Amethyst's lips still tingled every time she thought about what happened. Even now, sitting on the living room sofa, she ran a finger along her bottom lip. She could still remember Pearl's soft, cold lips against her own. Shame welled up in her chest every time she thought about it. And yet...she couldn't help but feel a rush simultaneously. She had just...done it. No inhibitions, no hesitation; she had done it. She wished she could say it was worth it. And any other time, it might have been! But..
Pearl hadn't spoken to her since the kiss, save for a few necessary words here and there. But it didn't seem like the typical 'cold shoulder.' Pearl didn't seem angry. Instead, she looked just as awkward as Amethyst, especially when Garnet was around. Pearl practically had the word 'guilty' written all over her lips. If she weren't careful, then Garnet would start to suspect something. Unless she was already suspicious? Oh, who was she kidding? This was Garnet they were talking about. She had probably already figured out something was wrong. It was only a matter of time before what happened spilled out of one of them.
So, the two gems tried their best to act normal and avoid one another.
But thankfully, a new distraction was on the rise. One that would occupy Pearl's time well enough so that she could forget the kiss...
Pearl stood before the bathroom mirror, her hand resting on her no-longer flat stomach. Her body had no actual shape, as her projection was made with graceful movements and flexibility in mind. Like a ballerina, the symmetrical shape of her body allowed for poise, grace, balance, and stability. So, any change to that shape became glaringly obvious. Like now...
Her stomach's ordinarily flat shape had changed as the days passed. At thirteen weeks along, while it was still relatively small, there was a very subtle roundness to it.
At this stage in the pregnancy, she was over some of the worst symptoms. The morning sickness was over, and she started feeling more like herself again. But the urge to eat had been increasing, and it bothered her. The idea of consuming human food did not appeal to her... And yet, whenever Steven made himself a snack or brought home dinner with his dad, her mouth would uncharacteristically begin to water... She was starting to get more headaches as well and needed a lot of rest, both to prevent them and to treat them.
She was starting to feel the onset of heartburn as well, which was such an unusual feeling. Her petite chest was beginning to ache, her legs were cramping, and she frequently felt too warm for comfort.
Overall, she was in what felt like the 'discomfort' stage of the pregnancy. However, it was much more manageable now than it had been before.
Despite that, her expanding tummy was the most concerning part of this stage so far. Although she had modified her clothing to fit her growing stomach better, it still felt a little awkward since her stomach was the only part of her that was growing. It felt unflattering.
"Is this really what Rose went through?" Pearl sighed. Rose never complained about her pregnancy; she only saw it as a blessing! The most she ever fussed about was her swollen ankles. Oh no, was Pearl going to experience that too...? Sighing again, she lowered her shirt, letting it cover her stomach. This felt so odd to her...
Switching off the light, Pearl opened the bathroom door to let herself out. But there, sitting on the couch...was Amethyst.
Pearl took a big breath and stepped out, preparing to say nothing. But, it would seem she didn't have to.
Even with her eyes facing forward, she could feel Amethyst staring at her. She heard how the weight on the couch shifted as Amethyst got up. Pearl tried not to look at her and just continued forward. But, despite her better instincts, she stopped as Amethyst approached her. "Amethyst.." Pearl began.
"Listen. I was thinking," Amethyst started. "What happened was messed up. I shouldn't have done what I did."
"Clearly," Pearl responded coldly.
"Look, I said I was sorry!" Amethyst said back. "I...forget it. I'm not talking to you because I want to pick a fight. I'm talking to you because I've got a lot on my mind," she told Pearl, folding her arms and staring at the floor. "..I think it's wrong that we're not telling Garnet."
"What?!" Pearl said, turning her eyes to Amethyst.
"I dunno, maybe it's a stupid idea or something," Amethyst mumbled. "But I was thinking about it a lot. And not telling her feels like lying. You know how Garnet feels about lying.." Glancing up at Pearl, she said daringly, "You would know better than anyone."
Pearl swallowed, unable to meet Amethyst's eyes. Yes, she did know that better than anyone. After what happened with Sardonyx and the communication tower, she knew. They still couldn't locate Peridot, as Pearl had so badly compromised their mission. It was something she was still paying the price for. "You don't understand," Pearl said, nervously clutching her own wrist. "We have something special. I'm not going to let something like this ruin it."
"You say that, but isn't lying just gonna make it worse? I mean, she valued honesty or whatever. So, I think she'd like it a lot better if you just...were upfront with her," Amethyst said.
"I.." Pearl stammered, letting go of her wrist and touching her lips with her fingers. "I can't do that. I won't."
"...fine," Amethyst frowned. "I can't make you do anything. But you can't make me keep a secret either."
"You wouldn't dare..." Pearl frowned, turning on her.
"Maybe I would.." Amethyst frowned.
"I don't understand why you're so determined to ruin my relationship!"
"Uh, what?" Amethyst scowled.
"As if you kissing me wasn't bad enough, now you want to go and reveal what you did and spoil everything?" Pearl demanded. Amethyst bristled in response, feeling her face heat up.
"Well, at least I'm trying to make it right! If you didn't do anything wrong, then you shouldn't have any problem telling her what we did!"
"What you did you mean?" Pearl corrected, balling up her fists.
"Whatever! If you didn't do anything wrong, you should have no problem telling her!" Amethyst scowled. "So are you going to tell her, or will I?" she challenged.
The two gems were locked in a staring match for some time, angry yet unsure. They both had different ideas of the right thing to do, and they weren't sure what to do. But one thing was clear: the tension was so thick, it could be cut with a knife. "I won't let you sabotage what we have," Pearl said. "I won't."
"So then do the right thing," Amethyst said back. "You know what the right thing is. I know you do."
The warp pad activated just then, forcefully breaking the tension. Both gems turned to the portal to see Garnet appearing and stepping off of the pad. "Garnet," Pearl smiled, approaching her happily as Amethyst folded her arms. "There you are. Where have you been?"
"Out and about," she hummed back, kissing Pearls forehead. "The usual."
Garnet had alway shad a knack for noticing the little things. So when Pearl saw her eyes drift down to her midriff, she knew right away that Garnet saw what she had seen this morning in the mirror.
Pearl blushed a light shade of blue as she stared down at her budding tummy. "I know. It's strange to look at, isn't it? I'm surprised I didn't notice sooner, but I suppose it's been so gradual, that I didn't realize..." Pearl rambled.
"Mm," Garnet hummed. "I don't find it strange."
"You don't?"
"No. What's so strange about a life?" Garnet asked, making Pearl's blush only grow. "If anything, I think it's very...special," she said, her expression never changing. But, it didn't have to~
"Oh Garnet~" Pearl smiled, holding onto one of Garnet's much bigger arms.
Garnet turned her eyes to Amethyst next, raising a brow. "Amethyst," she said, making Pearl tense up. "What's the matter. You look like you have something to say."
Pearl said nothing, but she also turned her eyes onto Amethyst, narrowing them ever so slightly in a warning. She wouldn't dare... Amethyst kept her arms folded, thinking it over. But eventually, she said, "I don't have anything to say. But Pearl might."
Hm? Garnet's brow remained raised as she looked to Pearl. "Pearl?"
"I...I just wanted to tell you..." Pearl began as Amethyst waited. "I wanted to tell you that.."
Bam!
Pearl jumped as the screen door to the house flew open, slamming against the inside wall of the house. "Pearl! Pearl!" Steven called eagerly, a few bags hanging from his hands. "I've got something for you!"
Thank goodness.
"Steven!" Pearl smiled, turning her attention to him for now, deciding not to bring up how he had thrown the door open, despite how many times she had asked him to be more careful. "Where were you?"
"I saw Sour Cream down on the board walk today, and he said his mom had some things for you! So, dad took me down to see her!" he said, approaching with the big, pink and white striped bags. "Check it out!"
The gems watched as Amethyst set the bags down on the couch, before reaching in, and pulling out...a shirt? "You brought me clothing?" Pearl asked curiously.
"Yeah! His mom said she wasn't going to need this stuff anymore, so she wanted to give it to you! Pretty cool, huh?"
"Well, that was very thoughtful of her," Pearl mused as she peered into the bag. She didn't feel like she was at a stage where she would need maternity clothing yet. (Or even. She could just materialize the clothing she wanted to better fit her bodily projection. So she didn't see the point in receiving clothing. But she had learned recently that it wasn't polite to decline human donations, even if they were unnecessary or unwanted. So, she bit her tongue for the time being.)
But even know as she looked through the bag, she wishes declining the gift was an option. This stuff really wasn't..her thing. Over sized t-shirts for bands she'd never heard of, or shirts with silly or crude sayings. Pants that looked a little too wide for her legs. Oh, she liked this leather jacket though... But everything else just...didn't see like her style though. She supposed she couldn't have expected Vidalia to have worn dresses or skirts. Then again, did she even wash this clothing. It looked and smelt clean but...she could never be certain.
"Well? Aren't you gonna try it on? Go on!" Steven grinned eagerly.
"Well. I'll just put this in the wash," she said, picking up both bags. "You'll have to give Vidalia my thanks when you see her again," Pearl requested.
"For sure!" Steven grinned. "So um, I've been thinking..." he mulled. "...What are we gonna name the baby?!"
"Name?" Pearl asked. "Oh Steven, it's a bit too early to think about something like that. We don't even know it the baby is a boy, or a girl..."
"I don't think i've ever met a boy gem before, so that would be pretty cool.." Steven mulled. "I mean, other than me I guess! But I mean, a full-fledged gem that's also a boy! It could be Steven Jr! What do you think?" Steven grinned, waggling his eyebrows.
"I'll...consider it," Pearl chuckled. "You know...i've read that at this stage of the pregnancy, a human can detect whether the baby is a boy or a girl through ultrasound," she said, placing a hand on her tummy. "I imagine it's different for gems though. Rose didn't find out until Steven was born after all."
"So then, maybe we won't know until the baby is born too," Steven mulled. "Unless...Garnet, can use future vision to find out?" he asked. "Did you use it with me?"
"I suppose I could have. But, your mother didn't want that. She wanted to wait until you were born to find out," Garnet explained.
"Oh. Well, could you do that for Pearl?"
"I could," Garnet asked, looking at Pearl. "If she wants to know that is."
Pearl hummed, rubbing her tummy as she thought it over. "Tempting," se admit. "But...I think I'll wait. Finding out was such a special moment for Rose and Greg. I'd like it to be just as special for us."
"I agree," Garnet smiled, placing a hand on Pearl's shoulder.
"Everything about their pregnancy was special to them," Amethyst mused, hanging onto the back of the couch. "Rose used to take pictures all the time once Greg taught her how to use a camera. She didn't want to miss a single moment of her pregnancy."
"Oh yeah! Dad's shown me those pictures before!" Steven grinned. "There are so many albums in dad's storage locker! We should look through them again sometime!"
"Yeah, that might be cool little man," Amethyst nodded.
"Yeah!" Steven laughed. "We should make a day of it! Now that Pearls feeling well again, we need to go and do something together! We can hang out at the boardwalk, grab lunch, then go to the locker and find dad's albums! It'll be fun!"
"We'd love that," Garnet smiled. "It's been too long since we've been able to spend quality time with you. We're long overdue for some Steven time."
"Yeah, Steven Time!" Steven laughed. "I can't wait! I gotta go get my calendar! Garnet, come help me find it?"
Wordlessly, Garnet nodded and followed Steven up the stairs, with the two remaining gems watching them go. Once out of sight, Pearl turned back to Amethyst, whose eyes were back on the ground. "So. You're really not going to say anything, huh? Amethyst asked.
"What? Did you expect me to air our dirty laundry right in front of Steven?"
"No, but I thought you were tough enough to tell the truth when you had the chance," Amethyst mumbled, keeping her voice down so the gem upstairs didn't hear them.
"Are you insinuating that I'm weak?" Pearl whispered.
"If the boot fits..."
"Ugh!" Pearl scowled.
"Look. I won't say anything. I'm giving you the chance to do the right thing. I've admit my mistake, and I'm telling you that I'm willing to admit it to Garnet too. But if you're insisting I not say anything, then I won't. I've known you long enough to know that you know what the right thing to do it. Just like you knew but chose not to with the Sardonyx thing."
"Just how long are you going to hold that over my head?" Pearl hissed. "You know, this whole thing is your fault. So I don't see why I'm the one who has to confess!"
"I told you that you don't have to if you'll just let me do it."
"I don't want that either. I don't want her to ever have to know! It would crush her!" But when Amethyst said nothing, Pearl grit her teeth. Why was she getting so worked up over this? Was it the pregnancy hormones? Perhaps. But gems didn't have the same human workings, so was it possible to get hormonal? She wasn't sure.. "If...If you tell her Amethyst, I'm never going to forgive you. Do you hear me? Not ever!"
Amethyst only sighed, folding her arms once again. "I dunno. Maybe I'm just flat out wrong about you," Amethyst said. "If you're willing to do something like this twice, maybe I can't trust you as much as I thought I could.." she sighed, turning away from Pearl and walking towards the door.
"Amethyst! Come back here, we aren't finished!" Pearl whispered-shouted.
"Well I am," Amethyst said back. "Just go back to pretending you're all high and mighty, and can do no wrong. You're really good at that."
"I never said I was perfect! I'm just saying-!"
"Just stop. You said everything you needed to say," Amethyst mumbled, before she walked out the door.
Pearl glared at the screen door a moment longer, before letting her shoulders slump with a sigh. Rubbing her forehead, she listened to the banter upstairs as Garnet and Steven debate over his calendar, trying to decide on a date for 'Steven time.'
Was she really doing the right thing here? What Garnet didn't know couldn't hurt her, right?
Right...?
Planing for the next chapter to be much longer, stay tuned!