Disclaimer: I don't own Austin & Ally or any characters I didn't make up.


"Ally, I would love to be able to do normal couple things, but we're not normal and you know that," he defended. She nodded, "That's the excuse you're going with. Okay then," she walked past him to the house, "guess I'll never be as important to you as your fans."

Several hours later…

No matter how much he tried to talk to his angry girlfriend she still ignored him. He understood why she's mad, but he still believed his reasoning was the right one. His mom tried to talk to him, but he said he didn't want to talk about it. His sister advised him to leave her alone to cool off a bit.

She wouldn't even look at him as he stared at her from across the garden and ignored the guys' conversation. She continued her conversation with the girls as if nothing had happened between them.

"Austin? Austin?" Ryder tried to get his attention before exclaiming, "Dude!" Austin snapped out of his trance and turned to look at his best friends, "Huh?" Dez shook his head sympathetically, "You've been staring at her for the past 10 minutes."

Elliot interjected, "Not only her," he nodded his head towards Austin's parents who were cuddling on a hammock, "them too." Austin dropped his head, "I can't help it. Ally's mad at me, and my mom's cuddling with him. Things can't get worse."

"First, your mom can cuddle with her fiancé, that's not a crime. You're just bugged by it because you don't like him," Ryder stated, "Second, are you embarrassed of Ally?"

Austin's head shot up and he exclaimed loudly, "Hell no!" Everyone looked at him because of his loud response. He caught Ally's eyes as the rest resumed their conversations after seeing that nothing was going on. She shook her head at him and looked away.

He sighed dejectedly, "I can never be embarrassed of her. She's amazing. I want the world to know she's mine. She helped me become the best I can be. She's down to earth and doesn't let the fame get to her. She treats me like I'm a normal guy when no one else does. I love her. She's my everything. I can't lose her."

Elliot asked, "Then why don't you want to go public?" Austin rubbed the back of his neck, "I don't know. Maybe I'm scared of the fans' reaction. If they don't take it well, they could hurt her. They did that to my ex." Dez stated, "Your ex was horrible. They had the right to. This time's different. Ally's loved by everyone."

Ryder softly said, "If you really love her, you wouldn't care what anybody else thinks." Austin sighed and got up, "I need a moment."

He walked into the house where he knew nobody was in and headed to the kitchen. He got a water bottle out of the fridge and set it on the counter between his clenched fists.

He thought over what the guys told him. He knew that if he were in Ally's shoes, he would feel the same way. He cursed himself at how stupid he was. Of course Ally would be upset, she now thinks he doesn't care about her.

His thoughts were interrupted when someone walked in. He kept his back to them to let them know he wasn't interested in talking. He heard the fridge door opening and closing.

"Uh, Austin?" he recognized the voice to be his father's. He kept his back to him but mumbled a small, "Yeah?" Mike gently said, "I know you don't want to talk about it, but I need to tell you this."

Austin's lack of response encouraged him to continue, "These fans are there until they get bored of you and move on. That girl right there could be the rest of your life. Who's more important to you?"

He waited until his father left the room to turn around and stare at his retreating figure. What he told him repeated in his mind several times. He didn't expect his father out of everyone else to be the one telling him that.

He didn't know if his father did it for his happiness or to just end the tension and awkwardness in the room. He didn't know if Mike Moon genuinely cared about his family. This just confused him even more.

Austin didn't know whether or not he could trust him. He felt like he could, but something in his mind warned him. If he lets his father in and then he leaves again, Austin didn't know if he could take it. Flashbacks of the day he walked out on them burst in Austin's mind.

He remembered his mom sobbing in her room and him trying to get in before she hurts herself. He remembered the house that was once bright and smiley turned dull and depressed. He remembered Cassidy picking up used tissues from the floor while crying her eyes out. He remembered how quickly the fridge emptied, how the bills stacked up, how scarce money became.

He shook his head to clear his mind. They're older now, they have jobs. If his father decided to leave them again, it won't be as bad. They could go back to their normal lives before he came back. But his mom's heart would be broken. His sister would break down. He had to be the strong one between them. And to do that, he had to stay away.

He heard someone enter the house and go to the living room. He took a peek at the person to find Ally texting in the middle of the room. He prepared himself to go talk to her. This was either gonna make them or break them.

"Who's more important to you?" the questioned echoed in his mind.

"Her," he whispered to himself before walking to the living room with a mission to accomplish.

She put her phone in her pocket the moment he walked in. She watched him confidently head towards her and take her hands in his.

She opened her mouth to speak but he stopped her, "Don't say anything. Hear me out first."

He watched her slowly nod before saying, "I'm not humiliated by you. I could never be. In fact, you should be embarrassed of me with how I acted today. I didn't want my fans to take it in a bad way then try to hurt you in some way. But after talking about it, I realized that I shouldn't care what they think. I love you too much to worry about what they say. Then my father told me something that really made me rethink my priorities. Ally, you're more important to me than anyone else. You'll always be. I'll never choose my career over you."

She quietly said, "You actually listened to your father?" He rolled his eyes and sarcastically said, "Out of all of that, that's the only thing you hear." Ally giggled before wrapping her arms around his neck, "I'm sorry for the way I acted too, but you really bothered me when you didn't want people to know about us."

He nodded, "I know, and you have every right to. So, are we okay?" She smiled and nodded, "You're more important to me than my career too. I love you." He pulled her to a deep kiss. They pulled away when a flash went off.

"Again?" Austin smiled at his mom who was holding a camera. Mimi defended herself, "You'll thank me for taking all of these pictures one day." Ally giggled, "I'm sure we will."

After Mimi walked out Ally turned to him, "By the way, you didn't have to tell me all of that. I already knew everything you were thinking."

He furrowed his brows, "How?" She smiled, "Dez recorded you telling them about how you're not embarrassed of me and how you couldn't lose me. I forgave you the moment he showed me that."

He nodded, "Of course he'd do that. How did I not see that coming?"

Ally's phone beeped signaling a received text. "Who are you texting?" he asked. She replied to the text before saying, "Scott."

Austin's eyes widened as he exclaimed, "And you're doing nothing?!" She turned her phone off, "I just want to see what he wants to finally leave me alone." He asked, "What did he say?" She bit her lip, "He wants to talk to me." He was cut off by Ally before he could say anything, "Alone."

He laughed, "But you're not gonna do it, are you?" She looked down, "Actually…"