One Hundred Ways

"Since you won't tell me what's in the bags. I just hope that at least there are some clothes in those bags and my phone charger. And maybe my laptop?" Ben laughed. "You're laughing, but I'm serious. Plus, I smell. You smell. And I saw the way Jack was staring at us."

"And?" Ben answered.

She waved him off. "I cannot believe that I'm staying in a 'W'. This is unreal." She looked around, smiling at the kids throwing coins into the fountain. Two people, wet and wrapped in towels, came and stood near them, waiting for the elevators as well. She spoke out of the corner of her mouth: "The rooms are three hundred a night easy. I hope you got a discount." She raised an eyebrow.

"Don't worry about it, Miranda. Just have a good time." They sidestepped out of the way for the people getting off and along with the two other people, they got on the elevator.

"So no discount? No Groupon? Nothing?" She asked turning to look up at her husband.

"Shhh, woman," he said setting the bags down and putting his arms around her waist, kissing her softly. The people on the elevator with them tried not to look. Ben stuck his tongue in her mouth and she stroked his face. "I think th-this is your floor," the woman said.

"Right!" Ben said. He picked up the bags and ushered Miranda off of the elevator.

Miranda was the first one inside of the large room. "Ohmydamn! This is amazing!" She marveled at the neatly made king-sized bed. "These sheets have to be at least 300-count."

"350," Ben said looking at a pamphlet that he picked up off of the desk that was near an 8-paneled window. She went to the window and realized that she could see over the entire city. There was also a lounge seat and a wide-screen TV mounted inside of the wall. Everything was ideal.

Miranda flopped down on the bed. She could feel herself sinking into it. Exactly what she imagined what laying on a cloud would feel like. She kicked off her shoes. "Ohhh, Ben! Come and feel this bed. It feels like butter." Ben took off his shoes and joined her on the bed.

Miranda could feel him staring at her. "What?" She asked.

"You like it?"

"This?" She gestured to the room. He nodded. "Yes. I love it. It's beautiful. "

Ben pushed some hair out of her face. "You're beautiful." Miranda blushed. "I love you so much. You know that, right?"

"I have an idea," she said with a smile. He leaned in to kiss her.

She put a hand on his chest. "Wait… hold on. I, um, I have another gift for you. A surprise."

"I have one for you as well," he said.

"You've done enough," she said.

"Yeah, I know, but so have you." Miranda winked at him. "Let's just get dressed and get to our reservations. I am starving."

"Right. Me, too," she said softly pushing her surprise to the back of her head.

Miranda and Ben showered and started to get dressed. He pointed to one of the bags. "Unh-uh! No, sweetie, the only things I'm wearing to dinner from that bag are panties and a bra." Ben, who only had a towel wrapped around his body, just nodded and then pointed to the closet. Miranda went to the closet and pushed it open. Inside she saw three brand-new dresses hanging up along with three suits. "Oooo, Ben! These are gorgeous!" She said and ran to him and hugged him, her towel slipping. Ben received her hug and tugged on it, dropping it on the floor. He wrapped his arms around her body and kissed her neck, running a hand down her back, sliding it along her butt. She moaned. Miranda pulled off his towel and touched every inch that she could. "Wait… I cannot function sexually on a completely empty stomach," she said panting, her heart fluttering. "Especially since…," she stopped herself.

"Especially since what?"

Miranda shook her head and walked to the duffel bag and put on her underwear. "Stop watching me," she said.

"I'm not," he said.

She turned around to see that he was pulling a suit out of the closet. Miranda went and stood next to him and looked at the dresses. The first one was black and white with circular patterns and a gold belt. It was pretty. The next one was a an all-white dress with a wrap-around bottom with a thick black lining and ¾ sleeves. She couldn't wait to wear that one, but tonight was not the night. Her favorite one, the one she was going to wear was a cream-colored with silver ovals in an elegant design covering the entire dress with capped sleeves. She pulled it off of the hanger. "Tell me you have—"

"You mean those?" Ben said pointing to the three pairs of heels under the dresses, each matching the dresses perfectly. "Jewelry's over here." He gestured to a box on the dresser.

"Wow, Ben Warren, you really have outdone yourself," she said. He smiled. "Help me zip this up, will you?"

Ben helped zip up the dress. "You look amazing," he whispered on her neck.

"Thanks," she said quietly.

They finished getting dressed and went to the elevators. Ben, wearing a blue suit with a white dress shirt, held the elevator doors for her. "So my last surprise-gift-thing?" He asked.

"I have to see what dinner is like first," she told him winking. He chuckled and put a hand on the small of her back and guided her out of the elevator and to the restaurant. Miranda stopped walking and whipped around to face Ben, throwing him off balance.

"What?"

"Promise that when we get inside of this restaurant that there isn't a large group of people, otherwise known as my friends, family, coworkers and otherwise waiting to shout 'surprise' or 'happy anniversary' or anything like that.

"Damn, I knew I forgot something," he said winking at her.

"Ben Warren…"

He chuckled. "I promise."

Her face was still as she searched his eyes. "No, seriously, promise me because I am not in the mood and I don't like parties that are quote in my honor endquote. You know that."

"How could I forget?" He asked quickly no doubt remembering the birthday party he'd thrown for her last year at their house and how she'd walked into the house talking about how much her stomach hurt as she rushed to the bathroom. And how she thought she'd caught a bug from Tuck and if she did that Ben needed to go to the store to get some medicine because if she and Tuck had it, he was next. She'd wondered why Ben wasn't responding and why the house was so dark, they usually left a light or two on whenever they left the house. As she ran up the stairs, she saw a pair of eyes looking at her from behind a door and called to Ben. Grabbing one of Tuck's baseball bats, she charged at the eyes. Both she and the owner of the eyes screamed. It was Jackson Avery. After that, several lights came on in the house and all of her friends, coworkers, family, including her parents, Tucker and Tuck popped out of their hiding spots in waves. Miranda's face flushed. And as she ran up the stairs, completely embarrassed, she could hear Tuck saying: 'I don't think mommy likes surprise parties.' "Miranda, have I ever broken a promise to you?" Ben asked interrupting her memories. She thought for a second, but couldn't come up with a single time that he'd promised something and had broken it. "Exactly. So this is the best promise I have. And, anyway, if I did have something planned, I would have cancelled everything."

"Why?" She asked.

"Because I'd figure that you wouldn't want people shouting at you after the day we've had anyway."

She nodded in agreement as the hostess led them to their table. "Okay, I officially love this place," she said, her face brightening.

"Yeah, it is. I had a conference at a 'W' and I never wanted to leave," he told her as they got to the table and he pulled out her chair and then sat down himself.

"I'm not surprised a bunch of anesthesiologists picked this expensive place to hang out." Ben chuckled and ordered them wine when the waiter came to their table. Ben was such a gentleman. And she was glad that there weren't many people in the restaurant, so their conversations would be private. Their table was right in the middle of the room. She looked around, once again admiring the decoration. "Actually, after today, I'm going to have a Pepsi or a Sprite." Ben looked at her with a weird expression.

"Right away," the waiter said and he left.

"You? Just soda?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well, I don't want to get drunk and not be able to remember tonight," she said quickly, pushing some hair behind her ear.

"Alright, alright," he responded putting both hands up. "If you're having soda, so am I." He gestured for the waiter who came right over. "I'm going to have a soda, too." The waiter nodded and took off. "So, are you enjoying the day so far?"

"Yes! I mean, I feel bad for Ava and Shawn, especially Ava, today's her birthday."

"No kidding?" The drinks came back.

"What's good to eat?" Miranda asked quickly. The waiter started listing everything on the menu. Ben chuckled as she rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry, um, Kevin, but just bring me a burger, well-done, with cheese and hot and crispy fries, no salt. It has been a long day and I'm just ready to eat. Oh, and a Caesar salad."

"W-will, that be all, ma'am?"

She nodded and Ben said he'd have the blackened tilapia dish that he'd found out about while reading reviews. "Ooo, that sounds good," she said as the waiter walked off.

"I hope so. If not, I'm taking a bite of your burger," he said in a low voice.

She smiled. "Okay, so I know I said that I had another surprise for you for our anniversary."

"Oh, God! I'm not getting it, am I?" He put his head in his hands. "You hate this. It's too garish, too much? I went too far? I just wanted to do something special for us," he said taking her hand. She started laughing. "Why are you laughing, woman?"

"Because you're so cute when you're panicky." Ben blushed. "Everything has been great. I just feel like my gifts pale in comparison to…," she gestured to the room. "All of this."

"What?! No! I'm still not sure all of this can even match what you gave me. I'll always be able to look at that knife and my shirt and that box and especially the keychain and know that our first year was awesome." The food came and they started to eat. "Mmm, baby, taste this fish," he said holding his fork out to her. She scrunched her face up. It looked so good, but the smell was nauseating. It made her stomach churn. She held her breath and shook her head. "You love fish."

"I know I do, but, uh, I'm just gonna… just eat what I ordered instead. I'm just in the mood for a burger." Ben said okay and they ate in silence for a while, occasionally looking up at each other, smiling. She knew exactly what he was thinking. She was thinking the same thing. They were good.

When she got ¾ of the way through her food, she said: "And, so, you've earned your other gift." Ben threw his hands in the air. "It's a pair of tickets to the Bulls versus the Blazers, they're not courtside, but they're good seats and there's a meet and greet with a player or something like that. And you can take whoever you want." When she saw Ben's face light up, she knew that Callie was right. He loved it. Although Miranda had a feeling he would have liked anything she gave him.

"That is so cool," he said standing up a little and leaning over the table to give her a kiss. Miranda closed her eyes and accepted her husband's kiss. When they pulled apart, he said: "I hope you'll go with me." Ben gave her a half-smile.

She shook her head. "Oh, no, you don't have to take me," she said gesturing to herself.

"I know, but I want you to go with me. Will you go with me?" Miranda shrugged, and then nodded. "Thank you, Miranda."

"Thank you," she told him as he sat back down. "For everything." He nodded. "I, um, I tried really hard to get you gifts that I thought that you would love. You know, just in case..," her voice trailed off. How could she put this?

"Just in case you had to bail on me?" He asked putting his head down and looking up at her, making her heart dance. She nodded. He touched her hand. "Doesn't matter if you had surgery or if something else came up or if you didn't get me anything at all, just being able to spend my life with you is the best gift you could give me." Miranda held back tears and he stood up and hugged, kissing her cheek. "You're my baby and I love you."

This is the perfect time, a loud voice said in her head. Tell him! Miranda pushed those thoughts out of her head and they continued to eat and even ordered dessert. She was hungrier than she thought. When they were finished, she sat back and held her stomach. "That was really good. My compliments to the chef," she told Kevin, the waiter, who smiled and said that he would tell the chef.

"I agree," Ben said as Kevin collected the empty plates and bowls and walked away. "And delicious. Like you in that dress. Damn!"

Miranda closed her eyes and smiled. "You don't look bad at all in that suit," she responded. She looked around. "That will end up on the floor of that hotel room upstairs."

Ben's mouth dropped open. He gestured for the check wildly. "K-Kevin! Check… please. Check!"

"Um, sir, that guy over there," Kevin said pointing across the room. "He said to add your bill to his bill."

Miranda and Ben looked to where he was pointing. Miranda saw Richard, her mentor's look-alike, sitting in a corner with a woman. She smiled and raised her glass to him. He nodded, excused himself from the woman and walked over to their table. "And so we meet again," he said in a deep voice while chuckling.

"Richard! I am totally surprised," Miranda said. "Richard this is my husband, Ben. Ben, this is Richard." The two men shook hands. "Thanks for picking up our tab. But you didn't have to buy us dinner."

"Yeah. Thank you, sir, but—"

Richard cut Ben off: "Your wife is a goddess."

Ben nodded and smiled at Miranda. "Don't I know it?" He said winking at his wife. "She's the best."

"I was just doing my job, what I was trained to do," she said blushing.

Richard continued: "And modest. A real-life hero." Ben nodded. "Yeah, the way she…," Richard turned to Miranda. "The way you took charge and helped Ava and the other guy, who they found with drugs; he was probably on them, too, but I don't want to make any assumptions. Which, by the way, Miranda, was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen and I'm pushing 70. I mean…" He burped. "Excuse me. I was shocked, honestly. But seeing you two leap into action," Richard said waving his arms. "I had to step up. Ordinarily, I would have bypassed the scene, maybe called the police."

"Shame on you," Miranda said.

"Yeah, I know," Richard answered. He turned to Ben. "She's a queen. I hope you treat her that way, yeah?" Richard asked winking at Miranda.

"Nothing less than," Ben said taking a sip of his water.

"Richard, have a seat," Miranda said pointing to an empty chair. "That's if your wife doesn't mind."

"Oh, that's not my wife. That's my oldest daughter."

"Oh!" Miranda said.

"I had her, Lily, before I met my wife and before we had our five kids," Richard explained as Kevin refilled his glass. "Yeah, I got busy. Lily's shy, so she didn't come over. She thought I should leave you two alone being that it's your anniversary and all."

"How do you know it's our anniversary?" Ben asked curiously.

"Miranda here told me," Richard said taking a chair from an empty table nearby.

"I did. I did say that. Yes," Miranda told her husband.

"Yep. Such a pretty girl," Richard said looking at Miranda. "And I'm not coming on to you… I'm just stating a fact." Ben and Miranda looked at each other and laughed silently. "So, uh, do you two have any kids?" He asked looking directly at Miranda and raising an eyebrow that Ben did not see.

Her eyes got wide. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak, but Ben beat her to it: "No, no way." He chuckled. Miranda looked at him with wild eyes. Did he not want kids at all or did he not want kids right now? Her mind was racing and she glanced at Richard who was scratching his bald head. "Well… not yet. That's what I meant to say." He sighed. "What I mean is that Miranda has a son from her first marriage. And we co-parent him with her ex-husband."

"Oh my God, Ben Warren! You don't have to tell the man our whole life story," Miranda said rolling her eyes to the beautiful ceiling. Richard laughed his laugh and said that it was okay. She shook her head. "No, we don't have any children."

"Do you want children?" He asked them. Ben looked at her. "Sorry, if I'm being intrusive. Actually, yeah, I'm a little tipsy, so let me get back to Lily. We only get to see each other a few times a month." Miranda picked up her sweating glass and drank from it. The ice was melting in her soda. "And I apologize for any slight drunken awkwardness. I really just came over to say that you two did a great job. When I told Lily about what'd happened and then I saw youse two, I just had to pick up your tab. That's why I'm paying for you dinner. I want to show my gratitude, especially to you, Miranda, for letting me help. It was a rush." Miranda nodded and smiled at the man. "And here's my card. We can grab drinks—" He looked at Miranda. "Or dinner or something." Ben said thanks and took his card and put it in his pants pocket. "And search your name and today's date on the Youtube."

"Why?" Ben and Miranda asked simultaneously.

"You'll see," he said standing up and putting the chair back at the other table. Richard shook their hands, giving Miranda a kiss on the cheek, and walked back to his daughter.