Hello. So, this is basically a Momswap version of Steven Universe, with Peridot, Jasper and Lapis, replacing Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst as Steven's caretakers. I know this is popular AU for people to use, but this is mostly for a bit of fun, and to let me explore something a little different with my writing, so I hope you enjoy.

This won't be a cohesive story. Just random one shots of certain episodes that I choose to adapt

Please note, I "may" take suggestions from people depending on what they are. I certainly won't be doing any episode that doesn't involve the Crystal Gems in a significant way, otherwise it would just be redundant. But if you have any ideas and would like to let me know, please leave the m in a review

Anywho, on to the chapter

It was an exceptionally cold blizzard passing through Beach City that winter. A blizzard like this was such a rare phenomenon to occur in this particularly small part of the world, that it wouldn't happen again for about another fourteen years.

The blizzard had brought so much snow and ice, that was no longer viable for Greg Universe and his infant son Steven to spend the rest of winter living in the Greg's van, least not without dying of frostbite. Luckily, his good friend and occasional material figure, Vidalia allowed them to live in her house while she was away.

After an already strenuous day, Greg was taking the opportunity to catch up on some sleep, snoozing away on Vidalia's couch. In his arms was a baby Steven, snuggly bundled up in his blanket. Suddenly, Steven began to fidget from underneath his blanket, waking Greg up.

"Hey, Shtoo-ball" he said, still sounding a bit tired, but not the least bit upset at having his moment of rest disturbed. "What are you doing, all dancing in there? You wanna get out there and show me your moves?"

Greg lightly tickled Steven with his index and blew raspberries into his stomach in an effort to settle his son. Steven remained restless however, pulling his arms out from his blankets, revealing his exposed chest, as well as the pink gem stone that was in the place of his belly button

"Hey now" Greg said. "You unbuttoned all your buttons I buttoned up"

Greg lay the restless Steven down on the couch and began to refasten the buttons on his pajamas, but no sooner had he finished, did Steven pulled them open once again.

"Does your gem need to breath?" Greg said, staring the pink coloured stone, which momentarily appeared to shimmer under the light. He hadn't the foggiest idea what the significance of Steven's gem was, and he knew for a fact that he probably never would. He knew other people would probably be casting Steven inquisitive looks for the rest of his life if they ever saw a gemstone embedded into his belly

Anyone who did see it just assumed it that it must have been some kind of odd accessory and they seemed to call Greg's parental skills into question as to why he would allow such a thing to be placed on his child's body. Then again, Greg's self-esteem regarding his parenting skills wasn't that high to begin with.

But Greg didn't really care what Steven's gem meant to other people. He only cared what it meant to himself and what he hoped it would mean to Steven someday. A precious keepsake of Steven's mother, Rose Quartz. It was the only thing he had of Rose that he could give Steven.

"Hmm, how about this?" Greg closed the buttons once again but this time, left the lowers open so that Steven's gem could remained exposed in a diamond shaped patch of skin. Steven smiled contently, clearly happy with this compromise.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Leaving Steven alone on the couch, Greg got to his feet and opened the door.

"Oh, um, hey, y'all" he said, somewhat surprised. Standing on the front porch of Vidalia's house, unperturbed the blistering cold of the blizzard, was Rose Quartz three closest companions, the Crystal Gems….

…..Just not the ones you were expecting

In the middle of the trio, standing opposite Greg at the roughly equal height, was the green skinned Peridot, smiling with great enthusiasm and holding careful wrapped present between her metal, cylinder shaped fingers.

To her right was the hulking, orange figure of Jasper, carrying a much larger box under one arm and appearing visibly disgruntled by the situation, an unpleasant scowl spread across her face.

And to the left was the blue, in this case both literally and metaphorically, Lapis Lazuli; her eyes were cast downwards, her expression a mix between sadness and apathy. In her arms, she was clutching a small parcel close to her chest.

"Ta-da!" Peridot whispered, presenting her gift to Greg.

"Hello, Greg" Jasper greeted as courteous as she could, though her voice sounded as delicate as a jackhammer on granite. "We're here with some gifts for the…..puny Rose thing"

"Really, Jasper?" Peridot said in a condescending tone of voice, turning to face her fellow Crystal Gem. "How many times must we go over this? It's not Rose. It's a Gem-Human hybrid mutant aberration that defies all known laws of Gemetics and science"

"Did you really need to mention that part?" Greg had paused in the middle of his story, guitar still strummed in his hands, when Peridot had decided to interject with a specific recollection of her own words.

Peridot, now lacking her limp enhancers, was sitting crossed legged in the middle of the floor, in front of the couch where Greg was laying. Sitting on the floor beside the couch was Lapis, curled up next to Steven, who had been listening intently to Greg's story. On the other side of the room, Jasper was laying on her side, her head resting on one arm, facing the fire, eating away at a large bag of mushrooms.

Glancing around the room, Peridot crossed her arms unabashedly. "I'm helping to establish con-text".

Steven turned to his father with a helpless smile and just shrugged, knowing from experience that there was nothing else to be said whenever Peridot spoke her mind. Greg smiled back at him and continued his story.

"Can I get you guys anything?" Greg offered the Gems as they entered Vidalia's house. "We've got some water, old plates. Um, how about some tea?"

Lapis, who was the last Gem to enter the room, briefly glanced over to Greg and then back down to the floor.

"No" she said, her voice barely audible and sounded as though it was a strain for her to even speak. "We're just here to leave these gifts"

Jasper sat down on the couch, next to the baby Steven. She eyed him strangely, as though she was unsure of what to make of him, but on the whole, she looked as if she found him rather unimpressive.

Peridot, who had been sure to remain hidden behind Greg as they came in, quickly scurried over to the opposite end of the couch and crouched down behind arm rest, peering at Steven over the edge with great intent, while keeping herself at a cautionary distance.

Lapis silently walked over to the coffee table and simply dropped down to the floor in front of it, keeping her back everyone else. From his spot on the couch, Steven stared at the blue gem on Lapis back, transfixed by it.

"Here" Jasper said, handing Greg her gift first; a large square box, decorated with an oversized pink ribbon. Greg happily accepted Jasper's gift and began to tear off the wrapping paper.

To his credit, he wasn't exactly sure what to be expecting, but it still came as a surprise for him when found that, underneath the paper, was a nothing but a large, blank, cardboard box. Confused, he opened the lid of the box, but saw that it completely empty.

"This is…just a box?" he said to Jasper

"Yeah and I gift wrapped it for you" Jasper said, crossing her arms and giving a nonchalant shrug in response. "That's how you know it's a gift, right?"

"But there's nothing inside" Greg replied.

Jasper blinked, looking genuinely confused for a moment. "Was there supposed to be?" she asked.

"You know what, it's fine" Greg said, with a positive smile. "We can always use a spare box"

"Open mine next!" Peridot said excitedly, thrusting her gift in front of Greg. She was literally twitching with giddy anticipation as she watched him unwrap it.

"Oh, sweet!" Greg said, this time clearly pleased by what he had found; an expensive looking video camcorder. "A new video camera. This is actually a pretty cool thing to have for a baby"

"Well, of course" Peridot said, unwilling, though more accurately unable to hide her smugness. "This primitive data capture device should suit our research purposes quite sufficiently"

"Research purposes?" Greg said, confused.

"We're dealing with the first Gem hybrid in existence. It's a specimen that will require years of careful study and observation before we can understand all its functional capabilities".

Peridot raised her right hand; four of her metal fingers levitated in the air, lining up as a square. A translucent, green hologram materialised in the middle of the square and expanded out into the shape of an octagonal computer screen, displaying incomprehensible sequences of data and numbers.

"Now, I've taken the liberty of scheduling a series of periodical conference sessions once ever 30th Earth rotation, over the next twenty years, where we can meet to evaluate your progress and collect your findings" Peridot said, using the remaining digit on her right arm to navigate across her screen.

"Um, yeah, I'll be sure to squeeze something in my calendar" Greg replied dryly.

"So, tell me, have you determined how much it weighs? What is its main source of fuel? Has it demonstrated any combat capabilities? Is it silicon or carbon based?"

Peridot was darting around Steven as she asked each of her questions, trying to look at him from every possible angle she could, as through hoping to unlock mysteries of the small being.

"Ok, let's see". Greg raised his hand and began counting off his fingers. "About one loaf of bread, 3 bottles of warm milk a day, I think he manged to fight off a paper bag once. And I'm pretty sure he's a Leo"

"Excellent" Peridot said, jotting down every word onto her screen. "Updating catalogue for Earth Specimen #374-RXG"

Greg chuckled. "Um, you know he's name is Steven, right? That's the name Rose and I liked the most". He smiled fondly as he remembered the lengthy conversation he had with Rose as to what they should name their child.

"I would have thought of a superior classification" Peridot said, snobbishly. "You should have consulted me"

"Uh, Lapis didn't you have a gift, too?" Greg asked, hoping to change the subject.

Without making a sound or turning to look at Greg, Lapis stretched out her arm to hand him her gift. As soon as he took it from her, Lapis put her arms around her legs, resting her chin down on her knees and staring off into the far wall. As with the other presents, Greg undid the wrapping, this time to reveal a medium sized book. On the cover of it, was a smiling girl, with huge, glistening eyes and bright pink hair.

"Pretty Hairstylist?" Greg said, recognising the popular Japanese comic.

"It's the newest volume" Lapis said quietly. "It came out not long after Rose…". Lapis briefly trailed off, before clearing her throat. "Well, I thought Steven might enjoy it too"

"Uh, thanks Lapis, but Steven can't really read yet" Greg said

"Oh…." If Lapis was disappointed, it was impossible to tell, as she appeared just as unenthusiastic as ever. She might have been sinking deeper into the floor.

"But I promise I'll read it to him all the time" Greg continued, with an understanding smile, through Lapis didn't appear to notice. "Look, thanks for all these gifts. I really appreciate the effort you guys made, but Steven is really too young for most of this kind of stuff. Nowadays, he's really into this."

Greg pulled out the keys to his van from his pocket and started dangling them in front of Steven. As soon as he saw the keys appear, Steven giggled with delight and lifted his hands in the air.

"Carabiner! Carabiner!" Greg sang, causing Steven to laugh even louder, enjoying the performance, no doubt from previous experience.

"What's so special about this thing?" Without asking, Jasper unceremoniously plucked the keys out of Greg's tiny hands and examined them under the light, as if trying to understand the appeal for herself.

Steven turned his attention Jasper and continued to laugh as she rattled the key between her fingers. Jasper then noticed that Steven's eyes were now on her, his tiny hands reaching up for the keys.

Surprised, she slowly lowered the keys down to Steven's level, close enough for him to reach. Steven made a vague attempt to grab the keys, before Jasper pulled them out of his reach. Jasper lowered the keys a second time and repeated the process.

After baiting Steven a few more times with the keys, Jasper's grimace broke and she let out a gruff, almost cruel sounding laugh.

"Look at him. He can't even reach it!" she said, with a humorous sense of incredulity, as she continued to dangle the keys above his head, although her amusement seemed to be border lining on actual mockery. Steven on the other hand, merely clapped his hands together, obviously enjoying the game that they were playing.

Jasper laughed again. "How's he supposed grab anything with those stubby little arms of his? I bet he can't even crush rock with those things!"

"Ooooohhhh!" Peridot dropped to her knees, her eyes sparkling like stars as she started gushing excitedly over Steven from the edge of the couch.

"Fascinating. It appears to be drawn to noises created by metallic prolusion system activators. Quick, quick, quick, Jasper, continue the display. Greg, don't just stand there, get the camera!" she snapped frantically at him.

While everyone else in the room was busy with Steven, Lapis remined just as detached from the excitement as ever, staring off into the far wall with a vacant expression. But after a while, Lapis finally turned away from the wall and glanced at Steven from over her shoulder, taking a proper look at him for the first time since they had arrived.

Steven laughed even louder, loving the attention he was receiving. Then, out of nowhere, a bright pink, light emitted from the gem on his stomach, startling everyone, human and Gem, that was in the room.

"What's happening to him?" Greg asked, once the light had dissipated, his concern paramount.

"That's Rose…" Lapis whispered.

"Is that even possible?" Peridot said.

"Is he gonna turn into a laser?" Greg exclaimed.

"That must be Rose" Jasper said, in amazement. "She must be trying to shapeshift back into her regular form"

"What?" Greg cried.

"She's not shapeshifting!" Lapis exclaimed, her voice now raising with anxiety and fear. "She's trapped in a baby!"

"Trapped in a baby?!" Greg repeated, his voice on the edge of hysterical.

Lapis climbed over the coffee table, practically knocking Peridot out of her way in the process and spoke directly into Steven's gem. "Rose! Rose can you hear. How do we get you out!? Jasper, Peridot, quick, do something!"

"Will all of you stop panicking?!" Peridot shrieked. "We, but more importantly I, need to assess the situation".

Before anything else could happen, Peridot reformed her finger screen once again. Taking a brief moment to compose herself, she cleared her throat and spoke directly into the screen which began to record.

"Peridot, log date, 5-7-2. This is even more remarkable than originally anticipated. It appears that Earth Specimen #374-RXG, or Steven, as Greg chooses to refer to him, may in fact be some sort of abnormal fusion between Rose and whatever part of Greg that was deemed the most useful. Just now, a luminescent glow emanated from Rose's gem. Unfortunately, this event was not properly documented for later study, as Greg failed in his duties to retrieve the camera. I'll have to re-access his competency as assistant researcher on this project at a later point. Peridot, facet 5".

Finishing her log date with a satisfied smile, Peridot's finger retuned back into the form of a hand and she let out a deep sigh of content, feeling far more relaxed now that she had gotten that off her chest.

Greg, Lapis and Jasper stared blankly at Peridot, unable to formulate any kind of reaction to what just happened. After a prolonged moment of awkward silence, they collectively chose to ignore Peridot's interruption and turned their attention back to the matter at hand.

"Look, something's definitely happening to Steven" Greg said. "What can I do to help?"

"Well, what do you do with a human baby that glows?" Peridot asked casually, a question that sounded far simpler in her own mind.

"First off, human babies don't glow" Greg replied quiet calmly. "And letter number B... what if they do?! Okay. Vidalia has some books on babies I've been reading. They'll help us figure something out".

Greg exited the living room and entered the hallway leading to Vidalia's kitchen. He opened up the top shelf and pulled out one of the baby books he had been reading whenever he had the time

"Calm down" Greg said to himself, trying to maintain a level head, as he made his way back to the living room. "You got this. Guys, if this is anything like a fever, then we should... uh... Guys?"

Greg looked up from the book and found he had returned to a now empty living, seeing no trace whatsoever of Peridot, Jasper, Lapis or more pressingly, his infantile son. And the front door was wide open…..

"You guys kidnapped me?!" Steven exclaimed, pausing the story for a moment in to comprehend his own shock.

"At the time, it seemed the most… practical course of action, given the circumstance" Peridot said, guardedly.

"We…. kind of panicked" Lapis admitted, blushing sheepishly.

"I'm not sorry" Jasper said bluntly, stuffing a handful of marshmallows into her mouth

"Steven! My van! Give me back my babies!"

"Greg looks pretty upset" Lapis said, who was in the driver's seat, glancing in the side mirror to see Greg running out of the house and beginning to chase after them in the snow

"Don't worry. We'll make sure no harm comes to his mobile living quarters" Peridot said, evidently not understanding the cause of Greg's concern.

"This is officially too serious of a problem to trust Greg to deal with" Jasper said, standing up in the back of the van, holding baby Steven in one hand. "We need to take control of this situation before it escalates".

"For once, I couldn't agree more with you Jasper" Peridot replied happily. "I'm sure Greg will understand in time that this is for the best".

Peridot climbed into the back of the van, standing before Jasper and Steven. She took the moment to study Steven, rubbing her chin in a pensive manner.

"Now clearly, the root of this problem is that we simply don't have enough data on how to approach it" she said. "Therefore, the logical solution is to just learn more about we're dealing with". Peridot let out a smug, confident smile. "Luckily, I'm already an expert on Gem creation. And I'm sure I can easily figure out how human babies are supposed to function"

Still smiling, Peridot calmly took Steven out of Jasper's hand and lowered herself into a sitting position on the floor of the van, setting Steven down her lap. Holding by the waist with one hand, she raised up her other hand and re-activated her finger screen. Steven stared, hypnotised by the screen.

"Ok, Steven" Peridot said, her tone formal and business like. She brought her finger screen up to Steven's face, showing him the images. "To begin, I'll show you a series of images that will test the upper limits of your cognitive abilities. After that we can focus on testing your reflects, followed by-"

Peridot was suddenly interrupted in the middle of her speech, when she noticed Steven starting to smash his hand against the screen, giggling happily at the beeping sounds it was making.

Blinking in surprise, Peridot cleared her throat and pulled Steven's hands away from her screen.

"Steven, please, let's be serious about this" she said, calmly. Using her remaining single digit, she slid it across the screen, changing the display. "Now, we know you possess an interest in sounds made by keys, so let's determine why that particular frequency resonates with-"

Before Peridot could finish, Steven's hand reached up to the screen again and slide it back across, making him laugh joyously at the fact he could repeat what Peridot had done.

"Steven, please stop that". Peridot sighed, beginning to get impatience due to her lack of progress. "I'm trying to analyse how you work. Now if you just take a look at the screen and-No, don't touch that! "

Once the screen was close enough, Steven reached out again and pressed one of the icons with the tip of his finger, which opened up a different display. Steven continued to press new icons as they appeared at random navigating the screen away from the original page Peridot had set it to, despite her continued protests.

"How can you operate this interface so effectively?" she groaned loudly, manoeuvring the screen away from him. "Now, I need to fix this"

She momentarily let go of Steven so that she could use her left hand to re-adjust the screen display, but once the van hit a small bump, she let out a panicked yelp just as Steven was about to fall off her lap and onto to floor, quickly grabbing hold of him once more. Steven laughed again, having enjoyed the sensation of almost falling, remaining oblivious to the risk of injury.

"I fail to see what's so amusing about this" Peridot said, only becoming more indignant at Steven's laughter. "You are being extremely inconvenient while I am trying to do something important"

Becoming increasingly flustered, Peridot tried keep hold of Steven with her free arm, while also trying to bring up her screen again, but before it could fully form, Steven a grabbed a hold of one of her magnetic finger and began to shake it around like a rattle.

"No, Steven, let go of that!" she said. "That isn't a toy. Let go!" Peridot tried to pull the finger out of Steven's tiny hands, yet he somehow was able to keep hold of it, resolutely not letting it go.

"How can anyone possibly get anything done with one of these things around them? They're such…distracting little…clods!"

Rather than get upset, Steven cooed even happier at the sound of the word clod. Growling in annoyance, Peridot resumed her tug of war with Steven over her magnetic finger

Watching all this from the other side of the van, Jasper slapped her hand up to her face and dragged it down over her eyes, letting out an exasperated groan.

"Stop wasting time with this!" she yelled at Peridot. Jasper reached down and plucked Steven away from her. With just two fingers, she took hold of the magnetic finger and easily pulled out of Steven's grasp, flicking it back over to Peridot. The finger zoomed back on to her hand without instruction.

"I know what the problem and I know how to fix it". Holding Steven up to her face, Jasper stared directly into his eyes.

"Alright, Rose" she said. "I saw that glow. All you have to do, is shapeshift back to your old form. Come on, I know you can do it. You, of all Gems, should be able to do this. You really gonna just stay like that forever?" Jasper let out a cocky grin and adopted a more taunting tone. "What's the matter, lost your edge, huh? Is the mighty Rose Quartz too scared to shapeshift? I could shapeshift all day if I wanted to"

Peridot rolled her eyes, while letting out a derisively scoff, unimpressed by Jasper's ploy to try and coax Rose out, but then, a very devilish thought crossed her mind.

"Perhaps, Jasper" she said, a sly grin on her face. "If you demonstrated that you possess the ability to shapeshift into a baby, it might help to prompt Rose in accepting your challenge of shapeshifting back to normal? That is if you're not too afraid to try and shapeshift into a baby?"

Jasper dropped her smirk and turned to face Peridot with a stunned expression, as she considered the implications of her suggestion. She glanced back to the baby in her hands, and over to the smirking Peridot. For a moment, she seemed to be intimated by the prospect of having to shapeshift into a baby, or at the very least, reluctant to try. But knowing that her own pride was now on the line, Jasper realised she had no choice but to follow through on her challenge.

"Uh, okay" she said, doing her best to hide even a trace of hesitation. Handing Steven back over to Peridot, Jasper stood up. Closing her eyes and concentrating, her entire body turned in a bright white light, and then shrunk down into the form of tiny, orange baby, complete with a pacifier and a diaper.

Peridot was able to contain herself for all of one second. "Wow, Jasper, you look so… cute! Ahaha!"

Peridot broke into a fit of uncontrollable giggles, rolling on to her back, the heels of her metal feet kicking the floor of the van. Baby Steven laughed alongside Peridot, no idea what was happening but infected by her excitement all the same.

While still as a baby, Jasper let out a fierce, inhuman growl that betrayed her innocent appearance. She quickly returned to her giant form and towered furiously over Peridot, who fell soon silent once she noticed Jasper glowering down at her.

Peridot gulped and let out a weak laugh, sweat forming on her brow. Still growling, Jasper threw her hand down at Peridot, causing her to instinctively flinch, expecting a severe sensation of pain to hit her. But when no blow came, Peridot opened her eyes and saw that Jasper had instead, picked Steven up once again.

"Enough is enough already, Rose" Jasper said, holding Steven back up to her face. "Whatever this is, whatever's happened to you, you can fight it. You can win! How could you possibly let yourself be beaten by this…this little…."

Steven gurgled loudly and patted Jasper's orange gem that was in place of her nose, mesmerised by how pretty it looked.

Jasper let out a furious yell, finally giving into her frustration. "I don't get this at all! Rose Quartz was the greatest warrior I've ever known. The only Gem I ever acknowledged as superior to me. The Gem I'd gladly follow into battle. But this thing" she said, glaring at Steven, with what seemed closed to contempt. "It's so small and squishy and weak. It doesn't even know what's going on"

Bringing Steven up her eyes, she screamed at him, letting lose all her pent-up fury. "How can this pathetic little thing be all that's left of Rose Quartz?!"

There was a brief moment of ringing silence following Jasper's outburst. Then, Steven began to whimper, appearing upset since the first time the Gems had arrived to see him. It didn't long for his whimpering to translate to tears and then to full on sobbing.

Jasper recoiled from Steven as he began to cry, immediately regretting what she had done. Her anger was now gone and was replaced by uncharacteristic bout of terror, something Jasper was not used to. She held Steven out away from her body as he continued to sob loudly, fearing that she may have somehow broken him and clearly had no idea how to fix him.

"Jasper, look at what you've done! You made him cry!" Peridot chastised.

"Well, here, make him stop!" Jasper replied, desperately placing Steven back into her arms.

"What I'm I supposed to do about it?!" Peridot said, raising her voice over Steven's wailing.

"How should I know? You're the expert on human babies!"

"No, I was said it would be easy to figure out. And I obviously overestimated my abilities!"

And it was at that point, that Lapis decided she had enough.

Slamming her foot on the break, the van came to an abrupt stop, pulling into the side of the road. Both Peridot and Jasper ceased their arguing when they realised they had stopped moving, though Steven continued to cry. They turned to face the driver's seat, as Lapis undid her seat belt.

The next they knew, two giant palms of water grabbed them by their respective heads and separated them from each other, pushing their bodies against either side of the van before they even had a chance to react.

Steven, who was still secured in Peridot's arms, ceased his crying and began to giggle happily at the sight of both her and Jasper, their faces now comically enlarged by the water

Not a saying a single word, Lapis took Steven from Peridot and then kneeled down on the floor of the van, carefully cradling Steven in her arms. He turned his face up to Lapis and stared at her with a child's curiosity and wonder, unable to comprehend the depths of sadness etched across her face.

"Rose, please" she said, her voice practically trembling with emotion. "Talk to me. Let me hear your voice again. You have to still be in there. I can still see you. Why can't you come out? Why can't you at least let us know that you're ok? Why can't-". Lapis suddenly choked up, tears beginning to form in her eyes. She covered her mouth with her hand, stifling a quiet sob

"Why can't…. you let me help you…. the way you helped me?"

The water holding Jasper and Peridot in place dissolved, Lapis no longer able to maintain control, and splashed to the floor of the van. Freed, Jasper and Peridot now stood opposite the weeping Lapis and the infant Steven.

Shocked by Lapis' breakdown, they turned to face other; Peridot was biting down on her fingers with a heartbroken expression, while Jasper hung her head down low, her tough exterior giving way to the shame she felt.

They had been trying to deal with this transition in their own way, but it was only now, did they realise how much they had been ignoring Lapis since Rose had left them, forgetting how painful all of this had been for her, the sum total of their guilt giving way to everything else they felt.

Nodding in agreement, they knew this wasn't time for them to keep bickering. They each moved to either side of Lapis and sat down, listening to her as she continued to cry. After a while, Jasper put a firm hand on her shoulder, to help comfort her. Lapis looked up at Jasper in surprise and the over to Peridot, who gave her a small, timid smile in response. Lapis let out a deep sigh. Though it went unspoken, she would always be deniably grateful for their companionship.

"Every time I look at her" she said, lightly tracing her hand over Steven's gem. "Every time I see her gem, all I keep thinking is that she's trapped. That's she locked away somewhere she can't be free. Like's she begging to be released. And that I should be the one trying to save her this time"

Lapis moved her hand up from the gem and onto to the top of Steven's head, resting it on his bushel of black hair.

"Lapis," Peridot said, quietly. "This was Rose's decision. You know that"

"Yeah" Jasper said, heavily, staring down at her clenched knuckles. "Rose always did things her own way. She never looked back or regretted her actions. That's just...how she ways. It's why we admired her so much"

"I just don't know if I can be ready for this" Lapis said, wiping away a tear from her other cheek. "Everything's so different now. It was hard enough for me, for all of us, to get used to life on Earth as it was. It's easy for humans because they can grow and change, but it's not the same for us."

Fresh tears appearing in her eyes, Lapis hung her head down close to Steven's gem, close enough that one of her tear drops landed on it. She felt those familiar feelings of sorrow swell up inside and knew full well how pointless it would be to try and deny them.

From down in her arms, Steven cocked his head at Lapis, the pain and sadness that she was feeling far beyond his capacity to understand, yet it was still enough to earn his curiosity. Reaching up to her face, he touched another tear drop as it rolled down on her cheek; Lapis opened her eyes and pulled her head back up, letting out a soft gasp, appearing visibly stunned by what he had done. Steven stared blankly at the clear liquid on his hand. Until now, he had never seen tears before.

"Well, you know… if Steven really is part human, then growing and changing will be normal for him. Or at least part normal" Jasper said, rubbing the back of head, in an effort to sound more insightful than she felt. There was a long moment of silence in the van, aside from Steven's occasional gurgle.

"What should we do now?" Peridot asked, for once, sounding rather small, hugging her legs to her chest.

"We need to do want Rose would have wanted us to do" Jasper said.

"No" Lapis said, unexpectedly. Drying her eyes, she took a deep inhale and steadied herself. "This isn't about Rose anymore. And it's not about us either. From now on, we have to what's best… for Steven."

Lapis looked at the tiny baby in her hands, and then, for the first time in a very long while, she smiled. She smiled wider, brighter and happier than she had in so long. But things didn't stop with just a smile.

In an unprecedented gesture, Lapis snuck her tongue out at Steven, which made him giggle even louder and mimic her actions. Lapis reformed her water wings and used them to cover up her eyes, while she made silly faces to Steven. All her previous gloom and bleakness had vanished; she now appeared as happy, innocent and as carefree as the child she was holding in her hands.

"Who's a chubby little baby?" she teased, her voice as sweet honey, while sounding like an overly enthusiastic caregiver. "Who's a chubby little baby?" Lapis pulled Steven up closer and blew raspberries into his stomach, causing Steven to squeal with delight.

Blinking twice in unison, Jasper and Peridot shared another look with each other, the both of them equally caught off guard by Lapis' abrupt turn around in disposition, unsure whether to be relieved or concerned.

Before either of them had a chance to dwell on it further, they suddenly heard the sound of a voice, a voice that unmistakably belonged to Greg, approaching them. Moving up to the rear door of the van, Jasper spotted Greg running toward them in the snow, wrapped in a blanket, and for some reason, he was being chased by a dog that was dragging a sled that was tied to its neck by a rope.

Jasper opened up the door just as Greg was about to collide with the van, and shut it closed behind him after he had jumped inside.

"Ugh, thanks" he said gratefully. Greg looked up to see Lapis holding Steven in her arms and he quickly remembered when they were here in the first place. "Hey, wait a minute! Why did you take Steven on a joyride in the middle of a blizzard? What's the big idea?"

Lapis gave Greg an innocent smile, before immediately handing Steven back over to him, tucking her arms and wings in behind her back.

Peridot cleared her throat and spoke first. "Um, our apologies. Greg. Our actions may have been somewhat impulsive, but as you can clearly see, no harm whatsoever came to your van"

"We're sorry, Greg" Jasper iterated, in a surprisingly humbler tone. "We didn't really know what Steven was and tried to figure things out our own way, I guess. Things got out of hand"

"Honestly, I'm not sure if I know what Steven is either" Greg said, with a sympathetic smile. "I never glowed when I was a kid"

"I know what Steven is" Lapis said, her voice and expression turning serious, causing everyone to turn their heads to her. She moved closer to Steven, still in Greg's arms and then broke into another happy smile.

"He's an adorable little cutie pie!" Lapis teased the happy Steven, tickling the under side of his belly with her finger.

Peridot leaned over Lapis shoulder and began to examine Steven with renewed scrutiny. "How did you come to the conclusion that he was a pastry?"

Greg laughed again. "Look, I don't know how we're gonna figure this out, but I think we'll have a better shot if we do it together"

Crystal Gems acknowledged their agreement; Jasper crossed her arms and gave a curt nod of her head, prepared to accept the responsibility. Peridot replied with an eager thumbs-ups, more than ready for the challenges ahead. Lapis just closed her eyes and smiled that same strange smile, masking any misgivings she may have had.

No matter how different they were to each other, they now had one thing absolute in common between them; Steven.

"Wow. You guys were wrong about everything" Steven said, once the story had finished.

"Yeah, we really didn't have any idea what we were doing" Lapis said

"Well, I definitely had no idea" Greg admitted without shame.

"We messed up and made some mistakes" Jasper said, plopping once last marshmallow in her mouth. "It happens"

"I'd like to point that I was statistically the least wrong out of the four of us" Peridot said, matter-of-factly.

"No, I mean, about changing and growing" Steven explained. "And how it doesn't come naturally to you? But look at you now! I know you'll never stop missing Mom, but I bet she would've loved this. I do"

"We know she would Steven" Lapis said, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"You thought that was bad?" Jasper chuckled. "Remember when that teenaged girl kidnapped Steven?"

"That was his babysitter" Greg said, his voice still ringing with disbelief as he recalled that particular event. "She took him to the park. And you threw a jungle gym at her"

"Well, Lapis is the one who threw the bus at her" Jasper said defensively, jerking her thumb over to her. Lapis threw Jasper an annoyed look in response.

"Well, whoever she was, she was clearly bad at her job" Peridot said. "Our abduction of Steven was strategically more successful".

Though she hadn't intended that as a joke, Peridot blushed as everyone began to laugh at her comment, making her feel slightly embarrassed.

Fourteen years ago, an exceptionally cold blizzard passed through Beach City and it was during that blizzard, that three Crystal Gems, a human, and baby all came together to form something entirely new; something they wouldn't fully understand until fourteen years later, when another exceptionally cold blizzard would pass through Beach City.

They were a family.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please leave a review to share any thoughts you might have and I'll see you next time

Peace out