A/N: I know, I just can't leave these two alone! Like the amnesia in JoaFM, I'm not the first person to write a story with them growing up together, but this is my own version of that concept. Consider it an exercise based on a prompt in that way: If the characters remained consistent with how we know them in the show and a few variables were changed, how would things go? If you've read my other stories you know this is pretty much how I operate. So Please, Please let me know if I get too ooc with anyone - it's really important to me to stay true to the original while playing with it. Maybe that's contradictory, but hopefully you know what I mean!

Disclaimer: I do not own Austin and Ally or anything recognizable mentioned in this story. I'll go cry now.

. . .

Derailed Chapter 1:

Austin Moon was 7 years old when the large yellow trucks came to the house next door. An old couple had lived there and were nice most of the time unless he was being too noisy outside and they asked him to be quieter. Then the yellow trucks came and when they left the old couple was gone and there were new people in the house. Austin's parents took him over to meet the new family: Lester and Penny Dawson and their daughter Allyson who was a few months younger than him. She would be in first grade too and she wanted him to call her Ally.

Austin told her that he had a pet turtle named Fred and that he liked to climb the tree in his yard. He took Ally outside when the grown ups started talking about boring things and they played in the yard for a while. She was pretty fun so Austin decided that she was a better next door neighbor than the old couple was.

The next time he went to school his mom walked with him and Ally and her mom joined them. Ally had a different first grade teacher than Austin but he saw her at recess. She had already made a friend so he just kept playing with his friends. After school both of their moms were waiting again and talked about how when the kids were bigger they could walk together. Austin didn't like that his mom was telling him what to do, but at least Ally wasn't as weird as some girls in his class who chased him at recess.

Soon they were playing together most days after school and almost every Saturday too. Ally even played when his friends came over and they were warriors defending the yard from stray cats. And he really liked that she was almost always humming or singing songs. He could listen to that forever, but he would never admit that to anyone.

. . .

Austin and Ally's second grade teacher gave their class the assignment to write a poem or story about their favorite insect. That night Ally flipped through her storybooks, trying to pick one of the creepy crawlies. Walking home from school Austin had announced that he was going to do his story about worms but that was just too gross and slimy in her opinion. Finally Ally picked the butterfly and started writing down things she liked about the colorful insect. As she wrote very carefully on her paper she started to hum a tune. She doodled on the side of her paper, drawing a large butterfly while she sang to herself. I'm a little butterfly, spread my colorful wings. . .

She was still singing the song to herself when her dad called her to dinner that night. As she chewed her cheesy broccoli and chicken she kept humming.

"I don't recognize that song honey, is it something you are learning at school?" her mom asked.

Ally paused and thought for a moment. "No. I just made it up." She kept eating.

"That's great Ally! We should write it down." Her dad suggested.

When they finished eating, Ally and her dad sat down at their piano in the front room and plunked out the song slowly while Lester wrote the notes down on a lined music sheet. Then he asked if she had words for it. She ran up to her room and brought down the paper she had been writing and doodling on. She told him what she liked about butterflies. With very little and gentle prodding, Lester helped her put the sentences in a nice order that went with the music Ally made up.

"Ally, you just wrote a song!" Her dad told her with pride in his voice.

"I did?" she looked at him in surprise.

"You did." He hugged her tight. "You should show this to your class. Can you play it for me again?"

Ally nodded and played the song as she sang the words. Her mom came into the room to listen too and both parents clapped at the end. In the time she had before bed, Ally practiced playing and singing the song several more times. She couldn't wait to show her class.

All week Ally kept her butterfly a song a secret. Walking to and from school sometimes Austin told her things he had learned about worms but she didn't say a word about her project. And finally on Friday she waited for her turn to share. Each of the kids got up in front of the class to read their story or poem and show any pictures they drew or colored. Ally sat at the back table and would be in the last group to share their projects. Austin sat on the other side of the room and was one of the first. He made up a story about a day in the life of a worm, telling all sorts of facts and things. Other kids went, sharing their stories and poems.

At last it was Ally's turn and she told the teacher she needed to use the small keyboard at the side of the room. The teacher placed the keyboard in the front of the room for Ally to use and she announced that she wrote a poem and it turned into a song. Then she played and sang for the class. Out of the corner of her eye Ally could see Austin watching her in awe. He had a grin on his face and didn't look away from her. The whole class clapped when she finished, Ally gave a little curtsy and went back to her seat with her song.

After school one of the other girls in class, Tilly Thompson, pushed Ally down on the playground as they were going home. That was the beginning of the bullying. For the next week anytime that Tilly got near Ally something bad happened: marker on her clothes, milk spilled in her hair, Ally would get tripped, etc. . .

A week after the projects were presented Austin couldn't find Ally after school to walk home with her. They always walked together and she had never failed to meet him before. This was strange. So Austin went looking for Ally. He eventually found her hiding under a slide in the playground. When he found her she screamed and covered her head. Austin pulled at her arm and asked what was wrong. Ally then told him that Tilly was looking for her after school and she hid here, hoping to avoid the mean girl.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Austin asked.

"Why?" Ally asked.

"So I can protect you." he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You are my friend. I will take care of you."

"Really?" Ally asked.

"Let's go." Austin just nodded and pulled on her arm again so they could start walking home. He had a little homework to do and knew that his parents wouldn't let him play his new video game until it was finished.

The next morning Ally looked nervous as they walked to school and he remembered what she told him about Tilly being mean. Just before they got to the school grounds he stopped her.

"If Tilly bothers you, just come get me." He told her.

Ally nodded but still looked nervous so he grabbed her hand and continued walking to school.

At lunch Austin was paying attention and saw Tilly and her friend headed toward Ally and a girl named Trish. He got out of his seat and stood in her way.

"Hey Tilly. What'cha doing?" he asked.

"None of your business." She tried to walk around him but he quickly moved to block her again.

"Leave Ally alone." Austin said.

"Why do you care? Is she your girlfriend, Austin?" Tilly took on a teasing tone.

"Yes. So leave her alone or else." He said boldly.

Tilly backed up a little. "But she ruined everything!" she said.

"What did she ruin?" Austin asked.

"That stupid butterfly song! She took everyone's attention and no one cared about my ladybug pictures. It's not fair." She stomped angrily.

"She didn't do it to make you mad. Leave her alone." Austin said.

Tilly and her friend turned around and went back to their lunch table. Austin looked over at Ally who was still talking to Trish. She looked at him and he smiled at her and then sat down.

Tilly tried to tease Austin about being in love with Ally and being her boyfriend over the next few weeks, but Austin would just shrug and say 'yes I am' so she gave up. She didn't bother Ally again either.

. . .

Austin turned 9 a few weeks into third grade. Just after Halloween his parents announced that they were going on a trip. They weren't going to take Austin with them. But they told him that they talked to Lester and Penny next door and he could stay in their guest room for the two weeks they would be gone. Austin was torn: he was mad at his parents for leaving him behind, but he was also glad that he could play with Ally the whole time.

So Austin's mom helped him pack a bag of clothes and his toothbrush and everything he would need even though he had a key and could still get into the house. He watched them pack their things, filling two suitcases with clothes and stuff. Then on Sunday afternoon they walked next door with Austin and rang the doorbell.

Lester and Penny were nice and they were really smiley as they showed him to the guest room upstairs next to Ally's room. He had seen it before but never gone inside. It was just a room. But he put his bag there and then followed Ally and the adults back downstairs to the front door. His mom and dad hugged him tight and said that two weeks wasn't that long and they would be home before he knew it. He wasn't worried, but he was still upset that they were going to see pyramids and ruins in South America without him. What if there were zombies to fight? He knew all about that kind of thing and could protect them. He was pretty sure his dad didn't know the first thing about zombies.

So Austin hugged his parents back, hoping their brains wouldn't get eaten while they were gone. Then they walked out the door and it closed and he let Ally take his hand and lead him back up to his room where she showed him that the closet was strange. It spanned the length of one of the walls and had two doors, one on each end, and since it was over the stairs, inside it was like a triangle with the wall sloping down toward the room with no flat floor. But there was a shelf part way up on one end that someone their size could sit on and hide behind some old coats. She told him it was her secret hiding place if she ever got mad and really, really had to be alone. He thought it was cool.

A short time later Austin was exploring Ally's super girly room under her watchful eye when he heard a car motor start outside. He looked out the window in time to see his parents drive away from his house, on their way to the airport and their adventure without him. He scowled out at the sunny afternoon. Ally saw that he was upset and suggested they play a game. She pulled a small stack of board games from a shelf in her closet and they sat on the floor in her room playing Sorry! for the next hour or so. When Penny called them down for dinner they quickly cleaned up the game, Ally put it away and they went downstairs to the kitchen.

Austin chatted easily through dinner, but underneath it she could still see that he was a little upset. After dinner he looked lost for a moment when they started clearing the table and cleaning up. This wasn't his house and he didn't know where everything went. Ally gave her mom a pleading look and the two were dismissed from cleaning up, spared dish duty for one night. Austin glanced out the window at his quiet and empty house and Ally saw it. She grabbed his hand and pulled him back up to her room.

He was the happy one, always joking and goofing off but rarely rude, and she just didn't like seeing him upset. She had to do something to fix this. Ally wracked her brain, trying to think of something to cheer him up. He loved playing outside with his friend Dez, but it was late and getting dark so that wasn't an option. He liked video games but she didn't have any. Ally started to frown, her face matching her friend's now as they stood awkwardly in her room.

Ally huffed and sat on the edge of her bed. "My house isn't as fun as yours! I don't know what to do."

"Huh?" Austin snapped out of his daze and looked at her.

"I'm boring! You're sad and I'm not a good friend!" Ally lamented.

"Ally," Austin whined at her. "Stop it. I'm mad at my parents, not you." he went over and sat next to her on the bed, staring at the carpet under his feet. "This is just different for me. I'll be more fun tomorrow."

"I don't like it when you aren't happy." Ally said glumly. When he didn't respond, she sneaked a look at Austin and was surprised to see that he was smiling at her.

"Thanks Ally." He said.

Lester called up the stairs, asking if the kids wanted some ice cream. Austin bolted from the room, challenging Ally to a race as he went flying down the stairs. She trailed behind, destined to lose the race but they both laughed and Ally felt like things were right with the world again because Austin was smiling.

The next day they walked to and from school together like usual, only this time Austin didn't have to check in with his mom before going over to Ally's. At school Austin had talked to Dez so he came over to play with them for a while. The trio was out in the yard until dinner time. Dez went home and Austin and Ally both had some homework to do after they ate, so after helping with the dishes under Penny's gentle supervision they sat on opposite sides of the table and worked.

Austin occasionally threw wadded up paper balls at Ally's head just to get a reaction and break the silence. Ally tapped her pencil on the table and hummed a tune he didn't recognize but he didn't stop her or complain because he liked it better than the quiet. He decided Ally had a pretty voice. He remembered the butterfly song she wrote for school and how he loved hearing her sing. She hadn't sung in front of anyone since Tilly bullied her that same year. Austin smiled to himself, knowing he had stopped Tilly and protected his friend. Then he frowned as he remembered for the second time in a few minutes that she still didn't sing anymore.

Ally tried to throw one of his paper balls at his head but it barely even hit his shoulder. He smirked at her poor throwing skills. Such a girl.

"Are you done yet?" she asked.

"Almost."

"Beat ya." Ally gloated as she closed her book and put her papers in her backpack so it was ready for tomorrow. She was so organized.

"Yeah, yeah." Austin grumbled and turned back to his math homework.

Ally left then and he only saw her for a minute in her pajamas just before bed. That became their routine for the next few days with school, playing and homework after dinner. On Thursday Austin got out his basketball and he and Dez played on his driveway until dinner. That afternoon Ally had her first time to herself in a few days and wrote some things in her journal. She finally plunked out the tune she'd been humming all week on the piano and wrote that down too. She hadn't done this with Austin around because she didn't talk to anyone about her music. Of course her parents knew that she played and her dad still gave her piano lessons, but they mostly left her to herself when it came to music because she was shy. She wasn't ready to tell Austin about it yet.

On Friday Ally's friend Trish walked home with them too and Austin went to his own house with Dez for a bit while Ally and Trish did 'girly things'. Ally knew that Dez only put up with her being around sometimes because he liked Austin so much. She just hoped Dez would never talk Austin into not being her friend anymore. She had fun with Trish and they both laughed when Lester dragged the boys out of Austin's house at 6pm. They had a food fight in Austin's kitchen and Lester was really mad. He made the boys clean everything up but they started a water fight, so by the time the girls saw them they had food in their hair and their clothes were partially soaked. Trish and Dez were sent home and Ally's mom left Austin and Ally with peanut butter sandwiches for dinner while she and Lester went next door to clean up properly. Austin showered and got ready for bed and crept into Ally's room so they could both look out the window and down into the kitchen window of Austin's house to watch her parents.

Austin wasn't too surprised the next day when Penny and Lester took his house key and told him he couldn't have friends over for a week. He had smuggled over his basketball so he would have something to do for the weekend at least. Friday afternoon he and Ally did all of their homework as quickly as they could and played in her backyard for a while. Then Lester gave Ally a piano lesson after dinner. Austin listened from the guest room, enjoying the songs Ally played and sang downstairs.

Sunday night a storm rolled in and Austin got nervous. It rained on Monday and that night there was thunder and lightning. Ally saw him jump a few times during dinner when the sky split with a loud crack and rain pelted the windows. When it was bedtime and Ally's parents had said their goodnights and gone to their room, Ally lay awake in the dark listening to the storm. She liked the energy and the splashes of light that came through her window with the lightning. But she heard something from the next room over: Austin's room.

Ally tiptoed through the hall and peaked through his door which wasn't closed all the way. Austin was sitting up in bed, his hands pressed firmly to his ears, eyes shut tight, knees pulled up to his chest, mumbling something to himself. Ally didn't want to draw her parent's attention so she didn't say anything. She just went over to the bed and crawled onto the end, sitting crosslegged and facing Austin. He felt the bed move and flinched, but then opened his eyes a crack and saw her there.

"Ally?" he said.

"Shh." she put a finger to her lips. "Don't wake mom and dad." she whispered.

Austin nodded and stared at her. "What are you doing?" he whispered back.

"I couldn't sleep and I heard something."

Austin frowned and she realized that there was a lot she didn't know about him even though they were neighbors and friends. He was fun and smiled a lot so she had thought he was always that way. Now she was seeing other parts of his life, sides to him that no one else saw. She liked the idea of sharing some secrets with him.

Lightning flashed and thunder began to roll immediately. Austin jumped, wide eyed, and upset.

"You are scared of the storm." she guessed.

He nodded. "I hate it."

"Have you ever played the drums?" Ally asked, still whispering. Austin stared at her like she had three heads. "We have some at my dad's store. Thunder sounds like drums and sometimes cymbals right at the start when it cracks." she mused.

"Drums?" he asked in awe.

"Sometimes, when something bothers me, I try to find a way to make it like music. There are a lot of sounds that can be like instruments. And words - if someone says something mean I try to find song lyrics from a song that match, or say what I wish I could say back." Ally told him. "Music fixes everything."

A slow smile was beginning to form on Austin's face when another clap of thunder sounded and he ducked his head, hiding his face against the blanket over his knees. Ally reached out a hand and lightly stroked his messy blond hair. He shivered but slowly relaxed under her touch as she began to hum a song.

"Will you sing to me?" his whisper was so soft she barely heard it. She began to sing quietly to him. It was a song her mom sang to her sometimes and it always made her feel good.

.

you are my sunshine, my only sunshine

you make me happy when skies are grey.

you never know dear how much I love you

please don't take my sunshine away.

.

There were verses to the song but she didn't know them, so she sang him the chorus. She sang it twice as she kept playing with his hair. His breathing deepened and his head began to droop. Ally stood up and coaxed him to lay down on his side. She knelt next to his bed so their faces were level. He blinked at her slowly, his eyes going unfocused as he started to fall asleep. He reached out to her and she put her hand in his. He held it as she sang the chorus to him one more time. When she finished his face relaxed and his hand went limp in hers. She hummed as she slowly stole out of the room, watching to make sure he stayed asleep.

In the morning Ally's parent's made a few comments about the big storm last night and she saw Austin grimace, but then he looked up and gave her a half smile. They had shared a secret. He was scared and she could sing, and she knew that this would stay between them.

The weather had calmed slightly during the day to just a drizzle, but another wave of the storm hit them that night after dark. This time Austin crept into Ally's room after everyone was in bed. She was just dozing off when he tapped her shoulder. She opened sleepy eyes to see her friend standing beside her bed with wide, frightened eyes, wrapped in the quilt from his bed.

"Can you sing to me again?" he asked.

She nodded and pulled her legs up closer to her body, curling into a warm ball. He sat on the end of her bed, mirroring her position from the night before in his room. She searched her tired mind for something to sing to him. She smiled when she thought of a song and quietly began to sing to Austin again, this time using Billy Joel's "Lullabye".

.

Goodnight, my angel

Time to close your eyes

And save these questions for another day

I think I know what you've been asking me

I think you know what I've been trying to say

I promised I would never leave you

And you should always know

Wherever you may go

No matter where you are

I never will be far away

.

Goodnight, my angel

Now it's time to sleep

And still so many things I want to say

Remember all the songs you sang for me

When we went sailing on an emerald bay

And like a boat out on the ocean

I'm rocking you to sleep

The water's dark

And deep inside this ancient heart

You'll always be a part of me

.

Goodnight, my angel

Now it's time to dream

And dream how wonderful your life will be

Someday your child may cry

And if you sing this lullabye

Then in your heart

There will always be a part of me

.

Someday we'll all be gone

But lullabyes go on and on...

They never die

That's how you and I will be

.

Austin's face relaxed the moment he heard her voice. By the second verse he had lain down on the bottom half of her bed and snuggled deeper into his quilt. By the end he was asleep which was good because she couldn't keep her eyes open either. She finished the song and closed her eyes, oblivious to the storm raging outside as she slept.

Ally woke up in the early light of dawn when Austin rolled off the bed with a thud and a grunt. He had slept the whole night on the end of her small bed and just tried to roll over. He rubbed his eyes and looked at her in confusion. Then he looked around the room and realized where he was. He gathered the quilt around him again and shuffled out of the room. She supposed he went back to his own room but didn't stay awake long enough to find out. She slept for another two hours until it was time to get up for the day.

There were no more storms for the rest of Austin's stay with the Dawsons. He and Ally didn't talk about their late night meetings nor were they repeated. They kept their secrets and played and went to school like before. The Moon's came home and assured Austin that they didn't meet any zombies in their travels. Austin's bag was packed and he went home again.

But two weeks later when there was another rainstorm Ally thought about Austin.

She looked out her window toward his house and saw a faint light in his room. His shadow moved on the wall and she saw him pacing. She flicked on her light during one of his passes by his window and he glanced up to see her. She waved when he stopped to look out at her. Fifteen feet of air and a torrential downpour separated them.

"Scared?" Ally mouthed the word and Austin nodded. Ally wiggled her fingers in front of her, miming playing the piano. "Music." she told him.

Austin's face lit up and she saw him cross the room toward his bed. He came back to the window and gave her a thumbs up, said goodnight, and disappeared again.

She watched for a few minutes but didn't see him again so she turned her light off and went back to bed.

The next day as they walked to school he told her that he turned on his radio and kept the volume low so his parents wouldn't hear. He was able to sleep after that.

. . .

I love input and I love my readers - put them together and you get reviews that help my writing. I'd love to hear what you think of this chapter so I can know if I should put up the rest of the story. Thanks!

weesh