Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews.
Disclaimer: I do not own Austin & Ally, just trying to have a little fun.
Chapter 14
Monday morning dawned bright and clear. And the quiet little world that Austin and Ally had been living in was about to explode.
The first phone call of the day was from Trish to Austin.
Austin rolled over in his bed at the hotel and groaned when he heard his phone ringing. He picked it up and groaned again when he saw who was calling and what time it was. No one should call you at 6:32 in the morning, he was sure of it. He answered his phone, his voice raspy. "Trish, what the hell?"
"No time for that Austin, just listen," Trish interrupted. ""Are you listening? Are you awake enough to hear, actually hear, what I have to tell you?"
Austin shook his head and held the phone away from his head a little, Trish was louder than usual today. He sat up and took a deep breath as he put his phone back up to his ear. "Yeah, Trish. I'm awake. What is it?"
"Good Morning Miami is running a segment on you today, which you already knew. They are promoting you and your interview with them on Friday. But they called me this morning with questions about you and Ally. They have photos of the two of you all over town this weekend. They have photos of Tyler."
"No. No, no, no, no, no," Austin complained. "How did they find us? How did they even know I was here in Miami? Weren't they supposed to think I was on vacation before coming back here and starting my new album? They have pictures of Tyler? Crap. Ally is going to kill me."
"Yes they have some very nice pictures of the three of you walking through a shopping mall and having lunch together. They e-mailed them to me this morning asking for a comment. So, what's our comment?"
"You haven't made one yet?" Austin asked in surprise as he pulled his phone away from his ear to stare at it for a moment, incredulously.
"No," Trish's tone of voice softened considerably. "I owe her. And you. And I haven't made a comment yet. My inclination is to not make a comment today, but give you some time to figure this out. I think I can stall them for the rest of the day, well, until their morning broadcast is over anyway. But, they go on at seven so you should get on the phone to Ally."
He nodded, then realized that she couldn't see him and said, "Yeah, okay. I'll call her. But no comment from us until I call you back. And e-mail me those photos they sent you."
Trish quickly agreed, but told him to hurry and signed off. Austin rolled out of bed and pulled jeans and a gray t-shirt on, grabbed his wallet, phone, keys and a dark hooded sweatshirt before running his hand through his blonde hair. He caught sight of himself in the mirror and then pulled a pair of dark sunglasses and a dark blue ball cap out of his suitcase. After situating these items, hiding his hair and eyes, he walked out of his room and hurried to the elevator.
When he reached his car in the underground parking garage, he made sure to put the top up and roll up the darkened windows. As he pulled out, he hit Ally's speed dial. He hoped she had turned on her phone already, but when he heard the voice telling him the phone could not be reached he hung up and quickly dialed his home number.
"Good morning, Moon residence," his mother's perky voice greeted him.
"Mom," he ground out. "I really need to talk to Ally, and you need to turn on Good Morning Miami and record it for me."
"Austin, what's going on?" she asked.
"I don't know for sure, Mom. But I know I need to talk to Ally about it first," he said, taking a corner quickly. If he could keep up this speed, he could make it just after the show started or maybe just before.
"Here's Ally now," his Mom said. "Let me take Tyler for you and Austin wants to talk to you."
"Austin?" Ally came on the phone, her voice still clouded from sleep. He thought she sounded wonderful.
"Hey, Ally," he started softly. "We have a slight problem. Mom's going to turn on and record Good Morning Miami for me and you might want to watch as well. Trish called me and told me they have pictures of us. Pictures of us at lunch on Saturday."
"Oh. My. God. Oh my God," Ally breathed. "That means they have pictures of us and Tyler, right?"
Austin nodded to himself, she was quick even when she had just woken up. "Yeah, they have pictures of us with Tyler. Trish said they e-mailed her and asked for a comment, but she is stalling them until after today's broadcast to give us a little time."
He heard Ally gasp. "Trish is stalling them? For us?" she asked, she sounded shocked.
"I know," he admitted. "That kind of surprised me, too. She usually makes a comment and then tells me what it was and I just have to deal with it, but she seems more invested in my feelings, in your feelings, today."
"Wow. Just wow," Ally said quietly. "I'm downstairs now and the show is about to come on."
Austin smiled as familiar street signs began to flash past. "I'm two minutes away," he said. "Please unlock the front door..."
"Already done," she said smugly. "That was the first thing I did. We're all in the kitchen, so just meet us in there. I'll see you soon."
"See you soon," Austin answered as he hung up the phone before driving the last couple of blocks to his parent's house.
He pulled his car in and ran into the house, slamming the door behind him. He cringed when he heard his mother say, "I swear that boy was not raised in a barn. He knows I hate it when he slams the door."
"Sorry, Mom," he said as he slid into the kitchen shaking off his jacket and removing the hat and sunglasses. "The door got away from me."
He smiled at her in a winningly and she shook her head at him. "Don't do it again," she warned. "We don't need this little man screaming because he's scared."
He looked over at his son, who was sitting up in a weird seat today. "What is that?" Austin asked.
Ally waved him down as the familiar music for Good Morning Miami blared out from the TV in the corner. Austin settled down into a chair and everyone in the room grew quiet so they could watch the show.
The two newscasters walked on the set and waved to the cameras and the small studio audience to the sound of applause.
"I'm Craig Fraser," the blonde haired man in a light gray suit said, as he unbuttoned his jacket and sat in one of the bright red chairs.
"And I'm Diane Diaz," the dark-haired woman said as she smoothed her tight black skirt and gray jacket to sit in the other red chair.
"And this is Good Morning Miami," they concluded together. They paused briefly as the studio audience applauded.
"This morning's show is going to be a good one..," Craig teased as he looked over at his co-host.
"Indeed," Diane answered, teasing back. "This weekend was a good one. Lots of stuff happening around town."
"And we're going to talk about all of it," Craig smiled as he faced the camera. "The first thing we have to talk about is big news here in Miami, big news. News of one of our own."
"Yes, Craig," Diane cut in smoothly. "A home town boy who made it big has returned, it seems. We've heard music from him for years, he's been out on a huge world tour for a year, but I wonder if we're going to get some answers from him this Friday when he appears right here on Good Morning Miami?"
"Yes, folks," Craig responded, not missing a beat. "Diane and I will be welcoming Austin Moon, the Austin Moon, to the studio on Friday. To talk about his recent tour and his continuing music career."
"And, more importantly, about what he was doing in Miami this last weekend, when he was supposed to be in California, in preparation for his move there."
Diane and Craig exchange gleeful looks while Ally snapped her gaze to Austin, who was completely focused on the TV. Ally returned her attention to the two perky co-hosts as they continued teasing the studio and at-home audiences with talk of pictures and speculations until they cut to the weather and then their first commercial.
"You're moving to California?" Ally asks him softly, as he turns his attention to her.
"No. No, I'm not," Austin says softly, well aware of the fact that his parents are in the room and listening closely. "I was supposed to, but that is one of the first things I had Trish do for me on Friday, tell them that a move to California was not possible. I need to be here."
She brings her brown eyes up to his and she searches for a hint of regret in his eyes, but doesn't find it. She slowly lets out the breath she didn't know she was holding and nods up at him.
"Don't worry he said, we'll get through this together," he assures her.
She nods again as the music comes up and again and the hosts start talking about the traffic around Miami. "Together," she agrees.
They focus back on the TV as the co-hosts start talking about Austin again.
"All reports had him in California, but we have found out the truth," Craig says gleefully, looking extremely happy to have gotten such a scoop.
"Oh, yes," Diane agrees, flipping her long hair back off her shoulders. "We have photos of Austin Moon around town, right here in Miami; looking at houses, having lunch and dinner with a lovely woman who looks an awful lot like his long-time song-writer Ally Dawson, and they were toting a baby around with them as well."
"What could possibly be going in the life of Austin Moon?" Craig asked craftily. "Let's look at some of these pictures shall we?"
On the giant screen behind them, a picture of Austin and Ally appeared. It was one of them in front of one of the houses they had decided against. They were talking quietly in the driveway and Austin was holding Tyler. The next one was one of the three of them looking up at the front of the house Austin had decided to buy, this time Ally was holding the baby.
"Damn," Austin said. "You can totally tell that's us."
The co-hosts agreed as they cackled over the pictures, asking rhetorical questions and speculating endlessly on what could be going on in the life of Austin Moon.
Ally nodded. "At least we know, those pictures weren't taken by the agent, she's in them."
Austin agreed but, he thought to himself, she could have called someone to follow them around.
The next few pictures were flashed across the screen quickly. They were all from the restaurant where they had eaten lunch. They looked like a young family with Ally feeding the baby while Austin held him. There were shots of Austin and Ally with their heads close together, talking quietly.
There was a shot of them as they left the lunch place with Austin pushing the stroller and Ally laughing up at him.
"Look how cute that is," Diane said, as she turned back to the studio audience. "What could Austin be doing with them? Is that Ally Dawson? And who is that child?"
"Well, we put in a call to Star Records and to Austin's manager, Trish de la Rosa this morning, but we haven't heard back from them yet," Craig smiled at his partner. "So we don't know what is going on with him, yet."
"But have no fear, Miami," Diane interjected. "We will get to the bottom of this. Questions will be asked on Friday when Austin is here."
"And those questions will be answered," Craig said. "You can be sure of that."
As the two co-hosts turned to other news in Miami, Austin and Ally took deep breaths and blew them out at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed quietly.
"What are we going to do, Austin?" she asked, looking a little lost.
He shook his head, "I don't know, but we will deal with this together. We have to figure it out soon, though, I am scheduled to go on that show on Friday."
Ally nodded, but before she could respond both of their phones started to ring. Trish was calling Austin again and Ally's phone call was from Star Records. They looked at each other and picked up their respective phones.