So, it's been a while but now it's time for something that has not happened much in this story: Downtime!

Far away from the chaos emerging across the galaxy, Steven and the Crystal Gems were more than content to have nothing major on their minds. The only new development was the Famethyst deciding what to do with the captive humans formerly kept in Pink Diamond's zoo. While they were docile as could be, they were also so unacclimated to any sort of independence that they had no way to just be put into modern society.

It was eventually decided, however, to have Agent Van step in and take the Zoomans as they had been collectively known as off their hands. They could not just go back to Blue Diamond after being outright traitors and there was some desire to have their own lives for a change. The government agent, while startled to see several dozen adults who had been born and bred in captivity, assured that they would be kept under the care of the finest psychologists in the world to gradually wean them off their sheltered existence.

This also meant that there was a huge influx of new gems, so many that Garnet, Pearl and Bismuth felt like they were back in the old days with dozens of new faces around. Steven was surprised to realize just how many gems made up the Famethyst since he could only distinctly remember about a dozen. The almost fifty gems seeing their charges with sad smiles off when Van collected them made the boy wonder just where they were gonna put them all.

Now that they were not watching the Zoomans off in Rose's room, the gaggle of liberated quartzes were eager to see everything they could. Instead of walking the Earth like Mercury, however, they wanted to stick together as a group and quickly found themselves dispersing around town to interact with the locals. The residents of Beach City, however, were more than welcoming to the purple and orange newcomers as any friends of the Crystal Gems were friends of theirs.

Outside of them, the rest of the team kept themselves occupied not with fighting and training, but with whatever leisure activity caught their eye. Sometimes this meant being off on their own, but most it meant spending time together as a family complete with the whole bunch of rowdy quartz cousins they just added to the fold whenever they were interested.

The biggest adjustment of the lot, however, came to Steven who had very little on his plate these days. Unless the gems had some activity for him to join in, he had nothing but free time on his hands. The others had taught him almost everything they could, and his previous training regimen seemed like overkill. The occasional jog around Beach City made sure he was never a complete couch potato but for the first time in his life Steven could always act like a normal teenager.

While there was plenty to do, ranging from movie nights to games with his extended family, a small part of him had this problem adjusting. He compared it to an itch he could not scratch and yet also had no reason to. Why put hours into something preparing for an attack that was not happening? Steven brought this up with Pearl one day who admitted she had a very similar problem when the war recently ended.

"When I had all that time, that's when I started looking for hobbies to fill the gap. I turned to music, your mother turned to collecting armaments. I think you'll find something in time that will help you cope as well but don't rush things too much."

Thankfully for him between movie nights and volleyball games among other activities plus simply having someone to interact with nearly all the time, Steven was mostly satisfied. It took a few days for him to realize what was really bothering him was that he had neglected to do something since he had come back – hang out with Connie.

He had been regular updates from Pearl saying how busy she was with school and simply readjusting to normal life again after being a Crystal Gem herself for a fair amount of time herself. While he figured she needed some alone time, he now felt like some quality time between them would be really nice.

That Thursday morning, Steven dialed up her number half-expecting his call to go straight to voicemail. What did not help was how eerily quiet the house had been when he woke up with none of the gems in sight. Thus, his mood brightened even more when she picked up almost immediately.

"Steven! How's it going?"

"Hey Connie! So, what have you been up to today?"

"Oh, nothing much. And this might be really sudden but how about we spend the day together?"

"Really?!" Steven gasped, figuring he could get maybe an hour of her time, "Don't you have school or something?"

"Steven, it's summer. School is out right now, remember?"

"Oh yeah! Heh, pretty convenient. In that case, I'd love to."

"Great! My mom was about to run an errand in Beach City anyway so she can drop me off. See you soon!"

The boy was practically bouncing on his heels when his father walked in a few minutes later, having taken up a light fitness routine even with no more battles. The one-time rock star was glad to hear his son's plans and simply headed out for a walk a few minutes later. Steven then headed out to the Big Donut to see the Mahesweran car pull up with Connie stepping out after her mother said something he could not make out before driving away.

The two ran to each other and hugged, having not seen each other in several weeks, before heading into the convenience store together. They were not sure what was more surprising – Lars being back in his purple uniform behind the counter or Sadie bringing out a series of violet roll cakes from the back room and placing them behind the counter.

"Well, look who it is!" the pink-skinned teen exclaimed, looking genuinely happy to see them, "We were starting to think you found another donut shop."

"Lars?!" Connie gaped, "What are you still doing here?"

"He calls it a little break," Sadie explained, "I mean, school was never his strong suit so he's looking to get into baking professionally."

"And that's why I'm here," her friend picked up, "I passed some recipes to the owner of this place and he loved them so much he agreed to let me have a share of the profits for any of them that sell. She even said that she might invest in helping me get a full-fledged place if they do well enough."

"That's awesome!" Steven cheered, "Have they been selling good?"

"You tell me!" Lars beamed as he pulled out a literal wad of cash from his wallet, Sadie just rolling her eyes with a smile since this was the happiest she had seen him in years. Now all too eager to try as much as they could, Steven and Connie ponied up to buy a box of a dozen assorted treats ranging from brownies loaded with pink star-shaped chocolate candies to lemon-custard filled donuts shaped like a classic UFO from an old-timey B-movie.

Once they had their "breakfast" in hand, the younger teens headed outside to enjoy the selection on the curb while simply taking in the atmosphere. After several minutes of sampling, and truly appreciating how talented Lars' baking was, Connie broke the ice with a question that had been needling her for some time.

"Man, how long has it been since we did something like this?"

"Just hang out?" Steven asked. When Connie nodded, he had to truly think. "I mean, we used to do it all the time. Honestly, it might have been you coming out of the hospital."

"I was just glad to be alive at that point. Kind of like I am now…"

Connie stared at the distant ocean, lost in her own thoughts for a moment. "You know, I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid. I always told Mom and Dad I was going to discover alien life."

"Really? Well… Uh…"

Connie chuckled at him. "Steven, I'm not angry about it. I mean, it didn't turn out anything like I imagined it would but that's life. Plus, I actually got way more out of it."

Steven let out a breath of relief. "Oh, good. For a second I thought you were gonna freak out like I did back in space. So, what are you gonna do now?"

"Become an astronaut."

"Wait, huh?"

"I mean, why not? We only went to one planet! There's supposed to be millions more out there and now I've gotten actual experience! Once I finish school, I'll bet NASADA will just be begging to recruit me!"

"Wow… Maybe I should actually look into school now."

"Eh, maybe that wouldn't work so well for you. Maybe try studying some things yourself if you're interested."

Steven chuckled at that, imagining himself holed up in a library reading comically large books on psychology and/or therapy. Soon afterwards, they were done their donuts and decided to head to Funland. As they approached the entryway, however, Connie stopped for a moment looking briefly taken aback.

"Are you alright?" Steven asked.

"Yeah, it's just… This is the last place I saw Dad…"

"Wait, that was here?"

"Yeah…"

"Look, we can go do something else. I don't want you pushing yourself to do this just for me."

"Steven, I suggested we do this. It's been over a month and I know I need to get over this. If I can't handle it then I'll tell you, okay?"

The two slowly walked past the archway and into the park. All of the boardwalk itself and all of the rides looked no different than before, helping them both relax. Mr. Smiley coming out to greet them and give them free wristbands to ride whatever they wanted all day as thanks for saving the world made them nearly forget that anything bad happened.

Once they got onto various rides or playing the game booths as much as they wanted, having to be told by multiple teens running the stalls that they have unlimited access as instructed by their boss. The kids did insist on not taking any prizes in return both because neither of them really had the space for it and that would be taking advantage of their generosity. Steven did secretly wish he could have taken a jumbo pink stuffed dolphin, though, but figured there would be another day for that.

Eventually, after having their fill of everything save the Ferris wheel (the one place that did make Connie feel queasy from bad memories), they both headed into the arcade and soon found themselves playing Meat Beat Mania until the music got stuck in their heads and their stomachs called for something more sumptuous than pastries.

Steven was half-tempted to ask for fry bits, but Connie pointed out a hot dog stand that might be slightly more filling. Once they sat on a bench and had their lunch, also handed to them for free on the boss's orders, they let the sound of waves mixed with the cheers and shouts of the other goers of the park fill their ears.

"Man, this is really nice," Connie mumbled, "Makes me wish I could've done more of this when I was a kid."

"I'm just glad that lifelong ban isn't still in effect. And that they fixed that arcade machine…"

"Oh yeah, you did tell me about the time you took everyone here!" Connie sat for a minute before something else dawned on her, "How did you do it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You had such a totally weird childhood filled with so many freaky experiences. I can't imagine living that way."

"I can't imagine growing up any other way," the boy shrugged, "Being a Crystal Gem was just something I accepted for as long as I could remember. I'd just jump between Dad and them like it was nothing since it was all I knew."

"You never wondered why you didn't live together?"

"Well, when I was really little, I tried asking the gems why Dad had to be by himself. None of them really had an answer… Now I know it's because him and Pearl really didn't get along."

"Ouch… I kind of know how you feel. There was a time my parents were considering divorce."

"Whoa, what?! What happened?"

"Me," the girl said, shaking her head, "When I was like five, the bully at whatever school I was at made fun of my glasses and how much of a 'geek' I was. I tried telling a teacher but the girl found out and locked me in locker for the rest of the day. One of the janitors had to come and fine me."

"That's horrible! Is that what all of school is like?!"

"Oh no, not all of it! There were nice kids, but apparently this one girl had her parents and her grandparents on the school board so no one could ever get her in trouble."

"Jeez… but how'd that affect your parents?"

"When they found out, Mom got so freaked out she wanted to start homeschooling me and Dad just wanted me to go back. It ended up turning into such a huge argument that Mom just packed her things and went to a hotel right by the hospital she was working at the time and said I'd be spending a night with her then a night with Dad. It was like that for about three weeks."

"And then?"

"Dad spent the whole time trying to get answers from the principal and then the superintendent about why such a little tyrant was running around. When someone literally threatened to expel me if he didn't keep quiet, he swore he'd get them all fired."

"Wow… Your dad was awesome…"

"Heh, yeah… Was…" Connie fought back a sob before continuing, "But that's what got Mom to come back. As soon as she heard about the whole case, she came home and said she'd help put that brat in her place. They both actually went to court with a few buddies from Dad's job digging up how many problems the girl's family were burying and even found other teachers had gotten sacked just for giving her bad grades. All of it got the people in charge arrested and the girl got sent to a boarding school since the state thought her parents were such an awful influence."

Steven just let that story wash over him for a minute before speaking up again. "No one bullies you anymore, right?"

"I kept to myself a lot after that so no. Didn't really make any friends either… But now it's the opposite! All the kids at school want to get to know me, it's actually a little too much."

"I can't blame them…" he said earnestly, hugging Connie with the arm closest to her, "You're a really cool person. I just wish more people knew that before."

The girl tried and failed to hide her blush, too absorbed in her best friend's warm embrace to try moving. Eventually, however, an especially loud batch of people riding the roller coaster snapped them back and thus they went inside the arcade again. Once they had their fill of other games from skeeball to air hockey to that space-shooter game Lapis and Peridot played, they decided to head out from Funland to somewhere else they had not been together much: the beach house.

Once again, the building was eerily quiet in spite of the large family that now lived here. With the place to themselves as far as they could tell, they headed upstairs to Steven's room for some more traditional videogames than those at Funland.

The two lost track of time again but enjoyed the experience more than keeping to any schedule. Connie also admitted she had no videogames growing up unless they were strictly educational so anything that did not involve math or vocabulary practice was a refreshing sight. After some time with virtual arm-wrestling, they found themselves goofing around with a fighting game. Now, however, Steven noticed that Connie would keep looking out the window as if expecting something.

"What's up?" the boy asked, pausing their latest match.

"Oh, it's just my mom's coming by to pick me around sunset. Nothing major."

"Oh, okay!"

They resumed playing for a while but something else was gnawing at Steven at this point.

"Where is everybody?"

"Huh, you mean the gems?"

"Yeah, and my dad. I at least saw him this morning but nobody else."

"I mean, they're probably enjoying some alone time."

"Heh, yeah, that's true. The Famethyst are a real crazy bunch. I just wish that incident with Carnelian, the cream soda and that guy in the magazine stand didn't happen."

"Uh…"

"I'll tell you about that one later."

"Okay then… Did anyone get physically hurt?"

"Physically? No…" A brief shudder went through Steven, startling Connie enough to drop the subject entirely. Some more time later, the two stopped for a snack break only for a text on Connie's phone to draw her attention.

"Hey, uh," she stammered for a bit before clearing her throat, "That was Mom, she's got something to take care of on the way out of town. She's picking me up early."

"Oh, that's too bad…"

"But, hey! She did say she felt bad so we can all go out to dinner on the way. You interested?"

"Sure!"

The boy seemed more than satisfied and thus time passed quickly until Dr. Mahesweran rang up Connie letting her now she was waiting. The two young teens quickly ran across the beach to reach the good doctor's car and drove off with Steven going from relaxed to slightly confused when they pulled up to a hill near a familiar warehouse.

"Uh, guys? What are we doing here? The wrestling match isn't until tomorrow and I didn't think either of you were into that stuff."

"Oh, just trust us," Priyanka said, getting out of the driver's seat, "We think you'll like this."

Confused but far from wary, Steven followed them up the hill to the warehouse which seemed oddly dark. Once he stepped in through the entrance, the only light came in through the mostly missing back wall. He was about to speak up again only for someone to suddenly throw on the overhead lights…

"SURPRISE!" shouted the entirety of the Crystal Gems along with Greg and dozens of people all crowded into the main floor of the building. Steven just stood there for a solid minute gaping at the party laid in front of him. The huge banner strung up to the ceiling, the table of presents and cake, and even the expectant faces of a good chunk of the town. Soon, he finally spoke.

"It's my birthday?"

"I knew it!" Greg told them all, "I told you all he would forget!"

"Well, it has been pretty insane the past few months," Garnet admitted, "But I still didn't think he wouldn't suspect anything."

"You can thank her for that," Priyanka said, pointing to her daughter, "Kept him distracted all day by just being herself."

"Wait…" the apparent birthday boy said in disbelief, "You planned this whole thing?!"

"The party wasn't supposed to start until sundown, but they got set up way faster than I thought," she shrugged, "And hey, I knew you wouldn't complain."

Steven was frozen stiff for another bit, his immediate family all starting to get worried that they might have upset him somehow. He never had a surprise party after all with all his previous big days being private parties with his dad and the gems.

That fear went right out the window when Steven ran ahead with the biggest smile any of them had ever seen, not bothering to hide his tears, and tackle-hugged Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and his father who were standing in front of the crowd.

"Thank you all so much!"

"Kid, you've definitely earned it," Bismuth said before hoisting the boy on her shoulders, "Let's hear it for the greatest kid in town, everybody!"

A roaring cheer went through the crowd and soon the party began in earnest. Even though it was not long ago before the town went wild over the return of their heroes, they were more than ready to get down for this occasion. With Sour Cream manning the DJ booth along with Greg keeping things rolling, soon the warehouse was bursting with lights and beats as people danced to their hearts' content.

For Steven, it was the single greatest surprise he ever had. He quickly lost count of how many times he heard "Happy Birthday" or something similar. He found that the snack table was filled with all of his favorites ranging from circular pepperoni pizza from Fish Stew to the recently reintroduced Cookie Cats. He had no idea what was in any of the presents, but knew that tomorrow would be just as fun to open them all and see what was inside.

About an hour into the festivities, however, Pearl pulled Steven aside from chatting with some of the guests to pull him outside where Peridot was waiting alongside the elemental gem trio.

"Guys, what's up?" the boy asked, noticing that Peridot was a briefcase in her hands while Adamite and Lapis had their arms around each other.

"What, isn't it customary to give presents?" Peridot asked, "And since I, well, skimped on your last celebration, I figured why not go big!"

"And the three of us weren't here for your last birthday," Cinnabar said excitedly, "So that means we need to do something extra!"

Curios and eager to see what they did, Adamite started by kissing Lapis causing the two to immediately fuse into Sandstone. As soon as they formed, they raised their hands to start channeling the ground around them to liquify and become mud save for a solid stone platform half a foot of the ground for Steven and Pearl to stand on. The boy was briefly alarmed about the damage, but Pearl assured him that they rehearsed this ahead of time and there would not be any damage to the area.

The four-armed fusion then lifted her hands to the sky causing several geysers of mud to fire off into the sky. As they flew, Cinnabar suddenly started running by with several glass vials she got from Peridot's case and chucked them into the rising tide of liquid earth. Steven's eyes practically popped out of their sockets when he saw the mud slowly grow from brown to a different neon colors. One was a fiery red, another was a yellow as bright as the summer sun, a third was greener than the grass and the fourth was so blue it put the ocean to shame.

Just when it seemed like the geysers were the end of it, Sandstone suddenly started spinning causing every to be surrounded by a tornado of electrifying light. Steven was making himself dizzy trying to take it all in but the other two were not done. Peridot was now flying above the chromatic cyclone on her makeshift hoverboard going higher and higher until she started dropping the rest of the test tubes.

Down on the ground, Cinnabar readied her hands as the vials started falling. Like firing targets at a skeet range, she kept her arms straight as she fired flaming arrows with one eye closed to help her aim. Steven watched as the first target was hit and a cloud of purple fire suddenly erupted and sparked before fizzling out.

"They made their own fireworks?!" the boy gasped, practically jumping up and down at the spectacle being put on just for him. Pearl just stood by and watched it all for herself, grateful that they spent so much time rehearsing in Lapis's room. Their very first attempt ended with several gems needing to regenerate all their hair.

Eventually, however, the show had to come to a close. One final pink burst of fireworks in the shape of Rose's emblem lit up the sky while Sandstone brought the vortex to a standstill before lowering her hands and taking a bow before separating again. While Steven was the only one who got to see the show from inside, the entire party had watched it all from the outside and cheered their hearts out.

For the four gems who pulled it off, all of them simply walked over to the cheering crowd with a starstruck Steven on Adamite's shoulders clearly looking like he was having the time of his life. The already great night went on well past his usual bedtime but could not have cared less. It was all making up for the time he had to give up for the diamonds but now? Now he was surrounded by people that meant the world to him and clearly felt the same. Tomorrow he may just be fifteen, but it was another day for them to simply live.

Yes, Steven is one year older and is one step closer to matching his look in Future but there's much more coming. The others all have their peace of mind but how much longer will it last?

Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave your thoughts in a review.