I Want You

Never Knew I Needed

The last time Ben Warren had been this happy... come to think of it, he'd never been this happy. The effect Miranda had on him was immeasurable. Just thinking about his girlfriend put him on cloud nine. And whenever he saw her, a silly ass grin decorated his face and didn't fade until long after she was out of his sight. Through her, he'd even found a few more work buddies who all made it perfectly clear, in a joking manner of course, whose side they were on should he and Miranda split. The thought of being around Knox and his family didn't fill him with dread. And being around them no longer made him jealous. Ben spent weeks on weeks on weeks slowly falling in love with Miranda Bailey.

On the phone one night, she casually mentioned that Tuck's birthday was coming up soon and that she was throwing him a birthday party. Even though it was a kid's thing, it was the first event they could attend as a couple and he was excited. So excited, in fact, that he'd already picked out Tuck's gift. It was big, loud and obnoxious. Miranda was going to hate him for it, but Tuck was going to love it. "Do you think Ava would want to come?" She was asking him.

"Mm-hmm," he said, rolling on his side, getting comfortable.

"Because Tuck will not stop talking about her. 'That girl, mommy. That girl'." The two of them chuckled.

"For my buddy, I will make sure she's there."

He heard the familiar sound of her closing her laptop. "Good. The guestlist is finished and now, I can get some rest."

"Okay. Coffee tomorrow?" He asked yawning.

"Please," she said. "Goodnight, hon."

Half-asleep, he smiled. "Goodnight, babe."

After grabbing coffee with Miranda and stealing a few kisses before she went into surgery, he found Derek Shepherd, the head of Neuro. The two of them were working a case together. Walking out of the patient's room, he felt unoptimistic. "I don't think we should do Jason's surgery today," Derek said to him as they moved away from the room.

"That's what I was thinking," Ben said, relieved, as his intern, Sam Bello, wrote in her notebook.

"Why not?" Shepherd's intern for the week, George O'Malley, asked.

"With his cervical fusion, lying him down on an operating table is gonna put pressure on the base of his spine," Derek told him.

"Not to mention that orotracheal intubation is impossible on this guy," Ben added. "I'll do nasotracheal, but if there's any compromise to the tube while he's under and he's got no mobility..." He looked at Derek while giving a quick shake of his head. "I can't guarantee anything."

Bello looked shocked for a second before saying: "Well, w-what do we do?"

"We postpone the surgery until other plans can be made," Derek responded as he looked at his pager. "Gotta go. O'Malley."

Ben looked at his watch. Figuring that Miranda was probably still in surgery, he and Bello went to the library trying to research them out of their dilemma. Two hours later, he'd handed her off to another resident. He dialed Miranda's number to see where she was. As the phone was ringing, he saw her standing in front of the Nurse's Station. He watched her answer the phone, smiling. "Hello, Dr. Warren."

"Hi, Dr. Bailey," he said walking toward her glacially. "What are you doing?"

"Working. The very thing you should be doing." They laughed. Miranda closed a chart and moved away from the desk, heading down the hall. "What are you doing?"

He followed her stealthily. "Nothing much." She pushed the "down" elevator button and stepped into the empty car. When she turned around, she winked at him, gesturing for him to come to her, making him laugh. "How'd you know?" He said rushing to catch the door.