"Welcome!" Connie greeted Peridot and Lapis at the door. "Please come in."

"Thank you," Lapis said.

"Here," Peridot presented a wrapped box, "I hope it proves educational."

"Thank you," Connie said, "We'll unwrap gifts after cake."

"Fine, fine," Peridot said, following Lapis into the house.

They were greeted by the oversized Gem, Rose Quartz with her large pink hair, and holding a bowl of snack mix. "Would you like some?"

"You," Peridot said, with annoyance.

"You!" Lapis said with a hint of hatred in her voice. "Why did you leave me in that mirror? What had I ever done to you?"

"Calm down," Peridot tried to soothe Lapis, "I thought we had worked through this."

"I-I'm sorry. I thought… never mind what I thought. I was obviously mistaken, and Steven felt a great deal of affection for you," Rose said.

Lapis stopped Peridot from speaking, "How do you know what Steven felt?"

"I—My Gem was part of him. I didn't know what was going on, or what he was doing, but I could feel what he was feeling. I can still feel it now."

"And why did you POOF ME!" Peridot demanded. "I go out of my way to get you a nice place to restore yourself, and how do you repay me? POOF! It was not plesant."

"I thought you were a Homeworld Gem—"

"I am a homeworld Gem. Or I was."

"That I had been captured."

Peridot studied her skeptically. "I suppose. You know I didn't like any of you Crystal Clods when I first got here… but they've grown on me."

"And my Steven?"

"He was my first... Friend. Lapis here is my third. He helped me stop the Cluster from destroying your Earth. It was quite exciting."

Lapis stepped forward. "Steven befriended me, freed me from my mirror, and healed my Gem so I could go home. When they brought me back… Steven helped me make choices for myself, find a home."

"And she couldn't have had a better roommate, Right?" Peridot said.

"…"

"Hey!"

"You grew on me."

"So," Rose said, "Snack mix?"

"Ehhh…. Sure," Peridot said.

Suddenly there was the sound of a small tornado as the two Universe chidren came running into and around the room.

"Aunt Lapis! Aunt Peridot! What did you get me?" Stevie asked.

"I got you a present," Peridot said.

"It's a surprise!" Lapis said, a touch of joy in her voice as she knelt to be eye to eye with the children. "What have you been doing since I last saw you?"

"We made up a new game," Rosie said. "It's called Bumper Cars."

"How do you play it?" Lapis asked.

"We run around and bump into each other, and then we bounce around!" Stevie explained.

"It's really fun!" Rosie confirmed, "You wanna see it?"

"Yes, but maybe later, okay?"

Connie opened the front door for the set of visitors. Garnet and Amethyst came in.

Garnet absent mindedly handed Connie her wrapped gift, while searching the rooms beyond her for Rose.

"Thanks for having us, Connie," Amethyst said.

"Your welcome. We saw you on TV. That was a really touching tribute you gave there," Connie said.

"Aw, it was nothing. Where's the food?"

"Would you care for some snack mix?" Rose asked.

"Oh, yea-yah!" Amethyst said. "ROSE!"

"So its true, you are back," Garnet said, wiping away a tear.

"It's so good to see you again," Rose said.

Amethyst and Garnet moved in for a hug.

"It's been so long," Amethyst said. "I wish…"

"I know," Rose said. "Where is Pearl?"

"She will be along soon," Garnet said. "She hasn't been spending that much time at the Temple lately."

"She hasn't? Is something wrong?"

"Nah, Pearl's doing great!" Amethyst said.

"She has been staying with a friend in the city," Garnet said.

"What do you think of Steven's kids?" Amethyst asked.

"It is all so new. I haven't figured out what to think about anything," Rose said, "I came here just hoping that someone could tell me about my son. He sounds like a wonderful person."

"He was great," Amethyst said, sounding sad.

"Maybe we can get Pearl to play some of her home movies," Garnet said.

"That would be nice."

"Now, I think I owe a birthday boy a Super Noogie!" Garnet activated one of her gauntlets and turned towards the kids, who screamed and ran from the room.

Stevie was like his father in that he had no problem making friends. He had already had one birthday party with his friends; this party was for his family. Since his father was now gone, Connie felt it was important that the children interact with the Crystal Gems to maintain a connection with their father. Her own parents were not quite as sure as she was about that.

Socially speaking, Rosie was more like her mother; studious, and she tended to stay away from other kids her age. Connie told herself that Rosie was going to be like she was with Steven and her few friends: Quality over quantity.

The doorbell rang, and Connie again answered the door. This time it was Pearl, whose face now sported age lines so that she would look the same age as her partner, Karen, the woman who was standing just behind her with medium length pink hair and an average build.

"You don't have to worry, Connie, I picked it out," Karen said, handing over a package.

"Well, I did help with the selection," Pearl said.

"Thank you," Connie leaned out and hugged the two of them, welcoming them inside.

"ROSE!" Pearl shouted. She leaped across the room, enveloping Rose in a hug, throwing snack mix everywhere, much to the delight of the children.

Amethyst was amused by how tiny and frail Pearl looked while trying to wrap herself around Rose.

Karen was less than amused.

"How are you here?" Pearl asked, "I mean how are you back? It is so good to see you again."

"It is so good to see you too, Pearl. It has been such a long time. Are you going to introduce me?" Rose asked.

"What? OH, yes, of course! Rose, this is Karen… the light of my life."

"I'm glad to meet you, Karen. Even happier that you have been able to make Pearl so happy."

"Not as happy as you it seems," Karen whispered under her breath. She extended her hand. "Its good to finally meet you, Rose."

Rose bypassed her hand, and enveloped the woman in a massive hug.

Tears welled up in Pearl's eyes, "I'm just so happy the two of you are getting along."

"Umph," Karen's voice was muffled against Rose's bosom.

Karen was rescued by the timely intervention of Connie. "I have food for anyone who wants to eat. I've made fish momos, Manicotti, Roti bread, and more. And afterwards, we have birthday cake."

"All right!" Amethyst led the procession into the dining room.

"Remember, Amethyst, don't eat the plates!" Pearl cautioned.

"Rose, if you like, you can sit at the end of the table," Connie suggested.

"Okay"

"That was dad's seat," Stevie said.

Connie was about to say something but it was lost in a wave of emotion. She settled for nodding.

Garnet went up to Connie, and placed her forehead against Connie's. "Remember, it's still just a thought."

"Thanks," Connie agreed meekly.

Little Rosie ran up to Pearl holding a plate filled with food. "I fixed you a plate, Aunt Pearl."

"Um…" Pearl visibly paled. "Thank you?"

"Don't worry," Rosie said, "I'll help you eat it too."

"Oh, thank you Rosie!" Pearl was relieved.

"Well what am I going to do with this?" Karen asked about the second plate in her hand.

"I'll take it," Amethyst walked by, grabbed the plate and dumped the entire contents into her waiting mouth.

Meal time conversation started talking about the kids. What they were doing in school, the projects they were working on, which of their classmates they liked. How their lives were different from Steven being homeschooled or all the extra projects Connie was always doing. Was there any new progress on healing the corrupted Gems? Or to the idea that the Homeworld Gem Fusion experiments could be used to reform a shattered Gem? Many comments were made about how Pearl had aged her appearance again. They talked about the progress Karen was making in her job, and how their relationship was progressing.

"Are you and Karen going to have any kids?" Stevie asked Pearl, much to everyone's amusement and embarrassment.

"I don't think so," Pearl said. "Only one Gem has ever had a child with a Human.

"Stevie, the genders don't line up right, for Pearl and Karen," Connie said. "I'll try to explain it to you tonight, okay?" Suddenly her other worries were buried by the impending doom of the need to give her kids the birds and the bees talk. She tried to remember the conversation she had with her own parents, but for some reason, couldn't.

"That's not exactly true in this case," Rose said. "We are Gems. Literally, our bodies are merely projections of our souls. Gems are rocks, and rocks don't have gender… but humans do. Greg was a male, so I took the female role in the birth of Steven. If Pearl and Karen did want to have a child… they could, and it would be easier than it was for me."

Everyone at the table had been stunned into silence… Karen and Pearl were both blushing and wising they could be anywhere but there. Rosie helped herself to another bite from Pearl's plate.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I just seem to be making all sorts of social blunders today. Maybe I should leave."

"Please don't," Connie said.

"It's fine, Rose," Pearl said. "Karen and I hadn't really even thought about it, although I suppose that we will be thinking about it now."

"We'll discuss it," Karen said.

"Hmm."

"Garnet, what are you thinking?" Amethyst asked.

"I'm just thinking about all the Gems back at the Temple… and what we could do to give a few of them a new chance at life."

"I'm done, can I be excused?" Stevie asked.

"Yeah," Rosie agreed. "This conversation has gotten weird."

"Yeah, go ahead," Connie said, breaking one of her usual rules, but the kids were right, the conversation had taken an unexpected turn.

"What else can you tell me about my son?" Rose asked.

"He was very musical," Pearl said, "Always singing."

"Or teaching others how to," Peridot said.

"Full of compassion," Lapis said.

"Don't forget about those watermelon stevens!" Amethyst said.

"Everyone here loved him very much," Garnet said. "Even at an early age, he had quite an impact on everyone in town."

"Let me show you the first song Steven ever played for us," Pearl said.

From the pearl on her forehead, Pearl projected a holographic image of a very young Steven sitting with his father in the back of the old van with a small ukulele in his hand. He started strumming and singing: "If your evil and you're on the rise, you can count on the four of us taking you down, cause we're good and evil never beats us, we'll win the fight and then go out for pizzas. We are the Crystal Gems, we'll always save the day, and if you think we can, we'll always find a way. That's why the people of this world believe in Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl—and Steven…"

From there, Pearl started fielding requests of other scenes from the past that she was able to remember and project. Steven and Lapis. Steven and Connie forming Stevonnie. Smoky Quartz in action. Steven performing at Beach-a-Palooza. Hundreds of temporal copies of Steven fighting over a small timepiece. Steven and Connie practicing their tag team fighting style: Steven with the shield and Connie with Rose's sword…

The holographic display faded, darkness filling the room to accompany the gentle sounds of sobbing coming from the end of the table opposite Rose. Connie had doubled over and was crying.

Garnet reached over to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"It's not fair!" Connie shouted. "I should have been there! I was his knight, it was my job to protect him!"

"If you had gone, you would have died too," Garnet softly said.

"You can't know that! You've been wrong before!"

"Mom?" Rosie said from the doorway.

Lapis quickly stood up, whispering "I got this." She moved to escort Rosie out of the room. "How bout you two show me that game of yours now?"

"I didn't choose for it to go down this way," the Ruby part of Garnet said, while the Sapphire part countered "We gave the choice to Steven." "No, he took it away from us!" "This isn't about us now." Garnet blurred, but she remained Garnet.

"All the things he should be able to see, to do, but now he's gone! And he shouldn't be! I should have been the one, he was the one with the magical destiny. There's no way I can make up for that."

"Is this my fault too?" Rose whispered.

Pearl looked over at the sobbing Connie, then to Rose, whispering back, "No. She needs to talk and work through this on her own. I was never able to get over your loss until I finally talked it out with Greg."

Feeling extremely uncomfortable Peridot made as discrete an exit as she could, inching along the walls of the dining room.

Karen reached across and took Connie's hand. "It's okay to cry it out, we all miss Steven."

"You don't understand," Connie said, "It's not just Steven who died. Stevonnie's dead too… I can never get Steven or that part of myself back!"

None of them could say anything, not the confused Rose, or Karen or Amethyst or even Pearl who knew what it was like to lose someone they had once fused with. It was a loss the like of which Garnet couldn't even conceive of despite her advanced knowledge of fusion. They all supported Connie and each other in silence, as a family united by grief, gathered together for what was supposed to be a festive occasion.

Shortly, Lapis came to the door, and discretely got Garnet's attention, summoning her outside. Rose followed.

"Is something wrong, Lapis?" Garnet asked.

"No? Maybe? I'm not sure, but they don't have Gems, right?" Lapis said.

"Right," Garnet answered. "I checked."

"Okay now kids," Peridot said, "start the game again from the beginning."

"Okay," both the children yelled from opposite sides of the back yard. The two children started running at each other, but then just as they were about to collide, they were each enveloped by a pink bubble, which bounced them off of each other and around the back yard.

Garnet removed her visor, exposing all three of her eyes. "Did you know this was going to happen?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Rose answered.

"I just remembered," Garnet said, "Connie needs someone to watch the kids while she is working now. I suppose we could keep watch over them for her at the Temple. Help them learn how to use their powers."

"And figure out how they can have powers without Gems," Peridot said.

"Maybe I will get to look after my… Grandchildren, the way you all got to look after my Steven?" Rose said. "I just love how this planet creates so much change!"

"The future just got a lot more interesting," Peridot said.

"Doesn't it always?" Garnet answered.

"I have one more thing I wanted to ask you about Steven…" Rose said, gearing up to ask Garnet the big question about the lost son she could never meet.