A/N: I don't own Harry Potter, and don't forget to review! I will love you all forever! lol

Compassion and Caring

Over the next month, Lily went into work early every day and left late. Every day, she was the one who took care of Lindsay Ellis. And over that month, Lily had developed a special bond with the girl that had far surpassed the normal Healer/patient relationship. Lindsay had awoken a week after the attack, but still would not - or could not - talk.

Until...

Lily was half way through her shift when Simone had just come in. Lily, who was trying to get Lindsay to talk, hadn't noticed until Simone spoke.

"Is this all your going to do?"

Lily took a deep breath before standing and raising to her full height. Lindsay looked up at her care-giver with mild interest, as though curious as to what Lily would say or do next.

"Marlene told me to take care of Lindsay. If you have a problem with it, take it up with her," said Lily barely above a whisper, though Simone caught every word.

After glaring at each other, Simone said, "Oh trust me, I will," before turning on her heel and stomping out of the room.

Lily sat down next to Lindsay and rubbed her temples, taking deep breaths.

"Who was that?" Lindsay asked.

"That was Sim-" Then Lily realized that Lindsay had just spoken. She looked at the five year old in shock and amazement. But Lily kept talking, hoping Lindsay would not revert back to silence.

"That was Simone. She's also a Healer in training."

"She doesn't seem very nice."

Lily smiled. "No, she isn't."

"She's not going to take care of me, is she?" Lindsay sounded almost worried.

Lily leaned closer to Lindsay and said, "Not if I can help it," with a small wink.

Without warning, Lindsay threw her arms around Lily in a grateful hug. Lily's heart couldn't help but go out to this orphan. Lily rubbed the girl's back, trying to fight back tears.

"Are you hungry?" asked Lily once Lindsay had pulled away from her.

"Yeah,"

"What do you want to eat?"

Lindsay looked thoughtful for a moment before widely smiling and replying, "Grilled cheese!"

"Okay, I'll see what I can do," said Lily before leaving the room.

Her first thought was to find Marlene. After about ten minutes of searching, Lily found her talking with another Healer on the third floor. Lily nearly ran to Marlene.

"What's the matter, Lily?" asked Marlene, sounding slightly concerned.

"Nothing," Lily panted, "Lindsay is talking. I mean really talking, like nothing happened."

"What did she say?" Marlene sounded thrilled.

"Well..." Lily began as smile crept on her face. "She asked who Simone was and said she wasn't very nice. And she wants a grilled cheese sandwich to eat."

"This is fantastic, Lily! I don't know what you've been doing but keep it up. Go head and give her what she wants to eat and I'll be up there in bit." Lily turned to go, but Marlene pulled her back. "And I spoke to Simone," she began in a much lower voice than before, "and I basically told her to fuck off, but in a much nicer way. I know that you two don't exactly get along, but don't worry about it."

"Thanks,"

"Don't mention it,"

With a grateful smile, Lily went back to the fourth floor, conjured a grilled cheese and glass of milk for Lindsay, and went back into her room. Lindsay smiled when she saw Lily and sat up in her bed. Lily placed the tray over Lindsay's thighs and sat next to the bed as Lindsay started to eat.

She ate her meal in silence, occasionally glancing out of the window or at Lily. Once finished, Lily magically got rid of the tray and was about to say something when Lindsay said, "My Mummy and Daddy are gone, aren't they?" She was looking up at Lily with her light blue eyes glazed with tears.

Lily took a deep breath, once again fighting back tears, and sat next to Lindsay on her bed. She took Lindsay's small hands in hers and gently said, "Honey,...your mum and dad died...Do you understand?"

Lindsay nodded her head sadly as a tear slid down her face. "Mum said that my granddad died last year."

Now it was Lily's turn to nod. "It's the same thing."

"Are they in heaven?"

She couldn't stop herself any longer. Lily held her arms open and Lindsay crawled onto her lap. Lily slowly cradled her in her arms as she rocked back and forth as her own tears fell. "Yes, they are,"

000

As soon as Lily walked into her apartment later than night, she immediately headed for the bathroom. It was nearly ten. Usually, she wouldn't have stayed so long, but she knew James had to work late tonight. She drew herself a hot bath, filled it with plenty of bubble bath, walked down the hall, throwing her clothes off as she went, opened the linen's closet, wrapped a big blue towel around her now naked body, went back to her bathroom, and shut the door. She put the towel down and slid into her steamy bubble bath, leaning her head against the wall and closing her eyes.

The events of the day seemed to wash over her when she realized something. She was getting emotionally attached to Lindsay. Was she caring to much, was she being to compassionate? That had been the whole reason that she'd been interested in Healing. Her father had always told her that she was a caring person and should put it to good use. Even by just growing up with her dad, Dr. Harold Evans, she had wanted to be a doctor; her childhood dream. And not much had changed - after all, a Healer was just a different name.

But now her loving, compassionate personality was coming back to bite her in the ass.

She wanted to care for Lindsay, and maybe a lot of it had to do with the fact that their was no one else to care of her. Hell, to be perfectly honest, she would probably take Lindsay home with her - she and James did have an extra bedroom. But she knew that she couldn't do that. Would Lindsay be sent to a Wizarding orphanage? Is there such a thing? She'd probably end up in one of those dirty orphanages that Muggle authors write about.

Just then, she heard someone walking down the hall, getting closer; more than likely James. But even if it wasn't, she was to worn out to move. Not that they could see anything, with all bubbles.

"You alright, Babe?"

Lily opened her eyes to see James leaning on the door frame, a concerned looked on his face.

"I have just had one of the best and worst days of my life." she replied sadly.

"What's happened?" he asked as he walked in and sat on the edge of the tub. She gave her husband the highs and lows of the day.

"So how much longer can you keep her in the hospital? It sounds like she's alright physically."

Lily sighed. "I don't know. Eventually, she'll have to go to an orphanage, unless they can find someone to adopt her before she's released, but I doubt that."

They were both silent for a few moments before James said, "You really care about her, don't you,"

She nodded, staring at the wall in front of her.

"I'm the only one she'll speak to," said Lily, finally looking at James again. "Marlene came in later, and she wouldn't talk to her. I feel like...like she's my responsibility, and I don't just mean because I'm taking care of her at the hospital. I almost wish that I wasn't so...so caring."

"That's one of the reasons why I love you so much. Maybe that's why she trusts you so much, because your so caring." His words were one of the few things that made her smile that day, which made him smile too.

"And how was your day?"

"Nothing special, but Sirius did tell me something that I'm sure is going to brighten your day,"

"What?"

"Sirius is getting bored with Simone."

"Really?" Lily almost sounded hopeful.

"He never said it, but I can tell. But, knowing him, he'll wait until she starts bitching about something, then blow it out of proportion and dump her,"

"I almost feel sorry for her...almost." she laughed.

"You know, you're gonna turn into a prune if you don't get out soon." James said, still smiling.

Lily laughed and stood up as James wrapped the towel around her and pulled her into his arms.

"I'm just going to get you soaking wet," she said, but she still didn't move out of his embrace.

"I don't care," he replied before he kissed the top of her wet red hair.

000

The next night, a Saturday, was a February's full moon, so James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter headed deep into a secluded forest, just as they had every full moon since leaving Hogwarts. This, of course, left Lily able to get Alice, Dorcas, and Elizabeth over for a good old fashion girls' night in. Lily's three best friends had just arrived, and were standing around the kitchen, waiting for their popcorn to finish popping, when they heard a knock at the door.

Lily, with a slightly confused look on her face, went to answer the door, and the other girls followed. But, seeing as they were in the middle of a war, and Lily was not a idiot, she looked through the peep whole first.

"Oh, shit," she murmured.

"Who is it?" asked Alice, her wand in her hand.

"Simone," Lily replied, and, as if on cue, her friends rolled their eyes and Elizabeth said, "Oh, wonderful," her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Lily opened the door. "Yes, Simone?"

Simone let herself in and said, "I'm looking for Sirius," as her eyes scanned the apartment. From the tone of her voice, it was obvious that Sirius didn't tell her where he was going, even though nearly everyone else in the room did. They all knew that Remus was a werewolf, but only Lily and Elizabeth knew that the other three Animagi.

"He's not here," said Lily as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. But she was frantically trying to think of an excuse, not only for Sirius, but for his friends - including her husband.

"Then where is he?"

"They're out" Elizabeth answered.

"But where?"

"Simone," Lily began, sounding overly patient, "If I knew, I would tell you, but the guys decided they were goin' out tonight, and, considering we're talking about James and Sirius leading, there's no telling where they'll end up."

"Which basically means they'll be bar-hopping tonight" Elizabeth intervened.

"You mean to tell me," said Simone, full of disbelief, "that you two trust James and Remus enough to let them do that when they have been known to cause mischief, for lack of a better word?"

Lily and Elizabeth glanced at each other briefly before the former answered, "Yes, I trust my husband completely."

And with one final glare at Lily, Simone stormed out of the apartment.

"So, does anyone wanna take bets on how much longer they'll last?" laughed Dorcas.

"Two weeks," said Elizabeth.

"One week," said Alice.

"Tomorrow night," said Lily as they all burst in to a fit of laughing as they made their way back to the kitchen.

"So Lils, what's up?" asked Alice, her tone suddenly serious.

"Whatdoyamean?" Lily said quickly.

"Something up, you seem kinda upset lately," said Dorcas. "Is something going on with you and James?"

"Oh, no...it's just...well..." she went on to tell them about Lindsay Ellis, how she was becoming attached to her, and her conversation with James last night. "What should I do?"

"First of all, James is right: there is nothing wrong with caring about Lindsay." said Elizabeth kindly.

"All you can do," added Dorcas, "is take care of her the best you can."

Lily nodded but stopped when noticed that Alice was in deep thought.

"What do you think, Alice?" asked Lily.

"Oh, nothing...just, nothing"

"Out with, Alice,"

"It's just...well, you said that you cared a great deal about Lindsay,"

"Yeah..."

"And that you would probably take her home if you could..."

"Yeah..."

"Well...why can't you?" they other girls looked at Alice oddly, so she continued, "You and James could be her foster family, er, hell, just adopt her."

"I couldn't do that," Lily quickly dismissed.

"And why not?" asked Elizabeth.

"Well, for one, I doubt James would want to adopt her...and I don't blame him; we've only been married a few months. And I doubt the Ministry or who ever deals with wizarding adoption would let two eighteen year olds - who, by the way, are deeply involved in the war - even adopt her, anyway."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to ask James and the Ministry," said Dorcas quietly as the other two nodded.

Lily fell silent as she sipped her wine. They're right...it couldn't hurt to ask...