As the nanny takes Teddy out of the room, Mellie asks for a hug. But he seems to pull away from her immediately. It's a moment of embarrassment for sure, that everyone except Mellie tries to ignore, to prevent bursting out into laughter.

It always boggles Olivia's mind as to why Mellie tries to act as if she is maternal when the cameras aren't around. It's a wasted effort to say the least because it fools nobody who knows the truth.

The moment the door closes behind Jennifer and Teddy, Liv snaps out of her thoughts, to the sound of Fitz's voice. She can tell by his tone he's upset, but trying to keep his cool. No doubt seeing Mellie hold a sour face as Teddy hugged and kissed her is annoying him too. Hearing his anger bubbling, Olivia doesn't try to calm him. She lets him have his moment, as he says, "Mellie, can you tell me why the hell Karen is running around town without her detail?"

Mellie hears him, but doesn't want to answer him. She knows her reasoning is flawed. But it's all she has. They all watch her as she remains mute. It's obvious she's apprehensive about responding to him in front of Olivia and Cyrus. But Fitz takes her pause as a matter of prolonging the inevitable, and forcibly says, "Mellie, I need an answer." His voice is still controlled, but again, it's filled with rising anger.

Olivia feels the apparent discomfort, and she too wants to escape. After making eye contact with Cyrus she walks toward the door, as she says, "Fitz, why don't we leave you two alone to discuss this privately? That way I'll be on hand to greet Karen, she should be arriving soon anyway."

As her hand reaches for the door Fitz says, "Cyrus, you can go. But Liv. I need you to stay." His tone is still firm, but not angry when he speaks her name. She looks at him, and before she can speak, Cyrus replies, "Very well. I will greet Karen, and let you know when she arrives sir." Before anyone can say a word, he's on the other side of the door.

In the moment Olivia is kicking herself for not making the move sooner. She didn't want to be present for this. She knows if she stays in this room, nothing good is going to come of her presence. She's completely over Mellie, and trying her best to keep her view under wraps out of respect for Fitz. This matter is for him and his ex to deal with, and doesn't pertain to her. Nonetheless, he needs her. As she turns around to face Mellie and Fitz; Liv hears Mellie laugh as she says, "You know you can't leave him Liv. He does his best thinking when you do it for him."

Normally her insults aren't worth responding to; but this time Olivia has had it. Without warning she says, "Mellie stop it. For once. Just stop! Stop the bullshit, and answer Fitz's question. Why in the hell are you allowing Karen to run the streets of D C without her security detail? That's what you need to be concerned with right now. Not me being present, and not your petty insults toward Fitz. So let's hear it; what's your answer?"

Her tone is so direct and focused, that initially Mellie and Fitz are both in shock. Mellie appears flushed as she snaps out of her haze to the sound of Fitz asking, "Well Mellie? You heard her. What's your answer?" She's stunned and completely caught off guard. Instantly she realizes she's not going to be able to escape this situation with her usual deflecting wit.

So she sits down, and tries to go for the crying approach. Tears fill her eyes as she sobs as she says, "I wanted her to like me, okay. She loves you and Liv and likes you more than me. So I figured if I gave her some freedom, she'd trust me more and we'd be friends."

While Mellie sits on the couch giving her grand performance, complete with trumped up tears. Olivia and Fitz stand by watching her, and neither of them are impressed. Her sobbing and her ridiculous logic falls on deaf ears as Fitz lays into her. He angrily replies, "So you figured putting her in danger would improve your relationship with her. Is that what you're telling me Mellie?"

His response causes her to cry harder. But he's now frustrated with her fake tears and her attempt to shirk her responsibility for this situation. He says, "Damn it Mellie! Tears are not going to work here. So stop the fucking water works. What you did was reckless, irresponsible, and unreasonable. Karen is your daughter, not your friend. She doesn't need a friend Mellie; she needs a parent! Your negligence could've gotten her killed!"

Suddenly her tears stop, and she coldly replies, "Like your negligence and blind trust got Jerry killed! You're yelling at me about negligence, when you're tawdry affair is the reason our son is dead! Both of you killed our son. So how dare you put me on the spot for this?"

Her words stop time, and angers Olivia to no end. She looks at Fitz and sees the hurt in his eyes. Which motivates Olivia to jump into protection mode. She angrily steps toward her and heatedly responds, "You heartless, disgusting, diabolical bitch! This situation has absolutely nothing to do with Jerry's death. We are not responsible for his murder, and you're not going to lay that at our feet. You're despicable! You'll say anything to get out of facing responsibility for your actions, huh?"

Mellie's no longer crying. Her tears have mysteriously dried up and she's seething with anger. Knowing her roose isn't working and Olivia is taking her to task. While Fitz sits back and enjoys the show is completely pissing her off as she yells, "You can't talk to me that way, damn it. I can burry you. I can burry you both with my book and my interview. Do you really want that negative press? Think about that!"

Fed up with her delusion quickly Fitz angrily responds, "Mellie, your threats don't mean a damn thing right now. Because what you've failed to understand is the American people love us, and detest you. So anything negative you say about us, will undoubtedly appear as sour grapes by the press after a few days, and let's remember. I have less than a year left in office anyway. So just how badly will this affect me? Ask yourself, what's the bigger story? Your sour grapes of being my ex, or you allowing our teen age daughter to go unsupervised around town, because you're trying to score brownie points with her?" Mellie desperately replies, "You wouldn't dare leak that information."

Fitz tauntingly says, "You want to try me and see? Who's got the most to lose here Mellie? Because I'd say it's you. If you recall I allowed joint custody as a courtesy. And if memory serves me right; originally you didn't even want joint parenting because it would cramp your style. Think about the fallout from the press getting wind of the deposition from our divorce. No fixer on the planet could bring you back from that, and still help your political ambitions."

Olivia smiles inside listening to her man not only check her, but also make perfect sense. She couldn't have said it better herself. She thinks to herself, maybe she's rubbing off on him and that's clearly a good thing. Both Fitz and Olivia now look at Mellie, and wait for her response. Her silence lets them know she's in thought. Which can only mean she's conceding. Or at least they hope so. Because both Fitz and Olivia know Karen will be arriving any moment.

Mellie wants to argue with him but she can't refute his logic. He's right. Her going public will do more harm to her aspirations than his. The reality of his words hit home for her, as she gasps and says, "You wouldn't. You can't. You know I can't have people knowing I've lost custody of the kids. Or know about what I said in the deposition about custody." Fitz sighs as he says, "Then it sounds like you need to cooperate, now doesn't it?"

Settling with the truth Mellie sees she doesn't have a card left to play. Although Olivia is doing cartwheels in her head after the read her man gave Mellie's tired ass. And she's immensely enjoying the pain in Mellie's eyes right now. She knows they're running out of time with Karen's car already arriving, per the text she just received.

So she interjects as she says, "Look Mellie, Karen is on her way to the oval. The last thing she needs is to see you and Fitz at odds. So I think we all need to take a breath here, and table this discussion for now. Karen's safety and psyche are the most important in this moment, not our dislike for one another. So I vote to call a truce, and be here for Karen because she needs her family around her more than anything in this moment.

Mellie still isn't willing to completely concede, despite it being in everyone's best interest. As she says, "I agree, which is why Fitz and I need to be here for our daughter. You can wait elsewhere." Before Olivia can reply, Fitz says, "God damn it Mellie grow the fuck up! You sound like a petulant child. Do you realize that if it wasn't for Olivia, we wouldn't even know what happened tonight. She called Liv when she was in need Mellie, not you or me. So as far as I'm concerned she's got as much right to be present than either one of us. But if you want to leave, be my guest. Nobody here will miss you."

Mellie wants to respond but before she can, the door opens without a knock, and Karen steps inside. They could tell by her eyes, she'd been through hell, and just needed a hug. Mellie turns to greet her; but she instantly runs to Liv and Fitz, who are standing together. They compassionately take her into their arms as she sobs uncontrollably.

In that moment, nothing matters except her safety and her piece of mind. But as Fitz and Liv comfort her, they know that more needs to be hashed out. Especially, given the death stare they are receiving from Mellie. As Karen clearly prefers them over her in this moment. But how long will that last is the question? They both have some hard questions for her to when the dust settles. She's not completely out of the woods on this yet.

Thank you for reading my fanfiction tale, I hope you enjoy it, and it continue to read the story. It looks like things are heating up, but the question is how hot will the situation get?

Well well well, just before Christmas we have a little drama huh? LOL this will make Christmas more interesting this year for sure. Will Mellie see Karen's actions as pure betrayal? Or will she understand and let it go? How she handles this situation will speak volumes for their relationship as mother and daughter. Can she keep it together? Or will she crack?

Also we learn what else happened with this story of Karen's friend's unplanned pregnancy. How much more meets the eye, will be determined, and more, coming up in the next installment.