I DO NOT OWN RICK AND MORTY! This is a fanfic, deal with it. Hope you enjoy!

She was never going to be good enough. Never. And that was one of the hardest things for her to think about. Rick always seemed to drive that fact down, and she never understood why he always seemed to hate her. No one liked her even before Rick came into the picture, but that was besides the point.

She loved her Grandfather. He'd take her on all these wonderful adventures. They had fun, ate ice cream. Watched Interdimensional cable. Yet.. he'd always seemed to dislike her. She couldn't understand why. Or what she did to make him dislike her.

But then she discovered The Council of Ricks. And a lot of alternate Ricks had alternate versions of herself. But.. they were all boys. They were Mortys. Maybe that's why Rick hated her. Because she was an oddity. A female. Not the teenage boy he'd expected when returning to the family. A disappointment. A good for nothing teenage girl.

Rick was literally her best friend, and she wanted him to accept her so desperately. She wanted him to think of her a his best friend too. She wanted him to not think she was a disappointment.

Mortisha stared blankly at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. It had been a while since that day.. but the pain was still there. Haunting her. Rick sometimes made comments about her gender, almost as if it was a bad thing. She wasn't good enough.

But what if she changed herself..? What if she made herself more like.. a 'Morty'instead of Mortisha.

Her elegant long wavy brown hair was just passing her shoulders. A red hair band on top of her head.

She grabbed the hair band, pulling it off of her head, and placed it on the edge of the sink. She didn't need it anymore. It wouldn't look right with what she was about to do. She wasn't going back. She made a decision.

She grabbed a pair of scissors from under the sink, and hesitated as she snipped part of her hair off. She felt a pang of regret fall into her stomach, and her eyes watered slightly. She didn't want to cut her hair. She really liked it. But she had to.

Rick would probably like this better. Then, maybe, he'd be more accepting of her. If she cut her hair just right, she'd almost look exactly like a normal Morty would.

He wouldn't be as disappointed...

It took her a while, but she managed to cut it short, without making it look too bad. It was rough around the edges.. but it worked nonetheless. It wasn't like a Mortys usual hair cut; it was a little more stylish than that, but it was still really short. And to be honest, if it wasn't for her chest area, she probably would've looked like a boy. Like a Morty with more stylish hair... or something like that.

I mean, she had to make it look a little more creative than just a normal hair cut. She was unique compared to other Mortys after all. Might as well keep that up a little bit. It also didn't make her look TOO much like a boy.. but almost.

There was a knock on the door just she deemed she was satisfied with the new hair cut, and Mortisha panicked. "I-I'm in here! I'll-I'll be out on--in a sec!"

"Ugh- bBUUURrp-Mor-Mortisha, hurry up." Rick's gruff voice growled through the door. "Jesus, h-how long you fuckin' been in there? H-Hurry up. I've gotta take a shit."

Strands of her once long hair littered the bathroom sink, and floor, and she began hastily cleaning it up, tossing it all in the trash. Once she got all the hair she could see, she opened the door.

Rick didn't even spare a glance as he pushed past her, and slammed the door behind him. Mortisha let out a sigh of relief. He was a definitely going to notice her hair later, but right now she was still calming her nerves from it all.

Getting a hair cut wasn't the worst thing in the world, but she had been super nervous about fucking it up. Yet, by some miracle, through shaking hands, she gave herself a decent hair cut. It was honestly better than she expected.

Her head felt oddly lighter with the absence of hair on her head, and she could feel the ghost of her hair brushing up against her shoulders, only to quickly realized that she didn't feel anything on her shoulders. And the back of her neck felt cold, too. It was weird, but awesome at the same time.

She still preferred her hair to be.. longer, but this would make her less of a disappointment, right? It had to..

Their were obviously things she couldn't change, and WOULDN'T change.. like body parts.. but she could change her hair. If she decided against it in the future.. she could just grow it out over some time.

But right now it felt like the only way she could get some kind of approval.

Mortisha waited in her room until Beth called for dinner. She was the last one to come down. She sat down in her usual spot, finding that her food was already placed in front of her.

No one even looked at her, due to the chaos already erupting through the room. Jerry was bitching about something Rick did, and Beth was scolding him about thinking so low of her father.

Rick had already come up with a few snarky remarks that put Jerry back in his place, but Jerry persisted anyway.

Summer occasionally glanced up from her phone to watch the chaos unfold, or she mumble something about school drama.

Mortisha zoned out as she silently ate her food. It wasn't until Jerry needed to use her for an example, defending some argument he had against Rick, that someone finally noticed something was different about her.

Jerry didn't even look at her, but he still motioned toward her, as he spoke. "It can't be healthy for you to take her on those silly adventures! You're a BAD influence Rick! Those adventures are dangerous!"

Rick glanced in her direction, before looking back at Jerry to say something more. But he paused. Wait, something was off.

He looked back at Mortisha, eyes locking on her hair. "Mor-Mortisha, what the f-bBUURrp-fuck?" He asked, narrowing his eyes. He had sensed her presence when she sat down, but he was too caught up in arguing with Jerry that he hadn't even noticed that Mortisha's hair was way different. He almost didn't recognize her.

Mortisha looked up at him. "What? It's not like I told dad to say that.." she rolled her eyes, purposely acting she didn't know the true meaning behind his words. It wasn't the reaction she expected from Rick.. and she didn't really have an explanation that wouldn't embarrass her.

"Mortisha, honey, why'd you cut your hair?" Beth asked, puzzled that she hadn't noticed the elephant in the room sooner. Everyone was looking at her now, even Summer.

Mortisha hadn't thought up an excuse for that yet.. "uh... uh... I just... wanted to try some-something new, I guess... a-and I wanted to do it myself..."

That seemed to sell the ticket for most of her family. She hadn't noticed, but Rick saw straight through her little fib. There was definitely a bigger reason than that.

"It looks nice, Mortisha." Summer said, looking back down at her phone.

"Thanks." Mortisha smiled warmly. At least Summer likes it...

"Are you sure you want your hair like that, sweetheart?" Jerry asked, looking concerned and confused all in one. "I mean.. it looks kind of boyish.."

"Jerry!" Beth scolded. "Her hair looks fine!" Her teeth were clenched as she said it, glaring daggers at her incompatant husband. "If she wants her hair to be short, then let her have short hair!"

"Well, dang, Beth, you don't have to get all upset." Jerry looked hurt. "I was just saying.. it, you know, makes her look kind of like... a boy."

"Wow, Dad." Summer looked up from her phone again. "Not all girls have long hair, you know. Plus, I've seen plenty of guys with long hair before. It's not that big of a deal."

"It's different when a guy does it!" Jerry's voice rose defensively. "Girls never look right when they have short hair!"

"Oh. My God, Dad." Summer glared at him. "Could you be more of an ass right now?"

"Wha- oh, come on, Summer!" Jerry whinined. "I'm only saying what everyone else is thinking!"

Rick let out a dry laugh. "Y-Y-You don't even know what you're thinking, Jeeeerrrry." Jerry glared at him. "How in the fu-bBBUURp-ck could you p-poss-possibly know what the hell everyone else is thinking? Y-Y-You're too much of a fuckin' idiot."

Mortisha wasn't surprised that the conversation went so south so fast. Her family could practically make an argument out of anything. Sometimes arguments would even originate from thin air. But she didn't want this argument to continue any further.

She could feel her cheeks getting warm as so many different opinions about her hair passed across the room. "Geez, y-y-you guys don't need to fight about it!" She looked around at all of them, catching their attention. "I-It's just hair. Its not- it's not a big deal.. j-just.. drop the- drop it already.. Geez.."

Everyone was looking at her again, and she sunk down, twisting her fork around on the plate. After some silence, the previous argument started up again. At least the argument wasn't about her hair anymore.

Dinner dragged on as everyone half argued and half ate. Not another thing was said about Mortisha's hair, and she was thankful for that. She party felt successful with the fact that she kind of looked like a boy, just like Jerry had said.

After all, it was kind of what she was aiming for in the first place; she wanted to look like a Morty, so she was less of a fucking disappointment to Rick. He had never directly said he was disappointed that she was a girl and not a boy, but the looks he gave her sometimes said it all. And it was especially upsetting when he made subtle comments about that fact.

Rick never actually meant what he said about that kind of stuff, but he sure fooled Mortisha. She really thought he hated her for that reason, when in reality Rick really cared about her a lot.

But you couldn't really blamed her. Rick loved his family, but he never wanted them to be too sure about that. And he had years of experience to cover it up.

After dinner was finished, she found herself sitting on a stool in the garage, watching as Rick worked on some new gun he was planning to sell. She always felt so intrigued when watching Rick work on some new invention. It was calming. She also liked to ask a lot of questions about it.

It always ticked Rick off, but he answered most of them anyway. Deep down, he liked that she asked questions about stuff. He liked answering them for her, and teaching her things. He loved showing her all of the good things in the universe. But he would never admit it.

"S-so, w-whatcha working on, Rick?" Mortisha asked, with bright, curious eyes.

"I-I-Its a Flurgien-destabilizer gun, Mor-Mortisha." Rick said without looking up at her as he worked. "A-A buyer of mine a-bBBUUUrp-asked me to make one for a looooot of Shmeckles, Mortisha.. s-so he could k-kill some-some Flurgiens on planet Flurg."

"Geez, Rick." Mortisha glanced down at the gun. "W-w-what the hell even is a Flurg?"

"I-Its some kinda blob-looking alien, M-Mortisha." Rick responded, flatly, and clearly uninterested. "O-Only this kind-kinda gun c-can s-separate a Flurgs molecules."

"Wow, s-seems like.. seems a little intense, Rick." Mortisha shifted on the stool awkwardly. "Y-You know, to kill something with. D-Do you really need to s-separate the molecules? I-It sounds a little more complicated than it needs to be, if you ask me."

"Y-Yeah? W-Well you're making it more complicated than it needs to be by saying shit about it." Rick counters, sparing a quick, annoyed, glance in her direction. It was then that he decided to change the subject. "S-So, why'd you do it?" He asks, keeping his gaze on the gun.

"Do what, Rick?" Mortisha questions.

"Why'd ya cut yer fuckin' hair, dumbass." Rick rolled his eyes, setting the gun down, and leaning back in his swivel chair to face her. "What else?"

"I-I already told you." Mortisha glares. "I-I just w-wanted to try something new. That's all."

"T-bBBUUUrp-That's bullshit, a-and we both know it." Rick says in a stern voice. "Now spill it, Mortisha. Why'd you cut your hair?"

Mortisha pailed. "I-Its nothing, Rick.."

They got into a small staring contest, daring each other to talk. Mortisha quickly lost, and spoke again, this time planning to tell the truth. "Ugh, FINE. I'll tell you, R-Ri-Rick.."

"S-Spit it out then, Mortisha." Rick pulled out his flask, tipping his head back to drink it. "I-I don't have all day." Rick did, in fact, have all day. He was just impatient.

"I-" Was she really going to tell him? He'd probably just laugh at her. She just knew it. "Well, y-y-you see.. I uh.." Mortisha closed her mouth, wishing she wasn't here right now.

"Mortisha." Rick pressed; his patients was wearing thin. He wanted to know the true reason why she cut her hair. She was going to have to say it eventually, so what the hell was the point in hesitating?!

"I-I wanted to.." Mortisha took a sharp intake of air before she continued. "I wanted to l-l-look more l-like a Morty..."

Rick looked puzzled. There was confusion Mortisha had never expected to see on Ricks face. "W-Why the fuck would you want to do that?!" Ricks voice raised.

Mortisha shrunk under the tone of his voice. "I-I-I dunno, Rick... s-so y-y-you wouldn't-- so that.. uhh.."

"So I wouldn't what, Mortisha?!" Rick barked.

"So you wouldn't think I was s-such a-a-a-a fucking disappointment, RICK!" Mortisha yelled, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. She pushed herself off the stool, standing in front of Rick. "I-I-I know that you hate that you couldn't get a normal Morty! Y-Y-You instead got stuck with me! A fucking GIRL! MORTISHA! NOT MORTY! Y-y-you hate that about me! S-So I cut my fucking hair, thinking that just maybe I could be less of a fuck up, o-o-or a let down! A-A-A fucking disappointment!"

"Mortisha, what the FUCK are y-y-you talking about?!" Rick yells, standing up as well.

"Don't play dumb, Rick!" Mortisha points an accusing finger up at Rick. "I-I-I see the way you look at me! Y-y-you HATE me! Y-y-you wish that I could have been a Morty!" Her tears started to stream down her face. "I-I-I mean, all the other Ricks have Mortys! W-why would you want someone like me?!"

Before Mortisha knew what was happening, Rick pulled her into a tight hug. "M-Mortisha, just shut the fuck up already." He says, voice calm.

Mortisha hugs Rick back, clutching at his lab coat. Tears being generously absorbed by the fabric. "I-I just wanted you to-- I didn't want you to think I'm a disappointment, R-Rick.."

Rick sighed. "Mortisha, I-I don't think you're a disappointment.. h-honestly, I-I never say it, b-but I'm really proud of you, Mortisha. I-I wouldn't trade ya for all the Mortys in the world.."

"Y-you mean it, Rick?" Mortisha sniffled.

Mortisha was the only person Rick really cared about. So many other people tried to find a way into his heart, but the only person who actually made it, was his Granddaughter. "Y-yeah, kid." He says. "Every word.."