Ezra took the lead as they started their climb. He started at a brisk pace, reminding Liv to focus only on the step in front of them, instead of the daunting thought of climbing sixty flights of stairs. The exercise worked until their legs started to tire after the first ten flights.

After the eleventh flight, Liv had to hold onto the railing to support herself. By the twentieth, she was out of breath and moving slowly. Ezra still managed to move faster because of his longer legs, but Liv could hear his labored breathing. But they didn't stop. Even though there was only a silver to hope that Liv's plan would work, it was enough to keep them moving.

They reached the thirtieth floor and Liv finally spoke up. "I need water," she said, her breath raspy from fatigue. Ezra only nodded as he finished climbing the last few steps and sat on the top one. Liv pulled herself the rest of up the way but didn't join him on the step. If she sat now, she might never get up again.

Even exhausted she had enough sense to pause outside the door leading to the offices before she slowly opened it. As she pulled it open, the hallway looked familiar and she realized this was the same floor they had just been on. There had been a sink and a fridge in the small kitchen where they had hidden and she knew she would find water there.

She didn't even pay attention to whether Ezra was following her as she walked down the hallway, her mind on only one thing. Water. She still paused at the end of the hallway to make sure the coast was clear before she walked into the open space and into the kitchen.

She ripped the fridge door open but the shelves were empty except for a few bottles of condiments. She turned to the sink and found Ezra looking through the cabinets. He pulled out two mugs, filled them with water and handed her the first one. She accepted it gratefully and drank the whole cup in one go.

After drinking two more cups of water, Liv set her mug on the counter and took a deep breath. The tap water left a sour after taste in her mouth, but it was a small price to pay for the refreshment it had brought. She leaned against the counter and at the slightest relief, her legs began to give out and she sank to the ground.

A moment later, Ezra joined her on the ground. They sat in silence for a while, catching their breath. It made Liv feel better that Ezra was also out of breath. A random piece of office gossip popped into her head and she smiled. "I thought you were supposed to be some fitness god."

He looked at her slowly. "What?"

She laughed at his incredulous look. "That's what people in the office say."

"What do you mean by 'people'?"

"Oh, you know the secretaries. They talk. A lot."

He looked at her like he didn't believe her. "They say I'm a 'fitness god'?" He hesitated using the ridiculous term.

She nodded. "And you only sleep four hours at night. And you drink this smoothie every morning that gives you extra energy and your luscious hair."

This made him laugh. "I didn't realize I was interesting enough for people to talk about."

She scoffed and gave him a disbelieving look. "I'm sure you know exactly how much people talk about you. You are the golden boy of the firm."

He started to argue but stopped when she narrowed her gaze.

"Fine," he said, raising his hands in surrender. "I am aware that people talk about me. But, I didn't know they said such crazy things."

She accepted that answer with a shrug. They returned to silence for a minute before he broke it.

"They don't really say those things, do they?"

She nodded her head as she slowly began to move. "They really do. You would be surprised how much free time the secretaries have on their hands, and how much their voices carry from the kitchen to my desk."

She managed to pull herself up but not without a lot of help from the counter. Even after resting, her legs were still shaky. He shook his head as he stood.

"They also like to tell stories about your meteoric rise in the firm and your star power in the courtroom."

He chuckled but after a moment turned thoughtful. "I'm sure they also like to talk about how horrible I am."

She paused. She wasn't going to mention that side of the gossip: his reputation for harsh criticism and blunt remarks. Everyone thought he was snobby and he rarely spoke to anyone he didn't need to, including simple greetings.

It was the greetings that seemed to really get on the secretaries' nerves. Whenever they complained about it, it always ended up circling back to his upbringing and dismay at how any parent could raise a child without teaching them the common decency of saying hello.

She moved their mugs around aimlessly before she gave him a guilty look, but found it was unnecessary. There was nothing but mild curiosity in his gaze.

"They might say a thing or two that isn't so nice," she admitted.

This earned her the biggest laugh. "Now, I know that's a lie." He fixed her with a steady look. "You don't have to worry about my feelings. I'm sure the criminals and lawyers I go up against have more creative insults than the office secretaries. And I've heard it all."

"That's probably true," she said. "The secretaries' biggest complaint is you don't say hi to them."

"But that can't be all they say," he prodded.

She looked at him curiously. "Why do you care what they say?"

"I don't care. Just curious."

The casual way he said it made Liv believe he didn't care. And thinking about it, she found it wasn't altogether that surprising. Next to Burkstrom and Hale, Ezra was the top lawyer at the firm. Some might even say he was better than them since they had taken a more backseat role in the courtroom to run the firm. You didn't get to where he was without sacrificing a lot and working hard, so what did he care about the petty office gossip.

"Well..." Where to start? "From what I have overheard.."

She wanted to make it clear she had never participated in said gossip. She preferred to keep to herself and get her work done as quickly as possible.

"You are rude and think you are superior to everyone else. The only time you talk to people is when you are demanding something of them and when they do what you ask, you aren't happy with it. You have also turned down everyone woman in the office because you only date supermodels."

As she listed off his supposed flaws, nothing seemed to surprise him. He listened calmly, never revealing anything other than mild interest. It seemed like another skill that would come in handy in the courtroom.

The only reaction he finally gave her was a lazy shrug. "I could be nicer."

She laughed in surprise at the fact that he was willing to admit any sort of flaw, even if it was in the smallest way possible. She was sure the secretaries would view his casual manner of admittance as another mark against him.

He responded with a devilish grin like he knew how people in the office felt about him and he wanted it that way. She was about to ask him something along that train-of-thought when a shadow fell over them.

Their gazes shot to the doorway and they froze at the sight of a hulking figured just outside the kitchen.

For a breath, everything went very still.

The air suddenly felt thick, like time had stopped as the three of them looked at each other.

Liv sucked in a short breath and it brought everything back into clear focus. The height of the man, the dim lighting, her tired muscles and the cool porcelain of the mugs in her hands.

Before her mind could catch up to how her body was reacting, she had tightened her grip on the mug and launched it at the man's head.

He reacted quickly, knocking the mug out of the air.

But he didn't expect the second one and wasn't fast enough to keep it from smashing against his head.

He rocked back from the impact, and for a moment his eyes got a dazed look. Liv whipped around, looking for her next weapon and found Ezra charging the man, a fire-extinguisher raised over his head.

He roared as he aimed for the man. In the man's dazed state, he only had time to face the attack before Ezra hit him over the head. He went down fast, his head slamming against the door-frame before he landed.

Liv had grabbed the glass coffee pitcher as her next weapon and she kept it clutched in her hand as she took a few tentative steps towards Ezra. He stood over the man, his chest rapidly moving up and down. Neither of them said a thing as they waited. For the man to move. For someone else to discover them.

After a few minutes, Liv could feel the adrenaline starting to leave her system as the aching in her legs came back and her hand began to spasm from her tight grip on the pitcher. But a haze still remained, keeping her body and thoughts in survival mode. She could only think about their next step.

"We should search him," she finally said.

Ezra nodded, his breath still coming at a rapid pace. He lowered the fire-extinguisher and collapsed against the nearest wall. With extreme caution, she gently touched the man's shoulder, the glass pitcher raised and ready to react. When he remained motionless, she touched him again.

After the third time, she was mildly reassured he wouldn't be jumping up at her and she stepped over him to get a better angle to search his pockets. She crouched down. She kept the glass pitcher in her hand, poised to strike as she lifted his jacket.

"Use both hands," Ezra said as he came to stand over the man, the fire-extinguisher aimed at the man's head.

She nodded and placed the pitcher aside.

Her movements were hesitant as she began to stick her hands into the jacket pockets. Beyond the two main pockets, the jacket had four interior ones. She searched them as quickly as she dared to move and continued onto his pants. After she had searched every pocket, they ended up with a walkie-talkie, a handgun, extra ammo, zip-ties, and a screwdriver.

"What next?" Ezra asked as she sat back.

She let out a deep breath to calm her shaky nerves.

"We should tie his hands." She grabbed a zip-tie from the pile. Together, they carefully shifted the man until they could reach both hands and tied them behind his back.

"Now, we should hide him, in case one of the other men search this floor," she said.

The office didn't offer many options for hiding a body and after their first attempt at moving the man, they realized his weight would make it difficult to move him far. They set their sights on a table in the corner of the kitchen and began to pull.

In the end, the hiding spot wasn't perfect. They couldn't get the man completely under the table, but at least he wasn't laying in the middle of the office. They finished trying to tuck all the man's limbs under the table then stepped back. As they observed their work, the haze from all the adrenaline cleared, and for the first time since the man had appeared, the full weight of what had happened landed.

A part of Liv wanted to panic, like an aftershock of what had happened. Like her emotions were just catching up. Even as she stared at the unconscious man, knowing that he couldn't hurt her, she could feel a terrified cry climbing her throat. She had thrown a mug at his head. Ezra had hit him with a fire extinguisher. Ezra.

He was staring at the man's crumpled form, his eyes wide with shock. Liv reached for his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. He looked at her and she gave him a small smile. There wasn't more she could offer him in encouragement.

They had lucked out in being able to take the man down before he could hurt them. The next time they might not be so lucky. Any hopes she had held about how the night was going to turn out had disappeared.

"We should keep moving," she said.

That was all they could do. She dropped his hand and began to move towards the doorway. They carefully stepped through the pile of shattered porcelain. Silently, they made their way back to the stairwell and continued their climb.

**********************************************************************

*Collapses on to the floor* Oh my that was brutal!

What the attack on the guy?

No, them climbing the stairs. I'm all tuckered out from just reading about it. Though it was cool how they took down the guy and...shared their feelingssssss

She mentioned the office rumors, how does that have anything to do with feelings?

Cause it means she likes him, she's listened to what people say about him. Let's face it, she's one pair of binoculars short of stalking him.

How did you reach that conclusion, Joy?

Grace, I've found them to be in love, no one knows how I reach anything!!

Tell us your thoughts? Are you excited about the bit of action or are you all for the completely unseen love that I am making up?

Vote, comment, follow and you might get to see more!

Haha of course you will! I could never hold it back!