Author Note: Hello readers! I would like to apologize for the lateness of this chapter, I just started my job on Monday and it was a bigger workload than I was expecting, leaving me exhausted and unable to write the last bits of this chapter. Also this chapter was very difficult to write, so I apologize before hand if this chapter does not flow smoothly. Apparently, it is very easy to make Peridot upset, but I had no clue how to make her feel better. For the next chapter I will try to return to the schedule which I had set up, then promptly abandoned with this chapter. Thanks for all the reviews, they encourage me as writer and make me feel like an awesome person.

Update: Hey guys, I am going to have to put this story on hold. Until my workload lightens, I will be on hiatus. I might occasionally post some stuff, but I wont keep a schedule. I probably wont seriously start updating again until late August. Thanks for all of your support, and for even reading at my story.

Peridot had stopped running once she had hit the town, which she saw was the 'Beach City' Steven often talked about from the giant sign. Despite all the time she spent on Earth, she never spent any time in the human settlement which Steven was so fond of. For the majority of her stay on Earth, she had either been on the run from the Gems, staying as far away from their Temple as possible, or she had been busy in their custody helping to build the Cluster Drill. Of course after the Cluster had been contained she should have been free to explore more without worry of the Gems hunting her down, but she had felt no interest in straying far from either Steven's home and the Barn with- well, she didn't know much about the town, besides what Steven told her.

She had wandered past the building with the giant doughnut, coincidently called the 'Giant Donut'. Human humor still eluded her, but Peridot was pretty sure that this was an attempt at humor. She thought. A boy and a girl inside the Giant Donut had been engaging in what she had recognized as what would have been bonding behavior in Jaspers and Amethysts, but in humans? She just hoped that the girl was not engaging in combat with the boy by punching him. She didn't think he could have reciprocated without getting hurt or would have at all, if Steven is anything to go by as a model for the human civilization.

Peridot had stood outside of the glass for a moment staring at the girl beating up the boy, though he didn't punch back or seem to be hurt, until they had noticed her standing outside. When the girl made a move towards her, Peridot ran away, as she hadn't exactly intended to meet any of Steven's human friends yet.

Actually very few humans were out and about at this time of day, surprisingly. Most apparently stayed within the buildings that were around the town, and Peridot tried to avoid being seen again. She did see what looked like one of the tractors that was at the Barn. Peridot knew that it was probably an automobile, or a car, like the ones Steven's human dad, Greg, said was a part of his job to wash. While not entirely sure of the specifics of his job, she was pretty knowledgeable on the mechanics of cars, having read up on them in one of the books Steven had lent to her. Not knowing what to do, she had decided to follow the automobile. Probably not the best plan, but it probably wasn't a good idea to wander around the town called Beach City anyway. As long as she wasn't thinking, she might as well follow the car so that if the opportunity presented itself, she could maybe gain access to the car to better understand it.

It ended up bringing her to the establishment that announced itself as "It's A Wash" on an elephant shaped sign. For something that she read could go up to 100 human miles an hour, the vehicle had actually moved slowly enough that she wasn't too out of breath when it pulled up in front of the building, at least not to the point where she had given up following it.

Now, she realizes how futile it was following it. Of course the person that owns it wont let her tinker with their car. They don't even know her. And as much as she likes Steven, Peridot still doesn't feel quite ready to meet other humans. What if they are not as nice as him? What if they condemn her for almost helping cause the destruction of their home planet? Peridot sat at the base of the sign. This whole endeavor was simply ridiculous. There was no point in having followed the earth vehicle and now she is quite certain that she is lost.

Burying her head in her arms, she doesn't notice when the human whose car she had been following alerted the owner of the establishment to her presence, and then said owner approaching her after apologizing to the owner of the car after he sets it up to be washed.

"Hey, Peridot? Is that you?"

Peridot quickly looks up, wiping off any stray moisture that may have escaped from her eyes when she was distracted. She is momentarily startled when she recognizes the human that had addressed her.

"G-Greg?" She confirms shakily.

"He he, yeah," Greg, Steven's father says nervously, a hand running through his balding hair. He appraises the gem before him, and notices that she does not appear to be in the best of places emotionally. He is not used to the usually cocky green gem looking so unsure. "I know we have met only a couple of time (though you did push me off a roof), though I guess you hang out with my son sometimes, but are you ok? I mean, if you don't mind me asking."

The look Peridot gives him is a little unreadable, causing him to fidget slightly. She looks down and shakes her head.

"Oh. Do you want to talk about? Work has been slowing to a trickle and once this guy is done I may close shop, so we can talk."

Peridot looks at him again. This human is fidgeting slightly, indicating he is nervous. She senses no traps or hostile intentions from him, and suddenly she really wants her tape recorder, as an outlet from her anxiety and for something to talk to, but still, she is surprised when she nods her head. The human, Greg, was apparently not thinking she was going to accept either, and he looks surprised. She thinks that maybe she may have made a mistake, when he suddenly smiles at her in a way similar to how Steven smiles at her, but different too, and he tells her to go wait by the van and maybe sit on one of the chairs to get comfortable while he finishes up.

After the customer paid, Greg puts up the closed sign and goes to where he told Peridot to wait, though he doesn't know if she is still there.

When he finds her sitting against the side of the truck, facing the building, away from the road, he is slightly surprised that she stuck around. Now, all he has to do is talk to her.

Hoo boy.

Author Note: Hey guys, I also would like to apologize for any grammatical mistakes, spelling mistakes, that sort of thing. The person who usually helps me edit was unable to for this chapter, which also contributed to the lateness of said chapter. As always please leave a review and especially for this chapter, please PM me or write a review about any mistakes you notice, and if it isn't on purpose, I will try to fix it and if it is on purpose I will try to make that fact more obvious. Thanks for reading!

Edit: My editor went through and helped clean this up a bit and make it less of an eye-sore to those sensitive to grammatical errors in stories. Thanks again for all my readers' support, and I promise the next chapter will be on time.