Chapter 2
Hey guys, it's been a while. Sorry about that, here's another chapter with more of our favorite angst filled Pearl!
Greg awoke to the sound of a wailing child. He blinks and panics for a moment "Where's Steven? Did something happen?! What's going on?" Amethyst glances at Greg and returns to her human form before she states "Well Steven woke up, and he's hungry, or maybe he pooped himself, I can't say that I really know. Just...Get him to stop..." She covers her ears and winces in discomfort as the child continues his screaming fit. Greg fumbles around in the van until he finds a bottle of formula he had prepped a few hours ago. He then searches for the hot plate and plugs it in. Several moments pass and Steven continues to screech much to Amethyst's annoyance and she yells "Look dude, I get that this is your first time, but please hurry it up! If that kid screams any louder I think that he'll attract a gem monster!"
Greg grumbles as he finally has the bottle ready and he runs over to Steven. He picks him up and tries to get the child to drink from the bottle but Steven just wouldn't have any of it. Amethyst rolls her eyes and takes the bottle from Greg before she exclaims "You're doing it wrong! Ya just have to jam it in and..." Amethyst blinks as she finds that Steven had spit the contents of the bottle up onto her form "Gross dude..." Greg sighs and glares at Amethyst before he takes the bottle back and states "I'm the parent here... Let me do my job." Amethyst turns away from him angrily, but then tilts her head slightly to watch him from the corner of her eye.
Greg was careful to keep Steven's head supported as he shifted him up and down in his arms. He then brought the bottle to the boys mouth only to find Steven somewhat unwilling to go along with his attempt to feed him. Several minutes pass and Steven finally relents. The newborn closes his eyes and devours the entire bottle in only a few minutes. Only a few moments pass before he starts to cry. Amethyst turns as she hears Greg slap the young boys back "What are ya doing dude! I mean really, you don't hit a kid!" Greg blinks and states "I might have hit him a bit hard there, but Amethyst when babies feed they build up gas, you pat their back in order to help them release it." He proceeds to pat the newborn's back until Steven belches. Amethyst glances away from Greg and scratches at her head.
She then asks offhandedly once Steven was back to sleep "So Greg...Do you still have those child care books lying around anywhere?" Greg snickers at her and leans against the van before he states "Well... I do, but they're in the storage unit." Amethyst nods before she states "Think you can get them for me?" Greg blinks and states "I suppose..." He rubs the back of his head and glances over to the sun which was rising over the sea casting a beautiful mirror image of itself over the water. Greg glances at Amethyst and then to Steven before he thinks to himself 'I suppose everything's changed...' he blinks and returns his attention to Amethyst before he states "I'll hand em over the next time I see ya." The purple gem just nods at this before her eyes widen and she grins "Daw...Look at the little guy, he's just opened his eyes." Greg glances down at Steven who was gawking at Amethyst with an open mouth for a moment. As he see's Amethyst react to him he smiles back at her before he yawns and closes his eyes. Greg grins at Amethyst and then hugs Steven tightly to his chest. This was his kid, and nothing was going to happen to him under his watch.
For the next few weeks Pearl remained at the peak of her waterfall. At this particular moment she had her eyes shut. Garnet had refused to leave her room, and the pale gem was unwilling to give an inch and speak with her. Eventually she simply snaps and screams "Why don't you just go!" only to open her eyes and realize that she was alone...Again. She holds herself close, and tries to think back to her time with Rose, before Greg. When it had just been them fighting to for the world which they had been the protectors of for ages. But those memories were tainted, the only thing that happened when she thought back to them was that 'I could have saved her. I could have stopped this from happening. If I just weren't a Pearl." Her attention was grabbed by the sound of something falling, and she watches as one of her swords slips from its position within the waterfall, and falls into the abyss below. She tries to ignore it and return to her solitude, but she knew that it was out of place, and because of that knowledge she knew she had to go down and retrieve the artifact. She got up and hopped down onto one of the streams which lead deeper into the temple. Once she reaches the bottom of the stream she hops off, and searches for her sword within Amethyst's room. Due to the number of waterfalls which fed into the pools of Amethyst's chamber Pearl searches far and wide to no avail. Eventually Pearl grows tired of searching and yells out "Amethyst are you around?!"
She hears movement from beneath a nearby trash pile only for a small purple cat to pop out from beneath a pile of newspapers. The feline purrs and states "Yeah what do ya need P?" Pearl's eyes narrow at the gem and she asks "Have you been following me?" Amethyst morphs back into a humanoid form and shrugs before she states cheerfully "Yep... I heard ya come down, and I thought it'd be fun to surprise ya! But then ya asked for me, so I figured I'd just scrap that plan." Pearl nods and simply asks "Have you seen a sword fall down anywhere? I'm afraid a part of my collection fell down here, and I can't seem to find it." Amethyst smirks at her and states "No prob P! Just...Wait here while I go find it." Amethyst shifts into her owl form, and flies off into the distance. Pearl sighs and a few minutes pass without any sign of Amethyst returning. Pearl notices something at the foot of the stack of mattresses which Amethyst had made a habit of sleeping on, and since she had nothing better to do she decides to investigate. She glances down at what appeared to be a book, one with a hard back cover that had the words "Newborn Necessities" plastered upon the cover. Her hand trembled as she recognized the volume as she had been the one to purchase it alongside Rose and Greg several months ago.
She remembered that day well, when she had learned of Rose's harebrained scheme to have a child with Greg she had demanded that they go and learn more about the process beforehand. While she and Greg had purchased several books which detailed the process by which a human was born, along with the health risks involved for the child and mother. Rose had chosen to buy this particular book. According to her, "It would come in handy in the future." Pearl sniffs at the thought, 'Rose was so excited about this it must have been crushing when she discovered that it wasn't going to work out...' She carefully tucks the book under her elbow, though a single thought did cross her mind 'Where did Amethyst get this?'
Eventually Amethyst did return and she carried with her Pear's favorite saber. Pearl smiles at Amethyst and states "Thank you very much Amethyst." Amethyst glances at her and nods before she hands her the blade. She then places her hands behind her back and glances at the book Pearl held in her hands. Her brow furrows and she exclaims "Hey what are you doing with that!" Pearl blinks and asks "I could ask you the same question, where did you get Rose's book!?" Amethyst blushes and states awkwardly "Greg gave it to me, I've been reading it to try and learn how to properly take care of a kid so I can give him a hand with Steven." Pearl blinks as she was slightly confused "Steven, who is this Steven?" Then a memory comes back to her. 'Steven...That was what Rose wanted to name her child.' Pearl glances at Amethyst who folds her arms and states "You know, Rose and Greg's kid? It's been a few weeks since he was born, and Greg's been on his own. I just figured he could use a hand with him." Pearl steps away and drops the book into the mud which causes Amethyst to exclaim "Hey!" She runs over and scoops up the book before she carefully brushes the grime off of the cover. Not knowing what else to do Pearl simply states "Thank you for helping me with this Amethyst." Before she does an about face, and walks away. Amethyst looks at her and yells "Steven isn't bad Pearl. Go check him out when ya can. He's a pretty cool kid!" Pearl continues to rush out of the room and stops once she was out of sight. She places a hand against the wall of the cavern and breathes heavily for a moment. 'That thing had taken their leader's life, and Amethyst was treating it as if it deserved their attention...How...Why?' She stops as tears streamed down her cheeks and states sadly "They've already put her behind them." She then rushes back up into her room where she would remain for the next week.
