Connie and Doug were sitting in his car at night outside the mayor's home, a well kept and tidy little home, waiting.

"This is so cool…" Connie squealed. "I'm on a actual stakeout, I can't believe it! I'm not even official sanctioned security personnel!"

"I'm sure it's fine, Connie. You save people all the time, and now, you'll help me do the same. The mayor said that a strange shadow had been lurking around his house around 11. Tonight, we stop them!" Doug beamed. "Man, even though I've worked on security for all your life, I've never taken you along."

Connie gasped. "You've been here longer than I've been alive? Incredible! How did you get this job?"

"Funny, it started with you, er, well, your mother."

"My mother? Oh! I knew this would happen!" Connie gushed.

Doug laughed at the girl's glee. "What do you-"

Connie pulled out Doug favorite guitar from the back seat and gave it to him. "Play it for me? Please?"

Doug took it, even though he was suprised. "How'd this get in here? Did you bring this with us?"

Connie hid her smile. "Maybe?"

Doug rolled his eyes with a smile and leaned back his chair, giving the guitar enough room. "Promise you'll be on the lookout?"

"Of course!" Connie cried, saluting him.

Doug started to play, and the story began….

"You, look at everything you are,"

Yellow Diamond and the young Doug Universe were at Funland, where they were competing at a shooting game. Doug kept missing meanwhile the Diamond hit all the targets dead on the center, with great determination. Her lover stared in awe at her, she blushed with a frown and a arched eyebrow back, not knowing why he always looked at her like that.

"Look at everything you do. It's incredible. As incredible as you."

"And me. I guess I'm content to be. On the arm of someone who. Is as incredible as you."

Another day, Doug waited for the Temps to come back, much like his own daughter would in the future, sitting by it, reading a book about a man who fell in love with a alien. It was very similar to his situation. Just then, the Temps warped in, making him drop his book and looked up to see Yellow smirking down at him, Peridot glared daggers while Lapis shyly waved. He waved back.

"And it's a full-time job admiring. All the ways that you're inspiring."

Yellow Diamond soon read the same book that Doug had been so infixed with, she threw it at a wall, clearly bored by it. Doug looked suprised and Yellow rolled her eyes. He soon was playing video games with her, which despite insisting they were a waste of time, Yellow still loved to do for her anger issues. Her favorite was Legend of Zelda.

"If I had my way. I'd do it all day. That's why it's really, really hard to say… I think I need a little cha-a-ange."

Doug a few weeks later realized his water had been turned off in his shabby apprtment and sighed.

"I think I need a little cha-a-ange."

Doug later lay on the beach, asleep, covered in sunblock. Yellow lay beside him, and kept poking his cheek to wake him up and entertain her. She didn't see he had been desperately reading job applications after needing so much money and not getting enough from his current job.

"Oh. I always did believe. That love is all you need. To be a happy man."

Yellow and Doug were having dinner, both eating salads before pizza. Yellow picked at hers with a look of much dislike while Doug handed her the pepper. She beamed, and dumped the whole thing on top. Doug dropped his fork, knowing Yellow loved spicy food, but he didn't know she'd do that! Yellow gave a tiny smile.

"Oh. That may have been naive, I guess I need to eat. That wasn't in the plan."

Doug snuck some bits of fries from a nearby trashcan, and ate them, he was too hungry to care.

"And it's a full-time job admiring. All the ways that you're inspiring. If I had my way. I'd do it all day. The only problem is it doesn't pay."

The next day, he was saying goodbye to the Temps, who were about to go on a mission.

Lapis waved goodbye, Peridot hissed at him trying to wave at her, and Jasper ruffled his hair. Yellow lightly kissed him goodbye.

"I think I need a little cha-a-ange. I think I need a little cha-a-ange. I think I need a little cha-a-a-a-a-a-ange…" Doug finished his song and glanced up from his guitar, truly preforming it on the boardwalk, really needing change as in a solid currency. A bystander left him a dollar and then walked away.

Doug peeked in and sighed at the dollar and a few bottlecaps. "Well… at least I can get a hotdog…"

A few minutes later, he was standing outside Vidalia's door. He put his hands in his pockets, and was quite embarrassed and ashamed that he had to be there.

The young woman opened the door, blowing a bubble with her gum before it popped.

"Vidalia, I hate to ask, but-"

"You helped me get this place after he left me, Universe, so," Vidalia rolled her eyes. "come on in."

Later, Vidalia was feeding her baby son, Sour Cream some food. He sat in his high chair, looking expectantly. "Ready to eat? You're gonna love these mashed-up carrots!"

She stood and he opened his mouth, but turned away from the spoon once it came with a cute smile.

"Oh, you're too cool for mashed-up carrots?" Vidalia laughed, turning the spoon away. Her baby was just like her.

The baby said only one word, and despite being young, his voice was low. "Meh."

Doug walked in and ruffled the baby's hair, making the boy giggle. The man then sat across from Vidalia. "You've really made a life here, Vidalia."

"Yeah," Vidalia shrugged. "so why are you here again?"

"I haven't been able to find a new job, none of them could pay enough in enough time so that I could stay in my appartment, I tried… but it wasn't good enough. I got kicked out." Doug sighed.

Vidalia glanced up from the baby food. "Huh. Well, sorry about that. I'm sure you'll find a job somewhere, Doug. But I thought you were into making music?"

Doug smiled. "I still am, but I soon realized after I left Marty, I had to grow up and get real, music just isn't a career that is steady enough."

The woman gave a tiny smirk and nodded, then went back to feeding the baby food. "So, how's that goddess girlfriend that you worship? Can't she cook?"

"Oh, no. She eats, when I want to, but she can't cook." Doug laughed. He then noticed Sour Cream and grinned. "How's baby life?"

"How's it look?" Videla grunted, carrot mush hitting her face after Sour Cream threw it at her. She wiped it away.

Doug held back his snort of laughter, and went to try feed the baby. However, Sour Cream just threw carrot mush onto his clean white shirt.

The two friends were soon in Vidalia's laundry room, putting thier dirty shirts in, the woman now in a light blue shirt with a goofy face on it. Doug put on a turquoise t-shirt from his very tiny suitcase with his belongs in it and then noticed Vidalia.

"Um, what an interesting choice of shirt, Vidalia…" Doug chuckled.

The woman rolled her eyes. "This is my uniform for the T-shirt shop, I've got a job there now."

"I never exspected you to be into selling shirts."

"Welp, we all have to grow up sometime." Vidalia shrugged.

The home phone just above the washer suddenly rang and Vidalia picked it up. "Hello?... Wait, what do you mean you can't come?"

Doug glanced up at her desprate tone of voice. Was everything okay?

"Death in the family?" Videla gave groan suddenly after that. "A hamster doesn't count! You can't do this to me! Look, I -- I really need-! Hello? Hello?!" She have a growl, slamming the phone on the receiver. "Lousy twelve-year old!"

"What happened?" Doug asked hesitantly, not knowing if he'd regret to ask.

Videla sighed. "Listen, Doug, my babysitter canceled. I need you to watch Sour Cream for me while I'm at work. Can you do it?"

"Me?! Vidalia! I can't be in charge of another human being! I need to put in some research first!"

"I know it's sudden, but I need you to do it!" Vidlea begged.

Doug was soon cradling the baby in his arms. If he had a child, he'd teach the babysitter everything, absolutely everything before letting them take care of it. He kept true to that.

"Okay, don't forget, diaper bag's over there, snacks are over there. Emergency number's on the fridge." Vidalia said quickly, she then leaned in very close to Doug. "I may think you're a alright guy, but if anything bad happens to my kid, you better pray your space goddess' magic can bring people back from the dead, because I will destroy you."

Doug gave a nervous laugh. "Alright… good to know…."

Videla then walked off to work, Doug calling out goodbye.

The man sighed, then glanced at the baby. "Now, Sour Cream, shall we have some fun?"

Sour Cream gave a, "Meh." in response.

"You really have quite a deep voice there, little buddy." Doug laughed, ruffling the kid's hair.

Soon enough, they were on the beach under a umbrella. The two sat on a towel

"Sour Cream, sunscreen is very important! It protects you from the rays of the sun. However, the sun give vitamin D as well, so I wouldn't say shy away from it-"

"Doug, who are you talking away to?" A familer voice asked.

He turned and saw Yellow Diamond who bent down to look at the baby. She frowned. "Oh. You're talking to your less intelligent kind."

"He's a baby, this is Sour Cream." Doug exclaimed. He noticed Yellow's sneer. "What's wrong?"

"I do respect human kind, but I still don't understand why they make it so small, why not let them come out useful and ready to work?" Yellow asked. "It's a waste of good resources and time, isn't it?"

"No, it's not. He'll grow up and one day be able to walk and talk and run and jump, just like me and you! Besides, it's a wonderful experience to raise a child, it brings out the best in people, so I've heard."

The Diamond looked at Sour Cream again, and thought back of her own home. "... I see. Humans are very different from gems…. Humans change, they don't obey a single master, not the way gems do… Gems can't change, not at all. They were made for one purpose, and one alone. To serve a Diamond. And even I had to somewhat obey…" She quieted, and turned her head away. She didn't want to finish the sentence. She didn't want Doug's thoughts of her to be tarnished, she didn't want to talk about being nervous about another gem. "Nevermind. Where did you find this child?"

"Vidalia asked me to babysit." Doug answered.

Yellow frowned quickly. "Who is Vidalia?"

"Oh, Yellow, she's just my friend! I think you'd like her." Doug smiled.

His lover merely shrugged. "I don't know if she's worth my time yet. Perhaps I'll have one of the Temps evaluate her for me."

Sour Cream suddenly tugged on Doug's shirt.

"Oh, is there something you need, Sour Cream?" He asked.

The baby pointed to the water, then looked back at Doug.

"You want to go in the water? Of course!" Doug beamed. He picked Sour Cream up and then gasped. "Neither one of us are in our swiming trunks!"

"And should that be concerning me?" Yellow asked with a bored exsprisson. "Just go with your normal clothes."

"Yellow, we could get in the cold water and get colds!"

"But it's summer." Yellow replied bluntly.

Doug sighed. "I'd just feel a lot better if I got them."

"Fine." The Diamond muttered. "Leave the child here, I'll watch it."

"Thanks a million, Yellow!" Doug called out, and she realized he was already running to get the trunks. "Be back in a jiffy!"

Soon enough, Doug was indeed back, however, Yellow and Sour Cream were gone.

"Oh no! Where's the baby?!" Doug cried, frantically looking back and forth. "I knew this would happen! Vidalia's going to kill me!"

"Yellow! Yellow, where are you?!" Doug called out, running through the town. "Yellow!" He soon was at Funland, yelling out for them, when he suddenly saw a bright yellow helmet over by the ferris wheel and sighed in relief. "Yellow!"

The Diamond turned from looking up at the wheel and looked at him with confusion. "Why were you yelling for me? Did you trip and hurt yourself again? You know I let things like that heal on their own."

"Where's Sour Cream?" Doug gasped. "I thought you said you'd watch him!"

"Why are you yelling?" Yellow growled, and then pointed up to a near the top carriage of the wheel. "I did watch him, he climbed up there."

"What?! Oh no!" Doug moaned.

"It was suprising, for something so small, it is very quick and agile… Do you have any jobs that require speed and agility? He might do alright in that field." Yellow mused, then noticed Doug was shaking hard. "What's the matter with you? If you want to get him so badly, go get him."

"I-I hate heights…" Doug whispered softly. "If I just call the police, I'm sure they can safely get him down, I'll just fall and hurt us both."

Yellow rolled her eyes. "You are as good as any of those police people, you just have to focus on the child and that you want to get it down, and not falling."

Doug looked at her, gulped, and then nodded. "Thank you, Yellow." He then bolted to the Ferris wheel and started to climb. He slipped and gasped in fear, hanging from a rung with one sweaty hand. He then looked at Sour Cream, knowing he'd never forgive himself if the boy got even a little bit hurt. He grasped the rung tight and pulled himself up.

Sour Cream had only his usual chill exspression, but Doug picked him up and hugged him.

"I'm so glad you're okay, little guy… I don't-" Suddenly, The ferris wheel unexpectedly turned and Doug slipped, and the two of them were falling! Doug was yelling in horror, holding Sour Cream close.

But impact never came. They were only falling for about a second anyway, barely enough time to react. Doug looked up to see the gianromus form of Yellow Diamond, her true size. He always forgot she could do that.

"Yellow! Why didn't you shapeshift taller in the first place and save him?!" Doug cried.

Yellow put him down on the ground and then squated down to raise a eyebrow. "Well, you didn't ask me, of course. And beside, you did what you set out to do and proved you could." The gem than shapeshifted back to her normal size.

Doug cradled Sour Cream and then smiled at Yellow. "Want to hold him? I think you'd like it."

Yellow looked suprised and looked quizily, did he just ask her? The most anger prone and least likely to like children to hold a baby? How thoughtful. "Fine, but only for a few moments, and then it's going straight back."

Doug showed her how to hold the baby, support his head and bottom, then give him to her.

She looked down at the baby. This was… nice. The Diamond hoped this wouldn't be her only time holding one. At the time, she had no idea that she'd a few months be angry that she could never see or hold her own...

Later that night, Doug had returned Sour Cream and packed his suitcase. He was saying his goodbyes to the mother and son.

"You sure you're going to be okay out there, Doug?" Videla asked, trying not to sound too concerned.

"I'm sure. They always had a open position for me, and now I know I'm brave enough to do it. I want to protect Beach City, just like Yellow and the Temps do." Doug smiled.

"How are you going to pay for classes?" Videla asked, tickling her baby.

Doug gave a small chuckle. "They sorta already know me, so they're letting me learn for free."

"You going to exsplain that?" The woman asked.

"Sometime, but right now the chief's exspecting me. Thank you for all the hospitality and company, Vidalia." The man then turned and walked to the police station, humming a little tune.

The next week, he was on his first official stakeout. In the dark car, he sang softly to himself out of boredom. "I know I'm not that tall, I know I'm not that smart, but let me drive my car into this lot, let me drive my car into this lot…"

"And you've been a cop ever since." Connie finished.

"Yes." Doug smiled. "I grew up a little more that day."

Suddenly, a noise came from the back of the house and they both tensed.

The two soon came out with flashlights, and Connie saw two tall and shadowy figures sneaking up to the house.

"Freeze!" Doug yelled, shining the flashlight on the figures.

It was Jenny Pizza and Sour Cream. They had put their hands up.

"Jenny, Sour Cream! Why are you guys slinking around?" Connie asked.

"Uh, getting Buck, of course, did his dad actually notice us last night? We do this, like, all the time." Jenny smirked.

"Oh, well you kids better inform your parents about what you're doing, it really frightened the mayor." Doug explained. He then nodded to Sour Cream. "And you, tell your mother I said hello."

Connie and Doug then went back into the car and drove off homeward.

The teens watched for a moment before turning back to talk to each other.

"You gonna tell your mom?" Jenny asked.

Sour Cream shrugged, saying his trademark, "Meh."