This was originally meant to be a multi-chaptered fic to go with Jaspis week on tumblr. However, I got eaten alive by real life and missed the prompt deadlines by... a lot, really. So, I'll just post this part. Maybe I'll work on the other prompts in the future, I dunno. This combines the first two prompts, Human AU and Gemlings/Family. Warning for language.

Lapis Lazuli Luafutu was so far off the end of her rope that she was tempted to find it again and strangle Jasper fucking Estrada with it for being too fucking proud to rent an actually decent vehicle. The Volkswagen camper that was new back in the 1960s was practically an oven and they were going to be roasted alive if Jasper insisted on going any further. Worse, Malachite was screaming in the back and had probably escaped her car seat again, and Jasper looked this close to sticking her head out the driver's side window and yelling at the eighteen wheeler in front of them for going too slow. As if this bucket of bolts could go any faster.

She watched the scenery go by instead. She supposed it could be pretty, if you liked desert and scrubland. Maybe she might be inspired if it was cooler, or if the sun wasn't beating down on the metal roof of the old camper, or if she was baked. Traveling with a child was a terrible idea, but they were doing it because Jasper had been let go from her job and Lapis had taken time off of college to take care of Malachite. And Lapis' parents weren't speaking to her, but Jasper's parents were more than happy to help them out. Why did she agree to carry Malachite, anyway? (Because you don't have a brother and your cousins are back in Apia, and Jasper's beanpole of a sister was pre-transition, and why did Lapis' inner voice of reason sound like her college roommate?) Still, she took some cell photos of passing mesas or mountains or whatever and filed them away for reference later, and failed to drown out Malachite.

"We need to pull over," she finally said, and wondered if her weariness was as audible as she felt. "Malachite probably needs a change."

Jasper grunted, her eyes still on the road. "We're close. See? The mountains are up ahead. If I can just get past this asshole—"

"Jasper, the last sign said Flagstaff is seventy miles away and that was ten minutes ago!"

With a growl of frustration that wasn't really aimed at anyone, Jasper relented. "Ash Fork is coming up. We'll take a break there."

Lapis didn't say thanks; for one thing, it wasn't their way. She patted Jasper's shoulder instead and looked back to the back seat that could be turned into a bed with a lot of yanking and whatever else Jasper did to get it to work. Malachite hadn't gotten out of her carseat, but she was dangerously close. Her toys were scattered all over the floor of the bus and Lapis was just grateful that she had sterilized that part of this monstrosity before they set off from Berkeley.

Having Malachite while Lapis was still in school had been a terrible idea, but so many of their decisions as a couple had been awful that a baby just turned out to be a drop in the bucket of bad choices. Jasper was honestly better with her than Lapis was, but Jasper was also the only one who could drive stickshift. Or drive at all. In light of the fact that an actual living being was dependent on her health now, Lapis had had to quit drinking and smoking pot and had to switch to less toxic art supplies. God could she use a hit about now. If only Malachite would wean faster.

Eventually the old camper that had belonged to Jasper's mother veered off the highway and onto the frontage road that took them to a truck stop just south of Ash Fork. The cattle guard they had to drive over to enter the parking lot made her teeth rattle and amped up Malachite's screams, and she swore she was going to get Jasper to cave and buy something with actual shock absorbers and airbags and an air conditioner. Someday. It wasn't like they had a lot of money, and only the fact that they had Peridot as a roommate kept them from living on the streets. But Jasper's other mother was a Texas oil baron or something, and maybe she could convince her to give them enough for a safer vehicle. Or co-sign on a loan. At this point, Lapis wasn't too proud to ask.

When finally they rolled to a stop in the parking lot, Lapis wasted no time in scrambling to the back to check on the baby. Malachite was fighting her straps and wouldn't stop screaming, and Lapis was so tempted to scream right back at her because she was tired, and hot, and she never should have done this in the first place. Hell, if she thought with her brain at all instead of with certain other parts, she wouldn't still be with Jasper, either. And she would have stayed in her former marine biology major instead of skipping from one major to another until she finally gave up and went with fine arts. She was a disaster and surely going to be a horrible mother. With a sigh, she pulled back and avoided looking at her partner. "You take care of Mala. I need to go breathe."

She could feel the heat radiating from the pavement and through her sandals even as she trotted across the parking lot, but she didn't stop until she was inside the rest stop where the air conditioner was trying and failing to fight the heat. There were some tables inside with chipped formica tops that looked like they were dated to the 1970s, and she sat at the one nearest to the air conditioner vent and planted her forehead on the table's blissfully cool surface. Whoever had decided that twenty-six year olds were adults was an idiot. Or maybe she was the only one who wasn't ready for adulthood at her age.

Lapis didn't know how long she stayed at the table. The entrance door opened a dozen times and people came and went, but she couldn't be bothered to move. There she went running away from her problems again, like always. The worst part was that neither she or Jasper could do better, as far as she was concerned. They fought over every little thing, she had enough issues to fill a library, and Jasper was dealing with some PTSD and residual health problems from her stint in the army. Not to mention the Chronic Asshole Syndrome they both had; she was just better at canning it when she had to deal with people she liked or found useful.

And there was her worse/better half stomping through the door, one footstep sounding a little lighter and more prone to dragging than the other. After all, how many one-legged, seven-foot amazons were there? And there was the thud of a glass bottle on the table in front of her. Grudgingly she hauled her forehead off the table to glance up. Jasper had Malachite tucked in one arm and that grimace on her face that passed as concern. How nice.

"Our little monster has been fed and changed," Jasper muttered. Malachite stared at her as she gnawed on her brightly-colored chew toy. Teething ring. Whatever. "I dug up the other belt so you can sit with her the rest of the way. If you want. So, uh, we're ready to go when you are."

Stop being considerate, she wanted to say. It made resentment easier. And then her eyes caught on the bit of fantastically-muscled, golden-brown midriff showing below the bit of t-shirt pulled up from hoisting Malachite and she was reminded of why they had made this trip in the first place. And stop being hot. "Please tell me your family can deal with little monsters," she said instead.

"'Má did raise three of us." Jasper grinned. It was goofy, lopsided, and more endearing than it should have been. "She wrangled some of my cousins and our friends, and was a kindergarten teacher for a while there. She knows what she's doing."

"Thank god someone does," Lapis said dryly. She grabbed the bottle of cold mineral water Jasper set in front of her and twisted open the cap for a sip. "We're going to be late for lunch."

Jasper shrugged, and that got Malachite's attention diverted to tugging at her bleached hair. How she put up with the pulling and tugging without so much as a wince, Lapis had no idea. "No one's going to care. No one at home runs on Anglo time. You ready to go?"

She even offered her hand, the one where the vitiligo had stripped her of color all the way up to her elbow, and Lapis' recalcitrant side wanted to get up without the help. But Jasper was being patient with her, which meant that Lapis had to be patient as a matter of course. Her hand always felt ridiculously small in Jasper's, but the size difference had always been part of the attraction. She allowed herself to be drawn away from the table and didn't look back as they left the rest stop, even as she could feel people staring at them. And why shouldn't they? She and Jasper were hard to ignore.

Malachite was calmer on the rest of the drive, and soon enough she drifted off to sleep. Thankfully. Lapis felt a little better thanks to the short period of distance, and she didn't even feel like strangling Jasper once the scrubland gave way to shrubby-looking pines that clustered together in a noble effort to imitate a forest and Jasper started explaining this thing or that as they drove by. Eventually the trees got taller as they drew nearer to the mountains Jasper pointed out as their destination. They detoured off I-40 to travel the stretch of the historic Route 66 that went through the small community of Williams, and Lapis had to grit her teeth and bear the jostling of a poorly-maintained road along several points. Jasper said something about road maintenance being an issue debated between various governments, but Lapis stopped paying attention to watch the various architectural styles go by as they drove through the historic business district. At some places she urged Jasper to slow a little for her to snap a quick picture, but a lot of the storefronts were uninspired early 1900s red brick and tended towards Romanesque Revival and early Modern. The signs were more interesting, and she spent the better part of her time taking pictures and wondering if anyone would notice if she made off with one of the more stylish Route 66 signs. Too bad they were only passing through.

Flagstaff didn't come soon enough, though she did find herself enjoying the drive now that the weather was cooler and the air smelled of evergreens. But Jasper bypassed the exits going into town, instead taking the highway around and north, until the commercial buildings petered out and Mount Elden drifted past on their left. Then, without warning, Jasper veered off the highway and onto an unpaved street and drove a quarter of a mile into what looked to be woodlands. Another turn and she pulled around a house and into the gravel lot in front of a barn-turned-auto-shop. The barn doors were open and a couple of people were working on some classic car or another. Lapis couldn't tell the difference. She got out when Jasper did, and looked around while her partner untangled Malachite from her car seat. The San Francisco peaks loomed behind her, cloaked in fragrant greens, while a golden meadow expanded past the barn in front of her. The yellow might be because of sunflowers, perhaps. And there were other houses, but there was also a sizeable expanse of meadow between her and the next house over.

And then the whine of power tools from the barn stopped as they were finally noticed. The two figures, one nearly as short as Amethyst and the other tall and thin in that way that suggested that her frame was too big for her body, sauntered over with that air Jasper often possessed when she was feeling particularly self-assured. The short one looked like she spent her life in front of a forge, for her face was ruddy to an unnatural degree with broken capillaries. The gangly one, though, was Jasper's twin sister.

"Corny, this is Lapis Lazuli and Malachite," Jasper started. "Lapis, my older sister Cornalina. You already know Bruneau."

Cornalina flashed her that lopsided grin that was so characteristic of Jasper. "Charmed. You poor girl."

"It's Noreena now," Jasper's twin sister replied. She winked at Lapis, and Lapis remembered that their first meeting had been when she was well on her way to being completely baked and snarking with Peridot over the house party they'd escaped. Not the best first impression. Especially when Lapis had been irritated over that wannabe astronaut floozy flirting with Jasper and tried the same damn thing on her twin. It never went anywhere, but no one let her forget it. "Paperwork went through and the hormones are working great. I'm afraid Malachite's my last contribution to continuing the Estrada family. Do I get to play with my niece while you're here?"

Lapis' voice was dry with the effort of trying not to sound too grateful for being divested of responsibility for the moment. "Please. She's driving me nuts."

Noreena was utterly delighted as Jasper deposited Malachite in her arms. She winced briefly as Malachite bit her, but otherwise took the baby's habits in stride. "Moms are in the house. Amethyst has Mom tied up in the kitchen, and 'Má's probably on the internet again."

"When did that runt get here?" Jasper glanced briefly at Lapis. Just long enough to verify that she didn't know that Jasper's cousin and Peridot's girlfriend was going to be here, either.

"Eh, a couple of days ago," Cornalina said with an exaggerated shrug. "Took a plane from San Francisco and drove a rental from Phoenix. Said something about wanting Mom's recipes."

Noreena stopped mid-bounce with Malachite, who was giggling from the attention. "Yeah, she's moving in with her girlfriend. Perry? Something like that. Says doritos don't count as food."

"She eats garbage." Jasper's voice rose by a few decibels or so, and it was clear that it wasn't Amethyst's eating habits that were the issue. Lapis tried to flash her a warning look, but she was ignored. Figured. "When did she start caring about cooking?"

"Presumably before she apparently decided to move in and not tell you guys." It was unfair how quick Jasper's twin was on the uptake. Noreena shifted the baby onto her hip as she spoke, and Malachite decided to do her imitation of a boneless cat. She was caught before she flopped out of Noreena's arms and held in a more secure fashion. At least one of them didn't care about roommate drama. "We'll keep the kid company. You guys go sort this out."

Jasper grunted and turned on her heel, leading Lapis away to a small fenced-in area halfway between the barn and the house where chickens wandered around and scratched at their beds of pine needles. There was a garden nearby, too. And were those rain barrels? "You make the angry call to Peridot. I'll end up saying something I can't take back."

It was better that way, though Lapis could be unnecessarily sharp-tongued, too. She just… had a better grasp of when to rein in her anger. Sometimes. And sometimes she used it as a weapon with expert efficiency. She sighed and dug her phone out of her purse, unlocked it, set it to speaker, and waited until Peridot picked up before speaking.

"Peridot here. What's up?" She crunched loudly, and Lapis could just picture her roommate cramming doritos in her mouth while playing Warquest or whatever it was. And Peridot had the gall to complain when bugs appeared in her mess of a bedroom.

"When were you planning on telling us that you were letting Amethyst move in," she asked, her voice dripping with honey and venom. Nowhere in their contracts did it say that Peridot could just bring in another roommate without also discussing it with Lapis and Jasper. "And why did we have to learn this from Jasper's sisters?"

The sounds of rustling and banging could be heard over the phone. Probably a controller being set aside or something. "You guys wanted to leave at four in the morning! No one is up that early!" And then Peridot's voice took on a defensive tone. God, she was such a kid sometimes. "Besides, it's my house. The mortgage is in my name. I make enough at work to pay the bills. I don't need to let you guys live in it."

Lapis sighed. Technically that was true, but still. They had an agreement: as long as Jasper and Lapis were paying rent and splitting the bills, they got a say in what went on in the house, too. "Why didn't you call when you woke up?"

"Amethyst thought it would be funny."

Jasper rolled her eyes and said nothing, and Lapis might have been a little more grateful for that than she should have been. With Amethyst around to goad Peridot along, Lapis fully expected the house to fall apart within the year. Jasper was probably thinking the same thing. "Please tell us these things next time."

"Sure." Peridot's voice drew short and quick as she banged around again. "Gotta raid now. Enjoy summer vacation." Then, without giving her a chance to say a thing, Peridot hung up.

"Right." Jasper's voice was gruff and unimpressed. "I'm doing the yelling next time."

Lapis bit back the sarcasm at the tip of her tongue and forced a smile. Neither of them could afford Peridot kicking them out, which would almost certainly happen if she did as Jasper suggested. She diverted, instead, and slipped her arm around Jasper's. "So what's with the chickens and garden and things?"

"Mom's one of those peak oil doomsday believers." Jasper always was more willing to be diverted when Lapis remembered to slather honey on her efforts, and she led her towards the house. "Combine that with 'Má's distrust of white people and government and, well, this happens."

Lapis grimaced. Honestly, she hadn't had a clue what to expect before this venture beyond some stereotypes she kept to herself (and her media-influenced mental image of Olivina Estrada and Misty Tso as a cowgirl and a squaw probably would have gotten her in trouble), and a lot of that was because Jasper rarely talked about her family beyond a few disconnected scraps of childhood stories here and there. Honestly, Br—Noreena had been more forthcoming in one night than the four years she'd been with Jasper. All she really knew was that Jasper had spent the first few years of her life on a reservation before the oil money came in, that the old camper once belonged to Misty and looked like an Arizona road-side souvenir shop vomited on it, and Jasper got her taste for spicy food from Olivina. For Lapis, whose family migrated to California from Samoa and the Philippines and integrated so long ago that she had no real connection to her ancestry (and frankly she had no desire to pursue any in-depth information), Jasper's connection to hers was a lot to get used to. God she hoped she didn't screw this up.

The house itself was more sedate than she expected, ranch-style with steeper roofs than normal and light green paint accented with cream. There were even solar panels mounted on the southern exposure and potted herbs clustered in and around the patio that looked to be harvested from regularly. They went through a vibrant green door and were greeted with the smell of something amazing cooking. There was some kind of meat roasting, which was familiar enough, but also a variety of peppers and spices stewing that she had no name for.

And then they were greeted with a blur of green and blue that attached herself to Jasper for several moments before stepping back. Whatever Lapis had expected of Jasper's birth mother, it wasn't bobbed black hair, a faded green t-shirt, single green pearl studs in her earlobes, and jeans. She was just a little taller than Lapis, and slim enough that Noreena's frame made a little more sense. Though, that did bring up the question of how on earth the woman managed to carry two larger-than-average babies to term at the same time with such a narrow frame. The woman flashed her a quick grin. "I'm Misty. You must be Lapis! Jasper hasn't told us nearly enough about you. Is the baby—"

"Abducted by Noreena," Lapis offered. Given how little Jasper told her of her family, Lapis wasn't surprised that she wasn't telling her family much either. "Thanks for inviting us."

"We would have done it sooner had we any idea Jasper got herself a long-term girlfriend." Misty latched herself to Jasper's other arm and shot her daughter a half-hearted glare. "Honestly, you need to tell us these things!"

"'Má, come on. I'm not twelve anymore." The protest of generations of adult children in front of their parents. Lapis was grateful that she wasn't the only one who had communication issues with their parents.

Misty swatted her daughter's hand lightly. "You're still our baby and we want to know what's going on in your life. Now then, I've got some leftover frybread if you're hungry, and that cactus fruit jam you like so much. Lapis, darling, do you have a preference in toppings?"

"I've never had frybread." She'd heard of it, of course, and it probably wasn't a good idea for her waistline. But then, they'd skipped lunch and she was starting to feel a little hungry.

"'Má." There was a slight edge to Jasper's voice. "I need to go talk to Amethyst first."

The older woman sighed and unwound her arm from Jasper's, like this was something she'd dealt with so many times before. Lapis was almost sympathetic. "In the kitchen with Ollie. Try not to yell so much."

Jasper stomped off, which spoiled any surprise she might spring on Amethyst, and Lapis was left with her mother. "This happens a lot."

"Yeah. Mostly it's just sound and fury, and then she burns herself out. At least she outgrew the beating-people-up phase." Misty shrugged. "Would you like some tea?"

Lapis nodded and followed the older woman to the dining table, where a geometrically-patterned basket sat lined and covered with mismatched cloths. She took a seat near the head of the table as Misty tore a large flat bread in half and poured her some tea, content to let someone else take care of her. She bypassed the jar of cactus fruit jam (how was anything naturally that pink?) for nibbling on plain bits of bread as Misty sat at the table's head. Even without anything on it, it was savory and better than she had expected.

"Need help, don't you?"

Lapis almost choked. She had expected an half-hour of pleasantries before winding down to why they had made the trip. Before speaking, she managed to swallow down a bit of chamomile tea and arrange her thoughts into some semblance of order. "The plan was that Jasper was going to keep working until Malachite was fully weaned, then I would go back to college and she would take some time off to raise the baby." It got easier talking the further along she went, largely because Misty looked to be so receptive. "But then Jasper was fired and we're going through savings. And, your camper is… nice, but it's not safe for a baby."

"I don't even know why she insists on keeping it," Misty replied. She reached out and patted Lapis' hand reassuringly. "I don't know what Jasper told you, but we don't really have a lot of money. Comparatively. The bulk of it came out of Ollie's lawsuit with the oil company that stole her technology. But what I want you to do is go into town with Cornalina and find yourself a nice used car. Corny is the best mechanic in town and she will look it over for you to make sure you get the best deal you can for our money. In turn, we'll overhaul the camper, repaint it, and sell it online. There's a market for those things. I'm thinking, probably twenty to fifty thousand dollars. More if we replace the upgrades with as many authentic parts as we can find. You'll take the proceeds home with you for Malachite's care. How does that sound?"

She stared. And stared some more. Frankly, she hadn't expected more than a co-sign on a loan. But even twenty thousand and a good sedan would keep them above water long enough for Jasper to find a decent job. Hell, long enough for her to graduate, if they were careful. When she was done doing her impression of a landed fish, she managed to respond; "That sounds great, ma'am."

Misty smiled at her and pulled out a cellphone, dialed a number, and set the speakerphone. "Cornalina, darling, could you set the Bugatti restoration aside for the camper?"

Somewhere in the background, Malachite was cackling loudly and Lapis wondered what on earth Noreena was doing with her. "Yeah, sure. Going to sell it?"

"Once I talk Jasper into it. You know how she is. And could you send Noreena along? I want to meet my granddaughter."

"Sure thing. I'll unload it and start on basic repairs. Lemme know when supper's ready."

"Of course. Love you." With that, Misty hung up and tucked away the phone. She turned her attention back to Lapis, and Lapis marveled as to how she could be so kind to someone she just met. "Don't worry about a thing. We take care of our own."

Lapis smiled back weakly and tried not to think about all of her doubts and misgivings and all the arguments she ever had with Jasper. She didn't deserve this kindness. But, at least, not having to worry as much about money would make things easier between them. The thought made her relax, a little. Maybe vacation wouldn't be so bad, after all.

- 'Má is derived from the Navajo word for mother (amá), because Jasper and her sisters had trouble learning the language and its grammatical rules. I am not Navajo myself (though some of my friends are), but I have lived the assimilation experience as a 1st gen Mexican-American.
- Much of Lapis and Jasper's individual issues as children of minority cultures come from my own experiences, and those of my sisters.
- Bruneau and Noreena are types of jaspers.
- Cornalina and Olivina are the Spanish versions of carnelian and olivine.
- Misty and Olivina come out of my other project, Tales from Beta Kindergarten, where Olivina is the era 1 peridot who created the Kindergartens and Misty was her pearl. Sorry.
- I've been in Flagstaff and driven the historic Route 66. It's a lovely drive.