G-1rl Rick

//@aroacerick thank you so so so much for collating with me on this comic, I couldn't have done it without you

"Why would I ever hurt you?" She pulled back, only enough to gently cup the teen's cheeks, wiping away his tears with her thumbs as she tilted his head up at her. "Why would you ever think you deserved to be hurt?" She held back her own tears, completely torn apart at the implications of what this child has been through. All she could manage were questions as she consoled the boy.

Pulling herself together the best she could, her grip tightened on his face, a more serious look replacing her sorrowful one. "Listen here, I would never, never, hit you. Nothing you do could ever warrant that. Do you understand? You are worthy of forgiveness, you are worthy of kindness." Giving him one last look over, she pulled him back into a tight hug. "You will always be worthy of love." she whispered, cheek pressed against the top of his head.

If anything she was just more furious at whoever had hurt him, whoever made him so violent and untrusting. She wanted to find them and make them pay for whatever they did but for now rick could only hope that by the end of this she will have showed him real love and care. With a sigh of defeat she sat up and clenched the towel at her lap. Deciding that maybe, just maybe, smearing around the spill wasn't going to clean it. Getting up and tossing the towel into the sink, Rick looked down at herself. She'd definitely need to shower soon before she got sticky. Easier said than done however when she simultaneously needed to keep an eye on her little visitor. Speaking of, she should probably check on him before he hurt himself further.

Turning back toward the living room, her heart sunk at the sight of the boy silently sobbing to himself, curled up so far his head nearly hung between his legs. Rick gripped at her chest in ache as she swiftly made her way over to him, once again resuming her prior position on her knees. "hey... hey..." she quietly shushed, hands gently resting on his upper arms. "what's wrong..?" Her half hooded eye doing nothing to minimize the worry in them. Before morty could even answer she brought her hands down to take his own, gently pulling them out towards her and giving a comforting squeeze. "It's gonna be ok.. grandma's got you.."

For a solid 30 seconds or so she was to distracted by the throbbing in her skull to notice the boy making a run for it but either way she wasn't in much condition that very second to stop him. However, fate must've been on her side as gravity stopped him before she had to. Turning just in time as she witnessed him take a harsh crash into the floor followed by a cry of pain. This worried her extremely, adrenaline pushing past the pain in her skull to quickly rush to his aid.

One eye laid half lidded as Rick crouched down, slowly picking morty up into a sit. "Anything broken?" Her words were laced with nothing less than distress, anxiously looking him up and down for any signs of greater harm. "I got you don't worry." She reassured, gently picking the kid up into her arms to carry off.

"Please be more careful." She'd scold him a little harsher later, right now what mattered was making sure he was alright. Bringing him out of the kitchen and back into the living room, Rick gently set him down on the couch. "Let me see." As soft as her tone was, it wasn't a suggestion. Gently taking Morty's arm in hand, she pulled off the old bandage and carefully inspected. Upon realizing that nothing was broken she let out a deep relieved sigh, pulling the roll of gauze out from around the couch to redress his wound.

She relaxed a little as she replaced the bandages, adrenaline dying down and slowing pulling her into a crash. "I'm far too old for this.." she whispered to herself, placing a kiss over his wound once finished wrapping out of habit. "Stay here.." Rick instructed, now too concerned over her floors staining to stay put. Pushing herself back up onto shaken knees, she scurried off to the kitchen, soon to be scrubbing at the floor with a much too small hand towel pulled from the sink.

She wanted to go on about how scared he looked, how she wanted nothing more than to comfort him and make sure he was alright, how even if he had shot her the moment he saw her she still would've helped him, but she knew better than that. Rick was sure he was embarrassed enough as it is.

"Ah, before I forget." Her eyes gently lit up with the same sudden realization from earlier. sliding her tea to the side she held out her hand, inviting Morty to hold out his own before retracting the action and instead turning her forearm wrist up to demonstrate on herself. "I temporarily locked your weapon modifications" she finally admits, tapping a finger against her forearm where Morty's control panel would be. "It must've hurt when you tried to shoot, I apologize for not warning you." Ironic how she was apologizing for the kid attempting to shoot her.

She took a moment to appreciate the sight of morty relaxing, even if only slightly. It brought forth a sense of pride that she was able to de-escalate a very obviously distrusting and stressed boy. "Where all does it hurt?" She finally spoke back up, face faltering a little with concern. "I don't keep very much technology on me anymore so I worry that I might have missed an injury. I'd feel awful if you got an infection because of my negligence." A finger gently tapped against the side of her cup, anxiously fidgeting as she awaited an answer.

Her face scrunched up as if she had smelt something foul the moment Morty asked his question, her grip on her mug tightening ever so slightly. "A Rick?" She repeated with a frown, as if the words tasted awful. "I definitely don't like the sound of that." She snickered out, obvious that she had taken no real offense towards the title. "Well.. I suppose I am," lifting her hands she made air quotes with her fingers "A Rick" there was definitely a hint of resentment to her agreement, but she did her best not to seem genuinely upset.

"But I prefer not to be associated with all that, excuse my language, nonsense." She cleared her throat and took another sip, hoping to wash away the (frankly very little) aggression in her tone. "My grandchildren just call me meemaw" she teased, giving away the fact that yes, her name is Rick, but it isn't something that defines her. She obviously didn't expect him to actually call her that, she just wanted to get a reaction.

"But I wont force you to stay. I'm a woman of my word, I'd like to ask you a few questions and then I'm sure you'll be right as rain to be on your way" As much as she wants to make sure he's fully healed up and safe rick understands that this isn't her morty and it wouldn't be right to keep him in an uncomfortable situation. "Though.. I would at the very least prefer if you stayed for dinner, get you fed and well rested so you're strong and ready to face the world again." Lifting up her mug, Rick took a sip from her tea, humming in content as she set it back down. Finally looking back up, she gave a light smile, her eyes once again met his. "Besides all that.. may I ask your name?"