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Rick sits across Beth at the dining room table. It's the dead of night. There are no lights on. A waning moon provides just the minimum amount of light for Rick to see her hardened expression. Her glass of wine is half empty but the bottle itself is nearly out.
"You have no proof." Rick says. His face is blank, his voice betrays no emotion. He's sober for once.
Beth growls and slams her fist on the table. The bottle jumps. "The fact that you're not denying it-"
"Because it's so stupid it's not even worth denying."
"Bullshit."
They stare at each other in silence.
Beth breaks the silence. "Why can't you say it then? Why can't you say you're not raping my son?"
"I'm not raping your son." Rick says, simply.
"Right, because you think a child can consent."
"Morty isn't a child."
"Oh, I must have missed it when we all decided that adulthood starts at fourteen." Beth says, sarcasm lacing her tone.
Rick sighs. "You know, s-sweetie, this obsession with age is a real planetary minds-"
"Oh fuck right off with that 'planetary mindset' garbage. You know just as well as I that Morty is a child. A child with a learning disability and a grandfather who won't let him grow on his own."
"Morty is growing, y-y-y-you don't see what I see."
"An easy target?"
Rick grits his teeth. "A strong, brave, intelligent young man."
Beth scoffs. "You call him stupid more than anyone. The kid was barely passing remedial math even before you showed up and started stealing all his time."
Rick sighs, a soft look of shame in his eyes, "I'll admit I-I talk him down more than- more than anyone, but I've seen what he can do. The kid listens. He-he-he watches. The other day he performed an emergency engine repair on the ship. Took him less than two minutes to get us back in the sky. A-a-and last week I caught him tinkering with a half-finished prototype for a ray that turns its target into chocolate and he finished it. A-and sure, he had the blueprints in front of him, but it's still complex work. Beth, sweetie, I told you, h-h-he's fine, he's going to be a scientist-"
"Just like you?" Beth says, her eyes narrow as she quotes him.
"Better than me! Because he's good, Beth, he's a good k-" He cuts himself off, his fire dying out.
"Kid. He's a good kid. Don't worry, you already called him a kid in that big dumb speech of yours, because you know he's a kid. You still think of him as a kid. Which is so gross, considering what you do to him behind closed doors. Is that what gets you off, dad? Do you like how young he is? How small he is? Are you gonna drop him when he turns eighteen?" Rick doesn't say anything, just stares at her with his jaw set, so she continues on. "Or maybe it's the fact that he's related to you? The fact that he was given life by the woman you fathered? Are you into that, dad?"
"... Nothing is happening between me and Morty."
"And we're back to that. Sure seemed like a lot of excuses for nothing."
"You have no proof." Rick repeats softly.
"And you have no decency."
"Well, at least w-we can both agree on that..."
Beth sneers. "Fuck off with your self-pity. It's not going to work on me anymore. Why can't you leave him alone? Why do you have to take everything from him? Can't you let him have this? Just this?" She gently reaches out to touch his hand. "Let him find somebody his own age, somebody he's not related to."
"He's free to date. If he finds someone he wants to be with, I won't stop him."
"You're full of shit. You can't let go of him."
Rick glares at her, pulling his hand away. "Then what is this conversation for? S-s-so you can say to yourself that you tried your best? Why shame me if you don't think that anything- that I'll change?"
Now it's Beth's turn to look hurt, to wallow in self-pity. He's right, and she knows he's right. Nothing she can say could ever change his mind, could ever stop him. Rick is a God, an unstoppable, unmanageable God. Her best chance would be to try and kill him, and even that would be near impossible and probably only stop him temporarily. Not that she wants to kill him, even after all this, even with what he's doing to her son... "I'm a terrible mother..." She whispers. Tears slip down her eyes.
"Beth, sweetie... You're not a bad mom." Rick comforts, a hand on her shoulder. "I-I know this isn't an easy position for you, and I respect you- your concern, but Morty's fine! You can go ask him yourself."
Beth's eyes glint. Of course. She was stupid to argue with the God she knows as her father when there's such an easier target to convince.
"Fine." She says, standing and heading towards the stairs.
"Oh, sweetie, uh, I-I-I-I meant in the m-morning or something, I mean, kid's tryin' to sleep and all..."
"Never stopped you." Beth replies, going up the steps. Rick doesn't follow.
She reaches the door and gently opens it, slipping in and closing it behind her. She walks over to her sleeping son. He looks so young. His tiny little hands twitch in their grasp on his pillow. She can't help but run a hand through his hair.
The boy twitches and shifts but doesn't open his eyes, "Rick?" He mumbles questioningly.
"No, Morty, it's mommy." Beth says, running her hands through his hair a few more times until the boy finally wakes up a little.
His eyes open and focus on her. "Am I- Am I late for school?" He drowsily asks.
"No, baby, I just..." She takes a deep breath. "I just wanted to talk."
"R-r-right now?" Morty asks, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. "It's kinda late... Do you need- Is it important?"
"It's very important..." But she can't bring herself to say anything, to break this moment of peace. She knows Morty is rebellious little teenager, he won't appreciate his mother's concern. All she does is sit on Morty's bed.
The room goes quiet and Morty awkwardly fidgets. "Um... So, uh... A-are you gonna... Say something? Because I kinda want to- I mean I'd like to go back to s-sleep. If that's... Okay?"
"Morty." She says, her voice tight. "Your... Relationship with your grandpa..." And she can't help but notice as he tenses. "I know what's going on."
Morty is extremely tense. His eyes are wide and filled with panic. His gaze keeps darting to the door, like he wants to run or like he's expecting somebody else to come in. He's probably waiting on Rick to pull him away from this miserable, awkward situation. "What... What's going on?" He questions, his voice barely a whisper.
"Morty, I know what he does to you." She puts a comforting hand on his shoulder and the poor boy is trembling.
"He's not- we're not doing anything." Morty denies.
"I know he's raping you."
Morty's eyes bug out of his head. "He's not r-r-raping me!" He squeaks.
"Morty..." Beth says, going back to petting Morty's head in a way she hopes is soothing. "It's not your fault, you can talk to mommy about this."
Morty is quiet for a while, his eyes down low and face miserable. He looks thoughtful, like he's arguing with himself inside his head. Beth wishes she knew what was going on in his head, wishes that she had been a better mother so Morty would feel safe talking to her. After a while Morty says, his voice still quiet, "He's not raping me, mom. I... I was the one who started all this."
Beth's hand stills, but only for a moment. "Can you tell me what you did, Morty?"
Morty shifts uncomfortably but nods. "I told him I loved him. At first he was- he got mad, and he yelled. He said I was an idiot and making a mistake, but... When-when I kissed him, he didn't push me away, and then things sort of... K-kept going after that..." Morty blushes. He keeps his gaze at his legs, not daring to look at his mother.
"Morty, that doesn't make this okay and it doesn't make this your fault. You're a kid, he should know better, he should've pushed you away, he shouldn't have let this happen."
"But I wanted it to happen!" He looks at her, determination shining in his eyes.
"Morty, you're only fourteen, you don't know what you-"
"I do! I do know what I want! I want- I want Rick!"
"I know it seems like that's what you want right now, Morty, but in the future-"
"I'll regret it." Morty whispers, finishing his mother's sentence. He leans against her, letting his head rest on her shoulder. There's tears glistening in his eyes but they don't fall. "That's what he said, too."
She wraps an arm around Morty, holding him close. Her little boy... Sweet, little Morty... Sometimes he seems all grown up, and sometimes he seems like he's going to be a child forever. This is one of those times where he seems so young, like he's half his age and Beth told him he can't eat all his Halloween candy in one night. She knows it's for the best, so he doesn't get sick, but he's disappointed and confused, he doesn't know that she's just trying to look out for him.
They sit there, quietly, just leaning against each other. Beth is relieved that he's not angry, that he's not screaming at her, telling her she's ruining his life like he did when she disapproved of Planetina. Maybe that whole experience is why, maybe he knows she's right, that she's just trying to keep him from getting his heart broken again, that her concern comes from a place of love.
Finally, Morty breaks the silence, pulling away from her to look her in the eyes. "You're a good mom, mom." She smiles at him, but he doesn't smile back, and she's too busy looking at his face to notice his hand until there's a bizarre white gun in her face. "I'm sorry I'm a bad son."