Chapter Text
Rose is in Lapis’s office. It’s a strange occurrence, and certainly an unexpected one. She was also too close, standing just in front of the desk, her hands leaning on the dark wood. Blue was also there, but that wasn’t as surprising based on their previous relationship. She was a little ways away, standing closer to the door.
“You’re saying you have the ability to break my contract?” Lapis is sitting at the desk, paperwork surrounding her in the form of mountains. She slowly reaches into the drawer on the left hand side, the top one, and pulls out an old, yellowed, piece of paper.
Blue glances at Rose, who is unable to see as Rose’s eye are burrowing into Lapis, “I’m saying we have the ability to help you with your medicine.”
Lapis feels her chest and head ache, she brings up a hand and massages her temple, “Ah. I see.”
Rose smiles softly, her hands pull slowly away from the desk and reach towards Lapis. They are close enough that Lapis feels their presence, but they aren’t touching, “Pearl has been work—“
“Pearl? You told her?” Lapis grimaces, “She wasn’t supposed to know.”
“She made better medicine.”
Lapis stands up with enough speed to knock her chair backward. The carpet muffles the crash, but it is loud enough that Lapis worries people might come and see what’s going on. “What?”
Blue nods as Rose reaches down the Lapis’s left hand, slowly working the balled fist into a flat position that Rose can hold between her hands.
“I don’t believe you.” Lapis feels Rose’s calluses rub against her hand. She rips her hands away. “Let me tell you what I think of you, and I’m going to be frank. I hate you. I hate the way Pearl hangs on your every word, and when she feels the stress of her job she contacts you instead of asking Peri or I for help. Why would I ever, ever, trust my life in your hands?”
Rose’s smile slowly slips away and her hands hang in the air where Lapis left them, “I can’t control Pearl’s feelings.”
“But you can reject them. You can let Pearl know the truth. She will never have the relationship she wants with you.”
Blue places a hand on Lapis’s shoulder. Lapis hadn’t been aware of Blue moving across the carpet and sneaking around the desk. The hand, however, is a welcome sign of comfort. “Why haven’t you told her?”
Lapis swallows, “I… she , wouldn’t, listen.”
“And why would she listen to Rose?”
Blue has a point, and it hurts to hear it. “Okay.”
“Please, we want you to be happy. Will you at least try the medicine? If it doesn’t work, things continue on as they were before. If it does… Pearl and Peridot will have you back. And you’ll be free.” Rose lets her hands drop to her sides.
Lapis looks down and feels the carpet between her toes. She never wears shoes in her office. The actual floor is wood, but she insisted on having a carpet beneath the desk. She feels her eyes begin to water, but she doesn’t look up. “Fine.”
Lapis can’t see Blue smile, but she geusses at the experssions both of her visitors are showing in this moment.
“Here.” Blue opens the desk drawer directly in front of Lapis. The little one that holds needles and sacks of medicine. Only one has anything in it. Blue slips in another bag of meds that are blue rather than yellow.
“Why do people make their meds their favorite color?” Lapis muses, allowing her mind to unfocus and pull inward.
Rose snorts, “I wouldn’t know. “
Rose and Blue wait for Lapis to respond, but Lapis ignores them and bends down to pick up her chair. She waits for a few moments, then sits and does the paperwork she was supposed to be doing today, before those two rudely bargained in and gave her the hope she hadn’t had in a long time.
“We’ll leave you alone.” Blue signals to Rose and the two quickly leave Lapis to her fate.
Dr. Van frowns at this new report from Lapis. Rather than being early, the shuttle is now merely on time. That was a quick turn around. Perhaps she should have someone check in who wasn’t a risky traitor.
Steven is shuffling a deck of cards when Pearl walks in. “Hey big sis, wanna play poker? Dad taught me how a few months ago and I have yet to lose!”
Pearl snorts, “Oh really? And tell me, who have you played against?”
Her home is as comfy as ever, and Steven is sitting at the table. There are no chairs, merely comfy table with a large blanket to keep him warm and to sit on. Where did her chairs go?
Greg is sitting on the opposite side, a blanket draped around his shoulders, “Come on, Pearl. Just sit and have some fun with us. After all, you’re ahead of schedule. You have some time to relax.”
Well… she did finish quite a few things in the past day. It couldn’t hurt to… there’s a knock on her door. One long, two short, two long was Peridot’s knock. It was always the same. Pearl smiles and walks to the door. The carpet is clean, so Greg must have vacuumed. She is surprised, and happy to know that Peridot isn’t walking into a filthy house.
“Hey, why are you here?” Pearl says as she opens the door and there’s Amethyst, Peridot, and Garnet all waiting. “All… three… of you?”
Steven whoops, “I’m so happy! All of you got my invites. Garnet, did you bring the chips?”
Garnet holds up a bag of chips, a non-generic brand that is definitely not copyrighted, “Cool ranch flavor. You said that was your favorite right?”
“Perfect!” Steven bolts and grabs the chips before Pearl can even ask why. He’s in her kitchen, climbing on her counters, opening her cabinets. She should stop him, but she’s too tired.
“Well come in everyone.” She steps aside and lets everyone shuffle inside. The door clicks when she closes it, and she listens to the chirping of crickets that still can be heard through the wood. Peridot puts a hand on her shoulder. She turns and hugs Peridot, whose hair smells like soap and spring.
“Let’s have some fun okay? We all deserve it.”
Pearl does suppose that is true.
Garnet is already sitting at the table, which is much lower than what Pearl remembers, and has a stack of chips in front of her, “Steven, are we betting?”
Peridot smirks at Pearl’s face, “Of course we are! That’s what makes poker poker, dad said so.” Steven dumps more chips on Pearl’s table. Pearl’s nice. Clean. Table. Pearl groans. She doesn’t even attempt to fix it, instead hse sits down next to Steven and takes the cards to shuffle. When she does a successful bridge first try, Steven gasps.
“That’s awesome! Can you teach me how to do that?”
“It’s relatively simple Steven, all you do –“ Pearl explains the bridge in a step by step fashion. First this, then that. She forgets, however, that Steven is young with short fingers. He sends the cards scattering everywhere.
She doesn’t move to clean them up, which raises an eyebrow from Peridot. Instead, Steven goes to clean up, “I got it!”
By the time he’s gotten every card and they are ready to play, the chips are sitting evening in front of everyone and Pearls are sorted by size, shape, and stackability. Peridot has them lumped into ‘want to eat’ and ‘eh’ piles. Garnet had them lumped by color, dark vs light, and Greg nor Steven stack or sort their chips at all.
It will be a most interesting game.