HI, welcome back to anyone who may or may not be reading this. I hope you like what I have so far! Please enjoy this chapter!

Morty fell asleep, his body slouched against Rick's in the Spaceship. And the scientist just sat there, his arms wrapped around the small teen protectively. He had been drunk during the whole process of creating the resurrection substance— so drunk that, while he remembered making the decision to create the damn thing, he couldn't remember how he made it. He didn't even record the process, or save any leftovers. Fuck, he doesn't even think he made any test subjects to make sure it wouldn't do something fucking crazy, like create zombies!

But usually drunk him somehow knew what he was doing when it came to stuff like this. He could perfect anything while in that inebriated state. He didn't quite understand it, but he guessed something about being so drunk that he started to black out enhanced his genius, the exact opposite of what alcohol was supposed to do to you. Maybe it just made him crazy enough to actually attempt that shit.

He knew something like this was bound to happen eventually, though. When Morty died, he came to realize that life went on. The seasons continued changing, new things were born, people still celebrated Holliday's, and laughed, and cried.

Everyone went on.

Rick wasn't moving on though. He remained as still as a stature while everyone else moved on without him. Even Beth started to recover, despite the dread and agony that she harbored each and every day due to his death. Summer still texted on her phone, and hung out with her friends. She even started looking for collages.

Fuck, even that idiot Jerry started to move on again— hell, he even managed to get a stable job, too!

And, Goddamnit, did Rick try to move on as well. He tried so fucking hard. But Morty had been the only person he cared about— the only fucking person that he could truly and honestly trust. He was so alone without him, and he couldn't even fathom replacing him. Getting a new Morty sounded like a disgusting idea. No other Morty would ever be like his Morty. And his Morty was dead...

And every day he grieved for him just as badly as he did the day he released his final breath. He couldn't cry anymore after the first week, but he felt the pain just as intensely. He hadn't cried that entire year...

... but now, looking down at the teenager in his arms, alive and real, he suddenly felt something wet trail down the curve of his cheek. It left him confused for a moment, wondering what the hell was happing to him, but as his eyes started to grow blurry, he realized he was crying.

His emotions became a clusterfuck of confusion: he felt so relieved but so fucking sad as well. Rick was so terrified of losing him again, so terrified that he couldn't control his own emotions.

His tears trailed down his cheeks and dripped down into Morty's dirt-caked brown hair. He pulled the teen closer to himself as he began to cry harder. His whole body was shaking violently, so violently that it actually woke Morty up.

The teen blinked tiredly up at him before a flash of panic swept across his eyes at the sight of tears running down his grandfather's face. "Oh Geez— Rick, what's wrong?!" He pushed himself up, and grabbed Rick's shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Morty." Rick sobbed. "I'm so sorry." Then old man looked absolutely broken, and Morty didn't know what to do. He'd never seen Rick like this... he was crying. He didn't even know Rick was capable of crying.

"R-Rick..." He rapped his arms around him again, pulling him close. He half expected to be pushed away, but instead, Rick buried his face into the crook of his neck as he cried, willingly excepting the hug. "It's o-okay, Rick. Please stop crying. Everything's okay."

The roles had been reversed. It seemed that both of them had some bottled up emotions. What had Rick been doing while Morty had been dead?

He looked up, out of the glass dome that separated them from endless space. The lights in the spaceship had dimmed after a while due it being on autopilot rather than actually being driven by either of them.

Space had never looked so beautiful before.

"Rick..." He said, his stutter absent and awe laced in his voice. "Look up."

The scientist did as told and was met with the sight of a nebula somewhere high above the spaceship.

The colors mixed together like sand, painting watercolors against the black background, a contrast that was eye-candy to both of them. The stars made everything look empty and full at the same time.

Violets, blues, pinks, and purples all mixed up together in wonderful wisps and swirls. They looked like fluffy, fluid clouds, entwined with whirlpools and elegant hues.

It made Rick cry harder, but they started to become tears of joy, and he pulled Morty closer to him.

He was back. Morty was back, here in the spaceship, looking at this beautiful sight with him. His best companion; his best friend; his grandson; his little buddy; his accomplice; was here. With him. They were together, and Rick wasn't ever going to let him go again.

A sight like this was useless without Morty to see it with him.

TBC