Meet me in the Middle

Chapter 35

You said, "Forever," in the end I fought it Please, be honest, are we better for it?
- Gracie Abrams, I miss you, I'm sorry.https://open.spotify.com/track/4nyF5lmSziBAt7ESAUjpbx?si=31de575e6658482a

"What's happening Dr. Bailey?" I had just finished my surgery on Penny and sent her up to recovery before telling her husband that she and the baby were doing great. When I walked down to the ER to see if they needed help with the injured being transported from the industrial area, I find almost everyone glued to the television in the waiting room.

She turns to me with a slight squeal and points to the screen. "You tell me, Deluca. She's your wife." When I look up confused, it is just in time to see Maya tackle Andy to the ground before Sullivan drags her away. My mouth is agape in the horror of watching the fight unfold until her team runs back to the building. A few seconds later there is a huge crash, and the camera cuts out. "Addio! Dr. Bailey, what was that!?"

She is also in shock and pulls her phone out to call Ben. We are clinging onto one another waiting for the news on the television to update us on the fate of the people on scene. Ben's phone goes to voicemail and Bailey tries dialing again just as the news reporter comes back on screen to show the completely demolished building 19 just ran towards. "Keep calm, Dr. Bailey." The short surgeon was frantically pacing around and typing away on her phone.

I'm allowed to take a breath when I can see on the screen how Maya runs to Andy while they both look out to the rubble, calling to their friends. "Dr. Bailey, look!" I snap my fingers at Bailey to get her attention back to the screen when the remaining members of their team walk out of the cloud of dust. "Oh, god! Oh, god! Oh, god. They're okay." She lets out a sob and drops her head on the desk of the nurse's station while catching her breath.

All while I lose mine as the camera follows Maya as she pushes something into Andy's chest before running into Beckett's arms. Taking his face in her hands and looking longingly into his eyes. The news cuts back to the reporters in the newsroom while they fill their audience in on what happened. "Damn. Looks like we both got some competition. That woman can throw me against a fire truck like that any day of the week." I growl at Dr. Handsy and cuss at her in Italian while frantically throwing my arms around in the air. This was not the time for her crude jokes!

"Wow. Sorry, Deluca. Look, she's fine, alright. She wasn't near the building, and she looked uninjured, but you can call her to make sure." I stop yelling at her and look back at the screen and the commotion going on at the phone line while dispatch sends out the rigs with the injured. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. She attacked her best friend and it kind of freaked me out. That isn't like her. She doesn't lose control." She apologizes again and lightly touches my arm before she leaves me and Dr. Bailey alone.

Teddy orders us to go get a coffee in the cafeteria together and we do so. Neither of us mentally capable of providing the best care to patients with the worry coursing through our veins. On our second cup, Ben finally calls Bailey back. "Ben! Thank god! Are you alright?" I take the seat next to her and ask her to put the phone on speaker. "Carina is here too. What happened?"

We can still here the sirens and chaos in the background before there's a loud thud followed by silence. I'm guessing he just climbed into one of the fire trucks. "We're all alive and safe thanks to Bishop. But we've been called into a disciplinary review and there will be an investigation into the fight between her and Herrera. I'll explain everything when I get home."

We look at each other in confusion and she tells him that she'll see him at home. "I love you, Miranda." She takes the phone off loudspeaker and places it back to her ear. "I love you too, Ben Warren. You can be lucky you're still alive or I would've killed you." I can hear his faint chuckle over the phone before she hangs up.