Ask the 'Cast'!!!

Dayum

From LocaNyan

For Morty: 'When you left Rick to become John Schelan after getting shot, why didn't you come back? I know you needed some time and space, but you saved Rick from killing himself. Why didn't you tell him the truth?
But the real ask is: did you want to come back? Were you afraid of how Rick would react or what he would do?'

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"W-Well . . . " Morty rubbed at his arm, staring at his carpeted floor. He had just woken from a nap, having been getting ready to head to Rick's when he was interrupted. "That's k-kind of a tou-- a touchy subject."

Awkwardly, the brunet sat up, sighing in defeat a moment after. "See, the thing is, when I left - - - well, when Gary made this new identity for me and opened this door to a new life for me, I didn't know what to think at first. I wanted to run back to Rick for so long, but Sam always caught me. I always wanted to - - - to run back to him."

Morty folded his hands together and leaned over, hunched over the edge of the couch as he took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "The thing is, I wa-as just tired. It was too s-stressful, and I wasn't cut out for that life. And being J-- John Schelan was freeing, y'know? If anybody came looking for me, saying we had a score to settle or something, Sam was there saying I was dead. I disappe-peared and got to live my life the way I had always wanted. Simple and easy. Yea, I needed some time and space for a little while, but the more I got, the less I wanted to go back. I wasn't up all night wondering who he was sleeping with when I wasn't around, what he was d-doing, what drugs he was screwing with. I was my own person.
But after a while, that wasn't what I wanted a-anymore. I had gotten so used to the p-person I was - the kid at heart and d-daddy's boy - that, when it shone through o-on occasion, I was missing it more and more. When I saved him, it was just a coincidence. I didn't want to say anyth-thing because . . . because it had been so long, I figured he had gotten over me. I didn't want to interrupt what he might had found, ya know?"

The brunet leaned back, covering his eyes with his hands as he sighed yet again. "I always wanted to come back. Always. But it was a battle with myself. Did I want that stress again, or did I want this peace; this life in a tiny town where I had more time in the day to do what I wanted. I loved bartending, don't get me wrong. But there was somethi-thing about being able to do something more than work with assholes twenty-four/seven and wonder if somebo-body was gonna walk in and put a bull-let in my head. I always wanted to come back, but Gary had always been right. I never should have been there in the first place. So yea . . . I guess y-you could say I was afraid o-o-of how Rick would react, but I was also afraid I would ruin my life a second time. Talk about unnecessary par-paranoia." Laughing, he removed his hands from his face with a smile.

"Seeing h-him after he found me was terrifying, and e-everything that followed was h-hell. B-but seeing him again br-brought it all back. The power, the l-love I h-had when I gave myself to him. I wasn't this scared little k-kid getting bullied when I was w-with him, and he brought it all back that day. Yes, I loved the freedom th-that came with being John Schelan, b-but the power th-that came with being me w-was far better. It j-just took a long ti-time to reach that answer on m-my own." Morty grinned, running a hand through his curls.

"A-And now he's gone and asked me to marry him. After all that we've been through. I was always afraid he would hate me whe-- i-if I showed up one day saying, 'I'm alive!' like it was nothing. And when all he could do was stare, the day his wedding was 'ruined', I reall-really thought he hated me. But here I am. Yes, I was terrified of com-coming back. But now . . . n-now I don't think I could ever leave. It's everything I ever wanted, growing up. And now I've got so much more."