Chapter Six

"Okay," said Greg, "Is something going on?"

Steven and Connie glanced at Sadie.

"Should I...should I tell him?" Steven asked.

Sadie hesitated and nodded.

Steven explained everything. He rattled off events quickly and almost without taking a breath; Greg listened patiently, letting his sun talk. Finally, when Steven was finished, Greg spoke up.

"How long ago was this photo taken?" asked Greg.

"I don't know exactly," replied Sadie, "I mean, my parents looked young, I guess..."

Greg scratched his beard.

"Okay, I don't anything about Barb or the Gems keeping secrets from you guys," he said, "But I can tell you what I know."

He sat on the bed.

"Barb and Clancy got hitched pretty quickly," he said, "I think they'd been dating about four months? Back then the state government had this thing where they gave newlyweds a loan to buy a house, so they bought this place. Vidalia and I helped 'em move in."

"What were they like?" asked Sadie, "I mean, together?"

"I don't really know," replied Greg, "Your mom became a mailwoman early, so I saw a lot of her. I think she'd dropped out of college at that point, I'm not sure. I didn't see much of Clancy; he kept to himself."

Greg shrugged.

"But I wasn't actually out that much at that time either," he continued, "Because that's when me and Amethyst started getting into Lil' Butler. I mean, we'd spend hours watching that show..."

"Greg, he's already heard this story," grunted Amethyst.

"Eh, it was before it got...ugly," shrugged Greg, "I mean, back then Rose was really happy that we were hanging out together. She really encouraged it..."

"But what were they like when they were together?" asked Sadie.

Greg furrowed his brow.

"Y'know, that's the darndest thing," he said, "After they moved in, I don't think I ever saw them together."

There was a pause.

"Yo Greg, what's in the box?" asked Amethyst.

She pointed at the box in Greg's hand. It was a simple teak thing, with a hinged lid and a brass lock.

"This thing?" asked Greg, looking down at the small box in his hands, "No idea. Barb wanted me to hide it - reckon it might be a present for someone or something? She didn't say."

"No. She didn't."

Sadie jumped and Greg turned around. Barb was standing in the door, arms crossed.

"But she was hoping you'd take it somewhere that wasn't my house," she snapped.

Clancy pulled up in front of the car wash and climbed out of his car. He winced a little as a crack of thunder startled him. The precipitation in the air was growing - the storm was nearly here.

"Mr. Universe!" he called, "I need to speak to you about an object taken from the Mayor's office!"

He looked around. The area seemed deserted.

"If you do not answer, I have the authority to take you into custody!" he shouted.

There was no reply.

For a few minutes, Clancy walked around, checking everywhere for a sign of Greg. There was nothing - even his van was gone.

"No," he growled to himself, "The trail can't be cold now, he's gotta have gone somewhere."

He walked back into his car and climbed into the driver's seat. He sat there for a few moments, thinking.

Greg had only taken the object from Nanefua this morning - he must have been tipped off. The only people who knew what he was really after were Garnet, Pearl and...

Wait.

"And what," Barb demanded, "Did they send you to get?"

Clancy narrowed his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he growled, "But that is classified."

"Clancy, if you..." Barb spat.

"Classified," repeated Clancy.

"Oh no," he said to himself, "No, no, no, no, NO!"

He turned on the engine and raced out of the car wash, hurtling towards the Miller residence.

"Greg," said Barb wearily, taking the box from Greg. "When I asked you to put that thing somewhere secret, I mean somewhere that wasn't my house."

"Sorry, I just assumed it was a present or something," shrugged Greg.

Barb shook her head.

"He'll probably be on his way by now," she said, "Greg, can you..."

"By him, you mean dad, right?" interrupted Sadie.

"Sadie," warned Barb.

"Mom, please, just tell me," pleaded Sadie, "What is going on? I saw the picture with the Roaming Eye, I know it had something to do with Steven's moms, I just..."

Barb looked at her feet.

"I promised Rose..."

There was a loud bang on the door.

"Office of Strategic Services! Open up!"

Barb swore loudly. Steven gasped and covered his ears.

"Look, there'll be time for this later," she said, "Right now, you need to go."

"But Mom!"

"No buts, Sadie!" snapped Barb, "Greg, take 'em out the back door before-"

There was a loud crash from the front door. Seconds later, Clancy had barged into the doorway of Barb's room - his pistol was drawn but not yet aimed.

"I told you I'd get it, Ba...Sadie?" exclaimed Clancy.

Any reply was suddenly cut off by the window shattering. Garnet and Pearl leapt into the room, weapons out.

"We gave you a chance, Clancy," growled Garnet, "But going after Greg was a step too far."

"Yeah!" shouted Peridot, leaning in the window, "I saw you at the car wash! I got you!"

"Wait, you were gonna arrest me?" spluttered Greg.

"I thought you had the object!" snapped Clancy, "And you clearly did, so I wasn't wrong..."

"Oh, you're impossible!" snorted Pearl, "There's always an excuse, isn't there? We tried talking..."

"What do you mean 'you tried talking?'" exclaimed Amethyst, "You've been meeting with him? What the heck gives?!"

"Okay, everyone calm down, I'm sure we can work this out," said Connie.

"No! I'm done being calm!" replied Clancy, "This was supposed to be an easy job, and I am at my wit's-"

"ALL OF YOU, SHUT UP!" thundered Barb.

The room fell deafly silent.

Sadie swallowed, looking at her mother. Her face was red, she was gritting her teeth and she was visibly shaking - if yesterday she had been angry, now she was positively livid. She watched Clancy step back, a tinge of fear in his expression.

Barb took a long, deep breath.

"Okay," she said, "Here's what's gonna happen. Sadie and Clancy are going to stay here. The rest of you are going to leave this room now. Am I clear?"

For a moment, nobody moved. Then, almost as one, everybody else walked briskly out the door, Connie nervously shutting it behind her when they were all out.

Barb sat on the bed, sighing heavily. She hugged the box close.

"Barb," said Clancy, slowly and deliberately, "I need the object."

"It's not mine to give you," replied Barb, "And it was never yours to take."

She shook her head.

"The Gems tried to reason with you, and that didn't stop you," she said, "I tried to hide it, and that didn't stop you. I'm pretty sure fighting back isn't gonna stop you. So you do what you want, Clancy..."

Clancy reached for the box. A glare from Barb stopped him.

"...but first," she said, "We tell Sadie the truth."

"Mom?" asked Sadie.

Clancy glanced from his daughter to the box.

"Fine," he said bitterly, "I guess I'm never coming back anyway. Might as well burn my last bridge."

He sat down against the wall. He looked tired and old.

"We were there when the Roaming Eye crashed," he said, "We got there just before Rose Quartz did."

"Garnet said there were no survivors," said Sadie.

Clancy shook his head.

"Nah, there was one," he explained, "A Ruby. 1GK."

"Kay," sighed Barb.

"Yeah," nodded Clancy, "Kay."

"She wouldn't go with Rose," continued Barb, "She was terrified of Earth, of the Crystal Gems, of Rose. So Clancy got the idea that she'd stay with us until she was used to Earth."

"She was our secret," added Clancy, "Nobody who wasn't there could know. We didn't know how she'd react to other people. We'd see how she went, and then she'd introduce herself to others if she wanted to. Rose wanted to make sure she'd feel safe."

"Only problem was, you can't really hide an alien in a college dorm," said Barb ruefully.

"So what did you do?" asked Sadie.

"Back then, there were government loans available for newlyweds who wanted to buy a house," replied Clancy, "Some kind of economic stimulus. We were already in a relationship, so we figured we'd just tie the knot and get our own place. It'd make things easier."

"Marry in haste, repent at leisure," sniffed Barb.

Clancy snorted.

"So there we were, in this house," said Barb, "Me, him and Kay. I dropped college and became a mailwoman to pay the bills. He kept on going to college to keep our friends from getting suspicious. At night, we'd teach Kay about the world - sometimes Rose would help."

"She'd send Greg off to watch that stupid butler show to keep him from catching on," said Clancy, "Kept Amethyst out of the loop because she thought she might blab. Rose was adamant - 'we'll introduce Kay when she's ready', she said."

"But then someone betrayed her," said Barb darkly.

Sadie looked at Clancy, who only nodded morosely.

"The government had noticed the crashed ship on their satellites," he said, "Rose, Garnet and Pearl had already cleaned up most of the wreck by the time the OSS got there, but they couldn't get everything in time. They went on the hunt, and about twelve months later they found me."

"And you told them about Kay?" gasped Sadie.

Clancy swallowed, looking up at Barb.

"If I tell her this..." he began.

"I know," nodded Barb.

Clancy closed his eyes and breathed in.

"The thing is," he said, "As the months went on, your mother and Kay got...closer. They became friends, which I initially thought was great - my wife's friend was an alien, who else could say that? But we started to spend less and less time together, and she and Kay spent more and more - before long, I came to realise that our relationship was probably over."

Sadie looked at Barb, who nodded.

"I couldn't help it," she said, "Once I got past her fear, she was...sweet and gentle...she had a temper sometimes, but when she sang..."

"When the OSS came," continued Clancy, staring at his shoes, "They offered me everything I'd ever wanted. I'd be an agent at the Extraterrestrial Desk, chasing UFO's to my heart's content. All I had to do was give them Kay."

"Dad?" Sadie whispered, her eyes wide.

Clancy swallowed.

"I never meant for it to happen," he said, "I was just supposed to go in with a couple of agents, grab her, and then get out. They gave me a suit and a gun - I felt like I could do anything. But Rose was there that night, and w-we didn't expect - I-I-I got startled-"

He trailed off, unable to continue.

"And weren't you just so proud of yourself?" snarled Barb, her eyes visibly watering.

Clancy clenched his fists.

"It would never have happened," growled Clancy, "If you hadn't..."

"Don't you dare," interrupted Barb.

Sadie looked at the box.

"So in this box," she said, "It's Kay's gem, right?"

"Yeah," nodded Barb, "And what happened that night is why we split up."

"But this doesn't make sense!" exclaimed Sadie, "You said that Dad left because he didn't want to raise a kid! You always told me he left just after I was born!"

"He did," replied Barb.

"So you fell in love with Kay while you were pregnant?" asked Sadie.

Barb and Clancy looked at each other.

"That's why Rose was there," said Barb, "And thank god too, because I need to save...I...I needed..."

"Rose was helping you give birth," nodded Sadie.

Clancy shook his head.

"Nobody knew what was going to happen," he said, "It had never been done before. Rose wanted to see before Greg..."

"Dad," said Sadie, "What're you saying?"

"You wanna know why I've always been so nervous around you?" asked Clancy, "You wanna know why I tried to avoid you? I was always afraid I'd slip up, that I'd say something and you'd find out..."

"Dad?"

Clancy shook his head.

"I'm not your father, Sadie."