CHAPTER TWO

The beach house was in darkness and the only sound was that of Steven's quiet breathing. Peridot tried to concentrate upon reading an article on cacti, but her attention kept wandering back to the conversation she'd had with Steven earlier.

The great majority of cacti have no visible leaves; photosynthesis take place in the Kindergarten, but we were followed-

She blinked and shook away the intrusive thought and tried again.

-photosynthesis takes place in the stems (which may be flattened and then I thought no, I gotta give her space-

She growled under her breath and rubbed her eyes before making another attempt.

-may be the great majority of cacti have no visible stems which may be the great majority of cacti have photosynthesis takes place in the may be flattened the great majority of cacti-

"Ugh." She placed her tablet to one side and massaged her temples. When she looked up, her gaze drifted towards the Temple door. She stared at it for a few seconds, and then suddenly came to a decision, and jumped to her feet, marched across the floor and rapped her knuckles on the door.

A moment later, the door split open and Amethyst poked her head out, smiling widely when she saw who it was. "Heeeeey, P-dot! Hey, so I was thinking about the new garden, have you ever seen the battlefield?" she said enthusiastically before the other gem could get a word in edgeways. "There's like, all these huge-ass strawberries, so I was thinking, what if we had a garden there, do you think we might be able to grow other giant plants?"

"Uh, I don't know," Peridot admitted. "I would have to carry out an assessment of the site first. Is Garnet around?" she asked abruptly. "And Pearl?"

"Yeah, they're around somewhere." Amethyst stepped aside and let Peridot pass before leading the way through stacks of trash. "Actually, Pearl was just here a minute ago, whining about her swords again, and I just know she's gone running to Garnet to complain about it." She sidestepped a waterfall as she spoke and scowled. "I said maybe she shouldn't store them in stupid waterfalls so they wouldn't fall into my room all the time..."

She led Peridot past the Crystal Heart and across a set of floating platforms, complaining bitterly about Pearl the entire time until they finally slid down an artery and landed in the Burning Room. For a brief moment, Peridot was distracted by the sheer number of bubbled gems, and then she heard Pearl's voice growing louder.

"-hugely disrespectful, and quite frankly, I'm tired of it."

"I'll talk to her," Garnet said mildly. Then she turned and looked directly at them. "Amethyst?"

"Oh. Look what the cat dragged in," Pearl sneered, belatedly spotting them.

Amethyst grinned and promptly shapeshifted into a cat. "Peridot wanted to talk to you guys."

"About what?" Garnet absently reached down and stroked Amethyst's furry head.

"Dunno. Didn't ask."

As all eyes turned to her, Peridot took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. "I-I wanted to talk to you about Steven. He needs a break."

Pearl furrowed her brow in confusion. "But we just went on vacation-"

"That's not what I meant," Peridot interrupted. "He needs a real break."

"It was a real break," Amethyst objected, switching back to her default form. "There was a hot tub and everything."

Peridot shook her head impatiently. "No, he needs a break from this." She waved her hands up at the bubbled gems as she spoke. "A break from fighting and monsters and Homeworld. Maybe even a break from the Crystal Gems!"

Ignoring the gasps of shock from her teammates, Garnet straightened up and stared at the younger gem. "Explain."

"Well..." Peridot hesitated, trying to figure out the right words. "He's not Rose Quartz."

"Yes, we're well aware of that," Pearl snapped.

Peridot flinched and very nearly dropped the matter entirely. But then she remembered Steven telling her she shouldn't have had to cope with Lapis on her own, she should have had help. And he needed help as well. She stood up straighter and clenched her fists. "I will not be intimidated into silence any longer!" she snapped back. "You're supposed to be his guardians, you're supposed to be leader of the Crystal Gems," she added, pointing a finger accusingly up at Garnet's astonished face. "You should've never allowed him to give himself up to Homeworld!"

"He... he said he had a plan-" Garnet protested weakly.

"Irrelevant, you should've had a better plan," Peridot retorted. "It's not Steven's job to come up with plans and go into space and face the Diamonds and rescue kidnapped humans, it's yours. He's trying to make everything better on his own and that's too much for one person. He's only fourteen!" She looked beseechingly at the other three stunned gems. "And Rose Quartz wanted him to have a normal life. He should be doing normal, teenager things like... like keg stands and Tupperware parties, not going on trial for war crimes he didn't commit."

The three elder gems continued to stare at her in silence for several seconds, and finally Peridot's resolve broke. "A-anyway," she gulped, "that's all I wanted to say, so um, I'll be going now please don't hurt me bye!"

"Well!" Pearl said finally as Peridot fled back into the beach house. "Of all the nerve-"

"She's right," Garnet said abruptly and adjusted her shades. "Ever since... well, since his success in reforming her, we've been expecting too much from Steven and letting him call the shots. And it's not working any more. He's not Rose, he's not supposed to be in charge. I am." She sighed and turned away in shame. "I have to admit, when I agreed to take over from Rose, I thought things would stay as they'd been for the last few thousand years, I never expected that we might end up facing Homeworld again. I don't know what to do. I was always better at following orders than giving them, so when Steven started taking charge, I was happy to let him. But Peridot's right, he's even less equipped to lead us than I am. It was irresponsible of me to let things go this far."

"I suppose when you put it like that..." Pearl sighed. "We probably should've done more to stop Aquamarine and Topaz from taking him."

Garnet nodded. "We shouldn't have let him do that. How could he be expected to defend himself from the Diamonds when he still doesn't even know what happened?"

"Hey, uh, actually, while we're on the subject, I'd kinda like to know what happened too," Amethyst spoke up. "Because I'm clueless."

Garnet and Pearl exchanged wary glances, the Garnet sighed and nodded. "Very well. You might want to sit down though, this could take a while..."

xxx

Steven was halfway through a bowl of cereal when the Temple door opened and the three Crystal Gems stepped out. "Good morning, Steven," Garnet said formally. "Are you almost done? We have work to do."

Steven quickly swallowed and nodded. "Yeah, just about. Is... is this about Lars?" he asked cautiously.

"It is." Garnet glanced around the room. "Where's Peridot?"

"In the bathroom," he said, pointing his spoon in that direction.

Amethyst frowned. "She's not still bummed about the Kindergarten, is she?"

"No, she just said she liked the privacy."

"Avoiding us," Pearl murmured to Garnet as Amethyst crossed the room and knocked on the door.

Garnet made a non-committal noise and waited. A few seconds later, Amethyst reappeared with a nervous-looking Peridot in tow, and the fusion stood up a little straighter. "Crystal Gems," she declared loudly. "As we're all well aware, Steven recently gave himself up to Homeworld to prevent them from kidnapping more humans for Pink Diamond's human zoo. We are very fortunate to have him back safely." She paused and smiled in Steven's direction and he gave her a rather uncertain one in return. "Unfortunately, his friend Lars was forced to remain behind. Although he is with friends, it's not safe for him to remain there indefinitely, so our mission now is to find a way to get him home. Pearl, Peridot, you will be checking out all the old gem tech here on Earth to see if there's some way to make it functional."

"Yes, Garnet," Pearl said at once. Peridot said nothing, but briefly nodded in acknowledgement.

"Amethyst." Garnet turned to face the other gem. "I need you to talk to some of the humans of Beach City and reassure them that we are doing all we can to get Lars back."

"Got it, G." Amethyst gave her a rather sloppy salute. "I'll talk to Mayor Dewey."

"Uh, Mayor Dewey's not the mayor any more," Steven interjected. "He got replaced. Because everyone was mad at him about the kidnappings," he added awkwardly as the gems all stared at him. "Nanefua's mayor now."

"I'll talk to Mayor Nanefua," Amethyst said at once. "And donut boy's parents, I guess."

Steven winced. "Um, maybe don't actually call him donut boy around them?" he suggested. "Actually..." He took a breath and tried to ignore the horrible, squirmy feeling in his stomach. "Maybe I should come with you-"

"Nope." Garnet shook her head firmly. "I have a different mission for you." She ignored the low growling noise coming from Peridot's direction, and knelt down in front of the boy and smiled. "I order you... to have fun."

Steven stared back at her in stunned silence for a minute. "Sorry, what?"

"Have fun," she repeated, standing up again. "You've been under a lot of pressure recently, more than somebody your age should ever have to deal with and we should've done more to support you. We're the adults, not you, and it's our job to make sure you're safe and happy. And we failed." She stepped back and adjusted her shades. "We're going to get Lars home and this time, we're going to work together. But until then, I want- no, I need you to take some time off to be a regular teenager." She smirked slightly. "Go and be a DJ."

Steven continued to stare at her, and then took a deep breath. "No."

Garnet frowned. "It's an order-" she began, but Steven shook his head.

"No, I mean, I guess it'd be nice to have a break, but it's not just me that needs one." He jabbed his spoon in Peridot's direction. "Peridot's been trying to help Lapis all on her own for months, without any help from you guys. She needs a break too, she's only thirteen!"

Peridot cringed as the three elder gems turned and stared at her in amazement. "You weren't supposed to tell anybody else that," she muttered.

"Seriously!?" Amethyst blurted. "Man, when you said you were new, I didn't realize you meant new."

"It does explain a lot though," Pearl mused.

Garnet nodded slowly. "Excuse us for a moment," she said, and the three of them closed into a huddle. "What do you think?" she asked in a low voice.

"He's got a point," Amethyst admitted. "We all knew Lapis was a massive fun sink, and none of us really ever went there if we could avoid it. I feel kinda bad about that now, to be honest."

"What about you, Pearl?" Garnet looked at her team mate. "Do you think you can manage without her help?"

Pearl nodded. "Peridot's extremely intelligent, but the technology here is much more outdated than what she's used to. If she'd been able to get any of it working properly, she would've done so back when she was on the run."

"And it would probably be a good idea for Steven to have some company, what with Connie ghosting him," Amethyst added. "Otherwise he's just gonna mope around the house and stare at his phone all day."

"Very well then." The huddle dissolved and Garnet straightened up and folded her arms. "Pearl, see if you can salvage anything. Amethyst, liaise with the humans. I'm going to search for Lion. Steven, Peridot, do normal, teenager things. But maybe not keg stands just yet." And with that, she stepped onto the warp pad and disappeared, closely followed by Pearl.

"Guess I'd better head into town then," Amethyst said. "You two have fun, and don't start the garden without me, 'kay?"

"OK," Steven and Peridot said in unison and watched her leave. Then they exchanged glances.

"Sooo... what do normal teenagers do?" Peridot asked eventually.

Steven shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, I've never been a normal teenager." Then his expression brightened. "But I do know where we can find one."

A few minutes later, they arrived at Fish Stew Pizza, and Steven pushed open the door and walked inside with Peridot close behind. Jenny Pizza was working the counter and greeted them warmly. "Hey Steven, Peridot, what can I get you? We have a special offer on at the moment to celebrate the new mayor," she added, gesturing at a poster hung on the wall.

Steven looked at where she was indicating and couldn't help smiling at the image of Nanefua Pizza lovingly recreated in pizza, complete with onion-ring spectacles. "Maybe later. Actually, we kinda need your advice."

Jenny listened as he explained their rather unusual mission and then tapped her chin in thought. "Regular teen stuff, huh. I guess pod racing's out this time?" she joked.

"Yeah, we had to use it to save the Earth." Steven smiled slightly at the memory. It was nice to remember something he'd done right.

"Actually, I was talking with Sour Cream and Buck yesterday," Jenny began thoughtfully. "Buck was kinda bummed out about his dad losing his job, so Sour Cream suggested he jam on his guitar. He said working on his music helped when Onion went missing, because it was something else to think about. Why don't you give it a try too?"

Steven's eyes widened. "We should form a band!"

"That's a great idea!" Jenny exclaimed. "Can I join too? I'm getting pretty good on the bass," she added proudly.

"Sure, the more the merrier." Steven looked hopefully at Peridot. "How about it, 'Dot? You in?"

Peridot hesitated and then shook her head. "Thank you, but I don't have enough experience with music to take part in this project."

"Aw, are you sure?" he persisted. "It's just for fun, and you picked it up pretty fast the first time."

Peridot shook her head again. It was one thing to sing for Steven and the Crystal Gems, quite another to do it with three other relative strangers. "No, I don't think so," she said firmly. Then her expression softened a little. "But... I'd like to observe, if that's all right with you."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Jenny said at once. "I'll call Buck and Sour Cream and sort out a time and place, OK?"

"Oh." Steven deflated slightly upon realizing that the band would not be happening at that exact moment in time. "OK. Uh, do you have ideas what we could do in the meantime?"

Jenny gave it some more thought, trying to think of an activity that the two youngsters might enjoy. "You could hang out in the arcade?" she suggested a little doubtfully. "But that's kind of, y'know, samey." She glanced out of the window and perked up. "Or you could hang out on the beach? Do some swimming, do some surfing, have a sandcastle competition. Or if you wanna do something a little different," she added as the ideas began rolling in, "you could always go into the city and go to the movies, or go bowling, or ice skating or visit the museum or the gallery or the mall or take one of those land train tours..." She rattled off a few more suggestions, leaving the pair reeling. "-or you could just go for a bike ride and show Peridot around the area," she finished proudly.

"Um, wow," Steven stammered, taking a step backwards, ready to flee if she started making any more suggestions. "OK, we'll just... that's really helpful, thanks."

"You're welcome," she said cheerfully. "Have a good time, I'll text you later and let you know about the band, bye!"

"Man, I had no idea regular teens did so much stuff," Steven said in awe as they left the restaurant. "Do you remember it all? I kinda lost track after ice skating."

"Ice skating..." Peridot vaguely remembered the activity taking place in an episode of Camp Pining Hearts and she tried very hard not to dwell upon the fact that all of her DVDs were now in space with Lapis. "That's the one where you walk upon frozen water with knives strapped to your feet, right?"

Steven snorted with laughter. "I suppose that's one way of putting it." Then he pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Actually, I've never tried it before. What do you say, wanna give it a go?"

A smile crept over Peridot's face. She had always enjoyed learning new things, especially when Steven was the one teaching, but the idea that they would both be learning something new together was even more appealing, and she nodded enthusiastically. "Sure! It'll be fun!"

xxx

An hour later, Steven handed over far more money than he'd anticipated having to spend and the pair entered the rink. The ice wasn't very busy; even though school was out, it was mid-morning and a weekday. Still, there were a number of teens visible on the ice, confirming that this was indeed a normal teenager thing to do, and so he pulled the skates on and laced them up. "OK, I'm ready," he declared, jumping to his feet. Then he wobbled violently and almost fell over. "Yeek!"

Peridot looked up in concern and flinched as a flailing arm whipped past her nose. "Steven?"

"I'm OK!" He finally regained his balance and took a deep breath to steady his nerves. "I just didn't expect it to be difficult until I actually got onto the ice."

"Oh." Peridot gave her own skates a wary look, and cautiously stood up. The heavy weight on her feet wasn't too dissimilar to wearing limb enhancers, but walking was an entirely new experience and the two clung to each other as they lurched over to the ice.

"Well," Steven said diplomatically, watching a tiny child whizz past, spin around and begin skating backwards. "It can't be that hard if she can do it." He grabbed the barrier and stepped onto the ice. Immediately, his feet slid out from underneath him and he shrieked and clung to the barrier tighter. "I was wrong! I was very wrong!"

Peridot stepped onto the ice and made a valiant effort to help him, but was hindered by her own lack of skill, and the two crashed down onto the ice in a tangle of limbs. For a moment they just lay there in stunned surprise, but as the little girl passed by again and shot them a quick look of concern, they started to laugh helplessly. "Come on," Steven said, using the barrier to drag himself back upright. "We saved the world. We can do this."

It took a few more tries, but finally they began to get the hang of it. Peridot still kept one hand on the barrier, not really wanting to draw attention to herself by falling over again, but Steven's confidence grew and he let go and began skating a little faster. "Come on, Peridot," he called out over the bouncy pop music playing in the background. "You can do it!"

"Eugh..." Peridot looked at the other people on the ice. Some, like her, were clutching the barrier and inching their way around, but almost everybody else was skating quickly and smoothly. Some, including the small girl they'd seen earlier, were even practicing spins and jumps in the middle circle, while a couple of the teenagers were performing hockey stops, sending showers of ice through the air and ignoring the warnings from the attendants. She looked away from them and back to Steven's smiling face, and then took a chance, let go of the barrier and skated carefully towards him.

As she did so, one of the teenagers suddenly zoomed in front of her at top speed, startling her. She wobbled and her arms windmilled wildly as she struggled to keep her balance. Just as she felt her feet begin to slide out from underneath her, Steven reached out and grabbed her. "Hang on, I've got you!"

"Wow, thanks!" she gasped as she stabilized. Then she shot a glare at the teenager, who had been cornered by the attendant and was now being lectured. "Is it a normal teenager thing to be a massive, obnoxious clod, or can we skip that bit?"

Steven laughed. "We'll skip it." He let go of her arm and grabbed her hand instead. "Come on, let's stick together, it'll be safer."

A romantic slow song began to play, and Peridot glanced down at their intertwined fingers and felt heat rise in her cheeks. Back when the Crystal Gems had all been living at the barn, building the drill, she'd developed something of a crush on Steven. It wasn't all that surprising really when she thought about it, he was the first person who'd ever been nice to her with no ulterior motive. He'd seen that she was afraid and gone out of his way to try and make her feel better, explaining things she didn't understand and coming up with gifts to replace some of the things she'd lost. Back then, her feelings had been unfamiliar and confusing and so she had coped by simply ignoring them and hoping they'd go away. And then Lapis had shown up, and her own petty problems had paled into insignificance. Peridot had put aside all her own needs and desires as she tried her hardest to be a good, understanding friend.

But now Lapis was gone, and all of those old feelings were returning with a vengeance. And as they skated around the rink, Peridot came to a silent decision. She was not going to ignore her feelings any more. She was going to enjoy this time with Steven, and when the moment was right... she would tell him how she felt.