CHAPTER SIX

"Steven. Time to wake up. Steeee-ven. Steven."

Steven tried to ignore the voice, but then somebody started shaking him. With a groan, he moved away and tried to force his eyelids open. "Whuh?"

"Steven, wakey-wakey."

He blinked a few times until finally, the blurry figure of Pearl appeared before him. "Ugh… g'me ano' half hour…"

"You said that half an hour ago," Pearl said primly.

"Did I?" He screwed his eyes shut and opened them again.

"And half an hour before that." She perched daintily on the edge of his bed. "It's half past ten now, you really should get up now, or you won't be able to sleep tonight."

He groaned loudly, but he had to admit she had a point. "All right, I'm up now."

"Excellent!" she trilled, and hopped back up onto her feet. "I'll make you some breakfast."

"Thank you." He blinked a few more times, and then reluctantly sat up and followed her down the stairs.

"So, why are you so tired? Didn't you sleep well?" Pearl asked as she began measuring out the ingredients for pancake batter.

"Not really," Steven admitted with a yawn.

"Is it something to do with Peridot?"

Pearl had turned to switch on the stove as she spoke and missed the deep blush that suddenly appeared on his face. "Wh-what?" he stammered. "No, why would you think that?"

"Well, I know I don't exactly have a lot of experience with sleep," Pearl said, stating the obvious. "But I do remember how uncomfortable you got when you found out I liked to watch you while you were sleeping, so I would imagine that having somebody else awake in the room all the time must be difficult to adjust to."

Steven relaxed again. "Oh, right. Actually, it was a problem, but then she offered to spend the night in the bathroom. Mostly I just had trouble falling asleep." And of course, as he'd found out a few years earlier, spending the night in another person's dreams wasn't all that restful either.

"Perhaps you should have an early night tonight then," Pearl suggested, and slid a stack of pancakes his way.

"Mmm." He wondered if 'immediately after breakfast' was perhaps a little too early and reluctantly concluded that it probably was.

"But today," Pearl continued, waving over at the living room, "I would really appreciate it if you and Peridot could finish tidying up in here."

He looked in the direction she was indicating and pulled a face. Even though Peridot had put away all her clothes and Lapis's belongings had all been removed, the new furniture they'd put together was still just standing haphazardly in the middle of the room, surrounded by boxes of other furniture they hadn't got around to building yet, and a lot of other miscellaneous clutter, and it was becoming increasingly obvious that there really wasn't anywhere to put it. "Perhaps we should give that room ceremony another try after all," he said unenthusiastically.

"Oh. Yes. Well. I suppose."

He turned back around to see Pearl's face screwed up in dismay and was suddenly suspicious. "Wait, don't tell me you couldn't concentrate as well!?"

Pearl blushed and ducked her head. "I'm sorry! It's just, when Amethyst mentioned all her shoes, I couldn't stop imagining her clothes strewn all over the Temple! Not to mention Lapis Lazuli with access to my water fountains!"

Steven laughed in disbelief. "Seriously!?" He shook his head. "No, it's not going to work, not if me, you and Amethyst couldn't do it."

"Well, in that case…" Pearl looked at the living room again. "I may have an idea. If you're not going to use your room yourself, why don't you move Peridot's furniture in there?"

"I dunno, that sounds like it might be inconvenient." Then again, he realized, keeping Peridot in the bathroom was pretty inconvenient too. In fact, he should probably go and let her know she could come out now. And with that thought, he jumped to his feet and pushed his empty plate away. "'Scuse me."

On the other side of the door, Peridot heard footsteps approaching and moved away from the door, rearranging her features into a neutral expression as she grabbed her headphones and tablet. When Steven knocked, she unlocked the door and stepped outside with a bland smile. "Good morning. I trust you slept better?"

"Uh…" Steven hesitated. "Sort of. No nightmares though," he added cheerfully. "Listen, Pearl was just saying, why don't we move your furniture and stuff into my room in the Temple?"

"Because I can't get into your room in the Temple?" Peridot said dryly, plugging her tablet in to charge.

"True," Steven admitted. "But I can let you in whenever you need to go in there."

"And it would only be temporary, of course," Pearl butted in brightly.

Peridot considered that for a moment, and then nodded slowly. "Of course. Very well then, let's do that."

"Great!" Steven ran up to his room and grabbed some clean clothes. "I'm just going to shower and change, then I'll give you a hand."

The bathroom door closed behind him, and Peridot found herself alone with Pearl. An awkward silence fell between them. "I'll just…" Peridot looked around and grabbed one of the now-empty large blue IKEA bags. "Gather up some of my things."

"Would you like some help?" Pearl offered, and picked up the tea light holders from the kitchen counter before Peridot could reply. "Here. Oh, and this is… cute." She picked up a shelf shaped like a small house and curiously turned it over in her hands.

"That's Steven's," Peridot said flatly. Truthfully, the little shelf had been something they'd mutually agreed to purchase, but she rather suspected that Pearl would find a way to tidy it away if she found out Peridot had any claim to it. "And so are these," she added, putting the tea light holders back on the counter.

"Oh. Sorry." Pearl put the shelf back down and looked around to something else to tidy away. Her gaze fell upon Peridot's open toolbox and the tools sitting upon the dresser, and she took a step towards them. "I'll just put those away for you-"

Peridot quickly moved to bar her way. "No, I need those!"

Pearl frowned. "Now?"

"Yes, now!" Peridot snapped.

Pearl sighed and stepped back. She wasn't always very good at gauging other people's feelings, but even she could tell that despite agreeing to it, Peridot wasn't entirely happy about moving her stuff into Rose's room. "It really is just temporary," she said gently. "Once the barn is rebuilt-"

"What?" Peridot looked blankly at the other gem for a moment, then her eyes widened in dismay. Pearl hadn't meant it would be temporary because they'd try to overcome their difficulties with the ceremony and make her a room in the Temple, it was because they were going to send her back to the barn as soon as they could.

"I-I just assumed-" Pearl stammered, realizing her error at once.

"Yes, well, you assumed incorrectly." She began throwing things into the bag again, with slightly more force than was really necessary, and Pearl winced.

"I'm sorry, I just thought you were happy in the barn, but if you don't want to go back there, we're not going to force you to leave." Pearl spun on her heel and began walking back towards the Temple door. "I'll go and talk to Garnet."

The door closed behind her and Peridot's shoulders slumped. She didn't want the Crystal Gems to begrudgingly let her stay out of pity, she wanted them to want her around. Then she spotted her toolbox again and straightened up. Maybe they'd change their minds when they saw how useful she could be.

A few minutes later, Steven stepped out of the bathroom and smiled at her. "Ready?"

Peridot nodded and picked up the bag, straining slightly under its weight while Steven picked up the dresser with ease and carried it over to the Temple door. Then he paused, suddenly nervous. What would happen when he stepped inside with Peridot close behind? Would the room behave itself, or would he suddenly find himself surrounded by more Peridots in tiny cheerleader outfits or something? And of course, now that mental image was in his head-

"Steven? Is something wrong?"

Steven blinked and quickly shook his head to dismiss the intrusive thoughts. "Nope! Everything's fine! Although, that bag looks kinda heavy, do you want me to take it?" He reached out before she could reply and grabbed it from her. "Hey, I don't suppose you could make me a cup of coffee while I move this stuff?"

"Sure."

To his relief, she turned and began fiddling with the coffee maker, and while her attention was elsewhere, he opened the door and stepped inside, placing the bag down next to Lapis's boxed belongings. Then moving as quickly as possible, he brought in the dresser, wardrobe, and other boxed furniture. No phantom Peridots popped up to distract him, and he gave himself a mental pat on the back in reward for a job well done. "All done," he said proudly.

"Wow, thanks." She handed him a steaming cup of coffee. "Mind if I take a look?"

"Uh… sure." He opened the door for her and stood back so that she could pass, making sure he didn't actually step inside himself.

Peridot examined the room critically. She would've liked some walls to put the wardrobe and dresser against, as they looked a bit odd just sat in the middle of the clouds. And they were a bit too close to the stacks of boxes that made the whole thing look rather untidy. She attempted to drag one of the boxes a little further away, but it was surprisingly heavy and refused to budge. "Steven? May I request your assistance here?"

Steven, who'd just noticed an update to Lapis's blog on his phone, froze. "Uhhhh…" He cleared his throat and smiled nervously. "Um, sure. What do you need me to do?"

"Could you move the boxes over here?" She pointed to an empty spot a meter away.

"No problem." He didn't move. "Um, could you um, maybe…" He trailed off. There was no way to ask her to step outside without looking even weirder than he already did, so he took a deep breath and stepped inside.

Nothing happened. The room seemed to be aware that what he wanted at that moment, more than anything else in the world, was to not be humiliated in front of Peridot. He relaxed slightly, put his phone down on the dresser and moved the boxes to where she indicated. "How's that?"

"Much better." Peridot nodded with approval. "And perhaps you could move those ones over here? …Thank you very much."

"No problem," Steven said again. "Do you need me for anything else?"

Peridot shook her head and smiled slightly. "No, I think I'm going to put some clothes on now. I can do that by myself."

"Right!" He moved quickly towards the door. "I'll uh, I'll just let you get on with that, and I'm…" An idea popped into his head. "I'm gonna finish my coffee and go visit my dad, find out what's going on with the barn."

Peridot opened her mouth and then closed it again and swallowed hard. "I see." She pictured her toolbox again. She was going to have to get to work at once.

xxx

At the bottom of the steps, Steven paused, debating which way to go. If he turned left, he'd wind up at his father's car wash. If he turned right, he'd pass the Big Donut. The actual donuts themselves had done a bit downhill in quality ever since Lars had left to go to culinary school, but the coffee was all right, and even though he'd just had some, he still felt quite tired after his poor night's sleep.

He turned right. It wasn't as if he was in any hurry, the car wash would be open all day and it wasn't like his father was actually expecting him. He strolled along the beach, enjoying the sunshine and the slightly floaty feeling that comes with not getting enough sleep. At the Big Donut, he brought a double-shot Americano and two donuts, and walked down Thayer Street towards It's A Wash, only to find the car wash closed after all. He rummaged in his pocket for his phone. Then he rummaged in his other pocket. And then he clapped a hand to his forehead, almost squashing the donuts as he did so. He'd left the phone on the dresser in the Temple.

Once again, he found himself debating which way to go. He could go back home for his phone and call his dad to find out where he was, or he could just go to his house, which was probably where he was anyway. And he was already in town. And he'd brought donuts. So once again, he turned around and began walking until he arrived outside Greg's house, a few streets away.

For the first two years after his unexpected windfall, Greg had continued to live in his van, insisting that he didn't need anything else, but a few cold snaps and an accidental flooding caused by Lapis had finally convinced him otherwise. It wasn't a mansion by any stretch of the imagination as Greg wouldn't even begin to know what to do with that amount of space, but it did have a two-car garage, a spare room for Steven, a recording studio and lights that you could switch on and off by clapping. There was no answer when Steven knocked on the door, so he used the spare key he'd been given and cautiously pushed the door open. "Dad? It's me, your favorite son."

There was still no answer. He walked through the empty kitchen, placing the bag of donuts on the counter, and approached the studio. "Dad? Are you in there? And if you are, am I about to ruin a song?"

The studio was empty. Steven sighed and turned around, about to head up the stairs to check the bedrooms, when he caught sight of the door that lead to the garage. He pushed it open and looked inside to find the Dondai missing. Evidently, his dad had driven off somewhere. "Maybe he went grocery shopping," Steven said aloud. He briefly considered just giving up and going home, but rejected the idea at once. He'd come this far, and if his dad had gone shopping, he'd have to come back to put it all away before he went anywhere else, so he'd stay here and wait for him to return.

He closed the door and walked back into the living room and switched on the TV, scrolling through channels until he found an old martial arts movie. Then he kicked off his shoes and relaxed on the sofa.

xxx

"…Steven… Schtoo-ball... Psst… Steven…"

Several seconds of this passed before the words finally registered in his brain, then several more before he realized the voice was calling his name. Except, hadn't he already woken up once already today? Was he in one of those dreams where he thought he was awake only to find he was still asleep? He tried to roll over and promptly fell off the sofa with a thump. "Ow."

"Jeez, are you OK?" Greg knelt down beside him and helped him climb back onto the sofa. "Seriously, are you OK? You don't look so good there, buddy."

"Guhhhh." He shook his head and tried again. "Blaugh."

Greg smiled sympathetically. "Rough night?"

"Ugh. Not my best," Steven admitted. He rubbed his aching eyes and grimaced. The impromptu nap hadn't made him feel any better, in fact, if anything, he actually felt worse. His head ached, his eyes ached, his neck ached, his mouth felt dry and cottony, and he actually felt even more tired than he had before.

"I'll make you a coffee."

Steven pulled a face; the thought of yet more coffee made him feel slightly queasy, but he followed his father into the kitchen and watched him tinker with the coffee machine. "I brought you a donut."

"Thanks." Greg handed over the coffee and took the donut in exchange. "So what brings you here today? Was there a problem with the furniture after all?"

"No, it's all good. I just thought I'd come over and see if you'd spoken to Uncle Andy about the barn yet."

"Oh." Greg frowned. "Right… why, is there a problem with Peridot?"

"What? No!" Steven looked startled by the question. "No, she's fine!"

"Oh, good." Greg relaxed. "I just thought, because you said you hadn't slept well…"

"It's a little difficult to get used to having her around," Steven said with a yawn. "But we're working on it. No, I was thinking more about when Lapis comes back, she still might not wanna live in the Temple."

Greg nodded slowly. "Well, I was actually talking to your Uncle Andy today, that's why I wasn't around. I went to meet him for lunch in Empire City."

"Yeah?" Steven sipped at his coffee, then took a bite of his donut to try and take the taste away. Then he had another sip of coffee to try and take away the taste of the donut. "What did he say?"

"Ummmm…" Greg took a sip of his own coffee, playing for time. "He… wasn't very happy," he said finally. "He uh, he doesn't want to rebuild the barn."

Steven considered that for a moment. "Because he can't afford it? That's not a problem, we can-"

"It's not that," Greg interrupted. He bit his lip, trying to think of a nice way to phrase things and silently cursing his cousin. The more time he spent around the man, the more he remembered why he hadn't made any attempt to talk to his family for twenty years. But Steven seemed to like Andy, so Greg made the effort on his behalf. "He said… the barn may have been a gift, but uh…" He closed his eyes briefly and then opened them again. There really wasn't any way he could sugarcoat it. "But not the land. Now the barn's been destroyed, he wants to sell up to a developer."

"But… can't you buy it?" Steven asked tentatively.

"It's not as easy as that," Greg said vaguely. What he didn't say was that he didn't really want to buy the land from Andy at all. When Andy had found out just how rich Greg was, he'd approached him, asking him to pay a ridiculous sum of rent on the barn. Greg had refused, calmly pointing out that he'd given the barn as a gift in front of witnesses who had superpowers. If he brought the land now, Andy would win. Also, with half of his money safely placed in a trust fund for Steven and most of rest now tied up in some stocks and shares Garnet had suggest he invest in, he simply didn't have the cash available. "I'm gonna keep trying to see if I can get him to change his mind, but he does sell, we can always buy some place else for Lapis to live. You never know, she might decide to live at one of those rude places she's visiting," he suggested with a small smile.

"Yeah," Steven mumbled. "But I liked the barn. It was close by. There was a warp pad there."

"The warp pad can be moved," Greg said, and quickly changed the subject. "So Peridot's definitely going to stay with you guys then?"

Steven smiled fondly. "Yeah. She's quite excited at the thought of being included in more missions with the gems."

Greg nodded thoughtfully. "Are you gonna try that ceremony again? I know you said you're working on it, but if she's gonna stay there permanently, she kinda needs her own room." He smiled dryly, remembering his own brief stay in the house. "The place isn't exactly designed for multiple occupants."

"I know," Steven admitted. "We already had to move all her furniture into my room in the Temple because there wasn't really space for it."

Greg frowned, remembering those days hanging around outside the Temple when he'd first met Rose, outside doors he could never open. "That sounds inconvenient."

"I know," Steven said again. "When I get back home, I'm gonna talk to the gems about trying the ceremony again." Then he sighed. "But it might have to wait a day or two, I think if I tried closing my eyes to concentrate now, I'd just fall asleep."

"Well you know, you have a room here too," Greg reminded him. "If you wanna get a good night's sleep before the ceremony, you're always welcome to stay here."

Steven nodded slowly. "I may have to take you up on that offer."

xxx

Peridot looked at her tablet, comparing the blueprints she'd made the night before with the thing currently sitting on the kitchen counter, and smiled proudly. It was nowhere near finished, but so far, it seemed to be going to plan. She was going to need more parts before she could go any further though, so with extreme care, she picked it up and placed it gently in the fridge. Then she looked down at her t-shirt and frowned. Somehow, she'd managed to get grease marks all over it when she was taking apart the microwave, and there was a scorched hole in it from where she'd dropped her soldering iron. She really wanted to look her best when she showed off her contribution to the group, and this look was no longer working.

Unfortunately, all of her clothes were now on the other side of a locked door, and Steven hadn't come home yet.

Then again, she'd seen Amethyst step into the Temple just a few minutes ago, so as far as she knew, the other gems were still around. She marched up to the Temple door and knocked loudly. After a few seconds, the door opened and Garnet peered down at her. "Hello."

"Hello," Peridot smiled hopefully up at the elder gem. "Could you possibly show me the route to Steven's room? I need to change my shirt," she added as Garnet stared impassively down at her.

"Of course." Garnet stepped aside to let her enter and then began walking across the room.

Peridot hadn't been in the Burning Room since she herself had been bubbled, and she couldn't help having a quick look around. She spotted several fusion experiments, ones that had actually crawled out of the ground by the barn and inadvertently inspired her nightmares. A multicolored gem in a pink bubble floated near the ceiling and she guessed that must be Bismuth. And then she spotted the orange gem and almost tripped over her own feet. Jasper. Corrupted and bubbled. Would they ever be able to cure her?

"Peridot. This way."

"Sorry." Peridot jogged to catch up with Garnet, who had stopped by one of the large veins that ran through the room.

"She's in no pain," Garnet said, guessing what had caught the other gem's attention. "I'm hopeful we can still help her. Steven's made more progress curing corruption in the past five years than we did in five thousand."

Peridot glanced back at Bismuth again. There was a gem who had avoided the corrupting song of the Diamonds, a Crystal Gem, and yet she was still in the Rose Quartz bubble Steven had put her in four years ago. "What about her?"

Garnet pursed her lips. "I don't know," she admitted.

She knew it really wasn't any of her business, but Peridot couldn't help prodding the subject a little more. "Steven feels guilty about keeping her bubbled."

"Hmm." Garnet looked back at the gem herself and frowned. "It's… complicated."

Peridot frowned as well, a little annoyed that Garnet didn't seem to be taking Steven's feelings seriously, but before she could make any further comment, Garnet patted the vein next to her. "Do you think you can you climb up this? It passes through Ro- Steven's room."

"Uh…"

"Actually, it's probably easier if I just do this."

Almost before Peridot realized what was going on, Garnet picked her up and threw her through the ceiling. By the time she'd opened her mouth to scream, she'd already landed on the pink, fluffy clouds in the room above. She allowed herself a moment to stick her tongue out at the floor, then crossed over to her dresser and began searching.

xxx

If Steven had been a little more alert, he might have wondered why Peridot wasn't in the house. But he was tired, his head hurt and the only thing on his mind was getting his phone back so he could read Lapis's blog. He opened the door to his room and stepped inside, and sighed in annoyance when Peridot let out a small squeak of surprise and clutched her t-shirt to her chest. "Steven! I-I didn't expect-"

"Room, you need to stop doing this!" Steven snapped, and stepped forward and flapped his hands at her, expecting her to disappear in a puff of cloud. Instead, there was a loud smack and Peridot staggered backwards. For a moment, they just stared at each other in stunned surprise, and then Steven lunged for his phone.

"Ow! What was that for!?" Peridot asked, hurt and bewildered. She took a hasty step backwards and folded her arms protectively over her bra as he pointed the phone in her direction. "What are you doing!?"

For a moment, Steven kept staring in disbelief at the image on the camera screen, trying to convince himself that it was another trick of the room. "How- what- you're really real?"

"Of course I'm real!" Peridot snapped. She raised a hand to touch her cheek and winced. Steven was a Quartz, and the blow hurt far more than the one she'd received from Pearl a few years ago. "Why would you think otherwise?"

"The-the room," Steven stammered. "It pretends to be real- I didn't know- I'm so sorry!" He took a step towards her and felt his stomach drop when she took another step back. "I didn't know you were in here. I thought the room made you up. It's done it before."

"It has?" Peridot almost frowned in confusion, but it hurt too much so she stopped.

"It made all of Beach City once," he quickly added, hoping she wouldn't work out the exact truth. "I didn't figure it out until I tried to bite a donut." A dark green bruise was beginning to blossom across her cheek and he swallowed hard in shame. "I'm sorry, I really am. I honestly didn't think it was you."

"I needed a clean shirt," Peridot muttered, glancing down at the bunched fabric in her arms. "All my things are in here. Garnet let me in."

"I'm sorry," he said again helplessly. "I never wanted to hurt you."

Her eyes flickered up to meet his and she sighed. "I know. And I accept your apology."

Some of the sick shame vanished, but there was still plenty remaining when he looked at her bruised cheek. "Would you let me heal you?" he asked tentatively, half-expecting her to say no.

Instead she nodded at once. "Please! Do!" She stepped forward and angled her face towards him, and exhaled in relief when his lips gently brushed her skin, the healing magic instantly repairing the damage. She smiled softly at him when he stepped back again. "Thank you."

He smiled an awkward smile in return. "It's the least I could do."

"True." Her smile widened a little. "Now if you would like to do more, please leave so that I can finally put this shirt on."