Hello there! So this is the english translation of "Un nouveau départ" a long fanfiction I just started. It takes place around the beginning of season 4, and is mainly about Greg, though it will explore Steven and the Gems characters as well.

I'm doing my best at translating but I'm not exactly a native english speaker so don't hesitate to contact me (reviews or pms) if there are some things you think I should improve, and I'll try to update as quickly as possible. Also the chapters may take a while to be released, writing AND translating is a lot of work.

Hope you'll enjoy reading this!

The sun was risen for about an hour when Steven left the house on the beach. Winter was coming to its end: the air was cold but for the first time in weeks the sky was perfectly blue. A slight sea breeze was blowing on the beach, carrying tiny clouds of sand and spraying salty droplets.

The boy scampered along the water, his cheeseburger backpack jumping between his shoulders. After passing the cliff where the huge temple statue was looming he arrived at the boardwalk, where multiple, delicious smells came to him: freshly baked donuts, marinara sauce and hot frying oil. Voices and cooking sounds indicated that Beach City had just awakened and was slowly getting to work.

But Steven didn't stop in any of these restaurants. He already had prepared everything: his backpack was full of candy bars, soda cans, bags of chips and homemade turkey sandwiches. He kept running along the boardwalk, boiling with anticipation and joy. It seemed like an eternity since the last time he really had spent time with his father, and when a few days ago Garnet predicted the next day without rain, he immediately decided that he would come to visit. The last day before he was so eager to see his dad again that nothing could distract him, not even video games, playing cards with the Gems, or Crying Breakfast Friends.

Also, Steven was a bit worried about his father: he had noticed that Greg was acting weird recently, looking preoccupied and sad. The man was a lot less talkative than usual, and even his smiles seemed kind of fake from time to time. Steven assumed that Greg was feeling lonely: spending boring days at the car wash, without anyone to keep him company other than the few clients, could have gotten on his nerves a bit.

It's been several years now from the day Steven moved in with the Crystal Gems: the three of them and his father agreed that the boy had to discover his mother's magical world and fight to protect humanity like she did. Greg knew this life was dangerous for mere humans and, as such, agreed to be left out. He always seemed to be totally ok with it, but... was he? What if he was just hiding his pain for his son's sake? Steven felt a bit guilty when he realized this question never came to his mind before.

It's okay. Now that everything is calm again, I'll get to see him more often and cheer him up.

Indeed, these last months were filled with adventures for Steven and the Gems: after they finally managed to defeat Jasper they had to contain all the monsters from the Beta Kindergarten. There also had to deal with more threats in the tundra and destroy a group of giant sea worms causing huge tidal waves on the Indian Ocean's coasts. All of these missions, though, were nothing compared to that time when he was accidentally thrown into space with Eyeball, who relentlessly tried to murder him (Steven kept in mind not to tell his dad about that one, to avoid any panic attack). Steven was happy that all these adventures were finally over: his return to Beach City had been a massive relief and now he was just hoping that everyone, including his father, could relax for good.

Steven's trip to the Car Wash was pretty fast. There were no machine sounds coming out of the building: Greg took a day off to spend some time with his son, therefore Steven saw him sitting at the back on his van, playing a melody on his guitar – a quite familiar view.

"Hi dad!"

Greg raised his head and his face brightened at the sight of his son. He got up and put his guitar away as Steven ran towards him to give him a long, tight hug.

"Hey, glad to see you, buddy!" The man greeted, with a small but happy voice "How is it going? I heard you had a lot to do with the Gems."

"Yeah, we had tons of cool adventures! I'll tell you about it, but I'm also glad it's over, feels good to take a rest. Plus I can see you now!"

Greg cracked a genuine smile. Steven took the time to observe his father: he had stains of sweat on his shirt (which was a bit strange given the cold) and dark circles around the eyes. He was definitely not looking good.

"Huh, dad?" Steven asked cautiously "Are you ok?"

"Oh, yes, yes" Greg answered, waving his hand neglectfully "I just had a few tiring days at the Wash."

Exceptional circumstances aside, the Car Wash was empty most of the time. Steven knew his father's job was anything but tiring. That could only mean one thing: Greg was lying. But Steven decided not to investigate further when he remembered something that instantly filled him with curiosity and enthusiasm, driving away his worries for the time being:

"Hey, you told me you had a surprise for me today!"

"Oh, that's right" Greg remembered, his smile widening. "It's right here!"

He pointed at a large cardboard box inside the van. Steven took a few steps towards it, his eyes glowing with excitement, but his father stopped him with a gesture of his arm.

"We can't use it there," he explained "we have to take a short trip with the van. You up to it?"

"Sure!" Steven replied happily as he rushed to the other side of the van to sit on the passenger seat.

Chuckling at his son's eagerness, Greg sat at the driver's seat and started the van. Steven noticed he was panting slightly.

Father and son left Beach City and reached a little country road. The trip was indeed short but pleasant: they exchanged no words for its whole duration, enjoying the silence and the wind on their faces. After a few minutes the van hardly went up a long, steep road before reaching a large flat terrain surrounded by wooden barriers. Greg stopped the vehicle right in front of a barrier and switched off the engine.

Steven came out of the van and looked around: he had never came here before. Around the square terrain were large trees moving in the wind and further away down the hill Steven could spot a lake with a shore of black pebbles. He finally understood what the dirt terrain was.

"Is that a car park for tourists?" He asked.

"Yes," Greg confirmed "but nobody will take a swim in the lake in winter. This place is deserted in this season, and it's exactly what we need for my little surprise! Steven, I need you to look away while I prepare everything."

Steven nodded and turned around. The place was very quiet: only the rustling of the leaves and the singing of the birds could be heard. The boy noticed a yellow bird with black wings on a tree branch. Its singing was incredibly beautiful.

It's an oriole, he thought.

There was a time when Steven and his father were going for walks in the forest pretty often, trying to recognize the different bird species. Greg was, at that time, passionate about ornithology and bought a bunch of books on the subject. But this passion burned out quickly: after a few months, he lost interest and stopped taking his son to the forest. As for the books, all of those who couldn't be sold were gathering dust in his storage unit.

It was one of Greg's strangest habits: always jumping from one hobby to another, getting excited about a new thing as quickly as he was getting bored. Thus he tried many sports and activities, but would always quit after a while. That's why his unit was full of various objects like golf clubs, a diving suit, theater masks or musical instruments. As far as Steven knew (and the Gems, who knew him longer than he did, confirmed) the only passion Greg kept for his whole life was the guitar.

The funny part was that, if you believed Greg, each new thing he discovered was the ultimate revelation. Each time he was claiming that this new hobby was his newfound lifelong passion, and he would train as hard as he could to master it – but he never committed. Once he even assured he could win the cup and ball game championship: he gave up when the ball gave him a black eye. It didn't matter though, because Steven was almost sure that there was no such thing as a cup and ball game championship.

But to be honest... it actually wasn't that funny. One day where Greg had just given up on silk painting (or was it ice carving ? Hard to remember), Steven asked Amethyst, who was his dad's former closest friend, about this habit. She explained that several years ago Rose and Greg were always trying new things together. Rose's curiosity towards human activities was insatiable, and she wanted to know absolutely everything. To satisfy her, her boyfriend made sure they were discovering as much hobbies as they could in a rather short time, and thus Amethyst remembered seeing her Gem friend with a surf board under her arm, or trying to throw a discus as far as possible, or crocheting table mats, all of these in the same week. And always with a wide, happy smile on her face.

Now that Rose was gone, Greg was still doing this alone. But why? To fill the void left by her? Or was he hoping Steven would join him and then they would spend more time together? Steven remembered all the times he had to refuse an activity with his dad, because he didn't have enough time or simply because he wasn't interested. He suddenly felt guilt for the second time of the day.

"It's done! You can turn around, Steven!"

The call roused the boy from his thoughts. He turned around, eager to know what the surprise was. At first he didn't see anything special, but when he looked at the van he noticed the weird setup on the driver's place: the seat was now equipped with a booster and a strange add-on made from a piece of wood topped by a metal plate was tied to each pedal with duct tape.

Suddenly, Steven understood what all of this was for. His eyes lightened up and his body shook out of excitement before he started screaming:

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!"

"I'm not that far away, son" Greg pointed out.

"You... you're gonna teach me how to drive the van?!"

"Absolutely! Now that you're all grown up I decided it's time to pass down the pinnacle of your old man's legacy" Greg said, faking a solemn tone. "Since you're not old enough to get your license we'll just be training here."

He then invited Steven to get in with a hand's gesture. Ecstatic, Steven leaped in the driver's seat and was delighted to discover that his father's setup was really effective: thanks to it he could see above the wheel and his feet could push down the pedals perfectly.

"This is so cool! Did you make this on your own?"

Greg went around the van and, when he sat on the passenger's seat, Steven could see he was slightly blushing.

"Actually I got a little help from Pearl" he admitted "I'm not very comfortable with a hacksaw."

Steven was about to start the engine when his father stopped him:

"Woah, wait a second, buddy! Didn't you forget anything?"

The boy pondered for a few seconds, then realized he didn't adjust the mirrors, and also forgot to buckle up. He quickly complied, with Greg nodding in approval.

"Never forget," the man explained "that there are several things to check before starting a car. For example you should have looked around the van to see if there were flat tires or obstacles"

Steven nodded, then finally turned the key and started the van. Technically it was his first time driving for real: he thought about that time when he had to participate in a race against Kevin (the urge to put this arrogant pest in his place was too strong to refuse the challenge) but Stevonnie was driving, not him. Steven tried to remember exactly how the fusion proceeded: he de-clutched, shifted to first gear... when suddenly the vehicle jolted, flinging the boy forward.

"You made it stall." Greg noted, chuckling "It's okay, it will happen a lot in the beginning. See, you shouldn't let the clutch out too quickly: take your time."

The next hour was a bit hard: Steven had a hard time understanding the basics, and was afraid of damaging the van which he knew was his dad's most valued thing. However his numerous failed attempts weren't enough to sap his morale, and soon his perseverance paid off: he managed to make the van go forward smoothly and then, with Greg's guidance, tried different complex maneuvers.

Steven's happiness was immense: driving the van, being in such a peaceful environment and, most of all, spending time with his father was filling him up with joy, the kind of joy he hadn't experienced in a long time. For the first time in several months he felt like all the stress gathered because of the recent events was fading away, in the same way winter was slowly disappearing, making way for sunny days like this one.

Greg was happy too. He really missed his son, even if he understood and accepted the reasons why he couldn't see him often. As Steven tried parallel parking, his father told him about the first time he drove a car himself: Greg was 15 years old at the time, and hit several trees in his attempts. The story succeeded to make Steven laugh as well as reassuring him on his own performance. But despite that nice moment of bonding, Greg had less enjoyable thoughts going through his head.

Should he tell him? He didn't want to worry his son. After all, it was probably nothing. He already had this kind of problem before, and the pain always stopped after a few days. But this time it was a bit sharper than usual, so much that Greg couldn't help but grasp his chest from time to time, and he was sure Steven was seeing it even though he was focused on the road before him.

He has enough problems like that. No need to bother him with mine.

The man sighed. His son already had so many responsibilities, and despite being quite mature for his age, there was only so much he could handle. For Greg, telling Steven about his life issues had always been out of the question: a child should never have to deal with their parents' problems.

All of this would probably be easier if Greg had another person to talk to, an adult who could understand him. But the truth was, he didn't have any real friend: he wasn't that close to Beach City inhabitants. Rose was gone for fourteen years. He hadn't talk to Vidalia in ages. His friendship with Amethyst belonged to the past. Garnet was kind and respectful to him, but that was all. And even though spending that night with Pearl in Empire City helped both of them bury the hatchet, they didn't exactly take the time to bond since then.

Maybe it was up to him to change things. After all, things did shake up a few months ago, when Greg received a huge amount of money due to Marty selling his song "Comet" as a jingle for a fast food chain. But even if he still had several millions left, he had chosen not to change his life, saying he liked the one he already had. It was actually the truth: Greg liked his van, his job, and his status quo.

But what was wrong, then?

"Dad! I'm getting hungry!"

Steven's words brought Greg back to reality. He took a look at his golden watch (an extravagance he was quite proud of).

"Oh, it's past midday!" he noted "Lunch time!"

Steven nodded and stopped the van at the top of the steep road leading to the car park (they were practicing hill start). Both of them got out of the vehicle and found a little stretch of grass where Greg spread a large blanket while Steven was taking the food out of his backpack.

"So, how did I do?" the boy asked, sitting on the blanket and unwrapping a turkey sandwich before taking a huge bite.

"Really good!" Greg replied, opening a juice can."You need a bit more training, but you could become an excellent driver pretty soon! We'll come back here from time to time so you can drive more."

The man stopped for a second, then continued with a shy voice:

"Only if... if you don't have anything more important to do, of course..."

"Oh, don't worry about that!" Steven reassured "The Gems and I are done dealing with a lot of important stuff. Now I have plenty of spare time!"

The boy took another bite of this sandwich and, after munching and swallowing, spoke again:

"Besides, what's more important than spending time with my favorite dad?"

"Oh, I'm your favorite dad?" Greg asked, faking a surprised tone "What an honor! What exactly helped you make this hard decision?"

"Well, I think it's when you promised me that this afternoon we would go see the latest Lonely Blade movie and you would buy me all the candy at the theater!" Steven answered with a grin.

"But I never prom- Wait a minute..."

Steven stared at this dad with the same cute face he had when he wanted to move the Gems. Greg burst into laughter.

"You little smarty-pants!" he exclaimed. "Just because I'm rich doesn't mean I'll give you anything you want! I don't want to make you a spoiled brat, you know?"

"I know, dad" Steven said, smiling.

"But hey, I'm not against going to the movies later" Greg admitted "and buying a reasonable amount of candy!"

"Really? Awesome!"

Greg gave his son an affectionate look. Steven's smile faded when he noticed his father was clenching his chest again.

"Huh, dad?"

"Yes, Stew-ball?"

"Are you... sure you're okay?"

Greg quickly removed his hand from his torso and took the time think about an answer. He couldn't lie anymore, but he didn't want to generate unnecessary concern.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine" he finally said "it's just my heart being a little tired. It happens from time to time but it always goes away, not a big deal."

"You're sick?" Steven asked, worried. "Oh, maybe I can help!"

The boy brought his hand to his mouth to lick his palm, but his father stopped him.

"No Steven, I don't think your healing powers can do anything. It's not exactly an injury or a disease."

"What is it, then?"

"Well, it's..."

Greg stopped talking and looked up. Despite the van being far away, he could have swore he had seen it moving slightly.

"Steven" he asked, preoccupied "Did you put the hand brake on correctly?"

Confused, Steven turned his head. It was clearly visible now: the van was moving backwards, towards the very steep road.

"Oh no!" Greg screamed "Oh no, no, NO!"

He didn't have the time to get on his feet and rush up: the vehicle was now going down the road, completely out of control. Terrified, he started chasing it, followed by his son.

While running, Steven analyzed the situation. The van was gaining a lot of speed and further below was an abrupt turn bordered with trees. If the van crashed into those trees, there wouldn't be much left of it, or of all the stuff it contained. Knowing that the vehicle and its content were very important for his father, the boy proceeded to run faster.

"Don't worry dad!" he exclaimed, passing him "I got this!"

His eyes were so focused on the van he didn't noticed Greg was running slower and slower.

When he felt like he was close enough, Steven jumped into the air and tried to focus on a happy thought. It wasn't that hard: the peaceful morning he just had did the trick. He felt a warm sensation on his belly as his Gem activated, enabling him to float upwards. He then described a long arc in the air and, when arrived above the van, focused his mind again.

If the van crashes my dad will be sad.

The rose quartz in his navel understood the message and made him go down a little quicker. Steven landed harshly on the van's roof, bending the metal slightly. That fall could have hurt a mere human – luckily he wasn't one. It took him a lot of effort to crawl on the roof, reach for the door, open it and enter the vehicle zooming down the road. After a quick check, it appeared that the hand brake was indeed released, but fixing this mistake right away could be dangerous: the stop would be too sudden, making the van spin out and probably drift off the road. So Steven decided to press the brake pedal gradually instead: the vehicle slowed down, bumping on the dirt, and finally stopped. Relieved, the boy allowed himself a gasp of air.

As he applied the hand brake correctly, Steven felt immensely proud. Not only did he save his father's van and every important object it contained, but he also reacted perfectly in a crisis situation, combining his human and Gem capabilities. Maybe his dad was right: maybe he could become an excellent driver, after all.

"Dad! Dad! Did you see that? I did it!"

No answer. Intrigued, Steven watched carefully through the windshield ; Greg was nowhere to be seen.

"Dad?"

The boy came out of the van and hurried up the road. The more he walked, the more his anxiety was growing.

Then he finally saw him, and felt his heart fall in his chest.

"DAD!"

Steven ran as fast as he could – too slow for his tastes. His lungs were burning, chills were running down his spine and a sob was rising in his throat.

Greg was lying down, his face to the ground, motionless.

Steven rushed towards him, dropped on his knees, and shook his shoulder vigorously.

"Dad! DAAAD! ANSWER ME!"

The boy couldn't hold back his tears flowing on his face, soaking his shirt. He quickly turned his father onto his back and listened.

Greg was not breathing.