"Let's have a discussion about the way things are going, Mels, and you can tell me in what twisted little mindset of yours you thought this was okay."

Like a scolded child. That's the way her husband was talking to her in this moment. Like a toddler who'd drawn on the walls, not like his wife. Or, whatever she was to him these days.

"Are you going to let me talk, or do you want me to get you some scotch first?" She replied, her tone so falsely sympathetic she could practically see the sarcasm dripping from her words. She knew she shouldn't be so flippant, but then again, what did she owe him? In this moment, nothing.

She took his brief moment of stunned silence as an opportunity and ran with it.

"Listen up, baby. As hard as it might be for you to believe, the double standard you're holding me to is almost laughable. Take a look at where we are right now. The White House, all thanks to your precious Olivia Pope, who you decided to thank for this wonderful opportunity by engaging in a disgusting affair of secrets and lies and quickies in the blue room. So listen to me, and listen good. The way you've been treating me the past five years, ever since the wonderful Olivia waltzed into our lives, I think I have a right to do pretty much anything. But I've been a good girl. I've stood by my man. Until now. I know it's unfortunate for you that someone else loves me because it screws up the strange little claim you feel over me despite the fact that most of your time is either spent hating me or loving another woman, but it happened. It's true. So get off your high horse, Fitz, and think carefully before you decide go off on me like a raging animal."

Mellie had never seen such a look of indignation in her husband's eyes before. He looked positively murderous, ready to spew out some ignorant crap that she was sure would be a valiant but failed attempt to somehow justify his position to her. She looked back at him expectantly, ready for him to make his next move.

Checkmate, baby. I'm ready.

Which is why she never could have prepared herself for what came next.

"You told me you weren't a sexual person." His voice was a dull whisper, which sent a chill down her spine. "After Jerry was born, you said you weren't a sexual person anymore. And I've tried to respect that. I accepted it. Poor Mellie, she can't control her libido. It's not her fault. So imagine my surprise when I discover that poor little Mellie and my Vice Presidential candidate were caught screwing like a pair of horny dogs."

There it was. So simple, so clear. She'd been blind to think he wouldn't use this, the one thing she couldn't explain. It had been fifteen years and she still couldn't talk about it, the reason she had told her husband whom she loved and adored that she wasn't a sexual person anymore. The same reason that she hadn't let him touch her at all for months after, the reason she'd tried to kill herself after Jerry was born. All of these things came back that one night: the reason her husband would win this fight tonight.

Standing here, in the Oval Office, Mellie Grant found herself at a loss for words.

She couldn't tell him. She just couldn't.

So instead of letting free the secret that had haunted her for fifteen years; the secret that had destroyed her love and her marriage and her life; the secret that would make everything make sense if she could only say those three words: I was raped…

Instead of saying that, Mellie took a shaky breath, turned around, and walked quickly out of the Oval Office before she vomited all over the presidential carpet.