A/N: Another delay folks, for which I apologise, but I hope this makes up for it. I don't think I was ever going to please everybody, but I hope the climax at least satisfies, in the context of the story I've tried to tell. All that remains is to wind the tale down, and give our protagonists a bit of an ending. Enjoy, and as always, leave a thought or two.

...

"I had him."

"Sure you did, Dip."

"Went down like a bi-" Dipper craned his neck up painfully, seeing Mabel's disapproving glare. "…like a house of cards."

"Certainly did." Mabel grunted, pausing to pull his arm tighter around her shoulders as she helped him limp along. "Just a pity about the rest of them. Like last time." She sighed, exasperated.

"I will admit, there was something oddly familiar about tonight's festivities." Dipper nodded, sarcastically. "This time, I totally broke the fucker's nose though."

…

Fifteen minutes earlier,

Chris went down, wailing like a bitch. Dipper piled into him, carrying them both to the ground. Quickly, he was buried under Chris' friends. Then Dave roared, in a way that only Dave could, and crashed into everybody else.

Within minutes, the crowd had stopped paying attention to the band and were gradually being pulled into the growing nucleus of the brawl.

Mabel stared wide-eyed from the stage, she and her friends long-since stopped playing. She had a feeling, a gut feeling that at the centre of that heaving mass was…

"Mabel!" Lucy pointed. "Dipper hit Chris."

Fuck.

She ignored Blake's calls as she unslung her guitar, practically hurling it him. He fumbled for it and caught it, silencing his protests.

"Hold on."

She half-turned, seeing Ned hurry after her. With some effort, he managed to help her down from the stage in the unwieldy dress. She let out a sharp breath, frustrated with the thing.

"Fuck it." She sighed, kneeling down quickly.

"What are yooo…ohhh, okay." Ned turned, flustered as she tore the hem of the dress and ripped a slit up the side, stopping midway up her thigh.

She tried not to think about how much the dress had cost.

"C'mon, let's save my idiot brother." She muttered through gritted teeth.

Ned nodded slowly, taking a step away from her as she removed one of her shoes and began clubbing it in her hand.

"Alright," She growled at the nearest brawlers. "Don't be in my way."

A few were smart enough to take their fighting to one side. She saw her brother buried beneath two guys twice his size. She noted Dave take one of them to the ground in a tackle. Chris was over to one side, clutching his nose.

With a practiced arm, she hurled the shoe, taking the guy in the forehead. He staggered back a bit, saw her and swore. She was actually surprised when he came at her. While she struggled to get off her other shoe, Ned appeared, driving his knee into the guys stomach. He caved over, groaning.

"Thanks dude." She grinned.

"No problems Mabes." He flashed her a smile. "'side, now Lucy thinks I'm totally a badass."

"No way, you and Lucy?"

"Way." He nodded, she high-fived him. "I can take it from here."

Ned nodded and jogged back.

She struggled through to find her brother had managed to get up again. Chris had barrelled into him but Dipper managed to remain on his feet, and with a last surge of effort, hauled his opponent upright and slammed his head into Chris's nose. Again.

Chris went down wailing, Dipper wavered slightly, then fell over backwards.

"Oh, bro." She sighed, crouching beside him.

Nick appeared. He had a black eye, she noted, but otherwise seemed fine.

"Is he alright?"

"He'll live." Mabel chuckled.

Together, she and Nick managed to haul him to his feet, leaning him on her, with one arm over her shoulder.

"Cheers dude." She smiled. "You better go find Jenny, hope that doesn't ruin your night." She nodded at his eye.

"Oh…um…yeah. Uh..Mabel, I'm sorry, I-"

"It's cool." She replied, genuinely meaning it. "I'd better get him home anyway. Enjoy the rest of your night. You too Dave!" She called.

Dave shouted a farewell from somewhere in the midst of the crowd.

"Yeah, thanks." He smiled, still looking guilty. "Hope he knows how lucky he is." He gestured to Dipper.

"'course I do." Dipper groaned. "Later man." He managed a half-wave as the turned and began to limp away.

…

Fifteen minutes later,

"This time, I totally broke the fucker's nose though." Dipper chuckled, dryly.

"You might've given yourself concussion." She chided, suddenly serious. "You might've really gotten hurt. Wasn't the other night enough?"

Dipper looked down, stomach writhing in guilt.

"I'm sorry."

She waited, expectantly.

"What?" He murmured.

"No "buts"?"

"No," He retorted. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for-" He groaned.

They were nearly out of the college grounds, in sight of the car park. Dipper suddenly spied the old metal staircase that served as the fire escape for a number of the classrooms. He also recalled, through the occasional skipped class, that it led to the roof of the main building.

"Mabel," He said quietly. "Let's go up there."

"What? Why?"

"I know I've already ruined everybody else's night, no reason to totally ruin yours. They haven't done the fireworks yet, we'd have a pretty good view up there."

"I don't know, you've had it rough lately and-"

"I'm fine. Mabel, c'mon, please?"

She frowned, then nodded slowly. Together, they managed to hobble and limp their way up, he dizzy with pain, she stubbing her bare feet on every stone and loose brick along the way. Eventually, they found a patch behind an old service shed on the flat roof of the building and settled back against it, looking out over the college fields.

The fight had wound down, at least.

He looked across at his sister, recalling how she'd looked on stage. Now her hair was somewhat bedraggled, strands had come loose and were plastered across her face with sweat, she'd torn her dress, her shoes were gone and…well…she was still covered with stickers and her hair was only slightly more chaotically braided with bits and bobs.

Perhaps the shine was gone, but she was no less beautiful now than she was then.

She turned to face him, silently. Her eyes searched his.

"I'm sorry Mabel." He said, finally. "For everything."

He took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry for all that's happened to us, I'm sorry for the bits that are my fault, and the bits that aren't. I'm sorry I failed you as a brother. I'm sorry I…" He swallowed. "…I'm sorry I fell in love with you."

He saw her frown, but he had to explain. He had to make her understand, as he'd come to understand.

"You…" She began, trailing off. There was hurt in her eyes.

"I'm sorry I fell in love with you Mabel, but I'm not sorry that I do." He swallowed again, his mouth felt so dry. "I love you."

Mabel tried to process what he was saying. He was usually so passive, and for him to suddenly throw all this her way was…

Well, she loved him. She knew that, and she was sure he loved her, but he'd never…never really…well, he'd just said it. Twice. She frowned a little, despite his words.

"You're not…I mean, I want…I want you to mean it. I don't want you to feel that you have to…to…" She trailed off, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry I put you through…this. I'm sorry for how I treated you, I was scared. You were right. I was…I was terrified, I have no idea what the future holds for…for us and…and it scared me." He looked out over the fields and the tents. "I forgot that you were feeling exactly the same thing."

"So what changed?" She asked. "You still don't know what will happen to us, nor do I."

"No. I don't." He agreed. "But I know now that, whatever happens, whatever comes next, I can't imagine doing it without you." He flashed her a dumb smile. "I couldn't even go the week without you, sis. I ended up in a park getting drunk about halfway in."

"You have a point, you really do suck at life without me." She grinned. "Look who had to pull your ass out again tonight."

"Alright, alright." He sighed, leaning his head back against the wall. "There can be only one." He air-quoted.

"Damn straight." She punched him in the arm.

They fell quiet for a time, and she scooted closer to him, allowing him to wrap an arm around her shoulders.

"I…looked at a few more colleges earlier, before I rushed out this evening."

"Yeah?"

"For both of us." He added, hurriedly.

"I believe you."

"I mean, we can go over them later, of course. But there's one I think looks pretty great in New York. For your art, or music, or whichever you decided I mean."

"Mmhmm." She rested her head on his shoulder.

"Or there's other places," He rambled on. "Like-"

"Be quiet." She pressed a finger to his lips. "I love you, you idiot."

Below, the prom-goers started to filter toward the centre of the field, where a large space had been cleared.

"Looks like they're setting up." Dipper leaned forward, peering closer.

"Fascinating." Mabel said, in a tone that clearly indicated her mind was elsewhere as she sat forward to.

He turned, feeling her eyes boring into the back of his head.

"Mabel, what…uh…"

She was gazing at him intently. He couldn't tear his eyes away from hers. His heart was pounding in his chest, he wondered if hers was too. Tentatively, he reached out, resting a hand on her cheek. She placed her hand on his, shutting her eyes and sighing as he caressed it softly.

Before he knew it, he and she leaned forward and pressed their lips together. His first thought was how he'd missed this, his second thought was that it felt different, his third was abandoned when they kissed again, harder this time. Her tongue found its way into his mouth.

Somewhere within, the voice was still there, this was his sister.

Well, fuck it, he thought. The world was what it was, they were what the world had made them.

"Dipper." She breathed. "Are you…"

"Yeah." His hand ran over her shoulder, and stopped there. "You…are you…sure…"

"Yeah." Her eyes met his.

"No going back?" His hand lingered on her shoulder, he hooked his finger in the band of the dress.

"No." Her hand cupped his chin, pulling him in for another kiss. Her other began undoing the buttons on his shirt.

He slipped the dress from her shoulders, leaving her torso bare but for her black bra. They struggled to their knees, fumbling clumsily with their outer clothes. She managed to shrug the rest of the dress off, leaving her in just her underwear, while he managed to unbuckle his belt and struggle out of his trousers.

It was sinking in, as he took in her bare skin, and ran a hand over the smooth skin of her hip, that they were really going to do this. Were they really going to do this.

Mabel made a sighing sort of moan as they broke off a kiss and his hand caressed her ass. He kissed her again.

They were going to do this.

"Dipper…" She moaned again, as they rolled to the floor again, tangled in one another.

Behind them, the fireworks started, but Dipper and Mabel were making their own.