Pearl paced back and forth in the living room of the beach house, tapping her chin in thought with a look of worry on her face. Amethyst, who looked just as worried (and was trying her best not to show it), was sitting on the couch. Garnet was in the kitchen, messing with what seemed to be a spork with a look of wonder and curiosity on her face. And Connie was sitting at the dining table, with the baby Steven had handed her before he warped off in her arms.

Amethyst sighed and leaned forwards, resting one of her elbows on her knee and leaning her cheek into the palm of her hand. "If he finds her, he'll come back here. . . right. . .?"

And, speak of the devil, just when she had said that Steven suddenly jumped down the first flight of stairs and lifted his arms up into the air triumphantly with a proud smile on his face. "Guys! Guess who's back?" Steven called out before turning his attention up the stairs, where Spinel and (Y/n) stood.

Spinel looked nervous, yet happy all at the same time. She tapped her fingers together and looked around curiously, seeing as how she didn't really take the time to admire Steven's house after she ran away from the concert.

And (Y/n). . . looked more scared than anything. The gem tapped her foot against the floorboards and continued to slowly rub her arm up and down while looking anywhere but Steven.

Steven felt annoyed by that fact, to be honest. To NOT have (Y/n) paying attention to him made him feel. . . 'wanting', I guess, if that makes sense.

However, Steven quickly shrugged off this 'wanting' feeling and gave (Y/n) and Spinel a comforting smile. "Come on down!" He called out to them.

Spinel smiled and walked down a step, when (Y/n) began to speak; making the pink gem stop in her tracks and causing Steven to look over to her as she looked down at her feet.

"Won't they be. . . oh, I don't know. . ." (Y/n) tugged on the ends of her shirt, looking for the right words as Steven stared intently at her.

"Not exactly too 'thrilled' to see me?" The gem pointed to herself, her face anxious as fear flashed through her eyes.

Steven smiled softly at her and held his hand out. "We just have to talk to them. . ." The diamond-hybrid said gently, not wanting to make (Y/n) anymore scared than she was.

Spinel nodded at Steven's statement in agreement and opened her arms as if she were going to give someone a hug. "Yeah, (Y/n)! C'mon, it'll be fine!" The pink gem said, giving her friend a reassuring smile.

(Y/n) opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it and looked down at her hands.

Steven's with you, you'll be fine, Her mind chimed to her.

With a shaky breath, (Y/n) nodded and gave Steven a small smile as she held her hands out to him; which he gladly took.

"Come on, it'll be okay. . ." Steven whispered as he guided the (F/c) gem down to the platform of the second staircase.

(Y/n) only nodded and smiled nervously.

However, once the Marriposa gem was in their sights, the Crystal Gems' reactions were anything but 'fine' and 'okay.'

In fact, they ended up pulling their weapons out on her. (Y/n)'s eyes went wide and she instantly summoned her own weapon to protect herself and Spinel, but Steven lifted his arm in front of her protectively before anything could happen.

"Oh, Spinel! Did you change your hair? And who's your new friend?" Cotton candy Garnet asked innocently as she sent a polite wave to (Y/n) and smiled at her; which earned a nervous smile and an awkward wave back from the (F/c) gem.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Spinel got her memories back, but she's not gonna hurt us!" Steven grabbed (Y/n)'s hand and guided her down the bottom of the stairs slowly as she sent a small glance over to the gems, who were watching her with curiosity and suspicion.

Except Garnet. She only smiled at (Y/n) and clasped her hands together.

"(Y/n) isn't gonna hurt us, either. Everything's chill." Steven told, placing a hand on the said gems shoulder as he smiled reassuringly.

"Mama?"

At the sound of the familiar voice, (Y/n) immediately turned her head over to see Lunar in some humans arms. The human blinked, and then looked down at the baby she was holding, and then looked back up to (Y/n); only to see her staring at her with narrowed eyes and crossed arms.

"Who are you, and why are you holding Lunar?" (Y/n) asked suspiciously as she took a step closer to the human.

The human blinked, and then scowled. "What do you mean?" She asked the gem back just as suspiciously as she hugged the baby closer.

Seeing that very action alone made (Y/n) finally snap. She frowned deeply and pulled her whip out, about to attack the human, when Steven suddenly hugged her from behind and lifted her off the ground; despite her struggles and cries of protest.

"O-Okay (Y/n), let's calm down!" When she didn't stop struggling, Steven added, ". . . Please?"

It took (Y/n) a moment, but she reluctantly calmed down and stopped, sitting still in Steven's arms as he sighed with relief and slowly set her back down.

"Phew. Okay then." Steven looked over to the baby, and then back over to (Y/n), who was still glaring at Connie with her arms folded over her chest.

It took Steven a moment, but something seemed to click the moment he saw how protective the (F/c) gem was of the baby.

"Is that yours. . .?" Steven asked, pointing at the baby, who was holding his arms out to (Y/n); desperately trying to struggle out of Connie's grasp and babbling random baby noises to his mama, wanting to be held in her safe embrace again.

(Y/n) only nodded in response to Steven's question.

Steven smiled slightly and nodded. "Okay." He walked over to Connie and held his arms out. "Connie, can I have the baby?" Steven glanced over to (Y/n). "She says that he's hers."

Connie frowned slightly, but mostly out of worry. "But Steven! What if he isn't hers? She could be lying—"

"For your information, human," (Y/n) cut Connie off as she struggled in Spinel's arms since the pink gem was holding the Marriposa back from running up to Connie and strangling her to get her baby back. "I found him traveling down a river, by himself, in a torn up basket with nothing but a thin blanket to keep him warm! Not only that, if it weren't for me, he would have been the meal of some. . . serpents!" After her little explanation, (Y/n) managed to free herself from Spinel's grasp, and she landed a few feet away from Connie with a glare on her face and her hands rolled into fists.

Steven instantly took this as a sign that he needed to get the baby back to (Y/n). Because if he didn't, then there would most likely be bloodshed.

And Steven definitely didn't want to see anymore blood.

So, quickly and hastily, Steven pulled the baby out of Connie's arms and ran over to (Y/n).

"Hey, hey! Calm down, (Y/n). . ." Steven said nervously as the baby began to giggle and hold his arms out to the (F/c) gem.

At the sight of her baby, (Y/n)'s mood seemed to have changed drastically in seconds. Her once cold and hard stare was now replaced with a joyous and happy expression as Steven handed Lunar over to her. (Though, the diamond-hybrid did feel a little jealous as he watched the Marriposa gem smother the baby in kisses. . .)

"Sorry about leaving you here, Lunar, I didn't want to risk your life," (Y/n) told the small baby, who giggled once she placed another kiss on his forehead.

Their moment, however, was interrupted when they heard a (dramatic) gasp.

"I'm an AUNT and you didn't even TELL ME?!" Spinel basically screamed into (Y/n)'s ear as she stretched her arms out and wrapped them around both (Y/n) and Lunar before bringing them into a tight embrace. She smiled down at Lunar happily while the baby laughed and stuck his hand in his mouth.

(Y/n) chuckled and blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Heh, sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Spinel. . ." The (F/c) gem said with a giggle.

"Ahem." Blinking, Spinel, (Y/n) and Lunar all turned their heads over to Steven, who had an awkward grin on his face. . . and a hint of slight jealousy in his eyes(?).

Once he got their attention, Steven walked over to (Y/n) and smiled at her.

"(Y/n), can I ask you a favor?" Steven asked, and (Y/n) nodded as a small smile made its way across her own face as well.

"Of course. Anything."

*****

Thunder boomed and lightning cackled in the dark, cloudy skies above the menacing injector; which still illuminated its hot pink light.

Lapis, Peridot, and Bismuth all stood below the towering machine; worried/scared looks on their faces as they watched the injector continue to pump its poison into the Earth.

Peridot gulped lightly and took out her tablet before pressing her fingers against it and zooming it in on the status report of the injector; taking in the words that each appeared on the screen one by one.

"That sounds bad. . ." Lapis muttered under her breath worriedly as she stared down at the status report on the injector through Peridot's tablet.

"That looks bad." Bismith stated with a frown and clenched fists.

"That IS bad! We're hitting critical mass!" The green gem exclaimed with wide eyes.

Unaware to the three, Steven, (Y/n), Spinel, and the rest of the gems were walking up behind them. But Steven was quick to let them know of his presence by saying,

"Then I guess we're just in time!"

The trio jumped in surprise, but Peridot was quick to come back to her senses. Shaking her head from side to side to clear her thoughts, the green gem looked up to Steven with a nervous/scared/worried expression as a bead of sweat fell from her forehead.

"Steven! What's the status on Spinel? And anything on that Marriposa gem?" Peridot asked hurriedly.

Steven smiled slightly and stepped to the side, revealing the two said gems that had just been mentioned standing behind him. Spinel chuckled nervously and sent the trio a shy wave, while (Y/n) continued to pay no mind to them and kept her focus on the small bundle in her arms.

"Spinel's back, but (Y/n) came to help. Don't worry." Steven said as he gestured over to the injector with his hand and sent a look over to (Y/n).

(Y/n), having noticed Steven's look, nodded and turned to Spinel. "Could you hold Lunar for me, please?" The (F/c) gem asked, earning a nod from Spinel as she took Lunar from (Y/n) and cradled him, smiling and making silly faces to make him laugh.

(Y/n) smiled slightly at the scene and shook her head before turning around towards the injector.

She frowned at the very sight of it and guilt soon began to eat at her, but she did her best to ignore it as she summoned her violin.

Closing her eyes, (Y/n) took a deep breath and played a sweet melody; causing the injector to slowly push itself out of the Earth's crust and rise into the air. Its drill pulled itself inside the very machine itself as its spider-like legs bent and wrapped themselves around the giant machine.

And then, she stopped, and opened her eyes as the gems all celebrated with eachother in rejoice that the nightmare finally seemed to be over.

Laughing, Connie clasped her hands together as she climbed on top of Lion and looked at the gems, hoping for an explanation. "Okay, can someone fill me in now?" She asked, feeling a bit awkwardly.

Steven sighed in relief and leaned over, placing his hands on his knees. He then straightened his back back up and smiled at (Y/n), who was currently putting her violin away.

"(Y/n)," He began, making her blink and look over to him, humming in confusion.

Steven smiled and took her hand in his, intertwining their fingers together. "Thanks."

(Y/n) blushed slightly and chuckled as she turned away from him, not wanting him to see her flustered expression. "Heh. Yeah. . . what are friends for. . .?" She asked, not noticing Steven frown at the word 'friends'.

"Haha. . ." The diamond-hybrid slowly took his hand away from (Y/n)'s. "Yeah. . ."

Steven then took a deep breath and placed his hands on his hips, a determined smile making its way onto his features. "Okay, we've almost cleaned up this mess. Now all we need are Garnet's memories and my powers," Steven turned away from (Y/n) and began to make his way towards the rest of the gems. "And we could all get back to living happily ever after."

(Y/n) watched with wide eyes as Steven walked away from her, but he didn't seem to notice her almost hurt expression. At all.

"What could work for Garnet?" Steven asked himself as he began to rub his chin in thought. "Something about fusion, something about love. . ."

.

.

.

"What about us?" (Y/n) suddenly asked, making Steven jump in his place and whirl around to face the gem, who was looking at Steven with narrowed eyes. Her arms were folded over her chest as she stood in front of Spinel, who was looking over (Y/n)'s shoulder with Lunar still in her arms.

Steven blinked. "Huh?"

(Y/n)'s frown deepened as she began to tighten her grip on her arms, and she furrowed her brows. "Is that all you needed me for?" She asked bitterly before tilting her head to the side. "To turn off my injector?"

Steven frowned slightly and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "No, well. . ." Steven sighed and looked away from her. "Sort of, but—"

(Y/n) was quick to cut him off with another bitter reply. "Well, what now? I. . ." (Y/n) took a shaky breath and hugged herself slightly. "I did what you wanted. That's it?" She questioned, taking a step towards the human-gem hybrid as she spread her arms out to her sides.

Steven smiled nervously and shrugged. "Well, yeah." He answered, almost hesitantly. "We can just. . . forget this whole thing ever happened." He said, taking a step towards the Marriposa gem, who took a step back from him in turn, making Steven frown slightly.

(Y/n) tsked and looked away. "How exactly are you going to 'forget'," She made air quotations with her fingers, "With me around?" (Y/n) then frowned and looked down at her hands, before rolling them into fists and looking back up to Steven with a cold stare. "I'm the source of all your problems!" (Y/n) began to hyperventilate as she took another, shaky step back while shaking her head, ignoring the very worried looks Steven and Spinel were giving her. "Don't pretend you want me here," (Y/n) growled and gritted her teeth. "What's your plan for us, huh?" She sent Steven a hard glare as she gestured to herself and Spinel. "Are you gonna put us somewhere? Are you gonna leave us alone?" (Y/n) asked, tears building up in her eyes as all of her fears suddenly began to come back to her; each of them crashing into her very being like a roaring wave.

Steven's eyes widened at the sight of (Y/n)'s tears, and he immediately rushed over to her to comfort her.

"(Y/n). . ." Steven whispered out her name softly, gently; wanting to let her know that it was okay; that he didn't mean her any harm.

But it didn't seem like that in (Y/n)'s eyes. Not at all. So when she looked down and saw Steven's hands reaching out for her, she gasped in fear and pushed him away, causing him to land on the floor with a grunt.

When (Y/n) heard the gems gasp, her eyes went wide and she immediately turned to Steven, wanting to apologize when she saw something roll out of his pocket and in front of Garnet's feet.

Garnet smiled innocently, not seeming to notice Pearl and Amethyst gasp in panic and run away from her as she began to crouch down to grab the object. "Oh, what's this?" She asked curiously.

Steven pushed himself up from the floor and opened his mouth, about to say something to (Y/n) when he noticed her shocked and hurt expression. But the thing was, she wasn't staring at him with that expression. Confused, Steven turned around on his back to where (Y/n)'s eyes were looking, only for his own eyes to widen as well once he saw the object in Garnet's hand.

"G-Garnet!" He cried out in panic as he quickly stood up and began to run over to her. "D-Don't touch that!" He yelled, but it all had gone deaf on the gems' ears: for she had ignored him and pressed the single button on the object anyway, revealing it to be. . .

.

.

.

"My rejuvinator. . .?"