Pearl had spent most of the day freaking out. No matter how much Garnet and Amethyst tried to reassure her that the evening wasn't going to be a huge mess, Pearl wouldn't hear a word of it.

They had all been officially dating for six months, but the three of them had also danced around them all being together for much, much longer. Years longer. What had started as shared housing for Steven's sake had turned into something else and now Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst and Steven lived together quite happily. Greg often stopped by and Pearl managed to be cordial if not welcoming most of the time.

It was a weird situation. Pearl was Steven's godmother, and while Greg was still his father he had given up most of his rights when Steven was younger. Greg just wasn't equipped to look after a child, and even five years later he still lived in his van. At least he had a job.

It hadn't been an easy situation. Not for Greg and not for Pearl. Pearl had to drop her job to look after a baby and Greg had to find a job to look after said baby. The money Rose had left them when she died hadn't lasted long.

Pearl was adult enough to admit that she had been a little … possessive in the beginning. Without Garnet's tempering presence and Amethyst's uncanny ability of pointing out when Pearl was over reacting, Pearl just might have taken Greg to court.

Five years later they had finally gotten their act together and Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst were dating. Part of that involved the traditional 'meet the parents' thing. Amethyst didn't really have parents, at least not ones she had spoken to since she moved out of their house at seventeen, and they had already met Ruby and Sapphire many, many times. They still did a 'we're dating your daughter' dinner at the Corundum's though.

Now the only family left to meet was Pearl's. Pearl got along with her family. Honestly, she did. With Steven starting school and Pearl going back to work she just hadn't seen them all too recently. One of her sisters only arrived back in country a week ago, and was only back in Beach City that morning.

So now was as good a time as any to introduce her girlfriends. Traditionally Pearl went to these family dinners either alone or with Steven. Hopefully the fact that her family was a giant mess of people wouldn't scare Garnet or Amethyst away.

Which led to Pearl being in her room going through all the clothes she owned looking for just the right outfit. One that said she was an adult, with an adult job, who could do what she wanted. But also that she loved her family very much.

Amethyst wasn't much help, instead just telling Pearl how nice her butt looked in various dresses before telling her she looked best in the lingerie she wore beneath it.

"Come on, Pearl." Amethyst groaned. "It's gonna be fine. Even if I mess it up Garnet will be there to smooth things over."

Pearl paused, holding up the sixth dress she was planning to try on for the night. It was flung onto the bed as Pearl pulled Amethyst into a loose hug.

"Oh, Amethyst! No. It's not you I'm worried about. Stars no! You and Garnet will be fantastic." Pearl waved a hand in the air, vaguely towards the bedroom window. "It's them. Yellow is so judgy, and you won't be able to talk to Blue without someone translating. Not that it's your fault and Blue won't hold it against you. Yellow will of course, but anything to do with Blue sets her on edge. Not that you'd get a word in with Blue anyway. She's just come back from Japan and she'll spend the whole dinner talking to Aunt Afina. It's so hard to get to know them when they get talking. Oh, they just ignore everyone else until Mother tells them off."

"P, calm down! You're working yourself up. Again."

Pearl lifted the dress up again, pressing it to her front and peering at herself in the mirror.

"You won't be saying that when Aunt Zarina pulls out your juvie records and asks you to explain yourself. She only had Rose's school records and she managed to rake her through the coals."

"Wait, what? Isn't that illegal?"

"Probably." Pearl said with a dismissive wave. "But Mother and Aunt Linnea will be the worst. I swear they constantly make eyes at each other when we have company and it's only ever to embarrass Yellow, Blue and I."

"Okay. Firstly, why are your mother and aunt making eyes at each other. And secondly, and most importantly, what do you mean my juvie record?"

"Oh, they're not my real aunts. We just call them that because it's easier than having four people who we call some variation of mother. Mother gave birth to me, but they all raised me. Yellow and Blue are actually my half sisters. We all share the same sperm donor. Aunt Linnea is the only one who hasn't had a child, and that's only because the three of us were a handful."

"And the whole juvie thing?" Amethyst said weakly with her head in her hands. She already knew she wasn't going to like the answer.

"Aunt Zarina is the Chief of Police in Beach City. She has been for quite a few years now. She's the reason we moved her. She got the job offer and the others wanted her to take it so she'd be safer. Things were pretty hectic in Empire City. Aunt Zarina made some enemies there."

Amethyst let out a loud groan. She knew the Chief of Police, but it wasn't what she would call a pleasant relationship. What sort of relationship were you meant to have with the officer who constantly caught you red handed spray painting when you were a teenager?

"Tall, shoulder pads that could protect a football player and a sarcastic wit almost as tall as she is?"

"So you do know her. I did wonder. Well, I mean, I was pretty sure you had to of had a run in with her."

"She was the one who always used to bust me and the Famethyst."

Pearl hung up the pile of dresses that had been slowly growing on her bed. Tonight was obviously not meant to be a dress night.

"I still can't believe you found that many of you called Amethyst and convinced them to make a juvenile ... well I hesitate to use the word 'gang', but I guess it will do."

"Pearl! Your aunt has arrested me multiple times!"

Amethyst grabbed one of the pillows off the bed and shoved her face into it. Honestly, could this night get any worse?

No dress meant pants. Nice ones of course, and she had that new silk shirt Blue sent her from Japan as well as a scarf that her mother had given her years ago.

"I know. I mean, she used to tell us these stories about a group of young girls who all had the same name. It wasn't hard to put the dots together."

Pearl wiggled into the clothes she had picked out while Amethyst groaned even louder.

"That story I told you about the police cruiser that I filled with balloons, yeah, that was your aunt's cruiser. She's going to kill me."

"Ohhh, I should tell her that. She'd think it was hilarious."

Pearl laughed lightly and headed toward the bedroom door.

"Don't you dare, Pearl. Pearl? Pearl!"

When Amethyst lifted her head from the pillow Pearl was already gone.

At least the whole 'dating not one, but two women' thing wasn't going to be an issue. Even if Amethyst had been handcuffed by one of Pearl's mother figures more times than she could count.

For those interested:

White Diamond - Ginevra

Pink Diamond - Linnea

Yellow Diamond - Zarina

Blue Diamond - Afina