Mellie woke up, rubbing her temples as she tried to shake off a headache. She stared at Fitz. He was such a heavy sleeper, and in a way, it was really cute to her.

A smile smiled creased across her face as she quietly slid out of bed. The clock read 4:00 a.m.

Tonight was one of those nights she found impossible to sleep through. She has always been a light sleeper, but after everything that had happened, there were rarely nights she slept through entirely.

She went downstairs to the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of water.

She needed to brainstorm ways to prove Jerry was guilty. There was no real evidence to prove that he had raped her however, so this was going to be difficult. The only way to approach this was to get him to lie as much as possible, to discredit him. His reputation matters to him the most out of anything, so she would need to exploit that.

The other half of her understood how corrupt the system could be, especially because she was a lawyer. Realistically, Jerry was far too powerful and wealthy to actually go to prison for what he did. She bit her nails as she thought harder.

What this worth it?

She wanted to cry from all the stress bubbling inside her, but to be honest, she had cried far too much already. She needed to get to work.

First she fed baby Jerry because he was crying, and boy did he always cry a lot. She eventually placed him back into his crib after he fell asleep. She smiled at him.

She should have known when she was pregnant he would definitely be a cryer, considering how much he kicked when she was pregnant with him.

As she thought of pregnancy, her thoughts wandered to that woman she had seen, Olivia, and made her wonder how she was doing. The poor woman had definitely been abused considering the bruises Mellie had seen on her. It was depressing to know how many women have to go through that.

'Wait-'

A thought popped into her head.

'What if there were more women willing to come forward?'

It was a stretch, she told herself. But she knew Jerry, she couldn't have been the only one he sexually assaulted in some way. She saw the way he treated women. It was downright disgusting.

She needed to be smart about it though, if she misstepped, it could put Jerry one step ahead of her, and he already had an advantage over her.

She couldn't not do anything. She had to try. The past two years she had given up on trying. Jerry took that away from her. But she was getting it back.

This was her way of getting it back.

...

Fitz drowsily rolled over, his hand passing over the empty space where Mellie slept. He sighed and sat up.

'What a great time to be alive.'

He caught a glimpse of himself through his sleepy eyes.

He hated looking at himself in the mirror now. People had always said he looked like his father when he was younger: handsome, sky blue eyes, bright smile.

But now this resemblance made him sick. The very thought that he was connected to that man by blood made his stomach hurt.

He turned away from the mirror and frowned.

Mellie came through the door, sitting on the bed next to him.

"Hey."

"Hey."

They sat in silence for the next few moments, until Mellie cleared her throat.

"I think I'm ready to take things to the next step on pressing charges."

He sat up

"Oh wow. Ok that's good. Only if you're ready."

"I am."

She looked into Fitz's eyes, wanting to get lost in them again and again like she did when they first fell in love. She couldn't believe how understanding and patient he was with her through all of this. She never could have made it to this point without him.

She leaned down to kiss him, to his surprise.

It was gentle, their lips carassing one another like a warm embrace. Her hand ran through his curly hair and down to the back of his neck.

He was pleasantly surprised. They hadn't kissed like this in so long. He pulled her closer, trying to savor every moment of this.

She pulled away and looked into his eyes.

"I love you Fitz."

He tucked her hair behind her ear, admiring her strength and beauty at the same time.

"I love you too Mels."

She quietly crawled into his arms, resting her head in his chest, and finally fell asleep.

...

Jerry hadn't gotten much sleep as of lately. If—more like when—Mellie drops her bombshell to the police or whatever the hell she's doing, his career could be over. His main goal was to keep everything as quiet as possible, but that was unlikely. He knew he could win. Prison wasn't what scared him.

Losing his reputation was.

He should have known she would be the one to ruin him. She was far too smart compared to the other girls he fucked. He made a mistake that night that was coming back at him to ruin everything he had worked to build.

He finished his glass of scotch, staring out the window and into the lovely yard outside as he did so.

This beautiful house. His legacy. His career. It was a long way from the dump he was born into. He worked his ass off to finally get to the top, and he wasn't going to let a spoiled little rich girl take that away.

He thought she was different then the rest of them. Different from Fitz. He thought she was a fighter like him. She didn't care about the dirt, she pushed through it. He admired that about her. That made her attractive in his eyes.

But now he realized he was wrong. And she disappointed him. Just another born-into-wealth kinda gal who thinks she can walk over white trash like him.

He scoffed to himself.

As if she would even care about him enough to walk over him. No, she was more the kind to flaunt all her money and beauty and flash her pretty smile at you and act like she never gave a damn for your existence when you make it known.

Yes, that was his mistake.

He shot too high that night thinking she'd want him, to think she didn't already know that she was god's great gift to the world. She was too refined and glorious to be just another side piece whore he screwed.

It didn't have to have the necessary force that he implemented. But she made it hard. He simply was seeing if she was up for the challenge in that moment. To see if she could make it past the dirt. To put her down for once in her privileged life and know what it was like.

And for awhile she impressed him. That next morning when she laid it down how it was going to be was impressive, he had never felt such a sense of admiration until that moment.

But now, she failed the test. She's just another disappointment, like his son, and he was paying the price for that.

...

Mellie and Fitz rolled up to the police station. She stared out the window, still doubting herself.

Fitz took her hand in his

"I'm here for you, every step of the way."

"I know."

She sighed, and then opened the car door.

They went in together, holding hands. A policeman walked up to Fitz. He was tall and strong built.

"Governor, what brings you here?"

Mellie turned nervously to meet his eyes, and Fitz gently squeezed her hand as a reminder that he was there for her.

She took a deep breath

"We're here to report a rape."

...

GUYS I have missed this story so much. Idk who is still reading but thank u sm you're amazing. I completely forgot to update and I just realized that we're in quarantine with nothing else to do, so why not finish this fanfic? I rlly liked the Jerry section, it felt very interesting in a messed up way to write it. I hope you guys are well, stay safe :))