In the morning, the only thing either of them wanted to do was race straight to the hospital. But first they had classes, and then Lapis had work, and Peridot had a job interview, and then Lapis had her overtime at the studio with Vidalia, and Peridot wanted to stop by all of Amethyst's classes to see if there were any notes or assignments she could pick up for her. It was a long, long day before they were able to leave.

Finally they were free, and Peridot drove them over. There was a different receptionist today, one who didn't even ask any questions before sending them up to Amethyst's room.

"Oh, hey, it's these guys," Amethyst said when they walked in.

"We have not seen each other for a cumulative period of a full night and day and all you can say is 'hey, it's these guys'?!" Peridot replied, shoving the notes she'd collected at Lapis and scampering to Amethyst's bedside.

"Aw, what, you care about me or something?" Amethyst laughed a little. "I'm just teasing. And woozy. Watch the hand."

Peridot pressed a few hurried but careful kisses to Amethyst's face. "Your bruises don't look much better. Is your head okay? How did you sleep last night?"

"Chillax, Mom, I'm fine." Amethyst waved Peridot off with her left hand, still smiling. Her right hand was bound in a cast. "Just a little concussion and a busted hand. Her head's really hard. Gotta keep the cast on for a couple weeks and the rest's just stuff that'll be gone on its own."

Peridot stepped back a little, and Lapis stepped forward. Amethyst looked a little bit better now that she was cleaned up, but her bruises had gone from red to purple and her bottom lip was swollen. Sure, they'd heal, but for now they looked awful. Lapis tried to ignore the phantom pain that tingled in her wrist and back when she saw the injuries.

"What, no kisses from Lapis?" Amethyst joked.

"How 'woozy' exactly are you?" Lapis asked.

"Eh, concussion plus a ton of pain meds from the docs equals I'm smashed."

"We brought you some things to keep you caught up in your classes," Peridot said, taking the papers from Lapis and holding them toward Amethyst. "Although, I suppose they won't be much use to you right now, while you're...spaced out, and you won't really be able to write anything while your dominant hand is out of commission…"

"K, full disclosure, I stopped listening after 'classes.'"

"I'll just hold onto these for now and help you with them later."

"We also brought you chips," Lapis chimed in, holding up one of the bags she'd brought in. "Fritos and Doritos."

"Aw, yiss," Amethyst cheered tiredly, slurring a little. "That's my jam. Lapis knows what's up." She took the Fritos and popped the bag open with one hand while Peridot scooched onto the bed beside her with the other bag. Lapis crossed to the other side of the bed and lowered herself into the little leather chair there.

"So how long are they gonna keep you in here?" Lapis asked.

"I get to leave today," Amethyst said with her mouth already full of chips. "But I gotta stay inside for a while so I don't get messed up any more."

"Well, you shouldn't have to worry about getting 'messed up' by that particular attacker," said Peridot confidently. "Considering your injuries, any charges against her would-"

"Yeahh, uh," Amethyst interrupted, "can't really do that."

"Do what?"

Amethyst swallowed and rubbed her arm self-consciously. "Press charges. I told them I just got jumped by some random stranger."

"What?" Lapis exclaimed. "Why?"

Amethyst glanced away from them, her hair falling over one eye, her expression bitter. "I'm the one who started fighting, and she's my opponent for the main mega tournament. If one of us gets in trouble for this, we both do, and we're both kicked outta the game."

Lapis fell silent.

Peridot huffed. "Then if you already knew that, why did you start the fight in the first place?"

"She was being a dink," Amethyst replied disinterestedly, leaning back against the pillow and tossing a few more Fritos into her mouth. "I was defending our honor."

"You should've just left it be after shoving her out," Lapis said.

Amethyst looked up at her.

"Yknow, while we're on the subject," she said seriously, "...there's more to your tragic backstory than you let on, Laz."

"That's changing the subject," Lapis argued, hunching her shoulders.

Amethyst wasn't dissuaded. "You said you were bad together an' I just thought you meant, like, generic crazy ex-girlfriend, but if she's gonna stalk you and beat up your roommate-"

"You didn't have to fight her for me."

"I didn't. That was for all three of us. But she was fighting for you." Amethyst jerked her head a little, tossing her hair out of her face. "And she scares you. A lot."

Lapis opened her mouth, then caught Peridot's eye and closed it.

"She was really bad to you, wasn't she?" Amethyst finished.

I was worse to her.

"That doesn't matter," Lapis deflected. "I just care about you two being okay."

Silence pushed itself between them, everyone wanting to argue but nobody knowing exactly why or what to say. The dim hum of the hospital machines quickly became deafening.

Finally Peridot broke the quiet with, "Well, I care about you being okay, too. Which means no more getting into fights." She playfully poked Amethyst's chest with the last phrase.

"Aw, alright, alright," Amethyst laughed. "But I'm gettin' back to wrestling soon as the cast's off, and you can't keep me from that."

"Just stay safe," Peridot said firmly. "You stay safe, too, Lapis."

Lapis gave a half-chuckle. "Okay, I'll try."

But her smile quickly disappeared, and her fingers twitched in her lap as she looked back at Amethyst. "Jasper didn't, by chance...did she say anything? Do you know where she went?"

Amethyst scratched just under the edge of her cast with one fingernail. "Nah. Not much room for talking while she was bustin' my face. But I got 'er back enough that she's probs gonna leave us all alone now."

Hm. Amethyst didn't seem like the type to lie, but...Jasper didn't seem like the type to leave them alone now.

But Peridot was optimistic. "That settles it, then. All's well that ends well!" She opened the Doritos bag. "Let's hope we're actually allowed to bring food in here, because I don't intend on hiding these when a nurse comes in and I also don't intend on leaving until you're coming with me."

"Of course we're allowed. We didn't exactly sneak the chips past security or anything."

"Can you imagine what a dark world we'd be living in if my peeps weren't allowed to bring me junk food in the hospital?"

Despite Peridot's declaration that the matter was settled, Lapis still felt it hanging tautly between them, and she could tell that Amethyst felt it too-but they kept the conversation light and goofy until somebody came to officially release Amethyst.

As they walked back out to Peridot's truck, Amethyst gave Lapis a light, affectionate punch on the arm. In it was communicated a silent agreement: they were both going to keep quizzing each other on what happened with Jasper. Not immediately, not explicitly, but they wouldn't give up until they got their answers.