A/N: I took some liberties with the whole dream power thing from Chille Tid. Thanks to the all people who review and favorite!

Steven was a big boy now. He could recite the alphabet, he could get dressed (with a little help from Pearl), he could kinda clean up after himself, comb his hair, wash his face, use the potty and Dad was even going to start teaching him how to play the ukulele soon.

Five whole years old. That seemed like a big boy number to Steven. Pearl had told him as he got older and older, that with each new year he would gain more 'responsilitibies'. Like making his bed, putting his clothes in his hamper and walking down to his Dad's van all by himself. And it also meant that he had to let go of the baby stuff he did. Like whining or sucking his thumb-those things were 'unpexctable' (Pearl had taught him that one) for a big boy like himself.

Steven had enthusiastically taken to those changes. He loved being independent and he wanted nothing more than to be a big boy; like PeeDee, whose Dad was letting him cut potatoes for their shop.

But there was one thing he didn't like about being a big boy.

Weeks before his fifth birthday party, Garnet and Pearl had come to him and told him that Pearl wouldn't be sitting with him when he went to bed anymore. Pearl had been sitting by his side for what seemed like forever and ever and Steven felt like his stomach had done a backwards-upside down flip. But wanting to show the gems that he really was a big boy, he acted like it was no big deal.

"I'm a big boy now Garnet." He had said. "I got this."

But he didn't got this. He didn't got this at all. Here he was, big boy Steven, in his big boy bed with his big boy nightlight and MC Bear bear, and he felt like a big baby.

He had had a nightmare. It wasn't one of his usual kinds-like where Dad turned into a donut and tried eating him or where Steven found himself in a diaper on the boardwalk, but what he liked to call a 'gem dream'. Steven didn't tell anybody about these dreams, cause he had a feeling that they weren't normal little boy dreams.

Pearl had tried to explain it to him once, why he didn't have a mom and why he had a gem for a belly button, but it had all confused him. All he had really got from it was that he wasn't like other little boys. He was a little bit like Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, but only some. And he was like Dad and PeeDee, but only some too. He had to eat and go potty that was the human side. And he had dreams that must be because of his gem side.

These dreams were always blurry. Like he was looking through someone else's eyes. They were mostly battles. Fights on large scales that Steven couldn't even begin to comprehend. There were tons and tons of people fighting-sometimes they were gems and sometimes they were humans. Swords, metal spiky thing, chains, shields, weapons upon weapons that Steven barely knew the names of. That wasn't really the scary part-the scary part was that the people around him were dying. People who had put their trust in him, who would laid down their lives for him and they were being stabbed, crunched, snapped in half, torn, shattered, broken-in the worst kinds of way.

And there had been nothing he could do about it.

The nightmare tonight though had been worse than any of the others. Tonight, despite the cloudy vision, he could recognize Pearl. She looked different though, her hair less angular and her outfit unrecognizable. She was running ahead of him, gracefully galloping through the fight easily. He followed her easily, matching her pace. Pearl looked so small, he towered over her like his Dad towered over him. There had been a massive giant they had been approaching. Pearl had stepped in front of him, her sword taut in her hand. Steven couldn't speak, he had no mouth in these dreams. He tried to tell her to stop-he could hear someone's voice ringing in his ear. A beautiful voice screaming 'No!'

That was when he woke up. He didn't have to see the end to know something really bad had happened to Pearl. His heart hammered painfully in his chest and sweat made his PJs sticky. Usually if he had a nightmare, Pearl would be there. Either next to his bed or sitting on the rocking chair across the balcony. She didn't even have to say or do anything, just being there was enough to help Steven get back to bed.

But she wasn't here. She was probably in the temple-where even if Steven was a big boy now, he wasn't allowed to enter yet. Steven didn't know what to do. He couldn't stop shaking and every time he tried closing his eyes he could see Pearl and the giant advancing on one another.

Steven got out of his big boy bed slowly. Pearl had told him that once it was bed time, he wasn't allowed downstairs. Pearl had placed his potty at the foot of his bed so he wouldn't make his way to the bathroom and get hurt. Steven quickly used the potty, hugging MC Bear bear the whole time. He looked down from the balcony, through the safety gate and looked down at the glowing warp pad.

There were no giants to be seen. No fighting figures shrouded in shadows. No weapons littering the ground or anything relatively scary. But he couldn't be sure. He wasn't tall like Garnet, what if something was lurking on the ceiling or somewhere only tall people could see? What to do? What to do?

Well, Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet fought monsters all the time. They were really good at it too. If a monster was in the house, they probably would only be looking to eat Steven since he didn't know how to fight yet. The only way to avoid getting eaten would be to get to the temple door. It would be just like tag. If you touched the base in tag, nobody- not even the best tagger in the world could get you. As long as Steven was touching the door, then the monster couldn't get him.

But just to be safe he would be taking his blanky, MC Bear bear, his water pistol and his nightlight. He grabbed all his things and undid the latch for the safety gate in front of the stairs. He knew how to undo it, but he hadn't told Pearl (she wouldn't like it that's for sure). He tiptoed down the stairs, looking nervously left or right. It really was dark.

Usually the moon or the stars helped light his room, but the sky was empty and black. Steven hurried to the cave portion of his house. Even through his fluffy socks he could tell how cold the floor was. He tiptoed past the warp pad (he was absolutely, never EVER to go on the warp pad, especially with Amethyst) and sat down next to the door. The door was warm against his back. He sighed happily, as long as he was here nothing could harm him.

Steven laid his blanket out, using MC Bear bear as a pillow and his water pistol in his left hand and his night light in his right; Steven finally was able to fall asleep.

…

"How come he's sleeping against the door?"

"Shh! Don't wake him up."

"Hmmm."

Steven slowly opened his eyes. He was looking up into a room he had never seen before. It was giant and red, filled with tiny bubbles. He then suddenly was lifted up and the red room disappeared. He caught a flash of black hair and shades.

"Garneh…?" Steven mumbled, wiping drool from his face. Garnet rubbed his hair and took him to the couch. She sat down, letting Steven rest on her lap as she leaned back. Pearl suddenly was at his side.

"Steven, are you alright?" She asked, her eyes scanning his person quickly.

"S'good." He mumbled, his fingers falling in and out of his mouth.

"Are you sure?" Pearl asked, wiping his face off and fixing his hair. "Is there anything you want to tell us?"

Steven sleepily tried to listen, but Garnet's lap was so comfy and he was still so tired. He mumbled incoherently, snuggling into Garnet's chest.

"What she meant was: why were you sleeping against the temple door bud?" Amethyst asked, ignoring Pearl's glare.

Door? The temple door? Why had he gone there again? It…it was because of the giant, that's right. The giant shadow that he was certain had snuck from his dreams into his room. Pearl hadn't been there and Steven had…had…

Failed as a big boy. Instead of being able to handle it all by himself, which big boys were entirely capable of by this age, he'd run scared to the gems.

"I-I don't know what you're talkin' 'bout." He mumbled, turning away from Pearl and Amethyst's curious expressions.

"Really?" Garnet asked. Steven squirmed uncomfortably in her lap. Steven wasn't very good at lying. And even when he got away with it with Pearl, Garnet was never fooled. It was kinda weird how she always knew.

But there was no way he was going to admit it.

"Y-y-es." Steven stuttered, feeling his face heat up. He pressed himself harder into Garnet's side, trying desperately to keep it in.

"Steven, are you sure?" Pearl asked. She placed her hand on his back and rubbed it as she had since he was a baby. Steven trembled, feeling tears cloud his eyes.

"Maybe he has to poop or something?" Amethyst said.

"Amethyst! We don't say 'poop', we say 'use the potty'." Pearl snapped, then turned to Steven and asked kindly, "Do you have to go potty?"

"That's stupid! He should just say poop." Amethyst insisted. "He can't talk like a baby forever."

Pearl was about to launch into a lecture about modifying their vocabulary to ensure that Steven grew up speaking properly, but was quickly silenced by a whimper.

"I am a baby." Steven whispered, tears beginning to fall down his cheeks.

"What?" Pearl asked, hardly able to hear him.

"I AM A BABY!" Steven sobbed. "I'm not a big boy!"

He couldn't help it. He'd been working really hard to be a big boy. But big boys weren't supposed to get scared and run. They were supposed to be brave and strong (like Garnet or his Dad). What if Pearl took away his 'responsilitibies' away? Or Garnet put his crib back in his room (she had been the one to haul it away)? Amethyst would stop sneaking him ice cream and give him baby food! PeeDee wouldn't want to hang out with a baby and Dad couldn't teach a baby how to play ukulele.

"Steven, calm down you're going to make yourself sick." Pearl said, rubbing his back firmly. Garnet's hand, which had sat idly on his head, no combed his curls.

"Steven, we can't help you if you don't tell us what's wrong." Garnet said calmly, lifting his head with her pinkie and gazing into his watery eyes.

"I-I-I had a bad dream. And I got scared c-c-cause Pearl wasn't there." He stuttered.

"Is that all?" Amethyst asked.

"Amethyst!" Garnet and Pearl scolded.

"Big boys are 'posed to be brave! I wasn't brave! That means I'm a baby." Steven whimpered, fat tears wetting his PJ shirt.

"Oh Steven, having a bad dream and getting scared doesn't mean you're a baby!" Pearl said.

"She's right." Garnet agreed. "Everybody experiences bad dreams now and again. Even us."

Steven wiped his face and really looked at Garnet. "Y-you guys too? But I thought that…?"

"S-she's right Steven." Pearl admitted, nervously flicking her eyes which way before landing on him. "Sometimes, even we have bad dreams and they scare us too. You're no less of a big boy just because you had one. When we have dreams like that, we have each other."

Steven sniffled and fiddled with his shirt. Big boys were supposed to use their words. "Even though I'm five now, can Pearl still sometimes stay with me?"

He asked Garnet more so than Pearl. Pearl would've automatically said yes. She hadn't even been the one to tell Steven the news-it had been Garnet who suggested it.

"Steven, Pearl didn't leave your side until yesterday." Garnet shrugged.

"What?"

"Garnet! You knew?" Pearl asked, a blue blush on her cheeks.

Garnet hummed quietly and adjusted her visor. "Yep."

Steven turned to Pearl. "What does she mean?"

Pearl wrung he hands together nervously before admitting, "Garnet and I both agreed that we didn't want you to be too dependent on my being there for bedtime. But I just couldn't help myself. After you fell asleep, I would sneak into your room and sit with you until you morning."

"You should've seen her last night!" Amethyst cackled. "She couldn't sit still. She cleaned her room like five times!"

"I cleaned the east part of that dump of yours too." Pearl sneered, crossing her arms.

"You did what?!" Amethyst shouted.

"Twice, actually." Pearl grinned. Amethyst launched herself from the coffee table and flung herself into the temple with a screech.

Pearl then grabbed a tissue from the coffee table and wiped the remaining mess from Steven's face. "I'm sorry you were scared, Steven. I wish I could have been there. Maybe you could tell us about your dream-?"

"NO!" Steven shouted.

Pearl and Garnet shared a quick glance. Pearl frowned and was about to ask, but Garnet put a hand on her shoulder.

"That's okay Steven. Dreams are extremely private things. If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to." Garnet assured him, quickly calming him down.

Pearl didn't looks so convinced, but let it go. Garnet didn't usually do things without good reasons.

"How about I make you some breakfast." Pearl asked, standing up and heading to the kitchen. "Garnet can you help him with his clothes, please."

Even though Steven was a big boy, he lifted his arms above his head and let Garnet pick him up. He always liked looking around from so high up. One day he hoped he could be as tall as Garnet.

Garnet sat Steven down and grabbed some clothes for him. She let Steven take his PJs off (he was good at taking clothes off, just not putting them on). As she helped him into his shirt she spoke quietly.

"I know you didn't want to talk about the dream in front of Pearl."

Steven looked down at his tummy. He looked at the pink gem embedded into where his belly button was supposed to be and poked at it.

"Maybe." He mumbled.

"Did something bad happen to Pearl in the dream?" Garnet asked knowingly, already correctly guessing at Steven's behavior earlier.

"This big, mean giant hurt her real bad." Steven whispered, his head falling down. "And I couldn't do anything 'bout it."

Garnet put his shirt over his head. Garnet had already begin to suspect that Steven might be having dreams of the past. Subtle actions he took and words he said hinted that he might be reliving Rose's life when he slept. Rose, weeks before she had given birth to Steven, had warned Garnet of this. Nobody knew what would happen when Steven's powers matured completely. There was no way to know what a gem and an organic being would do. Garnet had been hoping that as Steven grew, he would have more control of this 'dream power' of his.

"And where's Pearl now?" Garnet asked. Steven turned confused and pointed to Pearl downstairs. Pearl was oblivious to the world as she began to measure out the ingredients for pancakes-she was always unnecessarily precise.

"She looks fine doesn't she?"

"Yes." Steven said, stretching the word uncertainly.

"Then that must mean that you saved her Steven." Garnet concluded, grinning as Steven gasped-his eyes starry.

"I saved her! Cause if I hadn't then she couldn't be downstairs, right?"

"Yes, Steven. That makes you a hero. And I'm pretty sure only big boys can be heroes." Garnet nudged him lightly. Steven's jaw dropped and before she could grab him, he leapt down the stairs.

"Pearl! Pearl! I'm a hero! I'm a hero!" He sung.

"Steven, where are your pants?"

Amethyst burst through the temple door, slightly wet and covered in dust and junk.

"Finally fixed all that-what? Is this is a no pants party? I'm in!"

"Amethyst no!" Pearl launched herself at Amethyst.

Garnet watched fondly as chaos erupted downstairs. She had been worried for a very long time about what the future held for them. Steven's powers would one day mature completely and she had been frightened of what that meant for Steven's life. He would never really be human and he would never be a gem. Would he really be able to grow up healthy and happy? But, maybe she didn't have to worry. As long as they were all together, they could face anything.

"No pants! No pants! No pants!" Steven and Amethyst chanted, chasing Pearl around the kitchen,

"For the last time I am not taking off my pants!"