I'm baaaaaaack!

After a much-too-long hiatus, I am back to writing again! While I'm getting back on track with my other stories, please enjoy the first chapter of my long-awaited Rick and Morty project!

Don't own a thing of Rick and Morty. And ain't it a shame...


Beth's hand shook as her eyes pored over the two little lines over and over and over again.

Pregnant.

She was pregnant again.

No. No no no no no no no. This was NOT supposed to happen. The plan was "stop at two kids and be a happy and tight-knit family until Morty leaves for college".

Beth dropped the pregnancy test. Her ears rang as it hit the floor with several resounding clacks. She was so flustered and overcome with such conflicting emotions that she felt like marching up to God and demanding to know where in that plan did it say "have a third child after drunkenly making do with a broken condom"?

She leaned against the closed door of the bathroom and slowly slid to the floor, drawing her knees up. She stopped before they could touch her chest.

She looked down and put her shaking hands on her tummy. There was a person in there. She made another person. The exact same thought she had when she found out she was pregnant with Summer and again with Morty. But this time she was not filled with euphoria and a giddy feeling in her heart. As ashamed as she was to admit it to herself, this time Beth thought about her newfound pregnancy and it filled her with absolute dread.

And she knew that wasn't a normal way to feel, but most women she knew who were happy about being pregnant were the ones that had planned it.

Morty just turned six and Summer was nine. That was going to be a pretty significant age gap between them and the baby. Would they even want a new baby brother or sister? Images of those "pregnancy announcement gone wrong" videos Beth saw on the Internet flashed in her mind; those siblings who burst into angry tears when their parents shared the happy news.

What would her husband Jerry say? He knew about the condom malfunction situation, too, but nothing more had been said about the matter afterwards. Would he be happy to have another baby? Or would he share in his wife's terror?

What would her dad say…oh god, her dad…

Telling Jerry and the kids turned out to be easier than she anticipated. Later that evening, Summer and Morty were in the living room fighting over toys and turn-taking, per the norm, and Jerry loudly proclaimed from the couch, "Thank God we're not having any more kids!" Beth had blushed and inadvertently blurted out the news from the kitchen. While Jerry did share his wife's initial shock, the kids immediately abandoned their arguments in favor of cheering. Summer instantly began to pray for a girl, and Morty rejoiced in the knowledge that he would no longer be the youngest.

Beth and Jerry had a long talk after the kids were in bed. Yes, they were keeping this baby. Yes, it would be their last one. No, Rick didn't know yet…

Jerry fell asleep with an arm curled protectively around Beth's tummy. Accident or not, this baby was his child and he intended to love and guard him or her just as much as he did with his other two.

Beth barely slept. She spent an hour internally debating whether or not she should tell her dad, then the better part of the rest of the night trying to figure out how.

She hadn't seen or heard from him since Morty was a baby. He had stayed for a day and interacted with the kids. Morty seemed to attach to him rather quickly. He stayed for dinner and through bedtime, then he was gone again. God only knew where he was now. He'd left a note with a phone number but no forwarding address. Beth was angry and hurt that he had up and left again without saying goodbye and she just never had the heart to call. She knew the first thing out of her mouth would be "When are you coming back?" when he answered. If he answered…

She got up around 4 am and wandered to the kitchen. Jerry and the kids were still sleeping. As quietly as she could, she dug through the drawers until she found what she was looking for: the scrap of paper on which her father had scrawled his phone number before leaving five years ago. It had been angrily shoved to the back of the junk drawer and hadn't been touched since.

Beth sat at the kitchen table, holding the phone number in one hand and covering her mouth to muffle any sobs that dared to escape with the other. For the first time in years, she actually wanted to call her father, but she wasn't ready to handle the potential heartbreak if the number was disconnected, or if the person on the other end wasn't her dad, or if it was her dad and he just didn't answer.

She flipped the scrap of paper over. Instead of an address, Rick had written a half-assed apology:

Sorry, sweetie, gotta hit the road. I got business to take care of. I'm glad I got to meet my grandkids, I really am. But it's just not safe for me to stay. I don't expect you to understand. I just hope you can forgive me. Call me anytime. I love you.
-Dad

The first time Beth read those words, her heart was shattered and she was filled with rage. Now she oddly took comfort in them. She was holding a piece of the dad she loved and missed so much in her hand. Maybe that's why she hadn't thrown it away. Maybe it was the little girl waiting for her daddy to come home inside of her that convinced the rest of her to hold onto it.

The longer she sat, the further away she felt her fear to call him drifting. He was going to be a grandfather again. Something told her he deserved to know.

After nearly a half hour of deliberation, Beth had thrown on a bathrobe and a pair of loafers and was standing on the back porch, the phone to her ear, hoping and praying that her dad would pick up. The hand that wasn't holding the phone was clasped to her chest, shaking harder than it did when she read that pregnancy test. Every ring seemed to squeeze her chest tighter.

One ring…two rings…three rings…four rings…

"Hello?" came a sleepy voice from the other end. A sleepy voice that was familiar. So familiar Beth wasn't sure if she was going to scream, cry, pass out, or all of the above.

"Dad?" she squeaked without meaning to squeak.

A pause. Beth's heart seized.

"Beth?"

Her insides settled almost to what felt like the point of liquidation. "Yeah, Dad, it's me. I need to tell you something."


Hope this was worth the wait! More to come, hopefully soon!