A/N: Thanks for all the lovely reviews! I'll go ahead and answer a few of them that wanted asked questions. Obviously I don't want to spoil you, so expect vague answers.

Bermuda Dragon: That's the angsty part! And you'll find out in chapter 3.

MICHEAL MY3RS: Connie will be in this story for sure. You'll see how it all goes down.

Kodek: You didn't really ask a question, but I am curious as to what fics you are referring to? I haven't really seen any like this yet. Well, not good ones anyway.

Guest: I uploaded a note about the missing reviews, it wasn't really a chapter. I removed it shortly after the issue fixed itself.

Blazing-Rasenshuriken97: No, it has not flipped, yet. It will at some point though.

Chapter 2: Learning to Smile

The sound of the warp pad's 'shing' reverberated throughout the temple and house as Steven and Spinel arrived, Steven thankfully avoiding a face-plant on the warp pad this time; holding on to Spinel's hand the entire time had been his saving grace.

Spinel looked around in wide-eyed wonder at all the new things she had never seen before. For most of her existence, she stayed in the garden, having only seen bits and pieces of Homeworld from time to time. She learned everything she knew from Pink, the only gem she ever interacted with after she emerged, aside from the few gems that she had passed on Homeworld on her way to the garden. Though now that she remembered, they tended to keep several mreevets away from her as she walked by, despite her rather overly friendly behavior and attitude.

She had not really paid much attention to it at the time, but they gave her disgusted looks, though she was too naive at the time to really-

"Welcome to Beach City!" Steven's loud declaration made her jump and she released a quiet 'eep' as she was ripped out of her thoughts.

"Well, not really Beach City, this is just my house, but it's a part of Beach City! There's so many cool things to show you, and so many new people to introduce you to! Oh! I have to show you all the best places to eat! We'll go to Funland, the arcade-" Spinel just stared down at Steven as it rambled on and on about all the places it would take her, though she had no clue about any of the things it was listing off. "- and that's not even naming all of the cool things we could go to outside of Beach City! Like- hmm..." Spinel flushed a bit as Steven stopped talking and studied her rather intensely.

'Why is it staring at me like that?'

"Maybe we should get you cleaned up first. Come on!" Steven said, pulling her with him as he stepped off the warp pad and towards his bathroom. He opened the door and flipped on the lights. He heard Spinel gasp from behind him as he led her inside. Flipping down the toilet seat lid, he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her down gently to sit on it.

"Sit here for a sec while I get the bathtub ready."

'The what ready?' Insanely curious, she stretched her head over to the odd rectangle thing that the creature was hovering over. It was humming to itself as it turned some weird knobs and suddenly, water rushed out of the long nose-like thing. She gasped loudly in surprise, causing Steven to look up in shock to see her head hovering over its own. It shouted, completely startled, causing her to swiftly snap her head back into place. The force of the action making her fall off of the weirdly shaped chair with a loud squeal.

She attempted to grab on to something on her way down out of instinct, only managing to snag something soft and fluffy that ended on top of her head. Now blinded by some fluffy white thing, she did not realize her other hand had knocked over something much harder that ended up hitting her on top of her head before clattering to the floor.

It was so silent in the bathroom that you could hear a pin drop, the only sound being the quiet hum of the lights overhead.

Spinel finally let out of distressed whimper as everything processed. She felt absolutely pathetic! Not to mention embarrassed. 'Oh stars, I've never been this uncoordinated before. What's wrong with me?'

The fluffy thing was suddenly and gently removed from her head, and the pink gem looked up into Steven's caring eyes as it stared down at her. She averted her eyes towards the floor, feeling ashamed.

"Spinel, are you okay?" Steven asked, worried. He had wanted to laugh at the whole situation. It was like something that came straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon, but her little whimper had put a stopper in that immediately.

The little nod she gave him certainly did not convince him in the slightest, but he decided to let it go for the time being. He just hoped she would open up a bit more, she was so quiet that it was quite discerning. The only other gem he knew who like this was Garnet, but she always talked at some point, even if it was just a few words here and there. She liked being mysterious in that way. Spinel, he had a feeling, was nothing like that. She had not said two words since they arrived in his house, and it unnerved him somewhat.

"Well... okay. The bath is ready now, c'mon. Wait, let me get these things off first," Steven exclaimed as she went to stand up, reaching down and pulled off the remaining dead vines that were still wrapped around Spinel's feet and legs. He tossed them into the trash can that sat next to the toilet and dusted off his hands in a dramatic way, a little grin on his face.

"There, all better," he stated as he helped Spinel to her feet and lead her over to the tub. Thankfully he had turned off the water before he went over to help his new gem friend, otherwise it would have gotten too full.

"Your royal bath awaits, my queen," Steven dramatically said with a little bow, hoping to get her to laugh, to smile, do anything besides just stare at him. Though this time she stared at him as though he were crazy. No reaction other than that, sadly. Well, he tried.

Looking away from the crazy creature, Spinel stared into the so-named "tub" feeling confused. It reminded her of a small pond in a way, but this thing clearly was not a pond and she could not swim in it, so what was she supposed to do? What was a "bath" anyway?

Seeing her look confused, Steven helped to explain.

"Just step in and sit down, but carefully, you don't want to slip and fall. I did that once and it hurt, really bad."

Taking its advice, Spinel slowly stepped in one foot at a time, shuddering as the warmth of the water crept up through her body, and slowly sat down in the water, even more of its warmth seeping into her body and soothing her in a way she had never felt before. She released a little sigh as she closed her eyes, and, unbeknownst to her, a small smile appeared on her face for the first time in a long time.

Steven, however, did not miss it and he grinned ecstatically. It was just a tiny smile, but it made a huge difference.

Reaching over, he grabbed a bar of soap and a washcloth, handing them to the confused gem once she opened her eyes again. She stared at the two items with knitted eyebrows, and Steven had to explain once again.

"Just lather the bar of soap into the washcloth and wash your body. Just be careful not to get it in your eyes, though, it will burn badly. You do that, and I will be right back." Turning around, Steven walked over and picked up the cup of toothbrushes that she had accidentally knocked over in her fall and set it back on to the sink. As he tried to walk out the door, though, a panicked voice cried out in alarm, causing him to whip around and look into the eyes of a terrified Spinel, who still held on to the items he gave her.

"Whe-where are you going?!" She cried, a surge of panic and fear enveloping her when she saw Steven about the leave her. "You're not leaving me, are you?!" She started hyperventilating and dropped the items in her hand into the water and clutched her head instead, moaning in distress.

Now feeling like panicking himself, Steven abandoned his plan of fetching some old bath toys of his to try and get her to play, and ran over to the distressed gem and tried to pry the hands ripping at her hair away from her head. She was a lot stronger than she looked, he learned, but eventually he managed to get her to grip his arms instead, which, in hindsight, probably was not the best idea. He winced in pain at her crushing grip, but bore through it and cupped her face in his hands and forced her to look at him. The tears streaming down her face broke his heart.

"Spinel, Spinel, look at me, I'm right here. See? I'm not going anywhere, I promise," he said soothingly, mimicking similar words that he saw on a television show once since it seemed to work there. It seemed to do the trick here, too, as her breathing calmed down and her grip on his arms loosened a bit. She was still shaking, though.

"You... you promise? You promise you won't ever leave me?" She asked in a tiny voice, afraid of the answer.

"I promise I won't ever leave you. Cross my heart and hope to die," he said, taking his right arm back and making the crisscross motion over his chest, though there was fear on her face at what he just said and did. "It's just an expression that makes the promise stronger."

It was a weird thing to say and do for a promise, Spinel thought, but she calmed down regardless and leaned into the hand still cupping her face, blushing a bit as she nuzzled into it and sighed, smiling. She actually felt happy, something she never thought she would ever feel again. A spark of something else long forgotten danced through her as well, though she could not place the feeling at the moment.

-TAoLaF-

His entire face felt like it was on fire when Spinel nuzzled into his hand. It just felt so... intimate. He still found it adorable, however, especially since she seemed quite happy. He cleared his throat, catching her attention.

"We should, uh, get you cleaned up now," Steven stated, retrieving the soap and washcloth from the water. It was clear to him that she had no idea what to do, so he figured it would not hurt to just wash her himself. It was embarrassing, but he was thankful gems did not really have natural human anatomy, so it made it less awkward.

How he found that out though, he did not want to even remember.

Lathering the washcloth with soap, he started with her face, careful not to get any soap in her eyes, and worked his way down slowly, gently scrubbing away the many millennia of filth from her body. He hesitated in a couple of obvious areas, feeling flustered, but he ignored it and washed them anyway, knowing that they needed cleaned as well.

It was almost therapeutic in a way, and he relaxed the more he got into washing Spinel. Bit by bit, the bright pink and white colors she used to be appeared underneath all the dirt and grime, captivating Steven for some reason he could not explain.

Finishing washing her body, he let the dirty water drain out and grabbed the extended shower head and turned it on, making sure the water was warm, and rinsed her off. She let out a cute squeak at the sensation at first, but relaxed into it quickly enough.

Completing his rinse, Steven turned to her hair and started spraying it down, her two heart-shaped buns slowly unraveled as he ran his fingers through them. Soon enough her pink hair was laying flat against her back and Steven grabbed his shampoo, lathering and messaging it into her scalp, feeling her shiver as he did so. He had had it done to him before, so he knew what she was feeling as he massaged her head.

He washed her hair out and applied some conditioner, repeating his actions. Finally done with bathing the cute little gem before him, Steven turned off the water and helped her out of the tub.

Throughout the whole process, Spinel had been in heaven as Steven, in her mind, lavished her with love and attention. She had not even realized just how touch starved she truly was until then. Sure, it had gently touched her gem back in that place, but this was her whole body construct Steven was giving its attention to. She never wanted the pleasant feelings to stop, especially when Steven massaged her scalp. Oh what a wonderful feeling!

Alas, it did stop, and she felt disappointed, but she realistically knew it would not go on forever.

"There, all clean! Now let's get you dried off," Steven said, grabbing one of his towels and swiftly dried her off as much as possible.

"Aaaannnnd done," he said, giggling as he removed the towel from her head, her hair poofing up from the static electricity. She looked like a big pink lollipop!

"Okay, let me, ha ha, fix that for you!" Still giggling, he led her over to the toilet again and had her sit facing the doorway. He grabbed the comb he never used from the sink, why he had it he did not know, and started to softly comb through her hair, being gentle so he would not hurt her. He marveled at just how silky soft her hair actually was and ran his fingers through it just as much as the comb. He never knew just how soothing it was to do this for someone else.

Getting her hair to finally lay flat, Steven proceeded to try and put her hair back up into the heart-shaped buns that she had before. Key word: Try. After about the fifth failed attempt, and with a lot of grumbling on his part, he decided to to just put her hair into normal ponytails. Well, pigtails, really.

"Sorry, Spinel, I couldn't get your hair back to normal. But I hope you like this just as much! Here, take a look!" Steven dragged her in front of the mirror to let her see herself. Her eyes went wide as she saw herself. She tilted her head back and forth cutely, her pigtails flopping to each side with each tilt. Steven could not help the little high-pitched squeal from himself.

It was the cutest thing he had ever seen! It reminded him of those puppy videos online where they would tilt their head back and forth at some strange sound, confused by what they were hearing.

-TAoLaF-

Spinel could not help but really like what Steven did to her hair as she studied herself in the reflective surface. Sure, it was simple, but it was different and it did not remind her of her near endless loneliness from before whatsoever, so that was a plus.

Not to mention it suited her in a way that she could not put a finger on at the moment.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as Steven stepped up next to her and hummed in thought.

"You're almost perfect," she blushed as the word 'perfect' slipped from its lips, "there's just one more thing we need to do... Ah ha!" Its loud exclamation caused her to jump in mild fright, her new pigtails standing straight up in response, and she watched as Steven pulled out a rectangle from the strange, tall, square thing and dug around in it. It soon pulled out a little bottle of whatever it was with a triumphant look on its face.

"Gem polish! Pearl always tells me to keep my gem polished so that I stay in peak form and health, or something like that, I'm not sure. She tends to use a lot of big words I don't understand." Spinel looked at her gem in the reflective surface speculatively. It did look a bit dull, now that she was really looking at it. No surprise, honestly, as she had pretty much neglected herself for a long time.

She watched as Steven grabbed a smaller squared fluffy thing, a washcloth it called the thing, and put some gem polish on it. She turned to face Steven without being prompted to and it reached up and polished her gem. She shuddered as the pleasure vibrated through her entire body. This was not just Steven's finger, it was practically its whole hand rubbing at her gem. It felt amazing.

All too soon it was over and Steven put away the gem polish.

"There, all better!" She turned to look at herself once again and marveled at just how shiny her gem was now. She reached up and slowly ran a couple of fingers over her gem, fascinated by how much smoother it was now, too.

A weird sound came from Steven and it snapped her out of her thoughts as she looked at it, feeling concerned.

Wait, concerned? When did she start feeling that? Oh, right, just now.

-TAoLaF-

When Steven finished yawning, he looked at Spinel to see the concern written across her face. She really did not know anything about humans, did she?

"It's okay, I'm just yawning. It means I'm tired," he explained.

"Tired?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Yeah, it means I need to sleep," he said, and watched as her eyes and face lit up in recognition at the word. "You know about sleep?"

"Yeah, I used to do it when I was bored and Pink wasn't around..." Well, at least she was talking a bit more now. That was a good sign.

"Come on then, let's both go to bed, it is pretty late," he stated, looking at the bathroom wall clock. Grabbing her hand, he led her out of the bathroom, just now noticing the small 'squeak squeak squeak' that accompanied each of her footsteps.

Stars, could this gem get any cuter?

He walked up into his room and released her hand, grabbed his pajamas from his dresser drawer, and changed into them, not even caring if Spinel was watching him. He lived with three other gems who saw him do this on an almost daily basis, so it was no big deal to him.

Pulling back the covers, he hopped into bed and patted the available spot next to him. Spinel just blinked at him in confusion.

"Hop in, I won't bite, and there's plenty of room for both of us," he said.

"You want me to sleep next to you?" She asked, still confused.

"Sure! Unless you want to sleep on the couch? It's comfy, but not as comfy as my bed."

Oh no, no no no, she was not about to leave Steven's side for one second. She slid into the thing called a bed and was promptly covered up in the big, soft square thing. She laid her head on the poofy cloud-rectangle and sighed in bliss. Oh this was so much better than sleeping on the cold, hard ground. Why did Homeworld not have these 'beds'? Oh, right, most of gemkind did not sleep. She did not understand why, it was such a pleasant activity.

"Good night, Spinel," Steven said, drifting off into slumber. Soon, it was softly snoring away as Spinel just stared at Steven, a small smile on her face.

Feeling a bit of her old self come back, she turned on her side and wrapped her arms around the hybrid and pulled Steven close to herself, cuddling it as she nuzzled into its soft, curly hair. With a content sigh, she closed her eyes and surrendered herself to dreamland.

-TAoLaF-

Spinel giggled as she hid in some bushes, hoping that Steven and Pink would not find her. They were playing hide and seek and she had made them both 'it'. The garden was pretty big, so she knew it would take them a while to find her, if they did that is.

What must have been hours passed by, yet Spinel did not hear any noise from the two seekers. Curious, she peeked her out of the bushes and surveyed the area. Soon enough, she spotted the two of them heading towards the warp pad. Feeling alarmed, she sprang out of her hiding spot and started chasing them, calling out to them.

"Pink, Steven, where are you guys going? We haven't finished playing the game yet," Spinel said. They turned around to face her and she freaked out at their blank faces and soulless-looking eyes as they stared at her without saying a word.

"Guys...?" It suddenly went dark and Steven and Pink Diamond seemed to stretch further and further away from her. She reached out with a hand and stretched her arm towards them, but she could not reach them no matter how far she stretched. Everything spun around and Spinel gripped her head and shut her eyes, feeling confused and lost.

Then, cackling filled her ears. Opening her eyes, she stared down at Steven, who was cowering on the ground and staring up at her in sheer terror. In her hands was a scythe.

"You left me. You broke your promise!"

"N-no, I didn't mean t-"

"SHUT UP! You said you would never leave me. Well, I will make sure that never happens again!" Cackling again, she raised the scythe and swung down, the scream of pain from Steven fueling her rage, and she kept swinging over and over even when the screaming stopped. She dropped the scythe once the anger, hatred, and rage was empty within her.

Looking down, she screeched in fear as she backed away from the mangled mess that used to be Steven. She fell down on the ground and scooted further away, panic overtaking her. Her back hit something solid and she looked up into the disappointed eyes of Pink Diamond.

"Look at what you did."

"No! I didn't mean to!"

"Look at what you have become, killing the only thing that truly cared for you."

"NO! You liar! You cared for me, didn't you?!"

"Oh Spinel, do you really believe that? You're more naïve than I thought." Spinel watched as Pink vanished into thin air. She felt numb as she crawled over to Steven's mauled corpse and gathered it close to her and sobbed.

She looked over in the pond that was next to her and recoiled in fear at her own reflection. She truly had become a monster.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, please wake up Steven! PLEASE!"

-TAoLaF-

"...nel ... inel ... SPINEL, wake up!" Spinel sprung up as she woke up, panting heavily and sweating up a storm. She was shaking like a leaf.

Steven had been woken up by Spinel tossing and turning in her sleep and mumbling under her breath. He knew immediately that she was having a nightmare and spent a few minutes trying to shake her awake and calling her name. Whatever dream she was having, it had a tight grip on her, but eventually he managed to pull her from it.

Gripping her shaking hands in his own, he attempted to calm her down.

"It's okay, it was just a nightmare. Whatever you saw wasn't real, it was your mind playing tricks on you," Steven said softly, rubbing his thumbs over the top of her hands. He watched as she slowly turned towards him with wide, wild eyes before her face crumbled up and tears ran down her face. 'Uh oh...'

With a deep sob, she launched at him and wrapped her arms around him, constricting him as she bawled into his shoulder.

"Urk...!"

"I-I'm s-s-sorry! I-I d-d-didn't me-mean to! P-pl-please do-don't l-leave me!" Steven had no clue what she apologizing for, but he guessed it had to do something with her nightmare.

Deciding to comfort her the same way his dad used to when he had nightmares, he gathered her up in his arms and sat her on his lap and slowly rocked her back and forth, whispering quiet words of comfort in her ears. She did not seem to be calming down any, however.

A sudden idea popped into his head. His dad sometimes sang to him to calm him down, so why not try it with Spinel? He cupped the back of her head and combed his fingers through her hair as he thought of something to sing. A song came to him a couple of minutes later.

When the skies turn dark and gray
And you're feeling tired and down
The light you long to see across the way
Doesn't want to be found

A love you hope to see has passed you by
Sailed far across the sea
And you just sit down and cry
Waiting for life to hand you the key

But someday, somewhere, somehow
You will move on, to love again
That time is now
When you met your new friend

I will be here for you
Be your shining guide
Stick by you through and through
Help you through this crazy ride

I won't ever give up
I won't ever give in
I won't ever stop
Until I see that infinite grin

I will always be here for you
Through thick and thin
And there is nothing I wouldn't do
To erase all your pain

I will always be here
And that is my promise

Steven drifted off at the end as he noticed that Spinel had fallen back asleep. She had shifted around at some point and was now tucked under his chin.

Yawning, Steven adjusted his pillow and leaned back against the headboard, covering the two of them up with his comforter. He snuggled in, still holding on to Spinel, and fell asleep once more, hoping that they were not back to square one after this as his final thought.

End Chapter 2

A/N: Woo, that took a minute to write. I'm sorry I didn't get this out sooner, working kills any writing motivation I may get most of the time.

I know it may seem romantic right now, but I promise you, that is not the case. It will be, but not right now.

Also, again, this is not where I originally intended to finish this chapter off, but it makes the most sense. Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst come in next chapter, are you excited?