a/n:This chapter is depressing as fuck, I'm just going to warn you head on.
Even though Rick had started a family with Julie, he still had been continuing his criminal activity from time to time. He was getting in some hot water with the Galactic Federation, but just kinda ignored it. His focus was still on making time for Julie, and Beth sometimes too.
Julie wasn't even aware of the existence of the Froopyland, though when Beth ended up having to deal with trauma, she had never known what caused it. She did know a boy Beth had brought over named Tommy had disappeared, but Julie never thought too much of it as his father was convicted of cannibalizing him, and wondered if that was the cause. The therapy Beth received did seem to have removed any trace of her sociopathic tendencies at least, which Julie was grateful for. Julie had also never known of Rick's negligence towards Beth, and assumed he was around while she was gone.
Despite all of this, Rick and Julie continued to maintain a happy and healthy marriage, their love was as strong as ever. They still shared a loving and intimate relationship, and always wore their wedding rings. Julie also always wore the lilac pendant necklace Rick had made for her years ago, she had started doing so commonly after they'd gotten married.
Unfortunately, Rick trying to fight back against the Galactic Federation, who were becoming a dominant force in the galaxy, was landing him in even more trouble than ever before. Rick had also been getting Birdperson's and Squanchy's help, and the trio had been labelled as terrorists. A war was emerging, Rick's enemies were coming for him, so what could he do? He was incredibly worried for both Beth and Julie's safety, and didn't want the Feds to come after them, so he started leaving more and more, and longer too. Julie actually took notice this time, and decided she had to talk to him about it. Unknown to both of them, Beth had been listening in.
"Rick, why have you been going out more often? I worry about you."
"D-Don't worry about it Julie, everything is fi-fine."
There was a sigh. "Rick...I can't sacrifice our family's well being just because I'm afraid you'll leave again. Please, don't go."
"I-It's okay, you deserve better than this, better than me anyways."
"What? Don't talk like that! I love you and I don't want anyone but you."
Beth watched as Rick looked down and took her hands in his. "We're in a lot of danger right now, I'm just looking out for y-you." Then he kissed Julie and walked away.
Beth said nothing this time, and hung her head down before leaving to her room.
Julie wondered what exactly was going on with him, and wondered if perhaps them being in danger was related to him being a criminal. Rick had made a lot of enemies over the years, and thought there could be a correlation. She was so concerned for him, she loved him so much and just hoped he would be okay.
The truth was that Rick wanted to spend time with his family, but it wasn't an option. With the emerging war with the Federation, he knew he had to protect them, but how? He decided that leaving was the best thing he could do for them, they would be okay, the Feds wouldn't come after them, but he would be separated for them, though thankfully only temporarily.
On the day he planned to leave, he spent it with Julie and Beth, making them both very happy. That night, he and Julie had made love together too.
After their session of love making, Julie was laid on top of Rick, both completely naked and content. "I'm glad you spent the whole with Beth and I, it means a lot to me."
"Well, you know, I just felt like I-I was spending too much time away from you two. I thought I-I should make up for it." He partially lied.
"I'm not sure why you keep leaving but...I hope you keep this up when you can, I'd really appreciate it, Beth too; you know how much she loves spending time with you." Julie told him.
Rick frowned. He could tell her what was going on, but he didn't want her to worry, it was best she didn't know. "Me too.." He muttered, really wanting to do something like this again, but how long would the war even last. He didn't know when he would get to see her again.
"I love you so much.." She happily sighed, nestling further against him.
"...I-I l-l-love you to-too.." Rick then kissed her sweetly.
After the kiss, Julie noticed Rick didn't seem happy, worrying her. "Is everything okay?" She asked. "Please talk to me…"
"Everything is...f-fine.." He brushed her off.
"No, everything's not fine. I want to know what's going on with you." She responded.
He couldn't tell her what was going on, so he gave her an incomplete answer. "Some real bad shit has been happening right now, I'm just trying to look after you and Beth."
Though Julie wasn't exactly sure what he meant by this, she wondered if there really was an enemy of his trying to come after him. "Well..okay.."
Rick didn't want to leave, but he felt like he didn't have much of a choice. He couldn't imagine what would happen to her once she realized he wouldn't be back for a very long time, he knew she would be devastated, filled with so much grief and anguish, and it would be all his fault.
He glimpsed down at her. Even though they were both in their 40s, Julie was as beautiful as the day he met her. Rick ran his fingers through her hair, wishing to stay so badly, to be with her forever, but he couldn't. He decided to share on final kiss with her, holding onto her soft face and kissing her for as long as he could. When they pulled away, he saw nothing but love and warmth in her eyes, but how long would it last?
When Julie fell asleep, Rick quietly eased out of bed. He pulled out his portal gun and created a portal, but before he left through it, he gave one final glance to her sleeping form. With the image burned into his mind, he was gone.
In the morning, when Julie awoke, she saw Rick was gone, but she'd expected it. What she didn't expect however, was for Rick to be gone for weeks, that wasn't like him, where was he?
The weeks turned into months and Rick was still nowhere in sight, he hadn't even contact her either. Although Julie was incredibly concerned and worried for him, longing for his return, she did have a feeling that he'd left to protect her and Beth from harm, remembering the last thing he'd said to her before leaving.
It didn't soften the ache in her heart though, she missed him more than words could describe. Julie longed for husband to be with her again, to feel his touch, to taste his kisses and hold him close once again.
Without Rick, Julie was a shell of her former self, she felt incomplete, lost, alone and empty. Rick had made her stronger, more confident, brave and assertive. But now that he was gone, Julie felt like she was the person she had been before meeting him, lonely, weak, passive and with a void in her heart that she couldn't fill, no matter how hard she tried.
While at work, Julie did her best to act like everything was normal, but her fellow nurses could tell something was wrong, and once they learned Rick had left her out of the blue, they said things Julie loathed.
"Honey, your husband left you, it's time to stop moping around and find another guy." One suggested.
"I can't..I still love him more than anything. If I got involved with another guy, I'd feel like I was cheating on him." Julie explained.
"Oh please, how can you love someone who abandoned you? He clearly wasn't that great of a guy to begin with if he did that." Another butted in.
"You don't even know him, not like how I did, he was always the one for me." Julie retorted.
"Stop making excuses for someone like that! You need to move past this! I know a great single man your age who was recently divorced and-"
"No! Leave me alone!" Then she was off.
She could never stop loving him, no matter what. Even now, Julie was still devoted to him, not wanting to be with anyone else. Her co-workers just couldn't understand, so she tried talking to Mark and Vivian about it. Although Vivian was confused as to why Julie still loved Rick, both she and Mark sympathized with her. Mark had also lent her antidepressants in case she needed them.
It seemed, as the years passed on, that Julie really had needed them. She was even more of a shell of her former self, her hair colour had dulled, and she no longer wore purple, but black instead, the only purple thing left she wore was her lilac pendent and wedding ring. Her feelings of sadness had never left her, in fact, they'd gotten worse.
Beth had been affected by Rick's departure too, and had noticed the change in her mother, yet she was not sympathetic. She still saw her mother as mundane and unremarkable, she believed Rick had gotten bored of her, and so left, Beth blamed her mother for Rick leaving, and took her anger out on her. Julie could see Beth had been just as badly affected by Rick leaving as she was, but everytime she tried to help, Beth rejected her and pushed away. Having her daughter and only child being so cruel towards her only worsened her feelings of sadness, loneliness and isolation.
Things took a turn when Beth turned 17, and prom night rolled around. Julie had warned her to be careful, but Beth, being a teenager and all, hadn't listened. She slept with a boy at her school named Jerry, who happened to have a massive crush on her, and had gotten pregnant.
Though Julie had been understandably disappointed in her, she wasn't angry, not even at Jerry either. She had given Beth the choice of either aborting the baby or keeping it, and initially Beth had decided to abort. So, Julie had driven her and Jerry off to the abortion clinic, but after getting a flat tire on the way to there, Jerry had convinced Beth otherwise, who decided to keep the baby. Julie was surprised, but still happy nonetheless, and expressed her joy at becoming a grandmother, even if it was rather early.
When the baby was born, it had been girl who Beth and Jerry had named Summer. Julie had instantly taken a shine to her granddaughter, and would look after her while Beth and Jerry went to school. Though, Beth was a little iffy about it, neither she nor Jerry knew anything about being parents, and she didn't trust Jerry's parents, so Julie was the next best thing.
Unfortunately, it hadn't taken long for Julie's poor mental health to start affecting her physically. She wasn't doing so well, so Beth had her hospitalized. She stayed there as the months passed, but didn't improve, in fact, she was getting worse. When Beth heard this news, she didn't how to feel, on one hand she blamed Julie for Rick leaving, but on the other, Julie was her mother, and she had helped look after Summer. She believed her mother was going to die, and in that case, what was she going to do without her?
Sadly, it seemed Beth had been right. Julie didn't have much time left to live, and so Beth, along with Mark and Vivian were coming to pay one final visit to her.
When they arrived in her room, they saw a few other nurses leave the room, clearly upset about Julie's inevitable passing. Beth saw her mother, laying on the hospital bed, a heart monitor connected to her, she looked noticeably weak and frail.
Julie turned to Beth, giving her a weak smile. "I'm happy you're here Beth.." She told her, her voice showing how sick she was.
"Mom I.." Beth paused for a moment. "I can't forgive you for making Dad leave.."
Mark and Vivian shot her a glare, and Julie seemed visibly upset. "I didn't...I love your father more than anything.."
"Clearly it wasn't mutual."
"That's enough Beth." Vivian scolded her sharply. "She doesn't need this in her final moments, leave her be."
Hearing Vivian's words did work, as Beth stayed silent. She stayed in a corner, watching Mark and Vivian talk to her.
"Can you believe her? Your own damn daughter and she talks to you like that." Vivian huffed.
"It's alright, she's just angry, she's a teenager, she's dealing with a lot of emotions right now."
"Doesn't excuse the things she said."
Beth was surprised that her mother still treated her so well, and was still so forgiving, patient and understanding towards her. How did she do it?
Vivian spoke up again. "And you said...you still love Rick...even now..?"
Julie modded. "Before I met Rick, I was lonely, and longing for love and happiness. He gave me that and more, I grew more brave and assertive, he showed me the galaxy, I married him and we had Beth. He's still my soulmate, my true love, I'll never see him again, unless there's an afterlife..but that's okay..I have no regrets, I lived my life to the fullest, and I can die peacefully."
Beth was amazed that even after all this time, her mother harbored affection for her father and still believed they were meant to be together. It made sense at least, but she herself wasn't so forgiving, even though she still loved Rick too.
Mark and Vivian said nothing, not exactly sure what to even say to begin with. It was clear to them that Julie's love for Rick was just that strong, it would never break, no matter what.
To their horror, they watched as Julie leaned back against the pillow, her heartbeat going flat, then, she was dead, a smile on her face.
The two broke down into sobs, as Beth herself began to shed tears as well.
After the funeral, Beth realized that she couldn't stay in Michigan, it held too many painful memories for her. Jerry understood, and so they, along with Summer, left for Washington state, in a city near Seattle.
Though Beth and Jerry tried to raise Summer on their own, they were clueless on how to be parents, and so they weren't exactly the greatest at looking after her. It was around this time when Beth finally realized how much her mother meant to her, and how much she missed and loved her. All this time, she'd been cruel and had taken her for granted, but now she just wanted her back in her life again.
Things remained okay at least, and a few years later a baby boy named Mortimer, or just Morty for short, was born.
It was around this time that the war had died down, and so Rick decided to leave and return home, intent on seeing Julie and Beth again. But when he returned to their old home, he found a "For Sale" sign in the front yard. Had they moved?
He used a tracking device and was able to locate Beth, but Julie was apparently located in a nearby graveyard. Rick didn't want to assume the worst yet, so didn't go there, and instead went off to find Beth.
When he found Beth, she didn't exactly seem all that thrilled to see him again, she missed her father but was angry he'd left, all the while she was holding onto a baby Morty. "Where were you?" She growled.
"I…" He sighed. "What happened to your mother?"
Beth's face paled. "She's...she's gone Dad, she died a few years ago."
In that moment, Rick's world had shattered into a million pieces. The woman he loved so much, who had always been there for him when he needed her, had never doubted him, had trusted him and shown him love and kindness for the first time in his life, was gone. That graveyard the tracking device said she was must be where she was buried.
Rick went to visit it, and had found Julie's gravestone, which fittingly had an angel on it, and it looked as if she'd been buried right next to her parent's shared gravestone. He broke into tears, he had tried so hard to protect her, but she had died anyways. What was he going to do without her, his other half?
He brushed his tears away and stormed off, never would he allow himself to get attached to anyone ever again. The pain Julie's death was causing him was unbearable, he couldn't afford to deal with it ever again. From now on, he decided to disregard his attachments, he could never love again.
To deal with his pain, Rick had settled on alcohol; every time he drank it, all his misery and pain disappeared, he didn't have to think about how much he missed Julie, the loss of sanity brought on by his adventures, his trauma from the war and his childhood, none of it mattered anymore. So, he sunk into alcoholism, and went back to his old ways, except now he was even worse than before. He was far more cruel, arrogant, selfish, irresponsible and bloodthirsty. Though he couldn't ignore the thought of how Julie would think of him if she saw him now.
Rick came up with a way to try and get over Julie: one night stands and casual relationships, he was sure it would help! But it didn't, every time he would think he was moving on, he thought about Julie, and much he missed having her close, no one could compare to her, and that made things worse. He couldn't move on, no matter how hard he tried.
The years passed, and his loneliness was consuming him, so he decided to try and soften the ache by moving back in with his family. Beth was now eager to have him back in her life, but had developed severe abandonment issues and was deathly scared of Rick leaving, so never set any rules for him. She hoped to reconnect, but Rick had taken a shine to Morty.
He saw many similarities between Julie and Morty, like how shy, cute and awkward they both were, so decided to take Morty on adventures with him, just like what he and Julie used to do together. Although, unlike Julie, Morty started out being very resistant to adventures, but he did grow to be okay with it as time passed, even though Rick's adventures had the tendency to be traumatizing. Rick had become more out of control, which is why he tended to go on more dangerous adventures than he ever did with Julie.
Something that frustrated Rick was that Morty didn't admire him, at all, not like Julie did. She had loved spending time with him, but Morty didn't always go along with Rick and argued with him. He seemed to view him as a bad person, Rick didn't blame him, but it still hurt. He wanted Morty to understand him like Julie did, and know he's not all bad, but it would mean revealing his feelings. He wouldn't let his guard down. At the end of the day, Rick still loved and cared about Morty, but he refused to admit it most often. He had opened up to Julie and had been extremely close with her, but now she was gone, he wasn't repeating that mistake again.
Though, only time could tell what was in store for him in the future.
a/n: OKAY FIRST OF ALL...I cried writing Julie's death scene, okay? I had to stop myself a few times cause I was crying so much, no joke. Maybe cause I was listening to sad music too but that's irrelevant.
Now...I have to explain some things. First of all, I know Rick was gone for 20 years, but there's a picture of him holding baby Morty in "Get Schiwfty", and a memory of him picking up baby Morty in "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind". From my understanding, "Morty's Mind Blowers" had a deleted scene showing Rick with baby Morty. Also with Diane, I like the theory of her being Rick's sister, but it kinda messes with the backstory he has here, so I opted with the theory that she's the mother of Annie from the episode "Anatomy Park". I liked the theory of the flashback actually being based on what happened to Simple Rick from "The Ricklantis Mixup", just altered slightly.
Also, if you want to know what happened to Mark and Vivian..they are still alive and doing well, they are grandparents themselves and are quite happy with their lives, even though they still miss Julie dearly.
The story is complete, chapter 17 is merely an epilogue that will reveal what happened to Pyri.