Everyone, I warn you now this may be a long author's note. :D Okay, so let's start with how wonderful you all are. Thank you for everything you've done for this story, and every review on this last chapter. We're well onto the front page for the stories now and I can't thank you enough. We're getting to the end, and I know I said there was only a few chapters left, but honestly, I don't really know if that's true or not. I can't decide on an ending and each ending makes the story a certain length. Either way, we've got a decent amount of story left. And after that, I've got one shots planned. :)

And onto the second thing. GUESS WHO SAW THE BAND IN CONCERT FOR THE FOURTH TIME LAST WEEK? Huntington, NY. Guys, it was amazing. I got to meet them again with VIP and not only did I get another group hug, I got the most adorable picture with the band ever. It's probably my second favorite meet and greet photo I've taken with the band. Let's just say it's adorable. As for the concert, the new album sounds great live and the band is as awesome as ever. There was a lot of great moments but the best part was that I now own a Riker pick! It bounced off my hand and it's this wonderful thing that is possibly the greatest thing ever. Okay, maybe not the greatest thing ever, but it's pretty awesome! I ALSO MET STORMIE FOR THE FIRST TIME. She's so sweet. I can't handle how proud she is of them. She's the one rocking out the hardest of all of us. And TO TOP IT OFF. I'm in the recap video as well. It's in black and white, but if you watch it when it shows a few fans, I'm on the left with curly hair and it's only a half section of my face but I am on R5's profile and that to me is worth mentioning. :D Haha.

ONTO THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE AUTHOR'S NOTE. I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. YES, YOU. You, the people who have been with me and this story for so long, I want your opinions! Because I'm having such a hard time deciding what I want to do, I want to know what you all think. What is your thoughts on my story? If you could answer the following questions, please do. Answer them honestly and be as long as you want. It's you guys who have made this story what is it is, and I can't thank you enough.
1. What has been your favorite part of this story?
2. Who is your favorite character? (s)
3. Who is your least favorite character?
4. Is there anything you wish would have been in the story that wasn't?
5. Is there anything that is in the story that you wish wasn't?
6. What do you think of Ally?
7. Do you think the story should end in a romance? Think of this before you answer. Both Riker and Austin are people she was hired to help.
8. If you answered yes to that question, who do you want her to end up with and why?
9. Who do you wish was a bigger character in the story? Any characters you'd like to see more/less of?
10. Backstory who interests you the most?

I might add more questions in the next chapter. You can ask me questions, too! If you have anything to ask me, please let me know! If it has to do with the story, with the band, with the show, ANYTHING, I'm more than happy to answer!

Please let me know what you think. Enjoy!


After getting the okay from the hospital, Austin and Ally made their way down the hallway to his room in the ICU. Austin was overjoyed when she had told him where they were going, but as they neared the room his run had slowed.

"Nervous?"

He was hesitant to admit this, but then slowly nodded. "It's going to be hard to see him like this."

"He's going to be okay," she said firmly.

"I just wish we could skip a few weeks, get to the better part." He paused, looking at her. "You know?"

Ally nodded and smiled at him.

He sighed. "Okay, well, I can't put it off forever. And this is only the first of two times that it's going to feel this way. Might as well go in."

"Do you want me to go in with you?" She had a feeling he would say no, but she figured offering would at least give him some sort of encouraging. As she thought, he went into the room alone, and left her with her thoughts outside.

Austin didn't spend long in the room, much to her surprise. He left quietly, only nodding his head at her as slipped onto the floor. His lack of reaction gave her an odd feeling, but he probably had the moment he needed inside and was now calm.

Ally waited a moment to make sure he was alright, and then decided she would go in too. She slipped inside, closing her eyes the moment she saw him. Her knees went numb and she grabbed onto the chair near his bed, being calmed by the beeping machine that controlled his heartbeat.

It was still going strong, much like the boy himself.

Her mind relaxed and she willed herself closer to the bed, noticing how many things were monitoring him right then. "You never can do anything half assed, can you?" she joked, hoping somehow he'd hear it.

She laughed at her own joke, and took a seat next to his bed.

"I'm sorry that you're here," she started to say, but then shrugged. "It'd be silly to think that you would have stayed at the shelter today. It goes against everything you are, and that's something that you should never change. But somehow, I still wish you would have been at the shelter instead of being there. But then, who knows what would have happened? Do you know how brave it was to risk your life for Austin's? You always say you know what he went through, but you went through so much too. I'm not sure why you did it. I mean, I get you care for him. But there is so much more to what you did than caring for someone. You're a hero."

Ally laughed.

"If you were awake right now, you'd be eating this up." Her smile faded. "You know, we break the rules a lot at the shelter. The rules always seem to get us into trouble. You know what I'm talking about, but wouldn't you say the fact that we're not exactly by the book is what makes us so special? We've been through hell the last few months, all of us. You all especially. You've put up with some things no one should, and you've all taken it and grown from it. Would you have thought you'd be on stage, playing for how many people? I mean, I wouldn't have thought that a few months ago. You wouldn't even come out of your room!"

He looked so relaxed, but she knew underneath the blankets he was a mess.

"You've come so far. And I know I've told you that, but it's actually easier to say to you like this than to your face when you're awake." Ally was trying to smile again, but her eyes welled with tears. She took this as a chance to say the only words that she could think to say, "God, I'm so proud of you."

A few days passed with little improvement on Rocky's end. He hadn't gotten any worse, but by now it was obvious all had hoped he'd at least be awake. The hospital had kept it so he was sedated, explaining it would help him heal faster, and keep him in less pain. It was driving much of the shelter stir crazy. Summer wasn't much fun when all you could think about was your friend in the hospital.

Ally found it hard to keep them busy. It wasn't easy to make anyone do anything, especially Austin who wanted to go to the hospital every day and see him, if only for a minute.

After the first time he'd only gone in for that long, she hadn't thought much about it. When she brought him back the next day and the same thing happened, she was confused. After all, she had opened her heart in that room, and he'd only been in for maybe two minutes each time. It was quite strange, and she couldn't help but ask him why he didn't stay.

He had explained, "All I want is to see him. Watch him breathe and see he's still there. It's enough for me."

Later that day, Trish called all the adults into the office and shut the door.

"It's been a hard few days," she started from her seat and smiled at the three of them. Ally was growing afraid for what she was going to say, but the words that left her mouth were not a bad thing at all. "Austin's birthday is in two days. I want it to be special. After the last few weeks, he deserves it to be special. It's going to be tough considering Rocky is in the hospital, but we can do it."

"It's in two days?" Ally said, as that was all she could think about. Any other person would be bragging and bouncing off the walls because their birthday was in two days, but not Austin. He hadn't even mentioned it. Ally felt her heart break a bit over this. Would the kid ever get a chance to be a teenager without worries?

"Yes. I've made a list of things that we can do, including some options that I'd like to run by everyone and see what sounds best."

Ally didn't hear much of the conversation as it was playing over in her head that the boy's birthday was in less than two days. She got up as soon as she was told she could leave and began to wonder how she herself could make it a birthday to remember. She knew he wasn't feeling the best still, both mentally and from the gunshot, but she was determined to make the day something good in his life, and make him forget about the last few. Having been put in charge of gathering the others and telling them of the plans, she wondered what each of them could do that would make it for a great day.

Her first trip was to Rydel, queen of all things fun and happy. She was ecstatic to hear they'd be planning a party and got right on wanting to put together a great day. It was harder to talk to both Ellington and especially Riker, who wasn't exactly on his good side still, considering what happened at the concert. But even he knew it'd been tough lately and had agreed to help out, and while Austin was at a therapy session, the others snuck into the mall to find things not only as gifts, but for all around fun for the day.

Rydel led the way. She was bouncing about, talking excitedly to Riker about what they could do for music. Beside her, Ellington and Dez walked, both quietly enjoying having some time away from the shelter, but not at the hospital. That was one good thing about the sudden planning of a party. It brought away the thoughts of Rocky.

"What are we going to do about gifts?" Ellington asked. "I don't have money to get him anything and I don't know what he would want."

"It's not up to each of you to get him a gift. We can get one gift from all of you and that will be fine." Ally thought back to what he'd been through with Jimmy and figured anything could have been better than his last birthday. "After all, he's going to appreciate the thought in all of this more than anything."

The others nodded and Ellington caught up with Rydel and Riker. "What about a video?" Dez offered.

Ally glanced at him, smiling at the shy boy. He had to be coaxed to come to the mall, but there he was beside her. He was far from comfortable, rubbing his arms every so often. But he was there. "What do you mean, a video?"

"We could film each of us on video talking about him and just saying happy birthday, and play it for him. He would really appreciate that, don't you think?" Ally loved the idea and told him so.

"We could definitely do that!"

He nodded and fell silent again. It was always a struggle to get him to talk. "How are you doing?" she asked him honestly, as he began to rub his arms again when someone bumped into him. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I have good days," he explained. "And I have bad days. Ryland is helping me a lot." He pulled up his sleeve, his scars still so evident and screaming of his past. "But I've been clean ever since."

Ally stopped to hug him. "You're doing great."

"It's been harder than I thought," he admitted, as they came into a store. "I thought that since I was able to keep it up in the hospital, it would be just as easy here. There is so much going on around me though, and group therapy sessions bring up a lot of bad memories. Sometimes after those, the urges are the worst."

"What do you do when that happens?" she asked.

"Videos," he said simply. "It's something I love to do, and it keeps me distracted."

Ally went to answer him, but her phone cut her off. She didn't get a chance to say hello before, "Get whatever you're getting and then get back to the shelter. The hospital just called. They're confident enough to remove the sedation and they're going to wake him up."

It didn't take long for them to leave the mall and nearly race back to the shelter where not only the adults, but Austin was waiting at the door. "Come on," he said with excitement, bouncing up and down next to Ally. They were on their way within five minutes, all literally glowing with happiness that their friend was going to be awake.

At the hospital, it was a waiting game. And no one wanted to wait. It led to not only pacing, but arguments over stupid things, which the adults were constantly trying to break up. Ally had zoned out, her mind on seeing him for the first time since he came out of the sedation, that stupid smirk he always had on his face when her eyes welled up.

"Austin can go in first," Trish said automatically, her voice leaving no room for arguments. "Try to keep it in five minute ranges and don't be insulted if they ask you to give him room. We don't know how well he's going to be coming off the sedation and it's going to be hard for him to keep up. So, keep that in mind guys. He's still not out of the woods."

Ally watched as a doctor motioned for Austin to follow and his body language screamed nerves once again. It was so easy to see that about him, he practically wore his heart on his sleeve. He waved to her as he went off and she smiled at him, hoping whatever happened when he went in there would be good for the both of them. She only wished to be a fly on the wall when they were reunited.

At the room, Austin couldn't move. He felt paralyzed with fear, wondering how his friend would react to him. He felt so many emotions since finding out he'd saved his life and he couldn't help but want to cry. Rocky had never sugarcoated anything for him, but yet had always been there. He was one of the closest things he had to a brother and he could only hope one day he could repay him for what he'd done.

"You can go in," the doctor said, leaving him to stare at the door. A nurse walked out, a smiling woman with bright pink cheeks and caring eyes. He was so going to fall for her, Austin thought and laughed. It was the will he needed to enter the room, and he took a step in with the same smile on his face.

Rocky didn't notice him at first. He had his eyes closed when he entered, but his fingers were moving like he wanted to play his guitar. It was a habit both of them were guilty of, the constant feeling of wanting to play. "I could try and sneak your guitar in, but if we get caught, I'm blaming it on you," he said.

Rocky's eyes flew open. The sense of relief and recognition felt good and he quickly walked over to where he was. "Only if you bring yours too, then we can jam."

"It'll be harder for me to bring both in," Austin laughed. "They might notice two."

"They'd probably notice one," Rocky too smiled.

Austin felt the conversation lull and he took in Rocky's condition. It was clear he was exhausted, each reaction and word taking a lot out of him. But he knew he wanted him there, just from how he was acting. "Well, we've done worse."

"You know, I broke into your room that night in the hospital," Rocky said quietly. "Remember how mad Trish was? If only she knew what she'd gotten into then."

"Ally told me later she wanted nothing to do with it, but you sort of pulled her in."

"Oh, please!" Rocky laughed, but it was weak. The pain was evident on his face. "She went along with it the moment she knew I went in. She wanted to see you just as much, but she didn't have the nerve. It wasn't like anyone was watching us."

Austin didn't answer because he knew they couldn't keep bringing back old jokes and memories. "Thank you for what you did. You didn't have to, but I appreciate it."

"Can we not do this?" Rocky muttered. "I don't have the energy to think of witty rebuttals and there is no way we're going to talk about our feelings."

Austin tried to think of some way around what he just heard, but gave in within seconds. "Fine," he mumbled mostly to himself. "Either way, thank you." His friend's eyes were drooping and he knew it was only minutes before he fell to sleep. "I can't stay long anyway, Trish wants other people to see you. Ally might lose it if she isn't let in soon."

Rocky smiled. "Yeah, let her come in." Just as he went to leave, he heard his friend whisper, "You're welcome."