This chapter could also be called Peridot needs to buy a dictionary.

Chapter 4: Mother Hen Peridot

Peridot climbed off the bed and approached Steven, dragging her feet slightly to delay the inevitable. As soon as she reached him, he grabbed her hand and began pulling her downstairs with a sudden burst of energy.

The birds were still waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, peeping loudly in distress. As soon as they saw her, their peeping grew louder and they began jumping over each other's backs in their attempt to climb the first step. One of them almost made it up before tumbling back down and landing on its backside.

Steven managed to drag her halfway down the stairs before a feeling of dread overwhelmed her and she dug in her heels. Peridot pulled her hand away from his grip and held it close to her chest. Steven turned back to her in confusion.

"I am not getting any closer to those things," The green Gem announced, eyeing the birds nervously.

"You really are scared of them, aren't you?" Steven asked.

Peridot crossed her arms. "Well, if you haven't noticed, Steven, I don't exactly have the best history with birds," She replied dryly. "And those things did try to attack me."

"Are you sure they were trying to attack you? Maybe they just like you?" Steven reasoned.

Peridot scoffed. Yeah, sure, and maybe Yellow Diamond would forgive her and welcome her back on Homeworld. Not!

"I don't think they were trying to hurt anyone," Steven explained. "They're just babies after all!"

Oh yes, that word again.

"You still haven't explained 'babies' to me yet. Are they a type of bird?"

Steven's eyes widened. "Oh, umm, no. They're not a type of bird, they're… umm…" Steven rubbed his fingers against his chin in thought. "How do I explain this? Well, remember how me and Connie were trying to explain kids to you yesterday?"

Peridot nodded slowly. She had a limited grasp on what a kid was, but she was used to having only a limited understanding about most things on this planet.

"Well, a baby is something you are before you're a kid." Steven paused, his forehead scrunching in confusion. "Well, not you of course, but humans and animals," he corrected quickly. "When animals are born, umm, emerge, they come out as babies. Babies are smaller and they can't do the same things a fully grown animal can. A lot of animals need to be protected and taught things by their parents, like how my dad taught me how to read and about how the planet works.

"Eventually, an animal grows up from a baby to a kid, and then eventually to an adult," Steven continued. "Well, I guess I'm actually a teenager, which is kind of like being an older kid that is slowly turning into an adult." He rubbed the back of his neck uncertainty. "I'm not sure if that made any sense to you. Connie would probably be better at explaining this than I am."

"So what you're saying is…" Peridot said slowly, "the first stage of development for an organic after it emerges is this 'baby state'. In this state they are weak and useless and must rely on the parent?" The green Gem paused. "I assume the parent is a fully formed organic of the same species?"

Steven grinned. "Yeah, for the most part. Some animals don't need their parents to take care of them when they're babies, but a lot of them do, like humans."

"I see. And eventually these babies grow into kids."

"Yeah, and then the kids become teenagers and the teenagers become adults. That's when they're fully grown up. Then a lot of time they have their own babies and they have to take care of them."

Peridot frowned, wrinkling her nose. "That sounds very… unpleasant."

"It's not unpleasant! Babies are really cute and small. They're fun to be around, but they're still learning so you have to be patient with them. That's why I think the chicks weren't attacking you. They were just being curious babies."

Peridot cocked her head to the side. "Chicks?"

"Oh yeah that's what baby birds are usually called, especially baby chickens, like these guys!"

"These are baby chickens?" The green Gem stared down at the small creatures. She watched as they scurried around the bottom of the stairs, bumping into each other and chirping loudly. "I think I understand. Because they are babies they do not yet look like chickens."

"Exactly!" Steven replied as he started walking down the stairs.

"Steven, wait!" Peridot called, her chest filling with panic. "What are you doing?"

"Don't worry, they're not dangerous," Steven assured her, giving her a soft smile. "Here, I'll show you."

Steven stepped off the staircase and Peridot watched flabbergasted as the birds shied away from him. They huddled together as a group a few feet away from Steven watching him carefully.

"That's not how they acted with me!" She assured him, feeling slightly indignant that the birds had no hesitation in attacking her, but were clearly afraid of Steven. "Maybe it's because you're organic." She paused. "Half-organic."

"Hey little guys!" Steven cooed as he knelt down to get a better look at them. "Look at all of you! You're so cute!"

Peridot rolled her eyes. Why was Steven talking to them? It's not as if they could understand him.

Steven straightened up and turned back towards her. "Come on, Peridot!" He encouraged. "They're not going to hurt you."

Peridot shook her head, a scoff rising in the back of her throat. There was just no way she was getting close to those things again. She watched as they scurried around the floor, keeping together as a tight unit and moving as if they shared one mind. They kept their wary eyes on Steven as they moved, never getting closer than two feet.

"I promise you'll be fine, Peridot," Steven said, his voice taking on a sweeter cadence. The green Gem glanced from the chicks to Steven, and that had been her downfall. His eyes were suddenly twice as large and he looked so… there was no other word for it, utterly hopeful.

"Just trust me, please?" he asked again.

She managed to look away, but as she glanced at the birds again, she could already feel her resolve weakening. Was she actually considering this? It was times like these that Peridot wondered if the half-gem had some sort of persuasive power. She felt the sudden need to comply, but not because of some engraved drive follow orders, but because she didn't want to disappoint him.

Peridot sighed, defeated. "If they attack me I'm blaming you for this," she hissed.

Steven's grin stretched so wide and so fast his face seemed barely able to contain it.

Peridot inched closer to the bottom of the stairs, but the birds seemed preoccupied with avoiding Steven they didn't seem to notice her. Maybe Steven was right and they would leave her alone? Besides, what did she have to fear from the useless earth lifeform that wasn't even fully developed?

The green Gem stepped off the stairs and they still didn't seem to notice her. She came to stop next to Steven, feeling suddenly better now that she was next to a quartz, even if he was only a half-quartz and seemed to only possess defensive capabilities.

She opened her mouth to comment on the situation, but froze mid breath as the chick's heads perked up, their eyes looking straight at her. Peridot should have ran back for the stairs right then, but in that moment all logic fled her, and when she saw six suddenly fearless chicks running straight towards her, she bolted.

"Peridot, come back!" she heard Steven call as she ran.

She felt the chicks on her heels, determined, no doubt, to bring her down.

"I told you this would happen!" The green Gem yelled back. "Why did I allow you to convince me?"

The birds chirped after her loudly from behind, their high-pitched peeps piercing her ears. Peridot chanced a glance backwards, only to see that all but one chick was directly behind her. One must have fallen behind in the chase. Now if she could only shake the others.

"What is going on out here?"

Peridot's head snapped up as she watched all three gems exiting the temple. Pearl's eyes were wide as they scanned the room, her face becoming increasingly distraught as they took in the seen before her.

"Whoa, cool!" Amethyst exclaimed, clearly enjoying the chaos. "What did Peri do this time?"

The green Gem's panicked mind seemed to make the decision on her own as she found herself heading for one of the only places she knew she would be safe. The birds were momentarily surprised by the sudden change in direction as she jumped over the warp pad and dove straight under Garnet's legs.

Peridot stood up, now safely behind the fusion, and placed a hand on Garnet's leg as she peaked out from behind the large Gem.

"Keep those things away from me!" she demanded, her voice bordering on hysterical as she pointed to the cluster of chicks coming towards her.

As soon as the chicks saw Garnet, however, they all seemed to change direction at once, shying away from the taller gem like they had with Steven. They chirped pathetically to themselves as they watched Peridot from afar.

Amethyst burst into sudden laughter, like it was the funniest thing she had ever seen, and Pearl just pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"Steven, why are there baby birds in your room?" Pearl asked tiredly, but for some reason, not entirely unsurprised.

"Peridot hatched them," Steven explained as he made his way over to the others from the staircase. "Well, she didn't mean to. She accidentally picked up some eggs and she didn't know what they were."

"I see." Pearl sounded far from amused. "Well, she'll have to take them back, they can't stay here."

"I'm not getting anywhere near those things!" Peridot shrieked, terror rising back up into her chest. "They've been trying to attack me since they emerged!"

Amethyst snorted. "Attack you? You're kidding right?" She took a few steps towards the group of birds. The slower sixth one had found its way back to the group in the time they had been talking, and all of the birds warily watched the purple Gem's approach.

"Amethyst, you're going to scare them," Steven warned, but the quartz continued forward, acting like she hadn't heard him.

Peridot slowly detached herself from Garnet's legs as she watched Amethyst's new game.

"Grab them and take them back where they came from," She requested. "Quickly!"

"I got 'em, I got 'em," Amethyst said, her voice less than soothing, "relax."

Peridot watched as the birds began to scoot away as her purple friend continued towards them. At any second they would bolt-

Amethyst pounced, her arms wide open as if she attended to scoop them up, but as she landed with a thump her arms full of nothing but air.

The green Gem stared at the place the chicks should have been. Their little legs had moved so fast she had barely seen their narrow escape.

"You have to let them come to you," Steven said. "You have to show them you're not going to hurt them."

Amethyst clambered back onto her feet. "Nah, too boring." She rubbed her hands together. "I like my way."

"But you're just scaring them more!"

Amethyst shrugged. "Hey, it's not my fault they're chicken." She cracked a grin and elbowed Steven gently in the chest. "Get it? Chicken?"

Steven began to smile and let out a small giggle. "Yeah, I get it."

In the mist of the baby bird's flee from Amethyst's attempt to capture them, something else seemed to catch the bird's attention, and they suddenly changed direction.

Peridot took a step back when she saw them heading straight for her, and in her panic her feet seemed heavier than normal. With a surprised cry, she landed on her back, the ceiling now directly in her line of sight.

She heard the chicks approach before she felt them and she shut her eyes tightly, waiting for them to attack.

Their little claws climbed all over her body, causing her to wince in disgust, but other than that… they didn't hurt her. She opened her eyes slowly, still hesitant in case any movement would prompt them to attack.

"Wow, they really like you, Peri," Amethyst said with a snicker.

Peridot pulled herself into a full sitting position, her eyes squinting in confusion as she watched the birds chirp insistently on her lap.

"See, I told you they weren't trying to hurt you," Steven said, his grin wide. "And Amethyst is right! They do really like you! They're scared of us, but they don't seem scared of you at all!"

"I don't care!" Peridot snapped. "Just get them off me!"

"Even if we removed the chicks from your person, they won't leave you along for long," Pearl said, and then she let out a long breath.

Peridot's eyes went wide. "Why not?" she demanded, looking up at the slender Gem.

"Because after they're born, some species of birds and other animals on earth imprint on the first thing they see."

"Imprint…" Peridot rolled the word over in her mouth. "What does that mean?"

Pearl gave her and exasperated look that the green Gem didn't appreciated. "It means, Peridot, that those baby birds think you're their mother."

Mother?

Peridot could barely hear herself think over the sound of Steven squealing in delight.

The word sounded familiar; she had definitely heard it before, but she couldn't recall a single definition.

One thing she did know for sure, however, was that whatever that word meant the last thing she wanted was to be mistaken for this mother thing.

Thank you so much for all the reviews and support guys! Graduate school has been killer, so again, I'm sorry I can't update every week, but I'll try to make the updates as close as I can.