Chapter 25: The Donor Man Cometh

The Lloyds, particularly Scott and Morty, finally get a chance to meet their extended family, thanks to an impromptu dinner party set up by Mary.

It didn't take a genius to know that the Lloyds had become a rather bizarre family in recent years. Not only did its most recent generation consist of a pair of twins born to different fathers, but that oddity also resulted in the family having a lot more grandparents than was the norm. Most children only grew up with about two or three grandparents in their lives, while some lucky ones had all four. Meanwhile, Scott had Morty had a total of eight… or at least they would have if not for some tragedies from years past.

Xander lost his mother when he was only a baby, too young to remember her at all; while his father was still very much alive and kicking, he didn't have nearly as much presence in his son's life as he did in the past. Hank did have two parents who were only part of his life for a short while, and both of them died while the twins were in diapers. And there's no need to mention Max, the co-founder of the restaurant the family lived above, even though he wasn't actually related to the boys anyway. Indeed, the only grandparent that the half-twins had regular interactions with was Mary, for obvious reasons, but hopefully all of that would change in due time.

The dinner shift was going off without a hitch one Saturday, with chatty customers chowing down on their bizarre yet scrumptious fare, the playlist sounding through the speakers with as much variety as the menu, and the soothing sizzles and percussion coming from the kitchen as appetizers, entrées, and desserts were prepared, all accompanied by the countless wonderful smells wafting around and the constant chiming of the kitchen bell. Monica did her part to ensure the mood within the dining area remained pleasant by doing her job as quickly as possible, using her roller-skates to zip around and hand customers their menus, meals and drinks at godspeed. Over the years, she'd learned a few tricks to help avoid tiring herself out too quickly, and it was only near the end of the shift when she started to feel slightly fatigued.

"Alrighty sir, we've got your beef and broccoli meatloaf." Monica stopped by a table with just one guy sitting there, handing him a plate containing two slices of meatloaf made with waygu beef, Chinese seasoning, and minced broccoli, served alongside a mound of white rice before it was all poured over with a mixture of soy sauce, oyster sauce, and cornstarch. "Enjoy!"

"Thanks, ma'am." the man nodded with a neutral expression.

That's when Monica looked up again and saw something unusual, that being her mother strolling out of the kitchen as she stared down at her smartphone. She didn't hesitate to skate over.

"Whoa there, Mom! We're in the home stretch! Don't slack off yet," she said.

"Oh I know, but I just gotta do something real quick," Mary replied. "Aaannnddd, there we go. They should be here by the time we're done."

"If you say so… whoever you're talking about."

---

With the women of the house trucking through the remaining restaurant hours, it was Hank and Xander's turn to hold down the fort upstairs, seeing how they'd already been in charge of the lunch shift earlier that day. Morty sat with his father on the couch, watching one of those sitcoms that were aimed at adults yet subtle enough to be considered kid-friendly. Xander surfed the internet on his tablet, while his perpetually giddy son hooted, hollered, and cartwheeled all over the living room, sometimes blocking the TV for a brief moment.

"Oi, any particular reason why you're more wired than usual?" Hank asked.

"Eh, little scamp must've gotten into the stevia again." Xander shrugged.

"That, and he was eavesdropping on Grandma the other day, and he managed to hear that she was inviting over the few grandparents we haven't met yet," Morty explained.

"Uh-huh! We're gonna meet Grandpa Trevor, Grandma Roxanne, and Grandpa Farish!" Scott finally stopped moving, but retained his huge grin.

"Hold the phone… Dad's coming?" Xander's sky blue eyes shot wide open.

"What, ya' got some unfinished drama wit' 'im?" Hank asked.

"No, it's just that he's become such a recluse nowadays. He was very close to my mom and was devastated by her passing, so for the rest of his life, he kept seeing as many people as he could in an attempt to fill in the missing piece of his heart… until his sixtieth birthday, when he came down with erec- I mean, ED."

"What's ED?" Scott perked a brow.

"You'll learn when you're older. And since he's had bad allergic reactions to all the available treatments, he's been forced to put his old lifestyle to rest," Xander finished. "We still get along and keep in touch, but he's been too depressed to leave his home unless he has to. He didn't even bother to show up when he learned I was becoming a dad."

"Yikes… well Grandma must've done some really convincing stuff to make him come over here," Morty said.

"Meanwhile, I'm just curious as to how she got your dad's contact information."

"Probably because he doesn't have a password on his phone. I sneak on there all the time to play endless runners," Scott replied with a nonchalant smile. "But regardless, we're gonna meet some more relatives! Whooo!"

Everyone suddenly went dead silent as the door leading downstairs slowly creaked open; Mary and Monica were the first to enter, quickly followed by three other adults. One appeared older than the rest, with light gray side-parted hair that fell to his shoulders, and a matching beard with no mustache; those sky blue eyes, sunken as they were, acted as a huge hint as to whose dad he could be. The other two newcomers consisted of a diminutive, curvy, bronze-skinned woman, her wavy breast-length black hair full of platinum-blonde highlights, and each eye a different color. Her husband had a tall and healthy, but not muscular, build, with curly espresso-brown hair that stopped at his ears, and one of his hazel eyes seeming to stare off at nothing from behind his thick spectacles. Despite being much younger than Xander's father, he had to use a cane, due to a lack of cartilage in one leg.

"Boys, meet the rest of your grandparents!" Mary introduced as both twins cautiously stepped ahead of the pack, Scott looking a little less nervous.

"It's really nice to see you again, Trevor!" Monica said, hugging the curly-haired man. She still wasn't quite comfortable calling him "dad", but she still valued their relationship. "Kids, this great man is my, uh, donor."

"You mean for your kidney?" Scott raised a brow, unable to stop staring at his glass eye.

"No, no, for something you'll learn about when you're older."

"Listen Trevor, if there's anything I can do for you�"and I mean anything�"please let me know! I'm very much in your debt for allowing me the gift of motherhood!" Mary chimed in, hugging Trevor tightly as well.

"No need, Ms. Lloyd. Your family's happiness is all the payment I need… plus, the bank already paid me handsomely for each donation," Trevor replied. "Now as for you two, you must be Scott and Morty. Your mom already gave you my name, so that should save you boys the trouble of asking."

"That's right!" Scott chirped. "Say… what's with your eye?"

"It's a glass eye. Lost the real one back in the third world war. They probably won't teach you two about that for another couple years."

"And might I say it's really nice to meet you both for once, considering all we've seen of you are the baby pictures your mom sent us," the heterochromic woman said in a mix between Brooklyn and New Orleans vernaculars, dropping to one knee so she could look the twins in the eye. "You two really do look like your dads."

"Yeah, because that's totally a flattering comment guys like to hear: 'hey, you look like someone's dad'!" Morty snarked.

"Ooh, and you even have the tongue of a young adult too! Nice!"

"Good to see you out and about again, Dad," Xander said to his father. Both of them sat on the couch, not paying much attention to the other conversations.

"You too, son. I take it things have been going well with… everything?" Farish asked, getting a good look at the twins. He seemed especially pleased that one of them inherited so many of his own traits.

"Yep, but the real question is, what the hell did it take for you to wanna come out here?"

"Well… I figured it was time to stop moping and find something to make my life worth living again, that being my growing family. Just because I can't nail chicks anymore doesn't mean I can't have other types of fun, right? …that, and the owner of this place is a real looker."

"Heh, that's the spirit," Xander chuckled. "Y'know, I was kind of expecting you'd have this whole arc where you learn how to be happy again, so this is pretty refreshing."

"That, and I didn't wanna make a scene in front of your new squad… plus, who can say no to a new grandson?"

"Speaking of which… hi, I'm Scott! Sure is nice to know I've got more than one grandparent!" Scott scampered over to the two men in his usual hyperactive way. "Dad doesn't really talk about you much."

"That's because you never did much until just now." Xander was quick to defend himself. "Hell, you didn't even respond to the baby pics I texted you."

Farish said nothing and rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed at how neglectful he'd been towards his own son in recent years after swearing to nurture him upon their first encounter. But now that he was back in the outside world for once in such a long time, maybe he'd have a chance to make it all up, not only by being there for his son the way he used to, but by maintaining a presence in his grandson's life as well.

"Uh, yo," Morty interjected, offering to shake his half-grandpa's hand. His tone of voice contained a hint of jealousy, most likely because he didn't have his own exclusive grandparent, unlike his brother. "Hey, uh, the name's Mortimer, but I prefer to go by Morty. Nice to meet you."

"Same to you, kid." Farish nodded, reciprocating the handshake. "Sure is swell to meet all of you."

"Indeed. I had no idea just two kids would collectively have this many grandparents," Roxanne chuckled.

"Yep, I was just as shocked to find that out as you are," Mary said. "Now to really kick off this family reunion, what say we get started on some refreshments? Care to join me, anyone?"

"Count me in," Monica replied, stepping into the kitchenette.

"I'm game!" Scott chirped.

"Ohhh no, you two are gonna stay here and get to know your grandparents more."

"Aw, man!"

"Fine," Morty replied, parking himself into one of the armchairs.

"Very well then, now that that's settled, let us show you how the Lloyds do things!" Mary announced, rubbing her freshly-washed hands together.