When Priyanka stepped back outside, she was surprised to see all heads turn to her at once. "How is he? Is he okay? Is it some stupid earth disease? Is he dying?" Peridot rapidly questioned her as the concerned mother found her arms full with two kids.
Steven looked like he was trying not to panic, and Connie looked anxious. "Well, mom? Is Twoie okay? We're all really worried about him." Dr. Maheswaran smiled as she brushed her hand through both of the kids' hair.
"Twoie will be fine. I want him to sleep, so try not to disturb him, okay? He has a fever, but it's not contagious. It's from exhaustion, so I'm trusting you, Steven and Peridot, to keep him on strict bed rest." The two who were mentioned nodded at her words. "Then you guys can go in. Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl? Can I speak with you for a minute out here?" The Crystal Gems looked surprised but waited as the kids and Peridot ran into the house.
Priyanka sat down on the porch chair. "Now, I wanted to talk to you about what triggered Twoie's current condition. He has informed me about your gem missions as well as some things from his time that has me very concerned."
Pearl stared at her in shock. "He told you about the future? But he has refused to tell us anything about it!"
Garnet fixed her shades and stepped forward. "You must tell us about what he said. This information could be essential to dealing with the new threat from Homeworld." At that moment, it felt the gems were cornering her. Even Amethyst had stepped closer. If this was what they had done to Twoie, no wonder he was anxious about dealing with them again.
Dr. Maheswaran narrowed her eyes and stood up tall. "You know this very behavior is the reason that Twoie has told you so little. Do you really believe you can pressure me into breaking my Doctor's Oath? Who are you to speak to me in this way?"
Amethyst shrugged from beside the others. "If Twoie told you everything, then you know we're the protectors of Earth. Duh."
Dr. Maheswaran snorted at her statement. "Please forgive me for not acknowledging that aliens from space are far superior to us lowly humans. Of course, I should tell you whatever you want without regard for the feelings of the people involved. That's sure to endear me to you."
Pearl bristled at the sarcasm in her voice. "Excuse me? I gave up so much to protect the Earth. I gave up so much to protect Steven! You have a child, so you should understand perfectly why he want to know about the future. We could be the only things stopping Homeworld from coming here and killing us all, your daughter included."
Oh, that was it! Priyanka stepped forward until she was right in Pearl's face. "First of all, you will not make any remarks about my daughter and me. That is none of your business. Secondly, what you gave up is of little concern to me when you are responsible for the suffering of two of the kids in that house." She whipped her head around to stare at Garnet, finger raised and pointed in her direction. "As the leader of the Crystal Gems, it is your responsibility to make sure that Amethyst and Pearl are behaving in a manner that is not only reflective of your group's morals but allows for a conducive environment for Steven. You have failed in this regard immensely."
Garnet grit her teeth in anger. "Now, I believe that you are crossing into 'none of your business' territory. How I lead the gems is not your concern. And what do you mean by us contributing to their suffering? We have done our best to raise Steven, and he is doing fine."
Priyanka raised a brow at her. "You mean that almost being killed once a month is fine? Having your feelings disregarded by your family is fine? I must've missed that in my Developmental Psychology class. I didn't realize that neglecting your ward is the proper way to raise a child. Forgive me for the error!" The gems blinked at her rising fury.
Amethyst glared at her. "Yo lady, we didn't neglect Steven! I think your prissy coat is too tight or something. There's no way we would ever hurt Steven like that."
Pearl crossed her hands angrily. "That's right! I care very much for Steven. He's all we have left of Rose, and I read multiple parenting books to ensure he grew up healthy."
Priyanka slammed her hand down on the porch table. "What you did wasn't enough! You may have tried your best to raise Steven, but that is not the issue! The issue is that not once has he ever been to the doctors before. Children are supposed to get check-ups at least yearly! Another issue is that you didn't arrange for any form of schooling for Steven! Thank goodness, Twoie decided to take care of it because his future in the professional field would've been screwed without it! At least Steven will know enough to take a GED test when he's older and be recognized as completing the equivalent of a high school education!" She could see that she was starting to get through to the gems, but that only increased her anger.
"That reminds me! Stop comparing Steven to Rose Quartz! You're going to make him think that the only reason you care about him is that he's an extension of his mother. If you compare him to her often enough, he's going to believe that the only way you will like him is if he's acting exactly like her. That's not a healthy mindset for children." Pearl flinched at that. She was the one who compared Steven to her and brought her up the most. Garnet's and Amethyst's eyes were starting to widen as though they remembered something. Goodness, had they all done it as frequently as she was now beginning to believe?
"Twoie also informed me that you all left him alone fairly often while he was growing up. You can't leave children alone for hours on end without supervision! Steven is a child, and he requires a lot of care from his guardians. Besides the fact that he's too young to be cooking without adult supervision, if he hurt himself, he'd have no way of contacting you! On another note, humans are not like gems. We are social creatures! The harsh reality is that when you only spend time with a kid because you need something from them, they're going to learn that something needs to be wrong for you to like them! Steven and Twoie check off all of the symptoms for something called the Atlas personality!" She brushed her hands through her hair. How had he stayed such a good kid under all of these conditions? Priyanka was starting to believe that Steven and Twoie were angels to have such kindness and generosity for others. "You forced them into thinking that they need to be helping you to be wanted. That level of stress and pressure messes with a child's mentality. They'll grow up thinking that if they aren't useful, then there's something wrong with them!"
Pearl covered her mouth with her hands in horror; Garnet clenched her fists tightly while Amethyst bit her nails. "Steven's not like that! I know he's not! We hang out with him all of the time. I was playing games with him the other day, and I know we watched TV together in the past. Steven's taken us to the boardwalk once and showed us the arcade!"
Amethyst wanted to name more things, but Garnet put her hand out to stop her. "We only started doing a lot of that recently. It hurts to hear, but Dr. Maheswaran is right. There's a lot we didn't do for Steven that Twoie is doing now. Have you noticed that Twoie rarely leaves Steven alone? The only time he does is when Steven is asleep, or one of us is around." The leader sighed as she turned to face her companions. "Steven's been so much happier with Twoie around. When we were suspicious of him, we thought it was because Twoie was trying to get in Steven's good graces. The truth is he was treating Steven the way we should've been treating him."
Pearl waved her hands around wildly. "B-but, that means we hurt Steven! We must've hurt Steven so badly! What if he doesn't forgive us? What if nothing we do can ever fix what we've done to him?"
Amethyst turned and yelled at her. "Dude, don't say that! Of course, we can fix this! Besides, it's mostly your guys' fault. I'm the one that hung out with Steven the most before all of this started." As the two started arguing with Garnet trying to break them up, Priyanka could feel her eye twitching. Did they always fight like this? Twoie told her about Amethyst's and Pearl's infamous fights before they finally worked things out. She could feel a headache coming on from the stress of this discussion.
"This right here is the problem! We were talking about Steven, and now all of you have made this about yourselves! This kind of behavior is not going to help anyone. I want you all to start thinking about Steven's and Twoie's needs more often now. Are we clear?" Silence permeated the air. The gems were staring at her in a mixture of shock and shame. Once Priyanka saw each one nod, she sighed and pressed her fingers against her forehead. "I'm sorry I yelled, but it was the only way I was going to get through to you. You're not human, so I can't expect you to know everything, but you should've been more prepared when you took in Steven. Your oversight has and will continue to cost you, but you can help Steven by being there for him now." The gems nodded in agreement. "You're free to go now. Just know that I'll be spending the night to monitor Twoie's condition. I'll also be teaching you all how to handle a fever because I know you've never dealt with this before."
The gems gave her a weary smile as they headed inside. She made to follow but stopped in confusion when Garnet held her hand out. "Sorry, but you're going to have one more talk before you can come in to check on the kids." She stared at the gem in confusion as she closed the door behind her. One more talk? That's when a noise from the beach made her turn around. Priyanka could see a familiar van driving down the sand towards the beach house. "Right. I recall Twoie mentioning that she had future vision." She sighed as she steeled herself for one more draining conversation.