"Good morning, Luca," Amber said as she saw her lover stir awake.

"Yup," Luca said, "What time is it?"

"Hmm," Amber said, looking up, "Probably eight or something."

"Okay," Luca said to Amber, "How do you think Turquoise is holding up? She slept by herself last night."

"She should be fine, maybe she slept with Steven," Amber said, stretching.

Luca unzipped the sleeping bag and the two got out. Amber walked over to where Steven slept, low and behold; Turquoise lay next to him, Pearl, and Amethyst. Pearl was sitting up, watching the group sleep as if she was protecting them. She waved a little and pointed down while smiling Amber grabbed Luca's hand and walked away, not wanting to wake the group up either.

The two found Garnet, sitting in the same place as she was on the hay bale. She seemed concentrated on something but she still nodded her head at the two as they walked by. Peridot and Lapis were in the barn, watching some weird cartoon shows. Amber waved at them, but only Peridot waved back with a smile. The two went and sat at the bench. Luca called his uncle and asked him how he was and what he did the other day. He said that him and Greg went for a drink and that they are working together at the car wash today. It turned out that they were staying at the barn for another day.

Luca hung up and Amber found enough ingredients to make pancakes with. She smiled at him and the two ended up making blue berry pancakes over the mini stove Amber made. Steven walked over to the picnic table after smelling breakfast. Amethyst grumbled after him and Pearl went to check on Garnet. Amber served Steven, Luca, and Amethyst their food. Turquoise still hadn't come out yet, but Amber saved her a couple pancakes as she sat down to eat with everyone.

Steven's eyes turned into stars, "This is so good!"

"It is," Amethyst said, "Can I have more?"

"Yes of course," Amber said, getting up to give the purple gem a few more pancakes.

Amethyst gulped them down and burped as Amber sat back down. Turquoise walked over and sat next to Amber.

The tan gem got up and served Turquoise her pancakes, pouring syrup on them. Turquoise thanked her and had a taste as everyone watched her.

"These are so good!" the light blue gem said, eating the rest of the pancakes.

"I am glad that you think that," Amber smiled.

After everyone had finished their breakfast, Steven wanted to play games. The first game consisted of running laps around the barn. Amethyst, Pearl, Garnet, Lapis, and Peridot sat back and watched as Amber ran around with Steven, Turquoise, and Luca. Luca finished dead last while Steven finished first.

"Gosh it's hard being one of the only humans here," Luca said in between breaths.

Steven looked to him and smiled, "At least you finished."

"Yep," Luca said, taking a swig of a water bottle Amber had brought him.

The tan gem grabbed Luca's wrist, "Come on! Let's start ball-throwing!"

"Phew," Luca said, "Girls, right?"

"Yeah," Steven smiled.

Steven came in second as Amber threw the ball a bit farther than him. She jumped several times as Luca and Steven went to the next activity. Luca desperately wanted to be anything other than last so he tried his hardest on the fencing activity. He faced Turquoise as Pearl gave them swords.

Luca swung and hit the light blue gem in the side. She shrugged as she was knocked to her knees. Amber put her hands to her face and the second Luca looked away, Turquoise smacked his cheek. He was pushed sideways quite a bit, but he quickly picked himself up and charged the light blue gem.

"Gosh, seems like you can take a hit," Turquoise said, socking Luca in the face.

Luca threw his dulled sword on the ground and socked the gem in the jaw. He had to practically look up to her, but he tried glaring. The tall blue gem kicked him in the ribs.

By this time, Steven had run up to the two, "Hey! Stop fighting you guys!"

"Luca, guess what? You have a life span," Turquoise communicated, "Amber won't need you anymore when you're old and gray."

Luca groaned and picked himself up, facing Turquoise, "I don't know what is up to you today, but I am going to take you down."

As the punches unfolded, Pearl wondered if she should do something, but Garnet told her not to interfere. This fight had to be finished and Turquoise had to cool herself off. Luca felt something finger-like in his brain as he was fighting. Soon enough, he was throwing dizzy punches at Turquoise, usually missing. Amber started to tear up as she watched two of her friends fight. She ran without thinking into the middle of the fray. Luca and Turquoise's punches landed on her chest and back almost simultaneously. The pain had frozen her movement but she managed to fall backward onto Luca's fist.

She blinked rapidly as the two removed their hands and placed them on her. Amber looked to Steven and smiled, closing her eyes.

"I got you two to stop fighting," she said, "But what was it about?"

"Amber… I'm so sorry," Turquoise said, "I was getting into the fight and then I bullied Luca and he got mad."

"I'm so sorry, Amber," Luca said, "Turquoise put her tendrils in my mind and I just lost it."

"It's fine, but you guys shouldn't fight over little things like that, this was supposed to be a fun game of strength testing," Amber croaked, picking herself off of Luca.

She stood tall, both of her friends on the ground. Amber held the dulled sword and hit the both of them on the head.

"Now shake hands," the tan gem said, "And apologize."

Turquoise and Luca followed her instructions and looked to Amber for more information. She shook her head as her body recovered fairly quickly.

"Let me recover and I will fight you both," Amber frowned.

"What?" Turquoise and Luca asked at the same time.

"I will fight the two of you together," Amber said, sternly as her body formed back on her chest where Turquoise had hit, "I worked so hard to form these…"

The tan gem trotted off and Luca and Turquoise looked to each other, "Gosh, I lost myself."

Luca nodded, "Same here. I can't believe we hit her."

"I can," Garnet said to the two, "You were being stupid and didn't pay attention to your surroundings."

Turquoise rubbed her forehead several times. She was awfully dizzy, but still stood up, helping Luca. He shook his head; he wasn't going to hurt his lover ever again, even if she wanted to fight him. Luca knew her weakness, but she also knew his. Twenty minutes later, Amber came back looking fresh. Her blue shirt had been destroyed in the chest area but she still decided to fight.

Steven counted down to three and Luca and Turquoise got into battle formation, waiting for Amber to move. She didn't move for a few minutes and just stared at her two friends. All of a sudden, the gem ran up to Turquoise and knocked her gently to the ground alongside Luca.

"Is that all that you have?" Amber asked, tauntingly.

The two came at her with all they had but she always got the best of them. Luca had her weakness in his mind when he lunged at the gem. Their lips met and Steven blocked his eyes as Luca pushed her on her butt.

"How about we continue this later?" he whispered.

Amber flushed blue, "Luca! This was supposed to be a serious fight."

"This is how you win, you know your enemy's weakness," Luca smiled.

Garnet nodded, "He's right."

Pearl leaned on Garnet, "Are you sure they are going to be an okay couple?"

"Yes," Garnet smiled, "I am."

Amethyst booed when the fight was over but she got to eat the metal on the dulled swords so she was fine. Peridot liked to watch Amethyst be herself so she giggled. Lapis had been called out by the noise, but she retreated back inside after she figured everything was fine.

The three fighters got cleaned up and by the time they were finished, lunch was on the table. Amber and Luca scarfed down their food while Turquoise took hers slowly. When Turquoise was done, she suggested a party for later that night. Everyone agreed that there should be one, but no one agreed on what theme. Eventually, Steven' theme of lights won and Peridot and Lapis got materials for it.

It took them several hours, but the group managed to decorate the exterior of the barn while Garnet had made a patio over the picnic table. Pearl wrapped the golden lights around the beams, illuminating the eating area. Amethyst sprinkled some Christmas lights on the water tower while Peridot made sure that everything had long enough extension cords. Amber, Turquoise, Luca, and Steven folded and cut out stars to hang from the lights.

Pretty soon, it was evening and everyone had finished decorating. Steven and Luca sat next to each other on the picnic table, talking about how they liked seeing everyone work together. Amber was barbecuing some vegetables and steak while Turquoise and Pearl mashed the potatoes. Garnet and Amethyst brought soda from the fridge in the barn. They poured it in each cup until the bottles were empty and placed the cups at each plate.

Low music played while the food was eaten. Amethyst finished first and started to dance next to Garnet. Pearl started to clean up the dishes and joined the two. Peridot turned up the music on her iPad and began to dance next to Amethyst. Amber, Luca, and Steven got up and started dancing as Turquoise walked over to them. Soon enough, everyone was dancing in pairs, Pearl and Garnet, Peridot and Amethyst, Amber and Luca, Turquoise and Steven. Lapis wasn't very interested in dancing so she watched from the barn.

When they had finished dancing, Steven was so tired; he fell asleep in Garnet's arms. Luca chuckled a little bit, remembering when he was younger that he would fall asleep in his parent's arms.

He walked off with Garnet to help get his sleeping bed ready, "How old is he again?"

"Steven is fourteen years old," Garnet smiled, "Still growing."

"Yeah," Luca said, getting out the sleeping bag, "So how did Rose Quartz and Greg make him?"

"They had sexual intercourse," Garnet said sternly.

"Oh," Luca said as the tall red gem tucked Steven in, "But gems don't have human parts so how was that possible?"

"They can form them but it takes a tremendous effort out of the body," Garnet said slowly, "Rose Quartz… She withered away after Steven was born."

"Is it for sure to happen?" Luca asked, slowly bringing his hand from his mouth, "Will it always happen to all gems that give birth?"

"I'm not sure," Garnet said, "It would be tremendously painful for a few months even if they survived though. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering," Luca said, "Thanks for the information."

"Anytime," Garnet said whilst smiling at Steven's sleeping face.

Luca walked back to Amber and Turquoise, telling them he was going to have an early night. Turquoise didn't feel like sleeping so she decided to clean up alongside Pearl, Amethyst, and Peridot. Amber went to bed, as she wanted to spend time with Luca. The fight was still on her mind, what did he mean?

Amber wandered to the sleeping bag only to find that Luca wasn't there. She walked a bit more and saw his phone light up on the hill. The gem ran to him and within seconds, reached his side.

"Luca what's wrong? Isn't it bedtime?" Amber asked.

"I'm only going to hurt you," Luca frowned, looking away from the tan gem.

"What do you mean?" Amber asked, reaching out to Luca.

He pushed her hand away, "If you get pregnant you will die… Forever."

"Where is this coming from?" Amber asked.

"I went to see Garnet and she said that Rose Quartz withered away after giving birth to Steven," Luca said, still avoiding eye contact, "Amber if we have intercourse then there is a big chance you will wither away."

"Isn't that what a condom is for?" Amber said, tilting her head, "Listen, if you don't want to do it, then I don't either."

"It's not that," Luca said, his eyes slightly watering, "I want to have kids with you that we raise and watch them grow up."

Amber felt tears coming, "I can give you kids! I promise I won't disappear, just don't leave me!"

The tan gem kissed Luca on the lips and the two made-out several times. Amber couldn't stop looking at Luca's eyes, as they turned from sad to hopeful. He lay her down and leaned forward in between her legs, kissing her neck. A hand felt her chest and he awkwardly looked to the tan gem.

"You formed sexual organs already?" he asked.

"Yeah," Amber said, chuckling, "Turquoise destroyed them today so I had to reform."

"Didn't that hurt?" Luca said.

"Of course," Amber smiled, "But it's alright."

"Okay," Luca said, "Would you like to take things slow?"

"Yeah," Amber said, "Let's go to bed for now."

"I'm good with that," Luca smiled, standing up and scooping Amber into his arms to kiss her on the lips.

Luca carried Amber to their sleeping bag and placed her down underneath the cover. He lay down next to her and the two started to cuddle in each other's arms. In just minutes, they had fallen fast asleep under the soft light of the Milky Way Galaxy.