The tension in the air for those few seconds of silence was so heavy that it drove Peridot insane. Her eyes widened, her muscles tensed, and she let out a scream.
"WAAAAAH!" she yowled and picked herself up with pure adrenaline.
The situation registered quickly, the Crystal Gems immediately pulling out their weapons. Peridot ducked behind Steven, curling up into a ball and clinging to him. "HELP ME, STEVEN!"
The Gems bounced back as Steven formed a bubble around himself and the green Gem, slightly surprised. "What do you think you're doing, Steven?!" Garnet asked, angrily.
He cringed. He hadn't seen her this upset since he refused to hand over the mirror Lapis was trapped in. He shook his head; that wasn't important right now. "Guys, she's not gonna fight!" he said.
"Steven, she's tried to kill you twice! Why are you protecting her now?!" Pearl asked furiously.
"I know, but that was before!"
"Before what?" Amethyst asked with anticipation.
Steven's expression changed. "When we were at the Kindergarten, she was there, and we talked. I came back to visit her last night, and we were hanging out all day. Guys, she isn't bad! She's taking orders from your Homeworld, she doesn't want the Earth at all!"
"You snuck out?!"
"You lied to me?!"
"You spent all day with her?!"
The Gems sounded shocked, and Steven knew they were upset with him for his dishonesty. Even still, Peridot was his friend, now, and he was determined to clear her name up. "Please, listen to me!" he begged through the bubble. "I can prove she's not after us!"
He looked to her, sending a silent plea. She was still trembling from the shock of plopping right into their sight. What should she do? What should she say? She couldn't just ask them to be friends, it wouldn't be as simple in this case. She took a short breath and cleared her throat, standing on her feet. Her head tilted downward to avoid too much eye contact, resulting in a pitiful upturned gaze. "U-Um… I'm sorry I called you… clods." she said.
Garnet and Pearl exchanged odd looks. Amethyst was only slightly moved. Steven knew that this would probably be a good start. He smiled and gave his friend a nod of approval. She didn't look all the way up just yet, but brought out another apology. "I'm sorry I tried to reactivate the Kindergarten, too. I was only following orders."
This "apology" business was seriously bruising her ego, but her life was possibly on the line. Amethyst lowered her shoulders, easing up on her attack stance. There seemed to be hope, now, and Peridot felt like she had a chance. Steven turned to Garnet. "Garnet, what about the Centipeedle?" he said.
Pearl and Garnet's glares softened as they recalled the little monster Steven had tamed. "It saved me, and all it needed was a little love. Peridot's not a bug monster, she's my friend!"
"Friend?" Pearl thought aloud.
Steven didn't take his eyes off of Garnet. "Please, Garnet," he begged, "she doesn't want to be the bad guy anymore, but you need to give her a chance or she'll have to fight back!"
There was another moment of pure silence. Garnet put her weapons away. "Alright." she said.
"What?!" Pearl and Amethyst were shocked. "Garnet, we can't just-"
"Steven."
The boy looked up at the Gem fusion, smiling at her decision. "Yeah?"
"We will hold peace with Peridot."
Steven jumped up and down, laughing excitedly. The bubble disintegrated and he hugged Peridot tightly. "You can stay!" he cheered.
Peridot couldn't believe it. She was safe, now. Steven had saved her from an eternity in her Gem. She relaxed every muscle she had and hugged Steven back. "I-I… Steven, I…"
"Peridot."
She sat upright, straight as a stick when her name was heard. Garnet looked down at the two, her commanding tone snapping them out of their celebration. "You haven't gotten completely off the hook just yet. You have to earn our trust, and we will be keeping an eye on you until you do. You will do what we say, when we say it, with no protesting. Is that clear?"
She was… intimidating. Scary, even. She recalled Steven telling her that Jasper fused with Lapis. Someone like Jasper, who was so sure of their independent power, wouldn't fuse unless beaten by a fusion. It was only to be assumed that Garnet managed to defeat Jasper, a Gem that provoked fear in Peridot's heart. If Garnet was that strong…
"You got it!" Steven said with a thumbs up.
Peridot sat anxiously on the couch, shoving marshmallow after marshmallow into her mouth as the three Gems discussed something quietly. She was as close to Steven as possible, aware of the fact that they would hold off an attack if there was a risk of hurting Steven. She looked down and realized that she'd eaten the marshmallows and the bag itself.
"Don't worry," Steven said, "I'm sure they won't be haaaAAAH!"
"Steven, what's wrong- YAAAAAH!"
Several of Peridot's fingers were missing, leaving only a total of five left. She grabbed her stomach and started turning pale. The Gems raced in the room, weapons in hand. "What happened?!" Pearl scanned the room for any sign of a struggle.
"Peridot ate her fingers off!"
"He-he-help meeeee!" she begged in a sob.
"You ate your fingers?!" Amethyst looked at what was left of Peridot's digits. "Cool!"
"No," Pearl stated, "not cool!"
Peridot's breathing had escalated to light hyperventilation. She looked at her fingerless hand like it had been cut off. "What do I do?!" she panicked.
Everyone immediately turned to Garnet, who stood still and calm the entire time. "Will they grow back?" she asked.
"No!" Peridot squeaked.
Pearl and Amethyst looked at Peridot with pity as she held her hand with fear. "Steven," her voice shook and her eyes were wide with fear, "what do I do?"
Steven didn't like this. She had been really worried when he accidentally ran off them. Twice. He couldn't imagine how she felt now that they were sitting inside her. Maybe he could fix it. The Gems watched as he fumbled with the contents of a drawer and took a piece of tape from another. "Here!" he said and placed a small platform with the top of a coat hanger on it. "Now you can be a pirate!"
He laughed nervously, but Peridot had tears forming in the corners of her eyes. This made Steven feel worse. He turned away, hoping not to see her…
Tears.
Without another word, he grabbed her wrist and licked his hand, rubbing the saliva on her limb. She was filled with surprise and disgust at the action, and then a draft from the slimy wetness. What would this help? Was this some kind of human pity display? She was about to thank him for his consideration when light enveloped her wrist. Five new fingers reappeared once the brightness faded.
"Steven, you…" she wiggled her new digits and looked up. "How did you do that?!"
"I have healing spit!" he declared with his arms raised.
She recalled the stories of Rose Quartz's healing tears. He mentioned fixing Lapis's gem, but she didn't think to inquire about his abilities, then. In truth, she wasn't really thinking about it, now. Her fingers were back! She had just grown new fingers! These were her precious fingers! Fingers, finger, fingers! Woo-hoo!
"Thank you, Steven!" she nearly popped his organs out of him with a bear hug.
"O-Okay, you can pay me back by not wringing my guts." he coughed.
She let him down and smiled widely. Steven caught this smile, happiness was much too contagious for him not to. "You wanna try some toaster waffles?" he asked.
"Heck yeah!" she said with energy that surely wouldn't last and followed the boy to the appliance.
The Gems put their weapons away and watched. It was like watching Steven play with Connie. A tall, green, alien Connie that brought hostility out of them. "I don't know if we should be letting her do this." Pearl frowned.
"You think we need to put her in a bubble?" Amethyst suggested. "You know, like, a really big bubble that she could walk in."
"Amethyst, we can't keep her as a pet!" Pearl argued.
"It'll be fine." Garnet said.
"How can you be so sure?" Pearl asked, worried for Steven's safety.
"It's Steven." she said and smiled. "He knows what he's doing."
Pearl sighed. Amethyst watched as Steven topped their waffles with loads of syrup, powdered sugar, whipped cream, sprinkles, popcorn, caramel, and a single maraschino cherry. He was having so much fun with her, and she didn't have any Gem artifacts or corrupted monsters to attend to. He used to have fun with her doing things like this. It made her… uneasy.
"Hey, Peridot." she got her former enemy's attention. "I've got a question for you."
"What?"
Amethyst placed a hand on her hip and gave Peridot a dark grin. "If you've changed, then you won't mind telling us what you were doing at the Kindergarten, right?"
