Epilogue - Still Alive

"-And as soon as she climbed out of the fountain, she yelled at me for like, three minutes for spitting on her face," Steven finished.

Connie chuckled. "Honestly, I can't blame her. That's gross."

"I panicked," Steven admitted. "Anyway, after that, we went back to the beach house and cleaned up and talked while we waited for everyone to come back. Dad didn't make it back until yesterday, he had to talk to car people about getting the Dondai out of the lake. Doesn't look like it can be fixed though."

"Is he gonna buy another one?"

Steven turned and looked back at the battered barn behind them. "I dunno. He's paying for the barn and the house to be repaired, and then there's new phones and new DVDs, and he's worried Sunset Beach City might try to make him pay for the damage to the rest stop. I mean, I know he's a millionaire, but he doesn't want to spend it too fast."

Connie nodded. "And what-"

"Hey!" Amethyst poked her head out of the barn door. "It's safe, you can come in now."

The two children scrambled to their feet and entered the barn where Pearl was also waiting. They looked around at the wreckage in awe. "Wow, Peridot really trashed it," Connie said. "In a good way," she hastily added.

"Yup," Amethyst said proudly. "Very thorough trashing, probably couldn't have done better myself. Right!" She tried to look serious and almost succeeded. "Steven. All the stuff from Peridot's side needs to be bubbled. Her clothes, her books, her tools, any DVDs Lapis didn't manage to get her hands on. Send it all to your room so it doesn't get mixed up with the bubbled gems or anything."

"I'll be helping," Pearl added brightly.

Steven saluted. "OK!"

"Connie, you're with me," she continued. "All this stuff on Lapis's side, we need to chuck it in the skip."

Connie frowned slightly. "All of it?"

"Yeah." Amethyst nodded. "We already did a quick look and pretty much all of it's ruined. I mean, I guess you can keep any books if they're not too badly damaged…"

"No, that's OK," Connie said quickly. She didn't really want to keep anything Lapis had owned. But still… "I was kinda thinking more of Goodwill."

"Oh, right. Gotcha." Amethyst nodded. "Sure, make a pile. Oh, and keep an eye out for any tools. Lapis took most of Peridot's away. We found some of them already, but there might be a few more around."

"Yes, ma'am." Connie nodded and got to work. It wasn't a particularly pleasant job. Amethyst hadn't been exaggerating when she'd said it was pretty much all ruined; even the few books she found that didn't have smoke damage were swollen with damp. As a bibliophile, it made her a little sad. As Peridot's friend, throwing away Lapis's possessions turned out to be rather cathartic. She picked yet another armful of bedraggled books and uncovered several small, dirty beads. "Huh." She tossed the books aside and bent down to examine them further. A 'p', a 'd' and a star. "Amethyst, what are these?"

"What are what?" Amethyst came to stand next to her and squinted. "They look like beads."

"Yeah… that's what I thought, I just thought it was weird they were with Lapis's stuff," Connie said, not entirely sure if Amethyst was playing dumb. "Should I throw them in the skip?"

"Yeah, sure," Amethyst turned away. Then a thought occurred to her and she spun back around. "Wait, gimmee those! Steven!" she yelled.

"What's up?" Steven asked.

"You brought Lapis and Peridot bracelets, right?" Amethyst asked. She held out the beads. "These are from Peridot's, aren't they?"

Steven took the beads and rolled them between his fingers. "It looks like it," he said slowly. "I always wondered why she stopped wearing it."

Connie glanced from one serious face to the other. "We should go and give them to her," she said with forced cheer, trying to lighten the atmosphere a little. "I bet she'll be really happy to have them back."

"Yeah, but you can't exactly make a bracelet with three beads," Amethyst pointed out.

"Well, no," Connie admitted. "But it'll be like, a symbolic thing. We can tell her we're looking for the others, and if they don't show up, we can get some new beads to fill in the gaps, but it'll still be nice for her to have some of the original beads."

"Well I think that's a wonderful idea," Pearl called from the other side of the barn. She beamed proudly at Connie. "Why don't you both go and do that now?"

"OK," the two children said in unison, and ran out of the barn into the sunshine.

Amethyst scowled as she watched them go. "Great, now I gotta do the rest of this on my own," she complained.

"You enjoy messing with garbage," Pearl pointed out.

"Yeah, but this is Lapis's garbage." Amethyst pouted. "And it's taking ages. Can't I just set it on fire again?"

"No!"

xXxXx

"How's this look?" Greg unrolled the blueprints and pointed to the edge of the house plan. "This is where the living room wall is at the moment, but we can easily cut a door in and add an extra room on the outside. We'd lose some of the deck area though."

"We could extend the deck, couldn't we?" Garnet suggested.

"Yeah…" Greg looked thoughtfully down at the old plans he'd drawn up years earlier when they'd first built the beach house. "It'd be a bit more work though, what with putting in the support foundations and all."

"That's all right." Garnet glanced up at Steven's loft, where Peridot was sat, huddled in an oversized sweater and watching television, and lowered her voice. "Work will help take her mind off it."

Greg nodded, remembering how the work had helped him when Steven moved in with the gems. It had been hard, giving up his son, but building the home he lived in had given him a little peace of mind. "Yeah, you're right."

At that moment, the door swung open and Jasper walked in. "All the wood's stacked outside."

"Thank you," Garnet said politely. Her eyes followed the large gem as she walked across the floor, heading for the stairs. It still felt deeply bizarre to have Jasper walking around their house instead of Lapis, but she had to admit that the other gem was making an effort to get on with them, even if it was only for Peridot's sake.

"Hey, uh, Jasper?" Greg called after her. "Are you sure you don't want a room too? It's just, it'll be easier to add it in now, while we're doing all this work."

"Thanks, but I'll be fine," Jasper said dismissively.

"OK. But uh, if you change your mind, I'm sure it won't be a problem," he said cheerfully.

"Come on, Greg," Garnet interjected. "Let's go and start measuring the deck."

The two of them went outside, leaving Jasper and Peridot alone. It didn't escape Peridot's attention that Garnet and Greg had waited for somebody else to show up before they went outside, but she appreciated it. She didn't like being left alone any more.

They watched television in silence for several minutes, and then when the ads came on, Peridot spoke. "So you're really not staying then?"

Jasper shook her head. "I'll stay while they fix up this place and build your room," she said brusquely. "Just to make sure they don't stick you out in that barn again. After that…" She trailed off uncertainly.

"Will you try to return to Homeworld?" Peridot asked, a little anxiously. "If the Rubies return?"

"Don't know." Jasper shrugged. "Guess it depends on why they came looking for me in the first place. I don't particularly fancy being reprimanded because you insulted Yellow Diamond. And explaining Lazuli is going to be a tough one. Sorry," she added as Peridot flinched. "If I do go back though, I won't say a word about the Cluster. Or the Crystal Gems."

"Really?" Peridot turned to look up at her.

"Yeah. What's the point, anyway? Rose isn't here, and nobody's going to care about the others, not when they think the Cluster's about to emerge." She scowled moodily. "Don't get me wrong though. I don't like them, and I'm still pissed they crashed the ship and threw away your limb enhancers. But…" Her expression softened slightly. "Watching them scramble to try and get to you before Lazuli did… well, it kinda gave me a little respect for them," she admitted. Then she glowered at the other gem. "Don't tell any of them I said that."

"Sorry," Peridot said with a small smile, shaking her head. "But I have been instructed not to keep any more secrets."

The warp pad chimed as she spoke, signalling the arrival of Connie, Steven and Amethyst. "What secrets now?" Amethyst called up.

"Jasper was just asking me not to tell you that she was impressed by your efforts to come to my aid," Peridot called back as Jasper groaned loudly behind her.

"Yeah?" Amethyst grinned and hopped up the stairs. "We were pretty good, weren't we? 'Course, it would've been helpful if Lion arrived before the nick of time."

"It would've been helpful if your communications system hadn't broken down," Jasper grumbled.

"We're working on it." Amethyst pulled a phone out of her gem as she spoke and casually tossed it in the air. "Greg's setting up a family phone plan, I'm sure if you ask nice, he can put you on it too-"

"Is that Buck's phone!?" Steven interrupted as he caught sight of it. "You didn't give it back!?"

"No, it's my phone," Amethyst corrected. "Anyway, he's got a new one."

Steven groaned loudly and slapped a hand against his head. "You guys can't keep stealing phones from people! You'll get in trouble! I'll get in trouble!"

"Right." Amethyst smiled a guilty smile and decided not to mention that Garnet was actually the one who had Buck's old phone now. "So if you don't completely hate us, does that mean you're thinking about sticking around?" she asked Jasper, quickly changing the subject. Her eyes suddenly lit up. "Oooh, if you stay, you could come wrestling with me! Just imagine it; the Purple Puma and the Peach Panther!"

"Peach Panther?" Jasper and Peridot repeated in unison.

"Yeah!" Amethyst gestured enthusiastically. "I did consider 'Tangerine Tiger' because of the stripes, but then I thought people might think you're connected to Tiger Millionaire-"

"I don't mind," Steven interrupted. "Tangerine Tiger could be Tiger Millionaire's long-lost relative, separated by a tragic family feud, reunited by a chance encounter."

Jasper leaned over to whisper in Peridot's ear. "Do you know what they're talking about?"

"I haven't the faintest idea," Peridot whispered back. She cleared her throat and raised her voice. "So, does your presence here mean that you've finished work on the barn?"

"Er… sort of," Amethyst admitted. "Pearl kicked me out because I set fire to the stuff in the skip. I thought I'd grab something to eat before I head back. She might have calmed down by then. Speaking of the stuff in the barn though," she added brightly. "Connie and Steven have something for you."

Connie, who'd discreetly disappeared into the bathroom to clean the beads, now stepped forward and held them out in her cupped hands. "Here. These are yours, right?"

"Oh!" Peridot gasped in amazement. "From my bracelet! Where did you find them?"

"They were under some books in the barn," Connie said. "I didn't see any others, but we'll keep looking-"

"No, no, that's not necessary," Peridot interrupted, shaking her head. "I have the rest in my gem." She carefully took the beads from Connie and stared at them for a moment. "It didn't even occur to me that she might have hidden the others."

There was an awkward silence, and then Connie spoke again. "Um, do you guys have like, some embroidery thread or elastic or something? We could rethread it now."

Amethyst shrugged. "Maybe? I dunno, that's more Pearl's department."

"I could check the junk drawer in the kitchen," Steven offered, but Connie was already shaking her head.

"Let's go into town and buy some!" she suggested eagerly. "Then Peridot can choose the colour she wants."

Half an hour later, Steven, Connie and Peridot entered Fish Stew Pizza. "Hi, Kiki," Steven greeted. "Could we have a medium pizza and a pair of scissors please?"

"That sounds like in interesting combo," Kiki joked. "Can't say it's one I'm tempted to try myself."

The children laughed politely. "We just need to fix Peridot's bracelet," Steven explained. "We'll bring them right back."

"Sure, here you go." Kiki handed over a pair of scissors. "Daddy will bring your pizza over when it's ready."

Steven thanked her and handed the scissors over to Peridot, who immediately made them float between her outstretched hands. "You're getting good at that," he said encouragingly.

"Yeah, it's cool," Connie agreed, sitting down at a table. "So is that your gem weapon then? Metal powers?"

"I think it must be." Peridot sat down as well and took a skein of sparkly green thread and the beads out of her gemstone.

"So you can come on missions with us!" Steven said excitedly. "I mean, when you're ready," he quickly added.

"Hmm," Peridot said noncommittally. "Unfortunately, such a power is reliant upon the amount of metal in the vicinity. I still don't think it would've been of much use in the ice caves." She began to thread the beads on the thread. A question nagged at her. "Steven?" she finally asked.

"Yeah?"

"What exactly was that beast in the caves?"

Steven stared at her in surprise for several seconds. "A… corrupted gem? We said that, didn't we?" he said, a little uncertainly.

"Yes, that terminology was used," Peridot said. "But I don't understand what that means. Until we encountered it, I had been assuming the phrase was being used interchangeably with 'fusion monster' and 'gem mutant', but that creature was something entirely different."

"You don't know about corruption!?" Steven gaped at her. "But… doesn't it happen on Homeworld too?"

Peridot shook her head impatiently. "There's nothing like that on Homeworld."

Steven gasped loudly. "I can't believe we didn't tell you about corruption!"

Connie nudged him with an elbow. "You're still not telling her now," she pointed out. "Do you want me to tie that off for you?" she added to Peridot.

"Please." Peridot held out her arm and Connie began tying the threaded beads around her wrist.

"Right. Sorry." Steven nodded apologetically. "Well, I don't really know how it works or anything, but corrupted gems used to be… well, regular gems, like you and Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. Something happened and it changed them… sort of made them sick, and now they don't remember who they are any more. We bubble them so they can't hurt themselves or anyone else."

"Oh." Peridot blinked at this explanation. "That… explains a lot, actually."

Connie snipped off the excess thread and handed the scissors back to Peridot. "Apparently Steven's mom tried to cure them, but didn't manage it. Steven might be able to though."

"Yeah." Steven scowled. "If I can ever get my stupid healing powers to work properly again."

"You mean you haven't tried spitting in the faces of these creatures?" Peridot said dryly.

Connie let out a snort of laughter at that. Steven and Peridot stared at her and then began to laugh too. They were still giggling when Kofi Pizza slammed their food down on the table and stomped away, clearly infuriated by something. "I should return these scissors now," Peridot said, and stood up.

Connie picked up a piece of pizza, but instead of taking a bite out of it, she watched Peridot as she stood at the counter, chatting to Kiki and Jenny, who had come to help her twin with the evening rush. "Hey, Steven?" she said quietly. "Speaking of bubbled gems… what's going to happen to Lapis?"

Steven stopped eating and put his half-eaten slice of pizza down. "I don't know," he admitted. "I hate that she's a prisoner again. I know it's not like the mirror; she's sort of frozen in time there and unaware of anything that's going on, but it still feels wrong. But we can't just let her out either." He looked over at Peridot as well. Jenny was laughing as she showed her something on her phone. "She did something really bad to Peridot, but she just won't accept that it was wrong." He sighed heavily. "Garnet did say that in the future, if like, my dream powers get stronger, I could try communicating with her in the bubble or something - under strict supervision," he clarified at Connie's expression of concern. "But only if Peridot's OK with it."

Connie nodded in understanding. She felt bad for Steven, but she couldn't help feeling more than a little relief at hearing that Lapis wasn't going to be around any time soon. She picked her pizza and began eating and Peridot soon returned. "Jenny says we need to go back to the arcade," she informed them. "Sour Cream's mother has banned him for the week because of his eyes and I have been instructed to defeat his high scores while he's incapacitated."

"Not today, I want to watch!" Connie begged at once. "I have to go home soon, but I can come over after school tom-" Her words were drowned out by Kofi as he burst out of the kitchen and stomped over to the table next to them, slamming the pizza down with enough force to rattle their own cutlery. "Wow, he's really angry about something."

Peridot nodded. "Jenny says his phone was stolen from the car. Again."

xXxXx

There was peace in the beach house. The broken windows and frames had all been repaired. Greg had retired to his van for the night. Pearl was in her room. Garnet had stepped onto the warp pad half an hour previously with a sack of cement. Amethyst had successfully persuaded Jasper to go out and watch a wrestling match with her. This left Steven and Peridot alone, and they had decided that this was the perfect time in which to practise Peridot's gaming skills with another go at Avenues Of Anger. But after her avatar accidentally clubbed him over the head with a pipe for a third time, Steven paused the game and frowned at her. "Peridot? Are you OK? I mean, I know that's a stupid question right now, but you seem distracted. I know you're better at this game that this."

"I'm… OK," Peridot said slowly. "I was just thinking about the arcade."

Steven nodded slowly, clueless as to where this conversation was heading. "Oooookay…?"

"And… that dancing game," she continued.

"Oh, right." Steven nodded. "Well, I don't think Mr Smiley thinks we had anything to do with that, so we should be-"

"No, not that." Peridot shook her head and looked seriously at him. "I mean, I would like to attempt fusion again."

"Oh. Oh!" Steven looked started. "W-what, really? Are you sure? After…?"

She knew he was speaking about Lapis; after they'd returned from the fountain, he'd admitted to her that Lapis had told him what she'd tried to do. But she didn't want that to be her only memory of fusion, and she told him as much. "I don't want my only experiences with fusion to be bad ones," she said firmly. "I would like to try again, properly, with someone I like and trust."

"Um, OK." Steven couldn't help being flattered. "I get that. I guess I just didn't expect it so soon."

"Camp Pining Hearts says you should get back on the horse as soon as possible, although they seem to use that phrase for any challenging situation, not just horses," Peridot explained. "So I thought…" Then she paused. "That's… not a television lie, is it?"

"No, no, it makes sense," he reassured her. "When something goes wrong and you get hurt, you gotta try again. If you leave it too long, it gets bigger and scarier. OK!" He sat up straight. "We'll try it again." He pursed his lips. "I'm assuming the game just made you think about it and you don't actually want to fuse in the arcade itself, right?"

"No!" Peridot thought of all the people who'd been watching her play Dance Rebellion and shuddered. "I would prefer to attempt this without an audience."

"What about an audience of one?" Steven suggested, his eyes lighting up. "Would it be OK if Connie was there too? We could introduce you to Stevonnie!"

"Stevonnie?" Peridot recognised the word as a portmanteau of the two children's names and the notion intrigued her. "Is that…?"

Steven grinned. "You'll have to wait and see."

xXxXx

"Maestro!" Connie gestured dramatically at the tape deck balanced on a convenient rock. "Let there be… music!"

Steven nodded solemnly and pressed play. As the music began to play, the two children began to dance, and then they stood back-to-back and held hands. Peridot watched in awe as Steven's gem glowed until both children turned into one being. Stevonnie grinned down at the small gem and held out a hand. "Hi! I'm so happy to finally meet you!"

"Hello." Peridot cautiously held out her own hand and let the fusion shake it. "You must be Stevonnie."

Stevonnie laughed a little self-consciously. "That's me. So, um, what do you think?"

Peridot walked in a slow circle around them. She'd never seen anything like it; Stevonnie was somehow exactly what she'd expected and nothing like she'd expected. And they were tall. "I… don't really understand this," she admitted. "I never suspected an organic lifeform would be able to fuse like this. But I don't understand Steven in general," she quickly added as Stevonnie's face fell.

"But, do you like me?" Stevonnie asked anxiously.

"Of course!" Peridot reassured them. Then she narrowed her eyes. "Although I must admit I am a little envious of your increased stature."

Stevonnie grinned. "Sorry. I guess this means I'm out of the Shorty Squad."

Then they glowed and unfused, and once again, Connie and Steven stood before her. "OK, so do you want to try now?" Steven asked, and held out his hand.

Peridot nodded and stepped forward, but to her dismay, she discovered she didn't know what to do. Steven and Connie happily moved their bodies in time to the music, but Peridot couldn't work out what to do with her feet, and her arms hung awkwardly by her sides. After several seconds, Connie frowned and reached over to turn down the music. "You said it almost happened with Dance Rebellion, right?" she checked. "Do you think it was because it told you what to do?"

"Maybe?" Peridot shrugged helplessly. "Steven wasn't dancing though."

"But do you think an actual dance, with set steps might help?" Connie persisted. "You know, something like the Macarena-"

Peridot stiffened, remembering the cold water surrounding her body, forcing her to move against her will. "No!"

Connie opened her mouth and then shut it again and looked Steven for help. "I don't think it was just the steps that did it," he said, coming to their aid. "I think it was more… we were having fun. You were doing really well on the game, and everyone was cheering you on and it was a good atmosphere… right?"

Peridot nodded slowly. "That sounds like an accurate description of the experience."

"I see." Connie looked thoughtful. "So what you need to do then, is stop concentrating on fusion, and start concentrating on fun." Her eyes narrowed. "We need to play popstars."

xXxXx

Steven led them into Rose's old room in the Temple. Peridot made a move towards her bubbled clothes, but the boy shook his head. "Wait, watch this." He put his hands on his hips and addressed the room. "Room, give us a popstar dressing room!"

There was a puff of smoke and both Connie and Peridot exclaimed with delight when the clouds around them disappeared, to be replaced by racks of clothing and dressing tables with tall mirrors and lightbulbs around the edges. For the next twenty minutes, they simply played dress-up, trying on ever-more elaborate outfits and letting the simulated make-up artists cover their faces and bodies with glitter and sparkles.

"How do I look?" Steven asked, giving a twirl so that the cape he wore fanned out around him.

The sequinned suit he wore glittered under dim lights and Connie shielded her eyes. "If anyone shines a light directly at you, they'll go blind," she reported. Then she grinned. "Perfect!"

"Great!" Steven grinned back too. "You look good too." He squinted slightly. "I think." The glitter made it difficult to see clearly. "Where's Peridot?"

Connie giggled. "Putting on the tallest pair of heels I have ever seen in my life."

"Ta da!" As if summoned, Peridot stepped forward and posed happily. The heels were so tall, she was almost on tiptoe, but she didn't care. Connie and Steven clapped and whistled.

Then Steven addressed the room again. "Now we need a concert stage. With laser lights and fireworks and one of those sparkly ball things."

"And confetti falling from the ceiling!" Connie added.

"And confetti falling from the ceiling," Steven repeated.

"And a live band! And acrobats!" Connie continued, getting carried away. "And one of those screens behind us that does cool visuals while we sing! And a piano! Set on fire!"

"Uh, yeah, and all that." Steven turned to Peridot. "What about you? Any requests?"

Peridot thought hard. "A screen to display the lyrics of the songs?"

"A teleprompter," Steven commanded.

"And Percy and Pierre in the audience?" she said hopefully.

"And Per-" Steven stopped and began to laugh. "You know what? Sure. Percy and Pierre in the audience! Front row! But we should probably stop there or we'll overwhelm the room. So, what song should we sing?" He gave Peridot a sidelong glance. "And… any we don't sing?"

"I know!" Connie said before Peridot could speak. "What about Superdude?"

Peridot and Steven looked blankly at her. "I don't think I know that one," Steven admitted.

"My parents don't listen to much other than classical music and soundtracks, but Mum took me to a staff party at the hospital once, and they played it," Connie said rapidly. "It's got all these actions in it, like clap your hands, and sleep, and hitch a ride, and it was just really fun."

It didn't sound remotely like MCYA, so Peridot agreed and Steven ordered the band to begin playing. The trio stepped out onto the stage and the simulated audience went wild. In the front row, Percy and Pierre stop devouring each other's faces just long enough to cheer and throw their neck scarves at the stage. Then the music began. At first, Steven and Peridot followed Connie's lead, but the lyrics were simple and the actions were easy, although Peridot lagged a little behind, unsure what it actually meant to 'hitch a ride' or 'ski', but by the second verse - which was the first verse, only faster - they were all performing in unison. By the time the third verse began (which was the first verse again, but even faster), they were breathless and sweaty, but having way too much fun to stop.

"Kiss!" They blew a kiss towards the screaming audience.

"Brush your hair!" They mimed brushing their hair.

"Give us a wave!" The audience did an epic Mexican wave in response.

"Aaaand Superdude!"

Peridot had forgotten just how unstable her heels were. As she flung an arm out in front of her and kicked a leg back, mimicking the flight pose of the Man Of Metal, her shoe skidded on the shiny floor and she felt herself beginning to topple over. Without hesitation, Steven leapt forward before she could fall off the stage and into Percy and Pierre's laps. There was a bright glow and suddenly, in their place stood someone else.

Who immediately fell off the stage.

But instead of flattening the audience, they found themselves crowdsurfing through the cheering people. Connie stared after them, feeling a tiny pang of jealousy. But it only lasted a second and she dropped her own microphone and leapt off the stage as well. Fireworks exploded above their heads and confetti poured down as they were bounced around, until finally, they were pushed back onstage, next to the burning piano. "You did it!" Connie screamed.

"We did it!" The unnamed fusion screamed back. Then they screamed some more. Whether it was with excitement or terror, Connie didn't know. Probably both.

"What's your name?" Connie shouted over the noise of the audience.

"I don't know!"

"And how do you feel?"

"I don't know!"

Suddenly the fusion glowed and separated and Steven and Peridot fell to the floor. Steven was the first to recover and bounced straight back onto his feet. "We did it!" he screamed again.

"I know!" Connie began to laugh and reached down to help Peridot to her feet.

Peridot took the proffered hand and shakily stood up. "That was…" She trailed off. "It was…"

"I know!" Connie screamed again. "Isn't it great!?"

"It's uh, it's something," Peridot conceded. Then a thought occurred to her. "If Steven can fuse with gems and humans, I wonder if he could possibly fuse with both of them at the same time?" she mused aloud.

Steven's eyes lit up. "We could all be a giant woman! All three of us! Think of the possibilities!" He began ticking them off on his hands. "We could all go and see the new Dogcopter movie and only have to pay for one ticket, we could eat and Peridot wouldn't have to spit it out, we could go on that roller coaster at Funland, we could go to a real concert and still see over tall people, we could reach the top shelves in stores…"

"Before you get carried away planning your next fusion, maybe you should tell the gems about this one," Connie suggested. "You know Garnet's going to want to hear about it."

Steven nodded. The background noise was beginning to get annoying, so he clapped his hands. Immediately everything vanished and they were magically back in their original clothes. "Oh. That's useful."

They stepped out of the Temple and into the beach house. Once again, Garnet and Greg were pouring over blueprints, but they looked up and smiled. "Hi, Connie. Do you need a ride home today?" Greg offered. "I've got to go to the hardware store and pick up some more cement, I can drop you off on the way."

Connie glanced over at the clock. Her mother wasn't due to come and collect her for at least another half hour and although she didn't really want to go home early, she realised it would be a perfect opportunity for Steven and Peridot to tell Garnet what had just happened. "Thanks, that would be great. I'll call my parents and tell them I'm on my way."

As she followed Greg out of the door, Garnet glanced over at Peridot and Steven, who appeared to be having a quiet argument. "Peridot. Why don't you come and have a look at the plans?" She smiled. "After all, it's your room."

"We fused!" Steven blurted out.

Peridot groaned and held her face in her hands. "I meant… never mind."

Garnet stared at them both in open-mouthed silence, and then she screamed and clapped her hands together in glee. "I'm so proud of you both! Tell me everything! No!" Behind her shades, her eyes lit up greedily. "Wait! Could you show me!?"

"Sure!" Steven said at once.

"No!" Peridot said at the same time. She flinched and stepped backwards as the both looked at her in surprise. "I- I mean, um, maybe later or, um, a-another time-"

Garnet's expression softened at once. "Peridot, it's OK. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. You don't have to if you don't want to."

"You don't want to!?" Steven cried in dismay before Garnet could stamp on his foot and stop him. "Didn't you like it? I thought you liked it!"

"Steven…" Garnet said warningly.

"I did like it, but-" Peridot began.

"But not enough to want to do it again," Steven said a little bitterly.

Peridot opened her mouth to object, and then shut it again. Her expression hardened and without a word, she stomped past Garnet and Steven, into the bathroom, and slammed the door. Garnet pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed deeply. "Steven."

"What?" he said sulkily. He knew he was being unreasonable, but he still couldn't help being offended that Peridot hadn't leapt at the opportunity to fuse again.

"Tell me about your fusion," she said softly. "How did it happen, how did you feel?"

"It was…" Steven sighed and tried to think back. "It didn't work at first, so Connie said we should stop trying to fuse and just have fun. And we were having fun. Then Peridot nearly fell over and I grabbed her and that's when it happened."

"And?" Garnet prompted gently. "Was it still fun then?"

Steven bit his lip. "I… I don't know," he admitted, echoing the answers they'd given Connie back in the room. He glanced over at Garnet, who was staring at him intently, and lowered his eyes. "It was at first. But then Connie started asking us questions and Peridot panicked because she didn't know how to answer and… and I sort of… pushed her away." He flushed with shame. "I didn't mean to! It's just, they weren't my feelings, but they were in my head and I didn't know what to do!"

Garnet nodded. She'd expected to hear something like this. "You're both very new to fusion, and Peridot's experiences with it have been extremely different to yours. You've always been very excited about it, but she's only recently discovered it doesn't have to be a weapon. And then before she could experience that for herself, Lapis tried to use it against her. Of course it scares her, even with you. It's not surprising that your emotions conflicted." She smiled slightly. "Even the strongest fusions can fall apart under those circumstances."

"Right." Steven remembered Keystone Motel. He turned and looked at the closed bathroom door and groaned. "I need to apologise to her."

"Yeah, you do." She grinned at him. "I'll leave you to do that, I'm going over to the barn to see how Pearl and Jasper are getting on." She rolled up the blueprints and stepped over to the warp pad. "Ask her what colour curtains she'd like in her room."

Steven watched her leave. Then he took a deep breath and walked over to the bathroom and knocked on the door. "Peridot?"

There were several seconds of silence, but just as he raised his fist to knock again, she finally replied. "What do you want?"

"I want to apologise." He leaned his forehead against the wood. "I'd prefer to do it face-to-face, but if you don't want to talk to me or anything, I understand."

There were another few seconds of silence, and then he heard the lock click and backed away quickly before the opening door could hit him in the face. Peridot glared at him through a small crack in the door. "I'm listening."

"I'm sorry," he said at once. "I shouldn't have agreed to us fusing again without discussing it with you first. And I shouldn't have got mad with you for saying no. Garnet was right, you don't have to do it if you don't want to and I was a jerk for complaining about it."

"Yeah, you were," Peridot muttered, but there was no malice in her voice. She sighed and opened the door completely. "I did… enjoy… the experience," she said hesitantly. "But… I found it overwhelming. I couldn't do it again, certainly not on command." She looked down at the floor. "I'd like to try it again one day, but for now, I just need to… process it."

Steven nodded quickly. "OK. I won't try and push you again, I'm sorry."

Peridot smiled slightly. "I accept your apology."

"So, um, do you want to come and watch TV or something?" he said hopefully. "Or stay in the bathroom?"

"If you don't mind, I think I'd prefer to stay in the bathroom for the present," she said and began to close the door again.

"Ah, wait!" he cried. Peridot paused and looked expectantly at him. "Garnet says what colour curtains do you want in your room?"

As always, the mention of her new room gave her a warm glow in her chest and she smiled. "Dark green."

"Got it." He stepped backwards and the door closed, although this time, Peridot left it unlocked.

She listened to the found of his retreating footsteps, and then sat down in the corner by the bathtub and sighed heavily. Even though he'd apologised, she still couldn't help feeling bad for taking some of the shine off of his first gem fusion by not enjoying it as much as she'd hoped.

And yet… somehow she still felt better. She'd successfully fused, on her own terms. Steven hadn't taken over her mind or tried to force her to stay fused, and Yellow Diamond hadn't burst into the room and shattered them on the spot. True, it had been scary, she hadn't known who she was and Steven's excitement in her mind had been an uncomfortable feeling, but she'd done it. Next time, she'd know what to expect. Next time, she wouldn't hear Lapis's voice in her head, whispering loathing and lies.

She idly spun the beads on her bracelet. She hadn't told Steven or the gems everything that Lapis had done to her. Even after everything they'd witnessed, a little part of her still thought perhaps it was just too much to be believable. And now she'd discovered another bit of spite she hadn't even been aware of. Even though Lapis was bubbled and locked away, she was still finding more evidence of the other gem's hatred. Perhaps when she unbubbled all her clothes, she'd find all the buttons torn off and the seams ripped out. But… if that did happen, she knew her friends would immediately offer to help fix or replace them. Greg had already ordered a new copy of the Camp Pining Hearts Season Two Winter Holiday Special for her.

She heard the front door open as Greg himself entered and greeted his son. A few minutes later, the warp pad chimed and Pearl and Jasper's voices sounded faintly through the wall as they argued about something. Then the front door slammed again and Amethyst's voice joined in. Finally the warp pad chimed again as Garnet returned. Peridot pushed the door open a little and peeped out at the mixed group of humans, gems and Steven, all the people who'd rushed to save her, as they gathered around the blueprints and made suggestions for the new house extension. A week ago, she'd truly wondered if they cared about her as much as she cared about them.

Now she knew they did.

-FIN-

xXx

AND IT'S DONE! Thank you everybody for joining me on this! Without all of your reviews... I would've carried on writing, but it wouldn't have given me anywhere near as much satisfaction. I mean it, thank you to everybody, even the people who disagreed with some of my interpretations of the characters, or who outright hated it, or even the original Kevin anon (although I did have to delete some of their reviews for bashing other reviewers, not cool, dude), but mostly to the people who gave me nice reviews. I'm not going to be all coy about it, I'm only human and your reviews were the best and made me smile. Big thumbs up to you guys.

Now I'm going to take a break for a week or two, get my hair cut and watch every single Leprechaun movie back to back, because my movie viewing habits are trash (although my taste in television is impeccable) and then I'm going to write up the scenario me and Blue came up with way back when Season 3 titles were released and we saw 'Greg the Babysitter' listed. Here's a hint - we were absolutely, 100% wrong.

Thank you all again for reading! I'll be back!