"To love is to recognize yourself in another."

- Eckhart Tolle

April 4th. 2016

8:00 AM

Florence Moore Residence Hall

Stanford, California

Fitz's POV

"Hey, beautiful." I smile into the FaceTime camera. "What are you up to?"

"Studying," Olivia tries to grin but it comes out forced and weak. If I turn up the brightness on my phone I can see that she is close to tears and surrounded by textbooks and spiral notebooks. My girl is so completely overwhelmed with work even when it's Spring Break. It doesn't help that I told her I wouldn't be able to come visit her because of my own college and studying. But my own education is going smoothly and even if it wasn't, I would still sacrifice it to come see my girlfriend. I have missed her so much.

I press the elevator button and keep the camera view to only my face.

"Where are you?" Liv tries to put on a brave face.

"Nowhere," I lie, trying to keep my voice even. I cough to cover the ding of the elevator. "What's my girl got planned for the rest of break?"

Liv sighs and waves a heavy textbook around. "This." She pauses, her fake smile completely gone. "I miss you. I don't blame you for not being able to come. But if you could...I just miss you."

I grin. "What would you do if I was there? Is there a chance you would finally let me have sex with you?" I say the last part teasingly. I never held it against her - the fact that we never got a chance to do it. Timing wasn't on our side. But I lived, you know? I never got tempted at USC.

"Maybe," Liv finally smiles, for real this time. But she still looks exhausted.

"Are you happy?" I ask her, aware of how dumb I sound. Of course no college freshman is thrilled to be studying, but I mean in general. Liv has the tendency to overwork, overwhelm and exhaust herself. She is a smart girl and she thinks a lot, so she always has things on her mind. I know how stressful that can be.

"I'm," she pauses. "Better than before. How is life at University of Southern California treating you?"

"Good," I step out of the elevator, dragging my suitcase along. I still manage to keep the camera on my face and not my surroundings. "Um, you know the basics. My dad and I are talking...kind of. What about yours?"

"Fitz, you FaceTimed me yesterday," Liv frowns. "Nothing has changed since then. He is still an asshole who won't talk to me. Who hasn't since last year."

I chuckle, not arguing with the fact that Eli Pope is a bad person. "It's gonna be alright, babe. You know that he is gonna wanna talk to you when you're successful and making serious bank."

That makes her laugh. "What about you? Is that the only reason you're keeping me around?"

"Of course, how could you not know that?" I joke and she laughs harder. It's good to hear her laugh. I missed her so much but I am not going to have to worry about that for long.

I approach her dorm room door and silently stand there, making sure my voice is lowered. "How are things though? Are you staying safe?"

"You mean 'clean'," Liv smiles sadly. "And yes, I am."

"I proud of you for that," I tell her softly. I'm not gonna lie - I worry about her and her drug habits. Last year, before we left my dorm room the day before thanksgiving, I flushed the LSD down the toilet just to make sure she could never get it again. But I can't protect her from everything. "But I'm also asking if anyone is bothering you? Around campus or anything?"

"Harrison is leaving me alone," she reads my mind, making me grin. "Don't worry."

My protective side of her is briefly reassured. "Good...look, baby, I'm sorry I couldn't make it..."

She gets up and takes her laptop with her as she walks. I should go in there and surprise her right now. This is the perfect time...

"Hi," Liv opens the door and waves casually at me.

My jaw drops open. "How did you know?"

Liv giggles. "Fitz, you were trying to fool a Stanford student. Plus, you're voice is so deep I bet the whole residence can hear you."

I shake my head but walk over to hug her. She sets her laptop down on top of my suitcase and jumps on me, her legs around my waist which would be annoying if she were heavy but she's not. I hug her tightly, not believing she is back in my arms after all this time. "I missed you so much."

She kisses my cheek. "I missed you more."

Olivia's POV

What are we doing today?" Fitz asks, as if I have a choice.

I point to the numerous study materials sprawled across my dorm room. "This."

"No," he replies matter of factly. "I'm whisking you off to a vacation site , which is to be disclosed at a later time."

"Are you?" I raise my eyebrows. "Look, Fitz, I want nothing more than to drop everything and go with you to God knows where. But I can't. I have exams right after break."

"Baby," Fitz comes around the desk and pulls me closer to him. "You're gonna ace those exams. I know that and I think you know it too. You owe it to yourself to take a break."

I lean my head on his shoulder, sighing. I have a tendency to overwork myself but that's just because I was lucky enough to stay in Stanford and I'm going to make that count. I'm not going to let myself fail. I missed Fitz so much and being away from him since January has been close to impossible but I can't just drop everything. Although I want to. I really want to.

As if he's reading my mind, Fitz hugs me tighter. "You're not gonna fail, Livvy."

I look up at him, sighing again. "Where are you taking me?"

Fitz's face lights up. "It's a surprise. Pack a bag though...and a bathing suit. A bikini. Any bathing suit, really...but preferably a bikini."

"Fitz..." I reply reluctantly, still not sure of this.

But he just grins, leaning in to kiss me firmly. "We're gonna have fun."

I lean over to turn down the music playing from the car radio. This past hour riding with Fitz, singing obnoxiously to cheesy duets, has been so much fun. But I'm so serious right now.

"Where are we going, Fitz?"

He flashes another grin. "I'm not telling you."

I roll my eyes. I have a bag packed in the back of the car and not a clue as to where in the world he's taking me. "Fitz..."

"I'm not telling you," he says, laughing this time. "All I'm gonna tell you is that we're gonna have a good time. You've been in California for like, half a year and you've almost exclusively stayed in Stanford. Stanford which is, by definition, the most boring city in California."

I raise my eyebrow, giggling. "By definition?"

"By definition," he repeats firmly. "I love you, but stop being annoying, Olivia. I'm not telling you where we are going but I will promise you that you will absolutely love it." He pauses. "Or maybe you won't. I have no idea. But the journey is what matters."

I laugh and squeeze his hand. Ever since he tried (and failed) to surprise me at my dorm room, I haven't been able to let go of him physically. I have months to make up on kisses, hugs and just plain physical contact. I missed him so much, it's unbelievable. I know in about a week, I'll have to say goodbye to him until summer break but I don't want to think about that at all.

"So," I squeeze his hand again. "Since you're being a stubborn asshole and won't tell me where we're going, tell me something else. How is college going?"

"It's not as fancy as Stanford," Fitz teases me and I grin. "But it's really nice. I'll have to take summer classes so I can get the credits I missed out on first semester. But the stuff is easy and I'm having a good time."

"Are you having fun with sorority girls?" I tease him right back.

"There is only one important girl in my life," Fitz says firmly. He sighs dramatically. "Then there's you."

I punch his shoulder playfully. "I hate you."

"Love you too," he beams. He clears his throat. "Another thing...I've been talking to my dad too."

"Really?" I smile. "That's good, Fitz. It's really good. Just because I have a shitty relationship with my father doesn't mean you have to."

Fitz chuckles under his breath. "It's not like we're the best of friends. But at least we're talking. He doesn't support me trying to get into teaching but at least he's stopped trying to convince me to take Mellie back."

"Does he know about me and you?" I sigh, almost scared to ask.

"Um, yes," Fitz says, but his tone is weird. "But, uh...well, I'm gonna be honest with you, baby, he doesn't like the idea too much."

I turn away, looking out the window. "I thought that much."

"Olivia," Fitz inhales, his voice loud and firm. "Look at me. I couldn't give two shits about what he thinks, you know that. And you shouldn't either. He picked out Mellie for me. It's not like the man has the best judgment."

"No, I guess not," I sigh.

I don't really care about what Big Jerry thinks but I would like it better if us being together wasn't so hard on Fitz and his family. We've already been through hell together and I just wish this could be easier. I'm willing to work on it, though.

"Fitz," I take a deep breath. "I don't want you to think that family isn't important because it really is. You don't want to take your relationship with your father for granted. I learned that the hard way." I pause. "Just work on it, okay?"

"I will," he promises. "But if he still doesn't warm up to the idea of us together, I'm not going to sit around and let it affect our relationship. Whether he likes it or not, I need to know I still have you."

"You'll always have me."

"I missed you," Fitz picks up my hand and kisses it. "I missed you so much, Livvy. I don't even wanna think about leaving again. But I'm gonna have to really soon."

"No," I look at him and I can see he's already dreading about when we have to say goodbye. "Stop it. We're not talking about this. Not now, not when we still have a week to be together. Then, I'm going to see you again in the summer right?"

"Of course," Fitz smiles. "I am literally gonna steal you away for the whole summer."

I smile back at him. "Sounds like a plan."

April 4th, 2016

2:20 PM

Palm Springs, California

"This is yours?"

"Nah, we're just breaking and entering," Fitz replies, popping open the truck.

"I'm serious...this is yours?"

I step back in awe. My eyes can't quite grasp the full length, height and width of the villa we're standing in front of in Palm Springs.

"Um yes?" Fitz nonchalantly juggles our bags and walks up to the stone path. "Technically, it's my father's."

I keep staring at it, not fully comprehending this. "You have a vacation house."

"Livvy, I have three other vacation houses," Fitz swings my duffel bag over his shoulder. "One here, one in the Hampton's and one in Dayton Beach. Plus one in Sicily, which is really very nice."

As if this is not nice. I swallow, shoving my hands in my pockets. I'm not fully comfortable with this and I can tell he isn't either. "Fitz."

He turns around, panting from the heavy lifting. "What is it, Livvy?"

I cross my arms across my chest. "You took me to your Palm Springs villa. I'm not exactly okay with this."

"Why not?" Fitz looks at me like I'm speaking Russian. "What are you talking about? You don't like it? I mean, I know it's not all that, but-"

"No," I hold up my hand. "I just...I really feel like a gold digger, Fitz. I literally feel like you're my sugar daddy."

Fitz laughs, which makes me grin. But I'm serious. He just shakes his head. "The fact that you would even bring this up assures me you're not a gold digger. Come on."

I reluctantly follow him into the huge villa, my eyes going from the bed of red roses around the enormous porch and the driveway that can fit six cars. As we walk in, I almost topple over. This has a beach house type of feel and atmosphere. It's, in my opinion, even better looking than his Beverly Hills house.

"Fitz," I hold on to his elbow like something is gonna bite me. "Your family owns this?"

"Yes, we have established that," Fitz rolls his eyes. "Nobody really comes here at all. The last time I was here was maybe...four years ago? But it was renovated last year."

I watch cautiously as he opens the front door and we enter. I can't even explain how it looks on the inside. It's fully furnished but it doesn't look lived in. It looks like a fancy Calabasas house and it is so, so beautiful.

"Fitz..." I squeeze his elbow. "I'm afraid to go in. I feel like I'm gonna break everything."

"Olivia," Fitz sighs pulling me in. "Come on. Go in, go upstairs to the master bedroom and put on your bikini. We're going in the pool."

I look at him. "There's a pool?"

He leans in and kisses my cheek. "There's two pools and a jacuzzi. Go upstairs."

"Fitz," I say his name for the thousandth time. This is so unbelievably cool and foreign to me. I'm kind of freaking out but I'm so amazed at the same time. I would be happy anywhere with Fitz but this incredible vacation place is just a plus. "Fitz, this is insane."

"No, it's not," Fitz kisses my cheek again patiently. "I told you we were gonna have fun."

AN: Hope you guys are okay with the time jump. I want this story to be longer than my last one, so maybe around 50-60 chapters, so I want to have a big time span, including Liv's four years of college.

To Maria: can you tell me the plot holes you were talking about so I can clear them up over the next few chapters? And this goes for everyone. Thanks. :)