Hello all, I'm here with another chapter for this story...well duh, of course that's what this is. Idk, just feel I need to say something every time I write a chapter, not sure why.

Also, I would just like to make it clear: I do not agree with Steven's thought of "it's my fault that Connie doesn't hang around me anymore" in the slightest, I just want him and his thoughts about a situation like this to be realistic...for the time being.

Anyway, get ready for a long chapter.

-=Earth/Steven's house=-

-=Steven/Spinel=-

The duo appeared in Steven's Diamond tower on his galaxy warp. Spinel looked up at the glass roof and shielded her eyes.

"Why's it so bright here?" She complained much to Steven's amusement.

"I guess you've never been on a planet with the sun so close huh?" Steven chuckled, stepping off the warp pad.

"That light is your SUN?! How do you organics survive with that flaming ball of light and heat so close?" She asked, refusing to leave the warp pad.

"It's really not that bad, it only gets hot here during summer and spring. I mean sure, Homeworld's closest star is too far away to really burn the planet or blind its residents, but it still keeps it somehow livable, even if it's pretty cold like all the time." Steven explained as he opened the door.

"But if it's really that bright I can lend you some sunglasses if need be." He offered with another chuckle at the thought of Spinel with sunglasses. "They'll make the light from the sun dimmer."

Spinel just sighed as she removed her hands. "No, it's fine. I'm a Gem, we get used to different environments very fast, my eyes are already adjusting."

"If you say so." Steven shrugged, waiting at the door as she walked over. "That's probably the worst it'll be here, I can't immediately think of anything that could mess with our trip."

"Alright, if you say so. Anyway, you said you had a day planned for us, what are we doing first?" She asked curiously with a smile, making her way outside and onto the balcony.

"Well first I wanted you to meet my friends here on earth, I'm sure they will take to you quickly." Steven said as he lead her down to his room.

"So, is this where you live when you're here on earth?" She asked, associating the bed with sleep and sleep with his room back on Homeworld.

"Yep, though I've only really slept in it maybe twice; I'm usually back on Homeworld when it turns night." He explained, looking around his room with a smile. "Bismuth actually built this entire place with the help of Lapis and Peridot."

"I assume those are some of your friends I'll be meeting today then?" She asked, standing next to the sliding door.

"Maybe, it depends if we come across them, I kinda want to focus on having a fun day with you this time, but first, let's see if Pear and Amethyst are home." He said, walking over to the stairs that lead down to the living area.

Spinel followed him down, slightly nervous about meeting some of Pink's old friends that she thought were good enough to keep with her during the war.

Once she got down to the bottom of the stairs, Steven had already talked to Amethyst and Pearl, both of them seemingly waiting for her arrival.

Pearl was the first to speak up about her, "Wait, Spinel, is that you?..."

The Gem in question was admittedly irritated by the fact that this was the Pearl that Steven had been talking about. "Well, Pink Diamond's Pearl, I see she took you with her, isn't that just swell?"

Needless to say, Steven was taken back by Spinel's attitude at Pearl. "Wait, you two know each other?"

"Of course we do, she was always standing at the warp pad when me and Pink would play together. Of course she would take the silent and dutiful Pearl with her, someone had to have undying loyalty to her because they knew she was a Diamond." Spinel said bitterly.

"Hey now, maybe we should just calm down and have a peaceful conversation?" Steven chuckled nervously while Amethyst just gave a laugh as she munched on some food.

"How dare you?! I'm sorry that she preferred to take a Gem that was capable of being more than just a toy. And I didn't follow her because she was a Diamond, I followed her because I loved her." Pearl shot back crossing her arms.

"Ha, you loved her? Well it seems that she was just leading you on for her own benefit, looks like neither of us amounted to anything more than just toys." Spinel said, giving a knowing smile when she saw the hurt look on Pearl's face.

Pearl's look of hurt turned to one of anger. "How dare you assume anything like that! You don't know anything about Rose, you were only there for an occasional a joke!"

"A joke huh? The only joke here is you and your supposed love for your Diamond." Spinel frowned.

Pearl just glared as she summoned her spear, Spinel responding by inflating her fists. Steven wasn't going to let this go any further, summoning two shields and blocking both of their attacks.

"What do you two think you're doing?!" He shouted, a powerful pulse coming from his shields and sending the two of them flying back a few feet.

"She started it!" Pearl argued in her defense after getting over the initial shock of being on the wrong side of his shield.

"Woah there you two, no weapons in the house. I don't know who this Gem is and what y'alls problems are with each other, but like Steven said, you need to calm down and talk this out." Amethyst said, still not getting up from her spot on the couch.

"Amethyst is right, arguing is one thing, trying to fight each other is something else entirely!" Steven said, throwing his arms in the air.

"Yeah, that was really uncalled for." Spinel said, crossing her arms and looking away, assuming that Steven was siding with her.

"That goes for you too Spinel," He reminded her. "You started all of this, what mom did to you was bad, but it has nothing to do with Pearl; talking to her like that was just as uncalled for." He scolded her.

While on one hand, she was surprised to see Steven wasn't taking her side, she also knew that meant that she must be in the wrong as well. "R-right... I guess I just let jealousy get to me...I'm sorry."

"And Pearl, do you have anything to say to her?" Steven asked, turning to the pale Gem with an expectant look.

"Oh fine, I'm sorry for pulling my weapon on you and for what I said." Pearl apologized quickly, seemingly not happy that she had to apologize as well.

"There, now let's start this again." He sighed as his shields disappeared. "This time, let's just do Amethyst."

"Yo, you were really laying into P there." Amethyst snickered as she playfully elbowed Pearl.

"...right, my name is Spinel, but I guess you know that much." The pink Gem sighed as she held her hand out for a handshake.

Amethyst grabbed her hand and pulled her over, putting an arm over her shoulder. "So, how you know my little bro here?" She grinned.

"Well, he came and retrieved me from the guardian where I was left alone for six thousand years. Long story short, I live with him and the other Diamonds now." She explained, stepping away from her.

"I see, Steven got you your own place in the top secret Diamond house huh? How'd he manage that?" Amethyst chuckled as she sat back down on her couch next to Pearl.

"Well, they weren't going to let me stay at first but Steven convinced them that there was room for me in his room." Spinel said, oblivious to the implications that would have to Gems familiar with earth culture.

"He what?!" Pearl said in her usual screechy voice she used when she was upset about something.

"Alright, way to go Steven." Amethyst laughed. "Guess that's what happens when humans get that puberty thing."

Steven blushed as he quickly intervened before Amethyst made the whole thing worse. "It's not like that, there was just no where else for her to stay other than the garden."

"Steven, this is unacceptable, just think about what your father would say about something like this!" Pearl scolded him.

"Geez Pearl, calm down, he's practically an adult now, let him do what he wants...heh, or who he wants, am I right Stee-man?" Amethyst smirked as she walked over to him.

"You're insinuations aren't helping, Amethyst." He whined, now red in the face while Spinel just stood there confused. "Listen, she has her own blow up mattress, and even then she just sits in my closet and reads or something while I sleep, nothing more than that, so will you please stop?"

"Alright, fine." Amethyst sighed over dramatically. "In all seriousness, I don't think he'd be the type to take advantage of a clueless girl, I mean just look at her."

Spinel just stood there, visibly confused about the whole situation. "Hey, I'm not clueless!" She insisted before leaning over to Steven and whispering to him, "Steven, what are they talking about?"

"It's nothing, Amethyst is just teasing me." He sighed as he sat down on the couch.

"Oh, like how that Citrine was teasing you about that love thing?" She asked as she sat down next to him.

"Oh? Who else is teasing you? That's my job." Amethyst asked. "And what's this about love?"

Spinel went to explain how Citrine accused her of being in love with Steven, but Steven was quick to interrupt her. "Don't give her more ammunition."

"Anyway, do either of you know where Garnet is? I need to talk to her." Steven asked, looking around for any sign of the fusion.

"Eh, she said something about a personal mission and left a couple minutes before you came down." Amethyst said, still seeming to have bitter feeling against her. "Why do you want to talk to her anyway? Aren't you two still all awkward around each other from that thing last year?"

"I don't know about Garnet, but I want to fix this whole thing. I mean, even when her and Pearl were fighting it didn't last this long, while I haven't even had a proper conversation with her in over a year." Steven sighed as he stood up.

"Just call me if she comes back, it's important that I do this before I go back to Homeworld." He said before walking to the door, Spinel in tow.

The two walked down the beach, Spinel stopping every so often to pick up a shell she found interesting.

"You got quite the collection there, I'll see if Dewey can spare a baggie at The Big Doughnut, we can bring them back to Homeworld, maybe even set up your own little area in the bedroom." He offered as they approached the doughnut shop.

"What's a Big Doughnut?" She asked, looking through all the shells she had picked up so far.

"Well, it's where you go to get doughnuts, and before you even ask, a doughnut is another type of food and they taste really good." He explained as he opened the door, leading her inside.

"Ah, hello there Universe." Dewey waved after noticing Steven enter the shop. "What brings you back so soon?"

"Hey Dewey," Steven said, returning a friendly wave as he approached the counter. "I'm just showing my friend from

Homeworld around Beach City."

"Oh, another one of those space rock ladies; Crystal Gems, right?" He asked looking over to Spinel who just gave a small wave and smile from behind Steven.

"No, there's a difference between Crystal Gems and Homeworld Gems, it's kind of complicated though." Steven chuckled.

"I'll take your word for it, Universe." Dewey said, giving a hearty laugh. "Anyway, what'll it be today?"

"Can I just get a bag?" Steven asked, lookin over the doughnuts on display.

"Sorry, it's kind of customary that we sell at least one doughnut for each bag." Dewey apologized. "Anyway, you could used a doughnut, you're looking a lot thinner than the last time I saw you."

"Well, I'm that case, I'll have a chocolate on red velvet and- uh, go ahead and pick one from here," Steven instructed, showing Spinel the display of doughnuts.

"I'll have what he's having then." Spinel said, trusting his judgment on the food rather than just how it looks.

"Alright then, your total is $3.65; I'd give you it on the house for the new customer, but my boss is on my back about me giving out freebies." He chuckled nervously, glancing over to a newly installed camera.

"Heh, that's fine Dewey, I should pay for my food just like everyone else." Steven said as he opened his wallet, giving Dewey a five. "Go ahead and keep the change, I owe at least that much for the 'on the house' doughnuts you've been giving me so far."

"Alright then Universe, have a nice day." The ex-mayor said as he gave Steven the bag.

"You too, and good luck with your boss." He said with a wave as he left the shop.

"Alright Spinel, go ahead and take this, I'll just put your shells in here." He offered, handing her the doughnut and putting her small collection into the newly empty bag.

Steven and Spinel ate their doughnuts as they walked down the boardwalk, Steven waiving to the townies and uncorrupted Gems as they passed by.

Spinel had finished before Steven was even halfway done with his doughnut. "That was so good!" She grinned once she had swallowed.

"Yeah, I've really liked these since I was a kid, my friends Sadie and Lars actually used to work there." He said, thinking back to when his life was simple. "But then Sadie joined a band, and Lars died and came back as a space pirate; needless to say, their lives have been hectic."

"Eh, I think I would call our lives 'interesting' more than anything." Lars chuckled from behind them.

Steven turned around to see that Lars and Sadie had just left Fish Stew Pizza. Lars was in his new usual attire of a black shirt and brown jacket, and Sadie was wearing a purple tee shirt and carrying a pizza; the shirt pretty casual attire compared to the whole rock getup Steven usually saw her in.

"Oh, hey guys, I was just telling Spinel about you." Steven. "Spinel, meet Lars and Sadie. Lars and Sadie, meet Spinel."

"Hey, nice to meet you both." Spinel waved as she stepped forward and shaking their hands.

"Nice to meet you too, I'm Lars." The undead teen greeted with a nod.

"I'm Sadie." The green haired girl said, smiling as she shook Spinel's hand.

"So guys, how's life been treating you?" Steven asked as he walked over to the couple.

"Well, Sadie Killer and the Suspects have been getting more and more popular; we're even getting gigs out of state, so it's been pretty good." Sadie said with enthusiasm.

"And I've recently gotten permission from Nanefua to open my own bakery with the off colors; we've gotten the building, now we just need to decorate it and whatnot." Lars explained, much to Steven's surprise.

"Wait, you're actually going public with your baking hobby? That's great Lars, I'm glad you're letting yourself follow your passion." Steven grinned, thinking about how great it would be to have a bakery run by Lars in town.

"Yeah, it was actually the off colors who insisted on it after trying some of my stuff. Honestly, I'm not sure what I was so worried about before, even Buck, Jenny, and Sour Cream like the idea." Lars chuckled. "Anyway, enough about me, what's been happening with you? I'm sure taking apart and rebuilding an entire empire isn't exactly relaxing or easy, how's all that going?"

"Yeah, I guess it can be a bit stressful at times, but I think the hard part is over; the Diamonds seemed to have changed, even if only for my sake, we've made peace with many of the races that Homeworld has wronged, and all of the Gems that once lived solely for their Diamonds have all been liberated." He responded with a sigh. "But even then, I'm still not done. We still gotta finish up making peace with the rest of the surviving alien races and get everyone comfortable with the new rules and their new lives."

"Dang Steven, you should take a vacation, that's a lot for a fifteen year old to take on." Sadie said sympathetically.

"So I've been told, but I just can't. I honestly couldn't relax knowing that there's still so much to fix while I'm just going on vacation, plus I think things are about to get worse, Yellow was giving ominous warnings before I got here." He explained.

"Just don't take on too much at once; you still have your whole life ahead of you, don't go cutting years off of it by stressing yourself out so much." Lars warned. "Anyway, I gotta get back to the bakery, see you around?"

"Yeah, I'll definitely have to come by and try some of your cooking, I'm sure Spinel would like to try some too." Steven said, turning to the oddly quiet Gem.

"Hm? Oh, yes, I would love to come back and try some more earth stuff at some point." She said, though she seemed distracted by something back behind them on the roof.

"Good to hear." Lars waved as he began walking away down the boardwalk.

"Yeah, I should get going too, I just stopped by here to grab a pizza for the band, rehearsal starts in like ten minutes, so I should start walking if I want to make it" Sadie said, bringing attention to the pizza box she had in her hands.

"Alright then, I'll see you later." Steven said with a smile. "Have fun and say hello to Barbara for me."

"Will do, Steven, I'll see you around." Sadie said with a wave, walking into the town.

"Alright then, I guess next we can go and try Fun Land." Steven said, turning to Spinel. "As the name suggests, it's pretty fun there, I'm sure you'll have a good time."

"If you say so." She responded with a smile. The two of them make their way to the arcade first.

"So, what kind of games do you like?" Steven asked as they walked into the dark place, it only being illuminated by the lights from the screens of the many video games.

Spinel's face lit up at the question. "Well, I like tag, hide and seek, juggling, truth or dare, and a whole bunch of other things."

"Hehe, not like those. Actually, I guess you wouldn't know what a video game is." Steven chuckled when he realized she wouldn't have understood his question. "How about we start with...oh, let's try this one."

He brought her over to a racing game, sitting down in one seat and patting the other one next to him. "Come on, take a seat, I'll explain how it works."

Spinel sat next to him, copying how he was sitting with his feet at the pedals and his hands on the wheel.

"Alright, so here on earth we use cars to get around, and you use the peddles to move them, just press your foot on that one down there to go forward and the other one slows it down and stops it, and if you hold it down after your stopped, you'll go backwards." He explained the controls. "You think you got all that?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I understand." She nodded, looking up to the screen. "So then what's the objective here?"

"Well, you'll be racing other people who are in cars too. Just follow the path it gives you, and try to be the first one to the finish line in the third lap." He said sliding two quarters in each game.

After the game started, Spinel stomped on the pedal as soon as it said go. Her eyes lit up in joy as she began moving at high speeds. She laughed happily as she swerved down the road.

"Steven, look, am I'm doing it right?!" She asked excitedly, seeming to be having the time of her life.

Steven glanced over and gave a light chuckle. "You're doing great Spinel, you're a natural."

Spinel ended up coming in second for her race, having lost first place nearly a second before crossing the finish line. She was upset at first but felt better seeing that Steven came in fifth on his, him telling her how well she did for her first time playing, and that she shouldn't feel bad for not getting first place.

After that they played ski ball, Steven having to explain that her stretching her limbs was cheating, then Road Fighter, Circle Man vs Ghosts, and a large number of different games, Spinel excelling in all of them.

"Wow, you're really good at video games, I'm sure you could become a professional at this." Steven complimented her as she looked over her accumulated mass of tickets.

"Well, I am made for playing, maybe it's just in my gem to be good whenever I play something." She shrugged, flipping through the tickets. "Anyway, what are these for?"

"Oh, well if you win a game or do really good, you get tickets, they can be exchanged for prizes up at the front." He explained as he lead her over to Mister Smiley who was sitting behind the counter.

"Steven! How's it going?" The man smiled as he stood up. "Heheh, it's been a while since my games have been broken, what brings you back?...you didn't break another did you?"

"No Mister Smiley, everything is just as it was when we got here." Steven chuckled, understanding it was a joke. "But you may be missing quite a few tickets from your machines."

Steven motioned onto Spinel to set them on the counter. She walked up to the counter and set them down, the man giving a look of shock.

"Well well well, it seems we have a new gamer in town; who may this be?" He asked, leaning on the counter, realizing he hadn't seen this Gem around yet.

"Hi, I'm Spinel, I'm visiting earth today with Steven." She greeted with a smile, shaking his hand.

"Ha, well it's nice to meet a new face; we seem to be getting a lot of those around here lately." He said, returning her hand shake.

"Yeah, it's a nice change." Steven says, looking out the entrance to see a few uncorrupted Gems pass by. "For all of us."

"So, what'll it be kids, you can pick anything from the third shelf down and below." The manager said as he stepped aside.

Spinel just stood there, looking at Steven expectantly. "Uh, Spinel, these are your tickets, go ahead and pick a prize, you can have whatever you want as long as you have enough for it."

"Are you sure? You used your currency to get them for me." Spinel asked, unsure about accepting them.

"Yeah, you played the games that earned them, I wouldn't be able to win all those, that was all you." Steven said with a nod.

"Alright then...well, if it's my decision, I want the magenta thing holding the heart," She picked, pointing to a stuffed bear with a heart in its hands before doing the math on what she had left.

"and I want that pink thing on the fourth shelf down." She said, pointing to a pink Lion.

"Alrighty then, here you go." Mister Smiley said, handing the two plushies to her. "Now you two kids have fun and try not to break anything or terrorize my customers." He chuckled, though Steven could tell it was less of a joke this time.

"Alright then, see you later." Steven laughed nervously as he lead Spinel out of the arcade. "So, I was thinking we could ride a roller coaster next."

"Steven, I want you to have this." Spinel said, ignoring what he had previously suggested. She held out the pink lion that she had picked out.

"Oh, I really couldn't Spinel, you won that fair and square." Steven said, holding his hands up with a smile.

"But, I picked this out specifically for you to have..." She said, lookin down to the plushie that she was holding out. "Please accept my gift, these can be symbols of the memories we have made and will make today."

"Well, I guess I can't say no when you put it like that." Steven said, taking ahold of the small lion. "You know, it's kinda funny you'd choose this."

"Really? Why's that, is that a funny animal here on earth?" Spinel asked, eyeing the gift she gave to him.

"Not really, they're fearsome predators known as the Kings of the Jungle." He chuckled. "Well, all but my lion I guess, he's kind of lazy and silly sometimes, the funny part is that he's pink too."

"Oh, yeah that is funny." She laughed. "But I didn't know you had one of those, is it on Homeworld and I just didn't see it?"

"No, he's usually with an old friend of mine...I can't really call him mine anymore, he seems to like her and being around her more than me, but hey, what can you do." Steven shrugged with a forced smile but saddening internally at the memories the three of them shared together.

"Well, if he doesn't want to be around someone as great as you, who needs him, huh?" Spinel grinned as she put a arm over his shoulder playfully like Amethyst has demonstrated earlier. "You got me now after all, your new best friend, Spinel."

"Heh, you're right, let him hang with whoever he wants, I got a new best friend now." Steven said, cheering up and giving a genuine smile.

"That's the spirit!" She said, letting him go. "So, what's a rollercoaster?" She asked, referring to his suggestion to go ride one.

Steven just smiled, leading her to the amusement part area of Fun Land, forgetting about anything that could've upset him before.

They spent their day having fun, eating junk food, and just over all enjoying each other's presence, Spinel finding to mirrors that altered her appearance very interesting, deciding to give nearly an hour of her time stretching her limbs to get different visual outcomes.

Now, Steven was heading back to the temple so he could hopefully talk to Garnet before he left.

"Steven, who is that human who has been following us and watching us since the Doughnut?" She asked suddenly, pointing over to the corner of a building where someone could be seen watching them.

Steven saw this person but they quickly hid behind the wall. The hybrid sighed as he started making his way over to the building.

Once they got there, they saw Ronaldo hiding behind a dumpster. "Should've known..." Steven though with another sigh.

"Ronaldo, why are you spying on us?" Steven asked, crossing his arms. Ronaldo has done some annoying things over the time that Steven has known him, and he had come to realize that if he wanted Ronaldo to actually act like a person when he was at least around him, that he'd have to put his foot down with all the weird, creepy, and selfish things Ronaldo was known to do

"STEVEN!" He smiled nervously as he jumped up, dropping his notebook in the process. "I didn't see you there, how's it going?"

"Right...so what's the big idea here?" Steven asked again, already starting to feel fed up with the annoying teen.

"Well I'm conducting a study on Gem behavior and whatnot, so once I saw you with a Gem you haven't introduced me to, I knew she would be the perfect Gem to study." Renaldo explained as if the whole stalking situation wasn't a big deal at all. "Anyway, since you were somehow able to sense my presence, would you mind an interview?" He asked Spinel.

"Uhh...Steven?" She says, looking to him for help, obviously becoming uncomfortable by the strange person.

"Ronaldo, we have a lot to do today, we don't have time for one of your interviews, and would you please stop stalking us while we try and enjoy our day? There're like a hundred Gems around now, can't you just go mess with one of them?" Steven asked.

"Hmm, very interesting..." He says, suspension heavy in his voice before walking off.

Spinel spotted his notebook on the ground and picked it up, reading through it. "This guy is weird...why has he been documenting all these Gems?...Including me?!"

"What?" Steven takes the notebook and goes through it, seeing that it was filled almost cover to cover with information about the Gems from little Homeworld and yes, even Spinel, and most of it seemed to be done by spying on them.

Each Gem had a written description along with a photo that was taped to the page, Spinel's photo seeming to be taken from maybe a roof? They also had what Steven would imagine to be sensitive information: each Gem had a portion called "secrets" where a bunch of what Steven assumes to be secrets from each Gem were written down, some of them, secrets that could be used against them, but Spinel still had little to no info.

Another subject was strengths and weaknesses. While Steven was well aware that Ronaldo didn't stand a chance against and Gem, this sort of information could be very dangerous when in the wrong hands.

"I see Ronaldo has been keeping himself busy since I've been gone." Steven sighed as he closed the book. "Let's just hope that he's just geeking out over these Gems and it's nothing more than that."

"Is he another one of your friends?" Spinel asked, doubting that this human could possibly make friends.

"Eh, I guess somewhat. We hung out a few times when I was living here, but in the end, he would usually run into Gem problems and try to make it seem supernatural and about himself, or he would end up just being an annoying jerk, like the time I made him an honorary Crystal Gem." Steven explained. "Honestly, after reading this, I don't know how well I trust him."

"Really? Was his first one better or something?" Spinel asked with a raised brow.

"What do you mean, first one?" He asked her, with an equally confused look.

"The name of that book, it says: "Gem Research #2"." She points out as Steven flips it over to see that she's right.

"But- this thing has practically every uncorrupted Gem in it, who else-" Then it hit him. Reinaldo has one of these with the Crystal Gems in it as well.

Now he was really worried, sure there was peace for now, but if those logs actually fell into the wrong hands, no Gem would be safe depending on how accurate they were, and as far as he knew, everything in this book was right, all his new friends were recorded in this book accurately.

"We really need to go get the Gems." Steven said, rushing to the temple with Spinel in tow.

-=End Of Chapter=-

Well...that took forever and a half to write. Anyway, this is probably my longest chapter of anything that I've ever made, sorry for the 5k words, it all just fits into one chapter without any way to separate it into two chapters.

Anyway, as always-

Good morning, goodnight, or good afternoon, I'll see you all again soon.