Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe or any of it's characters. No OC trash here. YET 8D

Knowledge's Burden

Garnet's feet pounded against the terrain beneath her. She had to get home, now. The map of fate stretched ever forward, and Steven was headed for tumultuous waters.

There was no satisfying that child. He was going to do what he wanted, no matter the cost, no matter the consequences. She tried to be there for him, but there were only so many places she could be at once. The gem thought she'd had enough time to defeat that monster and be there for Steven. However, that corrupted gem had other plans. It was supposed to be in-and-out with no reason to disturb the others, but the enraged aquamarine had trapped them both inside a cave system, and it had taken hours to track it down and escape. It was dark when she emerged. Garnet's future vision revealed that Steven's decision took place quite some time ago, but she couldn't see into the past. She couldn't see what he'd decided.

And it was an important decision.

So she thundered towards the warp pad now in sight. Terror gripped at her heart, with the possibilities she'd foreseen.

Steven entering the temple heart. Steven grabbing any number of dangerous gems. Steven activating the wrong one. Steven being maimed, or poisoned, or…

Then four streams that resulted from a wizened decision, two from intervention, and one from distraction, where Steven didn't get hurt.

And then she was home. It was dark in the house. The first place she checked was the temple heart. If her boy was there, his condition was dire. In the other streams, he'd be alright for the time it took to check them. In the streams where he lie in the temple heart…

The door opened to reveal the bubble storage room. Mystic lava boiled at the center. Most of the isolated and corrupted gems lay unperturbed in the air above them, exactly as she'd left it. Nothing out of place, from what Garnet could tell. There were countless gems in here. It was getting crowded up there. She kept meaning to make an organizational system, and a secure place to store them, but other things always got in the way-

Like protecting Steven. The thought felt like a jolt to the system, and she immediately spun around.

He obviously wasn't in here, so that left one other location. She leaped a mighty leap, back to the door, and hurried out of the temple catacombs. The doors peeled away, almost tauntingly slow. She took giant strides to the staircase leading to his bedside. A quick glance upstairs confirmed he was in there, and Garnet's spirit relaxed. Two steps at a time, her demeanor gentled as she sat at his bedside.

Steven stirred as he heard someone moving around downstairs. It was probably just Amethyst getting a midnight snack per usual. He fell back asleep within a second.

Then he heard someone coming up the stairs. His mind adjusted itself to waking as quickly as it could. The boy wasn't particularly alarmed. It was probably just Pearl peeking in on him again. He'd given in pretty easily when they'd talked about her nighttime peep shows. It was soothing to her, and it'd become part of her daily routine so long ago. He'd decided to just ignore it if he woke up at all. Then a weight pressed down on the side of the bed. That was unusual. Bleary, Steven opened his eyes. A second passed as they adjusted to the darkness, and a gentle, jeweled palm caressed his face.

"Garnet?" his voice cracked from disuse. Then puzzle pieces connected, "Garnet! You're back!"

"Steven, show me your hands," she commanded softly.

Confusion wrote itself on his face. Was this a dream? Such a strange command, "What?"

Garnet began to peel back the covers, and leaned closer to inspect his skin. The moonlight illuminated her face and showed him something unprecedented. Her glasses were gone, and her eyes were panicked.

"I need to see your hands and arms, show me, please." Her voice was urgent and pleading. The gemling didn't know what was going on, but he obliged regardless. She helped him unveil his hands and arms, then inspected them for nicks, signs of infection, anything suspicious. Eyes wild and ablaze with fear. Her gentle, yet frantic actions were starting to raise anxiety inside him.

"Garnet, you're scaring me, what's going on?"

She slowed down, appeared to finish whatever she was checking for, then looked back into his eyes, "Steven, I…Did you go into the Gem room and try to heal a gem?"

"I...was going to..." he trailed off, looking away.

"Steven look at me," she commanded. He did as told, "Never, ever, do that without one of us with you. It can be extremely dangerous."

The boy nodded, "I know. That's why I didn't."

Garnet bowed her head and breathed a sigh of relief. Her energy felt drained after that fiasco, "I saw you in there, but I couldn't see the outcome. I didn't get back in time to make sure you made the right choice. I thought..." Her eyes began to leak as the possibilities swarmed her mind.

Steven reached forward and took her face in his hands, tilted it to match his, and wiped a stray tear from her cheek.

"I'm okay. You were scared for me?"

"Of course," Garnet breathed, with a crooked smile.

Steven smiled reassuringly, but secretly loving the display of care, "You look tired."

It was a loaded question, "I just came back from a solo mission," she responded carefully and shifting herself to lay beside him, nearest the window.

"So...maybe you should rest for a while?" He suggested with a lilt in his voice.

"I will. What are you asking, Steven?" she smiled completely, fully aware of what he wanted. Still, she wanted to hear it out loud.

He gazed into her eyes hopefully, "Maybe you could take a nap with me, here."

Garnet looked away coyly, "I don't know..."

"Oh come on, Garnet! I haven't seen you in forever!"

She chuckled, "Alright." The gem had fully intended to stay beside him tonight, if only to assure her own fears that still lingered. It was nice she could do it on a soft surface. Steven lifted the covers as she slid beneath them. Garnet wound her arms around him and the gemling snuggled right in to his perfect spot. After all this time, he still fit perfectly in her embrace. Perhaps she shape-shifted it so. Either way, he couldn't be happier. Both gems slept peacefully the rest of the night. Well...relatively.

Pearl sneaked out of her room for her nightly routine. It was just a quick check to make sure everything was alright. It wasn't like she had anything better to do. The gem had polished all of her weapons and armor for the evening. Training regimens had been drawn up for the next week when Connie would return. Lesson plans were written out for Steven. All was accomplished. Tiptoeing up the steps, she noticed that the sleeping Steven lump appeared different than normal. There was...more. Pearl crept up further, only to be shocked and dismayed by what she saw.

If she had a heart, it would be beating furiously with jealousy at what she saw. Garnet was...cuddling Steven in his sleep! The nerve! BETRAYAL. Her hand covered her mouth, not quite sure how to react.

The offender lifted her head in order to get a proper look at who approached. Pearl wasn't sure what kind of look she gave her leader, but she it elicited a sort of chuckle, and made the gem wake up their charge.

"...Pearl?" he asked, lifting his head from the pillow after a moment, "Whatcha doin?"

"Oh!" she started, beginning to backtrack, "Um, I was just...checking for any missing clothes. I'm going to do a load of laundry."

Steven shut his eyes, as he accepted the answer, "Oh, okay. Well, when you're done, if you want, you could join us?" What?

This was so...stunning it caught her off guard, "Uhm."

"I could use the help keeping Garnet calm. She had scary visions." What?

Pearl's eyes widened; everything about this situation was so odd. She looked to Garnet who raised her head back up moments ago. She nodded, face grim.

Face falling, the gem approached the bed and slid in on the other side of Steven. He was effectively sandwiched in. She positioned herself for cuddling the boy, and in turn, he nuzzled her neck. Pearl sighed contentedly, and felt Garnet lay her head to rest on the other side of the sandwich.

She pressed a kiss to Steven's forehead and eased her own worry.