Hey guys, sorry for the delay again, hopefully this long chapter will make up for it. ALSO, thanks for all the follows, guys! It means a lot to me!

Six

The next morning at breakfast, Jerry already seemed pissy about something. Whether it was his lousy job or his failing marriage, Rick didn't know or care which when he walked into the dining room, he just went on complaining. Beth just listened and nodded as she always did, occasionally saying something to confirm that she was listening. Summer had already gone off to school, getting a ride from a friend. "Rick," Jerry 'greeted' as the older man dug through the fridge for something to drink or eat. "You didn't happen to see Morty up and about last night, did you?"

"I was in the garaaAAHGHGge all night," he belched.

"Huh. I thought I heard someone moving around upstairs. Maybe it was something outside."

"Don't be so paranoid, Jerry. Y-y-you know, maybe if you weren't so antsy about what goes on

in your house you wouldn't have so many problems at work or in your marriage or whatever you're bitching about." Rick poured himself a cup of coffee.

Beth stepped into the conversation to prevent another argument from starting. "You said you were in the garage all night. What are you working on, dad?"

"Eh, nothing-urrhp, huge. Actually, you know what, it's a surprise. I-it's a secret." Rick replied, taking out his flask to pour some liquor in his coffee.

"That sounds suspicious." Jerry squinted at him.

"Well, just don't burn the house down or anything." Beth said, as Rick began to walk out of the dining room.

"I wouldn't dream of it," he said as he wandered back towards the garage.

Jerry looked back at Beth. "I think Morty was up last night. And I think Rick got him out of bed," he said once Rick was longer within earshot.

"Don't be ridiculous, Jerry." Beth said. "Rick wouldn't do that. Once he's working on something, he likes to be left alone. Besides, Morty doesn't sleep a lot at night anyway, so if he's gonna be up, I'd rather he spend some time with his grandfather than just lay around dwelling on his... problems."

Jerry sighed. "Beth, I know that Rick's been out of your life for years, but if there's one thing I remember about him, it's that he was always a drunken asshole. He's a bad influence."

"Well, maybe he's changed. I mean, I'm still surprised he came back after all this time."

"Uh-huh..." Jerry wasn't the smartest guy, but he wasn't stupid. He knew his wife well, and part of his knowledge was the fact that Beth had abandonment issues and was willing to sacrifice their comfort, and if push came to shove, probably their safety just so Rick would stay around. It's how it always was, even when he was absent from their lives; Rick was always a topic of miserable discussion, and Jerry had some resentment towards Rick because of it.

—

Rick worked in the garage for a while, drawing up some blueprints for a spaceship of some kind. By the time noon rolled around, Beth and Jerry had gone to work hours ago, and Rick wondered if Morty was up. Well, if he wasn't, whatever. Rick had shit he had to get done in other dimensions. Might as well drag the kid along so he'd get used to hopping from portal to portal.

Morty was in his room, racking his brain on some bullshit math problems, when Rick opened the door without even knocking. "Morty."

Morty jumped a bit. "Jeez, Rick, whoo... you startled me."

"Yeah, hey listen, I gotta run an errand, Morty. I need your help. Are you b-urrrrhp-busy?"

Morty glanced at his homework and felt his frustration build up further. He needed a fucking break. "...I'm not busy," he said, getting up from his chair. "W-w-where are we going?"

"You'll see, Morty." Rick pulled out his portal gun and stepped out into the hall. He aimed at the wall and, much to Morty's amazement, a green, glowing vortex appeared before his eyes. "Let's go."

"U-uh..." He was shocked. "Um. I-i-in there? What is that? Is it safe?"

"Don't be such a wet blanket, Morty. It's just a portal. Look," Rick stuck his hand into the whirlpool of light, pulling it out after a moment or so. "UUUURP- see? It's safe. It's not gonna hurt you. Now come on."

Morty grabbed the handle to his cylinder of oxygen, and before he could take a step towards the portal, Rick wrapped his hand firmly around his wrist, tugging the boy in behind him. Morty squeezed his eyes shut (a force of habit for him) as he walked through. It was a strange sensation, although fleeting and faint—it felt like walking through a wall of water without getting wet.

When he opened his eyes and breathed deeply, the air was not such a burden to take in, and the scenery was peaceful, as alien as it was. The sky was a minty teal, star-dotted clouds scraping the planet's stratosphere in faint arrays of white. They stood in a valley clearing atop soft, pink, moss-like grass, patches of indigo dirt peeking out here and there. Morty let his toes sink into the soft earth as he looked around at the mountains and forests around them. "...woah..." He murmured, stunned by the landscape. "Where are we...?" It was like something out of a daydream.

Rick, having been here many times before, wasn't nearly as enthused. "Lisa Frank's septic tank." He replied gruffly, before belching: "Haha, juuggghhhst kidding. No, this is, this planet is called Oorgel One, part of the Oorgel solar system. See, there's, that's the sun." Rick pointed to a small, neon-blue orb in the sky. "And that's the moon."

Morty turned towards the direction of Rick's finger to gaze up at a fantastically large and intensely close moon. It was a cold gray, striped with pale blue canyons rather than dots of craters. "Holy cow... it's so... so weird and... pretty? The moon is incredible."

Rick explained further as they began walking towards the forest. "It's not always this close, it has a weird orbit around this planet. Actually, a thousand years ago, or something, su-ooOOHGHH-per long ago, the moon scraped the fuck out of the surface, leaving this giant canyon in it's wake. It's crazy, Morty. It's massive. Scary big."

"Whoa... so... are there, y'know, aliens living here?"

"We're the aliens, Morty. If you're talking about sentient, or- or intelligent, independent life, like human-like things, then no. This planet is younger than ours, so it's not as far along on the e-eeEEEGHHGH-evolutionary timeline or whatever. There's plenty of animal and plant life here, though. 'N case you wanted to go hunting for weird foreign planet meat."

"Huh." As they entered the woods, Morty gawked up at the skyscraper-sized trees that surrounded them. They were all kinds of shades of pink and indigo, matching the ground they grew out of. "Hey Rick, should, should I have brought some shoes o-or slippers or something?"

Rick waved his hand dismissively. "Nah. The ground here and everything is pretty harmless. Don't worry abooouuughhht it and just, just enjoooyyy the grass under your feet or whatever. Hell you could pick flowers for all I care. Just don't get lost." Morty smiled as he walked by a bush full of flowers, their fractal-shaped petals colored in gradients. He wouldn't have minded getting lost in a place like this.

They walked for a few more minutes, or perhaps hours (Morty couldn't tell which, as time seemed to go by faster here). They reached a gentle stream and stopped in front of it, Rick kneeling down and reaching into his lab coat for a liquid container of some kind. The water was crystal clear, but tinted a serene green, perhaps due to some mineral. Little fish (?) moved around like tadpoles in the water, but instead of being covered in scales, their short, thin bodies looked to be covered in shiny, smooth coats of fur, almost like otters. They had two sets of eyes, but no mouths, nor fins or feet or whatever. They were cute, but very weird. Morty kneeled and sat next to Rick, watching him work. "What are you doing, Rick?"

"You ask a lot of questions, Morty." Rick grumbled. Then again, Morty probably didn't get out much. He should try to be nice. "...but that's fi-iiIIIGGHHNGN-ne. I'm getting some of this water."

"I'm guessing it, like... has some sort of mineral or chemical in it, right?"

"Exactly right, Morty-urrp-y'see this water, what makes it green is the, the mineral, uh, uhh... krytzonite. I-i-it has a chemical reaction that separates the mineral bonds in the liquid and combines with the atomic structure of the krytzonic minerals, and if you drink it, Morty, i-i-it'll make you hallucinate. You'll trip balls. And, and, so do the other animals, when they drink it... but not those fish. They live in it and they're fine."

Morty looked at the fish and put his fingers in the water. It felt like normal water. "Why's that, Rick?"

He took a large bottle and filled it with the water. "I dunno, Morty. Y-y-you think I know everything? I'm taking this water, a-a-and I'm gonna take one of these fish, too."

"Y-y-you're not gonna hurt it, are you?"

"I'm gonna put it in regular water, and watch what ha-aaagghghh-happens. Maybe it'll freak out or something, I dunno."

"Ohh." Morty looked back at the fish, his expression a little sad or concerned. One of the two, if not both.

Rick noticed this and rolled his eyes. "Uuugggghhhhh.

Do you want one? A-as a pet o-or something?"

"Oh. W-w-well, I-"

"I GUESS I could sacrifice some of my water for your damn fish. God."

"W-well, what were you gonna use the water for?"

Hallucinogenic cocktails. "Science. Urrp- I was going to use it for science."

—

The duo returned home just as they came, through a portal in the hallway. Morty thanked Rick for the fish, the science lesson, and the adventure, but apologized for not being a big help.

Rick pinched the bridge of his nose. "What- why are you apologizing? I-i-it's fine."

"W-w-well I mean, you asked me to go with you to help you with your errand, and it just... it seems like I kinda. Got in the way? I'unno. I didn't really do anything, y'know, helpful." Morty looked down at the plastic bag in his hands, frowning a little bit as his fish swam around in the mineral-laced water.

Rick sighed, feeling frustrated with Morty's whining, before quickly reminding himself that this kid had a terminal illness that gave him anxiety and blah blah blah. "It's fine. Don't feel like-urrffh-don't be like that, you weren't in the way or anything. You just followed me around. Big deal." He folded his arms. "Besides. I-it's been a while since I had a-a sidekick."

The boy perked up, looking up at his grandfather. "You, you liked my company...?"

"Well when you say it like that, you make it sound like we're in a, a soap opera or some shit. Don't be so sappy. Anyway, listen. I'm going to be working on some stuff, and then, we're going to get you looked at by a doctor who knows what he's doing. Or, she, or they, whoever—point is, I'm taking you to a doctor that can actually help ya, alright?"

His eyes widened a bit. "Really...? They'll figure out wh-what's wrong with me?"

"Hopefully, Morty. Hopefully. I can't make any promises, so doOOOUGHHn't get your hopes up or anything."

Morty blinked a little bit, surprised and a little amazed that there could be a doctor anywhere that could help him more than his current one could, and his lips turned up into a smile. "...thanks, Rick." Morty turned towards his bedroom.

"Morty, wait." Rick said. Morty turned back and looked up at him expectantly. He pulled a jar out from a pocket in his lab coat (how he kept pulling item after item out from its pockets, Morty couldn't fathom), handing it to the kid. "Put your fish in here. I don't think it eats anything."

Morty smiled and took the jar into his arms, thanking Rick again before he disappeared into his room. He didn't really come back to his math homework; he kept getting interrupted by excited thoughts about his day. He couldn't stop thinking about the planet he just visited, and the fact that he went to a whole other planet and how smart Rick was, not to mention, kind enough to let him tag along. He wondered a bit why Rick was doing such nice things for him, and oddly enough, Rick wondered the same thing.