heyyy... *waves* so this definitely took a lot longer than expected. sorry about that haha. not sure how i feel about this but here it is :) -Ej

*not thoroughly edited

Twenty Seven: Trials & Technology

Austin and Ally both stared at the screen for a good fifteen seconds, both of their jaws dropped to the floor. He gulped, unsure of what to say. He had so many questions.

"Umm, w-what the hell?" Ally finally managed, looking over at him. "Jimmy's suing us?"

"Well, not technically..." Austin muttered. "He just threatened to."

"This isn't good, Austin," Ally said, shaking her head. "If Jimmy files a lawsuit against A&A Records, or worse, us, our company could be in trouble. Not to mention our reputation as artists could go down the drain." She put her head in her hands, frowning. "I can't believe this is actually happening."

"I know," Austin replied, "And for what? As far as I'm concerned, I'm allowed to sign whoever I want, including Jimmy's niece. The fact that she's related to him shouldn't matter."

"It just doesn't make sense. Things were going so well!"

"I know."

Ally sighed. "I guess it was just too good to be true, huh? Having a record label that's in competition with Jimmy's." Austin nodded.

"I guess so." There was another moment of silence between the two. Ally started to bite her nails unconsciously and looked up at Austin.

"Austin, what if...what if he actually goes forwards with this and it destroys our careers?" He forced himself to tear his eyes away from the computer and look down at his wife, who was moments away from breaking into tears. "What would that mean for us, for the kids?" Austin grabbed her hand and stroked it with the top of his thumb as he often did when her anxiety got the best of her.

He paused for a second. "We're just gonna have to make sure that that doesn't happen, then."

A few hours later

4:30 p.m.(ish)

"It's messed up, Dez. I don't know what to do," Austin said as he paced back and forth on the deck out back while on the phone with his best friend. He had just explained the entire situation to Dez and he'd been ranting for about fifteen minutes. Ally was downstairs with Ava, giving another piano lesson to try keep her mind off things, while Alex was out in the yard, chasing Paris around. Ally had put Austin in charge of making sure their son didn't disappear from the backyard but truth be told, he wasn't watching him that closely.

"That's rough, man, I'm sorry," Dez responded. "I wish I had some advice for you or something, but..."

"That's okay, Dez. You don't need to." Austin stared out at the yard, watching as Alex literally tackled the dog to the ground and the two of them rolled around for a few seconds in the wet grass, which was all thanks to the heightened amount of rain they'd been getting lately. Austin groaned, knowing that within minutes both of them would come running in the house, completely covered in mud. He shook his head, knowing that that wasn't the biggest issue at the moment.

At least to him. He knew Ally would be pissed—she'd just cleaned the floors earlier that afternoon.

"Well, uh, I'd better let you go. You seem like you've got a lot going on, so..." Dez' voice trailed off and Austin nodded, forcing himself back to reality.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks for hearing me out, buddy. It's always fun talking to you."

"Hey, right back atcha golden toes," Dez joked. "I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah...bye." Austin hung up the phone and peered off the deck. "Hey, Alex!" The two-year-old looked up to reveal that his face and hair were completely covered in mud. "Come over to the side of the house so I can hose you off before you come inside." Alex cocked his head and Paris looked up at him, confused as to why her playtime with her human had been suddenly cut short. "Like, I'm literally gonna wash you with the hose," he added. "Mom's gonna be mad if you track mud in the house." Austin watched as Alex ran up to the side of the house, Paris trailing behind him, as he went to look for an older towel to mop his son off with in the laundry room. He grabbed a stack off of the top shelf and his breath hitched when he recognized the one that sat on the very top.

It was purple, although the color had faded from dark to light, and there was a red stain that ran right down the middle. Austin bit his lip so hard he wouldn't have been surprised if he drew blood. It was the towel. The one that he'd grabbed hastily from the bathroom cabinet as he had carried her out the door the night that they had moved into the house.

The night Ally miscarried.

Austin felt tears prick at his eyes. I could've sworn I threw that towel away. One started trailing down his cheek. Why didn't I throw the damn towel away? He threw the towel down on the floor angrily and leaned up against the washer, supporting himself with both hands.

We have two healthy kids now. Why does it still hurt?

He looked down at the ground through his vision, which was now blurry because of the tears. He remembered scrubbing at the towel for days, weeks, trying to remove the stain caused by Ally's bleeding. But it had been no use. There would always be a painful reminder hidden on that purple towel of what could have been, of what should have been.

I have to throw it away.

But he didn't. He stayed there in the laundry room, tears streaming down his face as he stared down at it. Austin knew that Ally and Ava would be upstairs any second, as their lessons never lasted very long, and if he didn't get outside to clean Alex off soon then he would come barging in the house and track mud everywhere. But for some reason, he couldn't will his feet to move.

Pick up another towel. Go outside. Wash Alex off. Move on.

"I don't...I don't want to move on!" he yelled, his cheeks immediately turning pink. Ally definitely heard that. "I-I don't...I don't want to let go..." His head dipped and he squeezed his eyes shut, letting the tears drop one by one onto the lid of the washing machine. He was pretty much a mess at this point, but he didn't care. He had tried so hard to be strong for Ally in the weeks following the miscarriage that all of his emotions had been building up inside of him—and he'd never really given himself the chance to let it all out (besides the morning after at the kitchen table, but that had only been for a few minutes). After that, when Ally got pregnant with Ava, he'd sort of forgotten that he'd ever been sad.

It was safe to say that he remembered now.

They never really talked about the miscarriage that had happened over six years ago now, especially in front of the kids. He and Ally generally avoided the subject and there was some part of him that felt the need to express his grief but he never did. Austin had been experiencing a lot of stress lately. With Jimmy's impending lawsuit and the anxiety of not knowing whether his and Ally's business was going to survive, something as simple as a towel had set him off.

It only took six years, but Austin had finally allowed himself to cry about it.

So he did. He stood in the laundry room for five minutes and cried. From the outside, he seemed so strong and confident all the time. He was Austin Moon, for crying out loud. And while he was grateful there were no paparazzi around to capture this side of him, he also wanted the world to know. Not everybody had to be strong all the time. He wished he could make people see that.

A few minutes later that he heard footsteps coming up from the basement, and he could tell that they belonged to his wife. Austin was curled on the floor now, leaning back against the washing machine, legs hugged to his chest and head thrown back. His eyes were puffy and his cheeks were pink and he felt awful, but there was no way to gather himself before Ally got upstairs. He sniffled and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. Ally opened the door to the basement and called his name, frowning. She went over to the window leading out to the deck and looked out, starting to become more confused by the minute.

"Austin! Alex! Where'd you guys go!" Ally looked behind her and saw the towel sticking halfway out of the doorway to the laundry room and knit her eyebrows. "Why's this towel on the floor?" she wondered aloud. "You'd think," she muttered to herself, walking towards the laundry room, "that after almost seven years of marriage he'd learn to pick up after himse—" as she bent over to pick up the towel, Ally looked to the right. That's when she saw Austin sitting on the floor.

Something's wrong.

Without hesitation she immediately ran over to him, kneeling down beside him and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. He put his head in her lap and she ran her fingers through his hair gently.

"What's wrong?" she whispered, more confused than ever to see him crying on the floor like this. That's usually my thing.

"I wa...was going to grab a t-towel, b-but I...grabbed the wrong one..." he burst into tears again as Ally looked over at the towel in question.

"Okay...what about it?"

Austin lifted his head slightly, already feeling a pounding headache coming on, and whispered, "flip it over." Ally frowned and reached for the towel, doing as he said. Her jaw dropped when she saw the stain and she looked back over at him, her own eyes welling with tears.

"I-I thought you threw this away." Austin groaned and put his head back in her lap, bringing his knees to his chest.

"I thought so, too."

Ally felt a single tear stream down her face as the events from that night swirled through her brain all at once. They continued to sit on the floor like that for another minute longer, and that's when Ally realized something.

In the weeks following the miscarriage, she had never once asked him how he was doing. It was always him comforting her. Not the other way around.

"I'm so stupid," she whispered, "I-I never checked up on you, never asked you how you felt."

"It's not your fault," he mumbled, "you were grieving, too. Don't feel guilty for not checking up on me."

"I know it wasn't my fault. But the baby was both of ours." She paused. "I feel so- so selfish."

"Hey," Austin sat up, squinting his eyes at the brightness of the laundry room lights, "Don't say that. You're not selfish."

Ally bit her lip. Even when he was in tears, he still managed to be the one comforting her. What on earth had she done to deserve him?

"Thanks," she mustered. After a few seconds her eyebrows narrowed again. "Is Alex still outside?"

"Yeah. Playing in the mud with Paris." Ally's mouth formed an "o" shape. That's why he went to get the towel.

"I'd better go get him," she said, stroking his hair a few times more before he lifted his head again. "Hose him down and then bring him in and give him a shower." She looked over at the towel again and wiped the last of the tears from her eyes. "What do you say we get rid of this, once and for all?"

Austin nodded as she reached over to do the same. "I'd like that."

"I'd like that, too." Ally stood up and held out a hand to help Austin up off the floor. As she left the laundry room, she heard his voice behind her.

"You do know that if you hose him down, you don't have to give him a shower too, right?" Ally gave him a small grin as she turned back towards him.

He's back.

The Next Day

A&A Records

Ally stood behind Austin at his desk, biting her lip nervously. She was in the middle of helping Austin draft an apology email to Jimmy (although neither was sure what exactly they were apologizing about). Occasionally, she'd suggest something and he'd type it, only for her to change her mind and tell him to delete it. They repeated the process until Ally sat down on the couch sitting up against the wall to the left and threw her head back, sighing,

"I can't do this anymore, Austin," she said, squeezing her eyes shut. "I'm sick and tired of letting Jimmy control our lives!"

Austin spun around. "He's not controlling our entire lives," he replied, "I mean, sure, he forced us to break up in high school, but that was a long time ago. Now, the only thing he's doing is not letting us choose who we sign to our labe—ohhh..."

Ally shook her head. "This might sound crazy, but...what if we just let him win, just this one time? Hailey is very talented, but there will be other talented artists we get to work wi—"

"No."

"What?"

"Ally, do you even hear yourself?" He looked at her incredulously and scooted his chair closer to her. "We've been letting Jimmy win ever since we first got together. I mean, if we hadn't gone independent after the Helen Show, then we wouldn't be where we are now." Austin paused. "And Ally, I didn't have you, I'd have nothing."

Ally looked down at her lap. "Y-you don't mean that. You'd be fine without me."

Austin took her hand. "I meant every single word," he said, now in more of a whisper. "We can't let him win again."

She looked up at him, mustering a smile. "What's so special about this girl, anyway? You've been very persistent in trying to sign her."

"She reminds me of you."

"Really?" Ally asked. Well, that explains a lot.

"Really. Super talented, yet also really shy. With both of us mentoring her, she could make it big. That's something Jimmy never understood about you when he didn't sign you at first."

"Yeah, but Ronnie did," Ally said, "He took a chance on me."

"Ronnie's not the one threatening to take us to court," Austin argued. There was another pause. "Please, Ally? We can't let him win this time."

Ally smirked. "You were never one to give up, were you?"

"Nope," Austin replied, crossing his arms. "Now, let's get back to this email, shall we?"

Ally gave a hesitant nod and let out another sigh. "Yeah, okay. Let's win this thing."

Thirty(ish) minutes later

"Okay, read what you've got down so far." Ally had gone back to pacing the length of Austin's office (but really, it was more their office). Austin swallowed and nodded.

Jimmy,

Thank you for the kind words about mine and Ava's duet. It was a blast performing with her, and I can definitely see it happening more in the future. She's a talented girl.

As for Hailey, I feel like you are blowing this situation out of proportion. She chose to sign with us instead of you, and you are taking that out on me and Ally. I know that with our coaching, she can go far. We both have experience in the business and we are equally as qualified as you to coach up-and-coming artists. If you were to take this to the courtroom, we would follow. We're not giving up on her.

Sincerely,

Austin

There was a pause. "I feel like that's too harsh. We should start over." Austin reached for the backspace button and Ally grabbed his wrist.

"None of these drafts have been good enough for you, Austin," she said as he avoided her gaze. "It's not too harsh, not too forward, not too formal—it gets the point across and lets him know that we mean business. We should just send it."

"What, no! Are you crazy?" he squeaked, pushing her hand away. "Ally, if we send this, Jimmy's definitely going to sue us! Plus, for this being an apology email, there's a serious lack of apology."

"Then so be it, Austin!" she exclaimed, "Let him sue us! We both know he's not going to win!" She paused. "Although, you are right about the apology thing. But...it's stupid that we're even trying to apologize. We were just doing our jobs."

Austin leaned back in his chair, spinning around slowly and put his hands on his face. He took them off after a few seconds and sighed. "You know what, you're right."

"I always am." He gazed at her and she smirked. After a few seconds, she bit her lip and said, "Okay, I'm just going to send it."

"Wha—Ally—no!" In one fluid motion, she leaned forward, grabbed the mouse, and pressed send, and the message disappeared. Austin tried to stop her but the deed had already been done.

"See? Piece of cake."

Austin put his head in his hands. "Cake is actually good, Ally," he mumbled. "The email that you just sent can't possibly lead to anything good."

Ally shrugged. "Well, what've we got to lose?" she asked, rubbing his shoulder lightly. "We've got good lawyers on speed dial, and besides, we make a pretty great team." Austin grinned a little at that. "I vaguely remember you saying that you felt like you could do anything as long as we're together."

Austin ducked his head. "Right before our first kiss," he whispered.

"Yeah," she replied, giving a small smile. "And hey, look at what we've already done together. We've both had successful singing careers..."

"Two amazing kids," he continued.

"And started our own record company," she finished. "What's a little trial compared to all that?" They both smiled as Ally closed the gap between them—which was actually not that big now— and enveloped his lips in hers, pulling away a few seconds later.

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Trish ranted to Ally on the phone later that day. "Why the hell...heck," she quickly corrected once she realized her daughter was in the room, "would he sue you!? That...jerk... needs to take a step back and stop meddling in your lives!"

Ally laughed a bit at her friend's attempt to not swear, knowing there were little kids listening. She could tell Trish was fuming mad (as she'd expected when she'd gotten the call a few minutes earlier), and this wasn't the way she wanted Trish to find out about it, but she knew it was only a matter of time before she did. And, as they all knew very well by now, Dez couldn't keep a secret to save his life.

"Yeah, well...it is what it is," Ally mumbled, not knowing what else to say.

"No...no. Don't say that. You should be furious! Why aren't you furious?"

"Because...I don't know, Trish, I have other things on my mind." Ally sighed. "Something...happened yesterday with Austin and it was something that brought me back to...something I'd rather forget about."

Trish frowned on the other end of the line as she absentmindedly watched Maggie play with their dog, Prince—the one she'd gotten during their senior year after Austin's drummer had had puppies. The dog was still surprisingly energetic for being twelve years old, and she loved watching him and Maggie interact. "You're gonna have to be more specific."

Ally squeezed her eyes shut, fighting back tears. "Um, well..." She paused again, throwing her head back.

"Spit it out, Ally. I don't have all day," Trish encouraged.

"Um, okay. Well, yesterday, I was giving Ava a piano lesson in the basement and Austin was on the deck talking to Dez and watching Alex play in the yard. Alex had gotten super muddy since it's been raining a lot lately and"—

"Does this story have a point?"

"I'm trying to get to it, Trish! Let me finish!"

"Okay...sorry..."

"So Austin came inside to grab a towel, but when he pulled the stack of towels down, he, um..." Ally paused again, taking a shaky breath. "he um, he found the towel that I sat on in the car the night I miscarried, and we both thought it had been thrown away but evidently it hadn't, and there was still a stain on it and"—

"Ally," Trish whispered, suddenly wishing she could give her best friend a hug through the phone. "I—I don't know what to say."

Another paused. "Yeah. Me neither." A single tear escaped her eye and slid down her cheek, and Ally instinctively reached up and wiped it away. "And anyway, I found him on the floor, sobbing. And I mean, sobbing. I've never seen him cry like that, Trish."

Trish sighed. "Well, I guess he never really did get the chance to grieve. And with everything going on, that must have..."

"Set him off. Yeah."

Another moment of silence ensued. Ally surprised herself by not crying during this conversation with her best friend, given that she'd felt so guilty about not checking up on Austin all those years ago that she'd silently cried herself to sleep the night before (after making sure that Austin was completely asleep so he didn't hear her). Emotions were running high in the Moon household, and it was becoming more and more evident by the day.

"Um, well, I've gotta go take the dog on a walk. But best of luck with...everything."

"Yeah, thanks, Trish. I'll talk to you later."

One Month Later
~ Middle of October 2027
Day Before the Trial

Austin stared at the paper in his hands: the official statement telling him Jimmy was definitely taking him to court. He'd been aware of this for over a month now, but for some reason it wasn't fully sinking in. Right away after Ally's conversation with Trish, she had called their lawyer to discuss the details. He had said that, although Jimmy had issued a formal accusation of "Mistreatment of Close Family Member" and "Abusing of Recording Contract Privileges," he'd agreed that the charges were laughable, since Jimmy had no evidence against them whatsoever. He'd said that as long as he and Ally present proper evidence against Jimmy, then it'd be an easy win, for sure. The problem was that Austin wasn't entirely sure that they did have evidence to present.

This was going to be a lot different than the "Steal Your Heart" case, that was for sure.

"Hey," Ally greeted as she walked into the room with her head down, staring at a document their lawyer had sent them.

"Hey," he mumbled, looking up for a split second. "You ready for tomorrow?"

"Not in the slightest."

"Me neither." There were a few second of silence between them as Ally sat on the couch next to him. She threw her head back, placing a hand on her forehead as she slowly let the air seep out of her cheeks. "I still can't believe this is happening," she mumbled. "Have you talked to your mom recently?"

"Yeah," Austin replied. "They took the kids to the waterpark yesterday and apparently, Alex slipped and fell and scraped his knee up a little bit." Ally frowned, wishing she could have been there. She and Austin had dropped the kids off at the Moons' house the previous morning so they could focus on the trial. "And then Ava, being the caring big sister she is, kissed his knee and 'made it feel better.'" He grinned as he made the invisible quotation marks.

"That's the most adorable thing I've ever heard," Ally said. "I wish we didn't have to go through this stupid trial. It's been hard being away from them for so long."

Austin raised an eyebrow. "It's been a day and a half."

"Actually, it's been about twenty-six hours, thirty-seven minutes and nineteen seconds," Ally corrected, "So not even a day and a half. But I just miss them."

"Of course you know exactly how long it's been," Austin mused, "I'd expect nothing less. But I don't know why it matters so much. We wouldn't even get to see them during the day because Ava would be in kindergarten and Alex would be at daycare."

"Don't you think I know that?" she snapped, immediately biting her lip. Ally shook her head. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. I've maybe gotten six hours of sleep the past two days because I'm so worried about this trial."

"Same here," Austin mumbled.

She put a hand on his shoulder and rubbed it lovingly. "Hey. Everything's gonna work out."

He sighed. "I sure hope so."

The Next Day

Trial Day

Austin woke up and rolled over, mumbling, "Morning, Als," sleepily. He cracked one eye open when there was no response and frowned when he realized she wasn't there. "Ally?" Again, silence. "Als!" he called as he got up and padded down the hallway.

"I'm down here," she responded, "making sure we have all our ducks in a row."

"Right. What time is it again? The trial?"

"1:00. We've been over this."

"Uh, no," he argued, "we have not."

Ally raised an eyebrow. "I've repeated this information like twelve times in the past two days."

"Huh. I guess we have." She rolled her eyes and turned back to her computer. "We should get going around 12:30."

"But...isn't the courtroom, like, ten minutes away?"

"Yeah. You know I like being early for things."

"Yeah, but...why do we have to be early for this?" he mumbled. "I don't wanna have to face Jimmy for longer than we need to."

Just"Me neither, but hey, the sooner we get there, the sooner we get this crap over with." Austin nodded. "Now, go change into something nice. Believe it or not, wearing only boxers with little trucks on them to a trial is frowned upon."

He smirked and put a hand on her shoulder. "Sure it is, Ally. Sure it is."

Ally paced the length of the hallway outside the courtroom, occasionally reminding herself to breathe. Austin was in there talking to the judge and it had suddenly sunk in that everything was on the line. A few seconds later, Austin burst out of the room and Ally ran over to him.
"So, is everything in place?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." He wrapped his arms around her and gently pulled her in so her head was leaning against his chest.

"Whatever happens in there, just..." he paused and she looked up at him expectantly.

"Just...what?"

"Just know that I love you." Ally blushed. "And if it doesn't work out in our favor, we'll figure it out. Okay?"

"'Kay." Austin glanced at his watch.

"It's time."

"Wait, Austin—"

He spun around on one heel. "Yeah, Als?"

She grinned, taking his hand. "I just forgot to say that I love you, too." He planted a kiss on her forehead and they walked in together, hand-in-hand.

The judge smacked the pedestal with his gavel. "All rise. The court is now in session." Everyone in the room stood as Austin fiddled with the seams on his pants. Jimmy stood across the room from them, purposely avoiding eye contact with his former recording artist.

"You may be seated." They sat down again and Austin looked over at Ally nervously. She gave him a little nod as the judge introduced the case.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Introducing the case of Moon vs. Starr," he paused as he read the summary of the case. "Well, this should be good," he mumbled to himself, apparently forgetting that he was mic'd.

"Introducing the case of Moon vs. Starr," he repeated. "Mr. Starr is accusing Mr. Moon of 'Mistreatment of a close family member' and "abusing his recording contract privileges.' Will the defendant please step forward to make his first case." Austin immediately tensed up, realizing that it was his turn. He swallowed hard and looked over at Ally, who mouthed, 'It's okay. Go."

Austin walked up to the judge's stand, his legs turned to jello. The judge examined the paper in front of him for a second.

"Mr. Moon, would you tell me exactly what happened, from your point of view?" he asked.

"Um, yes sir," Austin replied nervously. "My wife Ally and I own our own record company: A&A Records. We were on the verge of signing a new artist, who just happened to be Jimmy's niece."

The judge nodded. "I see. Go on."

"W-well, then Jimmy gave her an offer and we...kinda...sorta...one-upped him. Then Hailey chose our record label and he got mad and"—

"Whoa, whoa, slow down, son," the judge said, tapping his gavel lightly a few times.

"Sorry," Austin mumbled.

"That's okay. Just...start where you left off."

Austin inhaled deeply. "Well then, my family went on the Helen Show so my daughter and I could perform a duet together. I was asked about my 'rival' with Jimmy Starr and I shut the rumor down."

The judge raised an eyebrow. "Is there anything else you'd like to add before I give Mr. Starr a chance to speak?"

"Um, yeah." Austin turned to Jimmy. "Jimmy, you've been controlling my career since I was a freshman in high school. First, you wouldn't let Ally sign to your label because she was my songwriter. Then, you kept us from dating. You knew what we wanted, and yet you took that away from us." He paused. "After we reunited on the Helen Show, you still refused to sign us. It was a good thing we didn't fight that decision, because Ally's the love of my life"—

"As sweet as this is, Mr. Moon," the judge interrupted, "you're getting sidetracked."

Austin looked back at Ally and winked. She responded with an eye roll.

"Sorry." He turned back to Jimmy. "Anyway, what I was trying to say is that...Hailey's special. I see a lot of potential in her. That's the only reason why I'm fighting so hard to keep her on my label." Another pause. "I've let you win so many times, Jimmy. But you aren't going to win this one."

The judge looked from Austin to Jimmy. "Are you're finished with your opening statement, Mr. Moon?" Austin nodded. "Then Mr. Starr, you have the floor."

Jimmy stepped forward, a determined yet nervous expression covering his face. "Austin, that was a real cute statement. But what you're missing are the facts of the matter." Austin swallowed hard, trying to stay confident.

It wasn't working.

"Hailey is my niece. My brother's only daughter. He's very protective of her. And since I'm protective of my brother, I'm also protective of her." Austin raised an eyebrow, looking back at Ally. She just shrugged.

"You had no right to steal her away from me, just when I was about to sign her. We had a contract solidified. But you couldn't deal with me having this one win and you just had to make her a better offer."

"That wasn't my inte"—

"Mr. Moon, you've had your turn. Let him speak," the judge said, gesturing to Jimmy.

"You also don't know when to shut your mouth," Jimmy mumbled. "Anyway"—

"Objection!" Austin spun around and was very surprised to see Ally standing up from her seat, wide-eyed.

"Ally, what are you doing?" he whispered. She walked toward him, shaking her head.

"This is ridiculous," she said with a slight laugh, "Why is he even making an argument? Austin's clearly not in the wrong here!"

"Mrs. Moon, let Mr. Starr finish his statement."

"Fine," she grumbled, now more frustrated than ever. I don't even know why we're here anymore.

"Mr. Starr, you have the floor. Again."

Jimmy swallowed. "Thank you. Anyway, my point with all of that was that Hailey wanted to sign with us, but you took advantage of her. Who wouldn't want to sign with the Austin and Ally Moon?"

Austin smirked. "Nobody. "Cause we're awesome."

Ally put her head in her hands. Of course his ego had to show itself now. The judge looked from Austin to Jimmy and sighed, seemingly getting tired of this senseless exchange.

"Mr. Starr, is that all?" Jimmy bit his lip, looking as if he was going to say no, but nodded.

"Yeah, your honor. That's all."

The judge paused, furrowing his brow as he looked over the official statement again. "Now, I'm a bit confused, Mr. Starr. Here, it says that you're suing Austin for 'mistreatment of a family member' and 'abusing record contract privileges,' but...I don't see any evidence against Mr. Moon proving that he actually mistreated your niece or abused recording contract privileges in any way, especially since he's no longer signed to your record label. Is there something you'd like to say surrounding that, or any evidence you have to present?"

The entire courtroom went so quiet that you could hear a pin drop as Jimmy thought for a second. But he just shook his head.

"No, your honor. I have no evidence." Austin looked back at his wife and winked again. We've got this in the bag, he thought. "But I hope you'll at least believe what I've said and take my account into consideration."

The judge nodded. "Let's take a five minute recess, and we'll reconvene after the break. Then I'll present the court with my official decision."

Ally stood in the hallway, sipping from her water bottle. "Well, that went... about as well as it could go."

Austin nodded, pacing back and forth in front of her. "Yeah, I-I guess."

Ally reached out and stopped him by putting a hand on each of his shoulders. "Austin, Jimmy had absolutely no evidence to present. There's no way he's winning this thing."

"How do you know?"

She scoffed. "Seriously? For one of my electives in college, I took political science. At Harvard. I think I know a thing or two about court cases."

Austin threw his hands up. "There you go again, Ms. I-Went-To-Harvard. We know you're smart, you don't have to keep saying it."

Ally rolled her eyes. "All I'm saying is that I know how these types of things work, and there's no way Jimmy is getting his way this time."

"Are you absolutely sure about that?"

"He'd better not. There's $2,000 on the line." Ally looked down at her phone to check the time. "We've got a minute left. Better get back in there."

Austin nodded and gestured in front of him. "After you, m'lady."

"After reviewing the official statement issued by Mr. Starr and the notes taken when each party was presenting his case, I have come to a decision." Austin gripped Ally's hand as they both looked straight ahead.

"I have decided to rule in the favor of Mr. Moon." The judge tapped his gavel on the pedestal. "Case dismissed."

"Ahhh! We won!" Ally jumped up and gave Austin a big squeeze, and he squeezed back even harder.

"We won," he breathed when they pulled away, and planted a hard kiss on her lips before lifting her up and twirling her around.

"We should go celebrate!" Ally exclaimed, "Ooh, we should use some of that settlement money to get some ice cream!"

"Great idea," he agreed, "Although," he lowered his voice and moved his head closer to her ear, "when you said 'celebrate,' I thought you meant go somewhere private for celebratory sex"—

"Austin!" She hit him lightly on the shoulder, and they both busted out laughing.

"What? I can't think of a better way to celebrate our win than...celebrating our love..."

Ally rolled her eyes. "No." she paused. "At least not right now. Let's get some ice cream to go, and then we can pick up the kids and go home. I'm too exhausted to do anything else."

Austin planted a kiss on her forehead. "Anything for you, my love."

"So, how was your visit with grandma and grandpa?" Ally asked her kids on the way back from Mike and Mimi's house later that day. They'd gotten going later than planned, as Mimi had drilled them about every single detail of the court case and they'd ended up explaining the entire thing.

"Good," Ava piped up, "Grandma and grandpa gave us lots of candy."

"So, they're gonna be on a sugar rush," Ally mumbled to herself. "Awesome. Now they probably won't sleep tonight, and we're gonna deal with the consequences in the morning."

"They'll be fine, Als," Austin assured her as they pulled onto their street. "Sugar highs don't last long."

"Yeah, but now I'm thinking twice about giving them i-c-e c-r-e-a-m."

Austin raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Y'know...the stuff we got before we picked the kids up...?"

"Ally, I don't know what you're referring to. Just spit it out."

Ally threw her head back. "Ugh. The ice cream, Austin."

"Ice cream?" Ava's eyes widened. "You got us ice cream?"

"See, that's why I didn't want to say it out loud," Ally said. She turned to her kids in the backseat. "Yes, we got ice cream. But you only get a small bowl, since you just admitted that grandma and grandpa gave you cavities—I mean, sugar."

"Awww," they whined. Alex started to kick his legs against the back of Austin's seat in protest and Ava whimpered, complaining about how her parents were being unfair.

"Note to self: put them to bed early tonight," Ally murmured.

One Week Later

"Hey, Ava," Austin cracked her bedroom door open and peeked in to find the four-year-old sitting at the small desk that Ally had bought for her when she started kindergarten. "I've got a surprise for you."

Ava turned her head. "What is it, daddy? Is it books?"

Austin wrinkled his nose. "Uh, no. Just hold out your hands and close your eyes," he replied. Ava frowned slightly as she squeezed her eyes shut and held out her hands.

"Aww, I wanted more books."

"This is even better. Ready?" he asked. Ava nodded and he brought the iPad box out from behind him and placed it in her hands. "Alright, now open!" Ava opened her eyes and squealed when she saw the rose gold iPad mini on the cover of the box.

"It's an iPad!" she exclaimed, "Ooh, now I can read books on here!" Austin sighed.

"Whatever floats your boat, sweetheart."

"Thank you, daddy." Ava stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Austin's legs. "You're the best daddy in the whole wide world." Austin bent down and wrapped her up in his arms.

"Anything for you, Avie bear." She pulled away and looked at the box again.

"Do you want me to help you set that up?" he asked. Ava nodded. "Alright, then, let's do it." He stood up and followed his daughter out of the room, warning her to be careful with the box and not to drop it. "Oh, and Ava?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell mommy about this."

Ava gave him a bright smile and confident thumbs up before disappearing down the stairs.

The next day after Austin and Ally had gotten home from work, Ally was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of hot cocoa, doing the bills. The kids were over at a neighbor's house for a playdate, and Austin was downstairs gaming with Dez. It hadn't even been ten minutes in when she'd discovered a $400 charge to their credit card from a local tech store. Needless to say, she'd figured out pretty quickly that it had been from Austin, and she was not happy about it.

"Austin Monica Moon, get up here!" She yelled down the stairs. Austin, who was in his man cave, dropped his controller and shrieked in surprise when he heard her tone of voice. Oh, god. I'm busted.

He turned the console off and went up the stairs tentatively, gulping, afraid of what was in for him on the other side of the door. Austin turned the knob slowly, wincing. "Heyyy, Ally..."

She turned her head toward him. "Care to explain why there's a bill for $400 on our credit card statement?" she asked, trying to play dumb. Ally knew that if she prodded enough that he'd eventually tell her the truth. After all, it didn't take much for him to spill secrets.

"U-ummm, I don't know," he stammered. "H-have I told you how pretty you look today? 'Cause.. you do. Look pretty."

Ally crossed her arms. "Flattery will not work this time, Austin." He bit his lip. "I know about the iPad."

"Wha-how? I was so secretive about it!"

"Well, Ava wasn't," Ally replied. "She sang like a bird when I asked her about it."

"Of course she did," Austin mumbled. "Are you mad?"

"Of course, I'm mad, Austin. You bought our four-year-old an expensive tablet without my permission. What were you thinking?"

"I...was thinking that...we just got our $2,000 check from the court case and we have the money?" he tried. Ally's expression didn't change. She sighed, running her hands through her hair.

"Look, I know that you were just trying to be the cool and fun parent, but sometimes it's okay to say no," Ally said. "If you say yes to them all the time, they're gonna end up spoiled."

"She didn't ask for it. I just gave it to her 'cause I wanted to." Austin took a seat next to his wife at the table.

"Of course, you did."

"Are you mad?" he asked, running his fingers along the edge of the table. "'cause I could probably still return it if you want, and then we can just drop this whole thing"—

"No, no. It's fine," she mumbled. "What's done is done." There were a few seconds of silence between them before Austin spoke up again.

"If it makes you feel better, she's only been using it for reading." Ally cracked a smile.

"Yeah, I figured. She takes after me in that way."

Austin raised an eyebrow. "She takes after you in literally every single way. She looks like you, she's smart, she loves books...for some reason..."

"Hey," Ally said, looking a little hurt. "don't knock it until you try it. There are some pretty good books out there."

"Yeah, uh huh. I'll believe it when I see it." He paused. "So, you're really not mad?"

She hesitated. "I guess it isn't the worst thing in the world if she has a device. We'll have to set rules, and have her share it with Alex once in a while, but...I'll let her keep it. Don't get your hopes up, though, mister—you're not off the hook. I'm still mad."

"Aw, man," Austin mumbled. He looked over at her and smirked. "You know, you being mad is kind of a turn-on for me." Ally smacked his arm, but couldn't help cracking a smile herself. "What? It's true!" he exclaimed, laughing. "Hey, we never got to, uh..." he raised his eyebrows flirtatiously, "celebrate winning the court case."

Ally rolled her eyes. "You think you can just have sex with me, and that'll solve everything?"

"Yup," Austin responded. "Works every time." Ally raised an eyebrow. "Well, almost every time." She sighed, getting up from her chair.

"Alright, lover boy. Let's go celebrate."

Austin jumped up from his chair, smiling giddily. "Woooo! Race you up the stairs!"

Ally sauntered up behind him, biting back a smile. "He got so lucky."

"Oh, wow," Austin sighed, flopping back down on the bed. "You're...feisty when you're angry."

Ally raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

He nodded. "Yeah." Ally snuggled into his side, breathing in his scent.

"You know," Ally started, "this past week has been so crazy that I feel like we've barely gotten any time together."

"Yeah," Austin said, "This was nice."

"It was," Ally agreed, "I feel like that was exactly what I needed." Austin nodded. They were silent for a few seconds until Ally spoke up again.

"So, um..." she paused. "What do you want to do about the...towel?"

"Throw it away?" Austin suggested, "Burn it?"

"I feel like burning it is a little extreme."

"But I like burning things," Austin complained. "It's oddly satisfying."

Ally rolled her eyes. "You know, I never would have guessed that about you."

"What if we have a bonfire or something, and just...throw it in there?" he asked. "No harm no foul."

"Alright, I guess that'd be okay."

"Cool. I'll go start it up, and you meet me down there. Okay?"

"Alright," Ally replied hesitantly as Austin descended the stairs. "You go ahead. I'll be down in a sec." She straightened out the covers and turned off the lights before following him down. She stopped in her tracks when she got to the doorway of the laundry room. The towel was still on the floor; it hadn't moved since over a week earlier. She bent over, picked it up, and went out the sliding door to the deck, descending the stairs.

"Alright, everything's set," Austin mused, moving one of the logs with a long stick. "Now just set the towel on top and I'll light it up. Do you want to do the honors?"

"Um, sure." She stepped toward the fire pit cautiously, holding the towel in front of her. A split second later she drew back. "Are we sure this is safe? Like, are we sure it won't set our yard on fire?"

"Ally, it'll be fine. We're outside, it's in a raised fire pit, and there's no wind." He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "This is the first step to letting go."

She nodded, took a deep breath, and walked toward the fire pit again, unfolding the towel and placing it carefully on top of the stack of logs. Ally scooted back frantically about ten feet while Austin lifted the towel and lit the logs underneath. The flame spread quickly to the other logs, but it took a while for the material to catch fire. Austin stepped back to where Ally was and put an arm around her shoulder. A tear had begun to form in her eye involuntarily and he noticed, wiping it away with his free hand and planting a kiss on her forehead.

"You okay?" he asked.

She paused, but eventually nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I will be." They continued to stare at the flames as they eventually enveloped the towel and within fifteen minutes, their constant reminder of that fateful night was nothing more than a pile of ashes. While Ally went to the neighbor's house to get the kids, Austin stayed to put out the fire. He watched the flames slowly dwindle to nothing just as the sun disappeared beyond the horizon.

yeahhh, okay. like i said, not my best work but i felt like i had to get something out there (plus this was mostly just a filler chapter anyway since I added it at the last minute). what'd you think? austin and ally won their court case, yay! this was more emotional than i originally intended but i felt like the sensitive side of austin wasn't show much on the show, just the goofy, careless side, and i know from personal experience that grief can work in really weird ways, and present itself years later after it's happened. I'll see you next week! remember to review, favorite, follow, all that good stuff :)

p.s. fun fact: I put the word "trials" in the title as both a literal and metaphorical meaning, because the miscarriage is a metaphorical trial that they went through and they also have a literal trial. Just in case you were curious about that :)

-Ej