Peridot's stressed sobs echoed throughout the room as she wrapped her arms around me. She looked down at Turquoise and kissed her forehead. The smile on her face sent no other message other than she was ecstatic to see that we were alive.
"Pink told me," she said through her sobs. "I was scared for your lives."
"She's a good person," I responded. "The moment we realized we went underwater, she was out of her seat getting Turquoise to the surface."
"She has her priorities in order," Peridot said. "And she's very family oriented. She knows what the baby means to us."
I felt Turquoise shivering again, and Peridot's worried expression returned. I stood up and walked to the bathroom. Immediately, Peridot followed me.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Giving Turquoise a warm bath," I answered. "She's really cold and, like the rest of us, wet with salt water."
I turned on the bath water and let it warm up as I unwrapped Turquoise and undressed her. I gave her sopping wet onesie to Peridot, who eagerly ran off to put it in the washing machine. When Peridot returned, I had placed Turquoise in the water and was beginning to wash her off. She was content as I soaped her body, focusing on the liquid around her. I smiled. So sweet.
"You smell like salt water," Peridot said, taking a sniff of my hair.
"Yeah," I responded. "I probably need to take a shower when I'm done washing Turquoise."
I pulled Turquoise out of the bath when she was fully washed. I wrapped her in a fresh bath towel and rubbed her hair with it until it was only damp. Turquoise was fascinated by the softness of the towel the whole time.
"Are you Mama's baby?" I asked, leaning in.
Turquoise looked right at me and made a noise, then placing her hand on my nose.
"Yes, she is," Peridot answered me, holding the baby's free hand.
Turquoise waved her arms and made even more noises. She was so happy to be with us. I couldn't hold back my smile.
Peridot watched while I dressed Turquoise in a new onesie to replace her wet one. The little baby was entertained the whole time by sucking on her own fingers. I sighed. She was hungry. That made sense, anyway. I cradled her then and fed her, not minding that Peridot was there. It was a sight she had gotten used to.
"It still baffles me," Peridot said suddenly.
"What?" I asked, looking at her.
"You were seventeen when you became pregnant," Peridot answered. Her face was curious.
"Yeah," I sighed. "I know we're young...it was an impulsive decision, anyway. But we've handled it, haven't we?"
"Yes," Peridot answered me. "We've handled it surprisingly well."
I kissed her cheek and watched as her cheeks turned a light shade of pink. I caressed her cheek, and she leaned against my hand. Turquoise was in between us, falling asleep on our chests.
"Baby..." I said quietly.
"Our beautiful baby," Peridot replied.
I stood up, brushing my wet hair back with my fingers. "I guess I have to take a shower now," I said.
"Would it be alright with you if I joined you?" Peridot asked, her face becoming pink again.
"...y-yeah," I answered. "I don't mind."
Peridot left the room to give Turquoise to one of the others, then she returned, trying to hide her excitement. I rolled my eyes. I guess she had a right to be excited. We hadn't been able to be intimate since before I became pregnant with Turquoise.
Peridot pulled her shirt off with one hand, clearly trying to show off. It was evident. She stuck her tongue out at me when she noticed I was looking. I turned around to avoid the rest of her attempt. She was so silly.
I put my hand in the shower water. It was warm now, good enough to step in. I put one foot in, and, immediately, the freezing and burning sensation hit me. I got the rest of myself in, and everything was warm. Perfectly warm. I sighed, relaxed. It wasn't long before I felt Peridot's hands on my sides, and I couldn't hold back my smile.
"Your hair's falling," I said, looking back at her.
"It falls under its own weight when it gets wet," Peridot replied. "And when it dries, it kind of just...poofs."
I turned around slowly and looked at her. She met my gaze, suddenly set off guard. I laid my hand on her chest and kept our eye contact. Her face was beginning to turn a steady shade of red. I began to trace the curves in her body. I noticed that she was following my touch with her eyes. Up and down, to the side, and down again. Soon, I found myself with my head on her chest, listening to her heart beating. It seemed to be trying to escape her chest. I looked up at Peridot's face, which was splattered with red splotches. She could barely focus on me now.
"You haven't been touched like this in a while," I said, the words barely audible through the pounding of the water.
"Not for a long time," Peridot replied. "I...kind of miss it."
"Are you implying..?" I let myself trail off as I began to get lost in her flustered expression.
"Only if you wish." She hoisted my knee up to her hip.
"It's too crazy right now for that kind of thing." I leaned in and placed my head on her shoulder.
"Who's to say that should stop us?" She asked it with a subtle purr in her voice, as if she were trying to seduce me.
"I just escaped a car that got pushed underwater," I answered. "Cut me some slack."
"Alright, alright." Her crooked smile met me when I pulled back to look at her. "Perhaps I should. I don't mean to push this on you."
"I know you don't," I responded, pressing a kiss against her neck. "You never do." My hands fell to her chest again, and I found myself looking into her bright green eyes. "You're my best werewolf friend, right?"
The sweetness of her wonderful, crooked smile only intensified in that moment. "And you're my strong, strong girl."
Her fingers became tangled in my hair and my arms around her neck. My lips were against hers, never to be pulled apart.
My hair was damp, but I didn't mind. As long as Turquoise was happy. She was in my arms, babbling about something—who knows what. Peridot was holding her small hand the whole time, just patiently listening to her story.
"Hold on..." Royal Blue's eyes narrowed. "Peridot, what's that under your shirt collar?"
Had everybody else been in the room, it would have been over. Peridot simply held her index finger to her lips and shushed her, then she flusteredly pulled her shirt collar up. Even her werewolf abilities couldn't hide the discolored blotch of skin on her chest.
"Just be grateful that it was her and not anyone else," I whispered, laying my head on my love's shoulder.
Peridot kissed my forehead, keeping me close as always. "You weren't hurt, were you? In that accident?" She asked, ruffling my hair.
"No, no," I answered. "It was only the water. Agate saved Dad and I. We're okay."
"So she just...pushed you all in?" Peridot asked.
"Pretty much," I answered. "I saw her coming, and I knew she wasn't going to stop...so I grabbed Turquoise to make sure she wouldn't get hurt."
"How'd you guys get her away afterward?" Peridot asked, cocking her head to the side.
"That was Agate's idea," I answered. "She made Pink and I switch clothes so she would have my scent, and Jade followed her."
"That's smart," Peridot said. "Just the scent." She shook her head. "I can't believe we let her escape us like that. Had all of you not been thinking so quickly, you probably wouldn't have made it."
"They're all powerful," I responded. "Don't work yourself up over it."
I looked down at Turquoise, who was silent now. She was watching Peridot and I intently, only moving when she occasionally kicked the air.
"Baby feet," Peridot said, noticing where I was looking. "The one way ticket to baby laughter."
"I'm not even sure if she knows how to laugh yet," I replied.
I shifted Turquoise so she was upright, and I held her to my chest. Soon, she had fallen asleep. I smiled. Then Yellow and Dad returned, followed by everyone else.
"I see you two are out here," Yellow said. "We stopped by the grocery store, that's all."
As they passed us, she placed a tube of lotion on the table next to the couch. Peridot curiously picked it up, and her entire face turned crimson. It was lotion for treating bruises. I was the first to look back up, and I saw Yellow wink. Then I turned to Royal Blue.
Of course she saw it coming.
"So," Peridot said, her face becoming splotchy as she tried to calm herself down. "You saved my wife?"
Agate sat down in a chair diagonal from us. "I did," she answered, failing to hide her sly grin. "Why do you ask?"
"First of all, thank you," Peridot began her response. "Second of all...I heard about the idea of the vampires following the scent. That was actually...really clever. I'd like to test it out some more."
"I wouldn't decline that idea," Agate said. "It sounds fine to me."
"Cool," Peridot replied. "Will you be around tomorrow?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Agate asked. "I live here, after all."
Only then did I notice that Peridot was hiding the lotion behind her back.
"Mom?" Peridot asked while Yellow was walking in.
"Yes?" Yellow responded, eyeing her daughter and just about zeroing in on the location of her bruise.
"Can Lapis and I spend the night? I think the vampires are tracking us at our house," Peridot explained.
"I don't mind," Yellow answered. "I've always thought of Lapis as the other daughter I never had." All of a sudden, she was cooing at Turquoise, who was barely awake. "And of course, the granddaughter I did have!"
Turquoise rolled over tiredly and fell back asleep against my chest, making my mother-in-law smile. Peridot, on the other hand, looked slightly irritated at her mother's disturbance.
"You already sprung this on me," she mumbled through her teeth as she squeezed the bottle of lotion. "You don't need to wake up my sleeping baby next."
I laid my hand on Peridot's arm, our silent signal for "calm down."
"...I'm sorry," Yellow said, standing upright.
"No, no," Peridot responded. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...lash out like that."
"I understand," Yellow said. "I was a werewolf once too, you know. Family means everything. It is everything."
"That's why I'm protecting it," Peridot replied, suddenly confident. "And we're going to use everything we have to kick these vampires off our radar."
"Careful." It was Topaz's melodic voice chiming in. "Don't be too cocky. They're savages. They're more like animals than you."
"Hey, I've nearly gotten myself killed a lot by those things," Peridot retorted. "I'm not trying to be cocky."
When Turquoise noticed Topaz there, she began to babble about something again. Topaz took the baby and tickled her chin, smiling sweetly.
"I really do love babies," she suddenly said.
"Turquoise would be your first experience, wouldn't she?" I asked.
"Right," Topaz answered. "That's why I'm protecting her. Her life is as valuable as any child I would have had. As any child I should have had." Her face showed a little bit of aggression to it, but she promptly brushed it off. "I have a fighting spirit for this family as well. I've really been ungrateful to all of you, when, really, you saved my life."
"I think we ruined it for a little while," Peridot said.
"I think I ruined it for a little while," Topaz corrected her. "The entire scuffle was created by me. All of those extra fights you were forced to participate in to save the girl's life. That was all me. Somehow, I have to make up for it."
Peridot squeezed my hand for no obvious reason. Then I saw Topaz glaring not at us, but me.
"Do I want to hear the story of how you became pregnant just six months after I fled?" She asked.
"No," I answered. "You probably don't."
I received a smile as a reply.
Peridot placed our bags of clothes upstairs in her old room, which hadn't changed since we had last stayed in it. There were still a couple of posters up on the wall, a shoe was laying sideways next to the door, and the covers were falling a bit more to my side of the bed. I gently sat down on it with Turquoise in my arms once more, watching me curiously as she usually did.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Peridot rubbing a bit of that lotion on her chest.