"Morty? Is he ok? Do you need me at home?" Beth asked all of this in a worried rush, knowing what her dad was like. Luckily it was a training day, just to keep her license up to date, so stepping out of class for a bit was fine. There were a couple hours to go, but there was only one person who trained horse surgeons so Beth knew her well and it was very easy to intimidate her into letting her finish the steps online. So if something had gone wrong…
"If you can, I think that would be good..." Summer didn't sound like herself and Beth could tell immediately. She was being far too subdued. Summer could make a lot of things sound like emergencies; Beth had firmly stood her ground on many occasions where Summer cried about how she needed to come home and ground Morty for little things like drinking the last of some Slurm drink Rick had brought her or for using the last bit of data on the family phone plan so she couldn't use the Internet for the last 2 days unless she was on wifi which "sucked" (her claims that he was looking up too much porn away from home was never looked into, but it didn't change the fact that she used most of it and he was allowed to use it too). This had to be a real problem for her to be so restrained.
"Summer, what happened?" she asked briskly, wanting answers so she could assess how much of an emergency this was.
"Well...Morty had, umm...an accident? And I think you and dad should talk to him...because I don't know if grandpa Rick is doing the right thing here but I can't tell him what to do! They won't listen to me! No one ever listens to me! I swear, it's like shouting at paparazzi to leave you alone."
That was the daughter Beth was used to, her uncertainty shifting to indignation. Sometimes it made Beth roll her eyes, but her words were concerning.
"What kind of accident, Summer?"
It was 'the tone,' the one that made her kids tell her the truth because they knew they would be caught in a lie. That no-nonsense, tell me right now or there will be consequences voice. Her kids were important but she also had to keep food on the table and she was currently missing information on some new tech they were getting.
Summer was quiet for a moment, knowing that calling her mom was the right thing to do but also hating the position she'd put herself in. She wasn't about to call Morty in here to explain things. She had to bite the bullet.
"He tried to kill himself, mom."
There was an expected shocked silence. Hearing nothing, knowing her mom felt just as helpless as she did in this situation, it almost made Summer cry all over again.
"Is he with you?"
"He's with grandpa Rick," Summer responded, voice cracking at her mom's calm town. She had an idea. She knew what to do. She had to, right? That's what that tone had to mean.
"Ok. Keep an eye on your brother, sweetie. I'll be home as soon as I can." Beth's voice was calm, soothing. It didn't matter how she felt right now. She'd never claim to be the best parent, but she knew she didn't want Summer to panic. As tough as things were, she wanted to try to do right by her kids, and the best way to do that was to act calm, even if you were screaming inside.
"Ok."
"He'll be ok, Summer," Beth said reassuringly. "We'll all be ok. Just hang tight and call me if anything else happens."
"Ok. I love you, mom."
"I love you too, sweetheart. I'll see you soon." Beth hung up with a click, her heart racing. Summer had mentioned something about this before. She'd thought Morty was acting strange and she'd brushed her off and look what happened. But Summer, her beautiful Summer, had uncharacteristically said, "I love you," instead of "I told you so." God, this was her fault. She should have listened. She should have done something. It was like when dad left all over again, everything was her fault. But she couldn't get consumed by guilt now. She had to figure things out.
Morty, her poor Morty. He'd dealt with so much, but she'd always hoped this would never happen. She'd worried about it before but not with her dad around. She'd mistakenly thought that Morty having a steady role model would help him, but you couldn't rely on people as a drug, especially not her dad. She'd thought she'd stop drinking when he came back too, but that had never been the case. It almost exacerbated it. Maybe that was what happened to her son.
Still lost in thought, she went back into the classroom and called Claire aside for a brief moment to discuss making up the lesson before starting the drive home. On automatic she called Jerry, who answered on the first ring. "Hey Beth, what's going on, honeybun? Are you calling about my interview, because it went very well. I think I might actually land this one! Maybe we should go to Coldstone to celebrate? You haven't let me go there in months!"
It was typical Jerry, but his obliviousness was frustrating. Of course he had no way of knowing, but how dare he be so carefree! Without any pleasantries, she said, "You need to come home. Now."
"Why? What happened?" He had the sense to know she wasn't happy with him, at least.
"Morty...attempted suicide."
There was no type of hesitation here. "What?! How did this happen?!"
"Jerry, please. This is why I'm telling you now. Morty doesn't need those kind of questions, I'm sure he isn't in the best frame of mind." It occurred to her then that she hadn't even asked Summer what had happened. Was it drugs? Pills? Did he cut his wrists? Hang himself? Was Dad performing alien surgery on him as she spoke?
"He's our son, Beth, of course I have questions! Does this have something to do with Rick? I knew letting him hang around with your father wouldn't be good for him!"
Beth took a calming breath to stop herself from growing anxious about her son and to prevent murderous intent for her husband. "I have questions too, Jerry," she replied honestly and with earnest, ignoring his last words for the sake of her sanity, "but now is not the time!"
"Well...what do we do, then?"
"...Jerry, did you honestly think asking how it happened was the only solution?"
"I'm a parent, Beth, that's what we do. What else...can we do?" The uncertainty was creeping in and Beth couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for him.
"We talk to him. We let him talk to us. That's why you need to come home,"
"Beth...I don't know what to say."
"Then just be there, Jerry. But we need to talk to him and maybe-maybe bring him to the hospital."
"Ok. Yeah. You're right. You're right. I'm almost to my car. I'll be home is 10 minutes."
"Same here. Please don't go in there and start blaming people, Jerry. It won't help."
"I won't, I won't," he responded quickly with an edge of bitterness in his voice. "Bye, love you."
"Bye, Jerry."
I don't name chapters because it's a pain in the ass, but if I had this one would be called "Awkward Phone Calls."
It's a good thing I don't name chapters!
So this story is close to wrapping up. I'm working on what may be the last chapter right now, but I'm thinking it's going to run a bit longer and I want it to be perfect. Thank you for your patience with me and I hope you can be patient for a while longer!
