A/N: Here's the second part to our Christmas special! Don't worry, there will be a bit more ;) I'm thinking of doing a flashback chapter, but I don't know exactly what yet, so let me know if you have any suggestions! Keep up the reviewing! You're all the best and I hope that you all had a good Thanksgiving!
"Fitz...I don't want that much from you. You should know that by now. I have everything that I could ever possibly want right here." Mellie looked at her husband, who was sitting on the floor, surrounded by gifts with Mellie's name on them. She couldn't believe how much he spoiled her. He had been spoiling her so much lately, it was like when they had first gotten together again. Fitz always used to shower her with gifts, but that halted when she started to push him away. Luckily, after she got pregnant with the twins, the spoiling started again.
It wasn't that she just loved and wanted the gifts. She did love and appreciate the gifts, and who didn't like to be spoiled? But with the showering of gifts and with the spoiling came her husband's love. One of Fitz's ways of showing love and affection was to spoil. That's why their children always got every little thing that they could ever possibly want, because Fitz believed that with love, comes getting everything that your heart desires.
"Mel, baby. It's Christmas. Let me spoil you today." He handed her one of the many gifts, and she opened it, not paying attention to Fitz's bright eyes that were locked on her. She opened all of her presents, and it wasn't long before she was surrounded by a sea of unwrapped presents and boxes. Amongst the things that Fitz got her were 14 pairs of Victoria's Secret panties, 7 of which had matching bras, plenty of lingerie from Frederick's of Hollywood, a Tiffany necklace with a matching bracelet, a pair of limited edition Chanel pearls, lotion and perfume from Victoria's Secret, and a few pairs of the Pink yoga pants that Mellie loved so much. And still, Fitz had a few more boxes and bags that he was keeping to himself.
Mellie raised an eyebrow and watched him as he crawled over to her, kneeling down on one knee the best that he could in the position that he was in. He had a small box in his hand, and he opened it as he spoke. "Melody Grant, will you do me the pleasure of marrying me again?" He questioned as he took his free hand and ran it through her dark hair. He was nervous, but he wasn't exactly sure why. "I've hurt you way too much in the past, and I want to right that wrong. I want to renew our vows so I can show you how dedicated I am to you, so that I can show you how much I truly love you and how much I really do want to spend the rest of my life with you by my side." He reached for her hand and kissed it as he slipped the new ring onto her finger.
"I...I'm sorry I don't have my wedding ring on." She was going to give him a heartfelt response to his sweet proposal, but she was caught off guard when he took her hand. "It...It doesn't fit. My hands are too swollen."
Fitz chuckled to himself at his wife's perplexed reaction. "Baby, it's okay. Don't panic. That's why I sized this ring bigger, because I knew that your fingers swell up when you're pregnant. I'm not mad that you're not wearing it. I would much rather you not wear it than be uncomfortable and cut off your circulation because it's too tight." He kissed her hand once more, rubbing it softly.
Mellie nodded slowly, still unsure. She felt bad that she couldn't wear her wedding ring when she was pregnant. The only times that ring had been removed from her finger was throughout all of her pregnancies. Not once did she remove it unless she was pregnant. Even throughout all of her and Fitz's fights and arguments and threats of divorce, she refused to take her ring off. Taking your ring off for any reason other than physically having to is a sign of disrespect, and a sign of giving up. And she refused to give up.
There was one other time when she had taken it off, but she tried to brush it off; she didn't want to think about it. In the process of trying to push Big Jerry off of her that night, something had happened, she couldn't exactly remember what. But she had hurt her hand, and when she went to the hospital about it, the doctors were forced to cut her ring off. Fitz was furious, not at her, but at the fact that they couldn't figure out another way to fix it, to get it off of her, without cutting the expensive band. He had it fixed for her immediately, and once the swelling in her broken hand had gone down about a week later, she put it back on, and hadn't taken it off until she was pregnant with Jerry. Even when she was pregnant with Jerry, she waited until she absolutely couldn't stand the pain anymore, then she took off her ring.
"Of course I'll marry you again, Fitzgerald." Mellie told her husband, once she had finally come out of her slump and realized that it wasn't her fault that her ring wouldn't fit on her finger. At least Fitz had gotten her a bigger "engagement ring", as he called it, so that her finger wouldn't feel so empty. Fitz grinned, and it reminded her of the grin that he had on his face when he found out that she was pregnant with their first child. She hadn't even really told him, he just knew. He climbed into her arms, and she hugged him tight. "I love you, Fitz."
"I love you too, Mel." He kissed her head. "You still have a few more presents, you know." Fitz said as he pulled away from her, getting back down on the floor. Mellie rolled her eyes, but the eye roll was accompanied by a smile, so he knew that she wasn't mad.
He gave her the rest of her presents, which included a few more comfortable outfits, an iPhone 6 Plus, a case for her new phone, and a diamond ankle bracelet that she had been eyeing for the last 3 months. Even after she finished opening all of that, there was still one more large box, and Mellie raised an eyebrow, knowing that wasn't one of the gifts that she had gotten Fitz. "And this..." Fitz picked up the box and looked at Mellie. "This isn't yours, but I want you to open it."
"If it's not mine, then whose it is?" Mellie was confused. "I don't want to open someone else's present."
Fitz shook his head as he handed her the box. "It's for the baby." Mellie nodded, understanding as she unwrapped the gift and slowly began taking its contents out. In it was plenty of different outfits, a handmade quilt, and a stuffed Mickey Mouse. "The quilt...it's from Big Jerry. You don't have to keep it if you don't want to, but I just wanted to give you the option. My mom made it years ago, but he just gave it to me...He said that it had been misplaced before Jerry was born, and he found it while we were on the trail. He wanted to give it to us when Teddy was born, and then again when the twins were born, but for obvious reasons, he couldn't."
Mellie held up the blanket, looking at it before looking at Fitz. "We'll keep it. It was nice of him to give it to us after all of these years. And your mom made it."
"But I don't know if we should give it to the baby...I mean, it was supposed to be Jerry's." Fitz looked at Mellie, who's nod made him know that she understood what he meant. "I feel like we should just put it up and keep it safe. But I also feel like there's no use to that, and at least of the baby can use it and love it, then it has a purpose."
Mellie nodded. "I think we should give it to the baby. I think we have enough things of Jerry's that we just put up and away to keep safe. We should keep the blanket for the baby." She folded the blanket and put it back in the box. "I think it's what your mother would want us to do."
"You're right." He sat back down on the couch next to Mellie, pulling her close to him. They watched the fire roaring in the fireplace, and Fitz couldn't help but smile. He was beyond happy with where he was in his life. Of course, he missed his boy, but that was life. No, it wasn't right, and it wasn't fair. And he hated himself for being the reason that his son was dead. But then again, that was the price of free and fair elections.