"Fitz." Mellie looked shocked, completely bewildered at the thought that Fitz actually believed that she would do something like that, something that horrible. "I was pissed when I found out. Absolutely hurt. I had all plans to completely give up on our marriage that night. But something happened. Something profoundly miraculous. You held me in your arms and you kissed me and you whispered, "It's you and me", and for once, I actually believed you. And for once, you followed through. You changed. We changed. We worked things out. Do you honestly think that I would risk what I have tried so hard to get back?" She let out a sigh, looking up at her husband. "Do you honestly believe that I would risk ruining the amazing family that we have right now, with each other and with our beautiful boy and our amazing twins? Fitz, I didn't do it. And I cannot believe that you would possibly suggest that I did."
Fitz took a deep breath, looking at his wife. Seeing how hurt, and disappointed she was told him that there was no way she did it. Yes, she was a fantastic liar, but she didn't do it. If she had, Mellie would've admitted it with a smirk, proud that she had done yet another thing to keep her husband from his ex-mistress. She wouldn't allow someone else to have the credit of doing such a thing. It wasn't Mellie's doing. "Mels." Fitz mumbled, looking at his wife and taking a deep breath. "Honey, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have accused you of that. I jumped to conclusions. I should've known that you wouldn't do something like that." But she still looked upset. Which was completely understandable. You can't accuse your wife of something like that and expect everything to be okay by just saying that you jumped to conclusions and you were sorry. This wasn't something that Mellie was just going to get over.
"It's okay.." Mellie whispered after a few seconds, sinking down into the couch and looking over at Fitz. She reached over and picked up a glass and the bottle of scotch from the table next to her and poured herself a glass, drinking it down in one large gulp. She swallowed hard, closing her eyes for a second before looking up at Fitz. "I understand. It makes sense why you would jump to those conclusions. I was gone, and all of a sudden your love shack burst into flames. It makes sense, Fitz."
He sighed, shaking his head slightly as he poured his some scotch of his own. He raised an eyebrow as he watched Mellie pour a second glass. She never drank scotch. She was a hooch kind of girl. The woman must've really needed some alcohol to have settled for scotch, especially two glasses of it. "It was wrong of me, Mellie. I shouldn't have suggested it. I wasn't thinking clearly. Baby, I'm sorry.." He stood up and walked over to the couch, letting out a small sigh as he looked down at the woman below him. Her dark hair was curled, she was in a long sleeved blue collared button-up shirt that showed off her curves, and a black skirt that was riding up her thighs due to the way she was sitting. Their baby girl was sleeping next to her on the couch, swaddled up into her pink blanket with her thumb in her mouth. Fitz bent down slightly and kissed the top of Mellie's head, running his fingers through her soft hair. "Baby, I am so sorry."
Mellie just nodded, holding out her arms as a gesture for him to come closer to her. Of course, it hurt her to an extreme extent that he would possibly suggest that she would do a terrible thing like that, that she was such a bad person that she would set fire to the home that he had built for him and his mistress. Yes, that killed her. That hurt her so badly. But the night she found out was the same night that he had come back to her, that he had completely began to dedicate himself to their marriage once again. Until now, she had pretty much forgotten about Vermont. Of course, there were the occasional thoughts, whether he still went there, whether he still had thoughts about Olivia or if he was still with her behind her back. But those thoughts were quickly tamped down. She knew that he loved her, that he was in this for good this time. Especially now that they had the twins.
Fitz moved closer to her and Mellie wrapped her arms around his upper legs and pulled his body closer to hers. "It's okay, Fitz. I mean it. Don't worry." She looked up at him and he leaned down closer to her, softly kissing her lips. It was gentle, an apology kiss. Nothing more. He pulled away and she looked at him, her hands softly rubbing his bottom. "What do you say we put Bells to bed and head upstairs to bed?"
Fitz nodded and Mellie unwrapped her arms, watching as Fitz picked up their baby girl, rocking her softly. "Shh. Don't worry, daddy's got you. I'm just taking you upstairs so you can sleep in your own bed." He kissed the top of the baby's soft head and walked with Mellie up to the residence. She kissed the infant before kissing Fitz. "I'll meet you in the bedroom?" He questioned and she just nodded, cooing at their baby girl for a second before heading to their room.
When Fitz walked in, Mellie was curled up in a pair of Fitz's boxers and a black lace tank top. Under their large comforter, you could barely see that her arm was wrapped around a tiny body, who's head was poking out from under the blanket. Fitz smiled to himself, stripping down to his boxers before climbing into bed, wrapping his arm around his wife and pulling her close to him. "He was in here when I came in. He looked so comfy, I just couldn't move him." The toddler was curled up into his mother, his tiny arms pushed up against Mellie and his head rested against her chest. "And the second I got into bed, he rolled over and moved closer to me."
"He likes having his mom, Mels."
She knew exactly what he meant. For the first year and a few months of his life, she was distant toward him. He was America's Baby, not hers and Fitz's. Nobody likes babies. He was a political pawn, not a child. Not her child. She pawned him off on Marta the nanny and barely ever spent any time with him, unless required to for a photoshoot or an interview. That poor baby. She loved him to pieces but she didn't have the mom gene. She didn't want to be around Teddy. She didn't want to be reminded that he was made out of obligation, out of an obligation to the country. She didn't want to be reminded that the night he was conceived was the first time that Fitz had touched her since before he was elected president, and that it took everything he had to be able to get an erection for her. Seeing Teddy reminded her of that and she felt terrible for once again being distant toward one of her children, but she couldn't help it. He just brought her so much pain.
And it wasn't his fault. He couldn't help it. He didn't have a clue what was going on, or why he saw his nanny more than he saw mommy. He didn't know why when he was in mommy's arms and he cried, she'd quickly hand him off. He didn't know why mommy wouldn't play with him or why the only time that he saw her, cameras were flashing, but he didn't care. The time that he got to spend with Mellie was good enough for him. In Teddy's mind, it was normal. It was normal to see Mellie once a day for about 10 minutes. And when Mellie finally realized how much she had hurt her son, after her eldest had died tragically, she pledged to change that, to change the fact that he thought normalcy was barely seeing his mother and being raised by a nanny.
"I know.." Was all that she could manage to say, in a soft whisper as she watched their sweet baby boy sleep in her arms. She took a deep breath, trying to fight the tears that were threatening to fall.
"Mels, I didn't mean it like that." Fitz sighed, shaking his head slightly as he rubbed her bare shoulder.
She nodded, sinking her the side of her face further into her feathered pillow. "He needed me..the time of his life where he really needed his mother, I wasn't there for him and I let him down. I let him think that it was normal for Marta to raise him and for him to never see me. I was a terrible mother to him."
"Don't say that. Don't you ever say that." Fitz told her, rubbing his wife's back. "You are a great mother."
Mellie shook her head. "I could have done more. I could have given him more." She was more talking about Jerry now, and Fitz knew that.
"You're making up for it now. You have a second chance and you're taking it." He kissed the side of her head
She just nodded, closing her eyes for a second. "Part of me...I don't regret them. I could never regret them, but I just wish we could've had the twins sooner, given Teddy more time to be the baby, to have more time to be my top priority. He didn't even have nine months before I was in the hospital for the last third of my pregnancy." She sighed and ran her hand through the toddler's soft dark hair.
"That's why." Fitz said, finally realizing something. "That's why you always have him on your hip when you come in and see the twins, or whenever you're doing just about anything." He rubbed her back, placing a soft kiss on her shoulder. God, she smelled good. "I'm not trying to make it sound bad. I love it. I love seeing you be a mother to our son, to our babies. I love seeing you spend so much time with Teddy, and God knows he's ecstatic about it as well." Fitz glanced at their boy, who was beyond content curled up close to his mother, nice and cozy against her. "I honestly thought we'd pay more attention to the babies when they were born, that we'd make Teddy feel jealous of them. But you've made sure that he didn't feel that way and I'm more than proud of you for that." He kissed his neck, rubbing her side. "I'm so proud of you for so many things, Mels. If only you knew."
She leaned back into him, relaxing as she listened to him speak. "If only you knew how absolutely proud you make me, every single day, to be able to call you my wife."
And she fell asleep, a smile on her face, thinking of the sweet words that he had said to her. In the past year, those sweet words, different ones every time, had been said to her much more frequently, and each time Fitz had expressed them to her, they showed her how much he really did love her. She was so absolutely grateful to be able to have moments like that again, to be able to listen to him talk about her like that. A year ago, he said nothing but hateful things to her. She hated thinking about that, but she did like seeing how far they have come in the last fifteen, sixteen years, mostly in the last year. Like he was proud of her, she was proud of the both of them. She was so amazingly proud.