"Fitz, do you have all of you and Teddy's things in the suitcase?" Mellie asked, looking around the room to make sure that she wasn't forgetting anything. She was having second thoughts about leaving the twins, but she knew that they would be well taken care of.
By the next morning, Teddy was feeling much better, and was excited to be able to go somewhere with just his parents. Of course, he loved his brother and sister, but he hadn't ever really gotten the chance to spend time with only Fitz and Mellie. When his parents had mentioned being able to spend four days with just them, no one else, for his birthday, he was ecstatic.
The toddler jumped up and down on Mellie's bed, and the brunette just laughed, shaking her head as she scooped the young boy in her arms, rocking him slightly. "Let's not do that, silly boy. We don't want you hurt when you go to see Mickey."
"MICKEYYY." Teddy squealed, squirming in his mother's arms in an attempt to get out of her grip. "Momma, Jerry sees Mickey too?" He asked, and for a second, Mellie had forgotten that he was talking about his stuffed animal. It took her a moment to answer, and she just nodded, letting out a sad sigh. Boy, did she miss her oldest son…She would give anything to have him back, even for just a day.
Teddy looked up at Mellie, confusion in his eyes. He had met Jerry a few times, and remembered him as well as a 2 year old could remember his older brother, who was active in his life about as much as a distant cousin. But he was a smart child, and he knew what happened to Jerry, and also that his parents got upset when they talked about him. Mellie and Fitz hadn't thought much into how well Teddy caught on to the situation until a few weeks after Jerry died, when Andrew had given Teddy a stuffed lion, and Teddy immediately decided to name it Jerry. Since that day, Teddy and the lion were absolutely inseparable.
"Yes, baby, Jerry can see Mickey too." She finally responded, and Fitz looked over at his wife, noticing the delay in answering their son. He sighed quietly and picked up Bellamy, kissing her head before carrying her over to Mellie, in an attempt to quickly get her out of the sad trance that she was in. He was used to this now, having to distract her when she got like this in order to keep her from breaking down and going absolutely crazy. There were times when he had failed to distract her, and at that point, there was nothing that he could do but hold her and make sure that she knew that he was there for her, and he always would be.
Mellie smiled down at the baby, gently kissing the top of her head, where her blonde hair was growing in at a fast rate. "Hi, beautiful girl." She watched as the little girl giggled, looking up at her with her bright blue eyes. Mellie ran her hand along Bellamy's head, kissing her once more before looking back at Teddy. "Do you have your blankie and Jerry ready to go, baby?" She asked, trying to ensure that she didn't have to deal with a cranky toddler's tempter tantrum in case he left one of the two here.
Teddy nodded quickly, grabbing the lion by the arm and picking up his light blue baby blanket that he had had since he was a baby. "Mes ready!" He told Mellie, grinning as he walked over to his younger siblings. "Bye bubbas! Bye sissy! Me wuvs you!" He blew them both kisses before walking toward the door and looking back at his parents. "Well lets gos!" Teddy yelled and Fitz just laughed, shaking his head slightly.
"Hold on a second, speed-racer. How about you go say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa while mommy and daddy say goodbye to Bell and B?" Fitz suggested and Teddy nodded once more, running out into the hallway and down the stairs to look for his grandparents. Fitz chuckled lightly, turning his attention to Mellie. That boy sure had energy. "He's excited."
Mellie laughed, nodding as she picked up Ben. "Just a little bit." She smiled, tickling her youngest son before kissing his belly. "Goodbye, sweet boy. Mommy and daddy will be home in a few days, I promise. Don't miss us too much." She was trying hard not to cry as she handed the baby to Fitz and picked up Bellamy. "Same goes for you, baby girl. Be good for Grandma and Grandpa. And don't let Grandpa spoil you too much." Mellie teased, smiling as she held her daughter close, rocking her gently while she waited for Fitz to set Benjamin down and take their youngest child.
"Mommy! Mes see Disney!" Teddy squealed, looking out the window, Jerry the Lion clutched in his arms. He pointed with his other hand to the "Welcome to Orlando" sign that they were passing. Mellie just smiled, wrapping her arm around the little boy and pulling him close to her. "We there yets!?" Teddy asked excitedly, looking up at Mellie with his bright eyes.
"Almost, sweetie. But we aren't going to the real Disney today. We're going to the real Disney tomorrow. Today we're just going to Downtown Disney."
Teddy pouted when he heard that they weren't going to the 'real Disney' but he cheered up slightly when his mother mentioned going to something else. "What's that?" The little boy asked, curious as to what Mellie was talking about.
"It's a bunch of shops and cool stuff." Fitz told him, ruffling Teddy's dark hair with the arm that was around Mellie. "And it's all Disney stuff. So we can get you some Mickey Mouse toys and stuff for when we go to Disney tomorrow."
"Stitch! Mes wants Stitch!" Teddy yelled and Fitz smiled at him, telling him that yes, he could get whatever Stitch things he wanted to. Teddy grinned widely, bouncing up and down in his car seat. He was beyond excited, for so many reasons. And Mellie and Fitz absolutely adored it. They loved seeing their little boy so excited.
Once they got to Downtown Disney, Mellie and Fitz got out, Mellie walking around to the other side of the car and taking Teddy out of his seat. She suggested he leave Jerry in the car so that he didn't get lost or stolen, and surprisingly, Teddy agreed, immediately climbing into Mellie's arms and holding onto her. As they walked toward the shops, the cameras immediately started flashing. Mellie let out a small sigh, knowing that this was just the beginning of a very long trip that would no doubt consist of too many cameras and paparazzi. Of course, when Teddy had first been conceived and born, he was nothing but a political pawn, something that Mellie definitely wanted exposed to the public. But now that she had become more of a mother than ever before, now that her little boy was growing up and realizing who his family was and that the cameras were all taking pictures of him, she didn't want to expose Teddy to that. She wanted to keep her son as far away from that as possible. She wanted to keep both of her sons and her daughter away from that.
Mellie started to hide Teddy's face with her arm, but realized that there was no point in it. If she forced the poor boy to hide his face every time they went out, then he would never be able to enjoy the vacation. So she just told him not to mind the cameras and to just act like they weren't there. He was good at paying no mind to the press, so it was almost unnecessary to even give him the usual speech.
They explored all of the shops, leaving with plenty of bags that consisted of mostly Teddy's things, but a few of Mellie and Fitz's, and a few things for the twins. They had even bought Karen some things, despite the fact that she wasn't speaking to them. Karen's favorite Disney character had always been Ariel from The Little Mermaid since she was a toddler, and they knew for a fact that she still loved Ariel, so they purchased a few things for her. Of course, they weren't trying to buy her love, they just wanted to show her that they still cared about her, and that they didn't forget about her.
On their way back to the hotel, Teddy was being cranky, trying to get out of his car seat so that he could sit on Mellie's lap. Mellie sighed and reached over, taking Teddy's hands so that he couldn't touch the straps. "Teddy Bear, stop. You have to sit in your car seat while we're driving. It's not safe for you to be anywhere else."
Teddy shook his head, trying to get his mother to release the grip on his hands. "Nos!" He shouted, vigorously shaking his head back and forth. "Mes wanna sit wif yous!" He shouted, tears falling down his face. Mellie knew he was cranky and didn't want to contribute to his bad behavior, so she didn't say anything. He continued to kick and do everything in his power to get away from her grip and Fitz sighed, reaching over and trying to calm Teddy down. The toddler looked down at his father's arms before opening his mouth and leaning forward, biting down and sinking his teeth deep into Fitz's skin. Fitz immediately pulled away, shouting profanities out of instinct.
"Theodore!" Fitz yelled and Mellie just shook her head, looking at her husband.
"Just leave it. I understand that that was completely out of line and he needs to be punished for that, but there's no point in doing it now. Let him throw his tantrum and just ignore him. He'll realize that he's not getting the attention he wants and then he'll stop." Mellie told him, and Fitz just nodded.
So that's what they did. They left it alone. They ignored Teddy's screaming and complaining until they were almost back at the hotel. When the car pulled into the parking lot, Teddy let out a loud scream and Mellie's head shot over toward him, knowing that something was wrong. He was in tears, screaming his little head off and kicking his feet. "Teddy, what's wrong!?" Mellie asked panicked, listening as Fitz repeated the same exact thing, just a millisecond later.
Teddy just continued screaming and Fitz immediately reached toward the ceiling, turning on the interior light. Mellie examined her son, it taking a second for her to realize that his hand was pinched in the shoulder straps of his car seat. She quickly unbuckled him and released his hand, pulling him into her lap and looking at his hand. It was bright red and part of the skin was broken. Teddy was still screaming as Mellie rubbed his back, shushing him and trying to calm him down. The driver parked and the secret service helped them get their luggage out and carry it up to their room. Mellie carried her screaming son, sighing as she continued to try and get him to take deep breaths and calm him down.
He quieted down once they got into the hotel room at the Nickelodeon themed hotel. Spongebob, Teddy's favorite Nick character, was painted on the wall, and he didn't pay it any mind. He just stared at his hand, sniffling as Mellie got him some ice and held it on his hand. She sat on the bed with him, holding him in her arms as he slowly fell asleep, curled up as close to her as possible. After twenty minutes of the ice being on his hand, she removed it and bandaged his hand, kissing it softly. She sighed, looking up at Fitz.
"We shouldn't have skipped his nap today." She admitted, running her hand through Teddy's hair. Fitz nodded, agreeing as he undressed and changed, climbing into bed next to his wife and son. He kissed both of them goodnight and laid down, immediately falling asleep. Mellie laid down as well, knowing that there was no use in trying to escape Teddy's death hold to change. She fell asleep quickly, holding the little boy in her arms. He was a handful, no doubt. But she wouldn't trade her sweet handful for anything in the world.