A/N: Hey y'all, welcome to my new multi-chapter! It's completely AU and I'm excited for what you think. Elizabeth and Henry never met in college but fate moves in lots of bends and turns to make the inevitable happen. Thanks to teammccord for helping me make the title sound just right. Sending you sparkles and hearts if you leave a review xo

Prologue
UVA, 28 years ago

The wind was blowing through the bare branches, making the leftover leaves flutter down to the cold, snow-filled ground. Elizabeth Adams moved cautiously over the slippery hill leading from her dorm to the auditorium: it was the first day of the spring semester and she had a new class to get to and boy, was she excited. Moral and Political Philosophy was a class she'd been looking forward to for a while now: it was an advanced class but with the credits she'd earned at Houghton Hall, she was able to take it already. Professor Lowell was considered the most driven person on campus, his lectures interesting and his voice powerful enough to transfer the message. So naturally, Elizabeth picked up the pace: she didn't want to be late for what was going to be the best class ever.

Taking place in the auditorium, she saw a handsome young man come in. He placed his bag on the desk and started unpacking, laying out some notebooks, a pencil case and a large manual on the table. He then sat down behind the desk before taking a book in his hand, already lost in it ten seconds in. Elizabeth frowned and started wondering who this boy wonder could be. Not Professor Lowell, she assumed. Maybe some 'funny' student who pretended to be the professor to get some false sense of satisfaction? She got her answer when the actual professor walked in, immediately greeting them all, and continuing with: "This handsome fella sitting here is Henry McCord, the new TA this semester! He'll be attending all the classes and will also be available during office hours for any questions you may have, or for discussions you wish to have with someone that isn't an old man. Now…"

The class was so very promising, getting into various forms of ethics in the first two hours.

"But how do hedonists minimize pain in their way of life? Surely, there can't be a way to delete it all?" someone asked. Elizabeth raised her hand and the professor looked up at her.

"Yes, Miss…" he asked.

"Adams," she answered. He nodded, urging her to go ahead.

"Of course, 'deleting' all the negative things in life was impossible. The ancient Greeks had to deal with war, drought, disease, throwing babies down cliffs because they didn't look strong enough… They couldn't just get rid of that. But hedonists believed that pleasure was their main goal in life, so they tried to really get that pleasure out of everything, usually by forgetting about the negative. You could say that their belief in the joys of life was so big, that they couldn't see the bad anymore. And I'm not saying there wasn't someone whining when the jug of wine was empty, but that was a problem they could take, a problem they could overcome. And the rest was filtered out, and they lived as if it didn't existed."

"Well said. I hope Miss Adams provided you with a feasible enough explanation…" the professor continued.

Elizabeth always got a kick when speaking in lectures, she felt… powerful, important, and just heard. She looked around, her face still a little flushed with excitement, and she saw Mister TA Henry McCord smiling at her from his seat in the front row, and she couldn't help but feel good, really, really good.

While exiting lecture hall 2.06, she felt a strong hand tug at her shoulder. She smiled when she smelled the familiar scent of his cologne, making her spin around in an instant and throwing herself on him. She closed her eyes as she felt his arms circle her waist, pulling her tighter to him.

"Hey," she heard him say, and she looked up.

"How are you here?" she practically screamed before jumping to his face, fiercely kissing him. He moaned into the kiss before breaking it.

"Damn Lizzy, will you let me answer?" he teased. "I kinda set some things up with your roommate to find out your schedule and those things, y'know?"

She swatted his arm, "I'm not sure if I want to hug or kill the both of you."

He leaned in, and captured her lips in another kiss. "It wasn't too busy at school yet, so I figured I could fit in a little visit to see my precious girlfriend again. After seeing you every day during winter break, a week of not seeing you turned out to be a very long time."

"I'm so happy you're here, Scott," she said as she smiled, and once again closed the gap between them.

What she didn't see was a downhearted Henry McCord walking back into the lecture hall after racing after her with the intention of asking her out for coffee.

Some things just aren't meant to be, he thought.

Or are they?