Back to First Person POV

I was greeted by my body refusing to respond – Steven had taught me the act of 'sleeping', something humans did to regain their energy.

Though I did not necessarily need to do that to regain my own strength, I had let him teach me how it was done, my desire to learn more about human customs fueling my decision.

As a result, I now laid on their couch, my limbs refusing to budge while my eyes could only trail over to where my Pearl stood at, lying on an 'inflatable mattress' — as Steven called it — located next to me. She still had heard eyes closed, and I did not wish to disturb her.

I tried standing up by myself, my mind commanding my body to stand up.

It took me a while, though I was eventually able to stand up, my energy recharged now with their somewhat archaic, but effective way to regain strength.

"(Y/N)!"

Steven's voice snapped my eyes away from looking at my Pearl, who still seemed relaxed – The boy's tone came off in a whisper, not wanting to wake her up.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked, going down the stairs leading to his own bed as he approached me with a smile.

Looking at him, I could only manage a nod as I chose to not tell him how difficult it had been for me to stand up – I was not about to let him feel worried about that matter.

Instead, I walked over to his side and asked him about the other Gems' whereabouts, not wanting to disturb them if I chose to go outside.

"They're packing up for a trip today!" He explained, his energetic tone leading me to smile. "We're going to the barn – And we were thinking of inviting you, too."

"The 'barn'?" I asked, the work foreign to me as I wondered over its possible meaning.

"It's like a house, but you keep stuff to grow vegetables and fruits there – like that strawberry jam you ate yesterday."

Nodding to his explanation, I proceeded to look back at my Pearl, a question surfacing on my mind.

"Should we wake her up?" I asked. "I would not want to delay your trip."

"It's okay!" Steven assured, chuckling. "We can prep things up together and let her rest some more."

Agreeing to his response, we both walked over to his kitchen, where I was introduced to 'cooking'. The boy taught me how to prepare 'snacks', as he called it, for the long road as well as how to pack everything – separating cold 'drinks' from room temperature items.

None of the other three Crystal Gems appeared during our cooking session, which led me to wonder over what they could be doing.

Was I making them uncomfortable with my presence?

I shook that thought away, remembering how Pearl and Amethyst had invited my Pearl and I into their home – The only one that I'd gotten into some trouble with was with Garnet, yet she seemed a bit more open after the whole 'doughnut' incident.

Shaking my head, I decided to focus back on the food we were preparing.

Apparently, we were now making a stacked meal — a 'sandwich', is what Steven called it — pulling out some vegetables as well as some 'condiments', all while going off to explain others things he was going to be taking with him – such as 'juice' and 'soda'.

He got particularly excited about bringing ice cream, though he proclaimed it was not as good as the Cookie Cat brand – which was a strange-sounding name for a dessert.

"How often do you all go to the barn?" I sat on one of the chairs in the kitchen, wondering if this barn acted as a second home for Steven and the other Gems besides this place. "Is that place your second home?" I inquired, staring at the child, who only shook his head in response while he went on to grab a few more things.

"No — It's the home of another Gem who lives here on Earth." He answered me, going over his checklist while I helped him to make sure we had everything that was needed for our trip.

I checked off everything he called out excitedly, which I could not help to giggle at with how much energy he displayed. This boy was something else – He was entirely different from what I've ever experienced with anyone besides my friend Pearl.

"It looks like we have everything, (Y/N)." Steven smiled, grabbing one of the bags with me going to retrieve the other. I decided to get some of the other things since he was having a bit of trouble carrying them all at once.

I often wondered what made the child so positive and free spirited, though a part of me guessed that he was able to enjoy his world so freely because of that.

It was unlike my own life. I had been through sudden changes with my Pearl and – at that moment – I wondered if our desire for freedom would open us to something new.

Right at the moment and as we stepped into the living room, we heard a shuffle of movement which greeted us to my Pearl waking up from her slumber to stare at us curiously.

"What is going on, My Diamond?" She asked, her eyes gazing at the bags on our hands, causing for Steven's happiness to increase.

"We're going to the barn, BP – Everyone else is already there setting up, and you'll both get to meet Peridot!" He beamed, his eyes mirroring twinkling stars when he stared at us.

The idea of getting to know another one of the Gems he was acquainted with made me uneasy.

Could she be the same Peridot that'd caused Garnet's anger?

I'd seen a few from my room in Homeworld, though they were very observant and analytical gems. It would be interesting to see how living on Earth had changed them.

A/N: Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed the chapter update for GS. We recently decided to set an update schedule for the story, which let us come to the conclusion that updates will be on Fridays and Saturdays. Thanks for the feedback you all give us on the chapters! We are in the midst of planning something for future chapters to come.