After some time, Julie had finally decided she should tell Rick about her longing for motherhood. She had been thinking about it, and knew that it would make her even happier than she already was.

Julie had always wanted to be a mother, even as a child she had liked the idea. When she was a little girl, she would pretend to be the mother of her dolls and do things like put them to sleep in her bed or pretend to feed them. When she ended up finding out where babies really come from, and not sent by a stork, it did make her feel a little weird, but she quickly got over it, and still wanted to be a mother.

Now that she and Rick were married, Julie thought it was the right time to see if he was okay with being a father. She wasn't sure though, knowing Rick's….upbringing and all, and even if he said no, Julie didn't mind, because she knew as long as she had him, she would still be happy.

One day, Rick had noticed her sitting by the window, appearing solemn, and was worried for her. "What's wrong Gingersnap?" He asked.

Gingersnap was the pet name Rick had came up with to call Julie, and she adored it. He'd also call her variants on it like Gingerbeer or Gingerbread, she liked them too.

She turned her head over to him. "It's just..well..I don't know how you'd feel about this but...I want to have a baby with you."

Rick was surprised by this, and wasn't sure how to feel. He didn't know anything about being a father. "R-Really? With m-me?"

She nodded. "I've wanted this for so long, and we've been married for a fair amount of time so I was just thinking...but if you don't want this, that's okay."

Rick pressed his lips together, thinking for a moment. Despite the fact he knew nothing about parenting, Julie wanted to be a mother, and if she wanted something, he couldn't bring himself to say no to her. She had told him he could say no, but he didn't want to, Rick could tell being a mother would make her happy. "Alright."

"I thought you might say-" Then she realized what he'd actually said. "Wait what? You're okay with this? I didn't think.."

"You want to be a mother, so I'll let you be one. I want you to be happy." He explained.

She teared up a little, feeling so touched at his words. "Thank you so much Ricardo.." She then hugged him.

"Aw it's n-nothing…" He blushed.

"Sooo….when are we gonna start trying for a baby?" Julie asked.

"How about tonight?" Rick winked.

"Tonight it is."

They had relished in their lovemaking that night, with Julie getting Rick to cum in her multiple times just to be sure. Over the next week, it was the same thing too, where they'd have sex every single night.

They both enjoyed it, a lot, and Julie hoped their efforts would result in her becoming pregnant. She had also went out and bought a pregnancy test, and several books on parenting both she and Rick could read up on.

A few weeks later, Julie and Rick had what started as a normal day, getting up and eating breakfast together. She had made them both eggs, sausages and hash browns, and was pleased upon seeing how he no longer wolfed down his food anymore, though she did kinda miss it, it had showed how goofy he could be.

Now it seemed like the opposite, Rick watched as Julie wouldn't stop eating her breakfast, not even for a second, and it made him laugh. "You okay there Gingersnap?" He asked jokingly.

"I think so." She told him while eating, making him laugh more.

Julie wondered why was being like this, and wondered if it had to do with...wait...was she pregnant? She knew one of the symptoms was having cravings, and she had decided to make this breakfast in particular because she had been craving some sausages...she gasped. "I'll be right back sweetie." Julie said to Rick, getting off her chair and heading into the bathroom.

As she went there, she remembered that when she and Rick had made love a couple of days ago, her breasts had been more sensitive than usual, that was another symptom. Julie really did hope was pregnant..

After using it, Julie checked the results, and was overjoyed to see she was indeed pregnant.

She was so relieved, so filled with joy and happiness that her dream of being a mother was coming true. Julie placed a hand on her stomach and rubbed it a little, knowing her and Rick's baby was growing inside her. She knew now she had to go tell Rick the good news.

Julie ran out of the bathroom, pregnancy test in hand, and over to Rick. "I have great news!"

"What is it?" He asked.

She showed him the pregnancy test, and his eyes widened. "We're having a baby!" She announced.

"Oh, that's great.." Rick's voice sounded less than thrilled.

"What's the matter Rick?" Julie asked. "Are you nervous about becoming a father?"

He nodded. "Yeah...I-I just...I-I-I don't know anything at all about being a d-dad. I won't k-know what the hell I'm doing."

"I understand, knowing what your childhood was like and all, but I can help you. I bought books on parenting you can read, its generally geared towards mothers, but a lot of it can apply to fathers too. You'll also have me there to help you when you need it." She assured him.

"I guess so...the only problem is, you have a job, you won't always be there." Rick said sadly.

"Don't worry, if you ever don't know what to do, you can either look at the books, or just call me. It'll be fine." Julie smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder.

He smiled back. "Sounds good." Then he kissed her. "Now that you're pregnant though, just try to be careful okay? Don't wanna lose the baby and all.."

She laughed. "I'll be okay Rick, don't worry about me."

"But I can't help it," He grinned. "I'm just trying look to out for you, you know."

"I know, and it's very sweet of you, but at the most, I've only been pregnant for a few weeks. You only need to be worried when my belly gets bigger."

He gulped, making Julie laugh again.

Julie had told Mark and Vivian she was pregnant, and both were happy for her, she'd even told some of her co-workers as well, and they were happy for her too(though in the few times they'd seen Rick, they thought he was freaky, but never said anything about it).

For the first few months, things didn't really change all that much. Julie still went to work as normal, and though she was a little cautious at times, she still acted mostly the same as always. Rick acted protective though, despite Julie saying otherwise, but thought it was sweet regardless, he also was acting more affectionate than usual.

The big differences were what came with her pregnancy. She had to deal with morning sickness at times, which worried Rick, who would always end up advising her to stay home from work, which she tended to agree to. Julie also dealt with cravings, and sometimes Rick would find her eating something in the kitchen in the middle of the night, and sometimes he'd join her. Not only that, but Julie was often far more tired too, and Rick again insisted she stay home, which she did occasionally. There was also the diet changes that came with it, but Julie already ate healthy, so there wasn't much of a difference there.

As the weeks had passed by, Rick was reading those books she'd bought him, feeling more panicked about his inevitable fatherhood as time went on. Julie on the other hand, was still as excited as ever to be a mother, having no problems with at all. Of course, she was a bit nervous and worried about it at times, but her eagerness surpassed those feelings. Julie had wanted to be doing some shopping for the baby on her time off, but decided to wait until they knew the gender of the baby, it would narrow the choices down.

Speaking of which, when the time was right, and Julie did have an ultrasound to find out the baby's gender, she and Rick found out they were having a girl. With this revelation, Julie had started to buy things for the baby, including furniture for the baby's room.

The house they lived in had a spare room, which neither had really used, so they decided it would be good for the baby's room.

When all was ready, they just thought up names too, and had ended up settling on the name Beth.

The months passed on, and Julie's belly was getting bigger, making her feel a bit self-conscious about her appearance, but Rick was there to make her feel better, which worked out well.

It was now nine months into her pregnancy, and both knew Beth could arrive any day now.

One day, they were simply relaxing at home, with Rick keeping a protective arm around Julie.

But while they did this, Julie started to feel a contraction, then another. It hit her then and there that the baby was coming. "Rick..I think the baby is coming.." She warned him.

Rick instantly began to panic. "Oh no, oh shit, shit, fuck, fuck!"

He then gently picked up Julie, and used his portal gun to bring them to the nearest hospital, which also happened to be the one Julie worked at, where she was taken to the maternity ward. Rick had been annoyed the doctors wouldn't let him see Julie, so he ended up in a really bad mood while waiting, and gave anyone who passed by him an angry glare.

When enough time passed, a doctor came out and told him he could see Julie, and he eagerly did so.

He stepped into the room and saw Julie, a few of her fellow nurses nearby her, holding a pink bundle in her arms. His eyes widened, as he walked over to Julie, who was smiling sweetly at him. Rick was soon close enough, and his face softened when he saw their newborn baby.

Julie noticed the look in his eyes. "Do you wanna hold her?" She asked. Rick nodded, and she handed Beth over to him.

As he held in her arms, all of his previous worries and fears about being a father seemed to fade away. After nine months of waiting, his baby girl was finally here, and he was finally holding her for the rest time. Of course, the nerves he had felt about the whole thing hadn't completely faded away, but he did feel better holding her, feeling nothing but love and warmth for his daughter. Rick knew he would always protect her from harm, worrying his enemies might try and come after her. Julie had been his only weakness for a while, but now Beth was one of his weaknesses too, and much like with her mother, he'd kill anyone that tried to hurt her. It was a good thing he'd put some top notch security in his and Julie's house(even before moving in too, a way to keep her safe while he wasn't there).

Rick eventually put Beth back in Julie's arms, and stayed with the two of them a little longer, before he was forced to leave, much to his anger. He knew the doctors had to check on them both to make they were healthy enough to leave.

Julie returned home with Beth the next day, and when Rick saw them again, he went up to them and kissed Julie on the forehead. "So I guess it went well huh? He asked.

"Yep, and I knew it would anyways; I was doing just fine during my pregnancy after all, labour wasn't too bad either." She responded.

"How did you get back home anyways? Did y-y-you have to w-walk?"

"Thankfully no, one of my fellow nurses, Carol, drove me and Beth home in her car. She insisted that I shouldn't have to walk home, and questioned me on why you didn't drive me to the hospital." Julie explained. "I asked her if she saw something glowing green and she said yes, I told her that that's how you brought me there. She was confused, but didn't ask any more questions. You know my co-workers are terrified of you."

"Aw, why's that?" Rick playfully asked.

"Remember that time when you found out a doctor at the hospital I work at was flirting with me? When you stormed in, you ended up scaring everyone with how threatening you were being towards him."

He snickered. "Doesn't help that I was giving everyone a death stare at the hospital while waiting for y-you."

She just laughed, and looked down at Beth. "You know, while you were gone, I was thinking about all the potential Beth has. You're her father, a genius, and not an ordinary one either but instead the smartest man in the universe! I bet your smarts passed onto her."

"Wouldn't be surprised, I'm sure you're right that she'll be a gifted kid just like I was." Rick smiled.

She smiled back, but then a concerned look appeared on her face. "I am worried about something though...what if she gets bullied? I mean...she could get bullied for mixed race and all..I don't know..I just…"

"It's alright, I get it. Unlike with us, I'll make sure Beth is strong, confident and assertive so she'll stand up to her bullies and defend herself." He assured her.

Julie glimpsed back down at Beth, stroking her soft features. "That sounds good, maybe she'll take after you in terms of her personality."

"M-Maybe she will…"

Julie was only given six weeks of maternity leave, and she did her best to make those six weeks count. She had settled on bottle feeding, so that Rick could feed the baby too, she wouldn't always be around after all. Julie taught Rick things like how to properly feed the baby with the bottle, and heating up the bottle. When it came to changing diapers, Rick just made an invention to do it for him, and Julie didn't blame him at all.

Rick had been annoyed by hearing the sound of crying constantly in the middle of the night, but regardless, if Julie didn't wake up, he would still be very gentle with Beth until she managed to fall asleep.

He was also annoyed that he and Julie couldn't have sex during the entirety of her maternity leave, and though he knew it was because her needed those six weeks to go back to normal, it still bothered him. Knowing this, Julie did promise she'd make it up to him, which she did.

The first time Julie left for work again, Rick felt lost without her help. When Beth started to cry, he felt panicked, but much to relief, feeding her had calmed her down. Even though he didn't know what to do without her, he managed to take care of Beth well.

The months went on, and Beth had grown quite the fondness towards Rick. She would happily coo every time she saw him, and would reach out for him to hold her. Her first word was even "dada", and after she'd initially said it, she went on gleefully repeating it. Rick would make simple inventions for her to play with, like miniature version of the hologram he'd used to propose to Julie with, which never failed to fascinate Beth.

Beth adored her mother as well, and hated whenever she left for work, and when Julie returned, Beth would reach out for her to hold her. Julie was very affectionate towards Beth, and would often hug and kiss her, making Beth laugh and coo in delight.

There was also that time Julie had brought Mark and Vivian over to see Beth, but it didn't go over well as Mark had accidently scared Beth, but he'd managed to get along with her well eventually.

As Beth grew older, she was a happy and curious little girl who followed Rick everywhere when she could, always wanting to get into his things. Rick ended up letting her come on adventures with him, only to realize she was starting to display violent and sociopathic-like tendencies, and immediately stopped. One day after school, he'd found her with a dead animal and scolded her for it before cloning it. He ended up making her, her own little world called Froopyland, which she loved.

It was at this point that Rick became more distant with Beth, and it reached the point where she hardly saw him. She ended up having to draw him into family photos because he was just never there(though strangely Beth noticed her mother never realized this), and she hated it. Regardless, Beth preferred Rick over Julie now, as he was, to her, "really amazing and cool" and found her mother was boring and paled in comparison to Rick.

One morning, Beth found Julie and Rick talking to each other in the kitchen, and started listening to what they were saying.

'What happened to you sweetheart? You've got a nasty scar on your face. Have you been going on adventures by yourself or something?"

"I'm fine Gingersnap, don't worry about me. Just ran into a little trouble, that's a-all."

"Rick, please...you need to be looking after Beth."

"I know it's just...something's not right with her, she's dangerous.."

"She's fine, and if you do think she's dangerous, you need to do something about it."

"..I-I will.."

Just then, Beth poked her head in. "Mom, stop being mean to dad!"

Julie was both surprised and confused. "Mean? Sweetie, what are you saying?"

"Dad is perfectly fine as he is, you should leave him be you big meanie!" Beth retorted.

"Beth! Don't talk to your mother that way!" Rick snarled. "Go to your room!"

Beth 'hmphed' and did as she was told.

Julie was at a loss for words, and Rick could tell she was upset. "It's okay Gingersnap..don't worry about it.."

She sniffled a little. "I don't understand what I did wrong.."

"Y-You didn't do anything wrong at all." He assured her, kissing her cheek. "I don't know what her deal is, but she needs to stop w-with that attitude."

Julie felt crushed that Beth didn't seem to like her very much, it hurt her a lot. For so long she had wanted to be a mother, and now her child hated her guts for some reason.

She was aware of Beth's more eccentric behaviours, but chose to ignore them because she hated the idea of her own little girl basically being a sociopath. Beth had killed other children before if they were mean to her, and in general, she scared off other children with her behaviour. Julie knew Beth was a lonely child, and she did as best as she could to be there for her, but Beth always pushed her away in favour of Rick.

Julie hoped that Beth would grow of her sociopathic tendencies, and her dislike of her eventually, what would it take for her to see how much Julie truly loved her?

a/n: Thank fucking god for "The ABCs of Beth", now I don't have to make up shit up. The episode saved me and gave me so much to work with...and one of Rick's lines near the end reinforces my belief he still loves his wife.

So, Julie finally achieves her dream of being a mother and what happens? Bam! Her kid fucking hates her, ouch.

Originally, i had it so Beth and Julie had a good relationship, but then i found a quote by one of the co-creators of Rick and Morty, Dan Harmon, stating that Beth found her mother boring and unremarkable. there's some other stuff too we'll get into in chapter 16.

I saw that Rick has strangely good table manners, like watch the breakfast scene from the pilot episode. I thought since it was so odd, that I could make Julie teach Rick good table manners, and him still having them shows she still influences him.

And I got the idea for Rick having a security system in the house inspired by the episode "Total Rickall".

Also, Rick and Julie canonically married in 1979, their 40th anniversary is next year..too bad Julie isn't around to celebrate it..

(btw yes i did my research and i saw ultrasounds used for pregnant woman in use since the 1960s, and pregnancy tests as we know them since the late 1970s, and this would be in the early 1980s. and yes, women back then only did get six weeks maternity leave, and until 1978, you got fired while being pregnant on the job)