Connie and Steven were sitting together in Connie's house, roasting marshmallows on the fire. Connie took hers away, a perfect golden brown.
"Whoa. How'd you do that?" Steven gasped.
Connie laughed. "I've had a lot of practice… Do you know what makes marshmallows so good?"
Steven frowned and thought about it. "I don't know..."
"Now that I think about it… probably the animal by-products…" Connie muttered.
"You mean… like poop?" Steven asked, disgusted.
"No. Stuff like hooves, bone marrow, collagen... and lots of sugar and corn syrup." Connie grinned.
"CORN SUGAR!" Steven yelled.
Connie giggled. "Sugar syrup!" She thrust many marshmallows in her mouth. "Bone marrow!"
The children laughed together. Suddenly, Steven's phone rang and he picked it up.
"Hello Daddio!" Steven laughed.
"Steven! Have you heard the news?!" Connie heard Greg cry.
"No…" Steven whispered.
Greg replied with a sigh, "Well, there's a snowstorm on its way to Beach City, and I don't want you getting snowed in. You need to get a ride home."
"Okay… I'll be home soon." Steven hung up and glanced at Connie with disappointment. "Looks like I gotta get going."
"Oh, no…" Connie groaned.
"There's a snowstorm coming through, and my dad doesn't want me getting stuck here." Steven shrugged.
"Wouldn't it be fun if we got snowed in together?" Connie whispered softly.
"We could stay up all night and watch the snowfall!" Steven cried.
They smiled at each other until Jasper, Lapis, and Peridot walked in.
"Hey kids." Jasper waved.
Lapis smiled. "You two having fun?"
"Yes. But Steven's gotta getting going soon, a snowstorm's coming." Connie sighed.
"Maybe the storm will miss us. Sometimes the forecast is completely wrong." Steven smiled hopefully.
"You kidding, I've seen all the signs for a storm, it's totally gonna be a big one." Jasper said, crossing her arms.
"I'd trust her." Peridot said, crossing her arms.
Connie smiled and whispered to Steven, "Jasper's really good at predicting things…"
"Now, get over to Doug's." Jasper said.
"Wait—We can't go yet. I've got to show you this TubeTube video really quick." Connie said to Steven.
"Connie…" Jasper grunted.
"It's only, like, one minute long!" Connie protested.
"I know you don't want to go, but you have to make the right choice." Jasper smirked.
Connie laughed as snow hit her in front of the Police Station.
"I got you! I got you!" Steven laughed.
Doug walked over and they stopped playing. "You kids ready?"
"Wait… Dad, you aren't… driving us, are you?" Connie asked, grabbing Steven and shoving a snowball into his face. He laughed.
"Of course I am! I am a responsible parent and I want Greg never to forget that!" Doug huffed.
"We should walk." Connie immediately said. Her father was horrible at driving in snowstorms. "Um, you might want to change out of that sweatshirt though…"
"But it's cherries, honey. Everybody likes cherries." Doug saw his daughter shake her head. "Okay, I see your point. Just give me a second to change."
Doug went in and out of the Police Station, showing his sweaters that he had packed in his car. The kids procrastinated and shook their head to all of them. Doug finally came out in a disco outfit.
"That's the best outfit I've ever seen." Steven smiled. Connie frowned but Doug was quick to accept it. "Come on! Into the car."
Connie was very nervous in the car, knowing her father wasn't the best in snowstorms.
The snow started to fall faster and Doug turned on the heater. "It's really starting to-" He suddenly started to swerve and Connie screamed as they ran into a snow drift.
"What… are we gonna do now?" Steven asked, trembling.
"Um… we're gonna walk, a responsible parent doesn't let two kids strand themselves in a van in the middle of nowhere."
They walked all the way to Greg's van.
Connie rapidly knocked on the van and Greg opened it.
"Hey Dad…" Steven shivered.
"Hello, Mr. DeMayo." Connie sneezed.
"Sorry we're late, Greg." Doug whispered.
"Steven! Do you know what time it is?!" Greg cried, taking the boy in the back of the van.
Greg glared at Doug and Connie once Steven had been wrapped up. "I think you know where the… exit is, since you're standing in front of it."
Connie couldn't help but notice that it was very small in the van, and that the heater seemed broken down… Steven couldn't live here, could he? Her father lived in a house in Beach City, she thought Steven and Greg had too…
"I kind of crashed my ride…" Doug muttered.
Greg blushed and looked at the van. "Um… I-I know there isn't much room, but… I'm sure I can rustle up something."
Connie was in the car again, not noticing that she had seemed to go back in time…
"We had better start walking." Doug sighed.
"Dad! No! We should stay put. It'll be way safer this way." Connie insisted.
"My Dad would want me to keep safe…" Steven said.
"I can't argue with safety." Doug smiled.
Connie grinned. "It'll be like camping!"
"But in cozy seats!" Steven laughed.
They stayed there for a while, Connie and Steven eating granola bars Doug had in the car for dinner.
"Thanks for dinner, Doug." Steven grinned, eating a bar.
Connie smiled and picked up her violin, which she had left from an earlier practice session. She smiled playing a note. "Any requests?"
"How 'bout a song about a snack monster! That loves… animal-byproducts!" Steven laughed, stuffing a waffle in his mouth making Connie giggle. Doug rolled his eyes.
Steven's phone suddenly rang and he picked it up. "Dad?"
"Steven! Are you still at Connie's? I'm driving up into Beach City now so start getting ready." Greg said.
"Dad! Don't! It's really bad out here!" Steven cried.
Connie glanced up. "I see some headlights. Is that him?"
They all looked and saw Greg's van coming straight to them!
"Dad! Stop the van! You're coming straight for
us!" Steven yelled. The van crashed.
Connie and Steven were playing in the snow again and Connie saw her Dad coming with the keys.
"Steven, come on! We can't let my Dad drive!" Connie cried. She ran to her father and snatched the keys away. She chucked them away into the snow and grabbed Steven's hand, pulling him away.
"Let's go back to my place." Connie panted, running.
"But my dad—" Steven started. Connie stop running and put her hands on his shoulders.
"No, Steven! You have to listen to me! If we leave Beach City in my Dad's car, bad things can happen in a snowstorm!"
Steven blinked then pulled out his phone. "Um... okay. Let me just call my dad and tell him." They were still running when Greg picked up. "Hey Dad! I'm staying over at Connie's tonight!"
"What? Well… I suppose it is safer there…" Greg thought. "Okay, buddy, I'll see you in the morning, stay safe and warm!"
"Thanks! Bye!" Steven yelled.
They reached the house and saw Jasper, Lapis and Peridot in a triangular shape on the warp pad surrounding the Shooting Star, an artifact they had gotten a while ago.
"Hold it steady. We have to send this to the Galaxy Warp without warping ourselves, then we'd be dead." Jasper muttered.
"This is too risky." Lapis murmured.
"It might be, but this is one of our last resorts, Lazuli." Peridot said through gritted teeth.
"If the shooting star goes off mid-warp, it could explode forever in warp space. And even if we do manage to destroy the entire Galaxy Warp, they could still find another way to get here." Lapis whispered, shaking.
"Are you guys okay?" Connie gasped.
Lapis gasped and turned away in shock, losing her hold on the star. "Connie?!"
"Lapis! No!" Jasper yelled. But it was too late. The star hit the warp pad…
"AND THEN BOOM! We would die." Peridot finished Jasper's story.
"Pretty much." Jasper shrugged..
Connie and Steven stared in amazement. She had just predicted three scenarios that all seemed possible.
"Well… there was some good things." Connie smiled. "But mostly bad."
Connie looked at Steven. "I have a idea."
Later that night, they had taken Steven over to Greg's. However, they realized the van was no place for them to sleep in such a storm. So, they invited them to Connie's house that night.
Connie had snuck downstairs in her nightgown and motioned for Steven to come up into her room. They then sat on her bed, watching the snow fall together, as they had wanted.