A Healing Love

2

She found Dr. Warren in the cafeteria eating an apple and she sat with him. He looked at her but didn't fully acknowledge her presence. He just kept eating his apple.

"They didn't mean anything by what they were saying" She spoke up

"Surgeons are arrogant. I know that. I am a surgeon myself. I know that we can be arrogant. My friend called me because he has no idea how a teaching hospital works. He doesn't know that Avery is qualified to do the surgery. He doesn't understand that Sloan is going to be there and Avery isn't just going rouge.  He is scared. He trusts the team he met and Sloan is changing the plans and all he knows is that this is scary and a student is going to be doing his daughter's scary surgery. I am a comforting face and I am here to be that for him. Do you know how scary it is to have someone you love your child especially on the operating table" He sat his apple down

"Do you" She looked at him

"Not exactly" He looked down. He didn't know what it felt like himself. He was asking her to put herself in Libby's father's shoes

"I do" She sighed "When my son was a baby a bookshelf fell on him and he had a number of internal injuries. He could have died and all I could do was stand back and feel not only responsible but also helpless. I just wanted to hold my baby's hand"

He looked up at her. He regretted his words. Libby wasn't his child. She was the kid of his friend. And here Dr. Bailey was telling him she's seen her own child on the operating table.Her words cut him like a scalpel. She watched a parent's worse nightmare happen. As a pediatric surgeon he knew she had seen countless children on the operating table but her own child. That had to be a different kind of hurt

"I'm sorry" He cleared his throat "Is he okay"

"Yep. Big strong boy now. In fact he lost a tooth recently" She chuckled

"So you still went into peds after that" He asked

"I had some convincing" She nodded thinking back to Dr.Dixon telling her she had all the behaviors of a pediatric surgeon not a general surgeon and Arizona telling her to use those feelings about Tuck when she approaches her cases

"Well what can I do to convince you and your team to let me in that OR" He leaned on the table

"I was just a resident when my son came in and you know I busted into the OR. I just wanted to hold his hand. I knew I had no business in there but my fear as a mother overpowered my logical thinking. Dr.Hahn, that's who operated. She talked to me in a manner no one else in this hospital would dare, I wanted to lay that women out believe me. After my son was out of surgery I did let her have a piece of mind and yet what she said is what I needed to hear. So Dr.Warren I ask you, you love Libby. Would you want anything to interfere with her care" She stared at him. His brown eyes held a sadness in them. She knew he felt bad about posing the question to her about seeing her child on an operating table. She placed her hand on his just as she did any sad family member "She is in good hands"

"In your hands, I know" He nodded "Her father wants me there because he doesn't trust Sloan and Avery"

"He trusts me and I trust them" She reassured him "You said he is afraid. Then you need to be there with him explaining what is going on, not in our OR getting in our way"

"You're right" He sighed " I'll talk to him"

"Good talk Dr.Warren" She removed her hand from on top of his and got up

"Call me Ben" He chuckled

"Is that short for Benjamin" She asked

"In fact it is, Dr.Miranda Bailey very observant" He smiled looking at the name on her lab coat.

"Bailey works just fine. Benjamin" She walked away. As Ben was getting up Mark Sloan joined him at the table.

"Sloan" He greeted him

"Bailey has a way with words. I once asked her for help with an issue and she called me a whore" He chuckled "She's the heart of this hospital and everyone wants to be her ally but coming in from LA and wooing her with your smile is not going to get you in my OR"

"Arrogant" Ben mumbled under his breath " I am not going to weasel into your OR under Bailey's nose. In fact her way with words just convinced me to stay out of the way and instead be with my friend where I'm needed. So instead of trying to shake me down at a cafeteria table. Prep for surgery" He stood up and walked away.

He walked to Libby's room and her mother was out but her dad was sitting there at her bedside

"Ben did they agree" He looked up at him

"Listen, you are scared and you think having me in that room is going to change something but I'll tell you the only thing that me being there will add an obstacle to your daughter's surgery. But what I can do is sit with you and be there with you comforting you. Dr.Bailey is brilliant and kind and you trust her remember you told me that about her. And Mark Sloan's reputation speaks for him and she trust him. Well he taught Avery. and he is going to be right there with him watching every move he makes. Sloan wouldn't dare let him touch a patient if he wasn't ready. Sloan is too arrogant for that"

"Everything is going to be fine" He looked at Ben

"She's in good hands" Ben nodded "and while they've got her. I've got you"

"Okay the kid can do the surgery" He hugged Ben

"It'll be fine man" Ben patted his back. He noticed Bailey from out the window talking to Libby's mom he gave her a thumbs up and she nodded. She slowly crept into the room with her mom

"We're ready to get Libby prepped if you are" She smiled

"Yeah" Her dad walked over and kissed her forehead. Her mom rubbed her hand as she was being wheeled away