Boy, this is a long chapter for this series, but I really wanted to update this story and I developed a great idea for it but when I began to write it, it became apparent that I needed to build up quite a lot to get to the intimacy part. I hope no one minds too much! It's been so long since I've written a proper love scene for these two - I'm actually quite nervous about it!

...

October 1933

Oliver and Grace trudged through the lobby of the King Edward hotel, towards the elevators. It had been a long and tiring day. They had caught the train the day before from Grand Central to Union Station in Toronto, arriving that morning at six am. They'd had only a couple of hours at the hotel to refresh themselves before it was straight onto meetings the entire day.

Now they were back at the hotel, neither one of them could wait to sink into their beds.

"Where in God's name is the attendant?" Oliver barked in his signature gruff tone.

As Grace approached the open elevator, she too saw that no one was there to operate it. She began looking around the lobby for someone. "Shall I go and ask the concierge?"

Oliver raised his eyebrows as if the answer were obvious. "Please", he said shortly and Grace walked over to the other end of the lobby to speak to the smartly dressed woman at the desk.

Oliver tapped his foot impatiently on the ground and stared at his watch in disdain. It showed 11:25. He groaned, knowing they had to catch their train back to New York at eight the next morning. At this rate they would barely get six hours sleep and they were both quite sleep deprived already.

He raised his head and narrowed his eyes as he watched Grace walking back to him with her head lowered.

"What is it?" He asked her impatiently.

"I'm afraid the liftman has gone home for the night."

"What d'you mean gone home? Surely somebody should be here to operate this thing twenty-four-seven."

Grace pursed her lips and pointed to the sign on the wall next to the elevator door.

THIS ELEVATOR IS MANNED ONLY BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 05:00-22:00

"Ludicrous! This is a forty dollar a night, five star hotel. They can't even employ someone to operate the elevator overnight?"

"I'm sorry, Sir. The concierge suggested we take the stairs."

Oliver glared at Grace, though none of this was her fault, of course. "You expect me to walk up twenty eight flights of stairs when I'm already practically dead on my feet?"

"I'll help you up, you can hold my arm", Grace told him sweetly but shyly.

But Oliver did not pay heed to her offer, instead he entered the lift and began inspecting the controls. "Come on. It can't be too difficult to operate this thing."

Not feeling overly confident, but also not wanting to leave him alone, Grace quickly stepped inside the elevator after her boss, backing up to the far wall in trepidation as Oliver wrestled with the doors, eventually managing to close them.

"Let's see here", Oliver looked scrutinizingly at the machinery. "I remember these old manual elevators from when I was a boy. I'm pretty sure the operators turned this crank to raise it and lower it."

Grace didn't really like the words "pretty sure" she would have liked it better if he was "very sure", but she simply braced herself.

He turned the crank handle to the hard right and slowly the elevator began its ascent up the shaft. Oliver grinned triumphantly. "Y'see? Nothing to it."

"Well done, Sir, and thank you. I am very grateful we didn't have to climb all those stairs." Grace fibbed just a bit. Her feet would have been killing her by the time they reached the top floor, but it would have been worth it for her to be able to hold onto him for twenty eight flights.

After only a few floors, Oliver quietly started to get anxious as he realized he didn't actually know how to stop the elevator, nor at what point he had to stop it. He cursed himself for not counting the floors at least and tried to think back how many they'd passed already. He suddenly got a dreadful image of them crashing right through the top of the hotel ceiling, and worse still was the fact that he couldn't see himself saving face in front of Grace.

"Do you know which floor we're up to?" He muttered in embarrassment.

"No idea", Grace replied with wide eyes. "Haven't you been counting?"

In a moment of panic, Oliver grabbed the crank handle in his hands and pulled it all the way from right to left instead of to the center which would have brought them to a stop. The sudden change in direction caused the lift to malfunction and it let out a great shudder before halting completely.

Grace yelped as she was flung to the other side, knocking into Oliver. He swore as he tried the crank handle again but it wouldn't budge.

"Are you able to open the doors to at least see where we are?" Grace asked sensibly. Together they tried to open the doors but to no avail.

"We must be half way up a floor. I think the doors are designed to open only once we're level."

"Blast!" Oliver felt like kicking himself for his foolishness.

"Don't be worried, Sir, it'll be alright", Grace said, trying to comfort herself as much as him.

"I'm not worried, I just don't like being unproductive and who knows how long we'll be stuck in here?"

Grace closed her eyes tiredly. "Well, maybe you should take this as an opportunity to unwind a bit."

He gave her an incredulous look. "We're in a wooden box, hanging from the ceiling by wires and you think I'm able to unwind?!"

She placed her hands on his shoulders and said pleadingly, "Please don't lose your head because I'll lose mine and then we'll both be done for."

He sighed deeply and turned around, moving to the corner of the elevator and sitting down helplessly on the floor.

Grace went and sat opposite him, flattening her dress down as she curled her knees daintily behind herself.

Oliver sat with his head buried in his hands for quite some time. Grace was rather afraid of saying anything, not really wanting to have her head bitten off again, even though technically it was his fault they were in this situation.

Finally, he shook his head and grunted. "If only you had your notebook we could at least get some work done."

"Yes, I regret telling the driver to bring our things back ahead of us and suggesting we walk back. It was just such a pleasant night and I really needed some air after being inside all day."

Oliver sighed again. "I regret thinking that operating this elevator would be so easy."

"Well, you can do almost everything else in the world, driving elevators just isn't something you've learned yet", Grace gave him a caring smile and he let out a hoarse laugh before bowing his head. "I'm sorry Grace, I shouldn't have been so careless. I wasn't thinking straight."

"It's alright", she knocked his foot with hers. The elevator was so small that they could not sit with their legs outstretched without touching one another. "You're exhausted. We both are."

"I should've planned the trip better, given us a bit more time before and after these meetings to rest."

"Well, I suppose we can kind of consider this forced rest", Grace supplied.

"Yeah, not exactly relaxing though, is it?"

"Well if we can forget the fact that we're dangling precariously from the ceiling…" Her lips twisted in amusement and she and Oliver shared a chuckle before Oliver groaned.

"It could be several hours until we're rescued. Maybe we should try and sleep", Grace suggested.

"Mm, I don't think I'll be able to."

"Perhaps we could use this opportunity to talk to each other then."

"We talk for hours every day."

"About business."

Oliver made a small sound of amusement. "What else do you want us to talk about?"

Grace shrugged, feeling a little silly all of a sudden. "We could get to know one another better."

"Is there much you don't already know about me?"

"I guess not." She smiled tightly.

Oliver gave her a leveling look before his eyes softened. "I suppose I've never really taken the time to learn much about you though, have I?"

"There really hasn't been much time for that", she reasoned. "Work has been so busy and it's been important work."

"Yes…still, it's been a long time that you've been working for me and I'm afraid I've been remiss in getting to know you properly."

"Well, we have time to remedy that now, if you really want to", Grace tried to play casual though secretly she was desperate to have the chance to connect with him on a deeper, more personal level.

"Better that than sitting her fretting I suppose", he joked half-heartedly. He didn't want to make her feel as though he wasn't interested in knowing more about her, because he was in fact, very interested. There had just never been enough time for him to do so. If he was truly being honest with himself though, he'd never really made enough of an effort.

Knowing they had time, he asked her questions about her life, starting with her childhood. What she told him both shocked and dismayed him. The neglect and abuse she'd endured in her younger years, the horrific loss which was strikingly similar to his own story. Not everything was dark and depressing though, and they both found themselves smiling as she told him of happier times, when she was very small and still had her parents around, and then when she finally became liberated from the tyrannical family members who'd taken her in and made her way to college.

His heart lifted as he heard about the friendships she'd formed there and how they had helped shape her into the strong and confident woman she became. Oliver was impressed but not overly surprised by how hard working she had been even then. A work ethic she'd certainly carried into her job with him.

Her story was such an epic tale that told him so much about Grace as a person and he felt ashamed that he'd never thought to ask her about it before. It was difficult for her to talk about certain parts of her life, including the discrimination she faced when first entering the workforce. Sensing this, he began to ask light hearted questions to dilute the heaviness.

By the time she got to talking about coming to work for him, they'd been talking for hours. Each one of them felt so much closer because of their conversation, and their words became filled with an earnestness they had not previously shared.

Grace smiled softly to herself. "You know, when you took me on, you not only gave me a job and a home, you gave me salvation."

Oliver sat there feeling quite stunned. "I never realized all that you went through. All I can say is I'm happy that things have improved for you since being with me."

She started feeling somewhat emotional as she told him, "I have so much to thank you for. I don't think I could ever express to you how much, or ever repay you for what you've given me."

"But you have, Grace. You have repaid it - ten fold. You've been marvelous all these years. I'm sorry if I haven't said that enough."

Swallowing a lump in her throat, she muttered back, "I appreciate that, thank you."

He exhaled, leaning his head back against the elevator wall. "Well, I must say, in spite of the less than ideal circumstance that's put us here, I am glad to have had a little down time with you and to have learned more about you. You know, hearing about your past and where you've come from, what's driven you throughout your life, I actually think we could get along, you and I." He gave her a wry smile, making her laugh. She bent her knees up to her chest shyly, shivering as she did so.

Oliver's face fell. "Are you cold?"

"A little", Grace shrugged. He immediately removed his suit jacket and scuttled across the floor to wrap it around her shoulders. She looked up at him, quite flummoxed by his sudden thoughtfulness.

"Thank you", she blinked up at him. Instead of moving back to the other side of the elevator, he sat down next to her, almost shoulder to shoulder.

"If you had a real day off, not just a few tense hours in an elevator", he chuckled - "Where would you go? What would you do?"

She was quite surprised by his question. She'd have thought he would've had enough of hearing about her, yet he still wanted to know more.

"I think I'd like to go to the beach, look out at the ocean. Have an ice cream. Find a bench and read a book. Relax in the sunshine the whole day long." Her face was serene and Oliver's own face softened as he gazed at her.

It was so in her character to choose such simple things to want to do with her time and he was quite charmed by it.

"Well, I think I may have to insist that you take a day off to go and do those things. I might even be inclined to join you."

Grace gave him a beautiful smile. "I'd like that."

"I probably should have insisted you take days off before now, really. It's just, I need you so much."

Grace couldn't help but smile a little wider at his words, despite the fact that she knew he meant in a business sense rather than needing her personally.

His tone became wistful. "I almost feel guilty, selfish for keeping you with me all these years. With your skills and your brilliance, I'm sure you could have been doing something much more meaningful with your life, making a real difference somewhere."

"What are you talking about? You do make a difference, a mammoth one. All the people you employ…"

"It's not exactly God's work though, saving lives or the world. I've often felt you had too much compassion in you to be wasted working for someone like me."

Her voice was low as she murmured, "The job is only part of the reason I've stayed with you all these years."

Oliver raised an intrigued eyebrow at her. "Oh? What's the other part?"

She turned to look into his eyes and smiled diffidently. "You. You're the other part."

He stared back at her, attempting to discern from her expression what it was she was telling him.

After all that had been shared between them that night, he decided he may as well just come out and ask her. "What exactly do you mean by th-"

Both of them jumped as the elevator began to move downwards. They sprang to their feet, but quickly realized the lift wasn't moving at a very rapid pace. Eventually, they found themselves back down in the lobby, face to face with a rather perturbed looking operator.

"Do you realize how early I've had to come in for my shift because of you getting yourselves stuck up there?" He growled. "I've hardly had any sleep!"

"Well, nor have we!" Oliver fired back, just as enraged. "We've been up practically since the day before yesterday, endured countless hours on a train, followed by a full day of meetings only to come to our accommodation which we were informed is the best in Toronto, only to learn that we can't even take the elevator upstairs!"

"That's not my problem, boy-o. We need to sleep as well and these elevators aren't designed to go and go all day and night."

"Well perhaps they require updating! We don't seem to have the same problems back in New York."

"I'm sorry - what Mr. Warbucks would like to say is, we are both very tired and would be immeasurably grateful if you could take us up to the top floor, please", Grace interrupted her boss who looked less than impressed but was too exhausted to argue.

The operator bowed his head, looking just as weary. "Yes Ma'am…Excuse me", he said tersely to Oliver as he squeezed past him to get into the lift.

Oliver stood back and allowed the man to move in. The poor man had to reset the elevator because of how it had been manhandled. Oliver was too distracted and fatigued to make an apology but Grace did mutter to the operator as they exited on the top floor, "I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience."

Oliver glanced back at her and gave her a tilt of his head in acknowledgement of her apologizing on his behalf. She was dismayed that it was the only acknowledgement he gave her however. She knew how tired he was but she had rather hoped they could continue their conversation from inside the elevator. She felt they had just scratched the surface of something very important between them.

Alas, she watched as he made his way to his room, leaving her to withdraw to hers.

She entered the room and sat on the edge of the bed. She was exhausted, but much too wired to sleep. They'd been in that elevator for hours, why was it that at the very moment she was starting to open up her heart to Mr. Warbucks, they had to be rescued?

Putting her arms around herself in consolation, she realized that she was still covered with his jacket.

Should she take it as a sign? Could she justify using it as an excuse to go to his room? Was she brave enough? There was so much pushing her to do so, yet so many things holding her back…

Oliver paced his room. He'd already had two glasses of brandy and was deliberating whether or not it was even worth changing into his pajamas for bed when suddenly there was a knock on his door.

He quickly went and opened it, not altogether surprised by who was standing outside.

"I'm sorry, I know you're probably trying to get ready for bed but I know you'll be needing this for the morning", Grace stood, holding his jacket out to him.

"Mm, uh yes, thank you."

Oliver knew that the jacket was merely a cover. She knew he had another one - she'd packed his bags herself.

He could guess why she was really there. The conversation they'd begun to have in the elevator wasn't over and she needed to finish what she had started, one way or another. He could see that she was full of nerves, yet wracked with curiosity and frankly, so was he.

Her showing up to his hotel room completely solidified the picture he had begun to put together about what her earlier words to him had meant.

"Well, goodnight…", she whispered half-heartedly.

He quickly grasped her arm to stop her. "Grace…come in, please."

She paused for a moment in hesitation just staring at him, knowing that once she set foot in his room, things were likely to happen that would change their relationship forever. She could feel that something had shifted between them, like the air around them had become thicker somehow, heavy with the weight of the words she'd shared with him in that elevator, the revelations she'd made, whether willingly or unwillingly. In a way she was relieved to have had some layers peeled back by Oliver, to hopefully be able to finally show him exactly how she felt about him.

She walked into the room slowly, her body buzzing as he locked the door behind her.

"Would you…care for a drink?" Her skin pricked as he walked up beside her, brushing her arm with his.

"No, I don't want a drink", the words were barely out of her mouth before he was on her, kissing her headily and wantonly and she was kissing him back with just as much urgency.

Chills ran over her entire body as they so ardently embraced. She could have cried for how relieved she was, for how badly she'd wanted this, how long she had waited just to be in his arms.

As he brought his lips to her neck, Grace whimpered in pure amazement, "Did you know how I felt about you? You're such a smart man, surely you must have known."

Murmuring against her skin, he replied, "Until tonight, I didn't dare think of you in that way, I didn't dare dream…"

She sighed and reached for his face, caressing it as tenderly as she could to convey the level of her affection for him. "You and I know better than anyone that if you hold fast to them and are willing to put the work in, sometimes those dreams come true."

"You are every single one of my dreams rolled into one", Oliver professed reverently.

Grace was so taken aback, she pulled away from him just to stare at him in awe and disbelief.

Her eyes filled with tears, her smile stretching wide across her face. She could hardly believe this was the same man who just hours ago had shown her no interest at all romantically, but the sincerity in his voice told her that his stern exterior had been a front and that he had been suppressing a great deal of his feelings for her, for how long she did not know but it was there in his eyes, so evidently.

She pulled his face back to hers with a sob, kissing him deeply and passionately. She didn't blink an eye as he started to remove her clothes, after a short while she began to help him, before removing his in turn.

He lay her down on the bed, her whole body shuddering with anticipation. It wasn't planned, discussed or in any way expected, but it happened so naturally and so easily. It was as if their time together in the elevator had acted as a metaphoric sledgehammer, smashing the wall of 'just professionalism' that existed between them.

They moved together in such coordination, such unified connection it was as if they had been lovers in another life. It didn't take long for them to shed their trepidation and hesitance about crossing the line from boss and employee into a much more intimate relationship. They'd already built a mutual trust and dependency over several years and now, after so much time shared, they were finally discovering the greatest purpose they had been put together for. To love and be loved.

They gripped one another for dear life as they both came undone, each of them breathless and shaking with the force of their first shared release.

With racing hearts, Grace curled up into Oliver's side, both feeling incredibly lethargic yet utterly satisfied and both finally ready and able to sleep.

It had taken a very long time - not just the enormity of the day but the breadth of their entire relationship to get to this point. With the warm weight of their history blanketing them and the exhaustion they both felt, they were both asleep within minutes...

When the concierge rang them with their wake up call, much too soon after they had gone to sleep, they both groaned out of tiredness and stiffness. Grace tucked her head under Oliver's arm, trying to block out the early morning light, ignoring the fact that they were potentially going to miss their train.

"I don't think I've ever been so regretful yet so happy all at once", Oliver jested, pulling Grace closer.

She sighed heavily, tickling his underarm with her warm breath. "Do we really have to get up to catch this train?" Twelve hours ago she wouldn't have even dared ask the question, even if she wasn't really being serious.

"You know what?" She felt his chest rumble as he spoke. "No we don't. As a matter of fact, I think a day in bed is the very thing we both need."

She raised her head to look at him in disbelief. "B-but we need to get home today. We have a full schedule tomorrow."

Oliver shrugged. "I'll call the house later, tell them to send the autocopter."

Grace blinked in astonishment, a wide beam overtaking her face. "What have you done with Oliver Warbucks?"

"I think it might be better to ask what you've done with him", Oliver teased as he leaned over and covered her grin with his own...

When they finally left their hotel room that evening, they were both rested and satiated.

"Shall we take the stairs?" Grace said half-jokingly after the bell-hop had gone ahead with their luggage. To her amusement, Oliver nodded quickly. "Yes, let's."

As they descended the twenty eight floors of the King Edward hotel, Grace asked, "Should I book us into the Royal York next time? It has much more modern facilities."

"Oh no. I rather like this place, and besides which, it holds special meaning now", taking her by complete surprise as he stopped on the landing to steal a kiss.

Two months later, while in the company of their eleven year old guest, Grace and Oliver took Annie to the seaside for the first time.

Oliver directed Grace to take a seat on the bench overlooking the ocean. He pulled a Jane Austen novel out of his jacket pocket and held it out for Grace. "I think you might like this one."

She took it from him slowly with a look of confusion. "Wh-"

"Come on Annie, let's go get ice cream", he said cheerfully to the orphan girl who bounced up to him and took his outstretched hand with a wide smile. Oliver turned back and gave Grace a wink before skipping off up the beach with Annie.

It was then that Grace realized that not only was he giving Annie a lovely new experience, but he was also trying to help her fulfill her wish of an ideal day off, just like the one she'd talked about in the elevator.

The air was chilly and not really the most suitable weather for ice cream. But as she watched Annie and Oliver walking hand-in-hand up the esplanade and felt the winter sun on her back, Grace thought to herself, the day truly could not have been more perfect.