The next day, Julie had went to get a vase for the rose as she said she would, putting it on her dresser and placing the rose in it. Considering the rose was made out of crystal and therefore not organic, she decided against putting water in it.

She admired the beauty of the rose, watching how it sparkled in the light of the sun from an open window. The memories of yesterday came flooding back at her, and her heart began to flutter in her chest. She had accepted she was starting to get a crush on Rick, admiring how strong and brave he was, and loving that he could take her to new worlds. At the back of her mind, Julie wondered if her feelings would go from just a crush, to full blown being in love, and if that turned out to the case, she hoped Rick would return her feelings, and their possible relationship would last.

Julie sighed, and decided to try and clear her mind of her worries by reading one of her books. Reading a romance novel, she figured, might only make her insecurities about finding true love come back to her, so she read something from a different genre, another favourite of hers, fantasy.

She continued to read her book, until she heard a knock at the front door. Getting up, Julie went over to see who it was, and when she opened, her heartbeat quickened upon seeing it was Rick. "Oh Rick..it's you!" She greeted with a shy smile. "What are you doing here?"

"J-Just coming over to stop by." He explained, not wanting to admit the real reason he was here was to see her again, wanting to spend more time with her.

She let him in, and he walked around for a moment, before something popped into his mind. "Do y-y-you have any nail polish?" He asked.

Julie gazed at him with a surprised expression. "Do I have any...what?"

"Nail polish. I was thinking we could paint our nails together."

"Of course!" Julie blurted out. "I um...I think that would be fun.."

He chuckled, and they went into the bathroom where she kept her make-up. Julie opened the cupboards and pulled out two bottles of nail polish, one blue and one purple. Rick grabbed the purple bottle, and they sat down on a rug. Julie reached out her hand, and he grabbed it before beginning to paint her nails with the purple nail polish.

Julie noticed he seemed a bit shy about touching her, his hand only just barely on her's. She knew he clearly wasn't used to any touching that was more….gentle? Maybe intimate in general, but she didn't know if he...was….sexually active, and even if he was, Rick didn't know what to do with this type of..affection. Julie didn't know why, and it made her worry for him, but she tried not to dwell on it. Right now, he was being nice and painting her nails, and she would relish on his touch for as long as she could.

When he finished, Julie was a little surprised at how well done it looked, and how neat it was. "You...you did a great job Rick! Have you done this before?"

"Yep, I have." He confirmed. "I've painted my nails black before a lot."

"Really? That's so cool!" Julie exclaimed. "I haven't heard of guys wearing make-up before, so it's...kinda neat you do."

"Well…" Rick blushed. "I just do whatever the hell I want, I've learned to stop giving a fuck about what people think of me, don't have the time for it anyways."

Now Julie saw that she found more things to admire about Rick, the fact that he did whatever he wanted without a care in the world, and he didn't care how people viewed him. She admittedly wished she could be like that, but she wasn't as brave or as confident as he was.

Julie then held onto Rick's hand, noticing his face was still red, then began to paint his nails blue. He kept his fingers steady despite his nerves, her touch was very soft and gentle, in fact it seemed like everything about her was like that too; Julie had a gentle heart, and the sound of her voice was very soft and quiet, her skin was soft and smooth too. He just let her continue to paint his nails, watching how calm and patient she was the whole time, slightly wishing he could be like that at the back of his mind.

When Julie finished, he looked at his freshly painted nails and grinned. "This looks great, almost as good as how I-I-I d-do it." He teased playfully.

Julie giggled, catching on quickly that he was teasing her jokingly, and playfully pushed him a little, making him laugh. "You look...well...umm..very nice. Blue looks really good on you…" Her own face went red as she complimented his appearance.

"And purple looks really good on y-you too, I can see why y-y-you w-wear it so much." Rick complimented back while winking.

Julie didn't know how to respond to his obvious flirting, and covered her face with her hands shyly.

Rick laughed and quickly pulled her hands away. "No need to be so shy, but you do look really cute when you're like this.." He grinned. Julie covered her face again, making Rick laugh more. "What? Never been called cute before? Because it is true."

"I guess I'm just not used to it...I don't know.." She muttered quietly.

"Well, I guess you'll ju-just have to h-huh?" He gave her a crooked smile, and sat up, Julie sat up too.

"I guess.." She replied. "By the way, I..um...wanted to show you something.."

He followed her to her room where she picked up the crystal rose in the vase. "I thought it would fit in a vase, so I bought one today." She explained. "It..doesn't need water does it? I mean...it's not organic, or at least I think so, so I didn't-"

"No no, it's okay. Y-You're right, it d-doesn't need water, it'll be f-fine." Rick assured her, causing Julie to breathe a sigh of relief.

Rick looked around a little, and he groaned upon remembering her collection of romance novels when he saw them again. Julie just smiled when she heard him, and walked up to him. "What's the matter Rick? Don't you like romance stories as much as I do?"

"No!" Rick hissed. "Love is ridiculous and pathetic; all it is, is just a chemical reaction in the brain, nothing more."

Julie wasn't phased by this, however. "Aw, you don't really believe that do you? Even if you're right that it is the result of a chemical reaction, it's much more complicated than that."

"It's not, when you supposedly 'fall in love', you're just doomed to be in an unhappy, failing marriage that you get stuck in."

Shit, he really wasn't kidding at all, he was being completely serious. Julie wondered why Rick had such a disdain for love, did he have his heart broken in the past or something? But then it hit her, what if Rick had never truly experienced what love is? He had cut off all contact with his family, he had trust issues, he was isolated and reclusive and he wasn't use to affection directed towards him. She didn't want to think about the possibility that Rick's parents had been cruel and abusive, never showing him any love or kindness, but it was a possibility she couldn't ignore. Her heart ached for him, and the thought of someone she cared for suffering so much was enough to make her cry.

"Rick..I just want you to know that you can trust me, you can tell me anything. We're friends aren't we? And I...I care about you...a lot. Whatever happened to make you think this way, you can tell me about it when you're ready." She said softly, looking right at him.

Rick gazed at her, feeling nervous, he wasn't use to anyone talking like that to him...being so kind and gentle...it was just so odd and strange to him. He wasn't sure how to handle this at all, so he began to leave the room. Julie sighed, feeling dejected he hadn't even given her a response, but she was hopeful he would tell her when he felt the time was right.

Rick eventually found the record player Julie owned, along with her records, impressed with her choice in bands, and decided it would be a perfect time to reveal one of his secrets. So, they went over to Rick's apartment, where, much to Julie's shock, Rick pulled out a guitar.

Julie gasped. "You play guitar?"

"Yep," He nodded. "Do you remember seeing that poster for the b-band 'The Flesh Curtains'? That's the band I'm a part of."

Now she was even more shocked. "You're part of a band? That's amazing! Who are your bandmates?"

"Two friends of mine named Birdperson and Squanchy. I play the guitar, Squanchy is drums, and Birdperson sings."

Julie could tell from the names alone that his friends weren't human, so while it seemed Rick was reclusive on Earth, she was glad to know he wasn't everywhere else in the universe. "Do you think..I can meet them sometime?" She asked.

"Sure, maybe-"

There was a loud crash, and Rick was annoyed to see Cyn in his apartment angrily. "This is already getting old.." Rick grumbled.

"Give it back Sanchez! I'm sure you still have even a piece left!" Cyn demanded.

Cyn noticed Rick didn't even budge, and well, he couldn't have that. He had to find a way to get Rick to actually do something, so he scanned around the apartment until his eyes focused on a clearly frightened Julie. Rick had hid her earlier, so he figured that he must care about her. He aimed his gun at Julie, watching as she started shaking with fear. "You give whatever you have left back, or your girlfriend here gets it." He threatened.

Rick stepped in front of Julie protectively. "You leave her alone, and….s-s-she isn't m-my…..g-g-g-girlfriend."

Cyn shook his head. "Tsk..tsk..you clearly care a lot about her, considering how protective you're being. You've given yourself a weakness! Ha! Most dangerous criminal in the galaxy my ass.."

Rick was enraged even further, and Julie watched from a distance as the two fought each other. Rick wasn't holding back at all, he was knocking Cyn down, punching and kicking him.

She remembered that thing Cyn had said about Rick being the 'most dangerous criminal in the galaxy', was it true? Julie couldn't stop thinking about it, if it was indeed true, she really wasn't sure what to think...they had good memories together already, she had a huge crush on him, and he treated her nice enough…

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw Rick grab onto her and walk towards a wall. He pressed a button and much to her surprise, there was a ton of firearms that appeared underneath. Rick let go of his grasp on Julie, and strapped some of the guns on. Cyn sneered at him and Julie began to hide as the Rick and Cyn fired at each other, until Cyn managed to shoot Rick in the shoulder, making him grip onto and collapse to the floor.

Julie, in a state of worry and concern, wrapped her arms around him. Cyn approached them and pointed his gun at him.

Somehow, she was feeling a burst of confidence, and looked right up at him. "Leave him alone...please don't hurt him anymore.." She whimpered.

Cyn scoffed at this. "Really? You still defend him? Even after I said he's the most dangerous criminal in the galaxy? You must really care about him don't you?" He snickered mockingly. "Well you should know, he does whatever he wants, and by that I mean he steals and kills without a care in the world. He's selfish, he's destroyed a few worlds too. What makes you think he cares about you? He's been at this for only a few years, and he's already proved himself to be a huge threat. You shouldn't be doing this."

Julie took in his words, but really didn't know what to say, she decided she would talk about this with Rick when Cyn left. She simply sobbed against his shoulder, making Cyn roll his eyes and head off towards Rick's lab.

Rick had heard the things Cyn had said to Julie, but he had to felt too weak to speak up. He really hoped Julie didn't hate him now…he also had been glued to the spot because of how close Julie had been, how she'd held him and sobbed against him.

He managed to slowly get up and pressed his hand against the wall, and red button appeared. Rick hit it, and he and Julie heard a scream.

Out of the lab popped out Cyn, who had burn marks all over his body, and he hadn't been able to get what he came for. He tried to fight back against Rick, but was consumed by pain, and fled as fast as he could back to Fyralog.

After Cyn was gone, Julie sat Rick down on the couch and began tending to his wounds. Both were silent, unsure what to say to each other. Rick hadn't wanted to Julie to know the truth about him, but it was inevitable unfortunately. The fact she was still here and looking after him was a good sign though, he really wanted to remain friends with her.

When Julie finished, she focused her gaze straight at him, making Rick put his head down. "Rick please...it's okay.." She said softly, but he still didn't look at her.

Julie thought of all the happy memories she and Rick had shared, like when she'd rode on his back, or when they went to the gem/crystal planet, or painting their nails together. Even when Rick was still living with her, he'd never harmed her, at the worst he'd been rude initially, but it hadn't taken him too long to soften up. The more Julie thought about it, the more she knew that she couldn't hate him, she cared for him so much, he was her new best friend and crush after all. Though, the fact he killed people did bother her a little, and destroying other worlds...she decided she needed to at least ask him about that.

"Cyn said you kill people and destroy other worlds.." She murmured.

He sighed. "Not..i-innocent people, I wouldn't gain anything from doing that at all, they didn't do anything either. The people I do kill are those are get in my way, like they try and kill me first. When it comes to...destroying other worlds, I don't kill worlds that h-have people on it, I just kinda mess around with blank ones for f-fun." He then gave her a look that was basically saying 'please don't hate me'.

Julie trusted his explanation, he didn't seem to be terrible like Cyn made him out to be after all. She gave him a gentle look. "I don't hate you Rick, not at all. We're still friends, and I care about so much."

At this, Rick felt his heartbeat go faster, he didn't understand why he was so relieved that Julie wanted to remain friends with him, he just did…

"T-T-Thank y-y-you.." He smiled back, warming Julie's heart.

Rick got up, and clenched his fists together, he still was angered Cyn had threatened to hurt Julie, and he felt that, that blue asshole would come back at some point. They couldn't stay here, not when Julie was in danger, Rick didn't care for his own safety, he just wanted to be sure Julie would be okay.

Julie watched as Rick got out a bag and put the remains of the fuel source in it. "What are you doing? What's going on?" She asked.

"We're leaving Earth." Rick announced.

Julie's mouth hung open. "We're...what?"

"We can't stay here, not when you're in danger."

"But...my friends-"

"Will be fine," Rick finished. "He doesn't know about them, don't worry."

Julie was nervous about leaving Earth, but again, she trusted Rick and knew he was right about her being in danger, him too. So, she agreed to go with him off-planet.

Rick only carried some weapons with him other than the fuel source, but Julie had brought a lot, as Rick had told her he wasn't sure how long they'd be leaving. She packed up some clothes, hygiene products and books with her; she was going to bring food too, but Rick told her he had it covered. Before leaving, Julie had called Mark and Vivian to tell them she was 'leaving somewhere', they asked where, but she said she didn't know where, just that she didn't know when she was coming back. They were concerned, but Julie told them to not worry about it, and that she'll be alright, mentioning Rick was leaving with her, then hung up.

They left on Rick's ship, and when they made it out into space, Julie found herself completely amazed. She pressed her hands against the glass, and looked around to see the sights space had to offer. Rick watched her in amusement for a moment, before going back to piloting the ship.

Though, despite her curiosity and all, Julie was wondering about something. "Where are we going exactly Rick?"

"There's a planet called Glorf we can take refuge in. It used to be the home planet of the Glorfian Empire, rivals of the Fyralogins, even after the empire collapsed a long time ago." Rick explained. "That rivalry is still there, if we go showing the chunk of fuel I still have, they'll let us stay."

Julie nodded, and continued to look out at space again. She already missed Earth, but knew leaving as for the best.

When they arrived on Glorf, the citizens immediately aimed their weapons at both Rick and Julie, before Rick pulled out the fuel, making them drop their weapons.

"You have a part of the Fyralogin's fuel source! But why?" The clear leader of the group asked.

"I just took it to power some weapons, and now I got some asshat coming after me, trying to take it back. He's been annoying, and has been threatening her." He pointed to Julie upon saying the last part.

The leader nodded. "Do you want you and your girlfriend to take refuge here? We'd be more than happy to help."

"She's n-not m-m-my.." He groaned. "Yes.."

With that, both Rick and Julie were transported to a small town by Glorfian standards. "You'll be safe here," The leader said. "We will let you stay in a large house here, and if the Fyralogins come for us, we'll be ready."

Rick grinned, and looked over at Julie, who while still feeling nervous and overwhelmed by the advanced technology, did feel okay with this, as she had Rick by her side.

a/n:My thing with this series is to give it a completely different feel than the show. I use inspiration from real stuff in space(like the flying thing Rick and Julie did in chapter 4? it's theoretically possible to do that on the moon Titian). the aliens don't look as weird, and the names and planets themselves aren't as odd either. This is because of Julie's presence. with Julie the universe is a beautiful place, filled with wonder and excitement. Without her, the universe is horrific and deadly.

Young Rick isn't as bad as rick is now, he hasn't been through as much, and hasn't gone down the deep end as much as Rick as now. That's why he acts a little different and is more easily trusting.

Also, the facial hair I imagine young Rick having is the same kind one of Rick's younger clones had in "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez", the one I'm pretty sure is the young adult/middle-aged design(I say middle-aged too because Rick had the same haircut in his photo with baby Morty in "Get Schiwfty"). The hairstyle of that Rick is the same one he has in this story, but I always imagine him blond, with the exact shade being the same colour as Beth's hair. His facial hair too, if you can't tell is stray strands of hair in-between his nose and mouth, later on he makes it the same as his Flesh Curtains look, stray strands of hair on his chin.