Thanks for the many reviews! I appreciate and love reading every single one of them!
There might be a two to three week hiatus after this one due to the holidays coming up. I might be able to squeeze one more in early next week but if not don't be surprised if I don't update until January.
Rick watched Morty run out of the room, leaving the door open. He walked over and closed the door, locking it behind him. Rick then walked over to his suitcase fiddling through his items until he found his phone. He dialed a number and brought it to his ear. The ringing suddenly stopped and he heard a beep signaling he could talk, "Hey, I found a possible place but I need a few of my things. I'm going to send you the coordinates and the items I need."
The person on the other side hit a button on the phone twice, acknowledging what he said. Rick hung up and went to work writing in an email with the coordinates of where he was and in parenthesis he wrote, "the old warehouse" and a list of various tools he would need. He set the phone down on a small table that was near the cot before sitting on the small piece of furniture. It was still early but he hadn't been able to get a good night's sleep in a long time.
Rick lay on the cot glad to finally have a chance to sleep. The cot was a little lumpy but he had slept on worse things. Within minutes, he was asleep.
Morty had just left the furnace room where Rick was staying. He was about to open his door when his mom called him, "Morty can you come here?" She asked sweetly.
"Sure mom." Morty said walking toward her. "What's up?"
"Summer can you come too?" Beth asked looking into Summer's room.
Summer sighed getting up to walk out.
The two followed their mom to the kitchen. "I know I didn't speak much of your grandpa Rick. And when you did hear about him, it was a lot of bad things from your father. It's true he left when I was fifteen, but he's a very nice guy, just a little rough around the edges. He always means well. Forgiveness is a key part of life, if you don't forgive those who hurt you, you will hurt your whole life." Beth realized she was starting to speak more to herself than the kids, "Can you guys give him a chance? I don't know how long he plans on being here before he leaves but I want to ensure we give him a good memory of us. Give him some space, he'll turn around. We need to show him that family life is enjoyable."
The two didn't know what to say. Summer truly didn't care and Morty had never thought of anything other than being nice to a family member. The two shrugged.
"Please, tell me you are going to give him a chance."
"Okay." Both said. It wouldn't be that hard. The two had heard their father belittling the old man over the years. Jerry had said he was a horrible father for always taking off. As far as the stories were concerned, if they were true, he'd be gone within a few days. Life would go back to normal.
Beth smiled at the two, "You guys are the best!" She hugged them.
Rick woke up to screaming, "Where were you all night?" Beth had just yelled.
"I told you I went out to golf with my buddies." A man said back. Rick assumed it was Jerry.
"You were golfing until midnight?" She asked back.
"So we went out to eat after. That's not a crime."
Rick stared at the ceiling as the bickering continued. Finally a door slammed shut and there was silence. He lay for a while longer; realizing a trip to the bathroom may be a good idea.
Rick stood up from the cot and opened the door. He looked around to see no one in the hall. There was a light on downstairs which meant Jerry was sleeping on the couch tonight. Rick knew plenty of those nights from when he was younger.
He felt down the hall to find the bathroom. Someone was inside. Rick stood for some time waiting. It opened to reveal Summer standing there. "Oh." She said almost running into Rick. "Did they wake you up too?" She asked.
"Yeah." Rick said.
"They do that a lot." Summer whispered.
Rick just let out a grunt and walked by her so he could use the bathroom. Rick was about to close the door when he heard Summer speak.
"About earlier. Sorry I slammed the door on your face. I didn't know who you were."
"No worries." Rick said.
"Really?" Summer seemed relieved.
"Yeah, I'd have done the same thing." Rick said slamming the bathroom door on Summer's face.
He relieved himself then washed his hands. Rick sauntered down the hall back to the room that held the furnace and closed the door behind him. He locked the door again and rolled back into the cot. Tomorrow was going to come soon enough.
Rick woke up the next morning feeling refreshed for the first time in quite a long time.
Rick stood up stretching. He walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where he found Beth and Jerry sitting at the table. The two were silently eating. A place was set up for Rick. Rick went straight to the coffee pot. "Where's the mugs?" He asked.
"Over here dad!" Beth jumped to her feet and ran to the to a cupboard pulling a mug out.
"Thanks." He poured the coffee into the mug and went to sip it.
"Hey Rick. Long time no see." Jerry said from the table.
Rick glared at him, "Hey Jerry."
"Beth told me you came back. So now that you're staying with us, you'll have to."
"Hold that thought Jerry, I never said I was staying forever." Rick said. "When I say those specific words, then you can finish your sentence."
"Why don't you sit down dad and eat with us?" Beth asked, attempting to diffuse any situation that was about to arise.
Rick walked over still glaring at Jerry. He sat down at the table where a display of pancakes was waiting for him. Rick couldn't remember the last time he had home cooked food. He wasted no time pouring syrup over them and eating. Then a thought came to his mind, "So Beth, do you mind if I set up shop here again for a while. I need to figure some things out."
"You can stay as long as you want dad." Beth said. "You can set your work shop back up in the garage. I left all your stuff in boxes."
"Thanks sweetie!" Rick said.
"Hey! When were you going to ask me? I'm the man of the house." Jerry complained.
"In order to be the man of the house you need a job Jerry." Rick retorted. "Besides, where were you yesterday when I came here?"
"I was out golfing like the man of the house does." Jerry said.
Rick was about to make another comeback but chose not to. If his hypothesis turned out to be right, he didn't want to destroy his ties to the family just yet. If he was wrong, he would leave here flipping them all off. It was a win/win either way.
Rick's phone rang from inside his lab coat. Rick stood abruptly. "Beth, the pancakes were very delicious. Thanks." He kissed Beth's cheek and walked out of the room.
Rick started to walk up the stairs when he answered his phone. "Almost done." A voice said.
"I'll be at the old factory in a little over an hour." He said hanging up the phone.
Rick walked down the hall towards Morty's room. He was about to open the door but chose to knock first. If this kid had any part of his genes at that young age, he didn't want to know what the kid was doing behind closed doors.
After a minute of silence he heard Morty speak, "Come in."
Rick opened the door to find the kid on his bed with his lap top closed in front of him. "You up for a trip today?" Rick asked leaning against the door frame.
"Sure. Are we going to use your portal thingy?" Morty asked.
Rick squeezed the bridge of his nose, "It's a portal gun." He groaned. "NOT! A portal thingy."
"O-o-okay, your portal gun?"
"No, we are meeting someone down the street. We can walk. Don't be so fucking lazy." Rick said leaving the room.
Morty stumbled out of his room a few minutes later, "Where are we going?" Morty asked.
"Into the woods, gotta see an old friend."
"Is your friend an alien?" Morty asked laughing.
"Yeah what of it?"
"No reason."
"Technically we are aliens to him so don't call him that." Rick walked down the stairs. "Beth, I'm going out." Rick yelled. He looked at the side table where the same picture he flipped down was standing upright. Rick hastily put it picture side down.
"So soon?" Beth asked hastily running to the door.
"Yeah, I'll be back. Taking Morty with me." Rick pointed his thumb behind him where Morty was standing.
Beth seemed taken aback by that, "Oh, then I'll have dinner ready for tonight. You still like corned beef?"
"You know it's my favorite sweetie." Rick said while smiling to his daughter. He knew she always loved that nickname.
"Do you need a ride?" Beth asked as Rick opened the door.
"Nah, we are just going for a walk. You told me to be nicer to the kid so I'm going for a walk to get to know him. Gotta get to know my grandkids!" Rick winked, "Make up for lost time and all that...good stuff." He trailed off at the end, this was getting too tiring.
"Ok, sounds great!" Beth said.
"Come on Morty." Rick opened the door walking out.
"Bye mom!" Morty said waving then leaving the house behind Rick.
"Wow, so you really want to talk?" Morty asked.
"No."
"But you just told mom that…"
"Have you heard of a lie kid? Is that new to you?" Rick snapped.
Morty flinched back, "It wouldn't hurt to get to know others, ya know?" Morty had to practically jog to keep up with Rick's long stride. "I-I mean, how do I even know you're my grandfather? You don't act nice to me."
Rick kept quiet.
"Grandpa Smith brings presents every time he comes." Morty said.
Rick stopped and looked down at the annoying child, "You want a present?" He asked, then flipped the kid off. "There you go." Rick started his walk again, he was already going to be late.
"Wh-why do you act so nice around mom and then get s-s-so mean once she's not around?"
Rick looked down at the child, "Because you aren't the one who pays the bills at the house I'm staying at." The child appeared forlorn by the truthfulness behind Rick's words, "Look kid, I'm just a little on edge. I have a lot on my mind and I need time." Not to mention his intolerance of being sober. Hopefully, this would be the last day of ever having to be sober.
"Why?" Morty asked.
"I…I just do."
The two were silent for an hour as they continued to walk. Eventually Rick turned and started to walk into the woods. Morty followed close behind. "Gee Rick, I don't know about going into the woods. There could be animals here."
Rick kept silent, anything he would say at this point was just going to be more sarcasm. He didn't want to scare this boy away if he was going to be valuable to him. The two walked into a clearing. Morty stood in awe of the a large table that had a computer set up in front of it.
"Welcome to the old warehouse." Rick said.
"Warehouse? It's a clearing."
"It was a lot more impressive in it's older days. I had to take it all down since." Rick walked over to the computer. "Don't touch." Rick said when Morty was about to poke a button on the machine. Morty's arm recoiled.
"When did this get here?" Morty asked.
"Over the night. An old friend brought it."
"Where's your friend?"
"Grabbing one more thing for me. Should be back any time." Rick said.
A figure came from the sky casting a shadow over them, Morty backed away as Rick stood still in his spot looking unimpressed. The figure landed in front of Rick. Rick wasted no time giving the figure a hug. "Birdperson! Long time no see!" Rick smiled grabbing a bag from Birdperson's hands. He sifted through the bag filled with bottles.
"Indeed, it has been a long time. How are you fairing with your hiding?"
Rick held up a bottle, reading the label then smiled even wider. "OH, you know me way too well Birdperson! Only the good stuff!" Rick opened one of the bottles, guzzling a good amount.
"How are you fairing?" Birdperson asked again.
"If my hypothesis is correct, much better." Rick said. He looked around to find Morty had disappeared.
"Are you looking for the young boy?"
"Yeah." Rick said. Bird person pointed toward a tree where Morty was peeking from behind. "Really? You weren't afraid of the federation yesterday but you see a person with wings and you run?" Rick yelled to the kid.
Morty walked from behind the tree looking ashamed. He walked closer to the two.
"You may call me Birdperson. It is easier for your species to say. What can I call you?"
Morty stared at the man. He didn't have much on but that wasn't what confused him, it was the wings. They were huge wings behind the guy. How were they attached? "I-I-I'm Morty." He stammered out.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Morty." The man said.
Morty didn't know what to say, how was this man friends with his overly sarcastic grandfather. The man in front him was almost too polite to know his grandfather.
"Thanks again Birdperson for taking care of my equipment while I was in hiding." Rick said taking Morty from his thoughts. Morty looked to his right to see his grandfather tinkering on the machine.
"You are most welcome." Birdperson said then looked down at Morty. "Rick is a genius. He made this invention and many others. Each one serves a different purpose. When we went into hiding, he asked me to hold his items until he found a safe place."
"Hiding from what?" Morty asked.
Birdperson looked at him questioningly. "He did not tell you?"
"The kid will piece it together eventually." Rick spoke up. "Alright, Morty come over here." He said.
Morty walked over to his grandfather.
Rick had an electrode attached to each of his temples. "Alright, so, on this screen is my brainwaves right now." He pointed to a screen with a large squiggly line. Rick picked up a clear plastic piece that fit over the screen. It held a smaller squiggly line. "This is a normal human's brainwaves." He stated.
Birdperson walked over to the two watching.
Rick picked up two electrodes sticking them to Morty's temples. Once they were applied, a line formed larger than the normal person's brainwaves. However, this one was opposite of Rick's brainwaves.
"It is inverted." Birdperson stated.
Rick stared in awe.
"What does that mean?" Morty asked staring at the screen. He felt like he was out of the loop of something he should understand.
Rick couldn't believe it, Morty was the exact opposite of him. This was the answer to all Ricks everywhere. He looked down at the boy who wore a straight face. Morty had no clue how important he was going to be.
"This is it Birdperson! I found my shield! I found my way to hide!" Rick jumped up and down. It was the first time Morty had seen his grandfather appear happy.
"Indeed, but can you really handle taking care of a child? You can barely take care of yourself."
"Sure, by his age I graduated with a bachelors and was on my way to a doctorate. He won't be that much trouble." Rick said. He looked back at his machine smiling.
Test 2 was a success!
Rick knew he should run a lot more tests before his next plan. But Rick was a risk taker. He was a force all should fear. He was Rick. And he never took the easy way out. His final test was going to either get Morty and him killed or save Ricks everywhere! He was going to be known for years. He was in fact, the best Rick ever!
To be continued…
Birdperson and Jerry are very hard characters for me to portray. I don't know why, but those two personalities are personalities that I can't write. I just kept rewriting what they said during their scenes. So I hope I did a decent enough job.
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