"Sir?" Cyrus walked into the Oval Office, looking at Fitz, who was sitting on the floor, playing with Bellamy. She was lying on her stomach on top of a pink blanket, in a polka dot onesie and a pair of the tiniest jeans that Fitz had ever seen in his life. He looked up at Cyrus and nodded, letting his chief of staff know that he was indeed listening to him. "We have a situation, sir." Cy told him and Fitz raised an eyebrow. A situation could mean nearly anything from Mellie's having a bad day and is about to snap, to, terrorists have invaded the country and immediate action needs to be taken. The word situation did not narrow anything down for him.

"What do you mean, situation, Cy?" He asked as he picked up Bellamy, tickling her chubby belly. He looked at Cy, who looked like veins were about to pop out of his head. That didn't narrow anything down either. Still, even with Cy's stressing expression, the options ranged from "Mellie and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day", to, "Bye Bye America".

Cy let out a loud sigh, watching the president play with his baby on the floor of the Oval Office. He didn't want to ruin this happy moment, but he had absolutely no choice. He needed to know. "Vermont, sir." Cyrus told him, his expression still not changing. Fitz's raised an eyebrow, his hand immediately halting movement and no longer tickling his daughter.

So many thoughts ran through his head when Cyrus mentioned Vermont, but the main one involved his wife. Did Mellie know? Maybe Cy's stress was due to Mellie. God, the things she would do if she found out about Vermont. That would completely ruin their happy family. He should've sold it a year ago, when him and Liv had completely cut ties and he had started to work on his marriage. But it was Liv's house. He had it built for her. Even though it was built for them, it was still hers. He had no need for it, not anymore, so why not give it to Olivia?

Fitz continued to look at him, and Cy took it as permission to go on. "It…It was burned down last night, sir."

Mellie was gone last night. So many things were going through his mind and that was the first thing that hit him. Mellie had been away last night, claiming that she had to make a speech somewhere in Florida. Of course, Fitz thought nothing of it until now. What are the chances that the house that he built for him and his mistress be burned down the same exact night that his wife be gone, alone, for the first time in over a year? But Mellie would have said something to him. Mellie was the type of person who couldn't keep a secret like that inside. But then again, she had kept the Big Jerry situation a secret for over 15 years, so he truly wasn't sure what his wife was capable. He'd had to play it out. Just in case she didn't know, he'd have to play it cool.

Flashback, 1 year ago:

"Hal!" Mellie ran up to the Secret Service agent, smiling at him. He knew she wanted something. She always wanted something when she talked to him.

"Yes, ma'am?" He asked, looking straight ahead as he spoke to the First Lady.

Mellie sucked in a breath, looking at Hal. "Where was my husband last night? He was supposed to be in Connecticut, but you and I both know that's not where he was."

Hal sighed, shaking his head slightly. "I can't tell you ma'am. That's classified information."

Mellie sighed as well. She knew that this was going to be difficult. Time for Plan B. She ran her fingertips up Hal's chest, biting her lip seductively as she looked up at the tall agent. "Aw, come on…No one has to know that the information came from you. Just let a girl know where her husband was, when he clearly wasn't where we was supposed to be."

Hal shook his head. As much as he wanted to tell her, he couldn't. He would be in so deep if he told her. Then again, he would probably be in deep if he didn't tell her and just let her continue trying to get it out of him. "I can't, ma'am."

The First Lady frowned, her hand moving lower, down his chest and down his stomach. Luckily, there was no one else in the hallway. Just the two of them. "Please, Hal? It'll be worth your while if you tell me." She wasn't serious, of course. But she was great at getting her way, as was she at being flirty, the both of them put together always working out in her favor.

"He was in Vermont, ma'am." Hal told her, sucking in a breath as he tried to keep his composure.

"And why was he in Vermont?" Mellie asked as her fingertips moved lower.

"That's where he had a home built for him and Miss Pope, ma'am."

Mellie felt her heart drop to her stomach as he got the sentence out. She immediately dropped her hand, nodding her head. "Oh. Um, thank you.." She told him, quickly turning and rushing back to her and Fitz's bedroom. She sat down on their bed, and did something that she hadn't done in a very long time. Cried. She was a strong woman. She didn't cry. But she had reached her breaking point. He had a home built for them? This was the last straw. This was their breaking point. This was the absolute end of their marriage.

Once she had pulled herself together, she headed back to her office, grabbing the bottle of hooch that she kept in the bottom of her desk drawer. She poured herself a glass and drank. She drank, and drank, and drank, until she was at the point where she couldn't even remember why she had started drinking. Which was the point that she wanted to be at. She was numb. She didn't remember Vermont, she wasn't thinking at her cold, dead marriage. And that's exactly what she wanted. For once in the past 5 years, she didn't want to have Olivia Pope on her mind.

She was so out of it that she didn't even notice the time until her husband trailed into her office. She had her bare feet on the desk, and the bottle in her hand. She had stopped bothering with the glass after the first few drinks.

"Mellie." Fitz mumbled, walking toward her and taking the bottle from her hand. She pouted, reaching for it like a child. "It's 2am. You need to put down the bottle and come to bed."

The brunette giggled and stood up, stumbling over to Fitz. "You're drunk, Mellie." He told her, catching her as she fell into his strong arms.

"Am not." Mellie grinned, standing up and running her hand through his dark curly hair. "Fitz." She mumbled, running her hand down his chest.

And they had sex. They had sex, and for the next 20 minutes, she wasn't thinking about Vermont or about Olivia or about their broken marriage. She was thinking about her husband, her sober and completely aware husband, holding her in his arms and taking care of her in a way that he hadn't taken care of her in years, with romance, and not obligation.

Present:

"The fire was intentional, sir." Cyrus told Fitz a few hours later, after the investigators had finished investigating the fire. Fitz sighed. That added to his theory of Mellie having something to do with the fire. He thought about it, thinking about all of the possibilities, trying to convince himself that she had nothing to do with it. His thoughts however were interrupted when, speaking of the devil, his wife walked into the Oval, picking up their daughter, who was sleeping on the floor.

"Hi, sweetheart. Did you have fun with daddy?" She asked, kissing the baby's head and looking at Fitz. "Hi, honey. How were the kids? I'm sorry that I left you alone with all 3 of them, but this just wasn't avoidable."

Fitz nodded, glancing up at his wife. "They were good." He said simply, which sparked Mellie's curiosity. Why was he giving her short answers? Usually he'd go on into detail about every little thing that him and the kids did and every facial expression and noise that the twins had made.

"What's wrong, honey?" Mellie asked, frowning as he looked at her husband.

He shook his head, not wanting to tell her what the problem was. If she didn't know, she didn't need to know. And now the proof was gone, so she'd never need to know. But he should probably tell her. He didn't need to keep secrets from her, especially ones that could bite him in the ass eventually. "Mels…I need to tell you something."

She raised an eyebrow, sitting down on the couch and resting Bellamy in her lap. "What is it, honey?"

"You have to promise not to freak out…" He frowned, looking at her. He reached for the scotch, pouring a glass and downing it before opening his mouth again. He definitely needed some liquid courage for his. "You have to let me finish before you freak out."

Mellie nodded, not saying a word. She knew what he was about to tell her. She couldn't believe that he was actually about to tell her. "A while ago..I had a house built for me and Olivia. A house in Vermont. When I thought that we were going to be together, when I was going to divorce you and have a family with Olivia, I had a house built for us and for our family." He sighed, taking a deep breath. "But when we started fixing our marriage, I told Liv to take the house. I told her to take it and I gave her the papers and I haven't looked back since. Until today..Cy told me that the house was intentionally burned down last night."

She listened to him, nodding as he spoke. "I know." Was all she said and Fitz just raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean you know?"

"I mean I know, Fitz. I know about Vermont. I've known about Vermont."

"How have you-How did you find out?"

"I have my ways, Fitz." She told him, looking at him, her facial expression unchanged.

Even more reason for him to think that she was the one that set fire to him and Olivia's 'love shack'. "Mellie, let me ask you something." She nodded. He had all the reason to ask her this. She was vindictive. She was evil. He loved her to the moon and back but he knew how she could be when she wanted revenge. He knew how she could be when she felt betrayed.

"Did you set the house on fire?"