{{{Please see A/N below for notes}}}
"Dad!" Beth's voice blared over his head. "HURRY! They're gaining on us!"
Still running, Rick dared himself to take a quick look back over his shoulder. He didn't like what he saw. There was Beth, his adult daughter, running in tandem with his own shadow. And not far behind the two of them, quickly closing in, were not just one, nor two, but three gigantic frogs. And these were not just any kind of frogs-they were the kind with fangs, that could swallow a man whole. Without a single moment's hesitation, Rick aimed the portal gun mid-sprint straight at the ground in front of him and fired. The green swirls of living liquid mass appeared, beckoning him to safety, waiting for him to jump right through.
He was about to take that jump, but suddenly the portal disappeared completely from view-only to suddenly reappear, several spaces further ahead of him.
"DAD!" Beth's screams rang loudly and endlessly in his ears.
"Follow me, Bethie!" He ran towards the portal, only to find it that when he reached the spot, it had disappeared again, without a trace.
"Dad-Please-DAD!" Beth was still shrieking at him, but this time with a different tone; her voice had taken on the complete and utter terror of a child.
Against all instinct, Rick halted abruptly in his tracks. He swung around to find the three hungry and determined frog-like creatures were promptly bounding straight towards his daughter. Immediately, Rick pointed the portal gun straight in her direction and fired. "GO for the GREEN, BETH," he hollered urgently at the top of his lungs, "the GREEN!"
Beth followed her father's instructions and ran. Yet just as she reached the portal, the portal immediately vanished-just like all the others. In the blink of an eye, the creatures were on top of her, bearing their spiky fangs down on her chest. And, as Rick watched frozen in horror, Beth threw her head back and screamed-
"NO!" Rick lurched forward in his bed, his chest heaving relentlessly with utter exhaustion.
It took Rick a moment to gather himself and remember where he was. The reel of images had felt so real, that for one brief moment he thought he was still on that Godforsaken planet in the middle of nowhere. Then, he felt the soft cool pillow beneath his head, upon his cot, in the room where he now slept-the room that was once the old spare guest bedroom of what had once been the original Smith family household. His daughter's house. Or, at least, this was the house that had once belonged to this particular version of his daughter.
Just a dream…, he told himself silently, feeling rediculous as his body worked overtime to control his breathing. His body was caked in sweat and he shivered at the sudden breeze from the half-open window. It was just a stupid dream…. Dreams were no longer something he was used to experiencing.
Somehow still completely exhausted after a full night's sleep, he slid out of bed and threw on his favorite blue shirt and brown pants. He couldn't find his lab coat which was usually hanging on the doorknob, which left him in an even sour mood. He splashed his face twice before joining Summer in the kitchen where she was cooking breakfast. It smelled good, but his stomach wasn't interested. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the counter across from Summer, who eyed him suspiciously as though she suspected foul play.
"Jesus, Grandpa." Summer stared at her grim-looking guest with bemusement. "Did you sleep with two beer bottles taped directly over your eyes? You've already got the kind of face only a raccoon's mother could love."
"Cute-cute! How very ass-tute, of you, SUMmer." Rick didn't bat an eye. "By the way, not sure if you noticed, but you're wearing waaaay too much makeup."
"AM NOT!" Summer snapped.
Normally Rick would have returned with a prompt and witty retort. However, he was far too hungry and far too exhausted to care what she had to say on the matter. Instead, he promptly picked up the morning paper, brusquely skimming through the morning headlines. Nothing really grabbed his attention; Earth had always been full of mindless chaos and drama. He turned his attention to the police blotters which he always found mildly amusing. "When you're done over there," he piped up with second thought, "I much prefer Chicks on a raft with some extra axle grease Wreck 'em on some Whisky down, will you? Shingle with a shimmy and a shake, please. Throw in some good ol' baby juice. Don't forget to burn the British- and draw me one cup of mud, ya dig? Thank youuuu."
"Excuse me?" Summer halted in place, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at this most unusual man who sat before her; never before in her life had she ever heard such useless, obnoxious dribble! "What did you just say to me?" she demanded, glaring at him darkly across the counter.
"Jeesus, SUMmer," Rick snorted from beind the newspaper, "I'd think someone your age would already know ALL the, the fancy ins-and-outs of classic diner lingo! Didn't they teach you anything in Home Ec class? Don't you, ya know, wanna get a job? Beth-your mom-she worked at Shoney's for years before she became a stupid-ass horse surgeon! I expected her to continue serving meat, not saving it! But hey," Rick shrugged nonchalantly, "I suppose that's to be expected when you listen to less-than-average intelligence numskulls all day instead of taking the advice of the genius genome that bore you! But seriously, Summer…" He looked up from the paper accusingly. "At the very least, she must have told you what 'Burn the British' means?"
"NO." Summer answered firmly, her voice turned low and dangerous. She spoke with her back turned, so that he couldn't see her face. "She never once spoke to me about anything that had to with that."
"Eh, waitressing is a bitch-trust me, you're not missing much," Rick scoffed. "As far as jobs go, diner work can be pretty boring. Almost as lame as becoming a horse surgeon…Besides," he added, his voice growing bitter in spite of himself, "Beth was originally planning to become a doctor. She never would have even chosen that lame-ass position if that lousy deadbeat lowlife of hers hadn't forced her into taking it by getting her-"
"I seriously hope you're not referring to my father?" Summer's voice was now ice-cold.
"Ah!" Rick set the paper aside so she could see his smirk. "So you're familiar with his work?"
"Fuck," Summer hissed, you." She promptly left the room.
"Some cook," Rick snorted, "doesn't even, even turn off the stupid stove…" Without a second thought he promptly took her place in front of the grill. He was hungry now, and finished cooking her scrambled eggs, and went about preparing his buttered toast. Never was he more grateful for the opportunity to finally eat in peace.
The peace didn't last long enough, however. The house was quiet-far too quiet.
Teenagers were never this quiet, and he was quickly learning that Summer was of no exception.
Immediately Rick bounded up the stairs to her room and pounded hard three times on the door. "SUMMER! Open up!"
No answer. Rick felt needles of worry prickling quickly up on his skin. Damn, he hated that feeling. "SUM-er-Summer?" He promptly knocked again, albeit this time more urgently. Again, there was no answer. Rick tried the door handle; to both his relief and surprise it was unlocked. Without a moment's hesitation he threw open the door-only to find, to his chagrin, there was no Summer present. Her backpack, which was usually hung on the desk chair, was gone. "SHIT!" Rick swore, bounding back down the stairs. He quickly located the trajectory control device and locked in Summer's signal. Sure enough, there was the dot that represented Summer-and it was moving along a typically busy main road, quickly north, away from town. "DAMMIT!" Rick swore again. He dashed into the garage and started up the saucer ship. The garage door opened, and Rick sped off in the direction of the blinking orange dot, which was almost too the freeway. Where the fuck was she going!? She wasn't getting away this time. This time, he was going to have to kill her.
When he found her, Summer was still in motion, walking along the narrow sidewalk. She didn't notice him at first, only when he slowed down enough to pull up beside her. When she did notice, Summer glowered dangerously at him, groaned loudly, and kept stalking forward with even more determination than before. "What do YOU want?" she snapped icily.
Rick threw open the passenger door. "Get in the fucking car!"
"FUCK you!" Summer yelled.
Rick was losing his patience. "GET in the fucking car!" he snapped.
"WHY should I?" Summer kept walking at a steady gait. "You don't even WANT me there."
"How do YOU know what I want?"
"You just want my parents' HOUSE!" Summer kept walking without looking back. "You NEVER wanted anything to do with us!"
Rick ground his teeth together to keep himself from saying something he'd regret. "Jesus S-SUMMER!" he slammed his fist on the wheel in frustration, before following her yet again. "Stop being such a fucking b-baby!"
"YOU'RE the 'baby'!" Summer halted in her tracks, fuming, swirling around to face him. "You act like you hate my father but you didn't even KNOW him, okay!? You were NEVER around-at least he was THERE!"
"Yeah…" Rick's voice dripped with sarcasm. "There to knock up a teenager who doesn't know shit about parenting-"
"You ABANDONED my MOTHER!"
"Hey-you know nothing ABOUT that!" Rick's voice rose sharply in spite of himself.
"I know enough!" Summer spat. "She never showed us any pictures of you. She never even mentioned you! For all we knew, this whole time, you were DEAD!"
"ENOUGH!" Rick spoke tightly through clenched teeth. He veered the ship sharply to the right so that he was now directly in front of her, blocking her path. "GET. IN. THE. CAR," he demanded darkly. "NOW."
"NO." Summer moved to the left, but Rick did the same. Again he blocked her path. "Get OUT of my way!" Summer demanded coldly.
"Your so-called 'way' can get you absolutely nowhere," Rick retaliated with a smirk.
Summer scoffed in response. "Says who?"
"Says me!" Rick retorted snidely. "You know what my way can get you?"
Summer groaned loudly. "Lemme guess," she replied dryly, "Left for dead in some alleyway? Alone and betrayed? Psychologically and emotionally destroyed beyond repair?"
"Naw, dawg!" Rick bellowed with a sudden almost child-like enthusiasm that took her by utterly complete surprise. "It'll get you the BEST damn fucking ice cream in the entire freaking multiverse, bitches!"
Summer didn't want to admit it, but she was tired and hungry, and the thought of ice cream, intergalactic or not, was incredibly tempting. "But…" She paused and turned back towards him in spite of herself. "...why should I trust you?"
"Because I've got your ticket to freedom, Dawg!" Rick thrust his finger upwards towards the Heavens. "Now stop being a bummer of a noob boob and just fucking get in the damn car!"
"A 'boob noob' WHAT?" Summer blinked back in astonishment.
Without warning or explanation, Rick snatched her by the arm, pulling her inside. "You'll thank me later!" he barked, putting the ship's gear into full throttle. Without another word, the ship took off into the atmosphere above.
A/N: Sorry for the hiatus between chapters, and thanks so much for coming back for more! (Life as you know, sometimes gets in the way!) I
That being said, I do plan to go back hopefully to wrap up other unfinished stories as well. This is the one I've currently been identifying with lately.
Thanks so much and please review, your feedback helps to keep me going! :)