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Pearl looks up from her place on the sofa when she hears the warp pad activate. Garnet is back, swim goggles still on, but not the least bit damp. The night is quiet aside from Steven's soft snores from the loft above them. She gives a little wave as Garnet's goggles shimmer away to her regular shades.
"Any sign of Malachite?" She asks.
Garnet shakes her head.
Pearl sighs, "Why does the Earth have to have so much water?"
"To live." Garnet answers, stifling a smirk at the withering look Pearl gives her.
A shift in sheets and an unhappy mumble catch their attention. Pearl sinks further into the couch, arms crossed, eyes lingering worriedly to the bed just out of sight. She moves to get up, freezes, sits back down. Her head flits between the bed and her hands in indecision, her foot taps softly on the hardwood. Garnet watches her worry her bottom lip and smooths a hand over the smaller gem's head.
"It's alright. He won't need waking up tonight." She says reassuringly because the futures she sees all end with Steven sleeping late and not remembering any dreams so long as he remains undisturbed, "This will pass."
Pearl flushes lightly when Garnet's thumb grazes her gem as she pulls away, fusses with her hair to help her nervous tension. Now that she thinks of it, it has been a while since she's been alone with Garnet. She tries to focus on something else before she drives herself crazy with the thought.
"He's been having more nightmares lately. I wonder if he's dream connecting to Lapis again." She says.
"He would have told us if that was the case." Garnet replies.
"I know. I just... worry." Pearl's eyes rest on Rose's portrait before quickly going back to her fiddling hands, "Everything's been such a mess lately. I'd rather Steven not suffer because of it."
"Steven has always been stronger than we often give him credit for. We can't hide him away from trouble and difficulty no matter how much we want to. All we can do is keep him from going through it alone." Is her reply.
The fridge begins to buzz in the silence between them. Steven's breathing is now even and steady, though it does little to calm Pearl in the otherwise quiet night. Garnet's hand again comes to her shoulder and Pearl is thankful the other doesn't mention her jolt.
"You're really good with him, Pearl." She starts quietly, "You talk with him and encourage him and take care of him better than I can. Sometimes I get a bit jealous."
Pearl looks up to face her incredulously, ready to tell her how wrong she is because Steven adores playing and talking with Garnet, but the words die on her lips when she sees her smile softly. She isn't done.
"I don't know what to say a lot of the time. I can see the future, see what he'll most likely do, but I don't know how he thinks."
"And you think I do?" Pearl says before she can stop herself.
She puts a hand over her mouth, embarrassed, offering a shy smile, "Sorry. I shouldn't have interrupted."
Garnet's got a brighter smile on her face, sliding her hand up and fluffing Pearl's hair while she squawks indignantly. Pearl's cheeks are bright blue as she glares up at Garnet who's chuckling under her breath. It takes a second, but Pearl notices that now Garnet's arm has snaked around both her shoulders and her mind locks up before wheezing more heat so that even her ears and nose are tinted noticeably.
"He's very attached to you. I wish you'd seen him when you were regenerating in your gem. He kept you on a pillow and watched you constantly. Amethyst said you looked like an egg."
Garnet laughs again at Pearl's dramatic gasp, listens to her vinegar laced and half formed complaints with amusement.
"She was just trying to cheer up Steven. Don't be too hard on her." Garnet says, squeezing her shoulders.
Pearl is abruptly reminded of their position, flustered all over again and tries to think of something else.
"A-anyway, I don't think you're right about all that. It's you Steven looks up to and listens to and Amethyst that he gets along best with." Pearl whispers the next part with strain, "Even if she isn't exactly a great influence."
She continues, "And every time I think I understand him, he changes again. One minute he looks like the fun and slightly obnoxious child we've always known and the next it's almost like..."
Behind her shades, Garnet's eyes flicker to the portrait at the same time Pearl's do. Neither speak for just a beat.
"And yet," Pearl breathes a humorless laugh, "Sometimes Steven doesn't seem like either. When he pulled out his shield during our fight with Lapis and demanded she listen... he was like a stranger."
"It was a side of him we hadn't ever seen before. Maybe we had but didn't want to acknowledge it before." Garnet remarks.
"He's grown so much. I'm proud of him."
"We all are."
"But time on Earth goes by so quickly. It feels like we came to this planet only yesterday and now everything is so different." Pearl laments, eyes glazed and staring at nothing.
"I know what you mean. Time and the future are things I should have more understanding of than anyone else, but possibility clouds every stream with doubt. Before I know it, it's already the past and there's nothing I can do." With her free hand she removes her glasses, looking at them in her grasp with three hooded eyes.
"I wish I could do more for everyone." Pearl admits.
Garnet smirks, "I love that about you."
"W-wha?" Is all Pearl, wide eyed, can stammer out.
"That you work hard. That you have so much hope behind all your worry. That you love with your whole heart." Garnet puts her shades back on, shrugs with a smile and an arm still wrapped behind Pearl, "There's a lot to love about you, Pearl."
Pearl can't stop the pleased flush in her cheeks, the gleeful beam she tries to hide with her hand, but Garnet gently brushes it away.
"I think... I-I mean I feel the same!" She stutters again.
Usually she's much more articulated than this, but compliments and nerves put a damper on her vocabulary like a wet blanket. She'll kick herself later when the butterflies in her stomach stop distracting her.
"There's... so much to love about you, too." She says softly.
Garnet pulls Pearl closer to her side, closing the gap between their knees.
"Amethyst will be coming into the kitchen in twelve minutes if you don't mind me indulging until then." She says.
Pearl grins wide, rests her head tentatively, shy, on Garnet's shoulder, and nods.