The sun had completely vanished from the sky, but Greg and Rose stayed out a little longer to look at the stars. Greg admired the crescent moon.

"I always liked crescent moons the best. They look like little sideways smiles." He paused and added, "Or a toenail."

Rose giggled, but her uneasy feelings didn't go away. The moon always made her think of her old Moon Base. She had never told Greg about that. Rose knew she shouldn't keep secrets from Greg. Garnet always said communication was the key to a strong relationship, as Ruby and Sapphire needed to communicate constantly in order for Garnet to remain stable. Still, Rose worried Greg would turn away from her if he ever found out who she once was.

"Are you okay, Rose?" Greg asked, giving Rose's hand a gentle squeeze.

"Yes," Rose said, though her voice was soft and distant. She turned to Greg and smiled. "Want me to walk you back to the van?"

Greg nodded, so they walked back to Greg's van with their arms linked. He climbed into the back of the van and lay on his stomach, propping himself on his elbows.

"Will you be alright?" Rose said. She knew most humans did not live in their vehicles, and so she couldn't help but be concerned for her sweet Greg.

"I'll be fine," Greg said. "It's summer, so I won't freeze."

Rose gave Greg a little peck on the lips. He had started to grow a beard, and she liked it. It tickled her whenever they kissed.

Rose stayed with Greg until he fell asleep, which didn't take long. She envied the peaceful expression on his relaxed face, and she couldn't think about how she and Greg were not so different.

Greg had told Rose about his family, about how his parents had never really understood or supported him, and how they had disapproved of him straying from their hopes he would become an engineer, and instead became a musician. She knew that Greg Universe had once been Greg DeMayo. It seemed that Greg chose his own path and his own name without any difficulty or regrets. Lucky, lucky him. Greg had also told Rose that if he ever had a child, he would support them no matter what.

Greg was almost impossibly good. Rose wondered if she truly deserved him. Probably not. Rose felt guilty and sad that it took her relationship with Greg to finally get a meaningful connection with a human. As much as Rose envied humans, it was sobering for her to realize that for millennia, she had never fully understood what complex beings humans were.

On her way back to the temple, Rose encountered something unusual on the beach: an orange-haired human woman with glasses, wearing a funny pouch with a squirming orange-haired baby in it.

The woman seemed startled to see Rose, but she calmed down quickly and politely greeted Rose.

"Hello," Rose said. "If you don't mind my asking, what are you doing?"

"I'm just trying to put my son to sleep," the woman said, while the baby let out a little cry. "I heard that listening to ocean sounds can calm babies down. Most parents use recordings of the ocean, but since the real thing is so close, I decided to just take a little stroll down here."

The woman spoke in a rather nervous tone, but she slowly relaxed as her son quieted down.

"He's very cute," Rose said softly.

"Thank you," said the woman. "His name is Laramie, and he's ten months old. Do you have any children?"

Rose shook her head.

"I've thought about it, but...it's very complicated."

"I understand," the woman said. "Having a child is a big decision, and it took quite a while for my husband and I to have our boy."

After a slightly awkward goodbye, the woman left with her son, and Rose watched them until she couldn't even see the mother's silhouette anymore. There had been other questions she wanted to ask. She knew how human babies were made, and Amethyst had become very interested in human reproduction after Vidalia explained it to her, much to Pearl's mortification. Rose also knew that in the very recent past, human women often died when they had their babies.

Yellow and Blue would not have liked babies. They would have found babies disgusting and noisy, and they would not have seen the point of creating a creature that needed others to care for it. Still, Rose liked how babies could learn, instead of automatically knowing what to do. Knowledge was more meaningful when it was earned.


When Rose returned to the temple, she was glad that the other Gems were in their rooms. She worried that Pearl and Amethyst might be arguing over which game was better: chess or catch. They would have expected Rose to take sides, and Rose was not in the mood for that right now.

Rose's gem glowed, and it opened the door to her room. She slipped inside and sighed contentedly when greeted by the sight of the fluffy pink clouds, hoping that she could relax at last.

Unfortunately, it would not work out that way. Not tonight.