The patient was prepped, though conscious, sedation being unnecessary. The reverse grafts lay nearby flanked by the instruments that would restore the patient's face to wholeness. Another tray awaited the section destined to be removed and analyzed in great detail. The replacement procedure had been accomplished already on the arm and hand, but facial reconstruction required a more delicate, longer procedure to ensure successful nerve separation and smooth surface restoration. The techniques perfected in the first procedure would aid in the present one.
A visitor appeared in the anteroom, urgently requesting admission. Just one minute, please, I just need to tell him one thing.
All present were perplexed by the request, and more so by its urgency. There was no risk involved, no danger that would imply a final opportunity to share an intimate thought. No "last chance" to be missed.
Nonetheless… of course, come in and tell him.
She went to where he lay as confused by her arrival as the others, and gazed into an eye as clear blue as any she'd ever seen. Leaning nearer still, she touched her lips to the temple that was as warm and soft and colored by life as her own. His eyes, both the blue and golden, widened in astonished knowledge as she repeated the kiss, this time on the shadowed skin beneath the blue. And another on its fragile lid when, overcome, it trembled shut.
"I thought you should know," she whispered as she clasped the hand that was no longer like hers, welcoming his gentle grip as if it were. A single knowing blue eye followed her movement as she left the room, allowing its moisture to gather and fall because it would be the last time. Then blue and golden returned to stare up unblinking at the brightly lit ceiling.
"Proceed."