It was the morning of the twins' first birthday party, and while Fitz was downstairs setting up for everything, Mellie was curled up on the floor of their bathroom, throwing up the breakfast that she had just forced down. Teddy was kneeled down next to her, his tiny hand rubbing her back. "It's okay, momma." Teddy told her, having learned his hospitality skills from Fitz, whom he had seen do this quite frequently in the past few weeks. And since daddy wasn't here, Teddy took this as his cue to step in and to take care of his mommy.
After a few minutes of just hovering over the toilet, Mellie stood up and walked to the sink, rinsing out her mouth and brushing her teeth. Once she finished, she washed her mouth out with mouthwash and picked up her son, kissing his cheek. "Thank you, baby." She ran her hand through his soft hair. "But you didn't have to do that. You know that, don't you?"
Teddy nodded, but shrugged his shoulders. "Mes wanted to, momma." He told her, laying his head down on her shoulder. "Mes take care of yous when daddy cants." Teddy explained as he wrapped his legs around his mother and sat up slightly to kiss her cheek. Mellie just smiled, wondering how she got so lucky to have such a sweet and amazing child.
She took him to his room and got him dressed and ready for the party, which he was more than excited for. Against her better judgment, she had gotten him a present as well, so that he could open something while the twins were being showered with their gifts. She knew that it wasn't his birthday and that he had no reason to be getting a present, but she didn't want him to feel left out or to get jealous and throw a fit when Bellamy and Ben were opening their presents, and he had nothing to open.
Mellie finished getting her son ready, and she took him down to where Fitz was working on decorations with some of the staff. Ben and Bellamy were running around, giggling as Bellamy chased Ben. They had just started walking, so they still fell down every once in a while, but they immediately got back up and continued playing as if nothing had happened. It amazed Mellie how they could act like that, and then the littlest thing could happen to them, and they would scream their heads off until Mellie or Fitz picked them up and comforted them.
When Fitz saw Mellie, he walked over to her and kissed her cheek, smiling at her. "How're you feeling?" He asked, kissing Teddy's head before looking back at his wife. "Is the baby giving you a hard time?"
Mellie glared at her husband, shaking her head slightly. "Mes no baby." Teddy told his father, and Fitz knew that this wasn't a good time to talk about this.
"Teddy Bear, how about you go play with Bubba and Sissy?" Mellie asked and Teddy nodded, climbing out of Mellie's arms and running over to his brother and sister. "Fitzgerald." Mellie scolded and Fitz just raised an eyebrow. "First of all, we don't even know if I'm pregnant, so let's not throw the B word around so casually. Second of all, let's be careful who we say it around because even if I am pregnant, we're not telling the kids, or anyone else for that matter, until I'm at least 12 weeks. Do you understand me?"
Fitz nodded. "Yes ma'am." He told her as he pulled her into his arms and gently kissed her lips. "I'm sorry. I'm excited."
Mellie kissed him back, letting out a small sigh as she nodded. "I understand that, Fitz…But you've been through this with me four times already. You know that there's a certain protocol that we follow when it comes to this." She ran her hand through his hair. "Besides, we don't even know if I'm pregnant."
"If you're not, then we're spending all night locked up in our bedroom. I'm gonna make sure you can't walk in the morning." Fitz whispered into her ear, and Mellie closed her eyes, smiling at the thought.
"Can we do that even if I am pregnant?" Mellie asked, and Fitz chuckled, nodding his head.
"Of course, beautiful." He kissed her once more before unlocking his arms from around her, and going back to decorating for the party.
There were tons of people at the twins' party, and Bellamy and Ben were definitely not fans of having all of the people around. Much like Teddy at his first birthday party, they hid with their heads in Mellie and Fitz's necks, trying hard not to have to look at all of the people looking at them. They were shy babies when they weren't around their parents, and definitely did not like having all of those people staring at them. But they were tired early, and so was Teddy, so Mellie and Fitz took them up to their rooms and put them to bed before going back down to the party.
It was nearly midnight before everyone left, and Mellie was cleaning up and getting all of the kids' presents together when Fitz came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Well I'd say that this was definitely a success." He told her, kissing her neck a few times before pulling away and looking at her. "But we have one more thing we have to do before we go to sleep."
Mellie turned and faced him, raising an eyebrow. "What's that?" She asked and Fitz ran his hand through her hair.
"I've got three pregnancy tests up in our bathroom. Will you take them, please?"
She took a deep breath before nodding slowly. This was something that she had really been trying to avoid, finding out if she was pregnant. She was 98% positive that she was, especially with all of the throwing up she had been doing recently. She was eventually going to agree to Fitz's suggestion to have just one more, but it wasn't something that she wanted to do so soon.
Mellie followed him upstairs, and the two of them went into their bedroom. Fitz sat down on the bed and let Mellie go into the bathroom. He thought to himself as he anxiously awaited the answers, and he couldn't believe that it was a possibility that she was pregnant again. Two years ago, he had barely wanted to touch her. He had wanted to divorce her because he couldn't stand her. He had turned against her and he had believed that he hated her, and now, she was possibly pregnant with their fifth baby. He couldn't believe it.
What he really couldn't believe was that he had ever been so mean, so hateful against her. She had never deserved that, but that was how he had treated her, just so terribly, because he was so blinded by Olivia. But luckily, he had come to his senses, and Mellie had taken him back and accepted his apologies. That was something that she hadn't had to do. With how he had treated her for so many years, she should have laughed in his face and left him with nothing. She should have told him to fuck off and flung her ring in his face, and she should have taken Teddy and gone off with Andrew. That's what she should have done. But then again, he had knocked her up before he even had the chance to apologize, so even if she wanted to leave, it probably wouldn't have been so simple. There was no doubt in his mind that Mellie would have stayed, no matter what the circumstances were. But that wasn't what she should have done after how she was treated for so many years, after the hell that Fitz had put her through since his father had taken advantage of her. He hadn't known, but he still shouldn't have treated her the way that he did. He had no right to do that. But still, Mellie accepted his apologies and she stayed. And he was so lucky to have had a second chance with her, because he loved that woman to his detriment and he never wanted to hurt her again.
He was so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't heard the bathroom door open. He looked up when he heard his name, yet she repeated it once more. "Fitz…"