"Daddy daddy daddy daddy!" Steven chanted, dancing happily. He was at the edge of the van, his giant shirt having come untucked from his shorts.
"Steven, I'm right here bud." Greg chuckled, grabbing a few more of his things and stuffing them into two large duffle bags. He had grabbed the most essentials like underwear, documents and some of the best CDS. Most of Steven's things were already in the house thankfully, so he wasn't in as mad of a scramble as he would've been.
"S'eep over!" Steven squeaked, flapping his new dress-shirt excitedly. "You gonna s'eep ova?"
"Yep, buddy. Your old man's going to come and sleep with you tonight and maybe tomorrow."
"Fo'ever?" Steven asked, a hopeful twinkle in his eyes.
"No, bud. Not forever." Greg sighed, rubbing his son's curly head. "But, we'll make sure this is the best sleep over ever, okay?"
"'Kay!" Steven shouted, easily pacified. "Help?"
"Sure, thanks buddy." Greg handed Steven him the little bag with all their papers and documents. The deed for the car wash, the tax forms, and the little birth certificate Greg had insisted on providing his son. Greg hefted up the two duffle bags and slammed the van's door shut. The van safely tucked behind the storage facility should avoid the brunt of the storm.
Garnet had assured him that the oncoming dying tropical storm, wouldn't affect his van if he parked it there. Already, as he and Steven, returned back to the temple-he could see his closest neighbors boarding up their business and packing their up their belongings and children.
"You headin' out, Greg?" Fryman called, holding his own toddler son as he slammed the metal gate of the shop shut.
"Nah, heading to…uh…Rose's place." Greg said with a shrug. Fryman had known Rose a little. He had seen her occasionally and he knew that she lived around, but not exactly where.
"She must live in a bunker then." Fryman called jokingly. "Cause this storm is gonna be a doozy."
"Yeah…something like that." Greg chuckled half-heartedly.
"Hello, PeeDee!" Steven yelled, waving his one free arm wildly.
"Hi, 'Tven" PeeDee shouted, waving shyly.
Greg and Fryman exchanged a quick look, amused by their sons' enthusiastic happiness. Their ignorance of the coming storm was funny, if not an even greater reminder to hurry up and get them to safety.
They had started walking back to the house, commenting on the ugly, grey wash of the raging ocean. Then the sky, filled to the brim with thick, angry clouds, quietly began to weep. They had made a mad dash then, Greg somehow managing the strength to haul Steven over his shoulder and run the rest of the way.
They burst into the house with pants and quiet giggles.
"Sup, 'Greg-O'." Amethyst sighed; she was lazily lounging on the couch.
"Oh, huh…hey Amethyst." Greg huffed, groaning as he sat his bags and his son down on the ground. He rolled his shoulder and turned back towards the window. The gentle drizzle that had begun was slowly transforming into faster and harder pellets. The soft drum was increasing in volume, the grey sky darkening into a foreboding sewer green, the distant rumble of thunder still out of range. "I though Pearl was going to board up the windows?"
"She did, she just installed some weird thingy." Amethyst mumbled, sitting up slowly. She pointed toward a strange remote on the table. "She said press the red button to phase it down and the green button to phase it back up."
"Issa TB 'mote?" Steven asked stumbling over to Amethyst, his wet sandals squeaking.
"I don't think so." Amethyst shrugged, holding the remote over her head. "Pearl said babies aren't supposed to touch it."
"Tven's not a baby!" Steven whined, still reaching for the remote hopelessly. Greg grabbed it and pressed the red button. He flinched as a motorized 'ping' rang through the house and the lights flickered before resuming with a flicker.
"What did that d-?"
"Whoa, look daddy! Blue!" Steven had turned around to ask his father for the remote, when he noticed outside of the windows.
Greg turned to and gasped. A large incandescent blue shield was slowly expanding outwards from the house, stopping eventually a few feet from the porch.
"She built a shield?"
"Better than a shield really, if I do say so myself." Pearl said, making Steven and Greg flinch. She had walked out of the temple while they were awestruck by their house's new feature. "It's a temporary force field, it should hold through the night."
"Should?"
"I haven't built one in thousands of years." Pearl shrugged. "Even if it doesn't hold, Garnet says the storm won't do internal damage to the house."
"Ugh, well as long as we're safe, right bud?" Greg asked, rubbing Steven's little head.
"Safety firs'!" Steven shouted, hopping around Pearl's lanky legs. Pearl popped him into her arms.
"That's right little boy, safety first." She cooed, tickling under his chin, eliciting a gurgled giggle. "We have a mission tonight. You and Steven will be alright?"
"As long as that shield stays strong, we'll be fine." Greg said, popping his back while looking out at the dreary sky. "Steven says we're having a sleep over."
"S'EEP OVA" Steven screeched, flapping his arms excitedly. "We gon' seep on da floor an' eat popcon an hotdogs."
"Yep and I brought this watermelon!" Greg chuckled, digging through one his bags for the medium sized watermelon he'd found at the farmer's market. Steven gasped, asking Pearl to set him down and then hugging the watermelon.
"Dewicious!" Steven chirped, lifting the watermelon as if it was one his teddy bears and kissing it.
"Well not too much." Pearl advised, watching Steven fondly and without shock or awe. Greg guessed that the gems thought it was normal for toddlers to be able to lift half of their weight like it was nothing. Greg was still getting used to it. He guessed he would still be 'getting used to it' for many years to come. As long as Steven was healthy though, Greg could care less.
The gems stayed while they set up the sleep over, Garnet's lap chosen as the sacred holder for the prized watermelon. Steven guarded it atop of her afro, squeaking indignantly if Amethyst dared get to close. Greg had started cooking hot dogs, but when he turned around to advise Steven that burrowing in Garnet's hair was not a good idea, he had turned back around to find Pearl had taken his place.
They left halfway through dinner, Amethyst had just shoved three hotdogs covered with popcorn and sprinkles into her mouth (impressing Steven and disgusting Pearl) when Garnet had calmly stated that they needed to go.
"Who will potect the watamelon?" Steven whined, gripping her legs with a pout.
"You will." Garnet said, unsticking him from her legs and situating the watermelon between his legs. Steven was stunned into silence, the weight of his new responsibility making his jaw drop.
"Uh…bye." Greg said, lifting both his son and his watermelon charge onto the couch.
"BYE Greg!" Amethyst yelled, flipping onto the warp pad, crashing into Pearl.
"Amethyst!"
"We will be back by morning." Garnet adjusted her visor stoically, lifting Amethyst in one hand and holding back Pearl with the other. "Have fun you two."
"Bye-bye." Steven whispered, his starry gazed still stuck to the watermelon.
In a flash, the gems were gone and he and Steven were alone.
A/N: Sorry for the gap in posts, a lot of stuff went down this past month and I haven't been in the best place mentally. Finals are coming up soon so not too many updates, sorry. CGA chapter is finished, it's 23 pages and it needs one more edit/revision and I should post it by the end of the next two weeks.