Forevermore

by OpalizedFossil

Summary:

Yellow never makes time for Blue anymore.

But, Blue knows how to make sure she has her attention.

Notes:

For @minerva-van-lotto on Tumblr, who contributed lots of ideas for this fic and was a patient proofreader throughout the entire ordeal! Please visit her on Tumblr!

Chapter 1

Homeworld never ceases its hustle. It is a world in a constant state of chaos, forever immersed in business that must be attended to. There are new missions to be assigned, new resources to be harvested, new gems to be implanted in the increasingly crowded Kindergartens that have eaten huge holes in the gravely underside of the bustling planet. Always, there is work to be done. Never is there time for rest or reprieve, not even for an instant. The hustle and bustle is unrelenting, as it always has been.

A Diamond must operate under such conditions constantly. What was once a powerful authority has been reduced to a mere two Diamonds, with one shattered, taken from them before she ever had the chance to leave her mark on this cruel, mechanical world, and one vanished, stolen away like a shadow in the evening's dying light. And then there is the one of the two who remain who insists on spending her every waking moment shrieking and crying and wailing and grieving for gems long past. Only one remains competent and effective, the sole ruler of a cold dominion that slowly, insistently pushes her towards the brink, requiring her constant, undivided attention, distracting from her own ability to grieve, demanding her guidance where there is no one else left to turn to.

Homeworld is all hers now.

It isn't as pleasant a realization as Yellow Diamond once imagined, when she was a young and foolhardy gem, freshly emerged, who wanted nothing more than to be in power.

Yellow knows now that there is a difference between being in power and being empowered, and she's beginning to have her doubts that she is either.

Always, she is busy. Always, she is angry. Always, she focuses on her court and the courts of those who have abandoned her and, always, she loses her temper, screams alone in her chambers of commerce in the most intense of frustration, and retreats quietly to the private quarters that she still shares with Blue.

Blue is here. Of course she is. She seldom leaves and, when she does, it's only to steal away on her ship to visit the earth or the human zoo, never to attend to her actual duties or do little more than weep and cry, as pathetic as a pearl.

Yellow looks at her only briefly as she enters the room, her eyes a golden glare beneath angular, black brows, the bridge of her nose wrinkled distastefully as she takes in the sight she now knows all too well: Blue seated on the edge of the bed - a phenomenal, goliath-sized cushion once intended for passionate lovemaking, now used only for crying - with her hands folded delicately in her lap, tears brimming silently in her eyes and overflowing down her face in ice blue waterfalls, dissipating into nothingness before reaching the polished, tiled floor. Nearby, her pearl stands by, head bowed, hands folded, awaiting commands that no longer come.

"Blue," Yellow says coldly as she comes in, her pearl fingering keys on a wall-mounted screen that orders the towering entrance closed behind them. Then, the servant retreats to the corner with her comrade, who acknowledges her with a sideways glance and a nod.

Yellow Diamond receives little more: a glance, a nod. She frowns, feeling the slight bulge down the middle of her forehead that rises only when she's fit to burst.

Blue notices, too. "Y - Yellow. Hello."

It's too late.

"Honestly, Blue," Yellow says as she throws her hands up in frustration, eyes glinting angry yellow beneath those sharp, angular brows, "How much longer is this going to go on?"

Blue stares at her, shocked. Then, suddenly, her own swooping, curving brows furrow, fingers furiously swiping away her tears. "How can you just forget her so easily, Yellow? Why can't you just let me grieve?"

"Because you're pining yourself to death, Blue! This can't go on forever!" Yellow raises her voice more than she intended, hears how angry she sounds, and makes no effort to stop it, "Someone has to help me around here!"

Blue is on her feet in an instant, throwing her arms in the air angrily, slim, blue lips drawn back over glinting, white teeth in a furious snarl. "She was ours, Yellow! Doesn't that mean anything to you anymore?!"

"Of course it does!" Yellow shouts and, suddenly, the two of them freeze, faces inches away from each other as Blue stands on her toes and strains her neck up to meet her, both grimacing, both growling, both completely and utterly furious and yet caught with tears brimming in their brightly contrasting eyes. Two pearls watch on anxiously as Blue Diamond slowly turns away, settling back down on the soles of her boots, her toes aching faintly from having been stood on.

"Yellow, I'm...I'm sorry...," she whispers, as if someone other than the pearls might overhear them, "You know how much she meant to me."

Blue bows her head, then snaps it back up when a familiar, firm hand encompasses her slender shoulder, cool skin touching hers through a circular cutout in the fabric of her robe. Yellow's touch is as electric as she remembers, the first she's felt in some time now. She gazes up at her with watery eyes, and sees the love she still feels reflected in that hard, golden stare. Gentle fingers trace slow circles on Blue's cheeks through thick, leather gloves, tenderly wiping away tears, then Yellow leans down and kisses her forehead.

"No, I know how much she meant to us," Yellow tells her, then lowers her arm around her waist, bringing her in close to her chest, in a display of affection now increasingly rare, "You're right. She was ours."

Blue settles into the comfortable coolness of Yellow's chest, startled when she feels the unfamiliar sensation of a smile pricking the corners of her smooth, cerulean lips. She's hesitant at first, then she lets it take over, her eyes lighting up bright as she throws her arms around her lover's waist and buries her face between her breasts, eyes fluttering closed as she nuzzles her nose close to Yellow's gem. Yellow smiles, too, if only for a moment.

Suddenly, Blue Diamond lifts her head and looks at her. "Yellow?" she prompts, urgent and low.

"Hmm?" Yellow hums absentmindedly, quietly savoring the pleasant warmth and subtle softness that is her longtime lover.

"Shall we...?" Blue asks, with a suggestive, sideways glance towards the oversized cushion sprawling across their chamber floor, a lavish, blue thing with meter-long tassels trailing from all four corners, surrounded by a sheer, cerulean canopy that hangs half open, seemingly beckoning them in.

Yellow smiles, arms encircling her mate's petite waist, drawing her in a little closer in a subtle show of desire. "Honestly, Blue, how long has it been? Twelve thousand years or so, I'd say. And you're still playing coy with me?"

Blue giggles. A beautiful sound, a little shrill, a little musical. Yellow hasn't heard her laugh in six thousand years, and hearing the sound is both haunting, like an echo from the past, and absolutely invigorating, a pleasant reminder of how things used to be and how completely and utterly lovely her mate is. It fills her with a warm, tingly feeling that she doesn't recognize at first, until Blue is tugging her towards the canopy impatiently and she realizes that it's happiness. Blue makes her happy.

But, Blue has barely dappled her jawline with kisses when there's an alarm from the speaker mounted beside the entrance, so loud that it causes the machinery to rattle. Yellow's pearl rushes to answer it and, with a frantic dance of her fingers on the screen, a high-ranking gem is alerting them to an urgent emergency downstairs, something regarding a six-gem fusion causing an uproar and escaping into the deserted Kindergarten below.

Yellow rises. Blue gazes at her longingly, holding tightly to her hand even as Yellow pries her long, slim fingers away, bringing with them their familiar, comfortable coolness and the less familiar feelings of happiness that had begun bubbling in Blue's depths.

"Yellow...," she whimpers, and there's urgency and desire and need in her voice.

Yellow looks at her sadly, her eyes for once seeming more forlorn than angry. "I'm sorry, Blue."

Then, as soon as she had come, Yellow is gone, back through the chamber door and away into Homeworld, to attend to matters that Blue is no longer brave enough to face. Her pearl closes the entrance behind them and, again, Blue is engulfed in the solemn silence of the room, with only her own quiet pearl to accompany her. Her servant is no comfort to her now and, distraught once more, Blue throws herself onto the oversized cushion and clings to a spare pillow and wails.

Oh, she misses Pink. She misses her so, so much. She misses her everyday and she knows, in her darkest of hearts, that she always will. There will forever be an emptiness clinging inside her, threatening to consume her, a space left behind by the child that she's lost.

But, she misses Yellow, too. She misses how Yellow used to spoil and adore her. She misses how Yellow would cancel entire counsels to spend just a few more minutes with her, planting kisses in the valley between her breasts and trailing little licks down the smooth plain of her stomach. She misses how the two of them used to sleep alongside each other, Yellow's sharp, strong body wrapped protectively around hers. There had been no heartache then. There had been only happiness and love and affection, and the knowledge that, in her womb, grew the gem of their firstborn child.

"Oh, Yellow...," Blue sighs woefully into the cushion sandwiched beneath her face, sniffling softly. Oh, how she misses the way things used to be. She misses it so much.

When Yellow had had time for her, had showered her with attention, had indulged her every whim...now, she seldom sees her and, when she does, Yellow is upset with her for not helping her with the weight she's been shouldered with, now that White has left them. There are never kisses, touches, cuddles. There are not even fond glances and loving words to be exchanged. There's only tension and anger and growing resentment, and Blue is suddenly certain that she just can't handle it anymore. If her sweet little Pink has to be gone, then she at least needs her beloved Yellow.

Her mind wanders back to the time when the two of them had first been together, awkward but heated, so completely passionate and full of love, showing such promise for what was soon to come between them. She fantasizes fondly of the way Yellow had touched her, cool palms stretched smoothly across the small of her back, cupping her buttocks through her robes, wandering her every nook and cranny...

The alarm sounds again, an unpleasant, shrill blare that shatters her sweet reverie in one fell swoop.

Groaning, Blue rolls over. "Pearl, the speaker, please."

There is no patter of footsteps as the pearl crosses over to the speaker silently, taps her fingers twice on the screen, and answers the incoming message. "Blue Diamond's control room. Speak, please."

"My Diamond," a familiar voice blares. Blue recognizes it, hoists herself onto her elbows, and looks at the speaker, a puzzled brow arched high above a big, blue eye eternally wet with tears. What business could the court medic possibly have with her right now?

"Yes?" Blue answers after a moment.

"My Diamond, I'm here to deliver your suppressants," the voice replies, "Shall I leave them with your pearl?"

Suppressants? Blue Diamond is puzzled for a moment, then remembers how long it's been. Yes, it's been about a thousand years since she last entered estrus, a cycle beckoning to a biological urge, a remnant from the times when gems had sex not strictly for enjoyment, but for reproduction, before the time of Kindergartens and the other modern methods that White Diamond had since devised. For a Diamond to be in-heat would be dishonorable, with how it reduced them to a sniveling, moaning, pleading mess within a matter of hours, begging desperately for sexual release and smelling powerfully of arousal. And so, White had ordered that all of them take suppressants when the time came, rather than waste their time hiding away in their chambers, away from the prying public eye, until their cycles passed. Their time was better spent elsewhere, she had told them, being productive leaders who provided for their court members, not masturbating furiously behind closed doors and whimpering and moaning like disreputable whores. None of them had ever questioned it, wholeheartedly believing that this was for the better and that White was right.

So, whenever the medicine came, Blue would take it. Whatever tension had built in her body would nearly instantly dissipate, fading away as suddenly as it had come, and then she would be fine again. But, there was always a certain sadness to it, too, disappointment that she didn't have even those few brief weeks to surrender herself to her baser urges and let one of them have their way with her. She had been in-heat the first time Yellow had mounted her, so very long ago, and she had been left more satisfied than ever by the time the larger, stronger Diamond was done with her. Yellow had never ignored her for her court or her royal duties or her obligations as a Diamond then.

Suddenly, a thought occurs to her.

Blue looks at the speaker, still humming expectantly as the medic patiently awaits her response. She hesitates, contemplates it, feels momentarily guilty, and then, with the slightest glimmer of mischievousness in her bright, blue eyes, replies, "Yes, please. Leave them with my pearl."

* * *

Yellow Diamond doesn't return to her shared chambers for almost an entire day. Whatever had summoned her from the room in the first place must have been urgent. She's exhausted, her mind tired and numb, and wants only to lay down for awhile before she's inevitably summoned yet again, the servants of all four courts forced to call her when something's amiss, with no other Diamond to attend to their needs. She feels run ragged, overworked, overstressed, but she doesn't know what else can be done. Pink is gone, White is missing, and Blue is...

She sighs. She doesn't want to resent Blue. She knows that her mate needs time. But, she also can't do it alone. She needs her help.

Yellow waits impatiently by the closed door as her pearl scrambles to catch up to her, left behind by her huge strides. It's then that she realizes that Blue's own pearl isn't in the room, but stationed dutifully outside, her head bowed and her hands folded. This causes her pause; what reason does her mate have to exile her only servant to the corridor?

"Pearl," she says.

"Yes, My Diamond?" her servant asks.

"Wait here," Yellow orders her, sensing trouble. Blue must have been having an extreme episode if she didn't want even her pearl around to see her, and Yellow would rather attend to her alone if this were the case. Besides, their pearls were nearly as close as they were, and she imagines that the little servant would want company.

"Yes, My Diamond," her pearl agrees, then opens the door before she retreats to her companion's side, the entrance to the chambers gliding quietly open.

Yellow steps inside. The door slides closed behind her. She squints in the abnormal darkness of the chamber, the lights that are ordinarily glaringly bright dimmed. She senses that her mate is near, but doesn't see her right away, until her smooth, rounded silhouette emerges from the half-darkness, face veiled by the heavy hood of her satin robes.

"Hello, Yellow," Blue says pleasantly, but Yellow almost doesn't hear her, transfixed instead on the shape of her, on the way her hips are swaying as she waltzes confidently towards her, her subtle curves much more prominent in the robes that suddenly seem much, much tighter. The modest neckline now swoops much lower, flaunting voluptuous cleavage from large breasts pressed tightly together, twin slits running up the length of each shapely leg, right up to the hip. Where there had once been material flowing freely down to her ankles, there is now only scarcely enough to cover her thighs, hugging them so snugly that it insistently hitches up a little higher with every step.

Yellow cannot conceal her alarm. "Blue, what is the meaning of this?"

Giggling, Blue draws back her hood, to reveal a long, slim face flushed with warmth and plump lips glistening wetly in the dim lights. There's a mischievous shimmer in her big, blue eyes that Yellow hasn't seen in centuries and, then, of course, there's the smell.

A smell like no other, Yellow had once said, and she still meant it. Blue smells sweet and fresh and clean like rainwater on a field of flowers, a sentiment that the earth-resenting Yellow might have hated, had it not been such a pleasant smell with such positive associations. She finds her nostrils absentmindedly pulsing, her mouth slightly ajar, drinking in as much of the delicious aroma as they possibly can.

Yellow glances around the room for answers. She finds them on the small table that sits beside their bed, just outside the flowing canopy, hanging slightly ajar in open invitation, in the form of a tall, translucent bottle filled with familiar, white capsules. Blue's estrus suppressants, unopened and unconsumed.

Yellow moves around her mate, then reaches for the bottle, holding it up pointedly. "Blue, you know that White intended for us to take these for a reason. You need to take them before this gets out of control."

Blue's face falters when Yellow steps by her, seemingly unaffected by her slight change in attire, but she didn't miss how her mate's nostrils flared or the way her eyes brightened when she came in. Yellow is interested, she knows it. Yellow wants this as much as she does, but she's going to have to convince her to overlook her responsibilities and her stubborn pride as a Diamond for a little while if either of them are going to get it.

Fine, Blue thinks. She likes a challenge.

Yellow starts when she feels her mate's cool, slim hands on her shoulders, fingers kneading insistently through the shoulder pads. She feels the warmth of her mate's breath hit her ear, hears the slightest sound of her giggle. "White isn't here," Blue reminds her.

Yellow stiffens as the smell hits her once more. Her nostrils flare. Her face heats up. She starts to feel its cruel effects on her body as her cock twitches to life, the depths of her stomach feeling hot and heavy as the arousal starts to roil.

"Blue, I'm...I'm tired," Yellow tells her, then brushes her off to instead sit down on the edge of their shared bed, the oversized cushion sinking softly underneath her. She cradles her head in her hands, fingers splayed across her forehead, and tries her best to focus. She wants to. Oh, how she wants to. She hasn't been with Blue in too long. But, she knows that she can't; as soon as the two of them get started, something will interrupt them. It's always something.

To her surprise, Blue sits down beside her, scoots closer, and insistently presses her head into the nape of her neck, smiling devilishly. "Oh, I don't believe that."

"Believe it," Yellow sighs tiredly, hands dropping into her lap as she gazes blankly out into space, hoping she's done so smoothly enough to hide the fact that she's trying not entirely discreetly to hide her growing erection, now half-hard in her trousers. It pulses when her hand brushes it, causing her to bite her lower lip.

Blue sees right through her, and the sadness that comes to her face isn't entirely fake, her frown fat-lipped and pouty. "I don't. I think you're making excuses. Don't you want me, Yellow?"

Yellow wants to tell her how much she does. She does want her. How could she not? Blue is as perfect as a Diamond can come, a gorgeous gem, a fittingly sexy temptress concealed beneath her flowing robes. And she's mischievous, too, such a naughty little vixen, something that has almost been forgotten for the past six thousand years, with Blue too preoccupied with her sadness to engage in her once very frequent teasing. Yellow's teeth worry away at her lower lip as she thinks back to the times before Pink Diamond's death, when Blue would slip into her control room to distract her from her duties for hours on end, grinding that fine, round bottom of hers into Yellow's lap until Yellow snapped and fucked her senseless.

The pleasant memory causes Yellow's cock to throb. Suddenly, she's painfully aware of how hard she is, swollen to her full size, straining insistently through her trousers. She's big even by Diamond standards, as long and thick as Blue's own forearm, and, when she's aroused, she twitches and throbs like no other. Already, there's a patch of wetness growing slowly on her left thigh, where the tip of her cock sits heavily, drooling pre. There's no way that Blue hasn't noticed it by now. Yellow knows that she's fighting a losing battle, but she fights, nonetheless.

Blue's thin, delicate arms encircle her from behind. Her round chin rests on Yellow's shoulder, her downturned eyes, usually teary, gleaming mischievously up at her from a smug, smiling face. The warmth of her, the smell of her, the feeling of her...oh, she knows her mate can't resist her.

"You do want me, Yellow," Blue keens, "I can see how much you want me. You're so hard. Is that all for me, love? Are you going to...to fuck me, Yellow?"

Yellow's face flushes deep golden yellow. Such foul language sounds so mysteriously good coming from such a delicate, lovely tongue. Her erection pulses, twitches beneath her fingertips, and it takes every ounce of her self-control not to grab it and stroke it. She's so aroused that it almost hurts.

"I want to, Blue. You know I do," Yellow surrenders, frowning severely, "but, you know we won't have time. I'll hardly get my clothes off before someone needs me. We're interrupted every time."

"Let them call," Blue begs her, one clever little hand tugging insistently at the collar of her mate's shirt, brushing against her gem, "Just let them. Please, Yellow, stay with me instead...it's been so long..."

"There's no one else to attend to them, Blue," Yellow reminds her, "If I don't go, who will? What if there's an emergency?"

"There is an emergency," Blue tells her as she snatches her arms back from around her, to instead cross them over her chest, frowning poutily, brows furrowed, "Right here in this room. You never make time for us anymore, Yellow!"

Yellow frowns, admittedly disappointed when her mate withdraws from her. "Need I remind you that I have to do my own job and yours and White's?"

Blue looks momentarily guilty, then turns away from her, pouting indignantly. Yellow stares at her for a moment, then exhales in exasperation and glances away, acutely aware of how her cock twitches and strains in her trousers, now pushing against the thin inner fabric of the left pocket, through which its impressive shape is very visible. She's dimly aware of Blue shifting and moving behind her, but doesn't turn around until she hears her clear her throat.

Yellow glances at her. Then, she does a double-take and outright stares.

Blue is on her hands and knees, the fabric of her foreshortened robes hitched up over her firm, round backside, to put on proud display the fact that she has on no underwear at all. There is only her plump, swollen pussy, the soft labia spread wide with arousal, glistening wetly in the low lights, just beneath the fat hood of her even fatter clitoris. Wetness collects in veritable droplets along her slick inner folds, before dripping down the plush curves of her inner thighs or onto the cushion below. The smell of her is even stronger now, emanating thickly from between those plush, wet folds, open enough for Yellow to glimpse even the innermost parts of her, a lighter shade of blue than the rest of her. Each inhale fills Yellow with the sweet scent of rainwater, the tempting aroma of her Blue.

Blue lets her stare for a moment more, then glances sideways over her shoulder with a bat of her thick, black lashes and a seductive smile tugging wickedly at the corners of her lips. She sees the exact moment when Yellow breaks, when she loses the battle of the will and surrenders.

Yellow is on her in an instant, firm hands clutching tightly to her voluptuous hips. Blue hears that guttural growl she once knew so well rise up in her mate's throat in a long, low rumble, protective and territorial.

"Listen here, you little vixen," Yellow snarls, "I'm going to teach you a lesson, understood?"

"Oh, yes, please," Blue giggles, with an upward bounce of her bottom that hits Yellow directly between the legs, feeling for a moment the distinct outline of her hard cock, straining against her trousers so much now that she's certain it's about to tear straight through the fabric.

"Honestly, Blue, you are such a tease," Yellow growls softly into her ear as she brushes her lips against it, then catches the shell of it between her teeth to nibble on her gently. Blue's hair tickles her nose as her mouth ventures lower, swept away by her face as she buries it against the nape of her neck, pressing open-mouthed kisses to the soft skin of her shoulder. She thrusts her hips forward, grinding the length of her cock between the tight chasm of Blue's buttocks, snarling delightedly at the much needed friction.

Blue isn't embarrassed, but she does blush. "I can't help it, Yellow. You know how it is to be in-heat."

Yellow chuckles, a rumbly snarl of a sound, and nips her roughly between the shoulder blades, through the fabric of her robes, just enough to send a sharp jolt down her lover's spine. "Not in the past six thousand years, I don't."

"You've forgotten," Blue says, then glances at her coyly over her shoulder, a surprisingly wicked smile tugging sharply at the corners of her lips, "Perhaps I should remind you."

And before Yellow can even begin to raise an objection, Blue sends her eerie, cerulean impulse pulsating through the room, a tidal wave of mixed emotion imposed on all who touch it. It hits Yellow like a speeding freight vessel, a screeching whirlwind of arousal and lust and the faintest hint of sadness, always lingering in the back of her mind, even as it swims in primitive hormones that send sensual shock waves down her spine with every lurching, panting breath. Yellow feels it overwhelm her in an instant and, for the first time in quite awhile, she has to admire her lover's control. For the past six thousand years, it had been easier to pretend that Blue had no self-control, that she willingly surrendered herself to sadness and depression and allowed her loss to overtake her, shoving her responsibilities onto her lover's shoulders so that she could mope in silence instead. But, Blue had always had much more control than Yellow realized, and that reality comes crashing down on her nearly as hard as the waves of arousal that now pulse through her body and brain.

"Oh," Yellow whispers.

Blue can't resist a chuckle. Yellow finds that her voice suddenly sounds so much sweeter, feels it like a vibration in her core. Her tongue swipes thirstily over her lips, which suddenly seem chapped and dry, and her hips grind fitfully into Blue's backside as if on their own accord. She hasn't felt like this in millenia, hasn't allowed it to happen, but now that it has, she's determined to make the most of it.

A guttural snarl surges up from Yellow's throat, her fingers gripping tighter to her lover's backside. "Enough."

"You'll give me what I want?" Blue prompts.

"You know I'll give you that and so much more," Yellow growls.

Blue smirks wickedly and cocks a curved brow, knowing that, finally, she has won. Then, as quickly as it came, the blindingly blue aura leaves the room, leaving them squinting dazedly in the suddenly white lights.

Yellow growls again as her mind clears, but not entirely. She's still aroused, after all, so aroused that her cock throbs sharply and painfully between the cleft of her mate's soft buttocks. "Honestly, Blue, you already had my attention."

"And this time, I want to be certain I won't lose it," Blue tells her. Yellow feels a pang of guilt. It wasn't as if she had wanted to neglect her lover all this time. It had been an act of necessity, a need for not only her, but the entire Diamond Authority. Once upon a time, she had had time to spend quietly away in her chambers with Blue, but now, that was a thing of the past, forgotten in the constant hustle of Homeworld. Her Homeworld.

"I'll make up for it," Yellow swears, "All those years of being away, I will. You'll see."

Blue bites down on her own lower lip so hard that she tastes copper, her eyebrows screwing together tightly beneath the fringe of her silken bangs. "Oh, Yellow, please, just fuck me!"

"We can talk about this later, hmm?" Yellow muses as she settles back on her knees, the cushion shifting softly underneath her, and admires her mate for a moment more. From between the soft, slick folds and swathe of silky, white pubic hair, Blue's clitoris is swollen and erect, peeking out from underneath its hood, a softer shade of blue than the rest of her. Blue is as flawlessly beautiful and deceptively delicate here as she is everywhere else.

Blue looks at her over her shoulder, still presenting herself hungrily on all fours. Yellow sees in her eyes not sadness, but pleading. Desperation. Hunger. The very things she felt herself only moments before. It had been such a powerful, overwhelming, all-consuming feeling, one that she didn't want her mate to suffer from any longer.

The wall-mounted alarm sounds. Yellow doesn't care. It could ring and ring until it vibrated itself off the wall, but she wouldn't answer. She's going to fuck Blue, and all of Homeworld could collapse around them for all she cared in that instant. Blue needs her and, for the first time in six thousand years, Yellow realizes with a start how much she needs Blue.

Slowly, Yellow peels a glove away first from her left hand, stuck tight with sharp, fresh sweat, then from her right, letting them fall silently to the tiled floor. All the while, she gazes intently into the pleading, watery eyes of her lover, as fixated on Blue as Blue is on her. A silent sentiment passes between them, an apology for times come to pass, for conversations not had and emotions not shared and comfort not given when it was needed the most. Yellow sees the desire blooming brighter and bolder in Blue's gaze as she watches her, tentatively peeling her clothing away, removing it herself rather than willing it into nothingness. It's more fun this way, Blue had told her once, long ago. Yellow remembers.

First come her robes, with their knee-length skirt tail and exaggeratedly large shoulder pads, falling in a rumpled heap in the floor much less quietly than her gloves had. Underneath, she wears a tight-fitting shirt with its own set of shoulder pads, insistent on squaring her shoulders even when she was without her robes, and a cut-out where her bright yellow gem glistens proudly through, catching light on its every edge and reflecting it golden. She leans over to remove her tall boots, tugging them down from her knees and pushing them away, and, in this brief moment, Blue can't wait any longer.

Yellow feels the soft, tender lips capture her earlobe from behind, Blue's slim hands gently grasping her shoulders. She's on her knees on the oversized cushion, the material sinking softly underneath her, her own foreshortened robes glimmering away in a sizzle of white light that ignites the room with a brilliant glow for a fraction of a second before it fizzles away into nothingness. "Yellow, fuck me," Blue all but demands, "Fuck me now, please."

Yellow stares at her in a moment, in disbelief at her mate's childish impatience, then lets out a soft little laugh at how ridiculous this all is and captures her in a warm, tight hug, bringing them both down on the would-be mattress. The oversized cushion is far from supportive, of no use for sleeping, placed here exclusively for exploring their sexuality. It shifts and moves underneath them as Yellow wills the rest of her attire away, baring her body to her mate. No other would ever see her like this, in her towering, intimidating, broad-shouldered glory, arms and legs and abdomen wound tight with muscle and sinew, in a slim, gangly sort of way. In the chamber's dim lights, all dancing and sparkling brilliantly within the glimmering confines of her gem, nestled between two small, firm breasts with nipples perked with arousal, she possesses an otherworldly beauty, like a fiery phantom in the evening's dying light.

"You're beautiful," Blue tells her - and she means it, even as she's consumed by arousal at the slightest touch of Yellow's lips, devouring the long, slim nape of her neck, suckling royal blue bruises on the tender skin, while broad, flat hands spread over her hips, holding them steady as she presses her pulsating cock in-between them, dragging again and again the sweltering, dripping head through Blue's delicious wetness. The shaft takes on a strange, greenish hue as Blue's cerulean slick spreads up and down its length, glistening wetly in the low lights. Where Yellow is sharp and angular, she is round and smooth, all soft curves and tender skin and big, full breasts that hang heavily on either side of her teardrop-shaped gem. Her robes conceal a curvy body that only Yellow sees, a delight for her eyes only, unseen and unappreciated for the past few thousand years.

"Oh, but not as beautiful as you," Yellow whispers into the curve of her shoulder as she kisses it, then silences whatever answer Blue had had with another kiss directly to her smooth, damp lips, which part readily around her tongue as it seeks refuge in the warm cavern of her mouth. Blue's tongue doesn't at all resist her, but welcomes her, with smooth, wet strokes to Yellow's own. Yellow savors the kiss for all its worth, then, with a deep, guttural growl, shoves her cock in-between Blue's wet folds, penetrating her deeply in one fell thrust.

Blue cries out into her mouth, not because she is in pain, but because she has become unused to the sensation over the past few thousand years. Yellow is as rigid as stone, as hard as the glistening gemstone embedded in her chest, her shaft twitching and throbbing at the tight, warm contact of Blue's pussy, as soft and satiny as the rest of her. Blue's pussy holds onto Yellow tightly as she withdraws, inner walls twitching faintly around her, pulsating and hot, then shoves back into her vigorously, driving into her as deeply as she can with every out of practice thrust, remembering quickly what pleases her mate the most, where all her special, sensitive spots are, how to move to make her moan the loudest.

A string of saliva, glistening brightly, stretches between them as Yellow pulls away, smiling delicately. There's a deep-seated look of lust in her eyes, glowering golden in the faint lights, boring into Blue's own intensely. Blue hasn't seen that look in thousands of years. "I had forgotten," Yellow whispers, then kisses her again, hips thrumming steadily into Blue's all the while, sending her stiffening cock pummeling deeper and harder with every feverish thrust. The more she moves, the stronger Blue smells, and Yellow feels drunk on that delicious aroma of hormones and fresh fallen rain.

Blue arches her back into every rough touch and keens like a kitten, singing sweetly as a songbird in a tune of rumbles and moans, wanting desperately to tell Yellow how magnificent she's feeling but smothered into silence by her lips instead. She can smell herself, embarrassingly powerful, but also the sharp, fresh sweat that beads on their backs and foreheads and the musky aroma of Yellow's arousal. She's so addled by arousal that she couldn't care less what passersby might overhear them, grunts and growls and moans bouncing freely about the room and echoing into the halls. Their pearls will have certainly overheard them in graphic detail, but it won't be the first time - and it won't be the last.

Blue tears her lips away from Yellow's, moaning sweetly and desperately. "Y - Yellow! Oh, please, give it to me harder! Please, love!"

"You only have to ask, my dear," Yellow replies in a long, low growl before she braces herself on both arms and pummels ever harder and faster into Blue's clutching, clinging pussy, holding tightly to her every inch, seemingly sucking her in deeper with every hungry motion of her trembling cock.

A high-pitched, sing-song cry echoes around the chamber as Blue comes suddenly and powerfully undone. Sweet, slick fluid gushes from her around the snug seal of Yellow's pumping cock, to dribble onto the oversized cushion in splattered, dark stains, a deeper blue than the material itself. The warmth that had bubbled like lava like her depths erupts and pours into every inch of her, tingling pleasantly even in her fingers and toes as she falls limply back onto the cushion, breasts heaving as she breathes deeply, each inhale bringing in her own sharp scent. But, even as she feels satisfied, there's still that strange, seeping warmth within her, a sure sign that her heat has yet to pass. Oh, how she's going to enjoy it.

Snarling, Yellow steadies herself when she feels Blue come. It starts with her raising her hips from the cushion, arching hungrily into her, then flopping back down feebly as she reaches that sweet climax, suddenly so much wetter, so much slicker, and clamping down on her like a warm, soft vice, inner walls jerking and twitching around her trembling shaft, so stiff now that it nearly hurts. Blue makes the most beautiful noises when she comes. Yellow tries her best to stop, to hold still until Blue recovers, but finds that she cannot, hips jerking at their own accord into the pleasant warmth. She pants, gulps in big breaths she doesn't need, just to taste more of her mate's sweet estrus on her tongue, hungry for more.

Blue whimpers as Yellow continues to thrust into her, overstimulated and sensitive. But, even when her mind feels tired, her heat drives her body on, and she finds her hips thrusting up to meet Yellow's with every pleasant pulse, their bodies meeting in the middle as rhythmically as clockwork. And then, so very suddenly, Yellow is throwing back her head and not groaning, but growling, feral and territorial, as she, too, comes undone. Blue bites down on her lower lip so hard that it bleeds as she savors the long forgotten sensation of hot, short bursts of come filling her, until it's over and done and both of them are quietly panting in the chamber's dim lights.

Moments pass. There's relative silence, broken only by their heavy breathing and the omnipresent hum of all the machinery that surrounds them, hidden behind metal walls, always quietly running in the background, sounds they've long since ceased to notice. Now that it has burst with relief, Yellow's shaft starts to soften, slackening as she withdraws it from Blue's pussy, now stretched wide and gaping, her swathe of white hair wet and stained blue down the middle. A final strand of come leaks from Yellow's cock head as she goes limp, dribbling into a puddle of Blue's spilled fluids on the fabric of the cushion. At least the navy material will serve to hide the stains, Yellow thinks as she settles down beside her mate, laying quietly on her stomach, propped up on her elbows, and admiring Blue's beauty as she closes her eyes and relaxes for the first time in a long time. She's so lovely, with her shapely breasts rising and falling rhythmically with every breath, beneath the drape of hair that falls like a scarf across her chest, gem reflecting yellow lights and seeming to ignite from the inside. Yellow can't remember the last time she looked so peaceful.

"I'm sorry," Yellow says unexpectedly.

Blue opens her eyes and looks at her. "What?"

"I'm sorry," Yellow repeats, "for leaving you to grieve alone for all this time. I...was gravely mistaken, Blue. I hope you can forgive me."

There's a frown on Blue's face now. Yellow worries that she's ruined their moment of relaxation, lapses of peace in the hustle and chaos that come few and far between. Then, Blue exhales unsteadily and replies, "And I shouldn't have left it for you to cope with all alone, either. You've taken on the courts of four Diamonds all by yourself. You must be...so overwhelmed, love, I don't know how you do it."

Yellow allows herself a rare smile. "I don't know how I do it, either, Blue."

Blue returns her smile, then rolls onto her side and kisses her. Across the room, the alarm sounds, a fervent attempt to summon them from their chambers. But, Yellow doesn't respond. Her golden gaze never once glances its way, her eyes only on Blue.

Blue Diamond doesn't know how long this blissful moment will last. But, for now, she settles back into the oversized cushion, now slightly damp underneath them, and enjoys her mate's company.

Chapter 2

Yellow Diamond doesn't realize that she's fallen asleep until she stirs sometime later, the chamber lights still dimmed, the smell of sex still hanging heavily in the cool air, the cushion still unsupportive and uncomfortable. She has to invest in a proper bed, she tells herself as she shifts onto her elbows and becomes suddenly, acutely aware of the sensation of a warm little tongue lapping sweetly at her swiftly stiffening shaft.

Moaning, Yellow looks down between her spread legs, where Blue is laying cutely on her stomach, fingers wrapped around the thick base of Yellow's pulsing cock while her tongue toys daintily with the dribbling head, tasting sharp, salty pre. She can't help the faint smile that tugs insistently at the corners of her lips, as she meets her mate's affectionate gaze approvingly. As she blinks the sleepy haze from her eyes, Yellow becomes increasingly aware of the sharp, fresh, rainwater smell still lingering in the atmosphere, now accompanied by the less attractive odors of stale sweat and come dried on the cushion. Still, Blue smells delicious, her mouth is wet and warm and wonderful, and her eyes are eager to please and, for once, not brimming with freshly fallen tears.

Smiling, Yellow reaches down to thread long, slim fingers through soft, silken hair that falls around Blue's slender shoulders in an ocean of white. Blue returns her smile, big, blue eyes shimmering mischievously, and kisses the bulbous head of her hard cock, before her smooth, soft lips part and beckon it in-between their pleasant warmth, to lavish it with her clever little tongue. The warm, wet, wriggly digit slides smoothly underneath the foreskin, tickling tender nerve endings with a teasing little swirl.

"You look like you're enjoying that quite a lot, my dear," Yellow muses as she reclines on her elbows, golden gaze smoldering hungrily as she studies the curve of her mate's back, flowing smoothly into a round bottom and thick thighs that conceal her sweltering sex, still smelling strongly of her estrus.

"Oh, I am, Yellow," Blue purrs from around the intrusion, her tongue encircling the tip a few more times before she purses her lips, inhales deeply, and sends the entire thing spiraling into her mouth, right back into the hot, tight recess of her throat. Yellow throws her head back and snarls through clenched teeth, a familiar warmth seething in her fiery depths as that hot, throbbing desire ignites in her once more.

Blue's eyes never once leave hers as she eases herself down to the shaft's base, slim nose nestled into the trail of coarse hair that flows down from Yellow's naval. She sits there for a moment, lips losing their tight pucker to a slight, smug smile as she watches Yellow knowingly, then draws back, beginning to bob back and forth rhythmically. Six thousand years hadn't been nearly enough for her to forget how it was done, the motions she once slyly performed from underneath council tables and control room desktops still sharp and fresh in her memory. The thought causes her to shudder, pussy clenching on nothing.

Blue pulls away with hunger in her eyes and a string of saliva stretching from her lips to Yellow's twitching cock head. Yellow opens eyes she didn't realize she had closed and looks at her, chest rising and falling a little faster than normal. "Blue, why did..."

Her lover wastes no time in shifting around on the oversized cushion, until she's presenting her sweltering pussy proudly on all fours. "Because there's something else I would enjoy even more."

Blue doesn't know if Yellow will still be there when she's no longer irresistibly in-heat, smelling sweetly of fresh fallen rain, crooning loudly underneath her while the two of them fuck vigorously in the peaceful quiet of their private chambers with their pearls waiting patiently outside their door, begging her for more, more, more.

But, she hopes she is.

What follows are hours and hours of rampant, raunchy sex in every possible position, hips colliding, mouths kissing and suckling, and chests heaving. When it's over, both of them are exhausted, but so, so satisfied. The alarm mounted to the metal wall beside the sealed entrance periodically rattles and rings, but for once, Yellow pays it no attention. Even when the two of them have finished, the air slowly but steadily clearing of Blue's hormonal smell, she doesn't rise and leave when she hears the alarm, but lays quietly with her lover, an arm draped around her shoulders. Yellow has never been much for physical affection, so every touch means so much more.

Once the two of them have collected themselves, uniforms tucked in and robes reassembled, Yellow tentatively summons their pearls from the hallway, where the poor things have been for hours, verging on an entire day. She senses from their own ruffled attire and unkempt hair that their time has been spent equally well, but doesn't comment on it, instead venturing over to the wall-mounted communicator to see what the alarms were about. She hears message after message about minor hiccups mislabeled as emergencies, sighing indignantly. If the court members could handle even the slightest trouble by themselves...

Slender arms encircle her waist from behind. Blue rests her chin on her shoulder. "You'll be back later, won't you, love?"

Yellow looks at her over her shoulder, smiles softly, and nods. "You know I will be, my dear."

Then, Yellow claps to summon her pearl and leaves, and Blue is alone once again, with only her own slightly disheveled servant to accompany her.

But, this time, Yellow doesn't stay away for long. She comes back later, she visits for awhile, checking in on her quietly, not protesting when Blue nuzzles into her chest, arms around her waist. When the alarm sounds, she checks it, tells whoever is on the other line what to do, then returns to her lover for awhile longer, before finally leaving again.

This is how it is for the next few months. Yellow makes more an effort than she has in six thousand years to be with her mate, quietly spending time with her in their private chambers, holding her, kissing her, telling her about the hustle and bustle of Homeworld. Where the cushion once laid, an enormous, luxurious bed now stands, with its satin sheets, plush pillows, and shimmery canopy drawn to. Yellow had ordered it for them to more comfortably have sex on, but it was most frequently used to cuddle on. While Yellow isn't much for snuggling, Blue is, so she allows it - and she can't deny that it's more than tolerable, perhaps even relaxing. There's the occasional whirl of playfulness between them, too, when Blue does something silly and ridiculous but utterly endearing, like pouncing on her from behind or pinching her prone backside when she least expects it.

Yellow returns in a bad mood that is almost palpable one evening, sulking quietly into the room and plopping down on the bed heavily, arms crossed and lips creased in the severest of frowns. Blue enters from their bath chamber, a separate room that is seldom used, with water droplets still clinging to her fair, blue skin and her curtain of hair still quite damp, and Yellow springs on her in an instant, fucking her mercilessly. Only afterward does Blue discover the cause of her bad mood: the previously loyal subject she had sent to earth to check the progress of her incubating geoweapon was in rebellion and, to make matters worse, had violently insulted her to her face over the Diamond Line.

Blue strokes her shoulders soothingly. "It was only one peridot, love. There are no other gems alive on earth, only your researchers' experiments. What damage could she possibly do all on her own?"

Yellow exhales unsteadily. "You're right, my dear."

Blue quietens down. She clutches Yellow's hands gently in her own, threading their fingers together. "Yellow...?"

"Yes, dear?" Yellow prompts.

"Will the Cluster emerge soon? Is it still on schedule?"

"According to our current records, yes, but, with the peridot going rogue, I couldn't obtain an updated report," Yellow informs her, her bad mood gradually ebbing away at the mention of the secret weapon that will destroy the colony where their beloved child was killed, "It will all be over soon, Blue. So soon."

But, Blue doesn't seem happy. Her face falls, the little smile she wore for her lover drifting downward and her eyebrows drawing in as she glances away, avoiding her mate's golden gaze.

"Blue? What's wrong, dear?" Yellow asks worriedly, but she already knows. Always, Blue has had sentimental feelings for the earth. It had been Pink Diamond's first and only colony, given to her as a present on the two thousandth anniversary of her creation - from no one other than them. Yellow and Blue had lovingly selected the planet, arranged the first Kindergartens and implanted in them the first quartzes, and even ordered designs for new species of gem that would exclusively serve Pink. The two of them had helped design the rose quartzes. The very ones that would shatter her someday.

Yellow feels guilty about it sometimes. So does Blue. But, where Blue wants to keep the planet, as a sentimental reminder of their daughter's short reign, Yellow wants to see it destroyed. She cannot stand to see it alive and well when its rightful owner has so unfairly perished.

Blue sniffles. "Oh, Yellow..."

"It has to be done," Yellow tells her firmly, then thinks to clasp her hands a little more firmly in hers. She doesn't want to fight or argue, but she wants to make herself clear.

"I know...," Blue whimpers, then looks at her with big, blue eyes gone watery wet with huge tears. Yellow's metaphorical heart aches to see her mate so upset. "But, couldn't we visit first? Just one last time? Her Palanquin is there. Where...where she..."

Blue trails off in a strangled sob. Yellow wraps an arm around her shoulders, bringing her in close to her chest, whispering as soothingly as she can, though her voice is always at least slightly sharp and blunt, "Shh..."

"Couldn't we, Yellow? Please?"

"Oh, Blue..." Yellow squeezes her. "You know that I can't bear to go there. But, if you want to visit one last time...you may go. I'll get your ship ready for you."

Blue wishes Yellow would come with her, so that the two of them could mourn their fallen child together. But, she also understands why Yellow doesn't want to come; she saw no solace in visiting the Palanquin, the place where their grown gemling had been attacked and shattered by her own. She saw only anger and grief in the place, and so she avoided it like a plague. Blue understands, so she doesn't press the matter. Instead, she weaves her slim arms around her lover's midsection, hugs her tightly, and smiles a little.

"Thank you, Yellow."

Yellow smiles halfheartedly, strokes between her lover's shoulder blades, and wonders if she's made the right choice. She remembers the last time Blue visited the earth and what it had entailed, and she worries that it will happen all over again.

* * *

Blue arrives on earth as scheduled. Her ship's cloaking devices are cautiously left on until she arrives at her destination, in paranoia that she might attract too much attention to herself; no man-made weaponry could ever even begin to damage her ship, but she doesn't want the humans to find her, nonetheless. Humans are curious and nosy creatures and, right now, she wants to be alone, if she cannot be with Yellow. Only her solemn little pearl accompanies her as her Palanquin descends from the arm ship, concealed behind dense, white quilts of clouds, to alight on the surface of the earth.

She steps out onto a grassy hillside, where little blossoms of pink and magenta sprawl for as far as the eye can see, snow-capped mountains shining faintly on the horizon with the sparkling brilliance of sunlight. She pauses as she emerges from the Palanquin, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply, smelling wildflowers and dewy grass and all the odors of organic life. Then, she starts to cry.

Her pearl follows behind her, head bowed, as she ventures over to where Pink Diamond's Palanquin still looms, a mechanical monster frozen in time, amidst all the biological life that flourishes all around it, or perhaps in spite of it. It is broken down, the pink paint that once shone so brightly now chipped and dull, rusty patches of naked metal showing through, its four legs broken at the joints and sprawling lifelessly around it. Its corner is consumed in thick moss punctuated with pink flowers, crawling steadily towards its peaking rooftop, where a perching songbird flees from as Blue Diamond quietly approaches, screeching softly in alarm.

"Pearl, let's sit," Blue suggests as she kneels down, indifferent to how the curious moisture that clings to the grass soaks into her flowing robes - gracious, generous drapes of fabric which have concealed for a month what she has already known.

Blue reaches down to touch them now, to feel her bulging belly through the thick fabric. Though her tears continue to flow freely, she cannot help but smile as she strokes it, her giant fingers gentle.

"Pink, my darling, I've come to tell you goodbye," Blue whispers into the afternoon air, sunny and humid and warm, "and to tell you that you have a new little sister on the way. Oh, I'm certain you would have loved her. Of course you would have. Wouldn't you?"

Blue sits there in relative silence for awhile. Hours, even. Days, perhaps. She has no sense of time as she tells her fallen child all that she can, asks her questions she will never answer, listens to the birdsong and the wind in the trees and all the sounds of life, and ponders her own existence. Occasionally, she rises to stretch her legs, but she always returns to the Palanquin, to kneel before it and talk to Pink and cry erratically with all the emotions that overwhelm her.

She doesn't know how long she's been there when she finally apologizes to Pink. She tells her how sorry she is, how she wishes she could have been there, how she should have done more. What kind of mother was she if she couldn't even protect her own child?

As Blue is wiping away her tears, she happens to glance over - and suddenly realizes that her pearl is gone. Panic swells within her for a moment as she looks around for her, followed closely by relief when she realizes that her pearl isn't gone, but has merely walked away, investigating something in the nearby shrubbery, overgrown with wildflowers. Curiously, she calls out to her, surprised when she hears her own voice break with tears, "What are you doing over there...?"

"I thought I saw something...," her pearl replies in that whispery, haunting voice of hers and, then, quite abruptly, a human springs out of the bushes. Her pearl is visibly startled, jumping slightly, then turns to her and bows. "My Diamond, I've found a native."

Blue blinks at them, looks from her pearl to the perplexed human. Then, she orders her, "Bring it here."

The human comes when called. Blue studies it. It's a male specimen, middle-aged, wearing something obscenely bright and loud, smelling slightly of sweat. But, it seems to have lived a healthy and full life, nonetheless, despite the gradual wear and tear its organic form had endured. "How curious. I'm impressed by humanity's ability to survive in the wild," she whispers softly, hoping that she doesn't frighten it away, then sighs, "What a strange planet. Where else would a being as fragile as a human live, while a being as powerful as a Diamond...perish?"

She gestures dramatically to the Palanquin. Fresh tears brim in her eyes. "This is where it happened, where she was...broken."

Her voice breaks on the final word, warm tears gliding smoothly down her cheeks.

She never could have expected the human to understand, much less to show her so much compassion. And yet, he did.

Blue is more impressed with humanity than ever. She sees what it is that Pink saw in them and, more than ever, she wishes that the earth could be spared. Perhaps she can...

The thought flees from her mind in a spasm of nerves as a sharp pain shoots through her abdomen. She reaches for it gently. "O - Oh!"

"Your Highness...?" the human prompts, then realizes where her hand has fled to. Through the flowing, navy robes, he sees the distinctive outline of her stomach. "Ohohoho! Your Highness, congratulations!"

Blue is panting softly, trying to catch a breath she doesn't need. "Oh, thank you. She's kicking."

"When's the big day?"

"We don't know. Three or four more months yet, the medics say. With a Diamond, it's hard to tell," she replies, stroking her stomach fondly. To be able to discuss her unborn child with someone for the first time is such an unexpected delight that she doesn't even think to question how he understands what she's telling him; had her mind been clearer, she might have questioned why it was that he knew so much about gems.

"Wow!" He chuckles. "So, uh...who's the...lucky gem?"

"Oh, my mate?" Blue prompts, then smiles fondly as she meets his gaze, "Yellow Diamond. I've yet to break the news to her. I'm waiting for the right time. You see, this was a surprise. We hadn't discussed having another child since...well..." Her gentle gaze trails back to the broken down Palanquin, and the fresh tears that fill her eyes yet again say everything that her lips suddenly cannot. The human watches her with sympathy, his own eyes grave and solemn.

"You mean, she was your...?"

"Yes. She was our only child."

Something in him seems surprised, but he seems more upset than anything. Suddenly, the Palanquin seems less like an extraterrestrial threat from an unknown world beyond his realm and more like a robbed cradle, where a heartbroken mother cries out in vain for her lost child. How his heart aches for her.

"I'm sorry."

Blue looks at him, then encompasses his tiny, fragile body in her cupped palms as she abruptly scoops him up off the ground. She staggers to her feet, her back aching painfully from hours spent kneeling awkwardly and from the weight of the gem growing steadily within her, and starts towards her Palanquin. He cries out protestingly as he's stolen away, but his pleas go unanswered. She knows that he will feel confused at first, that he will miss his home and his fellow humans. But, she also knows that this is what's best for him. A human so compassionate and kind deserves better than what's soon to become of this planet.

"So am I."

* * *

Blue's last visit to the earth is precisely what she fears. What was intended to be a simple in-and-out visit to Pink Diamond's Palanquin, a place now overtaken with magenta blossoms and grassy fields, turns into her capturing a specimen for the Zoo, an ancient structure floating aimlessly in space, forgotten to all but them and the surely defective gems who lived there. Yellow knows that she's made a mistake as soon as Blue returns, much later than expected, and tells her that she met a human that she simply had to have for Pink's Zoo - which brings up a snarky comment that spurs an argument that culminates in Blue running away straight back to the dreaded Zoo, to crumble to her knees in the floor of their child's old chambers, the ceiling now crowded with bubbled rose quartzes, forever dormant, and sob erratically.

Yellow doesn't hesitate to follow her. She's upset with Blue, she's exhausted from her increasingly long list of responsibilities, and she wishes her mate would be the leader she knows in her heart that she can be, but she doesn't want her to feel alone. Not now.

She knows that she's more blunt than she should be. Her anger shines through her compassion and she comes across as cold. As soon as the ass-kissing agate leaves, Yellow is certain that Blue will shout at her in her own fit of temper, but she doesn't. She crosses the room to Pink's old bed, an oversized cushion much like their own, before it had been replaced. She sits down, her hands folded in her lap, and starts to cry yet again.

"Oh, Yellow...I'm so sorry...," Blue sniffles.

Yellow is surprised. "Why?"

"I didn't mean to cause so much trouble," Blue whimpers, "I only wanted to see her Palanquin again. I shouldn't have brought the human. But, it was so kind, and I didn't want it to die with all the others..." She trails off and looks down at her folded hands.

Silently, Yellow sits down beside her. She reaches for her hands, clutching them gently, and tells her, as softly as she can, "I'm sorry, too."

"I know. You always yell, but you never mean it." Blue leans into her strong shoulder, face nestled close to her chest, and sighs wearily. "Yellow, I haven't been the leader I should have been."

"You've been occupied," Yellow dismisses.

"I've been a fool," Blue insists, "You've had to handle it alone, all this time. You haven't even had time to grieve, because you've had to do my job and yours and White's. Isn't that what you told me before?"

Yellow sighs and holds her closer.

"Homeworld was meant to have four Diamonds," Blue says, with a trace of determination in her voice, "and it should have four Diamonds again."

Yellow laughs humorlessly. "As if we have the resources for that, dear. We hardly have enough to grow quartzes right now, much less Diamonds. Until we acquire more colonies, there will be no such thing."

"Well," Blue asks, "what if we grew our own?"

The halfhearted smile falls off Yellow's face. Her rhombus-shaped pupils widen, almost into ovals, as the realization starts to hit her. "What are you implying, Blue?"

Blue reaches for her hand, moving it gently to her stomach, where her abdomen is distended and firm, feeling round underneath the thick veil of her robes.

"Yellow, I'm pregnant."

* * *

While Yellow initially responds to Blue's unexpected announcement with unconcealed shock, it becomes more and more obvious over the next month that she's actually delighted. Yellow is not one to express emotion or affection, at least not openly and outwardly, but she shows her love in her own way, something her mate has long since come to understand. Yellow has made an enormous effort in spending less time away already, but now, she does even more for her. Unknown to Blue, she retrieves the names of what she assumes are modern human subspecies from an outdated report from the now rogue peridot, then sends two of their finest search and retrieval gems to find them as a gift for Blue, more humans for her silly Zoo. It only seems silly to her, she reminds herself. It's important to Blue, so it should be important to her, too.

Once the humans are sent for, Yellow arranges for the best medics from all four courts to come to their private chambers routinely, to keep a watchful eye on her lover and ensure that all is well with her at all times. Blue expresses some desire to return to her actual control room for the first time in six thousand years, but Yellow reassures her that now is not the time, that she needs to rest and not stress, that she can handle it alone for awhile longer. The comfortable bed receives extra layers of padding, a dozen new blankets, and more pillows than can be easily counted, all encased in its semi-transparent canopy. Yellow even forgoes her own pearl, so that Blue can have one more servant to attend to her every whim, giving her orders to contact her immediately should something happen while she is away.

Today, Yellow returns sooner than usual, to find her mate, now many months into her lengthy term, lounging attractively on her side, tucked between her many pillows in only her favorite knee-length, silk robe and dainty, lacy panties. The robe isn't tied, hanging open along her plump side, flaunting generous, shapely breasts now swollen with milk and a firm, round stomach. Blue's pregnant stomach - her baby belly, as she called it - had been overwhelmingly obvious once she had shown it to Yellow that first time, so obvious, in fact, that Yellow feels foolish for having not noticed it beforehand, when Blue had clearly been showing for weeks before then. It had simply never occurred to her that her mate might be pregnant, although Yellow had indeed mated her vigorously throughout her most recent heat cycle. After Pink's shattering, it had never occurred to her that they might ever have another child, and she hadn't given it a second thought until that moment when it had very suddenly slapped her in the face.

"Hello, my dear," Yellow greets her as she settles down on the bedside, immediately moving to stroke her hip tenderly, "How are you feeling?"

"Heavy," Blue laughs, and she sounds happier than Yellow has heard her in years. News of her pregnancy had been good for both of them, something for them to look forward to, something to brighten the darkness that had settled on Homeworld since Pink Diamond's untimely demise. But, it has been especially good for Blue.

"You look lovely," Yellow reassures her.

"I was hoping you might like it," Blue giggles delightedly, shifting pointedly to intentionally expose a little more breast and thigh.

"You had an appointment today, yes? What did the medics have to say?" Yellow asks.

"No more than three more months, they said. But, you know how it is. With a Diamond, it's hard to tell exactly when." Blue reclines on one elbow, patting her tummy with her free hand.

"It feels like we've already waited a lifetime," Yellow tells her, and her subtle excitement absolutely delights Blue, "Do you feel like you could take a walk?"

"Of course. To where?"

"My ship."

"Your ship? Where are we going?" Blue prompts.

"To the Zoo," Yellow says.

To this, Blue quite frankly gapes. "The Zoo? Yellow, are you entirely certain you're feeling well?"

"I'm quite well," Yellow reassures her with her small, sharp smile, an arm around her lover's waist as she helps her to her feet, not that she needs it, "I have a surprise for you."

Immediately, Blue is suspicious, a paranoid voice in the back of her mind worrying that Yellow has destroyed all the rose quartzes and every amethyst and jasper who lives at the Zoo. But, a more reasonable voice reminds her that Yellow would do no such thing, not without her explicit permission. "A surprise, you say?"

Yellow reaches down and ties her mate's robe with a neat bow. "Yes, my dear. A surprise."

Yellow escorts her to the place where their enormous vessels are stationed, towering over every tiny ship belonging to peridots, quartzes, or rubies. She has a protective arm around Blue's waist all the while as the two of them - and their pearls, always along for the ride - climb into her Palanquin, a glistening, golden throne encased in intricate, metal walls on towering spider legs, which ferries them into the ship through a portal in its smooth surface, tediously polished to a gleaming glow. Inside, she holds her lover, scandalously seated in her lap, for the entire ride, a hand delicately stroking her so-called baby bump.

"Here we are," Yellow announces as her Palanquin descends from the ship's surface, to alight in the holding room of the Zoo. Two amethysts guard a nearby entryway, but they're otherwise alone. "Pearl, Pearl, wait here," she instructs their servants as she helps her lover down from her Palanquin, clasping Blue's slim hands in hers as she guides her down the five tiered stairs.

"Yes, My Diamond!" Yellow's pearl answers enthusiastically. The Diamonds exchange a glance, both having creeping suspicions that their pearls will enjoy their alone time nearly as much as they themselves will. Such naughty little things.

Neither of them mention it, however, as Yellow escorts Blue farther into the Zoo, through grand doorways flanked on either side by slouching amethyst guards, defective specimens procured from the earth, when it had still been a functional colony. Of course, the ass-kissing agate scurries out of her chambers to greet them as soon as word of their arrival reaches her, saluting with such an overzealous and obviously rehearsed string of compliments that Yellow has to resist the urge to shatter her where she stands.

"Enough out of you," Yellow cuts her off cruelly, "Is everything ready for us?"

"Yes, My Diamonds."

"Good. Now, back to your station, agate," Yellow all but snarls, "We don't wish to be disturbed, is that clear?"

The agate swallows visibly. "Yes, My Diamonds."

Blue looks at her lover with thinly veiled irritation as the agate, a holly blue variety, vanishes through an exit behind them, the door seamlessly sliding closed behind her. "Yellow, was it really necessary to be so rude? You know she means us no harm."

"You know how I feel about gems like her, Blue," Yellow replies, without so much as glancing towards her, an arm around her waist as she leads her through another entryway, both of them ducking down to avoid the door frame, "They're all talk and empty promises. Just like White."

"I...suppose that's true," Blue reluctantly agrees, then stops when the two of them come to a closed door. This is it. Pink Diamond's old chambers, where her oversized cushion still sprawls on its pedestal, beneath a glowing sky of bubbled rose quartzes bobbing just beneath the ceiling.

Yellow looks at her, an angular brow arched. There's a glimmer of playfulness in her eyes, something seldom seen but always appreciated. "Close your eyes, my dear."

Blue eyes her suspiciously, then does so. She hears Yellow move forward to unlock the room, then the familiar whoosh! of the grand doors parting to welcome them inside. She feels her lover's hands reach for hers, guiding her gently into the chamber, where she hears a bubbling like boiling liquid and feels not the familiar, cold air of the empty quarters, but a humid warmth that hangs heavily in the atmosphere, sweltering hot.

"Alright, dear," Yellow tells her, "Open them."

Blue does so, glancing around the chambers curiously. Pink's cushion has vanished and, where it once laid on the grand pedestal that rises up from the tiled floor in the center of the room, there is now a sprawling vessel filled with bubbling water, from which steam rises in thick, white clouds. She looks up; the rose quartzes are still there, now bobbing beneath a ceiling that has been domed and inlaid with windows, to provide an ample view of the starry space beyond the station. The overhead lights, florescent and bright, have been dimmed to a subtle glow, accompanied by the flicker of candles that crowd around three sides of the vessel, the fourth left unoccupied for ease of access, new carpeting sprawling delicately down the short flight of stairs.

Yellow clears her throat. "I hope you like it, my dear," she says softly, "I thought that the hot water might help with that achy back of yours."

Blue is touched. She looks at her mate with love glistening brightly in her eyes and a soft smile on her even softer features. "Oh, Yellow...it's lovely!"

"And her bed is in storage," Yellow informs her, arms folded behind her back, "I didn't have it destroyed. I thought you might like to keep it."

"I suppose you wouldn't mind if I...tried it out?" Blue asks, already untying the sash that holds her short robe closed, the fabric falling open easily to expose her milk-swollen breasts and bulging abdomen.

"Of course not, that's why I brought you here," Yellow replies, smiling yet again as she reaches for her lover's hands and walks her up the stairs with care, steadying her when she stumbles. Once they're there, she gently removes the robe from Blue's shoulders, rubbing them tenderly as she takes it. "Be careful getting in, dear."

"I will be," Blue reassures her as she sits down lightly on the ledge, her knees folded underneath her for a moment before she tentatively extends one slender, sculpted leg into the bubbling water below. It's hot enough to sear the flesh directly off an organic creature, but feels only pleasantly warm to her. Pleased, she slides the other leg in, up to the knee, and sits there cutely dangling her swollen feet into the tub, watching delightedly as the bubbles rise to the surface and rupture around them, sending up plumes of silvery steam. It has a strong, mineral smell.

Yellow folds the robe and sets it aside neatly, then settles down on her knees behind Blue, threading her fingers through her hair delicately, weaving patterns in the ocean of white. She sees her nostrils twitching and explains, "It's enriched with minerals. The medics recommended it."

"Not iron, I hope," Blue giggles sweetly, and Yellow is reminded of how she had fervently craved the mineral throughout her previous pregnancy, resulting in her overindulging in it and their gemling being born mysteriously pink. She smiles pleasantly at the memory.

"No, not iron," Yellow replies as she braids her lover's hair, "I believe it's mostly copper and dissolved carbon."

"I think I'm going to sit in it now. Hold my hair, please," Blue says as she feels for the bottom of the vessel with her feet, finding it easily. Yellow gathers her hair in both hands and holds it carefully as her mate eases herself down into the water, until she's seated on the bottom and her breasts are just concealed beneath the surface.

Yellow smiles when she sees the expression of relaxation on Blue's soft, slim features. "How is it?"

"Magnificent," Blue exhales contently, closing her eyes and reclining her head into Yellow's tender touch.

After several minutes, Yellow thinks to ask, "How have you been feeling recently?"

"Oh, you know, the usual," Blue replies, "I've been a little tired and sore. Everything seems to ache. But, it was this way with Pink, too."

"Has she been very active recently?"

"Oh, of course! She likes to kick almost as much as Pink did," Blue giggles, fondling her belly beneath the water's surface.

Yellow chuckles, too, and the two of them exchange a glance. Blue has missed the love in her eyes, mysteriously absent for so long until now. Things are beginning to feel normal for the first time since Pink's shattering and White's disappearance. Everything might be alright after all, she thinks as she reaches for Yellow's hand over her shoulder, smiling softly when she feels her lover's fingers entangle with hers.

"Yellow?"

"Yes, dear?"

"I love you," Blue tells her earnestly.

"I love you, too, Blue," Yellow replies. It means so much more when it comes from her, she who doesn't share her emotions all too easily, she who hides her feelings behind iron doors, she who sometimes seems altogether incapable of such a thing as love.

"It's nice to hear you say it again, love," Blue says, then looks at her over her shoulder with one swooping brow cocked mischievously, "Yellow, I think you should join me."

"Oh, I don't think I - " Yellow starts to answer her, but is cut off when the hand in hers promptly tugs, sending her sprawling forward, headfirst into the hot water, uniform and all. She surfaces a moment later, spluttering boiling water that tastes thickly of copper, wet hair collapsed from its usual, stiff shape and clinging to her face in saturated strands. She looks as shocked as she feels.

Blue erupts into melodic laughter. "I don't recall asking you, dear."

"Why, you little...! Blue!" Yellow tries to scold her, but is instead overcome by her own wave of laughter, hearty and sincere. She hasn't laughed like this since sometime after Pink was born, so many years ago. It feels so strange to hear herself laughing so sincerely again after all this time, but she can't deny that it also feels...right.

So, Yellow throws her arms around her and kisses her and the two of them part singing with laughter until great, big tears are rolling from Blue's eyes. But, for once, she isn't crying because she's sad; she's crying because she's simply so happy, here with her lover and the knowledge that, yet again, she's growing the gem of their unborn child.

Only one thing could make this evening even better. Blue requests it with an abrupt pinch of Yellow's ass as her lover scoops her into her arms, holding her like a bride just above the water's steaming surface. Yellow jumps, startled, then looks at her and smiles. "You really are such a naughty vixen sometimes."

"Oh, don't you remember how it was with Pink? How I was just so horny all the time before I had her?" Blue teases, then gives her a teasing grin, "I don't recall you complaining back then!"

"And I'm not complaining now." Water surges around Yellow's powerful thighs as she carries her to the side of the tub, where she places her on the edge carefully. Blue's hair is wet now, clinging to her breasts and shoulders in thick, wet strands of white, water droplets gliding over her gem smoothly. Each careful facet of its surface catches the chamber's dwindling pinkish lights, reflecting every shimmer and shine like a fiery galaxy encased within itself. It's as beautiful as she is.

Once Blue is seated securely, Yellow spreads her thighs with both hands, finding them to be heaver than ever in pregnancy, kneading and fondling the soft, tender flesh of them, so different from her own, which are wound tight with tendon and muscle. Between them lies the smoldering warmth of Blue's pussy, nestled between the spread folds of her plump labia and a swathe of silvery pubic hair, which is sodden with both water and her own tempting wetness. The intense aroma of her arousal drifts upward, until Yellow's nose twitches of its own accord, always eager to drink in more of her mate's smell.

Yellow's flaring nostrils aren't the only part of her that responds to the smell. Her cock trembles to life in the confines of her trousers, tighter than usual, stuck tight to her skin from the water that now saturates them. Under normal circumstances, she might have preferred to peel them off on her own, taunting her mate the way her mate loved to taunt her, but to do so in their thoroughly sodden state would be more trouble than it was worth, so she wills them away in a flash of white instead. The newfound freedom causes her cock to ache sweetly, bobbing gently in the water before her.

Blue eyes it with all the hunger of a starved animal. "Are you going to fuck me, Yellow?"

"Not tonight," Yellow tells her as she spreads her fingers over her lover's thighs, kneading the soft muscle sweetly, and sinks to her knees in the tub, "I'm afraid I might hurt you."

"You wouldn't hurt me," Blue objects.

Yellow looks at her, serious. "I'm not willing to take that chance."

Blue's trembling lower lip protrudes in a pout, painfully emphasized by the downturn of her icy eyes. "You could make it smaller."

Yellow all but snorts. "Don't insult me, Blue. You're the one who suggested it be this size to begin with."

Blue can't resist the slightest smile at this, at the memory of the first time she had been with Yellow. It had been very long ago, when the two of them were still new, rulers of their own first colonies, coming together not entirely quietly beneath the canopy of the bed in her chambers. She had requested big, and Yellow had shape-shifted what she wanted. Then, she requested even bigger, and Yellow had almost exaggerated the size of it. But, what had started as a quip between them had turned out to be quite satisfying, and so Yellow had kept it all of this time, just for her.

"I suppose I did," Blue replies, giggling softly. She kicks her feet beneath the surface, toes involuntarily spreading, ankles slightly swollen. There's the softest of smiles on her face and, for the first time in awhile, she looks so completely and utterly content that Yellow, too, can't help but smile.

The smile remains even as she leans in to kiss her, first between her milk-swollen breasts, right underneath her gem, then on the swell of her stomach, where the gem of their unborn child now grows, then on her mound, so close that her touch tickles Blue's clitoris and causes her to involuntarily shudder.

"Please," Blue whispers. Yellow only smiles, then presses two more kisses to her mound, pubic hair shifting crisply beneath her touch, while her gripping fingers hold gently to her lover's thighs, keeping them spread. Only when Blue lets out a high, urgent whine does she give in, lips venturing slightly lower to press warm kisses to her clitoris instead, the very tip of her tongue coaxing it out from underneath its heavy hood. She's wet with the tub's water and tastes faintly of its coppery contents, but underneath that is the familiar essence of Blue, a flavor that Yellow could all but become drunk on. She purrs long and low in the back of her throat as her tongue ventures out from between her lips, to encircle Blue's clitoris and swirl around it sweetly.

"Yellow!" Blue keens. Her lover's tongue guides her clitoris in-between her lips, for a sharp, swift suck that leaves her breathless, her golden yellow eyes watching her adoringly all the while. Yellow doesn't need to watch her own actions to know what she's doing; this is territory that she has explored many, many times before.

Now, Yellow noses further into her, tongue smoothly parting the fleshy curtains of her labia, lapping rhythmically in-between them. Color rises in Blue's cheeks as her fingers thread themselves through Yellow's sodden hair, clutching tightly to her scalp and clenching ever tighter every time Yellow's clever tongue passes over her, tickling her eager entrance with every motion.

"More," Blue demands, "Don't tease!"

Yellow obliges, her mouth returning instead to Blue's swollen clitoris, to beckon it in-between her lips once more. Blue is so fixated on the hot, wet sensation, the tender bud already feeling heavy and sore, that she doesn't realize that Yellow has released her thigh until the long, slim fingers that had so tightly grasped it are instead delving deep into her pussy, pressing past her entrance and into her tight, inner warmth in a single, swift motion. She cries out at the sensation, two of her mate's fingers quickly seeking out that tenderest of spots within her, pressing pointedly into it with every short, swift thrust, until the warmth in Blue's stomach is erupting and surging through her in powerful waves and her hot, slick essence is mingling with the water below, dripping down from around Yellow's fingers.

Blue isn't certain how much time passes them by before Yellow removes her fingers, pulling them free with a comical, wet pop! and immediately popping them into her mouth, sucking them clean in obnoxious, wet slurps. "You screamed for me," she comments smugly, with that awful smirk on her face that Blue hasn't seen in so long that she nearly forgot about it.

The climax had hit Blue so suddenly and so intensely that she hadn't been even vaguely aware of quite how loudly she had voiced her delight. Her cheeks brighten. Yellow laughs delightedly.

After several moments, the glaring glow of orgasm starts to fade, the tingling receding from Blue's toes and fingertips. Slowly, she becomes increasingly aware of how Yellow's fingers still stroke ticklishly along her inner thighs.

"Are you satisfied?" Yellow asks.

Blue replies, "Not even close."

Hot water sloshes between them as Yellow rises to meet her mouth and kisses her hard. Tongues tangle between their lips, slick with saliva, teeth clashing gratingly before Yellow finally pulls away and eyes her hungrily through half-lidded eyes. Her lips draw back in a sideways snarl, a sound that surges up from the back of her throat, as she devours the tender underside of her mate's neck, nibbling diligently at the pale blue skin until it's painted with a splatter of rising navy bruises. Blue closes her eyes, throws her head back, and moans into the chamber, her cries echoing hollowly off the metal walls, her fingers clutching Yellow's lower back so hard that she leaves scratch marks in deep golden yellow.

"Fuck me," Blue begs.

"I told you, it's a risk I'm not willing to take," Yellow tells her firmly.

"You won't hurt me," Blue reassures her, "and you won't hurt the baby. Please, Yellow."

Yellow hesitates just a moment too long and Blue knows that she has won.

"You never hurt me while I was pregnant with Pink," Blue reminds her, "Just be gentle."
Yellow bites her lower lip. Then, a moment later, Blue is biting it for her, sharp little teeth nibbling away at her fleshy lower lip as their mouths clash once more. This time, when she pulls away, she brings with her a glistening string of saliva that stretches thin between them before it finally snaps.

Yellow snaps, too.

Blue knows she's won when she hears her snarl, those rumbling, guttural growls that rise up from her deepest depths and seethe through her bared teeth. Then, she feels the fleshy nudge of Yellow's erection against her, where it presses flush to her left thigh, grinding eagerly into the soft, blue flesh. Blue's long, slim fingers curl around its thick shaft daintily, feeling it pulse and throb, guiding it steadily nearer to her own sweltering warmth.

"I'll be careful," Yellow swears, and then she pushes into Blue's familiar tightness, pleasantly warm and fleshy soft and twitching slightly around her. She bites back a moan as she presses steadily further into Blue's silky softness, the initial thrust steady and slow, until she's in her to the hilt and quickly drawing back before even more quickly thrusting back in. Every rhythmic thrust of her shaft sends a rippling surge through Blue's constricting pussy, right up into her bulging stomach.

Blue tilts her head back, flashing Yellow the tender underside of her neck, flushed bright blue against pale azure, and laughs. Her voice echoes through the chamber like the ringing of a bell, sing-song and soft and somehow beautiful. "You should apologize to her, you know," she says as she gestures downwards, "For the earthquake."

Even in her distraction, Yellow finds it in herself to cast an annoyed glance on her lover, who only laughs again, throws her arms around her neck, and kisses her deeply and heatedly on the mouth as the water splashes and surges around them, sloshing up the sides of the vessel and splattering in great puddles onto the tiled floor below. Neither can find it in themselves to care; whatever mess they make, someone will clean up for them later.

As Blue smothers her with the deepest of kisses, her sly little tongue swirled deftly around hers, Yellow is only dimly aware of the hand rested lightly on her lower back, where it traces slow circles above her backside, bringing her in a little closer with every increasingly sloppy thrust forward. Yellow is too caught up in the sight, the smell, the sensation of her mate to be as aware of her surroundings as usual, presently moaning shamelessly into plush, pale lips as she pummels fervently into Blue's pussy, and so she doesn't realize what her lover is up to until Blue's slender fingers are hilted knuckle-deep in her ass.

Yellow shudders as she tears her mouth away with a furrow of her brow, hissing sharply, "Blue!"

Blue giggles delightedly at her reaction. "If I recall correctly, you used to very much enjoy this. I see that nothing has changed in six thousand years."

Yellow whines and hisses and keens as each thrust into Blue's tightening pussy, now pulsing on the verge of vibration, is accompanied by an equally sloppy surge forward into her own backside, the ring of muscle clenching tighter around the intruding digits with every tampering touch. Again, a feature of her anatomy that she never once needed, but shape-shifted for the sake of her mate, who had wanted to experiment and explore in their young age, eager to learn all there was to know about sexual acts between gems. Yellow doesn't know why she's held onto it all this time.

"You're filthy," Yellow hisses into her mate's ear as her own fingers dig ruthlessly into Blue's pudgy thighs, growing plumper everyday with pregnancy.

"You like it," Blue dismisses before she trails off in a sing-song moan, echoing wordlessly around the chamber as she comes for the second time that evening, her inner walls constricting like a vice around Yellow's pumping, surging shaft, until only her copious wetness permits her to continue moving. Yellow snarls and clenches her teeth on air as she throws back her head, managing to thrust forward only twice more before she pleasurably, blissfully peaks, her cock throbbing exuberantly within her mate and jolting with the force of each rope of come that leaves it.

Then, there's silence. Only panting punctuates it as the two savor the sensations of release, Blue leaning gently into Yellow's chest as the sexual haze clears from her vision, then watching as the water ripples in little waves around her mate's towering thighs, still bubbling and boiling. She might have been able to hear it, if her ears weren't ringing so shrilly. Each inhale fills her form with steam that smells of minerals.

Finally, Blue leans back, sitting upright on the tub's far edge. "I suppose I should remove my fingers from your...orifice now," she chuckles with a smile.

Yellow puffs. "I suppose you should."

Blue's fingers come away cleanly, gripping the pool's edge momentarily as she slowly guides herself back down into the hot water, feeling boiling bubbles rise up the length of her swollen calves, so that she stands across from her mate. The two of them look at each other, then simultaneously lean into a kiss. It isn't as heated as it was moments before, but it means even more.

"Thank you," Blue tells her, "For the gift. And for the sex, too."

"You don't have to thank me for sex, Blue. We've been together for millenia now," Yellow replies. Then, her gaze drifts downwards and, suddenly, her hand rests on her lover's pregnant belly, fingers spread. "You have my condolences, little one."

Blue is puzzled. "For what?"

Yellow looks at her and smiles. "For the earthquake."

The two of them laugh, if only briefly, then Yellow engulfs her in a hug, her arms drawing her in close to her chest and holding her quietly. Blue leans into her, head on her chest, and smiles wordlessly, content.

Forever in motion and in action, Yellow becomes restless and quickly begins to sway, her side-to-side movements swiftly pulling Blue into a gentle rhythm.

"You never dance with me," Blue comments.

"You never ask," Yellow says, then, a moment later, adds, "You shouldn't have to..."

Blue smiles and shifts her head onto Yellow's shoulder. It's sharp and angular and uncomfortable, but the closeness more than makes up for it.

For awhile, the two sway in silence. Then, abruptly, Blue asks, "Do you suppose...she'll be pink, too?"

Yellow stops swaying. She looks at her, hard. "It will be better if she isn't. She won't replace the one we lost."

Blue glances away, ashamed.

"Besides, it was a misnomer that Pink was born off-colored. It was the iron, remember? She should have been yellow or green or blue or..." Yellow trails off when she sees the look on her mate's face. "Blue, what's the matter?"

Yet again, Blue feels rising tears stinging painfully at her sensitive, tired eyes. "I'm...I'm worried, Yellow."

"Why?"

"We lost Pink," Blue says, "Suppose we lose this one, too. It was our fault, wasn't it? What happened to our baby? We...We should have been there, Yellow! We could have stopped it!"

The tears start to stream, running in veritable faucets down her long, slim face. Yellow wipes them away with one finger, her other hand holding her close.

"We can't change it now, Blue. There's nothing more we can do. It doesn't mean that we don't miss her. We're going to miss her everyday, perhaps for the rest of our lives. But, now..." She motions to Blue's stomach. "We have other matters to attend to."

Blue chokes with laughter through her tears. It isn't her sing-song, bubbly laugh. It's strained and it breaks off in a sad sob, a terrible noise. "She...would have loved it, wouldn't she? Having a sister? A baby to fuss over? You know how she was with the animals!"

Yellow's mind races to think of how to comfort her, how to make her smile again before the dreaded tears return and take over. To change the subject would be wrong. It would make Blue think that she didn't care; she did. Pink had been her child, too, after all, and she had loved her and fell to her knees and wailed like a struck pearl when news reached her of her only daughter's untimely and gruesome death. Her mental search yields no solutions; it only brings to mind that terrible, terrible moment when the messenger had bolted unannounced into her Palanquin, breathless, and gave her the news. She and Blue had gone together to see if it was true, and it was. Their baby's broken shards were strewn like scavenged innards down the stairs of her Palanquin, amid a drying rain of blood, magenta splatters on pastel carpet.

Yellow feels wetness on her face. She blinks, shocked, and is even more surprised to feel the stinging of tears in her own eyes. But, now is not the time to fight it. Now is the time to let it flow. She just can't fight it anymore.

"I miss her, Blue. I do."

"I know," Blue whispers from her chest. A tear falls off of Yellow's chin and hits her on the cheek, and their mingling saltiness trails aimlessly down to her neck.

"She would have been a great leader," Yellow says into the empty room, her arm unconsciously holding Blue closer, tighter.

"You know she would have been," Blue agrees.

More silence. The two of them hold each other closer than ever, as tightly as they can. Only Blue's bulging belly separates them, tucked safe and secure in-between them.

"And she will be, too," Yellow says as she admires her mate's stomach, smiling faintly, "And she will be safe. I promise you."

"You can bet your gem she will be!" Blue blurts, "I'm never letting any child of ours out of my sight again!"

The sheer alarm in her voice startles Yellow for a moment, her angular eyebrows flying up underneath her fringe of fuzzy, half-dry bangs, for once not stiffly glued into their usual hairstyle, in surprise. Blue stares at her, surprised at herself, surprised at Yellow. And then, the two of them erupt into laughter.

"Oh, Yellow," Blue says through her giggles, "You've always had the most outrageous facial expressions."

Yellow only chuckles, then leans down and kisses her on the forehead. "Anything to make you laugh, dear. Now, I think you've seen enough action for one night. You should sit down."

"You know, I think I will," Blue tells her, but she doesn't have the chance because, all at once, the doors are gliding open and the holly blue agate is stumbling breathlessly into the room, saluting sloppily through her heaving and panting.

"My Diamonds!"

Yellow looks murderous. "I thought I said that we didn't wish to be disturbed, agate."

"My Diamonds, your specimen collection team has returned from the earth and - "

"That is not important enough to warrant you interrupting us," Yellow cuts her off.

Blue senses that something is amiss. "Yellow, let her speak."

The agate sucks in a hungry breath, before her words come out in a hurried slur so fast that they're nearly unintelligible, "And they've captured Rose Quartz!"

Chapter 3

The Diamonds are stunned silent.

Yellow is the first to answer. "Rose Quartz? The Rose Quartz?"

"Y - Yes, My Diamonds!" the holly blue agate responds, her hands folded before her in a blatant display of anxiety at being the bearer of such news.

But, Yellow isn't angry. Rose Quartz had been an unexpected disruption in an otherwise smoothly functioning and developing colony. She had been a threat that none of them could have predicted, not even with the finest sapphires appointed to their courts. She had been the one thing that had caused Yellow, for the first and only time in her very long life, to lose control. And in that moment, that one horrible moment when she hadn't been in control, she had lost her child.

No, Yellow isn't angry.

She's delighted.

Her sharp, angular lips curl back over pointed teeth in a wicked, wicked smile. "Where is she?"

"Your specimen collection team has brought her to Homeworld," the agate anxiously relays, punctuating each word with a pointed gesture of her folded hands, "They're there now, awaiting further orders from you, My Diamonds."

Yellow looks at Blue. Blue looks mortified.

But, Yellow only wickedly grins.

"Good."

* * *

Preparations for the trial are hurried and brief, but Yellow helps Blue with them even when she doesn't understand why she's insisting on a trial, complete with a defense for the very gem who shattered their child. It's bordering dangerously on treason in itself, but it's a Diamond who wants it, so no one dares breathe a word, not even Yellow.

She watches as her mate paces back and forth across their chambers, with one hand stroking soothingly the swollen stomach that houses their unborn child and the other aimlessly wiping away the streams of tears that pour freely from her big, blue eyes like faucets turned on and left unattended. As quickly as she wipes them away, they fall yet again.

Yellow clears her throat. "Blue, this isn't good for the baby."

Blue looks at her, blinking. "What?"

Yellow frowns, gesturing. "This much stress, it isn't good for her."

"Oh," Blue replies feebly, then glances away, "I...I can't help it, Yellow. I don't know how I'm going to face her. I don't know if I can even look at her." Her voice comes out softly and weakly, but it doesn't break, at least.

There's a moment of hesitation, then Yellow closes the space between them, to encircle her mate's waist in her arms and hold her close to her chest, a hand tilting her chin gently up to face her. "Then, look at me instead."

Blue might have found it to be cheesy at a better time, but right now, she's touched by her lover's sentiment, by her rare show of emotion, by the suddenness of her compassion. Still, she can't help but look away, wiping tears on her draping sleeves like a child, sniffling pitifully. "Oh, Yellow..."

"We're going to get through this, Blue. We're going to persecute Rose Quartz, and then we're going to return to our chambers and come to terms with what we've lost and find solace in each other's company. And then, we're going to have our child and, I swear to you, we're going to be happy again."

"Yellow, I was...already happy to be with you," Blue tells her as she leans forward into her chest, to press her face into her shoulder, "I'm sorry if I haven't shown it."

"I should have been there to help you grieve."

"I should have been there to help you with the responsibilities."

Yellow smiles at her faintly. "It seems we've both made our share of mistakes."

The nearby warp pad ignites in an otherworldly stream of white light, beaming upward from the floor. Both of them look at it, contemplating it as their pearls quietly and obediently climb onto it, before exchanging a glance and uncertainly walking towards it themselves. Yellow steps onto it first, then takes Blue into her arms once again once she's beside her.

Blue buries her face in her lover's shoulder. "I can't do this."

"You can," Yellow tells her as the warp again ignites, this time bringing them up into its strange stream and teleporting them elsewhere, to the place where the trial will be held, "I'm right here."

Blue closes her eyes and clenches her teeth as she feels the world solidify around them once more, the stream subsiding with an almost musical tone. She's only dimly aware of the voices of their pearls somewhere beneath them, announcing their arrival, and then, slowly, uncertainly, she's cracking open her eyes and forcing herself to confront the thing she's come to fear the most.

Even the Diamonds themselves couldn't know what to expect from a gem like Rose Quartz, but whatever it is they anticipated, it isn't what awaits them on the stand now, between two tight-suited zircons.

Blue's eyes widen.

It isn't a rose quartz. It isn't a gem at all. It looks more like a human child, soft and round and fleshy and so completely and utterly helpless that she almost feels bad for it. But, it doesn't seem afraid. It seems solemn and indifferent and accepting of its fate. She contemplates it for a moment and a soft voice in the back of her mind tells her that this isn't right, that something is strangely amiss.

Even the Diamonds themselves couldn't have known what to expect from the trial.

But, it certainly wasn't this.

* * *

Yellow Diamond is furious when she leaves the trial. No table, chair, or nightstand is left untouched by her fury as she storms into their private quarters, until all that remains upright is their oversized bed, where Blue lays weeping mournfully beneath the canopy that she's drawn closed. The whimpering pearls cower fearfully in the far corner, trembling although she's never even threatened to strike them. The floor itself seems to quiver underneath the stomping of her boots, the nightstand smashing to splinters when she hurls it across the room and into the wall, leaving scratches in the smooth, metal surface.

Blue listens to her rampage quietly, then her eyes abruptly open and she frowns when she hears something else break. "Yellow..."

More chaos answers her call.

Blue sits upright, shouting, "Yellow! Enough!"

She sees the emotions seething furiously in her mate's glaring, golden eyes as Yellow stops and stares at her. Then, her anger softens as she looks at the mayhem that's unraveled around them at her own hands, at broken furniture and frightened pearls and her crying mate.

"I'm sorry," Yellow says.

"You're not," Blue corrects her, "You're angry."

"Of course I'm angry!" Yellow retorts as she throws her hands in the air in exasperation, "The nerve of that zircon! Accusing us of our own daughter's murder, Blue!"

Blue exhales. "Yellow, did you ever stop and think that perhaps...what she said was true?"

Incredulous, Yellow cocks a brow. "What? You believe it wasn't Rose Quartz?"

Blue answers with a shake of her head.

"How could it not be?" Yellow demands, throwing her hands up again, pacing seethingly among the splinters of what was once their furniture and decorations, "We have witnesses! Countless witnesses! All claiming it was Rose Quartz who did it! They all saw the same thing, Blue."

"The zircon is right," Blue insists, "It couldn't have been a rose quartz who...who did it." She swallows hard. "A rose quartz wouldn't have been able to get so close to her, not without someone in her court noticing and alerting her. It must have...why, her court must have been involved somehow..."

Yellow pauses. She watches her mate, sees how she stops and contemplates. Blue tries to piece something together, tries to come up with a plausible theory, tries to find some solace in even beginning to know how it happened. Yellow's heart aches for her, aches for herself. The closure that the two of them so needed seemed farther away than ever. Even a Diamond's lifetime might not be long enough for them to know for sure.

Suddenly, Blue looks at her. There's an unspoken thought in her big, blue eyes, clearing momentarily of their neverending tears, as she stares at Yellow, mouth slightly ajar in contemplation. Yellow sees her start to speak, stop, hesitate.

"What is it, Blue?" Yellow demands to know.

"Only...a Diamond can shatter a Diamond, correct?"

"We don't know for certain. No Diamond had ever been shattered before this," Yellow replies, then arches a brow, "What are you thinking?"

"White..." Blue looks at her, eyebrows shooting up underneath her soft bangs of baby blue, "You don't suppose that she...?"

Yellow goes suddenly still as it sinks in. For a moment, she's shocked silent, her eyebrows raised high, her mouth hanging wordlessly open. Then, her nose wrinkles and her lips draw back in a livid snarl, teeth bared between yellow lips, eyes roiling brightly with a renewed need for vengeance.

"I'll shatter her."

"Yellow, we don't know for sure," Blue reminds her, though her own fingers are grasping weakly at the satin sheets, so tightly that her knuckles turn white with tension, "We can't jump to conclusions until we know."

Yellow snarls, but not the throaty, sexual snarl she reserves for her time alone with Blue. This is a guttural growl from the deepest depths of her, angry and raw. She listens, she tries to let her mate's words sink in, but she finds no solace in them tonight. "But, if it was her..."

"Then, you and I will shatter her and feed her miserable shards to the fossils," Blue tells her, "She'll be dust before we're done with her. But, we can't shatter her unless we know for certain, Yellow. You understand, don't you?"

"I understand," Yellow reluctantly agrees as she lets the primal anger retreat yet again from her golden gaze, her brow softening as she frowns.

Blue watches her, then reaches over and gently pats the place beside her. "Come and sit with me, dear."

Yellow does so. The mattress sinks underneath their enormous weight as Blue shifts closer to her, to rest her head on her shoulder.

"You're hurting," Blue says.

"Of course I am," Yellow replies, "Our child is dead and I haven't the slightest idea who is responsible."

"I only want to know for sure," Blue agrees, nodding softly against her shoulder, "I think I could find some comfort in knowing. Some closure. You understand, don't you?"

Yellow looks at her and faintly smiles. "Of course I understand, dear. I'm the one gem on all of Homeworld who knows exactly what you're going through."

"Oh, I'm sure there are many gems who have lost their children and don't have much needed answers," Blue replies softly, "We've waged many wars, after all. We've lost many soldiers. Surely not all of them were grown in Kindergartens."

"I suppose so," Yellow says, without meeting her gaze, "But, Pink was different. She was a Diamond."

"It doesn't matter that she was a Diamond, Yellow," Blue whispers into the dim room, "It matters that she was our child. I would have felt just the same if she were only a pearl. And a mother's grief is a mother's grief, no matter what the caste."

Yellow's sharp shoulders rise and fall faintly in a shrug. She's in no mood to argue semantics with her mate, not tonight; after her outburst at the trial, she's fortunate that Blue wants to see her at all, and she's on her best behavior.

"Yellow...?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry if I upset you. I only wanted to know the truth."
Yellow thinks about it, then replies, "I know, love. I'm sorry, too. It's my fault that our suspect escaped to begin with."

"We'll recover her," Blue reassures her, "She has nowhere to go. The drones will have her by tonight, I'm certain."

"I certainly hope you're right, Blue," Yellow exhales unsteadily, rubbing anxiously at her throbbing temples. If she was stressed before, she hates to think what state she must be in now.

The two quieten down for awhile. Then, abruptly, Blue rises and dismisses herself to the bath chamber, where her pearl follows her to draw her a hot bath. Yellow remains on the bed and listens in silence to the water pouring into the enormous basin. The chamber grows steadily more humid as the steam seeps into it from the other room, smelling faintly of lavender.

Lavender, Yellow thinks resentfully. An earth thing. Pink herself had discovered it, so many years ago, and had sent it home to them in such copious amounts that the attendants hadn't known what to do with all of it. Blue's servants had long since discovered how to cultivate it in their much harsher environment, so that she could continue to indulge in it long after their daughter's passing. Blue continued to enjoy it even though it carried with it the silent reminder of the child they had failed to protect. Yellow, however, could only resent it for everything it stood for in her mind.

She sighs. She knows that she can't continue to think like this - not if she doesn't want to upset her beloved mate. Perhaps the two of them could talk more deeply, more often. Perhaps she could ask her for advice. Perhaps she could try to see things more clearly from Blue's perspective rather than only her own...

Blue clears her throat behind her. Yellow turns.

A sideways smirk quirks at her lips. "Honestly, Blue, are you waltzing around in the nude again? What if one of the servants sees you?"

"No one will see," Blue quips, then arches a brow at her, a swooping, black brow that's been intricately groomed and shaped and penciled in, and smirks ever so slightly. It's so rare to see her actually grin that this alone sends a sharp pang of knowing arousal through Yellow's depths. "No one but you, that is."

Yellow rolls her eyes and shakes her head. Her earlier reservations about sex with her mate this late in her pregnancy have since been forgotten, drowned in her arousal and need. Even with her thighs now thick with a velvet sheer of plush fat, her breasts heavy and occasionally leaking with milk, and her stomach swollen and round with their unborn child, Blue is as attractive as ever. If anything, pregnancy has made her even more of a vixen, doing nothing to detract from her ever lovely beauty.

"You do want to see, don't you?" Blue teases, with a sweep of her hand over her hip.

"You know that I do, love," Yellow replies with a fond smile, then beckons her into a kiss.

Blue kisses her for a moment and pulls away too soon, sliding smoothly into Yellow's lap to situate herself on her mate's muscular thighs, her fingers curling in the stiffly styled, yellow hair. She eyes her partner hungrily, fingers pulling gently at tawny locks, then devours her lips once more. Yellow is momentarily startled at the ferocity of Blue's kiss, but only parts her lips eagerly, hungry for more as Blue's tongue glides in-between them to tousle with hers.

Blue traces the shape of her teeth, feeling every nook and cranny of her mouth, hips lurching into her reflexively as she pins Yellow's tongue down with her own. Yellow groans wordlessly into her lips before their familiar softness pulls away once more, to instead devour the sharp curve of her shoulders and, finally, set upon the sheer slope of her neck, sucking bruises on amber skin and biting sharply at her jugular vein.

"Get these clothes off," Blue orders. It isn't a request, and Yellow knows better than not to oblige, her uniform sizzling away in a glimmer of white light that momentarily lights up their dark chambers. Blue pauses only long enough to take in the sight of her sharp shoulders, her slim arms, the muscle of her thighs that has wound tight with tension. Beneath her pointed, upturned breasts is the expanse of her abdomen, where her muscle is just pronounced enough to cast slight shadows between themselves. Where Blue is soft, Yellow is hard. She is a gem as strong in body as she is in mind, and Blue has always quietly admired her strength.

But, best of all, nestled between her thick thighs is her erection, with its shaft curving upwards from many millenia of sex and interwoven with pronounced veins that twitch whenever Blue's fingers wander near and its bulbous head peeking deep golden yellow out from underneath its foreskin, all dribbling generously with pre that glistens and shines in the low lights.

Yellow clears her throat. Blue looks at her and realizes that she's smirking entirely too arrogantly, smiling so widely that she's flashing her teeth. "You must be impressed. You're staring."

Blue laughs lightheartedly. "You must know by now that I was impressed from the very beginning. I stayed, didn't I?"

Then, before Yellow can say anything else, Blue slides down onto her knees, spreading her thighs until she feels the trembling lips of her pussy press flush to the cold tiled floor. She shudders, sighing sweetly, then reaches eagerly for Yellow's cock, slender fingers curling gently around its pulsing shaft and guiding it hungrily towards her plump lips, already parted and ready.

"You shouldn't be on the floor like this," Yellow objects through the haze of her arousal, "It should be me on my knees. I should be servicing you."

Blue huffs irritably. "Yellow, I'm fine. I appreciate your concern, but I want to do this."

"Are you sure? Won't this make your knees sore?"

"Yellow, I want nothing more than for you to shut up and let me enjoy this," Blue retorts, "I want to suck this big, fat cock of yours, and that is final."

Yellow stares at her. Blue stares back. Then, the both of them erupt into laughter.

"You are ridiculous," Yellow laughs.

"And you aren't going to get your cock sucked if you don't quieten down and stop fretting over my every move," Blue replies sternly, but with a playful purse of her lips. Then, those lips are pursing instead around the thick swell of Yellow's cock head, tongue slipping teasingly underneath the foreskin to lap away the pre quickly gathering there. Yellow can only respond with a soft gasp, rising to an unsteady moan as Blue's head sinks down between her thighs, bringing her shaft between the velvet softness of her lips and deeper into the warm cavern of her mouth, right into the tight recesses of her throat.

Blue eyes her from between her thighs as she nuzzles her face into the warm swathe of pubic hair at the base of Yellow's cock, tickling her nostrils. She swallows, Yellow grunting as her throat tightens even further around the shaft hilted within it, then pulls back. The shaft emerges from between her lips slick with saliva, glistening wetly in the semi-darkness, then is promptly delved back in, swallowed right up to its base. Back and forth and back and forth, Blue bobs as skillfully as a particularly well-trained pearl, until Yellow is throwing back her head and groaning huskily into the steamy chamber air, still smelling sweetly of lavender.

Blue doesn't have to swallow the first of her mate's hot release; it shoots directly down her throat, as smoothly as water. But, the second spurt, she tastes hot and heady on her tongue, Yellow's cock trembling and pulsing and steadily filling her mouth more and more with her essence, until Blue has no choice but to either let it dribble free down her chin or swallow. She opts for the latter, gulping it down overzealously, mouthful after mouthful until there's nothing more to be swallowed. Only then does she carefully pull her lips away, placing a final kiss on the cock head, still trembling eagerly with the force of its release.

"There," Blue almost croons as she rises from her knees, which are more sore than she would like to admit, a fact that she wasn't about to confess to Yellow, to stand unsteadily before her, "Wasn't that fun, dear?"

"Oh, it certainly was," Yellow replies dazedly, but she's quick to snap out of her aroused haze when she notices how Blue is swaying and wobbling, "Blue? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Blue tells her as she slides into her lap once more, but her hands tremble as she reaches for Yellow's shoulders to steady herself. She wants nothing more than to feel Yellow's hot, hard shaft hilted within her, reaching for it eagerly, but she's instead greeted by a sharp pang that shoots piercingly through her abdomen, causing her to collapse into her mate's chest.

Yellow falters beneath the sudden weight, but quickly steadies herself and encircles Blue in both arms, a hand stroking gently along the small of her back. "Blue, are you sure you're alright?"

"I...," Blue starts to answer, then asserts herself and nods, "I'm fine. Really. It's only a false contraction, the medics said just yesterday that she isn't due for another month or more, at least."

"Blue...," Yellow addresses her with concern in both her voice and her face, her golden gaze less intense than usual from where it sits beneath her furrowed brow, her lips turned down in a tight frown, "You've been so stressed. It isn't good for you or for her. You shouldn't have been out there at all today, not this close to time."

"I wouldn't have missed the trial," Blue tells her firmly as she steadies herself on her mate's lap, heaving her weight off of Yellow to sit upright once more. Her legs are spread wide across Yellow's thighs, with her erection nestled eagerly between them, close to the sweltering, parted folds of Blue's dripping pussy. "You know I wouldn't have missed it. No force on Homeworld, not even you, could have kept me away from that courtroom."

"I know, love," Yellow replies, her hands on her mate's hips to hold her steady as she wriggles and readjusts, sending her swollen stomach into a comical little bounce, "But, we have to be more careful. The stress isn't healthy for either of you."

"Right now, you are stressing me," Blue retorts, with her lower lip pooching out and her arms crossed across her milk-heavy chest, in a gesture that can only be described as a pout - fitting for a pompous pearl, but hilarious on a Diamond.

Yellow cocks a brow. "Why?"

"By depriving me of sex!" Blue scolds her, still pouting, "Honestly, Yellow, you're worrying over nothing. I'm stressed out, I'm aroused, and I want to fuck you. Do I have to beg? Is that what you want?"

Yellow scoffs defensively. "I'm only worried because you were in pain. I thought you might be entering premature labor, after the stress of the trial and our first suspect escaping. You can't fault me for worrying about you."

"Are you going to fuck me or not?" Blue demands, arms still crossed and lips still pouty and brows curiously arched. Her temper has been a hair trigger since the beginning of her pregnancy, and she's certainly as emotional as ever, but Yellow knows she isn't entirely serious from the playful glimmer glinting keenly from the watery depths of her big, blue eyes.

Yellow smiles softly. "I suppose I am, aren't I? It would be rude to make any Diamond beg, much less one as lovely as yourself."

"Flattery," Blue accuses her.

"I'm giving you what you want, aren't I?" Yellow prompts. Blue uncrosses her arms and looks at her, then leans in to steal another kiss, her hands wandering back to Yellow's shoulders to grasp them firmly, fingers kneading steadily into the tense, hard muscle.

Yellow comes away from the kiss purring softly, almost humming, and gazes intently into the big, blue eyes of her mate with something of a smile on her sharp, angular face. "You know that I would fuck you all the time if I could, dear. I only worry that I'll hurt you, this far along, and I would never forgive myself if I did."

"And I'm telling you," Blue replies with a smile of her own, hers much more mischievous and far less sincere, as she raises up and settles back down, sinking steadily onto Yellow's impressive erection, hissing softly in the steamy chamber air as its familiar firmness fills her, "I'm well enough to fuck you."

Yellow chuckles. "I haven't seen you so horny in years. Millenia, even."

"Then, you haven't been paying attention," Blue somewhat says and somewhat laughs, her legs, now so swollen at the ankle that there is little division between her feet and her calves, winding carefully around Yellow's waist, her hands still clutching tightly to her shoulders as she leans back, pulling herself away from her mate's cock until it twitches and aches and almost escapes her entirely, then thrusting her hips forward to take it into her once more. This time, it pushes a moan out of her, her eyelids fluttering half-closed as she holds onto her mate and savors the sensations of their bodies moving blissfully in time, Yellow's hips rising gently to meet hers.

There's another convulsion of her abdomen, a rising pressure within her, but the pain is quick to subside and she is even quicker to dismiss it. Another false contraction, she believes, recalling how frequently she had had them in her final months of pregnancy with Pink.

Oblivious to her mate's convulsion, Yellow only clings tighter to Blue's backside, cradling a plush buttock in either hand as she holds onto her, supporting her as their hips move in time, meeting halfway, colliding with an almost comically wet slap. The chamber is still humid from Blue's recent bath and, beneath the smell of sex, there's still the faint odor of lavender, wafting away from the water that still sits stagnant and warm in the tub in the neighboring room. But, Yellow inhales the air and smells only her partner, completely caught up in the familiar sensations that make her Blue. She smells fresh and clean, she feels soft like velvet, she sounds sweeter than any well-trained pearl's submissive song. She's perfect, and Yellow can think only of the rising warmth surging up from her depths as she savors every miniscule detail about her, the noise she makes somewhere between a growl and a purr as she comes.

Only when she comes down from her orgasmic high does she realize that Blue is panting. Of course, Blue is breathless after sex, gulping in air that her form of light doesn't need, but something seems amiss. Immediately, Yellow lifts her off of her swiftly softening cock and gently places her on her back on the bed, hovering over her worriedly as she cups her face, finding her flushed cheeks to be wet with sweat that beads in cold droplets on the slender bridge of her nose.

"Blue?" Yellow prompts, almost panicking. Now she's done it, she's done precisely what she feared she would, she's hurt her mate and she's hurt their unborn offspring and she'll never forgive herself and...

"I'm fine," Blue reassures her as she reaches feebly for Yellow's hand, entwining their fingers with a soft smile, clearly forced, on her face, "but, I'm having contractions, and I do think it would be in our best interests to put this on pause for now."

Yellow wants to scold her for dismissing this so lightly, but finds that she can only laugh weakly. She senses that the color has drained from her own cheeks, while Blue's are flushed brilliant azure, her eyelids heavy. "Is it time?"

"I believe it would be wise to call the medics, yes," Blue agrees, her fingers falling away from Yellow's to instead rest on her stomach, which rises and falls erratically as she inhales and exhales unsteadily.

The pearls have since fled the scene, possibly retreating to the bath chamber when their owners took to the sheets, nowhere to be found. So, Yellow instead rises herself to call the medics, summoning them swiftly before she returns to the bedside, bringing Blue her favorite silk robe and helping her arms into its drapey sleeves. Then, she sits down beside her and waits, clasping baby blue hands gently in hers, watching worriedly.

A milky quartz medic arrives, with a team of gems ranging from pearls to agates to turquoises. She instructs them to move Blue to a chamber that has been prepared for her baby's delivery, which earns her an impatient snap from Yellow about how Blue is already settled into the bed here, before she ushers her mate to the warp pad that takes them to the new location.

The chamber's ceiling towers over them, with a skylight peering out into the starry galaxy beyond, an unnecessary detail in a room intended only for childbirth. It's clear from the arsenal of medical supplies, stored in stainless steel cabinets with sliding glass doors, including not only scalpels and surgical tools and protective masks, but stepping stools and metal ladders with adjustable rungs, that the chamber was prepared for an especially large mother delivering an especially sizable infant. Yellow examines it critically even as she helps Blue into the bed, where the milky quartz immediately begins attending to her, before she deems it fit for her mate and child.

After the initial rush, the scene settles down. Blue's water has broken, but the milky quartz informs them that the wait will still be long.

Yellow eyes the quartz sternly. "You told us just yesterday that she wasn't due for another month or more."

"I imagine it was the stress," the quartz replies, not even slightly deterred, "I hear that it's been quite an eventful evening upstairs. The trial, you know."

"Will she be alright?" Yellow demands.

"Of course," the milky quartz reassures her, "The gemling will be premature, but I don't doubt that she will be healthy and lively, nonetheless. Diamonds are quite resilient, as I'm sure you're well aware, My Diamond."

Yellow glares at her impatiently. "How much longer?"

Blue lifts her head from where it lies on many pillows, huffing indignantly, "Yellow, don't be rude. It isn't her fault."

"It's fine, My Diamond," the quartz dismisses her, then returns her attention to Yellow, "I believe it will be at least several hours more. We'll give you two your privacy, My Diamond, but please, alert us immediately if there's any sign of trouble."

"Of course," Yellow replies, then claps her hands, "That will be all."

The chamber empties of milky quartzes and medics, all oddballs who had been drawn to this peculiar profession, seldom needed but well-trained. Yellow watches them leave, then sits down on the bedside, sighing heavily.

"What's wrong?" Blue wonders aloud, her hand reaching quietly for Yellow.

Yellow takes it. "I'm worried. A premature birth, Blue? Will she be alright? Will you?"

"I'm sure we'll both be fine," Blue replies dismissively, "The medic said it herself, Diamonds are resilient. You have faith in me, don't you?"

"Of course I do."

"Then, know that I can do this," Blue tells her, then clenches her teeth as she's met with another contraction. It isn't so much painful as it is simply uncomfortable, a building pressure deep within her womb.

"I know that you can do this," Yellow agrees, then looks around, "Although I am concerned how a reject quartz and her off-color assistants are going to deliver a Diamond when the majority of them can't even reach this high."

"Don't talk down on them, Yellow. They're doing us a great service by helping us. Once this is done and over with, I want to reward them generously."

Yellow nods halfheartedly, then looks around the chamber worriedly again. She sighs, then confesses, "I would feel better if White were here."

White had been the unexpected savior who had delivered Pink Diamond, so many years ago. Pink had been a complicated birth, the positioning of her gemstone posing no shortage of problems as Blue tried and failed to push her free, until White stormed unexpectedly into the birthing room and delivered her as easily as she would extract a gem from a Kindergarten. It wasn't much different, she had told them, and neither had believed her. Yellow now quietly worries that she will be the one that Blue turns to, and she won't know what to do or how to help or even where to begin.

"I know that you and White were close, dear," Blue replies, "but, with all due respect, I don't think I want her around any child of ours until we know for certain what...what the trial today may have meant."

"Fair enough," Yellow agrees solemnly, then looks down at her lover. For a Diamond, she looks frail. She seems tired, her chest and abdomen heaving restlessly even as her eyelids sink downwards heavily. If Yellow hadn't seen her like this before, it might have frightened her; it certainly had back then.

"I suppose this is why more gems don't reproduce manually," Blue says, smiling faintly, "It's such an endeavor."

"This is why we forbid it," Yellow surmises, "And we can't control the quality of the offspring, either. Kindergartens make it so much simpler for us all."

Blue shrugs. "I suppose so. But, I think it might be wise to rethink all of this. It was White's idea, wasn't it? To forbid our courts from breeding naturally? The suppressants were her idea, too, and don't you think that was a terrible misfortune? We missed out on so much because of them."

"What are you implying, Blue?"

"Perhaps we shouldn't rule like White would," Blue tells her, "Perhaps we should rule in our own ways. Together. White isn't here. She could never return. We don't even know where she is. But, she isn't here and we are and, now, our child is, too, and this isn't the sort of place that I want her to grow up in."

Yellow looks at her, surprised, then laughs weakly. "Oh, Blue. Resorting to treason now, are we?"

"I'm not saying we have to correct and change everything right away," Blue replies, "but, there are some things we could change, yes? Things that might make our lives better?"

Yellow considers it thoughtfully, cautiously. "I suppose so, yes."

But, whatever grand new plans might have transpired between them are not to be - at least for now - because, in that instant, the chamber doors fly open and into the room strolls no one other than the infamous White Diamond.

There's no time for either of them to confront her or even properly address her, however, because her unexpected appearance alone inspires such a cold flash of stress to roll over Blue that she spirals immediately into premature labor and, moaning miserably, begins to push.

Her cries summon the milky quartz and her assistants from the other room as she clutches weakly at her abdomen, but White glances at them just sharply enough to freeze them in their places, then dismisses them with an indifferent wave of her hand. "I'll handle this, thank you."

* * *

The birth is over as abruptly as it began. It happens smoothly, so unlike the struggle that Blue went through with Pink, whose intricately faceted gemstone had snagged painfully on her mother's cervix and become stuck. This time, there are no such issues and, within the hour, the little one arrives, a child brought into the world yet again by White Diamond.

She's so quiet when she first arrives that Blue's immediate instinct is to panic, to lurch forward onto her elbows and crane her neck to watch as White examines her critically, regarding her only slightly fondly as she cups her carefully in both hands. The sight makes Blue more anxious than she cares to confess.

And then, the newborn erupts into a shrill scream that rings off the metallic walls like an echo, bouncing back to them hollowly.

Relieved, Blue sinks back into the bed. She's alright. She's alive. She's here.

Hastily, White dries the newborn on a blanket, then bundles her in a fresh one before she offers her to Yellow, who curses herself for letting her mistrust show so easily when she all but snatches the tiny gemling from her creator's arms, clutching her close to her chest protectively as she fixes White with a malicious glare.

White would have had to have been a total fool to have missed it, however - and while she is many, many things, she is no fool. But, she responds with only a subtle raise of one brow, a quiet question glittering frighteningly in her colorless eyes.

Yellow doesn't confront her, not now. She's too fixated on the newborn in her arms, no longer squealing but whimpering softly, to care what White thinks of her right now.

"She's a Green Diamond," White informs them after a moment, as she watches the tears rise in their eyes and Yellow offer the little one a single finger, while the gemling flails its fists at them helplessly, squinting in the bright lights of the outside world for the first time, "Congratulations."

Yellow forces herself to blink back tears as she gazes fondly down at her newborn, cradling her close, acutely aware of how small she is and how careful she must be in handling her. Then, with a rare smile that stretches wide across her face, Yellow offers her to Blue.

Blue accepts the newborn into her arms, cooing softly as she cradles her. Immediately, the gemling ceases to sniffle, only gazing uncomprehendingly up at the giant gem that she instinctively knows to be her mother. Fresh tears rise in Blue's eyes as she tentatively threads a finger through a tightly wound curl of her baby's downy soft hair, but, for once, she doesn't feel sad. Although Pink is not here to witness the birth of her new sister and White is, Blue couldn't feel sad right now if she wanted to. She feels only the bubbling warmth of happiness, drowning out even the stinging tingle of pain still surging through her.

"She's beautiful," Blue croons.

"She's perfect," Yellow agrees proudly, then rests a hand on Blue's shoulder, "You did well, love. I'm so proud of you."

It's hard for the two of them to properly enjoy their newborn with White hovering so closeby, however, surveying them critically from afar as she dries her hands on a towel before folding them elegantly in front of her once more. There's a tension blossoming uncomfortably in the room, as thick as the smells of Blue's sweat and blood and afterbirth hanging heavily in the closed chamber. Yellow feels the hair on the back of her neck rise as she meets her creator's vacant stare. White's eyes glint glassily back at her, as hollow and white as the rest of her, a stark contrast to her colorful robes, which flow freely to her wrists and ankles in shades of blue, pink, and yellow, wafting softly with every motion.

Green hiccups. Blue looks between the other two Diamonds, then pipes up, "I think I should feed her now. She's probably hungry, you know."

Yellow looks at her, then nods. "Of course, dear. We'll leave you in peace. You can call us when you're ready."

Blue nods. Yellow motions for White to follow her as she takes her leave, glancing worriedly back at her lover for a moment before the doors slide closed. She sees her concern reflected in her mate's eyes.

White clears her throat.

Yellow looks at her. "Where have you been?"

White blinks, then replies, "I have been many places. None of your concern."

"None of my concern?" Yellow prompts, flabbergasted, "You abandoned us when we needed you the most! Do you know how much we've struggled to keep things together while you've been gone? I would say it is very much my concern, thank you!"

White doesn't respond.

Yellow scoffs. "You have no business being here. You made it clear when you left us all those years ago that you don't care what happens to this place or to us."

This hits a nerve. White looks at her, hard. "I have no business being here, hmm? But, this is my colony."

Yellow steels herself, her shoulders squared and her head raised high and her lips drawn back over pointed teeth in a snarl. "It's terribly convenient that you vanished within hours of Pink's death, don't you think?"

White doesn't snarl back, doesn't prepare herself for a fight. She only stares disbelievingly at Yellow, who sees a hot flash of betrayal in her colorless eyes, clear like glass, immediately followed by a pulse of guilt that might have gone unnoticed by a lesser gem. But, nothing gets by Yellow, not that easily.

Finally, White speaks, "I cannot believe this."

"Where were you, White?" Yellow demands, "You didn't even come to her funeral. You left without a word, you were gone for millenia, and now, you have the audacity to show up here and expect to be welcomed back with open arms. So, I'm going to ask you, one last time, where were you when Pink Diamond was shattered?"

White doesn't answer her. She only turns away, her colorful robes swirling brightly about her ankles in a flurry of yellow and pink and baby blue.

"Your silence isn't reassuring, White," Yellow informs her, an angular brow raised critically.

There's a long silence between them.

Finally, White answers her, "Your mate and child need you, Yellow. It would be wise not to cross me like this."

Yellow's teeth clench, grinding sharply into themselves. There's a knowing rage smoldering in her eyes, a growing suspicion all but confirmed that it was White who shattered her daughter so many years ago. White, who she had trusted and loved!

Yellow has a choice. One call is all it would take, she thinks quickly, her mind racing, foggy with fury, hazy with haste. One call and she could have all the armies of Homeworld here to answer her beck and call, before White could ever return to her ship and flee again into the unknowns of the galaxy, possibly never to be seen again. With four courts worth of gems grown loyal to her in her millenia of leadership, Yellow knows that not even White's superior size and strength will save her. She could end this.

But, behind her, she hears the squealing of her newborn daughter, audible and shrill even through the closed doors that separate them. Her cry softens swiftly, accompanied by the tender hum of her mother, no doubt cradling her in her arms and rocking her gently to soothe her, the same way she had done with Pink so very, very long ago.

Yellow has a choice, and she chooses what is most important to her now.

"We will continue this conversation later, White," she says as she swivels back towards the birthing chamber, turning her back on the Diamond who has betrayed her. White won't get away with what she's done. She and Blue will have their revenge for their fallen daughter someday, but not today.

Today, there are other matters to attend to.

Chapter 4: Epilogue

Notes:

Finished! Thank you so much for reading! I appreciate everyone's support! <3

Yellow Diamond remembers the first time she held her own child, Pink's round little face peering curiously up at her from the fabric folds of a blanket bundle, awake and alert mere minutes after birth. She was inquisitive from the very beginning, treacherously curious about the features of her mother and sire's faces and the tiny pearls that lived with them and every electrical outlet and loose cord she came across. Pink had been trouble, but she had been dear to her heart. Whereas Blue had broken down openly and outwardly when news of her untimely demise reached them, Yellow had felt forced to drown her emotions in authoritative control, fearful that Homeworld itself might perish if she, too, succumbed to her sorrows. But, that never meant that she didn't care, or that she missed her baby any less.

Now, Yellow holds her second child for the first time and sees a markedly similar curiosity gleaming in the newborn's big, bright eyes. She feels emotional all over again, simultaneously overjoyed that Green is here now, alive and well, and overwhelmingly sad that Pink isn't here to meet her. This time, she doesn't conceal her emotions. When she feels the tears rise, she lets them fall.

Blue smiles. "She's beautiful, isn't she?"

"She certainly is," Yellow says, almost in awe. Green wrinkles her nose at her. She's a short, round little thing right now, with an unruly, downy tuft of hair that falls with one neat curl in the middle of her forehead, eyes gleamingly green, and a flawless cut of diamond embedded in her navel - precisely where Pink's had been.

"I wonder what it is about us," Blue comments after awhile, watching contently as Yellow cradles their child, "that causes us to produce gems with navel gemstones. Neither of us have them."

"I suppose it was a coincidence, dear," Yellow tells her, unwrapping the blanket bundle Green has been ensnared in to examine her gemstone more closely. It doesn't have the strong, square shape of hers, but the teardrop silhouette of Blue's.

"I suppose we'll just have to have more children to find out," Blue replies. Yellow looks at her incredulously, earning an absolutely delighted giggle.

Yellow's golden glare softens when she hears a soft coo from her arms. She looks down at the little Diamond nestled snugly against her chest, unable to resist a smile. "We could have more children, I suppose. She will want playmates, after all."

"Oh, she certainly will," Blue teases her. Yellow silences her with another sharp glare, but she can't hold it for long. She's too relieved to be even playfully angry right now.

"Honestly, Blue, you are insatiable," Yellow snarks, "After everything you've just been through, you're already thinking of getting pregnant again?"

Blue giggles, then grins ever so slyly. "Oh? No one said it would be me again, darling."

Now, Yellow looks both incredulous and offended. "I cannot believe you."

Blue only laughs again. "I can."

Frowning, Yellow shakes her head, then directs her attention to the little one in her arms once more. Green only grunts.

"You can talk to her, you know," Blue pipes up, "She might like to hear your voice."

Yellow glances at her uncertainly. "What do I say?"

"Anything," Blue replies, very matter-of-factly, "She's a baby. She won't understand you. She just wants to hear you speak."

"Hello, Green...," Yellow says to their newborn, "Welcome to Homeworld. I'm afraid it isn't what it used to be, Green, but...it will be better, now that you're here."

"How sweet," Blue coos, then looks at the closed door and frowns, "Where's White?"

Yellow answers quickly, "Gone."

Blue arches a brow, concerned. "Gone?"

Yellow looks at her and frowns. Her own brow isn't furrowed, as it usually is, but instead drooping slightly in visible sadness and reluctance, a sentiment shared by the sorrowful gleam of her yellow eyes. "I...I've sent her away, Blue."

"Why?"

Yellow doesn't know what to say or how to tell her. White had been a mentor to them both. She had taught them what it meant to be a Diamond. She had tended to them when they were young and foolhardy and more focused on each other than their growing colonies. She had instilled in them her authoritarian leadership skills and absolutely everything that they knew. She had even been a little like a mother herself, Yellow supposes, though she had no blood relation to either her or Blue. But, above all else, she had been their friend. To be betrayed by her like this was to be betrayed by family.

There's no easy way to break such news, so Yellow decides to do what she's always done in pressing situations: be direct.

"It was her, Blue."

* * *

"Are you busy?"

Yellow glances away from her screen, a semi-translucent monitor that floats midair before her while she works in her control room, mildly surprised when she sees her mate standing in the doorway, their growing daughter, now much larger and stronger, squirming restlessly in her arms.

"I'm always busy," Yellow reminds her, but stands and walks towards them, "but, for you, I'll always make time."

"Good. You can watch her," Blue says with a smile, then thrusts the toddler into Yellow's arms.

Yellow takes her, but protests, "Blue! I can't watch her, I'm busy!"

Blue gives her a coy smile over her shoulder as she starts to walk away. "So am I. Managing a court is time-consuming, no?"

Yellow combs her fingers through Green's hair, which is as unruly as ever, and looks at her mate. "Is it important, Blue?"

"Isn't everything, dear?" Blue prompts.

Yellow feigns a sigh, then smiles and nods. "Go on, Blue. I'll watch her for awhile."

"Thank you, love," Blue says, then blows her a kiss and hurries on. Yellow watches her leave, then retreats to her work station, sitting down in a chair that towers over the desk like a theatrical throne, and looks at the squirming gemling in her lap.

"And what am I going to do with you, hmm?" Yellow asks. Green looks at her uncomprehendingly. She might be several decades old now, but she still hasn't said her first word. It might have been alarming, if Diamonds weren't known to develop exceedingly slowly, in part because of their phenomenal size. Even Pink, who was several thousand years old, had never reached her full size. And she never will, Yellow laments to herself.

Yellow tries to resume business as usual, with Green situated awkwardly in her lap, sucking a thumb. Yellow pauses only long enough to gently remove it from her mouth. "Come now, dear, that isn't very becoming for a Diamond."

Green ignores her and resumes suckling quietly. Yellow decides to let it slide, then returns her attention to the screen, where paragraph upon paragraph of peridot reports, mostly negative, await her review. She sighs. "Look, Green, this is what you have to look forward to."

Green gurgles. Yellow likes to think it's a sympathetic sound.

"Someday, Green, you're going to have your own court to attend to, complete with paperwork and politics and other such pleasantries," Yellow gripes as she reaches around her daughter to type something into the onscreen document, frowning severely. Green burbles at her, then peers up at her with her big, bright eyes and blesses her with one of her bubbly, happy smiles, chubby hands reaching to be picked up. Yellow can't resist a smile of her own, suddenly much less stressed, as she scoops the gemling into her arms, cradling her carefully.

"Yes, it's a stressful job, Green," Yellow laments, wincing only slightly when the gemling paps her roughly on the cheek, "but, you're going to do excellent work, I'm sure."

Yellow tries to return Green to her lap to continue with her work, but Green is having none of it, protesting first with a whimper, then with an adamant scream. Yellow quirks an eyebrow at her, but picks her up again, rising from her throne to carry her around the control room for a little while, bouncing her on her hip the way Blue does, quietly hoping she'll drift peacefully to sleep. But, half an hour later, Green is as alert as ever, babbling at her intently. Yellow's certain she's discussing important matters with her, albeit in a language she doesn't understand.

"I suppose I could leave you with my pearl," Yellow muses, then rolls her eyes, "if she weren't away on maternity leave. Can you believe it, Green? My pearl, carrying gemlings, and with no one other than that naughty little pearl of your mother's!"

"Abu," Green sympathizes.

Yellow smiles. "I suppose we should be grateful, though. You're going to need a well-bred pearl someday, aren't you?"

It soon becomes clear that Green has no intentions of falling asleep and permitting her sire to return to her work peacefully, so Yellow elects to sit her down in the floor beside her desk to play instead, keeping a watchful eye on her as she resumes typing, filling the control room with the click click click of her fingers on the keyboard. Green sits there disinterestedly, then slumps onto all fours to crawl over to her sire's feet, papping her boot intently.

Yellow looks at her and smiles. "Yes, dear?"

Green continues papping her chubby little hands on Yellow's calf. Yellow smiles, rolls her eyes, and lets her, but Green soon tires of this, too, and ventures over to the wall instead, which she promptly thumps her head against and shrilly screams.

Yellow looks at her again. "Very expressive, Green."

When Green's screams don't stop, Yellow rises from her throne to collect her, shushing her softly as she gathers her up in her arms yet again. "You certainly are demanding, aren't you? Fitting for a Diamond."

Green's eyes are wet with tears, her lower lip sucked in and her brow furrowed adorably. Yellow strokes her hair to soothe her, murmuring softly about nothing in particular. Then, when she's certain the crocodile tears have passed, Yellow carries her back over to her throne and sits down, but she doesn't resume typing. Instead, she sits there and holds her child quietly, reflecting on how things have changed and how change might be for the better, however difficult it might be after so many thousands of years. She shares some of her thoughts with Green, who responds with only an occasional grunt of indifference, and pauses occasionally to tickle her tummy or stroke her hair, but she seems intent on crying now, sniveling and tearing up and occasionally screeching no matter what Yellow does.

"You must be missing your mother," Yellow remarks at last, then smiles, "I certainly understand, Green. She's very nice to be around, isn't she?"

Footsteps from down the hall stop suddenly in the open door, where Blue Diamond now stands with her hood drawn back and her arms crossed and a smile on her face. "Who's nice to be around, dear?"

Yellow smiles, too. "There you are."

"You two are getting along," Blue comments. She smiles even wider when Green reaches for her, taking her gently and holding her close. "There's my little Greenie! Were you a good gem while I was away?"

"She did well," Yellow says, watching fondly as her lover cradles their child, who immediately erupts into happy giggles and big silly smiles and bubbly burbles. She can't resist a smile, something she finds herself doing more and more now.

Things are changing, Yellow thinks. Changing for the better. Not because the responsibilities she now shares with Blue are less stressful than they were years prior and not because their positions as Diamonds have left them any less busy, but because Green is here now and with her arrival comes the promise of a new era, an era with three Diamonds and new colonies and more resources. Perhaps an era in which the events of the war no longer have such a hold on them. Yes, she thinks. Changing for the better.

But, through it all, there's one thing that she knows will never change, not ever, not through war or famine or death itself.

"Blue?"

Blue looks at her, bouncing their gemling on her hip gently. "Yes, love?"

"I love you," Yellow tells her.

Blue smiles. "I love you, too."

And Yellow knows she always will. They'll love each other, forevermore.