A/N: I'm loving the reviews, y'all! Please keep them up and keep telling me what you would like to read next! The next chapter will be up within a few hours; I'm already working on it! Don't forget to review! ;)
It had been a few days since Fitz had apologized to Mellie and they had their conversation in the kitchen. Things hadn't changed between them, and it had been as if the conversation had never actually happened. Fitz would go to pick up Teddy and Mellie would speak maybe two words to him, and the same would go for when he would drop him off the next morning. He knew that he had to give Mellie time to think, but the anticipation was killing him. Wondering if she was going to give him another chance or whether she was going to tell him that they had nothing left and a divorce was their best bet was killing him. But he knew that if he wanted even a chance of her choosing to try and fix their marriage, he needed to give her all of the time in the world, and he needed to leave her alone until she came to her decision.
"Go see momma." Teddy pouted, sitting on the floor of Fitz's office with his legs crossed. He had been begging to go back to Mellie since Fitz had picked him up a few hours before. Other than mentioning that he wanted to go ack to his mother every few minutes, Teddy hadn't spoken a word to Fitz.
The little boy was upset with how his father had treated his mother, and even though he was only two, he could tell that something was wrong.
Fitz looked up from the paper that he was reading, and glanced over at Teddy, who was glaring at him. "Buddy, you can go back to mommy tomorrow morning." He simply told him before going back to his work. He had tried to play with him earlier, but Teddy wasn't having it. Every time that Fitz would pick up a toy and try to play, Teddy would turn away and ignore him. So after a while, Fitz just admitted defeat and went to do some work while Teddy played by himself on the floor.
"No. Now." Teddy had never had an attitude before, but he had definitely been pushing it when it came to his father. He wasn't afraid of arguing with Fitz, especially because he knew that it would end up in him getting his way and ending up in Mellie's arms.
Fitz sighed, looking up from his paper once more. "Teddy, you will go back to her tomorrow morning. Tonight you're staying with me." He looked back down at his paper, and the next time he looked up, Teddy had his bear and his blanket in his little fists, and he was heading toward the door. "Theodore, what are you doing?"
Teddy didn't answer, just continued to walk. He climbed up on the chair that was next to the door so that he could turn the doorknob, and as soon as he had the door open, he jumped down and walked out it. Fitz was getting angry now, and got out from behind his desk, following Teddy. Once he reached him, he swooped the little boy into his arms, and the toddler shrieked loudly before starting to cry. "Me want momma!" He yelled in between sobs, trying his hardest to get out of Fitz's grip. Fitz wasn't sure whether he should discipline Teddy and make him stay, but after a few seconds of thinking, he decided that punishing his son by making him spend time with him didn't sound too right. And he especially didn't want to deal with Teddy all night if he was going to be acting like this. It was obvious that his son wanted nothing to do with him, and he wasn't going to force him to be with him if he really didn't want to be.
He carried the screaming child back to Blair House, and Mellie could hear Teddy screaming for almost a minute before Fitz had actually brought him in. "What in the..." Mellie was standing in the living room, and the second that Fitz had set their son down, he stopped screaming and ran over to Mellie, hugging her legs as tight as he possibly could. She bent down and picked him up, looking at Fitz with a raised eyebrow.
"Daddy mean!" Teddy yelled before burying his face in Mellie's neck, and she let out a small sigh before holding up a finger toward Fitz and carrying Teddy to her bedroom. She tried to set the little boy down on the bed, but he had a death grip on his mother that he refused to release.
"Teddy Bear, honey...let go for a second. I'm going to go talk to daddy, but I'll be right back, I promise. You can stay in here and watch SpongeBob, and then when I get back, you can tell me all about what happened, okay?" Teddy loosened his grip, but didn't quite let go of her, and didn't stop crying either. "Baby, I promise, I'll be right back."
After a few seconds, he decided to believe his mother, and he let go of her, looking up at his mother with pain in his eyes. Mellie's heart broke just looking at him, and she took his hand, gently squeezing it before leaning down and kissing his head. "Me drop bear..." He whispered, sniffling as he wiped snot from under his nose. Mellie reached over onto her nightstand and got a tissue, cleaning off his hand and his face before throwing it into the wastebasket next to the bed.
"Okay. I'll go get him, baby. But you have to stop crying. It makes mommy sad when you cry." She frowned and Teddy nodded, holding his arms up toward her. Mellie hugged her son for a few seconds before laying him down and draping his blanket over his small body. She turned on SpongeBob for him, and blew him a kiss as she walked toward the door. "I love you."
Mellie walked back out to where Fitz was waiting, still wondering what had caused her son to act that way. "What was that?" She asked, unsure of how else she should approach the situation. Fitz took a seat on the couch, and Mellie knew that this was going to take a while.
Fitz explained everything to her, from the beginning. Mellie knew that Teddy had been acting different toward his father, but she had no idea that it was this bad, that the only time he spoke to Fitz was when he was asking to go back to Mellie. He didn't leave out a detail, even the ones that made him look bad. He admitted that he got frustrated with their son and that he had grabbed him a little too hard when he tried to leave the Oval, and Mellie respected that he was being truthful with her. It wasn't that she didn't expect him to, it was just that Fitz had never been the type of person to admit his wrongdoings.
"I'll talk to him...But I have a feeling that this has a lot to do with how much things have changed between the two of us recently. He's a smart kid, Fitz. He knows that there is tension between us, and I hate to say it, but he resents you for it. He knows that you kicked me out and that you practically moved Olivia in the same night...Obviously he doesn't quite have all of the details, considering he's just a baby, but the way he sees it is that his daddy made his mommy leave and it made his mommy sad. He's upset with you, and in a way, it's justified. I mean, no, I don't believe that he should be treating you the way that he is, but he feels that he has a right to. And I guess that as his parents, we should probably try to make it look like we don't hate each other when he's around..."
Fitz just nodded as he listened to his wife speak. There were a few things that he wanted to argue with, but he kept his mouth shut and let her continue talking. He knew that arguing with her wouldn't do any good, especially when most of the things that she was saying were in fact true. "That would probably be a good idea...I know he has the right to be upset and to hate me, but this really hurts me, Mel..." He took a deep breath, letting out a small sigh. He had already lost one of his sons, he didn't want to lose the other one.
"I know, Fitz. So, I'll try to make more small talk with you when you come to pick him up and drop him off...And, uh," God, why was she suggesting this? "Maybe you can come and just hang out with us when you have some free time? That would help with him, and maybe he'll start warming back up to you."
"Okay. I can do that. Do you want me to stop by tomorrow, or do you think that that's too soon?"
Mellie thought for a second. "Tomorrow should be fine. Just give me a call to let me know when you're coming over."
Fitz nodded, standing up and looking at Mellie, who had stood up right after him. He was confused, but Mellie spoke before he had the chance to ask. "Teddy dropped his bear. I told him I would go get it for him." He was going to offer to go get it for her, but he decided not to. If Mellie had to go get their son's bear, that meant that she had to walk back with him, and for some odd reason, he liked the idea of that.
"Oh, okay. Well I think I might know where he dropped it, so I'll walk back with you."
The two of them walked back to the Oval Office, in silence, and Fitz could feel his heart breaking with every silent step and word that Mellie didn't speak to him. For once, it was Mellie being cold with him, and not the other way around. He knew that he deserved it. Even after he apologized, he knew that he deserved it. He had hurt her way too much in the past few years, and he knew that there was probably no way that he could ever make it up to her. After they had reached the Oval and Mellie had picked up the abandoned teddy bear that was right outside the door, she thanked Fitz and left, no smile, no other words. He watched her leave and he wondered if they had anything left, if they even had a chance. He kept his eyes on her until she was no longer in sight, and went into his office, pouring himself a big glass of scotch while trying to figure out how he could ever possibly try to make it up to her.
Mellie got back down to Blair House and went to her bedroom, smiling when she saw Teddy curled up on his side, his thumb in his mouth as he tried to keep his eyes open. Even when he had no reason to, that little boy would fight sleep until he was in Mellie's arms and he had a bottle in his mouth. "Look what I've got, little man." Mellie held up his bear in one hand, and a bottle of milk in the other. Teddy sat up and grinned, yawning as he pulled his blanket up toward him.
"I think it's nap time for my special little boy." Mellie sat down on the edge of the bed, ruffling Teddy's dark brown hair before handing him his bear. She laid down next to him and he curled up as close to her as possible, one hand holding his bottle and the other holding Mellie's shirt. He closed his eyes and fell asleep almost immediately, and Mellie just watched him, knowing that at least one good thing had come out of the past few years.