"What?!" Pearl was infuriated. "We are not having a slumber party with her!"

"But Garnet said we were!" he pouted. "She told me to bring these back and tell you."

As if right on cue, Garnet and Peridot walked in. Pearl seized the opportunity to hopefully confirm that it wasn't true. "Garnet, Steven mistakenly thought you said-"

"We're having a slumber party. All of us." she said.

Pearl's expression saddened. Only two days earlier she had wanted to crush this Gem and fling her back into space where she belongs. Now she was being forced to have fun with her in a common ritual of human children? She was especially steamed at the thought of having to watch the bond between the two grow deeper right in front of her eyes. Even still, she wouldn't argue with Garnet's decision. She had future vision, after all. It was best to just let it go.

Steven managed to pull his mattress off of his bed and drag it down the steps. "We're gonna have a mega slumber party," Steven said as he tossed pillows and blankets downstairs, "that means we get to be fancy!"

Peridot looked at the things on the floor. Steven's mattress was bigger than the inflated ones. Another thought came to mind, how did he fit those through the door without deflating them? It did look like it would fit if turned sideways. Maybe he asked one of those two Gems… where had the purple one gone? She was here when they left, right? Steven said her name was Amethyst and that she particularly enjoyed human culture. She might even know enough to answer a few questions.

"Hey, Peridot," her friend's voice brought her out of her thoughts again, "try laying on a real mattress, it's got springs in it!"

Springs? Air seemed much more efficient, especially on such a poor planet like this one. When the analysis was done, she was actually surprised at how low the mineral content of Earth was. She knew springs were made of solid material, and that could easily run out. Air particles were plentiful in many places. Why would they ever-

"Hey, Steven, check this out!" Amethyst burst into the room. "I gotcha something."

Steven met her at the bottom of the stairs and watched as she produced a black box with a pice of paper taped to it. He read something silently and his mouth formed a perfect "O" as he gasped. "Dogcopter 3?! But it hasn't been released on DVD yet!" he said with welcomed shock.

Amethyst smiled proudly. "Yeah, but your nerd friend had it on his computer thing and put it on one of these babies."

"Ronaldo had a digital copy? How did you get him to give you a DVD?" Steven asked as he looked at his distorted reflection on the back of the disk.

"I gave him a shard from one of those marble things she sent for us to break." Amethyst gestured to Peridot.

"Cool! I know, I'll pop some popcorn and we can watch this before bed." Steven looked to Garnet. "Garnet, can you bring the TV down here?"

After extension cords and beds were sorted out, Peridot was given the chance to see a microwave. It was a simple design that served a purpose of no more than a basic heating device. She was fascinated by the sound the tiny kernels made as they burst into fluffy wads of buttery and husky food. From what Steven had said, it was supposed to enhance the experience of watching a movie. Amethyst watched the two of them take a seat on the mattress, her hair falling over her eyes. Peridot noticed quite a difference in the support of this mattress and the other. This one seemed a bit more stable and easier to keep your balance on than the other.

Pearl and Garnet took their seats on the inflated mattresses Steven had brought; Pearl intentionally taking the one the farthest away. Steven turned off the lights and inserted the disc, the tiny machine letting out a gentle roar as it processed the information. Peridot remembered witnessing such a function when they visited the boy with the curly blond hair. He was obsessed with the animations portrayed by an image machine like this one, making her secretly hope Steven wouldn't pick up an unhealthy habit like that.

Steven rejoined her on the mattress and handed her some popcorn. The movie had been downloaded, meaning no commercials or unnecessary advertisements before the feature began. "Alright!" Steven focused every ounce of his being into watching the movie he had seen with Connie again.

Peridot had a little more faith in the quality of this piece of entertainment, but not much. She caught on to the general plot and idea quickly, and could easily guess how different scenes would end. "This is completely scientifically inaccurate, Steven," she said, "something that size and shape in real life would require a different kind of propeller."

"It's just a movie." he said, secretly wondering what kind of propeller would make him fly.

They watched as Dogcopter shot multiple missiles at a target, each of them exploding in rapid succession. Peridot was once again a bit upset. "You could never store that many missiles of that size in that small of a container!" she argued, "Humans don't have the technology necessary to perform teleportation either!"

"It's a sci-fi, Peridot," Steven said, "that means science fiction."

She didn't someone to tell her when something was fake. This was a fabrication that popped out of some human child's wildest dream. She folded her arms and muttered to herself just loud enough for the others to hear. "It'll be another century before this race catches up with the last eon of tech in the Homeworld…"

Speaking of the Homeworld, she hadn't reported or shown any signs of still existing. There was no way Jasper had if she was still fighting for control the dominant half of Malachite, and Lapis couldn't comprehend anything modern. Maybe they would assume she was dead. If they didn't, however, they would hunt her down. Being found meant being punished for not following orders directly, which could lead to actual death.

Pearl looked up, wondering what could be going through Peridot's head. She had stopped grumbling and looked somewhat like a zombie, now. She stared forward, lost in thought. Pearl was still suspicious. She had fought hard to find that Gem and, now that she had, she was just supposed to sit back and watch her play with Steven? What was Garnet thinking arranging a slumber party? Sleep would leave them all vulnerable to her! She could easily kill them all and help Malachite escape the ocean, which would be the Earth's end. That wasn't going to happen. She promised to protect the Earth… for Rose…

Peridot moved. Pearl was constantly on guard, her spear sitting right behind her. She watched Peridot turn to Steven, her eyes slightly glazed over. Pearl waited tensely for something to happen, for a reason to strike and finally defeat her enemy. She watched, waiting impatiently. She saw her hands raise and gripped her spear just as Peridot… hugged Steven.

What?

She released her grip and looked closely. Peridot had indeed wrapped her arms around the child and was holding him close to her, a solemn expression on her face. What… was this some kind of sneak attack? Some tactic playing on the child's sense of affection? Her chance to battle never came. Steven continued to inhale popcorn, but leaned in and rested against the green Gem that looked so… depressed. Pearl was confused, what did this mean? She was about to march over and pry the two apart when a single tear fell from Peridot's eye.

Sadness. Genuine sadness. Her worst enemy was snuggling up to all that she had left of Rose and crying. No weapon, no muscle tension, no sign of ever wanting to hurt the boy. If anything, she looked like she wanted no more than to disappear somewhere where it would be just her and Steven, no Crystal Gems, no Yellow Diamond, no Homeworld. Just her and a human child with an amazing talent at comforting those that needed reassurance. That's when the thought came. She couldn't imagine the fear in Peridot's heart. She knew how cruel Homeworld could be and what they would dare do to Gems that disobeyed. Peridot would now be considered part of the rebellion and would more than likely be put on the hit list of whoever came to Earth next.

Peridot looked up, noticing that Pearl was staring. The air itself seemed still as a few seconds passed, then Pearl offered a brief yet friendly smile.