Last chapter! This story was pretty short and I would have loved to write more, but I just couldn't. Hopefully I'll get to write more fics on Steven Universe. We'll see what happens!

Big thanks to Animago for reviewing, and anyone else who favorited and followed! This story got more favs and follows than my last story, that I worked on for months! You guys are awesome!

Life really was a mystery. One minute, you're having a blast with your guitar dad at the car wash, and the next, you're stabbed by a tempestuous Gem that's half your size and the color of cherries.

And then, of course, you just have to wake up in the hospital with someone else's blood being pumped into your veins, without your gem, and with an anxious Pearl, an overwhelmingly stressed dad, and Garnet... being Garnet.

Of course, he couldn't worry about that now, because while he didn't have the strength to stand up on his own, he was also stuck in Garnet's arms bridal-style, entirely exhausted, and still a bit loopy from the pain meds.

When Garnet gently lifted him out of the van, courtesy of Greg, he could hear Amethyst coming down from the beach house to meet them.

"Hey there, Steve-O," she greeted heartily. "Took you long enough."

He cracked his eyes open as much as he dared, and gave her a little smile to say, hey, I'm doing great, because he didn't really feel like saying it out loud.

Pearl frowned. "Amethyst, give him some space."

"Fine, but he just got here!"

"Steven!" came a familiar voice. Connie was the next to exit the beach house, and just as she was racing down the steps, another figure came out onto the deck.

His eyes widened a bit further. No, no, a lot further. Because this was the guy he'd been thinking about for the past four days. And despite the fact that the two of them were several yards apart and a few feet's difference in altitude, their eyes met instantly. As if on cue, almost... automatically.

Time seemed to stop for a solid minute as the two of them stared each other down. The Gems noticed it, and so did Greg and Connie.

Steven quickly tugged on Garnet's arm, refusing to break the eye contact between him and the pink being on his porch. "Can we... go over there..."

Garnet hummed in thought. Then, she replied, "You're still healing."

"Yes, fusion might not be the best option at this point," Pearl agreed matter-of-factly. "You could tear your stitches."

He looked desperately up at Garnet, "But—" and stopped when his Gem half started to move.

Connie had reached him by now, and promptly gave him a peck on the cheek— making him blush furiously in response— but blocked his view of Pink Steven. When she moved, Steven saw him standing directly across from them on the beach, just a few yards away.

"No," Steven replied, turning back to the Gems. "You guys don't understand. I need him."

The Gems weren't there, the last time he split up. Well, they were there, but they weren't in their right minds. They didn't see how much Steven really needed to be together. They couldn't see how weak his human half was without his Gem half, when he wasn't injured.

"You're going to hurt yourselves," Pearl argued. "If we just wait a few more days—"

But Pink Steven wasn't listening to her. He took another step closer, and another, with only one goal in mind.

Pearl ordered, "Pink, stop."

His head snapped to Pearl, his feet screeched to a stop. "Then bring him to me," he retorted, his voice raised and echoing across the beach.

Her eyes widened. The rest of the Gems, including Greg, Connie, and even Steven were also shocked.

"Don't talk to us like that!" she finally told him.

Garnet took a careful step backward with Steven's fragile human half still bridal carried in her arms, knowing full well what was about to happen next. "You need to calm down. We're trying to help you."

But he wasn't listening to anybody. This situation was too close to the one in White Diamond's head... with someone keeping him away from his other half.

"Pink... Pink Steven..."

"Bring him to me!"

His statement started as a low rumble, but quickly escalated to a high-pitched shriek at the end. A flash of bright pink tore across the beach. The ground began to shake, and the ocean's waves stuttered and went back a step.

Steven clapped both hands over his ears. He had used it. The scream.

Even after he had finished his scream, the beach continued to quiver. A large crater had formed in the sand under Pink Steven's feet. An even larger crack had made its way up the side of the cliff near Steven's home.

Garnet had to steady herself to keep from dropping Steven. Looking around, he could see that Connie had dropped to her knees and Amethyst had fallen backwards.

"Stop! Stop it, please!" Steven cried. His ears were ringing and tears were beginning to make his vision fuzzy.

Pink Steven turned to him. The quakes ceased.

Then, his shoulders started to quiver, and tears rolled down his own face. He was already pink, but if he wasn't, Steven was sure his cheeks would be flushed anyway. This sudden show of emotion was definitely surprising... last time he had been completely stone-faced, stone-cold.

"I-I need him," he finally told Garnet, weakly, repeating what his human half had insisted just three years ago.

Garnet bit her lip, expression nearly unreadable under her visor. But he could tell she was considering it.

Steven turned to her. Garnet turned to Pearl. Behind them, Amethyst was helping Connie back to her feet, and Greg was watching the exchange with wide eyes.

Pearl was silent for a minute. Then, she replied softly, "Let's... talk about it."

Steven was certain that his bed had never felt this comfortable.

As the Gems left him and Connie in Steven's bedroom, he pulled the covers up to his nose and tried to snug even deeper into his mattress. Now, he hadn't been in many hospitals, but if anyone asked for his opinion on the matter he would tell them that their mattresses felt like cardboard.

Connie sighed, leaning heavily against the opposite wall. "Man, this has been quite a day."

"Hasn't it?" he hummed agreeably, mentally rolling his eyes.

She moaned. "This is torture. What are they even talking about down there?" she asked, turning to the closed door. "Don't they know that without your gem you're gonna... gonna..."

"Die, basically," he replied bluntly, into his pillow.

"That is not something you joke about, Steven," Connie reprimanded. "Where is Pink Steven, anyway?"

Steven lifted his head and looked out the window. The sky was turning shades of purple and dark blue, the typical colors of dusk, leaving the sand a dusty pink. Amethyst and his other half were nowhere to be found.

"He was s'posed to stay outside with Amethyst again, but he's not there." He plumped his curly head back down on the pillow and closed his eyes.

But Connie stood straight up. "What? Where'd they go?"

"I dunno," he mumbled in response. "Prolly somewhere else."

He heard Connie gasp all of the sudden, and then a knock on the glass slide door to his balcony. His eyes popped open immediately, and jumped when he saw Pink Steven standing patiently on the other side of the glass. Amethyst was pulling herself up and over the wooden railing after climbing all the way up there, cackling while she did it.

They had climbed up to see him. Like the other Gems told them not to. And, he was certain that Pink Steven's intentions weren't to talk.

He grinned, shifting in his bed, his hand reaching for the door's handle— when a sharp pain in his side stopped him. Very sharp. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying desperately not to black out from the pain. Stars, he still couldn't move.

"Steven!" Connie exclaimed. When she rushed over to help him he stopped her, and instead pointed silently to the door. She made eye contact with Pink Steven and Amethyst, then nodded.

The previously locked door now slid open with ease, allowing the Quartz and Steven's other half inside. Amethyst was still grinning naughtily.

Pearl won't be happy we disobeyed. But when we're Steven again, what does it matter?

Steven hesitantly reached for his Gem's fluorescent pink hand, and in a moment, could feel his strength returning as soon as they made contact. As soon as Pink Steven touched his human half's hand, he could feel multiple emotions start to bubble from inside him— love, passion, joy— stuff he hadn't bothered with before.

The feeling made both of them laugh. Pink Steven scooped his human half into his arms— smiling happily, shoulders shaking with rapture— and threw him into the air. When he caught him again, both of them disappeared in a flash of light.

And there was Steven.

His hair was tangled, and his jacket was torn from the force when he fused, but his eyes were shiny, and he was still suppressing giggles.

Amethyst stepped forward and punched him lightly in the shoulder. "It's been too long, dude," she said.

He grinned, brushing a stray tear from his eye with the palm of his hand. "Definitely."

"Steven!" Connie surged forward, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing as tight as a giant anaconda. Steven smiled in response to the gesture, then—

"Oh, ow—" he flinched and pressed a hand to his side, while sucking in air through his teeth. Connie went back a step and gasped.

She grimaced. "Oh my gosh, Steven, I forgot about your stitches."

Then, the door slammed open.

Two weeks later, Steven was as good as new.

Well, he wasn't exactly the same as before. Now he had a sore-looking scar above his right hip as long as his index finger to show off.

But, as he leaned against the hard wood of his balcony's railing, watching once again as the sky turned a deep blue and the moon creeped up above the ocean, he really was glad that it was all over. He was tired of the Gems' fussing about him for so long. He was glad he was healed.

Steven frowned as a disturbing thought crossed his mind. Aquamarine and Eyeball were still out there, hating him, with the Ruby's orange knife and even a cutlass, if they fused again.

But, he sighed, turning his attention to a single star that had just appeared below the moon. Yeah, they were out there, but he was determined to pay more attention when they did show up again.

Steven shivered when a chilly breeze blew in from the ocean, and he quickly pulled his shirt back down over his stomach.

And, he'd make sure to get some new clothes.