Early rays of sun were shining through the glass and inside the house. Having stayed up later than usual, Steven had expected to wake up at a later time than usual, but that wasn't the case. He had woken up at his regular time, to his delight, since he didn't want to keep Jasper waiting.

Not that she had known about his plan before hand, but still, he didn't want her to grow impatient.

He had taken a seat next to Amethyst, who had, at some point during the night, replaced Garnet on Jasper-watch duty, and was now scoffing down a leftover hot dog she had found at the back of the fridge, probably a few days old by now. While she licked her fingers (not for the purpose of cleaning them, but rather to taste the remaining grease) Steven gulped down a spoonful of his cereal.

"When did Jasper come back in the house?" Steven asked Amethyst as the food fell down his throat. She shrugged.

"Uh… two in the morning, maybe?" she guessed. "Somethin' like that." She wiped her wet fingers on the white fabric covering her torso. Steven frowned.

"She was out there for three whole hours?" He dropped another pile of cereal in his mouth.

"Yeah. I did ask her if she wanted to come back in once you fell asleep, but she just told me to leave." Her indigo eyes rolled around her sockets. "Seriously. It's barely day two of this, and she's already driving me nuts."

"Give her time. I get why she'd be upset with staying with us," he insisted, looking over to the gem slouched on his sofa. "I mean… after everything that happened."

Amethyst scoffed. "She was askin' for it," she muttered. "What was she thinking? Keeping corrupted gems in cages."

He shook his head. "No, that's not what I…" He wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Nevermind. I wanted to try something." With that, he picked up his now-empty bowl and placed it next to the sink. "But first, it would be best if I brushed my teeth." He then jogged to the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. Once he was in front of his mirror, he picked up the toothbrush lying on the counter, placed a blob of white paste on it, then quickly rubbed it on his teeth, all the while staring at his reflection.

Don't mess this up, it was as if the mirror was yelling at him. He narrowed his eyes at himself.

I won't. I'll prove to her that I can help her!

Finally, he spat out the last of the paste and rinsed his brush, before placing it beside the sink. He rubbed around his mouth with a towel, before looking back at his reflection, his eyes widening at what he saw, just above the replica of his dark, curly hair.

A butterfly.

He gasped, fluttered his lashes.

It was gone.

Mumbling to himself, his feet quickly carried him away from that mirror and out of that room, until he could shut the door behind him, relieved.

"Right. Business time."

Shaking off the thoughts clogging up in his head, he skipped across the room, over to where his house guest was sitting.

"Hey, Jasper!" He smiled, giving her a wave.

She didn't react.

That didn't deter the happy attitude he had built up for himself.

"I, uh… just wanna see if my healing powers will help your arm." He took a step forward. "Do you mind if I…" He pointed to his nose, tapping it, as to say he wanted to… well… put some spit on her gem.

Jasper, for a moment, didn't move. Steven was about to back off, when finally she raised her normal hand and pulled some of her bangs from her face, giving him a clear view of her gem. He grinned widely, ecstatic that she was cooperating with him.

"Thanks! This will only take a second. And don't worry about my breath - I just brushed." He held up two fingers - his index and middle, and dabbed them on the end of his tongue, until they had a good amount of saliva on them. He raised himself up, balancing on his tip-toes, as he stretched his arm out to reach her gem, until finally he tapped the smooth surface. He beamed, excited for the effects to take place. He stared at her arm intently, searching for any green-blue skin disappearing, or the spikes to retreat back into her form until they were no longer visible.

But that didn't happen.

Actually, nothing happened.

Steven's grin melted, his stomach churning as he removed his fingers from her gem. He felt as if his body was being weighed down with disappointment at the sight of his powers not taking on any effect.

"...I'm sorry, Jasper," he lamented. "I thought that it would've at least…"

"Tch." The soldier narrowed her eyes, dragging her gaze away from him. Feeling guilt eat away at his heart, he turned away, sauntering over to Amethyst, who hopped down from the stool she was sitting on and lay a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay!" She lent a smile. "Not even Rose could heal gems like this. You've already done a great job getting her this far!"

As much as he appreciated the compliment, Steven knew that the only reason Jasper's healing had worked this well was because of how she wasn't corrupted by the Diamonds themselves. Had that been the case, he doubted that she would've even been able to gain back her voice.

"Thanks, Amethyst."

"Heh, not a prob."

Steven then glanced at his pajamas that he was still wearing, and shrugged.

"I better get changed," he said, scuttling over to the stairs leading up to his room, trying to ignore the glares thrown at him by the half-corrupted gem while he passed her.

"Come over?" Steven repeated into the phone. He hooked his finger over the collar of his shoulder. "I dunno if that's such a good idea, Connie."

"Why not?" she asked. "Is there something wrong?"

Even though she couldn't see him, he shook his head. "Nothing's… wrong, per say…" He glanced over to where his floor ended, knowing that Jasper was sitting just next to the stairs that led down to the living room. "It's just, uh… remember that conversation we had the other day?" He fell back onto his bed, hearing it squeak as it bounced.

"That one about Jasper?"

"Yep."

"Yeah, I remember. Why? What's going on?" He heard her fiddle with the phone in her hand.

"Well, I… I decided to go along with it."

He heard a hand slip over the phone as she tried to get a tight grip on it. "You did?" She gasped. "When?"

"Only yesterday."

"That's great! How's it going so far? Is Jasper okay?"

Steven shifted uncomfortable. "Oh, uh… she's alright, I guess." He couldn't see her from where he was lying, but his head still fell to the right, in her direction. "My healing powers worked quite well. She's pretty much herself, aside from still having one corrupted arm."

"That's really good!" she exclaimed.

"Heh, yeah… I guess."

There was a pause. "What do you mean by that?"

He ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, when I say that 'she's pretty much herself', that doesn't mean we're getting along," he murmured, lowering his voice so that Jasper wouldn't hear him. "I mean, I didn't expect much different, but even talking to her is really difficult."

"Oh… Well, she's at least thankful that you healed her, right?"

The boy sighed. "I… don't actually know. She isn't acting like she is." He flipped his body so that his back would be facing the rest of his house, while he'd be looking out the window in front of him. One glance was enough to decide that today was a nice enough day to see a friendly face. Whether or not that would be a good idea was what he was worried about.

"Huh. That's pretty ungrateful," Connie muttered. "But, anyhow, is it a good idea if I were to come over."

Steven pouted. "I mean, you wouldn't be in danger… she hasn't hurt any of us in the past twenty-four hours." He bit the inside of his cheek. "I just don't think she'd be very happy to see you, considering last time you two met we beat her as Stevonnie."

"True, but she doesn't sound very happy anyway. I don't think me coming over will change anything."

He sighed. "I guess so." He pushed himself up from the mattress. "Okay, you can come over. Meet me at… what time is it now?"

"Eleven twenty," she replied.

"Ah, okay. About twelve, then?"

"Sure! See you later!"

"Bye, Connie!" With that, the beeping noise from the other end could be heard.

He placed his phone of the table beside his bed, before stepping off, hearing his joints click as he did so. He made his way down the steps, past the gem warrior, and towards the slim figure standing over the sink, one hand draped with a tea towel while the other held a bowl.

"Hey, Pearl?"

Pearl turned her head to him and smiled warmly. "Yes, Steven?"

He glanced at the bowl she was holding. "You don't have to do the dishes now - Connie's coming over, so we'll probably be having lunch as soon as you're done." He chuckled.

Pearl did not.

"You're what?" Her eyes widened with terror. "Steven, you can't bring Connie over!"

"What? Why not?"

"Because of our current… situation." Her sky blue eyes flickered over to Jasper, who Steven wasn't sure was paying attention to their conversation.

"Jasper won't hurt her. And if anything happens, you guys will be here." He looked at her with believing eyes. Pearl's face tightened out of uncertainty.

"Well… okay. I just don't want either of you to get hurt."

"I know. Nothing will happen, I promise!"

After convincing Pearl to allow Connie to come over, Steven waited patiently for his friend to come climbing up those steps. He had taken a seat on the patio, sitting opposite Amethyst who had her legs hooked over both sides of the fence, swinging them back and forth. Some time passed, when Amethyst looked down and waved.

"Heya, Connie!" she called. Steven heard Connie reply,

"Hi, Amethyst!"

Footsteps could be heard climbing the steps, until Connie finally came into view. Steven grinned when he saw her.

"Connie!" He hopped off the basking chair and cantered over to her.

"Hi, Steven!" She smiled. It was at that point that Steven noticed the pink object sticking out of her bag.

"You brought mom's sword?"

Connie blinked, then turned to the sword. "Oh! Yeah, I thought that maybe we could practice our fighting at some point, if we got bored."

The corners of his lips quirked up. "Sure! Sounds like a plan." He then reached for the door and pushed it open, then waited for her to follow. He stopped when he saw her eyeing the newly-made dent in the door frame.

"Uh…"

"Oh, just ignore that." Steven rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling nervously. "Jasper couldn't fit through the door."

Connie stifled a giggle, stepping past the dent and into the house. Behind her, Amethyst squeezed past, making her way towards the direction of the fridge.

"I can imagine. I mean, she was pretty-" As Steven closed the door, hearing a satisfying 'click', he glanced over to her, and followed her gaze to Jasper, whose eyes were practically glued to the tiny human. "She is pretty big." She corrected herself.

The tense atmosphere grew thicker, the more closer he moved towards his friend. He could feel the heat wrapping around his skin as they stood underneath the quartz's amber glare, her eyes narrowed to fiery slits.

Connie then cleared her throat. "Uh… hello, Jasper." She gave a shaky smile. "How are you doing?"

Steven had expected the gem to disregard her question, but no. She did something that practically had to be squeezed out of her, had it been a Crystal Gem.

She replied.

"I don't think even humans are so dense that they'd have to ask in order to find the answer to that question," she muttered, rolling her eyes.

While grateful that she had bothered to speak, Steven couldn't stop the annoyance building up in his chest at her patronizing tone. He glanced at Connie, whose cheeks were smeared with the colour of embarrassment.

"S-sorry…" she stuttered, eyes trailing the floor. Steven sighed.

"Don't apologize. You were only trying to be nice."

The corners of her lips climbed up her cheek, before Amethyst's voice rang from behind them.

"Yeah, it's not your fault Jasper's bein' a sad-sack!"

She laughed briefly. "No, it's okay. I didn't think Jasper would be very happy to see me. Nevertheless…" She paused as she dropped her bag onto the wooden floor, her strap slipping off of her shoulder with ease. Steven looked curiously as she crouched down and reached her hands past the zip, rummaged through the bag and occasionally nudging his mother's sword out of the way, as it was taking up most of the space in there. About twenty seconds later, her spine straightened up again, one hand now clamped around some unrevealed object that was attached to a silver chain that hung from the gaps between her fingers.

"That doesn't mean I shouldn't be nice to her." The corners of her eyes creased as her smile stretched across her face. Her feet began to carry her over to the half-corrupted gem, and, instinctively, Steven hurried over to her side, observing Jasper for any aggressive moves she may make. Luckily for them, she didn't react to her walking towards her, aside from her face twisting up with each step she took.

Connie stopped a few feet away from her, as did Steven, then proceeded to outstretch her arm and unravel her fingers, revealing a smooth, pink and black, unevenly cut stone, with a small hole near its edge, allowing the thin chain to grapple around it.

"I found this when I was cleaning out some old stuff in my room," she began. "My mom gave it to me as a lucky charm, since I was really nervous on my first day of school." She picked up the stone out of her palm and held it between her finger and thumb, rolling it up and down as she continued, "Since I haven't worn it in years, I was going to give it away. But then Steven told me about your current situation, so I thought I might as well give it to you!" She smiled sweetly, raising her arm so it would be closer to Jasper's face.

"Aww, Connie!" Steven squealed, hands pressed to his cheeks and eyes gleaming with joy. "That's so sweet!" He then turned to Jasper, who was eyeing the stone with her face scrunched up with a mixture of curiosity and abhorrence.

"Why are you giving me this?" she growled in a low, beastly voice, her eyes narrowing. Connie looked slightly taken aback from her harsh tone, but quickly composed herself.

"For good luck!" she explained. "Y'know… with the whole healing process."

Jasper crudely scoffed, slipping the stone from Connie's weak grasp and letting it roll into her huge hand. The lucky charm barely sized up to a fraction of her palm.

The girl twiddled with her fingers. "I-I even managed to get some information about the stone! Apparently it's called rhodonite. I think it's a type of gem!"

She dragged her gaze away from the stone and arched a brow at the human. Connie blinked a couple of times, before laughing.

"Oh, not a gem like you guys. Just a rock made here on Earth. No magical powers or anything like that!"

The soldier rolled her eyes, before her attention was drawn back to her gift.

"Is this meant to speed up my healing process?" she asked flatly, now playing with the chain that she had looped around her large fingers.

Connie hesitated. "Uh… not really. It doesn't really do anything, per say…"

As soon as she said that, Jasper carelessly tossed it onto the table beside her, earning a gasp from Steven, who rushed over and kneeled down to check if it was still in one piece. Luckily, it had managed to resist the hard fall. When he looked back at Connie, he felt his heart tighten in a knot when he saw a dejected look on her face, though not very surprised.

"If it doesn't have a purpose, I'm not going to waste my time with it," she huffed, looking away from the human.

Steven, having become irritated by Jasper's dismissive behaviour from his friend, stood up.

"It does have a purpose!" he retorted. "It's supposed to make you feel better."

Jasper acted as if she didn't hear him. He sighed.

"I'm sorry, Connie."

Connie exhaled. "No, don't worry about it." She gave him a reassuring smile, and he returned it, while also hooking his fingers over the thin line of metal attached to the stone.

"Say, so you want this back?"

She shook her head. "No, she can have it. Even if she never picks it up again." She glanced at the lucky charm. "Maybe she'll find something to like about it one day."

Steven gave a huff of laughter. "You never know." His attention was then drawn to the kitchen, to which he scampered over to, Connie following close behind as he asked,

"So, what are you feeling for lunch?" He stopped in front of the fridge, opening it up to her. "I know we've got some bacon left over from the other day."

"Oh, that went bad already," Amethyst suddenly piped up, lying on her belly on top of the kitchen counter, her arms lazily hanging over the edge. Steven frowned in disappointment.

"Aw, you had to throw it out?"

The purple gem scoffed. "No? I ate it, duh."

Connie's mouth wrinkled up. "But… it went bad…"

She shrugged. "Eh, that's what Pearl said. She was about to throw it in the trash, but I caught it with my tongue." She gave a smug grin. The girl giggled, before turning her head towards Steven again.

"I honestly don't mind. I'm just really hungry!"

Steven nodded eagerly in agreement, kneeling down to check the bottom shelves. He eventually found some stuff for a balanced sandwich, that being a mixture of lettuce, tomatoes and ham. Half way through preparing them, Amethyst decided to geg in, making a sandwich of her own, but with her own additions, including shampoo and chocolate syrup. They decided to take their lunch outside, as Steven had pointed out what a nice day it was (and no one said it, but everyone was uncomfortable with Jasper glaring at them from the other side of the room). Out there, they sat on the shore, watching the waves flop onto the sand before being dragged away to begin the process again.

There was only the faint sound of wind rustling through their hair, as well as the water lapping up and withdrawing. Until Connie finally spoke up,

"I thought Jasper would be a lot more aggressive."

Steven and Amethyst glanced at her.

"Why's that?" Steven asked after gulping down a bite of his sandwich. Connie didn't look at him, just stared at the foam riding the surface of the water.

"Well… last time I saw her she was just so… what's the word…"

"Confident?" Amethyst guessed through a mouthful of mushed up food.

She bit the inside of her cheek. "Yeah, I guess that could work. I was thinking more along the lines of 'antipathetic'."

The quartz made a face. "I have no idea what that means."

Steven let out a huff of laughter. "It means they're really opposed to something."

"Oooh. Yeah, that's pretty accurate."

Steven and Connie exchanged amused glances, before the girl continued,

"It's just that- she looked really upset. I mean, I'd be upset if I was corrupted, but…"

"I get you," Steven said. "She's just been so quiet… today was probably the most she's said these past two days."

"Yeah, I expected her to have tried to killed us all by now." Amethyst shrugged, falling onto her back and sinking into the golden sand. "But hey, quick reminder we were afraid of Peridot at one point."

Steven chuckled - he couldn't imagine being afraid of the adorable green gem after everything they've been through. He stuffed the last on his sandwich into his mouth, chewed it up and swallowed it, before wiping the crumbs on the salmon-pink fabric of his shirt.

"Anyway, what do you wanna do now?" he asked, seeing that Connie had already finished her lunch.

"I don't know. What do you have in mind?"

Amethyst raised an arm from where she lay, as to grab their attention. "You have Rose's sword, right? You can just practice your fighting skills out here."

The two of them grew an excited grin, no words needed to know that they agreed.

"I'll go get my sword!" Connie announced, jumping up onto her feet and rushing to the house. After watching her go, Steven got the urge to get up and follow close behind.

After all, Jasper was still in the house.


Steven and Connie practiced all day with their sword and shield - sometimes fighting each other, while other times either Pearl or Amethyst would step up to take both of them on. No one would really win - they'd simply continue practicing until everyone became too exhausted to carry on. No matter how it ended, Pearl would always end up giving a round of applause while Amethyst would offer a 'whoop' of support.

It had gotten quite late by the end of everything, and Connie had already called her parents to come and pick her up as she packed away her stuff.

"You did so well during training today, Connie!" Pearl praised, coming up behind her on the patio with a proud grin plastered on her face. The girl blushed.

"Thank you, ma'am! I wouldn't be able to do any of this stuff if it wasn't for you."

Pearl sheepishly smiled, a blue blush of her own appearing on her face. "Oh, it's not a problem. After all, you're the one putting all the effort into your swordfighting."

Steven grinned widely. "You're both amazing, guys! It was so hard dodging your spear, Pearl!"

Pearl smiled.

"And you're so quick on your feet, Connie, it was so hard to keep track of your sword!"

Connie also smiled, her blush deepening.

"Thanks, Steven! You've gotten super good too. Especially with your floating powers!"

He giggled. "Haha, thanks… I'm glad I'm getting better at floating."

Connie nodded in agreement, before hooking the strap of her bag over her shoulder. "Anyway, I should get going. My mom will be waiting for me by the road."

He sighed, before agreeing. "Do you want me to walk down with you?"

The corners of her mouth sprung up. "Sure! That would be nice."

Connie exchanged goodbyes with Pearl, while also giving a wave to Amethyst and Garnet who were sitting on the other side of the window. She also offered a smile to Jasper, who completely disregarded her gesture. After that, they made their way down the steps and began to journey to the road that was behind the temple.

Half way there, Connie suddenly asked, "Do you think Jasper will ever like my gift?"

Steven frowned, sighing. "I don't know. Out of all the gems I've met that come from Homeworld, she seems to hate Earth the most."

"I guess. Well, at least she didn't lash out at me."

"Yeah, that's good, I guess."

They continued walking, Beach City now in their view.

"Say, how did Peridot and Lapis react to Jasper coming back?"

Steven paused.

"...What?"

Connie arched a brow at him. "Peridot and Lapis? You said that you figured they wouldn't get along, right?"

He stopped in his tracks, causing Connie to stop walking along with him.

"Steven?"

He gripped his hair with his fingers, the curls wrapping around his digits.

"I… I haven't told them!" He gasped. Connie blinked, her eyes widening a little.

"You haven't?"

"No! I… I don't know why. I was just so focused on healing Jasper that I never considered…"

"Steven, it's okay!" Connie soothed, placing a hand on his shoulder. His hands dropped to his sides. "You can just tell them today. Or tomorrow, if it's too late to go to the barn right now."

He sighed. "It's not that. I… I should've told them before releasing Jasper from her bubble. It just didn't cross my mind that I should've done so."

She furrowed her brow. "Why can't you tell them now? I mean, I know they don't get along, but neither do the others, right?"

"I know, but…" he twiddled his thumbs, "it's not really Peridot that I'm worried about. It's Lapis."

She tilted her head to the side. "Why's that?"

He stared at the ocean guiltily. "Just… a lot happened with the whole Malachite thing. Stuff I don't think Lapis wants to face again." He sighed. "I just hope she isn't mad at me for not coming to her first."

Connie thought for a moment. "It's okay. Just explain to her that you just forgot and everything else. She'll understand!"

Steven didn't fully believe it would be that simple, but nevertheless, he appreciated her kind words, so he smiled.

"Thanks, Connie."

She opened her mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by a ringing coming from her bag. She stuffed her hand in there, searching for the vibrating object that was her phone. Eventually, her hand latched onto it and she dragged it out of the bag and up to her ear.

"Hello?" she asked. Steven could faintly hear the voice coming from the other end.

"Connie, where are you? I've been waiting here for ten minutes!" the voice of her mother lectured. Her expression twisted a little at the sound.

"Sorry, mom. We're on our way now."

There was a pause, and then, "Right. Well, you better hurry. It's getting late, and I'm sure Steven will want to go to bed soon."

He was tempted to object to that, but decided against it.

"Alright, we'll pick up the pace. We'll see you in about five minutes!" Connie said, beginning to walk forward, followed by Steven.

"Okay, see you soon."

"Bye!" With that, she hung up and dropped her phone back into her bag, then turned to her friend. "We should hurry."

He chuckled. "Yeah, we should."

As they speed-walked towards Beach City, Steven glanced at the sun ducking behind the ocean, nearby the hills that surrounded where Lapis and Peridot resided. He knew that by the time he would've got to the barn, the sky would have returned to its dark blue state, the sun long gone. There was no use in paying his two friends now.

But the later he left it, the worse it would become. He needed to tell them as soon as possible.

Considering the fact that he'd left it far too late already.