Author's Note: Okay, I'm back, but not for long because I meant it when I said that I had to rejoin the World of the Living, so this is going to be my last update for a few weeks. It seems that most of you loved (or hated that you loved) the * insert my my best A&E impersonation here* unintentional cliffhanger. Honestly, I didn't mean to do that to you guys, so I decided to make it up to you by getting these two chapters to you guys as soon as possible. Hopefully, you guys don't hate me too much after this! Enjoy!

The first time that Regina ever saw Emma, the younger woman was fast asleep on the couch in August's apartment with her face completely obscured from view by her luscious blonde curls.

August had simply tilted his head in the slumbering woman's direction, telling Regina that the other woman was his little sister as he continued walking towards his bedroom where he grabbed his textbook and notes. When he'd come back into the living room less than thirty seconds later, they double-checked their list to make sure that they had everything they need to work on their project before they left for the campus library without saying another word.

The second time that Regina saw Emma, she found the other woman in a similar position to the one that she'd been in the first time, an episode of Maury playing at a low volume on the television set, but this time the blonde's hair had been pulled away from her face, sitting in a messy bun on the top of her head, allotting the brunette her first unobstructed view of the younger woman's facial features.

Regina still remembered how her heart had stuttered in her chest at the sight of her and how embarrassed she'd felt when she realized that August had been calling out to her, trying and failing to get her attention. She couldn't help but be thankful that he had been so preoccupied with finding all of the materials that they needed for their project to notice how she'd stood in his living room staring at his little sister.

And so it had continued…

By the fifth time that August and Regina had walked into his apartment to find his little sister fast asleep in his living room, Regina's curiosity had been peaked and she found herself wanting to know more about the other woman, so she decided to bite the bullet and ask the blonde's brother.

August had already gotten around to telling her that they were a little over two years apart in age and that the two of them had developed the habit of dropping into each other's apartments without bothering to notify one another when August had moved out of their parents' house his freshman year of college. He'd explained to her that they'd given each other spare keys to their respective apartments when they'd moved out on their own, but he hadn't bothered to go into any further details about his little sister after that.

Regina had yet to have any kind of interaction with Emma because the woman was always dead to the world whenever she and August would arrive at his apartment.

"She certainly sleeps a lot, doesn't she?" Regina had asked him one day as they walked further into the living room. There had been a bowl of popcorn resting precariously on Emma's stomach, one of her hands was sitting in the bowl and a piece of popcorn dangled from the corner of her open mouth.

"Oh, yeah." August had answered her, chuckling lightly when he took in the state that his sister was in. "It would appear that way, but that's not really the case. Emma has taken on a massive workload this semester. It's more than I suggested she take on when she talked to me about it, but she was determined to make it work." He explained, a hint of pride in his voice. "Unfortunately, that means she's often more tired than not, so I've made it a point not to bother her whenever she's sleeping here. Not that she would notice either way to be honest. She's practically comatose once she's fallen asleep."

Regina had smiled as she listened to August talk about Emma. She had wondered in that moment if he noticed the pride with which he spoke of his little sister.

"It might be wise to make sure that she doesn't accidentally inhale the popcorn that's dangling from the corner of her mouth. She could choke in her sleep." She'd warned him in a somewhat joking manner, even as her eyebrows had furrowed slightly in genuine concern.

August had nodded his head in agreement, walked towards the couch, grabbed the bowl of popcorn from where it rested on Emma's stomach and wordlessly handed it to Regina as he gently placed the hand that had been inside the bowl on the blonde's stomach. He had then carefully removed the popped kernel from the corner of her mouth, watching in amusement as she'd closed her mouth the moment the kernel was gone and turned her back on them as she rolled herself into the couch.

"Okay, crisis averted. Let's get to the campus library before it closes so that we can finish this project." He'd said as he retrieved the popcorn bowl from Regina's hands and made his way into the kitchen.

Regina had allowed herself a few seconds to simply watch Emma's sleeping form, a small smile tugging at her lips as she turned away from the blonde and made her way towards the door. She'd waited there as August finished up in the kitchen, grabbed his laptop, and met her at the door. He'd opened the door, gestured for her to walk through the doorway before he followed behind her, turning to the door and locking it before he turned to look at Regina with a smirk on his lips. "You'll read. I'll type."

Regina had simply rolled her eyes and started walking down the hallway, August catching up to her quickly as they made their way to the staircase.

In the weeks that had followed, Regina had grown used to walking into August's apartment to find the blonde beauty sleeping on his couch, so when an entire week came and went without a sign of her, she hadn't been able to stop herself from asking him about his little sister's whereabouts.

"She's been spending all of her free-time with her girlfriend lately." August had answered her, rolling his eyes as a scowl had immediately appeared on his face.

"You don't seem too happy about that." Regina had stated in what she'd hoped came across as nonchalant as she'd tried to tamper down the feeling of disappoint that had quickly settled in the pit of her stomach at the revelation that Emma had a girlfriend.

"That's because I'm not." August had said with a humorless chuckle. "She doesn't deserve to be a part of my little sister's life at all, let alone be the one that Emma dedicates herself to."

"Honestly, it sounds like you're just being Emma's overprotective older brother by saying that."

"Yeah, or maybe it's because I don't like her because she's broken the heart of the person I love most once already." August had told her with a shrug of his shoulders, the tension in his body and the tightness in his voice making his attempted nonchalance fall flat.

"Oh." Regina had breathed, not knowing what else she could've possibly said after hearing him say that.

"Yeah, apparently, I'm nowhere near as willing to forgive her as my little sister was…" August had sighed, shaking his head in a vain attempt to rid himself of the sour mood that that particular topic always put him in. "How about I make the two of us something to eat?" He'd asked Regina after a few minutes of somewhat awkward silence. His laughter sounding sincere when he'd caught sight of the reluctance on Regina's face. "Oh, come on! You've at least got to give me a chance to prove myself in the kitchen. My nana taught me how to cook when I was younger. I can almost guarantee that you won't be poisoned by anything I make." He'd told her with a proud smirk.

Regina had rolled her eyes at that. "You can almost guarantee that I won't be poisoned? How reassuring…" Her expectant gaze had matched August's and her lips had tilted upwards into a smile that only seemed to grow when she'd noticed the twinkle in his eyes. He had already known that he'd won. "Fine."

They'd made their way into the kitchen, and August had rummaged through his cabinets and refrigerator, pulling everything he'd need to cook them dinner out of their respective places and Regina had washed her hands, ready to help him however he needed her to.

After August had washed his own hands, they'd worked on making their dinner while talking about random things and allowing themselves to get absorbed by their conversation as they moved through the kitchen in synchronization.

The last time that Regina saw Emma sleeping at August's apartment, she'd found herself wishing that she hadn't.

Emma had been sleeping soundly, just as she had been every single time that Regina had seen her there before, a Jerry Springer episode had been providing low-volume background noise, and a Latina had been wrapped in the sleeping blonde's arms.

The unknown woman had had her head resting on Emma's chest as they both slept. The content smile that Emma had worn on her face as she slept had stabbed painfully at Regina's heart.

Regina had swallowed thickly and averted her eyes. She had watched as August had caught sight of his little sister and her girlfriend sleeping peacefully in his living room, and she'd watched as his face had hardened, he'd clenched and unclenched his jaw, a hint of anger in his eyes that Regina had never seen there before.

They hadn't said a word as they grabbed what they needed from his apartment and left.

August had broken their silence through gritted teeth as they'd made their way down the hallways towards the staircase. "That damn woman knows that I can't stand the sight of her, yet there she was cuddling up to my little sister in my apartment like she didn't have a care in the world! She knows that her presence alone is enough to piss me the fuck off! She knows exactly what she's doing!"

Regina found out a few days after the incident at August's apartment that he and Emma had gotten into a massive argument that night because of Lily, Emma's girlfriend. The blonde wouldn't be going back to her brother's apartment because he had more or less banned Lily's presence there.

And from then on, August had started spending more of his time with Regina. Their friendship continued to develop and strengthen the more they were together, weeks quickly turned into a month and then two, and then one day, it was as if he'd simply fallen off the face of the Earth.

She didn't see him for days, and when he finally reemerged, he'd done so by knocking on Regina's door in the middle of the night. His eyes had been bloodshot; his cheeks had bore the evidence of tears and she'd easily smelt the alcohol on his breath. "She broke my little sister's heart...again." He'd told her, his voice cracking. She'd invited him into her home without hesitation.

They spent that night talking while they sat on Regina's living room floor. August hadn't said a word about Emma's feelings, and Regina hadn't expected him to. She had known that he would never break the trust his little sister had in such a way, no matter how drunk he may have gotten, but he had eventually admitted to being more than a little relieved that Emma and Lily had apparently broken up for good, and his confession had made him feel an overwhelming amount of guilt that he hadn't easily rid himself of.

It wouldn't be until a month after that when Regina would finally built up enough courage to tell August that she was more than a little interested in pursuing his little sister.

"Wait, you want to date my little sister?" August had asked her, his voice tinted in confusion as he'd looked at Regina, his eyes hardening slightly as his mind started processing what it was that the woman had told him. Regina had simply nodded her head. "Since when?!"

"A few months ago."

"But you haven't even met her!" He'd exclaimed in disbelief.

"That's not exactly true, August."

"How can you possibly say you want to date someone who you've never spoken to before?" He'd asked her as he anxiously ran one of his hands through his hair, tugging on it slightly as his fingers got caught in his curls. "Hell, she's never even been awake when you've seen her! I mean, don't get me wrong, I know all about the Power of the Swan Charm, but she wasn't even conscious for fuck's sake!"

The Swan Charm, seriously?

"August!"

"What?!"

"You're rambling." Regina had stated calmly as she'd crossed her arms over her chest, steadying her stance as she'd silently watched as August tried to regain enough control of himself so that he could actually listen and be able to understand what it was she wanted to tell him. "Look, I really like her, okay. I know that we haven't been formally introduced, but you've told me so much about her that I feel like I know her already. God, you have no idea how big of a role you've played in me wanting to meet her, August."

"So, you really want to date my sister?" He'd asked her again, his voice implying that he was still been somewhat skeptical.

"Yes, I really want to date her, but ultimately, she'd be the one to decide whether or not I get the chance, not you, and not me. If she decides to give me a chance, I'm not going to hesitate, August."

"You're not only sassy, but determined." August had said with a light chuckle. "You're lucky. Those are two of your traits that my little sister will undoubtedly find attractive."

"Is that your weird way of telling me that you're okay with me pursing Emma?"

"Well, I won't lie to you, it's going to take some time for me to get used to my best friend - don't look at me like that, you know it's true – dating my little sister, but I know you Regina. And believe it or not, I think the two of you are going to be very good for each other. I mean, I'll probably regret giving you my blessing sooner or later because the two of you are already massive pains in my ass on your own, so I can only imagine how much worse you're both going to be when you're together, but if it means that you'll both be happy…" August had finished with a sheepish shrug of his shoulders.

Regina had smiled brightly at his words as she fought the sudden urge that she'd felt to pull him into a bone-crushing hug. She'd noticed how uncomfortable he already seemed after his little speech without her having to add more to it. "Does that mean that you'd be willing to help me?"

August had looked up towards the ceiling, tilting his head from side to side as he'd pretended to contemplate his answer. "Yes, of course I'd be willing to help you." He'd told her with a smile on his face as he'd looked in her direction, and when their gazes met, his demeanor grew stern. "But Emma is still hurting right now, and I honestly think that it would be better for the both of you if you waited until her heart has had the chance to heal a little bit more. I promise that I'll let you know when it's the right time, but only if you'll be willing to wait for it."

"I am."

"Good."