Chapter 7: Killing Two Deer With One Bullet

All hope just might not be lost for Monica after she learns that her donor's death was ultimately a fluke.

Merely a month after arriving back home, Monica slowly but surely readjusted herself to her normal routine: working both cooking and serving shifts at her mother's street-corner restaurant, preparing to reenter college come next semester, and receiving her triweekly kidney dialysis treatments. By this time, the shared mood between she and Mary was rather melancholy; all those months of trying to find her sperm donor and save her own life, plagued with countless interruptions fueled by the lovesickness of a so-called friend.

And all of that crap for what? The whole adventure ended in a dead end because of her donor's passing overseas, and all that time away from home had effectively gone down the drain. She just couldn't help but feel beyond angry. Angry at herself for putting even a lick of trust in Balthazar. Mad at Balthazar for 86'ing her, putting her through all that s**t, and having the gall to screw her over purely over the fact that she rejected him. And utterly pissed off at herself for not realizing that searching for her birth father during World War III might end in failure.

As Monica finished doing the dishes and helped her mother close up the restaurant for the night, she did so with little to no enthusiasm. She was numb to the fact that she was stuck with a failing kidney for eternity, and was highly unlikely to find someone else who could give one up to save her. It took a call from an unknown number directly to the restaurant's phone line to snap both she and her mother out of their negative trance.

"Sorry, we're closed," Mary said as soon as she picked up the receiver. "...Wait, what? ...Mm-hmm... oh wow, that's good to hear! I'm sure my daughter will be thrilled!"

"Be thrilled about what?" Monica deadpanned as she approached the bar.

"Some woman named Roxanne Romano called and said her husband turned out to be okay. Turns out he wasn't dead, but rather in a coma," Mary explained. "But he's safe at home now, and he's interested in meeting you."

"Wow, really?" Monica's eyes instantaneously lit up. "Well then there's no time to waste!"

Mary watched as her daughter zipped upstairs, listening to the noises emanating from her bedroom as she hurriedly packed her backpack again.

"I'm glad to see you're excited, but what about your treatments?" she called after her.

"Aw, Mom! It'll only take a day! I'll be fine!" Monica responded as she rushed downstairs. "If I hurry, I can get a nighttime ticket and get there by morning! Love you, bye!"

Mary said nothing as she left, but she couldn't help but put on a smile as things began to look up for their small family.

---

Just as she assumed, Monica managed to arrive all the way back in Manhattan shortly after the sun had come all the way up. There were no demons to get in her way, the war was over, and Trevor was confirmed to be alive after all. She couldn't help but wonder how the war had affected him, if at all. Maybe all that military training had made him so alert that it would be ideal to let him rouse himself every morning. Maybe he possessed some major scars that would make him creepy to look at, or maybe he didn't come back with all his body-parts intact. Regardless, one thing was certain: this Trevor guy had donated his sperm in order to give her life, and now he was about to donate a kidney in order to save her life.

It didn't take long for Roxanne to answer the door after it was knocked on, and Monica couldn't help but notice how much more spirited and uplifted she appeared to be. No doubt it was because she'd gotten her husband back after he was presumed dead not too long ago.

"Good to see you again. Please come in," Roxanne greeted. "Trevor, there's someone here who would like to see you."

The first thing Monica noticed upon entering the condo was a lanky man on the couch with thick glasses, hazel eyes, and curly brown hair that stopped at his ears. Contrary to her suspicions, he was completely scar free and all of his parts appeared to be present and accounted for, save for his left eye, with the socket occupied by a glass replica. She could tell because when he turned in her direction, he looked rather wall-eyed. Monica secretly sighed in relief, glad to know that she'd be able to maintain eye contact during the undoubtedly difficult conversation.

"Ah, you must be Monica." the man extended a hand to shake. "I'm Trevor. Sorry I had to go unconscious on you, but I'm here now."

"Nice to meet you." Monica smiled, reciprocating the gesture before she sat down.

"Now then, what was it you wanted from me? Because I don't believe we've met," Trevor continued.

"Well, uh... I-I'm afraid there's no easy way to say this, but I'm uh... I'm your daughter," Monica spoke nervously.

"Trevor?!" Roxanne widened her eyes, following a gasp. "H-Have you...?!"

"Please, please don't get upset." Monica moved her hands up and down to try and calm her. "I didn't mean it like that. Trevor, don't you remember donating to a sperm bank all those years ago?"

"As a matter of fact, I do..." Trevor's voice trailed off a bit. "Yeah... yeah, I did. And I take it whoever your mother is must've used one of my donations."

"'One'?! Well... okay, I'm glad you didn't cheat, but... since when were you a sperm donor?" Roxanne asked her husband in disbelief.

"Well you remember that time I told you about before we met, when I was cursed with all those uncontrollable fantasies and wet dreams? I found myself masturbating a lot during that time, so I figured, 'why not put all that semen to good use?' and became a regular at the local sperm bank," Trevor replied, unfazed by the disgusted grimaces he received in response. A heavily scarred man like himself had no time to filter his words. "Initially, when I signed the form, I said not to let any resulting children contact me, but after we learned you couldn't conceive, I went back and changed it so you'd feel better. I didn't think it'd take this long for anyone to show up."

"Okay, so assuming that there are indeed more of them out there, how come only one of them bothered showing up to meet you?" Roxanne inquired further.

"Because I was recently diagnosed with renal failure, and my choices were to either spend the rest of my life receiving treatment thrice a week, or get a transplant," Monica explained. "My mom only has one kidney left, and I don't know anyone else who shares my blood type, so we figured my biological father would be my best bet. I do apologize for just popping up out of nowhere, but my life's kinda' hanging in the balance here."

"Well I'd be more than willing to help you, but... there's just one small problem." Trevor sighed. "See, even though I survived that plane crash, not all of me did. In addition to losing one eye and the fact that I have to use a cane for the rest of my life despite being under fifty, one of my kidneys was completely pulverized in the incident."

"Oh no..." Monica said quietly.

"Yep, so if I were to save your life, I'd have to sacrifice my own in the process," Trevor finished.

Monica just froze at that comment. Part of her wanted to just demand the transplant anyway, and assumed that Trevor would willingly make that sacrifice. However, she also knew that he had just reconnected with his wife, and she'd hate to see her plunge into depression once more. As much as she didn't want to die at only twenty-one, she didn't have the heart, or lack thereof, to let a loved-one she'd just met die solely for her own sake. So Monica decided to do the right thing.

"I see. Well thanks anyway," she replied. "At least I got to meet a couple of nice folks."

"We're sorry we couldn't help you out, but we'd be happy to stay in touch. You seem like a nice young woman to us," Roxanne commented.

"Thanks." Monica nodded. "Oh, but uh, just one question: I was able to locate you guys due to DNA and documentation records, but how were you able to find me?"

"Simple. I just Googled your name," Roxanne explained.

"And we were able to find the site for your mother's restaurant, complete with a picture of you guys standing outside it," Trevor added with a smile.

"Ah, okay, that makes sense… okay, bye!" Monica gave the couple one last wave.

---

Following the trio's brief goodbyes, during which she hugged her father for the first time ever, a somewhat distraught Monica made her way back home. Mary didn't even need to ask her daughter what was wrong as she walked back into the restaurant.

"Lemme guess, false alarm?" she asked.

"No, he was alive. But apparently that accident blew out one of his kidneys, so I can't get a transplant from him without killing him," Monica replied.

"That goddamn war," Mary grumbled under her breath. "First it slowed down my business for almost a whole year, and now it's prevented my daughter from saving her own bacon."

"Calm down, Mom. I think our best bet will be to find someone else." Monica shrugged.

"I guess so. But we've already gone through everyone we know. Unless we're forgetting someone, I-" Mary argued.

"Hang on. I think we did leave someone out. And let's just say he owes me big time..." Monica put on a menacing smirk.

---

After a couple more days of digging through school and criminal records, the two managed to locate Balthazar, who was still on the loose and hadn't been harmed too much after Monica destroyed his pentagram a while back. It took more than a little convincing from the police, but he eventually sacrificed one of his kidneys in order to solve his former friend's predicament. However, while Monica's body accepted the kidney well, Balthazar ended up dying due to complications from the surgery.

With her life saved, Monica no longer needed those god-awful kidney dialysis treatments. As her health picked back up, so did her spirit. She put more effort into her job at the family business and eventually went back to school, applying herself just as much there as she did back home. All the while Roxanne and Trevor became close friends with the Lloyd family and even patronized their diner a couple of times as they got to know each other.

And during all their interactions for the rest of their lives, not a single demon got in the way.

~ ~ ~ The End ~ ~ ~