I like hugs. Hugs are pretty nice.

It's been two months, a week, and four days since Rose got pregnant. As time passed, she discovered some new things: since he was going to be a human-gem hybrid, the child they were expecting received not only what a regular human needed to develop properly, but also energy from Rose´s gem, making the fetus grow faster and stronger. Apparently, this was a good new. Everyone wants their children to be strong and healthy, right? But, at what cost?

Garnet spent most of that time meditating, trying to see how Pearl would act once the baby was born. Would Rose leave them to stay with Greg and their child forever, making her lose her mind? Would Pearl try to eliminate the root of her jealousy, one way or another?

Sapphire's future vision allowed her to see several outcomes… and none of them were really ideal. For instance, in one of them, Pearl would kill the boy once he was born; in another one, Rose would unwillingly abort the baby; in another, very close to that one, Greg would lose his mind and commit suicide; and in another one, everything turned out mostly fine, but Amethyst dropped the baby and… that was the worst outcome.

There was only one thing clear to Garnet when she finished: Rose would not be able to exist anymore. The baby was using Rose's gem power to develop, and as he couldn't grow his own gem, he would need hers to live. That was it, only one of them could live at the same time.

There was a remote possibility of Rose coming back if the kid died, as his body wouldn't need that power anymore, but she wouldn't tell anyone: usually that led to the worst outcomes.

During this time, Rose tried to talk to Pearl and tried to make her understand that this transcended them, that now what mattered wasn't them, it was the future. Pearl seemed to understand everything she told her, but she couldn't fight her feelings: she thought she was being betrayed in some way.

That was until Greg added himself to their conversation…

(Flashback)

"Look, Pearl, I can't understand what you feel. You think I convinced Rose to do what I wanted, don't you? You think that she stopped caring about you when we met, right? And now, the fact of us having a child is killing you", he said lowly, entering the temple after hearing them arguing from outside.

She just stared at him, offering her piercing gaze as an answer.

"Could you please come with me?", he asked, not altering his tone. Rose nodded and followed him to his van, which was parked in front of the great construction. Pearl went too a few seconds later, showing evident apathy.

Greg opened the back of his vehicle, and after a moment, he was holding a little wooden box none of the Gems had seen before.

"What is that?", Rose asked concerned. She heard the tone of the man who was practically her husband, and she didn't like it at all.

"This…", he opened the box, "Was my ticket for that space train to the cosmos". A revolver was inside, along with six .44 Magnum bullets.

"Is that… a gun?", asked a surprised Pearl this time. She knew what humans used them for, and she thought that maybe Greg wanted to kill her.

Rose's eyes were fixated on him. "Greg, what does this mean?".

"This could have been my future: if after two years of driving around the country playing my music I wasn't rich or happy enough, I was planning on… finishing it all off", he spat those last words bitterly.

"Why?! Why would you do something like that?!", Rose's words were also filled with some rage and sadness now.

"Because I had no real reason to live… until I met you. I just wanted to spend my time on this planet being happy and having fun. If I couldn't, why would I want to live?".

Both Pearl and Rose's eyes went wide and their mouths were open.

"Do you understand now, Pearl? Rose is the root of my happiness, the motive why I wake up day after day. If she told me she didn't want to see me anymore… I wouldn't be bothering you anymore", he pronounced in a sad tone as he saved his gun again. His doubts were the reason of his progressive balding and weight gain too, and that night a month and a half ago was the first time he made Rose conscious of them. She wanting to have a child with him mostly dissipated them. "Heh, we have something in common after all… Rose saved both of our lives".

Before he could turn around, he felt himself in a tight embrace. When he turned his head, he saw that it was Pearl who hugged him, which really surprised him.

"I'm sorry…", she got to mutter. "I just… couldn't let my reason to live go".

"I understand, but I'm not taking her from you. Our relationship and our son doesn't mean that she'll stop loving you", he turned to see Rose, "Right?".

"Of course not!", she exclaimed wiping away a fugitive tear and adding herself to the hug.

(End of flashback)

Garnet knew that their relationship was better since then. Even Pearl and Greg started to talk more, and ended up having something that resembled a friendship.

Now she could only imagine how they would react if she told them what would happen to Rose once their son was born… but at least she could tell them it was going to be a boy.

"Rose, I have something to tell you", Garnet said in a concerned variation of her usual tone as Rose was coming out of her room with Greg.

"It's something wrong?", he inquired, giving the fusion a strange look.

"Nothing much, just Gem stuff", the fusion lied. "Since she can't come to missions, I want to ask her for advice".

"Okay then! See you later!", Greg said cheerfully before placing a quick peck on Rose's gem, and then left for work.

"What is it?", Rose asked conscious of her lie.

"In private, if you don't mind".

The leader of the Crystal Gems nodded and turned around to open the door which led to her room.

"Well?", Rose was starting to worry.

Garnet sighed heavily. She was nervous and doubtful. This wasn't easy to tell. "I've been… meditating…".

Rose held her right hand with both of hers. "You know you can tell me anything. What's wrong?", she pronounced in a calming voice, offering her a tender look.

She sighed again, removing her sunglasses. "You… will stop existing".

"…what?", her expression turned to a confused one.

"I've seen that, no matter what you do, your baby will need your gem to live. And as he can't develop his own… he will need yours".

There were a few moments of silence. Then, Garnet spoke again. "You could save yourself if-".

"No", Rose stated simply, interrupting her, knowing how her sentence would continue, and took a deep breath. "It's okay", she said neutral.

"It… is?", the fusion asked confused.

"Yes…", she squeezed her hand. "If it's what I have to do for my child and for this planet, I won't doubt", Rose replied firmly.

"You don't have to if you don't want to".

"I do want to!", she exclaimed, not angry, but eager. "Look… you must understand what is to stop being yourself for a greater good. And now I'm talking to you both, Sapphire and Ruby. Garnet, you are the result of their love, aren't you?", the aforementioned nodded. "And there's absolutely nothing that would stop how you feel, right?".

"Yes…".

"That's exactly how I feel. I don't care about what will happen to me…", she caressed Garnet's cheek. "I care about you, about the Gems, about Greg, about the human kind, about this planet… and about my child", she finished, ignoring the tears that started to fill her eyes.

"But what about us?!". The fusion couldn't keep calm anymore. "We care about you too! We don't want you to leave!", her eyes now resembled her leader's ones.

"If what you said was right, I will only lose my physical form. I will be there, the only thing that will actually change is my body".

"We can't know that! We don't know how your son is going to be! We don't know if…", her feelings didn't allow her to keep fused. Now, Rose stood in front of Ruby and Sapphire.

Rose sat down on the clouds. "Stop worrying, please…", two warm streams were running down her cheeks freely.

"We can't!", Ruby exclaimed. "We love you, we want you here!".

"Ruby, if that is what Rose wishes, we do not have any right to tell her how she should act", Sapphire tried to calm her down.

Rose hugged both of them, disregarding the effects that their feelings caused. "Everything is going to be okay, believe me".

"But…!", Ruby tried to rebut uselessly, but the hand that was caressing her and her sobs didn't let her continue.

"How can I convince you to stop worrying about what could happen to me and start caring about your future and the future of my son?", she asked in a soft voice, trying to comfort them.

"You can't…", Sapphire replied, her own eye leaking a little.

"Then…", Rose took a deep breath, "As the leader of the Crystal Gems, I command you to stop worrying about what could happen to me and start caring about your future, the future of the Gems, the future of this planet, and the future of my son". Her voice was serious in spite of being slightly cracked.

Sapphire and Ruby's eyes went wide. They couldn't decline a direct order.

"I want you to love him for himself, not only for being my son… if I'm not going to be here, I need you to take care of him… to take care of everybody…".

The little gems nodded. They had a new duty now.

After a minute of comfortable silence, Ruby spoke again. "Hey, Rose…".

"Yes?".

"It's gonna be a boy".

Rose and Sapphire giggled. "I know, Ruby", the pink gem answered softly.

It seems that I'm turning this into "Crying any meal Steven Universe characters... friends".

AND THE NEXT ONE WILL INCLUDE EVEN MORE DESPAIR!