Miranda Bailey

“Thank you, Dr. Bailey. I’m glad you like it. I’m really proud of what I was able to come up with.” She expressed, her head tilting to the side. She’d put a lot of effort into the costume and when someone acknowledged it, it felt really good. “I really like the creativity of your costume and it looks like you might just be the most comfortable person here.” She said with a grin.

“This was just my way of trying to dress up while not really dressing up. Gotta say, there are some people here not looking very festive. You’re right that this is extremely comfortable,” she added with a chuckle. “You having a good time so far? Seems like the party is definitely pumping.” Or whatever the kids said these days.

“I don’t tend to like judging but… Ever had one of those months where it feels like everyone is tap dancing on your last nerve?” The words holding more pep than they probably should. A more genuine laugh leaving her at the next words. “I think I have to give a pass to The Nightmare Before Christmas - your namesake is Jack Skellington, and I put way too much work into that costume to disrespect it. But I do fully agree that everyone needs to watch Hocus Pocus at least once, I mean it’s like… Halloween law. Who’s your favourite character? Promise not to get offended if you don’t say Sarah.” 

“Have you seen the people I work with? I have those months every month.” She was only half-joking, but the other doctors at the hospital definitely seemed to know just what to say or do to make her lose her mind nearly every day. Being the chief of surgery was not all it was cracked up to be; except for the pay - that part was pretty nice. “That’s true. I’m pretty sure I saw him walking around here somewhere. You did an amazing job on that costume, kiddo. You ever consider going into that sort of thing as a job? Bet you’d make millions doing it.” That was probably a generous estimation, but the surgeon was also very inebriated. “Exactly. You have to watch it once - every Halloween. Hmm, as much as I like them all, I think Winifred is my favorite.”

zalifitz​:

When Miranda stood up, Zali didn’t know what was coming. She looked so disappointed, she looked so upset. And hearing her words toward Jameson, she wasn’t sure how to feel. On one hand, it was harsh. She knew that, but on the other hand, she felt like he deserved it. She had been so patient with all of this, with him coming and going over the years, and it was almost like Miranda was taking everything she’d felt deep down and was letting it all out in her own way.

“It’s okay,” she finally said, when the words were directed to her. “I’m not going to lie. I really could have used you back then. My mom died while I was pregnant and having another mom figure around would have been really nice. The support was something I wish I’d had more of. And it would have been nice to let Ayla know another grandmother aside from my stepmother,” she said. “But I hope that.. despite him being a bonehead, as you put it, you’ll let her and I into your family even though it’s a little late.”

@jamesonwarren​

.

He’d always known that the day that Miranda found out about Ayla and Zali was going to be the day when her entire opinion of him changed. When he was younger, the fear had been that she wouldn’t want him around anymore. That she would send him away because of the choice he had made or that she and Ben wouldn’t support him in his endeavors anymore. The fear had been in letting her down and so he’d made the choice to leave Zali, leave Ayla. He’d chosen the path that would allow him to continue to be a good son in their eyes, allowing him to follow his dream of becoming a dancer. And until this moment, beyond the guilt that he’d continuously felt, it had worked out for him. But not for Ayla or Zali or Miranda in the things that they’d lost. 

As Miranda stood up, Jameson made the choice to not move his eyes away from her. He didn’t deserve the opportunity to hide right now. He would take whatever she wanted to fling at him because he knew that he deserved it. He’d caused a lot of heartache over the years and now all of that loss was being placed on Miranda. As his mother spoke, he let the disappointment and anger wash over him. He took the words to heart and fought against the emotion that was welling up within him. He didn’t argue with her or say that he hadn’t thought that what he was doing was okay. There had never been a point in time where he thought that it was the right thing to do or that it was okay. But it was a choice that he had still made. Selfish, self-absorbed, and one made in fear.

When Miranda turned her attention to Zali, that was the moment that he allowed his eyes to drop and not a moment before, feeling the weight of his decision sitting on him even more heavily than he had in the past. As Miranda spoke, saying that she never would have allowed this to happen if she’d known, he was at least grateful that he’d been right in knowing that his mother wouldn’t be mad at Zali. After all, she’d never done anything to deserve the anger.

@themirandabailey​

Miranda’s expression softened as she heard Zali’s question. There was never any doubt that the surgeon would allow the two into her life now that she knew the true relation between them. “Oh, sweetheart - of course I will. You and Ayla are welcome to come here anytime you want and I know I would love to get to know both of you better. I’m sure once Ben finds out, he’ll feel the same. He’s going to love being a grandpa.” 

Turning to Jameson, she knitted her brows together, telling herself to remain calm. She had to remember that he’d been a teen at the time, and teenagers weren’t very good at decision making. Still, the fact he’d continued to keep this secret for this long definitely made her question more things. “So, Jameson - is there anything else you need to tell me before this night’s over? You don’t have a bunch more kids running around out there somewhere, do you?” Maybe she shouldn’t have asked that in front of Zali, but her anger still wasn’t completely dissipated. “More so, I want to know why you hid this for so long. What did you think would happen, son? I thought your father and I raised you better than this.”

Elaine was preparing some snarky comment in response to the reaction the compliment elicited from Miranda, but that all left her mind the second Miranda spoke once more. Her mouth fell open to speak on whatever secret she didn’t know either, but then Miranda let that secret out. There wasn’t much of an external reaction, there never was on Elaine’s face when she received shocking information. Her poker face had always been strong, and this was no exception. “Um,” she hummed softly, glancing down at her watch and clearing her throat, “about ten seconds.” She paused for a few seconds, almost feeling a little bad for Miranda. ( Almost ). “I suppose that, um,” pausing, she laughed softly, “in some twisted, long-winded way, that kind of makes us in-laws.” 

Miranda’s eyes shot open in surprise, and then she realized that she’d just spilled the beans on a secret she wasn’t sure she was supposed to tell anyone. It wasn’t exactly hers to tell, but she couldn’t help the fact that she’d been sure Elaine would have known about it by now. It seemed that Bailey was the one who was finding everything out last anymore, and she absolutely hated being the last to know. Then, Elaine had to go and say that last sentence and Bailey’s look of indignation crossed her face again. “Not really. You aren’t Zali’s mother in any blood sense of the word. I don’t have to claim you as my in-law.” While she wouldn’t be super thrilled at the prospect anyway, Miranda had to admit that being the one to fill Elaine in on this was kind of nice, in a way; she knew something before the ginger did for once.

“Growing up having four parents was nice ‘cause there was always someone around, then adulthood hit and it’s been quite the opposite, somehow,” she sighed, rolling her eyes. “I don’t think so, but she’s been just about buzzing lately every time I’ve seen her. Around the hospital of course, I don’t see them anywhere else at this point,” she shrugged. Though, after she processed Miranda’s words, her brows knitted together tightly, “and none’f you have told me?”

“Maybe it’s because you also have your own responsibilities now. When you’re a kid, you hang out with your friends and it feels like your parents are overbearing all the time. Then you grow up and it changes and you wonder why you ever worried about it.” Then again, Miranda’s father had shown time and again that he was still overbearing, even though she was grown and married with children. “Maybe she’s just super excited about surgeries. I get pretty buzzed when a massive trauma comes in,” Bailey added with a laugh, before realizing she probably sounded a bit deranged admitting that. “I think it’s an embarrassing story. Bunch of doctors running around stoned; not a good look.”

zalifitz​:​

Easing into this conversation was clearly just putting all three of them in a more unsettled place of mind. Zali sat down across from Miranda, and she was scared. This was her superior, but she also wanted this to go well. She didn’t know if it would. She hoped that even if Miranda hated her for all of this, that they could still remain professional.

“You’re Ayla’s grandmother,” she finally said. “Jameson is her father.” She tried to keep her composure. “When we were teenagers, we had a relationship.. I hadn’t met you at that point, which is why I never made the connection until recently. Anyway, we were together for a little while, but our first time together, I got pregnant.”

@jamesonwarren​

.

He swallowed harshly but nodded at Zali’s words, because they were the truth. “And when she told me that she was pregnant,” he paused to look over at Zali for a moment, taking in the sight of her as she sat there. In this moment, he could picture her as the teenager that he had once known, that she had once been, and could imagine them here a decade prior being honest with Miranda about their situation. He could imagine in that moment that he hadn’t been so selfish, that he hadn’t been such a coward, that he had done the right thing. But this wasn’t ten years prior, they were no longer teenagers, and he hadn’t done the right thing then. So now, he was once again taking another step forward in trying to rectify the damage. He turned his attention back to his mother. “And when she told me that she was pregnant, I broke up with her. And I kept it a secret from you, from everyone. And I let her deal with the fallout alone.”

“I let her go through the pregnancy alone…the loss of her mom…and the raising of a gorgeous baby girl.” Swallowing harshly, he glanced down at his hands and then glanced back up. “And we’re telling you now because it’s not right to hide it any longer. It’s never been right to hide Zali or to hide Ayla. It’s never been right to lie to you and dad and…everyone. But I did it.” He rubbed his face. “And I’m telling you now because I made a promise to Zali that I would be sticking around. That I was done popping in and out. And in order to fulfill that promise, I needed to be open and honest.” No matter the consequences.

Whatever Miranda had been expecting to hear, it had most certainly not been that. When Zali first mentioned that Miranda was Ayla’s grandmother, a look of confusion had appeared on her face and she’d been about to question how that was possible, but Jameson seemed to understand there was more that needed explained. However, the more her son said, the angrier Miranda could feel herself becoming. As the realization came to her that her son had impregnated a girl when they were teenagers and then left her to handle everything on her own she could feel it all bubbling up inside of her, and she stood up, the only way she could truly tower over her son as he was sitting down and stepped closer to him.

“You’re telling me,” she spoke, her voice deathly quiet, teeth practically gritted, “that you knew you got her pregnant and that you intentionally broke up with her and left her to be a teenage single mother, and you thought that was okay?” Miranda had thought she’d raised her children to be better than that. She’d comforted Zali before about being a good mother to her child, about understanding things happened, but knowing that Ayla loved her mother no matter what, and now to find out that this whole time, she could have had a relationship with the pair of them for the past decade if her son had just stepped up and been honest...

“Jameson Warren, I have never been this disappointed with you in my life. You have lost out on some of the most precious time in your child’s life. You made her experience what it was like not to have a father in her life. As someone who was adopted you would think you would understand just how important it is for a child to have two loving parents in their lives. I did not raise you to be a deadbeat father.” Her words were harsh, yes, but they were exploding out of her and she didn’t see them stopping anytime soon. “Not only that, but you’ve taken away ten years of me being a grandmother. Of doting on this precious little girl and showing her a grandmother’s love. Do you have any idea how much that hurts?” 

Turning to Zali, she managed to soften her expression up some. “I just want to say, Zali, that I apologize on behalf of my boneheaded son over here, and if I had known about any of this, I would have been there to help you out, and,” she continued, turning back to her son with a look of disdain on her face, “I wouldn’t have let him run out on you like he did.”

“Actually, sort of,” Elaine started, standing and walking around her desk, leaning back on it, “I’ve met your son a few times, Jameson, and I had that same feeling you had of how can someone so wretched play a part in raising something so nice, except.. you’re arguably a little less wretched than myself. It’s not easy holding such an adjective to one’s character, I’ll tell you that much.” Pausing for a moment, she narrowed her eyes, “but I know that people love hearing about how wonderful their children are. So I thought I’d be a really kind boss and compliment something that you made.”

Her son’s name elicited a less-than-admirable facial expression to appear on Miranda’s face. There was no way for Elaine to know about the conversation the general surgeon had had with her son and Zali last night, but as she began to think about it and the more Elaine droned on about how great Jameson was, she started to wonder if Elaine had known this whole time about the secret their kids had been hiding from her. “Yes, generally they do love hearing such things,” Bailey agreed, though her tone was far from pleasant. “Unless of course, the person giving that compliment has been in on this secret from the get-go. Tell me, Chief Sawyer, how long have you been aware of the fact that Jameson is Ayla’s biological father?” she asked, clenching her fists as she prepared to hear that she truly was the last to know.

zalifitz​:​

It should have happened a long time ago. Jameson wasn’t wrong. Zali knew this was long, long overdue, but that didn’t make it any easier. If anything, it made it harder. She wished so much that he would have told his mother back when she had first gotten pregnant, but that didn’t happen. She couldn’t change it, even though if was could, she would. 

“I know that me joining you is probably.. a surprise,” Zali said softly as she stepped into the house. “Whatever’s for dinner, it smells delicious.” She glanced at Jameson, almost positive that both he and Miranda could feel the anxiety radiating from her. “We… Jameson and I have something that we want to talk to you about.” She couldn’t just put it on the backburner, she’d rather get it over with right off the bat, so that if it got weird she could leave before eating.

@jamesonwarren​

He let out a heavy sigh when Zali immediately started the conversation. He knew that it made the most sense to do so. If they sat through dinner before trying to broach the topic he wasn’t sure that he or Zali would be able to eat much anyway. And if they had a nice dinner and then got into the conversation, he was sure his mother would be even more mad than he knew she already would be. “She’s right. We do. It’s a pretty big deal and you should probably sit down. It’s something that I should have told you…a really long time ago.”

He moved into the living room, waiting for Zali and his mom to follow them before he took a seat in one of the chairs. He set his crutches up beside him, holding onto them tightly and using them as an emotional crutch as well. He glanced over at Zali before then turning his attention to Bailey. “First and foremost, I want you to know that Zali didn’t know who you were until just after I came back to town. So none of this is on her. Because she really couldn’t have told you even though I’m sure she’s spent all of these years wanting to.” He needed it to be extremely clear to Miranda that Zali held no fault. Everything had always been on him. 

@themirandabailey​

Miranda immediately felt herself on edge. Eyes narrowed as she stared at Zali, and then turned her focus to what Jameson was saying. Whatever it was they wanted to tell her, it was clearly very serious or he wouldn’t have told her she should be sitting down for it. Her mind was going all over the place, wondering what in the world the two of them could have been hiding from her for a really long time; she couldn’t even think of anything that would involve the two of them that she would need to know about. For once, she was dumbfounded.

Following her son into the living room, she situated herself on the couch, still not sure what to say and grateful that Jameson seemed to be taking the lead on this conversation. Eyes narrowed further upon Jameson’s admission that Zali didn’t know who she was and now she was even more confused. “Okay, how about one of you just spit out what it is you want to tell me before I lose my mind,” she said, staring from one to the other and then adding under her breath, “or my patience.” Eyebrows quirked as she continued to gaze from one to the other of them. “What’s this big secret that I need to be sitting down for?”

“You’re very welcome,” Elaine spoke with an exhale and a smile, before finishing what she was typing just before Miranda had entered her office. Brows raised as the woman announced her exit, “gone so soon? Nothing else to share?”

There were some thoughts on her mind, but Miranda wasn’t sure now was the time - nor place - to bring them up. “No, I think that’s it, unless you have something you need to talk to me about.”

“It’s all part of a plan, Bailey,” she grinned, chuckling softly. “What would I do without you? I can’t ask my parents for advice — my dad would probably prefer I go in a head-to-toe snowsuit, one of my moms is rarely not travelling for work, the other is mentally in another universe lately, and then Lexie’s buzzing around here like someone gave her something a little stronger than sugar,” Sofia teased.

“Ah, well, okay then.” Miranda couldn’t help the smile that appeared on her face at Sofia’s comment, letting out a soft chortle at the mention of what Mark’s advice would likely consist of. “Yeah, I think you’re right; men are like that. They don’t want their little girls growing up on them. Sounds like all four of your parents are busy lately,” she added on, eyebrows quirking at the mention of Lexie. “...Did they?” It wouldn’t be the first time someone accidentally gave the doctors a little special treat.

Zali hated conflict. It made her anxiety spike, and she never knew how to handle it. She especially couldn’t handle it well without the risk of tears. Standing next to Jameson outside of Miranda’s home, she felt like she was going to be sick. This was a conversation that needed to happen, but it was one that she was petrified to have. This was a decade old secret that they were about to let out, and she had no idea how the older woman was going to take it. This woman was her superior, and one that she admired to no end. She didn’t want her to be mad at her for not being honest all this time.

“Are we sure this is a good idea?” she asked Jameson softly, waiting patiently after knocking on the door. No sooner did she ask did Miranda open the door, and Zali looked at her with a nervous smile. “Hey, Dr. Bailey..”

@themirandabailey @jamesonwarren

Jameson knew that this night was one that was going to change his life forever. In some ways, it was going to be one of the best changes. Ayla would no longer be a secret, his history with Zali would no longer be a secret. He’d kept these two people, who he cared about deeply, in a dark corner for a decade and they deserved to not be there anymore. They never should have been there in the first place and this was the first step towards making amends. However, he also knew that being honest about this could cost him his relationship with his mom. Would at least cost him the type of relationship that they currently had. And that broke his heart, but he also knew that it was necessary. 

Glancing at Zali as he leaned onto the crutches that he was using, he nodded. “It needs to happen. It should have happened a long time ago.” He was going to say more, he wanted to say more. Wanted to assure her that his mom wouldn’t be mad at her, wouldn’t be disappointed in her. Wanted her to know that any anger or betrayal was directed at him and not the blonde. Wanted to say that if Zali wanted to leave, at any point, he wouldn’t blame her. But he didn’t have a chance to say any of that before the door opened. “Hey, Ma. Can we come in?”

@themirandabailey​

It was always a nice surprise when Jameson wanted to come over for dinner with his parents. When any of her kids asked to come over, Miranda would do whatever it took to make it happen. Now that Pru was officially an adult, it sometimes got a little lonely around the place. She missed the pitter-patter of tiny feet, and she’d be lying if she didn’t admit that it was part of the reason she’d been working more hours recently. Being out of the house was easier than being there alone, reminded of how quiet things truly were. Especially when Ben was also on a shift.

Upon hearing the knock on the door - which was a little strange, she thought, given Jameson knew he could walk right in - she headed over and opened it, only to be greeted with not just Jameson, but also Zali standing before her. She hid the surprise and confusion from her face as she greeted the pair with a smile. 

“Jameson, Zali, hello,” she stated and then moved aside. “You don’t have to ask, son; come on in. Dinner’s almost ready.”

Jameson: I’m not dying.

Jameson: But you might kill me.