He woke to the constant loud pounding at his family home. Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III was 14 and was babysitting his siblings for the first time. His parents wouldn't let him babysit until he got his CPR certificate and taken a few dry runs an hour at a time until his parents were ready to go out for a real evening.

Now here he was at the door with a baseball bat and the phone demanding to know who was at the door at 2am. That answer would scar Fitz for the rest of his life. That night Fitzgerald Grant stopped being a kid when he finally let the police in to tell him his parents had been killed in a head on collision with a tracker trailer truck.

That would be the last peaceful nights rest he would experience for a long time.

After the first shock wore off, Fitz and his little brother and sister were left to be raised by their father's eccentric Aunt May who lived in Paris. She was in her early 70's but you couldn't tell by how much energy she brought into the room. Where his parents were strict disciplinarians Aunt May lived a Parisian lifestyle. Very laid back and up for anything.

Aunt May saw her great nephews and niece as a God send to her life. It was if she was getting a second chance at having a real family and she was bound and determined not to mess it up.

With all the grieve and sadness Fitz, Claire, and Teddy had gone through, Aunt May was what the doctor ordered for the younger children, but Fitz took his parents death as a duty he was still tasked to oversee care for his younger siblings. He became their surrogate father. No matter how Aunt May wanted him to just be a teenager, Fitz would not put down the mantel of fatherhood.

What Aunt May didn't know was that Fitz felt that his parents put their absolute trust in him to care and protect his brother and sister, and them dying had not broken that bond of responsibility.

After a few months of this behavior Aunt May gave up trying to alleviate that responsibility from Fitz, so she worked with him to help raise his siblings. That was the only course Aunt May was left with.

The only time he needed her was when he had his nightmares. They were fairly regular. They would occur each month on the date of his parents death. So every night of the 20th of each month the family would prepare for Fitz's night terrors. He would wake the entire house. Aunt May would sit on the side of his bed wrap him in her arms and rock him until he went back to sleep and the cycle would start all over again.

Life went on for the little family in Paris. Aunt May had put them in the International school.

Fitz blossomed in the school. His French had become impeccable as well as his siblings. He was still a very serious boy when it came to school. It had been his parents dream for him to go to their alma mater Princeton. He knew that coming from a school in Paris had put him at a disadvantage with other American educated students, but he vowed to make this dream come true, so he had little to no social life.

Which was kind of hard on the female population at school. At sixteen Fitz was already 6 feet tall and he body started to fill out into a muscular mans form. He was the best soccer player on the schools team and he had already been recruited by a few European soccer clubs, but Fitz only cared about what would get him into Princeton.

That all changed one summer break in Vienna Austria. Aunt May bless her soul was an avid traveler. Every school break had the family traveling. Not just traveling but they would meet some of the most interesting people in the world. Writers, painters, scientist, and musicians were a constant stream in their lives.

So that summer it was not a big deal to be invited to US Ambassador residence for a garden party.

They went through the receiving line to meet Ambassador Pope and his wife.

"May darling! So glad to see you. It's been to long." Maya Pope said.

"Maya! So glad to see you too. Let me introduce you to my children. This Fitzgerald, Claire, and Theodore."

Maya hugged each child and said, "so glad to make their acquaintance. May didn't tell me what a good-looking bunch you are. My daughter Olivia is somewhere in the garden. You must go and introduce yourselves to her. Oh, my manners. This is my husband Eli Pope. Welcome all of you. May, I'll be in a few moments so we can catch up."

They all moved toward the garden for refreshments and conversation. Before Aunt May flitted off to talk to some of her old friends she spotted, she caught a glimpse of Olivia and took her kids over to introduce them.

All Fitz saw was a crowd of boys clustered together around into a circle until Aunt May yelled out Olivia. Fitz thought time just slowed down as he saw the circle part and saw the prettiest thing he'd ever seen in his life emerge from the crowd.

Olivia walked over with the warmest smile on her face that Fitz couldn't believe possible. He felt himself warm and queasy suddenly. He felt his knees were starting to buckle. He held on to one of the trellis for support.

She walks up to Aunt May and hugged her and said, "oh thank God you pulled me out of that male scrum. You would think I was the prized heifer at the county fair."

She laughed and Fitz thought he was hearing angels sing. Aunt May did the introductions and left Fitz for last.

"Liv this is Fitzgerald, you two are the same age."

Liv really hadn't payed much attention to Fitz as she walked up, but as she turned to shake his hand she looked into his eyes and she gasped at what she saw there. They held each others hands until Aunt May cleared her throat.

"Well Fitz why don't you to get acquainted with each other, after all Olivia will be attending your school this fall. Her parents wanted to make sure she knew someone before she arrived.

They both just stood their staring at each other as the world seemed to fall away. Olivia came back to her senses first.

"So...is Fitzgerald what they call you all the time?"

"Um...umm, no call me Fitz."

"No, I'll call you Fitz McBlue." She winked and started to giggle at her boldness.

Fitz smirked at her play on his name and eyes.

"Why are you coming to Paris for school? Doesn't Vienna have a good school?"

"Sure it does, but to major in French Art History when I go to college, wouldn't it be better to actually live in France?"

Fitz was impressed with her answer. "Sounds like you have everything figured out. What school do you plan to attend to enact this plan of yours?"

"Only the best school in the good old U. S. of A, Princeton."

"Wow! Looks like you are just going to follow me for the rest of my life. I plan to go to Princeton too. My parents went there."

"Fantastic! Are they here in Vienna with you?"

By the look on Fitz's face, the moment she asked the question, his eyes turned a stormy grey on the ocean. She knew it was the wrong thing to ask.

"They died two years ago in an accident. We live in Paris with Aunt May."

"Listen Fitz me telling you I'm sorry about people I had no earthly idea about, just seem so pretentious. So I want to say that I'm sorry I never got to meet people who brought you into this life. I have a feeling we are going to be good friends. The best in fact."

Fitz's eyes seemed to break like a storm, as his eyes started to turn back to blue. Her confidence in their friendship made him feel all kinds of warm inside and he knew she was right.