy within the next few days," Carrick said, handing the folder to Christian. "His name's Adalay Ramkoff - I'm afraid we don't know much about him other than he's a landlord in the same area Lucia was found and where Elliot was hurt."

Christian opened the file, and a second later, Ana saw his face suddenly go white. His hands gripping the file started to shake as his jaw set, and his angry eyes moved up to meet Ana's.

"I've seen this guy before," he grit out, sounding angrier than Ana had every heard him before. Ana stared at him in shock as Carrick and Grace both gaped at him.

"What?!"

Christian held the file out for them to see; in the top right corner of the front page, there was a profile shot of a middle-aged man with slicked back gray hair and a goatee. "Ana, remember I told you about that guy who started talking to me at the police station?"

Ana stared at him, eyes wide. "Is that him?"

"Wait - who is that man, Christian?" Carrick asked sharply, looking between Christian and the file folder.

"He was a guy I spoke to when you, me, and Elliot went to the police station in the Jungle a couple weeks ago," Christian explained. "He was just sitting in the waiting room and he started talking to me - it was a bit weird, to be honest."

"And what exactly did he say to you?"

Christian began to recount to his parents the conversation he had had with this guy, and as he did, Ana couldn't help but frown to herself in thought. Was it just a coincidence that this man - Adalay Ramkoff as he was apparently called - claimed to be Lucia's biological father? Or was there more to it than that? Ana didn't know, but she couldn't quash the horrible feeling that there was something awful about all of this.

"So you're telling me this man already knew about Lucia when he spoke to you?" Carrick asked when Christian finished, frowning as he started to pace around the room.

"He mentioned he knew a child had been found near where Elliot was attacked, but he didn't indicate that he thought she was his daughter," Christian explained.

"So he later discovered that the child they found was actually his daughter?" Grace asked.

"Maybe. Or maybe he just found out that the child he heard about is under our care," Ana said grimly. Grace, Carrick and Christian all turned to look at her, their eyebrows raised. "Think about it - this Ramkoff guy pretty much knew exactly who Christian was when he talked to him at the police station. It probably didn't take much for him to find out that Christian and I are taking care of Lucia as a foster child, and now he can take advantage of that fact."

"But what's his angle then?" Carrick asked, frowning. "Is he doing this to hurt Christian or blackmail him or something? Why would he do that by by claiming to be the biological father of his foster child?"

"For all we know, he could be Lucia's father," Ana said fairly. "Carrick, you said he claimed to have known Lucia's mother? Maybe that part was actually true."

"Maybe… Christian, did you get a background check on Lucia's mother?" Carrick asked, continuing to pace the floor in thought.

"Not on her mother, no. I only got one on Lucia - since her mother's dead, I didn't see the point."

"Try to get one on the mother," Carrick said firmly. He seemed to have turned into full lawyer mode as he frowned in thought, rubbing his chin as he continued to pace the floor. "We might be able to find out more about Ramkoff if we have a clearer picture on the mother. Christian, do you feel that he threatened you at all when he spoke to you at the police station?"

"Not really," Christian said reluctantly. "He was actually pretty friendly when I spoke to him. Although I couldn't help but feel a bit unnerved by him - not by anything he said, though. It was more of a gut feeling."

Carrick frowned dejectedly before shaking his head. "A gut feeling isn't enough. However, the conditions in which Lucia was found by the bar should be enough evidence for Ramkoff to take a court-ordered paternity test, and if it ends up being positive, we can build a case against him. I just want to find more dirt on this guy if we're going to make sure Lucia doesn't end up under his care."

"I'll get Welch on it right away," Christian nodded, pulling out his cell phone.

Carrick and Christian immediately got to work hashing out this whole situation with Ramkoff - Christian spoke with Welch on the phone about getting background checks on both Ramkoff and Belinda Meekaslav, Lucia's deceased mother, while Carrick called some of the partners at his law firm, hoping to have found some other information on the plaintiff. Grace and Ana didn't know what else to do other than leave the men to it, and they both decided to go into the kitchen to put a little distance between themselves and everything that was going on. It was getting close to noon, so they agreed it was time to get started on lunch.

"Ana, dear - I can take care of that," Grace said kindly as Ana pulled the ingredients of a chicken caesar salad out of the fridge. "Why don't you go upstairs and relax for a bit?"

"No, please Grace… I want to help," Ana said imploringly. She really needed something to distract her from everything that was happening in the other room. Grace seemed to understand, thankfully, and gave her a small, sympathetic smile.

"Well, in that case… you can get started on making the salad, and I'll get started on some garlic herb piccata. How does that sound?"

The two women began to move around the kitchen, gathering the ingredients they needed for their respective dishes. Ana silently began cutting up some lettuce and cucumbers for the salad, but her heart and mind were still in the other room with her husband and father-in-law.

I wish I knew what's going to happen to Lucia.

"...Did something like this ever happen to you when you adopted your children?" Ana suddenly asked after a few minutes of silence. Grace looked over at Ana from the stove, where she was making the piccata pasta, and she smiled kindly.

"Thankfully no," she said after a moment. "But Cary and I always knew it was a possibility. The biological parents of a foster child are always going to be a concern when dealing with adoption, whether you deal with them directly or they crop up unexpectedly like Ramkoff did. You and Christian will be able to handle this, no matter how difficult it may be. I just know you will."

Ana sighed, not feeling very reassured. "I'm afraid how all of this is going to affect Lucia. Christian and I just want her to be safe and happy and loved - how to we know if she will be if Ramkoff gets custody of her?"

Grace gazed at her sympathetically before hesitating a moment or two, as if steeling herself to say something. "I don't know how to answer that, Ana. But… I think it's best if I tell you now dear…" she paused for a second, and Ana stared at her, her brow furrowed in confusion. "You should know that if this situation with Ramkoff escalates any more, Lucia is likely going to be the one to get affected the most. Since she's a ward of the state, the government isn't likely to favor her when it comes to a custody battle."

"What are you saying?" Ana asked, almost afraid to know the answer.

Grace continued to gaze at her sympathetically. "I'm just saying that you shouldn't be surprised if Lucia is going to be taken away by her social worker within the next few weeks because of this complicated situation. Something like that is a very real possibility for a child like her, I'm afraid."

Ana could feel her heart thumping loudly in her ribcage as she stared at Grace - while Ana knew Grace was telling her this in order to prepare her for the worst, the sudden pain she felt in her chest made her fervently wish she didn't have to hear any of that. She didn't want to know that Lucia would get taken away from her and Christian, and she certainly didn't want to know that it was going to happen anytime soon.

Tears began to well up in her eyes, and before she knew it, Ana began to cry mournfully. Grace immediately walked over and pulled her into her arms in a motherly embrace, and Ana simply sobbed into her shoulder, praying to God that this whole situation would go away.

Please don't let them take our daughter away from us.

~2 hours later~

After eating a rather subdued lunch with Grace and Carrick, Christian and Ana made their way back to Escala in silence. Neither of them really had much to say to the other, at least not anything that would make them feel better about this whole situation. There was still so much uncertainty and fear surrounding them right now, with Ramkoff and Lucia's custody and everything, and so silence felt like the only appropriate thing to do.

As they drove along into the Pike Market, Christian finally broke the silence. "I was thinking, once we get back, we should plan a day to take Lucia to the zoo. I think she'd really like to see the elephants there."

Ana looked over at Christian, who was still staring straight ahead as he drove down the street. His face remained impassive, but he shot a quick glance at Ana as he waited for her response.

"You don't have to do that," Ana said quietly, turning to stare back out the passenger side window.

"Do what?"

"Pretend that everything is normal, even though it isn't. What's the point?"

Christian sighed, his impassive face breaking into a sad, tired expression. "Ana... at times like this, being normal with Lucia is the best thing we can do for her right now. We don't know when or if social services will take her away from us. I want to make sure we have at least a few good memories with her in case we don't get to…you know..."

He trailed off, not wanting to finish that sentence, and Ana looked over at him sadly - after a moment, she reached over and took his hand in her own. Christian squeezed her hand back, no words passing between them for several minutes.

"...The zoo sounds like a good idea," Ana said quietly after a bit. Christian didn't say anything in response, though Ana didn't miss the small smile on his face as he continued to drive them through the heart of Seattle toward home.

Finally, Christian pulled the R8 into the parking garage underneath Escala, and once he parked in his usual spot, they both stepped out. They walked toward the elevators leading up to the main building, and once inside the elevator car, Christian punched in the code for the penthouse, and the doors slid shut behind them.

They began to move upward, and before Ana even knew what was happening, Christian had her pressed up against the wall of the elevator, his face inches from her own. His hands went to her waist while her palms automatically moved up to his chest, and in a split second his lips were on hers, kissing her with a fervent passion. Ana kissed him back, unsure of what this was about, and yet also somehow knowing why he was doing this. The feel of his lips against hers, the brush of his tongue, the touch of his skin… it all felt reassuring and comfortable, which was exactly what she needed at this moment.

"...We will be okay," Christian whispered firmly against her lips after a few seconds of their kiss, and he pulled away so he could gaze into her eyes. "No matter what happens… we will be okay."

Ana stared back at him, her heart hammering in her chest while her eyes filled with tears. With all the uncertainty surrounding them regarding this awful situation, she felt like she really needed to hear that.

The elevator finally dinged open at the top level, and Christian stepped away from Ana so they could both walk out into the foyer together.

Almost immediately, they heard a familiar squeal of delight come from the great room, and a beaming Lucia came running happily toward them with a smiling Gail watching from behind.

"Ah da da!" she babbled and giggled incoherently as Christian reached down and scooped her up in his arms.

"Why hello there, Lamb!" he said, smiling down at her as if he didn't have a worry in the world. "Did you miss us?"

"No!" Lucia said, grinning teasingly. Ana and Christian both laughed.

"No?" Ana asked in mock-surprise. Christian passed her over so Ana held her in her arms. "Well, we missed you a whole lot, sweetheart."

Lucia only giggled as she hooked her arms around Ana's neck, holding her close. Ana pulled her in and hugged her tightly back, feeling her heart clench with affection and love for this little girl as she glanced over at Christian.

Love

"We love you, sweetheart," Ana whispered into Lucia's hair. "Please know that... Daddy and I love you very, very much."

And she hoped with all her heart Lucia would remember that no matter what.

A/N: Sorry this was sort of a sad chapter, but I hope you all liked it anyway! A lot of you were able to guess who the man claiming to be Lucia's father was, but I know I was being kind of obvious about it lol.

This chapter may have been a bit of a downer, but it's only the beginning of more drama to come. Please leave a review and tell me what you think so far!

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