Sequel to Living Arrangements, I Think We're Alone Now and Three's A Crowd. I really recommend you read them first, because at this point, you probably will find things confusing.

This is an older!Steven x Peridot story. If older!Steven x Peridot stories are not your thing, I suggest you turn back now, because I will not be all that happy if every single comment I get is a complaint that it's an older!Steven x Peridot story. You have been warned.

XXX

IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH

"You and Steven are dating."

Peridot sighed as Lapis Lazuli repeated a variation of that statement for a third time. "Yes."

"Dating," Lapis said once more. "You and Steven."

"That's the fourth time you've said that," Peridot pointed out. "Surely it must have sunk in by now."

Lapis shook her head. "Sorry. It's just a bit of a surprise. I mean… he's human-"

"Half human," Peridot corrected.

"-Isn't he all organic and squishy?" Lapis mused aloud, ignoring the other gem's comment. "I mean, he's a sweetheart, but… ew."

"Half human," Peridot said again, a little crossly. "And he's not 'ew.'"

"Sorry, sorry." Lapis laughed at her. "So you're the Paulette to his Percy! Wow!"

"Hey!" Peridot sat upright, outraged. "You take that back!"

"Sorry." Lapis didn't sound remotely sorry. "OK, well, you're weird, but I guess I'm happy for you both. Oh, but Peridot?" She suddenly leaned in closer to the screen, giving Peridot a clear view up her nose. "If you hurt him, I'll kill you."

Peridot rolled her eyes. "Pearl's got you covered there," she mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Peridot lied. "Of course I won't hurt him, why would I do that?"

"I don't know," Lapis admitted. "That's just what they say on TV."

"Oh." Peridot thought for a moment and begrudgingly realized the other gem was right. "Very well. Will you be threatening Steven too?"

"No," Lapis said cheerfully. "I like him better than you. Well, good luck with the new drill, I'm going to visit Hole Bottom."

Peridot laughed and wished Lapis well before ending the call and turning back to her computer. Events over the past few days had prevented her from working on her fanfic, so she wiggled her fingers and began typing until finally, the handcuffs holding Percy and Pierre together had been unlocked and the chapter had been uploaded.

Then she turned her attention to the decrypted file she'd been ignoring for the past few hours. She wasn't entirely sure what it was; it wasn't a written report like the first file she'd recovered, and so she tried opening it in a few other programs, with little success. She was just breaking it down into binary to see if that gave her a clue when all of a sudden, her vision went dark and a voice behind her sang, "guess who!"

Peridot considered that question for a moment. "I'm hoping it's Steven, any other option would be mildly disturbing."

Steven laughed and uncovered her eyes again. "Yeah, it's me." Then he leaned forward and kissed the back of her neck. "Still trying to figure out that file?"

"Yes." Peridot smiled. "But you're being very distracting."

"Sorry," he lied cheerfully. "You just look so cute when you're concentrating. Do you want some company?" he quickly added before she could take offense at being called 'cute'. "I could grab my notebook and work on some music while you work."

"That would be nice," she conceded. "Oh, by the way," she called after him as he moved towards the door, "there's a box of donuts for us on the kitchen counter. Pearl made them."

"Oh!" He blinked in surprise. "You… you spoke to her?" he asked cautiously. Things between Pearl and Peridot had not been good recently. Actually, 'not good' was a bit of an understatement; upon discovering that Steven and Peridot were a couple, Pearl had lashed out at the younger gem, both physically and verbally, forcing them to stay with his father until things calmed down. And although Peridot had agreed to move back into the beach house, he knew she still hadn't really forgiven Pearl.

But now Peridot was nodding. "We talked a little and she apologized again. It seemed to be much more genuine this time. We're not exactly… friends again," she said haltingly, "but she's trying, and I'm tired of being angry all the time, so I think I'm going to give her a chance."

"That's great!" He temporarily abandoned the donuts and lunged forward to hug her instead. "I'm really proud of you."

"Aheh." Peridot smirked slightly, and almost considered forgiving the other gem entirely as it seemed to make him so happy. Especially when he turned his face and dropped a few kisses along her jaw. "That's me. Always prepared to be the bigger person," she boasted.

"Really?" Steven laughed and pulled away, and looked pointedly down at her.

"Do not spoil the moment-"

"Bigger person, huh?" he said over her warning. "Did you wear the paint cans?" She gave him a playful swat and he laughed again. "Sorry. Couldn't resist."

"Go! Go and get donuts and cease tormenting me!" she said dramatically. "Oh, and Lapis called," she added in her usual tone. "I told her about us. Is that OK?" she asked a little anxiously. "I concluded that as everybody else knows now, I ought to tell her too, but it occurred to me afterwards that I should have discussed it with you first-"

"It's fine, don't worry," Steven quickly interjected. Then he paused. "How... how did she take it?"

"She was fine," Peridot said, much to his relief. "Revolted, but supportive."

"That's good. I mean," he corrected, "'revolted' isn't the most encouraging thing to hear, but so long as she's not mad, that's good."

"She's not mad," Peridot clarified at once. "Although she did threaten to kill me if I hurt you."

"I won't tell her you just took a swipe at me then," he joked, and jumped back before she could try again. "Be right back."

He walked back into the main part of the house and over to his room, humming happily to himself. Things were looking up. They were back home. Pearl was trying to make things up to them (and he was pleased to see that her donuts looked considerably more edible than Amethyst's). Nobody thought he was dating Connie any more, which also meant she might be more willing to come over now she knew nobody was going to be dropping any more hints about permafusion Stevonnie-

His phone suddenly jingled and he tucked his notebook under his elbow and adjusted his grip on the donut box so that he could pull it out of his pocket. "Speak of the devil," he said to himself, spotting Connie's name on the screen. He opened the message and quickly skimmed the contents as he made his way back to Peridot's room.

"Hey Peri, Connie wants to know how things are going," he announced, dropping the box and the notebook on the sofa and making his way back over to her. "And she wants to know if we wanna go have brunch with her in half an hour or so."

"Sure, that would be nice." Peridot leaned back in her chair and rubbed the back on her neck. "I could use the break," she grumbled under her breath.

"Still no luck with the file?" Steven asked sympathetically.

"No," Peridot admitted. She pulled a face at the screen. "I think I'll leave it for a little while and continue with the plans for the drill security system instead."

"Good idea." He grinned suddenly and leaned over the back of her chair and wrapped his arms around her. "You know, when this whole thing with the Cluster is over, we should celebrate," he suggested. "You and me. Alone. We'll go on vacation," he elaborated, already planning half-a-dozen different destinations in his head. "We could go to Venice for realsies. Maybe..." He leaned forward a little more. "Maybe even pick up where we left off yesterday," he whispered suggestively.

"Oooooh." Peridot wriggled happily at that pleasant thought. "In that case, I shall begin working at once."

Steven pouted; he'd half-hoped they might have time for a quick make-out session before the gems inevitably came knocking on the door to break things up. The one and only downside of being back home was that now the gems knew about their relationship, they certainly weren't going to let the two of them lock themselves in Peridot's room any more. Their moments alone would be moments like this, when the gems were all still in the Temple.

Still, Peridot was right, the sooner the drill was completed and the Cluster was moved to safety, the sooner he could whisk her away on a romantic cruise, so with that in mind, he settled down on her bed and began flicking through his notebook to reread his old song lyrics before he picked up a pen and started writing.

They worked together in comfortable silence for several minutes until Steven got stuck trying to find a suitable rhyme for 'bacon'. He sighed and leaned back against the wall, staring aimlessly into space until his eyes drifted over to the computer screen. Then he narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out why the loops pictured looked familiar. "Is that the file?"

"Hmm?" Peridot looked up from her tablet and refocused her attention upon the screen. "Oh. Yes. I got it open in one program, but it's just showing embedded data, not what it actually is," she tried to explain.

Steven tilted his head slightly, still trying to figure it out. "It looks like a pattern," he said aloud, and then shook his head in embarrassment. "Sorry, I know that's not much help, I was just thinking aloud."

"A pattern... a pattern?" Peridot's eyes widened as the words sparked off a memory. "Oh! That's it!" She spun around and grabbed at him in excitement. "Steven, you're a genius!"

"I am?" he said blankly.

"It's sound!" she exclaimed, and spun back towards the screen. "Like music!"

"Oh. Oh! Right. I get it!" He laughed and picked up his notebook again as Peridot began to switch programs. Aching? No, too Lion King. What else rhymed? Baking? Too alliterative-

You heard something. From the sky, a sound. A song? And then...

"Peridot, no!"

He lunged forward to stop her, but it was too late. A low, droning hum came from the speakers and Peridot recoiled with a yelp. Without any hesitation, Steven summoned his shield and smashed it into the computer screen. There was a loud bang and the other noise stopped. He was by her side at once. "Are you OK?" he asked urgently.

"Uh..." Peridot winced and rubbed her temples. It had almost felt at first like the sound had physically manifested and punched her in the face, but it had already faded and was now nothing more than a mild ache behind her eyes. "Yeah, I think so. What was-"

She froze and stared at her arm. Steven followed her gaze and felt his stomach drop when he spotted the dark green speckles blossoming across the skin there. "Tha-that's nothing," he said quickly, and raised her arm to his lips and kissed the spots. Then just to be doubly sure his powers were going work, he licked her arm as well. "There," he said with relief as the spots stopped spreading. "All better-"

"Steven..." Peridot swallowed hard and held out her other arm to show him the blemishes popping up there too.

"I can fix that," he said at once, and swiped his tongue across her skin. "It's going to be all right, you're fine."

Peridot groaned and closed her eyes. She didn't feel fine; the ache in her head was getting worse again, her skin felt itchy and prickly, and every movement made her limbs hurt. She could hear that strange, droning hum growing louder in her ears and draining her strength with every passing moment. "I'm scared," she whispered.

"No, no, don't be," Steven insisted, valiantly trying to keep the growing hysteria out of his voice. "You'll be fine, you'll be fine, I pro-" His voice broke. "I promise." He kissed her gem, and then, rather forcibly kissed her mouth.

It wasn't enough. The speckles were creeping up her neck now and there was nothing they could do to stop it. Peridot whimpered, a little noise of pain and fear, and Steven's heart broke. Tears began to spill down his cheeks and he pulled her closer, letting them drip onto her hair. But Peridot wasn't an organic being and his tears had no effect. The pain in her head increased unbearably and mercifully, she passed out.

As she went limp in his arms, Steven's fragile control over his panic crumbled. "Peridot?" He pulled away and looked down at her. "Peridot! Wake up!" He patted her face as he spoke, accidentally hitting her far harder than he'd intended, and flinched when her skin darkened. "Oh no, sweetie, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

He looked wildly around the room for help, but of course, they were still alone, so he swept her up into his arms and kicked the door open, not caring that the impact sent it flying across the house and through the opposite wall. "HELP ME!" he wailed in the direction of the Temple door.

The effect was immediate. The door split open at once and Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl charged into the room, weapons drawn, before they all stumbled to a halt in confusion and concern at the sight of their weeping foster son cradling Peridot's unconscious body. "What happened? Where is it?" Garnet asked sharply, looking around for a corrupted gem or some Homeworld tech that could be punched to make things better.

"Th-the file, it was the song, we didn't know it was the song," Steven sobbed. "Please, you have to do something, you have to fix it!"

"A song? What-" Behind her shades, Garnet's eyes widened in understanding and from the quiet gasp behind her, she knew Pearl had come to the same conclusion. "Oh no!"

"What? What song?" Amethyst asked blankly. "I don't understand?"

"It's..." Pearl paused and swallowed down a sudden wave of nausea. "It's the Diamond's song," she said softly. "She's corrupted."

xxx

A/N: Happy Valentines Day!

So, when I started writing Living Arrangements, I had no real plan for the series other than "get them in the same house so it's easier for them to bang." I was thinking some cutesy one-shots, and had the idea for Peridot's copied human form to get sick and have Steven take care of her. But then I started writing Peridot poking around the Kindergarten computer and thought "wait, what if she got corrupted instead!?" And then all of a sudden, I had an actual plot! Whaaaaat!? So now we're on the fourth part of the series, still no bangin', and canon's gone and put them both in the same house anyway, but at least I have a proper plan for this series now, and maybe at some point, I'll even get around to letting them get naked!

But not in this one. Sorry.