Steven walked into the house to a very strange scene that day. He had just come home from getting a donut for breakfast and was happily strolling back in when he saw Pearl and Amethyst on the couch. As a general statement, this seemed normal, but the position they were in was not. Amethyst was standing awkwardly in Pearl's lap and Pearl had her head shoved into the other's chest.

"Ummm…what's going on?" Steve asked, perplexed.

"Oh, Steven!" Pearl exclaimed, trying to look at Steven with her limited vision.

"'Sup, Steven," Amethyst called, looking over.

Pearl visibly cringed at the movement. Steven quickly ran over to see what was the matter. He saw that the position they were in was because their two gems seemed to be bizarrely fused, their colors and textures mixed near the connection.

"Woah, what happened?!" Steven gasped worriedly.

"We got our gems stuck together," Amethyst replied nonchalantly.

Pearl tried to look at Steven and huffed lightly, "That's not exactly the correct terminology…but yes. We were on a mission and we needed to form Opal. When we unfused, this happened."

"Does it hurt?" Steven whimpered a bit as he moved closer.

"Nah," Amethyst shrugged which caused Pearl to hiss in pain.

"Speak for yourself. Ever time you squirm around it is very uncomfortable!"

"Pfft. Ain't my fault you have a low pain tolerance."

"Guys!" Steven yelled and then gently placed a hand on each of the gems arms.

The two stopped their argument with Amethyst rolling her eyes and Pearl sighing.

Suddenly, the warp pad activated and in a flash of light Garnet appeared.

"Oh thank goodness!" Pearl called in distress, "Garnet we need your help."

Garnet was alarmed as she saw the obvious predicament. She walked over and investigated for a moment as Pearl babbled on in explanation.

"So…what do we do, Garnet?" Steven asked, nervously.

The tall gem regarded the boy, "They need to fuse back together and try to un-fuse again."

"FUSE?" Pearl spouted, "We can't fuse when we're like this. We can't even stand up properly."

Amethyst frowned, "Yeah…plus P will start crying like a baby from the pain if I try and dance or something."

"Pain?" Garnet questioned.

Amethyst jerked back from Pearl to emphasize her point. The other gem cried out in agony.

"STOP," Garnet forcefully spoke. Garnet quickly grabbed Amethyst and made sure she remained still. "You could seriously hurt her."

Amethyst's face was a mixture of guilt and embarrassment, "Sorry…"

Steven grabbed onto Garnet's leg, "If they can't fuse back together does that mean they're stuck like this forever?"

"There is, one more option."

Before anyone could ask, Garnet lifted her arms and summoned her weapon fists. The two awkwardly fused gems stared apprehensively. Steven was horrified.

"You can't poof them!" he pleaded, grasping tighter on Garnet's leg.

"It's the only way."

"Nooo!"

Pearl spoke up, "It's okay, Steven."

"W-what if it was me?" he glared at Garnet.

The tall fusion looked down at the boy with a frown.

Steven continued, "…What if it was me? One day I'm gonna end up fusing with one of you, right? Would you hurt me? We don't even know if I can regenerate. W-wouldn't this be a good chance to figure out a better way."

Garnet let her weapons disappear, "I'm listening."

"Garnet," Pearl whined, not wanting to be attached to this fidgeting gem, "You can't be serious!"

"He makes a good point."

Amethyst smiled goofily, "You should try that magical spit of yours, Steven."

Pearl winced in disgust, but then her eyes widened, "Why didn't I think of that in the first place? It might work."

Steven eagerly wet his hand with spit and placed it onto the melded gems. Nothing happened. They sighed in defeat.

"What now?" Amethyst asked.

Steven brought his fingers to his chin and thought. Then, he got an idea.

"I bet my dad could help."

"I know your father has been a big help in regards to some past events, but I hardly think he's an expert on fusion," Pearl rebutted.

"Dad was just talking to me about fusion the other day, maybe he'll have some thoughts that are outside the box…or rather outside 'the gem'," he finished with a grin to lighten the mood.

Pearl groaned miserably, "Garnet, could you just please-"

"Okay, Steven," Garnet agreed, "To the car wash, crystal gems."

Glowering at the chest in front of her face, Pearl asked, "And how exactly are we getting there?"

Amethyst blushed slightly, "You're gonna have to carry me."

Pearl bit her tongue as she carefully picked up the shorter gem and managed to get to her feet. Getting outside was another story, though. With every step, their gems were jostled and a shooting pain would radiate from Pearl's gem and run down her body. Once outside, Garnet grabbed Steven and posed to jump over to the car wash.

"Um," Pearl squeaked meekly, trying to silently deal with her pain, "I don't think I can do that."

Garnet let go of Steven and nodded slightly.

They walked along the beach together. Everyone was conversing about ideas to split the gems up…well, everyone but Pearl. She had to clumsily walk sideways to see where she was going and every moment was increasing misery for Pearl.

"You okay?" Amethyst asked when they were falling behind from the other two.

"Yes, fine," Pearl gritted out, hoping that it sounded like annoyance rather than pain. The last thing she wanted was Amethyst to tease her about this. But when her steps grew even slower, it was obvious she was having trouble.

"Does it really hurt that bad?"

Pearl was quiet in response.

Amethyst felt horrible, "If it hurts that bad, we'll just get Garnet to-"

"No," she stated terminally.

"But-"

"It's fine, Amethyst. I can manage. Steven is right about finding another way. I wouldn't want him to-" she stopped when her foot fell farther than expected into a small dip in the uneven sand. She hissed.

"Pearl, stop," Amethyst pleaded as she looked down at the top of the other's head.

Pearl only made a few more side steps before she could no longer go any farther and fell to her knees. The fall hurt Pearl greatly, but the relief of not having to stand any longer was worth it. Amethyst easily squatted down a bit to make sure Pearl was in a comfortable position.

Garnet and Steven noticed the two gems fall onto the sand and raced over.

"Pearl?" Steven cried.

"I'm okay, Steven," she lied as pain continued to surge through her, "Just need a break."

Amethyst looked up at her friends in worry.

"You don't have to move anymore, Pearl," Garnet comforted, feeling bad for what she done.

Pearl sighed heavily as the pain began to dissipate. And knowing she didn't have to get up anytime soon relaxed her further.

Garnet and Steven sat down on either side of the pair in the sand. They began to talk about random things for the time being, trying to ease Pearl's anxiety from the struggle. Dealing with splitting the two up could wait for awhile.

Taking a breath to soothe herself, Pearl focused her eyes downward at Amethyst's stomach. She couldn't remember the last time they were so physically close for such a long time and as a peacefulness came over her, Pearl leaned her head forward against the other gem's chest. It was a kind of closeness she had never experienced with Amethyst before.

Suddenly, Pearl felt fingers glide through the hair on the side of her head. She blushed as she watched out of the corner of her eye as Amethyst pet her. She pointedly melted into the touch as the sweet attention was something she always seemed to crave.

Then, Pearl finally let the full weight of her head against Amethyst and there was an abrupt and very audible pop as their two gems separated. Pearl quickly moved away and looked up to the other in surprise.

Steven yipped and hollered with happiness while Garnet simply smiled.