Romancing Dr. Bailey

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"And so you are telling me that those idiots gave us the wrong information to give to you?" Richard put his hands on his hips, flinging his lab coat back. His eyes were thin. Miranda just nodded in her seat.

"I already checked. It was an intern who did it, so you... I... we can't be too mad at him," she said.

"I suppose, but damn it." He turned and came from behind his desk. "Wait, why are you being... nice and defending those, what do you call them, nobodies and something else?"

"The bottoms of the surgical food chain," she added with a small smile. "And because I want you to say 'yes' when I tell you that I don't need any more rest and I'm ready to come back to do the work I was born to do."

"Nice spiel, but you need at least two more days... maybe three or so. So, no."

"But..."

"Then Shepherd will look at you and clear you." Miranda made a face. This was not the answer she'd been looking for.

"Fine! Then can I at least watch you rip into those grunts."

"I knew it was another one!" He laughed as they walked out of his office. After she watched her mentor tear into some intern lab technicians, scaring them silent and white-faced. Richard offered to buy her lunch to apologize. She accepted before he could get the words out. "So your mother's pregnant, huh?"

"Yes, sir. It's unbelievable."

"It is, but not impossible."

"Definitely not." They headed to the cafeteria.

"Where's Warren?"

"At the house. Sleeping."

"You mean, he's being a good patient?"

"He's compliant."

"And you're defiant." In the cafeteria, the General surgeons watched as people milled about and as noise in the room swelled with each added person. The clanking of the utensils and trays was giving her a headache. Richard observed her. "We can take a rain check on this lunch."

"Fine," she said feigning like she was perturbed, but really she was relieved.

He looked around at the chaos in the cafeteria. "And how about outside of the cafeteria?"

"Yeah, I'd rather you spend your money on somewhere good," she laughed. Miranda waved goodbye and was gone.

Back at home, she called up the stairs: "Ben, I'm back and I brought something to eat!" She went into the kitchen and put the bags down on the table. With a quick stop at a diner, lunch was covered.

"I'll be right down," he said as she set the food up. Her headache had lessened, but she took some more Tylenol just to be on the safe side. Ben came into the kitchen and made a beeline for her. He put one arm around her waist and pulled her thick body close to him.

"What are you doing?" She asked with a laugh.

"You said you had something for me to eat." He wiggled his eyebrows and she playfully slapped him away. Miranda reached up and touched his face; he bent down and kissed her softly, smiles appearing on both of their faces. "Hi, baby," he said, making the hairs on her arm stand up. She stood on her toes and kissed him again, wrapping her arms around his neck. She softened the hard moan that was trying to escape her lips. Miranda pulled away and slid her hand along his waist. He jumped. "I don't know what I did to deserve that, but damn!" He grabbed her hand and pushed their bodies together against the counter. Her hands slipped through the collar of his shirt and found his back. She scratched him lightly. It was Ben's turn to pull away. "Now I know what that means. Come on, up the stairs we go!"