Feel that angst and hurt/comfort. Song is Light of my Life from Drawn to Life 2: The Next Chapter, aka the most f-ed up child's game ever (it's rated E, but that ending is not for everyone) The song is written by David J. Franco and performed by Hayley Chipman. ~p.s get reked. Feel free to give me constructive criticism!

~"My son, let my voice fill this room one more time. Rehearse this line by line, until I'm out of time." ~

"My Crystal Gems, I am going to leave you soon," Rose Quartz announced, looking at each of her fellow rebels in turn. They were all looking at her strangely, waiting for her tell them where she was going. All except Garnet. The fusion could barely hide her shaking hands.

Rose smiled kindly at her, then let her face slide into a more serious expression again. "I have counted the hours to Steven's birth since his conception, and he will be coming into our world very, very soon. I need to know that you'll all take care of him and protect him in my absence."

"But my Rose, where will you be heading? Why aren't you taking one of us with you?" Pearl questioned a little desperately, gesturing to herself and Garnet.

Amethyst ignored the obvious exclusion and agreed with Pearl. "Yeah, where're you goin'? Why aren't you taking the squirt with you?"

Rose avoided the questions and stated, "Garnet will be the leader of the Crystal Gems when I leave."

Garnet's gaze snapped to her leader, the first being to accept her for who she was. "Rose," she whispered brokenly.

The other Crystal Gems were shocked to see tears streaming down the normally stoic gem's face. They were even more surprised to see her visor cracked down the middle, her form threatening to unfuse.

Rose laid a hand on Garnet's shoulder, "You know what to do."

~"My son, can't you see that our troubles have run high? This is where we draw the line, this is where we say good-bye!"~

Rose stood by herself later that night on the cliff over the temple, watching the bustle of Beach City nightlife. She laid a hand on her unborn son, coincidentally the same place where her gem lay.

"Steven," she started, then paused. She looked up to see if there was any rain falling, and confusion marred her face for a second at the view of the clear sky. Then she realized the wetness she had felt was coming from her face. She touched her damp cheek and let out a broken chuckle. "You're already changing things around here, Steven. I haven't cried since the war."

A small breeze came through and ruffled her long locks, drying some of her tears in the process. "I'm sorry, Steven, for all the problems I'm giving you. I can only hope you don't hate me after everything is over. I know the war was a long time ago in Earth time, your time." She glanced lovingly at her gem, rubbing soothing circles just above it.

"But Homeworld won't give up that easily and it's very important that you're the one to greet them when they come back, not me. I can already tell that you are very special, that you'll be far more forgiving than I ever was…" Rose could feel fresh tears springing up in her eyes. She quickly rubbed them away and leapt off the cliff towards the town in search of her love, the father of her child.

~"You know what I want. What I want, believe it or not, I've already got. And I know I've got to go away, but I know it's all going to be okay."~

"Greg," Rose whispered in her love's ear, giggling when he proceeded to jump in surprise, dropping his washing materials in the process.

"Geez, Rose! Don't sneak up on me like that," Greg yelped, turning around to face his girlfriend, who in turn leaned down to steal a kiss.

"Sorry, Greg, you're just so adorable when you're surprised," Rose responded, twining her fingers with his.

Greg blushed a bit, but not as much as he did when they first started dating. "So, what's going on?"

Rose tugged on their clasped hands, pulling him from his car wash. She ignored his protests of needing to lock up the shop and continued dragging him towards the temple.

"Whoa, whoa, Rose, what the heck?" Greg panted out when they stopped inside the foyer of the temple.

Rose simply responded, "It's time," then sat down in a big reclining chair that had not been there before when he had visited her earlier.

Greg immediately adopted serious look and ran over to take her hand. "I would ask if you're sure but I know you've probably done the calculations and had Garnet approximate for you."

Rose smiled at him, freeing her hand from his grip and laying it on his cheek, catching the tears running down his face. "I love you."

Greg sniffled, "I love you, too. I'll miss you."

Just then, the warp pad lit up and the rest of the Crystal Gem warriors ran over to their leader, worriedly asking if it was happening yet.

~"Cause I know we'll never be apart. And all this is, is a brand new start!"~

Rose clutched the arms of the chair tightly, a groan of pain escaping her mouth. Her form flickered between glowing brightly and then dimming suddenly, imitating contractions. She breathed unevenly, pants coming in fast bursts. "I-I'm sorry," she forced out.

Pearl stopped the soothing circles she was making on Rose's arm and stared at the Quartz. Rose let out another moan of pain and Pearl unfroze, her soothing circles suddenly fast rubs. She noticed that both Greg and Garnet were avoiding her eyes, while Amethyst was in the background shouting about babies. "What are you talking about?"

The look Rose gave her shook her to her gem. Pity. Happiness. Most of all though, guilt. Pearl wasn't dumb, she had noticed that something was up ever since Garnet's strange reaction to Rose's farewell. Since it had involved Greg, though, she had automatically brushed it off to protect herself from the pain of seeing Greg and Rose together more often. "Rose, please!" she cried, her voice cracking with emotion.

Rose shuddered and her form glowed brighter and longer than previous times. After it finally dimmed out, Rose spoke, "Steven and I cannot exist at the same time. When he is born I will become half of him-his gem half."

"No," Pearl whimpered, tears flowing freely down her face and dripping onto Rose's arm. She clutched Rose's arm tight and shouted, "NO!"

Rose sucked in a shaky breath and slowly exhaled. She looked at each of the beings present one at a time. "My Pearl. My Garnet, my Ruby and Sapphire. My Amethyst. My love. Good-bye."

~"And you'll wake up, my darling, with the light on your face."~

"Welcome to Earth, my son, Steven Quartz Universe," Greg choked out, cradling the baby close to his chest. The glow of Rose retreating into her gem, revealing baby Steven laying in her spot on the chair, was etched into his mind permanently. Some of the glow still lingered on Steven, though, through his gem, illuminating the dark room.

Greg glanced at the Crystal Gems briefly to see how they were taking everything. Garnet just turned and walked away into her room in the temple. Pearl was still crying, slack-jawed and kneeling in front of the chair Rose had just been sitting in, as if waiting for her to reappear and reassure her. Amethyst had a strange look on her face, the events of the day finally catching up with her.

Greg slipped away then, knowing that the gems needed space and would seek Steven and him out eventually. He made his way to Vidalia's house to get a checkup for Steven by the only certified nurse in beach city and some milk for the baby to consume. As he walked, he realized that Rose must have been in labor all night, since the sun was starting to rise from the blue ocean.

A little whimper came from Steven, which slowly evolved into crying as the baby started expressing his human needs for the first time in his life. Greg, not wanting Steven to get even more upset, rushed towards his friend's house, not even noticing that the glow of Steven's gem had finally dimmed with his first cries; a glow that would not return until 13 years later.

~"And the tears will all dry up, when you see the change."~

"Dad, I'm weird aren't I? I'm not like the other kids," 6-year-old Steven asked his father, trying and failing to rub away his tears.

Greg looked down at his son and felt his heart break a little. He crouched down and ran his fingers through Steven's hair, messing up the already messy curls. "It's true, Steven, you're not like the other kids around here. However, they're not like everybody else, either. Each kid is very special, you just happened to be a different kind of special; just like your mom."

"My mom?" Steven looked up wonderingly at Greg.

"Yeah, squirt, your mom," Greg responded with an easy smile. "Oh! That reminds me, the gems are probably going to be back from their mission soon. You'll want to greet them with a smile, right?"

Steven beamed. "Right!"

"That's my boy! Let's go see them and then you can sing that song you made for them, okay?"

~"As you grow up, you'll realize, this is your time to shine!"~

"Garnet! Pearl! Amethyst! I did it! I made my gem glow again!" Steven shouted, running up to his three caretakers.

"That's great, Steven!" Pearl encouraged. "Did you manage to summon your weapon also?"

"No," Steven mourned, disappointed in himself. Garnet tipped his head up with her hand from where it was staring at the ground.

"Don't worry about it, Steven. You will get it soon. After all, you have us."

"Yeah, don't sweat it, kid," Amethyst agreed, coming closer to give Steven a noogie.

Steven laughed and hugged the aliens. "I love you guys!"

And unknowing to all of the beings present, Steven's gem glowed just a tiny bit, agreeing with Steven's feelings wholeheartedly.

~"You'll be the light of my life."~