Nineteen Years

"Daddy, I think Amethyst and Peridot are fighting. "

"Yeah, I hear it too." Steven leans down to pick up his daughter to carry her in his arms. "Peridot can be loud, can't she?"

Rosie nods solemnly. She's rather like her maternal grandmother, quiet and earnest. Her eyes are full of worry and Steven can tell she's getting close to crying, but holding it back.

"Come on," Steven kisses her little forehead. "Let's go see what's wrong."

Amethyst and Peridot don't usually fight. The two of them can be loud, but Peridot's sounds higher pitched and angrier today, voice easily coming through the temple door. Steven can't hear Amethyst, though. Maybe it's just Peridot throwing a tantrum? He can't think of any troubles lately that might have caused this.

He and Rosie walk through doors that open to a room full of pink clouds. One command from Steven creates a portal that leads to Amethyst's room, where they find Amethyst lounging on a pile of junk. Peridot paces in front of her, yelling.

"-everything was stored in them. Everything! All my logs and reports and information!"

"Hey, it's the Ste-man and mini-Rose! What's up with wandering into my room without asking?" Amethyst greets them, waving a hand lazily.

"We heard Peridot yelling, and got a little worry." Steven says.

"I don't like it when you scream." Rosie informs Peridot, who stops and stares at the little girl.

Amethyst laughs. "Yeah, Peri. Listen to Rosie."

"I don't have to! She doesn't rank any higher than me!"

"What's going on anyways?" Steven asks.

"You knew, didn't you?" Peridot suddenly marches up to Steven and glares up at him. "She's the one that threw away my limb enhancers!"

"Limb enhancers?" Those sound familiar, and Steven sorts through his memories. "You mean those robot parts of yours? Peridot, that was twenty years ago!"

"Nineteen years, and it may seem like a long time to that half-human brain of yours, but it's still fresh in my mind!"

Steven's bewildered. "But you haven't needed them for a long time. And if you still want them, you can built new ones, can't you?"

"Don't, though, you looked creepier with them anyways." Amethyst adds.

"They were all I had back then! I feel…" Peridot pauses for a moment, scrunches up her face, and turns toward Amethyst. "Betrayed it was you who destroyed them, and never told me."

"We were on different sides back then. You said yourself it was the right tactical move, depriving the enemy of any weapons they could use."

"But not completely throwing them away! You could have kept them, for research! Leveraging for information! And I could have gotten them back later, which would have been very useful when fighting the Cluster!"

"Uh, we still defeated that thing."

"It could have been–"

Feeling his daughter's hands tighten their clutch on his shirt, Steven intervenes. "Guys, guys, you're scaring Rosie."

Peridot huffs and crosses her arms, stomping her foot a little. Amethyst rolls her eyes, yawns, and stretches her arms, but Steven catches the slight guilt on her face.

"Amethyst," He starts, but then Rosie speaks up.

"Limb enhancers?"

"They were robot arms and legs that made Peridot taller." Steve tells Rosie.

"Like high heels?"

In the background, Steven hears Peridot going off about the more technical details of the technology, but chooses not to listen. "Sort of. They did extra things too."

Suddenly, there's a bark of laughter from Amethyst. Everyone looks at her.

"I get it now." She grins at Peridot. "You just miss being tall. You just wish you weren't tiny."

The blush on Peridot's face only proves Amethyst right. "I– I am not–"

Amethyst jumps off the pile, walking up to Peridot and grabbing her hand. "You're tiny, that's just how it is. Or is there something wrong with being small?"

Amethyst gives Peridot a meaningful look. Peridot closes her eyes and sigh.

"…No, there's nothing wrong with being small."

"Right. And?" Amethyst slings an arm around Peridot.

Peridot's eyes remain closed.

"Aaaaaand?" Amethyst pokes Peridot's cheek.

"…You're perfect the way you are." Peridot mumbles, cheeks now a completely different shade of green.

Amethyst smiles widely. "I love hearing you say that. We are perfect just the way we are."

It was heartwarming nineteen years ago when Peridot first declared it in her apology to Amethyst, which doubled as her renouncing Homeworld and it's ideologies, and it is still heartwarming now. Steven smiles. Beside him, he hears a small 'Aw' from Rosie.

"Sorry I threw away your limb thingys and didn't tell you till now." Amethyst says quietly, placing her chin on Peridot's shoulder. "'Sides, I like you better like this anyways."

Peridot says something too quiet for Steven to heard, but it makes Amethyst snicker.

"I like that Peridot's small too. Like me!" Rosie says. Steven can feel her spirits lifting up. He let her gently down on the ground so she could run up to the two Gems and hug them. Amethyst hugs back tightly, while Peridot gives the little girl her usual soft pat on the head.

"You know," Steven says, crouching down to be at eye level with the small Gems and his daughter. "If you want to feel big again, Peridot, why don't you just form Fluorite with Amethyst?"

"That's different–"

Amethyst cuts her off. "Yeah, it's better."

Rosie looks at her father. "Giant woman?"

Steven grins at her. Fluorite isn't giant, but she's almost as tall as Steven himself, and that's giant to any six-year-old. "Giant woman."

Stars fill Rosie's eyes as she turns back to Peridot and Amethyst. Peridot groans. "Fusion isn't a fun trick to show children."

She holds out a hand to Amethyst anyways, and Amethyst takes it.

end

feedback would be lovely.

Edit: I like to think that Peridot stays with the Crystal Gems, and later offers a more proper apology to everyone, including Amethyst. The apology referenced in the fic not the one in 'Too Far', but later, after Peridot changes her views. Sorry if it was a little confusing.