Before Rayleigh could do the surgery on Melissa, her condition needed to improve, if only enough for her body to withstand anesthesia, and that was proving harder with each passing day. Melissa Grant's health had been declining steadily since their last conversation, slipping in ways Rayleigh disliked acknowledging even in her thoughts.
The cancer was spreading faster than anticipated, aggressive and unforgiving, and when Melissa was told that amputation was unavoidable, hesitation crept in and rooted itself deep. From that moment on, it's as if her will to fight began to dissolve.
The HIV complicated everything, weakening her body's ability to recover, but it's Melissa's spirit that worried them the most. She's tired, visibly so, and some days it felt as though she had already decided to let go.
