Well back again. The only thing I'm going to say about this chapter is that not everyone is good or evil. There is no such thing as black and white when it comes to people. With that being said, enjoy this chapter.


A day later...

Fitz made his way to the door of the house he used to share with Mellie with dread in his heart. He knew he had to do his penance, but he didn't have to like it or accept anything she threw at him. So he braced himself as he knocked on the door.

She opened the door and stepped aside not saying a word as Fitz came in and she shut the door and moved toward the living room. She sat where she had the previous few days before. Fitz did the same and waited for what she wanted to tell him.

"Since you never bothered to call to check on me. You should know that I found out why I can't have any children."

She paused, trying to bring herself to say it out loud for the first time. She cleared her throat of the lump in it.

"I have stage two cervical cancer."

Fitz just looked at her as the punch to his gut settled in. Tears filled his eyes as they peeked over his eyelids and flowed out of his eyes. He finally found his voice.

"What does stage two mean?"

Mellie turned her head and looked off for it seemed like for hours, but it was minutes.

"It's spread to my cervix, which mean I will never be able to have children. My doctor wants to schedule a hysterectomy right away to make sure it doesn't spread."

"How long have you known this?"

"After you bolted, my gynecologist wanted to see if there were any reason why I was having trouble conceiving. They ran a battery of test and they found that I had cancer."

They both let everything that was said hang in the air. Fitz needed to get to the crux of this conversation.

"What are you chances of survival?"

"There good, but it's going to take up to a year of recovery for me to get back on my feet."

"Is there anything you want me to do?"

"Yeah, that's why your here. You want absolution? An end to this sham of a marriage? Then it's time for you to start now."

"What do you want me to do Mellie?"

"Well for once in your miserable life your going to see me through all of this. You owe me a year of your life for the shitty way you treated me when you left here for me to face this alone."

All Fitz heard was a year. He needed to focus.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Your going to have to move back into the house. Take me to and from my appointments and surgery. I'm going to require some chemo after surgery."

He didn't want to push her, but he needed to know what was going to happen after all this.

"So, at the end of a year what happens?"

"I sign the divorce papers and we go our separate ways. I don't want any of your money. My familie's just as wealthy as yours, and I have a sizable trust fund my grandfather left me. We leave with what we came in with."

"OK, I can do that. Is there anything else?"

"Yeah. No one can know I'm going through this. I don't want anyone's sympathy or the look of pity in their eyes when they see me. As far as the world is concerned we are back together and everything is back on track. If for some reason this gets out. The deal is off and I will make everyday of your miserable life unbearable. I will fight you to the last dime of my trust fund to make sure your never free. Do you understand. I mean no on gets to know. And by the way, you can start by telling your little girlfriend that you've reconciled with your wife and you'll do it in my presence."

Fitz jumps to his feet!

"You just wait one damn minute Mellie! You've gone to far! I knew this was mistake coming back here and making things right. You had no intention of ever letting me go! You just wanted to rub my nose in this. Well you can kiss my ass! I'm outta here. You can be bitter all you want, but I'm not playing your game anymore! Have a nice life, however long it may be!"

Fitz gets up to storm out.

"You sure you want to gamble with your girlfriends career? How's this sound for a news headline. Crack reporter involved in the alienation of affections suit, where wife is suffering from cancer. I'm sure every news outlet in the US will pick up on that story. How long do you think she'll be able to work in the news arena before her reputation is destroyed.

Did you really think you can come back here all of a sudden and pretend that you give a rats ass about me, without me being just a tad bit suspicious. By the way, you two do look really good together. Especially in the hospital bed and of course the pornographic tape you two made. I must admit, you never put it down quite like you did with her.

Well that's water under the bridge now. You either call your girlfriend now, or I drop the story the minute you leave this house. Your choice, unlike the one you gave me."

Fitz still had his hand on the door he was exiting. He was weighing up everything she had said and he could feel his heart start to constrict from what he knew he had to do.


Present day...

There she sat in her row eyes forward as her heart shattered twice. Once for her mentor and father figure, and second for the love she would never find again. He had lied to her and she could feel his pleading eyes burning a hole in the side of her heard from across the church, but her grief would not let her give in. Once this was over she would go back to Griffin, Ga and hide herself away again. She would never be herself ever again.

He knew he had no right to ask her forgiveness, but he needed it more than he needed another breath. His lie had shatter a love that he had never felt before and would never again, he just had to have her. He felt the tug of his wife's hand on his arm.

She whispered in church, "Fitz who are you looking at?"

He turned his tear filled eyes to his wife, "no one Mellie. Just someone I thought I knew."

The tears ran down his face as Mellie took out her handkerchief and wiped the tears away from his cheeks. Her touch burned him to his soul, because he knew it should be Olivia comforting him. So too his heart shattered into pieces as his mentor and long time friend was being laid to rest, as well as his heart. He could feel his soul leaving him every second and every minute that he could not talk to her, touch her, or make love to her again. He lied and now the price for that lie had come due.


As soon as the funeral mass was completed and they took Cyrus's body out of the chapel. Olivia comforted James as they walked behind the casket. Fitz pleading eyes tried to make eye contact with her, but she would not look his way at all. He had Mellie draped all over him pretending to be the dutiful wife and he had his full of her and the lie they had been telling for the last two months. Mellie had made it through her operation and she and Fitz drew up paperwork for their divorce with the stipulations that after a year of good behavior as a loving and devoted husband, she would divorce him and they both could walk away with what they brought into the marriage. The divorce was winding it's way through the courts of Connecticut, it would have taken a year anyway if they hadn't been together.

The only person who knew what was really going on was his brother Teddy. He pleaded with his brother to let him tell Olivia. She needed to know what was really going on and not destroy this young woman, but per usual his brother stuck to the deal. Teddy was so mad at him he cut off all communication to him for over a month.

They could never stay mad at each other for long and Teddy became the one who kept his brother sane, and kept an eye secretly on Olivia. He figured that if his brother wasn't going to do the right thing the least he could do was keep a little spark of hope alive for both of them.


After Fitz called Olivia and told her he was reconciling with his wife and that he was sorry that he had made promises to her and he hoped in time she would be able to forget him. It was short and to the point. Olivia stood in the news room just holding her phone to her ear as what he said rung in them. Cyrus had come out of his office as he stared out his window wondering what was wrong with his crack reporter. He ushered her into his office and closed the doors and blinds and sat beside her as nothing but tears poured out of her eyes. She was struck mute for over an hour before he had to call James over to help him with her. They took her into their home and cared for her for over a week, she just cried and slept, until one day she started to talk again and she told Jame everything. It was to much for her. She needed to get away from the city for a little while so she could get her self back together, and James was dealing with Cyrus's illness. He needed these final days with Cyrus, so she decided to go to her Grandmother's home in Griffin, Ga for a while.

She went back and forth from Griffin to Atlanta when James need a little relief at the hospital. Then when he needed help at home when they brought Cyrus home to die. She was so caught up in helping out with Cyrus that she didn't have much time to think about Fitz. So in her quiet time in Griffin she would write. It had been her guilty pleasure since she was a child. It was also a way to keep her grief at bay about Fitz. She knew she would eventually have to deal with it, but for now. James needed her.

After laying Cyrus to rest and the reception back at Jame's house she did everything she knew how to not look at Fitz. Every time she felt his eyes on her, she would move away. It was like a cruel dance they were doing. Finally as James pulled her to sit beside him.

"Olivia. Go home, you've done more than enough for me and Cyrus. He would be so proud of you, but he would never want you to be hurt either by Fitz presence with his wife. Go, home my sweet girl. I'll be alright with my family here. Call me in a few days."

Olivia stood up and hugged James until she was sobbing. He held on to her until she could calm herself enough to drive home. James placed his hands on either side of her head and kissed her forehead.

"And Olivia. Please take care of yourself. Cyrus left you something and he told me to give it to you about ten days after all this. So take some time for you and come see me in ten days."

"I will James. I love you."

"I love you to my lovely."

Olivia all but ran out to her car and got in and sped off before Fitz got any ideas.

Fitz just watched helplessly as he wanted to comfort her. He watched as she left the house and got in her car and drove away.

He had tried to call her a few times just to hear her voice, but she had changed her cell number. So he just stood in a crowd of people, mourning how he had hurt Olivia and that he had seven more months of torture to endure, but seeing her today gave him a spark of hope. He would win her back. If he had to crawl on his knees for the rest of his life, he would get his Livie back.