Romancing Dr. Bailey

Who Knows

Miranda left the parking lot and went home. She changed quickly before she headed to the hospital. She needed somewhere to hide and she needed to take her mind off of everything. In the car, she called her doctor to make an appointment for later in the day. They weren't taking anymore appointments, but when her doctor found out that it was her, she made some time. Miranda was grateful. Going into the hospital, she figured that she could do or at least scrub in on a small procedure and then get across town for her appointment. She checked the OR board, The Chief was heading into OR 2 in fifteen minutes to do a Whipple. Excitement-induced butterflies danced in her stomach. She headed for OR 2; she would catch him outside of the room and ask if she could help. She almost felt like a resident again, working her way onto surgeries. "Chief!" She said as he walked down the hall.

"Bailey? What are you doing here?" He said with a smile.

"I was just in the building and wondered if you could use some help on that Whipple," Miranda held the scrub room door open for him.

"Sure, Bailey. Actually," he started, "if you could do it, I have a skills lab to teach."

"Sure!" Miranda said a little more eagerly than she meant to. "I mean, yes."

He leaned toward her smiling. "I'm showing the knuckleheads how to do a transgastric approach." She could see in his eyes that he was really excited about teaching. He didn't get to do it often because he was always swamped with administrative work. His hectic schedule and life sometimes made her question if she even wanted to be Chief of Surgery at Grey Sloan. But then she saw how her mentor inspired her and her colleagues and she knew that it was a job worth having if she could get it. "Unless you want to do that."

"Definitely not. I will take the Whipple. Thank you, sir."

Miranda scrubbed in, readying her mind for the surgery. Her phone rang in her pocket. She ignored it. She knew it was Ben. He'd already called her five times, sent seven text messages and left two voice messages. It stopped ringing and her phone buzzed, make that three voice messages. "Alright, people, let's do this," Miranda said smiling behind her mask while someone helped her with her gloves. She stepped up on a box so that she could see over the body and said: "Bokhee, 10 blade, please."

"Great work, Miranda," Bokhee said walking to the door together.

"Thanks, Jessica," she answered.

"I couldn't help noticing that you weren't your usual chatty self," Bokhee said. "What's up?"

"Just some stuff on my mind. I'm good. Thanks for asking though."

Bokhee's name rang out of the hospital's intercom. "Well, I hope everything works out."

The nurse squeezed her shoulder and walked away. Miranda walked to the nearest on-call room and locked the door. She took her phone out of her pocket. There was a new voice message from Ben. She listened to the first message: "Baby! I'm sorry. We need to talk—no, mom. Close the door, please. Thank you. Sorry, we need to talk and I love you."

She clicked the second one: "Where are you? Just text me. Tell me you're alright. I love you, Miranda."

Someone jiggled the door handle of the room and knocked on the door. She ignored them as she listened to the next one, the last one she'd received before going into surgery: "I, uh, I know you're at the hospital. I know your people. I know where you hang out." Miranda smiled as he continued: "Maybe I'll see you when I come in for my shift tonight. Call me please. When you get out of surgery, just call me. It is my fault." She nodded, feeling bad for the pain that she heard in his voice. "I will explain. Everything. And if you're wondering about my mom—I... I hadn't talked to her before. I didn't get a chance to. Everything was so hectic." His voice lowered. "But I did today. I sat her down and I made it clear, very clear that—" The message ended abruptly. She really wanted to know about the conversation that he'd had with his mom. She hoped that she wasn't dividing them. That's not the kind of girlfriend she wanted to be. Miranda licked her lips before listening to the last one. "Miranda, I was going to tell you. I promise." It was so short and simple. And his confession made the hairs on her body stand up. She scrolled through the text messages that he'd sent. They were all long and said about the same things as the voicemails. She read them over several times and debated whether or not she should call her boyfriend. A part of her was so angry at him and didn't want to talk to him at all. Another part, knew she was a hypocrite because she hadn't told Ben everything that was going on with her. The last part of her wanted to give him a chance to explain. She looked at her watch. Her appointment was in an hour, she could go home, shower and eat and still make it to her doctor's office on time. As Miranda drove home, she realized how nervous she was for this appointment. She didn't know what was wrong or what was about to happen.