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Morty stood in his room looking into his full length mirror between his desk and the window. He had double checked his door was locked before starting any of this. Morty gazed into the unfamiliar reflection that looked back at him. No, it wasn’t unfamiliar anymore. He finally had a face to put the name his mother almost never dared to say. The name he had never heard from Rick before.
Staring at himself he couldn’t deny how out of place he looked in his own room. The white kitten heels were a bit too big on him; he’d have to pad them if he actually wanted to walk in them. He smoothed his hand over the white pants. He tugged at the hem of his turquoise blouse; the shirt was technically his size but since it was a woman’s fit it was a just too short on his torso. He ran his fingers through the platinum blonde wig, pushing the a few soft strands out of his face. He hadn’t worked up the courage to start wearing make-up yet but he had “borrowed” one of Sumer’s old eye liners.
Gently, Morty brought the cosmetic pencil up to his face and dotted small freckles across his cheeks. Satisfied with his reflection Morty set down the eye liner on his desk and picked up the old photo next to it. He stared down at the two women in the picture. His mom was 18 and dressed in her graduation cap and gown, her pregnant belly just barely noticeable under the flowy robe. Next to her was the woman Morty had recently modeled himself after.
… Diane. His Mom’s mom. His grandmother. Rick’s wife… She was beautiful. Morty looked up at himself in the mirror, his hand tightening around the photo he clutched. Conflicting emotions swirled around in him as he thought back to when he had found the picture.
--
Last week he was sitting on his Mom’s bed as she dug through her closet. She was looking for an old box of documents that he swore had her and Jerry’s marriage license in it. Morty had long since stopped actually helping and was instead rifling though old buckets and piles of paper out of boredom. He pulled a heavy rubber tote onto the bed and popped the lid off. Inside were a half a dozen large, thin books. He picked the first one up while his mom grumbled, half stuffed into the closet.
Morty opened the book to see dozens of old pictures of teenagers staring up at him. He flipped through the pages until he saw a familiar young woman’s face smiling up at him. It was his Mom from her senior yearbook picture, the name “Beth Sanchez” proudly displayed under her. Morty smiled back at her and kept leafing through the book. At the very end, tucked against half hearted farewell messages from people he was sure his Mom didn't remember and wouldn't recognize anymore, was an old photograph. It was one of those glossy printouts that was taken on a disposable camera and printed out at a CVS or Walgreens. In it was his mom as a teenager, dressed in the classic high school graduation cap and grown with her arm around another woman.
It was obvious who it was but Morty was still taken aback by the sight… it was Beth's Mom… his grandma… She was so pretty with platinum blond hair and perfect make-up, not too much just enough to give her the ephemeral ‘wearing none at all’ look. She wore a seafoam flowy top and pressed white pants. Her face was soft, much softer than Beth's face, she only bore the passing remblance to the more rounded, freckled face of the woman next to her. Even as a fresh faced teen Beth looked a lot more like Rick.
Morty stared down at the picture almost transfixed, the longer he looked at it the more he recognized his own features in this newly discovered relative; round cheeks, small nose, wide eyes… It wasn’t one to one but he felt like he looked like her. More so than he looked like his mom or Rick, or his dad or either of his dad’s parents. Staring down at the picture Morty felt like he had found a piece of himself .
From the other side of the room Beth threw her arms up in frustration, grumbling miserably. “I can’t find it! For all I know, Jerry might have shredded it along with his last failed manuscript!” Beth turned to look at Morty just in time for him to slam the year book closed. “Any luck on your end?”
“N-no, nothing over here!” Morty squeaked, hiding the picture behind his back before his mom could see. “We should probably take a break though. Y-you look like you’re at the, um, the end of your rope.”
Beth let out a deep sigh, standing up to stretch her back. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. It’s exhausting going through all these old memories. Thanks for your help, Morty. I’ll come back for another round after lunch and glass of wine... or two.” Beth turned to head out before Morty stopped her with a question.
“M-mom, I was… I was wondering… we, uh, w-we never talk about her but, b-but what was Grandma’s name?” Morty asked nervously, the picture still clutched in the sweaty hand behind his back.
The question perked Beth’s ears as he turned to look at her son, still cross legged on the bed amongst plastic totes and scattered papers. “Diane. My mom’s name was Diane. Why?”
“No reason… j-just wondering was all.” Morty replied quickly. Beth looked at him for a moment before shrugging and making her way downstairs toward the kitchen. After a minute Morty followed suit, banking a right at the bottom of the stairs and then another into the hallway leading to Rick’s room and his Dad’s office.
Morty was relieved that Rick’s door was closed. It almost always was but he still didn’t want to risk running into his grandfather with his new found loot in hand. Instead he pushed his dad’s office door open and saw his father seated at his desk, typing away on whatever his newest novel was. Jerry turned and looked up at his son in the doorway.
“Hey, Sport. What's up?” Jerry asked.
“Hey, Dad. I have a project coming up for school and I needed to order a few things for it. Do you mind if I borrow your credit card?” Morty asked with a false sincerity in his eyes and a steadiness in this voice he only had when he lied. He was a bit concerned how easy deception came to him now. Something he had picked up from Rick, no doubt.
Jerry paused a second looking into the honest face of his favorite and only son. Morty was such a good kid, even with his grandfather dragging him around space on grueling “adventures” the boy still made time for his school work. Jerry smiled and reached into his pocket to grab his wallet.
“Of course kiddo, here you go. Is it a big project? Do you need any help from your old man?” Jerry chuckled, handing over his debit card to Morty.
Morty pocketed the card, shaking his head as he turned to head back up to his room to order the pieces he needed for his ‘project.’ “N-no thanks, Dad. It’s something, s-somthing I have to do by myself.”
--
Morty looked up from the cardboard box by his door. When the package had showed up today, he snatched the box and ran up to his room. That was hardly an hour ago now.
Earlier in the week he had snuck into Summer’s closet and rooted around until he found the final piece, something he had been too nervous to actually order online... It was one of his sister's old training bras. It was pink and white with a little ribbon sewn on the front. The band was too big for his slim chest so he had fastened it with safety pins and stuffed the small cups with tissues. He had barely made a pair of A cups before getting too fluster to continue but it was enough to fill out the blouse giving him the faintest feminine silhouette.
Morty took a deep breath before looking back into his mirror to compare himself to the woman in the photo. She was beautiful, a total knock out, it was no wonder Rick was so deeply in love with her. It made sense why he had never moved on, no one would ever be able to let a woman like her go. He could see the kindness in her warm, green eyes. Morty looked back up to his own face. While they shared similar soft features he could see now that their irises were different.
Leaning in even closer, Morty looked into his own baby blue eyes. They were the same eyes as his Mom's. If Rick’s eyes were brown and Diane's were green, where did Beth get blue from..? Morty felt silly for not realizing sooner. He was so close but now he'd have to order colored contacts.
Morty pulled back from the mirror. What was he even doing? He had always been interested in dressing up and had never taken any shame in his interest in women's fashion. Hell, when he was little Summer let him borrow her clothes all the time and they even used to host fashion shows together but this… Dressing up like his dead grandma was something totally different… he didn't know what it was but he was suddenly overwhelmed by how silly he felt.
Heat rose to Morty's cheeks as he watched his face bloom a ruddy pink. He should change. Just shove this whole embarrassing disaster back into the box and forget about it under his bed…
Before Morty could finish his dismayed thought the sound of a hand on his doorknob shook him out of his self imposed gloom.
Morty panicked, turning just as he heard his flimsy door lock snap. “Morty, we gotta go now. There’s a bomb on-” Rick frantically burst into his room, hand still on the now broken door handle only to stop dead in his tracks, the alcohol slurred words dying on lips as he looked down at his grandson.
Living up to his name, Morty was mortified as he stared up at his dumbstruck grandfather. Rick’s surprise was almost palpable as he stared open mouthed down at the trembling boy in front of him.
Morty couldn’t stop the shake in his legs as he clutched the picture to his chest. Since Rick had come back into their lives Morty had hidden his affinity for crossdressing like a secret, illicit lovechild. Sure the family still had pictures of him up from when he was little and would parade around the house in Summer’s dresses and Beth’s oversized heels, but he had pretended to have grown out of it. Now he had been caught red handed. But worse than being seen in women's clothes, he was dressed as Rick’s dead wife.
“I-I-I-I, I c-can explain…” Morty stammered uselessly as Rick stepped into his room and closed the door behind him. Morty had no idea what to expect. Rick's face hadn't changed. Was he mad? Was he going to yell? Call him names? R-rick wouldn't, wouldn't hurt him would he..?
Morty couldn't breathe as Rick calmly walked up to him. His grandfather towered above him, looking down at the painfully familiar figure that stood nervously in front of him. Wordlessly, Rick dropped to his knees, his face falling onto Morty's shoulder as his hands reached up to grip the back of the kid’s blouse.
Morty had gone completely rigid, standing stunned as Rick hung off him. His hands hovered by his side, the picture falling from his fingers to land face down on the floor beside them. Morty could feel his grandfather’s hands against his back through the thin cloth of his blouse as Rick seemed to cling to him for dear life. After a second Morty felt Rick shake as he took a labored, sobbing breath.
Rick’s breath was warm on Morty’s chest before he felt the first wet pinprick of tears against his shoulder. C-crying… Rick w-was... was crying?
“R-r-rick..?” Morty barely asked before he heard his grandfather let out a sob that nearly stopped Morty’s heart.
“I-I’m sorry.” The words felt so heavy against Morty’s chest as Rick chocked on them. “D-diane, I’m so sorry.”
Without even thinking Morty brought his hands up, gently setting them against Rick’s back as he rubbed comforting circles into the old man’s lab coat. Morty didn’t know what happened between Rick and Diane. No one had ever mentioned what happened to her in general. He wasn’t sure what to say but it was obvious that Rick was hurting and Morty had ripped open whatever old wound Rick was still nursing.
“I-it’s okay.” Morty whispered. He held Rick close, hugging his grandfather as Rick shook in his arms, more sobs wracking his aged body. Morty had seen Rick tear aliens apart with his bare hands but now he just seemed like a sad, frail old man; pathetically sobbing in the arms of his grandson. “Everything’s okay…” Morty cooed, resting his forehead on the top of Rick’s head. Platinum blonde strands of hair falling around the weeping scientist like a funeral veil.
“I-I shouldn’t have… I-I didn’t mean to… I couldn’t. Diane, I… I-I’m so sorry.” Rick wept, more tears falling onto the boy’s shoulder. Logic couldn’t peirece through Rick’s grief, through his guilt. He knew it was Morty, he could feel his grandson in his arms, but seeing Diane again had overwhelmed him. He couldn’t stop the dismal babbling that left his shaking lips. As much as he tried to compose himself he just couldn’t…
“It… it’s not your fault…” Morty answered. He didn’t deserve to say that. He didn’t know if Rick deserved to hear it. Holding Rick close, he could hear the old man cry even harder. Morty couldn’t think of anything else do but to keep going. “I’m not mad. I-I love you…”
Morty stroked his back, whispering more soothing platitudes. He had no idea if any of it was true or if Diane would have felt his way but Rick was hurt and all that mattered to him was the slight bit of comfort he could offer his grandfather. That was all he had to offer…
The two stayed that way, embraced in Morty’s room for as long as Rick needed. Morty wasn’t sure how long it was until Rick had stopped shaking. Finally Rick’s tears dried. He took a finale shaking breath before he let go of Morty and pushed himself to his feet. Morty watched the old man wipe his eyes on the sleeve of his lab coat.
“Are… are you okay?” Morty asked after a few tense seconds. Rick’s eyes were red and puffy from the all the crying and snot dripped from his nose. Without thinking Morty reached into the front of his shirt and pulled a tissue from his bra. Rick took the offered kleenex and blew his nose before shoving the dirty tissue into the front pocket of his coat.
“I’m fine. Sorry you had to see that, I was just… caught off guard by, b-by this .” Rick said, motioning to Morty’s attire.
“Y-yeah, that’s uh, that’s my bad.” Morty mumbled, the blush creeping back up his cheeks as he stared down that his carpet sheepishly. “I should change.”
“No!” Rick intejected. He kicked himself for how quick it came out. “I mean, I don’t mind if you, you want to dress like this more often. It’s a good look, classic you know. I promise I won’t lose it again. T-that’s on me.”
“Oh! Really? It would be okay?” Morty asked, eyes wide. He had never through of admitting it before but if Rick didn’t mind Morty had so many more outfits he’d love to actually wear, this one included. “I mean, I don’t think I’d show this one to mom but when we’re out on adventures maybe.”
“Yeah, best to keep it a secret from Beth but when it’s just the two of us, I wouldn’t mind.” Rick nodded his head in response. He felt a little guilty for even mentioning it but Morty was the one who came up with it by himself, it’s be rude to deny the kid. Rick never cared about being rude before but as Diane’s little mini me stared up at him in admiration he was quickly changing his tune. Rick smiled down at his grandson, a rare moment of sincereity in his voice, “Diane would be so proud of you, Morty. She’d love you more than you could ever imagine.”
“T-thanks, Rick. That means a lot to me.” Morty nervously wound a finger around a few stray strands of his wig, a bit unsteady by Rick’s heartfelt admission. “Did, d-do you still need me for anything?”
Fuck. Rick had completely forgotten about the impending countdown on Omega Nexus Prime. Rick’s eyes went wide for a second before he shrugged. Well, what’s one more exploded moon base in the grand scheme of things. “Nah, the moment passed. Nothing going on now. I think I’ll head down stairs and find something to watch on Interdimensional Cable, you wanna come?”
“Yeah!” Morty nodded enthusiastically, his wig slipping a bit in the process. “I-I should probably change, though.” Morty blushed a bit, straingtheing himself as Rick made his way to Morty’s door.
“Not a bad idea. I’ll see you down there in a bit, Di- Morty.” Rick closed the door behind him as he left. He fingered the Mind Blower in his breast pocket while descending the stair. Maybe he’d let this one ride out, just to see what would happen. It would be a struggle not to call him by her name, but he would give it a try just to see her again. Maybe, maybe this would all work out.