*A/N: I LIVE!


Saturday, The Temple 11:00

When Lapis warped in with Pearl, she was greeted by one ecstatic Steven, one screaming Amethyst, and one smiling Garnet. Garnet was seated on the couch, legs crossed while she watched Amethyst who was holding Steven and twirling rapidly like some demented purple whirlwind.

"They look so happy." Thought Lapis. "When was the last time my smile was that wide? Even if I don't count the time I spent in the mirror It's just been so long.I think I've actually spent more time upset than I have actually being happy, here on Earth...." Lapis thought to herself.

"Hello Pearl, Lapis." Garnet greeted calmly as if this was normal.

"Heck, maybe this is normal. The Crystal Gems seemed to have inherited some of the odd customs of the humans in their time here."

"Amethyst! Stop that before someone gets hurt!" Pearl shouted immediately upon seeing Amethyst.

"Guess not." Lapis thought to herself,

"Lighten up P. I was just showing Steven what it's like to be in one of those really big storms. You know the really big storms that cover entire parts of the country. They tear roofs right off of buildings and flood whole towns! Man, I wanna see one of those!" Amethyst chattered.

"Yeah, I wanted to know what it would be like to be in one and Connie told me they have really strong winds that spin really fast so Amethyst was spinning me around so I'd learn what it felt like." Steven said. He attempted to walk towards Lapis and Pearl but he was clearly dizzy and he started to lose his balance a few short steps away.

Lapis and Pearl both moved instinctively and caught him before he could fall. When Lapis grabbed him though, he felt warm, a lot like Pearl. She realized that he'd felt like that before when he helped her get up after releasing her from the mirror, but again, she'd been too caught up in the moment to notice. After thinking about it, he'd felt like that every time they made contact, she just usually wasn't in a calm enough state to notice. She wasn't sure if she liked that. Most of the time, if she made contact with another gem, they were cold. Gem's temperatures were only mildly affected by the environment unless the temperatures reached extremes like in lava or on planets made of frozen gas. There were exceptions of course. Gems like Rubies, Bismuths, Sapphires, and a few other gems could be made to handle certain extreme temperature ranges which would change their natural internal temperature, but as a general rule of thumb, most gems shared a very small range of natural internal temperatures. Pearl's and most quartz's were not exceptions to this rule so it was odd to have felt the same warmth from both Pearl and Steven. She'd simply ignored it when it was just Pearl, but now that she realized it was emanating from Steven too, she was just curious.

"Are all the Crystal Gems like this? I wonder if it has something to do with being on Earth for so long. Has it changed them? But that means that the change would have to be somewhat slow. I remember when that Emerald bumped into me after being on Earth for the past 200 years and even then she felt cold. Maybe Peridot will know something about it. I'll have to ask her later on tonight" She noted.

"Thanks guys." Steven said as he righted himself with the help of Lapis and Pearl.

"They're called hurricanes and they aren't something you want to see or experience." Pearl explained as she knelt down to look Steven in the eye. "We Gems would be fine, but they are incredibly dangerous for humans who might drown in water or get hurt by debris. The strongest of them are prone to destroying structures made of weaker materials, and usually only buildings made of stone or metal materials are left standing. If one were to appear here, your portion of the temple would be destroyed. Not to mention, the barn would be destroyed too and then Lapis and Peridot wouldn't have a place to stay." Pearl explained.

"Oh. I guess that's not so fun then." Steven responded while looking more than a little disappointed.

"Exactly." Pearl stated with a somewhat satisfied tone. "Now, me and Lapis are going to going to bake some cookies. I would like to ask that you leave us to ourselves. Lapis still isn't exactly comfortable around us and I don't want her to feel too stressed out over this. So please, I think that she'd appreciate it if maybe we'd calm down with the antics today. Is that right Lapis?" Pearl looked up at Lapis for confirmation.

"Um… Yeah." She started rubbing her left arm, clearly not appreciating the attention that had been brought to her again. "I… I don't really want to talk much today."

"Okay then," Steven nodded in understanding. "I guess me and Amethyst will head out to the beach then?" Steven looked to Amethyst.

Amethyst frowned and looked ready to protest but after looking at Lapis again she seemed to decide against it. "Yeah. I get how that can be sometimes. Let's go to the arcade." Amethyst said.

"Uh, let's not. Every time we go to the Funland arcade, I get banned again." He said, stepping away from Pearl and frowning. "Let's go visit Lars and Sadie at the Big Donut instead."

"Yeah, sure. Let's go get us some donuts! Then let's go to that pizza place and those fry guys!" Amethyst said while she started walking out with Steven.

Lapis wanted to test her theory and touch Amethyst to see if she also bore the awkward warmth but that would require more courage than she was willing to spare. She didn't want to bring more attention to herself. Not to mention it would just be weird if she called Amethyst over just to touch her.

"I'll be coming along with you and Amethyst." Garnet said, standing up and walking with them both.

"She must have some great expectations if even she is going out for this..." Lapis heard Pearl mumble. The others probably couldn't hear but they wee still fairly close.

"Pearl, make sure to mind your words and don't press Lapis for too much information. Lapis, try not to get too frustrated with Pearl. She's trying her best. Bothof you need to relax. We'll be back in a few hours." She said while walking towards the door.

For a moment, neither of them really said anything. Lapis looked around for a moment and then moved to sit on the couch. Pearl began removing ingredients from the cabinets and from the fridge. After a minute or so Lapis spoke up.

"Pearl. You never really explained to me what baking was..." Lapis said.

"Oh, I'm sorry Lapis." She said as she turned to Lapis. "Baking, is one of the ways that humans prepare food. Typically, it involves taking some type of combination of various chemicals and other substances that combine into a 'batter' once you've created the 'batter', you put in this machine here," Pearl pointed at the oven. "it then heats it until it turns into something that the humans find edible. Personally, I tend to decorate the food afterwards. Then, I typically give it to Steven and Amethyst and they can eat it. Every now and then, Garnet eats a bite or two. But usually it's just Steven and Amethyst who eat while me and Garnet talk." Pearl explained. She was clearly nervous about Lapis but seemed to be excited to bake.

"Okay… So, what do we need and where will we do it?" Lapis asked, not quite cluing in that Pearl had already started to prepare the ingredients.

"We'll start right here. Would you mind joining me here in the kitchen?" Pearl answered while beckoning Lapis.

Lapis nodded and slowly stood up. She was still nervous about this whole thing. She still didn't like being alone with Pearl but hopefully, there wouldn't be too much conversation going on today and that made her feel a little better about it all. Slowly, she began to walk to the small boxed in area that Pearl called the 'kitchen'. As she approached she noticed Pearl stared at her and it was easy to tell that Pearl was almost as nervous as she was. It was clear because Pearl was fidgeting with her fingers, much like the way she did when she came up the stairs to approach Lapis in Steven's bed. She felt a little bit better knowing that Pearl was also feeling nervous about this.

"So…" Lapis tried to start a conversation but trailed off immediately not knowing what to say.

"Oh, I suppose we should start now shouldn't we?" Pearl said. She took a deep breath and looked a little bit more relaxed. "Now, Lapis, since you're new to this, I'll just give you simple instructions of what to do. Now, why don't we start with the eggs?" Pearl picked up one of the eggs and lightly tapped it against the rim of the counter. "You have to crack the eggs, li-"

"What are you doing!?" Lapis shouted, snatching the egg from Pearl and incidentally crushing the shell. Lapis simply stared in horror at the remnants of shell and the ooze that had gotten all over her hand. "Wha-what? What did you do to this gem?" Lapis asked, clearly befuddled at what she was looking at.

"Lapis, it's not a gem, it's an egg!" Pearl shouted. "Humans use them in a variety of ways for food." She was looking at Lapis and the odd emotion returned once again. The one Lapis could never understand. She'd love to take the moment to call Pearl out on it for once, but the oddity of her current situation took priority.

"Huh?" Lapis took another look at what she had in her hands, which was now also oozing onto the floor. "Oh." Was all she could say as she slowly realized what was going on. "I'm sorry..." Her cheeks blushed a deeper blue as she stared at the floor and tried to avoid Pearl's gaze.

"It's fine." She said with a bit of a huff. She started to clean up the mess on the floor. "This is my fault. I should have expected you to react like that. I did the same thing when I first saw Greg crack an egg. It's kind of funny when you think about it. If you look at the shell of the egg, and see all of it's imperfections, you think to yourself 'This couldn't possibly be a gem. If it is, it has to be defective or poorly grown.' Yet, you just can't help but try to save it. Even if it's not sentient enough to realize it was saved."

"Then why didn't you save me?" A vicious coil of anger unraveled from the tension in her gut, but she shoved it back down. She still didn't like Pearl, and she wasn't ready to forgive her, but she didn't feel like she had to let the anger be the only thing she could feel. If she let it sit on top of how she already felt, she'd cry again before she could even tell Pearl how angry she was.

Lapis could see Pearl cleaning the mess below her and stepped out of the way, still not wanting to say anything.

Pearl stood up and Lapis could see the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes, but she couldn't figure out why they were there. "We should wash that yoke off before it dries." Pearl said but her voice was somewhat strained. She carefully motioned for Lapis to put her hands under the tap, and Lapis was surprised when water began to flow over her hands. She removed the yoke from her hands and Pearl turned the water off, once again leaving them in an awkward silence while Pearl cried silently beside her. Lapis wasn't in the mood for one of these and she started talking without thinking.

"Pearl, we need to keep baking. You shouldn't be crying, you should be happy..." Pearl looked a little confused by her words so she tried to elaborate. "I'm not going to say you've never experienced something terrible. I know what happened to you before you became the fearsome rebel Pearl." Here, she looked back at the floor, not wanting to make eye contact with Pearl while she mentioned this.

"I'm sure you've lost friends who were close to you too," She continued.

"Although, I'm sure you never had to try and soothe the one who shattered them."

"The thing that I'm trying to say is...You've had bad things happen to you before. Yeah, those things hurt." She felt a familiar hitch when she tried to speak and realized she should stop. She'd cry again. Maybe not breakdown, but she was definitely going to cry again. She couldn't stop though. Pearl wasn't the only one who needed to hear what she was trying to say. She needed to hear it for herself.

"They're terrible memories that you sometimes wish you could get rid of. That doesn't mean that you have to relive them. Right now, you could be doing something you enjoy, like this baking thing. But here you are, sulking like it's all happening all over again. It's not happening though. You're not back on Homeworld, and you're not in a mirror. So stop crying, and smile while you can still do something that you enjoy." As she spoke, she started to shed her own tears as she realized that she needed to hear those words herself. She thought it was funny how the little pep talk had brought her to tears. When she looked back up at Pearl, she wasn't really surprised to find that Pearl had also done the exact opposite of what she'd just said, and was crying to herself even harder.

"You-You're right." She said and Lapis could tell she was trying to get a grip as she gave a frail smile. It didn't take long for that smile to crack though, and Pearl's silent cries began to increase in volume. When they became full sobs, Lapis realized she'd only made it worse and she started trying to repair the damage she'd done.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make it worse! I- Aah!" She leaned over to make more apologies but Pearl immediately threw her arms around Lapis' neck. She hadn't expected Pearl's embrace and her initial thought was to struggle against her. After a whirlwind of arguments and emotions flew through her head though, she slowly returned Pearl's hug. Inch by inch until her arms were wrapped around Pearl. After that, Pearl's sobs diminished into hiccups, and those into sniffles. When Pearl finally released Lapis, she wiped her face and smiled. This time, the sniffles stayed gone.

"Thank you Lapis. I didn't even realize how much I needed to hear that. You're right, there's no point in crying, we're wasting time. Now, let's get back to making that cake!" Now her smile was an eager grin and Lapis couldn't help but grin as well. She still wasn't fond of Pearl, but she was always one to return the favors of others.

"Now, back to the eggs. This will be the first thing for you to do, we still have yet to mix the batter, and add the flour, and take measurements..." Pearl trailed off on her own tangent while Lapis rolled her eyes and followed her instructions. She barely realized that she was smiling despite herself.

There were a few mishaps, like when Lapis tapped the egg too hard, and when she got the measurements wrong, but after about half an hour of toil and trouble, a cake was steadily rising out of the pan.

"What's next?" She asked Pearl, eager for the next step.

"Now, we wait for the cake to finish baking. We've completed everything except decorate the cake and clean the rest of the kitchen. I'll wash the dishes and clean the counter tops while you relax and wait for the cake to finish baking."

"Oh. Okay." Lapis walked out of the kitchen area and sat don on the couch. While she'd had a bit of fun making that cake, her nerves were on edge. She'd never had an interaction with the Crystal Gems that took that long. She wasn't completely stressed out though. The weird procedures of making that weird batter kept her mind busy, and the chatter was always about the cake itself, so she hadn't had to put any effort into talking. Still, the proximity was an issue that she was going to have to get over at some point. She wasn't tired from her experience, just jittery. She appreciated the time to relax without being so close to Pearl. It also gave her time to wonder about what in the stars happened in the kitchen. She had no idea why Pearl had begun to cry and she wasn't really sure about her own supportive little speech either. She'd told herself that she didn't want to talk to Pearl, and then she'd gone on to fix the silences between them.

"I'm pretty sure I don't know what I want anymore. I don't want to talk, but the silence is uncomfortable. I don't wanna forgive Pearl, but there I am trying to comfort her about something I don't even understand. Seriously, what happened there? She was fine until she had to clean that thing off the floor…"

"Okay!" Lapis was pulled out of her thoughts by Pearl who just finished the cleaning. "In a few minutes, the cake will be finished baking and you can help me decorate it if you'd like." Pearl said as she looked at Lapis from across the room.

"I'd rather not." She really just didn't want to get up and go back near Pearl again. She'd just calmed down and if she got closer to Pearl she'd get jittery again.

"Oh. That's fine then I suppose." Pearl was clearly somewhat disappointed at Lapis' disinterest. After a few minutes there was a loud beeping noise coming from the oven. Pearl put on a pair of mitts, and pulled out the cake from the oven. "Lapis would you like to see? Or would you rather wait until I've finished decorating it?" Pearl called.

Lapis actually did want to see the cake to see how it changed from the thick liquid, into the brightly colored thing she'd seen in the picture Pearl had shown her. She didn't want to be any closer to Pearl than was necessary though, so she simply replied, "I'll just look at it once Steven gets back."

"Okay." Pearl responded.

After that, there wasn't really any talking in the house. Every now and then, Pearl would take a breath as if she meant to speak, but she'd always just let out a long sigh and return to flitting about the temple. She'd always return to cleaning something. Even though it didn't look like there was anything more to clean, she'd always find something to straighten, or something that had to be dusted. Oddly enough, she didn't fin the current situation awkward, (Although Pearl might not feel the same way, if her flitting about were any indication) Lapis simply sat on the couch, waiting for Steven and the others to return. Even though it was calm and somewhat relaxing, she'd have left right then if she didn't want to see both the finished cake, and what Steven thought of it.

After what seemed like hours, Steven, Amethyst, and Garnet finally walked through the door.

"Hey Pearl, Lapis. You guys finished up with whatever you were making?" Amethyst asked as she casually strode through the house and sat on one of the stools. Steven and Garnet followed closely behind, both giving their own greetings.

"Yes, we actually finished it some time before you all arrived. Lapis was very helpful today and I look forward to the next time she assists me." Pearl looked at Lapis for confirmation of the unsaid question.

At first, Lapis just gave Pearl an expressionless look. It neither confirmed nor denied her questions. "Maybe." Was all she said.

Pearl looked disheartened to hear this but she carried on her conversation anyways. "Well, I think it turned out quite well, all things considered." Pearl opened the refrigerator and pulled out what Lapis could only assume was the cake. She unfurled her wings and swooped over the table to see and she was genuinely astounded by epic transformation of the batter that had originally gone into the oven. The entire thing was covered in a pink icing and in two separate curving patterns there were was a light and dark blue icing that gave the cake a nice ovular pattern all throughout.

"Woah, you and Pearl made this?" Steven asked Lapis, who was now hovering in the air beside him and the others.

She looked between Steven, Pearl, and the cake before she answered. "Yeah, I only helped her mix the batter though." She paused and considered something for a moment. "Maybe next time, I'll help her decorate it too." She said as she looked directly at Pearl. Pearl looked confused for a moment, but then she smiled as she figured out what Lapis was really saying.

Amethyst looked between Lapis and Pearl and the cake and asked "Sooo… are we gonna eat this or are you two just gonna make googly eyes all day? Steven and Garnet only let me get a slice of pizza and some fry bits. I wants me sometin' sweet to eat!"

"Googly eyes? Is that another weird Earth phrase?" Lapis asked.

Amethyst grinned wide but Pearl just glared at her and said "Oh no, none of that Amethyst! We're not having another googly eyes scene. Last time you startled that poor human so badly she quit her job!"

Amethyst just laughed but it seemed she fought down the urge to do whatever it was she had planned. "Alright, alright fine. You're still gonna get the googly eyes one day though Lapis." Lapis could only imagine what the googly eyes actually was.

"Well, if we've averted the crisis of the googly eyes, I would like some cake." Garnet said. Pearl nodded and cut out a slice for Steven, Amethyst, Garnet and then handed one to Lapis. "I'm not sure if you're fond of eating, but you can have slice to try it out."

Lapis nodded and took the slice, she stared at it awhile before breaking off a piece with her hands and stuffing it into her mouth before she could have second thoughts. When she chewed it was cold and fluffy and the icing tasted funny. She decided she actually kind of liked it. When she finished the remains of the cake, she thought it might be time to go.

She'd distracted herself for quite some time but her anxiety was returning and she was beginning to feel uncomfortable again. "Um. This was… nice I'm gonna go back to the barn though and check on Peridot. She's probably bored out of her mind. So… yeah."

"Oh, right. Yes go ahead Lapis, we'll send a message to Peridot when you should show up again."

"Cool, okay bye." Lapis sprouted her wings again and flew to the warp pad, only barely touching it with one foot before activating it. She needed to leave before the knot could form in her stomach again.

"It was fun while it lasted." Lapis thought to herself as she was swallowed by the pale light of the warp pad. "Maybe this won't be as hard as I thought. Maybe I might even make friends with all of the gems if I can spend a day with Pearl."


*A/N: Hi guys, I'm really sorry this one took me so long to finish up but I've been busy. I had to help with repairs from the storm, and I just haven't been at home lately to actually type. My ineptitude aside, I hope you guys liked this chapter, Cuz I actually felt proud of it. Except for the ending, but I'm not good at ending things. Next chapter we'll give some of the other gems (and Connie) some screen time to talk to Lapis since Peridot and Pearl have been keeping her busy with their own shenanigans. Now I'm totally not gonna go to sleep. I don't need no sleep. Cuz sleep is for the weak. Yeah, I don't need no rest, till we're all fucking dead. (Yawns) Anyways, leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter and if there's anything I need to improve on. Bye!