Hey everyone, thanks for taking the time to read this story! Obviously, this is just how I've chosen to interpret the characters and they may not necessarily match up completely with those in the TV show.

This is a work in progress, so any feedback, comments and suggestions would be entirely welcome, as well as any suggestions for how you'd like to see the story progress.

For a while it's probably gonna be a chapter every two days, I'm just so busy, but I'll try and update whenever possible! Thank you for understanding :)

Thanks to everyone who's left a review so far! It means a lot to know that people are enjoying the story! I hope the rest of it doesn't disappoint :) Remember to favourite, follow and review!

Obviously, I do not own Austin & Ally in any way, shape or form.

So without further ado, here's the story! I hope you enjoy…

Chapter Eleven
Memories

Ally woke first the next morning, warmly wrapped in Austin's strong, comforting arms on the sofa in her apartment. She looked over at the clock on her wall. 7:30. She really didn't want to get up, she could have stayed like that forever. But it was a Monday, and that meant she had to work. She carefully moved Austin's arms off of her so she could get up without waking him, and walked away to go and get some breakfast.

She remembered how much Austin loved pancakes, so she decided she may as well make some. They were done soon, and Ally placed some on a plate for Austin and left them in the microwave until he got up. Eating hers quickly (she'd forgotten how good they were), she then went to shower, brush her teeth and get dressed. Another time check, it was 8:15. She had about 15 minutes before she had to leave so she decided to wake Austin up. She strolled back out over to the couch and peered over the top of it. He looked so cute lying there asleep; she almost didn't want to wake him.

"Austin." She said gently, tapping his arm. No response. "Austin." She was a little more forceful this time, shaking him. Still nothing. "Austin!" Ally yelled this time, pushing him off the couch altogether.

She heard a muffled "Oof!" and a thud as Austin landed on the floor, and Ally couldn't help but burst out laughing at him. "Oh, you think that's funny do you?" Austin chuckled. "Give me your hand." He said, holding it up for her. Ally grabbed it, and Austin yanked her over the back of the couch so she was now on top of him. She squealed a little as it happened but they both started laughing when she landed. "Morning beautiful." Austin said quietly before kissing Ally. "Do I smell… pancakes?" Austin's eyes lit up.

"Yep, I made some for you earlier. They're in the microwave so you can heat them up." Ally said as she climbed off of him. "You'll have to be quick, though, I have to leave for work in about 10 minutes."

"Aww, you're the best!" Austin said excitedly as he stood up, running through to the kitchen like an excited child on Christmas morning, causing Ally to giggle a little. As big, strong and handsome as he was, Austin seemed to still have childish streaks in him that burst out from time to time.

Ally watched as Austin zoomed through his pile of pancakes – it seemed physically impossible for him to have eaten them that quickly but he seemed to have done it! "Whoa, Austin, ever stop to take a breath?" She giggled at him.

"Not when it comes to pancakes!" He replied with a small grin. "Thanks Als, you're the best." He gave her a small peck on the cheek before picking up his plate and putting it in the dishwasher. "So how long until you have to go to work?"

"I need to leave in about 5 minutes." Ally replied, checking the time on her phone. "What are your plans today?"

"I don't really have any. I don't need to write any more songs for a while, and Jimmy said he'll get in contact with me later this week with details. Until then, I'm a free man."

"Oh, well at least you can just relax for a while."

"Yeah but I'm bored without you!" Austin said like a small child, pouting. This was one of those childish moments I mentioned earlier.

"Aww, poor ickle wickle Austy!" Ally replied, matching his voice and also pouting, as she walked over to him and pinched his cheek a little. "I'll only be gone for 12 hours!"

"Ally that's half a day!" Austin said, still childishly. Wow, Ally had never considered it like that. Half a day? That made her seem like a work-aholic. She didn't think she worked too much though… did she? This made Ally think for a while and there was silence for a few seconds. "Ally? Aaallyyyyy?" Austin said, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Hmm?" Ally snapped out of it. "Oh, sorry. But it's not that long, I'm sure you'll find something to do while I'm gone." Austin stilled pouted. "Sorry, babe, but there's nothing I can do about it."

"Mkay. Well can I walk you to work?" He asked, a small smile appearing on his face.

"Sure, I'd like that." Ally replied, matching his smile. They got ready to go and headed out into the cold February morning.

Ally took Austin's hand in hers and wrapped her free arm around the one she was holding hands with, snuggling into his side for warmth. He smiled down at her as she did this, enjoying the feeling of her being close to him like this. "You know, we haven't actually even been out on a proper date yet." Ally remembered as they walked down the street. "I mean we went out for coffee that day but that doesn't really count since we weren't… you know… together then."

"Oh yeah, I suppose you're right." Austin said, looking up slightly. "Okay then, Miss Dawson, would you like to go on a date with me?" He said, smirking at her and putting on his best posh voice.

"Yes, I would love to." Ally replied in the same tone of voice, smiling brightly at him.

"Great. And what would you like to do on this date of ours?"

"I don't really know, you're the one who asked me on the date." Ally giggled a little.

"Well, let's go through the options. There's the classic movie date…"

"No, I don't want to spend my date sat in silence, that kinda defeats the whole point of a date."

"… there's a meal at a fancy French restaurant…"

"Tempting, tempting, but I always feel really out of place in those posh places."

"… we could go out to a bar and dance…"

"No way! No, no, no, no, no! I can't dance!" Ally said instantly. "Besides, most of those places are sleazy as. Do you really want to spend the date watching people try to hit on me?" Ally said. "Oh, wait, that sounded really arrogant of me." She looked down, blushing.

"No, no, you're right. All the guys would try to hit on you, you are beautiful." Ally blushed even more.

"Thanks, Austin." She said meekly.

"No problem. Now, where were we… ah yes! How about a sunset stroll along the beach, just talking and listening to the waves as the sky goes red as the Sun goes down…"

"Ooh, that sounds romantic. Now you're talking!" Ally said, beaming at him.

"Sunset beach stroll it is, then!" Austin smiled back, leaning down and giving her a quick peck. He hesitated, remembering something. "One problem, though…"

"What? What is it?" Ally asked, starting to panic that she didn't look good enough or she had something stuck in her teeth. She frantically took a small mirror out of her purse and starting looking into it to try and find out the problem.

"No, Ally, it's not that!" Austin reassured her, taking the mirror out of her hands and replacing it with his own hand, and turning her head to make her look at him with the other. "You're beautiful." She blushed again. "The problem is that you, miss work, work, work, don't stop working until 8:30 at night, and in February the Sun has long gone down by that point." He said, smirking a little at her.

"Oh, yeah. Oops, forgot about that." Ally said, silently face-palming. "Sorry. Maybe we could do it on Sunday instead?"

"But Ally, I want to date you tonight!" Austin said, re-engaging child mode and jokingly pouting again, getting another giggle from Ally.

"Okay, Austin, okay, don't worry. We can still do something else tonight and do the walk on Sunday instead. Or, we could wait until next Tuesday, you know what day that is?"

"Next Tuesday? It's Valentine's Day, right?" Austin replied. Ally nodded. "But it's a Tuesday… won't you be working?"

"Nope, Dad said the shop's not opening that day, so we'll be able to spend the whole day together." She smiled up at him.

"Aww , Als, that's great, your Dad's the best." He leaned down and kissed her again. "But that still doesn't sort out our date."

"No, you're right…"

"Well, how about we return to my previous suggestions and combine the movie and food ideas by having a movie night at my apartment with a takeaway? I know it's not exactly a night out, like a real date, but we can just relax, and talk without annoying anyone else."

"Yeah, okay. That sounds nice. What movie do you want to watch?"

"I'm pretty easy to please, whatever you want to watch babe."

"Hmm…" Ally thought for a few seconds. "Well, I won't be so cruel as to put you through a soppy romance or a chick flick…" Ally considered. She heard an almost silent "Thank God" come from beside her, causing her to smile a little. "… but at the same time I'm not really a fan of horror movies… anything else is fine."

"Okay, I'll have a little look round in the mall while you're working."

Just then it started to rain. And not as in a few small drops of rain, as in rain rain. Like as-if-you're-standing-under-Niagara-Falls rain! They quickly ran into the nearest shop door and found themselves in Starbucks. "Aww, Austin look, it's where we first met!" Ally said as Austin took his coat off and shook it. She thought back to that moment those few weeks ago…

Ally paid, waited for her drink to be made and collected it. She took a couple of steps backwards before turning to walk out the door, but when she turned – WHAM – she walked straight into someone's chest. Her coffee and groceries went flying and she tumbled, landing in an undignified heap on the floor. "Oh my God, I am so sorry!" A gentle voice called out to her as she sat there, trying to come to terms with what had just happened. "Here, let me help you up." The voice continued, and a hand appeared in Ally's face offering her assistance getting up.

Looking up, Ally found herself staring at what she could only recognise as the most beautifully handsome face she had ever seen in her life. She was looking at a man, around her age, with perfect blond hair and incredibly deep brown eyes which she found herself lost in. She also noticed that his dress sense was impeccable: white high-tops, dark blue slim jeans, a navy and white striped t-shirt, and a nice jacket.

She remained sat there for a few seconds, mesmerised by the beauty of this stranger, her cheeks getting redder and redder by the second. Once she realised how stupid she looked, Ally quickly looked away from his deep eyes and gently said "Oh, I'm so sorry" sheepishly as she took his hand and stood up, brushing herself down in a desperate attempt to retain some level of dignity. "I didn't see you there."

"Oh no, it was my fault!" Replied the blond quickly. "Oh man, look what I've done!" He muttered, looking around the coffee shop floor at the scattered vegetables falling out of the grocery bags and the spilt coffee everywhere. "I am so, so sorry!" He repeated, expecting her to be seething.

"No, it's fine, no harm done." Ally replies calmly, still blushing.

"At least let me buy you another drink," He offers, already crouching down to try and pick up some of Ally's groceries and put them back in the bags.

"No, no, it's fine, honestly!" Ally reassures him, joining him on the floor to gather the food.

"No, really, I insist. It's the least I can do," He says, reaching out and touching her arm. At this Ally blushes even more, she can't believe that this amazingly handsome man is offering her a drink, let alone touching her. She makes the mistake of looking into his eyes, and immediately gets lost in them. After a few seconds of her just staring at him, he begins to worry he's making her uncomfortable and swiftly removes his hand. "Excuse me, miss? Are you okay?"

"Hmmm, what, no I'm fine!" Ally stutters, suddenly breaking out of her trance and feeling like an absolute idiot. "Are you sure you want to buy me another one? I can get one myself..." She began.

"No, no, of course! It's the least I can do!" The man responds, smiling at her with his perfect white teeth. "What was it?"

"Oh, it was just a small black Americano. Thanks." She replies gently, smiling meekly back at him. She told him it was a small so he wouldn't have to buy her a medium, she felt kind of guilty even accepting a small from him. However, he could tell from the size of the cup rolling around on the floor that it was a medium, so he turned to the woman at the counter.

"Hi, can I please get a medium black Americano and a large Cappuccino to go?" He asks confidently, digging around in his pocket for his wallet.

"Of course," the woman on the counter replies. "What's the name?"

"Oh, the Cappuccino's for me, Austin, and the Americano's for…" He pauses, turning to Ally for her name.

"Ally" She says softly, with a small smile on her face.

"Oh, yeah." Austin says, looking around as he stopped shaking the rain of his jacket. "I've never been so thankful for my clumsiness." He said, chuckling and leaning in to give Ally a quick kiss.

They had originally intended to just stand in the doorway until the rain stopped, but after 30 seconds it didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon. Looking at his watch, Austin discovered that they still had 20 minutes to get to Sonic Boom, which was a 5 minute walk away, as they had already been walking fairly quickly to keep themselves warm. "We've got time to stop for a coffee. How about it?"

"Yeah, okay. I need it to warm me up!" Ally jokes. They walk up to the counter, order their drinks (Austin of course insists on paying for them) and go and sit at a table by a window with them. "So… this place brings back the memories, huh?" She said, smiling softly as she looked out the window.

"Yep. It certainly does." Said Austin in reply, also smiling as he looked into his coffee. "You know, I knew the moment I saw you that you were perfect for me." They looked into each other's eyes and smiled. "Even when you were on the floor, looking around all dazed and confused, all I could think about was how cute you were. I was kinda secretly glad I walked into you, otherwise we would have never met." Austin continued, looking almost a little worried as he considered never meeting Ally.

"Aww, well I'm glad we bumped into each other too. I can't believe how close we were to never talking to each other, if it hadn't happened I would have just walked out the shop and probably never seen you again!" Her expression started to match Austin's as she considered spending her life without him.

They sat like that for a few seconds, each of them dreading what their lives would have been like, before Austin decided to break the silence. "Yeah, I mean if it hadn't happened I wouldn't even have a career right now, I only have the amazing songs I do thanks to you."

"Yes, well I probably wouldn't be alive! You really did save me that night." The bruising on Ally's face had now fully healed and was no longer visible, but her wrist had to stay in the cast for another few weeks.

"Well, then, here's to our clumsiness!" Austin said, trying to re-brighten the mood after the mention of that night brought back a few memories to both of them. He raised his cup.

She giggled, picked up hers and tapped it against his before taking a sip. "To idiocy!" Ally said in response. Austin chuckled at her.

They sat enjoying their drinks for about 10 minutes, until the rain eventually stopped. They quickly finished their drinks and got up. They left the shop, walking back out onto the soaking wet pavement of the street.

They walked the rest of the way to Sonic Boom mostly in comfortable silence, with the occasional few comments and small talk. They soon arrived at Sonic Boom. Austin said goodbye to Ally outside and gave her a kiss. "I'll pick you up after work." He said.

"Great, see you at 9." She smiled before turning and walking into the shop to begin her working day.

Austin walked to the nearest film shop and bought a movie for them to watch that night on their "date" (if you could really call it that). When he got his wallet out to pay, though, the shop assistant said she recognised him from The Helen Show, thought he was amazing and told him he could have the film for free if he signed a copy of his single to be hung up on the wall behind the counter. Of course he accepted, in shock at actually being recognised. 'I guess I'll have to get used to this.' He thought to himself as he signed the single and handed it to the smiling assistant in exchange for the movie. He thanked her and walked out the shop. He spent the rest of the day at his apartment, not doing much and mostly thinking about Ally.

He walked back to Sonic Boom and waited outside for her. She walked out at exactly 9 o'clock and he instantly gave her a big hug and a kiss. "I missed you today." He said quietly as they hugged.

"I missed you too." She replied sweetly, before they walked off hand in hand into the night. They walked straight back to Austin's apartment.

"What takeaway do you want?" Austin asked. Ally hadn't thought about this yet.

"Oh, uhh… I don't mind really. Pizza?" And so that's what they ordered. They talked about their days whilst waiting for it to arrive, whilst Austin set up the movie ready for when it got there. About 20 minutes later there was a knock at the door, so Austin answered it, took the pizza and paid the delivery boy his money (plus a tip of course).

They snuggled down on the floor in front of the sofa and Austin started the movie. They had a really nice evening, enjoying the pizza and talking quietly as the movie played, just enjoying each other's company. Austin had never felt so at ease and comfortable with a person before, and he now couldn't imagine his life without Ally in it.

Towards the end of the film, Austin leant in for a kiss only to be met by Ally's hand. "Uh-uh-uh, Austin." Ally said mock-sternly, shaking her head. "I don't kiss on the first date."

"Wha-But Ally!" Austin said in his childish voice, putting on the pout again.

"No Austin, second date maybe but first date definitely not." Ally taunted him, smiling.

"Come on Ally, you're kidding me!" Austin said cheerily, smiling at her hopefully. Ally just looked him straight in the eyes and raised an eyebrow.

"Do I look like I'm joking?" She said, trying to look serious but still smiling.

"Allyyyyyyyy!" Austin moaned, causing Ally to giggle at how childish she seemed to be able to make him.

"No, Austin. I'm sorry but that's my policy."

"Oh, alright." Austin said sulkily. He turned to look her in the eyes again. "Like I said last night, I'll wait for you forever." As she stared back at him, she could tell he meant it and saw nothing but love and caring in his eyes. "I love you, Ally." He said, trying to trick her into kissing him. Ally saw straight through it.

"Nice try, bub." She said, slapping him gently in the chest. "But I love you too." Austin finally accepted that she wasn't going to kiss him so he settled for her snuggling into his chest for the rest of the movie.

When it was over, he walked her back over to her apartment and said goodbye at the door. "Still no goodnight kiss?" He asked her, putting on his puppy-dog eyes that he knew she loved.

"You got that right. Night, Austin." Ally hugged him briefly before walking into her apartment and shutting the door without saying another word.

Ally didn't hear from Austin the next morning and just got up and went to Sonic Boom as she always did. She was going to text him on her lunch break and arrange to meet up with him later, but she didn't get a chance because mid-morning Austin walked in and walked straight over to the counter. There was no-one else in the shop at that point. "Oh, hey Austin!" Ally said cheerily with a smile as he walked towards her.

He didn't say a word, and just pulled her up into a deep, long, passionate kiss as soon as he reached the counter. Ally instantly melted into it, the rest of the world fading away as she got lost in the kiss. He eventually broke it and smiled at her. "Good morning to you too!" She said jokingly as he returned her smile. "What was that about?"

"That is to make up for not letting me kiss you last night." Austin replied, smirking and raising an eyebrow.

"Oh." Ally replied, mirroring his smirk as they remained in the embrace. "I take it you had a good time, then?"

"You bet I did." Austin replied before kissing her again, more gently and romantically this time.

"I'm glad. So did I." Ally replied, resting her head on his chest.

The next few days passed in a sort of blur, full of Ally working and Austin dropping her off, visiting her during the day and walking her home every night, although they didn't really have a lot of time for themselves. Austin realized this, and thought of a way to get back some of their precious 'Austin & Ally Time'…

Sorry chapters are only going up every other day at the moment, I'm just so busy at the moment! Please remember to favorite, follow and review and the next chapter will be up on Friday! :)