"Oh Starlight," her shrill voice rang in his ears, ever so softly, yet loud enough to drown away the baby's tearful screams, "Half a gem...half a creature of Earth…There's no one else in the entire universe who knows how you feel…"

He stifled a small giggle at the irony, "Not anymore, White...Not anymore…"

He snuck a glance down at the infant squirming in his arms. Just a minute old and she was already brewing up a storm with her strong lungs that produced the loudest cries he had ever heard a baby make. With those ear-splitting howls and her scrunched up face, it almost seemed as if she was enraged, renouncing the world and what was awaiting for her in the future for being his child.

The sob he had been trying so hard to push down his throat slipped out of his lips in the form of a small, pitiful whimper. He was immediately engulfed by the familiar dreaded aura of his Diamond half as he pulled her in close. With one hand, he ran his fingers through her magenta-colored hair, while with the other, he softly stroked the large gemstone that laid in the middle of her chest, a precious heart-shaped spinel, which gave out its last glow the second he touched it.

"I'm so sorry….I'm so sorry…."

Greg sighed. He glanced down at his cellphone and caught the time: it was half past midnight. He looked up to acknowledge the others in the room with him. They were still doing the same thing they have been doing ever since the sun had set: Pearl was frantically pacing back-and-forth, Amethyst was lounging on the sofa, rereading the same magazine for the 60th time, and beside her, Garnet was adjusting her visors.

That simple gesture was something that Greg didn't fail to notice. Up until now, the fusion had done nothing but sit there, her visors obscuring any expression she had in her eyes. He tried to take that as an opportunity to strike up a conversation and break the silence, but before he could, a shrill cry from upstairs pierced the air.

Everyone stopped what they were doing. No one said anything. Amethyst merely glanced at the stairs, before reverting her gaze to the coffee table. Pearl stood by the foot of the stairs and by the way she was gripping the railing, Greg could see she was fighting the urge to run up. Garnet, on the other hand, had leaned back, the reserved look on her face still unmoved.

As for Greg, well, he didn't know how to react. This was a moment he had expected to be filled with jumping joy (the exact same feeling he had felt when Rose had told him that she was expecting their child), but all he felt was nothing. He wanted to turn that nothing into something, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't. All he could do was lamely muster "I'm a grandpa and I'm still in my 40s" from his mouth.

"Are you going to be okay, dude?" Amethyst asked, speaking for the first time ever since the labor had started.

Greg gave her a mere nod. "I'm-I'm going to be fine. It's a lot to process. Anyway, I'm not the one you should be asking," he looked up at the stairs, "D-Do you think I should go up there?"

Amethyst followed his gaze. She hesitated before answering, "Well...I don't know. What do you think?"

She got an exasperated sigh as an answer, a sign that he realized that she wasn't the one he should've asked, or at least that's how the gem had interpreted it at first, before he began to speak:

"I-I really want to go up there. I want to go up and comfort him, t-tell him that everything's going to be alright and that he should look at the silver lining: he has a healthy, beautiful child. I want to tell him that he can confide in me. I was in the same boat as well when he was born. I didn't have anyone to go to when Rose left and I don't want him to go through the same thing…"

"Then, what's stopping you? Go, Greg."

He stared at her for a few seconds before shaking his head and averting his gaze to his shoes without a single word.

Garnet stood up from the sofa and joined Pearl at the foot of the stairs. With her arm around the gem's shoulders, reassuringly, the fusion pried her hand away from the railing and led her back a few inches. A bit confusing, but it became clear once they heard the sound of footsteps making their way down the stairs, accompanied by the newborn's wailing, which showed no signs of calming down soon.

Before they knew it, Steven was standing in front of them. His worned out, pink-colored face carried a somber expression, his eyes were red and puffy, and his cheeks were stained with the trails of tears he had wiped away before coming down. In his arms, he cradled his newborn child, whose face was hidden away by the blood-stained blanket they were swaddled in.

Pearl was the first to speak, softly calling out the young man's name.

He didn't respond.

"Steven," Greg said and walked towards his son, "I-I...I'm sorry…"

The response he got back was merely a small glance.

Greg coughed, nervously. "I'm here for you, you know that. I went through this with your mother—"

"Could you call Dr. Maheswaran?" Steven forcefully butted in, cutting off his father. "And I need you to drive me to the hospital, right now."

"The hospital?" Pearl gasped. "What for?"

The only response she got was the door to the beach house being shut so hard and with such force that it could've been torn off its hinges. The whole group was left in silence.

When they arrived at the hospital, Dr. Maheswaran was there waiting for them, with the assumption that Steven was coming in with more problems concerning his pink swelling episodes. She was taken aback when that wasn't the case and it took quite a lot for Greg to convince her that his son was the father of the child they had with them.

With a stern-yet-pitiful look in her dark chocolate-brown eyes, Dr. Maheswaran looked down at Steven and the baby, whose cries at this point have become nothing more than hiccups and whimpers, before focusing her attention onto Greg. Steven didn't fail to catch the look of disdain she threw at his father. It reminded him of what happened almost a year ago, when he revealed to her that he had never been to the doctor before in his entire life and her reaction to it. It almost seemed as if she was blaming Greg for this current mess they were in.

With a small nod and a hand motion, she led the two of them out of the hospital lobby, into an elevator, and finally to what she referred to as a "maternity ward". In the middle of the ward, stood a large desk where a group of nurses sat. Dr. Maheswaran quickly led them there.

"Are there any spare rooms?"

The nurse who was asked glanced over at both Steven and Greg before nodding.

Before Steven knew it, he and his dad were rushed into an empty room, where his daughter was quickly taken away from him. Well, more exactly "pried" away since he refused to let go of her at first.

"They're just going to assess her, Steven," Dr. Maheswaran said, trying to ease his worry, "It's a normal procedure done for every newborn baby the moment they're born, to make sure they're healthy."

"Then, I should go with them!" Steven insisted, frantically. He tried to push past Dr. Maheswaran. "She's a Gem! Something could go wrong! She may have a power outburst or something like that! How will they know what to do—"

He was pushed onto the bed, forced to sit on his bottom.

"Isn't she also a human?" Dr. Maheswaran asked him. The tight grip she had on both his shoulders didn't subside. "She's going to be okay. It's for her own good. You'll see in a few minutes."

Steven was about to retort, but thought better of it and kept his mouth shut. There was nothing else for him to do except hope nothing would go wrong during the assessment.

"Hey, Steven," He felt his father put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "If she's anything like you, all they'll get from her will probably be just a gem glow."

Steven responded with a sullen look. "If she's anything like me, then I don't want to be here to see it."

None of the adults had anything to say about that. They remained quiet for a minute or so until Dr. Maheswaran decided to break the silence.

"I have to go, but before I do...Greg, could I have a word with you outside?"

The older man gulped, nervously.

Despite the fact the door was shut hard behind them, Steven was able to listen in on their conversation through the walls:

"I'm usually not one to judge other parents and their parenting style, but… I'm going to be very blunt here...yours has been one that I've been highly disappointed in and disapproved of. If your son wasn't friends with my daughter, I would've gotten the police involved that day Steven came to visit me. Raising your child in a van and homeschooling them is one thing. But, no legal documents and not a single doctor visit in his whole life? That's practically illegal, Greg."

His father didn't respond.

Dr. Maheswaran sighed. "Greg...I understand that your current life situation isn't stable and I'm assuming it was still the same when Steven was born, but what you did here…"

"You're partially right, money wasn't my strong suit and it still isn't, but Pyranka, Steven's a Gem...He isn't like other kids."

"He's still a human, Greg. Despite his gem heritage, you still could've raised him like a normal child." She paused for a minute or so. "Now, for this baby of his. Do you know if he's planning on getting her legal documents or just sweeping it all under the rug, which you'll know the hospital won't permit."

"I-I really don't know. When the mother was still pregnant, he never mentioned anything about taking the baby to the hospital. That was a last second choice he made the moment the baby was born."

"Hmm...C-Could there be a chance he's planning on putting the baby up for adoption?"

"W-What? No, no, no. When Steven told us that her mother was pregnant, he told us he'd take full responsibility over the baby. He even promised her mother that he'd take care of her. Steven wouldn't back down on something like that."

"He's your son, you know him better than I do, so I'll believe you. But, I'll still have to ask him that question. It's procedure here, you know."

Greg sighed. "I'm well aware."

"Well...I need to get going now. I'll be back when they bring the baby back in."

They bid farewell to each other and he heard the exact moment that Dr. Maheswaran walked away. His father walked in shortly after that. Steven thought about asking him what he had discussed with her, to make it seem as if he hadn't listened in, but decided against it and focused his attention on the white, tiled floor.

They sat in silence for a while until his father spoke in an attempt to start up a conversation.

"So...they're a girl. I have a granddaughter."

"Yeah. Garnet told Spinel and I a few months ago."

"Oh…"

Another bout of silence surrounded them until, once again, Greg attempted to break it, but this time with a staggering question. One that had taken Steven off guard, though he knew he should've expected it.

"A-are you—Y-you're—I-I mean, have you thought about putting h-her up for a-adoption?"

Adoption.

That was a term Steven knew very little about, until recently. Up until a few months back, he had always tied adoption to the animals in the city's local shelter; he was completely unaware that people themselves could be adopted until Connie told him so. Despite that little bit of knowledge in mind, the idea of putting his then-unborn child up for adoption never occurred to him, but now that his father mentioned it, he couldn't help but think about it.

Just one say and his daughter would be taken away from him and be placed in the caring hands of a loving family who were truly worthy of being her parents, unlike him, an irresponsible teenager who was slowly following in the steps of his mother. Nothing good will ever come to her under his care. Yeah...giving her away was slowly starting to seem like a very good option, not only for her sake, but his as well. The second he would hand her off, he would hold no responsibility over her. He could go back and lead his normal life with his daughter being nothing more than a hazy memory, so much so that he would question the reality of it. Steven Universe bringing another

Gem-Human hybrid into the world? Now that's funny.

Before he could think more on the matter, an image of his tiny daughter flashed in his mind. All he could focus on was the ruffles of sleek, magenta hair on top of her head and the large gem occupying most of her chest; these were traits that stood out like a sore thumb among the human society.

White's words rang in his head once more: "There's no one else in the universe who knows how you feel…"

Spinel's warm-filled smile, the last that she ever gave him, came to his mind.

Shame quickly overcame him.

"No."

What had felt like an eternity of waiting, when in reality had only been half-an-hour, came to an end when Dr. Maheswaran walked in, followed by a bassinet being gently pushed in by a nurse, who, in turn, was being followed by someone who Steven assumed was a doctor, judging from the white coat she wore.

Steven quickly stood up from the bed and made his way to the bassinet, where he was greeted with the sight of his daughter all snuggled up in a blanket and sleeping peacefully, a large contrast to the screeching mess that had been her debut, and to top it all off was the cherry on top, the yellow, duck-printed hat on her head.

It was at that point that he noticed something about her, something that he had failed to see because of how occupied his mind had been the last few hours: two blotches of pink marked her face, one under her right eye and one that covered most of her left face.

"Those are normal as far I'm concerned," the nurse stated, noting his reaction, "She has more all around her body. Like a little Dalmatian puppy!" She giggled, lightly.

"Is she alright—"

"She's perfectly fine, Steven," Dr. Maheswaran cut in, "She's a healthy, beautiful baby girl."

"Weighing at exactly 7 pounds and 4 ounces!" The other doctor added as she walked towards Steven and shook hands with him. "Hi, I'm Dr. Liu. Maheswaran over here has told me about you."

"Dr. Liu here is a child's pediatrician. Since newborns and children aren't part of my field, I thought it would be better if I called an expert in. She'll answer any questions you have."

"And if you'd like, I'm willing to become your baby's doctor until she's 18 and if not (no hard feelings), I do know some good fellas of mine I'll gladly recommend you to."

"But she's a gem though-"

"So what? I was the one who took charge of her assessment. She behaved like any other ordinary baby. Whatever this 'gem' side of hers is, I'm sure I can handle it. I'm always up for a challenge."

"If you say so…" Steven said. If Dr. Liu was anything like Connie's mother, then why bother? He only hoped this was something that Dr. Liu wouldn't regret.

'Or me for that matter….'

"Now that we have that settled," Dr. Liu said, taking a clipboard from the bassinet, "Since you brought your daughter here, there's no way we can just discharge her without a proper birth certificate or legal documents. From what I know, you weren't born in a hospital and so you lack proper documents...Am I right?"

Steven flinched. It was his first doctor visit all over again when Dr. Maheswaran asked him about all these papers. It was quite embarrassing for him to be quite honest.

"Yes, ma'am."

At his response, he expected the young woman to throw his father an ugly look, but she didn't. Her gaze was solely focused on the clipboard.

"Okay...before we begin this process, do you have any plans on putting your child up for adoption?"

"No, ma'am."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, ma'am. I am."

She pulled away a sheet from the clipboard.

"Okay, we have most of the baby's general information jotted down in her birth certificate, like her weight and date of birth, but we're missing some things, for instance, your name, date of birth, and address, and most importantly of all, her own name. Do you have a name for her already?"

A name...So caught up in his self-wallowing for the past nine months that it never occurred to Steven that he had to name his child and Spinel, someone who had just begun learning human customs, even less. The gem had left this world not knowing that her child would have their own special name.

He looked down at his daughter's sleeping face. She looked so calm, blissfully unaware of the life she had been born into. This tranquility reminded him of a certain painting that used to hang over him throughout his upbringing.

'Rose….'

He shook his head. No. There was no way he was going to associate his own child with his mother. Spinel wouldn't have liked that...right?

"It's okay if you don't have a name for her—"

"No, I do. I-I'd like to name her Thorn."