‘Station 19’: Ben and Bailey Decide to Take a Break

Station 19 saw Ben and Bailey arriving at a serious crossroads in their marriage after a major argument.

The argument was sparked after Bailey (Chandra Wilson) finds a document from her insurance company with a set death benefit policy in case Ben (Jason George) passes away while performing firefighter duties. Bailey gets more frustrated after she spends the day trying to contact Ben and he does not reply to her text messages.

On the firefighter drama, Bailey and Ben have a day off and she says she wants to talk, though Ben has other more adult ideas. Later, Bailey admits to Ben that she misses how the two used to be before Ben left the hospital. As Ben tries to get her to avoid talking, Bailey says that they have to have a serious discussion.

“I love you so much Benjamin Warren, so much… I feel like the two of us are so strong. We’ve gone through so much together and I know we can get through this too,” Bailey says. “I need a sabbatical, I need to lower my stress… I can’t spend every day wondering you’re O.K…. I feel like maybe I can put myself together if we take… a break from our marriage.”

Later, Miranda clarifies that the break would not mean that their relationship is over, merely that she needs time for herself come to terms with her stress problems. Ben blames himself because he says he has been too busy with his new career to care about her health.

“I can’t understand this Miranda. This is the first step on the road to divorce,” Ben says.

“No. It’s a sabbatical… I’m not trying to see other people. This is about me taking time for myself to get well,” she tells him. She tells him that if she’s not expecting him to come home she won’t be worried about whether he will come.

“I can’t breathe,” she admits. “My heart raises and I don’t feel like myself. I’m afraid being married to you when you put your life on the line every single day, I’m scared it could kill me… I love you but worrying about you, you are literally breaking my heart.”

After the speech, Ben grabs a suitcase and begins to pack quietly agreeing to the temporary separation. At the end of the episode, Ben kisses his wife goodbye for the time being.

Miranda and Ben’s problems have been an underlying theme since before Station 19 even premiered, when he decided to quit his job as a surgical resident to become a firefighter.

The stress of her husband’s life-threatening new career choice, combined with her stresses as chief of surgery, led to Bailey having a heart attack that almost took her life in season 14.

Following the health scare, Bailey started to walk more and made some choices to de-stress her life, including temporarily stepping down as Chief of Surgery of Grey Sloan Memorial to focus on surgeries and research.

After making those changes, however, Bailey realized that she was still feeling anxiety and wondered if the source of her issues might not be her job, but her husband’s responsibilities. She later revealed to Jo (Camilla Luddington) that she found herself constantly texting Ben and fearing for his life constantly while he was on the clock.

Ben, in turn, revealed to Travis (Jay Hayden) that he didn’t know what to do to ease his wife’s concerns.

Ben and Bailey have been a fan-favorite couple for Grey’s Anatomy fans since early in the long-running medical drama. While this setback in their relationship will likely take time to heal, we hope they mend their bond sooner than later.

Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET, followed by Station 19 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.