a/n: Something you may be wondering is, why give Rick and his wife such a healthy and happy relationship? He left her! Well..yea...but, Rick is an intergalactic criminal, and one of the most wanted and dangerous. Gee, I wonder why he left? HINT: Julie and Beth would be in danger. It's not implausible. In "The ABC's of Beth", Rick also says "..something about your mother.." to Beth, which confirms in my mind he still loves her, but why would he ever admit it? Yes he said his marriage was a failure in "The Wedding Squanchers" and "Rick Potion #9" but again, Rick is not emotionally expressive. He ain't gonna admit to being in love. I know my shit, when there was just Season 1 I watched that shit religiously. Same thing was Season 2. I also have watched Season 3 a lot too.

warnings for nsfw content(no smut yet) and child abuse. otherwise, this chapter is pretty fluffy.

Back on Earth, both Mark and Vivian had been worried sick for Julie, not knowing where she was and trying to look for her. Neither of them had seen or heard from her in over a week, and they hoped she was okay.

However, Mark had a pretty good idea of where Julie might be exactly, which he figured he should voice to Vivian.

"Remember how Julie said she was leaving with Rick somewhere?" He asked.

"And? What about it?" Vivian replied.

"Well.." Mark began. "The day after Julie and Rick left, I saw a newspaper article talking about the fact that the exact same alien ship had been spotted, in the exact spot as before, near Rick's apartment! I think Rick took Julie off-planet to escape that alien!"

Vivian groaned at this. "You honestly believe that nonsense?"

"The last time Julie talked with us, she said she was going with Rick somewhere, she didn't know where they were going, she just knew they were...going. Julie wouldn't just leave for no good reason, and she wouldn't lie either." Mark retorted.

He did have a point there, but she still thought the whole thing was absurd and nonsensical. "This is just too crazy to be true. Look, I've already filed a missing persons report for Julie, she'll be fine."

"I still wouldn't rule out the possibility Viv." He responded. "If I'm right, she'll be back in no time. Rick is gone too after all."

"But how do you know exactly she was taken to space? That seems really far fetched."

"After the first time that alien ship was seen, Julie told me that Rick really is a genius, he's able to make portals to different places in the universe! That's why I think he took her to another planet!"

Vivian sighed, it...did seem to add up...and neither Mark nor Julie were the type to lie about stuff, especially not something as crazy as this. Plus, there wasn't really anything else to go off of to find out where Julie is, and she wouldn't just suddenly run off on them without a good reason.

"But how can you be so sure?" She asked, not wanting to admit defeat.

"Trust me, she'll be back in no time! We just gotta wait.."

Rick was laying on the bed, his eyes shut tight and clawing at his pillow. In his head, a memory was being played in his mind, a very painful and traumatic memory from his childhood.

He was hiding under a table in his room, shaking with fear while holding onto a new invention he had made a couple of days ago. The invention allowed you to make things disappear with a press of a button, and he was very proud of it. But now Rick was clutching onto it, afraid out of his mind as he could hear his father's footsteps approach him.

"Ricardo!" His father yelled. "Get out here right now where I can see you!"

Rick whimpered, not saying anything at all, and this only made his father angrier. "Niño estúpido! Get out here, right now!" He repeated.

His father entered his room, trying to look for him, until he peered down underneath the desk, and saw Rick. "There you are, and with another ridículo inventions of yours." He sneered.

Rick started to cry. "I'm sorry papá...I-I-I just.."

"No excuses!' His father interrupted, and snatched the invention away from Rick. "You will stop making these things if you know what's good for you, they are a waste of time! You should be with your mamá and I on your knees praying! Instead your doing this! After this, I better not see you making any more of these."

Rick's eyes widened as he saw his father throw the invention on the ground. "Please papá! Please!"

His father ignored his words, and he screamed and cried as he watched the invention he worked so hard on, be destroyed right in front of him. His father wanted to take away any control Rick had in his own life, and that meant destroying things that were important to him, things he took pride in.

When it was over, Rick was dragged out from under the desk, his father holding him up and staring at him with rage in his eyes. "What does the Bible tells us Ricardo? Hmm? It tells us niños like you must obey your parents, no matter what we say or do, and from now on, you should remember your teachings and obey me by not making these inventions. Do you understand?"

All Rick could do was nod, but his father still looked disapproving. "On Sunday, you're going to come with me and mamá to church, I expect to see praying to God for forgiveness, sinful niño." Hearing this, Rick's eyes widened, he absolutely did not want to be seen as sinful.

He then dropped Rick, and walked away. Rick stared at the broken pieces of his invention, and broke down into sobs.

Rick's eyes shot open, he hated whenever these old memories would come back to him, and he was forced to relive the abuse of his past.

Back then, he had been a sad, scared and lonely little boy. Combined with the bullying, his pain and misery was even worse, no love, no support or kindness from anyone, he only had himself. He had been so weak back then, and once he escaped his abuse, Rick swore to never let himself be weak again.

His parents had been heavily religious, and wanted Rick to be just as devoted to faith as they were, but even as a child, he was skeptical, and his parents didn't like this, he would be beat for daring to question their religion. They also discouraged his love and passion for science, and as in his memory, destroyed his inventions. He had been so scared of being seen as "sinful" and therefore bad, and damned for Hell. Despite becoming an atheist, and developing an immense hatred for religion, this fear was still ingrained in him...deep down..

He couldn't go to back to sleep now, and didn't want to risk waking up Julie, which is why he decided to get off the bed and head into the living room, where he sat on the couch.

His mind was consumed with his pain...and he was back to worrying if he really would end up in Hell, before attempting to shake it away. Rick needed to take his mind off all this shit and focus on something else.

Rick's thoughts turned to Julie, the only person to ever show him true care, love, kindness and understanding. She was always there for him, and he appreciated her so much, despite the fact he didn't think he deserved even an ounce of her kindness, he didn't believe he deserved anything good happening to him at all.

Julie was everything he wasn't, where she was kind and polite, he was rude and mean, where she was shy, introverted and bashful, he was loud, extroverted and outspoken. She was soft, innocent, gentle, mundane and simple. He was rough, jaded, dangerous, eccentric and crazy. They were polar opposites, she was light and he was darkness, it seemed so odd they got along so well.

But they weren't completely different, Rick had come to find they shared the pain of being bullied, they were both lonely, isolated people with not many close friends. There was also their families, Rick didn't talk to his anymore and Julie's? He...didn't even know, the only time they were brought up was when he asked if she had no family, and it clearly upset her. Before they'd left, Julie had only showed concern for her friends, not her family, it made him curious, and now that they were closer, he figured he'd ask her about it eventually.

They also both liked rock music, had a similar sense of humour, and liked similar foods. Rick had noticed Julie also showed an interest in his science work, space and learning new things, and it made him smile. He had so much to show her in the future.

He found himself thinking about her a lot, she wasn't like anyone he'd ever met, and there was also the feelings she had instilled in him. Rick was starting to finally come to terms with the fact he loved her, and it aggravated him to no end, he clenched his fists together and punched a couch cushion, angry with himself.

What are you doing you idiot? Rick thought to himself. You're falling into the trap people call love! This is only going to end bad for you! He tried to relax, but he didn't know what to do with himself, it's not like Julie would ever love me back anyways. Julie is practically an angel, and I'm a demon, a freak, a monster. There's no way someone like her would love someone like me…

Rick decided to turn to the feelings about her he was comfortable with, his lust. Since he first laid eyes on Julie, he had wanted her. She was so beautiful, and had a nice curvy figure, and was fairly busty too. Plus, being a redhead was a bonus, having a preference for them and all. But Julie wasn't the type of girl it seemed, to just give herself to anyone, he didn't even know if she had ever been with another man in that way. The thought of another man touching her and having his way with her pissed him off to no end, she should be all his!

Rick was use to one night stands, casual sex, hookups...that type of thing, he wasn't use to being intimate with someone in any kind of romantic sense, being with someone he actually cared for and loved...it would be so new to him. That, and he always been with people more sexually forward, which Julie was not, at all, but he welcomed it.

He had never wanted anyone like he wanted her, and the worst part was always being so close to her, getting to share a bed with her, but still unable to make her his. Julie was so sweet, so pure and innocent, he wanted to rip her clothes off, shove her down on the bed and fuck her like a madman, hearing her cry out for him.

Rick growled, feeling as his cock hardened in his pants, he knew it was because of her. For a moment, he fantasized about walking back into the bedroom, waking Julie up, and shoving his cock against her face, forcing her to suck him off. But he couldn't do that to her, and settled on reliving his tension himself.

He undid his belt and unzipped his pants, freeing his aching erection. He grinned, thinking about what Julie's reaction would be to seeing his cock for the first time, he was big and thick, and he could see poor Julie being intimidated by it, but quickly loving how it felt inside her.

He started to stroke his cock, pumping up and down, imagining it was Julie doing this instead of him. Rick moaned in delight, already starting to feel the pain and stress wither away from his mind, replaced by a primal lust and desire for her.

Another fantasy formed in his mind, this time of walking in on Julie naked, her being very flustered and embarrassed, and sucking him off after seeing how hard she'd made him, a way to apologize. Rick could only imagine how soft her lips would feel wrapped around his cock, and he stroked faster at the thought.

"Uhhh fuck.." He groaned. "Julie…"

Rick felt he would cum soon, feeling a pressure building inside him. He was sweating and panting desperately, and soon enough, his back arched as thick strands of cum were released from his cock, a loud moan escaping his throat.

Despite being satisfied, Rick knew it wouldn't be nearly as good as having Julie all to himself. He stretched out his arms, then zipped his pants back up and did his belt again before returning to the bedroom.

When Rick arrived back in the bedroom, he saw Julie awake, a concerned expression on her face. "Are you okay Rick?" She asked. "I heard you saying my name. I hope everything is alright with you.."

Fuck. He thought. She heard me, I fucking woke her up.

"Ah...y-yeah...everything is fine...no need to worry." Rick mumbled, dismissing away her concern.

But the worried look never left her face, she watched as Rick sat down beside her, and she placed one of her hands on his. "Something's wrong..please tell me what it is...you know you can tell me anything Rick, I'm here for you, I want to help you." Julie gently told him.

Rick bit his lip, wondering if he should tell her off all his pain and suffering in his past. Julie was so understanding and supportive, and his trust in her was stronger than ever. But at the same time, he had never talked about his abuse to anyone, not even Birdperson and Squanchy knew, and they were his best friends. There was also the stigma surrounding child abuse, that it was just punishment, that it wasn't real, he hoped she didn't buy into that garbage, but knowing Julie's empathetic nature, it didn't seem likely she would.

The more he thought about it, the more he decided it was a good idea. Besides, if he didn't tell her, she'd feel hurt, like he didn't trust her, and he didn't want that.

Rick took a deep breath, and began explaining his past to her. "I-I-I-I was...having a flashback to my childhood, which wasn't pleasant, at all. My...m-m-my father..he use to beat...m-me and destroy my inventions. H-He.." He started tearing up. "..he would say I was full of...s-sin, that I was a bad child...a-a-and...and I would go to Hell because of my love for science, and my skepticism of my parent's religion: Catholicism. My father always disapproved of everything I did, my mother wasn't much better, she neglected me and didn't give one single fuck about me. They were always so strict t-too.." Rick sighed. "When I was a teenager, I started rebelling and hated everyone and everything, I just..stopped caring about stuff, or at least I told myself I did. I only changed after I got drafted into the Vietnam War, and saw so much….s-s-suffering...around me. As soon as I came back to the States, I just went on my own and stopped talking to my parents. I don't know if they're alive or dead, and frankly, I don't give a shit."

Hearing all the pain and suffering the man she loved had to deal with, caused Julie to cry. She had guessed he was abused, but didn't want to believe it was true, and now she had confirmation from Rick himself that it was. She'd never guessed he was in Vietnam, but it did make sense considering his age. Her heart ached for him, and she wanted to comfort him, kiss him and tell him she loved him, but she still felt too shy and nervous to do the latter two things.

When Rick saw Julie cry, he was both surprised and worried, he had expected her to sympathize with him, but not outright cry. "Julie, don't shed tears for me, I don't deserve them."

"But you do Rick! You've suffered so much in your life, and I...feel terrible for you." Julie cried. "You're my friend and I care so much about you.."

"Ricardo.."

"What?"

"My real name...it's Ricardo, not Rick. Rick is just my nickname.."

Julie looked at him softly, wiping a few tears away. "Ricardo...I like that name, it suits you."

"I guess.." He chuckled nervously. "But it reminds me of my past, and so...I-I prefer to go by Rick."

"Well..maybe it'll help if I start calling you by your full name...Ricardo." She giggled.

Rick giggled back. "Whatever you say..Juliana.."

Julie laughed, and he got a devious idea, when she wasn't looking, he started tickling her sides, making her laugh more. "Oh! Ha ha! Stop it! Hee hee!"

She tried to tickle him back, but he pushed her down playfully. "You think you can defeat me? The master of tickling? You can try all you want, but you'll never be as good as me!" He boasted jokingly.

He wasn't paying attention, having his eyes closed, so Julie took the opportunity and tickled his sides right back. "Why you…" But he couldn't help himself and started to laugh. "Ha ha! I'll...ha...get you back for this!"

Rick tried to tickle her back, but she had him pinned down and he couldn't really move around. "Looks like I won after all!" Julie beamed. She took her hands away, and watched him get up.

"Heh..I guess y-you did..." He admitted.

She relaxed, and looked at him gently. "You feel better now?"

He nodded. "Thanks to y-you."

Julie blushed. "Um...I'm...I'm really sorry for everything you had to suffer through in your life, nobody deserves that. If you ever want to talk more about it with me, or anything else...I'm all ears.." Rick smiled at her sweetly, but then it faded, making her worry again. "Are you worried about having another flashback again?" He didn't say anything, and she pressed her lips together, looking nervous. "You can...sleep closer to me tonight...if it'll make you feel better."

Rick's face went red, but he did think she had a good idea. If he had her closer to him, then he figured he definitely would be more comfortable, and the flashbacks would cease; even if he did have one, she'd be right there. "Sounds...s-s-sounds g-g-good.."

They were blushing like crazy as they got under the covers, and laid close to each other.

An idea came to Rick's mind, he decided to show Julie just how much he appreciated her, but he wasn't good with his words, so he decided a gift would do. He wanted to make the gift a little more personal, so he decided he should make it himself instead of stealing something or whatever.

But what could he make for her? Well, Julie was very girly and feminine, so maybe...jewelry! Maybe he could make a pretty pendant necklace for her! As for the pendent's colour, well, Rick could tell since she wore purple a lot that it was her favourite colour, so he decided the pendent's colour should be a purple shade; he randomly decided to make it lilac-coloured.

Once he was sure Julie was fast asleep, Rick slipped out of bed and into the lab he had set up in the house. He spent some time working on the pendent for her, and when it was finished, he fell asleep from how tired he was.

When Julie woke up the in the morning, she found Rick wasn't in their bed, and instantly became worried for him. She got out of bed, and headed to the lab, thinking he might be there.

She peeked her head in, and saw him laying his head down on the desk, asleep. Julie smiled and walked over to him to wake him up, but before she did, she saw a lilac pendant necklace beside him and was curious, did he make that?

Julie shook him to get him up. "Rick...get up silly!"

Rick's eyes opened, and he instantly felt relaxed when he saw her. "Heh...must've been so tired that I fell asleep here.."

She chuckled. "Yeah...but..why did you leave to go to your lab?" She picked up the pendant necklace. "Was it to make this?"

"Yea.." He blushed. "I-I made it for you...i-i-it's uh...a thank you gift I guess...I-I-I w-was...inspired to make it after you comforted me last night."

Julie blushed as well, touched he would think to make something for her. "Thank you Ricardo...this is very sweet of you..can I put it on?"

Rick nodded. "Sure, go ahead."

He watched as she moved some of her hair away, to put the necklace on, and when it she did get it on, she held onto the pendant part with one hand. "It's so beautiful.." Julie remarked in awe. "This is the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me, I can't thank you enough."

"It's nothing really.." He smiled. "But I'm glad you like it."

Julie wanted to thank him back for the gift, but she didn't know how. As she thought, a risky idea came to mind, but she really wanted to do it and take this chance.

Sucking in a breath, Julie leaned forward and kissed Rick on the cheek, her face red as a tomato. "That's my thank you gift back.." She shyly told him.

Rick breathed heavily, placing a hand on the cheek she kissed, his mind a blur. He hadn't expected her to kiss him, but he was overjoyed she had, at least on the inside. Her lips felt as soft as he imagined they would be. The kiss made him wonder if she felt the same way back, but he shook it away, Rick still thought she could never love someone like him back, maybe she was just being nice..

He saw she was walking away from him, her face still red and her arms crossed while she looked down. Rick walked up to her, smiling ear to ear. "You feeling shy about that kiss? Don't worry, I liked it."

"Y-You did?" Julie stammered.

"Y-Yep." He laughed, then they both heard his stomach growling. "I guess that's a sign to make breakfast huh?"

Julie laughed back. "I have an idea, why don't you help me make breakfast?"

"Ah..h-h-h-help you? I don't know..I'm not really much of a c-cook.."

"Don't worry, I said that you can help right? So it'll be the two of us making breakfast together, no big deal."

Rick was a bit hesitant, but he saw the big smile on her face, showing how eager she was for him to help her, and decided to agree. "Well...okay then…"

"Yay!" She beamed as she hugged him. "This is going to be so much fun!"

It was while trying to help her cook that Rick realized how skilled she was at making food. When he was trying to mix the batter for her, she very quickly he noticed he was going a little too fast, she stopped him and let him know that if he mixed too much, the pancakes would turn out flat instead of fluffy.

He watched as she mixed everything together so effortlessly, and found himself impressed. At the same time, Rick felt insecure about his own abilities, he was having difficulty with this, and she was not. Julie noticed this, and placed a hand on his shoulder, looking at him sweetly. "I can tell you're upset because you don't feel you're as good as cooking as me. But don't worry, I appreciate you helping me, I really do, it's...nice...having you here with me."

Rick still looked unsure, and Julie decided to help him out. She pulled out the vanilla extract and handed it to him. "It may not seem like too much, but putting in a teaspoon of it will add sweetness to the flavour. Every ingredient counts."

His frown turned up into a smile, and he took the vanilla extract from her hands. He put a little bit on a teaspoon like she said, and poured it into the batter. "How did y-you get so good at this anyway?" He asked.

"I've been doing this ever since I was a little girl. I would help...my mother...when she cooked or baked, and she started teaching me how to properly make food. In high school, they also had classes on it, and it kinda helped I guess.." She explained. "But it was mainly down to my mother."

From this, Rick could tell Julie must have a close relationship with her mother, or is it had? She had never mentioned her up until now, and he'd never even seen her before, or Julie's father for that matter. He assumed the worst, thinking something might've happened to them, but decided against bringing it up to her, worried about potentially upsetting her.

"Well no wonder you're so good at this, you've basically been doing this almost your whole life and I've only just started really!" Rick exclaimed.

"I guess I'll just have to teach you!" She giggled.

And that's exactly what she did, the rest of the time they continued making pancakes, Julie helped him out as best she could, like whisking the batter or making a well in the center of the flour mixture. When they reached the part of flipping the pancakes, Julie laughed and clapped as she watched Rick flip the pancakes into the air and catch them perfectly.

When the pancakes were done, they sat down and ate them together at the kitchen table. Julie savoured every bite of the pancakes, she had made them with Rick and so they were special to her. It meant a lot to Julie that he agreed to participate in something she loved with her. She wanted to do the same with him, like having him show her cool science stuff, like maybe getting to see some chemical reactions.

Every moment they spent together felt like a dream, or like a fairy tale to her. Julie had found someone that actually cared about what she liked, and even if he wasn't interested in something she was, at least he pretended like he did. The only exception was that Rick hated romance, so he didn't like her romance novels. But looking back, maybe it would be different next time, after all, they had gotten closer, and Rick was becoming increasingly nicer to her. Knowing of her own feelings for him, Julie really hoped he'd change his tune about love..

After breakfast, Julie decided to bring up her idea about him sharing some neat science stuff with her. "I was thinking perhaps...some really cool chemical reactions? I mean...we don't have to do that if you don't want to but.."

"No." Rick cut her off. "It sounds like a great idea, and in fact, I have some in mind you might like…"

Julie beamed at this, and excitedly headed off into his lab with him. Rick had her put on the proper protective gear, but when she asked why he didn't do the same, he told her he didn't care about his safety and was only concerned about hers. She was touched, but insisted he put on protective gear too, and he hastily complied.

"I think you're gonna like this one, the reaction is called luminol, it's a molecule that glows when it interacts with chemicals like hydrogen peroxide, which is what I'm gonna use." He announced. "Watch this."

He poured some hydrogen peroxide and iron into a container with luminol it, and she watched in awe as it begun to glow. "How does it do that?" She asked curiously.

"The hydrogen peroxide takes away some h-hydrogen atoms from the lu-luminol, creating a new form that reacts with oxygen, making it unstable. The molecule is glowing as it's in the process of trying to become more stable. You need a catalyst though to make it work, which is why I put i-iron in it." Rick explained.

Julie did her best to understand, and found she picked up on his explanation easily. She remembered she had done fairly well in science back in high school after all. She was nowhere near as smart as Rick, no one can be, but she was happy that she could follow along on his explanations and understand him, she could tell he truly loved what he did. Julie remembered that Rick said his father disapproved of his love for science and destroyed his inventions, and it made her heart ache for him, she couldn't imagine having your parents be so disapproving of something you loved.

They did a few more reactions together, before going to explore more places in town together(and Julie putting her new necklace back on, having to take it off earlier), like a park and a mall, which Julie loved due to how much she liked to shop.

When they returned home, they headed off to relax on the balcony of their house. Julie found herself feeling very relaxed sitting with Rick.

At the same time, something was gnawing at her that she couldn't ignore: she was homesick. Julie missed her friends, she missed her home, she missed Earth, she knew she couldn't go back, but she longed to regardless. It wasn't all bad of course, she had Rick with her, but still..it hurt so much to be away from her real home. She glimpsed back at Rick and sighed, and he could tell something was wrong.

"What's up?" He asked, concern in his voice.

"It's just…" Julie sighed. "I miss Earth."

"Oh...homesick huh?"

She nodded sadly.

"It's...d-d-don't think about it okay? We'll be back on Earth in no time, just you wait." He assured her.

Julie appreciated it, but it still bothered her, and as she watched the sun setting on Glorf, she thought about the sunsets on Earth.

a/n: Translations(might not be the most accurate since I used google translate):

papá=dad

mamá=mom

niño estúpido=stupid boy

niños/niño=children/child

ridículo=ridiculous

Oh boy, i have a lot to say...

Firstly, I thought Rick being a victim of child abuse makes sense. I read up on some theories about Rick's childhood and it was perfect. I made Rick specifically have a Catholic upbringing, since I heard Rick was confirmed as Mexican and Mexico is highly religious, most people there are Catholic. This isn't a slant on Catholicism, though my mom grew up Catholic and was abused too, I just think abusive religious parents using their religion to control and manipulate their child is highly plausible. Rick's father saying that thing about children having to obey their parents is a reference to one of the Ten Commandants, it's this one: "Honor thy father and mother." I think the Bible also has a ton of shit on it too. I know it doesn't specifically say anything about obeying, but it was what was on my mind while writing that scene.

I also thought Rick still having the fear of being seen as sinful and stuff would explain things like when Rick had sacrificed himself for Morty and when he saw the collar, he was babbling about God, or when we saw another version of him praying for Hell to be merciful towards him. Would explain his hatred for religion(and tradition?).

And Rick's full name being Ricardo makes sense too(he is Hispanic-Latino after all). i always thought it made more sense than his full name being Richard.

Having them share their interests and become closer was important to me, I really wanted to show how compatible they truly are with each other, and it makes their romance more believable.

The pendent idea seems random but I read up on theories and saw one where Rick gives pendents to the important women in his life. Diane has one, Beth has one in the Simple Rick commercial from "A Ricklantis Mix-Up". He also asks Supernova about a pendent in "Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender". I saw that theory and thought it made perfect sense, so I included it.

also, i had to look up a pancake recipe and chemical reactions for this, you're welcome.