Rightfully, even lion has a life that goes beyond helping us. One day lion disappeared and in our suspense, we started imagining direr circumstances that would be a problem for lion to handle; Admittedly, the scenarios were unlikely to happen.

Lion disappeared for a month, the longest time he had ever decided to ghost. The first week of him missing, no bells were set off. There are many places he goes to and he spends days there going whatever. Connie and I had to adjust to lion's disappearance. Lion has been sweet to do this for us thus far. Traveling back and forth by car was always something we knew we'd have to fall back on when lion moved on.

Nearing two weeks since lion stopped coming over to visit Connie or I, I decided to start taking the initiative planned an eight hour trip to visit my girl. The road was relaxing and as always, breath taking. A stray thought come to me to maybe move again. It would solve the problem of going back and forth but I still wanted to live it out awhile longer where I was.

The visit was supposed to be just a visit, but I ended up staying over for about three days.

Whenever I visit her, time tend to become lost for both of us It got Connie behind on her studies a bit, but she said it was worth it as long as it doesn't happen too often.

Going back to my flat, my mind wondered about lion again. By this time it was close to being almost two in a half weeks. I called amethyst to see if she knew where lion was. She told me that he hasn't visited their home in about the amount of time he been gone. My mind started forming guesses to why he might be and would take a long time to check them all by driving. Of course, there was one other way to get to him quickly, but Lars wasn't at home at the time.

On the fourth week, I thought it was time to check in on him, wherever he was. Connie had been getting really worried too, so she decided to come with me back to beach city so we could meet with Lars while he was "off trip".

We notified him on what was happening and asked for his help which of course he agreed to it.

At the time, he was visiting back home with his parents. By 3:00a.m. We were coming close to the city limits. The long thin strip of beach, the cozy lights dizzying from a distance and the large statue that hangs over the home of garnet, amethyst, pearl and A匇a, a Angara gem.

I've visited and hangout with A匇a a few times personally. Though I still don't know her as much as i'd like to and she's still rather new to me, we really had a great time our first day hanging out. I confirmed that she's like a mixture of an even amount Peridot, a dash of amethyst but mainly having more in common with Garnet if that makes sense.

We called Lars again to let him know we were close by, which gave him a bit of time to preparing for our arrival. Lars met us outside his parent's house and had a small bit of exchange with us before kneeling down, allowing us to step through his head.

The pocket dimension has changed a little since the last time I was here. A similar looking town to beach city existed in his "realm" but it was different to some degree, bigger and bright with even more lights, however the large town was empty as far as we could tell. I wouldn't completely know, there wasn't time to explore it or were my lungs ready to attempt hold air long enough to grasp the area.

Coming through Lars's head you'd start there inside the town, then to travel to lion head, I guessed that we needed to find the grass lands again.

The urgency of our steps didn't completely disappear walking through the large familar town, but at time something caused us to pause for attention, like the bakery at the center. It appeared much more bigger than Lars's shop and detailed with many paintings and plushies of pastries mascots on the walls inside and out.

The three foot building seemed it had the potential to supply the whole town with any sweet delight and it puzzled me that I didn't see it before. on the very top was Lars's ship as well. I would guess that this is a desire of Lars.

We found the path to lion's domain, the concrete at the edge of town was broken away, seemingly years of wild grass ripped away at it.

In the distance there was now just one tree holding my mom's old stuff under it. Good that we found it because our air supply was now at it's limit. we dived into the grass then shot out on the other side.

We fell on a hard rocky hill thankfully Connie's velocity was canceled when she landed on me. After gathering ourselves so we could greet lion behind us something jumped at Connie. I pulled Connie close to me then prepared my shield. It was a lion attempting to do us harm but not the lion we knew.

My shield was raised to protect against the heavy knife like paws assault.

"Just calm down. We're here looking for a friend."

I was restraining myself in how much strength I used to push the lion away. In the back of my mind, a possibility exist that this lion might be a friend of Lion. Surely he was around here somewhere.

While peeling this lion away, my eyes darted around the area. There was a fence surrounding us in a deep man made trance. There was some real greenery but for the most part, artificial bushes and walls were made to look like idea environment for lions.

"Lion!" Connie called, pointing over by a small cave.

Laying down seeming a bit bothered by the other lion attacking me was Lion. He seemed to have been previously sleeping. The other lion never took it's eyes off me gnarling and coiling it's back for another attack, but before it could continue striking at me, Lion came to it's side to calm it down, rubbing it's cheek with his nose.

"Is that your friend?" I asked feeling a bit more calm myself.

While Connie and I were in the mist of figuring out what was going on, my eye caught something else moving near a small cave the two lion were sleeping beside. At the very entrance was three cute baby cubs.

"OH. MY. GOSH. Connie look! I can't believe it!" I looked over at Lion and the other lion who now held a look of disdain. "lion. Are you a father?!"

I took a few steps over to the cubs then I heard a piercing roar behind me.

"Oh, um sorry. Can I introduce myself to them Mrs. Lion?"

Despite the unchanging look she gave me, Lion was again able to comfort her. He walked over to the cave picked one of his kids up then placed it close to us.

I kneel down feeling nervous to see it, but maybe not as nervous as the cub who shied away from us.

"Lion, is it a boy or a girl?" Connie inquired, getting up her knees to be in a more comfortable position. Connie glanced at me, hinting that she wanted me to be the first to make contact with it.

Lion pointed his paw at the cub then pointed the same paw at the mom behind us. Obviously Lion knew we figured out that the cubs were both his and the other female lion's baby, so I guessed he meant something else by his directing. Possibly he was just pointing out the gender of it, which in case means this is a female.

"Aww, a cute little girl lion." both Connie and I cooed with blushing cheeks looking back down to her.

"Don't worry lil guy-er I mean girl. I'm a friend of your dad." I assured, slowly reaching out a hand.

The cub didn't move closer to me but it didn't try and run away. Eventually, my hand raised it's head then I begun to stroke it's back. With a little bit of patience, the cub warmed up to us. Connie a turn to cuddle her for a while.

"So, this was where you've been all this time. You had us worried."

The cubs did seem as though they were a month old, fitting the time Lion been gone. After his kids were born, of course he needed to help tend to them.

Time was becoming lost to us and we had Lars waiting long enough for our comeback.

"Lion, we got to go now, but come see us again, ok?" I urged picking myself off the ground, then helping Connie up as well.

"Since you have this responsibility on your hands now, don't worry about getting me around anymore, we'll find another way." Connie added, staring him deeply with thanks in her eyes.

I sighed to myself knowing that that would mean a lot video chats over the week days and weekends, but that was what needed to happen. It would be asking too much from Lion to worry about us.

Lion stared at us then shook his head.

"No?" Connie mouthed.

He then walked up to Connie then started to rub his cheek on her side leg.

"No, really. It's ok lion. Steven and I will just-"Connie started but was interrupted by Lion's shout ripping open a portal back to beach city.

"Oh wow. You even knew where we were before. How did you know we were in Beach City?" I asked curiously.

Though Lion and I understood each other quite well, there were some moments I didn't understand what he said.

"*Soft growls*" Lion attempted to respond to my question.

"Uh... never mind." I smiled.

We stepped through to the portal Lion made for us, then waved him and his family off as it closed.

Lars was still there waiting for us. He seemed to be working on a motor bike he now owned.

"Ah. You guys are back. Didn't expect you to get back like that though since you could just pop out of my head." Lars mentioned, placing his tools down. "so where's lion?"

We told Lars what happened then he grow a curious look on his face. "so, I didn't just imagine that."

"Imagine what?" a question floated from my mouth. The way Lars spoke felt like he wasn't directly talking to me.

Lars paused then looked a direction far off out of town. "i can sense lion to some degree. When you told me that lion had kids, I wasn't surprised about that. I was surprised that I might have already knew. It's weird."

My brow wrinkled to his epiphany. Sensed lion? "so, you and lion have some ability to link pass the head thing."

Lars bottom lip burrowed under his upper lip."yea, that's what i'm thinking. So, you don't feel anything? With Lion, I mean."

Never have I ever felt anyone while being awake. There has been time when sleeping that other's feeling did come to me, but not lion's.

An attempt was made to active the ability on my own, but there wasn't anything. "no, not at the moment. Only when i'm asleep."

"...huh." Lars huffed rubbing his arm. "Actually, i'm pretty sure I can feel something from you too."

My spine felt as though ice was rubbed over it. "what really?!"

"When you had that episode a year or so ago. I felt pretty bad for some reason that day. I chalked it up as just having a crappy day even after I heard what happened. Now I think we're linked in some way."

How far Does Lar's ability goes? "so, do you know how I feel now?"

There was apart of me expecting him to describe something, but instead, he just seemed puzzled. "n-no. It's only a sometimes thing." he concluded.

Lars's eyes rolled back to me, showing a realization to something. "I did feel you slowly growing more worried over this month, obviously because of lion. Oh yeah! And, what happened a week and a half ago that made you so happy?"

"Oh, well. Since I thought lion was just taking a break form us, I drove down to Connie's school and rented a near by motel to stay at. Connie and I spend a lot of time together nearly that whole week. More time than we've done in months." I confirmed.

Connie stepped into the conversation, giving me a sour smile. "it was amazing alright," she admitted. "but I got so far behind on my work that on my test that I got a C+ on that week's test. Getting anymore of those won't look good later down the line."

"Yeah, i'm sorry about that." my words squeezed out as a feeling of cold sweat hit me again.

Lars suddenly shot me a odd look, then beamed. "I can vouch that Steven really feels bad about that."

"He doesn't need to be. Even with maybe a few more problems down the line, i'll make it to being an astronaut." a gentle grin formed, easing the guilt festering in my chest. "We needed that time together, nothing should be more important than the people we care about."

After saying that her smile shrunk a bit before pulling out her phone then checking it.

"But if I can make it to class after checking up on said love ones, then that would be good as well."

"Oh, Lars, we need to get going. Connie has school in three hours." Connie and I started moving forwards the car.

"We might have just enough time for me to make it there." she breathed delightedly. "i was wondering IF I would make it to class today."

We said our farewell to Lars then jumped into the car and left. Connie made it to Class only two minutes late and I made my ten hour journey back to my flat.

Thankfully lion did continue to give Connie a lift to the apartment and back to school afterwards, but now it's not every week like before. That day when we found out about his family leading up towards the present, trips from lion has been fewer than before. Within a month, he would show up maybe one to three times, sometimes, like now, he would only drop Connie off and I would drive her back.

"So will I have to bring you back? If so, we might have to leave now." I assumed, pushing back my chair and rising up.

Instead of answering my question directly with a clear answer, Connie tilted her head away from me, possibly pondering another idea.

"Do you think he would teach me too?" these words blurted from her as she felt resolve to say it. "at this point, there's no way for us to make a eight hour drive before my class starts in three hours. Onion is my only hope. Plus, if I do go to space I'll have a way back myself and clearly Onion's ability has no noticeable limits in distance thus far."

"Are you sure that trick will make it from space and back?"

"I'm not sure but, traveling from here to beach city is about the same distance between here to low orbit, however, that distance is laughable when you think about how far the moon is. Onion's trick would have to go over 500 times farther out to reach it. It's hard to believe it could do that, but getting back forth to school would be enough."

"yeah, we just need to ask him." I confirmed sitting back down into my chair.

Connie's tender smile faded. "yeah. But were did he go?"

"Maybe he went home, but wasn't buster with him?"

"Yeah, they might still be around somewhere... anywhere."

"We are." stated a voice coming from the practically no where. We heard it clearly but didn't know where to turn our heads.

"What the heck was that?" I asked, getting back up from my chair. "Guys, is that you?"

"Were they listening to us the whole time?"Connie speculated placing a hand on her cheeks and pressing into them.

"I guess we won't have to explain our situation to Onion now." I nervously laughed. "hey onion can you help us?"

No one responded to me leaving the room hollow and quiet. Surely, they knew what type of way they were coming off right now.

The fifteen seconds of silence was broken with a knock at the door. Those two must be feeling pretty good seeing us panic over their prank. A formidable duo, but I hope their game was over and they were now ready to talk. Is it wrong to be that hopeful?

Taking the obvious bait, I inched closer to the door listening in to see if any strange sounds echoed from behind. My body loosen realizing that maybe the joke was over. Treated like a bandage, the door was quickly snatched opened. Despite the law of nature hinting otherwise, I assumed that I could scare them once this time, however, Connie was standing out in the hallway.

"What in the wor- how did you get OUT here?!" I spouted finally losing my cool.

"I I I don't know!" Connie screamed out loud searching the area for the two; they weren't in the hallway.

"Oh, you're not gonna find us out there." said a voice fitting Buster. It came from behind me.

Turning around of course those two were standing INSIDE the room behind me putting a bow on another perfect prank. The look on their faces on cheery and sincere, not demonic or even impish.

"We came back." Buster stated wrapping an arm around the grinning Onion. "i'm sure you know why."

"You could hear us?" they didn't answer my question, but continued explaining.

"Onion don't mind Connie knowing, but..." Buster looks at me smudging his face. "Steven can't watch."

"I can't?"

"Nope."

"Why?"

Onion lend in on Buster then whispered something to him. "well, onion said that you already have your own way to do it."

"Wha?! But but, I don't even know how I'm supposed to do it." I cried feeling that the situation was a bit unfair, nevertheless, they didn't mind me and my whining.

The two past me, going out the door and blocking Connie from coming in.

"You're be taking your girlfriend for a few minutes, bye bye!"

Onions immediately grabbed the door handle then slammed it shut, leaving me stone-faced to was happening. Instinctively, I grabbed the door nob and twisted it open. My jaw dropped to the floor realizing that all three of them were gone. Where? I had no idea.

Kidnapping Connie and taking her out without a hint to the location was possibly to ensure that I don't see how the method works, but dang it, this is going too far. My body was frozen in fear and a wave of cold sweat showered me as my mind raced. Still, I did trust them not to put her in danger, that much i'm confident in.

"Oh yeah! cellphone!" I howled, jamming my fist into my pocket to get my phone.

Never before have I been so annoyed at the speed in which it took to pull up the dial pad. The loading apps were killing me. A few seconds later the pad came up; as soon as it did the numbers were added then the phone began to ring. Three rings in and Connie voice greeted me, allowing me to breath some relief.

"Steven?" she called to me.

"Where did they take you?!" I asked, my tone noticeably frustrated to what happened.

There was hesitation before she responded again.

"It's ok Steven. The place i'm at is very... pretty. We're in some wide open plain. There's some bed of flowers and a forest far off. Also, i'm noticing the sun is not- I think it's noon where i'm at?" Connie sounded to be in disbelief and so was I. At the moment, it was around nine, a while before noon.

"Ask them if you're in another country. If so, which one?"

Connie asked them. Not all of what was said came in clearly through the phone but I generally got what they were talking about.

"North America?!" Connie and I both exclaimed in shock.

"Is this really necessary guys? Just being her back here." a plead surfaced from me.

To my surprise Connie interrupted me.

"Steven. This is the conditions they'll teach me under. I'll have to accept that."

My heart was resistant to the idea, but I backed down knowing how important this was to us. "ok, fine."

When it comes down to it, Connie is a person who can really commit herself to something whether that schoolwork or training. Despite my worry, I sure she'll learn the ability and get back safely. It's not sure if it would be before she'll have to go back the college. If we do run out of time, i'm sure they could drop he off.

"Be safe, ok?"

"Don't worry. I got this." she warmly spoke.

Not wanting to easily allow our few moments of being with each other go, we lingered on the phone realizing Connie might not come back today. Sadness filled my heart while saying our final good byes before she's pulled back into her highly demanding schedule. It seems like we'll have to spend time together another day.

The phone fell to my side, hanging loosely in my hand.

"She's gone already today." my teeth greeted together. "and I had a few more things planned."

More than not, a bad mood creeps in surrounding me whenever our time with each other is over. That mood is especially potent since we only had about thirty minutes instead of the three hours.

There was a some bad mood breakers I did to lift up my spirits. Going out to talk to somebody, watch a new episode from my favorite series, or I could go flying.

I already had my walk around the apartment this morning and flying in public at this time of day will get me attention that's not needed. Also, I am a show behind on Dr. Cat Burglar.

This day doesn't have to be a downer. with Connie it would have be better, but we got to make the best of what we got, plus, I had plans later on today anyway with Bibbo. we agree to meet at the candy shop after Connie leaves but it seems i'm going to have a lot more space in my morning plans.

The phone that dangled in my hands before was lifted to my attention again. The dial pad was pulled up again then typing – a name popped on contacts.

"A quick episode before going to help Bibbo." a thought came to mind.

The phone buzzed with rings then he picked up.

"Oh yeah! Stevy. How's that date going brah?"

My bottom lip fell between the cracks of my teeth, bluntly giving itself to be a relieving chew toy.

"*Sigh* canceled. I was calling to let you know that i'm free this morning, well after I finish a episode of Dr. Cat Burglar."

"Oh uh, yeah yeah. Just take your time man. No rush. You know, school won't be over until close to three so I won't REALLY need ya until then."

"No no, I can do this. We agreed on twelve. I'll keep my promise."

"Wait. Did you say Dr. Cat Burglar? My Cousin been trying to get me to watch that since forever. I only saw the first episode, but the show is a lil hard to follow for me."

"I can see what you mean. They were introducing too many characters on the first show. That almost burnt me out too, but by the third episode things started falling into place."

"So, it gets good by the third show?"

"In my opinion, it does, but that's just me."

"Hmm, if I have time, I MIGHT give it another try, but if I haven't gotten into it by episode three, i'm never going to watch it again."

"Well, if you don't like it at that point, I agree. It would be rude to say you shouldn't."

"Ok, you won me over without trying and that's hard to do. Maybe on break we can try to watch as many episode as we can."

"I'm happy to fight for more fans of the show. If we do this we'll at least get to the third one."

"Ok. I'll see you then, bye."

"Yeah, bye." Now that he knows, I can relax until then.

First what is a show without some yellow buttery- oh wait, I still have my breakfast that I didn't finish.

My eyes became glued to the two plates on the table glaring back and forth between them. Connie's plate isn't going to be eaten so throwing it out was an option, but that would be a waste. There's nothing wrong with having it for lunch later on. Who said you have to eat things at a specific time?

I took my half eaten plate to the t.v. Then turned it on and flipped through the menu. A couple other minor shows caught my attention for a while like super horse and hot dog man, but there was only one show on my mind. The listing of episodes were put on display. I rolled through them until finding the one that wasn't watched.

The theme touched my hears sending me into a trance-like state. This episode was about Cop Dog growing feeling for Dr. Cat Burglar and questioning if he still have what it takes to continue his work despite that.

There was no mercy in his heart, crudely, he locked up Dr. Cat's best friend Captain Kitty. it showed just how serious Cop Dog was about stopping crime and that was her answer to Dr. Cat's confession. The end left the viewers in a really good cliff hanger where Cop Dog Caught Dr. Cat and allowed the evil judge Frogger to blame Dr. Cat for a murder she didn't commit.

My fist was clinched by the end.

"That was the best one yet. If Bibbo makes it to this episode, I would really want to know his thoughts on it, also Connie's.

"Steven is that you?"

From the erupt whispering voice of my love, I dropped my plate on the ground. It stunned me to hear her as a disembodied voice.

"Connie? Is that you?" calling out to her didn't get me a respond, so I tried again. "Connie. Are you... around here?"

"No. that's not it." she claimed in some level of confusion. "just keep talking Steven, i'm going to try and get to you."

From what she said, color started flowing into my cheeks. She's going to come back before she has to go back to school. That was I hoped in my heart.

"So um, how far have you gotten now and how in the world are you talking to me? It sounds like you're everywhere in the room."

"I can't explain it to you. I promised them that I'd keep it to myself. What I can say is that this is one complicated secret. Honestly, if I didn't swear to not talk about it, I could start a whole another branch of study for this but they will know if I tell anyone."

"That's pretty cool and sketchy. I mean this power seems ridiculous! How does this it work? If I wasn't hearing this it would be hard to believe you're doing it!"

"You'd be surprised how easy it was to learn, but wow is it amazing! Space bending?! Scientists would flip if they knew about this. It's not just one trick, it's a system of- uh, sorry they don't

want me to tell you more. The reason why is because it would make you too over powered to know. That's why they want you to learn how to travel your own way by yourself."

My eyes rolled to the rules those two set, causing Connie to keep it a secret from me, but she's right. Onion and Buster are helping us, so the least we can do is go along with their one condition, even if it's SO unfair.

"So you can talk to me from nowhere like they can? Why would they teach you that?"

"There we go. I can see you now Steven! Wait, I think I'm gonna be sick."

"How can you doing THAT?!"

"This was something we both theorize and wondered about him for a long time. I understand how you feel, but sorry I. CAN'T. TELL. YOU. Can you make some random noise with your mouth? "

"Ok."

A song would be noise, at least, from me. Singing isn't what i'm best at but there's nothing more sincere and connecting than a song.

"~Though it's good to hear your voice, i'd rather have you here to see your pretty smile.~ ~it's been a while. It's been a while. Another day talking through a phone dial.~"

"~We have been wishing for more?~ ~a new way to portal. Is that abnormal? That would be, incredible.~"

"~If we were just-"

"Steven, it worked!"

Connie's Voice Didn't sound like it was everywhere anymore. Now it was coming from behind me on the bed. My eyes begun to tear up, a wave of emotions overtook me as I turned to greet my love.

"That's is incredible, you're back. Did Onion or Buster have to help you in any way getting here?"

Her face was blushing with smile stretched as wide as I have ever seen showing a look of triumph. Connie sat up from the bed then embraced me for the second time today, giving just as much vigor as before. It was almost choking me, but I was more than ok with it.

"We don't ever have to worry about traveling again!"

"Yes. I can't believe this is happening!"

"Yep, I can even live here if I want and I REALLY want to!"

I pulled away from Connie to look her in the eyes. "some of your stuff is already here. You somewhat already moved here."

"Ah. That was just my spare clothes. I actually have most of my things back at my parent's home."

"Ok, so lets make it official. We're living together."

"I think we should celebrate tonight!"

"Oh yeah? What do you want to eat?"

"Hmm, I don't know, but you can surprise me."

"Sure."

"We have over an hour before I have to go in the meantime,so what do you want to do?"

"Well, there been this dream I've wanted to talk to you about that I had this morning."

"A dream? Was it a good or bad dream?"

"It's nothing bad, just some sad moments her and there. Overall, it was a satisfying end."

Studying the expression on my face, she fell backwards onto the bed, then rested her head on her arm. "do you want to tell me about it?"

"Nah, let's just watch some T.V."