Steven Universe: (First Draft)

*Chapter 13: More Father Problems

(Chez is depressed the cool kids attempt to cheer her up. Sour Cream struggles with whether or not to forgive his own father for being a dead beat.)

After learning about the death of Chez's father Sour Cream had taken her home, and then broke the news to her mother. Chez became slightly depressed and didn't even want to come out of her room. Sour cream had decided on waiting with her even though she didn't want to talk, so he texted his friends while sitting on the floor at the foot of her bed. After a few hours he looks up at her from the floor. "hey Chez... you should... probably eat something."

"I'm not hungry..." Chez mumbles with her face in her pillow, then her stomach growls.

"I'll getcha something." Sour Cream turns back to his phone and texts Jenny to bring him a pizza from work. 'sometimes it's good to have food friends.'

About an hour later Jenny and Buck knock on the front door. Sour cream goes to meet them at the door and explains what happened. The group of three returns to Chez's room.

"hun." Jenny hands the pizza to Buck and sits on the side of the bed. "I'm so sorry to hear about what happened." After a brief talk Chez sits up in tears and hugs jenny. "I know I know... let it out."

"h-how did you get her to do that?" Sour cream looks at the two of them astounded. "I couldn't even get her to talk to me."

"the situation is delicate. You got to know how to talk to people." Jenny frowns still hugging Chez. "how'd her mom take the news?"

Sour cream rubs the back of his neck. "not well. She went over to a friend's house. I didn't want to leave Chez here alone so I stayed."

Buck sets the pizza on the edge of the bed and sits on the other side of Chez. "we're here for you."

"thanks guys." Chez wipes her eyes. "it means a lot." She looks at Sour Cream. "especially you. thank you for staying with me."

"of course I do." Sour cream smiles a bit. "I'll always be here for you. even if you don't want me to." He sits down next to jenny after she moves over. "because... I love you." he smiles a bit sideways.

"I love you too." Chez smiles and hugs Sour Cream even though she's still crying. "I'm just sad. Even though he wasn't around much he was still my dad. I spent so much of my life mad at him for being gone all the time... I never got to tell him I loved him." she hugs Sour cream tighter. "I guess I'm just feeling a bit guilty."

'I'd rather be a fisherman then deal with this sort of thing, but for her sake I just have to suck it up.' As Sour Cream is sitting there holding her he realizes that he's not on the best terms with his dad either. 'if my dad died... would I cry? I imagine I'd still be mad at him but would I miss him?' Sour Cream glances at the phone in his hand. 'should I call him? tell him that even though I'm mad I still care... I just don't know.' He puts his phone is his pocket. 'I'll call him later. I don't want to do it in front of chez in case I end up screaming.'

-meanwhile back at steven's house-

"garnet." Steven calls through the closed temple door. "I have a question."

The door opens and garnet steps out. "yes Steven?"

"did you know about chez's dad before she did?" Steven asks frowning.

"I did not." Garnet states walking over to the warp. "I tried to see ahead but couldn't find any more earth gems surfacing. I suppose I should have guessed that meant the humans hadn't made anymore but I didn't realize they'd been killed by clusters." She sighs and crosses her arms. "sometimes seeing the future is a gift and sometimes it's a curse. I'm sorry Steven."

"well that's ok." Steven hugs garnet's leg. "it isn't your fault I mean you don't make the stuff happen... you just can see it and prevent it."

"thanks Steven." Garnet smiles a bit. "I knew you were going to say that, but it still makes me feel better."

-later-

After eating buck and Jenny hang out for a bit then they leave. Chez falls asleep watching tv, so Sour Cream goes outside in the back yard to call his dad. after staring at his phone for a few minutes he finally hits the call button.

"hello?" Marty on the other end of the line sounds really confused.

"d-dad..." Sour cream sighs and looks at the orange and pink colors of sunset sky. "can we talk?"

"I'm free now I think." Marty turns around and yells at somebody behind him. "yeah I've got time. What's up?"

"dad... this doesn't mean I'm not still mad at you because I'm still mad... but... today I felt like I needed to tell you at least thanks for... you know... making me." he grumbles looking at the ground at a left angle.

"who died?" Marty replies almost sarcastically but more with a surprised tone.

"my girlfriend's dad..." Sour cream replies.

Everything is dead silent for a few minutes for so long that Sour Cream actually checks the phone to make sure it didn't get hung up.

Marty clears his throat. "well... sorry to hear that. I guess I could have made some better decisions. For what it's worth I apologize for not being around. You know how it is."

"sure dad..." Sour cream replies sticking his free hand in his pocket. "but I did learn something from you I suppose."

"oh yeah?" Marty replies. "how to make everyone you know mad?"

"no." Sour cream smiles a bit. "I learned what I don't want to be when I become an adult."

"good luck with that." Marty replies only half paying attention. "No Debra! Don't put that there!? I'm sorry I have to go. Stop it's going to fall!" Marty screams and hangs up the phone.

"of course he wasn't listening." Sour cream shrugs and puts his phone back in his pocket. 'whatever. I wasn't lying though. I will make sure that no matter what happens I don't become somebody like my dad.' when he turns around he sees Chez standing in the doorway. "chez..."

"I heard talking out here." Chez smiles a little. "you called your dad?"

"yeah but he still isn't much of a conversationalist..." Sour cream shrugs.

"I heard."

"yeah well..." Sour cream scratches the back of his head. "even though I'm still mad at him for what he did I wouldn't want to feel like I never said anything nice to him... you know?"

"yeah... I understand." Chez nods slightly and looks towards the kitchen. "I'm going to make some tea."

"alright I'll be in just a bit." He replies turning back to the yard. "I just need a minute."

"ok." Chez smiles a bit and then disappears into the kitchen.