After that, things were not the same in the Universe household. Garnet was away for several hours at a time, and when she did come back, she was even quieter than usual. Amethyst was obviously doing her best to loosen the atmosphere of the house by being as happy as possible and trying to keep everyone smiling. Unfortunately, it did very little to help. Pearl, raised the most concern. She became very distant. She almost seemed rather depressed. When she and Garnet crossed paths, her cheeks would become a bright blue, and she kept her head down. She almost seemed embarrassed about what she had said and what she had done. Steven wasn't sure if her feelings still stayed the same, but he did understand that they probably weren't returned. Garnet didn't love her in such a way. He remembered when Garnet turned down Jamie. She didn't want to include anyone in Sapphire and Ruby's relationship. That likely meant that she didn't want to include Pearl either.

Now, Steven was silently sitting at the counter, watching Pearl as she stood at the stove. She was washing the breakfast dishes from earlier, not humming as she used to. Rather, the only sounds that came from the kitchen, were the sounds of the dishes clinking together, and the occasional sound of the sink turning on to rinse the dishes. Garnet was away again, and Amethyst was on the couch, shoveling gummy worms into her mouth. It had been a week since Garnet and Pearl had talked, and Steven wasn't so sure how much longer he could take the silence.

The warp pad was activated, alerting him. He could see Pearl's shoulders tense, but she didn't move from the spot. Garnet stepped from the warp pad, and nodded at Steven, silently greeting him. Her eyes fell on Pearl's back for just a moment, before she turned away.

"Hey, Garnet!" Amethyst called. "You wanna go to the arcade with me and Steven? If we work together, then we could probably-"

"I'll pass." She interrupted, surprising her. "Perhaps another time. I have something to do." She turned away and went back to her room. The gems on her hands glowed, and the door opened for her to let her in. Once the door closed behind her, it seemed that all three of them sighed at once. When was she going to talk to them again?

Garnet meanwhile, having entered her bedroom, walked over to the large lava pit that sat in the center, and sat down. "We need to talk." She said aloud. The moment she said it, her body began to glow a bit, and she split into two. Ruby and Sapphire now stood side by side, no longer as one.

"Do we have to?" Ruby sighed. "I don't really want to talk about this sort of thing." She said as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Yes, we do." Sapphire repeated calmly. "You've been trying to hold off this conversation for too long. But it's been a week. We need to talk about what happened and what we're going to do."

Ruby frowned angrily and began to mumble as she folded her arms... "Well if she had listened to me in the first place, then we wouldn't even need to talk." Sapphire glared harshly at her from under her bangs.

"This isn't Pearl's fault Ruby. You know that." Sapphire reminded her. "You can't be mad at her for wanting to keep the baby. And you can't be mad at her for having feelings for Garnet either. Her feelings are not something you can control."

"But why won't she at least listen to us?!" Ruby demanded. "She made us look like the bad guys here, and she isn't listening to reason. She knows that we can't keep the baby. And to make it worse, she goes and confesses her feelings like that? What was she thinking?! I say we just tell her 'no' and then we keep trying to talk her into getting the baby out."

"We can't just tell her no like that. It took her plenty of courage to tell us how she felt. She's likely to be just as troubled as we are. We should at least give her a chance."

"No way! I love you, Sapphire. Not her." Ruby protested.

"Come now, Ruby. Please don't say that." Sapphire pleaded. "And besides...you can't fool me." She stood up and came closer. Then she took Ruby's hands in her own. "When we are fused together, our thoughts aren't hidden as well as you think. I know how you're feeling." Ruby curled in her lip. "You want to protect her. Her and the baby."

"You don't understand!" Ruby blew back. "Sure I want to protect them both! But I can't save them both! I have to pick one, and I want Pearl! Not the baby!" She gasped and quickly said, "I mean, I don't want her dead! Not like I WANT her or anything, you know that."

"I know." Sapphire nodded. "I feel the same. I want to keep her safe. But I don't want to lose her either. But it was her decision to keep the baby and I don't want to go against that." She frowned a bit. "I can't see the possibilities for the future. It's too far away. But I think we can find a way to save her. We'll do what we can okay?"

"Right...well what do we do now?"

"We let her keep the baby. We trust her to be strong and do what we can to help. And as for her confession..." She smiled a bit. "Do you think we should accept?" She asked.

"I don't know." Ruby sighed. "I don't want to make her upset. But how do we feel about her? Do we even like her in such a way?"

"Perhaps not individually. But I think when we put our feelings together...I think Garnet returns her feelings." She squeezed Ruby's hand and planted a kiss on her forehead. "You're always going to be my soulmate. But I think Pearl might be the one for Garnet."

"But is that right? I mean, can we do that?"

"I think so. I think that love can overcome many boundaries, no matter how difficult they may be." She said. "So what do you want to do? Would you like to give it a try? I won't do anything you aren't comfortable with."

Ruby kept her eyes on the ground, thinking. Finally, she looked back at Sapphire. "Okay." Sapphire smiled and embraced her.

"Everything will go well, I promise. I love you so much, Ruby. Thank you."

"Yeah yeah..." Ruby mumbled her cheeks a different shade of red than usual. The two embraced for a bit longer as they started to glow a bit. After a bit of time, they formed the tall fusion once again. They stretched out their limbs a bit and stepped out of the room.

Steven and Amethyst had left, going out to the arcade. But Pearl was still there. She had finished the dishes and was wiping down the counter. When Garnet stepped out of her room, she saw Pearl stiffen, but she didn't turn to face her. She instead continued to clean, not acknowledging her.

"Pearl," Garnet said as she approached her. She saw Pearl's knuckle become a bit tight around the cloth. But after a moment, she turned around. Her eyes were on the ground, and she seemed anxious.

"Yes?" She returned softly.

"We need to talk." She motioned to the couch. "Will you sit?" Pearl seemed rather hesitant. She had an idea as to what she wanted to talk about, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to hear it. But she couldn't turn her down.

"Yes." She let Garnet led her back to the couch, and she slowly sat down. Garnet soon joined her and sat at her side, not too far away to give her enough space.

"Ruby and Sapphire have done a lot of thinking this past week. About plenty of things. What was said and what was done. And what to do moving forward."

"Is that so?" Pearl asked. She was a bit afraid of the verdict. But she knew it was something she's needed to hear. "And?"

"And...I'm sorry." Garnet began. Pearl was more than a little surprised by the sudden apology. She sat up a little straighter to listen. "You were right. Whether or not you keep the child is not my decision to make. It's your baby. Not mine. So, I will respect your choice, and help you along the way."

Pearl visibly brightened up a bit at Garnet's generous offer. "Thank you, Garnet. I promise I'll be strong. Everything will be okay."

"I trust you." Garnet nodded. Then her face became rather serious once again. "There was something else I needed to speak with you about. About what you said." Pearl's cheeks glowed blue.

"O-oh! Do you mean what I said during our little squabble? About the one I love?" She laughed nervously. "Oh no no. Please don't worry about that. I think the baby is causing some sort of hormonal imbalance, I don't know what I was saying!" She insisted. "Please, don't trouble yourself over-!"

"Ssh." Garnet shushed. "It's okay. You said how you felt, and I'm glad that you did." Pearl sunk down a little, not looking her in the eyes.

"Okay."

"And I accept."

"What?" Pearl was a bit confused.

"Your feelings. I accept them." She reached out and took Pearl's hands, not holding hem too tightly so she would have the ability to pull away if she didn't like it. "Ruby and Sapphire love one another. And their love formed me. Their feelings for you also came together, and formed what I believe to be are affectionate feelings." She said.

"So what you're saying is..."

"Yes. I love you too Pearl. And I want to stay with you to help take care of the child. Will you allow me to do that?"

Pearl found herself at a loss for words at Garnet's proposal. She had set herself up for rejection. But instead, Garnet was returning her feelings. She felt the same way as her. And she wanted them to be together. "I...Yes!" She said, squeezing Garnet's hands back, a little tighter then she had intended. "I would love to!"

"Good. Thank you."

"I'm sorry. I'm a little unsure of what to say right now." Pearl said with another nervous laugh. "I didn't really expect this to happen. I thought you were going to turn me down. I thought you would be angry with me." As she rambled, Garnet could see that she was holding back tears. "This is so sudden. W-what should I do?"

Garnet found herself smiling a bit. "Nothing. Just be glad I suppose." She put an arm around Pearl's shoulder, and Pearl buried her face in her chest.

"Forgive me. I didn't mean to start crying like this." Pearl sniffles. "I'm just so happy, I don't know what else to do."

"It's alright. I don't mind." Garnet tightened her hold a little to assure her that it was okay to depend on her like this. She wanted to protect her, and the unborn child, however she could. Even if it was only through small gestures like this one.

"And you're not mad?"

"Of course I'm not. Why would I be? I'm actually rather happy. I'm touched that you feel for me in such a way and that you want us to be together. I'm sorry for making you so upset earlier. I promise it won't happen again. So please, don't worry about a thing. I'll protect you. I promise." She felt Pearl loosen up considerably against her body. She smiled. Then said the three words she knew Pearl wanted to hear. "I love you."

"..."

"Pearl?"

"I love you too."