twenty five: long distance & look alikes

one week later

"Hi, mommy!" Ally was rudely awoken from her mid-afternoon nap by a familiar shouting in her ear. Her eyes shot open to find Ava standing right in front of her, Alex close behind. Ally shot straight up.

"Um, hey..." she looked around frantically, frowning and trying to figure out if they'd broken anything. That was what had happened the last time they woke her from her nap. Needless to say, Ally had not been happy. "What...are you guys doing?"

"Mommy, me and Alex drawed a pretty picture!" Ava exclaimed, jumping up and down. "Do you wanna see?"

"Oh..." she looked down at her son, who was flashing his biggest and brightest smile. "Um, can I ask where?" Ava ran out of the living room and over to the dining room.

"Over here!" Ally narrowed her eyebrows, turning to look in that direction, her eyes turning to saucers when she saw the scribbles on the wall to the right of the staircase.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Ally exclaimed, running over to the wall and whimpering a little when she saw it was in black marker. "Ugh, you've got to be kidding me." She glanced down at Ava, who still held the Sharpie proudly in her hands. "Ava Marie, give me that." Ava frowned as her mom snatched the marker out of her hands, capped it, and set it down on the table. Ally paced back and forth, running her hands through her hair.

"Go to your room. Both of you." Ava and Alex exchanged scared glances. "Now." she added. She watched her two kids scamper up the stairs immediately and she continued to pace, wondering how Austin was going to react. It had been a week since they'd last discussed sending Ava and Alex to daycare, but this was enough to make her reach her breaking point.

She called Austin, biting her lip as the phone rang. When he picked up, she burst into tears.

"Babe, what's wrong?" Austin asked, balancing his fork deftly in between his pointer finger and thumb. He set it down on the desk, frowning. He'd just gotten on his lunch break—they were on the verge of signing a brand new artist, who was insanely talented. He listened as Ally described through tears how the kids had drawn on the wall in the kitchen with Sharpie and she didn't know how to get it out, and begged him to not be mad because she was taking a nap when it happened and—

"Ally," he interrupted, "Slow down." She sniffled on the other end, catching her breath. "It'll all be okay," he continued. "I'm not mad...at you, anyway. Just...look on the Internet and see if it says anything about getting permanent marker off the walls."

"Really?" Another sniffle. Ally wiped her tears with her sleeve, attempting to pull herself together.

"Really." There was silence between them before he spoke up again. "Hey, do you want to hear about the new client we're about to sign? Her name is Hailey, she's seventeen, and she's crazy talented. She has the voice of an angel!"

"Oh. Well, that's cool," Ally commented, forcing herself to tear her eyes away from the wall. "So, what's this girl's story?"

Austin shrugged. "I dunno. She recorded some covers and put them on YouTube, and one of the recruiters here found it and showed it to me. She actually did a cover of Parachute not too long ago."

"Wait, really?" Ally broke out into a smile. "That's...amazing. Do you know her last name? I'm going to look her up."

"Yeah, give me one second." There was some shuffling in the background on Austin's end as he set the phone down, put it on speaker, and looked it up on his computer. A few more seconds passed before he exclaimed, "Ooo, I found her! Her name is Hailey Starr."

Ally's eyebrows furrowed. "Wait...that last name is familiar. Do you know if she's related to Jimmy?"

"Huh. I'd never even thought about that." Austin typed a few more things into his keyboard and after about a minute he frowned. "Well, this is awkward."

"What?" Ally pushed.

"Hailey is Jimmy's niece." Ally's eyes widened.

"Are you serious?"

"Dead serious."

She walked back over to the couch, taking a peek upstairs to make sure the kids were still in their rooms. "Wait, okay, so are you still going to try to sign her? I mean, wouldn't that make Jimmy mad?"

Austin scoffed. "I don't care about making Jimmy mad anymore. I stopped caring about what he thought of me after he refused to sign us both to his label. I'm sure it'll be fine. So what if we sign his niece to our label? It's not like he doesn't have any family members signed to his label, because Kira's still there."

"Right, but...what if he finds out about Hailey being interested in A&A Records instead of Starr Records, and tries to steal her away from us?" Ally bit her lip. "If she's as talented as you say she is, then we might be in trouble."

Austin nodded. "Yeah." He glanced up at the clock, realizing that he had limited time to finish his takeout and get to a meeting after lunch. "Hey, I have to go, but I'll see you at home, alright?"

"Yeah, I'll see you there."

"And Ally?"

"Yeah?"

"We'll figure out the drawing on the wall stuff later. Don't worry about it, okay?"

Ally found herself blushing and ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah, sure. Thanks for the help."

"No problem. Love you."

"Love you, too. Bye." Ally hung up the phone and sighed happily. What would I do without him? She got up off the couch, giving Pickles a quick pat on the head, and started toward the stairs to check on the kids. Suddenly, she wasn't as mad anymore.

Ally took the steps two at a time but stopped in her tracks when she heard singing coming from Ava's room. It sounded like Alex was in there too. And the song they were singing seemed oddly familiar.

"Okay Alex, I'm gonna teach you daddy's song. I'm gonna make, make, make 'em do a double take!" She crossed her arms to her chest, like Austin always did.

"Boom. Now it's your turn!" Ava sang the lyrics with nearly perfect pitch and Ally smiled to herself as Alex attempted to copy the lyrics. Ally crept closer to the door, pushing it open about an inch, and whipped out her phone to take a video. She made a mental note to show it to Austin later and watched as Alex repeated the lyrics to the best of his ability.

"Imma make em make em do a double tayke." Alex looked up at his sister as if to say, 'was that good?'

"Boom," She recrossed her arms, demonstrating for her brother again. Alex looked confused for a second, circling his arms around before he just stacked them on top of one another. He looked up at Ava again. "Boom."

"Alex, you did it!" Ava clapped her hands and held out one of them for a high five as Alex beamed brightly.

"Fank you, Ava."

Ally stood leaning against the doorframe, trying to hold back happy tears. She stopped recording then took a breath and knocked on the door a couple of times. Ava and Alex exchanged glances.

"Oh no, it's mommy!" Ava exclaimed, "Hide!" Alex looked around, panicking for a second before running to hide behind his sister.

Ally smiled and pushed the door open. "Hey, guys. I heard you singing in here. It sounded good!"

Ava hung her head and fiddled with her hands, mumbling a "Thanks, mommy," under her breath, knowing that they were about to be scolded for drawing on the wall. Ally sighed and shut the door behind her, going over to sit on Ava's tiny bed.

"Come over here, Ava. I want to talk to you about what happened earlier." Ava took a few steps forward and joined her mom on the bed, leaving Alex staring ahead, wide-eyed. "You too, Alex." He reluctantly came forward as well and Ally pulled him into her lap.

"As cute as it was seeing you guys singing daddy's song, we still need to talk about drawing on the wall. You understand that it wasn't okay to do that, right?" She looked between the two kids, who both nodded. "We've told you before that drawing is only for paper, not anywhere else, and you still chose to draw on the wall."

"I'm sorry, mommy," Ava said, leaning into Ally's shoulder.

"Thank you for apologizing, Ava. Alex, do you have something to say to mommy?"

"Ummm," the one-year-old paused, clearly in deep thought, "I sowwy mama."

"Thanks for apologizing, buddy," Ally replied, giving him a kiss on the forehead. "Now, your dad and I will talk through your consequences later, but for now we should go downstairs and grab some lunch. How does that sound?"

"Okay," Ava said, hopping off the bed and starting towards the door. Alex immediately followed her out and crept down the stairs cautiously, running after her when he got to the bottom. Ally shut the light off in Ava's room before following both her kids into the kitchen and grabbing a box of mac n' cheese out of the pantry.

4:00(ish) p.m.

Alex and Ava sprang from the sofa where they'd been watching cartoons, running toward the garage door to meet Austin when they heard the door open. He enveloped them both in a giant bear hug as they squealed with delight. Ally got up off the couch, sauntering into the kitchen with a slight smirk on her face.

"What, no hug for me?" Austin smiled and released Alex and Ava from the hug, going over to meet Ally with a side hug. She reached up to peck him on the lips, earning looks of disgust from both of the kids.

"I always have a hug left for you." Ally rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah." She went over to the kitchen sink and started to load a few dishes that she hadn't had the motivation to earlier. "So, did you end up signing Hailey?"

"Well, that's the thing." Austin paused to scratch the back of his neck. "Jimmy found out that she wanted to sign with us and offered her a better contract over with him at Starr Records." Ally spun around.

"Wait, what?" her jaw dropped. "He can't do that, can he?"

Austin shrugged. "I don't know. But that doesn't really matter, because then we came back with an even better offer and she accepted!"

"Wait, seriously?" Ally exclaimed, "Austin, that's amazing!"

"Seriously. I'm telling you, this girl is gonna put us on the map. I mean, she's already famous for being Jimmy Starr's niece, and the fact that she's signing with us is just gonna bring our company more attention."

"I'm really proud of you," Ally said. "I'm excited to finally get in on all the action...that is, if we ever find a decently-priced daycare around here."

"I was thinking about that," Austin replied, coming over toward where she was standing and grabbing the plate that was in her hand, loading it in the dishwasher himself. "and what if we ask my parents for help? They only live twenty minutes away, and they absolutely adore the kids."

"Well, I don't know..."

"At least think about it? Plus, this way it'll be free."

"I do like things that are free."

"I know you do," Austin said with a smile. "So, what do you say? Should I call them?"

Ally paused, thinking. "Sure, why not?"

"Awesome. I'll go call them right now. and then, we should figure out what to do about," he nodded his head toward the wall that had been drawn on, "that."

august 2027

alex's 2nd birthday

"Hey, sweetie did you remember to pick up the cake this morning?" Ally asked as she stood on a ladder in front of the sliding door leading out to the porch, hanging a banner that said, 'Happy 2nd Birthday, Alex!' They'd special ordered it just for his party, even though they wouldn't be able to use it again. Ally hadn't originally wanted to order it because she'd said it was a waste of money, but after Mike and Mimi had offered to pay for it, she gave in.

"Yeah, I did." Austin said, opening the oven to check on the pizza and pulling it out with an oven mitt when he saw it was done. "It's in the fridge." He set the pizza pan on the counter and slid the oven mitt off of his hand, then grabbed the pizza cutter and started cutting the large pizza into even slices.

"Although, I can't guarantee that there isn't a bite or two taken out of it..."

Ally's eyes shot daggers at him. "You wouldn't..."

"Als, relax, I was just kidding! Geez, you need to loosen up and have some fun once in a while."

Ally scoffed. "Whaaaat? I can have fun. Take this party for example: I planned the entire thing myself, invited both our parents, and made sure Dez and Trish could be here too—well, via zoom anyway. Because it wouldn't be any fun without them."

Austin glanced up at her. "Mmhm, sure. And what party activities did you plan?"

"Well, I don't have that many activities planned because if Alex is anything like you, which he most definitely is, he will probably end up getting hurt doing something stupid. But we do have a cake and a whole crap ton of presents!" Austin raised one eyebrow.

"Do you even hear yourself?"

Ally stepped down from the ladder to grab some more tape. "What? My job as the serious parent is to make sure we don't have to make any unnecessary trips to the emergency room. Alex is a little bundle of energy, and I just want to make sure nothing happens." Just then, the doorbell rang and Austin stepped forward to answer it, pausing to peck his wife on the forehead.

"I know. And I love you for that, you know that, right?"

Ally smiled sheepishly. "Yeah..."

"Okay, good. Now, I'm gonna get the door and let my parents in, and you should go find the kids so we can get this party started!" Ally giggled at his enthusiasm. She heard him give a "Whoo-hoo!" as she stood at the door to the basement, calling Ava and Alex upstairs so the party festivities could begin.

around 2:00 p.m.

After they'd eaten lunch, Ally logged into Zoom on her computer. Mike, Mimi, Lester, and Penny had all arrived around 1:30, and they'd spent so much time talking amongst themselves that Ally had almost forgotten about Dez and Trish. When she clicked into the application, they were both there waiting already.

"Dude!" Trish exclaimed, "What's the big idea? We've been waiting here for a half an hour! I've had to spend a half an hour trying to pretend that I care about what this doof has going on in his life! Do you know how hard that is?"

"Whoa, okay, calm down," Ally said, putting her hands up in defense, "We just got caught up in our conversation." She shook her head. "Anyway, let's get started, shall we?" She positioned the computer so it was facing the party guests. "We ate lunch here about a half hour ago, so now would be a good time for cake, I think. Can you guys see everyone?"

"Yup," Trish responded, shifting Magnolia's position on her lap. Chuck sat beside her, looking bored already. Dez gave Ally a thumbs up through his screen, looking over at Carrie and Darrie right beside him. The four-year-old was sporting thick-rimmed black glasses and his usual attire of a sweater vest and bow tie, the complete opposite of Dez' goofy clothing, which was colorful and stuck out, as always.

"Great. Austin, can you grab the cake?" Ally asked. Austin nodded and disappeared into the kitchen as Mimi asked about how business was at A&A Records.

"It's great," Austin replied, taking the lid off the container that held the cake. "We have several new clients that are working really hard to make it in the music business, and it feels so good to be on the other side of that relationship. Y'know?" Ally nodded in agreement and smiled, happy to see him so excited about work as Mimi made a comment about how she admittedly didn't have much faith in the company at first but was now happy for them. He grabbed two candles and stuck them in the middle of the circular cake covered in blue frosting that read, "Happy Birthday, Alex!" Austin grabbed the lighter and lit both candles, bringing it over to the table carefully and setting it down in front of his son.

Austin led the singing of happy birthday among the guests, even locking eyes with Ally at the end while they harmonized the last few notes. They shared mutual smiles, and Austin told his son to blow out the candles. Alex stared at them for a few seconds, blinking, unsure of what to do. He looked to his dad, to the candles, and back.

"Blow out the candles, Alex!" Ally encouraged, "Go ahead!"

"Like this," Austin offered, lightly blowing on the one to Alex's right and accidentally putting it out. He frowned when the flame disappeared into a thin strand of smoke. "Oops."

Alex sat there for a few more seconds, before lunging toward the top part of the candle with his fist. Ally quickly pulled him back, blowing the second candle out herself. Note to self: use fake candles next year.

"Alright, who wants cake?" Ally said quickly, getting up and plucking the two candles from the top of the cake before grabbing a knife from one of the drawers.

"Me, me, me!" Ava squealed, bouncing in her seat.

"OOH I do, I do!" Dez exclaimed through the screen. Austin raised an eyebrow.

"But you're in California, and we're in Florida. There's no way for us to get it to you."

"Aww, man. I wanted cake," Dez said, frowning. "I wish we didn't live so far away so we could actually be there in person."

"Me too," Austin replied, frowning himself. "Man, now I'm bummed out. Someone change the subject."

"Have you guys noticed how much the kids look like their parents?" Penny piped up from beside the sliding glass door. "And not just Ava and Alex, Magnolia and Darrie, too. It's like Austin, Ally, Trish, and Dez all have a mini-me!"

"Isn't it adorable?" Mimi gushed, "I just want to pinch their chubby little cheeks all day long." She paused to prove her point by squeezing Ava's left cheek. Ava pushed her away, focusing all her attention on the cake that was being placed on the table.

"Yup," Austin agreed, bringing a gallon of ice cream over to the table to pair with everyone's cake. "We make cute kids. Anyone want ice cream?" Ava raised her hand, followed by Lester, Mike, and Dez. Austin sighed. "Dez, you can't have any, remember? Sorry, buddy."

"So, how do you guys feel about making more cute kids?" Mimi asked not so nonchalantly. Austin's eyes widened and Ally nearly choked on her water.

"Uhhh..." Austin stammered. He and Ally exchanged glances. Mimi's eyebrows narrowed.

"You don't want any more kids?" she asked, ruffling Alex's tight, blond curls. "Why not?"

Ally shot Austin a look that said, Change the subject. Now. He gulped and stuttered, "W-we haven't really talked about it," he lied, "but we're happy with where we're at right now." Ally shrunk back in her chair, suddenly embarrassed for some reason. She hadn't talked about it with anyone else except Austin, but the circumstances surrounding Alex's birth had been so traumatizing for her that she felt uncomfortable at the mention of it. She'd known for a while that she wanted to stop at two, but apparently they hadn't told anyone else. Austin had told her that he would be okay with whatever she'd decided, and that had been the end of the conversation. When she had snapped herself out of her daydream, Dez was in the middle of telling them about his plans for Claws (dun dun dun) 6, which was already in the works.

Ally quickly got up and retreated to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her and feeling the tears already prick at her eyes. Why am I even crying? A few seconds later there was a knock at the door.

"Als, are you okay?" Austin asked. She cracked the door open to find her concerned husband standing there, both hands in his pockets. Ally motioned for him to come in, shutting the door behind him.

"Am I being unreasonable?" she asked, sitting on the toilet seat. "Is it...is it unreasonable to voice my opinion around here? I mean, so what if we only want two kids? Why does it matter to her? Why"—

"Ally." Austin put his hands on each of her shoulders. "She was just asking a question. I'm sure it was nothing personal." Ally raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, right. Like anything Mimi says can not be taken personally." Austin frowned.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that although she has good intentions, it always comes off the wrong way." Ally sighed. "I'm sick of her poking and prodding into our personal business. It's our business, not hers."

"Woah, wait! When has she ever poked and prodded?" he asked, now getting a little frustrated. "She's just trying to make conversation!"

"Yeah, well, she should think about bringing up another topic, because I'm sick of it." Ally stood up and left the bathroom hastily, crossing through the kitchen and retreating, perhaps louder than she should have, up the stairs to their bedroom, leaving a flustered Austin standing in the bathroom. He ran a hand through his hair.

What just happened?

Austin came back out into the kitchen, frowning. He sat down and picked at his piece of cake, wondering if he should go back upstairs to comfort Ally. He didn't want to make her any madder, and he knew that if he defended his mom, he would only be making it worse. After listening to Lester and Mike engage in a conversation about small businesses for about ten minutes (or something like that—truth be told, he wasn't really listening), Austin excused himself, mumbling something about forgetting to turn the water off upstairs and found Ally in their bedroom lying face-up, staring at the ceiling. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked down at his hands.

"So, uh...do you want to tell me what that was about?" Austin asked awkwardly, regretting it almost immediately. Ally propped herself up with her elbows.

"Do you think I overreacted?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Definitely." She sighed, flopping back down on the pillow. Pickles, who was napping peacefully right beside her, lifted his head in confusion. "I just...I don't know. Nobody's ever brought that up before, and right away my mind just flashed back to what happened when Alex was born and I"—

"Als."

"What?"

"I get it," Austin cooed, putting a hand on her calf. "I do. I was there with you the entire time and I just remember feeling so...helpless. I wanted to help but I couldn't."

"I know. And I felt so stupid bringing it up because your mom had no idea how hard the emergency C-section was on me, but this other part of me was telling me to let it all out, because I wouldn't have felt right lying about it." Austin nodded, opened his mouth, and closed it again. They sat in silence his as mind flashed back to two years ago when Alex was born, a day neither of them would forget anytime soon, for multiple reasons.

two years prior

around 1:10 p.m.

"A-austin," Ally said, turning her head to look at him. Austin, who'd been staring at the floor, lost in a daydream, looked up.

"Yeah?" He could barely hear what she was saying over the conversations that the doctors and nurses were having, and the shrill beeping of the medical equipment.

"Can you see what they're doing?" Austin shook his head.

"No."

Ally stared back up at the ceiling. Austin thought he saw a single tear stream down her face. "If..." She could barely bring herself to say it. "If I somehow... don't make it out of here..."

"Ally," he interrupted, his voice already breaking, "Don't talk like that. You and the baby, you're both gonna be fine."

"But if I'm not—"

"You will be."

"Austin." Tears welled up in her eyes. "Just promise me something. Promise that... you'll take care of my babies for me. Okay?"

"Ally..." Tears streamed down Austin's face.

"Promise?" Her voice shook as she spoke. It was the most scared Austin had seen her, maybe ever. Austin hesitated. He'd never thought about what would happen if he did ever lose Ally, mostly because the thought of it alone was unbearable. He bit his lip, mostly to keep from bursting into tears, and reluctantly nodded.

"Okay. I promise."

back to present

Austin shook the memory from his head, stretching to pet Pickles, who lifted his head, unamused. The cat yawned, stretched his front paws out, and let out a tired groan, settling back down a few seconds later. Austin sat up again, commenting about how they should get back down to the party before their parents started to get suspicious. He reached a hand out and pulled Ally up.

"Are you going to be okay for the rest of the party?" he asked, "I know it's a sore subject for you, and I just don't want you getting upset and running out again."

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Ally waved a hand. "I realize now that I was overreacting. Your mom just asked a question and I freaked out. Although, I am getting kind of tired so I wouldn't be opposed to kicking people out soon. We haven't," she raised her eyebrows flirtatiously, "in a while."

Austin smirked. "You're right, we haven't. I like the way you think, Dawson."

Ally let out a laugh as they both descended the stairs and went back down to the party, conversing with everyone for another hour or so before the guests started to pack up and leave. She worked on getting the kids down for their naps while Austin cleaned up, and she sat down on the bed, biting her lip with anticipation.

forty-five minutes later

"Hey, there." Ally put the bookmark in her book and set it down, looking up at Austin. "Kids are in bed, and I'm all yours." He climbed on the bed and met her lips as she closed her eyes and he cupped her face with his right hand. Before she knew it, they were pulling each other's clothes off. A warning signal went off in Ally's brain and she pulled away.

"Wait," she said, breathless, "Do you have protection?" Austin frowned, not used to hearing her say those words, as they hadn't used it since just before their honeymoon.

"Uh, yeah, right. Sorry." Austin stood up and went to his dresser, returning a second later. After putting on the condom he stared into her eyes, grinning and all at once captured her lips in a kiss again, then pulling off her shirt and unsnapping her bra in one fluid motion. Ally sighed contently, letting it happen this time.

Austin and Ally lay under the covers, his arm around her, both only wearing their undergarments. Ally smiled and lay her head on his chest, breathing in his scent. It had been a while since they'd done this. It felt good.

"How was it?" he asked. Ally giggled.

"Five stars."

"Awesome," he whispered under his breath, "I've still got it." Ally smacked his chest lightly.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't let your ego ruin this touching moment." Austin rolled his eyes, pulling back the covers and hopping out of bed, starting to dress himself again.

"We should probably get down there and clean up a bit more," he mused, pulling his pants back on, "and then, I thought we could throw around some more song ideas before the kids wake up."

"Sounds like a plan," Ally responded, doing the same. "It's about time we get some new music out there; it'll be a nice change of pace from the chaos of running A&A Records."

Once they were both fully clothed and all evidence had been discarded properly (it would have been very hard to explain what had gone on in there if one of the kids had found the condom on the ground or something—not to mention awkward), they headed downstairs to the piano in the living room in lieu of the basement studio in case one of the kids woke up.

Austin played three chords in a row on the piano, looking over at his wife for approval. "So, do you like this," he said, playing one option, "or this," he finished, playing another.

"I like the first one," Ally responded, "Major chord progressions are always more fun." She wrote the chords down in her songbook. "Now what about the lyrics?"

Austin frowned. "That's your job. You're the writer."

Ally rolled her eyes. "This is a musical duo. An equal partnership. You know that you can write some of the lyrics too, right?"

"But...I don't want to." She glared at him.

"Okay, well, what do we want the song to convey? Let's start with that."

"Um, well, what if it was like a message about finding hope and solace in your significant other, and how you can always rely on each other no matter what?" Austin asked. "Not that...I've thought about it or anything..."

"Mmhm, yeah. Right," Ally said, grinning. She put her hands on the keys, following the chords she wrote down in her book. "How about this: You don't have to be so lonely, lonely, lonely, 'cause you know that you're the only one for me..."

"Yeah," Austin agreed, "I'm diggin' that."

"I knew you would."

"See, this is why you write and I rock. You just have a natural talent for it." He stared into her eyes, making her cheeks turn a light shade of pink. "Among...other things..." Austin leaned in to kiss her on the lips and she immediately put her book face down on the piano, turning towards him. She deepened it, closing her eyes and sinking into the kiss blissfully, wishing the moment would never end. When they finally pulled away, Ally let out a deep sigh.

"Okay, so now that we've gotten that out of the way..." Austin grinned proudly, sliding her hand into his, "What about this for the next line: 'C'mon, c'mon and pick up the blank page, we can go and write our own story...'?"

He nodded. "It's perfect." The pair continued to work on the song for about another half an hour, until Ava stumbled down the stairs with her messy hair and insisted on joining her mom and dad's songwriting session. While they didn't get much done after she joined them, mostly because she wouldn't stop reaching over and banging on the keys whenever they'd try to do something serious, they agreed that the rest could wait for another day.

the next day

around 5 p.m.

Austin went down the basement steps with a skip in his step, holding Alex on his left hip. He set his son down, gave instructions for him not to move, and went over to the freezer behind the bar area. He pulled out the box of corndogs, giggling, and stuck two of them in the microwave.

"We're gonna give mommy a blast from the past," Austin informed his son as he waited for the corndogs to cook. Ally was upstairs making dinner, and he rubbed his hands together patiently as two minutes went by. These corndogs were going to be used for something else other than eating.

Alex watched, confused, as Austin pulled the two corndogs out of the microwave and prompted his son to come into the studio, leading him over to the drum set. "Here, Alex," he said, "Watch this."

Alex looked up at his dad curiously as Austin tapped out a simple rock beat with the corndogs, being careful not to drum too hard with them. He stood up and handed them to Alex, motioning for his son to sit down on the stool "Alright, bud. Now it's your turn!" The two-year-old grabbed both sticks from his dad's hand and started by whacking the snare drum a couple times. He glanced up at Austin, as if to say, 'Was that good?'

Austin nodded. "Now, here's what I want you to do. When mommy comes down and tells you not to play the drums, you're gonna say, 'It's okay, I'm an awesome drummer.' Can you do that?" Alex just stared blankly.

"I'm gonna take that as a yes," Austin responded. He wrapped his arms around Alex's, making them hit each of the drums and cymbals at random with no particular beat, and thus creating quite a ruckus. He heard Ally came down the stairs, probably to shush them, and left Alex to wail on the drums while he stood idly by, trying to act innocent.

"Austin, what are you"— she stopped in her tracks when she saw Alex hitting their expensive drum set with her husband's favorite fair food item. Ally groaned and put two fingers in her mouth, whistling loudly. Alex stopped and looked up.

She came over to him, hands on her hips, trying desperately not to laugh. "Do you not see the please do not play the drums sign?"

Alex looked up at his dad, who gave him a slight nod. "Iz otay, mommy. I an awesome drummer." Ally giggled, lifting him off the stool.

"You really are a tiny version of your dad, huh?" She placed him on one hip, plucking the corndogs from his hands. "How did you even get these? We don't buy corndogs." Austin smirked.

"You might not, but I do. I bought them when I was grocery shopping one time and kept them in the freezer down here." He grabbed one of them from Ally's hand and took a bite.

"Oh, yeah. That's good stuff." Ally rolled her eyes.

"Dinner will be ready in ten," she said, heading towards the door of the studio, "Don't spoil it with that corndog, Austin."

"Yes, ma'am." Austin craned his neck as she disappeared from view, and once he was sure that she was gone, he took another bite.

three hours later

around 8 p.m.(ish)

"Alright bud, it's time for bed," Austin said, leaning against the door frame of Alex's room. His son, who was on the floor, building a lego tower, ignored him and kept playing. "Alex, don't make me say it again. Let's get your jammies on and get ready for bed."

"Otay, daddy," he replied as Austin grabbed a set of pajamas from the bottom drawer of his dresser, handed them to him and watched as he ran across the hall to the bathroom. Austin sat down on his son's 'big boy bed,' which they'd just put together that afternoon. Now that he was two, Ally had insisted on getting one for him instead of the crib (plus, they'd gotten it at Austin's parents' store where they were currently having a big sale. Add that onto the friends and family discount, and they'd gotten it for a really good price). He ran his hand along the edge of the bed, which was shaped like a race car.

"I wish I had a race car bed," Austin mumbled to himself.

"So, you're jealous of a two-year-old." He looked up to find Ally standing in the doorway.

Austin scoffed. "What? No, I'm not jealous..." Ally raised her eyebrows.

"Okay fine, I'm jealous."

"I knew it." She pecked him on the forehead. "I'll be in Ava's room, reading her some books." Austin nodded.

"Like mother, like daughter," he said, smiling. She rolled her eyes as she exited the room.

After Austin had tucked Alex into bed, assuring his son that there were no pillow monsters (although, if he was being honest, Austin wasn't too sure of that statement himself), he shut the lights off in the hallway and climbed into bed with Ally.

"Whatcha readin'?" he asked, turning to face her.

"It's a World War II era novel called All the Light We Cannot See. It's incredible." Austin nodded, letting out a yawn.

"If you say so."

"I do."

About an hour later, Ally turned off the lights and rolled over on her side. She felt Paris hop up on the bed and take her place in between her and Austin and sighed as she reflected on what a crazy day it had been.

As Ally drifted off to sleep, she couldn't help but feel a bit guilty about how she'd run off earlier during the party, leaving the kids alone with their guests. She knew that Mimi meant well, and as the day went on she'd felt the knot in her stomach that had formed after her conversation with Austin grow tighter and tighter. Mimi was her mother-in-law, after all, and she'd just asked a simple question. Her mind strayed to what Austin had said and how patient he'd been with her during their brief argument. That was one thing she loved about him: in terms of how he felt about her, he hadn't changed since high school. He still loved her and they were each other's world—they always had been. As her eyes started to close, lyrics to a very familiar song played in her head.

This love is never gonna fade

We are timeless, we are timeless

My heart will never ever change

We are timeless, we are timeless...

Sooooo, what'd ya think? Who was at fault in regards to Ally's outburst at the party? Did Mimi overstep or did Ally overreact? Imo it was a little of both. I could totally see Mimi asking a personal question like that and Ally reacting the way she did. Also, how cute was Alex playing the drums with the corndogs? Did y'all catch that reference? like father like son haha :) thank you all so much for reading! Remember to follow favorite and review this story for updates! *MUAH* -Ej