Chapter 2: The Doctor

Takes place right after Iridescent's Chapter 10: The Beacon.

To understand the doctor you need to read Chapter 7 of Iridescent

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But you should have read the whole thing already. Because it's amazing and this is but a humble spin off. We begin with Rick and Morty having returned from yet another adventure gone awry, this time at the fault of Rick. The Galactic Federation invaded a ship they were looting after a distress beacon, and Morty witnessed Rick killing police. They are now home after a tense ride back in Rick's spaceship.

Rick mindlessly placed his plate in the sink, still going over the events of the day in his mind.

How did he get here. A kid, a puppy, dishes. Jesus. Dishes?

Rick tried not to think about it as he went back to the table. Morty was still trying to lick his plate clean as Rick pried it from his grasp.

At least the little fucker didn't growl this time. Rick thought to himself as he threw the plastic bowl in the sink. The knowledge that this Grandson was behaving less like a dog when he wanted to communicate motivated Rick to keep encouraging Morty to speak.

Morty got up to clean the yaught hound's bowl, smiling that the puppy was doing as he would- ferociously licking the crumbs, wary of anyone who tried to come near it's meal. Out of respect, Morty sat quietly away and waited for the hound to lose interest.

Rick cautiously watched them out of the corner of his eye. He was confident Morty's strange ability to completely empathise with dogs, despite never having had one- as far as he knew Morty only imitated the idea of what he thought to be a dog- was what had saved him from being attacked so far. The hound was still a pup, but when it got a little bigger Rick would have to watch more closely, and was prepared to separate the two if he had to.

Morty picked the bowl up and brought it to Rick for rinsing as the dog wandered away, flopping contently into a pile of blankets Morty had made a bed out of.

'G-good Morty. Good job. Do you know what this is?' Rick tried, holding the bowl up.

Morty nodded wearily as a slightly annoyed expression settled over his usually anxious face. He knew this routine well and was frustrated it was persisting. It was a bowl. He knew that. He wasn't an idiot.

'What is it Mooooorty?' Rick asked, waving the bowl back and forth as if it being in motion would magically restore Morty's ability to speak.

Morty's eyelids dropped cynically as his mouth curled into a slight frown. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the waggling bowl. Rick promptly stopped, amused.

'J-Jesus Morty. You've expanded your emotional range to pissed pants AND pissed off. Impressive, but when you can say 'bowl' I'll really be-'

DING DONG.

The sound of a doorbell that never rang was ear splitting, and both Rick and Morty jumped on hearing it. They'd been alone together for weeks now and had forgotten that society existed, or that it knew they did. As Morty started to tremble, Rick quickly calculated the possibilities of who it might be.

Door salesmen, Mormons, an irritating new neighbour...a whole array of Earthly bullshit that didn't warrant obliterating the door and whoever was behind it at 9pm on a Saturday. That would only invite more unwanted attention.

He weighed up the notion it was someone Morty knew, or had known in a previous life, before he was locked away. Jerry's mother and Summer. How would he explain a silent, skinny Morty and a green dog?

Same went for child services, the police- an endless revolving door of bureaucrats responding to any number of useless complaints people may have called in after hearing Morty screaming from time to time, or seeing them coming and going at bizarre hours with dangerous looking gadgets.

Lastly, the worst option, leftover 'customers' of Jerry's. Rick had no problem killing them but would need to invite them in to do so. Killing them out on the doorstep was too risky at this time of night. He turned back to Morty, who was wringing his hands raw.

'Knock it off Morty.' Rick said hurriedly, pulling Morty closer to him and forcing him to maintain eye contact as the doorbell sounded again. The hound barked loudly and Rick quickly took his blaster out and shot a freeze ray at it. Before Morty could squeal Rick had his hand over his mouth, explaining the dog was frozen temporarily, not dead.

One less thing to worry about.

'Listen to me M-Morty. We're both going to go see who this is before we open the door. If it's someone 'bad'' Rick raised his hands to do finger quotes, before gripping Morty's shoulders again to hold him in place, 'You do NOT run. You do NOT scream. You l-let me know Morty. I'll deal with them.'

Morty nodded, tears welling in his eyes at the realisation he might be about to meet one of the frequent headlining acts in his recurring nightmares. He trembled under Rick's fingers, accepting that he now had to place all his trust in Rick. He prayed Rick would do the right thing- that money in exchange for his pain wouldn't be tempting to someone who had cared for him so well thus far.

Morty glanced toward the basement door, visible from the kitchen, and whimpered as his whole body shook.

'Hey!' Rick grunted, shaking Morty loose of his impending panic attack.

'No. That's never h-happening again Morty. Don't screw this up or we're both in a whole woURGHrld of, of shit Morty. Do you understand?'

The doorbell rang again and Morty closed his eyes, nodding as a few stray tears plopped onto his shirt. Rick held his Grandson's forearm tightly as he led them both into the living room. Rick peered into the door's shiny peephole, and found it to be a male stranger. No uniform, definitely not Summer or Granny. He feared the worst, but needed Morty to confirm before he acted. And he needed to do it quick. He lifted his Grandson up to see, waiting for the telltale reaction.

Morty shakily peered through the door and felt his blood turn to ice. His stomach dropped, it felt like the world was spinning, he was choking on whatever air was left in his lungs.

It was Dr. Gabriel Fletchinder. He was just standing there, checking his watch. Morty was paralysed as months of abuse flooded his waking memory. He heard the muffled sound of Rick saying his name as the doctor looked up and stared directly at Morty, smiling disturbingly.

Rick speedily placed Morty on the ground after hearing choking noises and turned him around. Morty was more terrified than Rick had ever seen him. It was sickening to see a small child this horrified. Morty's eyes bulged from their sockets, tears now steadily falling out of them as his wide, gaping mouth struggled to make even the smallest inkling of a sound. Morty's entire body shook, he refused to take his eyes off Rick's, desperately hoping for his Grandfather to read his mind and understand.

It took a few moments for Rick to collect himself and speak to his broken Morty.

'M-Morty. I-I know this is a bad person M-Morty.' Rick said quietly, hoping Morty could hear him.

'I'm going to open the door and freeze him. You see this? You, you remember this?' Rick said, taking out his gun as Morty stared blankly, still in a state of shock.

'I can't kill him on the street. I have to get him inside. There are people out there, jogging, watering t-their fucking stupid lawns. Letting him in is the only way M-Morty. But he won't get you. I'm here.' Rick scanned Morty's face for any hint of recognition and found none. He sighed. This would have to be lightening quick.

Rick grabbed the doorknob as Morty fell to the floor, his knees buckling.

'Don't. Run.' Rick said firmly before opening the door.

The young man on the other side stood confidently tall, smiling at Rick in a hollow way that immediately irked Rick into a deep-seated distrust. The man extended his hand toward Rick, who shoved down his desire to rip this person apart before he got him inside.

He had to play along. He would explain to Morty later.

'You must be here for Jerry, to take the boy?' Rick said in an eerily calm tone as he took the Doctor's hand, who upon hearing the words finalised the handshake before stepping inside.

'That's right! Haven't seen you before? I see you're also a man of science-'

Dr. Fletchinder stopped mid-sentence as he locked eyes with Morty, who instantly wet himself and spiraled into a panic attack, too terrified to move from the wall.

The doctor had time to process that Morty clean, well cared for and clothed before he turned to run, just as Rick slammed the door shut and fired his freeze ray. Dr. Fletchinder had turned away from the ray and was frozen at a terrible angle, his teeth beared, his eyes maddened, his arms extended.

Morty gasped for air as the hulking frozen figure loomed above him, casting a shadow onto his wet pyjama bottoms. Rick rushed over to his Grandson, scooping Morty up into a tight embrace and carrying him out of the room. He determined Morty hadn't seen enough of the freeze ray, so he didn't understand what was happening.

Like he had done many times before, he rocked Morty in his arms, telling him over and over it was just a panic attack- that it would pass. Morty kept gripping at Rick's shirt to pull himself up and check the doctor was still frozen. That he hadn't snuck off somewhere to hurt his dog.

His nightmare was right here in the house. The worst person to have ever hurt him was right there and Rick had no idea how bad he really was. Morty stared up at his Grandfather desperately as thoughts continued to race through his mind.

He wondered what Rick would do if he knew who the doctor was and what he had done. Who he'd let stand downstairs from the blue starry lamp that had calmed Morty to sleep, the person who was standing metres away from Morty's dog and the food Rick cooked him every morning. Morty's mind boggled as to how to warn Rick about what the doctor was capable of.

What if Rick didn't believe him? What if Rick let the doctor come on their adventures because he thought he was smarter and more useful than Morty? What if Rick decided Morty was better off as an experiment and they teamed up to hurt him?

Morty continued to stare into Rick's unrelentingly neutral face. He wished it looked different- gave more away, but it didn't. So he sobbed hopelessly, bitterly; overwhelmed at the possibility that Rick might hurt him if he knew he could be used for science, which he seemed to care more about than anything. He tried to find the words to make his case, pushing them out hard.

'R-Rick.' Morty croaked, his Grandfather immediately pulling him to sit up on his lap, concerned.

'P-p-please. R-Rick...no. R-Rick. No. P-please.' Morty continued to sob, stuttering 'please' and 'no' and 'Rick' over and over. They were the only words he could remember how to say. Morty felt angry at the futility of his words. He knew they didn't work. They had never worked in the basement.

He hated that he couldn't talk properly, that he couldn't fight them off if they did decide to work together, that whenever he ran he was caught. Morty cried softly and hoped his judgment was right as Rick's strong arms held him. Morty tried to shake the notion that the arms that held him could just as easily hurt him as Rick stroked his head.

Rick was keeping his Grandson's face down and pressed firmly into his chest so he wouldn't be able to see Rick's own face. Rick swallowed hard at Morty's wrecked little attempts to speak, fighting back tears that threatened to spill their way into Morty's hair. He knew Morty feared that he was going to be put back in the basement, that this awful person would be allowed to assault him, that Rick would want the cash. It hurt to know that still, his Morty didn't trust him, but at the same time Rick was proud of Morty for being smart enough not to.

What pained him most of all was the reality of what had happened to his Grandson had reared it's ugly head and was now demanding to be confronted. The sexual assaults, the beatings, god knows what else. How he handled this would either heal Morty, if only slightly, or traumatise him further. He had to know who this person was, what he did. He wanted Morty to know he knew and condemned the actions but not Morty himself, that he wouldn't stand with these people and that he understood it wasn't Morty's fault.

He would prove to Squanchy, to himself, and to Morty, that he could be better.

'I'm n-not going to hurt you, Morty.' Rick finally said, squeezing Morty gently as he watched Morty stared back at the doctor.

'He's frozen. I want you to tell me who he is. Wha-what he did. I need you to talk to me. I need us to stURRart dealing with this shit because it's ruining your life.' Rick's last words came out slightly trembled, as his sweaty and tear stained Morty continued to stare over at the doctor, now fixated.

Suddenly Morty sat bolt upright, pointing to the floor nearby where the doctor stood. Rick peered over and saw a book on the floor where Morty was pointing. The doctor must have dropped it before he was frozen.

Rick stood up and sighed when he felt Morty cling to his side, not wanting to leave his protector for a second. As Rick walked over Morty stopped breathing, making himself as invisible as possible around the horrible man who had hurt him so much. Rick picked up the book and carried Morty back over to the couch, away from his frozen tormentor.

The average sized black notebook was worn with use. The leather cover was nondescript and wrinkled from being folded, and the pages smelt vaguely of chemicals as Rick peeled it open. Morty decided to move to the other couch and curl up, watching Rick cautiously. He didn't want to be too close to his Grandfather when the reality of what was in the book became apparent.

He knew Rick was about to find out everything.