In which Pearl does not get to do laundry.

Several days passed without incident. Pearl's condition improved, however slowly, but there was improvement. Amethyst teased her gently about her unfounded worries that things would never be normal again in private, and Pearl lectured her for her tone—and shockingly, the two wound up laughing it off.

Pearl asked her to cut her hair again after three days, and Amethyst restored her proper style, lamenting briefly that the braids had been fun, even if they hadn't really suited Pearl. In return, Pearl did up Amethyst's hair in dozens of tiny braids while Steven and Garnet were out for groceries. Steven was jealous, and Amethyst kept the style in for most of the afternoon, before the tiny rows of plaits started to get in the way of eating. Amethyst phased her hair back to normal without thinking, destroying Pearl's work in an instant, and her wild white mane still fell into her macaroni cheese while she devoured it.

There were worse things, Pearl supposed.

Still, the clammy phantom hands pulled at her ankles and wrists, ran up her shoulders like spiders, and Garnet sometimes caught her when her knees tried to turn to jelly. Garnet was like a second shadow, only much more welcome. The proximity helped ground her.

Pearl was alone for the first time since the Tektite Incident when the ocean called to her. She could muster up the magic to use the warp pad, even if she still couldn't produce her spear, and she could open her door to the Temple. It was a start. It was the foundation Garnet had assured her she needed to build up from. The others had gone on a mission, and she'd let them; Garnet promised that it would be a light one, but the location would require a long hike, and Pearl had volunteered to stay home. It was a precarious decision, but Pearl was comfortable in it. Safe in the beginnings of her recovery. She could go on the next mission, she told herself, and took to getting work done around the house.

Like one of Steven's sandcastles on the shore, the tide was prepared to wipe that foundation away.

She didn't know how, exactly, she had wound up chest-deep in the water. The last thing Pearl remembered was hanging Steven's comforter up to dry; it took too many rounds in the washing machine to be truly worth it, and the afternoon was pleasantly hot. Certainly hot enough to dry a blanket. Steven didn't mind line-dried sheets or blankets, and Pearl remembered a soft clink of change when she replaced the contents of the washer with a load of Steven's pants.

Everything was a roar afterwards; cold magic and a cyclone of rushing water, a vague feeling of being dragged. Pearl's feet went of their own accord, led her to the sea's edge, where water lapped at her ankles, and she kept walking without really feeling as wetness covered her skin and saturated her clothes. Magic blinded her; left a long pink cascade of hair trailing in the brine behind as she lost control of her physical form yet again. The ocean called, and pulled, and two pairs of green eyes peeked at her from unknown depths when the swell of a wave crested over her head.

It was the jagged edge of a rock that drew her back to reality. Pearl blinked cloudy eyes several times as she came to her senses in time for another swell of water to overtake her. Her ankle stung where salt water met the scrape, and she yelped, swallowing a mouthful of saltwater. She flailed, and her arms tangled in her too-long hair. Panic mounting, it was easy to forget that she didn't need to breathe, especially with water in her nose and lungs. She bobbed uselessly, fought to remain buoyant while caught in unexpectedly rough current, too disoriented to remember how to swim.

"Someone's drowning!"

The voice was vaguely familiar, though distant, drew her thoughts further from the haunting green eyes—behind her, somewhere, some other human was shouting indistinctly, and moments later she felt the water push against her torso, sending her careening backwards into waiting arms.

"I've got you!" the human girl shouted, easily maneuvering Pearl's arm around her shoulder and paddling with her outward hand. Distantly, Pearl was impressed that the girl could support her when her body wanted nothing more than to sink down to the sea floor. But she was somewhat preoccupied with coughing up water, and she let Sadie get her to shore without argument or much help.

Lars rushed to see, curiosity outclassing sense where this kind of thing was concerned. "Are you guys okay?" he asked awkwardly, watching as Sadie helped Pearl out of the tide's reach, onto her side. The Gem was coughing up water, hacking as Sadie pounded her back for her. "What happened?"

"I don't think she can really answer," Sadie said, trying hard to remember what little lifeguard training she'd taken years ago. Pounding between the woman's shoulders seemed to be helping; less water was coming up, and her breathing was slowly returning to something slightly normal. Maybe.

When Pearl managed to look up at the youths, breathing shallowly and with hair and sand sticking to her ashen face, she was rewarded with Lars shrieking and jumping back. "You're not human!"

"Lars!" Sadie chided, "Don't be rude, she almost drowned—"

"She could be a siren or something!"

"Didn't you say those things don't exist? I'm sorry, miss, are you—"

"'M fine," Pearl insisted, wiping at her face and dragging her sodden bangs away from her Gem.

"Pearl?!"

This day could not get worse.

There weren't many humans alive whose voices Pearl could recognize without having to look; she knew Lars and Sadie, because the donut shop employees were almost always together.

(When had she gotten this close to the boardwalk?)

But the third voice didn't belong to either of them; that belonged to the last human alive that Pearl wanted to show weakness before.

Greg Universe was coming down the beach in a rush, and Pearl wished the ocean had simply swallowed her whole.

She forced herself up on shaking arms, ignoring Sadie's protest that she should probably lie down. The human girl wasn't wrong; the world pitched, and Pearl felt the something tickle the back of her throat. She coughed, and water tried to bubble up again, out her nose this time.

"Pearl?" Sadie echoed, "I didn't recognize you, I'm so sorry—are, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Pearl grit out around a final cough, sitting back on her knees. "Gems can't drown."

"Oh…" Lars and Sadie exchanged looks, no doubt dubious given Pearl's current state, but the Crystal Gem found that she didn't care.

"What on Earth happened?" Greg asked worriedly, dark eyes round. He reached instinctively for Pearl, and she batted his hand away. "Pearl, you look… uh…"

"It's nothing. I was lost in thought. I didn't notice the tide." Two of those statements were technically true. Which two didn't matter. Pearl's elbows shook with the effort of supporting her slight frame, and Greg pursed his lips, obviously unsatisfied.

"Sadie, do you have a towel?" Greg asked, glancing to the human girl instead while Pearl refused to look at him. "I've got this."

"I'm fine," Pearl repeated, to similar effect. She heard an affirmative from Sadie, and listened as she and Lars hurried down the beach to wherever their things were. Pearl didn't care; she was in no hurry to see them return.

Greg planted his hands on his hips, weighing his options for a few seconds before coming to a decision, and when he sat down next to her Pearl almost wanted to scream. Almost. Exhaustion and the bitter taste of seawater kept her from it, for the time being.

Wisely, Greg said nothing. Perhaps that wisdom deserved some recognition. Perhaps the worry she could practically feel radiating off of him warranted acknowledgment.

If she could trust her legs, right now, Pearl would have been all too happy to walk away, back to the Temple, where she could resolutely never leave her room again.

"Pearl, you look awful," Greg said finally, earning a flat stare from behind too-long bangs. He winced. That wasn't what he'd meant to say, or how he'd wanted it to come out. But Pearl looked like something Lion would drop off at the car wash right before opening, bedraggled and soggy and small. A hundred questions flashed through Greg's mind, but none seemed appropriate. Nothing seemed like something Pearl would answer. She looked cornered and frustrated, and Greg hoped that the wetness in her eyes was from the ocean. His courage failed him. "What I mean is—that is—do you need help getting back to the Temple?"

Her pride screamed at the very idea. She would have liked to say no. Would have liked to tell Greg exactly where his concern could go. It was Pearl's turn to say nothing.

Sadie returned to a tense silence, and Pearl took the towel gratefully without looking at her. She wiped herself down from Gem to toe, ignoring the way her sheer dress clung uncomfortably, glad that her long locks covered most of her from the waist up. Pearl patted down her sodden hair even after her arms grew tired from the minimal effort, and then thanked Sadie in the smallest voice she'd ever heard.

"Of course! Do you uh… need anything else? Help getting home?" Sadie asked, glancing uncomfortably at Greg. "Where's Steven?"

"He's with Garnet and Amethyst," Pearl murmured, "I just need a minute. I can get back to the Temple."

Sadie seemed satisfied with that, though she was still plainly worried, and she took back her towel once Pearl was finished. Lars hadn't returned with her. "I'm… I'm gonna go, if you're fine," Sadie said awkwardly, "I'm glad you're fine, Pearl."

"I'll drive you," Greg said, in a voice that was almost uncharacteristically firm. Pearl bristled, but nodded slowly. The sooner she could get away from the humans, the better.