It All Started In Fiji

Chapter 3: Pre-Covid Times

January 2020

POV: Alex

The news was looking rather concerning, a new virus seems to have sprung up from somewhere in China. So far it looked like it was going to stay somewhat confined to the country, which had me a little more relaxed. I was glad it seemed to be on the other side of the world. That means Lizzie would be safe.

"AJ?" Lizzie got my attention from our facetime call.

"Chase." I answered back, refocusing on the phone in front of me. She was in her costume for her role, obviously still on set. It was a retro looking style and I couldn't help but wonder exactly what this project was. "Wow... just wow..."

"Wow what?" She smirked, tilting her head to the side just so.

"Chase..." I stared at her for a moment before I cleared my throat. "Don't do that."

"Why is that babe?" She laughed, as she looked slightly confused.

"You really don't know? That look does a lot, darlin." I shifted on my chair. "Do we have another Garden With Me coming up soon?"

"I was thinking about this weekend. The garden is so nice here, I am so glad the owner and I set up this yearly rental. The veggies I planted last year are recovering from the winter freeze. Atlanta doesn't really get snow, but it does frost here. I'm gonna start planting turnips, those can be harvested in a couple weeks."

"Turnips huh?" I questioned softly. "I love listening to you talk about your garden, Chase."

She smiled brightly, holding up the gloves I got her for Christmas.

"You actually brought those with you?"

"Of course. The twins sent my tools back to LA, because I have tools here in Atlanta, but I kept my gloves. It's my little piece of you." She admitted, blush coloring her cheeks.

"I wish I could come see you but classes are just insane right now. It seems the transition between the Bronze and Iron ages has some of my class completely confused." I rolled my eyes.

"With a teacher like you, they will get it soon enough, babe." She said, and that had me blushing. "I gotta go, they are calling me back to set, You are my person!"

"Just as you are my person. Be safe, I miss you."

"I miss you, AJ." She said just before the call dropped.

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February 2020

POV: Lizzie

I had seen the news and I was afraid for AJ. California was now showing actual cases of the virus.

"How's Alex?" Paul asked, seeing me looking at the headlines. "Have you spoken with him today?"

"I talked to him this morning, over a facetime call. We had breakfast together. He has been talking me down from my panic. I know that he's being safe, but I still worry about him."

"So he is being safe then?" Paul pressed. "How's he feeling? No symptoms?"

"Nothing that he's mentioned." I shook my head.

We were called back to set before we could get too far into the conversation. Filming was going smoothly, for that I'm grateful. Paul dropped me at my rental that night after filming and I made my way inside. Turning on the tv just for background noise, the news was on.

"COVID-19 update. The world wide death toll reaches over a thousand. This surpasses the death toll of the SARS outbreak of the early 2000s." The news anchor said, but I had had enough. I quickly changed the channel to one of the many music channels and headed out into the garden.