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Fitz tried not to panic. Where was she? Did someone take her? Was she kidnapped? What had possibly happened to Mellie? He knew that it was probably a panicking situation, but before he called in the troops to find his missing wife, he wanted to make sure that she was really missing; he wanted to be sure that she wasn't anywhere in the house. Of course, that would be difficult, considering that there were over a hundred rooms in Blair House alone, but he would personally search through them all if he had to. But first, he would go out and see if Teddy could be of any help. He had to of noticed Mellie's absence.
"Buddy?" Fitz called out as he walked out to his son, who just looked up at him with tired eyes as he sucked on his thumb. He didn't know exactly what he should ask him, or how he could really help him, but he was going to try somehow. "Where did you sleep last night?"
Teddy sat up and looked at his father, taking his thumb out of his mouth. "My rooms." He told his father, who wasn't sure if that was a relief or not. Fitz just nodded, letting out a small sigh as he tried to think of another question to ask. As he was thinking, he noticed the bottle in Teddy's lap for the first time.
"Have you seen mommy at all this morning?" He questioned, and Teddy just nodded, giving Fitz an extreme feeling of relief. "Where was she?"
The little boy shrugged, completely taking his attention off of the cartoons that he was watching. "Mama gone?" He asked with worry in his eyes. Oh, no. Absolutely not. Fitz couldn't possibly tell him that he didn't know where his mother was; he might lose it. He took a deep breath and just shook his head.
"No, buddy. She's here, I'm just trying to figure out where." He frowned as he tried to think of where his wife could possibly be. He took out his phone to call her, cursing to himself when he remembered that her phone was sitting on her dresser. "I'll be back in a few, okay? You just sit here and watch SpongeBob." Fitz ruffled his son's hair, trying to convince him that everything was okay. At least now, it was a little bit better, considering that Mellie was somewhere in the house. Where she was exactly, however, Fitz needed to find out soon before he went crazy.
He searched through a few more rooms before he looked went to the bathroom attached to Mellie's bedroom. He opened the door slowly, afraid of what he would find, or if he would find anything at all. When he had opened the door, he heard water running, and was hit with not only a sense of relief, but also a sense of worry. "Mel?" He called out, receiving a muffled noise as a response.
"Hmm?"
Fitz let out the breath that he had been holding since he had walked into Mellie's room earlier, and as bad as he wanted to open the shower door and go in there fully-clothed so that he could hold his wife, he fought the urge. He had thought that she was gone. He had thought that something had happened to her, that someone had taken her. And that was the absolute worst feeling that he had ever felt.
"How long are you gonna be?" He asked, not wanting to bombard her with questions and with him telling her how relieved he was that he had found her, even though she clearly wasn't even missing.
It took a few seconds for Mellie to answer, and when she did, her voice was dry. "Just a few minutes." She responded quietly and Fitz knew something was wrong, although he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"Okay, honey. Do you need anything?"
Her response was short, and almost inaudible. "No."
He quietly left the room, closing the door behind him and going back to where Teddy was watching tv on the couch. "Hey, little man...What do you want for breakfast? I'm gonna make you and mommy something to eat, okay?"
Teddy's head shot up the second that his father mentioned breakfast. "Cookies?" He asked, putting on his signature pout so that his father would give in to him. Of course, the pout worked to his advantage, and Fitz chuckled as he picked up his son and carried him into the kitchen.
"You can have cookies, but you have to promise me one thing." He set the little boy on the counter as he rummaged through the refrigerator to find something to make for breakfast. "You have to eat your breakfast when it's ready, okay?"
Teddy nodded quickly, watching as Fitz took out a box of pancake mix, a carton of eggs, and a box of bacon. When Fitz was looking at him, Teddy held his bottle out toward his father. "Milk?"
"Of course, little man."
Mellie came out of the bedroom right as Fitz was finishing up breakfast. She was wearing a silk bathrobe and her wet brown hair was tied up in a messy bun. She had bags under her eyes, and Fitz wondered if she hadn't slept at all the night before. "What's all this?" She asked as she sat down at the island, only noticing Teddy once he was in her face, offering her a cookie. "No thank you, baby. You can have it. You deserve it for being such a good boy." Mellie ruffled her son's hair, letting out a small sigh as she looked at her husband. She had just been wondering what she was going to make for breakfast; at this moment, she couldn't possibly be more grateful for Fitz.
"I could tell something was wrong...I'm not going to pester you to tell me what, or tell me why your room looks like someone tried to kidnap you last night, but I figured you needed to relax, so I made you and Teddy breakfast." He walked over to the other side of the island, kissing the top of Mellie's wet head. She whispered something about talking to him later, and he just nodded, wrapping his arms around her waist. She had no idea how glad and relieved he was that she was okay, that nothing bad had happened to her. In the few minutes that he had been looking for her, he was expecting the worst. He was expecting that someone had taken her and that there was a possibility that he would never see her again. He was expecting that someone had hurt her, and was still hurting her, and he didn't think that he had ever been more afraid in his entire life.
He took in the scent of her strawberry shampoo as he rested his nose on the top of her head. As a surprise to him, Mellie didn't move and she let him stay there, in that position, as long as he needed to. Although he hadn't said it, she had some idea of what he had thought; she knew how the room looked, and she knew that he had sounded relieved when and out of breath when he had called her name in the bathroom. He didn't have to say it; she knew.
When everything was done cooking, Fitz made Teddy a plate and got him settled in the living room. He came back to the kitchen, where Mellie was sitting at the counter, eating the plate of food that she had just made for herself. Fitz didn't want to bother her, but it was killing him; he needed to know what happened.
"Do you want to tell me what happened with your room?" He questioned, deciding that he would start there. The look on Mellie's face said that she was ashamed about something, but Fitz wasn't sure just what it was.
"I drank a little too much last night...After you left and I realized what day it was, I brought out the hooch and the next thing I knew, I had gone through half of the bottle. I texted you after you left. I tried to get ahold of you, but I didn't call because I figured you went to sleep and I didn't want to bother you since I knew you had to be up early." She frowned. "I'm not proud of it. I just couldn't help it when I realized what day it was, how long it's been..." Mellie took a sip of the glass of orange juice that Fitz had poured for her when she came out of the bedroom. She refused to meet his gaze; she didn't want to see the disappointment in his eyes.
To her surprise, Fitz wasn't angry. He didn't yell, he didn't ridicule her, he didn't tell her off. He just sat next to her, running his hand up and down her lower back. "Eighteen years now, isn't it?"
She nodded, her breathing hitched as she mentioned it. She didn't expect him to know what she was talking about, but she was beyond glad that he did. She didn't want to say it out loud. She couldn't say it out loud. She had only said it less than a handful of times since it had happened, and for some reason, each time cut and physically pained her like it was something she should be ashamed of; like it was her fault. It was as if her father-in-law holding her down and forcing himself inside of her was her fault.
Fitz took out his phone, looking through his messages and feeling a wave of guilt overcome him when he realized that Mellie had indeed texted him the night before. "Can you come back down here?" He couldn't quite understand how he had missed it, and he couldn't help but feel bad for not seeing it when she sent it. She had needed him last night and he wasn't there for her.
"I'm so sorry, baby..." Fitz moved closer to her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her as close as he possibly could. Mellie just leaned into him, not saying a word as she cuddled into his embrace. She was lucky to have him; it was nice having him be here for her after all of the years that he wasn't. It was a change, but it was a damn good one.
"Don't be sorry." She whispered after a few minutes, laying her head against his shoulder. "You're here now and that's all that matters."
They sat in that position for a while, until Teddy came running in, wondering where his parents were. Mellie sat up and pulled away from Fitz, giving him a sincere, thankful smile as she went back to eating her food. She was still believing that this was a dream, that things would go back to being the same way that they had been just months ago. She wasn't quite sure how long it would take for her to accept that this was real and that Fitz was most likely going to be there for her from now on, but if this was really how things were going to go, she was willing to take as much time as needed.
"Thank you again, Fitz...I mean it." She got up and rinsed off her plate, putting it in the sink before walking back over to her husband. She wrapped her arms around him, resting her head against his chest. He immediately put his arms around her, and she couldn't help but think of how good it felt. It felt so nice to be in his arms again. It was an unfamiliar feeling, after all of these years, but it was still nice. She wasn't used to him holding her anymore; she wasn't used to him loving her and openly expressing his love to her anymore. But at this point, she couldn't think of anything that she wanted more than to know that he was here, that he really did care about and love her. It was nice knowing that he was trying, and he truly was trying.
"Don't thank me, Mels. It's my job." He softly kissed her lips, not thinking of anything in the world but her. As he kissed her and held her in his arms, he couldn't believe that he had ever abandoned her the way that he did. He couldn't believe that he had taken advantage of her for so many years and that he hadn't loved her the way that she deserved. He didn't deserve her, and he knew that. But by the grace of God, he was close to having her again, and he couldn't be more grateful.
And that fear, the fear of losing her, of something bad happening to her, made him realize more than anything how much he really did love her and how lost he would be without her. "You know you scared the hell out of me, right? When you didn't answer the phone and I came here and couldn't find you...When I went in your room and it looked like someone had pulled you out of bed and grabbed you, like someone had taken you...God, Mel, I was so scared." He fought the tears that were threatening to fall as he remembered the fear that he had when he had thought that she was gone.
"I'm so sorry, Fitz...I didn't mean to do that to you." Mellie frowned, letting out a small sigh as she looked up at her husband. "After I had finally fallen asleep last night, I had a nightmare and when I woke up, the room was destroyed...I guess I had tried taking out my anger while I was sleeping."
"It's okay, Mel. I was just worried. But you're okay...So I'm fine." He kissed the top of her head, still holding her close to him as he spoke. "What do you say about us spending the day together? You, me and Teddy? I might have to do some work, but I wouldn't mind doing it down here with my two favorite people by my side."
"I think that's a great idea, honey."