Amethyst awoke with a start. She could feel something crawling on her. Multiple somethings to be precise. She kept her eyes closed, moaning in annoyance. Gems didn't strictly need to sleep, but it felt good to rest, and she had pushed an innumerable amount of gemlings out of a tiny passageway a few hours earlier.
From in front of her, she heard a chirping sound. Figuring it would go away if she ignored it, she kept her eyes closed. The noise increased in volume and frequency and she cracked her eye open a slit.
She opened her eyes. A tiny purple Pearl laid in front of her. Oh yeah, she was a mom now. Oh shit.
She could feel more gemlings moving in her hair. How many of the damn things were there? And where was Steven? Oh stars.
The sky through the window was still dark. It had been what, three hours? She was exhausted. It was too early. The chirps increased in pitch, and Amethyst knew she was needed.
"Just as demanding as your sire, aren't you?" she asked rhetorically, knowing that the creature was far too young to understand her. Hopefully.
She took the noisy Pearl into her palm. The Pearl curled up into her palm, her cries quieting. She lifted the little gemling up to her face to better inspect it.
The gemling had the same coloration as Amethyst. She was bright purple but had spindly limbs like her sire and a smooth gem taking up most of her stomach. She decided she was done letting her mother have a good look at her and leapt into Amethyst's mane, joining the rest of her siblings. A chorus of annoyed noises followed as the gemlings adjusted themselves.
Amethyst sat up carefully, mindful of her litter. Her young pulled at her hair, scrambling to keep their footing on their mother.
"Ah, stop pulling my hair," whined Amethyst. "Gah, stooop it! Fuck!"
She pushed a cushion from the couch into the corner furthest from the stair railing and rolled the edges of the blanket so her litter couldn't fall off.
"Alright you little monsters, you're hurting Mama," she said. One by one, she began prying the gemlings from her mane, setting them down.
The first she found was a slumbering Amethyst. The gemling yawned and stretched groggily. She grunted in annoyance as Amethyst set her down, falling asleep again quickly. Her mane was pink, like her sire's.
The following was another Amethyst. This one was pale, like her sire, with a dark purple mane. She curled up on the blanket, shifting to find a comfortable position.
The third gemling Amethyst recognized. She was the purple Pearl that had woken her. The Amethysts were all roughly the size of a jelly jar, and the Pearl was about an inch shorter, and much less bulky. She whined, pawing at the blanket in discomfort until she crawled to the Amethysts next to her. She huddled close to them, chirping softly.
Amethyst carefully detached a curious Amethyst from behind her neck. This one was a twin of the first, but more alert. She crawled around the cushion, taking in her surroundings. She laid down a bit away from the pile.
Finally was another Pearl, this one a carbon copy of her sire. Although she was smaller than even her Pearl sister and definitely the runt, she was active. She swiped at the noisy pearl, huffing at her. The other Pearl hissed back. The pink haired Amethyst grunted in her sleep, her eyes still closed.
"Hey, stop that," Amethyst admonished, putting her hand between the two. The pink haired Pearl chomped down on her finger, drawing blood.
"Dammit!" yelped Amethyst, drawing her hand back without thinking. The Pearl, teeth still embedded in her finger, bit down harder, wrapping her gangly arms and legs around Amethyst's hand.
"Oh, shit," said Amethyst, cupping her hand under the thoroughly frightened Pearl. She stroked the frail back of the gemling, and gradually the baby's teeth receded. She sucked anxiously on Amethyst's fingers, trembling fearfully.
She was so, so itty bitty. She fit into Amethyst's cupped hands. So new and fragile. More fragile than Steven when he was born. And she had almost hurt her. She was a shitty mother. She had been a mother for less than a day and she already fucked up. She had scared her baby. What was wrong with her? Why was she such a fuckup? She set down the gemling with the others.
The gravity of the situation sunk in and tears began pouring down her face. "You're better off away from me," she cried. She couldn't bring herself to look at them. She didn't deserve to look at them. Pearl's voice echoed in her head; reckless, irresponsible, impulsive and vulgar. Maybe Pearl was right about her.
She stuck two other cushions against the sides that weren't facing the walls to be extra sure they couldn't fall off, and then she curled up into a fetal position, shaking silently, tears rolling down her face.
Her sobbing wasn't quiet enough and Steven woke up. He toddled over to her, his fat arms outstretched.
"Ama'tis sad?" he asked. His arms windmilled as he tripped over a crease in a quilt.
To Amethyst's horror, a purple blob fell off, landing on a thin blanket. There was an audible thump and then a wail. Faster than Amethyst thought possible, she rushed over, knocking Steven over in the process.
But Amethyst was focused on the fallen gemling. She scooped her up, checking frantically for injuries. The gemling was fine, her fall less than a foot.
She was a small Amethyst, a miniature of Amethyst herself. Shaking, Amethyst placed her with the other gemlings.
How many were there? The night before was blurry. She could only remember pushing and pushing.
She had to impress upon Steven that the babies were fragile. He could easily squish them. Could gemlings catch germs? A million scenarios of her babies getting hurt or worse flashed across her mind. Stars, she was terrible at this mothering thing. Protective instinct was clouding her mind. She saw red.
"Bad boy!" she shouted, making him stumble backwards. "What is wrong with you? You could have killed her! You're getting a spanking."
A spanking was something Vidalia told her about. She had never done it to the four year old in front of her, but it sounded simple enough. She used it on Sour Cream, but only when he had endangered himself or others. Well, thought Amethyst, this was an appropriate time then.
She yanked him away from where he was crawling curiously to her clutch and flipped him over her knee.
"NEVER. DO. THAT. AGAIN." she said, punctuating each word with a swat. "BAD. BOY. VERY. BAD. BOY. WHAT. THE. FUCK. IS. WRONG. WITH. YOU. YOU. DO. NOT. EVER-"
"Amethyst!" said a shocked voice from below her. She heard quick heavy footsteps on the stairs. Garnet was more furious than she had ever seen her.
"Ga'nit!" bawled Steven. Garnet picked him up, bouncing him on her hips until he quieted.
"Explain," she commanded. Her volume was still at a normal level and her tone was even, but there was a controlled rage simmering under the surface.
"I leave, for less than a week, and this is what I return to. Steven is in a dirty diaper, he's not in his crib, and you're hitting him. You better have a damn good explanation."