One Week Later...

It didn't take long for a sense of normalcy (or at least what qualified as "normal" in the life of Steven Universe) to return to Beach City. The area around the Gems' temple where Peridot's ship had crashed was near-spotless of wreckage only a few days after the whole ordeal. Though Lapis Lazuli was told by Garnet that she was under no obligation to help on "official Gem business," she still felt bad watching Steven toil away in the hot summer sun as they hauled pieces of the ship into the temple, and opted to help out. Her powers proved invaluable in moving large hunks of the starcraft and uncovering smaller pieces lodged deep in the sand. Though every day Steven's Metal Mutt would locate a stray fragment buried somewhere along the beach. Lapis wouldn't be surprised if that went on till the end of time.

Or at least until Steven got bored, though that was even more unlikely; the kid never ran out of energy.

"Lapis! Lapis! I found another!" The slam of the screen door punctuated Steven's return.

The Gem in question looked up from her folded hands. Steven hopped up the sofa and plopped down on the cushion beside her; he was breathless, he was sweaty, and the flush in his cheeks was ten shades of adorable. "Look! Metal Mutt found another!" The something he held was shoved into Lapis's face before she could get a word in. "What do you think it is?" he asked.

"The Daily Question," as Lapis called it. Every day, when Steven would uncover another relic of the Metacarpus-class Frigate, he'd immediately come to her to clarify what it was. Of course Lapis knew next to nothing of the intricacies of modern-tech Homeworld had at its disposal; nine times out of ten, she had no idea what to make of the little baubles and burned trinkets Steven shoved into her lap.

Lapis found it somewhat irritating, but she didn't dare, not even for a second, think to snap at him. Steven didn't deserve that, not after being so good to her.

So aggravatingly good to her.

But she also thought it quite endearing in a way, as it reminded her that Steven was still excited about her being there. Yet on the fourth day, and the fourth time they went through this daily ritual, Lapis did feel the need to ask, "Why do you always come to me for this, Steven? I know just as little about modern Gem-tech as Pearl or anyone else."

And Steven, being himself, simply replied, "Because we're Beach Summer Fun Buddies!"

That didn't exactly answer her question, but the stars be damned if Lapis couldn't help but break into a big grin hearing that. Steven didn't need any other reason; he just enjoyed discovering new things and then sharing them with the people he loves.

Loves. Lapis's nonexistent heart both ached and swelled every time her mind wandered there. Why, why does this human child like me so much, after all the trouble I've caused?

One day, Lapis Lazuli would find the answer, and hopefully an idea of what she wanted out of life. But for now, Steven and his newest discovery.

Scrunching her face, Lapis gently plucked the piece of Peridot's frigate from his fingers. The neon-green was a telltale sign that this was a part of the hull, but a big bolt impaling the metal along its straight-edge border, adjacent to how the thing tapered into a dull point, clarified its significance. "I'd say, this was a section of plating that welded into the ship. It's a piece of the hull." Her eyes met Steven's, and she took his hand in her own, gently opening his fingers. Lapis smiled as she pushed the piece into his palm. "It made the ship's cool armor plating," she whispered, like telling a secret, "which protected the vessel from your mother's Laser Light Cannons."

Lapis watched with mild amusement as Steven looked down at the piece in his tiny hand like he just uncovered gold. "Woah," he breathed. "I bet I could stop anything with this!"

Lapis laughed breezily. "I wouldn't test that out, if I were you."

"I can be super-strong, like Peridot!" Steven held the fragment over his head, triumphant. But after a moment of quiet he promptly brought it back down, a dejected look suddenly overtaking his face. "I bet Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst would want this," he muttered. "They've been collecting all the pieces of the hand-ship I find. They'd probably want this one too."

Well this is a conundrum, Lapis thought. And he looked so happy just a few seconds ago. That's so...unlike Steven. Granted, Lapis would be quick to admit that she did not know much about Steven Universe, the boy, as much as she did Steven Universe, the halfbreed, the human-Gem, the son of that pitying mutineer Rose Quartz.

Lapis suddenly felt tight in the chest, and before she could understand why she pushed such thoughts into a dark space in the back of her mind. From the corner of her eye, Steven was still looking down at the green shrapnel in his palm, as if considering himself whether or not he should give it up. Lapis withheld her thoughts from before, and dwelled on wanting to convince the boy to keep it, a secret between the two of them, but at the same time unsure if the Crystal Gems really wanted this piece of modern Gem-tech or not. And if it turned out they did, and they realized that Lapis had kept a secret from them...

"I'll be right back," Steven said, breaching her thoughts. "I'm gonna give this to Pearl."

Lapis opened her mouth to speak, though no words came; she considered one last time whether or not she should tell him to keep it.

"Okay!" Lapis blurted out suddenly; she somewhat recovered her awkwardness with a soft smile, which Steven reflected, though with a slight sadness clear on his face. As Steven hopped down and circled the sofa, the water Gem resumed gazing at her hands folded over her lap. An uncomfortable weight filled her stomach as she was left alone once more; she thought back to Steven, and how disheartened he became in just the span of a few seconds. And that look he gave her when he smiled, to Lapis it didn't look like he was upset about having to relinquish the piece, but something about him just looked...

Miserable? But why? Lapis shook such thoughts from her head, along with any relating to what could possibly be running through that child's mind. I've only known this boy for a total of a few Earth-days; that is a mere blink in the life of a Gem, a breath in the life of a human. Who am I to assume I know him as well as Pearl, or Garnet, or even Amethyst does? With that, her investment in the matter was expunged; if Steven was actually having problems, his Gem family would swoop in to help him in a heartbeat. I have no business in such...human matters. Lapis started wringing her fingers as she sat in quiet, gazing up at the portrait of a smiling, sleeping Rose Quartz hanging above the door.

Steven returned less than a minute later, somewhat breathless from his little jog. Just as Lapis thought, Steven's issues were minor and did not concern her, as he came back with a big, goofy Steven-smile on his face. "Hey Lapis! I'm back!" he sang.

Lapis couldn't even try to suppress the smirk she got from observing the child's limitless enthusiasm. "And so you are," she said. Then her voice took on a playful, inquisitive tone as she asked him, "But now, little one, the question stands: what are you to do now?"

"I dunnoooo," he began, holding a pause, "what do you want to do, Lapis? Or do you just want to be left alone for a bit?"

That second bit was in reference to Lapis's first days here, where she would tell Steven, gently of course, that she wished to be left in solitude, to collect her thoughts and meditate. Steven understood, though he still voiced his disappointment somewhat in the way he adopted a dejected look and shuffled away. Lapis felt sad, being the cause of the child's sullenness. To make up for it, Lapis has been humoring Steven for the past couple days while at the same time getting to know what humans did for recreational activities.

She only got to really familiarize herself with one, but has been experimenting with it since. She found it to be quite the fascinating waste of time.

"What's this thing?" Lapis had asked the night Steven held it up for her to see. She slowly read aloud, "'The No Home Boys...On the Run?'"

"It's a book!" Steven's grin was ear-to-ear as he tapped the cover of this 'book.' "This is one of my favorites."

Lapis eyed the cover for a long time, at the lemon-yellow background and silhouettes of two humans jogging in perfect synchronization. Lapis couldn't help but grin at her own naivety. "I'm sorry Steven, but I really don't know what this 'book' is. Is it a weapon of some sort?" It looked blunt enough to act as a primitive fighting tool, but she had doubts about the effectiveness it would have in a battle against monsters like Jasper.

Steven shook his head. "No, no. Books are stories printed on pieces of paper for people to read," he explained.

"Oh, like legends and old tales?" Steven nodded. "We have those on Homeworld, but they're not presented in a way like this, these 'book' formats. We project stories from our gems." Lapis gestured an elbow to the large teardrop-shaped stone embedded in her back.

"Humans don't have gems," Steven admitted. "So we write down stories with a pen to project them, and use words instead of pictures, most of the time. They can be anything: true stories, adventures, mysteries...romances." He added the last one with an eyebrow-wiggle. "Authors, those are the creators by the way, they sometimes want to write a fun story, and others use their books to get people to think about life and meaning and all that stuff. I never understand those, but they're usually the ones that get noticed and awarded. I like the fun stories more."

He then proceeded to tell Lapis all about this "No Home Boys" tale, which was apparently a chronological series told across a span of several books (Lapis questioned why they all weren't included in a single book, which led to a rather convoluted discussion of how these different stories had to be separated so humans wouldn't be...overwhelmed by the size of the fable?) That's what Lapis supposed; she felt somewhat guilty tuning Steven out as he babbled on, never questioning why his friend was suddenly staring blankly at the space above his head. In the end, all he needed to do to make Lapis understand was show her how many of these "No Home Boys" adventures there were, and how absurdly large a single book would be if it held all of them.

Lapis found these books to be quite the peculiarity; the humans have many stories, but most of them are fake and only created to serve as some form of entertainment to indulge oneself in. Some bring forth new ideas to think about, according to Steven, but how a fabricated story could accomplish anything aside from a moment's distraction was something beyond Lapis's experience with the medium. On Homeworld they did indeed have stories, but these were tales of old that often regaled the creation of Gems and their culture, true stories and sometimes glorified ones of heroes and noteworthy Gems.

Lapis's favorite was always the tale of Lapis the Lazy, a lazuli who managed to defeat an entire fleet of space-faring reptilians by complete accident. The story goes that Lapis was deemed a terrible captain, even by her own crew; she was indecisive, uncaring, and generally a useless Gem. Thus, Homeworld gave her the rudimentary task of monitoring a small Cluster that was near-devoid of life. When her Emerald Galley entered the system, they were met head-on with a terrible enemy: a space fleet, large enough to vaporize a small moon and glass a life-bearing planet ten times over. They had dreadnoughts, fighters, destroyers and space stations galore, each housing at least a hundred thousand battle-bred lizardmen. All that, against her own little Emerald Galley. While her crew was frantic, saying their prayers and wishing loved ones and friends goodbye, Lapis slept the day away in her cot, apparently not even realizing they arrived at the Cluster. As the legend goes, when the last vessel in the fleet of a thousand reptile-manned dreadnoughts fell into place, the star in this Cluster suddenly exploded. The entire fleet was wiped out, and Lapis miraculously entered the Galaxy Warp just before the sun went out. It's often debated whether she knew the star would erupt, thus making it one of the greatest strategic moves in the history of Gem space-combat, or she simply entered the Galaxy Warp in just the right time because she forgot to turn her oven off back on Homeworld.

When Lapis recounted the tale to Steven, complete with a dramatization involving little hologram figures projected from her back, the boy applauded and laughed hard as he fell into his bed, then promptly asked her to tell another. Unable to resist his enthusiasm, Lapis relented, and went on to bedazzle him with legends in the like of the Crystal Dragon, the Orichalcum Trade, and the Battle of Brightwater. Morning reared its unexpected head at some point, and Lapis had on her hands a sleepy child about to collapse into a snore on her lap, and a somewhat annoyed Pearl glaring at her from the temple threshold (which Lapis was explicitly told by all three Gems not to near its perimeter or the warp pad's, lest there be severe consequences). Though Pearl's anger quickly dissipated when Lapis explained her reasons for unintentionally keeping Steven up, and in fact went on to give the water Gem some light praise for enthralling Steven with the more "wholesome and epic side of Gem culture." Lapis Lazuli felt her cheeks burn at the appraisal.

Thinking back on that night, and then looking down on Steven as he smiled at her, awaiting a reply, Lapis felt that same fiery burn make itself known. "How about you read me some of that 'No Home Boys' story?"

Steven's eyes shone like two stars. "Yes," he whispered.

The two of them ascended the steps that led up to Steven's bedroom, which offered a view his entire home down below. On the first night, the night Peridot's ship came to Earth, Lapis voiced her concern for the lack of a guardrail or protection along the ledge, should Steven tumble over; the Gem surprised herself when she felt her belly actually tighten at the thought of such a thing.

However, Steven only waved it off and assured her that Garnet would always be there to catch him if he fell. That didn't ease Lapis's worries in the slightest, but she felt it wasn't her place to press the issue. Though she always made sure to keep an eye on Steven whenever he came within three feet of that damned ledge.

Since that first night, Steven's bedroom had turned to "Steven and Lapis's bedroom," at least in the boy's mind. They didn't have a second bed to set up for her, so the Crystal Gems lugged out a deep-blue hammock from Amethyst's quarters to sleep in. They hung it from the ceiling, beside the window overlooking the beach that stretched for miles into a distant haze, flanked on its left side by the ocean and the right by Beach City. Lapis Lazuli experienced a rare but familiar sense of comfort being within spotting distance of her element. The hammock itself was also quite comfortable to lay in, as it closed around her like a cocoon. Over off to the side and pushed against the wall was a large human device Steven had named "the teevee." At some point over the last few days, Lapis didn't remember specifically when, he apologized for its inactivity, as he was apparently "grounded" from using it. Whatever any of that meant, Lapis was unsure if she even cared enough to seek clarification, and never dwelled on the matter.

Steven had urged Lapis up and down to give sleeping a try, another "human" experience he thought she would enjoy. He was backed by Amethyst, who described the experience as "shutting your body down, turning your gem off, and letting the whole world vanish around you."

Lapis's heart still did a backflip as those words echoed in her mind. "This is supposed to be relaxing?" she had asked, remembering the long, cold centuries trapped in her mirror, alone.

Isolated.

Seven days, and Lapis has yet to give the activity a shake, thus throwing it into the same pile as eating, touring Beach City, and "seeing a moovy." One of these days, Lapis thought, she would experience all these humans and familiarize herself with their culture, experience it in the way Amethyst already has. Maybe.

Probably.

But first I need the motivation, the drive to do so. Lapis Lazuli sighed a little as she paced up the stairs, skipping over one at a time.

When they reached the top, Lapis eased herself into her hammock and rested her hands over her stomach as Steven skipped over to his bookshelf and took out a familiar novella with a yellow cover. As soon as he plopped himself down and started reading aloud, Lapis found her mind wandering to thoughts of home, or what was home, or what was now home. Did such a thing even exist for a Gem gone adrift? For a relic from a war no one on Homeworld remembers from five-thousand years ago?

These were the questions that ate Lapis Lazuli. The ones that, as the human phrase Garnet had told her in passing goes, kept her up at night. Lapis did a lot of thinking: when she was alone, she thought. When she was "asleep," she thought. When she was playing a board game or reading a story with Steven, she thought.

She thought.

And thought.

What irritated Lapis to no end was the pointlessness of it all; since the whole Jasper fiasco, all Lapis had done was think, and nothing has yet to come of it. All of her thinking and she gained no insight on her situation, at least nothing that separated how she felt on the night the ship crashed to right now, a week later. The time she spent between the "then" and "now" and all Lapis had accomplished was wasting it doing absolutely nothing.

No, I've been a friend to Steven, she quickly told herself. And that counts as something worthwhile, right? By instinct, Lapis's eyes drifted over to Steven; he was still reading, totally engrossed in the story as he made little hand gestures with one hand while still holding the book in the other. Lapis felt guilty for thinking this way, to be so petty and low, but it didn't even come within a light-year of the disgust she felt with her inability to answer that question. Lapis considered speaking to one of the Crystal Gems about her inner-crisis, maybe Garnet or even Pearl, but...

...they're Crystal Gems.

And Steven was but a boy, a child. So Lapis had no one to talk to, nothing to fill that cavernous space hollowing her insides. It ultimately left the Gem disquieted and somewhat bitter. Lapis scowled and snuggled deeper into her hammock, listening to the boy change his voice to a deeper tone to match that of the characters. The Gem smiled a little, hearing him tell of the No Home Boys (which was apparently not the characters' names, but Lapis insisted on calling them that) fleeing from a squad of lawmen on horseback after stealing a cartload of cheese. He is a delight, Lapis mused, reveling in the slight comfort that brought her.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed when a wet "thunk" made Lapis's heart jump. "What was that?" she whispered, sitting up.

She looked over to Steven, who was sitting up himself and appearing just as puzzled; the lights were out, but the boy was still reading, his thumb wedged between two halves of the novel, one slightly thicker than the other. "I dunno," he said.

Thunk!

Steven and Lapis followed its source to the window, where a slimy triangle-shaped item with red spots oozed down the glass, leaving a ruddy trail behind.

Lapis felt her skin crawl. "What is that?" she whispered.

Steven sounded as mystified as he looked. "It's...pizza. Food." He crawled further down his bed, reaching the end, and brought his gaze up to the dark nighttime sky. "But there are no pizza clouds..."

"It rains food on this planet?"

Lapis would have to get an answer later, as Steven turned heel and ran across his bedroom, down the staircase into the living room. "I'll be right back, Lapis!" he called back, quickly followed by the screen door slamming shut.

Alone in the dark, Lapis sat in her hammock and went back to thinking about nothing. Steven returned less than a minute later. "Hey, Lapis!" he called from his porch, sounding quite distant. "I'm gonna go out for a night drive with some friends! You wanna join us?"

Spending time with a bunch of humans she didn't know? Lapis gave it less than a second of thought. "No, I'm good Steven! Thank you."

"Alright, see ya later!"

Lapis continued gazing down the staircase until she remembered that Steven won't be back for a while. A night to myself, I suppose.

She lied back into her hammock, lacing her fingers over her belly, and sighed. As she stared into the dark ceiling above, her mind couldn't help but wander back to Steven. His efforts to integrate Lapis into human culture were obvious, given how many times he offered her to join him in an expedition into Beach City. Despite the water Gem saying that that's what she intended to do, for whatever reason Lapis has yet to drive herself to actually doing it. Most days she sat on the beach, playing with the water as it lapped in and out, soaking her heels, her calves. The more Lapis thought about it, the more annoyed she felt with shirking her vows; just why couldn't she do it? What was so hard about just stepping outside and seeing a few people?

The answer, as always, was as much a mystery as the future of her life. Is this going to become a running theme, not knowing what's wrong with myself? Lapis would have spent the rest of the night brooding on the futility of everything, but, well, it would have been pointless.

Lapis felt the Earth's nighttime was quiet, inactive, as all humans had to sleep. Yet, she quickly grew accustomed to the soft breathing of Steven just a few feet away. Lacking that on this night, Lapis felt fairly uncomfortable lying in the dark with hardly a sound but the occasional creak of the house settling. She hugged herself, for what little comfort that yielded.

When an unfamiliar sound, the heavy groan of the temple doors sliding open, pierced the silence, Lapis was on her feet and staring over the ledge before she even realized her breast was heaving with big, heavy breaths.

The Crystal Gems were standing on the warp pad, though prismatic light has yet to apparate them to their destination; all their eyes were on Lapis.

"Is everything okay?" Pearl asked, sounding more puzzled than concerned.

Lapis stood there, peering over the ledge. Her throat tightened. I have no idea, her thoughts told her. Lapis was suddenly overwhelmed with the fear of wasting the Gems' time, or, even worse, looking like a complete fool. So she blurted out the first thing that came to mind, though managed to keep her inside-voice in control. "What are you doing?"

She mentally berated herself for asking such a blunt, nosy question. Though the Crystal Gems seemed to pay it no mind, as Garnet answered, "A signal flare has been fired several miles northwest from here. We think it's Peridot."

Lapis's throat became dry; the technician Gem who kept her prisoner aboard that starship, carting her halfway across the known galaxy as an unwilling accomplice had revealed her location just like that? What madness possessed her to act so foolish? A small part of Lapis, the calm serene of still water, knew that Peridot never acted out of malice, not like Jasper did; she was merely following orders like a good Gem of Homeworld was wont to do. But the louder part of Lapis, the part with waves crashing and smashing into a rocky bay, screamed at her the technology-ruled home she came back to, where all of its waters now flowed through pipes and the metal beneath her bare feet felt like walking on death instead of dirt. That was Homeworld; that was Peridot; that was her fourth prison. Or was it the fifth?

Then a third part, the smallest, quietest piece of Lapis Lazuli, reminded her that Peridot, whose tears of hurt and betrayal, inadvertently saved the water Gem and Steven from Jasper's wrath.

Lapis clenched her fists and furrowed her brow. "Let me come with you." The Crystal Gems looked to one another, uncertain; or rather just Pearl and Amethyst, as Garnet continued to stare down Lapis, her expression nigh indiscernible. Quickly she began to feel a sense of awkwardness between them, and failed to suppress a blush from ravaging her face. Her cheeks felt like they could boil water, they were so hot.

She was ready to change her mind when Garnet suddenly said, "Alright, Lapis. You can come."

The two Gems on either side of her jumped. "But Garnet...!" Pearl whined.

"Doesn't this look a little fishy?" Amethyst folded her arms, shooting Lapis a skeptical look. "Why does she want to suddenly join us on this mission?"

"Yes!" Pearl nodded in agreement. "What if she intends to help Peridot, or..."

Garnet spoke before she could continue. "There will be no harm in bringing her," she stated firmly. Lapis, for a brief moment, found her choice of words peculiar. "Besides," she continued, "if this is Peridot, we can't risk her escaping."

Pearl was adamant, folding her arms and shifting glares between Garnet and Lapis Lazuli. She understood her worries, and truth be told Lapis had no idea how she foresaw her confrontation with Peridot, assuming this was really her; but in no dimension did she see herself helping that technophile escape, if that was what Pearl worried about.

Garnet looked to Amethyst, who just shrugged and said, "Whatever you say, boss."

Finding herself outnumbered, Pearl sighed in defeat with her shoulders slumping. "Oh, very well. Lapis, could you let Steven know you're going so he doesn't worry?"

"It'll just be a quick in-and-out," Garnet told her. "We shouldn't be long."

"Well, I just want to make sure. Could you, Lapis?"

Lapis told them without missing a beat, "Steven went out with some friends. He left a while ago, I think."

When Pearls eyes widened, Lapis instantly regretted telling her. "At this hour!?" she gasped. "Oh, I am giving him a piece of my mind when he gets home..."

Guilt overtook Lapis. Her hand moved to clutch her arm. "I-I'm sorry," she said, "I remember he told me that nighttime was for sleeping, but I didn't think that at the time."

"It doesn't matter right now," Garnet said, a little forcefully. "Gems, let's move."

Lapis nodded, though inside she felt somewhat take aback by Garnet's bluntness. Without hesitation, she jumped from the ledge and landed on the warp pad beside Amethyst, blue skirts floating around her knees.

I'm surprised and also not that this got quite noticed; you guys just love your shipping! Speaking of which, I know I said last chapter the ball will get rolling in the next (this) chapter, but that was before I realized this thing was 5,000 words long. So seriously expect that ball in the next chapter.

I have to say, one of the unexpected joys of creating this story is writing Steven. I have no idea what it is, but I'm having a freaking blast writing this little guy. It's just so...nice, just having this fun, sweet little kid being amazing and caring for his friend. Expect loads more friendshipping between Steven and our two new Gems.

And now, of course, review responses, because interacting with the readers is a virtue:

SpectralDreamer - Oh yeah, I'm just having loads of fun writing this. I'm so used to writing just dark and depressing stuff, it's refreshing and pleasant just to write something fun and light (though, mind you, there will of course be drama; this is a redemption story after all, and like Garnet said: "Love takes WORK." And trust me, I know that's the truth).

Solora Goldsun - Welcome aboard to the S.S. Lapidot! I try to keep everyone in character, and I hope Lapis can maintain her awesomeness throughout the story. And you're on the right track; Peridot's disposition with the higher-ups will play a huge role into the story.

F-ckthesystem125 - Ain't nothing can stop the Steven! He's just a big ol' ball of fun. But yeah, Jasper had some serious karma there.

winggirl6577 - Yeah, I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I like to think the tears thing was a rather nice stroke of genius on my part. I'm happy with Lapis's scene with Garnet and how it turned out; I hope to continue in doing her justice throughout the story.

Smashingcrosses - That's my aim alright! Let's work to make this an incredible little fic.

tyron15 - That's what I'm hoping; I do not plan on abandoning this project, sincerely. This is something that I want readers to enjoy, something that's genuinely good, or at least heartfelt and likable.

spiderwilliam13 - I don't know what these expectations are! But, whatever they may be, I hope to fulfill them.

MasterRye18 - Hop aboard, enjoy the ride, friend!

EpicFlight13 - I was afraid the description was a little too hammy (I still think it is to be honest haha). But, if it attracts readers, then it did its job!

ABirdWhoSquawks - Yeah, I figured some people might not have caught what was happening there.

JokerCarnage5 - I like to think that I am, friend! First you gotta get something officially published; THEN that proves if you're really talented or not.

SecretWish - Not sure what you mean by realistic (character interactions/reactions; genuine realism) but I'll take it!

No1fan15 - A smoothly-flowing story is my secondary focus, right after the characters. Hope I can keep both going strong!

Thank you everybody who read, reviewed, and favorited and followed! I really hope this is a project I'll see to its end and continues to deliver on your expectations.