Connie and Doug were walking to the storage lot carrying a cardboard police man version of Doug.
"I really like the ones that shoot up kind of spirally with the long tails." Connie said, talking about fireworks with her father.
"Connie, I'm slipping. Hold that end up a little more." Doug said.
Connie saw she had gotten distracted. She got it back up. "Oh, sorry."
"That's okay." Doug chuckled. "I'm not sure the "Summer Safety" sign was that effective anyway. But I can't bring myself to throw myself out. Might as well store it for the rest of the winter."
Connie smiled. "So, which firework is your favorite, Dad?"
"Well… I just like watching them together with you, pumpkin." Doug beamed.
"Yeah, me too! I can't wait for New Year's Eve tomorrow…. It's been a whole year!" Connie cried, blushing.
"It sure has!" Doug grinned, opening the storage unit. He saw it was overflowing with junk and frowned. He attempted to find a place for hose to go and eventually put it around the neck of a flamingo lawn ornament.
The garage started to rumble and it all spilled out. The father and daughter gasped together. "Whoa!"
"I haven't really cleared this place out since your mom—" Doug coughed. "Maybe this is good timing! A new year coming up... I should just get rid of all this stuff."
Connie nodded and picked up a sweater and jacket. "I can take these off your hands!"
"That's a start," Doug grinned. "but I'll need a little more help than that and this guy's not gonna do it." He pointed to his cardboard self. He scratched his head. "Who would organize a mess this big though?"
Connie thought for a moment and then gasped. "Ah! I know just the Gem!"
A few minutes later, Connie stood beside the gem.
"Lapis ishere!" Connie cried.
"Um… hi Doug." Lapis blushed, biting her lip.
Doug blinked. "Oh. I thought you meant Peridot."
"No!" Connie giggled. "I'm the gem to help organize, and Lapis is here to help me move stuff."
"I can do it real quick." Lapis smirked. Water rose from behind her and Doug realized what she was going to do.
"Whoa! No! Don't flood the place!" Doug cried. "That is totally impractical!"
"Lapis, that's not what we planned." Connie said.
"But I thought you wanted to get rid of all of the junk." Lapis said, water falling as she crossed her arms.
"Not all of it." Doug muttered.
Lapis rolled her eyes, walked up to Doug and smiled, "I've seen your junk before."
"We need to find some way to organize all of this…" Connie murmured, walking among the junk.
Like lighting, Lapis had grabbed three boxes labeled keep, sell, and burn.
"Is this ok, Connie?" Lapis asked. "See, keep, sell, burn!"
"Burn?" Doug and Connie whispered apprehensively.
"What are you afraid of?" Lapis asked.
Doug chuckled. "Um, fire?"
The gem gave a snort, waving it aside. "I can stop that easily."
She, Connie, and Doug looked around and Lapis picked up a boot, racket, and checkerboard. "Hm, this all looks cool. We should definitely keep these things."The gem grinned.
Doug saw her attempt put the things into the keep box and ran up, "Hold on. Aren't we supposed to be throwing stuff away?"
Lapis frowned, and dropped the things in the box. "But all these things look so interesting. Peri might like them for her gadgets. I mean, like,"
"BOOKS?! Oh my goodness! There's books!" Connie squealed, running to a cardboard box full of them.
"Heh, you can have some if you want." Doug smiled, walking up. He then frowned, "Wait, the gems grounded you from books for a thousand years, didn't they?"
Lapis laughed, "That only lasted a day. Connie was sobbing all night, we had to give in. She's grounded from T.V now…. for a thousand years."
"Can I have these?" Connie begged.
"Uh, hold on." Doug said, quick to stop her from snatching them up. "Let me see some of those first. Yeah, I think you'll like this one and this one, and, uh, maybe we'll save this one for when you're a little older." He blushed,
taking out a book called, 'Passions of Xanxor'.
Connie soon pushed the box of books outside. While Lapis found a singing fish screwed to a board. "Aw, poor thing!" She cried.
"Oh, that's not a real fish, Lapis." Connie assured her.
"Thank goodness." Lapis smiled, putting it down. She saw Doug place a dumbbell in the sell box and she frowned.
"Hey, don't you want to get manly and strong?" Lapis laughed, shapeshifting into her dancing disguise, The Water Witch.
Doug rolled his eyes at her shapeshifting and watchedLapis twirl Connie around. "Come on, Lapis. Let's be serious here." He said. He then noticed a broken picture of him and Yellow Diamond. "Oh, no. How did this happen?"
Connie walked up. She saw the photo and felt immediate guilt. She had happened. "A picture of you and my mother…"
They didn't notice Lapis peeking over Connie's shoulder. Her beam faded slowly, seeing the photo. She then blushed angrily and turned away.
"Ah, it's- it's okay. It's just the frame." Doug sighed, putting the picture down.
Lapis was rummaging through some things and gasped. "Doug! Check this out!"
"Is it a deed to my uncle's mansion?" Doug joked.
Lapis laughed and laid out a stack of VHS tapes neatly. "Even better."
"Is that…" Doug picked up the tapes. "Lit'l Housekeeper?" He hugged them to his chest. "Oh, where have you been all these years?!"
"Lit'l Housekeeper, that's you!" Lapis sang softly, with a wistful smile.
"Um, what's Lit'l Housekeeper?" Connie asked, looking between the two.
"Connie, we used to watch these all the time when you were little. You'll like it, I promise!" Doug said, plugging in a tv and putting in a tape.
"I-I'm still grounded from T.V, remember?" Connie cried.
Lapis glanced back at her with a look of sympathy. "Oh, I forgot all about that… Can we just watch one? For old time's sake? Then, we won't watch any more, does that sound ok?"
Connie thought for a moment, if it was just one…
She nodded.
Lapis grinned gratefully and fell back, pressing play.
Connie looked away, trying not to watch. She slowly peeked and saw the theme song playing.
A baby girl was dropped off on a masion step and she knocked on the door. "An orphaned girl with sass and pep. Got dropped off on our mansion step, Li'l Housekeeper, Li'l Housekeeper," A female voice sang as the baby leapt
into the arms of the father and kissed him. The rest of the family, a mother and son looked surprised, but happy. "We washed her face of dirt and leaves,
And now she works here as our Jeeves, Li'l Housekeeper, Li'l Housekeeper," The tiny girl already looked grown, despite being a child. She did various tasks for the family as the actors' names were displayed. "Oh, littlest housekeeper,
Oh, you're the girl who keeps our hearts,So mop the floor and dust the shelves. And teach us lessons 'bout ourselves, Li'l Housekeeper, Li'l Housekeeper, that's you!" The girl looked at the screen and said the main slogan, "You people
have too much money!" She winked.
Connie couldn't help but want to watch more, but looked away, knowing she was grounded. "Shouldn't we be cleaning the storage unit, please?"
Lapis ignored her and gasped. "Oh! This is the pilot? Hm, they didn't even have the dog yet!"
"They just had a cat named 'Money'!" Doug laughed. Lapis joined in and was blushing.
Connie peeked over the couch angrily at them.
"Connie, it's getting late." Doug said, seeing Lapis look worried that Connie wasn't having as much fun as they were. "Why don't we just call it a day? We can pick this up again tomorrow, pumpkin."
Connie got up and ran off, satisfied that she would no longer be tortured. "Ok, Dad. See you tomorrow!"
The next morning, Connie happily walked to the fry shop. She saw her friend Peedee working the fryer.
"Morning! I'll take two hashbrowns, please." Connie said.
"Sure." Peedee nodded. He turned and called back into the shop, "Ronaldo! Can I get a double order of hash browns?"
"My dad and I got a big day cleaning the storage unit. Have to start the year off right, you know?" Connie smiled.
Peedee turned and grinned, "Practical as always! My dad and I are restocking all the condiments. I get to clean the bottles. We're supposed to wash them twice, but I always wash them three times. Odd numbers just feel cleaner."
Connie nodded in agreement. "I completely agree…. Oh! Are you going to the New Year's fireworks tonight?"
"Yeah! It's supposed to be," Peedee deepened his voice. "pretty darn spectacular"! Mayor Dewey's been setting up all morning. There are gonna be blue ones! I love the blue ones."
"It's gonna be incredible." Connie grinned, taking her order.
Connie walked into the storage unit.
"Guys? Dad?" Connie called.
Lapis and Doug were still watching Lit'l Housekeeper.
"I'll look like a fool if I show up to school on just one alligator!" The teenage boy cried on the TV.
"You people have too much money!" Lit'l Housekeeper sighed.
Lapis and Doug laughed. "What a surprise. Li'l Housekeeper does it again." Lapis laughed.
"You can always count on Li'l H." Doug grinned.
Lapis glanced at Doug and whispered, "Yeah. Everything's always right with her. One more?"
"Oh yeah!" Doug cried.
"Hey!" Connie yelled, beside them.
"Oh, Connie! What are you doing coming over so late?" Doug asked.
Connie blinked and frowned, "It's... morning."
"Oh, wow. I guess we lost track of the time." Doug groaned.
Connie gave a groan. "You never stopped watching "Li'l Housekeeper"?! Ugh!"
"When you get to season three, it really starts getting good. That's when the uptight neighbors, the Richingtons, move next-door." Lapis grinned. "They're a riot."
"Well, I never!" Cried a man on the TV.
"Well, I always!" The little Housekeeper retorted.
Connie frowned, looking at her bag of food and tried to get them up, "Well, you want to get started?"
"Oh, yeah." Doug groaned, getting up.
Lapis grabbed his arm in desperation. "This part is so good!"
A horse neighed on the tv and the audience laughed.
"I guess the storage unit can wait…" Connie muttered, setting the bag of hashbrowns in the floor.
"Yeah, honey. That sounds like a good idea." Doug said, intranced in the TV.
Lapis saw the bag of food and looked up at Connie. "Did you bring these for us?"
Connie blushed, not wanting to make her feel awkward. "Um, yeah."
"Thank you, Connie!" Lapis beamed, picking up the bag and sharing with Doug.
"Want to just meet at the fireworks?" Connie suggested.
"Sure." Doug muttered.
"Okay. I'll see you there."
On the beach, people had gathered for the fireworks display.
Connie gave Jasper the jacket and Peridot the sweater she had got from her Dad.
"So… I wear these… 'clothes', like this?" Peridot asked, picking at the sweater.
"Perfect. You guys look amazing." Connie smiled in her blue sweater dress, red scarf, and white boots. She handed out pots and pans and exsplained, "Here are some pots and pans. We got to make lots of noise. Dad and I do this every
year. I brought some for Lapis, too. They should be here any second." Connie sat down next to Peridot.
"Why is Lazuli coming with your father?" Peri asked, looking at Connie with concern. "Unless… Oh my stars, are they hanging out again?!" She gasped.
"What do you mean, "again"?" Connie asked, cocking her head.
Jasper took her head in her hands. "I swear, if they're watching that stupid show again, I'll-"
"Lit'l Housekeeper?" Connie asked, feeling she knew what she meant.
Peridot gave a chuckle. "Wow. They are! I never thought Lazuli would come out, watching that dumb show! I was getting worried she'd never come and watch Camp Pining Hearts with me again, until…" She trailed off.
"Until… what?" Connie whispered.
Peridot gave a frown. "Even I don't know why, one day, they just stopped."
Connie was startled as fireworks flew off at midnight. She gripped her pan and Peridot gave a yell, "Yay! New… stuff!" She turned to Connie. "I'm doing excellent, aren't I."
"No, you're not." Jasper said, standing up. "YES! NEW YEAR, LET'S DO THIS!" She yelled, shaking the ground.
Connie snuck off to the storage lot and hid behind the couch. Doug heard the fireworks and frowned, "What's that?" He gasped and stood. "I'm missing the fireworks! It's past midnight! How did I get so sucked into this show again?
It's like everything else just disappears!" He gave a groan, about to leave.
Lapis glanced up and grabbed Doug's sleeve in desperation. "No!"
He glanced at her and she blushed.
"W-We're having a great time! Look. I have the two part Hawaii special!" Lapis smiled, putting in the VCR.
"But Connie really wanted me to do New Year's." Doug sighed, trying get away.
Lapis frowned, getting up and grabbing his arm again. "She'll be fine. If I thought Connie would be upset… I would've left long ago."
Connie frowned. Something was up…
"I wanted to be there!" Doug cried.
Lapis slid in front of him, holding her hands out. "It would have been like this." She shapeshifted into Connie. "Oh! Dad, Dad, fireworks!" Lapis cried, giggling in Connie's voice. "Dad, come on! Now let's watch some Li'l
Housekeeper, please?!"
"Lapis, you know how I feel about shape-shifting." Doug sighed, backing away from the gem who looked so much like his daughter.
Lapis frowned and shapeshifted back to herself. "Sorry… I was trying to cheer you up…"
She suddenly shapeshifted into Doug. "I forgot, you're so sensitive." Lapis growled angrily, leaning against him.
"Please, stop this." Doug whispered, turning away. "Don't get upset! I have to be there for daughter, you always want to be there too."
Lapis shape-shifted back to herself, cheeks puffed in anger. "Oh, of course I do! But, before Connie, before YOU, I had someone who was always there for me!" Doug thought he saw tears in her eyes.
"Don't do this, Lapis. I'm begging you." Doug pleaded.
"I bet you'd stay for her." Lapis hissed, gem glowing.
"No, don't do this!" Doug cried, looking away.
"What?" Lapis smirked, a dark look in her eyes. "This?"
She shape-shifted into his lost lover and Doug had covered his line of sight.
"Turn around, do it." Lapis growled, walking to him.
"I know you're doing it! I want to be friends again. I really do. But I can't let you do this to me again!" Doug said, pained.
Connie couldn't stand for this anymore. She ran up and leapt onto the couch. "STOP!"
Lapis turned, still in Yellow Diamond's form, Connie's mother. Lapis looked shocked, mortified at what she had done. Connie's eyes widened in horror, shocked. She gave a gasp and quickly slammed her eyes shut. How… How could Lapis do this?! How
could Lapis hurt her?! She knew her mother was always something that made her feel insecure!
Lapis shapeshifted back into her real self, the TV had cut to static. "Connie…"
"What are you two doing?!" Connie yelled. "I get it. It's hard to deal with stuff from the past. You want to put it off because there's tons of it and it's really heavy and it means a lot to you, so it's hard to let anything go.
But you got to." The girl suddenly picked up a cat carrier. "Because this thing is full! Seriously, when did you even have a cat?!" She threw the thing and broke it.
Lapis looked at the girl with wide eyes. She shut them in devastation, and flew out.
The next day, Connie and Doug walked up to the storage unit.
"Okay. We're finishing this today." Doug promised.
"Right." Connie said. She looked up and saw Peridot come out of the unit with a box and Connie cocked her head. "Peri?"
"Greetings. Nice of you to join us." Peridot smirked playfully. Doug walked over and saw the whole compartment was empty. Jasper carrried many, many boxes out.
"I don't believe it!" Doug cried. Connie gave a gasp in wonder.
"I'm so sorry about the mess." Doug blushed.
"Was this... your idea?" Connie asked Peridot.
"No." Peridot frowned. "Why would I be the one to think of helping… him."
"It was Lapis' idea." Jasper said.
They saw Lapis fly out slowly, looking sad. She held a single box labeled 'keep'.
She saw Doug and landed, walking up to him. She blushed. "I-I just thought we could take all this stuff back to the temple... It can fit in my room, I'll dry some things off, get it nice and organized for you… That way, you don't have to throw
anything away." She gave the box to Doug, not looking at it. "But— But you can keep this." She shyly ran back to the gems
Doug opened the box and took put the picture of him and Yellow. It was in a new frame. He and Connie smiled at each other. He looked up and saw Lapis fiddling with the edge of her dress. "Thank you, Lapis."
Lapis looked up and gave a tiny nod. She then looked at Connie. "I'm so sorry… I will never regret you coming into my life and will forever cherish it, I hope you know that."
Connie gave a small smile. "Of course I do."
Doug walked up and closed the storage unit for the last time...
I feel like Lapis would be more caring towards Connie, don't get me wrong, Amethyst was good in this episode, but I feel Lapis expresses her feelings, including guilt more often. Also, the next episode had more Pearl! I love writing the Crystal Gems as villains, but I especially love writing Pearl, she has a few secrets about her mission left to share.