Futile Devices – Chapter IX

"This is not just going to go away, sir." The short foreign advisor scuttled beside Fitz, trying to match his long strides as they moved down the hallway of the White House.

"I know." Fitz answered simply.

"The Israeli media is being flooded with the rumours that Hezbollah agents were found and arrested in Jerusalem. And when Iran finds out about that little move back there…" He waved down the hallway to the Situation Room, where they had just left, and where they had seen new satellite images showing movement from Israeli troops. "I highly doubt they're going to keep pretending they don't want any conflict."

"I am well aware of all these problems, Monty." Fitz spoke with a deep, calm voice. "But what I need to find is a solution."

"The solution, Mr President, is that there is none." The advisor flustered. "The Israeli people have been attacked in the very heart of their own country. They want retaliation. And if they don't get it from us, they'll do it themselves."

Fitz stopped at the doorway of the Oval Office reception room and turned to face Monty as he skidded to a halt behind him. "I am not going to base our foreign policy on some Old Testament mandate of an eye for an eye. I am dedicated to peace."

"Of course you are, sir – so am I!" He inched closer to the President. "But this is no longer a matter of war and peace to them. It's about justice."

Fitz looked down at Monty in silence, the truth in his words being clouded by the strange forces he sensed at work. Justice was what they wanted, but justice against who?

He saw Hal walk up behind the advisor, bringing a phone down from his ear. Fitz looked at him expectedly but the service agent simply shook his head. His children still didn't want to talk to him. He had tried calling them again and again since Mellie's shock announcement, but it was all to no avail. Fitz hung his head then turned away from the foreign advisor and back to the reception area, heading straight for his office.

"Get me Mellie on the phone." He called out to Lauren as he passed her desk. "Right now!"

"Sir – " The receptionist started but was cut off when Fitz opened the door to his office to see Mellie herself inside, standing behind the Resolute Desk. She casually looked up from the objects behind the desk to give him a twisted smile.

"Hello Fitz."

He stepped into the office and slammed the door behind him.

"I was just admiring the collection back here." She continued with a smooth voice, flicking a hand to the photos and memorabilia. "You know that little clock over there has passed through my family for four generations? All the way from a small Montgomery shop-front to here in the Oval Office."

"Mellie…" Fitz started cautiously, unsure what her motive was.

"Funny how things end up like that." She mused, almost wistfully, then looked back at him. "Did you ever expect for us to end up here? I mean, I did, of course – the very first time I met you I knew we were meant for this office – but now that I'm here…this is now how I expected us to end up."

"Mellie, what are you doing?" His voice lowered with earnestness.

She looked down at the clock once more then picked up a slim white folder from the desk and gave him a confident smile. "I'm running for President."

"You can't be serious." He scrunched up his brow in disbelief.

"Oh, but I am." She purred. "I'm giving my announcement speech next week in Atlanta. My team are writing it as we speak."

"Mellie," Fitz sighed in exasperation as he stepped further into the room. "You're smart, you're tenacious, and god knows you're ambitious, but have you lost your mind? You've never even run for public office! You'll be destroyed!"

"No I won't." She flicked him off, still standing behind his desk.

"Yes, you will." Fitz stared at her but saw he was getting nowhere. "Look…" He started again, his voice softer. "I know you don't think I care about you, I know…. But I can't let you go out and do this to yourself. The public is going to eat you up and turn you into some joke!"

Mellie's face froze, her calm smirk falling into a scowl. "Joke?"

Fitz quickly saw his mistake. "Mellie I – "

"Joke?" She quickly cut him off as she repeated the word in disbelief. "I'll be a joke, will I? Not the wife whose husband fell for some whore, but the woman who wanted to serve her country?"

Fitz tried to step closer. "I didn't – "

"You made me a joke, Fitz! You did!" She exclaimed, her voice raw. "When you dropped your pants and let that woman get her little claws in you – you made me a joke. You made our marriage, our partnership, our life, a joke. So excuse me for not caring about some people laughing about my political ambition." She snarled. "I've had worse."

Fitz hung his head, the weight of guilt sinking him into the floor. "I'm sorry." He murmured with a heavy voice. "I truly am…" He slowly lifted up his head again to meet Mellie's eyes. "But I'm not going to let you go off and scuttle your own future."

"You no longer have any say in my life." She glared at him.

"I'm still the father of your children."

"Children that no longer want to talk to their father."

"Don't – "

"Don't what?" Mellie teased. "Don't say that? You know it's true though. Your own children don't want to talk to you. You made a fool out of me, but you also made a fool out of them. So don't go thinking I've held anyone against their will, Fitz. It's their choice. And they want nothing to do with you anymore. And neither do I. So we're done. Go out there, live your life, shack up with your little whore, but know that you've only got a few more months of this presidency left, because I am running for this office and I will use every single thing in my arsenal to take you down."

Fitz felt his anger boiling up in his chest, the guilt of his children's shame feeding it stronger as he stepped closer to the desk, eyeing Mellie down. "Do your worst." He challenged though gritted teeth.

Mellie simply put on a confident smirk then threw down the slim white folder she held to the desk between them.

"Game on." She boasted, then quickly turned around and swaggered away from the desk and out of the office.

Fitz's eyes were trained onto the white folder, ignorant of the world around him. As Mellie's slam of the door roused him from his thoughts, he slowly lowered his hand and gently turned over the folder to see the contents within. It was pages of legal documents, with some small Post-its marking where he was to sign. But his eyes were instead trained to the top of the document, where in bold writing stood the words that made his heart rate race and his breath catch in his throat.

Application for Divorce.

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NB:

I KNOW! DIVORCE!

LIKE ACTUAL DIVORCE!

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Ok – focus Kronos. Yes, where was I? That's right: Hello! Please take my apologies for the extreme shortness of the chapter but just when I finished writing this bit I thought it was a natural end so I thought best just give you guys something now as a sort of 'commitment statement' to say I'm here, I'm a monkey, and I am determined to carry on with this fic.

So sorry about shortness – but more will come! MOAR! Roar! thor!

But yeah, if anyone's still out there in the wilderness and still moderately interested in this story, please drop a line and tell me what you think! Reviews are better than caffeine for this strange sleepy brain. So thanks so much! Now to get onto the next chapter!