DISCLAIMER: I don't own "Rick and Morty"; they belong to Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, .

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Shit's going down in this own broh. Better make sure you're ready, dog.

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4:35 am Earth Time

"Morty! You, you gotta wake the hell up right now, Morty!"

The shrill whisper forced Morty out of a blissful dream state where he was finally allowed to forget about his grief for awhile, and suddenly, instead of making out with Jessica on the beach, he was staring up at the intensly driven eyes of Rick at half past four am.

"Rick! What-" Morty, entirely confused, started to yell in protest, but his shout was quickly silenced by Rick's hand clamping over his mouth, as the older man looked sharply about for anyone who might have been woken from their slumber.

"Quiet! You want to wake the whole household? Now listen up Morty," Rick intoned as he began to slowly pull away his hand, "now I"m gonna trust that you'll trust me, and that you're gonna listen up, and you're gonna listen up real good, Morty, you got it? Your nosy kidnappers can't know I'm here. Got it?"

Unable to answer through Rick's hand, Morty nodded, too exhausted to fight Rick on this one.

"Good." Satisfied, Rick released his hand completely, as well as his hold on Morty, and removed himself from Morty's mattress. "Now," Rick added collectedly, "if you think you can keep your mouth shut, we can get both the heck outta dodge and eeeeverything will go back to the way it was. Kapeesh?"

"Whaa, what do you mean Rick?" Morty's pained and confused expression stopped Rick in his tracks.

Rick pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. Dammit, that's what I get for caring about idiots.

"Rick?" Morty was watching him anxiously from the bed.

"You," Rick said plainly, "me. Ditching dimensions. Let's go."

Morty sat on the edge of his bed, staring at Rick's retreating back. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Suddenly he couldn't move. Was Rick really asking him to switch dimensions again? It was one thing when they'd Chronenberged the entire world, and, out of guilt, and thinking his family was probably either dead or had been turned into monsters, Morty had fled with Rick like a coward to dimension C-138. But, it was another thing entirely to leave Summer behind in a perfectly normal universe, simply because his parents had….

He couldn't finish the thought. It hurt too much. His feelings had been so numbed by the first experience of dimension jumping that it had taken him two full weeks to fully adjust. He was fully reminded by those two small humps of grass in the backyard, under one of which his alternate's body lay decomposing and slowly crumbling to dust six feet under. It was a sobering enough thought, but so was your parents dying; and boy, was he ever glad that he'd told Summer he wasn't her original brother, and she had actually believed (and accepted!) him for who he really was. (In fact, he liked to think that it had made them a little….closer.)

He wasn't sure he could bare the thought of leaving her behind for some other Summer in some other dimension. Rick was able to, but Rick didn't care. It was easier not caring, but Morty couldn't help himself; he still cared,and he didn't want to turn into someone who didn't. He couldn't leave Summer again.

"I'm not leaving Summer," Morty declared softly, and with enough emphasis so that Rick halted in his tracks and turned back to look at him and narrowed his eyes.

Rick stared at his grandson, who was glaring defiantly back at him with a stubborn cross of his arms (as if that would somehow make him seem stronger than he really was). "Really?" Rick snorted with indifference, "you'd stay here for her? She-she's not even that great a sister, Morty….what the hell has she ever done for you?"

Biting his lip to keep back a sudden sting of tears, Morty scowled and looked away sharply. "She's still my sister, Rick," he replied quietly. "I-i-it was hard enough the first time knowing it wasn't really the same family I grew up with, you, you know? Maybe you can just go about your business and act like it doesn't matter, but I-I…. I just can't do it again," he added haltingly, surprising himself at his own confession.

"Wow, Morty," Rick huffed crossly with a shake of the head, "I came over here trying to do you a favor. Way to be grateful….You, you're a, a real piece of shit sometimes, ya know? Thought you would want to see Mommy and Daddy again, but I guess you're just too much of a chicken shit to do anything about it." At that, Rick ignored the tears streaming unchecked down Morty's cheeks, and abruptly turned to go. "I'll be waiting in the living room. Five minutes tops, if you're not in there, then I guess we don't have anything left to say to each other."

Morty watched speechlessly as Rick turned to leave, but then, something snapped in him, and he leapt off the bed and ran over to Rick, grabbing Rick's arm with a strength he didn't know he had and swinging the older man around. Rick blinked back, his mask of indifference momentarily broken, as Morty, trembling, glared up at Rick. "You know what Rick? You're a real asshole, you know? My, my parents just died, Rick!" Morty fumed, pacing back and forth and wringing his hands in the air, "and, you just want to act like, like it's no big deal! Well you know what, it IS a big deal Rick!"

"Shut the hell up! Just shut the hell up, Morty!" Rick hissed but Morty kept going in spite of his concern.

"And, and you can't just keep going around acting like, like, like it just isn't, okay? OKAY? You, you really crossed a line this time, Rick!" Morty shouted, as Rick struggled hard not to panic, trying to motion for Morty to quiet down (unsuccessfully). The kid was on a roll. "You, you can't just pretend that they didn't die, Rick!" Morty shouted at the top of his lungs. "But-but but but they DID! They DID!" Morty gasped and collapsed in a heap to the floor, trembling uncontrollably, his head in his hands, and suddenly, there was barking and yelling and a rush of movement from the other side of the door. Rick groaned with disgust-now he'd done it!-and suddenly there were Leonard and Joyce, standing there in the doorway, and gaping at them both with speechless horror. It took a good half a minute before they could snap out of their shock at finding unexpected company in their grandson's bedroom at this ungodly hour.

"What in God's name is going on here!?" Leonard Smith roared, finally finding his voice again, and glaring daggers at Rick.

"Trust me," Rick muttered flatly with a disgusted roll of his eyes at the ceiling, "your twisted concept of a highURP power has nothing to do with this pathetic state of affairs."

Leonard's frame was practically shaking with an unspoken fury from the doorway, his hands balled into fists of rage; eventually, both grandparents' eyes fell upon their grandson, who was lying in a fetal position on the floor.

"Morty! Oh, God!" Joyce ran to her grandson, cradling him against her chest as Morty broke down in spite of himself, sobbing into her bosom. "What have you done to my grandson!?" Joyce fumed up at Rick.

"P-please don't be mad at me Grandma," Morty blurted, hating how young and stupid he sounded, trying hard not to cry and failing as he broke down again, "I didn't want to wake you but, but Rick was-"

"Shhh, baby, shhhh," Joyce lovingly rocked him against her side, arms holding him tight, "it's going to be okay…."

"Doubtful," Rick snorted with a shake of his head.

"Get the hell out of my house," Leonard hissed as he stepped up towards Rick. "You are not welcome here."

"Gladly," Rick replied, calm and collected as a cucumber as he sidestepped the angry older man."What the hell would I want with that crybaby over there, anyway?" Rick added with an indifferent wave in Morty's direction, ignoring the hurt puppydog whimper that escaped loudly from Morty's throat behind him, as he turned about and headed briskly for the doorway. It was the curse of all Ricks….inevitably, they would eventually wear out their welcome. He wasn't surprised, really...it had to happen at some point, sometime.

"Go then!" Morty shouted vengefully at his grandfather's retreating back, "what do I care? Youuuu, you never gave shit about either one of us, anyway!"

"Not like you gave me any good reason to, you little shit!" Rick called back over his shoulder. "Don't expect any more adventures with me, either."

"Fine!" Morty yelled even as his voice cracked, "I won't!"

"Good!" Rick slammed the door, sending a shudder through the floorboards. Another slam of the front door was heard, another shudder felt, and then, the Smiths exhaled with relief as the house fell silent once again.

"I...I just don't understand that man," Leonard sighed heavily shaking his head as he fought to calm his frayed nerves, crouching down beside his wife and lending both her and Morty a hand.

Morty sat slumped over like a limp rag on the floor, oblivious to the other two people in the room, trying to figure out what had just happened. Had he just told Rick that they weren't friends anymore? Had Rick actually agreed with him? Somehow, he thought the world would shatter if he'd ever shut Rick out of his life, but, strangely enough, it hadn't. He was still here, in one piece….almost….but Rick….he was gone. Just like that.

He let his grandmother help him up from the floor, and they went into the kitchen, where he sat at the counter and she made him some hot cocoa to help comfort his nerves. He drank the cocoa; it was good, but his stomach still ached, and his heart still hurt.

They were just words he'd said out of anger, Morty knew...but Rick….he'd sounded dead serious….

...but he couldn't be….

….could he?

TO BE CONTINUED….