Chapter Text
A knock resounded loudly throughout the house. Peridot groggily opened her eyes, sat up, and immediately laid back down again. She thought if she ignored it, it would just go away. It didn’t. She rolled out of bed, wrapped herself in a blanket, and shuffled to the doorway. She opened the door and a bony fist almost hit her square in the face. It was Pearl. Just perfect. Pearl seemed surprised at the sight of Peridot, which was understandable since she hadn’t been getting sleep and had chopped off the hair she had worked so hard to grow out.
“Oh, uh, I came by to see how you and the baby were doing.” Pearl stated.
She let the taller girl inside and shut the door, “We’re doing fine.” As soon as she said this, the sound of crying started up. She shuffled over to the shared room and flopped down onto the bed next to her crying child and placed a hand on the infant’s belly.
“Peridot, this place is a mess! You need to do something about this mess as soon as you can.” Pearl complained as she walked into the room.
“I’ll do it later.” Peridot grumbled, seemingly annoyed that the crying hadn’t stopped.
“Oh, here let me see her.” Pearl commanded as she picked up the crying child, cradling her and quietly calming her. Peridot looked at her without any emotion and covered her ears with the heavy blanket until the baby stopped crying. “Peri, you’re the one who’s supposed to be taking care of your child. Not me.” Pearl sighed.
Peridot buried her face in her hands, not wanting to admit that Pearl had a point. She just didn’t have the knowledge or energy to take care of both herself and the child.
“Are you doing alright?” Pearl asked Peridot.
Peridot hesitated, “I’m doing...fine.” She knew Pearl didn’t buy any of that, but said it anyways. Pearl sighed. “I know that you’re not in the best shape right now, but you have another human being to take care of now. You need to take responsibility and take care of her.” Peridot pulled her blanket in tighter and groaned. Just then, the infant started crying once more.
“Peri, this time, you need to calm her down.” Pearl told the bundled up girl. Peridot grumbled, but sat up and followed Pearl’s order. Pearl handed the crying baby over to Peridot, who tried her best to calm down her child. After seemingly endless minutes of trying to quiet the baby, it was still crying. This caused Peridot to give up and start crying as well. Pearl quickly realized that Peridot was more of a mess than she thought she was. “Don’t make me bring Garnet over.” Pearl warned. This was, apparently, a bad choice. The thought of having to deal with Garnet as well made Peridot sob even harder. At this point, the baby was sobbing almost as loud as Peridot. Pearl sat herself down next to Peridot and wrapped her arms around both her and the baby. "Peridot, listen to me. You're gonna be just fine. Your child is going to be fine." Pearl spoke quietly, doing her best to calm the both of them down. Peridot sniffled and wiped her eyes, trying her best to calm down. “When was the last time you ate?” Pearl asked. Peridot shrugged in response. Pearl sighed, “How about I make you something to eat?”
“That would be nice, thank you.” Peridot replied. Pearl nodded and stood up, heading to the kitchen to prepare lunch. As she looked in the fridge, Pearl realized that food was scarce. She clicked her tongue and checked the cupboards. She settled on cereal. It wasn’t much, but she needed to get something in Peridot’s stomach. After she was done making two bowls of cereal for herself and Peridot, she found a bottle and prepared milk for the baby. She set everything down at the dining room table and went back into Peridot’s room.
“Peri, i made some food for you and- oh, what is her name again?”
“Amethyst.” Peridot answered.
“Right, I made some food for you and Amethyst.” Pearl told Peridot. Peridot picked up Amethyst and stood up, following Pearl to the dining room table.
“Thank you, Pearl.” Peridot said, trying out a smile. Pearl smiled back and nodded, taking Amethyst and beginning to feed her from the bottle. Pearl took a deep breath and spoke.
“Peridot, if you would like, I would be willing to babysit on days you are in school, so you can catch up.” Peridot didn’t want to sound needy, but accepted the offer anyways.
“That would be nice, Pearl. Thank you.”