Despite the fact they knew Grace wasn't yet pregnant, they decided to keep to their original schedule of 2 month gaps between "trying". Not only for each of their own personal comfort, but because Grace had heard from other women that bleeding during early pregnancy was still possible. Of course, for those women, copulating with their husbands on a regular basis wasn't an uncomfortable or problematic thing, for Grace of course, her situation was quite different.
The two months apart agreement wasn't a difficult rule to keep to either. Work never ceased for Oliver and Grace, especially while the world was still in financial crisis, time genuinely slipped away on them. In fact, it wasn't until Grace checked her diary and saw the entry "Waldorf" that she even remembered herself that it was happening.
The night of their booking arrived. There were the same amount of nerves for both of them. Though slightly lessened in the sense of being together, now the pressure lay in trying to be successful.
The main point of difference was the talk that had started among the staff when they had learned that Grace and Mr. Warbucks were going to be out for the night together, again.
It raised all sorts of speculation.
Most assumed they were having a love affair that they didn't want anyone at the mansion to be aware of.
Others with more active imaginations were concerned that the two of them were involved in some sort of after-dark illicit activity, something that would affect the reputation of the whole company and all who were employed by it.
Many heads poked out of discrete little hiding places as Grace and Oliver donned their coats that evening and headed out the door together, watching boss and secretary closely to try and get a hint of where they were going and what they were doing.
Oliver drove the eight minutes to get to the hotel and left the car with the valet.
"See you soon", he murmured to Grace when they parted ways to go to their separate rooms.
Just like before, they each went about their little preparation rituals and within half an hour, Oliver found himself nervously standing outside the door to Grace's room.
Grace was opening the door almost before Oliver had finished knocking. She didn't even bother to look around to see if anyone was watching as she let him inside.
Automatically, she went to move to the bed, but stopped and turned to him as he began speaking. "I was wondering if um…if perhaps we ought to try a different way this time."
She raised her eyes to his. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, maybe we should try a…a different uh…" He tried to motion his intended meaning with his hands instead of having to say the words.
"Position?" Grace helped.
"Yes", he was relieved she'd understood him.
"You mean like, facing each other?"
He nodded. "How would you feel about that?"
"Fi-fine, I guess", she rasped, truthfully feeling quite nervous about it.
"I don't know if it'll make any difference but it's worth a try, I thought.".
Grace nodded her head. "Yes, alright."
Even more anxiously now, she climbed onto the bed and lay on her back, waiting for him.
After not very long at all, he carefully clambered up with her. She tried to avoid meeting his eyes as he loomed over her and tried not to react to the feeling of his bare legs against hers.
"Ready?" He asked softly.
"Ready", she whispered back, then arched her back with a gasp as he entered her in quite a swift motion.
Oliver noted to himself she certainly felt more ready than she had the last time. He tried not to read into it, but he also couldn't deny the fact that it did wonders for his libido.
Nor did it hurt matters when he looked down and saw her beautiful face with her eyes shut tight, too shy to look at him, but her bottom lip caught between her teeth, quivering ever so slightly. He wasn't sure if she was feeling discomfort or pleasure but damn him if he wasn't stirred on by the sight of her.
As groans of ecstasy escaped his mouth unwittingly, Grace too began to let little whimpers fall from her now parted lips. The sound was enough to take him over the edge and he canted into her. His knees almost buckled and he gripped her warm, bare thighs to hold himself up.
Grace made a noise of surprise at the feeling of his hands on her skin. Her eyes flew open and suddenly she found herself staring straight into his. In embarrassment, she turned her head to the side, but not before burning the image of him in her mind. His eyes wide and wild, dark and deep with desire.
He rolled to one side and she went the other way to allow him to flop down beside her.
After letting him catch his breath for a while, Grace turned her head to look at him and said softly, "You…seemed like you enjoyed that. "
His breath hitched, her statement making him feel somewhat as if she were calling him out. "Forgive me, but if I wasn't able to reach some level of enjoyment, we probably wouldn't achieve the intended result."
She met his eyes again, apologetically. "I don't mean to make you feel self-conscious about it. Truth be told, I'm glad you're getting something out of this."
His brow furrowed slightly. "Helping you have a child is where I derive my pleasure from, nothing else."
He sat up on the edge of the bed with his back facing her. Grace felt terrible, she hadn't meant to upset him.
"Have I angered you?"
He let out a sigh. "No. I just feel it's important that you know I haven't lost sight of why I'm here. I don't, for a moment, want you thinking that I'm only here for my own satisfaction. We have an objective and I don't forget that."
"I know you don't", she wanted to reach out her hand to touch his back but knew how inappropriate that would be, especially at that moment. "All I really meant is that I'm glad you're not finding this too terribly uncomfortable."
He turned his head to look at her and gave a light shrug. "You put me at ease."
"Ditto."
Slowly, his look of concern faded away and was replaced by one of tenderness, mirrored back at him by her.
"I think we ought to say goodnight now", he muttered, standing and buttoning up his trousers.
"Do you need anything before bed?" She had to ask as his ever loyal secretary.
He gave a small chuckle. "I think I can manage, but thank you."
"Thank you", she said sincerely, catching him slightly off guard.
"Goodnight Miss Farrell", he said hastily as he moved towards the door.
"Goodnight…Sir", the formal titles sounded odd to Grace's ears, especially after what they had just done and even more especially because of the fact that, no matter the motivation or intended outcome, they could no longer say that their relationship was strictly professional.
After dashing to his room, Oliver removed his clothes once more and began running himself a bath. He then opened his suitcase and pulled out his silver hip flask, throwing back a good swallow of the hard liquor.
He felt like a dirty rotten scoundrel for allowing himself to indulge in his own pleasure while Grace was trusting him to do this purely for the sake of reproducing. He felt worse still for lying to her about it. He cursed himself for being too much like a man.
The last thing he ever wanted to do was to make Grace feel taken advantage of. It was gracious of her to take the view of it that she had, but Oliver knew that what they were doing was by far and large for his benefit more so than hers.
She meant everything to him. She was his best worker, of course but in all honesty, she was much, much more than that.
He knew that their situation was extremely delicate and if he made one wrong move, he could jeopardize their entire relationship.
And if that happened, Oliver knew his whole world would crumble.
…
When they returned home the following morning, Oliver went straight to the office while Grace went to ask Drake if there had been any messages while they'd been away from the house.
"Drake?" She called as she entered the parlor, expecting him to be somewhere nearby.
What she didn't expect was for all of the staff to be there waiting for her.
"Good morning, Miss Farrell", Drake greeted her with what sounded like reservation. He really didn't look terribly happy about being there, keeping his eyes mostly fixed on the floor while the others stared at Grace with beady-eyed expressions.
"Good morning", Grace replied slowly, looking around at everyone. "What's going on?"
Drake answered hesitantly. "It may or may not be our business, Miss, but some of us are feeling…concerned that whatever it is you and Mr. Warbucks have been doing when you've been going out together could have direct consequences to us all."
Grace raised her eyebrows at them. "I see. So this is an inquisition, is it?"
She wasn't terribly impressed at any of them but she had to laugh. "I assure you all that what Mr. Warbucks and I are doing is of no consequence to any of you."
"How can we be sure of that if we don't know what it is?" Annette piped up and some of the other maids agreed.
Grace's eyes widened at their insistence. She let out a huff and said. "Fine, I'll tell you, but I am not going to say it to you all. Mrs. Pugh and Mrs. Greer, could you stay here, please? Everyone else can go away and Mrs. Pugh and Mrs. Greer can fill you in later."
"Thank you", Drake muttered in relief before making a swift exit from the room. The others trickled out, looking annoyed and unimpressed.
"Well? Is it what we think it is?" Mrs. Pugh asked Grace excitedly with a little glint in her eye.
Grace knew what the older woman was suggesting, but that didn't mean she was going to help her voice it. "What exactly do you think it is?" She narrowed her eyes at her challengingly.
"That you and Mr. Warbucks are having a love affair", Mrs. Greer answered for them both.
Grace let out a laugh. "You two are both doolally, though, well…actually not that far off."
The older two women gasped. Grace put her hand up. "Not about the love part. It's not like that."
Mrs. Pugh and Mrs. Greer gazed back at her expectantly.
Grace released a calming breath, barely believing that she was going to tell her co-workers this. "Mr. Warbucks is trying to help me conceive a baby."
Mrs. Pugh nearly fainted while Mrs. Greer let out a shriek. Grace immediately shushed her.
"A baby? You mean you two are…Grace Farrell!" Mrs. Pugh was scandalized.
Grace blushed and hid her face.
"How long have you been trying for?" Mrs. Greer gaped.
"It's only been the two times we've been out together for the night."
Mrs. Pugh was wide eyed. "Whose idea was this?"
"Actually it was Mr. Warbucks' idea. I told him I wanted to become a Mother but he didn't want me leaving to start a family. He then proposed this idea and as crazy as it sounded, I said yes. I knew that my child being raised here would be surrounded by so much goodness and love, so many wonderful people."
Mrs. Pugh and Mrs. Greer both began to blub. They both wrapped Grace in a fierce hug.
Grace wiped her own eyes and added, "Albeit very nosy."
They did both look a bit admonished for their part, that was until Mrs. Pugh added, "Oh Grace, that man adores you so", to which Grace recoiled in shock. "Don't be absurd. It's not at all like that. He doesn't want to let me go, that's all, and not because he feels anything for me personally but because he needs me as his secretary."
Mrs. Pugh and Mrs. Greer shared a knowing look. "And because he couldn't bear the thought of you marrying someone else and having their child, perhaps?"
Grace paused, thinking on Mrs. Greer's words for a moment, but dismissing them. "Mr. Warbucks' motivation is purely business-related. All he does and thinks about is business, after all", she spoke as if she was unbothered by it but both Mrs. Pugh and Mrs. Greer could see that it affected her.
"And what about you, hmm? It's very difficult for a woman to go through this kind of experience with a man and not develop feelings for him."
"I want a child, desperately. Mr. Warbucks is helping me to have one. Gratitude is the only thing I feel towards him."
"Well, whatever the two of you feel, I hope you both get what it is you're most longing for", Mrs. Pugh told her gently.
Grace smiled shakily. "Thank you."
Mrs. Greer added, "Just one more question, out of interest, what's Mr. Warbucks like in the uh…?"
Grace and Mrs. Pugh both let out yelps of shock. Mrs. Pugh slapped Mrs. Greer on the hand while Grace shoved them both towards the door, squeaking, "You go on and get back to work…"
Once they'd both left the room, Grace placed her head in her hands, practically dying of embarrassment.
…
For the few days following, whenever Grace would enter a room and one of the other members of staff was nearby, they would start to softly sing lines from the songs "When my baby smiles" and "Yes Sir, that's my baby".
Grace would either glare at them or pretend she couldn't hear them, all the while regretting ever saying anything to anyone, but still being grateful for having friends who mocked her but at the same time, supported her so very, very much.