Author´s note: Writing the first part of this chapter was some mean wicked fun in a Lady McBeth kind of way. Interesting new p.o.v., I hope it worked outs somewhat. Also, I hope that Fitz´ motivations for what he does at the end of this chapter are clear not just to me, but to readers as well.

Umusarah: I would agree on the Liv leaving in the worst of moments, yes, that much was clear from the last minutes of the show as well which I think was quite powerfully and heartbreakingly done with the almost chipper song while he breaks down on the Great Seal in the Oval. It will indeed be hard to get past this, but that´s the challenge about writing this. :) The reunion is getting closer. ;)

ShaunV76: Hah, well, that would´ve been a show now would it. And yes, actually I have been thinking long and hard about this chapter because Liv would probably not just follow Mellie as we saw or stand in front of the White House and bang against the door. So that was a bit complicated to arrange…

Clio1792: I can see her point as well, even though I dislike Mellie a lot. I think however that all of this is such a tangle of a messed up thing that it would not do Liv justice to claim she didn´t feel about Fitz. I believe she did. I believe she did so much that she left, that what she did was indeed altruistic, at least she had planned it at that. And I think he absolutely does need her because in a world of politics I believe he was sort of tossed in to (even though I do not favour the idea of him just being manipulated, he´s a smart guy, and that is me the liberal speaking here…) she is sort of his anchor of sanity and loyalty and even that breaks at times which is devastating for him as it is for her because in a way he has the same function for him. Her family is just as dysfunctional as his after all…They´re birds of a feather in more ways than one.

Guest: Well, I am not a fan of easy solutions to complex storylines like that. Also, in the lights of current events, I would find it rather distasteful to use a plane crash as a means to an end of getting rid of an unwanted character. I am sure you understand.

LoreneMichelle41: I sort of find it fascinating from a writer´s point of view that this is a lot about manipulation and betrayal, you caputered that nicely. And thanks. :)

Jennkyle: Thank you :) Well, yes, I hoped that little ruse made some sense. And I had a really nice weekend, thanks for that. :)

Reneeharris49: Thanks a lot for your review. Hm, about Mellie working with Eli, we shall see… And yes, that would be a wicked alliance indeed. I promise it won´t take much longer to have the reunion, I´d bet on chapter 14 ;)

Chapter 13 - Schemes

There were moments when Melody Grant wished she could control her emotions. She had never been very good at that and that knowledge made her mad at times. Emotions could often either mean weakness as well as power whereas control over one´s emotions, using them as one wished, meant unlimited power in manipulation. Unfortunately, she did not possess the latter. This moment when she was figuratively kicked out of the hotel room by…her…gave her another painful realization of that very quality she wished for but lacked.

Helplessness was warring with anger, despair with humiliation. Surely that woman had to know what it meant for her to come here, to bow so low before her. If it was for Mellie, she´d avoid her, she´d make sure they never crossed paths but now and then one had to make personal sacrifices. Mellie only wished, stubbornly, that the day might come where it wouldn´t always be her to make sacrifices. Where it wouldn´t always be here to keep things together.

She could have walked out on all of this. Maybe should have, long ago, but life as a First Lady had its benefits and lures and she had never been a timid woman. She had been hurt in the last years and beyond, hurt and humiliated and exposed in ways she did not wish upon most others, but she had always taken that as the price she had to pay to be who she was. Who they were. Power was a powerful drug. It made her go to lengths and do things others might consider below their dignity, because these others were unable to grasp that power and a good life came at a price. And for the price of a good chance to set Fitz right again she had exposed him. Sent those pictures. But was it exposure? Really? This…whore had been the only one seeing these photographs, it had been discreet, sent to her new hideout instead of plastering it all over the media and masking it as a leak of some yellow press reporter like she could have done. Instead she, Mellie, had shown wisdom and made herself the scapegoat once more, for his sake.

She had not wanted to do that to Fitz. But Olivia, she was aware had seen her husband in situations more undignified than that…what harm was there in it? And it had served its purpose. It was merely the backlash Mellie didn´t like. The backlash and the price. To heal him, she had to get her. Her… If only that woman wasn´t so valuable to him… But that was the world she lived in, the world that made her thrive. Value and favours and sometimes biting back to be able to survive in an ocean full of sharks.

Her head held high, she didn´t wait for the secret service agent to follow and pointedly ignored the redhead whose name she didn´t bother to remember and who was leaning against the wall of the hotel corridor, arms crossed. There was no need for glances to meet, it was one of those moments where it was a good thing that looks couldn´t kill – but Mellie did not bother about the other woman´s resentment, quite the contrary: it gave her a pleasant little thrill to know that it was very likely that the stranger would compensate for her humiliation by giving his mistress a hard time. Sure enough, she had not even turned the corner when she could hear the other woman walk back to the hotel room, steps too brisk and determined sounding to be in a good mood.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Two hours earlier:

Not for the first time he envied his daughter and not for the first time he felt guilty for it. Karen had excused herself from the table as soon as she had finished her dinner and neither of them had had the strength to start yet another fight over the teenager´s reluctance to remain in the same room with her parents, because after about a dozen fights of that nature they had finally understood that it was not her parents´ presence that made the girl uncomfortable; it was her brother´s absence. That one chair remaining empty at the already large dining room table, meaning when she looked up, she´d not see Jerry´s face but just the wall. Maybe that was another reason Karen kept looking down at her plate nowadays. Tonight, she had barely been at the table for 10 minutes, ignoring or unable to appreciate the chef´s futile attempts to cheer the mood with a fantastic chocolate pudding for desert. Fitz couldn´t blame her. Yet for him, there was no escape. But that was nothing new and the phone call from the night before had effectively robbed him from the small indulgence to escape into simple daydreams.

"I talked to Cyrus earlier."

He could tell from her tone of voice, deliberately neutral and almost soothing, that there was something more to it, that she expected him to participate in that conversation. He did not much feel like it and bet she was very well aware of that.

"Yeah?"

She had clearly waited for Karen to leave the room to bring this up he knew when she carefully set her cutlery down, heaving one of her typical sighs. "He is worried, Fitz. We all are."

He just gave her a look. "He told me about yesterday." She continued cryptically.

He had pretended to be mostly interested in his desert which he had not shown much interest in so far, but now he looked up, sharply. "Yesterday?" She kept eye contact.

"That you were beside yourself in the meeting with the Joint Chiefs…"

"So good old Cyrus is reporting back to you about my state of mind these days?"

"Fitz…"

His voice became more firm, colder then he intended he noticed but he was on edge, had been for a while. "You´re the First Lady, Mellie, you´re not one of my advisors, this, frankly, is none of your business."

She almost flinched at his tone, then recovered quickly, apparently having braced for this reaction. It annoyed him. Maybe he was not being entirely fair, but many things annoyed him today. He knew perfectly well why this was so. "I am also your wife, Fitz so when you are not okay then it is very well my business."

He snorted. "What do you expect?"

A pause. "You have a nation to lead, Fitz. You need to…"

"…function?" He almost snapped and by the look in her eyes he could tell he had almost finished her sentence the way she intended. Maybe not with this word, maybe she would have sugarcoated it, but still. He could tell he had struck the very core.

She sat back, leaning against the back of her chair. "I know how this sounds Fitz and I know what it is like to go through all this, and it sounds cruel to say it that way but…you cannot let your emotions get in the way of …"

"I have just buried my child, Mellie." Now he had raised his voice. He inwardly prayed, unable to rewind and redo his reaction that Karen had indeed gone to her room and did not listen, her ear on the door, as she had done at least once.

"Our child." Now it was her turn to raise her voice. "But we know it was not just that that affects you Fitz…"

"Not just that?" He couldn´t believe his ears. "Are you really trying to turn this into more of a sham than it already is, Mellie? Do you really think that this is the right time to bring this up?"

She had jumped to her feet, cutlery clattering against the china. "I am not bringing up your mistress. Fitz. It´s not her this is about. It´s about the weight of the world on your shoulders and that´s why we need to be selfless and focus. I am worried about you because around us the world is sinking into more chaos and it only harms if we stand still."

"And since when are you so involved with foreign politics, Mellie." He bellowed. "What, did you watch the news and get scared about your publicity? Bad press once you´re the wife of Mr Weak Foreign Policy?" He was yelling now.

She tossed her napkin to the side, glared at him, her mood switching on that dangerous, unpredictable path from soothing to hysteric. "I´m getting scared about you, Fitz. About all of this. About where this is headed and how things spin out of control."

"Welcome to my world, sweetheart."

She just stared at him for another moment, then turned abruptly and left the room while he himself felt like he was trapped inside an involuntary review of the dinner scene in American Beauty. He sunk back on his chair, sighing, kneading the bridge of his nose with two fingers, but the dull feeling of helplessness did not let up.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Please tell me you have not been sitting here like this since dinner."

He had. How long had it been? A look at the clock told him. About an hour. He knew perfectly well because glancing at the clock had become a favourite thing to do during awkward family dinner time and he had known exactly at what point Mellie had stormed out of the room. Fitz looked up. "Did Mellie send you?" he asked. Cyrus shook his head.

"Where is she?" In her private bedroom he guessed. Pitying herself over the injustice of the world and shattered dreams of being a First Lady that had the perfect life in a world without election fraud, backstabbing and betrayal.

There was hesitation in Cyrus´ eyes. "Mr President you should get some rest." That alarmed him.

"Where is my wife, Cyrus?"

"I was waiting in front of the Residence an hour ago. I could hear you, all the way." His Chief of Staff´s voice was low, almost dangerously low. "I think it is best if the two of you take a breath."

"Oh? She just told me that you were gossiping to her, so how about returning the favour."

"Mr President…"

"Where?"

"She…left the White House. Not…for long. She will be back, Sir."

"What?"

"Sir…"

He got up. Ignored Cy and walked past him. There were a lot of unfaithful crooks in this building, but there were still some that would answer to his call of loyalty. He knew Tom was on duty in front of the Resident´s main entrance and by the way Cy scuffled after him, he damn well knew as well. The younger man was standing right next to the door as he opened it. "Tom. I am sure you can tell me where my wife went."

"Yes, Sir."

"Well?"

"She took security detail, Sir. A hotel not far from here."

He could feel himself freeze, sounds muffling in his ears as his head spun while Cy caught up with him. "Mr President…"

He did not even turn around. Did he care? The spreading cold in his veins gave that illusion but maybe he was just sick and tired of being used for people´s benefits. Of being played. Of people pretending in front of him. Just like his own wife had just pretended she worried for him, but the moment he blew her off she would.

"Tom, two cars tops, no motorcades, no flags. That´s an order."

The man didn´t even hesitate. "Yes, Sir."

"Mr President…" Now Cy sounded almost panicky.

Fitz turned to face him. "Is she off to see him?"

"What?"

"Oh, don´t play stupid, Cy. We just fought you know that, and now good old agent Tom here tells me she drove to a hotel?"

"Sir, she will be back…"

"No, you know Cy… You guys want me to be able to get things off my chest and function, then I think we´ll get this settled right away."

He didn´t even know what he felt. Betrayal maybe, once more. First Liv the night before, now Mellie… Not that he could bring himself to care for Mellie as much as he should, but still…it was another lash with the whip. "I suggest you draw up a list of new VPs tonight, Cy, because I´m about to fire mine. As I should have."

"What?"

Fitz ignored that. He wouldn´t have Cy play dumb right now. What did he care for what Mellie did, that she apparently had used their earlier fight as an excuse to flee the premises to be with Andrew in some hotel because that was the only thing he could explain that away with? Well, all the better, he thought sarcastically. Time to get a few things out of his system. Time to show her he knew, that his suspicions these two were back at it were true. He´d confront them, then fire Andrew and that would give him a satisfaction he hadn´t felt in weeks. Caught in this thought, he didn´t notice, Tom had stepped next to him. "The car will be ready in five." he said. "This is risky Sir, I´d advise you to change into something more…normal. Add a cap."