When Garnet woke up a few hours later, she hadn't expected to feel even worse than before. Her head felt as if it were about to split open, and the gemstones on her wrists throbbed painfully.

"Good morning!" Steven cheered in a sing-song voice. Garnet groaned, rubbing her forehead. "I was gonna make you breakfast, but I wanted to see if you were hungry first."

Steven hopped down from his stool beside Garnet's bed, and began to climb downstairs. "You wait right up there Garnet! I'll be back in a moment!"

"Um, Steven," Garnet said quietly. Weakly.

"Yeah Garnet?" Steven asked excitedly, poking his head back above the second floor.

"It's just, I don't know about this," Garnet said calmly, sitting up. "I just feel like I need to rest, that's all..."

"What? Oh no! I'll take care of you Garnet, don't worry!" Steven cried excitedly, rushing back toward the kitchen.

Garnet lay back down and shivered. The temple doors opened as Pearl walked out of her room and into the main part of the house, looking around.

"Steven?" Pearl asked, curiously sniffing the air. "What are you doing?"

"Making soup!" Steven said, turning around from where his arms were raised at the stove. "Normally I'd have Garnet help, but it's for Garnet. So..."

"Well, it certainly smells interesting," Pearl said with a small smile. "How is Garnet? Is she doing any better?"

"She seems a bit better, but not ready to come out of bed yet. I don't know," Steven said with a shrug, and turned back to the soup.

"Amethyst and I were looking through some ancient texts to see if we could figure out anything about gems contracting strange diseases, but not much has come up. Amethyst went to go talk to your father to see if Rose ever kept any information. It's not likely, but until we figure out what's going on, its worth a try," Pearl said.

"Pearl, I know that Garnet will be fine," Steven said happily. "Just like when you guys take care of me when I'm sick...I just want to return the favor. And the soup is gonna be really good! I can tell!"

For a moment, Garnet could have sword that she smelled smoke.

"Wait, Steven, you don't need to..." Garnet rasped, standing up from the bed and about to climb down the stairs before she began to sway on her feet.

"Garnet! Lie down! You're still so weak..." Pearl said.

"Greg didn't have much to say!" Amethyst called out, walking into the house from the beach. "Rose didn't seem to have any records of gem diseases that she kept outside of the temple. Greg said he did remember Rose getting sick once, but that was a long time ago. Hey Steven, what's with the soup? That smells good!"

Garnet cringed slightly when the smell hit her nose, and for the first time in decades, she felt her stomach turn.

"Garnet! How are you feeling?" Amethyst asked, and was met with moan. Garnet had gone pale. "Oh boy..." Amethyst said softly.

Pearl and Amethyst each grabbed a shoulder as they rushed Garnet outside, and Steven turned back to the soup.

"I guess it can wait awhile," he said, turning the heat off from under the food when he heard the sound of retching coming from outside.

Pearl and Amethyst half-carried, half-dragged Garnet back inside a few moments later, bringing her back toward the bed.

"She's shivering...and she's feverish...Steven! Don't humans place a cloth on their heads when this happens?" Pearl asked uncertainly.

"Oh yeah!" Steven said, coming up the stairs a moment later with a wet cloth in his hand. He intricately began to lay it out over Garnet's forehead, right over her third eye. The gemstones on her hands glowed very faintly.

"Hmmm..." Steven said. "I'm going to go wrap up the soup!"

"Save me some!" Amethyst called.

"No! It's for Garnet!" Steven responded. "It's special. My dad brought over soup like this whenever I got sick, and now it's going to help her get better when she wakes up."

Pearl sighed, slumping her shoulders. "I'm going to check the temple again. Amethyst, come on!"

"Keep an eye on her, Steven!" Amethyst said.

"Okay!"

It's actually kinda hard to picture Garnet being this weak...Although I kinda like this =)

Thanks for reading! Next chapter coming soon