So, some time has passed and it's already been a month and a half. I've been talking to Rick lately.... okay, I lied. Everyday after school, I go straight to Rick's garage and we talk (a lot) about science and have even made theories about the universe we reside in.

"Jeez," I chuckled before sipping from my water bottle. "I never really thought about our universe being a multiverse, that actually makes a ton of sense now."

The sound of a bicycle toppling over caught my attention. It came from across the street and when I first laid my eyes on my front yard, I saw a familiar face.

"Connor... what are you doing here?"

To be honest, I completely forgot about him.

And I'm pretty sure the author did too.

He heard me call him out, now crossing the street and entering Rick's garage. Connor grinned at me, leaning against the frame of the opening. "I haven't really seen you a lot after school. As my girlfriend, you really need to commit to this relationship and spend more time with me. Don't you love me?"

I mentally rolled my eyes. "Connor, being with you is not a priority. I've just been spending more time with my neighbours than I have been with you, simple as that." Connor scoffed, stepping up to me, dropping down onto his knees, and tenderly taking my hands. "Babe," he breathed. "You wouldn't wanna lose me, now would you?"

In the corner of my eye, Rick's reaction catches my attention, surprising me. He had this suspicious scowl on his face, his eyes glued onto Connor with every little move he made. Was... was he jealous of Connor?

"Fine. Why not?" Connor bounced up like a little boy off on another sugar high. He took my hand and pulled me off of the desk as we ran across the street. I called back, looking over my shoulder, "I'll see you around, Rick."

He didn't really wave a goodbye or anything. He was only fixated on Connor and I together as we hopped onto his bike, I sat in his lap as we rode down the sidewalk away from the Smiths' house. After Connor took me to the movies, I returned home to find that it was empty. As always. I sighed heavily, pulling out my keys after shutting the front door and locking it. Of course my parents were at the Smiths. After today, all I wanted to do was go up to my room and just take one long nap, but now I'm stuck having to take it in Summer's room.

I had a key to the Smiths' home, letting myself in. What I saw was not at all what I expected. The family were all just casually sitting at the dinner table, having breakfast for dinner, positioned right across one of Rick's glowing green portals. Except Rick hadn't summoned this one up.

Standing there before the portal were three Ricks dressed in uniform. "Rick Sanchez of earth dimension C-137, you are under arrest for crimes against alternate Ricks by the authority of the trans-dimensional council of Ricks."

Holy shit, what did I just walk into?

Too scared to interfere, I hid away from the opening into the dining room to avoid being seen by anyone. "Neutralize the Jerry." Curiously peeking out, I watch as Mr Smith is frozen in place after being shot by one of the foreign Ricks. Everyone was freaking out at this point, scared beyond comprehension, all eyes were now on Rick. "Everybody, relax. If I know these a-holes, and I am these a-holes, they just want to haul me to their stupid clubhouse and waste my time with a bunch of questions. Let's get it over with."

Rick allowed them to handcuff him as they began to lead him towards the portal.

"Hey, dipshits!" I mustered up enough courage to step out. "Leave Rick and Morty alone! They didn't do anything illegal."

Stupid mistake.

Almost instantly, all three of them pulled their guns out on me. I felt my heart drop down to my knees. I was frozen in place, moreso than Mr Smith was. Rick was quick to jump in front of me. "Hey assholes, leave her out of this."

"Whatever. We only want you and your Morty--"

"Rick, you don't have to go with them." I protested, pulling him back by his long white lab coat.

"I'm not about to argue with you, Gwen. I have to go see what these dumbasses want from me." He roughly pulled his coat out of my grip, turning back towards his alternate selves.

"But you know you did nothing wrong." I held back onto him, taking his hand this time. "We've been together all this time, I would know if you did anything, just let me come with--"

"Let me the fuck go." He sneered. "For once, could you possibly not be such a hemorrhoid in my ass? Jesus fuck, you can be such an annoying shit sometimes, you know that right?"

I let go of him so fast, so shocked at how quick he turned on me. He hasn't yelled at me like that since....

I was so hurt by Rick's sudden outburst that I ran out of the dining room and into the garage where I heard the rest of their conversation through the muffled walls until Rick left. "Will you at least unfreeze my daughter's idiot?"

I must've been crying for a while because when I left the garage, there were a bunch more Ricks just lounging about in the living room, some tampering with the phones while others played old maid.

Wait... why should I be crying so much over some old-ass bastard... that I've been spending so much of my time with...?

Oh my God...

Am I--?

"GWEN!" Summer squealed. She ran over, her arms flailed for a fraction of a second before wrapping them around me to squeeze the air outta my lungs. I had totally forgotten whatever I had on my mind. "Gwen, there you are! Where'd you go? We thought you---" she examined my face. "Ha-have you been crying?"

"What?" I sniffled, quickly wiping my eyes with my sleeve. "I-I'm fine. Connor and I have been going through a rough patch, that's all." I shrugged it off, walking into the hoard of alternate Ricks.

Summer believed it, thankfully choosing not to further pressure me on the subject. "What the hell did I miss?"

"Grandpa and Morty have been gone for, like, an hour and a half. Some of the guards from the Citadel came to track down Rick just in case if he calls the house." Summer explained to me, sitting down on the couch across from a bunch of Ricks huddled around the coffeetable, playing cards.

"But what did he do to warrant this much attention?"

I turned to one of the Ricks closest to me and tapped him on the shoulder. He looked over his shoulder, too lazily to turn his full body towards me.

"What'd you do with my Rick?" I demand, staring the alternate dead in the eyes to express my sincerity.

I don't know if it was the look on my face or the tone in my voice, but just as soon as the alternate had fully examined me, he leapt up onto his feet and screamed, pulling himself away from me as if I had some life-threatening disease, more contagious than the common cold, that ate your flesh from the inside out.

His eyes were stuck wide and the more I looked at him behave this way, the more it scared me. What the hell was wrong with him? .... what the hell was wrong with me?

The other Ricks began to notice, all turning their attention onto me. None of them reacted differently to the first alternate I talked to. They all scattered out of the living room. When Mrs Smith nicely asked them to come back, they all refused.

One Rick, however, remained where he had been before.

I approached him, "Excuse me? Does my presence bother you?"

He stared at me for an eternity, afterwards all he said was, "I've never seen you before in my entire life."

"Good. That's good." I sat next to him, criss cross applesauce, and my interest piqued in what he was up to. "What're you up to?"

"Trying to teach myself Solitaire... but I don't know how to play, so what I'm doing in of itself is an oxymoron."

I nodded. "I'm Gwen." I stuck my hand out.

He grinned a goofy grin at me. "I'm Rick J19ζ7." He took it, happily shaking it.

"So, why aren't you with the other Ricks in the kitchen trying to avoid me like the plague?" I ask him as we bond over an idle game of Go Fish. Rick J19ζ7 sorrowfully sighs, "The other Ricks don't like me very much. Th-th-they go and make rumours about me that aren't true, a-and it's just so mean!"

I caress Rick J19ζ7's back, patting it here and there. "Well, as long as I'm around... literally... they won't be bothering you any time soon."

So, some time passes and Rick J19ζ7....

Ok, I can't anymore. Is it just me or does that dimension's name look incredibly ugly written down? It's supposed to be pronounced J19-zeta-7 but... ughhhhh God, it's so ugly looking it just gives me shivers. I think I'll just refer to him as Doofus Rick. That's what I hear the other Ricks call him when they snicker about Doofus Rick and I being together. Now that that's out of the way....

So, some time passes and Doofus Rick and I are now in the garage of the house, talking idly about nonsense. Sorta like what Rick and I were up to before he just up and left.

"How is it that you are soo different than this dimension's Rick? Rick C-137 can be a total pain in the ass sometimes and a bit of a pushover, but it's because I've gotten so used to him.... but with you, you are positively the sweetest Rick I've ever had the pleasure of meeting."

Doofus Rick blushes. "Oh, why, thank you Gwen. It means a lot to me that you think of me that way." He smiles. "Personally, I don't know why. Maybe it's just the dimension I come from."

"... yeah, maybe." I kick around some gravel, staring down at my open-toe sandals.

There was a comforting silence before Doofus Rick budded in. "What do you think of your Rick?"

"Me? I--um--well, Rick's a... swell fellow. Took me three years to realize that I had a total psycho for a neighbour, which I still find weird...." I put much more thought into it. "... and, well, these past few months have been life-changing. I don't think I'll ever meet a guy like Rick again down the road. It's like we've known each other our whole lives, you know? I can tell him anything and it's the same for him. I...."

I trailed off, staring outside of the garage, completely lost in thought.

"I think I'm in love with him."

Shit. Did I really just spill my guts to Rick's alternate?

I look back over at Doofus Rick. He's staring at me. An understanding look plastered on his face as he gently nods his head in his hands.

"So...umm... i-if I tell an alternate of Rick something super super secret, does that thought transfer to my dimension's Rick or..?"

"I don't think it works that way, Gwen."

I nodded, mumbling a 'good' underneath my own breath. I wasn't saying it to him, I was just saying to reassure myself.

I felt as though Doofus Rick was about to say something to lift my spirits when the door swung open and slammed against the concrete wall, scaring us both.

It was a Citadel Guard. "Yo, ding-dong, we're done here. Time to go." He avoided eye contact with me altogether.

Doofus Rick got up from his stool. "Well, Gwen, I guess this means goodbye."

"I...." I sighed. Getting up off of the counter of Rick's desk, I walk over to Doofus Rick, pulling him in for a huge bear hug. "Goodbye, Rick J19ζ7. Will I ever see you again?"

"I hope so. You know where to find me..."

".... actually I don't, so... maybe if you could hook me up with some directions to your dimension or---"

"Ask your Rick if you could come visit me. I'm usually around the Citadel." He smiled once more at me before pulling me into one last hug, his gigantic beaver teeth digging into the top of my head.

He left with all the other guards and their Mortys, which I didn't even notice before now that I think about it, as they disappeared behind the familiar green portal. Soon after they left, I returned home to find my parents mindlessly cleaning the house.

Retreating into my room, I sit about writing my thoughts down on scrap paper before crumpling it up and tossing it out. A while after coming home, I notice Rick and Morty in the garage (as always) through my open window.

I don't think this would've been the best time to hang with them. They must be tired from wherever the fuck they went.

Plus, I don't want to talk to Rick right now. I'm still getting over how he yelled at me for no real reason. I don't wanna have to piss him off again.

God, what do I see in him?