Disclaimer: I don't own Austin & Ally, characters, songs etc.

A/N: So this is my second offering to the A&A fandom. I have been working on this for ages because, as you can see, it got a little out of hand. It's one hefty one-shot. But I do hope you enjoy it!

Clear Skies & Starry Eyes

Ally Dawson tells people that she enjoys cloud-watching, and she does, she really does, those little balls of fluffy magic, but what she really loves is the sky. She thinks the sky might be the most beautiful thing in the world besides Austin Moon's smile, but you can't go around telling people that you're in love with the sky, because they give you strange looks, and goodness knows she's had her fair share of those.

She does love it though. Every time she feels sad, she just looks up, and there's something so special about looking at that vast blue, or grey, or orange, or pink with speckles of lilac, that her troubles fade for a moment. And sure, everyone claims to love the sky, with all of their sunset photos, most definitely not filtered, but she doesn't think anyone loves it like she does.

Cloud-watching though, that's where it's at. People like cloud-watching, because stuff happens. Clouds float around and for a brief moment there's a heart, or a duck, or a hippo playing a saxophone. No one saw it save Dez. No one's going to join her in sky-watching though, because what would they do? Just lie and watch the sky change colour?

Only Ally Dawson is weird enough to enjoy doing that. It's just the sky. But to Ally Dawson, it's so much more.

~.~.~

On a morning, when the sky isn't sure whether it wants to be grey or blue yet, well she totally gets that.

Uncertainty.

Grey is safe. Grey is laughing at pianos, grey is non-stop talking at each other, grey is walking through the park hand in hand.

Blue though, blue is terrifying and all she dreams of nowadays. Blue is blushing at pianos, blue is long pauses when she just tries to read his face, blue is walking through school corridors hand in hand and feeling like she's about to be sick because everyone is staring.

"Everyone is staring," she informs Austin, who has the most smug grin on his face.

"Let them stare," he laughs, swinging their arms and Ally swears he's going to start skipping in a minute, and if that's the case, over and out.

"I don't want them to stare," Ally sighs, dropping Austin's hand and burying her face in her locker. She's never been more relieved to see that beautiful locker in her life.

"Hey," Austin frowns, leaning against the locker next to hers, and this is exactly why Ally isn't all too sure about this. "Why?"

Ally Dawson is the kind of girl who falls for the guys who spend their entire lives in the library, who dress and act kind of dorky but it's all okay, because she's more than kind of dorky herself. She is not the kind of girl who gets the guy leaning against the lockers, top basketball player and real life rockstar.

Ally is not that girl.

"Austin, no one ever stares at me. I'm not here to be noticed. I'm just the girl who sits at the front of class, with her hand always in the air. I chew my hair and my best friend has a serious attitude problem and I spend my free time in a music store and the library."

"Woah," Austin laughs, slamming her locker shut and forcing her to look at him. "Ally, you stopped being that girl a long, long time ago. You are Ally Dawson, singer-songwriter, smartest girl in class, prettiest non-chewed hair in the entire school, and somehow you agreed to go out with me."

Ally blushes, and Austin grins.

"I'm still not sure," she says slowly, turning to head to the safety of her next class, one she doesn't share with Austin. "It just kind of seemed easier when we were friends."

"Oh great," Austin snorts, catching her wrist and pulling her back to him. Ally, ever graceful, stumbles and crashes into his chest, and thank goodness Austin has the good balance she was never blessed with. "I can't wait to tell my grandkids about my good friend Ally Dawson."

"Sounds cute," she smiles, but Austin's got a surprisingly strong grip on her hands this time, and her attempt to escape is foiled.

"Sounds lame."

"Just give me some time. To adjust."

"How long is 'some time'?" Austin asks, and Ally can see where this is headed now. "Not taking no for an answer this time, Ally. Either you're sure, or you're totally against this. And when you kissed me last night, you seemed pretty sure."

"Austin," she hisses, swiping at him, because the people stood twenty metres away might have heard that quiet comment.

"Ally," he mimics. "Come on, I want an answer."

"Now? Right now?" she asks, panicked.

"Right now," he smiles, and he's enjoying every second of this, and she honestly hates him for it. She's never hated anyone as much as she hates Austin Moon in this moment.

"Fine," she huffs eventually, flouncing away from him.

"That's the spirit!" he yells after her. "Say it like you mean it."

Ally turns back to look at him for a minute, glare fixed on her face. He winks at her, and she can't help but smile, a nervous smile, and then she bites her lip and it's time for Austin to go because if he doesn't head to class now, he's going to run over and pounce on her this very second.

She watches him turn the corner, and giggles to herself as she sails off to class. Ally's feeling pretty happy, and it's funny, because she's so blue.

~.~.~

Of course, there are different shades of blue.

The palest blue on a wintery morning, a bright blue in the depths of summer, when they sit with their feet dangling in Austin's pool poking their toes into each other's reflections, because at twenty years old, Austin and Ally are actually five.

She can't decide her favourite shade of blue sky, whether it's a middle of the day glow, when the blue is almost too bright to be real, or that blue as the day is starting to slip into the night, a deeper blue, the blue of her prom dress.

"You look beautiful," Austin finally manages to say the night he picks her up, unable to stop staring at the beauty in front of him, all dark brown curls and draped blue material that shimmers in the fairy lights of Ally's bedroom. He's so taken aback that he forgets he's holding her corsage for a full minute, before remembering herself.

Ally giggles, but it's a nervous laugh as she holds out her shaking hand for him to slip the flower on her wrist. Austin notices her quivering, but doesn't say anything. He just takes her hand, firmly. He's nervous too, and he has no idea why either.

He holds her hand all evening, never letting go until he has to go and collect his crown. Trust Austin to win prom king. Ally watches, a smile on her face as he awkwardly waves at his peers, laughing when the crown slips across his face and he looks beyond puzzled for a moment. And then he's hurrying off the stage and back to Ally, and for the first time ever, Austin's blushing and Ally isn't. She can't help thinking again though, that she isn't the kind of girl who gets the prom king. She just isn't.

The way Austin holds her hand makes her decide that for once in her life Ally's going to break the rules though, and she is going to date the prom king, because the prom king is her best friend and she's fallen for him too hard to back out now.

And whenever the sky slips into that blue, just for a moment, Ally is reminded of the night she told Austin Moon she was never, ever letting him go, and he just smiled at her, like she'd given him the best present ever.

~.~.~

Of course there are clouds. There will always be clouds. The greatest of summer days can always be tainted by a cloud.

Sometimes they are white and fluffy, the kind Ally still enjoys watching. They hover in the sky for a moment, like when Austin forgets Ally's birthday one time, or when she loses a bracelet he bought her on tour, but soon enough they drift by again, harmless. Things get forgotten and things get lost, but so do memories that don't mean a lot.

A few clouds stay though. They were always bound to.

Austin and Ally's relationship has always been passionate, madly in love one second, despising each other the next. They always make up, the make ups almost as dramatic as the break ups.

The worst cloud is when Austin signs on to continue touring for a month, which goes against every agreement they've ever made and sealed with a kiss. The deal is that Austin tours, Ally writes, then they switch. When Ally tours, Austin records his album. It means they can always stay together, and their schedules are roughly on time.

An added bonus is that their albums will never compete against the other's.

Except Ally's due to go on tour tomorrow, and Austin has just arrived home, with the news that his tour manager - no longer Trish, now the highly successful head of a recruitment company - has struck a deal which will allow Austin to continue his latest tour in South America.

The screams that rage through their house that night make both of them glad their sprawling house is set away from anyone else.

"Austin, you are so selfish at times!" Ally yells, tears streaming down her face as she throws clothes and shoes at random into a suitcase.

"How am I being selfish here?" he shouts back, pacing round their room and massaging his forehead. "I'm the one who gets offered a great opportunity and instead of being happy for me, you're arguing with me!"

"We have a deal," she huffs, zipping her suitcase up and furiously scrubbing at her eyes. She hates that she's crying, and she hates that she hates arguing. "And you have broken that deal."

"Why does it matter so much anyway?" he asks, getting angrier as she closes up. "So what, I'm not there to hold your hand every night before you go on stage? I'm so sorry, Ally, for wanting to pursue my own career too."

Ally turns to him, and screw him because the tears are back and it's his fault.

"I cannot believe you just said that," she says, and now they're on dangerous territory because her voice is cold and smooth. "You know I've always put you first, but apparently you can't do the same for me. Go on your stupid extended tour, Austin, I really don't care. I have my own stuff to do."

She storms out of the house, already on the phone asking her taxi to pick her up from her father's house tomorrow morning. Ally isn't about to spend her last night in Florida for two months in an unhappy house.

Except when she gets back to her old room, all she sees are the countless photo frames filled with her and Austin laughing with each other, all the pinned photos that are just dotted around the room, overspill. And it's not just her and Austin, but Trish and Dez too, and she just sinks onto the floor and cries, because sometimes she wishes she could just be seventeen again, when it was so easy and she had absolutely no idea.

Her dad hears her crying and knocks gently on her door, even though it's one in the morning and she's definitely woken him up. Ally is selfish though, because instead of telling him to go back to bed, she stands up and just goes over to him, needing a hug more than anything now.

Austin caves first. He always does.

They haven't spoken for three days, but an hour before Ally is due to go on stage, her phone rings and she nearly drops it in her hurry to pick it up.

"I'm so sorry, I love you, good luck tonight," he says in a rush, and she smiles.

"I'm sorry too," she says, and suddenly Ally feels tearful, only she's just had her makeup done and if any of this mascara runs, her makeup artist will throw a hissy fit. "And I love you too. And thank you."

"Ally, I really mean it. I shouldn't have come on this tour, I should be there with you. And I shouldn't have said all of those things. You don't need anyone to hold your hand, because you are Ally Dawson, and you are going to kill it tonight."

"Austin," she starts, but a little hiccup escapes her and she can't see the mirror because there are tears swimming in her eyes.

"I'm hanging up because you're about to go on, and you're definitely wearing mascara, and we both know what your makeup artist is like," Austin laughs, and Ally laughs too, but the tears slip out anyway.

"Too late," she says softly, and she hears him groan down the phone.

"Well I have to go anyway. Break a leg, Ally, and I'll see you as soon as possible. I love you."

"I love you too," she grins, even though he can't see her. "Good luck with your next show."

"I really am going to hang up now," he laughs, and with that the phone clicks and Ally hurriedly dabs at her face with a tissue, relieved when the damage is minimal.

And that's how it always is. Minimal damage. Because clouds come, but they also go, and nothing is ever going to come between Austin and Ally for long. That isn't the way it's meant to be. So Ally continues to watch the clouds, because they're not all bad. They drift away as soon as they come into sight, barely remembered the next day.

~.~.~

Real grey clouds though, clouds so grey they're almost black, they mean thunderstorms, and Ally's heart beats a little faster. When Miami does thunderstorms, Miami does thunderstorms properly.

Feet stomping on stadium floors, thunder claps, lights go down and the crowd screams, louder and louder and louder, and then the spotlight is on them, lightning.

The first beat sounds, and they give each other that customary smile, and then they race to the front, Ally stage left and Austin stage right. Their first song is always a duet, and Ally can feel the bass rippling throughout her body and she's never felt a rush like this.

Ally can't remember now whose idea it was for her and Austin to head out on a joint tour, but it was the best decision they've ever made. They sell out stadiums night after night, and Ally has never, ever felt an adrenaline rush like this.

Being a singer is one thing, but getting up on stage every night with Austin is something else entirely. They take it in turns to open and close, each heading through a set of their own songs, sandwiched between starting the show together and the grand finale.

They do this for nearly a year, a whole year, taking their tour worldwide, and Ally never tires of it.

"I don't want this to end," Austin grins as they race to the side of the stage to grab a drink before the encore. The chanting from the audience is overwhelming, and Ally can't wipe the smile off her face. "Ever."

"Maybe when we finally finish the tour, we can just go back and start it again," Ally suggests breathlessly, while her face is attacked by a powder brush.

"You always have the best ideas," Austin nods, stealing a kiss before he has to dash off to the other side of the stage.

Ally's fearsome makeup artist tuts as she has to reapply lipgloss, but Ally doesn't care because if someone told her when her and Austin shared their first kiss when they were seventeen, nervous and awkward, that one day he'd kiss her at the side of a stage before they went out to round out a show together, she'd have laughed in their face.

She laughs anyway, before practically skipping out onto the stage, and you'd think after over two hundred dates, she'd be over this, but she'll never be over it.

Strobe lighting everywhere, music cracking over the speakers, the crowd yelling their names and cheering and screaming, and yeah, thunderstorms are her favourite.

~.~.~

Evenings where the sun and the moon briefly share the sky have always seemed kind of magical to Ally.

It's like everything she knows is turned on its head, because this shouldn't be possible, but it still happens. Not often, but sometimes.

And she's had her fair share of rare occurrences. Like when her debut album goes to straight to number one, or when Trish hugs Dez one Christmas, or the day a high school jock marries a high school nerd.

Austin has told her off a million times for addressing them as those stereotypes, because obviously he's so much more than a jock, he's a singer too, come on, Ally. Then he laughs and pokes her scrunched up nose and tells her he's joking, and that she isn't a high school nerd, but even if she is, he doesn't care, because he loves her.

The day Ally walks up the aisle, she feels like the glowing sun, and then in the space of two seconds, she becomes the moon. In exactly the same way as the sky only hovers between day and night for a moment, all it takes is a ring and kiss and then she's no longer the sun, she's the moon.

A Moon.

"Ally Moon," Austin says later that day, and Ally's going to hit him if he says her new name out loud one more time. "How on earth have I pulled this one off?"

"Using that kind of charm," she says dryly, but sneaks a smile at him.

They're meant to be posing for photographs, but the best man has disappeared somewhere, and one crazy maid of honour is chasing around looking for him. Austin and Ally just survey their two best friends hopelessly. They'd always had their doubts, and here they were, being brought to life.

"Sand is getting in my shoes," Ally huffs, wiggling her toes in her white satin heels and feeling the grains between them.

Austin just glances at her, looking guilty but not guilty enough to apologise. He's always wanted to get married on the beach, and with Ally having no real preference, she stupidly agreed.

"Once Trish and Dez get back, we'll be done. Pinky swear. Then it's you and me for the rest of the day. For the rest of forever," he tells her, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her in for a hug. She trips over the sand and nearly falls flat on her face, but Austin catches her at the last minute, laughing his head off.

The photographer shouts something at them about lovely candid shots, while Ally grumbles to herself as she tries to find her feet again, and Austin carries on laughing.

"You're my favourite person in the whole world," Austin tells her, wiping a tear from his eyes. "Such good entertainment value."

"It isn't too soon for a divorce," Ally informs him haughtily, ready to launch into a rant, but he shuts her up in his favourite way, by kissing her.

Later on they're lying in bed together, Ally's white dress and Austin's tux in a heap on the floor. The moonlight is shining through the window of the villa Austin has whisked her away to, and they're both just watching each other.

"I can't believe we're married," Ally says eventually, laughing nervously. "I don't feel old enough to be married."

"Sometimes I still feel like I'm seventeen," Austin agrees. "Then I remember that was six years ago, and it's kind of scary."

"I can't believe we made it six years," Ally muses.

"We're going to make it sixty years," Austin says confidently. "We're going the whole way, Ally Moon."

"And how are you so sure of that, Austin Moon?" she asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Because I married my best friend, and I can't think of anything better than that," he tells her, and his eyes are just filled with so much love that Ally blushes. "It also helps that she's super pretty."

"Does that mean you wouldn't have married me if I didn't look that nice?" Ally teases.

"Ally, I'm still going to be crushing on you when your hair's gone grey and you're all wrinkly, wearing badly coloured cardigans," Austin laughs. "When we're looking back on photos of days like today and talking about how special we were."

"Well don't expect me to tell you how good looking you are when you start going bald," Ally remarks.

"Are you kidding?" Austin frowns. "I can't ever lose my hair. It's my trademark!"

They both laugh for a moment, and then Ally twists to look at Austin, propping herself up on her elbow.

"For the rest of forever. We're going to spend the rest of our lives together," she says softly, as if she's only just realised.

"Does that scare you?" he asks anxiously.

"No," she answers honestly. "It just makes me really happy."

As they finally fall asleep together in the early hours of the morning, Ally takes one last glance out of the window. The moon is still out there, like a bright white spotlight, and it makes her smile.

She's one of them now. She's a moon, high up in the sky, on cloud nine. A Moon. And that thought keeps her smiling even as she sleeps.

~.~.~

Ally adores pink skies, because they too make her smile, sometimes giggle, and for the half hour the sky stays like this, she floats around in a bubble of happiness.

Austin resolutely refuses to know whether their baby is a boy or a girl, but Ally can't resist, and when she finds out, her eyes light up at the thought of all the pretty little dresses she's going to stuff her poor future daughter into.

There's been a room in the house set to one side for a nursery for a fair few years now, and as the years have worn on, Ally's been getting more and more fearful that maybe she won't have her dream little family after all. So the day she finds out, she just takes Austin's hand and pulls him into that little room, eyes brimming over with tears, and for once in his life, Austin isn't completely slow.

He understands immediately, and picks her up and spins her round and kisses her a thousand times, telling her over and over again how much he loves her. And they sit in that empty little room all night, both of them dreaming of how it will look in nine months' time.

The thing Ally doesn't understand though, is that despite his insistence that he be kept in the dark, Austin's favourite game for eight months, eight solid months, is to guess what the baby will be. Every day he changes his mind, and a million times, Ally has been two seconds away from screaming at him that he's having a girl.

Austin gets his comeuppance though, when Ally arrives home from an overnight trip and finds he's spent the entire two days painting the nursery blue. He had a feeling, he explains. And Ally doesn't know whether to laugh or cry, so she ends up doing both, she cries with laughter. And Austin twigs, and his face lights up at knowing that he's having a daughter, and then it sinks as he realises that all of his hard work was for nothing.

Before they know it, they're both laughing, and Ally lives for moments like this, moments where they can't even look at each other because they just keep laughing, and honestly she can't breathe anymore.

Ally tells him to just leave the room as it is, because their daughter can be super cool, with her blue room, but Austin compromises. He goes out and buys just one tub of pink paint, the same colour as a pink sky, and he paints one wall of the oddly shaped room, the most hideously mismatching feature wall in the universe, and Ally thinks it's perfect.

"Have you thought of any names yet?" Austin asks one morning over breakfast, a fair few months before the painting debacle.

"Not really," Ally lies casually. She's kept an ever-changing list of possible baby names since she was ten.

"Me neither," he nods, and she rolls her eyes. Did anyone more laidback than Austin even exist in this world?

"So you really haven't even considered it?" she probes.

"Well I want a name that means something," Austin replies. "Something that means something to us."

"Okay," Ally smiles, mentally crossing out seventeen generic names.

"Like, okay, so my name is Austin, so we could have another city, one in Texas," he grins, and Ally frowns at him.

"Like what?" she asks sceptically.

"For a boy, Houston?" he suggests.

"And for a girl?"

"I haven't gotten that far yet."

"Yeah, I'm not really feeling the whole Texas thing," Ally says, trying to sound apologetic but failing miserably. "What about something to do with both of our names?"

"Yeah," Austin nods enthusiastically, liking her thinking. "We could combine our names. Like... wait, what would it be?"

"Auslly," Ally deadpans, and Austin spits his cereal out, making Ally squeal and squirm. "Ew!"

"Sorry, it just sounded so funny," he says, now choking. "What about Allin? That makes more sense."

"Hi, I'm Ally, and this is my kid, Allin. No. Not happening."

"Alright, got it," Austin says, holding his hands up in defence. "What about just A?"

Ally's response to that suggestion is to throw a pain au chocolat at his face and stand up to clear away her dishes.

"We could combine our parents' names," Austin thinks aloud later that night, blissfully happy because Ally isn't irritable for once. In fact, she's lying in his arms quite peacefully, and his overwhelming emotion is relief.

"Our parents have weird names," Ally points out.

"For a boy," Austin continues. "Either Like, or Mester."

"Hey, I'm Mister Mester Moon," Ally giggles.

"Okay, so they won't work. For a girl, Pemi-"

"No chance."

"-or Minny. Minnie."

They glance at each other for a moment, considering it. It's certainly the most normal name suggestion so far, because for starters, it's a real name. They both quickly go off the idea though, scrunching their noses up in identical ways, and shaking their heads.

"Hey, we could just pick one name, that works for a girl or a boy?"

"That could be cool. What were you thinking?"

"Monica," Ally teases, and Austin glares at her.

"You're so funny," he says rolling his eyes, and she smiles up at him angelically.

"I know."

With that she rolls off him and closes her eyes, and one thing Austin has learned lately is that when Ally wants to sleep, he should definitely just let her sleep.

The next person to bring up baby names is Ally, a very tired Ally being driven home by an equally tired Austin. Trish's emergency had turned out to be her new puppy, and even though she's only an hour's drive away, the whole day seems to have taken around four years.

"I want to pick a name already," she sighs, her eyes half-closed.

"Me too, my mom keeps asking me what we've chosen."

"So does my dad."

"I did like the idea of something related to our names," Austin states, trying to resist looking over at his wife, because he finds sleepy Ally adorable. Eyes on the road, he reminds himself. "What about our surname? We could call them Star."

"Austin, for goodness' sake. Star Moon? I'm not ending up on some dodgy magazine list of top ten worst celebrity baby names. And if you even suggest Sun, so help me-"

"Okay, nothing whatsoever to do with our names," Austin backtracks, and Ally sighs contentedly. "What else is important to us?"

"Gee, let me think," Ally mutters.

"Music!" Austin yells excitedly at the same time.

"Good luck thinking of a musical name," she mumbles. "Hi, my name's Piano Moon, pleased to meet you."

"Ally, come on, a musical name could be nice. It can be a normal name, but we'd know why it was special."

"Fine," she agrees, sitting up straight again to show she's half-interested in the conversation. "Any ideas?"

"Harmony? Melody?"

"Far too cliché," Ally says, dismissing them immediately.

Austin wishes the subject had never been brought up with Ally this tired.

"Okay, what about... um," Austin falters, wanting to finally come up with a name Ally approves of. "Cody?"

"Cody?" she asks, and at least her interest is piqued.

"Like a coda," he grins at her, and to his intense relief, she actually smiles back.

"That's- I think I like it," she nods, knowing full well that their child will never be called Cody because they're having a girl. Still, she doesn't want Austin to realise, so she agrees to it. "We have a boy's name!"

"This is so exciting!" Austin laughs, and they're both beaming at each other for a good ten seconds before Austin remembers that he's driving and focusing on the road would be a good idea. "Now we have a name for a boy, we just need one for a girl. Any ideas?"

He is met with silence, and when he looks back over at his wife, Ally is fast asleep, a smile on her face.

Their next baby name discussion is entirely by accident. It's a Sunday afternoon, they're sitting at the piano, and Ally is teaching Austin to read sheet music, because really, at the grand old age of twenty seven, Austin Moon can't keep getting away with 'instinct' when interviewers ask him about the musical side of things.

Ally's been giving him music lessons for a month now, and so far, Austin is pretty receptive to it, but she feels like soon enough, her hormones are going to get the better of her, and Austin is going to get bored, what with his mental age being about ten years too slow, and it's all going to flop.

So she's trying to squash everything in as quickly as possible.

"Okay, this," she says, pressing a key then flicking the sharp with her pinky. "That's a grace note."

"A what-now?"

"A grace note," she explains, reminding herself to be patient. "It's an extra note, and you play it at the same time as the regular note. It's meant to embellish it, make it sound better."

"So it's like you," Austin grins, and Ally turns to face him with a puzzled look.

"Huh?"

"You're my grace note, Ally. You make everything about me better."

In moments like this, Austin Moon, after ten solid years, still manages to take her breath away. He's staring at her earnestly, with this big old smile on his face, and a look in his eyes like he's seventeen again and still trying to win her over.

"Austin," she laughs, a hand on her heart, falling in love with him all over again. "That's so- I love you."

"I love you too," he grins, and kisses her on the nose, then turns to the piano again. Just like that. So casually. As if he'd never said anything sweet in the first place.

"So," Ally begins, shaking her head to clear the daze. "This is what it looks like on the music. See, that there. Just to the side."

"It looks like a pencil smudge," Austin remarks, crinkling his nose as he peers in to stare at the sheet of music, and teenage Austin is back.

"You're meant to be taking this seriously," Ally scolds, hitting him lightly on the arm.

"Sorry, sorry," he says in defence, holding his hands up, and Ally doesn't miss the way his eyes flick to her ever-expanding stomach. Yeah, she thinks, be afraid of the pregnant lady. "Okay, so it looks like a tiny note."

"Yes," she nods happily.

"A baby note," he laughs innocently.

All of a sudden though, Ally isn't laughing. She's turning to Austin with a gleam in her eyes and the biggest grin on her face, and Austin won't lie, he's a little afraid. She looks manic.

"That's it," she breathes, and flings her arms round Austin's neck.

"What? What is it?" Austin asks, alarmed.

"A baby note," Ally says slowly, still beaming. "A grace note."

"Yeah," Austin says slowly. "I've got it. Of all the musical rules and techniques and just, just things, you've taught me lately, this was probably one of the easier lessons you-"

"Austin!" she snaps, hitting him again and this time it isn't lightly. "Shut up about the music lessons for a second and think about what you said! A grace note is a baby note. And what are we having?"

"Salmon for dinner?"

Her eyes narrow dangerously, and Austin backpedals, knowing he's got about five seconds to reach the right answer.

"A baby!" he cries in relief, finally understanding, words tumbling over one another in his desperation to show her that he's on her page. "We're having a baby! And we wanted a musical girl's name, and we have it. Gracenote."

He's breathless by the time he gets it out.

"Um, I think we can drop the note," Ally says dryly.

"Right, yeah, Grace. Grace," he repeats, seeing how it feels to say it. "Grace."

"What do you think?"

"I think it's kind of perfect," Austin grins and Ally nods excitedly.

"Me too."

The day Grace decides to make her grand entrance into the world, Ally is wearing a pink dress.

It's grand because of course the daughter of Austin and Ally Moon couldn't just let them know she was ready to arrive say, at home. No, she has to get the show rolling while Austin is in the middle of an acoustic set on the radio, so now the whole of Miami has heard Austin abruptly stop playing his new song, scream down the radio that he's having a kid, have a small panic attack, and according to Ally's father, if you listened really closely, you could hear the chair crashing to the floor as Austin dashed out of the studio.

Thanks, Austin, Ally thinks to herself as her father relates this to her a few days later. She definitely wanted her going into labour to be broadcast to everyone.

She doesn't mind really though, because she's sat there, her pink dress draped across the chair, a pink blanket on her bed, and she's gazing at her husband gazing at their baby girl and she's so happy, so incredibly happy. It's evening, and the sky is turning pink outside, and yes, Ally thinks.

Pink will always make her smile.

~.~.~

They're older now, the days wearing on, but Ally doesn't mind too much. Her and Austin live in a permanent evening, and it's so peaceful. Blue, slowly fading into lilac, speckles of pink and yellow, clouds lined with tangerine. It's interesting, it's colourful, it's happy, but most of all, it's blissfully calm.

Austin and Ally spend most of their evenings on the deck of the same Miami home they bought all those years ago, the one with the view of the ocean, the one that has housed every fight, every kiss, every birthday, every anniversary.

"I never want to leave this place," Austin says, and his voice is so happy that Ally instantly feels happy too. She rarely feels anything but happy.

"Fine by me," she sighs happily, looking up and cloud-watching because Ally doesn't care if she's in her sixties, she wants to cloud-watch.

"How late do you think tonight will get?" Austin asks.

"Goodness only knows," Ally laughs, turning to face him and giving him a lazy smile.

He smiles back. Her hair's going grey at the edges, and there are laughter lines round her eyes, and yep, she's wearing a really, really bad cardigan, but he still loves her as much as he did when they first met.

They spend another half hour on the deck then they head inside to get ready for the evening. It's Grace's birthday, and the whole family is piling over. Trish and Jace are driving down, Dez and Carrie might make it, they might not, Ally's dad and Austin's mom are coming over, as well as all of Grace's extended family and friends.

Austin and Ally basically had to offer their house up as a venue, because nowhere else is big enough. Neither of them mind though - nights like this are the nights that stand out, the nights the sky turns yellow for no reason, or the nights when the sun has set but suddenly an orange streak burns the purple, like a happy firework tearing up the sky.

"Have you switched the barbeque on?" Ally asks Austin as she helps him do his tie. Still useless, after so many years.

"Yes, and all the food is ready to go, right?" Austin checks, zipping up the back of Ally's dress.

"Indeed it is," she smiles, and they grin at each other contentedly for a moment, before heading downstairs to enjoy the last few moments of peace before everyone descended.

The evening wears on as their family evenings always do. People mill around and talk and laugh, and soft music plays throughout the house. Austin stands proudly by the grill all night, serving up countless burgers and hotdogs, until Ally has to drag him away and force him to actually eat something.

The evening draws on, and people begin to drift away, until it's just Austin, Ally, Grace, Noah and Piper.

Grace and Noah are out on the deck, being watched beadily by Austin. Ally feels so sorry for Grace's husband. He's the friendliest man on the planet, with the kindest family, he's a renowned architect, and he even asked Austin's permission before he asked Grace to marry him, and Austin is still sceptical.

Ally despairs. All she cares about is that Grace is happy, and she can tell that her daughter is just as happy as she is. Her and Noah are giggling on the deck, hand in hand as they gaze out at the ocean, and it makes Ally smile, even if Austin is wearing a frown.

"Play it again," Piper huffs, tapping Austin on the arm not so lightly. Reluctantly he drags his eyes from his daughter to his granddaughter, who he is arguably more protective over.

"Which song?" Austin asks patiently, ruffling her hair.

Ally's lost track of the number of nights the three of them have spent at the piano, Piper squashed in the middle of her grandparents as Austin and Ally play and sing to her. Austin always pretends to begrudge doing it, but Ally can see straight through it. He misses his career, but Ally managed to gently coax him into retirement a few years ago when she pointed out the girls who used to fall over him were Grace's age, which hastily changed his mind.

"I have an idea," Ally suggests, and begins the first few chords for one of the very first songs her and Austin wrote together. They both remember it instantly, of course, and Piper squeals with delight because she's never heard this one before.

Grace promised Ally she'd keep some musical ties in the family, and Ally thinks Piper is a lovely name. She's also determined to keep Piper on the straight and narrow. Grace was in every single sports team when she was younger, always arriving home with a red face, and cuts and bruises all over her knees and elbows. Austin was beyond proud, while Ally pouted that their daughter had zero interest in music or cloud-watching. In fact, Grace snorts whenever Austin brings up cloud-watching club.

So poor Piper has to suffer through Austin and Ally's performances every time she comes to visit, but Ally is secretly hopeful, because Piper seems genuinely interested in what is happening, and Ally thinks her love of music might carry on a generation after all.

Piper's favourite thing to do though is sit on Austin's lap as they flick through old photo albums together. Austin, without fail, because he thinks he's so funny, always points to old photos of Ally and tells Piper that's his good friend Ally Dawson, and Piper always squeals and giggles at the difference between teenage Ally Dawson and her grandmother, Ally Moon.

Ally always shoots Austin a look that tells him he still isn't funny, but he always ignores her.

And she'll glance round, and Grace and Noah might still be outside, or they'll be on the couch, or they'll be trying to talk to Ally's father, who is growing more deaf by the day, too stubborn to admit it, and she'll think that maybe evenings are her favourite time of day.

The lilac of her cardigan, the pink of her two girls, those orange clouds reminding her that there is still colour and excitement in her life, the light yellow of Austin's hair which he has magically clung onto.

All is peaceful, and relaxed, and perfect.

~.~.~

Austin and Ally only have night skies nowadays, and Ally likes it best when there are stars.

The first time he pauses before saying her name, she knows something is wrong. Austin has never had to stop for her name before, because it's the first and last word on his lips each day.

A few months later and he forgets it completely, for a whole minute, and he just holds her that night, both of them trying to pretend like she's not crying.

Austin Moon is losing his mind, and Ally Moon is losing him.

It all happens so quickly after that. He forgets the way home, doesn't recognise his own granddaughter, desperately clings to Ally because he's scared to death he's going to forget his wife and he can't do that, he can't, because to him, Ally Dawson will always be unforgettable.

Their worst fear comes true on the day Austin demands they sit down at the piano and sing, just like old times. That's always been their way; when in doubt, write and sing. It's never failed them before. Only they've both been avoiding this moment, because they're both terrified of what might happen.

And it does happen.

Austin's hands have been shaky for a few years now, so it takes him a while to steady them enough to begin playing. Ally leads him in, nimble fingers never having forgotten their way down a piano scale. He manages the first few chords, and they share a tentative smile, and then Ally begins to sing and this is her biggest mistake.

Austin hums along, and she thinks they've got it, and for a split second, they're eighteen, not eighty, and all of her worries disappear.

She stops singing though, waiting for him to carry on the song, and he just turns to her, his face crumpling.

"I'm so sorry, Ally," he whispers to her, and she smiles at him, her hand on his cheek to tell him that it's okay, but the tears streaming down her cheeks tell him she's lying.

Because she is afraid, and she is about to break, and goodness knows she needs a way to feel strong again, but she can't go to Austin, not when he can't even remember how to sing it.

Their skies get darker and darker, and eventually it gets too much for her. The day Austin moves into a home is the darkest day of Ally's life. Grace holds her hand, grips her hand, and they cry into each other, neither of them knowing what to say to make this better.

Ally visits him every day. A day without Austin Moon is no day she wants to live through.

And most of the time, Austin doesn't really know who she is, but she's learning how to cope with it now. Most days, she doesn't even try and make him remember. Instead she pretends they're meeting for the first time again, and Austin knows deep down that he loves this woman. So they laugh, and they flirt, and every day, Austin asks for her number, tells her he'll call her for coffee, and she laughs until she's sat in the car, and then she cries.

On better days, Austin remembers he enjoys music. Ally sits at the piano in the corner of the room and sings to him, and he hums along, not really knowing how he recognises this song he's never heard before, but happy to be able to accompany her. Austin tells her she'd make a mighty fine music partner, and Ally's heart breaks every time.

Sometimes though, sometimes there are stars, and she lives for starry nights.

Bright moments, when Austin's head clears for a while, and Ally's tears are happy tears for once. There are stars in the skies and stars in his eyes, clear and hopeful, and his wrinkles are no longer age, just laughter lines, and Austin Moon is sat in front of her for a moment.

"We were something special, weren't we?" he grins at her, and she nods, scared to speak, scared he'll forget her any moment. "Something timeless."

She brings photos with her every day, on the off chance that today brings stars.

When he does remember, she pulls them out so quickly she gives herself papercuts half the time. She flips through them, re-living their entire life in the space of five minutes, and he points to grainy photos of an Ally with long brown curls and a twinkle in her eye and tells her that to him, she is still that beautiful.

Austin's memory isn't perfect. He still can't remember Grace, but he thinks her teenage daughter is very sweet, and always gives her money for sweets. Sometimes he wonders if he's meant to understand when she calls him grandad, but he never gives it too much thought.

All he ever remembers are those blue sky years, but that's enough for Ally, because it's something, and that something is Austin and Ally at their peak.

"You know what I wish I could do again, Ally?" he says one day, and she shakes her head, desperate for him to tell her because she likes it when he speaks like Austin. "Wish I could play one last stadium show. To a sell out crowd."

"Thunder and lightning," she smiles, and he nods excitedly.

"The lights, and the music, and the crowd. The energy. You," he says earnestly, gazing at her like it's their wedding day again. "Sharing a stage with you was the greatest time of my life."

"Mine too," she whispers, and before she can help herself, she steals a kiss, because she's always going to be in love with Austin Moon.

"Ally," he tells her when she pulls away, taking her hand and grasping it as hard as he can. "Please don't ever let your star fade."

Ally shakes her head, trying to smile at him, thinking to herself that she wishes she could ask the same of him. She knows the nights will just grow darker and darker, but all she can do is keep wishing for stars.

~.~.~

Yes, Ally Moon loves the sky, because the sky is so much more than just the sky. It's life and it's love and it's heartache and it's sadness, and it's been absolutely perfect.

Almost as perfect as Austin Moon's smile.

A/N: Round of applause if you made it to the end of that epic! I really hope you enjoyed it, and please let me know what you thought! I'm not sure where this idea came from, only that I love the sky, and I know it's odd, but I just do. And I figured maybe Ally might too. Plus it would just make a nice framing device for a story haha! If you loved it enough, feel free to go and read my A&A futurefic two-shot Open Mics & Open Hearts, which is a little more angsty but that never did anyone any harm, right?! I had so much fun writing this, thank you for reading!