Tiny Hands (A Steven Universe story)

Its a Gem

Pearl
Gone.

She is gone.

Her beautiful flowing pink curls. Her laugh. Her rediculusly huge, bright and warm smile. All gone.

And I'm still here. My mistress, leader, general, friend is gone.

I look over and Amethyst is on the verge of screaming in grief. I'm not much better off. I look over to the bed she was laying in. The doctors long gone from the hospital room.

The room is deathly quiet. Then, someone sobs. I look around to see Ruby and Sapphire unfused from grief, holding eachother. The sobbing gets worse.

I look to Gregory crying on the far side of the bed, but quietly. Amethyst is sitting on the floor rocking back and forth. But she isn't the one sobbing either.

Its me. I'm the one that breaks first. I cry out in grief and fall on the bed grasping the sheets opposite Gregory and lose myself in the sobs and tears.

Then I feel a hug from the back. Its Amethyst, her small purple arms grasping my torso for something reassuring in this chaos spiraling around her.

Then two more pairs of arms, one on each side of us. Ruby and sapphire holding onto us. We all cry there in that human place. Far from the comfort of the temple.

Yet as we all sit there embracing each other, there is a small spark of home that came with us.

Just then I see Gregory slowly stumble to the door as a human woman in white, a nurse is what I think they are called, stands just outside.

The woman quietly and awquardly clears her throught and asks if we would like to see the baby boy now.

All four of us instantly look at each other.

"Boy?" I ask.

Slowly Sapphire stands and approaches the door. "Yes," she chokes, "We wish to see the infant."

Ruby slowly gets up and walks over to Sapphire. She gives her another hug and together they turn to face little amethyst and me.

Sapphire holds out her right hand and Amethyst, sniffling, gets up and I follow suit.

I grab a tissue for Amethyst and she blows her nose. Then we all hold hands, relying on each other to keep us from falling apart as we slowly follow the woman and Gregory to the infant center.

We wait outside the doors for a while and some time later the woman is back with a small sleeping newborn. Slowly Gregory takes the small child into his arms. He just sits there looking at the small being in his arms. The baby opens his eyes and looks at his father for the first time and yawns.

We all stand there looking at him. He is so beautiful. He has Rose's face. And those eyes they are eyes to wise for a newborn. They have thousands of years of wisdom and memory's inside of them.

"Steven," Gregory says. Not loudly, but quietly, confidently and firmly. "Your name is Steven."

Steven then looks right at me and the air catches in my trought.

Gregory hands Steven to me and I try to keep a safe hold of him. He is so small. I sit down on the floor in shock and awe of this small, fragile life in my hands. The other three come around me and we all sit there looking at him, and steven looking at all of us giving the occasional yawn.

Gregory asks if we could watch Steven while he goes to settle some paperwork. I nod slowly, still enveloped in the shock and grief of everything that is happening.

Soon Amethyst looks at me and quietly asks, "Pearl, can I hold the baby?" She is still a little gem but I trust her and she needs to feel as much of a equal as any of us.

I hand little Steven over to her and she starts to show a tiny smile with the occasional tear, still remembering Rose is gone.

Ruby and Sapphire come around and sit in front of Amethyst while I sit behind and to the right. We all stay there in the silence looking at him.

Amethyst smiles a little more. "Hi, little baby. I'm Amethyst. And this is Pearl, Sapphire, and Ruby." She angles herself so Steven can look at each of us.

"We are the Crystal Gems." She continues, "We each are named for our gem. Pearl's is on her forehead, Ruby's is in her left hand, and Sapphire's is on her right hand."

She pauses, takes a deep breath, and continues her story. "Your momma was a Crystal Gem too. Her name was Rose Quartz. I just called her Rose. And her gem was on her tummy, right there."

She places her hand on his little stomach and gasps. "Amethyst, what is it?" I ask.

"A gem." She says quietly.

"What?" I say.

"He has a gem on his tummy."