Author's Note: Hey, everybody! I was able to sit down and get the last chapter written, so here it is!

Emma had walked back into her apartment twenty minutes before and sat down in the living room with her brother and their friends and they watched Scream 2 as if they hadn't spent the greater part of an hour arguing about being made to watch Scream.

Her phone vibrated in her hand, alerting her to a new text message and she smiled as she saw Regina's name appear on her screen. She read the text message that the brunette had sent her. She immediately replied, her smile widening when Regina sent her own reply.

She looked up, saw that August was watching her with a smile of his own, and she felt her cheeks redden as she realized that she'd been caught. She averted her eyes to the screen, pretending that she was paying attention to what was happening on the screen.

August rolled his eyes, pulling out his own phone and sending his own series of text messages to Regina before he got up and walked into the kitchen, knowing that it wouldn't take Emma too long to realize that this was their opportunity to talk.

Emma looked over to where August had been sitting and watched as he disappeared into the kitchen. She looked around the living room and saw that Killian was still sitting comfortably on the couch with Milah on his lap and a large bowl of popcorn balanced on her own, and Belle and Ruby sitting in a similar position on the recliner, Ruby's attention completely on the screen as Belle munched on the popcorn in their own bowl. She doubted that they'd notice if she left the living room, so she weighed her options, deciding to get up and join her older brother in the kitchen.

"Belle and Ruby are going to be spending the night. Killian already agreed to set their air mattress up for them before he and Milah call it a night, which probably won't be happening any time soon since they still have two-and-a-half movies left to go." August told her as he shoved his phone back into his pocket.

She nodded her head, walking up to him. "Hey, so I know that Regina already thanked you, but I wanted to do the same, so thank you, August." Emma said as she pulled her older brother into a tight hug and rested her head on his shoulder, smiling when she felt his own arms tighten around her.

"Is it safe to say that you like her?" August asked her as he pulled away from their embrace, the widening smile on Emma's face enough to answer his question without her having to say a word.

"Yes, August, I like her. How could I not?" "Emma asked him rhetorically, sighing in contentment before she continued. "She's perfect, and I can't help but think about how crazy it is that she seems to like me too..." She shook her head slightly, a hint of disbelief in her voice as she trailed off with a furrowed brow.

"Honestly, I don't understand why you sound so surprised." August told her with a roll of his eyes. "How could she not like you?" He asked her, watching as his little sister crossed her arms over her chest with a scoff and rested her hip against the kitchen island. He was all too familiar with the blonde's mannerisms to not know what it was she was doing. "Seriously, Emma." He started as he walked up to her and put both of his hands on her shoulders, shaking her gently before he bent down slightly so that he would be at eye-level with her while he spoke. "You should start giving yourself more credit, Duckling."

Emma couldn't help but lower her gaze as she shuffled slight in place, not knowing what to say to him in response.

August fought back a small smile, knowing and understanding how uncomfortable she often got when it came to taking any form of compliment, so he took a step back and averted his own gaze as he changed the subject, knowing all too well that she would willingly follow his lead. "You're planning to spend the rest of the night talking my ear off about Regina, aren't you?" August asked her, laughing lightly when Emma simply met his gaze and nodded her head. "Okay, then. Let's go." August told her with a nod of his own and a smile as he turned her around and placed his hands back on her shoulders, leading her out of the kitchen and past the living room where their friends were still sitting too wrapped up in the movie to notice that they wouldn't be joining them.

They walked into Emma's bedroom, the blonde walking directly into her walk-in closet so that she could change into her pajamas while he walked to her dresser, opened his drawer, and pulled out his own sleepwear.

Emma changed into her pajamas and hung her leather jacket before she gingerly reached into its pocket, pulling her half of the photo strip out of it. She took a moment to look at the pictures, smiling when let her thoughts drift to Regina. She shook herself out of her stupor after a few minutes, walking out of her closet and to the bulletin board that she had on her wall. She grabbed one of the push pins that weren't already holding something else up, and pinned the strip to the center of the board. She let her eyes drift over the board, a genuine grin appearing on her lips as she looked at all of the pictures of her family and friends. Her eyes landing once more on the strip before turning away.

August was already laying comfortably on her queen-sized bed, his back resting against the mountain of pillows that she had, and his old full-sized mattress that they kept under her bed for him to sleep on whenever he slept over was already set up so that he could let himself drop onto it when they were done talking. She walked over to the light switched and turned off the bedroom light before she walked over to her bed. "Move, Augustine." Emma grunted as she smacked him before dropping unceremoniously onto the bed, her elbow narrowly missing her brother's groin.

August grumbled as he rubbed his leg to get rid of the sting that Emma's hand had left behind. He shuffled himself around until he was able to make himself comfortable again. "Okay, I guess you can get to talking about Regina now."

"How did you guys meet?" Emma asked him curiously.

"I'm sure Regina already told you, but she and I met in Professor Hopper's class last year. He assigned the class a research project and he paired us up, so we worked on the project together. We got an "A" on it. We had an unspoken agreement after that. We continued paring up on projects whenever they were assigned to us."

"She said that she'd met me before."

"Well, yeah, she had." August said with a nod of his head. "I mean, kind of any way. You were sleeping after all, but yeah."

"And you didn't think it was a good idea to wake me up so that you could introduce us?" Emma asked him somewhat incredulously.

"Well, in my defense, that wouldn't have been so easy."

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Emma asked, affronted by what she already knew her brother was implying.

"Emma, you sleep like the dead." He told her bluntly, not bothering to soften the blow.

"I do not!" Emma exclaimed, turning her head to try to look at her brother but not seeing much of anything in the darkness of her bedroom.

"Yes, you do, and we're getting off topic." August said with a roll of his eyes.

"Whatever." Emma muttered as she deliberately elbowed him in the stomach.

"Very mature." August grunted as he rubbed at the spot where her elbow had landed. "Anyway, Regina and I went to my apartment to pick up a textbook that we needed, and there you were dead to the world, snoring up a storm." Emma growled and August struggled to stifle his laughter as he lifted his hands up in an attempt to protect himself as his little sister moved to elbow him in the stomach again. "I was joking! You weren't snoring, but you were dead asleep, Duckling."

"I can't believe that I missed out on meeting Regina sooner because I was too busy sleeping." Emma grumbled, lifting her hands and rubbing the palm of her hands roughly against her eyes.

"Hey, you've met her now. And if I'm being completely honest with you, I think it's better that you met her later rather than sooner in this case."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Emma asked in confusion.

"Emma, you were still dating Lilith, and Regina saw the two of you sleeping on the couch together the day that you and I got into that massive argument." August told her somewhat begrudgingly. "When we walked into my apartment that day, you had that woman attached to you like a leech."

"Oh." Emma sighed, whatever rebuttal she'd been planning dying immediately on her lips.

"Yeah." August agreed with a sigh of his own.

"Okay, if Lily was wrapped around me like you say she was that day, Augustine, that must've happened a few months before she and I broke up." Emma started, looking to August only to remember that she couldn't see much of anything. "Lily and I broke up over seven months ago! Why did I only meet Regina now?!"

"Because I asked her to wait." August told her, wincing slightly as he realized how his little sister might take that.

"What?!" Emma exclaimed, bolting up to turn the bedside lamp.

"Emma." August sighed. "I had my reasons for asking her to wait."

"What were they?" Emma asked him, she knew her brother well enough to know that he wouldn't do something if he thought it might hurt her in any way, but that didn't mean that she didn't expect him to explain his reasoning.

"Duckling, you and Lily were in a relationship for three years. She was your first girlfriend, and while I didn't approve of her at all, I know that she meant a lot to you. I remember how you looked the night that you told me that the two of you had broken up. I saw the heartbreak in your eyes when you told me that you wouldn't be getting back together. I wanted you to be able to heal on your own."

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Emma spoke quietly. "You were trying to protect me."

"I was." August said as he pulled his little sister into his side, his arm wrapping around her shoulders as he leaned down slightly to drop a kiss to the top of the blonde's head. "I always will."

"You were protecting Regina too, you know." Emma told him with a gentle smile playing on her lips as she rested her head on her brother's chest.

"I do." August agreed with a smile of his own.

"She's your best friend." Emma stated knowingly.

"Yes, she is."

"And she has your approval."

"Yes, she does." August agreed as he thought about how much the two women meant to him and how much he wanted them both to be happy.

"I'm glad that she does." Emma sighed contently. "I really like her."

"Oh, I know you do. And she really likes you too. Hell, you've only spent a few hours together and it's as if you've been dating a few months, if not more." August told her matter-of-factly. "Head over ass." He muttered to himself in amusement.

"I heard that."

"Oh, of course you did." August said with a chuckle, squeezing Emma's shoulder when she laughed. "But seriously, Duckling, I can't remember seeing you smile as much as I've seen you smile tonight in a long time."

"I know." Emma sighed happily. "I think my cheeks are starting to hurt."

"I really hope you mean your face." August said in mock-disgust.

"You're such a dumbass." Emma snorted, smacking him on the chest with her hand.

"Whatever, you still laughed." August said with a smirk.

"Yeah, I did." Emma said with a roll of her eyes. "I hate to admit it, but Dare Night might've actually been a bit of a success."

"Oh, you do know that Ruby's never going to let you hear the end of it once you tell her that, don't you?" August asked her with a laugh.

"Damn it." Emma groaned, burying her head in August's chest as her brother laughed loudly. "Shut up, Augustine." Emma growled, her own laughter escaping her lips a few seconds later.

The Swan siblings laid in companionable silence for a few minutes before August rolled off of Emma's bed and onto his mattress, taking two of her pillows down with him as he did.

The blonde couldn't resist the opportunity to smack her brother upside the head with one of her pillows while under the pretense of trying to make herself more comfortable. She couldn't help but laugh when she heard him grunted his displeasure, pleasantly surprised when he chose not to retaliate.

Emma's laughter died down after a few seconds, giving way slowly to her exhaustion, and the two of them were sleeping within minutes, identical smiles on both of their faces.

Author's Note: When I originally posted Dare Night as a one-shot, I had no idea that it would get as much support as it did, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate all of your kind words and continuous encouragement! Thank you so much!