Rick and The Loud House

Lynn Sr. smiled as he and Rita packed their bags. "Man, I cannot wait for this luxury spa weekend! You think the kids will be okay? I feel bad we aren't taking them."

"Oh, they'll be fine. Besides, we deserve a couple days to ourselves." Rita then frowned bitterly. "Especially after our last vacation got cancelled." As Lynn Sr. wasn't looking, she picked his speedo out from the suitcase and flung it out the window.

Unbeknownst to them, the Loud siblings had been listening in on the conversation through the bathroom air vent. "We will not be fine!" Lola snapped as she got out a spa pamphlet. "Look at this place, you guys! It's got a spa, eight different pools, and a business centre! We are missing out on all of it!!"

"We're just gonna have to convince Mom and Dad to take us with them." Lori stated.

"Hey, what if we set up a play to convince them why they should take us with them?" Lincoln asked.

The rest of the sisters gave Lincoln an odd look. "Dude, I don't think we have the time or resources to set something like that up." Luna said to a disappointed Lincoln.

...

Lynn Sr. sighed as all of the siblings had gathered in the living room to beg the Loud parents to let them come with them to the hotel. He really should have seen this coming. "Look, kiddos, this is the first chance your mother and I have to relax for a long time."

"Oh! I have an idea." Rita said before she shouted. "Rick!"

After a couple moments, a tired looking Rick entered the room, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Yeah? W-What do you want?"

"Rick, could you take the kids to some kind of resort so that they won't feel like they're missing out while we're staying at a hotel this weekend?"

Rick held his chin in thought. "Well, I have been saving up a lot of money recently so, uh...yeah, sure then."

"Just one more thing then. You promise that wherever you're taking the kids, it'll be 100% safe, right?"

"Trust me, Rita. I already know where we're going. It's literally the safest place in the universe. There's no way they can get hurt there."

...

Upon entering the resort via portal, the Loud siblings gazed around in amazement at the exotic, yet alien building they were in. Looking out the windows, they could see a blue forcefield around the whole resort. Luan whistled. "This place sure looks fancy."

"Luan, for all you know, this is the equivalent of an alien truck stop." Rick, who was currently carrying Lily, snarked. "You have no frame of reference. You're in a universe beyond your imagining. But, yes, it is super fancy."

Lori rolled her eyes. "He always has to take the opportunity to flaunt his intelligence, doesn't he?" She thought to herself. "So, this place really is safe, right?" She then asked Rick.

"Of course it is, Lori. I'm not gonna take you somewhere dangerous to relax."

After Rick said that, everyone then heard the sound of a laser gun being shot. Lana slowly looked down to see a hole through her chest before collapsing onto the floor. The Loud siblings stared at Lana in shock for a moment before screaming in horror. "OH MY GOD, LANA!" Lori screamed.

Lana then glowed yellow for a second before getting up and looking around in confusion, now completely unharmed. "Huh? W-What just happened?"

The siblings all stared at Lana in shock for a moment before looking at Rick for an explanation. "The resort's covered in an immortality field. You can't die here. That's the gimmick." He explained. Everyone then let out a sigh of relief, apart from Lori, whose eye was twitching. They then noticed two other kids, who appeared to be aliens almost resembling pink pigs, playing around and giggling as the boy shot the girl with his laser gun. After being resurrected, the girl simply continued playing. Lola glared after them.

"You know, that still kinda seems like bad parenting." Luna remarked.

Rick shrugged. "Well hey, if you wanna complain to them, be my guest. Rich a-holes are rich a-holes."

"Lori, are you okay?" Lincoln asked.

Lori took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm...fine."

"Ok, well I'm gonna go drop Lily off at the daycare." Rick announced. "You kids go have fun and uh...I guess don't get into any trouble. I mean, I don't know what kinda trouble you could get in considering you literally can't die here but still."

Everyone then went their separate ways to go explore the resort. Before Lana could go off though, Lola put a hand on Lana's shoulder. A sinister grin was on her face. "Let's go get our own guns and teach those other kids a lesson!"

Lana gave Lola a nervous look. "You sure we should be playing those kinds of games?"

Lola rolled her eyes. "What's the worst that could happen? It's not as if we can die. Besides, no one messes with my sister and gets away with it!"

...

Luna entered the elevator, only to balk at all of the buttons, all of which had strange symbols on them. "Ok, this is probably less complicated than it looks. This has gotta be for the top floor, right?" She said as pressed the highest button. The elevator doors closed as the elevator started moving before immediately breaking down. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me!"

...

After dropping Lily off, Rick then made his way to sit at the bar. After ordering a drink, he glanced to his side to see that Lori had taken a seat next to him. "You want a drink, Lori?"

"I'm not old enough to drink." Lori responded.

Rick shrugged. "Not like you have to go by Earth rules here but you do you I guess."

"I just wanted to talk is all. So, how did that adventure with dad go?"

"I took him to the moon." Rick responded. "He uh, seemed to enjoy that. Obviously, I'm not gonna take him on a real adventure so...yeah."

Lori raised an eyebrow. "So how come you don't take us on less dangerous adventures like that?"

"Would a trip to the moon really impress you at this point?"

Lori was silent for a moment before sighing. "I guess not." There was another moment of silence before Lori spoke again. "So, could you tell me more about that intergalactic softball tournament that Lynn's competing in?"

"What else is there to say? It's an intergalactic tournament that takes a lot of precautions to make sure absolutely no cheating occurs."

Lori nodded. "Right...so how come we never heard about it beforehand?"

Rick shrugged. "Why would you? The universe is a pretty big place. It's not as if intergalactic softball tournaments are something I'd go out of my way to show off."

"Also, how come you know that they take a lot of precautions but don't know how long it'll actually last?"

Rick started to get irritated. "What part of 'intergalactic' don't you understand? How long this tournament lasts depends on how many that are competing. Which is a lot if you didn't get that."

Lori narrowed her eyes. "Do you really have to resort to talking down at me?"

"Do you have to resort to acting like an idiot?" Rick responded before taking a sip of his drink. "I mean, what, do you think I'm lying about this or something?"

"Well it's not as if I literally don't have any any reason not to believe you. You said to my parents that you were going to be more honest with them and we both know that's a lie."

Rick sighed. "Look Lori, it's like I said. Your parents wouldn't understand the stuff we do. They wouldn't see the bigger picture. Sometimes, you gotta lie for the greater good. I mean, it's not as if you've never done it, right?"

Lori sighed. As she expected, this wasn't going to be easy.

...

Lincoln was walking around the resort, now wearing the goggles that Rick had made in order to see ghosts.

"What are you doing?"

Lincoln yelped and tripped over before getting up to face his sister, Lucy. "Oh, hi, Lucy. I heard that this planet used to have this big war between two alien races. I also heard rumours that ghosts of those who died in that war are haunting this very resort!"

"Whoa. Sign me up."

"I haven't exactly found anything yet though." Lincoln admitted.

"We could try the basement...wherever that is."

"The elevator's out? I'm on it." One of the resort workers spoke into his communication device as he made his way to the elevator before accidentally bumping into Lincoln and Lucy.

"Oh, excuse us." Lincoln apologised before he and Lucy continued on. The worker also headed off, not realising that his name tag had fallen off.

Upon walking by and noticing it, Leni picked it up and attached it to her dress. "Cute pin. Totes matches my dress."

A female alien then approached her. "Excuse me, um..." She read Leni's name tag. "Fritzzord, how am I supposed to get to my room with the elevator broken?"

Leni could not understand the woman's alien sense of fashion but she did recognise the heels she was wearing. "Ooh, heels and stairs? You should def take a room on the first floor."

"Great! Can I get a key?" The women pointed towards the currently unoccupied counter.

Leni shrugged before going behind it and giving the woman a key. She was then approached by a garblovian. A large alien with red eyes, no nose and sharp teeth along with two horns and shaggy hair on his head. "Agah blahg blahg?"

Leni tilted her head in confusion. "Huh?"

The garblovian started getting angry. "Agah blahg!"

Leni started to get nervous. "Like, do you want something or..."

"Agah blahg blah!"

Leni then grabbed a bunch of keys. "Ok! Like, just take what you want."

The garblovian took all the keys from Leni before walking off. "Agah blah."

...

"You can't catch us!" The boy alien taunted as he and his sister ran away from Lola, now wielding two laser guns.

"Get back here!" Lola shouted as she chased the two into a lounge area. However, she saw no sign of them.

As she looked around for them, Lana, holding her own laser gun, then caught up to her. "Lola, that guy you accidentally shot didn't look very happy about it."

Lola scoffed. "Well maybe, he shouldn't have got in the way of my shot then."

"Now!" The two alien kids then jumped out of their hiding places and started firing at them. The twins then dived behind a sofa for cover.

"This is getting kinda intense." A worried Lana admitted.

Lola rolled her eyes. "Please. What's the worst that could happen?" She then peaked her head over the sofa, only to get sent flying back as she got shot in the forehead.

Lana gave her twin a panicked look. "Lola?!"

Lola glowed yellow before groaning and rubbing the spot she got shot at. She then got up with a scowl on her face. "Oh, they've REALLY done it now!" She then leapt back into battle, guns blazing while Lana could only gulp in response.

...

After getting changed into her swimwear, Lisa approached the outdoor pool, only to hesitate in disgust upon seeing all the other aliens swimming around in it. "Uck! Looks like I'll have to disinfect the pool. Goodness knows what fungi await me in these waters." She then got out a chemical flask from her tote bag, along with a dropper to get a little bit of the chemical out. Before she could drop a drop in though, one of the aliens accidentally knocked into her, causing her to spill all of the chemical into the pool, causing the water to bubble rapidly. "Uh oh." She winced as some of the aliens in the pool started screaming in agony. "Oh dear." She then ran back into the resort. After running inside, she soon passed by Leni. "Might wanna close the pool, Fritzzord."

Leni put down the pamphlet she was reading and looked around in confusion. She then noticed another alien approach her. This alien had a simian appearance. He have two eyes, a mouth with a fang slightly protruding from the lower jaw and two appendages on his heads that looked like bonsai trees. A lot of his body was covered in light blue fur and he had a tail that had a small white puff ball at the end. He also had a couple scars on his stomach. "Excuse me, I need you to make a call."

Leni scratched her head. "Like, who are you?"

"My name is Risotto Groupon. I am the assistant general manager of the restaurant." Risotto explained. "You see, we have a...raffle everyday to see which guest wins a free ride on the whirly dirly. Today's winner is Rick Sanchez so I need you to call him and tell him that he's won."

"Umm..." A baffled look was on Leni's face before she suddenly smiled. "Sure!"

Risotto smirked. As unusual as these circumstances were, he supposed he might as well use them to his advantage if it meant bringing vengeance upon Rick.

...

"I just don't understand why you keep bringing us to dangerous places. If the universe is so big, shouldn't there be loads of places you could take us where we're not fearing for our lives?" Lori asked.

Rick groaned. "Look, Lori. Nobody's forcing you to come on any adventures. If you have such a big issue with what I do then don't come. I can easily just get one of your other siblings to come. Though, you didn't seem have much of an issue when you went on an adventure with Mr. Poopybutthole."

"Well...that one wasn't so bad."

Rick raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you end up getting arrested? I heard you really pissed off the people on PB's planet."

Lori groaned in annoyance. "Look, that's besides the point."

"Lori, you do realise that I'm not trying to put you guys in danger, right? The world's a crazy and chaotic place. Sometimes, shit happens. It's not as if Earth is the safest planet in the universe either, you know? You're just so used to the way it works that you consider it 'normal'." Rick's phone then started ringing. He answered it. "Yello?"

"Congratulations!"

Rick raised an eyebrow. "Leni?"

"You're like, today's raffle winner! You win a free ride on the whirly dirly!"

"Leni, what the fuck are you talking about?"

"Umm..." Leni then hung up the phone.

Rick stared down at his phone. "What the fuck?"

"What was that all about?" Lori asked.

"Dunno. She was talking about the whirly dirly for some reason."

"The whirly dirly?"

Rick smiled. "Oh yeah, it's a ride here. Hey, you wanna have a go? It's a pretty cool ass ride."

Lori thought for a moment. "Ok, sure." She might as well try and have some fun. She didn't want to spend all of her time here arguing with Rick.

...

The whirly dirly was a ride that almost resembled a rolled coaster though it was made of multiple rings that spun around each other. "Oh man, this is gonna be awesome." Rick said as he and Lori stepped into the ride.

Lori noticed no one else had gotten on apart from two suspicious looking aliens, glaring at the back of them. One of them resembled a red fish and the other one resembled a blue ape. As the ride started going up the starting track, Lori said. "Rick, something about this isn't right. Those two aliens behind us are giving us weird looks."

Rick turned around. Upon seeing this, the two other aliens looked away. Rick turned back to Lori, waving his hand dismissively. "Ah, you're being paranoid, Lori. What's the worst that could happen? I mean, sure there's a point where the ride dips just outside the immortality field but...oh shit."

Before Rick could do anything, the ride launched off of the starting track and onto one of the rings. Both of them gave exhilarated screams due to the high speed of the ride. Upon reaching the point where the ride would dip out of the immortality field, Rick ducked, barely missing the shot fired at him from one of the aliens. "Motherfucker!" Rick pushed off the safety bar and began climbing over towards the two aliens. The red fish alien also climbed over towards Rick and attempted to hold him down, only for Rick to kick him off of the ride.

Rick then went over and started brawling with the other alien, knocking the gun out of his hand. The alien managed to knock Rick down, only for Rick to use his foot to push the alien's head towards one of the other rings, cutting it off. However, the alien then glowed yellow as his head simply grew back. The alien then picked up Rick, causing his head to also be taken off by one of the rings. However, like the alien, Rick glowed yellow as his head grew back. "Oh for fuck sakes." Rick kicked the alien off him before giving him a hard punch in the face, knocking him out.

Rick climbed back over to Lori. "Rick, why are there people here trying to kill you?!" Lori shouted.

"How should I know?! Whoa!" Suddenly, two robotic arms attempted to pick Rick out of the ride, only for Lori to hang onto his legs. Rick glared up at the hovercopter that the robot grabbing him was riding from. Rick then activated something on his lab coat before slipping out of it and back onto the ride. The robot pulled the coat up towards the hovercopter, only for it to explode. Unfortunately, the hovercopter then crashed into the ride, causing the rings to collapse as the ring that Lori and Rick were riding on then rolled out of the resort and into the jungle surrounding it. The destruction then caused the immortality field to shut down.

...

Moments earlier, Lincoln and Lucy were exploring the resort's basement for ghosts. "I can't sense anyone's presence." Lucy admitted.

"I don't see any ghosts either." Lincoln added. "You know, thinking about it, maybe searching for ghosts in a place where people can't die wasn't the best idea."

Lucy shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe those that have died here could have lost their souls in the process with only their body coming back to life."

Lincoln stared at Lucy for a moment. "Ok, even for you that's kinda dark."

"Sorry."

Lincoln sighed as he took off his goggles. "So, what's it like having your room to yourself now?"

"It's actually pretty nice." Lucy admitted. "Though I must confess, I do miss the sound of Lynn bouncing her balls against the wall sometimes."

"Doesn't that get annoying?"

"You get used to it. Still, there's definitely stuff she does that I don't miss."

"What do you mean?"

"Sigh. Lynn can be rather...insensitive at times. She says a lot of things without really thinking." Lucy rubbed her arm awkwardly. "It's...part of the reason we fell out a while back."

Lincoln blinked in surprise. "What? I thought that was because you were the one upsetting her?"

Lucy nodded. "True. I acted no better. I ended up taking out my frustrations on her. But let's just say she didn't exactly make it hard for me to do so."

Lincoln frowned at this information. He wondered why no one pointed stuff out like this beforehand. He supposed everyone just saw it as normal. Not that anything in their lives were normal. Suddenly, the lights then went out. "What was that?"

Lucy looked around. "Huh. Maybe there are ghosts down here after all."

...

Both the twins and the two alien kids were panting as they all aimed their laser guns at each other in a standoff. "You know...you two are pretty good at this game." The girl alien admitted.

"You're not so bad yourself." Lola confessed. "But I'm afraid this is the end of the line!"

"Bring it on!" The boy alien said confidently.

Before anyone could fire though, they then heard a voice make an announcement over the PA system. "Attention everyone. Due to an accident with the whirly dirly, the immortality field has temporarily shut down. Do not attempt to murder each other under any circumstances."

The two alien kids glanced at each before putting their guns away. "Well, it was fun while it lasted. See ya!" The girl said, waving them goodbye.

"Yeah, it was fun playing with you guys." The boy added, following his sister.

Lana and Lola, however, were now staring off into space, wide-eyed. "We could've died." Lana stated.

Lola slowly nodded her head. "Yep."

...

The ring continued rolling through the alien jungle before eventually crashing into the side of a cliff. Rick and Lori crawled out of the wreckage before getting up. "Ok, well that was awful! Can you please tell me why that just happened?" Lori asked.

"I just said, how should I know?" Rick then heard groaning and turned to see the blue ape alien also crawling out of the wreckage. "But I'm about to find out." He went over to the alien and used his foot to pin him to the ground. He then got out a laser gun and pressed it against the alien's forehead. "Alright, motherfucker, who set this up?"

"My leader did." The alien groaned, glaring at Rick. "You destroyed our kingdom! We were usurped because of the weapons and technology you supplied our enemies! We want justice!"

"Who is your leader?!" The alien didn't respond. Rick then punched the alien in the side of his head. "TALK MOTHERFUCKER!"

The alien let out a pained cough. "Risotto...Groupon."

Rick glared at the alien before shooting him in the head, killing him to Lori's shock. "What did you do that for?!"

Rick shrugged. "What? He probably would've ended up dying in this jungle anyway."

Lori scowled at Rick. "So, this is all your fault. Once again, we're in danger because of you. I thought you said you weren't going to sell weapons to bad people any more?"

"Ok, one, I did that before that deal. I don't know why you assumed this was recent. Also, bad people? Before I came here, this planet was in the middle of a race war. There were no 'good guys' or 'bad guys'. I simply sold my stuff to the highest bidder. I was neutral. And hey, it ended the war quicker so if anything, I did this planet a favour."

Lori growled in frustration. "Oh, you just have an answer for everything, don't you? You can't ever be wrong."

Rick raised an eyebrow. "Uh no, I can't. I'm the smartest man in the universe. Why would I ever be wrong?"

"Well if you were never wrong, why is it that we're constantly in danger whenever we go anywhere with you?"

"Oh, like you can talk about putting people in danger after you tried to sabotage Leni's driving test!" Rick snapped, causing Lori to step back at that. "Yeah, you didn't think I knew about that, did you? If you weren't lucky, Leni could've ended up dead and you'd have also left a Meeseeks without his purpose." Rick slowly approached Lori, causing her to keep stepping back with a guilty expression on her face. "I see right through you, Lori. You're the kind of person that needs to feel needed. You don't like me because I take your siblings attention away from you. That's why you keep trying to play 'hero' and make me out as a 'villain' so your siblings will keep looking up to you. Because you can't stand the idea of not being in control. But you think you're somehow better than me? When I first moved in, do you know how many of your siblings came to me, complaining about how much of a bossy, controlling, self-absorbed bitch you were? You might put on the nice act now but I bet if I wasn't around, you'd go back to being the same kinda bitch you were because there wouldn't be anyone else there to call out your bullshit. So if you wanna preach about 'right' or 'wrong', maybe try looking into a mirror at some point."

Lori found herself speechless. Rick's brutally honest speech had left her rattled as she couldn't help but look back at some her past actions with a sense of guilt. Lori then shook her head. No. No, this wasn't going to go down like this. Rick might have been right about a few things there but not everything. She gave him a defiant glare. "You know what? You're right. I'm not perfect. There's a lot of things that I've done that I'm not proud of. But do you know what the biggest difference between you and me is? Unlike you, I try to be a better person. I try to learn from my mistakes. And you're wrong about why I don't like you. The biggest reason I don't like you is because you remind me of everything I hate about myself!"

Rick blinked in surprise. "W-Wait, what?"

"You think I can't see through you either? You use your intelligence to justify everything you do. You always feel the need to keep reminding us of how smart you are because you need us to keep looking up to you so we don't question you." Lori then attempted to imitate Rick's voice. "'Oh, I don't believe in God because only an idiot would believe in religion. Oh, I don't like superhero movies because only idiots would watch stuff that's popular'. Rick this is literally what geeks on the internet do to make themselves look smart. But the thing is, we're not that different. I used to use my age to justify bossing around and getting advantages over my siblings and I tried to justify it by telling myself that I deserved it because I had spent my whole life looking after my siblings so I should've gotten something back for it. Yes, I do want my siblings to need me but I think you want us to need you too. And if I really wanted you gone, I could just tell my parents about you. But the fact that even after everything you've done, my siblings still look up to you and want you around; that's why I don't have you kicked out. And if someone like me can learn to be a better person, I don't see why you can't."

"I...you..." For the first time in a long time, Rick found himself speechless. He didn't know whether to be furious with Lori or proud of her.

Seeing that Rick had nothing to say, Lori continued. "Don't have any more arguments? Then maybe you really could try being a better person. You said you were going to be honest so why don't you start by telling me what actually happened to Lynn?"

Rick scowled. "Fine! You wanna know what really happened? Here it is then!"

...

Once Rick had finished recounting what happened, all Lori could do was stare in shock. "How...how could you let that happen?"

"Uh, did you miss the part with Lynn being completely unreasonable."

Lori started to feel a sense of dread. "She-she could be dead!"

Rick rolled his eyes. "She isn't dead, Lori. Trust me, I'd know if she was."

"How?!"

"I'll show you when we get back home. It'd take too long to explain. Also, for the record, this is partially your fault."

"WHAT?" Lori screeched.

"In case you forgot, you're the one who told me to take her with me in the first place. You know, despite how completely insane she was acting. Instead of trying to solve your problem, you'd have preferred to have just gotten rid of her." Upon realising that Rick was right, Lori put a hand over her mouth, appalled at herself. "I also recall you saying that you'd owe me for it so why don't you do me a favour and not tell anyone else about this, hmm?"

After taking a moment to let everything soak in and mull over her thoughts, Lori eventually spoke. "If I do that, will you then promise to at least try and be a better person?"

Rick let out a long groan. A part of him told him that all Lori wanted to do was control him. Make him feel like a slave. Another part of him remembered the Unity incident. Recalling how he had eventually made it feel and what it had told him with the notes it had left behind. He didn't want to admit it but deep, deep down, he knew he wasn't that great of a person. It went completely against his nature but he decided to say. "Fine. Deal."

Lori nodded. "So, you really have no way of tracking down Lynn? Can't you just track down the portal gun she has?"

"I didn't think I'd ever need to put a tracking device on it since I could just have it self destruct and I didn't think any of you would be stupid enough to try something like this."

"You really should tone it down with the insults."

Rick groaned. "Fine!" Suddenly, his phone started ringing. "Uh, hello?"

"Mr. San-cheese?" Rick heard Leni speak. "We've been getting some complaints about your kids."

A bewildered look appeared on Rick's face. "Leni, what the fuck are you doing?"

"Um, excuse me but I do not need to be spoken to like this."

"I-but-you-why?" Rick stopped stammering after Leni hung up. "Jesus, what the fuck are those kids doing?"

"How are we going to get back to the resort?"

"Uh, portal gun, remember?" Rick said as he got out his portal gun.

...

"Bathroom!" Luan cried after managing to finally find the bathroom. As least she hoped this was the bathroom since it also looked like an aquarium. She quickly rushed into one of the stalls, only to pause upon seeing the strange contraption that almost resembled a toilet. "Ok, how does this work?" She pressed one of the buttons which then caused water to start gushing out the toilet. "Gah!" She pressed another button, only to get blasted back by the large amount of water that got fired out of the toilet. Not knowing what else to do, Luan simply fled the bathroom.

...

Rick and Lori arrived back at the resort to see that the place had been slightly flooded. "Jesus, what the hell happened here?"

Water then splashed down onto them from above. They looked up to see a hole through the ceiling with Lisa staring down at them from the above floor. "Apologies!" She shouted.

"Ahem." Rick and Lori turned around to see Leni standing behind them. "I'm sorry, Mr. San-cheese, but I have to ask you and your family to leave."

...

Rick and the Loud siblings exited the portal back into the Loud house. The siblings looked somewhat ashamed of themselves. "We were at the literal safest place in the universe and you still somehow managed to get banned." Rick stated. "I-I don't know whether to be annoyed or impressed."

"Aren't you still mad about that guy that tried to kill you?" Lori asked.

Rick shrugged. "Eh. Considering we just got banned, I doubt we'll ever see that guy again anyway so I guess that guy can just spend the rest of his life coming to terms with what happened so he can get over it. I mean, I already have."

Suddenly, the front door opened up as Rita and Lynn Sr. came in. They paused upon seeing Rick and the siblings. "Oh. You're home early." Rita remarked.

Rick raised an eyebrow. "I could say the same thing about you."

"Let me guess, the kids got in trouble, didn't they?"

Rick nodded. "Yep. Let me guess, you two got caught skinny dipping in the pool again, huh?"

Rita frowned, blushing slightly in embarrassment. "Not another word, Rick."

...

"So, Lori knows about what happened?" A nervous Lincoln asked as he and Lori followed Rick into the garage.

"Don't worry, I understand why you kept it a secret." Lori reassured him.

"So I know you two are wondering about the possibility of Lynn dying out there. Luckily, I have a backup plan for that." Rick explained as the three lowered into Rick's underground lab.

Lincoln and Lori's eyes both widened in shock upon seeing Lynn's body, floating in a green vat. "Lynn?!" Lori shouted.

"It's a clone of Lynn." Rick explained. "I've restarted Operation Phoenix. If Lynn ends up getting herself killed out there, her consciousness will be transferred to this clone. So, no matter what happens, we will eventually get Lynn back."

Lori let out a sigh of relief. "That's a relief at least. Still, the sooner we get her back, the better."

Upon reentering the garage, Lori was about to follow Lincoln out before Rick placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, listen. I just wanna say that you're a lot smarter than I've ever given you credit for. You've got a lot of potential."

Lori blinked in surprise from the compliment. "Um, thanks." She said before leaving the garage. While she was happy to have been complimented by Rick for once, she couldn't help but wonder what he meant by 'potential'.