The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, R. Frost

That night, Steven dreamed of Jasper.

She was screaming at him, demanding to be released from wherever he'd confined her from across a hazy plain, a spectre of wild hair and orange skin. The roars in his head were actually loud enough to wake him up and send him off the bed with a wild flail, where he ended up on the floor tangled in blankets.

He didn't quite remember being tucked in, and the thought that it was probably Pearl after she came out to check on him slipped through his mind as he frantically dove for a sleeping Lion.

After a moment of pushing and shoving he was inside the big cat's mane. Jasper's gem was where he had left it inside the little cooler, and it took all of Steven's effort to summon the bubble around the sliver of orange with shaking hands. He hated to do it, still thinking of Centipeedle, but with no idea of how much time it would take for either Jasper to reform or for the Gems to find out…

Thinking about the rest of the Crystal Gems caused even more panic than the nightmare, and with a few kicks he was back in his bedroom, on the floor again with Lion looking at him with something like amused disinterest.

"Hey, don't give me that."

Steven used the bed to pull himself up to his feet, where he finally looked around the rest of the house. It was still dark, inside and out, and even Amethyst wasn't out to raid the fridge like she usually did late at night. The only other person around was Lion, and he had settled back down where had been sleeping earlier, no longer interested in Steven's actions. He let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, falling forwards onto the comforter and landing on his stomach.

"I wish Lapis was the one who showed up instead."

This would all be so much easier if it was Lapis, instead of Jasper. He wouldn't have to hide her from the Gems like this. With a look over to Lion, who was now side-eyeing him through one lazy eye, Steven could only groan again.

"Unless you have an idea of what to do you can't look at me like that."

The responding huff from the big cat was swallowed up by the emptiness of the darkened house. With another groan Steven pulled himself back to his pillow, but couldn't find a comfortable position, rolling over once, staring at the ceiling, then rolling again to stare at the wall. It took a couple more rolls and long hours before Steven had finally managed to fall back to sleep. Even then it wasn't a good sleep, and more than once he found himself waking with a start, until finally he dragged himself down the stairs to dig something out for breakfast.

It wasn't until two 'Bandito Breakfast Burritos' later, when he had eaten and was staring at his plate in a sort of exhausted, contemplative silence that the door to the Temple opened. It was Amethyst's door, the squat purple Gem all but rolling out of her room with a yawn and a stretch. She made a bee-line towards the counter where he was sitting, flicking her long pale hair out behind her before planting both hands on the counter next to him.

"Hey Ste-maaaaan!" When her wide smile and cheerful greeting were only received by a grumble and a deflated sort of slump by Steven, she made a face and reached over to ruffle his hair. "P told me you got into a fight with a crab monster! One for Tiger Millionaire, right?" Again, her question only received a half-hearted response from the boy slouched over the counter.

Amethyst's reaction was to blow a raspberry and grab the empty box that Steven's breakfast had come in, taking a bite as she turned back to the Temple door. "Fine, whatever man. Don't want to crash the pity party you're throwing."

It wasn't until her door was open that Steven finally piped up. "Uh, wait! Where are Garnet and Pearl?"

The small Gem turned back towards the kitchen, taking another chunk out of the box and speaking un-enthusiastically through the mouthful. "Eh, P's doin' somethin' with that space junk we cleaned up and I think Garnet's out lookin' for mean green." Her shrug punctuated the words, obviously not caring about her comrade's activities.

Steven had finally climbed down off of the stool, empty plate in hand. "Hey, Amethyst… What did you think about Jasper? When you first saw her?"

His question was enough to put a pause in Amethyst's retreat to her room, she leaned against the open door frame, shrugging her shoulders again. "I dunno, man. She was big. And loud. And a jerk. Oh man, me and Pearl were ready to kick her big butt after she knocked Garnet out!" She jumped into a fighting stance, her 'snack' still in one hand as she shadow boxed. "And we would have too. 'Cept she got her hands on you and did that thing with her forehead…" Amethyst slowly came to a stop, sheepishly rubbing one arm with her free hand. "And then we had to stop fightin' or she said she was gonna try and poof you." She fell into a quiet, just for a moment, before striking a pose. "She lost in the end though! Doesn't matter, right? Who cares!"

"Yeah. I guess you're right." Steven did an awkward shuffle with his feet.

"Don't worry about her. She's stuck for now, and when Garnet finds her, WHAM!" Amethyst demonstrated by crushing what was left of the box between her hands and tossing it her mouth. "Or somethin' like that." With her hands up in a 'who knows' motion, Amethyst turned back to her room. "Anyways, I got junk to sort. All that new trash from Peridot's ship is really crampin' my system. Later Steeeeven." The door to her room closed with a 'shunk', leaving Steven alone in the house again, sweating a little from the demonstration.

After depositing the plate in the kitchen sink (for Pearl later) and sweeping up the rest of the wrappers from his food into a pile (for Amethyst later) Steven was changed and out the door with Lion in tow. He actually wished it was that simple, not wanting to leave Lion alone to disappear again like he did from time to time, especially with Jasper's Gem in his mane. He had to alternately push the massive feline down from his bedside and steer him outside until he got an idea.

"C'mon, we're gonna go see Dad. If you behave we'll get you some Lion Lickers or something, please?" To his dismay the mention of the awful treats were enough to get the cat moving. "I still can't believe you like those things."

Lion's only response was a yawn as they both started the trek down the beach and towards Beach City. The morning was quiet, and it was still early, so their only company was the noise of the ocean and some seagulls out early to find their own breakfasts, but they kept their distance from the pair as they trekked across the sand. Steven had found that bringing Lion out on walks with him was a great way to deter some of the more opportunistic wildlife, and so they reached the Car Wash without incident.

The early hour meant that there were no customers yet, but Greg Universe was out in a lawn chair, enjoying the morning and playing on acoustic guitar. When Steven and Lion came into view, he smiled broadly and put the guitar down, waving at the pair. "Hey Schtu-ball! Good morning!" He was up on his feet to give Steven a hug, one hand out to pat Lion's head. "And Lion too, huh? That's a surprise. You here to hang with your old man?" He was smiling down at Steven until he noticed his son's haggard look and the way he clung into the hug.

"Woah, hey buddy. You have a rough night?" At the affirmative mumbled against his shirt, Greg gently picked Steven up and placed him in his vacated chair. "Just hang out here, let me go get another chair and you can tell me about it, all right?"

"Alright. Thanks Dad." Steven mumbled quietly waiting, kicking his feet in the air while Greg brought out another chair. He even managed to get his father's larger guitar into his lap to play a few notes. It's large size made it unwieldy, and for a bitter moment he missed his ukelele. Nearby Lion had found a comfortable spot to lay out for a nap, but was still watching through slitted eyes.

There was only a moment before Greg pulled another chair out next to the first, sitting heavily. "Still a little big for you, huh? Pearl told me you got into a kabong fight with a crab. Sounds wild."

"Uh. Maybe? Is that a reference to something?"

"It's this.. Old cartoon. Don't worry about it." Greg waved off the thought before offering to take the unwieldy guitar from Steven. "So you wanna tell me what you've got on your mind?" He set the guitar down again before resting his hands on his knees, leaning forwards to listen.

"Not, not really." Without the guitar to occupy his hands, Steven was left with only the bottom of his shirt to fidget with. "Just. Remember that story you told me about you and Mom?" At his father's nod, he continued, still handling the bottom of his shirt. "If Marty ever came back, what would you do?"

"Marty? That guy?" Greg leaned back in his chair, which squeaked in protest. "You're asking some hard-ball questions today, Steven. I guess it'd depend on how he acted." He crossed his arms, one elbow in hand, his other hand tapping his chin. "If he was still a jerk we'd have a problem. He was a pretty big jerk so I don't know if that would change." He tried to play it off as a joke, but the look Steven game him made him rethink his words.

"If Marty came back to Beach City and wanted to apologize, then I guess I could maybe forgive him. People can change." He held his hands up and shrugged. "But it's up to you to decide if you want to give them the benefit of the doubt or not."

"Benefit of the wha?" Steven was giving him another look, but this time instead of just confusion, it was something like a determination to understand.

"Oh, it means you gotta decide if you want to trust them. Like, you've got to say to yourself, 'I know they were a jerk to me before, but if I give them a chance, and they prove they're not going to treat me like they did, then we're okay!'."

"So if he was nice when he came back, you'd forgive him?"

The question was innocent enough, but Greg couldn't help but wince, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "Honestly I don't know if I could, kiddo. Marty was a real piece of work. It's complicated." He tried to grin it off, but Steven was still staring at him intently. "Hey, let's not worry about that now. It's still way too early to be thinking so hard." He reached over to ruffle Steven's hair. "How about you and I jam out instead?"

Steven's response was a wide smile, even if he was still unsettled by his own question and the lurking thought of Jasper, still bubbled nearby in Lion's mane. The thought of her was pushed from his mind, in favor of the chance to spend more time with his Dad. "Oh! Does that mean I can play the electric?" He was out of the chair and off towards the van in the same breath, leaving Greg to scramble to catch up.

AN: Wooooow finally. I want to apologize to every one who's been waiting for an update on this. Honestly this one was hard to bang out because it required a little more thought then the first two chapters. I still want to be able to work on this in but still want to keep it believable. I honestly was hoping to catch up before the Steven-Bombs, but I wasn't able to, even though I'll keep trying to work in what we learn as the show goes on. This Chapter is dedicated to my friends Naovax, Pan, and Termie (who all helped with the writing), and to all the Jasper fans dealing with crap who just want to the Big Buff Cheeto Puff to be happy and healthy. Peace y'all! -Blue

(PS I'm still looking for a sort of beta reader! Feel free to contact me if you're interested!)

(PPS- Sorry if the formatting is wonky I am never gonna get used to it ffff )