/She had a Rick once, but she also had a Diane. Then a Beth. /
She and Diane raised Beth without Rick for 3 years, specifically her high school years. Beth was turning out to be a remarkable young woman. But things took a turn for the worse when Diane was hospitalized, near the end of Beth's junior year. She died that summer.
"Diane Sanchez died due to depression." The doctor stated as he forlornly gave the news. "According to your reports Ms. Rivas, her body was healthy as could be and her genetic disease was handled with all proper precautions. The forensic department agreed with you. The only underlying cause of death is depression."
"But she didn't commit suicide, a heart just doesn't stop when you want it to." Roxx reasoned. She couldn't accept Diane's death, not like this.
The doctor gave her a sympathetic look, before answering.
"It's unexplainable I know, and it is hard to accept a person's death. The best way I could explain this phenomenon is like trying to prove why medical miracles happen. Sometimes things just happen without rhyme or reason, there is nothing scientific about them. And where there are miracles, there exist the opposite, tragedies."
"So your just saying, she was a medical tragedy!"
"I'll give you a moment with the patient to mourn."
The doctor left and Roxx turned her head to the window which hosted Diane's body. She entered the room and cried silent tears as she held the cold hand. Beth was interning at a different hospital, so she wasn't here. Roxx felt as cold as the body, but she knew that was a lie.
"Why? Why did you leave us? I finally got you back."
Roxx kissed Diane on the forehead before wallowing in her own grief.
/She had a Rick once, but she also had a Diane. Then a Beth. /
It was late at night and Beth was over at a friend’s house. Her daughter was enjoying her senior year of high school as she only had 2 core classes and the rest were extracurriculars. When it was only Roxx and Diane raising her, Beth started to both call them her mothers. Roxx never felt so much joy that night when Beth called her mother; Diane didn't mind, she even encouraged it. Roxx was home alone drinking wine. She already finished a whole bottle and was debating opening another.
Suddenly she heard noise coming from the garage. She grumbled to herself and got a box of Lucky Charms from the cabinet. Beth exited the house through the garage when her friend picked her up. She would not be surprised if she left the door open for the raccoons to come in.
She unlocked the door to the garage, ready to throw the cereal to the driveway for the raccoons to chase. As soon as she opened the door a drunk Rick fell on top of her. She yelped as they both kissed the ground. The clearly drunk as fuck Rick passed out as soon as she opened the door and the less coordinated Roxx fell due to the influence of alcohol and surprise. The cereal box spilled all over the floor, but that was instantly forgotten for the more pressing issue at hand.
Roxx maneuvered the blue haired man off her for a moment so she could drag him to the living room. Although the living room was only 12 feet away from the where they were at. With Roxy’s lack of coordination factored with Rick's height and weight, the result was her hitting her hips and stubbing her toes against surfaces. It wasn’t until she flopped him onto the couch did, she hear his mutterings.
"It’s all my fault. I did this. Why am I so toxic? I deserve this, I should never be happy."
Roxx was sad that Rick was muttering these things. She stumbled her way through the house, though not as much anymore with the lack of mass hauling her down and a little bit more sober. She started to clean Rick up. She wiped away assumed vomit on his lips, grabbed his flask from his hand so it doesn't spill, and stripped him of his dirty coat. As she was about to put the coat in the laundry, but first she emptied out his pockets for anything important. She took out some electronics and a few pieces of paper. She was curious and unraveled the pieces. One was a noted from one of his friends, a person named Bird person. Coordinates that look like it can be inputted into the portal gun. And a certificate. She flattened out the as best she could try to read it. Her eyes widened, she turned the paper over and saw taped to the back of the certificate was a picture of Rick, Diane, Roxx, and Beth, all smiling. She looked at the drunk on her couch as she began to weep once more.
The certificate in Rick's lab coat was Diane's death certificate, with the cause of death highlighted.
/She had a Rick once, but she also had a Diane. Then a Beth. /
"Your mom would say you look beautiful." Roxx said as she placed a necklace on Beth's neck. She was dressed for her high school prom, looking absolutely stunning.
"Thank you mother." Beth smiled at the same vanity that used to be Diane's. Roxx smiled in response to her daughter. As she led her daughter down stairs, Rick appeared at the end of the stair case and looked at Beth up and down.
"Change."
"Rick."
"She's not going to prom like that."
"You were there when we went dress shopping, you were the one who picked this dress."
"And now, I'm saying the dress is too inappropriate for my little girl."
Beth chuckled as Roxy and Rick argued about her.
"I know these little shits because I was one of those little shits! Beth will attract those horny prepubescent boys like a moth to a flame!"
"And you know what Rick, if they get too close to our Beth, they will get burned. Baby girl, I give you full permission to kick a boy’s ass if they get a bit too familiar with you. Don't worry about lawsuits, I can win them." Roxx comforted both Rick and Beth.
Beth smiled at her parents and gave them both a hug. Both parents reciprocated as the doorbell rang. Beth's friends squealed at the sight of her and thus began the grueling process of photographing. Rick oversaw all the pictures as Roxx relaxed on the sideline.
Rick lost rock, paper, scissors. However, it wasn’t as "troublesome" as Rick complained about it to be. She saw a brief smile as he took pictures for Beth with her friends. She sat down on the couch reading her favorite book with a plate of cannolis beside her as she heard her husband yell "More?!" And the group of giggling girls moved to the backyard. She turned the page.
------
"You piece of shit!" Roxxanne held a boy by the collar of his shirt against the wall. He was nervous and confused. She lifted him off the wall before slamming him right against it again.
This hormonal teenage child had the audacity to come to her house, after he knocked up her daughter, and dare say to her that he could support her. All because Beth did a pity lay.
A DAMN PITY LAY.
Because she felt sorry for the guy who seemed to be the next top candidate for 40-year-old virgin, Beth had sex with this no spine, conniving, useless, shit stain of a man.
Her Beth was having a midlife crisis at the age of 17! Luckily Rick took Beth out today for some quality father daughter bonding time. Because if Beth was home and saw this tool out here, she no doubt have another mental breakdown.
"M... ma-... m-ma'am. I- I promise to support Beth..."
"So you don't think I can't support my own daughter, you punk!"
"N-no! Not at all. Not that I mean you can't support her, I mean you can obviously support her, we would be blessed if you could support us!"
"So you were planning to dependent on us! Am I and my husband only cash cows to you!"
"No that wasn't what I was trying to imply!"
"What are you trying to imply!"
"I know Beth is a smart girl and she has dreams to become a surgeon. So a child will obviously hinder her plan-"
"Boy you better stop while your ahead of yourself."
"I'm just saying the cost of an abortion-"
Roxxanne flung the brown haired boy to the side and grabbed a belt from the coat closet and used it as a whip. The sudden sound scared the boy as his eyes grew wide.
"You! Don't get a say in anything. You don't even mention this possibility to my daughter. What she does with your unwanted sperm donation is up to her. If she wants to keep the child, she'll keep the child, if she wants an abortion, she will get the abortion. She does not need your shit filled input to decide what she can or cannot do to HER body. Don't you dare try to make her lean towards one choice or the other for your shitty fantasy."
She stepped menacingly toward the boy who crawled backwards toward the door.
"Regardless of her choice, your life belongs to me. You WILL take responsibility for your actions. You WILL listen to every command I give you. And you WILL compensate by any means necessary for the troubles you inflicted on MY daughter."
At each emphasis Roxx whipped the belt at the feet of the young boy, effectively scaring him as he edged closer and closer to the door.
"You will pay for you actions Jerry Smith, I guarantee you that."
Finally the young boy scrambled up at the door and ran out of her house. When he left, she place the belt back into the closet, grabbed a glass of wine, and waited for her daughter and husband to come back.
/She had a Rick once, but she also had a Diane. Then a Beth. /
"Are you sure mother?"
"Yes, yes, yes. A million times yes! Don't worry, Rick and I got this, just have fun with Jerry. Okay baby girl?" Roxx shooed her daughter away toward her husband Jerry.
They said goodbye to Roxx and Rick as the blue haired man held onto their granddaughter. Beth and Jerry ended up keeping the baby and did a shotgun wedding. Because Beth wanted to keep the baby, she thought she would have to give up being a surgeon. Roxx quickly dismissed that idea saying she and Rick could watch over the baby while she's getting her degree. They argued for a while, but Roxx ultimately won at the end.
In addition, because Roxx believed Beth was too good for Jerry, the only way the stupid male could marry her daughter was to be at the same level as her. So, the first thing she had a problem with Jerry was his looks. Instantly she made him do military drills from all sectors, 6 days a week for 12 hours every day, not including mealtimes.
Not only did his body barely become passable, his personality shifted 30 degrees in the right direction. He was still annoying and dumb, but at least he can be passable eye candy. After military training was done, she encouraged him (read forced) to pick a major that won’t embarrass her daughter. All the art majors were immediately disqualified for him. He ended up picking marketing, which wasn't the best, but it would not embarrass her daughter. She made sure Jerry understood, passed, and excelled on all his classes. Only when he was on his way to finish his undergraduate’s degree and got a paid internship with a ladder system, did she deem him as a viable candidate for Beth's husband. Not the best, but viable. Only then did she approve of their marriage. They may have married young, but she didn't let Jerry lived with them until last year. Up until then, he still lived in his parents’ house and only visited Beth, not even staying over nights.
Anyway, Rick carried their 2-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter to the living room. She wasn't as smart as Beth, but she was smarter than average. Summer amused herself with crayons and paper and went to her room.
Roxx leaned against Rick and sighed.
"I am way too young to have a grandchild already. My hair didn’t even start graying yet."
"I know the feeling, we don't even qualify for the early bird special yet."
They chuckled as the TV played in the background.
"So I was thinking..."
"And what thoughts are going inside that mind of yours." Rick replied as he kissed the top of her head.
"Maybe we should move out."
"Roxx..."
"Just hear me out Rick. This house is worth more to us than mansions in California, penthouses in New York, or even estates in Texas. This place has sentimental value. So, I don’t want to sell it. Plus, we already bought it out. We can give the deed to Beth, under her name. She can start a family here and grow into the person I know she could be."
"And what does us having to move out clash with Beth's development."
"You know there isn’t enough space here for all of us, especially if Beth wants her family to grow. Plus, Beth has grown a dependency on us, specifically you. This dependency can impair judgment, we both know that. Look I'm not saying we should go across the globe. I'm just saying, maybe 30 min. Or an hour away drive. Close enough if she really needs us, but far enough to deter her from "casually" dropping by." Roxx laid her head against Rick's chest drawing patterns on his chest.
"Plus, instead of having to stay at a motel every time one of us want to do it, we have our own place."
Rick grabbed Roxy’s ass and gave it a firm squeeze.
"Should've argued with that first."
"Shut up." She smiled and chuckled.
