Chapter 7: Preparing for Battle

Mellie paces back and forth in the tiny living room like a caged animal the evening's events replaying over and over in her mind like a movie. She can clearly see herself walking in on Fitz and Olivia, and the subsequent argument that almost lead to a physical fight with Olivia, the awful revelation that Olivia is pregnant with Fitz's child and to add to her humiliation, being locked up in this cabin, detained like a criminal. Over and over this horror show plays in her head.

She catches a glimpse of herself in the living room mirror. Her hair has come loose from the fancy French Twist she originally had it in and her make-up is smeared. Her face is pale and her eyes look huge and wild.

"Get a hold of yourself Mellie," she tells herself. "You need to get control and think."

Taking a couple of deep breaths, she begins to calm down. Standing in front of the mirror she fixes her hair. Then she grabs a couple of tissues from her purse and removes the smudged eyeliner from her face. She wanders to the kitchen and finds a half bottle of vodka in one of the cabinets. She pours a hefty amount in a glass and carries both glass and bottle back to the living room. Flopping down on the couch, she kicks off her heels and props her feet up on the cocktail table. She drinks deeply from her glass and lays her head back on the cushion, letting the warmth of the vodka creep through her body.

As a liquor induced calm takes over, her mind begins working on the problem at hand. The first thing she needs to do is get access to a phone. And she knows just where to get one.

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"Come on Fitz, you can't mean that," Olivia says tiredly. "If you divorce Mellie, the public will crucify you." They had been discussing options for handling their situation and Fitz kept returning to the idea of divorcing Mellie as soon as possible.

"Half the marriages in this country end in divorce. So why does it make a difference if I get divorced?"

"Because the American people hold their leaders to a higher standard. If the President gets divorced it sets a bad image for the country."

"Oh, so the general public can be hypocrites, divorcing each other left and right, but I can't get divorced and marry the woman that I love without the villagers storming the gates of the White House with torches and pitchforks looking for my head on a stake."

"Sad but true."

"This is utterly ridiculous. I am NOT staying married to that woman," he huffs.

She knows she shouldn't say it, but it comes out before she can stop herself, "I still think the best option at this point is for me to go away, have the baby and wait for you to finish out your term. Then you can quietly divorce Mellie and we can be together."

He stares at her, his normally sparkling blue eyes now a stone gray, "I swear to God if you mention leaving me one more time I will call Kimberly Mitchell and give her an exclusive that will propel her career off the charts. I will go on live network television and confess to the world that I am in love with you and desperately want to marry you and how ecstatic I am that you are carrying my child. I will then tell Kimberly my plan to divorce Mellie and retain my position as President. If I have to, I will expose every dirty secret I have on Mellie. All on live television."

"You wouldn't do that. You would be ruined," she says quietly. But the look on his face tells her otherwise. She can tell he has reached his breaking point. He will not back down. He is determined to be with her and make them a family. Part of her rejoices at his desire to be a family and part of her is totally terrified. What happens if they go down this path and it's a disaster?

He walks to her and takes her hands in his, "I would do it if it would stop you from leaving me."

He sighs and drops her hands and walks slowly across the room. "Livvie, my entire life has been what everyone else wanted for me. Everything was planned out to get me to the White House. From the sports I played, what clubs I joined, what schools I went to, when to go into the military, when and where to start my political path, who I married and when we had children and how many. Hell, until Big Gerry died I didn't even really want to be President. I am tired of living my life for everyone else. When do I get to live for me? When do I get to have the life that I want, with the woman I love? I am 50 years old and I have never really had control over my own life. Well now it's my time to take over the reins of my life. It's time for me to be in control for once. Fuck the presidency, fuck public opinion. I want what I want and I am not waiting for it anymore!" His face is flush and his breathing is labored.

"Are you finished with your temper tantrum?" she replies calmly.

"Liv, come on. Aren't you tired of this game? Don't you want to stop hiding and just be us out in the open? I want the world to know that you are carrying my child. I want to be there for all the doctor visits and Lamaze classes. I want to be in the delivery room when our child enters this world. I want to share all of those moments with you out in the open for the world to see."

She can see the frustration on his face. She walks over to him and wraps her arms around his waist and lays her head on his chest. His arms automatically encircle her body. Just from her touch he begins to calm down. They stand embracing until their hearts beat in sync.

"Fitz . . . "

"Shh, Livvie. No more talking about this tonight. We will figure things out in the morning. Let's just go to bed."

"What about Mellie? Are you just going to leave her locked up tonight?"

"Yeah, we all need some time to cool down. I'll get one of her agents to take her some food and let her know we will speak in the morning."

He breaks their embrace and walks over to the house phone and places a call to the agents' cabin. He gives instructions to the agent on duty to have someone from Mellie's detail to take her some food and to advise her that they will meet in the morning at 9:30.

While Fitz is making the call, Olivia wanders into the kitchen in search of something to eat. Fitz enters the kitchen and finds her at the stove frying bacon. He walks up behind her and places a kiss on the side of her neck.

"Would you like a BLT?"

"You're cooking?"

She raises an eyebrow and scowls at him. "Just because I haven't done it doesn't mean I don't know how to mister. Besides, its bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo and toast you would have to be an idiot to mess that up."

"I would love a BLT. Can I help?"

"No, just sit there and look pretty," she says winking at him.

He sits on the stool at the breakfast bar and watches her assemble the sandwiches. He didn't realize he was so hungry until she places the double decker sandwich in front of him. He waits to eat until she has made her sandwich and sits on the stool next to him. They eat in silence for several minutes, both lost in their own thoughts regarding the day's events.

"This is really good Livvie."

"Thanks, the key to a good BLT is getting the bacon crispy."

He can't help but smile at her as he watches her devour her sandwich. She lets out a little moan with every bite. When he notices a little mayo on the corner of her mouth, he reaches over and thumbs it off. He gently caresses her cheek and she turns her head to face him.

"It's going to be alright Livvie," he says reassuringly. "We are going to survive this and we are going to be together."

She desperately wants to believe him. She wants to live the future with him that she has only been able to imagine until this point. But somewhere deep in her heart, she feels it will never happen. That she will be left alone to raise their baby. She gives him a half smile before returning to her sandwich. They continue eating in silence.

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Hal is a little more than apprehensive as he approaches Mellie's cabin. He has been tasked with delivering her food tray for the evening. He takes a deep breath before he knocks at the door.

"Hal, just the man I wanted to see," Mellie says in her sweetest voice as she opens the door.

"Um, the President asked me to tell you that he wants to meet with you in the morning at 9:30. Also, I brought you something to eat ma'am." He thrusts the tray towards her.

"Could you please put it on the table over there?" She points to a table directly opposite of the door.

Hal doesn't want to enter the cabin. He can tell by her sweet tone that something is way off. He can tell she has been drinking, but that is not what is disturbing him, she is too calm and a calm Mellie spells trouble.

"Yes ma'am." He quickly crosses the room to the table and puts the tray down. When he turns to leave, Mellie is standing in front of the now closed door.

"Hal, may I use your phone? I seem to have misplaced mine."

"I'm sorry ma'am, I can't do that," he responds not looking her in the eye. "President's orders."

Anger flashes across her face for a brief moment. She catches herself before she unleashes her wrath on Hal. She needs him on her side.

"Oh, I see. Well maybe you can make a call for me then."

"Ma'am, I don't think that is a good idea. I should be going." He tries to brush past her. She places a well-manicured hand on his chest to stop him.

"Hal, please help me," she pleads. "Do you think it is right that I am locked up here? I'm the First Lady of the United States and my husband has me held prisoner in this cabin with no access to the outside world. And all the while he is screwing his whore of a mistress in the main house. Please help me." She pulled out all the stops, even producing a few tears.

Hal couldn't figure out who scared him more, the President or the First Lady. After a few moments he looks at her and says, "Who would you like me to call ma'am."

"Cyrus Beene. Tell him how my husband is keeping me hostage here and tell him to get up here right away."

"Yes ma'am. I'll contact Mr. Beene right away. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No that will be all Hal." She steps aside from the door to allow him to leave. "And Hal, thank you. I truly appreciate your help. I won't forget it."

"You're welcome ma'am," he closes the door behind him. He pulls out his phone and scrolls through the contacts until he finds Cyrus' number.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" SSA Brian asks as he steps out of the shadows.

"Do what?"

"Come on Hal, don't play dumb with me. I know that FLOTUS asked you to make a call for her. Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Hey, it's your career man, not mine. Once POTUS finds out what you did, you can kiss your job goodbye."

"How can you justify covering for him? He's cheating on his wife, right in front of her! He treats her like shit and she doesn't deserve it. She is practically a prisoner here."

"Hal if I didn't know better I would think you had a thing for Mrs. Grant. You better watch yourself. She is way out of your league man. She will use you and cast your broken and bloodied body aside when you have outworn your usefulness."

"She is my responsibility. I am obligated to make sure she is safe. In my estimation, she is not safe. Now if you will excuse me, I need to make a call." Hal walks off towards the agents' cabin.

After Hal was out of sight, Brian take out his phone and makes a call. "She has made contact with Mr. Beene. He will be here in the morning."

"Thank you Brian. Go get some sleep. I will see you in the morning." Fitz hangs up the phone and looks at Olivia. "She reached out to Cyrus through Hal, just like we thought. He will be here in the morning."

"If nothing else, Mellie is predictable. Well, we might as well go to bed and get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a hard day."

"I'm all for going to bed, but not for sleeping. If I remember correctly, we were in the middle of some pretty hot sexy time when we were so rudely interrupted. I say we go and finish what we started." He flashes her is best panty dropping grin.

"Are you serious? You want to have sex now after all that has happened tonight?"

He peers at her curious as to her response, "Yes Livvie, I do. Mellie has ruined my life long enough." He crosses the room and stands in front of her, taking her hands in his.

"Fitz, it isn't about Mellie and the drama that she brings. I would love nothing more than to take you in that room and make love to you all night. But right now, I'm just emotionally and physically drained. All I want to do right now is curl up in your arms and go to sleep."

"Ok Livvie, I understand. Let's go to bed." He leads her down the hall to the bedroom. They shed their clothes and get into their pajamas. Sliding under the covers they meet in the middle of the bed and cuddle. Olivia falls asleep in minutes. Fitz lays there awake, holding Olivia determined never to let her go. No matter what the cost.

A/N: Hello Gladiators. I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter. Just a heads up, I am not sure how soon will be able to update. I am in the midst of a cross country move with 3 school age children (yay me!). But rest assured I will update the story as soon as I can. I have already written most of the final chapter, now I just have to fill in all the other stuff to get us there.

I LOVE your comments. Keep them coming. They make me happy.

I don't own Scandal, but if I did it would be all Olitz all the time!