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Morty was lounging in his room playing on his phone when he heard the downstairs doorbell ring. Besides him, the house was empty. Rick had taken the Beths out bounty hunting. Jerry was at the store, and Summer was at a friend's house.
At first Morty tried to ignore it, but the doorbell rang and rang. So, with a frustrated sigh, he jumped out of bed and went to open the front door.
And what he saw had him jerking back in a mixture of anger and surprise, "You?"
"Good evening, Morty Smith," The floating crystal known as an "observer" politely greeted, "I'm Curv."
"What do you want?" Morty aggressively asked, "Can't-why can't you people just leave us alone?"
"I know in the past you've despised us, but I'm actually here to thank you," Said Curv kindly.
Morty almost choked, "'Thank me'?"
"Yes. Because of you and the space culprit known as Rick Sanchez, we observers were able to right our wrongs and become a better species. Here. Observe."
Morty's conscience spaced out and he became flooded with clips of the observers helping other species who they knew were in need of help. They apparently had started using their special abilities for more than just manipulation and bargaining, and were now going out of their way to provide support to those they literally knew needed it.
After about twenty or so clips, Morty came back to and blinked multiple times, "Wow. That-that's awesome. G-good job, buddy. You guys are doing great."
"Thank you," Curv paused briefly to confirm, "Rick Sanchez seems to be in battle. I will wait until he is finished to thank him as well."
"Don't bother," Morty grumbled and grabbed his phone out of his pocket to bury his face into, "He doesn't care."
"What do you mean?" Curv asked curiously.
Morty shrugged himself, "I mean he doesn't care. He-he doesn't care about anything. Not you, not me. Nothing."
"You say he doesn't care about you? Ohhhh, you are soooo wrong." Curv almost sounded malicious with confidence.
Morty cringed at him, "D-do you have to talk like that?"
"Observe times when Rick cared about Morty."
"Wait-"
...
It had been two weeks since Morty had been able to get decent sleep. Anxieties and over-thinking soon led to the uprising of insomnia. He was beginning to feel sore, exhausted and miserable all the time. It became difficult to do daily activities.
Morty blamed it on one of Rick's latest adventures which had been rather dark and haunting. Insecurities and distrust played a major part in Morty's endless thoughts at night.
During the nights when Morty couldn't sleep, he would quietly sob out of desperation and misery. A few times he had experienced mental breakdowns in the living room late at night when he believed he was all alone. But... He wasn't alone.
Rick had been watching.
Consumed by guilt and concern, Rick went on a series of private adventures to quickly put together an egg looking device. The device itself was fairly small and basic with the power to glow and emit sound. He worked on it for about a day before decorating it to resemble a dragon's egg. From there he snuck it into Morty's room and pretended as if it were a gift from summer.
The special noise emitted from the device helped Morty to instantly fall asleep and stay asleep every single night since.
...
Coming back to, Morty blinked and lifted his hands in disbelief, "Wow... Rick was the one who..."
Curv gave him little time to recover, "And that's not all."
"W-wait, just give me a minute. I-I don't-"
...
"Look, whatever the hell you want, I can get it. Drugs, illegal weapons, the universe's finest quiseen... A pair of pants so the children here don't feel like victims... You name it, I can get. J-just let me in," Rick offered grumpily at the entrance to an otherworldly roller derby.
The alien in charge of letting people in crossed it's many arms and said, "You're a wanted fugitive, Mr. Sanchez. I'm not letting you in."
"Th-that's was she said." Rick rolled his eyes, paused for a moment and then pulled out his wallet. Removing a folded picture from inside, he showed it to the alien and explained, "Look, this is my grandson. To-too many boogers an-and could use a height increase, b-but he's a great kid. And, if I'm honest... I haven't been the greatest grandpa. He-he won't even let me go to his shitty roller derby 'cause..."
Rick sighed, clenched the photo and shook his head, "But-but I'm here and, regardless of what the little punk says, I'm going to watch his derby. Now, c-can you do a bro a solid and lit-let me in."
"That's touching, but no." The alien responded.
Rick face palmed and sighed dramatically, "Fine..." The he used his portal gun to portal himself inside the derby.
Finding himself a place among the busy bleachers, Rick proceeded to watch with excitement and pride as his grandson roller-skated his way to second place victory. He even cheered and hollered his name. Luckily it was too crowded for Morty to notice that he was there.
...
Returning to reality, Morty could only stare at the wall as his chest tingled emotionally. "He... Came?" He whispered.
Rick actually came to his roller derby.
"Mmhhmm," Curv answered, "He actually attended all of your roller derbys."
He did? Morty couldn't believe it. He remembered telling Rick to never attend his roller derbys because he didn't want to hear any of his Rick speech. This was one small thing that Morty wanted to enjoy for himself, and he didn't want Rick to ruin it for him like he ruined everything else in his life.
But to know that he was there anyway, cheering him on and admitting that he could be a better grandpa. He even called Morty a great kid. And the joy, pride and excitement that covered his face while he watched him...
"More?" Curv played another recording.
...
"It won't close. It's broken," Morty cried, holding his collar out.
Rick impatiently responded, "Uh, fine. Bring it here."
When Morty went to take a step forward, he fell through the concrete ground. "Wu-oh, oh, Rick. Rick!"
"Morty!" Rick shouted, dropping to his knees to peer through the hole. When he realized that there was no time left to waste, he jumped in after him. "God dammit."
Once he was able to catch up to him, Rick grabbed Morty and asked, "Morty, where's your collar at? I'll fix it.
"I dropped it," Morty dreadfully answered.
Rick, weighing his options for less than half a second, wrapped his own collar around Morty's neck and latched it in place. Morty disappeared instantly.
Then he drifted for a few minutes.
Rick, feeling the wind blow across his body, closed his eyes in content and said, "I'm okay with this. Be good, Morty, be better than me."
...
Opening his eyes, Morty found that... he was crying.
The observer before him said slyly, "See? Rick Sanchez really does care about you."
Holding his face, Morty stared and the ground while thinking... Maybe it was true.
Maybe Rick really does care.