I open the car door and close it shut, hearing faint rattling coming from the bottles that littered the vehicle's floor. Morty does the same and heads towards the door, clearly tired from our recent "adventure".
"Hey, Mort?" I call after him, leaning against the work bench. He stops abruptly and turns around to look at me, curiosity lacing his features.
"Don't tell anyone....please." I say lowly, with a slight hint of concern intertwined with my words. He raises his brow and tilts his head in confusion.
"Y-you mean R-Rick doesn't know?" The young teen asks. I shake my head in response and look down to my feet in embarrassment.
"No....not really. At least he doesn't know that it's still this bad." I reply to him. I look up to see him slightly nod.
"Y-yeah. I won't tell anyone." I smirk slightly at his response. I stand up straight and walk towards him. I stop , holding my pinkie finger out.
"Pinkie promise?" I ask him with a serious expression.
"A-are you joking?" Morty asks. I shake my head in reply and continue to gesture my finger to him. He looks at his own pinkie and promptly hooks it with mine. I smile down at the young boy and begin to walk away.
"Lets just hope I wont have to cut off that finger of yours." I say under my breath.
"Wait w-w-what?!" He states in a nervous tone. I slightly laugh at his panicked state, taking a seat by the workbench. I can hear Morty open the door slightly.
"Hey, uh (Y-Y/N)?" he says in a quiet voice. I hum in reply, starting to tinker around with the metal scraps in front of me.
"Y-you know there's n-nothing wrong with it. I mean it's not- not like any-anyone will think less of you or- or something because of it." I hear him state. I stop what I'm doing and let his words settle, allowing my mind to think more about what he said.
"Thanks, bud." I say to him. Soon after I hear the door behind me close, leaving me alone with my thoughts. After a few minutes of sitting in silence, I begin to grow uncomfortable from the lingering smell and gross feeling my cloths held. I sit up from my seat, removing my jacket and leaving it hanging off my chair. On my way out of the garage I grab a loose muscle shirt and a pair of shorts from the dryer. I walk towards the nearby bathroom and close the door behind me. Peeling the blood stained cloth off of my skin, I strip down to my slightly bruised and scarred body. I climb into the shower and let the warm water bring me some means of relief. Relief from the sore muscles that carried skin that felt sticky with sweat and dried blood. A sudden pain hits my chest, as if reminding me that this anxiety is one thing I cant be relieved from. I climb out of the shower and put on my clean clothing. Deciding that it was in my best interest to keep myself busy, I head back towards the garage and take a seat at the work bench. I mess around with loose parts of machinery again until a familiar discomfort hits me.
"Damn.....wish I could've found those formulas." I say disappointingly. Still upset that I went through all of that trouble for nothing. Not to mention the fact that Morty was also brought in the middle of it as well. I hiss through my teeth at the sudden stinging feeling in my lungs.
"You're okay, (Y/N)....J-just chill out a bit...." I say to myself while shutting my eyes in pain, gripping on to the work bench for support. Suddenly my eyes snap open.
"Wait a second..." I grab my jacket from behind me, my hand exploring through my many pockets searching for the item of interest. I smirk slightly, pulling out the camera that made itself useful today, hopefully maybe even more than I think. I pull out the laptop Rick usually leaves around and frantically plug in the camera, my unsteady hands missing the outlet a few times. My shaky fingers fly over the keyboard, searching for any data that may be useful to me. My eyes suddenly light up and I jump to my feet, rushing to pull over the white board that was conveniently close by. I snatch a marker that was left in it's tray and bite the cap off, quickly writing down part of an equation that was left incomplete. The formula that I was searching for was recorded on the camera. Fortunately enough Morty had managed to get a clear shot of Matt, or what used to be him, during the altercation, taking in all of his previous memories. All it took was a little bit of searching and eventually I found what I was hoping for.
'I definitely owe him now...' I think to myself, referring to the most likely sleeping teen.
There was one problem however, the formula was only partially downloaded, meaning that I have to somehow figure the rest of it out. I sit back for a bit in thought, looking at the formula that was sloppily written down. I feel my teeth begin to press against the cap that remains in my mouth, most likely leaving noticeable indents on it's surface. This has always been a bad habit of mine. Rick would every once in a while complain about the teeth marks left behind on the caps of pens, pencils and any other writing utensil. He scolds me a lot for it, but being the stuborn and rebellious person I am, I continue to do it. Both out of spite and because its always been a thing I did. It helps me think and in a time like this I wasn't looking into stopping any time soon. My concentration is broken after hearing what sounded like an altercation between Morty and...
"You little son of a bitch!" I hear a raspy voice yell out.
"Rick?" I questioningly ask myself. I run up the stairs and barge into Morty's room. My eyes widen in panic at the site of Rick pinning a knife against the young boys throat.
"Jesus Christ! Rick let him go!" I yell out, grabbing on to his arm in an attempt to pull him away from Morty.
"Y-y- are you a simulation?! Huh?! Are you a simulation?!" Rick repeats.
"No! No! No!" Morty quickly responds in a panicked tone.
"I-I-I'm sorry, Morty. Y-you're a good... You're a good kid, Morty." The older man drunkenly replies while lowering the knife.
"Y-you're a good... You're a good kid." He slurs while passing out . I quickly catch him before he hits the floor and grimace at the strong smell of alcohol he gave off.
"Oh my god!" I hear Morty say, clearly still shaken from earlier events.
"Its alright, Mort. Ill take care of him. Try to go back to sleep." I say, walking over to the door with Rick's limp body continuing to lean on to mine.
"O-okay..." I hear him say drowsily. I snap the lights off before leaving the young boy's room.
(Time Skip)
I let Rick's body fall face-first on to his bed. He grumbles something in a slurred and incoherent speech. I ignore it, knowing that it was most likely some kind of vulgar insult towards me. I flip him to his back, allowing his words to come out in a clear tone.
"Fake......bitch. I kn-know.....I know you....you're not real." He angrily mumbles out as I bring his dangling legs up. I look down at him with my brow raised, confused as to why he was so stuck on this delusion.
"You just went through some tough shit huh? I haven't seen you this fucked in the head in years." I comment while placing a blanket over him. As I was doing this I feel his hand wrap itself around my shirt, pulling me up to face him.
"St-stop acting like her you piece of shit!" He sneers, his grip tightening at every word that left his mouth.
"What the fuck is wrong with you Rick!?" I say in a irritated manner while placing my hand over his, trying to separate myself from him.
"You're whats wrong with me! You piece of shit simulation!...." He continues to rant on.
"Listen to me, Rick. You need to calm down." I say calmly, interrupting his vulgar statements. He ignores my statement and curses through his teeth, his deathly grip not loosening. I sigh in frustration, my hands finding their way to the sides of his face.
"Listen!" I slightly raise my voice above his, he freezes in shock, giving me time to speak.
"Look, I don't know what happened to you, bud. I just know that you have obviously had a rough day. You need to calm down and sleep it off. Morty and I are fine and very much real." I say while untangling Rick's hand from me. I keep his hand in mine for a bit, giving it a reassuring squeeze before speaking again.
"We're not simulations, just annoying ass people that surround your everyday life." I say with a smile while easing him back to bed. He complies by closing his eyes and falling into a deep sleep. Sighing in exhaustion, I pull the blanket back over him and leave the room while closing the door behind me. I head back to the garage, getting back to the work that I was distracted out of. I sit down in a chair and gaze at the board, struggling to concentrate. My thoughts begin to spiral, thinking about everything accept for the half completed formula. My eyelids become heavy from fatigue, lulling me to sleep.
~ Third Person POV ~
Rick drowsily opens his eyes, hissing at the sharp pain that lingers at the base of his skull. The lanky man sits up, massaging his temples to relieve some of the pain. He yawns as he gets up, deciding to grab some water from the kitchen. He downs the beverage along with a few pain-relieving tablets, removing the faint taste of liquor that coated his mouth. Rick sighs in satisfaction while running a hand through his unkempt hair. He finds himself glancing at the garage door, choosing to find something to detract him from thoughts of yesterday's events. He opens it to find a familiar female fast asleep. She is leaning back on a chair with her head tilted upward in a uncomfortable way, her chest rising and falling to accompany her rhythmic breathing. Rick glances at the girl, contemplating whether or not to move her. He knows that it shouldn't matter to him where (Y/N) falls asleep but oddly enough, the thought of leaving her there bugs him. The older man leans down to pick her up, his arms lifting her legs and back. (Y/N) moves a little in her sleep, leaning her head against the crook of Rick's neck. His eyes widen at the feeling of her breath against his skin. He finds himself confused as to why something like this is fazing him. Rick chooses not to think to much about it, shaking his head to rid him of the thoughts that brought more questions than answers.
"I need a drink..." He says to himself while carrying the girl up to her room. After putting her to bed he looks down at her peaceful form before closing the door behind him. He heads back to the garage, looking around the room for something to work on. Thats when he notices something he didn't before, on the white board close by there is some sort of chemical equation that wasn't finished. Rick assumes that its what (Y/N) was working on before falling asleep. He picks up a marker from near by, taking note of the teeth marks that littered it. He sighs in irritation, annoyed that she continues to ignore his complaints. Doing his best to ignore it, he begins to write on the board in deep thought.
~ First Person ~
I wake up, confused as to how I ended up in my bed. The thought doesn't linger though because soon I find myself getting ready to leave my room. I open the door to the garage, only to have an orange pill container be thrown at me. I easily catch it, glancing down to see that it carried the tablets that Ive grown so familiar with. I look up to see Rick glancing at me from across the room, his face showing signs of distaste.
"You think you know someone and then they pull off shit like this." He says in a angered tone. I place the medicine in my pocket, knowing that I was definitely going to need them after this. I don't say anything, fully aware that there is nothing to say.
"When were you plaining on telling me huh?" He asks me. I look up and shake my head.
"Never. Didn't think it was worth telling you." I say simply. He walks toward me, obviously not satisfied with my answer.
"Really!? Are you fucking kidding me, (Y/N)!? What are- are you going to start keeping secrets from me now!? Is that it?!" He says, raising his voice at me. I frown and furrow my brow in anger at his sudden outburst.
"No I'm not fucking kidding you, Rick! Stop making things into a bigger deal than they actually are! Why do you even care anyway?! Its not like its affecting you in any way." I yell back. Rick looks away from me at the question, choosing to change the subject instead.
"How bad is it?" He asks.
"It depends but overall...... its gotten worst." I tell him truthfully while averting my gaze to the floor in embarrassment.
"And.....And does that stuff really help you?" He asks me, referring to my medicine.
"Yeah.....it does." I reply to him lowly. I hear him sigh in reply. I look up to see him staring down at me in what looks like concern.
"I'm sorry, Rick." I apologize, feeling bad that I had upset him. His eyes widen a bit but he quickly composes himself.
"Yeah, fine. Whatever.......I guess I'm sorry too." My heart drops at his reply.
'Did he just apologize?' I think to myself in astonishment. Rick notices my surprise and tries to quickly change the subject.
"But-But you better not lie to me or-or keep anything from me again. Got it?" He says sternly. I smile at him and nod, putting my hand out for a shake. He complies and wraps his hand around mine in agreement.
"C'mon weirdo. We have some stuff to work on before Morty gets up." Rick says, turning around while taking a sip out of his flask. He gets into his car and waits for me to do the same.
"Aye aye, Captain." I reply with a salute. He rolls his eyes and smirks at my actions.
"Why do I continue to deal with you?"
(A/N: Hey guys. Here is the new chapter all of you have been waiting for. I do apoligize for not posting it on the day I said I would. I just had some technical dificulties with my computer that are now fixed. Thank you all so much for not giving up on me or my story. I actually have a little surprise to share with you all. Ill let you know about it more when the time comes but for right now I hope you enjoy the story. Ill see you on the next chapter.)