For four days now, Steven was having a rough night sleeping. He could not keep his eyes closed for more than two of three hours before he began turning until he was wide awake again, more exhausted than before. By this point he was happy when Pearl walked in on him to begin her bizarre ritual of watching him rest.

"Steven, what's gotten into you? It's almost three and you're still up." the limber Gem said as she climbed the stairs to his bed.

"Hey, Pearl," Steven replied hazily "It's nothing, I just can't sleep well."

"That's unusual. You're the one always chanting how 'a growing Gem needs his rest.'" She sat down on the covers and placed her hand over his in a motherly gesture of sympathy. Steven could only strain to keep his heavy eyelids up. "Is there something troubling you? Can I help you in anyway?"

"Can you promise me one thing?"

"Of course, Steven. What's the promise?"

"Promise me that no matter what I tell you, you won't get mad or cry."

"Steven, why would you ask th-"

"Pearl, I don't feel comfortable telling you this until you promise me you won't get upset! Please, just promise."

"Very well. I promise that no matter what you tell me, I will not get upset. Now, what's gotten you so riled up?"

"It started right after we got back from the Human Zoo with Dad. You remember when I was alone that night? After Connie went home with her mom?"

"On the night with the rainstorm, correct?"

"Yeah. So while I was alone, I started asking questions about Mom again. As I was talking, the door to her room opened up and I decided to…"

"Decided what?"

Before Steven could answer, Amethyst had walked in from her latest wrestling match, still morphed into the Purple Puma. When she spotted the two talking on the loft, she reacted in the most cordial manner she could think of.

"BODY SLAM, FOOOOOOLS!" she screamed as she leaped towards them only to miss Steven completely and grapple with Pearl on the bed leaving the already rattled boy on the wood floor as the Gems grappled with one another.

"Amethyst! This is NOT the time for your roughhousing!" shouted Pearl as she tried to fight back while being held in a headlock.

"It's always time for roughhousing when the Purple Puma is in the house fresh off another victory! Taste blanket, chump!" she said shoving Pearl's face straight into Steven's comforter.

"That's enough, both of you," said the stern voice of Garnet who had come out of her room to hear Steven's confession herself. While she was aware of the situation, she chose not to see the exact outcome to make Steven feel better.

"What? What did I miss?" asked Amethyst as she shifted into her original form.

"Steven was in the middle of telling me what's been bothering him. Now go ahead Steven, I'm sure they won't get upset either," reassured Pearl.

"Can they promise too?" asked Steven.

Within a few moments the other Crystal Gems swore to remain calm no matter what their youngest said. Even Amethyst became completely silent seeing how crestfallen Steven was. After going over everything he said previously, Steven resumed his story.

"When I went into Mom's room, I made a copy of her."

"You made a copy of Rose?" wondered Amethyst.

"That was a fantastic idea, Steven! That way you could technically still meet her while also…" chattered Pearl.

"Steven, keep going. We'll save our thoughts for the end. Right?" Garnet said giving a steady glare at Pearl under her visor. She resolved to keep her enthusiasm to herself as much as possible.

"At first it was great. I felt like I was finally learning what all your excitement was about. How kind, loving and fantastic she was. Then I tried to take a picture and it was all ruined. On the camera there was nothing but black behind me and it hit me. She wasn't my mom, not really. She was just what I thought she would be like. Then I started saying some… things."

"What kind of things?" inquired Pearl.

"I can't tell you! You'd all just get mad at me!"

"Steven look at me," said Garnet as she removed her visor and gently placed her strong arms on Steven's fatigued shoulders "We are your family. That has never changed since the first day we met you. You can tell us anything and we will still love you. You know that."

"…Okay. Thanks, Garnet, I really needed to hear that," said Steven as his old warmth started to return as he gazed into Garnet's three eyes filled with tenderness, ready to let his feelings out.

"Anyway, after that the room started swirling and turning dark. I told the fake Rose everything I felt about my mom: I felt like she was a liar, a hypocrite who did nothing but hurt you and everyone around her. I felt like I was just an escape so she didn't have clean up the mess she made. She abandoned you all, and you're all lost without her."

"You meant all that? Dude, that's harsh," said Amethyst, completely slack-jawed by his declaration.

"Is that everything, Steven?" said Pearl whose face was completely stoic. It was the only way she could hide her inner turmoil at the sound of hearing her idol degraded, by Steven of all people!

"No, there's more. After you guys came home, I began watching my mom's tape over and over again. I was convinced it had some hidden code or message but it didn't get me anywhere. That's when Lion coughed up a key and took me to the desert where we first found him. We rode to some kind of garbage dump Rose had out there and I found another tape addressed 'For Nora.'"

"You thought Rose had another child?" inquired Pearl, her anger slipping away as the story continued.

"Yeah. I took it to Dad and he told me it was just going to be my name if I was a girl. He said I don't have some purpose and that I just need to live."

"Well, that wraps everything up, right? Now you can just hang out and be a cheery little goofball!" said Amethyst.

"I should feel better, but I don't. Ever since then I can't stay asleep. I know everything should be fine, but it still isn't."

With that said, Steven headed outside to clear his head in the cool sea air. Amethyst and Garnet followed him out while Pearl stayed on the bed trying to wrap her mind around everything said. Outside the temple, Steven sat on the porch to hear the waves crash. The whole coast was washed in blue from the moonlight and breathtaking night sky. He almost had the urge to leap hundreds of feet straight into the air just to touch that sky.

Amethyst walked up next to him. "Hey, Steven, we know you've got a lot of flaky thoughts about Rose but it's okay. We know she's not perfect and that's alright."

"Really? The way you all talk about her, I wouldn't believe it. I really didn't want to tell Pearl about it," he said facing away from them.

"Yeah, she's still really freaked out about it. I'm amazed she got the nerve to talk to another girl!"

"Or drink juice? Or wear pants?"

"Exactly! See, she'll come around and she doesn't blame you for your feelings. And no matter what crazy garbage goes down, we'll be there for you where it counts."

"Thanks Amethyst." Steven suddenly felt his eyes droop as the weight was lifted off his chest for the moment. He headed back inside to try and resume his quest for sleep. Before Amethyst could head in, Garnet caught her by the shoulder to share a few words.

"Good job. That really cheered him up."

"Really? I made all that junk off the top o' my head. I'm gonna eat some trash now. What about you?"

"I have someone else to talk to," Garnet said enigmatically as the two headed inside.

The larger Gem stayed back and let the rambunctious scrapper head back into her room. Garnet stayed back to watch Steven climb back into bed and cuddle with his teddy bear before his eyes finally drifted shut. Pearl was no longer in the room, but Garnet knew where she went and why. She needed a talking to more than Steven did after that exchange…