No words could exactly express the feelings that Peridot and Amethyst felt toward one another.
Amethyst was free from her previous lifestyle of prostitution, free from the jail cell she was supposed to stay in for two months. Just a little more than a week had passed, and Garnet had already released Amethyst. The odd thing about this, however, is that Amethyst didn't have to go through the processes. She had no paperwork to fill out, no fingerprints to give to the police, there was no probation for her to be on, nothing. Amethyst was completely and utterly free of everything she's ever been. Of course, she would have to apologize to Yellow Diamond that the bed she ordered Jasper to bring to Amethyst's cell was practically unused, but that could wait for another time. As Amethyst lay in her bed at her apartment, staring at the ceiling with her hands behind her head as she awaited Peridot's return from the bathroom, she let her mind empty. Amethyst thought of not a single thing, except for her beautiful girlfriend.
Peridot sighed as she stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Her eyes were red from her crying, and her hair was a jumbled mess. Her hands rested themselves on the sink, because if she didn't prop herself up, Peridot was afraid that she would fall over. She was overcome with a variety of emotions, ranging from marvelous joy to overwhelming guilt. On one hand, Peridot knew that this was the right choice. She knew that staying with Amethyst, avoiding prison, was her best option. Yet, Peridot could not shake away the feeling in her stomach, the bile that rose to her throat every time she thought of that poor man she killed. Barely an hour ago, Peridot Diamond took the life of another human being. Now here she was, expected to forget such a tragedy and move on with her life, but how could she?!
It was so easy to pull the trigger. There was no resistance to the metal Peridot's finger held, no remorse from the bullet that shot from the barrel of the gun. Hot lead pierced the body of a man, taking away his life, and Peridot was to blame.
Thinking rationally trying to steady her breathing in front of the mirror, Peridot knew she could have done something else. Peridot could have yelled to get the man's attention, threatened him if he didn't let go of Pearl. Peridot should have been calm and collected, as she was trained to be by the numerous social situations Yellow Diamond put her through. But, undoubtedly, the experience with that man was not the same as playing Beethoven in front of hundreds of people. There was a big difference between practicing for months to entertain many different individuals and spending a fraction of a second watching the life die from one man's eyes. It wasn't the actuality that Peridot killed a man that got to her. It was that it was so easy.
Of course, it wasn't just that. The gunshot had reminded Peridot of how her parents died. It was so surreal, too. As soon as Peridot pulled the trigger, in her mind, she saw her father kill her mother.
Why had she forgotten that horrid night in all of those years? Did Peridot force herself to forget, like Amethyst forced herself to forget when Peridot was adopted? Peridot knew that was another reason shooting that man riled her so much, remembering her parent's deaths. But in that tragic memory, Peridot remembered something else, something that made her smile at her reflection despite everything.
She remembered her last name.
Peridot splashed her face with cold water she ran from the sink, if at least to steady herself. She held her hands over her face for a few moments, just reveling in the darkness. Then, reinvigorated and having dried her face with the towel she used from her earlier shower, Peridot decided to return to Amethyst's bedroom.
Peridot exited the bathroom and made her way back to Amethyst. She smiled when she saw Amethyst laying there, having closed her eyes. Peridot tapped her knuckles against the door frame.
"Knock knock."
Amethyst opened an eye to see Peridot standing in the doorway. She smiled and sat up in the bed, legs crossed and patting a spot in front of her to invite Peridot to join her.
"Hey babe. Have a good bathroom break?"
"That's a weird question to ask." Peridot replied, taking Amethyst's invitation. She walked to the bed and crawled on top of it. Peridot sat on her knees facing Amethyst.
Amethyst smirked. "Just wanna make sure your piss is healthy."
"Aw, I'm so flattered." Peridot put a hand over her heart. Of course, both she and Amethyst knew that she was just being sarcastic.
"Smartass." Amethyst reached forward and gripped Peridot's arms. Peridot found herself being pulled into Amethyst's embrace, now practically on top of the silver haired girl. But Peridot didn't mind. She liked the comfort Amethyst's arms brought her.
Peridot sighed and rested her head in the crook of Amethyst's neck. "Yeah.. But I'm your smartass."
Amethyst smiled and held Peridot tighter to her. But, despite herself, Amethyst couldn't resist reaching down to squeeze Peridot's butt. "My smartass has a great ass."
"Mm, just can't be romantic, can you?" Peridot asked. Though she wasn't complaining, to Amethyst's delight.
"My first official job was as hooker. You can't really blame me, P-dot."
"You're not one anymore, though." Peridot said.
"No.." Amethyst replied, returning her hand to Peridot's back. "No I'm not. You still have a great ass, though."
Peridot chuckled and then sighed against Amethyst's neck. She clutched at Amethyst's shirt, allowing herself to get comfortable. A few moments of silence pass, and the two girls just enjoy each other's company. They both certainly deserved it. For all of the events Amethyst and Peridot went through, they deserved to have some sort of peace. They deserved to be together, calm and joyful. But life wanted to keep screwing the couple and interrupted their cuddling with a knock at Amethyst's apartment door.
Peridot groaned in Amethyst's neck and pulled more tightly on Amethyst's shirt. It was clear that she did not want to move. Amethyst could understand that, but she needed to see who was at her door. If it was a different policeman, well they literally couldn't ignore the door.
"C'mon, Peri.." Amethyst said softly, gently pulling at the back of Peridot's shirt. Peridot groaned again, but relented and slid off of Amethyst's body. Peridot lay on her stomach beside Amethyst and looked up at her girlfriend.
"Don't take long, please."
"I won't." Amethyst bent down and gave Peridot a quick kiss to the top of her head. "I promise."
Peridot smiled. "I love you."
"Love you too, babe." Amethyst replied, and scooted herself off of her bed, heading down the hall. The insistent knocking slightly annoyed her, but when Amethyst was greeted by Rose's and Greg's appearances after opening the door, she was pleasantly surprised.
"Hey guys. What's u-" Amethyst's words were interrupted when she was pulled by Rose into an almost crushing hug.
"Oh Amethyst!" Rose was almost in tears, happy that Amethyst was okay, but deeply saddened at the fact that Peridot had to take a life. Before Amethyst could even realize that she couldn't breathe, she was being pushed away and held by the shoulders. "Pearl called us and told us everything. She's at the hospital with Dr. Maheswaran. We left Steven with Jenny. Is Peridot okay? Did Garnet arrest her?"
Greg placed a hand on Rose's shoulder from behind, halting her little barrage of questions. "One thing at a time, hun." Rose nodded, wiping her tears without looking away from Amethyst.
Amethyst, despite the situation, found Rose's ramblings to be quite comedic. She let out a snort of laughter after coming down from the initial shock of being bombarded with questions. Hands on her hips, Amethyst shook her head and replied to Rose's worries.
"Peri's fine, Rose." Amethyst said, toning down her laughter. She smiled widely and turned to lead Rose and Greg to her room. "Come on, she's in my room."
"Alright Miss Miller.." Garnet said from the front seat of her police car, Sadie sitting in the back. A tape recorder sat on the dash on the passenger's side. Garnet had turned it on before she started to speak. They were on their way to the police department, where Garnet would hand Sadie and the recorder over to her superiors and hope for the best. "Tell me everything you saw."
"Well.." Sadie started, hands folded in her lap. "..I was in line with everyone else to get some food. I felt bad for Pearl and her little friend, so I stepped out of the line to, I dunno, try and lighten their load. It was pretty stupid, now that I think about it."
"Every little bit helps." Garnet said, slowing to a stop at a red light. "Please continue."
"Alright. After a little while, the line was starting to thin out, but they were running out of paper bowls. So Pearl's friend -"
"Peridot." Garnet interrupted.
"Right.. Peridot went to get some more paper bowls from the apartments. I think it was Amethyst's. While she was gone, I was.. I was grabbed by a man, and he held a rock to my neck. I think it was a rock. I think he was trying to hold me hostage until he was given food. I don't know why, though. He would've gotten it eventually."
"Did you know this man?"
"Not personally, no." Sadie said, a slight hint of spite in her voice. "But he was an asshole. Not just for then, but since he lost his home."
"His name?"
"I think it was Kevin. He used to be fairly well off, but I think his wealth was taken through some sort of bet him and his family made with some other big wigs. The Dumonds, I think?"
"Diamonds." Garnet corrected, tightening her grip on the steering wheel. Of course even that would have to revolve around Peridot and her foster family. The light turned green and the car started moving again.
"Yeah, that's it." Sadie said in a small exclamation. "Diamond. Anyway, Kevin grabbed me and demanded food. Pearl pointed her gun at him and we waited just like that until Peridot came back. They gave him his food, and he let me go. Threw me to the ground, actually. I was in a little bit of a daze for a few seconds, but the next thing I saw was Kevin hurting Pearl, hitting her face on the counter. Then Peridot grabbed Pearl's gun and.. well, you know."
"Did you notice anything about Peridot's expression?" Garnet asked. "Did she seem frightened? Panicked?"
Sadie put a finger to her lips in thought. "Well.. I wouldn't say she was scared. She looked more angry, until she pulled the trigger, at least."
"What did she seem like afterward?"
"Afterward.." Sadie paused at this, taking her time to think. Really, it was hard to pinpoint the exact emotion Peridot's expression gave off. Peridot's eyes grew wide, her hands began to shake, and she fell to her knees. There were really no words to describe the transition between that expression and angry with determination. "I can't really put a word to it."
"Give me your best description, then." Garnet persisted.
"Well, if I have to describe it.." Sadie looked at Garnet through the rear-view mirror. "..I'd say that she looked as if she just watched her parents die."
Peridot was in the process of being smothered. Her face were buried between two large, pillow-like objects. Normally, she wouldn't mind being held between one's breasts, especially if those breasts belonged to Amethyst. But the breasts that Peridot was smothered in were neither Amethyst's, nor were they allowing her to breathe.
"Oh, Peridot.." Rose practically sobbed over Peridot's head, her arms tightly held around Peridot's body. Rose was sitting on the edge of Amethyst's bed, with Peridot's body in an awkward forward laying position after being pulled into Rose's embrace. "I'm so, so sorry!"
"You've said that, like, eight times already." Amethyst said, standing in front of Rose with her hands on her hips. "And I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure people need to breathe to live."
Rose immediately let go of Peridot and allowed her to sit back and take a big gulp of fresh air. Amethyst laughed, though Rose and Greg stayed silent. It was obvious that the married couple were still shocked and assumed Peridot was traumatized. Peridot took her time to breathe after being released, leaning back as she closed her eyes. Really, she was grateful that Rose was being so comforting. Or trying to be comforting, at least. Peridot really didn't feel like not being able to breathe was a good comfort tactic.
Peridot moved from the bed to stand beside Amethyst. Amethyst instinctively put her arm around Peridot's waist. The blonde found this much more comforting and laid her head on Amethyst's shoulder. "I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Greg asked, standing beside Rose. "You went through something big. Certainly more than we've ever gone through in our entire lives."
"I dunno.." Peridot said, her lips curling into a smirk. She looked to Rose. "You probably went through a lot when you had Steven."
Rose couldn't help but laugh. Greg smiled and placed a hand on Rose's shoulder as she replied to Peridot. "Believe me, hun. Labor wasn't nearly as bad as what my husband went through. Can you even imagine how angry I was toward him until Steven was born?"
"Yeah, pretty hard to believe, Rosey." Amethyst said. She lead Peridot to the bed, sitting them both beside Rose. "Why don't you tell us how it all went down? I haven't heard this story yet."
Rose then began telling the story of how she felt Steven's kick that broke her water and sent her into labor. Rose thought that perhaps this really wasn't the time to feel pity for Peridot. Sure, things needed to be talked about eventually. Of course, there was going to be the stuff with the police department to take care of, as well as letting Peridot's family know what had happened, but that could all wait. As Rose looked at Amethyst and Peridot's smiling, bright faces, she knew. She knew that everything was going to be okay.
Author's Note:
Been a while since I posted a chapter to this story. Nothing's really happening aside from a little bit of fluff and comfort, but I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any questions to ask me, you can find my Tumblr in my profile.
The next chapter of "Hell Hath no Fury" is coming next. As always, so long for now.