Ruan was so surprised he almost didn't respond for a moment.

"𝑫𝒖𝒅𝒆! 𝑫𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈!"

"Tʜɪs ɪs ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏsᴛ ᴅɪsᴀᴘᴘᴏɪɴᴛɪɴɢ ʀᴇsᴘᴏɴsᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴀ ᴋɪss ⵊ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴘᴏssɪʙʟʏ ɪᴍᴀɢɪɴᴇᴅ."

Suddenly aware of his mental audience screaming at him and Connie beginning to pull away, his hands moved accordingly to hold her in place. One hand held the back of her head and one gripped her hip.

It was supposed to be a peck, pull away and see if he blushed. She knew the way Steven's lips felt against hers, she would just know. She had to know if this person and Steven were truly two sides of the same coin, it was for research right?

But then her hands raised to rest on his chest and he chuckled, pulling her harder against him and dancing his fingers up her sides in a very ridiculously sexy manner. What was the logic behind this again? She couldn't remember, not with the way he was possessively grabbing her and the way his tongue traveled over her bottom lip.

A steady, thrumming glow overtook Ruan. It was like a fog had rolled into the clearing of her mind. Just as she lifted a leg, his hand met her thigh with skillful omniscience. His fingers pulled at the flesh to open her up more to himself. The pink light became intoxicating, a beacon of pleasure and warmth that she almost couldn't pull away from.

Almost.

After a few more seconds she abruptly pushed him away and pressed herself into the wall harder. "You idiot!"

Ruan tipped his head. "You kissed me."

She sunk to the floor and pulled her hair. "Oh my stars, what is wrong with me?!" She laughed softly to herself and pressed a hand to her lips. "I don't understand. You feel like Steven... but you are very much... different. Data, that was my excuse but... that was so selfish of me!"

"ᔕTᗴᐯᗴᑎ, YOᑌ TOTᗩᒪᒪY ᖴᑌᑕKᗴᗪ TᕼIᔕ ᘜIᖇᒪ ᑌᑭ. ᗪOᑎT YOᑌ KᑎOᗯ ᕼOᗯ TO TᖇᗴᗩT ᗩ ᒪᗩᗪY?"

"𝑶𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒅𝒐! 𝑰'𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔, 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒚! 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒅𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔."

"Well what the hell do you people want me to do about it?" Ruan threw his hands up in exasperation. "One minute you want me to kiss her, the next minute you're all freaking out about how Steven somehow messed it up! Pick a lane!"

Connie scrambled to her feet in awe, completely forgetting herself in excitement. "You can inter communicate! I did get data! It wasn't for just selfish reasons!" She laughed again, rather manically and blew out a breath. "Okay, tell me everything."

Ruan groaned, backing away and turning to face away from her. "No can do."

"Why?"

"You cause me sufficient issue in thinking straight. We're not going to get anything done." He caught her disappointed gaze over his shoulder. "Besides, I hear voices coming closer. They're here."

Oh fuck. Fuckity fuckity fuck fuck fuck! She could hear the distinct voices of exactly who they were trying to avoid.

"Stars, don't they know how to take a hint?!" Connie snapped and stomped out to stare the three down, stopping them in her tracks.

Pearl, red nosed and clearly recently stopped crying, clasped her hands. "Hello. Is Steven with us?"

Connie trembled in rage until a warm hand was on her shoulder. She turned to see if Ruan was okay, but her heart skipped too many beats to not be a medical emergency.

A girl. Very visibly a woman actually. A sweet curly bob, soft cheeks and bright, compassionate eyes. Her jacket was cropped like Stevonnies, but her star shirt was white and she donned shorts. She was extremely curvy and plus sized. This woman was gorgeous.

Connie was red faced and shocked when she spoke in the most soothing voice she'd ever heard. "No. Stevens not here. My name is Nora."

The gems reacted dramatically as always.

"Nora like Nora Nora?" Amethyst crossed her arms and scowled. "I can't keep up with this human shit. I'm at my limit."

"𝚃𝕙𝐞𝒏 ʟ𝓮𝚊𝐯𝒆!"

"𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐮𝐬, 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐭."

Nora pulled Connie behind her and stepped closer to the gems. "Are you okay?"

The genuine concern in Nora's voice was shocking to say the least. She approached Amethyst and smiled. "I like your hair. I'll bet this is a lot to handle, huh?"

Amethyst blushed but managed to choke out an answer. "Uh yeah... n-no shit."

Garnet readjusted her visor and introduced herself curtly. "Garnet."

Nora nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder. "This isn't your fault. You're doing a good job, as best as you can. And you," She made her way over to Pearl, shaking with wide eyes full of terror. "You're having a panic attack. Can you try to focus on your breathing?"

Pearls eyes darted to Connie's, who shrugged limply and pulled out her phone as Nora guided the gem through deep breathing. No one could tell Connie this wasn't The Caretaker, even if that kind was supposedly rare. She'd done so much research on every version, but this one was the most obvious one she'd seen. Of course Steven would have a caretaker, when was the last time he'd had one and hadn't had to be one? This split made sense too at least. They all did to her unfortunately.

Which sucked more than she cared to think about right now.

"Hey, it's okay." Nora pulled her into a hug and started glowing. "Everything's going to be okay. I know you blame yourself, but you were just trying to help."

Connie snapped a picture tiredly. "Now that Nora here is done consoling you, would you like to tell me why you were following us?"

Garnet sighed and crossed her arms. "We wanted to apologize."

Shit. That might actually be useful for Steven to hear. Could they have picked a worse time?

Yes, they could've shown up when she was making out with Ruan. That would've been infinitely worse.

'ᑕᗩᑎ YOᑌ ᕼᗴᗩᖇ ᗰᗴ?'

"Yeaaaaaa–," Her last syllable drew out as she realized Nora's voice was not audible and in fact, in her head. "Yeouch... my... back," She finished awkwardly.

"What have you two been doing?" Pearl pushed Nora away gently and glared at Connie. "You guys are far too young to have a hurt back!"

Steven having back pain with the actual weight of the world on his shoulders? No way. Of course she was obviously talking about sex, which was funny since just now was the closest Connie had ever gotten.

Even Garnet gave Pearl a look. "You're kidding."

The simple statement made Connie want to disappear. "Pearl, Stevens almost 18. I'm 17 nearly right after that. Please refrain from sticking your nose in my business. I don't appreciate it." Firm, to the point, and assertive like her mother taught her to be. "Nora?" She had to get them the hell out of here. "I think it'd be better to apologize to his face. Nora and I need to eat, I haven't seen them eat at all and I'm sure she?" Nora nodded. "She is hungry."

She forced herself to act confident and walk up to the gems. "I know you're trying. But for Steven, we need to be the Steven for him. Please. Take some more time away. He really needs you to."

"We're not going anywhere," Pearl snapped.

"Then we will," Connie replied with even more venom.

"We should be in Stevens life. We should be in Nora's life!"

"Why? No matter what she tells you, you caused this!" She hadn't realized until she ran a hand over her face that she was crying but she couldn't stop and now she was sobbing. "Y-You broke m-my best friend! My only friend!" Her voice became shrill and she simpered, suddenly coming to a realization. She sniffled and stared at these gems she'd spent so long looking up to only to have to be so horribly disfigured she'd never see them that way again. "You're... you're worse than the Diamonds." Her voice cracked but she meant it. She meant it so much she wanted to collapse and cry until she died.

For the first time The Crystal Gems looked severely sympathetic and guilty.

Garnets visor disappeared and she leveled Connie seriously. "I'm sorry."

"Are you? I don't even know my best friend anymore. I'm exhausted, Garnet. In real life, in this life, I'm so tired. This is the only thing I have going for me and all you've done is yell at me like I haven't earned my role as a Crystal Gem!" She tugged at her hair and fought the urge to break down harder. Idly she wondered if she was finally having her burnout meltdown. "I have so much going on in my head and no one to talk to about it! You guys have not been a support at all. No one..." She sighed as she lost steam and rested in a quivering breath. Suddenly she felt like a small child. "No one has asked me how I'm doing about all of this. Or if I need help. I know it's not about me but I'm doing your job. I'm doing a job that takes years of certification to get into."

Amethyst shed a single tear. "Are you okay?"

The teen frowned deeply for a moment, worry lines coming in on her forehead and between her eyebrows until it settled into nothing. "Yes."

"You're lying." Everyone turned to Nora in shock. "It's going to be okay. You have to believe that."

When she looked to Connie she snapped her gaze to the ground to avoid it. It hit her that she didn't want to be helped right now, she wanted to stew in this. "Nora, we need to go."

"I'm hungry." She slipped her hand in Connie's and glowed a comforting pink for a moment. "Let's go get something to eat."