Steven awoke to find the sun well above the horizon and his body fully refreshed after a night of alien legislation and oppression. He relished just being able to relax in his own bed. As he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, he noticed the sounds of waves outside, the quiet snoring of Lion on the couch below him and a certain figure right next to him.

"Good morning, Steven. You seem well rested," said Pearl as she kneeled at the side of his bed. She had a habit many months back about watching her young charge sleep, but Steven never remembered her staying all night.

"Uh, hey Pearl. Are you okay?" he asked, slightly flustered by her presence.

"Oh, I'm just glad to see you sleep well. Plus, I suddenly had so much free time on my hands…" Steven gradually got up and moved down to the bathroom in order to change clothes. Since he was in there, he decided to shower and brush his teeth as well. After about half an hour, he finally felt clean and donned his regular pink shirt and jeans, ready to take on the day after a hearty breakfast. When he exited the bathroom, however, he saw Pearl standing beside the counter with a plate of waffles and eggs already prepared.

"Pearl, you made me breakfast?"

"Of course I did, Steven. I guessed the last thing you'd want to do is cook so I took the liberty to prepare your meal."

"Um, thanks?" he shrugged. He was skeptical since Pearl did not eat at all made her as qualified to cook as Steven was to practice orthodontics. His fears, however, quickly melted away when he caught scent of the still-hot waffles dripping in maple syrup and eggs scrambled with salt, pepper and a sprinkle of cheese. His growling stomach as he sat down and dug in, Pearl moving behind him as he tore into his breakfast with gusto. The most he had to do was get some water to drink and he downed his food in no time flat.

"Thanks, Pearl! When did you get so good at cooking?" he asked the gem still observing him.

"Well, I may not need nourishment, but I know you do. Plus, I've watched your eating habits for over several years so I guessed how you enjoy your food to be prepared." Her mouth could not help but form a small smirk as she spoke. "Do you need anything else, Steven?"

"No thanks. I'm just going to around town for a bit and see how everyone is." He gave Pearl a hug before running out the door in his sandals. Soon after, Amethyst emerged from her room and noticed the plate for Steven's breakfast was in the sink. The smaller gem let out an annoyed groan.

"Aw man! He's done already? I was going to snatch some off of him," she grumbled before noticing her fellow gem. "Hey, Pearl. What's going on with you?"

"Nothing, Amethyst. I just need to go outside for a while."

"Okay. Have fun." She was already snooping in the fridge for something to eat as Pearl walked out the front door.

Steven spent the entire day going around Beach City on his bike checking in on everyone after all the excitement yesterday. While the residents of the sleepy town tended to overlook most of the supernatural occurrences around them, the fact that two of their own were abducted was impossible to ignore.

While everyone was overjoyed to see Steven in one piece, there was still despair since Lars had not returned. His mother and father took the news the hardest and Sadie was rather crushed when she heard the news as well, though all of them were reassured that he could be saved.

As the sun began to set, Steven finally called it a day and headed home. As he turned his bike onto the sand, he felt all the strain set in and looked forward to another night of sleep. When he opened the door to his home, he found someone sitting on the couch.

"Good evening, Steven."

"Hey Garnet," he muttered tiredly as he began to gather his things for bed, "What are you doing here?"

"Just waiting for Pearl to get back. She's been out all day."

"Really? I was out all around town and I never saw her."

"I know, it's not like her to just leave without notice. Don't worry about it, though, you just get to bed."

"Okay. Goodnight, Garnet." With that and a mighty yawn, he snuggled into his covers as the moon began to rise and Pearl entered the house. She started to head up the stairs towards Steven's room but someone else got her attention by clearing her throat.

"Garnet! Oh, I, well this is, um, what are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you. You just left this morning."

"Well, I thought some fresh air would be a great relief after being so stressed out, that's all…" she replied with the confidence of a leaf going up against a hurricane.

"I know you spent the entire day following Steven around town. I know you can be protective, but this is pushing it."

Pearl sighed in defeat as Garnet was one step ahead as per usual. "I know, it seems ridiculous to have to watch over him all day, but I felt horrible just letting him go like that. He's extremely fortunate to still be here and I would hate myself if something were to happen to him."

Garnet simply walked back into her room, muttering "I know the feeling…" under her breath. Pearl did not pick up on it.

"What was that, Garnet?"

"Just ease up on Steven. He will be fine."

For several days Steven simply enjoyed life as normal without any threat from the diamonds. He spent time with the gems, hung out with his dad, and basked in the relative normalcy he had. Not everything was perfect, though, since he could not get a hold of Connie. He tried calling her several times a day and left voicemails suggesting they should hang out.

When none of those got replies, he began worrying he upset her somehow. He started making apologies and offering to talk it out. Even almost a week later, there was still nothing. He started checking his phone constantly, sometimes just staring at it for minutes at a time as dread began to envelop him that he jeopardized his relationship with his best friend.

He was in one of those funks while Amethyst was messing around with the television and Pearl was folding Steven's laundry when Garnet emerged from her room in the temple with an important announcement.

"Everyone, we have a mission. There's a corrupted gem on the loose that needs to be stopped."

That quickly got everyone's attention. Steven looked up from his phone, now happy to have something else occupy his mind. As they all gathered on the warp pad, Pearl looked to Garnet with worry and started to whisper into her ear.

"I think we should leave Steven home for this one. I'm not sure he should be exposed to this much commotion so soon…"

"Pearl, Steven is more than capable of handling himself on a mission. If it makes you feel better, you can stay by his side."

The youngest Crystal Gem was oblivious to their conversation as they landed in their destination: a snowy expanse not unlike his last mission with Connie. The biggest difference was that instead of trees covering the area, it was a bare tundra with nothing distinguishing about the landscape except crevasses and mounds in the terrain.

Thankfully, Pearl had one of Steven's winter coats on hand in her gem and placed it around his shoulders as he began to shiver. Garnet, knowing they had a wide area to cover, planned to split them up. She headed off to the east with Amethyst while Pearl and Steven went west. The two set off, scanning the icy steppe for any sign of their target. Steven was taking the cold on the chin, while Pearl began getting rather jittery as her nerves frayed.

The minutes passed as the two traipsed the frozen land with little to occupy them but the sounds of frigid winds and their thoughts. Steven was calmly humming a tune to himself while Pearl's paranoia continued to act up, checking behind her, above her head, or even pausing altogether to look around for threats.

"Pearl, what's wrong? You look scared," Steven asked.

"Oh, it's nothing Steven. I'm just… wondering how Garnet and Amethyst are doing! Yes, that must be it!" she stammered. Steven only raised his eyebrow before resuming his tune only for him to almost fall off a shelf of ice.

"Steven! Don't be so reckless! You could have hurt yourself!" shouted Pearl in near-hysterics.

Steven looked down past the edge of the cliff, worried that something horrible lay at the bottom.

"It's only three feet." To prove his point, he jumped off the edge and easily stopped whatever minor damage could have happened with a bit of floating. Pearl was not amused.

"That's beside the point. You were not watching where you were going and needlessly put yourself at risk." She quickly jumped after him and looked down on him in anger.

"Pearl, I'm sorry! You're right, I wasn't watching where I was going but it's nothing to get worked up about."

"I knew you weren't ready for this again. I should've convinced Garnet to make you stay at the temple…"

"What?!" It was one thing to yell at him. but talking behind his back was a sore subject. "Why would you do that? I'm not some little kid, I can take care of myself!"

"Well apparently not!" She grabbed Steven by the wrist and started tugging him back towards the warp pad. "As soon as we get home, you are grounded until further notice! And I'll be sure to tell the other gems and your father to make sure you don't run off!"

"But I don't need someone doting on me. I'm a Crystal Gem just like you!"

The two were now at a standstill as the winds whipped around them. Pearl was desperately pulling with all her strength, but Steven was dragging his feet to keep him in place. Despite the cold, one could practically see the steam coming off of the two as they argued until Pearl finally lost it.

"Oh, really? Because the last time I heard, you were trying to pass yourself off as Rose Quartz!"

Suddenly Steven felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. Pearl looked devastated as soon as the words left her mouth. They looked at each other as snowflakes started to pelt the two in the growing wind. Pearl tried to backpedal as the younger gem's eyes began to tear up.

"Steven… I…"

Before much discussion could happen, though, the ice began to buckle beneath them, and a deafening roar sounded across the snowy plain. A massive figure began to emerge several feet away; a humongous furry mammoth over twenty feet tall and thirty feet long with purple-white fur, two massive tusks as long as Garnet which it was using to carve through the ice floor like butter, and a huge trunk with a light-violet square gem along its enormous length.

Its cloudy white eyes were focused on the two Crystal Gems, enraged that they disturbed its slumber with all their commotion and began bellowing as it charged straight at them. Steven and Pearl pulled out their respective weapons and tried to outflank the creature, but it simply turned its body and slammed into the two with its curiously hard tail. The two were sent sprawling and decided they needed Garnet and Amethyst for a creature of this size.

Steven leaped in front of Pearl with his shield poised to block whatever the monster could dish out. "Go, Pearl!" he shouted as the monster readied another charge, "You find the others, I'll keep it busy."

Pearl, while touched by his bravery, refused to abandon him and instead got in front of him with her spear at the ready. "No Steven! I'll deal with this thing while you get the others!"

The behemoth just kept coming closer as they two squabbled over who was protecting who, one leaping in front of the other hoping to act as a shield long enough for the others to arrive. After several switches, Pearl won out as the corrupted mammoth was only a few feet away. She soared into the air with a massive jump as Steven began running behind it to find Garnet and Amethyst.

As Pearl hit the arc of her jump, she forced herself down at breakneck speed with her spear pointed straight at the monster's spine. It was a direct hit, but the corrupted gem refused to go down with one hit. While it yelled in pain, it lurched upwards and forced Pearl, still clinging to her weapon, back onto the snowy ground in a daze. Its rigid tail suddenly snapped like a whip and forced the already stunned Pearl several feet into the ice. With one nuisance crushed, it turned its hateful eyes at a now terrified Steven, clinging to his shield for dear life!

As much as Steven wanted to check on Pearl, he knew stopping this beast was the top priority/ He ran off as fast as his legs could carry him, praying the others heard the scuffle and were already on their way. When he turned around, he found the monster charging behind him. Much to his horror, it seems the gem was much faster than it appeared as the distance between it and Steven was rapidly closing.

Steven was one step away from panicking when he suddenly got an idea. He banked a quick right turn and the monster tried in vain to follow him only to skid hopelessly out of control thanks to its greater momentum. The mammoth ended up flat on its side and flailed its feet in vain, desperate to regain its footing. Unfortunately for it, Steven was not done as he ran forward looking to finish the job.

"I can't believe that worked!" he thought excitedly. His body was filled with adrenaline and he could swear his gem was glowing as he charged at the downed behemoth.

"I can do this myself! I can protect them! I can do this!" He felt his weapon appear in hand and planned to push the monster into a snowbank he spotted, or possibly retaliate if it somehow got up for a second round. He readied his shield, holding it straight at the monster's underside and made contact.

And then it poofed. One minute it was still struggling to get up, thrashing at the ground with its trunk and tail in rage, and the next minute nothing! All that remained was a purple square which Steven bubbled without a second thought. Before he could send it back to the temple, he heard someone running up to him.

"Hang on, Steven!" Pearl shouted over the arctic wind, unaware the danger had passed. She had spears in both hands, radiating righteous fury, ready to protect her beloved Steven.

"Pearl, it's okay!" he cheered and showed the now bubbled gem, "I did it! I stopped the monster!"

The older gem was baffled at first. While her mind struggled to catch up on how, pride quickly began to overtake as she hugged Steven. They embraced each other as the winds began to die down and the clouds parted. The sunshine lit them and the plain up as peace and quiet was restored to the tundra once more. As Pearl let go of her charge, however, the weapon still in Steven's hand caught her eye.

"Steven, where did you get that?" she asked tepidly.

"What do you mean, Pearl?"

"I mean, when did you get my spear?"

The young boy had no idea what she was talking about. He looked at his weapon, still summoned in his one hand, only to see the point of a pink spear.

"WHAT THE?!" shouted Steven in disbelief. He could have sworn he was holding his shield, but his eyes were not playing tricks on him. Pearl stood up, completely baffled, as she pulled her own spear out for comparison.

The only differences between the two was the color with Steven's being pink to match his gem and the size as he was several feet shorter. There was no mistaking it. Steven had somehow copied Pearl's weapon in the heat of the battle. The two began trudging through the snow in stunned silence with Steven keeping his spear out. He gripped it as hard as he could in case this all turned out to be an elaborate dream.

Surprised? Just wait for more cliffhangers, more emotional turmoil, and more of Pearl being the overbearing yet lovable nutjob we've all come to love!

Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave any questions or comments below.