Anna Charles

**Anna Charles** is the daughter of Daniel Charles and his second ex-wife, Susan Charles. She is portrayed by Hannah Riley.

## Biography

Anna is Robin Charles' paternal half-sister. After her mother's divorce from Daniel, they moved to Milwaukee. When they return in Season 5, she is 13 years old and dealing with typical teenage girl issues.

## Season 5

### The Ghosts of the Past

Daniel is called to his ex-wife Susan's house, where she admonishes him for spending barely any time with his daughter after their return from Milwaukee a year ago. Anna has been suspended from school for vaping, and Daniel takes her to work with him, pretending it is "father-daughter day." Daniel puts her in his office and instructs her to do her homework. When he returns he finds that she has gone through his desk and has found a bottle of alcohol, which he claims was a gift. He gives her an angry lecture about vaping.

Later on, Anna starts wandering around the hospital and is confronted with the realities of the ED. While Daniel comforts her, she expresses her anger and sadness about him seemingly having forgotten about her. Daniel tells her he loves her and promises to do better, apologizing for losing sight of her due to CeCe's illness.

### A Needle in the Heart

When her class goes on a field trip to a science museum, Anna comes into work with her father, claiming she will learn more about science at the hospital, and wants to volunteer. She is assigned to the pediatrics department, but soon gets kicked out because she spends too much time on her phone. She goes to volunteer in the ED waiting room instead, where she is caught on her phone again. When Daniel threatens to send her to the science museum, she reveals she didn't want to go because she was mocked for being publicly rejected by a boy. Daniel relates a similar story from his high school years, explaining that everyone has different ways of dealing with things, but that running away from problems is not the solution, and that life is always going to have its ups and downs.

## Season 6

### When Did We Begin to Change

Her relationship with her father continues to be strained, as she feels guilty for possibly infecting him with COVID-19, which she likely contracted by going out with friends during the pandemic. Daniel later went to see her and Anna rants that she did not mean to infect him while begging to be yelled at though Daniel wasn't angry but she continued. After finishing her rant, she apologizes to him before asking to be forgiven. Daniel does forgive her but wishes he had been more open about telling her that he doesn't blame her.

### Those Things Hidden in Plain Sight

Anna calls her father to her mother Susie's house, saying it's an emergency. Susie is having stomach pain, which she initially plays down, but Daniel has her taken to *Med* when she coughs up blood. While her mother is being treated for a stomach ulcer, Anna reveals to Daniel that her mother is planning on moving them to Arizona. Shocked, Daniel promises to speak with her mother about the issue after she recovers.

### When Your Heart Rules Your Head

Anna comes to Dr. Manning seeking birth control after Anna and her boyfriend decide they are ready to be sexually active. Dr. Manning agrees to discreetly help her and orders labs to determine her eligibility. After running labs, she discovers Anna is pregnant after previously having sex once with her boyfriend. Manning tells Anna about this news, shocking her. Anna tells Manning not to inform her parents of this because she is having a hard time. At the end, Anna meets with her father and wants to talk to him presumably to reveal her pregnancy. However she sees a child lawyer come up to speak with her father who promptly sends him off. Realizing it was not the best time, Anna told her father to forget what she was talking about and he offers to take her home which she gladly accepts.

### Don't Want to Face This Now

It is mentioned that Anna is skipping some of her classes online and goes to hang out with her friends. Dr. Charles ends up finding one of her pregnancy pamphlets and is able to put two and two together. Anna was walking somewhere when her father pulled up and had her get in the car. Dr. Charles reveals to her that he is aware of her pregnancy, to her dismay. Dr. Charles asked her if anyone was pressuring her to have sex but Anna denies this and reveals to her father that she was trying to be safe with her boyfriend. Anna also reveals that she had to see her boyfriend behind her mother's back because she was not allowing her to do much since the pandemic. She also tells him that she tried to inform him of the pregnancy before his lawyer showed up. She soon lashes out at him for being too busy arguing with her mother to never acknowledge her, before storming out of the car. At the end of the episode, Dr. Charles comes home with pineapple pizza to give Anna but she reveals that she is bleeding. Worried, Dr. Charles immediately gets his daughter to the hospital and Natalie reveals it was a chemical pregnancy and she lost the baby because of it. After Natalie leaves, Dr. Charles tells Anna that she was right in their argument but he confirms that no matter what he does love her just like her mother does. Although Anna is sad about losing the baby, she take solace in knowing that her father was there for her when she needed him the most and they hug. She asked her father if they need to tell her mother but Dr. Charles tells her they can wait to do so.

### Fathers and Mothers, Daughters and Sons

Anna has her father sign her science test in which she had earned a D, to his disappointment. Anna proceeds to tell him that she did not inform her mother because she might punish her. She then proceeds to hurry out to catch an Uber.

Daniel later revealed that Susan won the custody battle and was preparing to move her and Anna to Arizona. During a Zoom conversation with Daniel, Anna rants to her father on how she does not want to leave Chicago and he believes it might because of her life with her friends while assuring her. However, Anna tells him that the real reason why she is upset is because she does not want to leave him. She explains to her surprised father she does not want to leave him because he understands her the most. As he tries to talk, Maggie comes in and she tells him that she knows he's working and will talk later, despite his protests. Daniel later revealed to Susan about the chemical pregnancy, something that left her distraught. At the end of the episode, her mother felt they disconnected and dropped her off to Daniel because he had a better understanding of her.

### Some Things Are Worth the Risk

Anna was grounded for sneaking out and forced to go to her father's job. However, she is uncomfortable when seeing Ramona Davis, a patient obsessed with her father, but is pleasant in addressing her. After she leaves, Anna comments to Daniel on her weirdness.

Soon she needed to connect to the hospital Wi-Fi for her school assignment and asked the staff to get her father, so he could do it. After he does, he states she could have gone to anyone else on staff because he was getting somewhere with Ramona (who poisoned herself to meet Daniel), but Ramona slipped away. When Daniel told her it was time to go, Anna felt guilt that she indirectly caused her to escape and apologized for her actions, as her father tried to calm her. Anna bets that he regretted keeping her around because all she does is bring him misfortune. Daniel told her that he never felt that way and was happy to have her with him. Seeing he is being sincere; she hugs him and cries in his arms.

## Season 8

Anna is looking at colleges and Daniel expresses the hope that she will choose to stay close to Chicago.

## Notes and Trivia

* In season 2, she was portrayed by Scarlett Wand.
* During A Needle in the Heart, she volunteers at the hospital, but it is very unlikely that a hospital would let a minor volunteer due to liability reasons.
* It was mentioned in season six that she has overcome COVID-19.
* It is unknown what type of relationship she has with her half-sister and grandmother.

## Appearances

 It's All in the Family
 The Ground Shifts Beneath Us
 Who Should Be the Judge

 Letting Go Only to Come Together
 I Will Come to Save You