I'd been right about the next day's tasks being grueling—even more so than I'd expected. But I will explain that portion of my day later.

Fortunately, I was prepared for the tiring day and I went to bed early the night before. Unfortunately, I had a lot of trouble sleeping. To say I spent a greater portion of the night tossing and turning would be an understatement. Exhaustion notwithstanding, I just couldn't fall asleep. A few times I even got up and jumped around my room hoping I'd burn off any remaining energy. When that failed to do anything but irritate my already sore feet, I went down to the kitchen for a warm glass of milk. My mother used to bring me a glass whenever I couldn't sleep or if I had a bad dream. I didn't care for the taste at all, but it used to help. Though, that was probably more because my mother would stay with me until I fell asleep. Sadly, she wasn't here to lull me anymore.

Warm milk wasn't the solution either. Now I was missing mom on top of whatever else was keeping me awake. It probably wouldn't have hit me so strongly if I hadn't mentioned her to Oliver the night before. Even though I had barely said anything about her, she still made her presence in my mind. Oh, I wanted to tell him all about her, but it just didn't seem like a good time. Alright, maybe it would have been a good time, but I emotionally couldn't handle the conversation. I was still recovering from the past week. Besides, I didn't want to taint any of the time we had together with tears.

Suddenly, my restlessness all made sense. I missed Oliver. Other than our very brief morning together and work, we hadn't spent any time alone. Had I really gotten used to our nightly get togethers so quickly? Apparently.

Now that I'd addressed the problem, I tried to figure out what to do about it. It was far too late to go looking for him. If I were to go to his room and wake him up my intentions could have been very easily taken the wrong way. Anyways, he needed rest just as much as I did. It wouldn't have been fair to disturb him.

Thankfully, thoughts of Oliver pushed the negative ones of my mother out of my mind. I felt a bit more relaxed. I was able to lie still and close my eyes as I let my mind wander. I can't believe we went the entire day without finding a moment alone. I didn't even think about it I was so preoccupied. Okay, I suppose I did think about it when we were alone before dinner… but he had said the memos he needed me to take were urgent, and we weren't going to have much time to get to them after dinner. At least I still got a kiss goodnight—a very loving kiss… Oh no. I'm not even going to begin down that road. Those thoughts will guarantee that there will be no sleep tonight.

I hope he isn't feeling awkward about last night and this morning. We woke up and had to get going so quickly. Nothing had time to sink in. Once the day got started he didn't even acknowledge that it'd happened. Granted I didn't either, but again, I was preoccupied with other things. Oh, I sound so silly. We harmlessly fell asleep together in the library. That's all. You're just looking for more reasons to stay awake, Grace. Now… think of calm and happy things…

The last trick finally worked and I managed to get an extra hour or two of sleep in than I had the previous night. Still not a lot, but at least I slept.

My day started off with a dog jumping on my bed, followed by a little girl. I loved how Annie woke me up in the morning, but at the same time I would have loved to have slept for at least a half hour longer. No matter, I had enough work cut out for me that day. An early start would be for the better. I sent Annie to her room to get dressed, telling her to put on her tennis uniform because she had her lesson with Don Budge at 9:30. Thankfully she seemed excited. I was dreading a struggle with her wanting to help with the party plans. Not that it would have been terrible to have her around; I just couldn't see her enjoying herself. With her energy level, quietly following me around or quietly sitting during meetings was liable to have a negative outcome by bedtime (negative for me and Oliver that is).

When I arrived to the dining room, I didn't see Annie in her seat. Funny, she usually beats me to the table. I also noted that there was nobody else around besides Oliver, so I took the opportunity to greet him properly. I quietly walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around his chest as I said, "Good morning." I thought my gesture would be welcomed, but instead as I went to kiss his cheek, he pulled my arms off and away from him and pushed me to the side. The force of his actions caused me to stumble.

My eyes were wide with shock. "What's the-" Before I could finish the sentence, Annie shot up from underneath the table. "Good morning!" she beamed.

"Oh, Annie! Good morning…"

"Did I scare ya Miss Farrell?" Obviously she had noticed my jolt when she'd made her presence known to me.

"Actually, yes… you did surprise me." I answered, trying to catch my breath.

"Sorry 'bout that. I dropped my fork." As if on cue, she went to continue using the aforementioned fork.

"Don't use that after it's been on the floor, dear. It's dirty. Here, I'll go to the kitchen and get you another one."

She started to respond, but I was out of the room before I could make sense of what she was saying. I needed a minute alone to gather myself. Perhaps I was more embarrassed by the event than I should have been, but I'd just looked like a fool in front of Oliver. As I treaded to the kitchen I mumbled to myself, "I will be so happy when this secret is out."

Through breakfast, I avoided eye contact with Oliver as much as I could. Lucky for me he was engrossed by a story in the paper. By the lack of scoffs coming from him as he flipped through the pages, I could tell that the articles on Annie's kidnapping were slowly beginning to die down. Oh the newspapers had a field day with the story. The pictures were horrifying. When I first saw them it took everything thing I had not to start sobbing. It just confirmed to me that the whole scenario wasn't just a nightmare. Oliver was bothered by them as well. We agreed to keep them from Annie, but one day in the office they caught her eye when we weren't paying attention. She took them well however. In fact, she loved it. I remember her taking the picture of her on the bridge to the entire staff and saying. "See how high up I was? I climbed up there all by myself! I outsmarted the bad guys and took their precious check away from them. Even though Miss Hannigan's brother was pulling my fingers from my grip on the side, I hung on tight. There was no way I was lettin' him beat me. Oh yeah, I was scared outta my mind, but I did it! When Punjab saved me I didn't think I could hold on to him. My arms felt like something I'd put on toast. But he told me to have courage and I did. Boy did I ever!" Even though Oliver and I were relieved that the pictures didn't upset her, we couldn't help but wonder if she was putting on a brave face. It wouldn't surprise me. I'm sure it's her way of survival. Lord knows she had to do something to stay alive in that orphanage.

Anyways, the Warbucks household had kept pretty quiet the past few days. Not just in regards to the kidnapping, but to everything thing else as well. We needed a break from the press. However, they had apparently caught wind of the party because I could see a snippet about it while Oliver was reading another article. But other than that, they lost interest—for now. It wouldn't be long until they came looking for more gossip.

After breakfast, I cleared everyone's plates. I wanted to keep busy until Oliver was in the office. That way when I arrived he'd be busy with something and I could either go about my own business or jump into whatever he needed me to do. Unfortunately, I hadn't thought my 'keep busy' plan through very well. It was rather odd for me to clear the dishes while Drake was standing right there. I think I actually took one of them out of his hands. I didn't realize the strangeness of my actions until I brought the used plates and glasses into the kitchen. Mrs. Pugh greeted me with a puzzled look and probed, "Miss Farrell, is something the matter?"

"No, why do you ask?" I replied obliviously.

"Because this is the second time you've been in here this morning doing Drake's job."

I froze and that's when it hit me. "Oh… uh, well you know, he works so hard. I thought I'd help him out for once." I hastily set the dish tray down on the counter by the sink and then went back to the door. "Well, I'd love to stay and chat but I have a very busy day ahead of me. Take care."

When I got back to the dining room, both Annie and Oliver had left. I'll admit to peeking under the table to see if maybe Annie was setting up for another scare. I think she enjoyed my reaction a bit too much. I couldn't help but laugh though.

I was glad that Oliver wasn't around. I knew once I had some time to shake off the embarrassment I'd be fine. I think my problem was that I was still functioning as I had before Annie arrived. I was still shy admitting my feelings for him. Oh, I was comfortable when it was just he and I, but when other people were around I had to be professional. Somehow being professional made me truly shy with him. Sure, I could handle work related topics. I knew my place and what I should and shouldn't say. But when we're outside of the office? Like at breakfast for example: there's no task for me to keep focused on besides eating. I have to be aware of my manner towards him. Heaven knows that if I even look at Oliver a certain way it will spark Annie's pushing. Bless the child for her approval and desire to see us together, but it was tiring me. Last night when we put her to bed she was up to it again. She kept shifting and squirming away from us in such a way that caused Oliver and I to either bump into one another or put us in a very close proximity. I guess I should just be thankful that we had something going on between us. I don't think I could have handled it if I didn't know Oliver had any affection towards me. I can't say for sure (since I don't know what they talk about when they're alone), but I think I get the worst of Annie's 'hinting' (a much too weak a word). She knew for a fact that I liked Oliver. I don't think he ever let on about his feelings. So when she said things to me, it was in a way which suggested I should make the first move. I think what he gets are hints (real and reasonable hints) about me. As if she's trying to show him 'how great I am'. Goodness, this made my head spin.

After realizing I had just been standing in the middle of the dining room with a blank expression, I figured I'd better move before I brought any more attention to myself. Why is it that every time I want to stay under the radar I do something to make myself stand out?

I started in the direction of the office. My mind began switching to work mode as I walked. Good, keep this up, I kept telling myself. In my head I'd begun organizing my tasks and planned out in which order I'd tackle them. However, all of those thoughts flew out of my mind when I felt someone grab my arm. For the second time that morning I let out a startled gasp. When I turned around I saw Oliver, looking guilty for making me jump.

"Oh, it's you. Why aren't you working?" I asked.

"I need you to make a call for me. I waited figuring you weren't too far behind after going to the kitchen."

"I apologize. I-I don't know where my head is this morning."

Taking my hands, he questioned, "Grace, are you angry with me for… my reaction this morning?"

"Oh, certainly not." I answered.

"Then how come you've barely looked at me since? I'm terribly sorry, I know there was probably a better way to tell you Annie was in the room. I panicked."

Shaking my head, I corrected, "Please, you don't need to apologize. I might have overreacted. I'm really not angry. I was just embarrassed, that's all. Maybe I didn't need to be, but I was."

"You're still not looking me in the eye."

I was starting to miss the days where he was oblivious. Forcing myself to make eye contact, I said, "Okay, so maybe I'm still a bit embarrassed. There's more to it than just this morning."

"Oh?"

"Look, I don't really want to talk about it right now. I really should be getting to work."

"Can you just tell me if I've done anything to make you feel uncomfortable?"

"Oh Oliver, I promise it's nothing you've done. It's all coming from me." He looked unconvinced so I decided to admit with a sigh, "I missed you last night."

"You're embarrassed about missing me?"

"I know it doesn't make sense. And that alone doesn't make me feel… I can't really explain it. Gosh, I'm sure I'm sounding beyond silly."

With a smile, he assured, "Not in the slightest." He then wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me slightly closer to him and said in a low voice, "If it makes you feel better I missed you as well."

"To the point of losing sleep?" I blurted as I rested my hands on his shoulders.

Letting out a small chuckle, he nodded, "Actually, yes. Let's not do that again tonight. Or at least we have to find a pocket of time together in the daytime; perhaps during one of Annie's lessons and in between meetings. Even if we just go for a walk."

"Oh please, not another walk!" I groaned and looked down at my still aching feet.

After he finished laughing, he joked, "Alright, then how about a sit?"

I laughed myself as I crooned, "Much better."

His hands wrapped tighter around my waist as mine slithered up and around his neck. We were almost kissing when we were interrupted by Punjab. "Sahib, I must speak with you."

Oliver pulled away from me and turned around, not making any attempt to hide his annoyance. "Could this wait a moment?"

"No." he answered plainly.

"Well then, what is it?" he barked.

"I would like to speak with you alone."

The two men shared a strange look, and then Oliver turned back to me and said, "I'll have to see you at lunch." He quickly kissed my cheek before starting to follow his bodyguard.

"Wait a minute, where are you going? What's going on?" I interrogated as I caught hold of his arm.

Oliver smiled as he patted my arms and said, "There's nothing to worry about, my dear. I'll see you later." Before I had the chance to say anything else, he dipped me into a strong kiss before leaning me upright again several seconds later.

Even if he hadn't swiftly left with Punjab afterwards, I wouldn't have been able to speak. A moment or two later the stun wore of and I turned back in the direction I was initially headed. I must say, that kiss was the exact pick me up I needed. I was still curious as to what Oliver and Punjab were up to though…