Author's Note: I do not own Rick and Morty. This is my first crack at writing for pleasure, comments are welcome. Not looking to become a great writer, this is just a story I can't get out of my head- I had to put it on paper.
Rick is the way he is, for a reason. What if he never wanted to leave Beth in the first place? Morty gets a look at one of Rick's darkest memories.
The End of Music
A brooding older man sits alone in a dark bar underneath soft red lighting. He takes a sip of his scotch whiskey while staring blanking at the stage ahead of him while sitting at a small wooden table in the corner. He's unaware of the stares and murmurs that are centered around him. With his abstract grey hair, white lab coat, and brown pants, he doesn't exactly fit in to the hustle and bustle of bar crowds in the 1970's. But he pays them no mind and continues to stare blankly at the couple placed on the stage.
He tries to limit himself to visiting this timeline more than once a year. To him, it's the equivalent of emotional cutting, but he knows he won't be able to help himself on this day. He came back a few months prior, thank God none of the other Rick's at the Citadel called him out on this visit when they scanned his portal gun. He knew the Rick's would categorize him as the weak, emotional, pathetic Rick. Wanting to maintain his self-proclaimed title as 'The Rickest Rick', he knew he wanted to keep his secret safe.
With a wave of his arm, he gets the attention of a young waitress. She strolls over to him lightly, but is a little taken aback by his appearance when she gets closer. "What's c-can I get for you, doll?" she says a little stunned. "Another scotch, n-neat." Rick says to her. She nods, turns tail and heads toward the bar.
While waiting for her, the mood of the music has shifted up on the stage. The young couple on stage began singing a slower acoustic love ballad. A few drunk couples start slow dancing in the middle of room, clearly enjoying the musical talents of the pair. When the song is finished, the young woman musician stands and approaches the mic. She looks to be in her mid to late 20's. Her long auburn hair reached a bit past her shoulders, while complimenting her beautiful green eyes. She was wearing an elegant tea length black lace stress paired with a beaming smile.
"Thank you, everyone! You all have been such a great crowd! We'll close our set with one more song tonight. This is an original song written by my husband and I-" as she gestures lovingly toward the man beside her.
Rick doesn't notice the waitress come up beside him and set down his drink.
"That's $2.45, sweetheart!" the waitress says in a bubbly, loud voice.
Ripped from his thoughts, he looks annoyingly at the waitress and tosses three dollars on the table.
"There. K-keep the change."
"Wow, thanks mister!" she says after bouncing away.
Rick turns his attention back to the stage, but not before taking another drink from his scotch.
The tall, lanky, blonde haired man that had been sitting next to her steps up next to the mic.
"Thanks Marie! I just wanted to add s-something really quick." The man turns to her a takes the girl's hands in his own.
"I just want to dedicate this song to m-my beautiful wife! You've made me the happiest guy on-on this Earth. Thanks for loving me, and Happy Anniversary! T-two years and strong, b-baby!"
With this statement, he bends over taking her face in his hands and kisses her. While they linger deeply in their kiss, the bar crowd begins a series of claps, woots, and cheers for the happy couple. However the man alone in the back corner holds a steady, stern face. Throwing his head back for the last of his whiskey, he leaves his glass on the table and gets up to head for the door while the couple is still kissing. He shifts his ways through the crowd to make his way outside of the bar.
He stumbles a couple blocks down the street before turning to his left into a dark, empty alleyway. Reaching inside his coat pocket, he pulls out his portal gun. Shooting it at the alley wall, a large green swirl appears in front of him. He stares at it just long enough to take another quick nip of the flask in his jacket.
"…. H-happy Anniversary, Marie…." Rick says in an unwavering, even tone. He closes his eyes, and steps through the portal.
Beth Sanchez stands with her arms crossed in front of the window. She's concerned. She's aware of what today means to her father, even though she knows he'd never admit it. She would wait for him as long it takes for him to make it home. She didn't want her father wallowing alone in a puddle of his own alcoholistic depression and anger.
Suddenly, she hears clamoring coming from her garage. She quickly turns from the window to open the garage door, where she sees her very inebriate father sitting at his workbench, tinkering with some scientific gadget.
"..h-hey dad, where have you been all day?" she asks gently.
"Ohh you-you know… ju-just science things. Needed more those-more mega s-sEEEEds for my uh…sc-science." Rick says casually in between drunken belches.
"Oh, ok…" Beth says quietly
"I made your favorite for dinner, dad! Barbeque chicken with butter rolls. We ate a while ago, but I saved you some! Do you want me to bring it you?"
"N-no, that's ok s-sweetie. I'm… I'm not th-that hungry."
Beth sighed to herself in disappointment. "Ok dad…. Dad? Do you, um… do you want to talk about it?"
Beth notices Rick's shoulders droop slightly, as if he's exhaled a breathe he's been holding for some time. He swivels around in his chair to face her.
"BETH, I'm I'm FINE. I've got a lot…a lot of w-work to do here so if you, you don't mind…" Rick says coldly, then swivels back to his table. It's out of character for Rick to snap at Beth, but she should know better than to bring up the subject of 'talking about it' to him. He reached under his work bench to pull out another half empty bottle of whisky.
"…ok, ok Dad. I'll be inside if you need anything." And with this, Beth exits the garage, pulling the door closed behind her.
She knew her dad didn't want to talk about it, but she also knew he shouldn't be alone. She pauses for a moment at the bottom the stairs before walking up them. She stops in front of Morty's room and knocks gently. She knows that her son and father have developed a sort of bond over the past years. Maybe he'll open up to Morty?
"Morty…?" Beth says sweetly as she enters her son's room.
"Hey mom, what's-what's up?" Morty asks. He's sitting on his bed, holding his laptop.
"Hey buddy, can we talk for a sec?" she asks lightly.
"S-sure mom…" Morty says, clearly a bit freaked out by his mother's high pitched voice. He can tell when his mom is trying to cover her emotions. She sits next to him on the bed, fiddling with her hands in her lap.
"Could you do your mom a favor? You see, grandpa Rick is alone in the garage right now and… I think he could use some company!" Beth finishes the statement by throwing her arms in the air in a fake, excited way. But Morty can see right through his mom's faux excitement, but decided he'll not mention it.
"C-company? I mean, sure. I'll go and see what he's up to. I did-didn't know he was back." Morty says. Rick had told Morty he was going to a dimension with three headed spider snakes that only ate beings less than 20 years old, so he needed to stay behind. Morty thought this was a little strange, but was also relieved to stay behind for once on a crazy interdimensional journey.
Beth smiled at Morty with relief. She knew she could count on Morty- he was such a sweet, caring son.
"Thank you Morty. He may not say it, but it will mean a lot to your grandpa."
Beth leans over and gives Morty a tight hug, which Morty awkwardly returns. Why is his mom acting so weird?
"N-no problem, mom…" He sets down his laptop and heads for the garage after his mom leaves his room.
Morty stopped in front of the garage door and knocked lightly a couple times.
"H-hey, R-Rick? What-what are you up to?" Morty says as he slowly creeps his head into the garage.
Rick is sitting at his bench with his back facing Morty, muttering to himself. Morty isn't sure if Rick has heard him or not, so he approaches closer. Before he can speak again, he looks down over Rick's shoulder to see what he's working on. He's surprised to see Rick holding a small, smooth looking rock in his hand. It's about the size of a silver dollar, and there doesn't seem to be anything spectacular about it. The second realization Morty comes to after what his grandfather is holding is his grandfather's incredible odor. Morty of course knew that Rick smelled of booze most of the time, but this was another level. Being in close proximity to him was making Morty's eyes burn.
"It's iiit's… Morty, it's t-time again." Rick slurs as he turns to face Morty, grabbing his grandson by his collar to pull him closer.
Morty puts his hands up to his face to shield himself from the intense smell and burn of alcohol as Rick continues to speak.
"Rick, wh-what are talking about? What time is it? Wh-what do you m-mean?" Morty stutters.
Rick begins shaking Morty slightly to emphasize his words, or to perhaps keep Rick grounded in whatever sense of reality he has left.
"M-MORTY, it's…it's the TIME, Morty, the-the TIME. I tried…URRGH… I t-tried everything to ch-change it… but it's, NOT… she…. She-she-she does it…it h-happens every, every time, Morty." Rick lets go over Morty and puts his head down on his work desk and grips his silver hair. He closes his eyes.
Morty still isn't sure exactly what Rick is trying to explain to him, but Rick using the word 'she' catches Morty's attention.
"S-she? She who, Rick?" Morty asks quietly.
Rick lifts his head off the table and looks at Morty. It's not a look Morty has ever seen from Rick, and Morty inwardly gasps. The usual confident, arrogant, angry Rick has replaced his look typical look with one of deep aching and grief. Rick continues to stare at Morty for a few more moments before blinking slowly and turning away again, drool ever apparent on his frown.
"Ma… Marieee" Rick eventually says slowly, while picking up the rock again and running it smoothly over his long, thin fingers. He stares at it intently while he says her name.
"Ma, Marie? I-Is that?..." Morty trails off, hoping Rick would willingly volunteer the information he doesn't want to say out loud. To Morty surprise, his grandfather indeed, replies.
"M-my, my URRRGH w-wife, M-Morty….I-I lost h-her." Rick says, still all the while staring at and holding the stone.
Morty is somewhat stunned. There has been very little mention of Morty's grandmother throughout his life. The name was a little recognizable to him, but she was rarely mentioned. He had always assumed Rick had left his mother and grandmother for some wacky adventure, or that the family life never sat well with him. However now that Morty was thinking about it, if Rick never wanted to be in a family way, why was he living with daughter? If he really wanted to be without family, why wouldn't he go off on his own again?
Morty isn't sure what to say next. But he didn't have to worry about that for long, as Rick speaks up again.
"Here, M-Morty. I-I-I can URRRGH show you." Rick says between burps as he reaches for a small piece of machinery on the table. He puts the device in Morty's hand. It's shaped sort of like an ear piece, but Morty knows after years of having Rick around that it's always hard to tell what these inventions are for. He looks up at Rick for further direction.
"H-here, Morty, just… -j-just put it, put it on… like, like this" Rick says as he reaches over and places the contraption on a place near the back of Morty's neck. With a pinch and a yelp from Morty, Rick seems pleased with the device's placement. He rummages around in a box before pulling out an exact replica of Morty's device and places it on his own neck.
"You, you see this M-MORRRTY? I can, I can s-show you." Rick presses a button on the back of Morty's head before Morty has time to protest. In an instant, Morty's world goes dark.