A/N: Thank you all so much for your continued love and support! It truly means a lot :) Here's the next chapter for you.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 18: The Happy Ending

Ramkoff clearly wasn't about to leave quietly, but fortunately the bailiff Mr. Lenowitz was much bigger than Ramkoff, and managed to get him out of the room with his hands restrained behind his back. Ana and Christian continued to hug each other tightly as Ramkoff was led out, the attorney Lenna trailing along behind them, and Christian's hand went up to hold the back of Ana's head, as if he was trying to protect her from the scene happening before them by keeping her face against his shoulder. Only when Ramkoff was gone did he finally let go.

Ana immediately lifted her face off of Christian's jacket and turned toward the judge. "Can we go see Lucia now?" she asked quickly, clearly eager to get their child back as soon as possible.

"We have to get everything squared away with social services first, but yes," Judge Connelly said, giving her a kind smile. "You and Mr. Grey can have Lucia back in your custody by the end of the day today at the soonest."

Ana and Christian both beamed at the judge before turning back toward each other, smiling happily. The emotion and overwhelming happiness showed clearly in their eyes, and Christian leaned forward to press his forehead to Ana's, gazing lovingly into her eyes.

"I love you, baby," Christian whispered, and Ana felt a tear or two slip down her cheeks. "Let's go get our daughter back."

Carrick and Judge Connelly spoke with each other for a minute or so about what forms they needed to fill out at the social services facility a few blocks away before he, Christian and Ana gathered up their things and left the room.

"I have to say, that went much better than I had ever expected," Carrick said, not bothering to hide the large smile from spreading across his face as they walked across the foyer toward the elevators. Ramkoff was nowhere in sight. "I mean, I always knew we had a solid case against Ramkoff, but Judge Connelly seemed to smell something fishy about him from the get-go. She absolutely destroyed him towards the end!"

"She really did," Christian grinned approvingly as they stopped in front of the elevators, pressing the button to go down to the main level. "We didn't even have to point out the horrible conditions in which Lucia was found to try to prove our case - it's like the judge instinctively knew Ramkoff was the bad guy in this whole situation."

The elevator doors slid open, and the three of them stepped inside. After a few seconds, the doors opened again on the main floor of city hall, and the spacious foyer was filled with people as it had been only a few hours ago. Carrick, Ana and Christian stepped out of the elevator, and they were halfway toward the front doors when they suddenly heard a young child start to cry.

Lucia

Ana and Christian instinctively whipped their heads toward the sound, and their hearts stopped when they saw that Lucia was still here with the sisters from the children's home. One of the nuns was holding Lucia by her hand, but Lucia had spotted Christian and Ana, and was tugging fruitlessly to get free while crying loudly for them.

"Mama!" she cried, reaching out for them as her tiny tear-streaked face contorted in anguish. "Dada!"

It was instinctive - Ana and Christian immediately bolted toward Lucia, and the nun finally let go of her hand so she began running toward them too. Christian was a bit faster than Ana, and in a moment, he was on his knees in front of Lucia and wrapped his arms around her protectively, holding her tightly against his chest.

"Oh Lamb," Christian shushed soothingly as she cried into his suit, and he pressed his lips against her hair as relief and happiness overtook his thoughts. He felt Ana kneel down beside him, and he quickly slipped one arm off of Lucia so he could pull Ana into their embrace; she immediately wrapped her arms around them both tightly, tears streaming down her beautiful face.

"We're so sorry, sweetheart," Ana said tearfully, kissing the top of Lucia's head. "We promise to never leave you ever again… we promise…"

The three of them continued to hold each other on the floor of city hall, crying freely - none of them seemed to care that passer-by were stopping and staring at their little reunion. Christian, Ana and Lucia all continued to hold each other, not letting the Adalay Ramkoffs or the Elena Lincolns of the world get to them anymore. They were all exactly where they were supposed to be.

And for the first time in a long time, everything truly felt like it was going to be okay.

~5 weeks later~

The first snowfall of winter happened overnight, and this Sunday morning in mid-December dawned sunny and cold in Seattle, with several inches of fresh snow coating everything like a fluffy white blanket. Ana woke up that morning to see the beautiful winter landscape outside her and Christian's floor-to-ceiling bedroom window, and she couldn't help but smile. She felt refreshed this beautiful snowy morning, and she immediately got out of bed and got ready for the day, eager for what she, Christian and Lucia were going to go do later.

So much had seemed to happen over the last few weeks, Ana almost couldn't keep track of it all in her head. After their deposition at city hall and their emotional reunion with Lucia, Ana and Christian were able to take her back home for the first time in weeks. Her bedroom and all of her things were still there (neither Ana nor Christian had had the heart to get rid of any of it when she was gone), and Lucia seemed absolutely delighted to be back. She didn't seem at all upset at Ana and Christian for supposedly leaving her for several weeks, and while she wasn't necessarily mistreated at the children's home, the people there definitely didn't give her the love and affection she had been so accustomed to when staying at Escala. As far as she was concerned, Ana and Christian were her parents, and Lucia would always forgive them no matter what happened to her.

And then there was Ramkoff… Ana and Christian weren't foolish enough to think he was going to honor the restraining order when he was so clearly angry after he had lost the case for Lucia's custody. In the days following their deposition, Christian had amped up security and made sure Ramkoff was being closely watched, just in case he would try to harm Lucia in any way. Strangely enough, however, Ramkoff seemed to honor the judge's order to stay away from them - Christian and Ana still felt a bit nervous about this, since Ramkoff could be rather conniving, and he may have just been biding his time before he got his revenge. However, Christian and Ana were very surprised to learn Ramkoff had actually moved away from Seattle a couple weeks ago. Taylor had gone into his apartment complex one day to find everything in his place was cleared out except for a hand-written letter sitting on his kitchen table addressed to Christian.

The letter stated that he, Ramkoff, had decided there was nothing left for him in Seattle anymore, and that he and a woman he was dating had decided to move out to Nevada together for a fresh start. He also had the audacity to admit that he honestly had no idea whether or not Lucia was actually his biological daughter, but he still insisted her mother Belinda loved him and would have wanted him to be her guardian, despite what the judge had said. He called Christian a lot of rude names that were very scathing, but Ana and Christian hardly cared at this point - they just wanted to know if it was true Ramkoff had actually left the state. When it turned out it was actually true, it was like a huge weight had lifted off Ana and Christian's shoulders. Ramkoff would no longer be a problem for them, and they could breathe easy now.

Elena Lincoln was a bit of a different story, however - as soon as Christian and Ana had gotten custody of Lucia, they immediately sued Elena for breaking the statutes of her NDA when she willingly told Ramkoff about Christian's past BDSM lifestyle and his dismantled playroom. They sued her for all the money she had left (which wasn't much), but Carrick told them they should expect Elena's lawyer to litigate. That wasn't what ended up happening, however - after Elena had found out Christian was suing her, she was absolutely devastated. She knew she couldn't afford a decent lawyer to fight her case, so she tried drinking her problems away - the result was her getting behind the wheel of her car, drunk as shit, and crashing into a tree, resulting in her Lexus being totaled and her right leg and ribcage getting severely broken.

Elena was in the hospital for weeks, and Noel, her sister, came to Seattle as soon as she found out what had happened. While Noel and Elena's relationship had always been strained at best, when she realized her sister was apparently struggling with alcoholism, Noel agreed to take Elena back home to Spokane with her in order to let her heal and get some help for her addiction. Christian promised to drop the suit against Elena if she agreed to leave Seattle forever with her sister and promise never to come back, and Elena reluctantly agreed. She was eventually discharged from the hospital, and, true to her word, left with her sister and was out of Christian, Ana, and Lucia's lives forever. Good fucking riddance.

Ana now finally finished up getting ready for the day, having put on a simple cable-knit sweater and bootcut jeans - she stepped out of her bedroom and went in search of her husband and daughter, whom she knew were somewhere in the apartment. It wasn't unusual for her to wake up for the day to find that Christian and Lucia were both already up, either grabbing an early breakfast or else learning a new song together on the piano. It was all very cute, and Ana absolutely loved seeing Christian's obvious joy at having Lucia back in their lives.

Ana now walked over to Lucia's bedroom, and paused outside the half-open door when she heard voices coming from inside. Peeking in, she could just make out Lucia sitting at her small, child-sized vanity while brushing the mane of her plastic My Little Pony doll. Kneeling behind her was Christian, who was combing her hair into a braid while talking to her:

"One more time, Lamb, and then we have to go find Mommy so we can go over to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Okay?" he said, dividing her dark hair into three sections.

"Okay," Lucia agreed.

"Ready?" he asked. "One… two…"

Christian began to sing, and Lucia sang along with him, her tiny little girl voice contrasting sharply with Christian's baritone one, but it was such an adorable sound Ana couldn't fight the huge smile from spreading across her face. As she listened she could recognize the lyrics to the classic Muppets Movie song "The Rainbow Connection":

Why are there so many
Songs about rainbows,
And what's on the other side?

Well rainbows are visions
But only illusions
And rainbows have nothing to hide.

Christian was singing slowly enough so Lucia could follow along, but it didn't seem to matter since Lucia obviously didn't know the lyrics. She was able to follow the melody pretty well, though, as she continued to studiously brush her pony's purple mane and sing along with her dad, who expertly braided her hair:

So we've been told
And some choose to believe it.
I know they're wrong
Wait and see…

Someday we'll find it,
The Rainbow Connection
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

Ana opened the door a little wider, and she listened to their performance while leaning against the doorframe, her arms crossed in front of her as she smiled at the adorable scene before her. Christian finished up Lucia's hair just as their song ended, tying it at the base, and Ana finally decided to make her presence known.

"That was beautiful, guys."

Christian and Lucia both looked up and smiled when they noticed Ana standing there. Lucia jumped to her feet and ran over to her, giggling happily, while Christian got up from his kneeling position, a rather embarrassed smile on his handsome face. Ana couldn't fight her grin as she hugged Lucia good morning and then allowed her to run off and find Gail so she could have her breakfast.

Once Lucia was gone, Ana turned back to her husband, who had ambled toward her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Ana's arms immediately went up to go around his neck, and she smiled up at him, fiddling with his hair at the nape of his neck.

"That was quite the performance," Ana said teasingly, her smile infectious. Christian smiled back before chuckling a little.

"So did you want to head over to my parents' soon?" he asked, changing the subject. Clearly in an attempt to distract her, he leaned forward and kissed her tenderly on the forehead, and Ana decided to drop the matter.

"I was thinking in about an hour we could go," Ana said. "We should eat breakfast first, and then I wanted to call up the moving company we hired so we can finally set a date for our move."

Christian nodded. "That's a good idea - I feel like we should get it done sooner rather than later. I wish we didn't have to move in the dead of winter, but I suppose we don't have much of a choice in the matter."

"The weather forecast is going to be a bit clearer next week, so we could try around then. Does that sound good?"

Christian smiled back. "That sounds perfect, baby," he leaned forward and kissed her sweetly on the lips. After a moment he pulled back, gazing deep into her eyes. "I can't wait to move into our new home with you, Mrs. Grey."

Ana brushed her nose up against his. "Don't forget about Lucia," she reminded him, grinning.

Right on cue, Lucia's happy laughter sounded from the kitchen, and Christian smiled when he heard it. "Of course," he agreed, contentment filling his handsome features.

Ana smiled up at him before bringing her arms down and lacing her fingers with his, tugging him out of the bedroom toward the kitchen where Lucia was. Christian allowed her to pull him along, still smiling from ear to ear.

My girls.

Life had never seemed so good.

About an hour later, Christian, Ana and Lucia had all piled into the backseat of the black Audi SUV, and Taylor drove them through Seattle toward the Grey Estate in Bellevue. Ever since the trial and all the crazy aftermath involving Ramkoff and Elena leaving town, Christian and Ana hadn't really had a chance to visit with Grace and Carrick. There was so much they wanted to catch them up on, and Christian was honestly looking forward to telling them all about it today.

He and Ana had finally been able to begin the adoption process with Lucia, much to their relief. Child Services had initially been hesitant to begin it, since Lucia likely had other biological relatives elsewhere who would automatically get custody of her. Thankfully, however, nobody came forward, and Christian and Ana were finally free to start the adoption proceedings. Hopefully, by this time next year, Lucia would officially be theirs.

Only to add to their happiness, Elliot's construction crew finally finished remodeling their new house on the Sound. Christian and Ana had visited it a few times already, and the last time they went they brought along Lucia. They could tell Lucia was already going to feel right at home here - she got very excited when they showed her her bedroom and the spacious conservatory where the piano was meant to go. The massive yard leading out to the meadow was probably her favorite, however - she skipped around and played amongst the trees and tall grass like she was the happiest child in the world, and Christian and Ana felt like this place was already home sweet home.

Lucia now sat in her car seat in between Ana and Christian, playing quite happily with her stuffed elephant which she had recently started calling 'Bobo' for some reason. She was dressed adorably today in a navy blue cashmere sweater, a white patterned skirt with black tights and Mary Jane shoes. Her white winter coat was set off to the side due to how warm the car was.

Ana sat on the other side of Lucia, gazing out the car window at all the Bellevue houses they passed by. There was something about her demeanor that made Christian a bit concerned, however.

"Are you alright?" he asked after a moment.

Ana didn't say anything - she finally pulled her eyes away from the window and blinked a couple times, as if in a daze. She looked as if she just realized something.

"Ana?" Christian asked, a bit worried.

"…Do you remember when he went trick-or-treating with Lucia around this area?" she asked, not looking up at him. Christian continued to stare at her, confused.

"Um, yeah?"

Ana finally looked up at him. "Do you remember that one woman we spoke to? We went to her door and she assumed Lucia was our daughter, but we told her she was only our foster child."

Christian nodded, remembering what she was talking about, but then stopped, the realization of why she was bringing that up hitting him with a sudden clarity.

That woman… holy shit, how had he not realized it before?

"Oh my God," he muttered, blinking in realization. "That was…?"

"Yeah," Ana whispered, still looking a bit in shock. She shook her head. "I mean, I knew she looked sort of familiar to me at the deposition… but I just couldn't figure out where I had seen her before."

"It must've been the glasses," Christian said, still feeling a bit shocked. "She wasn't wearing any when we first met her. God…" he shook his head, letting out an involuntary chuckle. "What a weird coincidence. Do you think she remembered us at all?"

Ana didn't answer - she gazed down at Lucia, who was still keeping herself entertained with her little plushy elephant. After a few seconds of thoughtful silence, a faint smile crossed Ana's lips.

"You know, I think she did," she said quietly, almost sounding surprised at herself for saying that. Christian knew she was thinking over everything - about what the odds were of having that woman be their judge in that deposition, and about possibly having her, a stranger, be on their side this entire time, rooting for them to keep Lucia under their care. Maybe that one chance encounter on Halloween had changed everything for them.

Or maybe guardian angels do exist after all.

"Then I'm glad she did," Christian said quietly, his voice sincere, and Ana glanced back up at him. She smiled, and he smiled back.

"Me too."

Taylor finally pulled into the driveway of the Grey Estate, meaning it was time to go. Christian and Ana unbuckled their seatbelts, and waited for Taylor to come to a complete stop before unbuckling Lucia.

"You ready, Lamb?" Christian asked, picking her up out of her carseat and sliding out of the SUV. Lucia responded by wrapping her little arms around Christian's neck, hugging him tightly, and Christian smiled, holding her close.

He knew he was ready. He was ready to spend the rest of his life loving this little girl, and he was ready to experience the joys of parenthood with his beautiful wife by his side. He never thought he would ever be ready to do any of these things, but this past year of his life had turned his preconceived notions about love completely upside down, first with meeting the love of his life, and then adopting a child with her. It seemed so strange just thinking about it all, and yet it felt so completely perfect.

Christian had never been more ready to begin the rest of his life with his new family.

A/N: Thank you all so much for reading my story! It is officially finished, but I'm going to be posting an epilogue to it later next week - it won't have much to do with the events in this story, but if you're curious to see Lucia all grown up, feel free to read it :)

P.S. - I know I said Teddy and Phoebe weren't going to be in this story at all. I lied ;)

See you next chapter (hopefully)!

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