Elle had just drifted back to sleep when the doctor came in. He moved over to her bedside, checking the readings on the monitors, frowning when he noticed Kay sitting beside her clinging to her hand. That man really needed to go home and get some rest.
"How is she?" Zed asked as he watched the doctor. He had been relieved when Elle had opened her eyes, even thought it had only been for a minute. That was surely a good sign that she was going to be alright.
"She's finally starting to respond well," the doctor said as he finished examining the monitors and carefully removed the bandages to check Elle's wounds, wincing at the sight of the damage It had been necessary though. Even with all of MiB's advanced technology, they wouldn't have been able to do anything else to spare her life. "The swelling's decreasing steadily and her platelet count and blood clotting times are almost normal. If that keeps up we should be able to close the incisions within a few days."
"What about her face? You can fix that when you close it, right?" Jay asked. He didn't even want to imagine how Elle would react if she woke up and found out what had been necessary for them to give permission for to save her life.
"That may be a problem," the doctor murmured as he inspected Elle's face.
"You can't fix it?" Zed demanded.
"We can fix it but I don't think we'll be able to do any repairs right away. The swelling did destroy a significant amount of tissue in her face," the doctor explained as he finished his examination and rebandaged the wound. "I don't want to try any major repair work until she's stronger. We may need to do some skin grafting and I don't think she's strong enough to go through that yet."
"Will there be a scar?" Zed asked.
"In time, no, but for the moment...." the doctor trailed off, wondering how Elle would cope when she found out about the damage.
"Take out the mirrors. I want every mirror in MiB headquarters gone," Zed said. He wouldn't let Elle see that damage. It would be a shock that he wasn't sure she would recover from.
"That's probably a good idea," the doctor said as he walked over to Zed and leaned in to say in a low tone, "What can we do about Agent Kay? He doesn't look the best."
"Can you move a bed in here or something?" Zed murmured. "I don't think he would be willing to leave her now, even if I ordered him to."