Disclaimer: I don't own "Rick and Morty".

A/N: So, here it is, the last chapter! And, a long one! Chock full of feels...You have been warned.

I can't believe it, Morty thought with disbelief and amazement, I'm flying Rick's spaceship!

It was unbelievably surreal, but there they were, whizzing through space, with Morty at the controls, with Rick patiently instructing him at every twist and turn, learning what buttons to press, and which levers to pull. It was actually, Morty realized to his delight, really very easy, and he was amazed that he could fly at all, let alone that Rick would let him.

Funny how driving a spaceship could be the easier part. It was trusting this Rick, and remembering how hard his Rick had been on him, that was the tough part. Morty took a quick sideways glance at his instructor, who seemed especially alert today, now that Rick had eliminated all toxic substances and was, it appeared, actually alcohol-free for the first time in a long time, and Morty wasn't sure what to think about it all. He'd never known Rick as anything but an abusive alcoholic drunk and drug addict, but this Rick seemed to want to change. He knew nothing about this Rick except for what Bird Person had told him, and while he yearned to know more, he knew better than to push it. (Ricks never liked to talk about their past.)

"Controls Morty! Keep, keep your eyes on the horizon! the horizon, Morty! The horizon!"

Whoops! Morty nearly let his daydream veer them into a passing asteroid. With expert reflexes, Morty swerved quickly to the left, and the ship righted itself once again. Both he and Rick let out a huge breath of relief.

"Y-you nearly turned us into s-space dust Morty! Try not to lose control of my b-baby again and, and remind me why I trusted your lous, lousy ass to begin with, with this thing…" Rick's head was drooping listlessly onto his chest, and, much to Morty's relief, his grumbling lecture seemed to have ended, and a buzz-saw-like snore erupted from out of him instead. Morty grinned to himself with relief. This Rick might be crazy, but compared to his Rick, he was totally harmless, and the natural tonic that Bird Girl had given him to combat the withdrawal symptoms were (thankfully) finally taking their hold.

Bird Girl….Morty's stomach dropped slightly at the thought of her, and the ache of missing her hit him all over again. He had only left Bird Person's nest an hour or so before, and he was already regretting not having at least….well…given her a hug, or, or, or..or .something….Once again, an asteroid crossed their path suddenly, so close that Morty had to swerve yet again as they nearly collided, missing the meteor by mere seconds. Phew. It was amazing how many close calls he'd met, and still somehow made it out alive, again.

Morty took another glance at Rick, who was completely oblivious to the fact that they'd nearly had yet another mortal disaster. What he doesn't know won't hurt him, Morty figured wisely. Morty had bigger things to worry about anyway, like what he was going to do when he saw his family….

…..for the very first time.

Rick had told him a little bit about them: "Okay. So, remember, in this Earth dimension, C-137, you and I met a few years ago. Your Dad, Jerry, is an idiot. Your Mom, my daughter uh Beth, she's got my genes and my intelligence, but her mom's genes stupidly married your Dad and, as an afterthought, decided to forgo Science to become a veterinary surgeon. Your sister Summer-"

"Wait-wait a second-I have a sister?" Morty gaped at him. He'd never even considered this a possibility before.

"Yep you do, her name is Summer, about as obnoxious a name as names go and reaaal fitting for her carbon-copy personality. Basically the reason your parents stayed together before you came along. Biiiiig mistake there. Your mom couldn't go through with the abortion. And unfortunately all she's got to show for this sacrifice is a stuck-up teen who's your average 'dumb blonde', and yeah, she definitely lives up to the name. In fact," Rick added dryly without batting an eye, "she's pretty boring. Best to ignore her. You've got better things to do with your time."

"But...I…." Morty was still wide-eyed at the thought of being a sibling. He'd always imagined himself an only child. "I have a….a sister….?"

"Better get over it real fast Morty; she's family whether you like it or not. Basically par for the course when it comes to relatives. I had to do it when I met your dad. You can do it too."

"What….uh...does my dad do?" Morty was still reeling from the fact that he had a sister, but he was dying to know more, and couldn't help himself. (He also wanted to know if he and Summer got along, but he was too afraid to ask.)

"Pretty much an out-of-work stay-at-home deadbeat." Rick gave a lackadaisical shrug.

"He….doesn't have a job?" Morty tried hard to steer while trying to get ahold of his emotions all at once. He was, in truth, a little disappointed; he'd hoped his father would be….what? Morty wasn't sure. He had no idea what to expect. "Wha...what does he do all day then?"

"Hell if I know," Rick shrugged again. "He loves to annoy the shit out of everyone. Just plan to be prepared."

"Jeeze, Rick….this is …this is really a lot to think about all at once, you know…" Morty felt a little ill. He wondered what it would be like to see his family, to meet them, to….Morty felt his lip quiver a bit. He hoped that they would like him.

"Oh come on Morty. They're just your, your family, ya know, no big deal, they're, they're just there, is, is all...just...just there…" Rick's hand, pointing at his face, dropped mid-stance and landed on his hip, before slipping off altogether. Rick had fallen asleep again.

Morty gritted his teeth as he steered them for home.

Home. It would be strange to think of anything but the old Rick's laboratory as home. Except, like this Rick said, he would simply have to get used to it. C-137 was his dimension now, too.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Thankfully, Rick woke up in time and took over the landing, and Morty looked around him in wonder as they came to a rest in the driveway of the quaint suburban neighborhood that the Smiths called home.

"Heeeeer we are," Rick announced simply, as he cut the engine, and popped the lid of the spaceship. Morty jumped out immediately, full of awe as he took in the new environment. Here was his house: a perfect yellow house with a neatly mowed lawn, just like the ones he'd read about in storybooks, and the tree-lined streets he'd always imagined in his dreams.

"Wow," Morty breathed.

"Yeah yeah," Rick rolled his eyes with disgust as he shoved Morty roughly up the walkway, "Suburbia. It's gross. Now stand up and swallow back your eyeballs there, and don't get too lost in the chocolate factory, or Mr. Wonka's gonna take away your ticket, got it?"

Morty quickly straightened himself up as they reached the front door. There was a knocker but Rick buzzed, once, and kept his finger on the buzzer until an angry voice bellowed from the other side of the door, "ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! JUST A MINUTE! I'M COMING!"

"Remember," Rick whispered quickly in Morty's ear, "story goes we crashed and I nursed you back to health in spite of nearly dying myself and oh yeah, I'm also sober now, I quit drinking, that's why we've been away for a whole month, we were in a space detox and we weren't allowed to contact you by any means whatsoever because like the doctors told us, get any family members involved and the program wouldn't work-"

"DAD…..!?" Beth stood gaping in the doorway at her father and son. They looked a bit worn for the wear, and her father had a terrible-okay, downright terrifying-scar that began right above his eyebrow and cut straight down to his jawbone, and Morty….he looked….okay enough, but….

She snapped out of it. There they were: her father and her son, home, safe, and-THERE! "DAD! Oh my GOD! MORTY! You're BACK! You're HERE, you're OKAY! OH MY GOD THANK GOD YOU'RE HOME!" She ran towards them without a thought and threw her arms around her father, nearly knocking him over, Rick so blindsided by the hug that was nearly choking him to death. Finally she released and, as Rick struggled to regain his breath (and his composure) she flew at Morty, who, terrified, backtracked, but to no avail.

"MORTY!" Beth wept against his shoulder, her hair nearly getting caught in his mouth in the process, and Morty could hardly breath, but he didn't care, this was his mother, the one who had given him life, and he was overwhelmed with feelings, joy and confusion and sadness all at once, and feelings he didn't even know could be, and he felt himself breaking down into her, all the tears he'd cried at night longing to be held by someone who cared, who loved him, and here she was, finally, there, in his arms, hugging him, holding him like she'd never let him go.

"Oh dear God Morty…." Beth held him back as she spoke huskily, her eyes brimming with love and tears, "are you okay? What happened? Are you...are you hurt? Where were you?"

"More on that later," Rick muttered, "don't worry, it's all good, Beth-"

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?" Beth's hand came flying from out of nowhere and was now blasting him repeatedly on the shoulders and head, and Rick was ducking and failing to get out of her way, "You KIDNAPPED him, my SON and you were gone for a whole f*cking MONTH, DAD! What in the hell were you THINKING!"

"Beth I-"

"Don't 'Beth I' me!" Beth thundered, just as Jerry stepped quickly into view, and Rick, wheezing and gasping for breath, straightened up as quickly as he could to regain his composure and prepare his best deliverance.

"Jerry," Rick greeted coolly.

Jerry was glaring daggers at Rick. "Rick," Jerry returned coldly, then, turned abruptly to face Morty.

Morty's eyes filled with tears at the sight of his father. His father looked like he'd imagined he would: brown hair, blue eyes, a little shorter than Rick, and a lot like him. "Dad," he managed to squeak out, and rushed towards his father, throwing his arms around his waste.

"Oh Morty, thank goodness you're safe!" Jerry's own eyes filled at his son's embrace, and somehow managed to hold back a sob as he swiftly bent down to kiss his son on the forehead, "Where were you all this time? Did Rick hurt you?" Jerry asked thickly, looking up at Rick and glaring through his tears.

Rick rolled his eyes and remained silent, waiting for Morty's explanation.

"NO!" Morty exclaimed, shaking his head furtively, confused by Jerry's anger, "we nearly collided with an asteroid, and, and if it weren't for Rick, we would have died! Then Rick saved me, and, and we wound up on this planet that, uh, it happened to have this space hospital, and Rick got me there, and then he went through detox, and, he's clean, Mom, Dad, he-he-he's sober, really, for the first time in, like, years!"

Jerry listened carefully to his son's tale. He stared deeply into his son's eyes. He looked deeply into Rick's dulled irises. Jerry could see that Morty had forgiven his father-in-law, and that was noble for what it was, but Morty was young. Rick had a lot more apologizing to do. "You expect me to believe all of that?" Jerry shook his head with disgust. "I bet he fed you that load on the way over here didn't he?" The whole while he didn't remove his eyes as they were deadlocked with Rick's. "You really expect me to let him back in here after he just-"

"I believe you Dad." Beth's voice interjected, and it seemed all the anger had disappeared in the blink of an eye. She held her hand out to her father. "Would you two like to come in for dinner? Summer is over at a friend's house. She'll be home soon. I'm cooking up a chicken. Lemon, Dad," she smiled at him with tears still shining in her eyes, as she gave her father a kiss on his stubbled cheek, "your favorite."

"Yeah sure why not," Rick shrugged without batting an eyelid, "just as long as it's nothing you brought home from work this evening. I'm starving!" With that, he pulled a stunned and staring Morty along after him and into the house.

"What, really?" Jerry's shoulders slumped in unison with shock and disappointment. "You're...just going to….forgive him? Just like….that?"

"Yeah, Jerry," Beth nodded with amusement as she shut the door behind them, "just like that."

She left him there in the foyer, still confused, still unable to get any answers, realizing he probably never would.

xxxxxxxxxx

A week had passed for Morty C-128 in his new home on Dimension C-137. Life was strange, but also, surprisingly…..(dare he say it?...) Good! He and Rick went on errands for Rick's inventions, but when he went with this Rick, they weren't errands. They were fun! They traveled through all different kinds of planets and across all different kinds of dimensions, and met all new crazy different types of creatures that Morty had only thought existed in his dreams. Sometimes they just went out for fun, too, like to the movies or out for ice cream or a night at the arcade called Blips and Chitz. And he got to fly the spaceship anytime he wanted. I could sure get used to this.

Morty couldn't believe it, but Rick C-137 was actually fun. He never wanted these adventures to end. He couldn't believe this was his life now. It was wild and wonderful and full of endless possibilities. He woke up every morning with hope in his heart instead of dread in his chest. He felt full of anticipation for what the new day would hold.

Sometimes, after one of their journeys, Rick would pull him into the living room and set up the Interdimensional Cable box, where they would get to watch television from every dimension imaginable. One day was particularly memorable.

That evening a newscaster had appeared, declaring excitedly, "NOW HEAR THIS! We have just gotten it in that an ENTIRE UNIVERSE has been SAVED! We wish to thank Morty Smith, of Earth K-19, for his valiant efforts to prevent the dimension-wide genocide that would have surely resulted in absolute destruction. We have Morty on the phone with us now. Mr. Smith, you have just saved countless numbers of species from extinction. What would you like to tell our viewers?"

A Morty looking a bit disheveled but still intact appeared on the screen, and Morty's breath hitched in his throat as he saw and listened to his own voice speak on the intercom video, "Um...well….I would love to, to uh, take all the credit for this victory, but, you know, it just wouldn't, wouldn't be true, because, I couldn't have done any of this without the help of my Gran-Grandpa, Rick Sanchez."

"Rick Sanchez? THE Rick Sanchez is your grandfather? That's-but that's incredible!" the newscaster was overjoyed with excitement, "what a duo Ladies and Gentleman! Mr. Smith and Mr. Sanchez, the mastermind who was behind the plan that saved our Earth from self-destruction! This is incredible! Ladies and Gentleman, I'm going to need some water, please, please excuse me-"

Morty was just wiping a tear away when the television abruptly shut off. "Hey!" Morty exclaimed, "what-why'd you do that? I, I was really enjoying that, Rick!"

"A humble Morty is the best Morty," Rick declared stiffly. "Pride alllways goeth before the fall."

"What-what does that mean?" Morty rounded on him angrily. "You-you had no right to do that! I'm turning it back on!"

He reached out for the controller but Rick managed to snag it away before his fingers even touched grazed it. "Go outside and be a kid Morty," Rick ordered darkly. "It's still light out. Good time of day to ride your bike a few blocks, tire your little lungs out, make sure you get a good night's rest, then wake up tomorrow and do it all over again." Rick stood up, control in hand and, as Morty watched seething, took the flask out that had Bird Person's tonic, and took a swig. "Hey," Morty shouted, "You just don't want to believe that Ricks can be, can be good, you, you know? Well, they can be Rick!" Morty scrambled after his grandfather who was heading briskly for the garage. "It's true, it was on the screen! We just saw it!"

Rick swung around stopping Morty in his tracks, and held up his hand ruptly, "Don't believe everything you see, Morty…." Rick lowered his hand and looked his young grandson in the eyes, remembering a time when he, too, still had that hope inside. "The universe is a trickster, Morty," Rick informed his grandson, "and, it's getting trickier, soon, it'll be so tricky, you won't know if it's the universe that's tricked you, or your own hollow mind."

Morty simply blinked at Rick, and Rick knew his grandson didn't get it. He wouldn't get it until it was too late.

Rick left then, slipping into the garage. He took his favorite spot at his workbench. He lifted the flask from his lab coat and took a swig, but not before holding it up to the air in a manner of toasting, "To the most 'Mortiest Morty'….Shall thy noble deeds never be forgotten, forever and ever a hundred years," and let the soothing liquid slide down his throat, like a balm to his insides and settling a warmth in his stomach that he'd missed for far too long. Good thing he'd remembered that pile Jerry didn't know about in his hidden lair in the sub-basement. They all thought he was finishing off that stupid tonic Bird Person had given him, and while it had done the trick for some time, there was no going back now, now that Morty C-136...C-137?….was gone.

"You were a dime-a-dozen, Mortimer," Rick said to the flask. "A dime-aaaa-dozen." He felt his eyelids drooping, and soon the sleep would come, and a welcome respite from his memories. The nightmares were getting lesser now, and soon, they would be forgotten. Just like all those Ricks who should have died in the crash. Just like all those Morties whose collars didn't work.

Maybe this Morty would be different from all the others. Maybe he would be smarter. Maybe he would realize, once and for all, that no matter what, Ricks just weren't worth saving.

~~FIN~~

A/N: So, yeah….depressing ending overall, but, life's not perfect, and, we all know that, with most things, they don't magically get better overnight….hope you can forgive me for this touch of realism….I never said this would have a happy ending….but hey, Morty got a happy ending, right? RIGHT? ;-/

I also wish I could have found a way to add Summer into this ending but it just didn't feel right for some reason. I might do a follow-up fic about how Morty handles the new dimension and getting to know his family and separate from his past.

….I would have done this myself but don't feel confident enough to do it. I would love to commision a fic in which Rick attends Intergalactic AA…..any takers?