Omfg, I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooo incredibly sorry right now! Feel free to hate me, i know I do! I canot believe I've made you wait two whole weeks! I am a terrible person!

I've been so unbelievably busy lately, so much work to do and I've just had absolutely zero free time to write!

And this is a really short chapter, too! Again, I am sosososososososososososososo sososososooooooooooooo sorry!

Thank you guys so much for all of the reviews, and for not abandoning the story, I love you all!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot line :'(

Chapter 12

Ally woke up to find a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, and to the exhilarating feeling of Austin's breath on the back of her neck. She smiled, snuggling backwards into the warmth of his body. He grunted a little, tightening his hold, making her uncomfortable. Sighing, she wriggled a little to get out of his grasp and moved her hand up to wipe a stray piece of hair from her face. Momentarily she wondered why it was wet. Then she remembered what she'd found out last night, and how she'd cried for over two hours straight.

Fighting back a fresh round of tears she got out of bed and grabbed a change of clothes from her drawers, peeling off those that she was already wearing as she made her way into the bathroom. She turned on the shower and sighed, peeling off the rest of her clothes and climbing in.

After a few minutes of relaxation, she heard the bedsprings creak and knew that Austin was awake.

"Ally, are you okay?" he called warily from the other side of the door.

"I'm fine, Austin. Just showering." She called, her voice a little higher than usual but otherwise normal. Austin being Austin, however, picked up on the high-pitch and sighed.

"No, you're not fine, and don't even try to lie to me. I know you too well. Can I come in?" he asked. She thought for a second, but figured that he's already seen it all before.

"Yeah, sure, but you're not getting in here with me."

"Dammit." He muttered, something in the tone of his voice telling her that he was honestly disappointed.

She smiled pathetically and he grimaced back at her pityingly. He tried to keep his gaze on her face but, being a teenage guy, couldn't help letting his eyes stray downward across her wet body. She covered herself automatically, making him chuckle.

"Ally, you have nothing you need to hide…from where I stand, your body is pretty perfect." He told her. She smiled, shrugging as she turned around to grab the shower gel.

"Thanks Austin. Look, I think I'm going to be fine. But…I have to go back to Miami." She told him. He froze, looking her in the eye to see if she was being serious.

"Wh-why?" he stammered. She sighed.

"Because I need to see my friends, first of all. And I don't trust Dallas to send all of my stuff over here. Also…I need to see him. Talk things over with him. And tell him…I need to tell him that I'm with you. He was going to tell me about his kid…I can't keep this from him knowing that he was planning to tell me about that. But I need to speak to him anyway, Austin. This isn't just about us. I'm not the kind of person who can just cut off all ties to my life and move on. I have to sort things out with Dallas or it will eat me alive for the rest of my life, and I can't…I can't let that happen." She explained. He looked thoughtful for a second and then nodded.

"I get it, totally. But I'm coming with you."

"What?"

"He's my brother, Ally. I can't let you tell him this without me there…what if he gets really mad?"

"I'm not afraid of him, Austin."

"I know you're not, but I'm coming anyway. It'd be cowardly to stay here, and I'm not a coward."

"Thanks, Austin. I'm glad." She sighed, relieved. She hadn't wanted to outright ask him to go with her, but she wanted him to, so she was glad that he had decided to go.

"No problem."

"Could you pass me a towel?" she asked, turning off the shower and wrapping her arms around herself, shivering slightly. He nodded, turning to grab a towel and hold it out for her. She stepped out, allowing him to wrap it around her body and hug her to his chest. She leant her head on his shoulder, breathing in his scent and wondering how she could have been with Dallas all that time and not realised what she was missing out on. Dallas had never been able to make her feel the way Austin made her feel. It had taken years for her and Dallas to even consider getting married, but with Austin she would willingly walk down the aisle tomorrow if that was what he wanted. She knew he was only eighteen, and that he could change his mind about her at any time, but something in the way he held her, the way he looked at her, told her that he wasn't planning to move on anytime soon.

"I love you, Austin." She sighed, and then froze, realising what she'd said. Austin froze too, shocked. Neither of them spoke for a minute or so, but then Austin slowly pulled away to look her in the eyes. Ally was dismayed to see the outright terror in his eyes.

"Ally…"

"I'm so sorry, Austin! Me and my big mouth….forget I ever said that, please. I don't want to mess up this relationship so soon, I know you probably don't feel the same way, I mean, how could you? I don't even know what came over me, I just-"

"Ally, we've only known each other for a few weeks…"

"Yeah, I know, I'm-"

"And you're three years older than me…"

"I'm sorry, please don't-"

"And up until not long ago you were engaged to my brother…"

"I don't really see how relevant that is, but-"

"And I'm still young, most guys my age wouldn't dream of committing to a serious relationship…"

"For fuck's sake, I know! You don't have to tell me all these things, I know! And I know you don't-"

"By all logic, there's no way I should be in love with you, Ally." By now she was crying, about ready to run out of the house and drive all the way home to Miami in just the towel. She moved to run out of the bathroom but Austin grabbed her hand, linking his fingers through hers and pulling her close to his chest.

"You didn't let me finish, Ally."

"What more could you possibly have to say?" she choked out through her sobs. He smiled softly, leaning down to kiss the tears away from her cheeks.

"I shouldn't be in love with you, Ally. To most people, it would seem impossible. But for some stupid, crazy reason, I am. At risk of sounding mushy…I couldn't see myself with anyone else but you."

"R-really?" she stuttered, unable to believe what she was hearing. He smiled, nodding.

"I fucking love you, Ally Dawson. And I'll do whatever it takes to make you believe that." She momentarily wondered what a suitable response to that would be, but then she threw her arms around his neck and connected their lips, and that was all she needed to do to get her message across.

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"You're family are going to hate me, Austin." Ally groaned, clenching her sweaty fists in anxiety. He rolled his eyes, squeezing her shoulder lightly.

"No, they aren't. They love you, and they're not going to care at all about us."

"Of course they will! They're going to assume I cheated on Dallas with you!"

"No they won't, not if we tell them that we didn't."

"I don't know, Austin…"

"Trust me, okay? Look, there's no way my mom will let me go with you to Miami unless we explain."

"You're eighteen now, Austin, your mom can't tell you what to do anymore!"

"C'mon, Ally, you know my mom. As long as I live in this house, I have to follow her rules." He told her. She sighed in defeat, knowing that he was right. She knew that she could convince him to leave now, without even telling anyone, if she really wanted to. But she didn't want to ruin his relationships with any more of his family, so she had to do this. For him.

Takign a deep breath, she pushed open the door to the lounge, a look of determination on her face. Tom, Addison, Charlotte and Alice looked up from the board game they were playing to smile at the pair.

"Ally, Austin! We were just playing Monopoly, would you two like to join us?" Addison greeted them, smiling happily. Ally opened her mouth to speak but her throat closed up, preventing her from saying a word.

"Actually, mom, there was something we needed to tell you…"

"Oh, okay then…what is it?"

"Well…Ally?" he glanced at his soon-to-be-not-so-secret girlfriend and silently asked her if she wanted to tell them She nodded, smiling softly at the group in front of her.

"Look, there's no easy way to say this, but…promise you guys won't hate me?"

"I seriously doubt that anything you have to say could make us hate you, Ally." Said Allyson, shaking her head. Ally gulped.

"Oh, trust me, this might. Well, erm…I'm not gonna beat about the bush…Austin and I are a couple." She blurted, hoping maybe they had all suffered from temporary deafness while she said it. She cringed as Addison opened her moth to speak, ready to run upstairs and start packing her belongings. What Addison did say, however, shocked her.

"Oh, we know dear."

"Wait-what?" Austin choked out, frowning at his mother. She chuckled, rolling her eyes.

"Did you honestly expect Charlotte to keep it a secret? And I mean, you two weren't exactly discreet about it. The walls in this house aren't soundproof, you know…" Ally's cheeks flamed and she hung her head in shame, and even Austin blushed a little.

"Oh God, mom…" he muttered, mortified. Ally noticed Alice's face change from confused to disgusted as she figured out what everyone was talking about, and laughed at her scrunched up face.

"Oh, ew, mom! That's my brother you're talking about!" she cried. Addison glanced at her sharply.

"You're too young to know what we're talking about." She snapped. Alice rolled her eyes, muttering something incomprehendable under her breath.

"Look, Addison, I'm sorry if this makes you angry at all…"

"Why on Earth would I be angry? You did nothing wrong, Ally? I mean, as long as this wasn't going on before Austin's birthday…I wouldn't want you breaking the law under my roof." She chided. Ally shook her head quickly.

"No, honestly, it only happened after Dallas and I ended it completely. I would never do that, ever."

"Even though Dallas did it to you?"

"Two wrongs don't make a right. I'm not unfaithful, and I never will be."

"Well that's good to hear if you and my son are going to be serious. Look, Ally, I trust you. And it's obvious to me that you two are in love. Hell, there's been chemistry between the pair of you since you first met. As long as you treat Austin right, and he treats you right, I have no issues with the two of you." Addison shrugged, smiling warmly. Ally couldn't help herself; she threw her arms around Addison, grinning widely.

"Thank you so much!" she choked out, crying happy tears.

"It's no problem. But there is one problem…are you going to tell Dallas? Because I'm nto sure how happy he'll be about this…"

"Actually, Austin and I were planning to fly out to Miami as soon as possible to go see him. He chose to be honest with me about his child, so it's only fair that I'm honest to him about Austin. But we wanted to tell you first; Austin didn't want to frighten you by running off to Miami, and he knew you wouldn't let him go if you didn't know the circumstances." She explained. Addison beamed at them.

"Wow. Before you came here, if someone had told me that something like this would happen I would have laughed. You've changed my son since you came here. In these past few weeks, Austin has grown from a boy into a man, and I only have you to thank for that." She said, tearing up a little. Austin smiled at his mom, moving forward to pull her into a hug.

"I love you mom. I'm sorry about how I used to be. I understand now what an absolute dickhead I was, and I hate myself for it. I love you so much, and I hate that I damaged our relationship that way. I'm glad you think I'm a man now, but I do have one more question…"

"What is it?"

"Do you think I'm mature enough to go to Miami with Ally?" he asked. She laughed.

"Of course you are! As long as you come back, of course. And please, go easy on your brother. He might had screwed things up royally, but he's still my son, and he's still your brother."

"Don't worry, mom. I won't beat him up too bad." He joked, making everyone but Ally laugh.

"Actually, you won't beat him up at all." She corrected him, expression stern. Tom laughed loudly, shaking his head at his son.

"Austin, son, I gotta say I admire you. Women are hard enough, but an older woman…? Good luck to you, boy." He said jovially. Austin smiled, glancing back at Ally and moving to wrap an arm around her waist. She smiled back at him.

"Ally could be fifty, for all I care. She's the one for me, no doubt about that." He said softly. Ally smiled, blushing a little, and kissed him on the cheek chastely.

"I love you too, Austin. But seriously, we need to leave now if we wanna get to Miami today." She said, frowning apologetically at Addison. Austin's mom shrugged.

"I understand. We'll see you soon." She said.

Austin and Ally said their goodbyes and then grabbed their suitcases and made their way out to Austin's car. As she closed the passenger side door, Ally took a deep breath. Austin glanced at her pale face.

"You ready for this?"

"You know what? Even though it's gonna be hours until we actually get to Miami, let alone to see Dallas, I still feel physically sick right now."

"Don't worry about it, Ally. Things are going to be okay. As long as we've got each other, we'll be just fine." He said, taking her hand in his own and kissing her knuckles reassuringly.

"Thanks Austin. I love you." She muttered.

"I love you too." He replied.

Ally knew she'd never get used to the warm, fuzzy feeling she got when he said those four words. And honestly? She never wanted to.

Please review!

And by the way, if any of you have ever visited the Auslly Wikia, there's something on there called the Austin and Ally awards, and there's a 'Best FanFiction Author' category and I've been nominated! And so has my BFFF (Best FanFiction Friend) Wonderstruck-ambition ! If you get a chance, please go on there and vote for us? Her story, 'She Moves In With Us' has also been nominated for 'FanFiction Victory', so please vote for that and for one of use for best Author! I would be ternally grateful! Love you guys! :D