"This stupid thing doesn't make any sense! Argh!" Peridot screeched as she threw several components for the drill on the ground. Pearl quickly drew back before they could slam into her feet.

"Watch it!" she hissed at the gemling. "You're going to break everything and then what will we have to work with?!" She gathered the parts delicately into her arms and wiped the dirt from them. "These are very delicate."

"No they're not!" Peridot yelled furiously, stomping a small green foot down onto the hill. "They're dirt! They're worse then dirt! Dirt would probably be more useful then these primitive little earth toys! The drill is going to BREAK the moment we switch it on!"

"Well it's going to break if you keep throwing everything!" Pearl snapped. Garnet lifted a welding helmet, adjusting her visor and sighing tiredly.

"I think you need to step back, Peridot. You're getting overwhelmed and frustrated."

"I am not!" Peridot hissed as she stormed right back to the drill, shoving Pearl aside. "How can I be expected to work in these conditions when what we're using is parts from a primitive earth machine used to heat up food?!"

"Well you don't HAVE to work with us you know," Amethyst griped, her usually long thread of patience becoming frayed. "We'd probably get more done without you here screaming like a banshee."

"Amethyst..." Garnet warned.

Luckily before the feud could escalate into bloodshed, they were interrupted by Steven. He came running towards them with his phone in his hands. "Guys! Guys! Sadie just called me! First of all, she said hello!"

"Hello," Garnet responded.

"She was wondering if I could come over and help her paint her room." He shuffled in the dirt. "I mean, it would only be for a little bit, like maybe an hour or so! I forgot I promised her a month ago..." He winced.

"Can't break a promise." Garnet immediately had an idea. "Steven, take Peridot with you." she ordered. The green gem's head snapped up immediately and her eyes radiated with anger and hurt.

"You're trying to get rid of me!?"

"No—no." Garnet bent down quickly to the gem's level and placed her hands on her knees. "Peridot right now you need to calm down," she told her. "And I think you'll be able to do that better if you step away. You're frustrated and you need to clear your head."

Peridot shoved back against the woman's knees. "I don't have to do any such thing! I'm fine and perfectly capable of working!"

"No you aren't!" Amethyst growled. "You're breaking things because you're so mad you screwed a nail in crooked!"

"Gems, I can handle this." The last thing the fusion wanted was for a full scale war to break out here and so far she seemed to be the only one that could calm the gemling down, be it a tantrum or a panic attack. "Peridot," Garnet's tone became slightly harder and the maternal look became stern. "You're going with Steven and this is non-negotiable."

"I refuse!" Peridot snapped back, at this point just being difficult for the sake of being difficult. "I'm not going to waste my time doing frivolous things with the Steven and his companions when I can be making progress here, and you can't make me!" Suddenly, Garnet's hand snapped down to grab her arm, no longer as gentle as it had been before, but firm with a very real underlying threat.

Garnet removed her visor so three stern eyes could look down at the gemling. "You're going with Steven."

Eye to eye with the "the look", Peridot nodded quickly. Hands reached behind her to cover her backside instinctively. "I'll go with Steven." The rest of the gems and child stared wide-eyed at Garnet, as if wondering where she had acquired these magic powers and how they could go about getting them too.

"Hey." Steven put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "It's okay, you'll love Sadie. She's one of my friends and I'm sure she'll really like you! We'll have fun. Okay?"

The gem snorted and crossed her arms. "Hmmph. Doubtful."

"I'm so glad you could make it Steven!" Sadie gushed as she swung open the door to embrace him tightly. "Like, I'm really, really glad you could come." She ran her hand through her golden curls sheepishly. "Interior decorating with Mom is always such a battle."

"Why's that?" Steven laughed.

"Well..." Sadie closed the door behind them. "We have pretty different opinions when it comes to this stuff. She wants my room to be all girly-girl and adorable with pinks and flowers, and I'm just not into that. But I don't want to bring it up to her."

"I guess I can help you with that," the boy chuckled. "It'll be nice to do a chore that's... a little more relaxing. And colorful!" He was about to take off his shoes when he remembered something. "Oh yeah! Sadie, I hope you don't mind but I brought a friend along with me. It was kind of a last minute idea..."

Sadie blinked. "Well sure, it's fine. I should probably let Mom know since she prepared lunch for just you and me." In stocking feet, Sadie ran down the hall towards the kitchen, and Steven heard her voice shout from the other room. "So is it Connie?"

"Uh no, not this time!" he shouted back, frantically searching out the open door for his friend. "She's kinda...a gem actually! Peridot!" he hissed around a bush. The green gem was on the lawn, just staring at a standee of a flamingo. "What are you doing?"

"What is this thing?" Peridot growled. "It's just standing there, staring at me! What do you want, you strange foreign creature?"

Steven sighed. "That's a flamingo. It's just a bird, like that blue jay you screamed at this morning when it landed on your head."

"Why is it so...still?" Shivers crawled up the green gem's spine as its dead black eyes stared at her. "Has it gone into a state of stasis? Is it...dead?"

A raspy laugh came from beside the gemling. "Haven't seen lawn ornaments often have you, kid?" Peridot squawked like the flamingo she was looking at and jumped behind Steven.

"Barb!" Steven chirped. He slapped the middle aged Mom a happy high five. "It's great to see you again!"

"You too kiddo!" The mail-woman crossed her arms over her chest as she looked down at the green thing hiding behind Steven. "I guess this is your friend Sadie was saying you'd have over! It's nice to meet you, kid! Name's Barb." She held out her hand, but Peridot didn't take it. "That's okay. Hey, I made you a sandwich too!"

"What is a...sandwich?" Peridot asked, trailing behind the group as they made their way inside. The table was set with four plates with sandwiches and carrot sticks, and a side of chocolate milk. Peridot frowned as the chattering humans sat down to the table. "What's going on? I thought we were doing some painting chore."

Steven pat his stomach. "Can't paint on an empty stomach." He was just about to devour his sandwich when he remembered something. "Oh, that's right. Sadie, Barb, this is Peridot. Peridot, Sadie and Barb!"

Uninterested, Peridot poked at her sandwich and tried to figure out what it was.

"Peridot, rude," Steven chastised, ignoring the way his friend hissed at him. "You should talk to them, that's the polite thing to do."

Pushing back her plate, the grumpy gemling crossed her arms. "Fine! Who are you and what do you want?" Steven slapped his palm to his face but Barb just laughed.

"I like her Steven. I'm Sadie's Mom and Sadie is my daughter." She pulled the chubby teen in for a side hug. "I deliver the mail in Beach City!"

Peridot tilted her head. "Mom? Daughter? What in the stars does that mean?"

Sadie and Barb looked at each other. "Well uh, it means I'm her mother," Barb said. The confusion on the gem's face didn't change so she continued, "It means I delivered her. I'm the one that takes care of her! She's my daughter. My wittle baby," she cooed as she pinched her flushing girl's cheeks.

"Sorry guys," Steven said. "Peridot is really new to earth and she doesn't understand much about this planet. And gems aren't born the way humans are born." He looked over when he noticed she was trying to wear her sandwich. "And...they don't eat much either. No, Peridot...you're supposed to put it in your mouth."

Barb chuckled. "Well that's alright! We're used to weird around this city. See Peridot, on earth humans are made..." She paused as she considered the consequences of talking about the birds and the bees. "How old is she?"

Steven paused. "I don't really know."

"I'll just condense it then—uh, anyways! Humans, a male and a female, when they love each other, they...do a little dance...and make a baby!" Sadie's face fell to the table.

"Mom..."

"And the woman carries the child until its ready to be brought into the world, and she's the mother, and the man is the father!"

Peridot gave a slow nod. "So it's like Fusion?"

Steven was practically choking on his chocolate milk. "Something like that. See, my Mom gave herself up to give me life and my Dad is the one I told you about, the one that taught me about rain! That's what Barb is, a Mom. Do you get it now?" Peridot nodded, but Steven had a feeling she really didn't.

"How about we all just start painting my room?" Sadie suggested, her pale skin a few dark shades of red. Maybe she could stop her mom from embarrassing her more. "I want to see a new color when I look at my walls."

"Oh hey, it's your bear collection!" Steven exclaimed as he ran down the steps and dive bombed into the plush mountain of smiling teddies. "Wow it just seems to get bigger every day!"

"Heh..." Sadie flushed. "That's 'cause Mom pretty much adds to it every day." She walked over and retrieved a bunch of paint cans sitting on her bed. "Well we should probably get started." She started to pry off the lid to the green when Barb's hand stopped her.

"What are you doing? I thought we were gonna paint it a nice hot neon pink!"

"No, uh..." Sadie chuckled nervously. "I think I want to try green this time." She felt herself shrink slightly in guilt at her mother's expression.

"But I bought that can for you. It's on sale too..."

"Barb," Steven reminded, recovering from his lay in the bears. "Come on, we went over this before remember? Besides, green looks like it might suit better." He held up one of the purple unicorns. "It'll compliment Sir Glimmer nicely too!"

Barb gave a resigned sigh as she picked up the can of pink, and gave Sadie a forgiving head ruffle. "Maybe you're right. I think pink would look better in my room anyway. Well!" She snapped open the jade colored paint. "Sades, you and Peridot get started on this side of the wall while Steven and I go get some more plastic wrap to paint-proof the rest of the room."

Sadie dipped her brush into the thick liquid. "Do you know how to paint?" she asked the green gem. "It's pretty easy, you just dip your brush in and slap it on the wall. Make sure you catch the drips though." Peridot had gone quiet. "Are you okay? You look kinda troubled."

The gemling glanced back at the staircase, where Steven and Barb had gone. "I just...I still don't understand. What is a Mom?"

"Oh, we already explained it to you." Sadie started stroking up the walls, layering them with green. "A Mom is who carries the-"

"No I know that!" Peridot snapped. "But after that, what is the function? What is the point? You've already been born so why is she still sticking around?"

Sadie laughed. "Well a Mom's job doesn't just end when they give birth! There's still the rest of their life to go." She put down the brush and sat on the carpet, inviting the gemling to sit next to her. "A Mom...it means a lot of different things to many people. But, they're basically the one that takes care of you. They're the first person in the world to love you before anyone else." She smiled. "They love you even before you're born."

"But if you haven't been born yet how could they know they love you?" the gem asked. "They don't even know who you are."

Sadie laughed. "Maybe not...but you're still their child. You're a part of them. You can be a Mom without even giving birth."

"That doesn't make any sense!" Peridot snapped. "I thought the whole purpose of the Mom was to give birth! How can you be one without having done that?"

"A Mom is someone who takes care of you," Sadie said. "And...they don't have to have given birth to you. They love you unconditionally. They're the one that comforts you when you're hurt, or if you wake up crying from a nightmare." Suddenly, Peridot's breath ceased. "They cheer you up when you're sad, they yell at you when you're bad." Her cheeks went pink as she hugged her knees, looking longingly to the staircase. "They make you lunches for school, or work... And no matter how much you screw up, they always love you."

Peridot stared at her with wide shimmering eyes, for once at full alert. Her cheek rested against her knee. "Do they...order you around a lot?"

Sadie laughed. "Yeah, kinda. But they only really do it because they want the best for you. Even if they annoy you, whatever they're doing is only out of love."

"You're trying to get rid of me!?"

Sadie leaned against the wall and looked over at the silent gemling. "I'm sorry, this is probably a lot to take and you probably don't even understand."

"No..." Peridot's voice was very quiet. "I think I do..."

"We got the plastic wrap!" Barb shouted as hers and Steven's feet thundered down the steps. "Now let's wrap up the rest of this room like a Christmas present! Oh Sadie—what happened to your shirt?!"

"Huh?!" Sadie jolted up and only now felt the thick heavy wetness of paint from where she had sat against the wall. She flushed. "Oh jeez."

"Geez, girl!" Barb laughed as she came over with a roll of paper towel and started to wipe at the paint. "What would you do without me?"

"Oh I'm not that helpless Mom!" Sadie giggled as she impishly grabbed some paint and dabbed it on her mother's nose. Peridot just sat there watching as mother and daughter giggled and played, her green eyes shining with curiosity.

Sunset fell and blanketed the grassy hills in its orange beams. The gems lay in the grass, having completed all they wanted for the day.

"We got a lot done," Amethyst yawned."

"We did," Pearl agreed. "Although I hate to say it, but, we may have gotten more done with Peridot. I hope she and Steven had fun."

"We did!" a voice came from behind them. The three turned to see Steven and Peridot. Both were splattered with green paint and their outfits were also effectively ruined. Somehow they had even managed to get some in their hair.

"Oh my!" Pearl laughed, coming over to Steven and examining his dirty face. "I should say you did. We're going to have to wash this right away to get the stains off." She wriggled the boy's shirt off and started scrubbing his face with paper towel.

"Peridot, come here," Garnet called, a smile of amusement on her lips. Somehow the gemling had seemed to have gotten herself even dirtier. "You can't go back into the house like that. We're going to have to give you a bath." She tore a few pieces off the roll herself and scrubbed at the gemling's face. "Right now we can at least clean that visor of yours." She rubbed off the paint and readjusted the gemling's visor. "There. Better?"

"Yes." Peridot nodded. "It is. Thank you Mother Garnet."

Immediately Garnet dropped her paper towel and every head turned to look at them both, wide eyed and shocked. The address pulled the words and air right out of her and the fusion did a double take, making a few sounds with her lips until she finally managed, "What did you just say?"

"Mother Garnet," Peridot repeated. She looked slightly apprehensive.

Garnet shook her head and let go of the gem's shoulder. "Peridot, I'm not..." But when she looked into the young gem's wide eyes, she trailed off.

"Did I...did I say something wrong?" Peridot asked worriedly. Her eyes grew wider and she twiddled her fingers nervously.

"...No," Garnet finally responded. She picked up the crumpled paper towel and tossed the roll into the grass. "I just wanted to make sure I heard you the first time. You're full of paint, Peridot, and you need a bath." She put an arm around Peridot to propel her along.

Walking along obediently, Peridot suddenly dipped her finger into some paint on her shirt and jumped up, wiping it impishly onto the startled woman's nose.