Pearl already knew who's body was pressed against her by the way her body fit snug against the concave and convex muscled form of her lover behind her. For a moment in time, the dancer allowed herself to lean back against that firm support and give a relieved sigh while Jasper kissed her neck and whispered into her ear. This woman was going to be the death of her weak heart, she just knew it. Refocusing on the pancakes to steel her nerves, Pearl smiled softly. "They<i>are</i>quite an army, aren't they? Your family really has been lovely, though. And it was nice to finally, formally meet Amethyst; I was beginning to think she was a figment of your imagination." She chuckled at that and as she moved to shove the sausage she made onto a plate, she turned to grin at her girlfriend. It was just a good thing she'd already had the pan over the island counter of the sound of it falling from her hand would have been much louder.<br/><br/>"J-Jasper... your..." Her eyes were wide. Why this effected her so, she didn't even know, but as she looked upon her lover and saw those black frames sitting so petite upon the bridge of her nose, Pearl's face lit up bright red. Before she could speak again, the older woman had already made her way over to Jasper and had the woman's cheeks in her hands, having already dragged the younger woman down to her height as she marveled at her face. "You... look... GORGEOUS!!" Pearl cried out, likely rousing a few hungover people from their slumber as she wrapped her arms around her tiger in a quick hug, then backing up to admire her once more. "You truly do! Oh my stars, Jasper... why haven't you worn glasses before, my darling? I mean, I--" The woman shivered softly and pulled away completely from her lover, rubbing at her elbow that was currently covered in a baggy tshirt sleeve. After a moment of contemplation, Pearl threw her hands in the air, the subsequent baggy sleeves following suit and revealing her thin arms, making the maneuver more dramatic than necessary. "You're so darn perfect! Do you know that?" She chuckled, looking to the side in thought as a gentle smile came to her face. "You're so strong... beautiful, caring, amazing. You're a wonderful mother... a better lover than I've ever had--And I've had a few--And just..." Pearl glanced up at Jasper and laughed a little again, the notes happy and light as she kept that warm smile on her face. "It's no wonder I fell in love with you as quickly as I did..." There. She said it. Finally. After weeks of feeling it, she'd finally said it. Pearl flushed red and looked up at the ceiling just to avoid her usual submissive action of staring at the floor when she felt awkward or embarrassed. "Truthfully, I had started falling for you the moment I met you. But it wasn't until you took me on that date and... I-I mean, it wasn't the money that impressed me, although that was truly lovely, but it was the fact that you danced with me. You still haven't done that again with me. It was a one time thing, a truly special thing. Something you trusted me enough to show me. A piece of your past. And then... last night. That... Jasper, that song..." Pearl paused to pull her hands to her face, covering her mouth and nose and concealing a smile of glee that still betrayed her by how the happiness reached her eyes. She dropped her hands in favor of grabbing onto Jasper's, looking up at the woman with that warm smile again. "I love you, Jasper. I truly do."<br/><br/>"Break it up, ya two, break it up. I smelled breakfast, PJ, and I'm ready to chow dooooown~!" Amethyst had emerged from the bedroom to sit at the island, already scarfing down one of the sausages Pearl had made with no means of stopping. Eventually, the rest of the family would straggle in as well and Pearl couldn't be happier than to make them all some food and spend one more morning with such an awesome family.<br/><br/>It was a couple days later, Pearl was wrapping up one of her classes and found herself in a daydream once more. After the holiday break ended, the dancer still found herself floating on cloud nine. She'd had lovers confess to her before and vise versa, but none of them had ever felt the way this one did. No one ever made her feel the way Jasper did. Already, she was packing in a hurry with the specific elation of getting home and greeting that woman with a hug and a kiss. At least, that was the initial plan, but things never do work out perfectly. Before she had a chance to sling her bag over her shoulder and run out of the empty gym room, she was screeching to a halt at the sight of someone she thought she'd never see.<br/><br/>"Sh--Shay? What are you doing here? You heard Jasper... If you come near us ever again--"<br/><br/>"Oh save it. I have something to share with you about that new<i>girlfriend</i>of yours. Speaking of new girlfriends, by the way, I have one as well and she's already proved to be a million times better than anything you tried to be. Better yet, she actually has money so she can treat me how I deserve." Her ex-lover just laughed at her and tossed a file at the dancer's feet, a few rather detailed Polaroids and some report papers spilling out as it came to a halt in front of her. "That girlfriend of yours that<i>assaulted</i>me... Seems it wasn't the first time she'd done that to someone. You sure pick some violent women to hook up with, silly bird." Shay grinned and folded her arms across her chest, staring in satisfaction as Pearl crumbled to her knees and started pouring over the few photos that had spilled out of the file. "I knew someone who looked like that would just be violent." She walked over and squatted down in front of the dancer, cocking her head and reaching out to turn Pearl's chin up so she could see her face. Pearl was too stunned by this new information to really register anything else around her, but Shay continued anyway, "I'd suggest you break up with her before you get hurt. Maybe you should have stayed with me when you had the chance, mm?" Shay licked her lips and let Pearl's head drop back down as she stood and walked away, leaving Pearl to her thoughts.<br/><br/>By the time Pearl had gotten home, she was already 2 hours later than usual. She took the first hour to read as much of the file as she could until her stomach turned at the sight and she couldn't take it anymore. The next hour was spent driving aimlessly along the backroads, too conflicted with her own emotions to decide whether to go home or not. At this point, she couldn't even look at the file sitting on her passenger seat. When she got home, she stuffed the file into her gym bag and took a deep breath before exiting her car. Just what was she going to do? The information... It was too well done and precise to be made up. Did Shay find this on her own? She was a damn good journalist and Pearl knew she was good at finding dirt on people, but something like this? And those pictures... you couldn't fake those. Pearl felt her stomach turning again in the elevator on the way up to the point that she was clutching the rail for support. Violence of any kind tended to make her sick. By the time she opened the door and announced she'd come home, her emotions were more or less in check, or at least numbed.