Chapter 2

In the morning Miranda rolled over and opened her eyes expecting to see Ben there. But he was gone. Before she could even put the look of disappointment on her face, she smelled breakfast and heard music. Miranda got up out of the bed and quietly went into his dresser drawer to find one of his t-shirts. She pulled out a white v neck and pulled it up over her head. The shirt stopped to the middle of her thighs. Miranda then walked into his bathroom and tried to contain some of her bed hair. Miranda Looked into mirror and smiled at herself. "If this is what it looks like to be sexed good. Then I need this in my life all the time." Miranda said to herself. She then used the bathroom and rinsed her mouth out.

Miranda walked into the kitchen to see Ben with his back turned flipping pancakes and singing along to the song coming through the speaker. She went up behind him, hugging and kissing his back. "Good morning Ben." she said trying to contain her smile, but it was nearly impossible. "Good morning Miranda, I finished making breakfast, so we can eat before we go in, I know you still have to go home, shower and getting ready." Ben said turning around and pecking her on my lips, he tried to move away but Miranda stood up on her tippy toes and placed her hands on the side of his face to deepen their kiss. She felt her nipples harden again. She wondered if these feelings and the instant attraction would ever dwindle. Ben moved and snaked his hand around her waist sliding down to her butt as he gripped it. Lifting her up and sitting her on the counter. Ben pushed his shirt up that she had on. Seeing Miranda in his t-shirt was an instant turn on it. It was even better because she didn't have on any underwear, Ben smirked to himself as he thought about what he did to them. Miranda moaned in his mouth "wait Ben we can't" she said pushing on his chest. "yeah your right okay, come on let's eat." Ben said backing away and placing everything on the counter. She looked at the spread and her stomach growled. Ben made pancakes, eggs, bacon and a bowl of fruit. they ate their breakfast and he occasionally fed Miranda strawberries. This song came on the radio and Miranda and Ben burst out with the lyrics at the same time. They turned and looked at each other laughing. I gotta say I could get used to this. They both thought at the same time.

"okay Ben I need to head home, shower, do my hair and get dressed." Miranda said while walking to his room. she picked her bra up off the floor and took off his shirt. She then looked up in the mirror and saw Ben staring from the door, leaning against the frame. She continued putting her bra on, trying to hook it. "may I help you with that?" Ben asked walking fully into the room. He walked over and hooked her bra and kissed her back. "no-no you're not slick mister." She said scooting away from him and walking to pick up her dress, slipping it on and finding her shoes, she slipped them on too. "Ben, I can't believe I'm leaving out of your apartment with no underwear, I feel like a teenage girl." Miranda said smiling and shaking my head. She walked past him to go get her coat and purse. He chuckled and said, "I really enjoyed myself last night and being with you this morning." "Me too Ben, she paused for a moment, not wanting to get caught up and be late for work she shook her head, hoping to clear her thoughts "okay, hopefully I will bump into you at work today." Miranda said walking out of the door.

Miranda drove home and went inside of her house dropping her purse and kicking off her shoes, walking to her room. She got into the shower and wash the sex smell off her body. Man, that was some real good sex. She had a permanent smile on her face, she thought about how Ben had been the perfect lover. He took care of her needs like no other. He is a perfect man. Smart, kind, funny, handsome, sexy and everything she could imagine. She didn't know how she had gotten so lucky. After she finished with her shower. She went into her room and put on some jeans and a Seattle Grace t-shirt. she walked into the bathroom and began to add some curls back into her hair and put on a little bit of makeup. After she was finished, she put on her shoes and coat and left.

When Miranda got to the hospital, she got into the elevator and that very catchy song from breakfast this morning was stuck inside of her head. "hello." she said to Mark and Derek. *Mmmmmmhmmm baby mmmmmhmmm* "hey what song is that I know that song?" Derek said, "oh just a little something stuck in my head, you know how it is." Miranda replied and then the elevator opened on her floor. "oh, you both have a great day" she said walking out of the elevator. She then went into the attendings lounge and sat her stuff down. She changed into her scrubs and went to go find her residents to get started on work today.

Miranda was in the middle of walking down the hallway to get to the nurse station and she looked up and saw Ben, he was leaning against the counter talking to a nurse. She put her head down a little to hide her blush and smile. And I'm the one who told him to not look at me with the I've seen you naked eyes. She laughed to herself and pushed some of her hair out of her face. Miranda put her pager into her pocket walking closer to them. "you don't have a middle name..like forreal." Ben said, "my parents couldn't agree so they decided not to bother." The light skin tall, nurse said. "oh, we're just gonna have to do something about that…. how about cheeky" Ben said smiling and crossed his arms. This caused Miranda's face to change immediately and she stopped walking and stood, trying not to show a pissed expression on her face. The nurse laughed "Liz Cheeky McKee?" "yeah. I like it. Got spunk." Ben said smiling. Miranda just stood there with her mouth gaped some. she just couldn't believe her eyes or her ears, they were deceiving her.

Miranda just watched as they exchanged smiles and laughs "take care." He said touching the top of her back. She narrowed her eyes at his hand. Ben finally turned around and saw Miranda standing there. Miranda was sure he could see the pissed, hurt, and confused emotion that was displayed on her face all at once. "Miranda that was…" he started to say but she shook her head and backed up some. "Miranda that …" he started again. All she could do was stare at this man. She turned and walked away. Miranda couldn't understand why she felt so emotional. Here I am falling for this man and he was playing me like a fool. This was a game to him, and he played it so well. He got what he wanted... sex…. dam good sex in my opinion. What was it? Was I not good? did he not enjoy it? I know I haven't had sex in two years before him, me and Tucker had stopped long before we thought of divorce. She had so many questions and things rambling around in her mind. What started out as a good day, she just wanted this to be over already.

She went and started walking to her patients' room to discuss procedures and steps that she would take in the upcoming days. She walked with Avery, and Sloan into a burn victim's room. Miranda was listening to the woman's best friend tell her not to be upset that they would have to remove three of her fingers and she had to interrupt. "Its okay to be upset. She was excited, hopeful, eager and that have been crushed, she has the right to have some feeling, she can be positive tomorrow!" Deep down Miranda knew that she was reflecting her feelings of Ben and their "Relationship" but she was still right.

She went into the surgery and started to scrub in. Then Mark Sloan walked in, Miranda stared at him for a minute contemplating on if she was going to ask him about Teddy. "was the sex with Altman—was it lousy? Did she disappoint you?" "what? No.-no" he responded like it was a weird question. "is one woman never enough for some men? I-I no, I-I really want to know because I—Me I think I'm a good judge of character." she said getting a little upset. "I am a good judge of character, and I think Altman is a good judge of character and then she trusted you. She trusted you and then you go… I just want to know." She said rambling. "Teddy and I were never exclusive." Miranda scuffed at his answer rolling her eyes. "were you and your guy exclusive?" he asked. "what? we're not talking about me." she walked into the OR getting ready to do surgery.

Miranda looked and noticed that Ben was in the room. Dam I can never get a break and it didn't help that I like to see him in scrubs along with me. It was something about Ben that put butterflies in her stomach even when she is pissed at him. When the surgery was getting close to then end "you wanna have the anesthesiologist start lighten her up? Miranda said looking at Mark "you could ask me Directly." Ben said with his agitated voice. "DR. Sloan" she said looking directly at Mark. Dr. Sloan decided to proceed with the hair restoration for their patients. So, they worked on that for the next 3 hours.

When they were all done, Miranda hurried up and scrubbed out, she didn't want Ben to catch her and start talking. she just wanted to go home, have a glass of wine by herself and think this whole thing through. she went into the locker room to change her clothes. Then she walked to the elevator and push the button to go to the lobby. Ben came up and grabbed Miranda's arm. "I need to talk to you." He said with a deep voice that normally would make her knees buckle, but she was too upset right now. She pulled her arm away 'hey I get it. You want to see other people. So, go be free. Go get Cheeky with Liz."

"Liz is the meanest nurse on the floor. She makes everybody in my department's life hell. But she likes me. She doesn't schedule me for work on Tuesday mornings because she knows that's when I play golf. She Doesn't put me in the OR with Hendricks because she knows I can't stand the way he talks to himself when he operates." Ben said while she exhaled loudly "and she does these favors for me." Miranda wanted to cut him off and say because you have sex with her, but she withheld and let him continue. "because I flirt with her. Flirting makes my job easier. And what you saw back there that middle name stuff that's bad Flirting, lazy flirting. For you who I actually like … I break out my good flirting, my A-game…" he said stepping fully in front of her. Miranda felt her eyes getting teary, she hated that he makes her feel this way, all these emotions. "because I meant it. Are you hearing me Miranda? I Mean it."

Miranda searched his eyes and she couldn't find a lie. She shook her head and exhaled, her voice started breaking as she replied "I have a child….and a fulltime job and I'm going through a sad, exhausting, stressful. Time-consuming divorce. I don't have time for games. I mean you understand that, right?" her voice filled with worry. "I do. -I do and I'm not-I'm not playing games, I'm in this for real. okay?" Ben said sincerely. Miranda blinked back some her tears and she looked him in his eyes "okay." she said almost at a whisper. She then rushed past him as the elevators opened and she pressed the button to the lobby.

Ben walked in and stood beside her. She felt his hand brush hers and she connected her hand to his and intertwined their fingers instantly. They were silent as the elevator close. Miranda cleared her throat "Benjamin Warren I am giving you permission to flirt with Liz only to make your job easier, but I will say this one time and one time only, I do not ever want to feel disrespected again. You better keep it at just that bad ass flirting that you were doing and nothing more, there are boundaries that you need to have and she does as well, all that flirting you are doing might lead her on and if she thinks she gonna stake her claim on you… then we will have a problem." Miranda said seriously, turning to look him dead in his eyes. "oh, and don't touch her anymore, I saw you put your hand on her shoulder too." "it was just the top of her back Miranda." Ben said with confused looked on his face. she raised her eyebrow at him "when you're talking to Cheeky Liz keep yours hands in your pocket before I lay you and her on yalls backs, seriously injuring both of you." She said as she firmly tapped his face twice. "you're mine." Miranda said while pecking him on the lips just as the elevators opened. She walked out and went to the front door. "can I come over tonight?" Ben asked. She smirked and replied, "no I have a friend coming over and I'm going to laugh and flirt with him all night… goodnight Ben." "that's not cool Miranda, don't play like that." He said jogging up to her at her car. She just laughed and shook her head.

Ben grabbed Miranda's arm and spun her around to face him. He pulled her in close and placed his mouth on hers causing her to moan instantly, throwing her arms around his neck, pushing herself further into him. Ben backed her up until her back was pressed against the car door. He shoved his tongue into her mouth, and she was delighted at the taste of him. Hell, the smell of his cologne was intoxicating to her. They took a breath to get some air. Ben just stared at her and then he said, "good night Miranda Bailey, my girlfriend!" "girlfriend? You're asking me to be your girlfriend or are you telling me." she said with a smirk raising her eyebrow. " I shouldn't have to ask it's something you should have already known , when you rolled over, waking up in my bed this morning, wrapped up in the sheets that we were in between last night and saw me your Boyfriend cooking breakfast for you. My girlfriend." He said with a wide grin. Miranda blushed for the umpteenth time today. "well good night boyfriend." She said pecking his lips and getting into her car.

On the car ride home both of them pictured what they would be like together in the future. Ben already knew that this was his end game. He wanted to marry Miranda Bailey and be with her forever. Miranda smiled all the way home. She thought about Tucker and how it was funny to her that she never trusted him how she trusted Ben, she'd only known him for 8 months, but she was pretty dam sure she wanted a lifetime with him.