Hey, last chapter! Thank you to all who have read, reviewed, followed and favorited! I didn't anticipate anyone to do any of that! I hope the last chapter is alright and that you all enjoy it.

Five Times Morty Needed a Hug...

...And the One Time Rick Did

It was the weekend, Summer was out with friends and Morty's parents were on another fix their failing marriage date. Rick hadn't expressed any desire to go on an adventure, ignoring Morty and at breakfast not saying a word, except to quickly kiss Beth on the head and inform her that she had 'made the crap' out of the hash browns.

Morty was bored, that and slightly worried, when he'd gone into the garage earlier to visit with his grandpa instead of the usual insults and verbal diatribes Rick had been terse and taciturn, not explicitly asking Morty to leave but rather completely ignoring him and giving mainly 'yes' and 'no' answers to everything Morty said. Morty had left after a little while, hurt being the main thing he felt from his grandpa's write off of him.

Sitting in front of the TV he had been zoning out, trying to think about why his grandpa was being so weird, the hurt had settled a little and instead worry had come over him. Rick wasn't usually like this, at all.

Biting his lip, Morty tried to make up his mind on whether or not to leave grandpa to himself or to try to bother him again. Letting out a huff of breath Morty clenched his fists, mind made up to try to figure out what was going on. He stood and made his way into the garage, he faltered in front of the door, courage failing for a moment. Knocking softly on the door, Morty stood there, a hand holding one hanging arm in nervousness. He waited a few moments for his grandpa to call out in his drunken voice, a rough voice allowing him to enter. Morty frowned when there wasn't an answer.

Hesitantly he opened the door, head peering through to look into the room beyond. Whatever hesitancy he was experiencing was gone though when he spotted Rick's body sprawled on the floor, and terror and worry replaced it.

Morty raced over, falling to his knees and placing a hand on his grandpa's arm. For one horrible moment he was sure that Rick was dead, but then he noticed the heavy rise and fall of his chest and then Rick's eyes fluttered open. They were at half-mast and Rick looked even more out of it than he usually did.

"R-R-Rick?!" Morty cried, voice high with worry.

"M-Morty," Rick replied weakly.

He spluttered then, a painful coughing ripping through and causing blood to spew from his mouth and land on Morty's hand, dying his white coat a dark maroon.

"Wh-what happened, Rick? You-you-you, you're bleeding!"

Rick let out a throaty chuckle and coughed up a bit more blood, eyes sliding shut as a weak and bitter smile quirked the corner of his mouth.

Morty felt terror lance through him as his grandpa's eyes shut and then anger worked its way into him and he pulled a hand back, slapping Rick in the face.

It worked and Rick opened his eyes again, annoyance prominent on his face.

"Wh-what the fuck, Morty, d-d-don't be a little shit."

The anger and vociferous intent of the sentence was betrayed by the weakness of Rick's voice and the blood which now stained his mouth and shirt front.

"You tell me, Rick, right now, ho-how to fix this!"

Rick laughed again, more blood accompanying the laugh. Morty's mind started to catch up to the situation and he realized, belatedly that this was intentional, the blood and pain, the sharp and sudden end to everything as Morty knew it was a choice that Rick had made. Morty's heart clenched and tears sprung to his eyes. He held them back though because Rick was dying and Morty could tell by looking at his grandpa that he didn't have much time.

Mind racing, Morty stood up and stepped away from his grandpa, eyes scrambling to find something in the garage that would save Rick. Just as despair began to enter him, Morty remembered a small collection of a cure all mixture Rick had picked up in a decent amount from an advanced civilization from another timeline. Morty lurched to the work table and wrenched one of the drawers open, he pawed through the drawer before realizing that what he was looking for wasn't in it. He shut it quickly and and opened the next one. He rummaged through it. This drawer was like the last.

Morty looked over his shoulder as he opened a third drawer. Rick was on his side, vomiting blood. Morty turned back to his task with greater energy. Relief surged through him when he saw the small vials lined up in the drawer alongside needles for injection. Morty grabbed a vial and loaded it. Rushing back over to Rick he didn't hesitate as he plunged the needle into Rick's neck.

A few seconds passed and the shakes which Rick had been experiencing died and his body became still. Another moment passed and Rick opened his eyes. Morty was dead silent as he watched his grandpa blink, emotions in his eyes which Morty had never witnessed. He had never seen a more broken and devastated look on someone's face. Rick looked over at Morty, eyes watering and mouth trembling.

"M-Morty?"

Morty felt his own tears welling in his eyes, exhaustion overcoming him as the adrenaline died. There was shame in Rick's eyes, shame and pain deeper than Morty had ever seen. Rick held his gaze for a moment longer and then looked away, propping himself so he was sitting up.

"Gr-grandpa?" Morty asked as silence reigned.

There was no answer, instead Morty noticed that Rick's shoulders were beginning to shake and then the sound of harsh sobs entered his ears and Morty realized that his grandpa was crying. His eyes widened and he was unsure of what to do. The cries grew slightly louder, but were muffled by where Rick had an arm pressed against his mouth, head bent low.

Morty moved forward and wrapped his arms around Rick, the teenager's arms gripping tight and a hand rubbing his granpa's back. Rick began crying harder and he turned, wrapping his own arms around Morty and accepting the comfort being offered.

"I-it's okay, grandpa, you,you, you're alright, Rick. I'll help, I-I'll help."

The End.