Five Times
One
The first time Garnet Sees Steven, he is one of eight possible outcomes. One of two boys. She doesn’t think highly of him—though, to be fair, she doesn’t think lowly of him either. When Rose Quartz asks her to divulge the visions dictating the results of her family-building experiment, Garnet’s description of Steven is as carefully toneless as all of the others. When Rose excitedly inquires which possibility is her favorite, Garnet sidesteps neatly and honestly.
“It isn’t wise to become invested in any of them,” she says. “They’re all just as likely to happen, and only one will actually manage it.”
Rose counters immediately, “Or we should become invested in every single one of them, so they know the moment they join us in this life that they are loved.”
Two
The second time Garnet Sees Steven, he’s managed to survive the first culling of possibilities. The Crystal Gems and Greg Universe are learning as they go along, and the ways Garnet Saw Rose losing the baby has helped them develop ways to avoid it. It’s just like a mission, only with a much longer, shakier timeline.
When Pearl finally talks about it, she only says that she hopes the smartest of the four survive. What she doesn’t say is that she hopes the smartest one is intelligent enough to understand what a disappointment they will be, in comparison to Rose Quartz.
The reason she doesn’t say this aloud is because she doesn’t have to.
Three
The third time Garnet Sees Steven, he is closer to reality than he is to vague probability. Oh, the smile and the shape of his nose are the same, but he has a voice now. It’s little, but it’s hearty enough to fill the antechamber of the temple. His eyes come into focus, and they are alight with wonder as he takes in the world—his world—for the first time.
These days, Steven is one of two drastically different outcomes. Rose has finally learned to stop asking Garnet if she has a preference, but in comparison to what he has a fifty percent chance of becoming, Garnet will choose a kid who appreciates this planet she’s killed to save every time.
Four
The fourth time Garnet sees Steven, he is a tangible, tiny lump of wrinkled pink skin in swaddling cloth. She recognizes him by his smile and the tuft of dark hair on his tiny skull, and lets out a long, slow breath.
Steven is not the strongest, or the smartest, or indeed the most talented of possible outcomes. He won’t pick up new skills on the first try. He’s going to require quantities of patience and change that she can’t readily guarantee.
He will become the cheeriest, most social, most uplifting person in the room. His compassion will grow exponentially with his years, and he will love without fear. By his very nature, he will save someone. He might even save them all.
A powerful emotion stirs in her chest. She doesn’t know what it is.
Five
The fifth time Garnet sees Steven, it’s been years. The Crystal Gems scarcely noticed the rapid passage of time, and if it hadn’t been for Greg Universe paying a visit out of the blue they would probably still be oblivious. Still, Rose would have wanted them to be a part of her child’s life.
At this point, they have only just begun negotiating with Greg about training Steven to use his gem. Steven’s room has not been built yet; it’s not even a twinkle in an architect’s eye.
The idea of Steven moving in with the gems is still new to everyone. Greg is already feeling the separation anxiety, Pearl is stolidly turning her nose up at the whole idea, and Amethyst is fascinated by the concept but wary of commitment. For herself, Garnet knows they will all eventually see that this is what Steven needs and what Rose would have wanted.
Steven himself is quiet and wide eyed, standing a foot or so behind Greg’s left leg. He’s enraptured by the Crystal Gems, and Garnet can see him grasping at his own and comparing it to theirs. The question—can I really be one of them?—doesn’t need vocalization. Truthfully, they’re all wondering the same thing.
He’s so big now. He can talk and stand on his own two feet. He has a little ukulele strapped across his back, and Greg assures them that he plays it well.
He has that same expression of wonder that he did the day he was born.
Experimentally, he waves at Garnet. Or maybe that’s just the reflection of himself in her glasses.
Just in case, Garnet waves back. Ruby’s gem glints in the midmorning sun.
Suddenly, Steven is grinning and bouncing on the balls of his feet. He’s waving much more forcefully now. That one instance of recognition excites him beyond reason, and it’s as flattering as it is amusing.
It’s also pretty adorable, if Garnet is being honest.
She feels the emotion from before return, swelling warmly within her chest cavity. She recognizes it, at first as hope, and then as something much greater.
It’s love. She’s only seen this boy five times in her entire long life, and she already loves him. It’s more than simply affection for his mother rolling over—Garnet loves this child for his own merit. She appreciates his overflowing enthusiasm. She admires that’s he’s so obviously not afraid to try and try again, to be something different. She loves everything he already is and everything he will become, and all of the things he will never be aren’t necessarily sources of disappointment.
Steven is going to be a good addition to the Crystal Gems—the team, and their lives. He’s already saved them, simply by being himself. How can Garnet not love him?
Out of everything Rose and Greg’s child could have been, every single one of those eight outcomes, Garnet is so glad that Steven is the possibility who won out.