So, I want to explain this story a bit. To start, this idea hit me right before April's Camp NaNoWriMo started. I was so inspired that I changed my project to this at the last minute. I've considered this to be an AU. It starts with the garden scene, but it goes differently than it does in the movie. Since a lot of the movie focused on Annie and Grace's relationship before shifting to Oliver and Annie, I wanted to explore that side more (before Oliver came fully into the picture).

In this story, you will see some of the same and/or similar scenes that are in the movie as well as some new ones. It will end around the same place the movie does, but you will see months go by before then. I might make other notes as the story goes on, otherwise I'll end up giving too much away!

My plan is to update every Saturday since the story is more or less finished. Depending on how quickly I get the chapters edited, I may start uploading twice a week. Not quite sure yet.

I was very apprehensive about posting this story... but I was greatly encouraged. Thank you NikitaKaralis and Silvermissstt for all of your help, beta reading, support, and encouragement. This story wouldn't be up here without you!

"That was a wonderful evening you gave her last night, sir; just wonderful."

Grace was beaming. Deep down, she had always known that her boss had a good heart. Last night started proving her theory true. 'The' Oliver Warbucks took a night off of work to take a little orphan to the movies. True, Annie had laid subtle guilt on him, but he went nonetheless.

He had been so careful with her. When he saw that she had fallen asleep, he carried her all the way home. Even in the car he held her on his lap. With Grace's guidance, he also helped her to bed. The look in his eyes did not go unnoticed by his secretary. It was a look of admiration. She figured it had been prompted by the peaceful appearance of the little girl as she slept.

With the events of the night before, Grace found the courage to let her hair down in the morning. Annie's words 'a man don't look at your brains' rang in her ears. Perhaps she had a point. Oliver never seemed to give her a second look even after nearly 10 years of employment. She had always been too shy to dress unprofessionally, especially since she had been pining for him almost as long as she had worked. That's not to say that her shyness completely disappeared overnight. After all, this was just one out of character event.

Instead of piling her hair on top of her head, she chose to clip it down to her shoulders. It was a start at least. Along with this, she wore a rather daring dress — by her usual standard anyway. Tossing her usual array of business suits aside, she chose to wear a light yellow sun dress. Where or when she bought it she couldn't remember. No matter; it would work for now. Looking her best today would help with the favor she had to ask of him.

"I'm going to have to close the factory in Pittsburgh, Miss Farrell." Oliver grumbled.

For whatever reason, his tone came across as a shock. Nonetheless, Grace didn't let it faze her as she pressed on. "About Annie..."

"What about Annie?"

"Could we keep her?"

Oliver looked up at her in shock. Did she really just ask to let Annie stay? She knew very well that the invitation was only for a week.

Despite his reaction, she continued. "You haven't seen that horrible orphanage. I can't bear to send her back there, I can't."

Finally speaking, he reacted, "Get a hold of yourself, Miss Farrell. What's come over you?"

"She wouldn't be a bother, I'd take care of her." She promised. "You have plenty of room here, the staff adores her — we could take her on as... well as, as your ward, couldn't we?"

"Absolutely not," he huffed. "I'm a businessman. I love money, I love power, I love capitalism. I do not now and never will love children."

Her heart sunk. Somehow, she hadn't expected him to speak so harshly... not after how gentle he appeared still only hours before. Tears jumped to her eyes. She turned away, not wanting to look like a fool in front of her employer. With a shaky voice, she eventually replied, "Watching you with her last night I thought maybe..." she turned her head back to him only to see his face in a grimace. "Never mind," she concluded, and then started walking back towards the house.

Oliver watched her. He knew that she was crying — and maybe he felt a tiny bit sorry for her — but looking back at his ticker tape, he knew that he was making the right decision. Enough time had already been lost since Annie's arrival. While he would now admit that the child wasn't as bad as he expected, he couldn't imagine her staying permanently. There was far too much work to be done.

. . .

How could she have been so foolish? That was the thought going over and over in Grace's mind as she solemnly made her way to her suite. How could she have let an illusion from a single isolated event make her think that he had changed for good? Of course he'd never agree to take Annie in permanently.

When she arrived to her rooms, she took a good look at herself in the mirror. Now she was feeling even more foolish. Did she really dress up like this for him? If there was one thing he'd never do along with taking in an orphan, it would be falling in love with his secretary. He could have any woman in the world; certainly she wouldn't be his first choice. With a swoop to her closet, she pulled out one of her business suits and quickly changed. Then sitting down at her vanity, she began styling her hair in its usual up-do.

. . .

After breakfast (and after Grace regrouped), it was time to get to work. Oliver desperately hoped what was mentioned in the garden would be forgotten and that things would go on as normal.

No such luck.

While she hadn't mentioned anything at breakfast, Grace was acting quite strange. There was a distance in her eyes. She was slow and distracted, and sometimes it would take quite a few calls of her name to get her attention.

"I'm sorry, sir," she finally said after the fourth round of Oliver trying to catch her ear. "It's just that it's Annie's last day here... I know I shouldn't let it distract me. I apologize."

Taking a minute before responding, Oliver weighed out his options. One, he could go through to lunch (and then after) with an unfocused secretary slowing things down, or two, he could give the woman the day off. While he didn't want to 'reward' her slack, he did have enough understanding to see that she and Annie had become close. Since he wasn't going to let the child stay, he figured he had to have enough heart to let the two spend their final day together without the interruption of work. "Go on, Miss Farrell."

"Pardon me?" she asked in puzzlement.

"Go spend the rest of the day with Annie," he replied, not making eye contact.

"Oh, sir... that's very generous of you, but-"

"No buts," he cut her off. "You clearly aren't able to focus today. Though I denied your request to let her stay, I will at least grant you a day off to spend time with the child."

Grace stared at him with a blank expression. This was all so confusing. He went from being a tyrant, to showing care, back to a tyrant, and once more back to showing some care. Her head was spinning. Truth be told, she couldn't help but wonder if this was some sort of test. Not that he had ever tested her before, but how could she tell by the way he was acting? "A-Are you sure?" she stuttered. "I know that my first priority should be my job." Even though in her heart, it was Annie whose concern took precedence.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Oliver brushed her off. "We can discuss it more later. Enjoy her last day."

Still frozen in place, she said, "Well, if you're absolutely sure… but if you need me, please, let me know."

"Go on, Miss Farrell," he said once more in a demanding voice.

Without further word, Grace obeyed with a nod of her head. Again, she was quite confused by her boss' manner. She wasn't going to worry about it now though.

. . .

Grace had to wait until Annie was finished with her swimming lesson, but after that, the two were inseparable. Both had hoped that Oliver was going to join them for lunch, but he had sent a message with Drake saying that he was going to work through lunch. Despite the seemingly kind gesture, Grace knew that he was mad. Then again, he was blowing hot and cold. It was hard to tell where he stood on anything these days. Nevertheless, she took his absence to be a passive aggressive way of telling her that he can't take a break because he was nice enough to give her an unplanned day off.

Little did she know, he really missed the meal because he had a special errand to run.

Just an hour or so before they'd sat down to eat, Oliver had seen Annie and Grace playing what appeared to be a game of ring toss through the office window. They both looked so happy; and keeping Grace happy was important for a number of reasons. One, she was the only secretary whom had stuck by him and his temper for so long. None of the others even came close to her time of employment. Two, she knew his routine like the back of her hand. While she'd been testing that routine in recent days, she still knew which areas shouldn't be messed with. Three, she did her job well. She hadn't had too much prior training when she was hired, but she had been worth the risk. Anything she needed to learn, she learned quickly. Four, rarely would she challenge him. Again, this was something that she'd recently been pushing, but normally she wouldn't. The list could go on and on, but these were the most valuable traits to Oliver.

Seeing as he couldn't risk losing Grace's help, he made the decision to house Annie. Not adopt, but merely give her shelter. As Grace had put it; take her in as his ward. However, the secretary would have to stay true to her promise to be the one to care for her. He wasn't thrilled with the idea of continued distractions, but it was better than what he'd witnessed that morning. Surely Grace's detached state would only get worse when Annie officially went back to the orphanage.

After a short, yet careful, deliberation, he concluded that taking in this child was what needed to happen. Although, not without a new set of rules. If Annie was to stay permanently, things would have to be stricter. As he said to Grace; he was a businessman. If the orphanage was as bad as Grace (and Annie at times) was trying to lead on, Annie would understand and cooperate. No alternative would be better than what he had to offer. Still, Annie was not his first priority. She may be Grace's, but certainly not his. Grace would need to appreciate what he was putting into this. He would care for the child financially, but anything else would be up to her. Although, he paid Grace enough for her to manage the child wholly on her own, fostering Annie could have merits. After all, this all began with attempts of improving his image. Imagine what a long term arrangement would do! Who knows? Maybe it would stop people from stepping in front of their children when he appeared in public, in fear he would yell and frighten them.

At the very back of his mind, there was one more (unconscious) reason why he was going to such lengths to keep Grace happy. It was something that had been brought to his attention by the same little girl he was now going to try and keep. In her words, Grace thought he was 'the greatest thing since sliced bread'.