Title: Two Princesses
Author: snarkysweetness
Rating: PG-13
Characters: August, Amelia Booth, Emma, Henry, Geppetto, Charming, Snow, Neal, Aurora, Ruby, Killian, & Peter Jones; Emma/August, Snow/Charming, Ruby/Killian, & Amelia/Peter
Summary: It's Princess Amelia's first ball and daddy isn't ready to let go of his little girl.
Warnings: Tooth-rotting adorableness.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the adorably snarky child of my OTP.
Author's Notes: I just needed some daddy!August because he deserves happiness and to have everything. Just because the show runners disagree doesn't mean I do. As always, thanks to hunks for putting up with me.

Princess Amelia Booth entered her large bedroom with a small twirl. She was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen: blonde curls, round, chubby cheeks, and blue eyes and a smile that lit up the entire room. Across the room both of her grandfathers lost it. Charming, with a single tear falling down his cheek, stepped forward to embrace her while Geppetto clapped his hands happily.

"She is the most beautiful! Fairest in all the land, just like her grandmother!" Geppetto said happily as he took her cheeks in his hands and kissed them.

"Watch out, Charming, or I may you leave you for this one," Snow teased as she looked Amelia's dress over. "Oh, darling, you look beautiful."

"Thanks, grams," Amelia whispered, a bit more shyly than was normal for her, as she looked down at her flowing white dress with a blush. It showed off a bit more cleavage than her father was comfortable with, but it was lovely. It was full of thin layers at the skirt and her hair was down with tiny white flowers entwined into her locks. He resisted the urge to reach other and touch them as she glanced up at him hopefully. Her eyes twinkled at him as she smiled.

"Well, daddy, what do you think?"

August beamed and took her hand before kissing the back of it.

"You look like an angel, Princess."

She smiled and kissed his cheeks.

"Thank you."

August cupped her cheek proudly as he looked her over again. She was absolutely stunning.

"How about me, dad?"

He kissed the top of his baby girl's head before turning to find Henry and Neal standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, 'dad'." August resisted the urge to give his best friend, who he happened to share a son with, the finger. Instead he just shoved him away and straightened Henry's lapel.

"You look handsome, kid, where's your mom?"

"Right here."

Emma sauntered into room like a gust of fresh air on a summer day. He smiled at the sight of her low-cut corset and abandoned his babies for the first love of his life.

"You look amazing," he whispered as he placed a small kiss on her lips. Emma gave him a grin and returned the kiss before wrapping her arms around his waist.

"You don't look so bad yourself. What do you think? We made a cute kid, huh?" She gave him a wink before moving to join Amelia. Emma thought the pomp and circumstance stuff was stupid, but she was pretending to find it all enjoyable for their families. It was Amelia's first official ball, complete with 'suitors', which both of her parents found to be archaic and misogynistic, but Snow and Amelia were over the moon about it.

He sometimes wished they'd had their Princess back in Storybrooke; maybe she'd care less about all of this stuff; not that he minded. After all Amelia was his Princess; temperamental, free-spirited, snarky, intelligent, and beautiful, just like her mother.

Emma had given him the greatest gift of his life the day Amelia had been born. Not only did she love him and allow him to be in her son's life, but she'd give him a daughter; his own miracle that he didn't have to share with an ex-boyfriend and proof that he was in fact a real boy.

"I have to hand it to you, she's a vision, but my kid's cuter." Neal said as he joined him.

August rolled his eyes as he realized this was going to be a very long night.

"I'm going to skin him alive," August muttered. He was doing his best to play the part of 'Prince', for Emma's sake, but if he had to watch one more Prince or Duke or Lord get handsy with his baby girl, he was going to turn homicidal.

"It's not that bad, look, there's Ruby's kid, he'll keep his hands to himself, and if not, Aurora's kids will."

"That's because they're family," August growled. Neal wasn't helping. Aurora, Mulan, and Ruby were Amelia's surrogate Aunts, but Aurora had garnished the honor of Godmother, which gave Amelia cousins, much to Snow's delight.

"You're the worst Godfather ever; by the way, go get those boys away from my daughter."

Neal slapped August on the back and shook his head.

"You married my ex-girlfriend and then got her pregnant, not happening. If you'll excuse me, I have to find a hot Princess to mingle with."

He scowled and watched Neal abandon him. He watched as Emma and Ruby tried to push some unwilling Duchess off on Henry. He smiled and shook his head. He and Neal seemed to be the only ones who didn't need to be told that Henry was into boys.

August made a mental note to talk to him about that. If the kid's dads didn't care, was anyone else really going to mind it?

He turned his attention back to his little girl. He smiled as she rolled her eyes in annoyance as one of her many suitors finally left her. She made a very unladylike scowl as she moved behind a pillar to hide and pull up the straps of her dress.

That was his girl; this whole thing was just a show for her, like it was for the rest of them.

Aurora joined her a moment later and seemed to be scolding her as she fixed a few loose flowers from her hair. Amelia made another face and her eyes kept darting to the staircase. She wanted to make a run for it. August laughed and moved to join her. He at least wanted a dance before she rushed off to hide.

"Just a few more dances, look who it is," Aurora whispered. They both looked to the dance floor and Amelia lit up. She let Aurora push her forward and before August could sweep her off for a dance, Killian's son took her hand.

He whispered a greeting and Amelia shyly took Peter Jones' hand.

August frowned.

His baby girl never behaved like that in front of anyone; eyes downcast, a small smile, and a pink tinge to her cheeks. And why was she suddenly clumsy? She'd tripped once and taken two missteps in the dance.

It took August less than ten seconds to put it all together.

"I'm going to kill him." August announced.

Now he understood why she'd been so excited for this. She wasn't turning into a proper lady or putting on a show. She wanted to impress this moron.

"Now, August…" Aurora began in a calming voice as she took his arm.

"You knew about this?" August hissed.

"Look at them, they're-oh no, Emma looks ready to kill someone. I'm sorry, I have to…oh." She rushed off to stop Emma from leaving Ruby and the Captain childless. In the thirty seconds between August's enlightenment and Aurora rushing off, Peter and Amelia had grown intimately closer and he was now whispering things into her ear.

A hand clapped his shoulder and August resisted the urge to punch his other best friend.

"Don't our kids look like the lovely pair?"

"You're drunk. And your son has ten seconds to get his hands off of my daughter before I ensure he spends his life with his own hook, Killian."

"Now, now, look…"

Killian threw his arm around his shoulder as his son got down on one knee.

Rage boiled in August's veins as Amelia covered her mouth in surprise. Tears welled in her eyes as she nodded before yelling out 'yes'. She realized the attention was entirely on her now and she pulled Peter to his feet, her face red with embarrassment. August turned away before they could kiss. If he has to see Peter Jones' tongue shoved down his daughter's tongue, he would actually kill someone.

"I'm going to kill you. How many people knew about this?"

"Hey, she has to marry someone, right?"

"No! No she doesn't! If she wants to live a life of spinsterdom, I'm perfectly okay with it. So is her mother."

"But she said yes, mate…"

"YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS!"

Both men turned to find an angry Emma being led out of the ballroom by her mother and Aurora. Ruby stood, with a guilty look on her face, accompanied by Henry.

"Oh God…Henry was in on…how long has this been going on?"

"No clue, mate, I just found out this morning."

"Why wouldn't she tell me?"

August was hurt. He was supposed to be her favorite. She was Daddy's Princess. She was supposed to tell him everything. He was the good father, who didn't judge, who was supportive…

How had his daughter had a relationship serious enough to end in marriage without him knowing?

"Did you know about this?" Emma hissed as she grabbed his arm and pulled him into hallway off the ballroom.

"No." He responded with a pout.

"Stop that, this is not the time for you to turn into a girl. I am going to kill her." Emma was seething. "I agreed to this 'suitor' crap because it's 'tradition' but she is too young to get married. She's sixteen! And don't tell me it's how things are done here, because I don't care. And don't mention that it was the same age I was when I got kno-"

"You're not letting me do much of anything right now. Do I look happy about this? You're right, she's too young and this isn't happening. No one asked my permission to-"

"PERMISSION?"

"Emma-" He started.

"Right…we're her parents. He should have asked permission! It's 'custom' or whatever. If she thinks I'm letting this happen…huh…she has something else comin…oh God, what if she's knocked up?"

Their eyes met for a fleeting moment before they both rushed to the door. Before they could hunt Amelia down, she appeared before them, beaming.

"Look!" She held out her right hand and was all but bouncing in her heels.

"Wait…" August muttered.

"Young lady, you have some explaining to do!" Emma yelled.

"Oh mom, don't start…did you really think I was going to fall in love with one of those Lombard's out there? This is Peter. He's my best friend. You've known him his whole life. And he loves me."

She gave them a small pout and August found himself being wrapped around her little finger.

"Emma, maybe we should hear her-"

"No. We are not hearing anything, August. She is too young for this and the fact that they felt the need to sneak around behind our backs tells me there is nothing innocent going on here."

"Emma, I think you should-"

"I AM NOT DONE YELLING, AUGUST!"

Amelia and August both cringed.

"But mom, we're-"

"Oh yes, in love," Emma rolled her eyes. "I was in 'love' with Neal, look where that got me."

"You're not even letting me talk to you!"

"Emma-" August could see where this was going and he needed to put a stop to it. "Look at the ring, Emma…"

"SHE IS TOO YOUNG TO GET MARRIED!"

Amelia opened her mouth wide and scoffed.

"I AM NOT STUPID ENOUGH TO GET MARRIED AT SIXTEEN!"

"THEN WHAT IN THE HELL WAS THAT BIG SHOW OUT THERE!"

"Emma-" August croaked, knowing better than to yell over the two of them.

"WHAT AUGUST?"

If looks could kill…

He cleared his throat and pointed to the ring.

"It's on her right hand, not the left."

"And?" Emma still looked ready to murder someone.

"It's a promise ring, mom! Not an…do you really think I'd hide something that serious from you for that long? My God…Peter just…" Amelia growled and crossed her arms. "He's the one who didn't want to sneak around but I knew Grandpa David would just be crazy with the whole 'royal duty' crap so I told him we had to. I wanted to enjoy having a boyfriend without having to hear marriage talk and about how I have duties as a Princess and blah, blah, blah. When he found out there was going to be 'suitors' here he freaked out and…"

She smiled and toyed with the ring.

"It's kind of romantic, right?"

"I need a drink," Emma muttered before abandoning them both for the kitchens.

August closed his eyes and waited until she was gone before pulling Amelia into his arms.

"Princess…"

"I'm sorry daddy," she whispered.

"If he, or any man, defiles you or compromises your virtue before your wedding night or your twenty-first birthday, I will kill him, even if it is Peter," he warned.

"Anything you say, daddy."

August smiled and kissed the top of her head.

"I love you, Princess," he whispered. "Happy Birthday."

"Thanks, daddy, I love you to."

He gave her a squeeze before releasing her.

"Go, enjoy your party and we'll discuss in this in the morning."

"Is mom going to be-"

"I'll talk to her. Go. Before I change my mind and cause a scene," he warned.

Amelia smiled and ducked out of the hall and back into the ballroom.

He watched her go sadly. He wasn't ready for her to grow up and have her own life. He still saw her as that little bouncing bundle of joy with pigtails who worshipped him. He waited for the image to fade before he gathered his strength and went in search of his moody wife.

"Ems…"

"Don't, you're always on her side. You have been since the day she was born. I remember when I was the one you couldn't resist."

August slid his arms around her from behind and kissed her neck. Emma took a swig of rum right out of the bottle and pouted.

"You still are, Princess," he whispered. "I wouldn't have anything if it wasn't for you and you're still sexy as hell." He toyed with the embroidery on her corset. "If you're in the mood to burn off some of that anger I'd be more than happy to take you back to our bedchamber and prove it to you."

"August," she scolded before sighing. "She's already keeping things from us? What's next? One of the servants catching him up her skirts and then nine months later we're grandparents?"

August growled.

"I'd kill him."

"I don't want her to make my mistakes," Emma whispered.

August erased images of the different ways he'd defend Amelia's honor and turned his lovely bride to face him. He tilted her chin up and kissed her for a very long moment.

"We've both made mistakes," August reminded her as he looked down into her emerald eyes and toyed with her hair. "Hell, I've made so many…" he shook his head. They were past all of that. He still didn't think he deserved to have the life he had, but he was thankful for it. "The one thing we didn't screw up is in raising those kids. She's smart, Emma. She knows better and even if she does make a mistake, she has us." He reminded her.

"I know, I just…" Emma shook her head and flattened a crease on his shirt while she pondered things. "When did she turn into a woman? It seems like yesterday she was just a baby."

Seeing Emma teary-eyed was a rarity so when he caught sight of them he pulled her into his arms and buried his face in her hair.

"I know, Princess." He whispered. He held her and let her silently cry against him. Once her moment passed, she pulled away and cleared her throat.

"I'm sick of this royal crap. Didn't you mention something about a bedchamber earlier?"

He smiled and grabbed the rum bottle before taking her arm.

"If my Princess commands me," he teased as he led her towards the back staircase. Halfway to their bedroom, they passed a balcony that looked out onto the ballroom. August caught sight of Amelia slow dancing with Peter. She rested her head on his shoulder and looked happy. He smiled when he saw that ten feet away from them, Charming watched them closely with his hand on his sword.

Feeling confident that his baby girl was in good hands, August led Emma to their quarters with the intention of spending the rest of the evening ruining her.