Some minor surgery.

Kim followed Dr. Beaumont out of the exam room.

"Did you want to watch?" Dr. Beaumont asked when she realized that Kim was following her.

Kim nodded, "What will you tell her when she regains consciousness?"

"The latest report says she is still not ready to embrace her true nature?"

"That's correct."

Dr. Beaumont shook her head in disappointment, "If you were to wake up with a case of random breast expansion, what would your expectations be?"

Kim thought about it for a moment, "I guess... breast reduction surgery?"

The only response she received was a dead stare. "I don't know!" Kim declared as she threw her hands up in the air. "I'm not a doctor... Medication?"

Dr. Beaumont nodded in agreement, "That could work. Give her a placebo... A lactose pill... Tell her that it will take some time to reverse the changes. Of course, you and your colleagues have no time to waste. She will have to accept what she is before the more dramatic changes occur. The bovinum toxin will complete its task quickly. You won't want to try explaining the loss of fine motor control to something that still believes it is human."

The sound of pumps was one of the loudest things in the operating room. Nurses scurried around as they prepared various pieces of equipment and monitored the top-of-the-line ECG machine, noting Lucy's pulse and blood pressure.

There were a couple of nurses that just stared at the subject lying on the operating table. As breast milk was expressed, it was whisked along a line and dumped into a storage container. In the short amount of time that the pumps had been running, almost a pint of breast milk had been drawn from Lucy's chest.

Dr. Beaumont entered the operating room through the double doors, pushing the doors open with her back to keep her gloved hands clean. Any nurses that were not keeping busy were quick to make it appear that they were doing something.

"What is the subject's blood pressure?"

"120/79, Doctor."

With everything set up, Dr. Beaumont took a moment to address the troops.

"We'll be starting work on the subject Lucy Carpenter. Today, we will begin the process of restoring all four of the feet by administering bovinum toxin to begin the targeted dystrophy of key nerves and muscle groups that had developed incorrectly during its gestation."

Everybody in the operating room listened diligently. They all knew the importance of what they were being asked to do.

"If nobody has any questions, let's get started."

Dr. Beaumont approached the operating table. "Remove the pumps," she ordered.

A pair of nurses rushed forward to accommodate her. As the pumps were removed, the engorged nipples continued to express breast milk which spilled all over Lucy's chest before dripping onto the operating table and floor. The nurses that had removed the pumps rushed to wipe up the mess.

Ignoring her colleagues, Dr. Beaumont reached for Lucy's left arm so that she could begin the operation.

"We'll begin with the radial nerve," she began dictating, "Lord knows she didn't need it to begin with." Her hands traced down the arm, following the path of the radial nerve along the radial groove and down the forearm, trying to isolate the superficial branch of the nerve.

Reaching out with her hand, she was handed a syringe already prepared with a payload of bovinum toxin. "Proceeding with the initial injection." The syringe was lined up with the target nerve, pressed into Lucy's skin, and depressed, delivering 500 CCs of bovinum toxin.

"Initial injection is complete. Proceeding to the extensor muscles." The used syringe was handed off so that it could be discarded into a surgical waste bin. Dr. Beaumont began tracking along Lucy's forearm again, targeting the extensor pollicis longus muscle. Even though there were several muscle groups that needed to be targeted, since Lucy's thumbs were an aberration, the muscles that were responsible for controlling them were higher on Dr. Beaumont's priority list.

Accepting a fresh syringe, Dr. Beaumont injected the extensor pollicis longus muscle in three different places to ensure its demise.

Kim stood in the observation room, peering through the glass as Dr. Beaumont and her team injected bovinum toxin into her former friend. Dr. Beaumont's dictation played on speakers in the room, and Kim's head spun hearing the amount of medical terminology. Even though she was studying zoology, the disfigured animal body of her former friend was much more complex than anything she had studied.

After the radial nerve and the extensor muscles it controlled were injected, Dr. Beaumont continued on to the median nerve. And the ulnar nerve. And the muscle groups that were associated with them. Then she repeated the entire process on Lucy's other side.

"That concludes the superior extremities. We will now begin work on the inferior extremities," Dr. Beaumont announced.

The operation, now clocking in at over three hours continued with the injection of the sciatic nerve. And the plantar nerves. And the saphenous nerve. And the sural nerve. And the muscle groups that were associated with them. On both sides of Lucy's body.

There was a scare four hours into the operation where Lucy's blood pressure spiked and it seemed that she would wake up. The anesthesiologist was quick to sedate her and the procedure was halted to ensure that there wouldn't be any unforeseen side effects. While they monitored her, the pumps were reattached to Lucy's teats and began expressing breast milk again. Kim took advantage of the break to go get some food. She was starving.

"Congratulations everybody. All of the target nerves and muscle groups have been injected. This operation is over." Dr. Beaumont removed her gloves and took off the goggles she had to wear during surgeries. A nurse passed her a fresh towel and she proceeded to wipe her face.

"Doctor? What about that last vial?"

Dr. Beaumont examined the labeling on the bottle. "Ah. More growth hormone, I forgot. Please inject each of her breast's with it. They still have not reached the target size. Then release her to the roommate."

She exited the operating room. There would likely be more serious surgeries in the future, but for now, she felt she had earned a steak dinner.