Waking up that morning felt like Steven was slowly floating to the surface of a deep, warm, comfortable bath. He blinked his eyes, then immediately closed them, snuggling deeper into the covers.

It was the smell of cooking food that finally drew Steven out of bed. He wrapped the duvet around him and made his way to the kitchen.

There stood Pearl, busy cooking something at the stovetop. Steven blinked at her.

"Good morning Steven!" Pearl chirped. Her smile faltered a bit. "Is everything alright…?"

Steven blinked again.

"Yeah," he said, and didn't elaborate as he sat down.

Pearl seemed to give a mental shrug, and continued cooking. Steven sat there, not saying anything, which he knew was strange compared to his usual chatter. Hopefully Pearl would just consider it an effect of the 'human adjustment period' after waking up.

There was a knocking at the door. Before either of them could get up to answer it, it burst open. Standing there was Connie, dressed in shorts and t-shirt, a sword over one shoulder.

"Hey there Steeevo~" she announced, fluttering her eyelashes. "Wanna go beat up some monsters? Or make out?"

There was a silence. Steven's mouth opened into an 'O'.

Pearl groaned. "Amethyst."

"Oh come on P," 'Connie' sighed. "Ya ruined it."

Steven blinked, his half-asleep brain churning. She looked like Connie, from her eyes to her clothes to how she stood. The only giveaway was her skin was purple. It hadn't been obvious because of the backlight from the rising sun. But then… "Your hair is black?"

"It's a wig." Amethyst sighed again, pulling it off to reveal her usual white mane, tied up into a bun. " Man, you're slow on the uptake today."

"Sorry," said Steven, still blinking.

Pearl frowned. "Something is wrong," she announced, looking Steven in the eyes. She clasped a hand to his forehead. "Are you sick? Do you have a fever?"

"No, no," Steven said, gently pushing her away. "I just had a weird dream is all."

There was a flash of light as Amethyst returned to her usual shape, coming to sit next to Steven. "Another one about that flying dog?"

"No," said Steven.

"Oh, don't you worry, Steven," said Pearl. "It's like you said once, dreams are just 'mixed up movies'-"

"But this was different. In this one- Mom was a Diamond."

Pearl froze.

"Blue Diamond," Steven elaborated, expression going distant as he tried to recall details that were already slipping away. "And I grew up in Korea, and I didn't know you guys, and when you met me you were really scared and angry- I was too- I really hurt Garnet and then you all locked me in a cage and-"

The air filled with the smell of burning.

Immediately, it stopped, Garnet appearing out of the Temple door, jumping over the kitchen counter, and yanked the frying pan away from the open flame.

"Oh!" said Pearl, hand at her mouth. "Oh goodness, I'm so sorry-"

Garnet didn't respond, simply set the pan onto the counter with a thunk.

"Steven," she said, coming over and giving him her best attempt at a warm smile. "It's okay. It was just a dream."

"Yeeeeah," said Ame, leaning over to his seat and wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "I have the craziest dreams too. Once, I thought I was a bird, right? But one born on Mars or something, soo-"

Steven tuned her out. Listening to other people's dreams was really boring.

Which probably made him a hypocrite, but he couldn't help it. The dream he'd had last night had been so vivid. It hadn't been a bad dream, either. Well, parts of it had been, but there had been nice and happy parts too, and now…

Garnet put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Steven slumped. What did it matter? He was here with his family, in his house at the Temple. It had just been a dream.

Pearl was still watching him, her gaze sharp and worried. "Steven? Are you sure that you're alright?"

"Yeah," Steven said, making himself sit up straight. "Yep. Just kind of out of it this morning, don't even worry about it. And don't worry about the breakfast either-"

"Oh! Oh yes-" Pearl said, casting an anguished look at what been a sausage and cheese omelette.

"I'LL EAT IT!" Amethyst roared.

"We'll make you new eggs," Garnet announced, striding towards the fridge.

Steven grinned as he watched Pearl wrestle with Amethyst to stop her destroying another of their frying pans. Then he glanced, very quickly, to the portrait of Rose Quartz hanging above the door. His mom.

Looking away, he pushed away from the counter, jumped to the floor, and went to go help Pearl figure out just the right amount of cheese.

There was just one last thing niggling in his mind. The image of another Pearl, pale blue eyes hidden… He'd seen her in Korea, and then in the Zoo. Was she anything like who she'd been in his dream? Wherever she was in space, was she okay?

… oh well. No way to know. Nothing he could do about it.

He grabbed some onions out of the fridge, and got cooking.

The End

Authors Note: And there we go, everyone. A hopefully fitting ending to this story. Words cannot express how strange it is to be here at last.

We'd just like to thank all of your for your kudos, comments and support. It made writing this fic such a blast. Have a wonderful April!