Chapter One: Stella
"Dad, these are the new neighbors." Beth announced, inviting herself and three others into the open garage.
Rick was tinkering with something on the tabletop lining the edge of the garage. He glanced up briefly, not in the mood to make pleasantries with strangers.
"This is Karen and Jack," Beth motioned to two middle aged adults that smiled dumbly at Rick.
"And this is our daughter Stella." Karen said proudly, smiling at her daughter who rolled her eyes.
The unique name drew Rick's attention. He looked over at her, his eyebrow cocked. She couldn't have been more than 25, shoulder length blonde hair and striking blue eyes. Her arms were crossed over her chest defensively, obviously hating this extra attention. She narrowed her eyes at Rick, detecting his scrutinizing gaze.
"Beth here told us you were a scientist. Our daughter is attending the state university studying science, so we thought maybe she could come shadow you sometime." Jack said, nudging his daughter's side playfully.
Stella let out a sigh, groaning "Not just science, dad. Physics."
Rick's eyebrow cocked further, watching the exchange with mild interest. He could tell this was a regular discussion.
"Does it really make a difference? Either way, maybe you could spend some time with Rick on the weekends." Her father replied.
Rick turned, returning to the task at hand. He had given the newcomers enough attention.
"Yeah I don't think so, Jack." Rick replied with a belch.
"Dad!" Beth exclaimed, her eyes pleading as she watched her father effectively ignore them all.
Beth knew it was a losing argument, ushering the small family out of the garage. Stella stalled for a moment, noticing all the different kinds of equipment Rick had either sitting out or stowed away in the garage.
Rick noticed this, shooting her a sideways glance. Their eyes locked for a brief moment. He could see the raw craving for knowledge in her vibrant blue eyes. He tore his eyes from hers, looking back at his work.
"I'll try and talk to him... He's a bit rough around the edges." Beth explained. She was somewhat thankful that her dad hadn't said anything too crude in front of the newcomers.
Joining her parents, Stella spied Rick from the driveway, intrigued by him despite herself. The three of them said their goodbyes and made their way to the house next door.
Beth then returned to the garage, demanding an explanation from Rick.
"She's a budding physics major and would benefit from spending time with you far more than Morty," Beth began.
Already Rick was tired of the conversation.
"Look sweetie, I- I don't need some dumb college kid hanging around asking me a bunch of questions. I rely on M-Morty for his - blind faith in me." Rick explained, taking a swig from his flask.
Beth let out an exasperated sigh.
"Just try? One afternoon wouldn't kill you." Beth said.
Rick dropped the device he was crafting and turned to face her.
"Fuck, if it means y-you'll leave me alone about it, sure. I'll try." Rick said dramatically.
Beth's frown turned into a smile.
After thanking him for his flexibility, she left him to his tinkering.
Stella sat on her bed in her new room. Most people she knew lived at the university but her parents had insisted that she live with them to save money.
Her parents tended to hover like that, ever since she was little. They were always worried she wasn't enough of one thing or too much of another thing. It was exhausting.
Now, they were pushing this whole neighbor thing. They were convinced that she needed mentoring, when they had no idea what she was capable on her own. Their constant hovering had lead her to keep as much private as possible, including her grades at university.
The family had utilized Stella's spring break to move to the new house. They were able to upgrade because of her dad's new job but things were still tight.
Groaning, she decided she should probably go downstairs and help her parents unpack the last of the boxes.
Standing up, she stole one more glance out her bedroom window that was adjacent to the Smith's garage. A bright green flash shone from the window for a split second and then it was gone.
She rubbed her eyes, wondering if the move had been more straining on her than she thought it would be.
By the time the weekend had come around, Rick was ready to let loose. The last few adventures had been stressful and exhausting for he and Morty both.
He deposited the time crystals they had collected on their last adventure in a box and stowed it away on a shelf near the door to the house.
"Aw jeez, Rick, I think I need to go lay down." Morty whined, holding his stomach.
"That fruit we shared with the Time Priestess is really messing me up, man." He continued, sweating lightly.
Ah yes, Rick though, the Time Priestess. Rick smiled to himself, his mind hazily recounting upon her attractiveness.
"Y-yeah whatever you need to do Morty. Grandpa is going to get shit-faced!" Rick declared, causing Morty to shudder, shaking his head as he retreated into the house.
Rick began typing coordinates into his portal gun and was interrupted by someone quietly clearing their throat.
He looked up, finding that Stella had entered the garage. He didn't bother hiding his irritation, setting his portal gun down roughly on the counter.
Stella raised an eyebrow at the device and his treatment of it.
"Bad time?" She said, deciding not to let him put her off. If this would get her parents off her back, she was willing to put up with his bad attitude at least for one day.
"No shit, I was just about to leave." Rick said, crossing his arms and leaning against the tabletop.
"Where to?" Stella asked. She was genuinely curious where someone like Rick spent their free time.
"Yeah I hadn't really decided..." Rick trailed off, his eyes on the floor of the garage.
"Look, Stella- I am just trying to get Beth off my back about this whole thing-"
"And I'm just trying to make my parents happy. I don't need any help, Rick." Stella explained.
He seemed surprised at this, giving her an odd look.
"Wanna come with me so we can tell our respective family members to - fuck off?" He said with a belch.
Stella made a mildly disgusted, mostly amused face at his outburst and smiled.
"Sounds good to me."
He looked back at the device on the counter, picking it up and punching in a series of numbers. With a quick pull of the trigger, a bright green orb of light appeared before them.
Stella examined it carefully, amazed by the technology he had access to.
"After you," Rick said, motioning to the glowing light and letting out another belch.
After a moment of fear, she passed through the portal, feeling the pins and needles sensation of ionized plasma tickle her skin.
On the other side, she was met with what she thought might be a red light district. However, there were no humans to be seen, only blob-like aliens that scooted themselves along with countless tiny legs.
Rick soon joined her, leading the way to his bar of choice. It was very dark and lit by brusts of pastel colors. It was almost disorienting but eventually faded into a blacklight-like glow.
Stella followed Rick to the bar and he quickly ordered them drinks. A techno sounding beat played in the background, adding to the chill club mood. Once seated, she just stopped and stared at Rick.
He could tell what she was going to say. Everyone reacted the same to this kind of experience: Rick, how is this possible? Where are we? Where did you get that gun? Can we get home?
It was the same old song and dance. Rick knocked back his shot as soon as it was placed in front of him.
To his surprised, Stella remained silent, taking her shot in quick succession to his.
Mildly impressed, he ordered 3 more shots each. Let's turn this up a notch, he smirked to himself, looking to see how Stella reacted.
Again he was surprised by her calm demeanor as she slammed the shots back one after the other.
He quickly caught up, taking his shots. She hadn't asked a single question since entering the portal. She was either an idiot that was blindly following him or she was really smart and had deduced enough from her surroundings to know that she had gone through a portal to an alien world and now they were drinking alien alcohol. Most people would be freaked out by such a realization, but apparently not Stella.
He realized that he had just been staring at her, the alcohol starting to blur the edges of his perception.
"What do you think?" He ground out, ordering more shots.
"That's a pretty cool device you invented." She said, sipping the top of one of the shots to prevent spilling it on herself.
He smirked, watching her take more shots. This woman could hold her alcohol.
"Were you expecting me to be 'deer in the headlights'?" She said, laughing.
Slowly, her carefully crafted neutral expression was fading into something much more lively.
"Almost everyone reacts that way, yeah." Rick replied.
"It's shocking, but not inconceivable." She said, taking the last of her shots.
Many, many shots later, Stella's head was spinning. At some point, she, no- someone had found her a comfortable place to lounge. All she could see were blobs, moving on their tiny legs.
The sight made her giggle loudly, causing the person next to her to grumble something along the lines of "they're staring at us, stop that". Stella only laughed more.
She turned her head, aware of the person next to her. Rick, the scientist. He had asked her all sorts of questions, ranging from thermodynamics to molecular bonding. Rick asked about the smallest things and the biggest things. He quizzed her on all random science facts.
After some period of time, the concept of which she had lost her grasp on long ago, even Rick's questions stopped making sense.
"What i-i-is the process f-for diffusing a neutrino bomb?" He slurred, taking another shot.
"Shit, Rick. I - I don't know - that one..." Stella stuttered out, attempting to focus on his face. She blinked, finding it hard to fix her vision on any one thing. This alien alcohol was quite the trip.
"Y-you know what — you do?" He stuttered between burps.
"What?" She asked, cracking a drunken grin.
"Call M-Morty a-and — make him d-do it!" Rick yelled, causing both of them to laugh.
Once they caught their breath, everything seemed to go quiet for a moment. Stella looked up at him, her eyes glistening in the pastel glow of the bar.
"Thank you, Rick. Thank you for showing me all of this."
Rick was a little bit stunned at how this woman had turned out to be. He was expecting an annoying, idiot chatterbox who wouldn't stop geeking out over his cool gadgets. Instead, she had surprised him with her wide variety of scientific knowledge and overall chill attitude.
Maybe Beth was right. Maybe spending all his time with Morty wasn't the best choice. This could work.
"Yeah, maybe n-next time we — we can go hunt down some Mega T-Tree seeds, the high is fucking great." Rick replied, knocking back yet another shot.
By the time they stumbled back through the portal, the sun was starting to rise.
Hanging onto each other for what felt like dear life, Rick helped Stella to the back gate of her yard.
"Tonight w-was fucking lit," Stella exclaimed, earning a loud belch from her partner in crime.
"Agreed." Rick said, wiping at his lower lip.
Once he was sure she had at least gotten into her backyard alright, Rick stumbled back to the garage. Opening the hatch to his room was a struggle. Even for him, that was a lot of alcohol.
The moment his head hit the pillow, a blissful sleep took him.
I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I'm hoping to keep up with this, but this is kind of my first chapter fic ever. Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!
-E