Pearl entered the house, immediately greeted by Mala's warm embrace. The child did wonders cheering her up as she chuckled softly, her hand pulling through that tough mane of hair she'd gotten from her mother. It was amazing how much Mala was really starting to look like Jasper each day. There was a slight pull at her heart when she realized there would come a day she'd have to explain to her girlfriend, a woman who just confessed her love to her, how she'd be unable to bear her any children. It didn't matter, though. Mala was plenty to take care of.<br/><br/>After ushering the child back to whatever she was doing, she stood in the threshold of the house, leaning against the wall and staring at Jasper and Peridot as they went over something at the table. It took some effort on the dancer's part to pull a soft smile out of her pocket and nod a greeting to them both. She couldn't face Jasper yet, though. After excusing herself, mentioning it was a long day and she was quite tired, she made her way to the bedroom and after her routine of a shower and brushing of teeth, she collapsed in the bed and quickly passed out. Her sleep wasn't pleasant, though, as she was haunted with nightmares from that file. Little details mentioned in the police reports morphed into small monsters while the younger Jasper's mugshot turned into the biggest monster of them all. She was whimpering in her sleep and eventually curled up completely around one of the pillows for comfort before finally falling into a deeper sleep. When Jasper came to lay down, she was hesitant at first to touch her.<br/><br/>That hesitation became a theme over the next couple weeks as Pearl sat on the information she had. She had cleverly been distracting Jasper, throwing out other bits and pieces of crumbs for her girlfriend to keep her off the trail. As far as her lover was concerned, Pearl was just worried over her debt and some troubled kids in her class. But by the time the ski trip came around, it was becoming harder and harder for the dancer to keep Jasper off her trail. There were times her girlfriend wasn't the most observant woman in the world, but she still managed to be as accommodating as she could, regardless. She more easily noticed Pearl's mood shifts more than anything which kept her tight on the dancer's trail. When they'd finally arrived at the ski lodge, the shift in Pearl's mood was starting to become apparent to even more than just Jasper.<br/><br/>The first morning they were there, Pearl declined going with the family due to feeling rather off. She'd already been sick in the toilet throughout the first night and while Jasper had insisted on staying with her, she waved off her lover and forced her to head out with her family. Jasper still refused, being as stubborn as ever, until Blue offered to stay with her instead, mentioning she wanted to have some cocoa anyway and take some time with her likely future daughter-in-law. If the word of her mother wasn't enough to chase Jasper away, then the embarrassment would do the trick.<br/><br/>While Pearl finally exited the new home she'd made out of the bathroom, she was rubbing her face with a few pieces of toilet paper, but stopped upon seeing Blue sitting in her room. Immediately, she blushed and felt embarrassed such a prestigious woman and the mother of her lover was seeing her in such a state. The dancer hadn't bothered to fix her hair after the night of being sick nor did she change out of her pajamas consisting of sweats and a tanktop. Actually, she looked quite similar to what Blue had seen the first time they'd met and this just brought more shame to the dancer's cheeks. Pearl had always prided herself on being proper and clean, so why was it Blue kept finding her in such situations. "I'm--" She paused and looked to the side. Jasper had been teaching her lately to stop apologizing so much and when Pearl thought about it, the older woman was coming into<i>her</i>space unannounced so there was nothing for her to be sorry about. Even so, the dancer looked down while nodding a hello to her guest. "What brings you here, ma'am? Were you the one who convinced Jasper to go?" She chuckled a bit at that, wondering how that had all gone down. After she kicked Jasper out of the bathroom, she didn't know what had become of her lover after.<br/><br/>While waiting for a response, Pearl found her way back to the queen sized bed her and Jasper's room held and buried herself in the fresh scent of recently cleaned sheets and the just-barely-there scent Jasper had left on the pillows from sleeping on them the last night. Pearl buried her face in the scent and let out a depressed sigh. She still loved Jasper dearly, despite whatever had happened. That was one conclusion of just a few she'd come to in the last month. That buff Amazonian was the best thing to ever strut into her life and now she was just starting to feel guilty about keeping so much from her lately. It was unfair to them both, but this was also a portion of Jasper's past the woman clearly didn't want Pearl to know about. Even her own mother hadn't known about those years. Pearl gripped the pillow, letting another wave of nausea roll over her.