A/N: Apologies ahead of time if there are mistakes in this chapter. I wanted to get it out as soon as possible and there is alot going on in this chapter!

Here is Chapter 7

"And here is where I got hit in the face with a suspicious extra-terrestrial t-shirt." Ronaldo said as he walked down another stretch of the boardwalk with Peridot following beside him. "Of course, I found out later that it was just Steven again." Ronaldo said chuckling nervously. Peridot listened silently as Ronaldo continued his tour.

"Yes…very….fascinating." Peridot mumbled pretending to enjoy standing in the heat of the sun. While half of her was intrigued by this planet's customs and tales, the other half of her mind screamed for her to stop growing so attached to this floating hunk of rock. 'Get to the Kindergarten, contact Yellow Diamond, get back to Homeworld.' She whispered to herself over and over again. She ran into Ronaldo who had stopped walking and nearly lost her balance. She opened her mouth to fire an insult, but Ronaldo quickly turned around with an apology.

"Ah! Sorry about that. It's just really hot and I thought we should take a break." Ronaldo huffed. He was sweating a lot and Peridot could tell he was out of breath. The two took a seat in the sand facing the ocean. "Are you not hot?" Ronaldo said gesturing to Peridot who was covered in a huge sweatshirt with the hood over her face.

"Temperature is an abstract concept to gems. We can adapt to temperature easily. While we may feel heat and cold, it hardly bothers us." Peridot explains.

"So you don't feel anything?" Ronaldo asked. He wished he had brought his notebook to record this information.

"Of course not. My work does not require me to physically feel anything." Peridot explained. This was normal to her. Peridots were assigned technical tasks and any spare time would be filled with more jobs by their superiors. Feeling was not only unnecessary, but there simply was no time for such a thing.

"So, do you feel emotions?" Ronaldo asked. Peridot stiffened. Emotions. Those were very different from physical feelings. While it was very easy for her to completely block out physical feeling of temperature, emotions were completely different. No matter how hard she tried, she could not block out emotions. Emotions were a burden upon her and a handicap in working. Although she tried her best not to feel emotion, there were times where she could not hide the fear or the sadness she felt. She remembered the screams of her comrades being executed as a public reminder of what would happen if a gem were to defy Yellow Diamond. Peridot felt her body shake and her breath waver. Is that what would happen to her for failing the mission? Is that what awaited her back in Homeworld? A hand touched her shoulder and she jumped defensively.

"Peridot? Are you okay? You seemed to have zoned out a bit." Ronaldo said.

"I will not feel emotions." She lashed out without thinking, slapping his hand away. "I can not feel emotions." She robotically repeated to herself as if she had said this to herself many times in the past. She stiffly brought her legs to her chest and curled up against them, her void eyes staring at nothing. Fear. That is what she was feeling right now. It was the only feeling she ever felt, and she hated it.

Ronaldo stared at the shaking gem in shock. He knew that her leader was a tyrant, but he did not expect it to be this bad. She was trembling at the thought of having emotions. He had seen enough movies and read enough books to know this was a case of trauma under an unforgiving commander.

'What did those movies do in this scenario? No, that is not how I should approach this.' Ronaldo thought to himself. 'What would Steven do?' he remembered how well the young boy handled stressful situations like this.

Peridot felt her chest tighten up and the ground tilt in her vision. She gasped for air she didn't need in a failed attempt to calm herself. Instead, she squeezed her eyes shut. 'Stop. Emotions do not control me. I must return to the mission. I must contact Yellow Diamond. I must-' She felt two arms wrap around her body and her breath hitched. Her eyes shot open and she looked down to see a pair of familiar hands around her torso. She felt panic rise in her from the unfamiliar hold and dug her fingers into his arms frantically.

"Shh. It's okay. I'm sorry I asked about that. It was probably a touchy subject." Ronaldo gently said. He had to admit that it was rather uncharacteristic of him to hug someone and from the painful digging at his skin he probably was doing it wrong, but he did not know how else to show the sensitive gem that she was not a machine. She was not someone who had to work under that tyrant. She was not some mindless servant. She may not be human, but what he saw in front of him was a being capable of thinking and feeling. "You…You're not a machine. Shouldn't you stop acting like it?"

Peridot stopped clawing at him and her arms fell limply at her side. 'Not a machine?' Who was he to say that? She was the very definition of a machine. Peridots were mass produced to be technicians. Weak gems who could not fight could only work back-breaking labor for their superiors. That is how it worked in Homeworld. That is all she knew. Peridot roughly shoved him away.

"You…need to stop acting like you understand me. You are just a human. What could you know?" Peridot said. She looked at the ocean and frowned. She remembered the ocean gem that was held prisoner on her ship. Lapis Lazulis could form wings to fly. What could Peridots do? Nothing but sit and wait for their commander. Weak.

A familiar ringtone pierced the air breaking Peridot's chain of thought. She looked over to see Ronaldo struggle with the buttons on his pockets to get his phone. He quickly answered the call, putting the cellular device to his ear.

"Hello?"

"RONALDO WHERE ARE YOU?" A loud squeaky voice screamed on the other side of the line. Ronaldo winced at the loud noise in his ear.

"Peedee? I told you I have an important paranormal mission I'm partaking in!" Ronaldo explained.

"You were supposed to help me close up shop today! I don't care what your mission is this time! You said you would help me today!" Peedee answered.

"What? Close up shop? Is it that late already?" Ronaldo asked looking into the horizon surprised to see that the sun was already setting. "Oh."

"Get your butt over here and help me or I'm telling dad!" Peedee barked and hung up. Ronaldo sighed with annoyance. His brother simply did not understand the importance of the paranormal.

"Sorry, I have to go help my brother with my dad's shop. I suppose you will have to come with me." Ronaldo said awkwardly rubbing the back of his head.

'A brother and a father? I see. Earth relationships allowed for family units.' Peridot thought to herself. Ronaldo got up off the sand and dusted himself off offering his hand to help Peridot up. Peridot stared at his hand with slight hesitation before allowing him to help her up off the ground.

"It's not that far so we'll just walk along the beach." Ronaldo explained beginning to make his way down the shoreline. Peridot followed behind, stuffing her hands in the pockets of the sweatshirt. Her mind was still swarming with all that had just happened. Emotions? Freedom? No. It was best she did not think of these ideas. She did not need them for the past thousands of years and she would not need them now.

The outline of an oddly shaped corner store came into view and Ronaldo quickly picked up his pace. He quickly rushed through the door with a huff with Peridot slowly following.

"I'm here!" he panted with sweat rolling down his face. A short boy with a trash bag far too large for him slung over his shoulder gave an annoyed frown as he walked in from the closet.

"About time!" he mumbled and stumbled out the door they had entered to get rid of the trash.

"Ronaldo Fryman! What are you doing leaving your brother to close shop himself?" a booming voice growled. Ronaldo flinched and turned around to see his towering father with his arms across his chest.

"Peedee! You called dad on me?" Ronaldo asked feeling slightly betrayed.

"Don't blame your brother! I came here on my own account!" his dad said. Ronaldo gulped. Peridot observed.

'So this is what family units were like? It seems that he is the authoritative figure here.' Peridot mentally noted realizing the familiarity of Ronaldo's actions around his father.

"Honestly! What were you doing out this late anyway? I swear if you were out stirring up trouble I will-" a crash interrupted Mr. Fryman and all three of the boys looked at the source of the sound. Peridot nervously eyed the broken salt shaker beside her. She had bumped into it while she was trying to take notes on her monitor.

'Oh no, oh no!' Peridot screamed in her head. She shook in fear of the authoritative figure that towered over her.

"Ronaldo!" He snapped instead turning to his eldest son. Ronaldo almost jumped in his shoes when he heard his name being called. "Why didn't you tell me you had a girlfriend?" Ronaldo groaned as his cheeks heated up and slapped his hand over his face.

"Dad, please stop jumping to conclusions." Ronaldo huffed with embarrassment. "She is just a friend visiting from out of town." He explained again.

"Oh, I see." Mr. Fryman said with slight disbelief. "What is her name?" he asked. Ronaldo felt sweat roll down his face.

"Ah, her name?" Ronaldo gulped. Using Peridot's real name probably was not safe since her name was a gemstone and might arouse suspicion. "Her name is…um…Peri!" Ronaldo quickly stuttered hoping to sound believable. His father narrowed his eyes before finally nodding his head.

"Well, it is getting late so you should probably escort your friend home." Mr. Fryman said.

"Really? I mean- Thanks, dad!" Ronaldo said quickly and opened the door for Peridot. She walked out first and Ronaldo was about to follow behind her when he heard his father call his name again.

"Ronaldo!" he called out. "Remember to keep it appropriate!" he said. Ronaldo's face turned red. He quickly shut the door and caught up with Peridot, heading back to the lighthouse on the hill over the ocean which bubbled ominously.

A/N: Thanks! Leave a review!