"Please! Please stop!" Morty whimpered from where he crouched in the filthy corner of a basement. His clothes were ripped and stained with fresh blood that still dripped from his last beating. A tall figure stepped out of the darkness and slowly made it's way over to him. "You know that's not how it works sweetheart." The man purred and knelt down to grab Morty's chin in his three-fingered hand. He twisted Morty's jaw harshly towards him and Morty had no choice but to look his abuser in the eyes. "Wh-Why are you doing this?" Morty sobbed and the alien chuckled. "Do I need a reason to play with my pet?" he replied, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world and then slipped two fingers into Morty's mouth. Morty gagged and tried to pull away but the alien simply followed him back, gagging him even more.

Before he could think of the consequences, Morty was biting down hard enough to draw blood. The alien man howled in pain and yanked his fingers back. Suddenly a fist collided with the side of Morty's head and light danced across his vision. He collapsed to the ground in a heap and for a moment he swayed in and out of consciousness. When he came back to, he could hear the alien man cussing under his breath. He smiled weakly at his slight victory but the pleasure of winning one against his capture was quickly stamped out when he heard the snap of the alien's fingers. Three figures appeared out of the darkness and advanced towards him. He began to whimper weakly and tried to scoot away but for some reason his body wouldn't work.

"Have your way with him." His capture said to the three figures, shaking some blood from his hand. "But make sure you save something for me." He added with a chuckled and Morty felt his empty stomach flip. As the three aliens advanced on him he tried his hardest to clear his mind but instead and image of a blue haired scientist with a cocky smile appeared behind his closed eyes. He'll come for me soon. He'll get me out of here. He thought to himself. He'd found it was the only thing that had kept him sane for the past few weeks, days, hours? He wasn't sure. "Ricckk…" He whimpered as hands began to roam over his body. "Please come soon."

Rick had been studying over a few of his blueprints when Morty began to twitch violently in his sleep. He paused and looked up to watch the boy. He had a twisted expression on his face that looked a lot like fear and his hands twitched feebly in his sleep as if fighting something. Rick stood and walked over to the cot to sit on the edge.

"Rick…" Morty muttered softly and he froze.

"Rick please help me." Rick's heart stuttered in his chest and he knew in that instant that Morty must be reliving a nightmare in his sleep. He closed his eyes tightly and wished for the thousandth time that he could have prevented this, wished that he could he had been smarter, faster or whatever it would have taken to save Morty from the horror's that still plagued his mind. He reached a hesitant hand forward and caressed Morty's cheek before slipping his hand into the boy's curls.

For a moment, Morty stiffened but then slowly relaxed under Rick's hand. After a few minutes of Rick carding his hand gently through his hair he settled back into a comfortable sleep. With each passing day that he sat idly by, doing nothing to help Morty, he felt his frustration grow. Why could he not protect the only thing he cared for? He growled softly under his breath and bit his lip painfully. It was too much. Too difficult for him to handle. His whole life, Rick had avoided confrontation, had avoided caring about people because it only seemed to end in disaster and he was afraid. He'd tried with Diane, tried with Beth, but somehow he always seemed to ruin everything and in the end, he'd decided it was much easier to run away but he couldn't do it to Morty. He wasn't sure what it was about the boy that had changed him. It seemed remarkable that of all the worlds in every infinite universe that Rick had visited, Morty was the one person who was able to break down his walls. Maybe it was the fact that out of everyone he had ever met, Morty was the only one who seemed to truly understand his madness.

He never asked Rick to be something he wasn't, like Beth had so frequently done. He never asked Rick to stay like Diane had. He knew it was selfish to be this way but it was who he was and Morty seemed to know that but Rick could never tell him how he felt and it wasn't because he wanted to keep up the farce that he didn't care.

Rick looked down at the hand that wasn't carding through Morty's hair. Images of all the lives he'd taken with these hands flashed across his mind's eye and he balled his hand into a tight fist. Morty was too good, too pure, for him to selfishly throw it all away. So he made sure that he never knew just how much Rick cared for him. It was for the best or so he thought.

Morty awoke slowly to the sound of something buzzing in the distance. For a moment, he began to panic when his eyes flickered open to an unfamiliar setting and his mind flashed back to a filthy room on a far away alien planet but as his eye's adjusted to the darkness of the room he remembered the events of last night. He sat up a little too quickly and his head spun. Whatever Rick had shot him up with last night had clearly not completely worn off and he groaned quietly, screwing his eyes shut to let the room settle. Anger rose up in his chest when he thought about how Rick had dosed him up with some sleeping aid without his permission but when he opened his eyes again and saw his hand bandaged up carefully, the anger died. He thought about the gentle way that Rick had attended to his wounds even though Morty could tell he was mad that he'd hurt himself in the first place. He sighed and rubbed his eyes before ripping the blanket off his legs and swinging them over the edge of Rick's bed.

He waited a moment for the room to settle once again and then slowly got to his feet and headed for the door. It took him a second to remember how to open it but he eventually got it and knocked on the wall twice. The door slid open and Morty was met with a blinding, sparking light. He yelped loudly and the light stopped. Rick had been sitting at his desk, welding something when Morty walked in and he quickly turned off his welder before pulling off his mask. "Morty! Sorry!" he exclaimed and Morty gave him a weird look. He looked uncharacteristically excited to see him. That's when Morty noticed that it was mid-day outside.

"You let me sleep all night and morning?" he quipped and Rick grimaced slightly looking away. "Well…More like 35 hours…" He muttered and trailed off. Morty's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. "You what now?" he replied dumbly and Rick stood up putting his hands out in front of himself defensively as if he thought Morty might hit him, and he was thinking about it. "Morty you needed sleep. It's not like you have school or anything. You graduated remember?" He explained and Morty gave him a dumb look. "Oh did I Rick? Hmm that's interesting!" He bit back sarcastically and turned to head towards the door leading out of the garage and into the living room. "Wait Morty!" Rick called out and Morty stopped. He turned slowly and gave Rick a quizzical look.

"What?" he asked. Rick opened his mouth and closed it like a fish before looking away and rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I…I thought I'd take you out for something to eat." He said simply and Morty starred at him in shock. It was weird enough that he was offering to do something nice for him but the awkward way he was asking was completely different from his normal confident self. "Thanksss…. But I'm not hungry" Morty lied and went to turn away but Rick stopped him once again. "Come on, you need to eat. If you want, we could go to that place in California you like so much?" He said and Morty whipped around a little too fast, his head spinning once again. "You mean In and Out?" he said hopefully and Rick couldn't help but chuckle at the excited look on his face. It was nice to see some child-like behavior in the boy again. Morty couldn't lie. He may not be much for eating nowadays but the prospect of chowing down on some greasy burgers with animal style fries sounded pretty awesome in that moment and his stomach growled loudly, betraying his thoughts.

Rick laughed and grabbed his lab coat off the back of his chair. "Yeah In and Out. Lets go." He said and pulled his portal gun out of his pocket. Morty sighed but didn't protest. Rick fiddled with the coordinates on his portal gun for a moment and then shot a green portal onto the garage wall. Morty froze when he saw the familure green of the portal. It had been a little over a year since he had last stepped through one and the thought terrified him for a moment. Rick seemed to notice the slight panic that suddenly adorned his grandsons face and before he could rethink it, he was reaching out a hand to him. "It's okay. I've got you." He said gently. Morty glanced down at Rick's open hand and then up at Rick once again. Slowly he moved forward and placed his own hand in Ricks. Rick curled his fingers around Morty's and gently pulled him forward. Morty couldn't help but notice that Rick's hand was warm and calloused from years of work. He felt a slight flutter in his stomach and warmth spread to his cheeks but before he could think too much on it, he was being pulled through the portal and out into warm Californian air. It was still relatively early there and there was a warm breeze blowing as the sun sat lazily up in the sky.

Palm trees swayed gently back and forth above them as they made their way through the parking lot and into the front of the In and Out. In less than five minutes, they were seated at one of the tables outside with a platter of food between them. Rick reached into his side pocket and produced his flask. Morty watched unamused as he unscrewed the top and poured a quarter of its contents into the top of his drink. When he looked up and saw Morty's disapproving face he shrugged. "It is what it is kid." He replied and took a sip from his paper cup.

Not wanting to ruin Rick's good mood with another lecture about alcohol abuse, he decided to make a joke instead. "Do I need to remind you that this is a Christian establishment Rick." Morty joked before taking a bite from his burger. He almost moaned out loud from the explosion of flavor that erupted across his taste buds. Rick chuckled softly and snagged one of Morty's animal style fries from his basket. "What are they gonna do Morty, exorcise me?" he joked back and munched on the fry with a smile. Morty laughed loudly and Rick felt his heart squeeze in his chest. It had been a long time since he heard Morty's laugh and he couldn't help but feel proud that it had been because of him. "I don't know Rick. Maybe that's what you need." He laughed and continued eating his burger.

Before he knew it, he had finished off his burger and more than half his fries. He couldn't even remember the last time he had felt so full, and he couldn't help but feel a bit sick. "Sorry, I should have told you to eat slower." Rick said as he noticed the queasy look on the boy's face.

"It's okay. It was worth it." He grimaced and sat back in his chair. He rested his head against the back of it and closed his eyes for a moment, willing his stomach to settle while he soaked up the rays of the sun. It felt good to forget for a while, to let the sun soak into his pale skin and for the first time in a long time he felt full, well rested and content but he knew it wouldn't last. After a moment, he looked back up at Rick who had been starring at him silently. "Thank you." He said softly and Rick looked slightly surprised. "For what?" he asked quizzically. Morty was silent for a moment and Rick couldn't help but notice how good he looked in the sunlight. He looked like he belonged here and Rick was glad he could give him at least that.

"For watching out for me." Morty replied finally but his face took on a sudden sullen look. "But I don't need it." He added quietly, looking away. Rick felt his stomach sink. After all the progress he thought he had made today, it still wasn't enough. "Morty-." He started to say, intending to convince him that he could help but Morty cut him off. "I know you're only doing this because you feel guilty, or maybe because you pity me but I don't need pity and you don't need to feel guilty." He said simply and Rick felt his frustration rise up once again. "Morty. I'm not doing this because I pity you, or because what happened was my fault." He said and suddenly Morty trained his deep green eyes onto him. "Then why?" he asked, his voice suddenly very serious. Rick starred back at him, trying to think of a proper response that wouldn't reveal too much. Because I care, because I want to help you, because I lov- "It's fine Rick. I get it." He responded and then looked away once again. Rick wanted more than anything in that moment to explain himself but he just couldn't do it. He couldn't taint Morty the way he tainted everything else in his life.

For a couple minutes, they sat in silence as the sun began to make its descent. "We should head back. It's probably pretty late back home." Morty said quietly, still not making eye contact with Rick. Rick starred at him for a moment longer before nodding softly. Once they were back in the garage, Morty made his way into the living room and towards the stairs. Rick followed him for a moment and watched as he made his way upstairs slowly. "Morty." He called after a second and the boy stopped. He looked back down at Rick who was standing at the bottom of the stairs. There was a moment of silence between them where they both just starred at each other and then Rick broke it. "I'm sorry." He said quietly and Morty was quiet for another moment. Then he smiled softly and shook his head. "There's nothing for you to apologize for." He replied and then turned slowly to disappear into his room.