"Wait, let me get this straight...you wanted me here. You practically moved me in here. I have spent almost every night here for the past two weeks, and now you're telling me I need to leave? Fitz, I don't get it."
He couldn't believe that he was doing this. Two weeks ago, he thought that this was what he wanted. Two weeks ago, he was beyond grateful that Olivia had shown up on the balcony that night. But now, he knew that she couldn't be here. He knew that he had made a bad choice, the wrong choice, and that she couldn't be here, in the White House, any longer. "Olivia, I've kicked one woman out of this house already, and I realized that that was one of the biggest mistakes that I've ever made. But, even though I'm doing that again, kicking another woman out, that's why you need to leave...because what I did to her, the way that I treated her, was completely uncalled for and completely wrong of me. And you and I both know that."
Olivia couldn't believe what she was hearing. They had been happy. They had been getting along completely fine. They had been talking about their plans for after the divorce, for after his term was over, for Vermont. There had been no talk of him even slightly regretting kicking Mellie out, or of him regretting his plan to divorce her. But she wasn't the type of woman to drop to her knees and beg him to let her stay. So she gathered her things and glanced at him once as she was about to walk out. "I hope that one of these days you decide what you really want and you let one of us go. We're not as strong as we look." Her words were spoken in a calm, yet serious tone. And with that, she turned and left.
As he watched her leave, Fitz walked over to the table and poured himself a glass of scotch, downing it as quickly as possible. He looked at the clock and realized that he had an hour until he was to go back and get Teddy. He assumed that Olivia leaving would have taken longer, and there would be less time for him to be anxious, to anticipate talking to Mellie. She didn't want to talk to him, but he wanted to talk to her. And he was trying to muster up the courage to have this conversation with her, to swallow what little pride he had left, and to apologize to her. He knew that he was wrong, that he was completely out of line, and he would do absolutely everything in his power to get her to realize that he understood that. He knew that it would be a long time before she forgave him, if he ever did, that is, but he was going to try his hardest to get her to.
The second that the clock hit 5:50, Fitz stood up and found his way down to Blair House. He didn't want to show up at exactly 6, so he wandered around for a few minutes before actually going in. Mellie and Teddy were sitting on the couch watching tv, and when Fitz walked in, Mellie was the only one to actually look up at him. "Teddy Bear, daddy's here." She ruffled her son's hair, and the little boy ignored her, keeping his eyes focused on the television screen. "Teddy."
"Mellie, it's fine, let him be. I actually wanted to talk to you for a few minutes."
She looked up at him. "Fitz, I told you earlier that I have nothing to say to you. There is nothing for us to talk about."
"Don't talk, just listen. And if you have anything to say after I say what I have to say, then that's great. And if you don't, then I guess that's fine too...I just want to talk to you."
Mellie stared at him for a second before looking down at Teddy. "We'll be right back, baby. Be good." She leaned down and kissed the top of his head before standing up and walking out to the kitchen. She had thought about going to talk in the bedroom, but being in an environment with a bed with Fitz was not a good idea. Fitz followed her and watched as she leaned against the counter and raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to start speaking. It was clear that she wasn't going to say anything, so he took a deep breath and decided that it was now or never. "I could say it a million times, and I know that it would never be enough, but I'm sorry. I feel absolutely terrible about what happened, and about what I did, and believe me, I will never forgive myself for that, so I don't expect you to forgive me for it either." He let out a sigh and looked at her. She was just staring at him, waiting for him to say more.
"I was wrong. And I absolutely hate admitting it, but I was beyond wrong. There's no excuse for it, I know. I was angry that night. I was angry that you hadn't come to me the second that someone had information on us and blackmailed you, I was angry about the fact that we were supposed to be a team, and you left me in the dark...But most importantly, I was angry at myself because I could've prevented those deaths, in more ways than one. I could have prevented the death of every single one of those people. And I could've done that by not doing the same thing that I was angry at you for doing to me; I could have done that by not leaving you in the dark. And that's a story for another time, obviously, if you let me tell it, but right now I'll stay focused." Fitz noticed that her facial expression still hadn't changed, and she hadn't moved an inch, so he took it as his chance to keep talking. "There are a lot of things that I shouldn't have done, and there are a lot of things that I'll regret doing for the rest of my life. One of those things is kicking you out, and treating you like we didn't have over twenty years of past behind us...The other is letting Olivia come into our house that night. Even I don't know why I did that...I guess, I thought I loved her. I've thought that I loved her for the past six years. But, Mellie, I love you. And I know there have been less than a handful of times that I have shown you that in the last few years, and I am so sorry for that. And if you'll let me, I'll make up for that, I promise. I've been stupid, and I can't be stupid any longer. I can't watch the woman that I truly love walk away from me, even though I pushed her away...I love you too much to let it end like this, Mel."
Mellie looked at him, trying her hardest to keep the strong face that she had put on just a few minutes ago. "Don't do this, Fitz. Don't do it. I don't know what happened in the last few hours, if Olivia left you, or what. But do not do this to me. I can't take it any more. You made your choice and I can't let you throw me out and then pull me back in again...You've put me through way too much and I am too tired to put up with it anymore."
Fitz stepped closer to Mellie, and she stepped back. "Mel, she didn't leave me. I just realized that I made a mistake."
"It took you two weeks to realize that you made a mistake!? God, Fitz, you can't keep doing this! You can't keep hurting me and then apologizing! Just because you apologize doesn't mean it's gone. You can't take it back."
He shook his head and just watched her. Even though she was trying so hard to hide it, he knew that she was on the verge of tears. "No. I knew that night that I made a mistake, that I was out of line, that I had overreacted, and that I was wrong. But I wanted to give you time to cool down, I wanted time to think. Regardless, I was going to apologize. I at least owed you that. But what I also owed you, was my choice. I have been throwing you to the side because of Olivia for too long, and you didn't deserve that. You've never deserved that. You have stood by my side through everything and you definitely didn't deserve to be treated the way that I treated you." Fitz took a deep breath and looked into Mellie's eyes. "But now, my final choice, is you. And if you won't take me back, which, believe me, I would completely understand, then it's just me. I'm not going to bounce back between you and Olivia. I have made my choice, and it's you, Mellie."
At this point, she couldn't help it; she was in tears. She was finished trying to be strong and act tough. "You can't do this, Fitz! You can't come back two weeks later after I've finally come to terms with everything and try to apologize and try to choose me. You can't do it!" She shook her head, wondering how this man always managed to break her, no matter what the circumstances.
He knew she was right. He had known that this was going to be how things went. He hadn't expected it to be easy, for her to immediately accept his apology and for her to have her bags brought back up to the Residence. He didn't know how to respond to her, because she was right. She was crying even harder when she spoke again. "Just let me go, Fitz...Let me go. Let me be happy and let me go. Because I really can't take this anymore. I can't take this constant worrying about whether you're telling me the truth or whether you're being faithful, or wondering how your mistress is treating you, because how you treat me depends on that. I just can't do it. Let me go."
That wasn't what she wanted. That was far from what she wanted. He wanted him to be telling the truth, she wanted him to actually choose her, for Olivia to be out of their lives forever. She wanted things to go back to how they were when they had first gotten married, before everything with Big Jerry had happened. She wanted them to be happy again. But she couldn't get her hopes up based on what Fitz had just promised her. She had done that too many times before, just to be broken when Olivia came back into their lives.
"I can't do that, Mel. I know I've done you so much wrong in the past, but I'm trying to make up for it now. I'm fighting for you. I'm fighting for your love, and for our life back. I'm fighting for how it used to be. And God, Mellie, I will do anything for you to forgive me and for you to let me try to convince you that I really want us to work this out and to fix our marriage. I am begging you to let me do that."
Mellie was about to speak, until she noticed the small person walking into the kitchen. "Mama?" Teddy looked up at Mellie, holding his arms up toward her. "Juice?" He questioned, and Mellie picked him up, nodding her head as she made him a sippy cup of apple juice.
"You can take it with you when you go with daddy, okay, baby?" She sniffled, and even though she tried to act like she wasn't crying, Teddy knew.
"Why you cryin'?" Teddy asked as he reached his tiny hand up toward his mother's face, and gently wiped her tears away. He laid his head against Mellie's chest and Mellie carried him back into the living room. Fitz followed, knowing that this conversation was over.
Mellie got Teddy's blanket and teddy bear out of his bedroom, and gave them to Fitz before handing their son to him. Teddy put up a fight, begging to stay with Mellie, but she promised him that he could come back in the morning and that he would be okay. He settled into Fitz's arms, still clearly unhappy about having to go with him, but not wanting to argue with his mother. "I love you." Mellie whispered, kissing her son's cheek, and Teddy whispered it back, frowning at her. It broke Mellie's heart, but she knew that he had to go with Fitz.
Fitz wasn't sure what to say, or where they stood at this point. But he figured that he would let her make the next move. He had already pushed her so far, he didn't want to push her any further. "I'll bring him back in the morning." He told her, and Mellie just nodded her head. Once he decided that she wasn't going to say anything, he just turned around and carried Teddy out.
Once they were gone, Mellie sunk down onto the couch and poured herself a tall glass of hooch. She had absolutely no idea what she was going to do.