Chapter 14

Dr. Miranda Bailey placed her hands in the pockets of her lab coat and paused to gather her composure before knocking on the chief of surgery's office door. It wasn't like she could run away now, since the chief's office was enclosed in glass on two sides and he'd already seen her approaching his door, acknowledging her presence with a nod in her direction and a slight smile. "Here goes nothing," she said under her breath as she raised her fist and gently tapped on the door.

"It's open!" he yelled cheerfully from inside. Though everything in her told her to run the other way, she knew it was too late, and she'd have to go ahead and get this over with. She pushed the door open slowly and entered the room cautiously. "Miranda Bailey, what can I do for you this afternoon?" Richard Webber looked up from his stack of paperwork and smiled. "Let me guess. Don't tell me you've got intern troubles. The new ones have got to be easier to deal with than your last set. Speaking of that, how's Grey doing?"

"Um, she's doing a lot better chief," she looked down at her green Crocs. "Little Will and I stayed with her a couple days ago. She's getting around pretty well. Just slowly. I think Dr. Torres-O'Malley will clear her to return to work pretty soon."

"That's good." He nodded. "That's not what you're here to talk about, though, is it?"

"N-n-no chief," she stuttered.

"Go on. Out with it." Dr. Webber leaned back in his large wing-backed chair and crossed his arms over his chest, smugness dancing across his face.

"Chief Webber, Richard, sir…." she stammered as she sat down in one of the two wooden office chairs facing his desk. "I know I'm out of line, but…" She trailed off and bit her shaking bottom lip.

"But what, Miranda?"

"I-I just need to know, chief. I need to know….why? Why didn't you choose me to be chief resident? I've tried so hard to be patient about it, to shrug it off, Chief, but I can't. I have to know." Richard Webber smirked, his arms still crossed around his chest, and his shoulders shaking from the silent laughter that was racking his body. "Richard Webber, are you laughing at me?" Her dark brown eyes flashed in anger as she leaned her elbows against the top of the mahogany desk. "This is no laughing matter! Can't you see that I'm upset about this?" He continued to laugh, this time out loud. Dr. Bailey stood up and slammed her hands down on the desk. "I thought you were a professional, dignified man….my mentor! I come to you seeking answers, and you give me…this- this little fit of giggles?!" she spat at him as she turned to walk out. "Seriously?"

"Stop Bailey. Please? Ahem." He cleared his throat and straightened back up in his chair. "I'm sorry. Haha! Oh my…" he sighed.

Dr. Bailey whipped around and placed her clenched fists on her hips. "Chief? Are you out of your mind?"

"No, Dr. Bailey." He shook his head and placed his sternest expression on his face. He pointed to the chair she'd abandoned in front of his desk and glanced at her. She sighed. For whatever reason, that teddy bear of a man could still evoke fear in her—In Miranda Bailey: the nazi. She sat down and crossed her arms.

"You better make this quick chief. I've already wasted too much time doing this," she said indignantly.

"I'm retiring, Miranda," he said quickly.

She furrowed her brows, uncrossed her arms, and stared at him. "But Chief, you withdrew your resignation…"

"That's what I told everyone…yes. After Shepherd turned me down, which I knew would happen, actually, I simply did what I had sincerely wanted to do in the first place, if it weren't for Adele…and the urgency to retire so I could be with her, you see…"

"Um, no chief..you're getting a little off the subject…" she cocked her head to the side and stared at Dr. Webber worriedly.

"Actually, no, I'm not." Chief Webber leaned forward and looked at Dr. Bailey, his tone suddenly turning serious. "I chose you."

"You chose me for what?"

"For chief."

"Sir, are you okay? Callie O'Malley has been running around doing chief duties for over a month. What the heck are you talking about?" Richard dissolved into laughter again.

"Oh Miranda," he laughed, placing a hand on his bouncing stomach. "I didn't think I'd end up having to spell it out for you like this. I chose you. Not Shepherd, not Burke, not Colin Marlowe. I chose you to be the chief of surgery. I wouldn't trust anyone else with the job, and I know there are a lot of things I've done wrong that you will be able to do right, Dr. Bailey."

"Sir…."She blinked in disbelief and fell backwards into the padded back of the chair. "I'm just a resident. You do realize that, don't you, Chief Webber?"

"Yes, Dr. Bailey, I realize that. That's why my resignation withdrawal wasn't actually withdrawn, but postponed—for two years. That gives me time to help you get settled into the job, to learn the ropes, to do some more surgeries and gain some experience. That's why I didn't give you chief resident, Miranda. I wanted you to just take this year to become the best damn surgeon you can before you end your residency. The surgical chief resident gets so bogged down in administration that it's the "number two" guy who gets all the surgeries. I was chief resident, you know. Ellis Grey was furious, but she was the one who went on to have procedures named after her. If she hadn't…slipped away like she did, well, she'd be sitting in this chair. Not me." Dr. Bailey simply stared at him, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. He smirked and continued. "So, I didn't choose you as chief resident because I wanted to be fair to you, and to this hospital. The board of trustees knows my decision, and we've already scheduled my announcement for about a year from now. I'll pronounce you chief-in-training, and for the next year, I'll slowly hand all of my work over to you, then I'm taking Adele to Europe for…well, as long as she wants."

She was stunned. All she could mutter was an, "Oh."

He smiled and nodded, then leaned back and placed his hands behind his head, clasping his fingers together, and crossing his legs. "So now you know."

She stood up shakily and smiled back at him feebly, feeling quite ridiculous, yet elated at the same time. "Thank you sir," she said as she turned and began to walk towards the door.

"I'll see you around, Miranda."

"Likewise, Richard." She held her head high and opened door. In her giddiness, she failed to see Addison Montgomery, who was scurrying down the hallway with a stack of papers in her hands. "Oh, Doctor Montgomery, I'm so sorry," she said as papers fluttered like confetti onto the linoleum tiles on the floor. "I didn't see you."

"No harm done, Miranda," she replied as she stooped down carefully to begin picking up papers she'd dropped. Dr. Bailey quickly bent down to help her, and froze when she caught a glimpse of the lab results that had fallen right beside Addison's black Prada heel. That poor girl just never could seem to catch a break, and now, just as another disaster in her life had begun to fade away, Meredith Grey was pregnant.