The interior of the van looked markedly different than when it had first arrived. The merchandise was now squirrelled away in a storage unit they'd rented together, what was left of Greg's belongings were tucked away in multi colored plastic containers bolted into place along the walls and in mesh netting hung from the ceiling. It was a monday which meant the carwash was closed and Pearl had the day off from the library. Of course the carwash didn't see much business at all this time of year. Pearl watched the snow drifting down as she rested her head against Greg's shoulder. He was noodling around with some song he'd been working on for a while.
"Do you ever regret this?" She asked, not really concerned about the answer, regrets were to be expected, because life never really went the way you thought it would or should. She had regrets of her own, they were smaller than they had been before she met him, but they were there. "Staying here with us, with me?" She felt the color rush to her face again, just the barest hint of darker blue. "Not going off and becoming rich and famous?" He looked down at her and sang
"Soft winter snow, don't cost nothin.
"Starlight a glow, don't cost nothin
"Singing with you. . ."
He trailed off and she smiled adding her voice. "Don't cost nothin"
"Where would I be, if I'd left you? Truth is I don't really know."
The music grew silent and Greg set his guitar on the little pegs bolted into the wall. The arm that had been strumming slipped around her waist and held to her tighter.
"There was never really a gurantee I was gonna be rich or famous. It felt good doing what I wanted and what I loved." She felt his lips place a light kiss over the gem on her forehead. "Sure I think about what it would have been like to play big stadiums or toss cash around, but at the end of the day I'm still doing what I want, with who I love." She closed her eyes and held close smile spreading across her lips. Still she couldn't help tease a little.
"Corny, but sweet." Greg rolled his eyes, laughed and pulled her down onto the cushioned bedding beside him. He reached over and flipped the switch on the black light that made the otherwise invisible painted stars on the ceiling glow. Pearl had modelled the constellations and formations of stars after the night sky on homeworld, Greg could see a whole new perspective of the universe, and she could be reminded of where it was she'd come from.
He didn't turn the question back on her, he was like that. He trusted her to share when she was ready, and if she never was he was content with that too. There was no imbalance between them, something wholly new in her experience, no one seemingly putting more on the other than was due, he loved her every much as she loved him.
"I wonder if this is how Ruby and Sapphire feel when they're Garnet." Greg offered idly as if asking the painted stars." Then he turned to look at her. "Does it bother you we can't fuse?" She stroked a hand along his cheek and smiled, then raising one eyebrow and said in a husky throaty voice
"We do fuse" Greg's cheeks turned a hot crimson and she snickered at the reaction, burying her face in his chest until the giggles died away. He couldn't help but chuckle as well.
"How do you still make me feel like a teenager with his first crush?" She turned her head to look up at him.
"Well I am an older woman." He nodded sagely to that and brushed his fingers through her hair.
"You know what I mean though, being totally together like that being part of each other. I know what you're gonna say, that that is how it is with us but I know it's not the same, like a constant reminder that we're. . .different." She climbed up onto him, arms draped over her shoulders, and tucked her head into the crook of his neck. He was warm beneath her, she could feel his chest rise and fall as he took each breath, smell the shampoo he used to keep his hair clean, and heard every pulsing thud of his heartbeat. She knew that he could feel her weight gently pressing down on him, the smooth surface of her gem on his skin.
"Fusing is just, an experience. True it's an experience you and I can't share, but that doesn't make the experiences we can share unimportant. We are experiencing each other right now, each other's differences, listening to each other's voices. This isn't better than fusion, but it's not lesser either." She pressed a kiss to his cheek and felt his arms closing her around her waist.
Then they were just there together for a long while, silently watching the snow fall through the small windows. . .
Steven's eyes opened slowly as he woke, the dream persisted in his mind as if he'd just been watching it on TV. At first he smiled, and blushed a little at the intimate nature of what he'd seen. Then his eyes widened when he remembered their conversation. Sticking his head over the lip of his loft he looked down to find Garnet reclined on the couch below. She looked up and smiled. "Still a few hours before we need to go to the kindergarten." Then seeing the stars in his wide shining eyes she lowered her glasses to stare curiously up at him.
"Garnet. . .You're a Fusion?!" Genuine surprise blossomed on Garnet's face and the glasses vanished utterly. "I had another dream about mom and she was talking to dad, she said you were a fusion of Ruby and Sapphire. " Garnet stood and motioned for him to join her on the ground floor. Steven executed an expert flip to land in front of her eyes still shining. She laughed and was suddenly engulfed in a bright light. A moment later Ruby and Sapphire were standing together in front of him. Ruby scratched the back of her head and chuckled while Sapphire stepped up.
"We didn't mean to lie to you we promise." Ruby nodded emphatically and joined Sapphire. "It's true, we were just going to wait for your birthday, we thought it would be a cool surprise!" Steven laughed and pulled them both into a hug.
"It was your secret to keep, but this is so cool, you guy have got to tell me everything." They both laughed and held close to him. When they finally broke free of his embrace they moved as if to reform Garnet but Steven held out his hand. "Wait, would it be weird if I wanted to hear it from both of you?" The two of them looked to each other slightly confused, but shrugged and the three of them sat together on the couch.
"Well it all started." Ruby started. "I was assigned three ruby guards." Sapphire said at almost the same time, and they both laughed. Sapphire placed her hand over her mouth and motioned for Ruby to continue which she did. "I was assigned with two other Rubies to protect a very rare gem." She motioned to sapphire who giggled and waved to him. "I'd been assigned to lots of high ranking gems before, but I knew right away there was something special about this one.
"You did?" Sapphire interrupted and Ruby looked over with a nod.
"Totally, other high ranking gems just gave us orders, but when I bumped into you I could tell you didn't want me to feel bad about it, that's like the opposite of everyone else." Sapphire blushed but brushed the hair from her eye.
"Well I. . .I wish I could say the same, maybe I even wanted to see something more with one of the Rubies but I didn't" Ruby's face fell a little but Sapphire rushed in to cup a hand under her chin and lift her gaze back up. "But don't you see how amazing that is? I thought you would be just another ruby, I couldn't see you coming at all, you were the first, best surprise in my whole life." Ruby tackled her and laughing the two swirled with that familiar light forming Garnet once again. She gave one last bark of a laugh and looked over at Steven.
"Steven. . .Thank you. We, I. . .they haven't felt like that in a long time." Steven smiled and crawled up into Garnet's lap the way he had when he was younger.
"In my dream Mom said that fusion was good experience, but it wasn't any better or worse than the kind of experiences she had with my dad, so I figured, maybe Ruby and Sapphire would want to try something different too." Garnet engulfed him in strong slender arms.
"Your mother was a very wise Gem, and you remind us so much of her." He stayed like that for a long while, holding onto Garnet, holding on to Ruby and Sapphire.
"Now it's like I get three of you." He mused and sat contently with her until Rose and Amethyst returned from within the temple.
"Time to go" Garnet said lifting him from her lap and onto the floor. He nodded and stepped over to the warp pad with the rest of them.
