Chapter 3: Secrets

"Holy shit."

Connie was shocked, the phrase practically assaulting her ears. She had never heard any of the Gems, even Amethyst, say anything that could be considered a curse before. This was certainly new.

"That was today!" Amethyst screamed, rushing away from Pearl, who sighed. "Peri, girl, you never told us she was showing up today!"

"I didn't even want to tell you she was showing up," Peridot grumbled, waving to Pearl before returning to her work.

Amethyst stormed Connie, circling out around her as her eyes swiped up and down the girl's body.

"Uh, hey Amethyst." Connie mirrored the Gem, glancing down at her own outfit. It had changed, Connie soon realized. A dark purple hoodie now hung off her frame, a new addition to her attire since Connie had seen her last. So, Amethyst had poofed, she thought.

All at once Amethyst grabbed onto Connie, pulling her along as she spun.

"Ah! I can't believe it! I haven't seen you like this in forever!" she cried, bearing a dumb grin as she twirled.

"Really? How long has it been?"

"Don't say a thing!" Peridot called out, not turning from her seat. Amethyst rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Time travel, spoilers, all that jazz." Amethyst came to a stop, finally giving Connie a moment to look back at the other Gem in the room: Pearl. She beamed as her eyes locked with Connie's, the smile growing infectious as it spread to Connie's face. Guess all the Gems knew, Connie thought.

Continuing, Amethyst gripped Connie's head and turned it to face her.

"It's just, holy shit!"

"Amethyst, can you turn it down with all the language," Pearl grumbled, finally stepping off the warp pad and joining the group.

"Hi, Pearl!" Connie cheered, pulling her head away and waving her hand in the air. Able to get a good look at the Gem, Connie took a moment to note the changes to Pearl's outfit. She still had the short teal jacket, but now it was laced with a highlight of orange. Pearl had been poofed as well, she thought.

Pearl smiled, placing a hand on her hip as Amethyst continued to rave.

"Ah, you can't blame me, Pea! It's been forever since I had to not cuss around Steven and Connie." Amethyst lamented, looking over her shoulder at the taller Gem. "She hasn't been twelve in like, twenty years."

"Twenty years!?"

"Oh for the star's sake!" Peridot screamed from her workstation.

All at once, Connie felt her eyes bulge from her skull. Twenty years! She guessed from the house and how Peridot looked that she was maybe twenty weeks into the future, twenty months at most. But not twenty years!

What kind of crazy stuff had went down since she left? What happened to all the recently healed Gems? To Homeworld and the Diamonds? And what about—

"Where's Steven," Connie said aloud, bringing the rambling in the room to a standstill. There was a moment of apprehension from Amethyst and Pearl, as their eyes trailed to Peridot. Their gaze betrayed them, as Connie turned to the green Gem as well.

"Well?" Connie asked again, eliciting a sigh and sagging shoulders from Peridot. "Hm?"

Connie crossed her arms as she began to grow impatient. She had to know, where was Steven. How was he after all these years?

Turning in her seat, Peridot faced the girl, her lips a distinct frown.

"Business trip."

And with that Peridot wheeled back around and tried to dive into her work.

"What?" Connie exclaimed. "Business trip? Steven doesn't do business. He does music! And Gem stuff! And the Gems are right here."

Connie pointed to the Gems behind her, taking a moment to notice the lack of Garnet.

"What? Did you think Steven would just stay twelve forever?" Peridot snorted. "He's an adult, he's got a job. Just like the future you."

Connie raised a brow at the statement. Rolling her eyes, Peridot continued.

"It's not a spoiler to say you get a job." Peridot tried to turn away in her seat, but Connie simply pushed the stool to make her face back again. "What?"

"Where is he right now, exactly?" she persisted. Peridot gave her an incredulous look.

"How should I know?" she said, shrugging. "He's in a different place every week, sometimes every day. We just wait for him to call in."

"What the heck is he even doing then?"

"Hah, now that'd be a spoiler," Peridot replied, rolling her eyes.

"Awww come on! Give me a hint!" Connie whined, tugging on Peridot's arm. Amethyst snorted at the sight, nudging Pearl as they watched the two go back and forth.

"You've gotten enough spoilers!" Peridot exclaimed with a frown. "I'm drawing a line. You're not figuring this one out."

Suddenly, Pearl bursted with a snort, too loud to not be noticed.

"No, please, go on," she said, smirking and crossing her arms. Peridot furrowed her brow before continuing.

"As I was saying, you're not figuring out anything else," she dismissed, turning away. Not stopping at her work station, however, she continued to turn, until she faced Connie again. "No more hints! Got it?"

At that word, a bubble suddenly appeared behind Peridot's back, phasing into existence as if it came in on cue.

"Uh, got it," Connie said, her eyes locked to the pink orb floating behind Peridot's head. Pink, she thought. That must be from Steven.

"Good, glad we could finally come to an agreement—" Peridot paused as she turned, her face smacking into the bubble. Catching it before it could float away, she grumbled to herself. "—Pfhu, he's getting lazy."

Connie paused at the sound of Pearl snorting again, before returning her attention to Peridot.

Shifting into automatic, Peridot popped the bubble, immediately causing Connie to recoil. Yet, she quickly realized it wasn't a gemstone in there, but something else entirely. Amethyst's chuckles filled the air as Connie silently stepped around Peridot, to get a look at what she was handling.

"Hmm, okay, maybe not lazy, just going over his recommended difficulty level." Peridot's mumbles flew over Connie's head as the item came into full view. It was a medium-sized chunk of rock, a bit smaller than a brick, covered in moss, some dirt, but especially, scratches.

Regular, yet completely incomprehensible scratches.

It looked ancient, Connie thought. Maybe something from one of the old Homeworld sites? Connie took a step forward as Peridot turned the object in hand. Spotting the Diamond insignia on the rock's back, Connie pursed her lips. Definitely old Homeworld stuff.

Behind her, Amethyst and Pearl whispered between themselves, a laugh leaving Pearl's lips, though she quickly tried to dam it. This was going to be incredibly embarrassing for either Peridot or herself, Connie thought. But dang it, she had to know.

Pulling a notepad from the side as she turned the rock again, Peridot began to transcribe the scratched symbols. And underneath them, English words. She was translating them, Connie realized.

If that bubble was from Steven, it meant he was sending it back to be translated. But why? He and the Gems never bothered to read old Homeworld stuff before. Then again, that was twenty years ago. Who knows what could've changed, how Steven could've changed.

Peridot tore the page from the notepad, pulling Connie from her train of thought. Folding it once and then twice, she paused to do one last thing, draw three shapes to the front of the sheet: a star, a heart, and a diamond.

With one motion, Peridot bundled up the paper and the rock. With another she tapped the two together, forming a bright green bubble to encase them. And finally, she sent it off, a sigh of relief touching her lips as she finished her work.

"So that's definitely from Steven," Connie said out loud, raising her voice to pull Peridot back down to Earth. "Only the Crystal Gems can make bubbles, and Steven's the only one who makes pink ones."

Peridot remained silent, pursing her lips as she allowed Connie to speculate.

"That thing was probably from some old Gem site," Connie continued, rubbing her chin. "So Steven's job definitely has something to do with that!"

Peridot's flat lips turned to a self-satisfied smile.

"Pfahaha, you're trying to figure that out? Keep guessing," she said, rolling her eyes with a grin. "Guesses are all you're going to get."

Yet, as Peridot turned away to return working on sending Connie to the past, said girl smiled. She had watched how Peridot reacted, what statement left the Gem confident that Connie was barking up the wrong tree. So now she knew what would really get Peridot to sweat.

"Buuuut—" Connie poked her head over the kitchen counter, her voice making Peridot purse her lips once more. "Now, I'm curious about the bubble."

"Wha-What about it?" Peridot asked, her voice nervous and tinted with a fake awkward laugh.

"Where it arrived," Connie answered, raising a brow. At that, Peridot's twisted plastered smile disappeared. Gotcha, Connie thought. "All the bubbles go down to Garnet's room, but this one—"

"HEY, SO ABOUT STEVEN'S JOB!" Peridot suddenly screamed, her face going a bright blue as she startled Connie. "HOW ABOUT I TELL YOU EVERYTHING ABOUT THAT!"

This brought Connie pause. Peridot's sudden flip, it was strange. Steven's job was what Connie was trying to weasel out of Peridot, yet she's offering to tell her everything now? How did that make sense?

Unless… there was something else Peridot wanted to keep secret.

"Sure!" Connie said with a smile, just then realizing Pearl and Amethyst were on the verge of bursting out in laughter. Taking a seat next to Peridot, Connie waited for the Gem to give her the full explanation she was looking for. "Do tell~"

Peridot exhaled, breathing a sigh of frustration before taking a deep breath. Another fake smile, this one with a much cleaner layer of plaster, took her face.

"He's an archeologist," she began. "Specifically in the realm of Gem and Homeworld artifacts."

"So he studies Gem stuff?" Connie asked. "Why? Can't he just ask you guys?"

"He's not learning for himself," Pearl chimed in, finally pushing down her urge to chuckle at the two. "It's for all the humans, who gave up on trying to understand the remnants of Gem society centuries ago."

Peridot nodded, pressing the handle of her screwdriver against Connie's cheek and turning her head to face her.

"He translates many of the old Homeworld ruins and signages, and gives it to the humans for practically nothing," she continued, pulling back. "In fact, I think he only ever asks for a place to sleep. He takes the warp pads everywhere, and I send him meals through bubbles."

A part of Peridot's story jumped out at Connie, which she took silent note of. The bubbles, again. Connie wasn't sure what it was, but something was off.

"Of course, twenty years isn't exactly enough time to memorize all of Gem-Speak," Peridot droned on, glancing at the ceiling. "So he's often sending samples back to me to translate."

"Why you?" Connie asked, partially curious and partially hoping she'd admit something else to put this puzzle together. Peridot grinned, a spark of her ego lighting up her eyes. All these years, and some things never change.

"Why, who do you think taught him to read Gem-Speak~?" she purred, her lips curling up as a hand went to her chest. "Why, it was yours truly!"

Peridot spun in her seat, throwing her arms into the air.

"The resourceful! The intelligent! The loveable! Peridot!" She forced her spinning to a sudden stop, tossing a pose in Connie's direction, with a grin to accent it. "Impressed, I'm sure."

"Completely," Connie assured, trying her best to not burst out with laughter. Then, a thought struck her. "So, Steven sends you things to translate?"

"Yup."

"And, you send them back?"

"Correct!" Peridot stood straight, a confident smarm peaking through her face.

"With the bubbles?"

"Absolu—" Peridot cut herself off mid-word, eyes widening. But it was too late, Connie already knew what she had to say. Peridot could only watch as her pseudo-opponent finally put the pieces together.

Behind the two, Amethyst and Pearl bursted out with snorts and chuckles.

"But, aren't bubbles always sent to where you consider 'home' to be?" Connie began, her line of thought running away with itself. Peridot's face grew a bright lime blush. "And you and Steven are sending it to each other…"

Amethyst lost it, just outright cackling as Connie stumbled closer to the truth. Peridot's eyes clenched shut, as she prepared for what was to come.

"You and Steven consider each other home? Are—" Connie paused, for a moment considering the thing she was about to suggest, the absurdity of it all. Peridot covered her face, and Connie knew she had to finish this. "Are you two dating?"

A pin drop silence took the house, even Pearl and Amethyst growing quiet as Connie posed her question. Yet, Peridot did not move. She stayed there with her eyes covered, trying to pretend if she could ignore the question, then maybe it'd go away.

After some time, Pearl stepped in.

"Erm," she chimed, catching Connie's attention. "Married, ten years."

"What?!"