Chapter Five

Not Like Anybody

(Several Years Ago)

There was a knock on the door of the finished beach house. It had only been around for a few months, but everyone in town had known about it, and knew the inhabitants.

A tall woman with short blonde hair stood in front of the door holding some flyers. She was the only one who was brave enough to deliver mail here, and she couldn't blame the others for being cowards.

There wasn't an "official" address, the inhabitants didn't think it was necessary to do so since they have been around before Beach City has been around. At least that's what they say, and quite frankly the town was willing to believe them since they kept things safe.

Barbara waited for longer than usual when the tall pink haired owner of the house, Rose, answered the door, holding her young sleeping son, Steven.

"Hello Barbara, how can I help you?" Rose asked, her voice quiet enough to make sure Steven was asleep.

"I'm just here to deliver some flyers. Mr. Smiley is doing an event called Beach a Palooza," Barbara whispered, handing a flyer to Rose. She looked over the flyer, "BEACH A PALOOZA! BIGGEST PARTY OF THE YEAR!"

Rose gave a small smile and said, "Thank you, I'll tell the others about, and maybe we'll take Steven if he's up for it."

At the sound of his name Steven opened his eyes and looked at his mother. He gave a small smile and Rose returned the smile tenfold. Barbara knew better than to interrupt, so she silently waved and left. Once Barbara was out of view, Rose walked inside, holding the flyer.

"Who was at the door?" a familiar voice called.

Rose looked up and saw Pearl standing in front of the warp pad, ready to leave for a mission.

"Oh, it was Barbara. She was delivering flyers for a festival that is happening soon," Rose said, showing the flyer to Pearl. As Pearl grabbed the flyer, Rose set Steven down on his bed. He would normally take naps around this time of day, so Rose did her best to keep him well rested.

"I was thinking about taking Steven to the festival," Rose said, "He should see the townspeople at the very least."

"I don't know how well he would handle the loud noise. Remember when that fair was in town?" Pearl replied.

"Well that had loud machinery…and a monster attacked, so it made sense for Steven to not be comfortable. I think this is just to showcase the people of town being who they are," Rose said, walking down the stairs.

Pearl continued to look through the flyer, noticing some small print, "Oh, it seems as if they are recruiting performers."

"Well they would have to, otherwise it would be a lackluster festival," Rose replied, lost in thought. Rose hadn't left the temple with Steven in quite some time. Some change in scenery would be nice.

(Present Day)

Steven was walking around town passing out flyers for the upcoming Beach a Palooza. Steven was extremely excited because it was the one event of the year that showcased the talents of the citizens of Beach City.

Steven didn't have an act this year. He had been training so much these past few weeks that he didn't have time to plan one.

Mr. Smiley knew that Steven would have liked to perform, so he gave Steven the title "Assistant Showrunner", which meant that Steven would still be involved with Beach a Palooza, but didn't have the stresses of trying to come up with an act last minute.

Steven posted the flyers on any open wall that didn't have a flyer on it already and it wasn't long until he ran out of flyers. He began to run to where the stage was being set up to pick up some more flyers when he noticed Mayor Dewey walking to the stage.

Steven called out, "Hi Mayor Dewey!"

Mayor Dewey turned around and gave an exaggerated wide smile. He said, "Ah Steven, what a pleasant surprise! I thought you didn't have an act this year!"

"I don't, I'm helping Mr. Smiley advertise. I am an Assistant Showrunner!" Steven said proudly.

"I see. Well that makes this easier, can you give this to Mr. Smiley?" Mayor Dewey said, holding out an envelope. Steven grabbed and said, "Sure thing."

Mayor Dewey gave a quick smile and walked away. Steven began looking for Mr. Smiley and found him talking to one of the people setting up the stage.

"Make sure that it's red, blue, red, blue and not blue, red, blue, red!" Mr. Smiley said, hands on his hips. He noticed Steven walking towards him and said, "Steven! Ran out of flyers already?"

"Yeah, oh and Mayor Dewey wanted you to have this," Steven replied, giving Mr. Smiley the letter. He looked confused, but took the letter and opened it. His eyes scanned through the page, and his smile slowly faltered.

After finishing the letter he said, "Steven, I have to go."

Steven was shocked, "What happened?"

"My momma…isn't doing too well," Mr. Smiley said, careful about his words, "I've got to go to Keystone to help her."

"Is she going to be ok?" Steven asked, concern apparent in his voice.

Mr. Smiley replied, "She'll be much better when I get there."

Steven gave a small smile, "Well you go ahead, I'll take care of Beach a Palooza!"

"It's not gonna be easy Steven. You sure you can handle it?" Mr. Smiley asked.

"Absolutely!" Steven said confidently.

Mr. Smiley rubbed the back of his neck and then said, "Well I need to make sure it's ok with your mom first. You know, legal stuff."

Steven nodded, grabbed Mr. Smiley's and led him to the beach house. Amethyst was outside eating a sandwich when she noticed the two walking to the house.

"Hey Amethyst! Do you know where my mom is? I need to ask her something," Steven said.

"She's on a mission right now, sorry bud," Amethyst said in between bites of her sandwich.

Steven groaned when the door opened. As if by pure coincidence Rose walked outside, with a bubbled Gem in her hand. She was surprised to see Mr. Smiley and said, "Harold, what a surprise! How can I help you?"

Mr. Smiley looked at Steven and back to Rose and said, "Can I talk to you about something…in private?"

Rose looked somewhat concerned. She had the bubble disappear and opened the door, inviting Mr. Smiley in.

Mr. Smiley walked slowly and once he went inside, Steven could hear the two voices talking briefly. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he figured that they were talking about Beach a Palooza.

Steven sat at the base of the steps and waited for the two to come out. Amethyst walked down the steps and sat right next to Steven.

"So what's up with Smiley?" Amethyst asked, still eating her sandwich.

"Oh, his mom is sick and he needs someone to run Beach a Palooza," Steven replied.

"So he's asking Rose to run Beach a Palooza?" Amethyst asked, finishing the last bite of the sandwich.

"No! He's asking if I could run Beach a Palooza!" Steven exclaimed.

Amethyst looked at him for a brief moment and before she could say something in reply, the door to the house opened.

Mr. Smiley and Rose both walked out, Mr. Smiley a little happier, and he said, "Well Steven, looks like you can run the show after all."

Steven jumped in the air, shouting with joy.

"Now Steven, it isn't gonna be easy, so I'll walk you through everything," Mr. Smiley said, leading Steven back to the stage.

Steven followed Mr. Smiley, waving goodbye to Rose and Amethyst as he began to listen to every word he said about running the show.

Amethyst looked at Rose and asked, "So what's up with Smiley's mom?"

Rose's face became a small frown and she replied, "She is…not well."

Amethyst looked confused, "You mean, like, sick?"

Rose nodded, "Very sick."

"Well, can't you just go over and heal her?" Amethyst asked.

"I offered, but Harold said that while he appreciates the offer…" Rose paused, "He doesn't think his mother would approve."

"Humans are so weird sometimes," Amethyst sighed.

"True…but that's what makes them human," Rose replied, a soft smile on her face.

Steven walked around backstage with a clipboard that Mr. Smiley had given him. On it was a checklist of things that needed to be done.

Most of the stage was built and the people who were going to perform already went through a rehearsal. The only things that were left to be done was to make sure that the show went as smoothly as possible.

Steven walked on the familiar stage and looked around, checking to make sure that everything was in its proper place.

"Steven!"

A familiar voice called out his name. He looked around and saw Kiki Pizza walking towards him.

"Oh, hey Kiki!" Steven greeted.

Kiki was holding a flyer and said, "I've got bad news Steven."

"What happened?" Steven asked, very concerned.

"My Dad has me and Jenny working late tomorrow night so we can't do our act." Kiki said, very disappointed.

"What! But the Pizza Family Theater was the final act!" Steven exclaimed.

"I know, and we are really, really sorry," Kiki replied.

"Can't you convince Kofi to change his mind?" Steven asked.

"You know how my Dad is about work stuff," Kiki said.

Steven knew all too well. When Steven was younger he remembered the one time the Pizza's had looked after him. Kofi put him to work, and Steven smelled like fish for a week.

Kiki apologized once again, leaving to get back to work. Steven had a finger on his chin and thought of different solutions.

"Who can I get to be the final act of the show?" Steven said out loud. Before he could say anything he heard another familiar voice call.

"Steven!"

He turned to see that it was his mother, holding a sack lunch.

"Hey Mom," Steven said, walking to his mother.

Rose handed him the lunch, but when he didn't begin to eat the lunch she asked, "Is something wrong, Steven?"

"Kiki and Jenny can't perform tomorrow. They have work that night so we don't have a final act anymore," Steven said, slowly opening the sack lunch. He pulled out a cookie in the shape of a star and began to slowly eat it.

"Well what if you extended the act before Kiki's and Jenny's?" Rose asked.

"I don't think Jamie can go longer than his allotted time. He's doing a dramatic reading of a poem that he wrote," Steven explained.

Rose looked around to see if anyone was around. She knelt next to Steven and whispered, "How about I perform?"

Steven stopped eating his cookie and gasped, "You want to be the final act!?"

Rose shushed him, "I want it to be a surprise,"

Steven shut his mouth, but it could only stay shut for so long when he smiled the widest smile he possibly could. He hugged his mother really tight and said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!"

Rose returned the embrace and said, "Anything for you."

Steven let go of the embrace and ran off to talk to one of the stage hands about a change in plans. Rose saw her son run around with an excited look that she hasn't seen for quite a while.

Rose walked away, waving good bye to Steven, and heading towards the temple. She saw Garnet walking towards the beach and said, "Good afternoon Garnet."

"Afternoon Rose," Garnet replied, stopping to look at her leader, "I would go with the third song, personally."

Rose smiled and nodded and began to hum the tune as she continued to walk to the house. Garnet gave a small smile in return and continued to walk to the beach. She saw the stage being set and looked back at the temple. Pearl was walking out, as Garnet predicted, and began to run hurriedly to Garnet.

"Garnet!" Pearl exclaimed, "Rose is going to perform tomorrow! We need to rehearse, set up a routine, and…"

Garnet held up her hand and said, "Rose is going to perform solo."

Pearl looked flabbergasted, "What?! What is she going to sing?"

Garnet replied, "She is going to sing his song,"

The day passed quickly and Steven came home late, tired as ever. Even though he had been training the past several weeks, running a festival was much harder than he thought.

On the bright side, Steven had managed to get everything set up for the show tomorrow.

"Let's see, first is Sour Cream with an opener, then Ronaldo's dis-disser-dissertation on how Sneeple are everywhere, Buck Dewey's sitting or something, Jamie doing his reading, and finally Mom with…"

Steven realized that he had no idea what Rose was going to do for Beach a Palooza. He looked around to see if she was around, but it was late so he figured that she would be in her room.

The house was often quiet at night, with very little activity, besides Amethyst getting the occasional midnight snack.

Steven walked to the temple door and placed his ear on the door. He did this every once in a while to see if he could hear anything on the other side.

A lot of times all he heard was silence.

Tonight was different.

It was faint, but he could hear something on the other side.

'Piano?' Steven thought to himself. He didn't know any of the Crystal Gems who could play the piano. Pearl would occasionally play the violin and Amethyst would bang on the drums.

Garnet played the keytar, but it sounded like a regular piano to him. It was a soft, slow melody that Steven didn't recognize, but it was soothing.

He turned to walk away and was stopped when he heard a voice. It was muffled by the door, but Steven could still recognize who it was.

"Mom?" Steven said to himself. He knew that his mother could sing, in fact he knew her to be an amazing singer, but he had never heard her play the piano.

He walked back to the door and rested his head on it, trying to see if he could hear what she was singing.

Steven tried to place the song, but the melody didn't match anything that he had heard before. He couldn't tell what the lyrics were either, but the door made everything sound muffled.

He sighed and walked back to his bed, his mother slowly becoming quieter the farther he went.

When he reached his bed the only thing could be heard was the piano, and even that was barely audible. He tried to listen to the song for as long as he could, but eventually the house became silent.

The familiar sound of silence echoed through the house.

Steven was up early.

In fact much earlier than usual.

He took his clipboard and ran through the list over and over again. Mr. Smiley told him that the best hosts knows the routine forwards and backwards, so Steven was doing exactly that.

He made sure that every routine, every part of the schedule was committed to his memory. From who was performing, to the jokes he was going to use to introduce the next act, to even knowing exactly what the performance was going to entail.

The only problem he had was with his mother's performance.

He still had no idea exactly what his mother was going to do. Were the other Crystal Gems going to perform? Did she need a light show? What was she going to sing?

The door to the temple opened and Rose walked out, looking around. When she saw Steven, she beamed and walked towards him.

"Good morning Steven, you're up early," Rose said cheerfully.

Steven replied, "Well I just wanted to go over the show. You know, make sure I know everything."

"That's a smart thing to do," Rose said.

Steven looked to the clipboard and asked, "So what's your routine going to be Mom?"

"I'll be singing a song," Rose said simply.

"What song are you going to sing?" Steven asked.

Rose paused for a moment and then said, "A song that your father wrote for me."

Steven looked up from the clipboard back at his mother. He saw that Rose's eyes were becoming glassy, as if she wanted to cry, but didn't want to do it at the same time.

All Steven could say was, "O-oh…"

An awkward silence washed over the both of them.

"So…do you need anything for it?" Steven asked, breaking the silence.

"Just a piano and a spotlight," Rose said, sounding somewhat relieved.

Steven nodded and gave his mother a hug.

Steven loved hugging his mother. Somehow hugging her would make him feel as if everything was right in the world.

He had no problems and everything was going to be ok when he was hugging her.

This hug was no exception, but there was something not quite right about it. Rose returned the hug as expected, but it was much tighter than usual. It wasn't uncomfortable, but Steven did notice it.

Once the embrace was broken Rose said, "Well I need to take care of a few thing before tonight."

"Ok," Steven replied, returning to his clipboard to write down what his mother was going to do.

As Rose walked to the warp pad she called out, "Steven?"

Steven looked up from the clipboard, "Hmm?"

"I love you Steven," Rose said, a small smile on her face.

Steven returned the smile and said, "I love you too Mom."

Once Steven had replied, Rose warped away. Steven kept his eyes on the warp pad before he continued writing on the clipboard.

After a few minutes of coming up with a line to introduce his mother, he walked outside to go check on the stage.

It was still early so no one was at the stage yet. He looked at the lights and made sure that they were correctly positioned when he heard footsteps and music approaching.

He turned around and saw Sour Cream, rolling a large suitcase of some sort and wearing large orange headphones.

"Hey Sour Cream!" Steven said loudly. Sour Cream looked up, removed his headphones and replied, "Hey Steven."

"Are you ready for the show?" Steven asked. Sour Cream nodded and said, "Yeah man, just need to set up my gear and do some calibrations before I start the set."

Steven smiled and looked down at his clipboard. He checked the box that said "S.C. Prep".

"This is gonna be the best Beach a Palooza yet!" Steven exclaimed. Sour Cream said, "Keep those good vibes Steven."

Sour Cream walked on stage and opened his suitcase and asked, "Do you have a table around?"

Steven jumped off stage and went to the back to look for a table, when he heard a strange noise.

It sounded like…humming?

It was a low hum. A constant note, but not one that Steven was familiar with. He looked around and tried to place the sound, but there was no one else besides him and Sour Cream. Steven remembered that he was doing something, grabbed a nearby table and began walking back to Sour Cream.

The humming was constant and slowly became louder. Sour Cream was taking the last of his gear out when he noticed Steven.

"Hey Steven, you don't look too great. Are you ok man?" Sour Cream asked.

"Y-y-yeah I…I must be tired from all the Beach a Palooza planning," Steven managed to say, breath becoming ragged and sweat beginning to form.

Sour Cream became visibly worried, took the table and said, "Look Steven, it's cool if you're not up for this. You've been working super hard, so it's fine if you wanna take a break."

Steven was about to protest, but suddenly his vision slowly began to fade. He couldn't form any words and before he knew it, everything became black. He could hear Sour Cream exclaim something, but to him it was just muffled noise.

Steven opened his eyes to see that it was he was on the Beach a Palooza stage. Only there was something off about the whole thing. It was not early morning, but rather early dusk.

He saw dozens of chairs lined up facing the stage, but no one was occupying them. The corner of his eye caught familiar pink curls, so he turned around.

He saw his mother standing alone at a table, holding something.

He heard her say, "Space Train to the Cosmos?"

Steven confused and after a moment she laughed and said, "How will you get back?" A short pause, "Back to Earth?"

Steven had the urge to say something, but before he could he heard a loud crashing sound behind him. He turned to see what made the noise, only to see nothing. He turned back to see his mother, only to find that everything was deserted.

The stage he was standing on disappeared along with the chairs and the table.

Steven was standing on the beach.

Alone.

He yelled, "Hello?!"

No answer.

He tried again, "HELLO!?"

Nothing.

He was going to try for a third time when he heard a voice.

"Steven,"

It was a familiar voice, but Steven couldn't place it.

"Steven,"

He looked around to see who was calling his name.

"STEVEN!?" A loud voice cried, snapping Steven's eyes wide open. The sun was slowly rising and he was surrounded by several people.

Sour Cream, who looked out of breath, Sadie, Lars, and Nanefua Pizza, who was holding Steven's head in one hand and an orange and blue fish in the other.

Steven slowly sat up and asked, "W-what happened?"

"You…passed out man…I ran looking for help," Sour Cream said between breaths.

"Lars and I were getting ready for the day when Sour Cream ran in. We all ran to Nanefua after that," Sadie said.

"The best smelling salt in the entire world is the Tomacco Blue Striped Fish. I always have one handy," Nanefua said, gesturing to the fish she was holding.

Steven asked, "How long was I out?"

"About fifteen minutes, tops," Sour Cream said, now more composed.

Steven sighed and looked around for his clipboard. He made a motion to grab it when Sadie stopped him.

Steven looked confused.

"Steven, you need to take a break. It doesn't have to be long, just like an hour or something," Sadie began, "You're overworked, and you can't risk fainting during the show, right?"

Steven knew that she was right. He grabbed the clipboard and held it to Sour Cream, "Can you make sure that things go alright until I come back?"

Sour Cream nodded as he took the clipboard. Steven looked at the others and said, "I could use the rest."

Sadie and Nanefua nodded, and Lars remained relatively neutral. They all left to their respective businesses, and Sour Cream went back to set up.

Steven began walking to the temple, when he saw Garnet leaning on the cliff. She saw Steven walking toward him and she said, "Good morning Steven."

"Morning Garnet," Steven said, trying to keep a small smile, which Garnet returned.

"Hey Garnet?" Steven began, Garnet tilted her head in a questioning manner, "How…how did my Mom meet my Dad?"

Garnet maintain her stoic look, but visibly stiffened, "You should really ask your mother about that."

Steven replied, "I don't know if she'll tell me. Whenever I talk about Dad, Mom looks uncomfortable."

Garnet sighed and said, "Your mother met your father when she went to go to a concert on the beach. She was the only one who went, your father wanted to give her a shirt, and he managed to get to the temple, where we all met him."

Steven was silent for a while. He then asked, "What was he like?"

Garnet chuckled.

"He was a man with ambitious dreams of becoming a world famous musician. He gave up everything to be with your mother. The things that he did to make sure that you came to be could only be rivaled by what your mother was willing to do."

Steven sat down next to Garnet. Garnet sat down as well and Steven said, "If he could…do you think he would want to be here with me and Mom?"

Without any hesitation Garnet replied, "Without a doubt."

The two sat together in silence as they saw the sun rise. It had been much longer than Steven originally intended, but Steven didn't mind and neither did Garnet.

Steven stood up, brushed himself off and said, "Well I'm gonna go back to check on how things are going."

Garnet nodded as she saw Steven walking towards the stage. The sound of the warp pad signaled Rose's return. Garnet stood up and walked inside to see Rose walking to the temple door. The sound of the door closing alerted Rose and she turned around and said, "Oh, hello Garnet!"

"Hello Rose," Garnet replied.

"Have you been keeping an eye on Steven?" Rose asked.

"Of course," Garnet said.

"Did anything happen?" Rose asked as nonchalantly as she could.

"He fainted," Garnet said bluntly. Rose looked surprised and immediately asked, "Is he alright? Is he hurt? Do we have to cancel the show? Do we have to take him the fountain?"

"Yes, no, no, and no," Garnet replied, "He was only out for fourteen minutes. He was told to take a break and he did. He and I sat together for an hour and a half before he went back to work. Provided he takes his time and doesn't try to rush things, he will be fine."

Rose sighed in relief. Garnet continued, "Rose, he asked about Greg."

Rose stiffened as she looked at Garnet, "W-what?"

"Steven wanted to know how you and Greg met," Garnet said, "I told him that he should ask you, but he thought that you wouldn't be comfortable talking about him."

"I didn't…" Rose said, tears now beginning to form. Garnet slowly approached Rose when she looked up and grabbed Garnet in an embrace.

Garnet returned the embrace. Garnet said, "Rose…you need to talk to him. You need to be there for your son."

"I know," Rose said, tears freely falling.

The sun was beginning to set, marking the beginning of Beach a Palooza. Steven was wearing a suit jacket over his shirt and was going through his clipboard one last time behind the stage.

Sadie, who volunteered to be a stage hand, walked to Steven and said, "Steven, the show starts in two minutes, how are you feeling?"

Steven took a deep breath and nodded. Sadie had a look of doubt, but said, "If you say so."

Sadie walked away, and Steven set his clipboard on the table that held the water bottles. After glancing at the clipboard one last time, he began walking to the stage.

He waited for Sour Cream to start the first song, which began with a deep pulsating bass pulse. After eight pulses Steven walked on stage, right when the lights and the actual music started.

"Good evening Beach City!" Steven exclaimed into the microphone, "Welcome to Beach a Palooza, the biggest party of the year!"

The crowd began to applaud, Steven continued, "Let's get this party started right with Sour Cream!"

On cue, Sour Cream turned up the music and the song began to escalate. Once the light show began, Steven left the stage to get ready for the next act.

Steven knew that Sour Cream's set would be ten minutes and Ronaldo would be up right after. He looked around and saw Ronaldo going through some papers next to a chalkboard.

"Hey Ronaldo," Steven called.

Ronaldo looked up from his papers and gave a small wave, only to get back to his papers. Steven knew that this was normal for Ronaldo, so he looked around to see that Buck Dewey and Jamie were talking to each other.

The only one who wasn't around was his mother.

He peeked to the audience to see if she was on her way. He couldn't spot any signs of her, nor the other Crystal Gems.

"I beseech thee my lost love, for in the eyes of the grandest phoenix, thou art the only one to be still my heart," Jamie said, affecting his voice so much that he didn't need a microphone.

Steven was slowly becoming worried. Everything was going as planned, and it was nearing the finale. Jamie's dramatic reading was going to be about four more minutes, and Steven knew that it would take three minutes to set up the piano, so his mother had about seven minutes until she was set to perform.

He looked around, trying his hardest to see if Rose was coming by, terrified if the mission that she was on was taking much longer than usual.

His breathing became shallower as Jamie prattled on about love when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see his mother, with a sheepish smile.

"Mom!" Steven silently exclaimed, hugging her instantly.

Rose replied, "I am so sorry for taking so long. The mission went a little long, and then another thing came up. But I am here, ready to perform."

"Ok, when Jamie is done and we set up the piano, you'll be able to perform," Steven said as he was getting ready to tell the stage hands to get ready to set up the piano.

"Steven," Rose said, stopping her son in his tracks, "Will you help me with the song?"

Steven replied, "But…but I don't know the song you're going to sing!"

Rose gave a small smile and handed him several sheets of paper.

Music sheets.

"I had Pearl write the sheets last night," Rose said.

"But, I'm not that great on the piano," Steven said.

Rose knelt down, getting eye level with her son and said "I know you can do this, Steven. It isn't much and I made sure that Pearl made it simple enough for anyone to read."

Steven looked at the music sheets again. He noticed that Pearl wrote down the keys that needed to be pressed and when.

Steven took a deep breath and said, "I'll do it!"

Rose smiled. Before they could say anything else they heard applause, signaling the end of Jamie's performance. Steven looked to his mother and said, "I need to introduce us."

Rose nodded and let her son go.

Steven gave the music sheets to Sadie, saying to make sure that the sheets go with the piano. Steven walked on stage and began his introduction.

"Well that was a great performance Jamie! We need to set up for our final act, so stand tight everyone!"

As if on cue, the stage hands began moving the piano on stage, Sadie closely following with the music sheets. Once the piano was set, Steven grabbed a seat and sat down in front of the piano. Steven motioned for the lights to go out and for Rose to come on stage.

Once the lights dropped and Rose was center stage with a microphone in her hand, Steven played the first couple of chords and said into a microphone.

"Ladies and gentleman, ending our show is the one, the only, Rose Universe,"

He slowly began playing the piano as the spotlight shone on his mother. After playing a few chords, Rose lifted the microphone and began to sing.

(Several Years Ago)

Rose was walking back to the house, Steven sleeping in her arms. The two had spent the evening at Beach a Palooza, and Steven had the time of his life.

He spent his time talking with as many people as possible, introducing himself to people he didn't know and telling them how excited he was.

When the first performance went on stage, he was instantly enthralled. As each performance went on Steven became more and more entranced with everyone on stage.

Once the show had ended, Steven fell asleep, extremely tired with all the excitement. Rose smiled as she picked up her son to get him to bed.

Rose slowly opened the door to the house and managed to set Steven to sleep without as much as a peep. Steven slept soundly and Rose sat around, watching her son sleep.

Gems didn't need to sleep, but she found it fascinating when she saw humans sleep. They looked so innocent and relaxed, it made her wonder how they could look so peaceful when there are so many dangers in the world.

Gem dangers aside, there was human on human violence, sickness, natural disasters, and dozens of other things. Yet they can manage to close their eyes and let their troubles melt away.

She looked at her sleeping son, watching his chest slowly rise and fall. Rose gave a small sigh and began to hum.

She would often hum to help Steven sleep, or to just calm herself down. There was always a particular song that she would hum.

It was the last song that Greg had ever made for her. It was before he volunteered to sacrifice his physical form. It was meant to be a duet between the two of them, but they never got around to performing it.

It was the first piano song that Greg had made, and he even made a demo for it. Rose would play the tape every night until it was accidentally destroyed when building the house.

It wasn't anyone's fault, it was just a series of coincidences that crushed the tape. Since then Rose would hum the tune, which to her was just as good. She wouldn't sing the song, because it would have been too much for her.

When she finished humming the song, she looked back to her son. He was still fast asleep, but he had a smile on his face.

His smile made her smile. Steven had an infectious smile, just like his father. Rose's only wish was that his father was still around to be with him. Greg would have loved to be with his son, and Rose would have loved to be with them.

She would never regret anything that she did.

She never regretted the fact that she had abandoned her own kind. She never regretted keeping Amethyst, whose sole purpose was to fight, because she knew that Amethyst was much more than just a soldier. She had never regretted giving Pearl her own freedom, because she knew that Pearl could do amazing things, things that no other Gem could do. She never regretted Ruby and Sapphire permanently becoming Garnet, because she knew that their love for each other was much stronger than any Gem on Homeworld could ever imagine.

She had never regretted falling in love with Greg, because Greg made her realize what being in love meant. She never regretted giving birth to Steven, because she knew that one day he would become something more than she or Greg could ever imagine.

Her only regret was that she wished she could have Greg experience being a father. That they could all be together.

Be a real family.

Tears slowly began to pour from her eyes.

She made no attempt to stop it.

That's when she finally broke her own rule.

She began to sing his song.

"If I could, begin to be,

Half of what you think of me.

I could do about anything,

I could even learn how to love.

When I see, the way you act,

Wondering when I'm coming back,

I could do about anything,

I could even learn how to love

Like you.

If I could, just stay with you,

Then you'll know my love is true,

I will do about everything,

So you know that I learned to love,

Like you."

(Present Day)

Rose finished the song, tears slowly trickling down her face. Steven had finished playing the piano, tears forming in his eyes as well.

He looked to see the audience, families, friends, and complete strangers all closer together. Some were crying, but all were smiling. A slow applause grew into a cacophony of cheers, laughter and clapping.

Steven stepped away from the piano and walked to his mother.

He grabbed his mother's hand. Rose looked to her son and smiled and Steven smiled in return.

He always thought his mother had an infectious smile, so it was hard not to. They both faced the crowd and gave a bow, which garnered more applause.

It had been almost an hour after the performance, but the stage had nearly finished being dismantled.

Rose had offered to help, but Steven said that he could handle it. Rose was hesitant, but she let Steven help out in taking down the stage.

Whatever stage hands were around also helped, but slowly they began to whittle down to only Steven and Sadie.

The only thing that was left to do was to take the lights back to Mr. Smiley's house. He didn't live too far from where the stage was set up, and since there was a cart to carry the lights, Steven volunteered to take them.

Sadie didn't want to leave Steven alone, but he insisted that he would be fine. She relented and let Steven walk to Mr. Smiley's house.

Steven's body ached from all the hard work, but he knew that it would all be done soon. He walked on the quiet boardwalk, cart in tow and as he approached the house, he heard a motorcycle rev nearby.

Steven turned around to see a familiar figure drive up to the house.

"Hi Mr. Smiley!" Steven said.

Mr. Smiley parked his motorcycle and replied, "Hey Steven! I heard about how the show went from Barb! Sounds like you did an amazing job!"

Steven nodded, "Yeah, and I managed to perform after all!"

Mr. Smiley laughed as he took the cart of stage lights into his slowly opening garage.

"Well, what can I say, besides you did me a great favor by running things, and it all went better than expected!" Mr. Smiley loudly declared.

"Oh, that reminds me, how is your mom doing?" Steven asked sincerely. While Mr. Smiley was expecting the question, but still hesitated to answer.

"She…is doing a lot better. It was a tough fight, but she managed to get to a better place," Mr. Smiley said, struggling to keep a smile.

Steven was relieved to hear the news, but felt like something was off. He said, "Well, I think she got a lot better because she got to see you."

Mr. Smiley replied, "Yeah…she was a lot happier to see me. It has been twenty years since I last saw her."

Steven gasped, "Why so long?"

Mr. Smiley visibly stiffened, but answered, "She and I…got into a big fight. I ran away from home and haven't talk to her since."

Steven didn't know what to say.

"Steven," Mr. Smiley began, "Love your mother. There may be some days when it seems like she is a million miles away and it's like you can't say anything to her. But remember, she will always be there for you. If you can't talk to your mother about what's on your mind, then who can you talk to?"

Steven absorbed this information and looked down.

He had always felt like his mother was distanced from him, mostly because she was off doing a mission or important Gem business.

He knew that she loved him, but they rarely had time to talk to each other, Steven just got used to the fact that his mother wasn't around.

Steven looked up at Mr. Smiley and said, "Thanks for letting me run Beach a Palooza, Mr. Smiley…and for the advice."

Mr. Smiley gave a large smile and replied, "Always here to help Steven. Now run on home before your mom gets worried."

Steven nodded and began running home.

Mr. Smiley smiled, looked to the sky, sighed and said, "He's a good kid, momma."

Rose had waited for Steven to come back home. It had been almost an hour and a half, but when she heard flip flops, she knew that Steven was home.

He opened the door to see his mother sitting on the couch in the living room.

"Hey Mom," Steven said.

"Hello Steven. Did you finish putting everything away?" Rose asked.

"Yeah. It took a lot longer than I thought, but we managed to get it all done," Steven replied, taking a seat next to his mother.

Silence.

The silence only lasted for a moment until Rose said, "Steven…"

"Hmm?" Steven replied.

"You know…" Rose began, hesitating slightly, "You know you could talk to me about anything, right?"

Steven looked at his mother and said, "Yeah, I know."

Another silence.

"Hey Mom?" Steven asked.

"Yes?" Rose replied.

"How did you meet Dad?" Steven said.

Rose chuckled and said, "Well, I was on the beach one day…"

Finally! After a bunch of delays I have finally finished this chapter! I do apologize for taking so long, but I am a college student before a fanfiction writer, so I hope you can forgive me for taking so long.

I wanted to make a chapter that didn't have a monster and had quite a few of the Beach City residents get some of the spotlight. Why did I choose the Mr. Smiley subplot? He was one of the least developed residents of Beach City, and when I started writing the chapter it was right after Sadie's Song aired and Mr. Smiley had a nice appearance in the episode and I wanted to explore him a little bit more.

I also wanted to take the time to thank all of you who support this story. Over four thousand views, seventeen reviews, forty five favorites, and sixty six alerts is amazing.

All of you are amazing for supporting this story, and it's what keeps me writing. I cannot thank you all enough.

Oh yeah, the song choice. I started writing my own song, but then I thought that Love Like You would be a better fit for how the story played out. So I added another verse at the end that I thought made sense based on how the chapter played out.

It may work for some people and it may not work for others, so tell me what you guys think of it.

Thank you for reading, review if you liked it!

Peace.