more than i can hold in my heart.

skinny dipping

She had Callie to blame.

See, in a normal circumstance, Miranda wouldn't be here in the first place.

Her so-called best friend had dared her to strip her clothes off and run into the beach, in the middle of the goddamn night.

And like an idiot, Miranda did so.

As she took her shorts and shirt off, she winced. Was she really going to do this?

"It's alright if you do it with just your underwear," Arizona offered, trying to appease Miranda, in honor of her wife's insanity.

She shook her head. "She told me to strip, and I'm going to strip. It's just a minute, I can do this."

Really, Miranda didn't know what was wrong with her. Callie had gotten under her skin, teasing her that she doesn't take risks, wasn't man enough to do so. Of course, being a proud woman, she accepted the dare before the Latina had even opened her mouth to say what it is. And now, she's paying for it.

She hesitated before taking her bra off. She crossed her arms around her chest. "I'll leave my panties."

Callie nodded. "Fine with me. Now, go!" She laughed, and Miranda glared at her before she went off towards the beach, trying her best to hide under the cover of darkness.

It was dark, and cold, but she went in anyway. She let out a breath, and she stepped inside more, letting the water cover her bare body.

Counting the seconds in her head, Miranda glanced around. She knew there was no one there, but she was slowly becoming bored. Even though she hated this, and how she was lured into doing it, she was almost... fine with it. It was a little underwhelming, if she was going to be honest. Where was the thrill, where was the restart in her heart that was supposed to drill her veins with excitement?

At the 60-second mark, she sighed. Well, at least that was over.

She headed towards the shore, but she saw the shadow of a man coming towards her direction. Her eyes widened.

Miranda's eyes flitted towards the shore where Arizona and Callie were waiting. She held her breath, and sunk herself underwater.

She counted up to ten, and rose above the water, gasping slightly. She looked around. The man was nowhere to be found. Maybe he was dared too. She snickered at the thought.

Slowly, and checking if anyone was glancing her way, she went to the shore, and spotted her shirt. She reached for it, and put it on, not bothering for her bra. She couldn't find it with the shirt, and it was better if her body wasn't on display for everyone to see. The blouse felt a tad tight around her chest, but she didn't care about that right now.

"Wooh!" Callie cheered, walking towards her. "Damn! That's my best friend."

Miranda rolled her eyes, and dried her hair. She was dripping all over her clothes.

She spotted her bra near the spot where she found her blouse. There was another shirt that looked like hers, but she moved that, confirming her suspicions about the man she almost bumped with back there.

As quickly as possible, she put her clothes on and met with her friends, who were still shocked she did that.

×+×+×+×

The next day was their last day on the beach. Miranda was so ready to go back and be elbow-deep in someone's body cavity. It was just a week, but she missed surgery badly.

She was with Teddy, walking around the beach, when a man stopped them.

"Hi," he said, looking at her with a smile.

Miranda rolled her eyes. If this was another guy looking to hit her up, she was going to scream. All throughout the week, she had men hitting on her, and she was just tired of it. "What do you want?"

Teddy chuckled. "Why are you so uptight?"

She ignored the blonde, and looked up at the guy, who blushed.

He raised his hand to his neck. "Uh, my name is Jackson Avery, and this is going to sound odd but did you skinny dip here last night?"

Miranda blinked. What?

Teddy laughed. "Why do you ask?" She shared a look with Miranda.

"Oh, well," he looked behind him, and waved to someone. "Just a sec."

Behind him, a man was running towards them. The sight felt familiar to Miranda for some reason, and with a blush, she realized that he looked like the man last night. "Hey!" His voice was deep, running through her spine and it made her blush even harder.

As he got closer, his features looked more pronounced, and Miranda's heart skipped a beat. He was gorgeously handsome, unbelievably so. He was shirtless, and he had blue swimming trunks on. His chest was chiseled, and his shoulders were broad. The wind in her lungs just suddenly disappeared.

With a start, she realized she was staring. He looked at her and winked, before he offered his hand out. "Hello, I'm Benjamin Warren."

Miranda smiled a little, and reached to touch his hand. "Miranda Bailey." The skin-to-skin contact had electricity shooting up her shoulder. "And why were you asking about last night?" She squinted at him as their hands let go.

Ben laughed. "I was skinny dipping too."

"Too? I never said I was." She raised an eyebrow.

"So, it wasn't you?" He bit his lip and his eyes left hers, down and down, slowly scanning her body. "Too bad."

Miranda felt her body temperature increase. "I didn't say that either."

Teddy cleared her throat. "Ooh-kay, so why are we here anyway?"

Jackson looked relieved at the disruption. "When he finished the dare, my man, Benjie, here, he found clothes, but not his. He found a woman's blouse that kinda looked like his."

The three of them turned to Miranda, who was wishing the ground would swallow her up right now. "Uh..." she trailed off.

Ben chuckled, and held his hand out. "I'm holding your blouse hostage until you give me my shirt back."

Against her better judgement, she retorted, "I rather like your shirt. You can keep mine."

Oh God, why would she say that?

He smirked. "Is that so?" She shrugged. "Maybe they can have a reunion on my bedroom floor."

She blushed. They were treading on dangerous waters, but that, no, that, he just jumped right in. "U-Uh, I... might take you up on that offer." She bit her lip. She started that sentence with zero confidence, but as she stared at him, she knew she wanted him.

Ben smiled. "Well, before all that, would you like to have lunch with me?"

She smiled back. "As long as I get my shirt back."