She saw them before she heard them. Blue lights, then red lights, then the wailing sirens.
Peridot hadn't run too far before Lapis caught up. It had taken them a little bit to find out where Jasper and Amethyst had gone; when they saw the ambulance rushing down the street and slowing in front of a nearby alleyway, the answer was horribly certain. Peridot had grabbed tight to Lapis's arm as they ran across the street.
A small crowd of paramedics spilled out of the back of the vehicle, blocking Amethyst from view. But they could hear her voice-that at least meant she was there, that meant she was at least mostly okay.
"Ugh, I'm fine, it's not as big a deal as it looks."
"Can you stand?" asked one of the paramedics as Lapis and Peridot reached them.
"Yeah, look, I'm standin'. I'm fine."
Peridot pushed at someone. "Excuse me, can I get-let me through-"
"Ma'am, stay back, please."
"We need to get through! We're her friends!" Lapis tried.
"Girlfriend, actually! That ought to grant me some authorization to see her!"
"Peri?" said Amethyst, still unseen; then, to the paramedics, "Guys, watch it, them's my homegirls."
Somebody moved out of the way. Peridot scrambled to Amethyst's side, but Lapis stayed back.
She did look really bad. Smattered across her eyes was a red mosaic of bruises, accented by a thin trail of blood from down the side of her forehead from a wound hidden somewhere in her hair. Blood was streaming from her nose and split lip as well. One hand was mottled purple all along the knuckles and wrist.
"Stay back, please," somebody repeated, gently nudging Peridot away from Amethyst. Amethyst didn't protest as the somebody put its hand on her back and started herding her toward the open doors of the ambulance.
"How bad is she?" Peridot worried. "Is she going to be okay?"
"We're taking her in to check out the wound on her head. Other than that, it looks like just a few broken bones in her hand and wrist."
Lapis rubbed her own wrist.
"Told ya it's not that bad," Amethyst drawled.
The paramedic helped Amethyst up into the vehicle, and the other two-it wasn't until now that Lapis realized there were only three-climbed in as well.
"Wait!" Peridot said just before they closed the doors. "I'm coming too!"
"Sorry, ma'am, you'll have to follow in your own vehicle. We promise to get her to the hospital safely."
"But-"
The door shut and the ambulance started moving.
"-I should count as family! Hey!"
Peridot let out an "rrgh!" and whirled to face Lapis as the ambulance sped away. "'We promise to get her to the hospital safely.' Did that sound like a reassuring lie to you? Because it sounded like a reassuring lie to me!"
She was talking faster than normal, a clear sign of her anxiety. Lapis didn't respond.
"Come on," Peridot said, walking past Lapis. "Let's go back to the truck and-"
As she passed, she grabbed Lapis's wrist to tug her along.
Lapis yanked back.
Peridot turned. "What? What's wrong?"
Drawing her hand up defensively in front of her chest, Lapis took a step back. She stared at Peridot for a second, then glanced into the alleyway.
"We don't know where she went," Lapis said.
"She went to the hospital-"
"Not Amethyst," Lapis clarified, shaking her head.
Peridot paused. She followed Lapis's gaze into the darkness between the two buildings.
"M-maybe…" The nervous irritability in her tone faded, and her fingertips lightly brushed Lapis's arm again. "I'm sure Amethyst has some idea. We can ask her when we get to the hospital."
Lapis sniffed and straightened.
"Right. Sorry, I was just-" She nodded. "You're right. Let's go."
She followed Peridot back down the street to the apartments' parking lot and silently climbed into the passenger seat of the pickup. Peridot turned the key in the ignition and the engine grumbled loudly, startling Lapis a little. She wrapped her arms tighter around herself.
Stupid. You're so jumpy that the sound of a friggen car is scaring you. Chill out.
Neither of them spoke as they drove. At one point Lapis considered telling Peridot it was gonna be okay. At another she considered asking if they should call Amethyst's family. But her mouth didn't feel like moving.
She rationalized that the hospital was probably calling them right now anyway.
When they arrived, Peridot tried to run across the parking lot to the hospital doors, but she quickly got winded and had to slow. Lapis gently helped her along until they reached the front desk and asked if Amethyst had arrived.
"I think we just barely checked her in," the receptionist replied. "But I'm afraid that for now we can only let members of her family see her."
"Does girlfriend count as family?" Peridot tried.
The receptionist clucked her tongue. "Sorry."
"What about roommate?"
"Nope."
Stuck, Peridot clenched her fists and growled-not at the receptionist, nor at anyone or anything in particular. Lapis glanced around the room.
"Let's just sit down someplace," she said, her voice a rasp. Peridot didn't say anything in response, but stomped over toward the armchairs to the side of the lobby. She sat with her elbows on her knees and her fingers at her temples. Lapis lightly took a seat beside her, a few inches away.
Tell her it'll be okay, her mind encouraged.
Lapis cleared her throat.
"Do you-" She closed her mouth, the words jumbling and changing before she got a chance to say them. Apparently her plan had traded itself out for the other thing she'd wanted to say on the way over. "Do you think we should call Greg?"
"I left my phone back at the apartment," Peridot said without moving.
"I've got mine." Lapis took her phone out of her pocket. "I don't have his number, though."
Peridot only knew the landline home phone; she recited it in a monotone and Lapis dialed. There were several rings before it was picked up.
"Universe household," sang a woman's voice.
"Oh. Hey," Lapis said, scanning through her memory to tell where she recognized that voice. "Is this Pearl?"
"Yes, who's this?"
"Um, Lapis. Steven and Amethyst's friend. Is, erm, Mr. Universe there?"
"I'm afraid he just left," Pearl replied. "That's why I'm here watching Steven for him." At an indistinct shout from someone Lapis couldn't hear, Pearl amended, "We're here for Steven. I can take a message, if you'd like."
"Yeah, actually." Lapis picked at the edge of her shirt as she talked. "I just wanted to make sure you guys got the news about-"
On the other side of the line, somebody said, "Give the phone to me."
"What? Whoops-Garnet-"
Pearl's voice faded as the phone changed hands. This new voice was much lower and bore an accent. "If you're calling to tell us Amethyst got in a fight and is in the hospital right now, we already know."
"She what?!" Pearl squawked.
"Greg is on his way over there."
"Is she alright?! What happened?!"
"Oh. Okay," Lapis said, ignoring Pearl's worried shouts in the background. She was right, the hospital had called them right away. "That's all, then. I guess I'll just hang up now."
"Wait, wait, wait-"
The phone moved again. Steven spoke.
"Is Amethyst okay?"
His tone was tired and serious. Her grip on her phone loosened.
"Yeah, she's fine," Lapis said with a little smile. "She just-got in a little bit of trouble. She'll get better soon. How come you're not coming over with your dad?"
"I have homework. He said I had to stay home and finish it," Steven mumbled. "Who'd she get in a fight with?"
Lapis bit her tongue.
"Just some jerk that probably got their butt kicked," she said casually. "Don't worry. Amethyst's tougher than that."
"Okay," said Steven, but uncertainty still rang in his voice. "Um, call me if anything happens, I guess."
"I will."
"'Kay. Love you. Bye."
A dash of truth edged into Lapis's smile at Steven's habitual "love you." "Bye, Steven."
Click-beep.
Lapis turned her phone off and shoved it back into her pocket. Beside her, Peridot had sat up, and was now anxiously tapping her foot with her arms crossed over her chest.
"And you lied to Steven about what happened because?" Peridot said without looking at her.
Lapis sighed and slumped.
"I'm sorry," she said. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have just hid in my room the whole time Jasper was there, I should've just...come out when she asked."
Peridot didn't answer.
Lapis curled her hands into fists. "Maybe I should just-
"Where's my daughter?!"
Lapis and Peridot looked up at the loud shout to see a frantic man running into the lobby, nearly tripping over his own feet as he did so. After half a second she recognized him from the frequent father-son selfies Steven liked to post on all his social medias.
"Who are you looking for, sir?" the receptionist asked calmly.
Greg leaned forward against the desk for support. "My stepdaughter, they said she was on her way here. Her name's Amethyst, she's about this tall, uh, long hair, she's-aw, geez, how old is she?"
"The same person we were looking for," Lapis chimed in. Fortunately, after a few moments of quiet and a conversation with Steven, her anxiety had faded-or at least been pushed to the back of her mind-enough to let her talk and function mostly normally.
Greg glanced over at them.
"She's in room 217," said the receptionist.
"Oh. Thank you." His attention was still mostly on Peridot and Lapis; after thanking the receptionist, he stepped over to them, catching his breath. "Lapis, right? I don't think we've ever formally been introduced."
"Nice to meet you," Lapis said automatically.
Greg started to hold out his hand for a handshake, but quickly thought better of it and put his hands in his pocket. "Do you guys know what's going on?"
"Kind of," Lapis answered evasively. "Amethyst will probably tell you."
"Right." He nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Y'know, I was anxious about letting her move out in the first place, but-I didn't expect this. Not even Halloween yet and she's landed herself in the hospital." He chuckled a little, but then his expression became a little more serious. "You okay, Peridot?"
"I'm fine," Peridot said coldly.
Greg shrugged, his smile sympathetic. "It's okay to be worried about people you care about."
Peridot humphed and sat up straight, wrinkling her nose. "I think this hospital is being discriminatory by not allowing me to see her."
"Eh, I don't think they'd let a boyfriend in either."
"They need to widen their definitions of 'family'."
"Heh. Don't we all." Greg sighed. "Look, why don't you two...head on home. It's getting kinda late, and I don't think a sit-in's going to change this receptionist's mind right away. I can take care of Amethyst for now. You guys should get some rest so you can come see her in the morning."
Lapis nodded. "Tell her we hope she gets better soon."
"Don't worry, I will." He gave a wave goodbye, then walked off down the hall.
Lapis exhaled and turned to Peridot. "Come on. He's right."
"Fine." Peridot stood, still not looking at Lapis. She was still scowling as they walked out.
When they got home, Lapis immediately turned on "Theme from an Endless Romance" and got back to working on her sculpture. As long as she stayed distracted, she'd be fine.
Peridot seemed to have a similar idea, but her distraction of choice was her Camp Pining Hearts DVDs. She popped in season four and skipped straight to the mid-season finale, the spot where they'd left off the night they met. Struck by how recent the episode felt, Lapis mentally counted how much time had passed-it seemed like she'd known Peridot for years, but in reality, it had barely been two weeks.
Lapis wiggled the volume dial on the record player-she didn't want to be so loud that Peridot couldn't hear the show. Against her will, though, her hand started shaking again, abruptly yanking the volume way too high. Lapis rapidly turned it back down and bit her hand to try to keep it still.
Dangit. Why was she still so scared? Amethyst was fine. Jasper was gone.
But she was probably going to come back. Sooner or later. Absorbing herself in her music and her art could distract her from that fact, but it couldn't change it.
"Could you turn that off?" Peridot snipped.
Lapis looked up and took the needle off the record.
"I'm trying to watch here." Peridot slouched a little lower on the couch.
Under any other circumstances, Lapis probably would have started playing the music louder out of joking spite. But neither of them were in a joking mood right now. For several minutes the TV was the only sound in the apartment.
"Paulette, you don't understand-"
"No, you don't understand, Percy! I thought I loved you! How could you betray me like that?!"
Lapis sat back in her chair. Usually she had enough willpower to ignore the TV if it played while she was working, but she already couldn't focus very well anyway.
"That's your problem, Paulette. You let yourself become the kayak race."
"He's so cold to her in this episode," Lapis commented, not really expecting Peridot to reply.
But reply she did-coolly and casually. "I think it's justified. After all, he's already on edge because Pierre's about to leave the camp, and her behavior here isn't exactly helping that."
Lapis smiled.
"You know what I think?" Lapis tapped her finger on the edge of the table. "I think it should've been in this episode where Paulette gives up on Percy and notices Penelope instead."
"Hmm, a relationship between Paulette and Penelope could have the potential to make season five more bearable," Peridot agreed. "Ooh, just imagine them being together during the beach episodes-"
It didn't take long for Lapis to abandon the table to come sit on the floor in front of the couch again. They talked all the way through the rest of the season. Complete, perfect escapism from everything about reality.
At the season finale, Peridot started crying. Lapis wasn't too surprised-it was probably the sappiest episode until the grand series finale. She'd cried herself the first time she watched it. In the absence of kleenex, Lapis graciously offered her sweatshirt for Peridot to wipe her face. Tomorrow was laundry day anyway.
When Lapis went to put in the season five DVD, Peridot was still sniffling, her face completely hidden in Lapis's sweatshirt.
Lapis paused.
"Actually…" She put the disc back in the case. "Let's just skip this one. I'll put in season six."
"Okay," Peridot squeaked.
Lapis hesitated over the DVD player.
"Peridot...are you okay?"
Peridot jerked a little and made a noise somewhere between a gasp and a sob and a whimper. Lapis raised her hands in front of her chest, surprised.
Peridot pushed the sweatshirt a little harder against her face. "I'm fine! I-it's nothing, it's just the show."
Sheesh, she was a bad liar. Lapis slumped her shoulders a little. "You're really worried about Amethyst, huh?"
"No I'm not!" Peridot denied, throwing the sweatshirt down into her lap and curling her fits around the fabric. Her face was wet, scrunched up and flushed red. "That would be completely illogical. You heard the doctors, she probably only has a few broken bones. And we'll see her tomorrow. So there's absolutely no reason for me to get worked up!"
"Yeah, but it's still scary," Lapis admitted quietly.
Peridot shoved tears away from her eyes. "I'm not scared. I just-" She sighed. "I should've tried harder to stop her."
Lapis opened her mouth to argue, but then closed it. She was being a total hypocrite. She couldn't tell Peridot to stop pushing away her fear and blaming herself when that's exactly what she had been doing this whole time.
So she wordlessly turned away and started up season six.
Peridot relaxed a little and leaned back against the back of the couch as the theme song started. Instead of sitting back on the floor, Lapis settled herself on the cushion next to Peridot. There was enough space between them to avoid anything uncomfortable, but Lapis hoped it wasn't so much that Peridot would be hesitant in coming closer if she wanted to.
About halfway through the episode, Peridot still hadn't talked. Lapis glanced over-she hadn't fallen asleep or anything, she was just watching in silence. Might she actually get through a whole episode without making any comments?
Then Peridot clucked her tongue. "You know-"
Nope. I jinxed it.
"-I've been doing a bit of research."
Lapis raised an eyebrow at her. "And?"
"And…" Peridot folded her hands in her lap. "I think that it might be beneficial for me to...check out some of your artwork. O-or some other people's, too, and...perhaps…" She looked to Lapis with a timid expression, as if seeking her approval on her next words. "Make some myself?"
Lapis blinked. This was very much not a comment about the episode.
"With your guidance, of course," Peridot finished, adjusting her glasses. "You're still the expert."
"Um. Yeah," Lapis replied. "Yeah, of course. That sounds…" She brushed her bangs out of her face and then let her hand linger at the side of her forehead, trying to gather her thoughts into a coherent response. "Well, my art show's opening next Monday. I can get you in for free."
Peridot brightened a little. "Okay."
Without another word, she turned back to the television.
Lapis tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear. She supposed it made sense that Peridot would bring this up now-art was a way of dealing with emotions, after all, and everyone's emotions were pretty high right now.
For now, though, all they needed to do to deal was just keep watching and talking.
Peridot fell asleep with her head on Lapis's shoulder. Lapis couldn't bring herself to disturb her.
