Life After Rose

Greg cried into his hands as he stood in the room with his recently born twins. With two babies crying in their beds behind him, Greg felt no guilt in doing so himself. Joy. Sadness. Euphoria. Pain. These were what filled Greg since what had come to pass, as had it been with everyone else.

What should have been a day of joy had become a nightmare come true. During the birth of the twins that continued to wail behind him, his lovely wife, whom he had come to love like he loved no one before, had looked at him with her calm, sweet smile that she often wore across her face and told him what was to pass.

Greg had thought she was joking at first. Rose wasn't one for such morbid humor, but it was the only explanation he could come up with for Rose to say something like that. As he tried to deny it, Rose continued to insist that it would happen, whether he chose to accept it or not.

Greg didn't accept it at first, not willing to believe that his wife wouldn't be able to be with him and watch their kids grow. After a moment, he realized she wasn't kidding. He began to panic, asking her if their was any way to avoid or prevent it. Rose simply shook her head, telling him that it was the only way and that she had known it all along.

Greg felt hurt at that, Rose keeping something so important from him. It was just like when they had first begun to date, the pink gem believing him to be unable to understand. Even after so much time, after showing that he was more than capable of learning, adapting, understanding, she still thought of him as a child.

Those feelings faded quickly, the man realizing that she wasn't doing that at all. He would have done the same, had the roles been switched. So, he accepted it bitterly, making sure that the last thing said between him and his wife was "I love you." before she disappeared from his life forever.

Greg felt the temperature in the room change, cold air surrounding him. He glared at the cause of the fluctuation. "What do you want?" He snapped.

Sapphire stood behind him. She looked the same as she normally did, save for her hair being a little bit messy.

Under normal circumstances, he would've noticed that something was off and tried to cheer her up, but this was not a normal circumstance.

"Wait, let me guess, you want to blame me too, don't you?!" Greg asked, raising his voice, ignoring the growing cries of his twins. "Go ahead! Opal and Ruby have already given me enough grief about this whole thing!"

Sapphire didn't answer, simply beginning to walk towards him slowly.

"Well come on, let me have it!" He shouted. "Tell me what I did wrong! Tell me how I'm the worst thing that ever happened to her!"

Sapphire didn't react to anything that Greg was saying, eventually making it to him.

"Tell me about how all of this was my-" Before Greg could finish, Sapphire gently wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him, making the human let out a gasp at the action.

Sapphire buried her face in Greg's shirt, muffled sobs coming from the short, blue gem. The moment her face made contact with his shirt, Greg felt her tears beginning to stain the clothing. Greg's anger faded and he hugged her back, crying into her shoulder. As Greg felt the cold gem against him and she felt his natural warmth against her, they found some odd comfort.

Sapphire didn't blame Greg, in truth she may have been the only one who didn't. Sapphire knew he was hurting too, she knew she was the only one who would help him, even though he was the one who needed it the most.

She cried with him for half an hour before the tired human finally fell asleep in her embrace. As he did, she gently laid his head against the floor and turned her attention to the babies that had taken everything from them.

After Sapphire had calmed their father down, the two had seemed to calm down themselves, watching with some sort of hidden understanding of the predicament they had unwillingly been a part of.

Sapphire walked up to their cribs and levitated so that she could meet them at eye level.

They looked back at her with innocent expressions, still completely oblivious to the pain of the world...and yet, their was something intelligent within them, as if they had a vague comprehension of what was going on.

Sapphire smiled at the thought, finding a little more comfort in it. She put her arm in Steven's crib and pointed her finger out.

The baby looked at it questioningly. After a few moments, a wide smile emerged on his face and he grabbed it with a quick, high-pitched laugh. He shook her hand with all his might, which was not much for the baby boy. After a second or two, he stopped and hugged it close to him, staring up at Sapphire with his large eyes.

Sapphire gently took her hand from the baby, almost finding herself not ready to end the interaction. She next went to Connie, peaking over the side. Connie looked at Sapphire and reached out to the blue gem, opening and closing her hands. Sapphire put her arms into the crib, picking up the baby. She wasn't sure if humans were supposed to pick them up at this point, but she wasn't human so she decided she was exempt from the rule.

As Sapphire held her close, she felt Connie's tiny hands grasp at her clothing and hold it tightly. She didn't know if it was what Connie was actually wanting or if the baby simply wanted to feel the cloth, but Sapphire hugged the baby gently, stoking her back lovingly. After a moment, she went back and placed Connie back in her crib.

Sapphire floated back to the ground, looking at the sleeping Greg. After a few moments of contemplation, she walked up and lied down, curling up next to him. She faced away from him, looking at the cribs that held baby Steven and Connie. She felt her eyelid get heavy and she slowly drifted into the sweet bliss that was sleep.

Greg rubbed his eyes as he woke up on the ground. He was mildly surprised as he found a blanket covering him, but shook it off, standing up and stretching. As he was about to leave the room, he quickly glanced to the cribs that were supposed to be holding his two children.

His eyes widened. Sapphire. Panic seized him and he ran out of the room, moving quickly through the halls of his apartment. He heard a quiet sound coming from the kitchen and he stopped. He listened to the source, almost certain that what he was hearing was humming and...a soft laughter. Greg entered the kitchen, surprised by what he was seeing.

Steven was sitting at his stool, an impatient frown on his face. Meanwhile, floating in front of an empty stool, was Sapphire, the blue gem cradling Connie in one arm while holding a baby bottle filled with milk in the other. Connie was sucking the bottle, chugging the milk within it greedily.

Sapphire looked up as Greg entered and gave a smile. "Good morning Greg. Did you sleep well?"

"Yea." Greg answered absentmindedly. Greg looked around the rest of the kitchen. The counters, messy with dishes from a week's worth of meals, had been cleaned spotless. "Did you do all of this?" He asked. "And take care of the babies last night?"

"Yep." Sapphire burped Connie before setting the baby girl into her stool, floating over to a skillet that was cooking some bacon. "You sure were exhausted. You slept until noon." She said, putting the cooked meat onto a plate that already was holding two pancakes. "You must be hungry."

Greg raised an eyebrow. "How did you know when to begin to cook this?"

Sapphire giggled, not a sad one, but one of actual joyful giggle. "Come on Greg. We've been friends for years now, you should know this."

"Friends?..." Greg stared at her a moment. "...Why are you doing this?" He asked.

"Why shouldn't I?" Sapphire asked with a shrug, smile still present.

Greg had never seen Sapphire so happy, so full of life.

Sapphire placed the plate of food on a small table. "Now forgive me if it doesn't taste too good. My kind doesn't have to eat, so this is my first time with it."

Greg looked at her for a moment. "Don't you...remember what happened...with Rose?"

Sapphire's expression faltered only for a second, the blue gem giving a short nod.

"Well...you don't seem to care at all. You took care of Steven and Connie and you seem brighter than ever. Aren't you even a little bit sad or even mad about Rose?"

"I'm deeply upset, but dwelling on it won't change anything." Sapphire floated away from the table, leaving the plate.

"Well, what about mad?" Greg asked.

"What about it?"

"Don't you even blame them a little? Or even just me?" Greg asked, getting a little frustrated that she didn't seem to be getting it.

"Greg, I don't blame you." Sapphire floated above the babies. "And how could I blame these two?" She asked in baby talk, looking at the twins.

Steven, becoming impatient as he waited for food, began to cry.

"Oh, I forgot you, didn't I?" Sapphire asked the baby. She floated over to the bottle, only for Greg to get there first.

"Hey, I've got this. You helped enough just by taking care of them last night." He said, taking the bottle to the waiting Steven.

"It's really no trouble Greg." Sapphire insisted, following him.

"Seriously, why are you helping?" Greg asked. "You know you don't have to."

"Yea well..." Sapphire sat on the kitchen counter. "I want to. You're my friend; just because Rose is gone doesn't change that."

"Yea, but..."

"You're hurting. You didn't just lose Rose, you lost Opal and Ruby. I know how it feels to lose someone, the pain of having the people you care about blame you for it…"

Greg, seeing that Steven had his fill, took the bottle from the baby boy, setting him back into the stool. He looked at Sapphire, the only friend he had now, and smiled. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Sapphire couldn't help but smile as she walked through the streets of Beach City to her home. The pain of Rose Quartz's death still stung, but she felt warmth in her heart. She had hated that she had to leave and go back home, yet she knew she had a job to do and a broken team she needed to fix. Besides, she would be back when the day ended.

Even the people of Beach City, all of whom had been acquainted with Rose and were still mourning her loss as well, seemed to brighten up at the sight of Sapphire walking past. It was strange, her joy almost beginning to spread to those around her.

Sapphire was still smiling as she made it back to the temple, only for it to drop at the sight of Ruby and Opal, the duo waiting at the temple door with stern looks.

"Oh, look who decided to show up." Ruby snapped with her arms crossed.

"I hope you enjoyed yourself with that murderer." Opal added.

Sapphire didn't know why, but she felt a tinge of anger at the insult towards Greg. "He's not a murderer." She said, restraining herself. "Now come on, we have a job to do."

"Oh no, we're not done." Ruby said, walking up to the blue gem. "How can you even stand yourself? Do you even care that Rose is gone?"

"Of course I do!" Sapphire snapped. "I'm just not blaming a friend for something he had no control over!"

"A friend?!" Opal exclaimed. "You don't care at all, do you?!"

"How could you even say that?!" Sapphire asked. "I loved her just as much as you two!"

"Please, we saw you when you were coming back!" Opal said. "You were just walking back from taking care of that murderer and his freaks, smiling without a freaking care in the world!"

Sapphire growled. "Don't," Sapphire's gem began to glow. "you," Sapphire's brass knuckles materialized. "call them that!" Sapphire leaped at her allies angrily, Opal barely moving out of the way in time. "Didn't you think I was sad when she died?!" Sapphire leaped at Opal again, this time hitting her hard in the cheek. "Do you think that I didn't feel hurt when we came to the hospital and she wasn't there?!" Sapphire was on top of Opal's chest, her hair blowing out of the way to allow her one eye to be visible. "Well guess what! I did! I was hurt just as badly as you two! The only difference between us is I haven't blamed someone else for what happened!"

Opal glared at Sapphire, the former filled with hate. Yet, as Opal looked into Sapphire's one eye, she saw the emotions bundled within her ally. Opal's eyes lost their rage and became wide in understanding.

"What...What are we doing?" Opal asked.

"Huh?" Ruby asked.

"Why...are we blaming Greg? He never wanted this to happen. How was he supposed to know that Rose was going to..."

Ruby gave Opal a shocked look. "Wha- you can't be serious! Don't you-"

"Yes, I'm well aware that the only one who's held us together for the past five thousand years has disappeared and is never coming back." Opal said sadly. "But why are we blaming him? Rose was the one who made the choice."

"A-" Ruby's expression became one of introspection. "Why are we blaming him?"

Sapphire let out a sigh of relief and got off of her ally's chest.

Ruby turned to Sapphire. "Saph, I'm sorry. We were wrong. We shouldn't hav-"

"You don't need to apologize to me, Ruby." Sapphire said, her tone still holding a little edge to it. "There's a man who's lost his wife and is now taking care of two children who deserves your apology much more."

Ruby and Opal nodded quickly.

"Good." Sapphire said, brushing her bangs back over her eye. She stared at them for a short moment. "Well, what are you two waiting for?"

"Wait, don't we have missions to go on?" Ruby asked.

"No, I have missions to go on; you two have two babies to help Greg take care of."

Sapphire turned to the warp pad near the temple door and began walked towards it. "And pick up some baby formula from the store on the way there, he should be running out about now." Before she warped away, she looked at her comrades with a sweet smile and a blush that almost wasn't noticed by her friends. "Oh, and...tell Greg I say hi."

Author's note: Yep, I'm going to be doing a few chapters like this. Please give me some ideas on what you would like to see.