hello, my faithful readers! It's been a while. I could list off my list of excuses for not posting at all these past three months, but it was just the usual: school, finals, work, blah, blah, blah. You get the idea. Life just gets crazy sometimes and although i've been working on this chapter for about a month now, I wanted it to be all edited nice for you guys, cus it's a good one. This sounds cheesy, but writing is truly a labor of love. I worked hard on this chapter, and I'm proud of it. Lots of laughs and sweet moments in this one. Also, it's probably the longest chapter I've ever written at over 11,000 words. I hope you guys enjoy it, I will try to post a lot more this summer if possible. Thank you for those who have been following me and reading my fics since I started writing two in a million almost two years ago now, I greatly appreciate your support.

-ej


the next morning, july 2nd

around seven thirty a.m.


When Ally's alarm went off, Austin rolled over and covered his ears with his hands, squinting, as if that would make the noise stop. But Ally, unfazed, stopped the alarm and slipped out of bed. She was used to waking up to this, after all.

Austin was very unamused.

Ally fumbled around in the darkness, searching for her phone to use as a flashlight so she wouldn't have to turn on the main lights and wake Austin up. It was only the first day of the road trip, after all; it was too early for Sleepy Austin™️ to make an appearance. Unfortunately, though, he was already awake. And annoyed.

"Al-lyyyy," he whined, rolling back over. "Why'd you have to set your alarm so loud? It woke me up and now I can't fall back asleep!"

"Oh, you're awake. Perfect, that's one less person to wake up, then. We're leaving for the park at eight o'clock, so we can beat the crowds. Better start getting ready now so people can use our bathroom if they need to." Ally disappeared into the master bathroom to change. Austin reluctantly rolled out of bed, stumbling over to his suitcase and nearly tripping over Gary Greg's cage in the process. He mumbled a curse word under his breath, huffing and setting the cage where it wouldn't be in anyone's way.

Austin turned the lights in the bedroom on, dimming them a little so it was bright enough to see what was in front of him, but not so bright that he went blind. Ally came out of the bathroom, hair brushed and wearing a magenta t-shirt with a mickey mouse emblem on it, that said "Disney Gang." She went over to her suitcase and dug around a little, finally pulling a green shirt out and handing it to Austin.

"I got one for everybody so that when it gets busy later in the day, no one gets lost." Austin nodded, grabbing it from her and disappearing into the bathroom.

Ally grabbed her phone and pulled back the sliding doors, heading out into the main living area, where Trish and Dez were apparently already awake and arguing about something. She stepped out of the bedroom, sliding the door shut again.

"Morning," she greeted, walking past them and over to the coffee maker, where she started to make herself a cup. "What're you guys talking about?"

Dez scoffed. "Pfft. We weren't talking about anything. What gives you that idea?"

Ally grabbed a K-cup and set it in the top of the Keurig, raising an eyebrow as she looked back at them. "Because... I heard you talking from inside the bedroom? The walls aren't that thick, y'know."

"Oh. Well then, yeah, we were talking." Ally shook her head, giving a little laugh.

"I'm surprised that you're both up already," she said. "It's not even eight o'clock yet. That's pretty early, especially for you, Trish."

"The only reason I'm even awake is that those stupid birds outside wouldn't shut up! And when I got up, that woke Dez up, and he wouldn't stop nagging me about wanting to make pancakes, despite the fact that it was five a.m." She shot a glare in his direction. "He also seems to have forgotten that the last time he tried making pancakes, he almost blew up our tour bus. I swear, some things never change."

Dez scoffed. "I did not almost blow it up!" he argued. "I caused a small fire. Big difference." Trish rolled her eyes.

"You see what I have to deal with?" she asked, pointing at him. "Why couldn't you and Austin have gotten stuck out here with Dez and Carrie instead of us? It's just not fair!"

"Guys!" Ally interrupted, "I swear, you're acting like my children. Let's just all take a breather, and get some breakfast."

"Can I—"

"Not... pancakes." Dez hung his head, but conceded and went to dig around in the mini pantry for something else to eat. A few seconds later, Austin came out of the bedroom sporting his "Disney Gang" t-shirt, and nodded at the other three before grabbing a bowl and some cereal. Trish and Dez exchanged glances, then looked at Ally, who sighed and disappeared into the back bedroom to grab the suitcase that held the t-shirts. "I got one for everybody, so it would be easier to stay together." She handed Trish and Dez their shirts, and set the box on the table. As the rest of the crew gradually started waking up (mostly due to the amount of commotion taking place in the main area), they grabbed their shirts from the box while the rest of them ate breakfast and packed bags for Disney.

"Okay... sunscreen, wallet, sunglasses, waters, snacks... is there anything else that we need?" She turned to Austin, who'd been munching on a granola bar. He shrugged.

"I dunno," he said, through a mouthful of granola and chocolate chips. Ally rolled her eyes. As she went over to the mini-kitchen to grab a few more granola bars, both Dez and Darrie came out of the bathroom wearing their Disney Gang shirts– except Darrie's shirt was about five sizes too big and Dez's only covered half of his torso. Ally raised an eyebrow, looking over at Trish, who was obviously trying to hold back laughter. Finally, after a few seconds, Ally spoke up.

"Um... Dez? Are you sure that you've got the right shirt?" Dez, who'd nonchalantly grabbed a banana and was currently mid-bite, looked down, frowned, then back up.

"I think so." Trish, unable to hold it in any longer, let out a laugh.

"You sure about that?" she asked, smirking.

"Looks fine to me. It's a crop top, see?" He motioned to the shirt, taking another bite of his banana and sitting down at the dinette with Austin, who now had one eyebrow raised. "It's a style choice. Clearly you guys aren't up to date on the latest fashion trends."

"Where did you hear that?" Trish asked. "Top Dork Magazine?" Dez narrowed his eyebrows. Trish and Ally cracked up.

"Joke's on you. I've never even heard of that magazine." Trish rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe I have to be the one to tell you this, but you two are wearing each other's shirts. You'd think that Darrie would've noticed by now, given he's a child genius and all." Dez looked from his shirt, to Darrie's, then back. He was silent for a split second.

"Ohhhhhh..." He set his banana back down on the table and disappeared into the back bedroom, followed by Darrie. "We'll be right back."

"For the record," Darrie whispered as he passed Trish, "I noticed as soon as he grabbed mine out of the box. I just didn't say anything." Trish grinned.

"Darrie's so... sly and mischievous... I like that kid."

"You were right, Trish," Ally said, nudging her friend with her elbow. "Some things never change."


around seven forty-five a.m.

Dez and Darrie reemerged from the back bedroom just as Ally was handing out the Disneyland part of the itinerary to everyone. They sat down with Alex and Austin at the dinette table, which the boys had claimed was their table the night before. Ally stood in the kitchen area, reading off the approximate schedule and listing the ground rules, while the rest of the gang sat on the couch and whatever other furniture was left, slumped over, bored out of their minds already. Finally, Trish stood up, went over to Ally, and grabbed the piece of paper from her hand.

"Hey!" Ally exclaimed. "What was that fo—"

"Alright everyone, here's what's gonna happen," Trish said, ignoring Ally's look of annoyance as her best friend stole the spotlight. "We're gonna get on the shuttle at eight, go to Disneyland, and have fun. Other than 'stay together' and 'don't do anything stupid,' there are no rules. Got it?" Everyone else nodded, getting up, setting their itinerary down where they'd been sitting and grabbing everything they needed for the day. Ally stayed where she was, frowning. Trish looked over at her.

"No offense," she said, "but it's Disneyland. We don't need an itinerary to have fun."

"Trish is right," Austin added, looking over at them as he zipped up his bag. "Don't take this the wrong way, but itineraries suck all the fun out of trips." He rubbed her shoulder with his hand. "Just relax and try to enjoy it. Trust me." Austin planted a quick kiss on the top of her forehead, and squeezed her hand. "See you out there." Ally smiled as he walked away, turning to grab her own bag.

"You ready?" she asked Trish, who nodded.

"Yup! Disneyland, here we come!"

Ally laughed. "I can just see the headline right now. The fearsome foursome—and company— take on Disneyland." The two of them walked toward the front of the bus and down the steps. Trish closed the doors and locked them with her key, and the pair followed their families and friends over to the shuttle pick-up spot.


about eight o'clock a.m.

"You guys ready for Disneyland?" Ally asked her kids as they traipsed off the shuttle and onto park grounds.

Trish pulled out her sunglasses and slipped them on, smirking a little. "I think the better question is," she mused, "is Disneyland ready for us?"

Ally grinned. "Well, the answer to that question is a definite no."

Everyone scanned their bracelets as they went through the gate and looked around in awe, pointing out what rides they wanted to do first. But as soon as Ally pulled out her sunscreen to start spraying everyone down, the entire group let out a collective groan.

"What are you all complaining about? I'm only making my family wear sunscreen. if the rest of you get burned, that's your problem."

"So, you're not making me put any on?" Austin asked, one eyebrow slightly raised.

"Oh, no, you're putting sunscreen on. The high today is in the nineties, and you burn really easily. So don't go anywhere." After a little bit of grumbling and protesting from Austin, he finally grabbed the can and sprayed himself. Ally brought up the fact that he chose to marry her, that he should have known what he was getting himself into, to which Austin replied with a sarcastic, "and it was the best decision I ever made."

As Ally put sunscreen on her kids, who did not make it an easy task, the rest of the group stood idly by. Trish examined the map through her sunglasses, marking up where the most popular rides were with her pencil. Dez did the same, holding it out in front of him.

"This map makes no sense," he said, frowning. "Since when does water flow up and not down?"

"Since never, you doofus," Trish said, grabbing the map from his hands and flipping it over. "It's upside down." Dez shot her a look, then his expression changed as he realized she was right.

Ally turned to Austin, holding out the bottle of sunscreen and informing Austin that she was going to put some on his face, since they didn't have a mirror.

"Why do you have to be the one to put sunscreen on me?" he complained. "It's embarrassing. I'm not a kid anymore. I'm a full-grown adult!"

Ally raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Yes!" Austin argued. He was distracted, however, when a cart with various colored mickey mouse-shaped balloons passed the group. "OOOH BALLOONS! Ally, can we get one?"

Ally chuckled. "Yep, totally a full-grown adult. I believe you now. One hundred percent adult, zero percent child." Austin scowled.

"I know that you're being sarcastic, but I am an adult!" he retorted, crossing his arms.

"Alright," Ally replied, handing him the bottle of sunscreen. "If you're such an adult, you can put your own sunscreen on." He grabbed it from her, throwing on a classic "why are you making me do this?" pouty face.

Trish lowered the map, which she'd been studying very closely, tipped her sunglasses downward, and shouted, "You almost done over there? Some of us actually want to spend time in the park, you know!"

"It hasn't even been five minutes since the shuttle got here," Ally mused. "We have all day today in this park, plus tomorrow, then two days at California Adventure. There's plenty of time to do everything we want to. You guys can be so dramatic sometimes."

Trish gave her a look. "Well, I'm a theatre kid! What else did you expect?" Ally grinned.

"From you, nothing less."


"Okay," Ally said to the gang, staring down at her map, "Since this park is so big, we have to stick together. I don't want any arguing about rides— like I said earlier, we have plenty of time here. So, I say we start by picking two to three sections of the park to go to today, then tomorrow we play it by ear. Sound like a plan?" She looked up from her map to confirm with the group, and was met by nods from everyone. It was fair to say that everyone was jut antsy to explore the park.

The group walked down the brick sidewalk into the main section of the park, through the alleyway with gift shops, restaurants, and vendors pushing carts on either side. Everywhere they looked there seemed to be another family or group also wearing matching shirts, which made it a little less "cult-like" that Ally had ordered shirts for everyone, according to Trish.

After about a quarter of a mile, they found themselves in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle, which Ally of course insisted was a perfect photo op. The boys groaned a little, but after some arguing back and forth she made the point that the sooner they got it over with, the sooner they would get to ride Space Mountain. Austin and Dez were both quiet after that, smiled for the picture, then took off for Tomorrowland, practically sprinting, until Ally yelled at them to slow down, that they had to stay as a group because someone—especially one of the kids— getting lost was essentially her worst nightmare. Though Austin and Dez were practically kids themselves, so that would be bad, too.

As soon as they entered the "Tomorrowland" section of the park, Alex piped up, "Ooh, mom! Can we go on the astro orbitor?"

"Pleeeeease?" Ava begged, jumping up and down, her chestnut brown hair flying in the wind behind her. Ally noted how miraculous it was that her children had actually agreed on a ride together. She sighed and told the group to stop.

"Alright, here's the deal," she said. "I know that we'd planned to go to Space Mountain first, but the kids want to ride this one. Let's just stop here and then we can head on as a group. Deal?"

"Absolutely not!" Trish protested. "I can't stand the rides that go around in circles. Your whole rule about staying together is stupid. I'm an adult, therefore I'm gonna go get in line for Space Mountain, since there's a two-hour wait time already. Peace out." She flashed a peace sign, spun on one heel and started in the other direction, but peered back when nobody followed her. "What're you guys waiting for? You seriously want to ride this lame ass, glorified merry-go-round meant for five-year-olds?"

"Trish!" Ally scolded, giving her the mean beak, "What did I say about swearing on this trip?"

"Sorry, not sorry," Trish replied. "All I'm saying, is if we don't get in line for Space Mountain now, the line is just gonna grow. Some people want to actually ride rides that matter, you know!" Ally bit her lip, realizing that Trish was right. But she wasn't about to say no to Alex and Ava— or Austin and Dez.

"This rollercoaster does matter!" Dez shot back, taking a cautious step forward. "It's a symbol of childhood innocence, of love, space and exploration. I will not let you crush my dreams again!"

"Yeah!" Austin butted in. "Remember senior year, when our favorite ride got removed from the mall? Me and Dez were devastated!"

"Of course, I remember," Trish said. "You knuckleheads glued your pants to the ride, and had to go pantless on the way home when you finally did get off. " She paused, grinned, then broke into a laugh. "Man, that was a good day."

Ally shook her head. "We're getting off-topic. This ride has a shorter line and the kids want to go on it, so let's stop here first. Then we can go over to Space Mountain."

After some complaining from Trish, Ally reminded her that this was what Disney was going to be like with such a large group— not everyone was going to get their way all the time. In Ally's mind, it didn't make sense to send Trish to another ride by herself. She wasn't willing to risk anybody getting lost in such a big park.

All this debate about rides was giving Ally a headache— it hadn't even been ten minutes and she was exhausted.

It's going to be a long day, she thought.


eight forty five a.m.

After about twenty minutes, Austin, Dez, and the kids made it to the front of the line. They scanned their wristbands, and split up into pairs of two. Dez and Austin were determined to ride in the same car, but after about two minutes of trying (and a stern warning from the ride attendant that they were holding up the show), they conceded and got into separate cars. Ally stood outside the gate, watching as the ride started and the rocket cars ascended into the air, and some of the passengers used the controls in front to move them up and down. She couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Austin and Dez trying to synchronize moving their cars up and down together, Austin craning his neck backwards to look at Dez while Dez shouted "UP! DOWN! UP! DOWN!" After about a minute they had started to get the hang of it, but shortly after, the ride ended.

Ally and Trish moved to the passenger exit area to greet their families as they came out. The group then made their way through Tomorrowland, passing the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and Star Wars Launch Bay, and finally came to Space Mountain. As they got closer, Ally realized Trish had been right about the wait times. Passing under the entrance to the boarding area, all she could see was people everywhere she looked. Up above them on the slanted ceilings were panels, colored gray, red, and light blue; the ground was a sort of reddish-orange, metal handrails separated by chains stood in the middle of the walkway, separating the general admission riders from FastPass holders. Ally had at one point considered buying FastPasses and decided against it— a choice she was now regretting.


nine fifteen a.m.

Ally sighed, leaning up against the railing on the right side that overlooked a cafeteria area, which was completely empty. She figured it would be busy when they left; it was after nine o'clock now, and unless the wait time somehow magically improved (which she supposed was possible— magical things tended to happen at Disneyland), they would be exiting at about eleven. All four of the kids— except Darrie, who had insisted that it was beyond unsanitary to even touch the railings at a public place, especially Disney, where they were not frequently sanitized— had conceded and sat down on the floor, probably having figured out that they wouldn't be moving for a while.

Ally looked back at Austin, who seemed to be squirming a little, as Alex often did when he had to use the bathroom. He was bent down, craning his neck to watch a video on Dez's phone as the two of them both broke into laughter. Austin writhed as if in pain, Ally raised an eyebrow. She asked if he was okay, to which he said yes, but when she'd raised an eyebrow at him in suspicion admitted he needed to use the bathroom. She rolled her eyes a bit, asking if anyone else needed to go before the two of them stepped out of line.

By the time they'd both gotten out of the bathroom, the atmosphere had completely shifted. It hadn't been very busy before, but now, there were probably twenty to thirty people behind Austin and the rest of the group. Austin set off to squeeze past people and reconnect with them, but Ally hesitated, letting others go in front of her while she stood at the base of the ramp. She had an irrational fear of crowds and was claustrophobic, even now, and began to think that making her way back up wasn't going to be worth it.

Ally debated with herself what would be the best option, and decided to call Trish to help her make up her mind. Trish picked up after the first ring.

"You have got to come save me," Trish blurted as soon as she picked up. "Austin and Dez are still cackling at those stupid cat videos, Carrie is singing her two-hour rendition of It's a Small World, and to top it off, Darrie has decided that now would be the perfect time to recite the complete history of Disneyworld and its related parks, from the very beginning, aka Walt Disney's childhood and upbringing. Why now, when I don't have an easy escape route?If I wasn't trapped in line with these yahoos, I would have ditched them a long time ago!" She sighed in frustration; Ally could hear muffled laughter from Dez and Austin in the background, and Darrie's high-pitched voice explaining how ironic it was that Walt Disney was scared of mice, yet the mouse would eventually become the face of his company. "Anyway, I'm pretty much going insane. Where are you?"

"Well..." Ally paused, standing on her tip-toes, trying to pick out Trish and the rest of the group. "There's about thirty people in front of me in line, so the chances of me meeting up with you guys are slim." Trish groaned.

"Are you serious?" She asked. "I don't know if I can handle two more hours of this!"

"I know... I feel really bad. You could always come to the back of the line with me?"

In the end, Ally reasoned that Trish should stay with the group, mainly to keep the guys in line, and exited the waiting area. She wasn't about to ride Space Mountain with a complete stranger sitting next to her— what if the person she got stuck with was prone to getting sick on rides? Or screamed really loud? Not to mention, it'd be impossible to find the rest of the group now. Ally decided it wasn't worth it.

When Ally had finally escaped the crowd of people, she found a table underneath an umbrella, sat down and pulled out her book. As she was packing her bag that morning, she'd slipped in a book in case something like this were to happen. Austin had called her a nerd— and then quickly apologized after— but she applauded herself for planning accordingly.


around eleven a.m.

After waiting for about another two hours in an outside rooftop area that was only partially shaded— a danger when it came to being exposed to harmful UV rays, Darrie had pointed out— the group came up to a series of tunnels leading them down to the ride. Everyone collectively agreed that the feeling of the air conditioned tunnels after waiting outside in the eighty seven-degree heat for nearly two hours was well worth it. The tunnels were lit up by red, blue, and green lights, and looked to Austin like the boarding area of an actual space shuttle. When they got into the main loading area for the actual ride, everyone let out a collective gasp. The walkway curled around the outside of the room, slanting downward as it went, and featured a giant contraption in the middle; nobody could agree on what it was, though— it just looked, according to Alex, "spacey." Lights flashed across the slanted ceiling and the industrial sounds of the rollercoaster running echoed throughout the space.

As they prepared to board, the group discussed how to split into two groups, since Ally wasn't there to make it an even ten. In the end, they decided to split four and five; this way they would hopefully not have to share with strangers and some of each family could stay together.

Everyone piled into the cars— Trish and Maggie, the daredevils, in the front, Darrie and Carrie in the row behind them, and Chuck in the back. The car right behind them sat Austin and Ava in the front, and Alex and Dez in the back. A ride attendant gave the signal to move the cars forward after checking that everyone was buckled. The car jerked forward slowly until they came to a two-way split in the rollercoaster tracks— one veered off to the left, one to the right. The cars right in front of them steered off to the right, they moved forward a few inches, and then stopped.

"Welcome space travelers!" An automated voice announced over the speakers. Please keep your arms and legs inside the rocket, and watch your children. You are cleared for launch."

As soon as their car had turned the corner, red lights lit up the space and majestic music blared through the speakers. The car moved slowly up a slight incline, and as it did, the same robotic voice declared, "This is mission control. We are initiating power transfer in three, two, one..."

At the top of the small hill came another tunnel. Bright blue beams flashed from forward to back, coming at them like missiles. Austin blinked a couple of times, then squinted. Ava covered her eyes and leaned closer to him. As they traveled through the tunnel, loud, blinding siren-like noises filled their ears.

Before long, they'd reached the base of another hill, and found themselves surrounded by a plethora of stars on the window-like screens above them. Around another corner brought the same stars, except now, poignant red lights twisted around them, and intense orchestral music sounded in the background. At the end of the tunnel, the space around them was empty and full of a million little shining stars once again. But the only problem was, nobody could see anything.

And nobody could predict what was gonna happen next.

The music in the background had quieted, but Austin knew this was the calm before the storm. He felt Ava's grip loosen a little bit and leaned down to ask her if she was okay, to which she gave a nod. Austin could feel her shaking. He hadn't expected her to be so scared. She'd been acting totally different than Alex, who seemed to be having a blast; he'd been whooping and cheering with Dez this entire time. But she kept holding onto his arm, burying her face in his sleeve, which he found to be heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time.

A few seconds later, the car jumped to light speed, and they were hurtling through space without any sense of direction. They made sharp left and right turns, went up and down hills. Austin was certain he was going to go deaf— all he could hear were bloodcurdling screams. His stomach jumped to his chest as they surged down another hill. It truly felt like they were free falling through space, which was equally as electrifying as it was terrifying.

Finally, they came to one last tunnel, where laser lights came flying at them from all directions. The ride slowed dramatically and they once again came out to the open area, where they had started. Austin took a second to catch his breath, then looked over at Ava, who was still holding onto him. He reached over, patted her arm, told her that it was over and they could get out now. The group grabbed any bags they'd left in the cubbies on their way out and found Ally at her table under the umbrella.

"Hey," Ally greeted, "How was it?"

"Well, nobody lost their lunch, so that was a plus," Austin mused. "I think a lot of us enjoyed it... right?" Nearly everyone nodded in agreement.

"Yeah!" Alex exclaimed, "It felt like a... a super fast rocketship in outer space! It went up and down, and up and down..."

"And left and right," Maggie added, "And there were cool lights! And stars!"

"The use of colorful LED lights, orchestral music, and cinematronic effects were... satisfactory," Darrie put in. "Not realistic enough for my taste. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it." Dez stared at him for a moment, wearing a slight grin, but still looking confused.

"Yeah, I didn't understand anything you just said," he mused, "... but it was so COOL! I wish you could have been there, Ally. I had a blast."

Ally feigned a smile. "Well, that's good. Ava, how about you? Did you like it?" Ava shook her head. Ally frowned, looked up at Austin.

"She was clinging to me pretty much the whole time," Austin said, a little softer this time. "I could tell she was scared." Austin gave her the look that said 'we can talk about it later, not in front of everyone.' Ally nodded. Over the years they'd come up with a system of communication that didn't require words. And yet it was perfectly understood by just the two of them. Their own little language.


11:45 a.m.

"We should find somewhere to eat lunch," Ally announced as she grabbed her bag from the table. "I didn't think to pack sandwiches, but I suppose it'd be okay if we ate at the park today."

"I vote we eat at the galactic grill," Dez piped up. "They have burgers and salads and stuff. I saw it on the map, it's not far from here. Only this much." He held his thumb and pointer finger about an inch and a half apart.

"Ooh, that's really close," Carrie replied. She shuffled forward an inch, then turned around, looking disappointed. "The map said it's this much away," she held up her thumb and pointer just as Dez did, "but we're not there yet. The map is wrong!"

"Actually Carrie, the map has a scale, so one inch actually equals—" Ally stopped herself when she saw Carrie's quizzical look. "Never mind."

"I see the restaurant, it's just up ahead," Trish put in. "Let's just go there, yeah?" The rest of the group agreed, though Carrie was still confused as to why they had to walk so far.

After ordering, the ten of them grabbed two tables and pushed them together. After they'd gotten their food, each meal was given to the correct person— which proved to be time consuming, in and of itself. The group chatted over their meals, grateful to be out of the hot sun— though it wasn't yet noon, the outside temperature was still above eighty already. Ally told everyone about the book she'd just finished reading as Alex recounted just how many stars he saw during the ride (it was at least a million, he'd counted them himself). Dez expressed his profound interest in visiting the Star Wars Launch Bay, thinking that it was a cool ride that zipped them through outer space, featuring cameos from the characters. He quickly lost interest, however, when Ally informed him it was a series of exhibits detailing how the movies were made. After that he insisted he could live without visiting it.


The rest of the afternoon was fun, yet relaxing. Austin wouldn't let up about the Astro Blasters, so everyone went on that ride— although it wasn't really a ride; more of an experience. Passengers rode in cars of two with fake guns attached to the front, and were brought slowly through different rooms and hallways on the track. The goal was to shoot as many of the targets— some stationary, some moving— as possible. Everyone enjoyed themselves on that one; though Austin and Dez got into a small argument afterwards about who had gotten the most points since they weren't riding in the same car. Dez insisted the point-counting system was faulty and challenged Austin to a rematch, but Ally insisted they didn't have time if they were going to get to any other sections of the park that day.

After they were done in Tomorrowland, the group headed over to Fantasyland, where they started with Peter Pan's Flight. Passengers again were split into cars of two—which were attached to a track on the ceiling and shaped like miniature pirate ships— and taken on a slow-moving journey through the world of Peter Pan. The ride essentially took them through many different scenes of the movie— through the Darling children's bedroom and over a small-scale replica of London, complete with a tiny Big Ben, around a mountain, surrounded by a sky full of stars, twinkling in the moonlight. After that they zipped by Captain Hook's ship, where statues of Peter Pan and Captain Hook were sword fighting. Through some trees they saw Peter and the Darling children again, this time steering the wheel of Hook's ship. Next was another scene of Captain Hook, standing over the mouth of a crocodile. In the background came a tedious tick, tock, tick, tock, and Captain Hook's desperate call for help from his trusty sidekick: "SMMEEEEEEE!" along with Smee's response, "I'm comin', cap'n!"

After passing through some more trees and past another pirate ship that had pixie dust surrounding it, they came to the end of the ride. Ally exited her car, which she shared with Ava, and waited outside the exit for the rest of the group.

When everyone had met up again, they decided to check out the Casey Jr. Circus Train, which ran alongside the canal where the Storybook Land boat tours took place. They had decided against going on one of those tours, as it was almost two o'clock in the afternoon now, and the line was about an hour long. The train ride, however, took less than ten minutes and gave basically the same view.


two-thirty p.m.

After getting off the train ride, everyone agreed that they needed to find a shady spot and reconvene to decide where they wanted to go next. On the shuttle ride over earlier that morning, Ally had suggested everyone would get to pick one ride they wanted to do during their four days at Disneyland and California Adventure. The rest of the group had agreed that was a fair compromise; in addition to the one ride that each of them would get to pick, they would all have to agree on other rides together to make it fair. Ally pulled out her map and started listing off the rides in Fantasyland that they hadn't hit yet. She listed them off in order from top to bottom, and was interrupted by a very enthusiastic Carrie the second she said "it's a small world."

Trish groaned. "Of all of the rides in this entire park, you just had to pick the single most annoying one! The wait time is gonna be, like, two hours!"

"Trish..." Ally nudged her best friend and raised an eyebrow, "Remember our agreement? If Carrie wants to ride 'it's a small world,' we're riding 'it's a small world.'"

Trish began to protest, but Ally stopped her. "We agreed that everyone gets to pick a ride. Austin wanted Astro Blasters, everyone wanted to go on Space Mountain, the train, and Peter Pan, and now Carrie's choice is 'it's a small world'. Case closed." Everybody started gathering their things from the table and headed around the corner to where the ride was. Of all the people to whine and complain about people's ride choices, Ally had expected it to be one of the kids, not Trish. Then again, it made sense given Trish's history of whining and complaining about things.

The waiting and boarding area for "it's a small world" was outdoors, and featured a curved, slanted sidewalk surrounded by dainty white gates all the way down. A metallic-looking grey, silver, and gold castle covered with various shapes stood behind the stream. Since the boats held about nine to ten people each, the line dwindled pretty quickly. By the time they got to the front of the line, everyone pretty much had the song in their head already, but nobody complained.


about three fifteen p.m.

When it came time to load the boat, Carrie and Darrie piled in the front, Ally and Ava sat behind them, then Austin and Alex in the third row, Dez and Trish in the fourth row (which Trish had very much objected to, given that the ride lasted about ten minutes and being stuck next to Dez for that long was pretty much her worst nightmare), and Chuck and Maggie in the very back. Almost as soon as they'd sat down, the boat started moving.

"Welcome to 'it's a small world,'" a female voice announced over the speakers. "For your safety, please remain seated throughout your voyage, keeping your hands, arms, feet, and legs inside the boat, and please watch your children. Thank you."

"You hear that, Dez?" Trish asked with a smirk. "I'm supposed to keep an eye on you."

Dez scoffed. "Didn't you hear that lady? She only said to keep an eye on childre— wait a minute." He narrowed his eyebrows at her. Trish grinned, proud of her joke.

Ally turned around to face Austin and Alex. "I heard there are some famous Disney characters hidden throughout the ride," she said. "We should see if we can find them all."

"Ooh, good idea Ally," Austin said. He turned to his son. "I bet you can't find more of them than me."

"Nuh-uh, I'm going to!" Alex exclaimed.

"Joke's on you, I'm beating you both," Ava said proudly. Ally rolled her eyes.

"Why does everything have to be a competition? Why can't we just... look for them all as a family, just for fun?"

"Pfft, what fun would that be?" Austin laughed. "I say, whoever can find them all gets a treat. On me."

"What... kind of treat?" Ally asked, raising one eyebrow.

"I dunno. Like one of those mickey mouse-shaped ice cream bars."

"Alright, deal. You're on." Ally stuck her hand out and Austin shook it, just as they entered the main part of the ride. The first of many renditions of the song began to play, which made Trish begin to regret her life choices.

"It's a small world after all,

It's a small world after all,

It's a small world after all,

It's a small, small world..."

Ally laughed when she heard more complaining from Trish in the back of the boat about how annoying the song was. As she listened to the verse, though, she found herself paying attention to the lyrics.

"It's a world of laughter, a world of tears,

It's a world of hope and a world of fears,

There's so much that we share that it's time we're aware

It's a small world after all..."

Right away, Ally saw a cardboard cutout of Alice from Alice in Wonderland holding a couple balloons. They passed through the Scandinavia, Denmark, Belgium, Scotland, and England sections before Austin again pointed out Alice and the Mad Hatter sitting against a black-and-red-checkered background. Up ahead a few more feat sat a replica of the Eiffel Tower, shining with lights around its edges. Ally turned around to face her husband.

"Hey, Austin, look at that tower up there," she said, pointing to the left. "Seem familiar?" He grinned, knowing right away what she was referring to.

"Would you look at that," he replied, "It's where we got engaged." Ally nodded, feeling herself blush a little. But she didn't care one bit.

The boat kept floating down the small river, through the France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland sections. As they came up to the section with China, Japan, and Egypt, Ava pointed out Jasmine and Aladdin on a flying carpet. In the jungle section, Alex spotted Timone riding on Pumba's back, and Ava saw both Ariel and Flounder in the ocean-themed one. Austin spotted Nemo and Dory on the left, and Ally pointed out Lilo and Stitch on a surfboard.

The next section featured a farm scenery on the left and a wild-west one on the right. Just as Ally was about to announce that she saw Jessie playing a guitar and Woody riding Bullseye the horse off to the right, Alex beat her to it. This made all four of them tied at two points each.

Shortly after this, the ride was over. They went through another section filled with postcards saying "adieu," "adios," and "farewell," and were once again out in front of the metallic-colored castle, surrounded by animal-shaped shrubs.


Their boat continued to float along the stream for a little while, as the music died down. Ally turned around, looked at Trish and said, "Well, that wasn't so bad, now, was it?"

"Speak for yourself," Trish replied. "I'm going to have that song stuck in my head for, like, the next week."

After they had boarded, the gang decided that, since it was getting insanely busy at the park, they would go on one or two more rides, then call it a day. The kids voted on heading over to Mickey's Toontown to ride a rollercoaster geared more towards younger ages— Gadget's Go Coaster. The miniature rollercoaster proved to be fun for everybody involved, however, and ended up being a perfect close to the day.


four o'clock p.m.

By this time, everybody was pretty much exhausted, and since they still had another day at the park, the vote to go back to the campground was unanimous. Everybody piled onto the shuttle, sweaty, tired, and a little sunburned. As soon as they got back to the RV, Ally insisted everybody wash their hands, and relax a bit before dinner. Austin grilled burgers out on the grill that came with the plot they'd rented, and Trish and Ally worked in the kitchen, cooking vegetables and tater tots to go with them. This proved to be harder than they'd expected, as Dez kept trying to get through because he needed to use the bathroom, then grab something from his bag, then feed Gary Greg. Before long, everybody was sitting out by the picnic tables, eating happily, making conversation.

Not much happened the rest of the night, except the kids making yet another trip down to the campground pool while the parents watched them. Everyone was in bed by ten o'clock that night, and they'd agreed that tomorrow morning, they could leave for the park a little bit later— a good night's sleep was going to benefit everybody more in the long run, anyway.


the next morning, july 3rd

around nine thirty a.m.

Ally woke up the next morning with Austin's arms wrapped around her waist. She grinned, opened her eyes and smiled, twisting her body to face him. Austin grunted sleepily.

"Morning," he croaked. Ally giggled.

"Morning to you, too," she replied, grinning. "Are you ready for another full day at the park?"

"Yup," he said. "What time are we leaving?" Ally rolled over to look at the clock on her side of the bed.

"Ten, maybe? Ten fifteen?" she suggested. "The park will probably be busier than yesterday, since it's almost the fourth of July and all, so wait times will be longer." She rolled back over to look at her husband, whose messy hair drooped down over his eyes. He squinted, obviously still half awake.

"Why can't we just... lay here and cuddle all day?" Austin asked. Ally laughed as he wrapped his arms around her once again, pulling her in closer. He planted a kiss on her right cheek.

"Well, that does sound nice... but what if I promised you we could do that tonight, instead? When everyone's asleep. We can stargaze through the skylight." She pointed to the glass pane above them, which had a cover on it to block the sunlight but could be removed easily. "What do you say?"

Austin hesitated for a second. "Alright. Sounds like a plan."

"Great." Ally rolled out of bed, heading into the bathroom to brush her hair and put on some clothes. When she came out, she went into the hallway to grab her Disney t-shirt (she had washed everybody's shirt the night prior so they could use them again), and straight back into the bathroom. Austin rolled over, putting his pillow above his head in hopes that it would drown out the noise of Dez and Trish making commotion in the main space. But it proved to be no use, so he finally conceded and went out to the dryer to grab his shirt as well.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Dez commented when he saw Austin's disheveled look. Trish attempted to hold in her laughter and failed.

"Only Ally's allowed to call me that," Austin replied, unamused, making his way back into the bedroom. He slipped off his pajama shorts and changed into different ones, and had just taken his shirt off when Ally came back out of the bathroom.

She walked by him to put her pajamas back in the drawer, but found her eyes drifting toward his shirtless chest. When their eyes met, she blushed and looked away. Austin smirked.

"What, do you think I'm hot, or something?" he asked. Ally's cheeks turned bright red. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Austin... what are you doing?"

He paused, then said, "Do you ever just... miss the days when we were awkward teenagers in love? Like, when we first started dating— the second time— and we were still... trying to figure everything out?" Ally grinned.

"Who says we ever left that stage?" She walked over to him, grabbed his hand, planted a kiss on his cheek. "We can still be awkward and in love at this age, can't we?" Austin grinned, grabbed his shirt off the bed and slipped it on.

"I guess." She turned around and gave him a grin before disappearing through the door to the main area.


about ten o'clock a.m.

"Now that everyone is up," Ally announced as she filled a travel mug with coffee, "I say we shoot to leave in fifteen minutes. The shuttle comes every half an hour, so we can make the 10:30 one. Sound like a plan?" Everyone nodded in agreement as they ate breakfast, packed bags, retrieved their shirts from the dryer. Trish made a point to tell Dez that his shirt was the adult large, not the youth large. He said nothing, shooting her a glare and disappearing into the bathroom to change.


ten forty-five a.m.

"You know the drill," Ally said as everybody exited the shuttle, retrieving her can of spray-on sunscreen once again, "Before we go in, everyone has to apply sunscreen." Austin, Ava and Alex all let out a collective groan.

"Hey," she said, pulling out her 'stern mom voice,' as Austin called it, "People got sunburned yesterday. I'm not going to let that happen again."

"Yeah, Dez got sunburned, cuz he didn't put any on!" Austin protested. "None of us did!"

"Which is exactly why everyone is putting some on today. Not just you guys."

Cue groans from everybody else in the group.

"Seriously?" Trish protested, "I don't even burn! Who made her in charge, anyway?"

"Yeah," Austin agreed, but added, "Sorry, love you," when Ally gave him a 'how dare you take her side?' look.

"Guys, I'm just looking out for you. If I weren't so insistent on keeping everybody safe, we'd all look like tomatoes at the end of the day."

"Speaking of tomatoes," Trish said, glancing around the group, "Where did Dez go?" Everyone else started looking around, Ally counted heads and realized only nine of them were present.

We're not even through the park gates yet, and we've already lost somebody, Ally thought. If this is any indication of how the rest of the trip is going to go, we're in for a wild ride.

Austin and Trish set out, calling his name, looking around corners, behind posts, peering at crowds of people seeing if he'd somehow stuck himself in with another group, but to no avail. Ally was starting to panic. This was literally her worst nightmare. She was about three seconds away from calling park security to ask them to look for him, already rehearsing what she would say, because how does one tell security guards that they're looking for a grown red-headed man in a Disney t-shirt, polka dot pants, and red suspenders without coming off as clinically insane? Austin and Trish came back from looking, both having failed to find him, and Ally suggested they start calling him, because maybe he had his phone on him? Carrie then interjected, saying that he left his cell phone back at the campground because he thought Zaliens were going to contact him and try to get him to join their race. Ally just rolled her eyes, unsure of what to say to that.

"So, we haven't even been at the park for five minutes, and we've already lost Dez— who has no cell phone and no other way to contact us?" Ally asked, now feeling her heartbeat start to speed up.

"Correct," Trish said. "Are we sure he didn't somehow sneak into the park when we had our backs turned? If so, he could literally be anywhere by now."

"Okay, not helping, Trish!" Ally had started to pace a little. Austin went over to her, grabbing her hand and pulling her back towards him.

"Why don't we split up and go look for him?" Austin suggested calmly, squeezing her hand. "We're not going to find him by just standing here— might as well go scour all of the shops and stuff, see if he's just wandering around, looking at keychains or something."

"Good idea," Trish said. "I'll go start with the shops on main street. Carrie, Darrie, Chuck, and Maggie, you come with me. The rest of you, go look over by the castle, in case he got distracted and went to buy one of those mickey mouse-shaped balloons." Chuck made a comment about how since they'd realized Dez was gone he was actually enjoying himself more, to which earned him a hard glare from Trish.

"Okay," Austin said. He squeezed Ally's hand again, telling her that it would be alright, that they would surely find him in no time. She nodded, though Austin couldn't tell if she really believed that.

If he was telling the truth, Austin didn't know if he believed it himself— but he wasn't going to say that in front of Ally. He wanted her to enjoy herself on this vacation... if that was even possible.


eleven fifteen a.m.

"Dez!" Austin shouted, circling the statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse at the end of Main Street, in front of the castle. "Dez!"

"Dez!" Ally called. She, Austin, and the kids scoured every single inch of that area, even going underneath the castle area to see if he'd suddenly became interested in touring Sleeping Beauty's Castle. Just when Ally was about to suggest that they call park security, Trish and the rest of the gang came walking towards them, with Dez in tow. It seemed like everyone breathed a sigh of relief at once.

Ally raised an eyebrow as they got closer; Trish appeared to have Dez attached to a monkey-shaped backpack via leash, and was holding the other end. She grinned, clearly amused, at Dez's disapproval of the new arrangement. Ally held back a laugh when she realized the backpack was meant for kids, but they now had to use it to keep track of their thirty-something-year-old red-headed friend.

"So, where was he?" she asked.

"I found him at a hotdog stand, arguing with the vendor about how hotdogs can be a breakfast food, because they weren't open for lunch yet. I swear, we've traveled back in time to when we were teenagers."

"Sure seems like it." She pulled out the sunscreen spray, commenting that all the adults take turns being on "Dez Duty" throughout the day. This comment was met with amusement, albeit a little annoyance and protesting from Chuck, who declared that "keeping track of Red" was the last thing he wanted to do. After spraying everyone down, the gang headed over to Adventureland first, where they first rode the Jungle Cruise and then headed over to the Enchanted Tiki Room— a classic Disneyland attraction that they needed to see, Ally insisted. Dez and Carrie were equally enthralled by all of the singing birds, and as they exited both pondered how and where to get one for themselves.

"I'm gonna tell 'em," Trish said in a low voice, "Someone's gotta tell 'em."

"Don't you dare," Ally shot back.

Next on the agenda came Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain railroad; though there was discrepancy as to which order to do them in, because Dez and Austin still wanted to go visit Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, and they wanted to do so when they weren't "drenched and sweaty." Since the Star Wars exhibit was out of their way and in an awkward corner of the park, they decided to do Big Thunder Mountain Railroad first, then make their way over to Galaxy's Edge and back through Critter Country for Splash Mountain, making a sort of misshapen circle. Since the wait times at Splash Mountain tended to be longer and it wasn't clear how long that ride would take, they decided that they would play it by ear after that.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad proved to please almost everyone in the group; Ava had been a bit freaked out by the part of the ride where it slowed to around 5 mph and entered a dark cave, and the only light was coming from faux sticks of dynamite making fizzling noises and traveling along the sides of the cave. Although Ally had reminded her they weren't real, she still had said it wasn't her favorite, given how fast it went and the portions that were dark. Everybody else, however, loved it— especially Chuck. Dez reasoned that it was because the ride "gave off yee-haw vibes," which nobody could argue with.

As far as a crowd favorite, though, that went to Rise of the Resistance, the main ride in Galaxy's Edge. The ride used animatronic characters that moved and talked how the actual characters in the movies would have, which blew both Austin and Dez's minds. First, passengers were debriefed on what their "mission" entailed, then hopped into a replica transport ship, were carted over to the main bay of the death star where they then met lifelike storm trooper figures. After this, they were led over to the actual ride, where cars that held about eight people each but weren't on a track zipped them all around the bay, spinning side by side, which made Ally nervous because she thought they were going to crash but they never did. In addition, the ride used special effects and laser lights to make it seem like they were actually being shot at by actual Stormtroopers. Several members of the group commented that they actually felt like they had stepped into the movie itself.


2:30 p.m.

By the time they'd finished with Rise of the Resistance, the kids were already complaining about their legs hurting; which made sense— they'd had to stand in line for about an hour at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and over an hour for the Star Wars ride. But nonetheless, Dez and Austin appeared to be unbothered and continued to talk about how cool the whole experience was on their way over to Critter County.

Splash Mountain, as they had predicted, had over an hour-long wait. Ally told everybody that it was only going to get longer as it became later in the day, though, and if they stuck it out, they could get ice cream after. Everyone reluctantly agreed and got into line.


one hour later

3:30 p.m.

"Mommy, I'm hungry," Alex complained, "and my feet hurt."

"I know, bud," Ally said, ruffling his hair, "but only, like, ten more minutes until we get splashed with water, and then we can get ice cream! How does that sound?" Alex nodded, then turned back toward the front of the line. From the looks of it, only five or six groups were ahead of them. As they inched closer to the gate— ever so slowly— Ally realized that the cars held four people each. She turned to Trish.

"How do you think we should we split up?" she asked, "We have ten, the cars are groups of four." Trish thought for a minute.

"We could do four, four, and two?" she suggested. "Surely there's another group of two around here somewhere that wants to come to the front of the line."

"That's true," Ally said. She peered behind and around their group, trying to be nonchalant and... not creepy, and eventually her eyes landed on an older couple, who were standing behind their group. They looked to be about her parents' age— the husband was wearing a navy blue shirt that had yellow block letters and spelled out "if lost please return to my wife," and khaki shorts. The wife was wearing a shirt that said "I am the wife," and jean shorts. Ally grinned a little, not being able to help but think they were literally her and Austin from the future. She tapped Austin on the shoulder.

"Hey, Austin," she said. He turned around.

"Yeah?"

"Ask that nice couple behind us if they want to fill the extra spaces in the third canoe."

Austin looked confused. "...Why?"

"Because, the logs or whatever have four spaces in them, and since our group is made of ten people and ten isn't divisible by four..." she paused when the look on his face indicated he was even more lost now. "Never mind. We just need two more people, so can you ask them if they'll fill in the spaces?"

Austin hesitated, but eventually agreed, making his way back to the couple.

"Sup," he said. "I'm Austin."

The wife turned to her husband and tapped him on the shoulder. "Glenn, isn't that the handsome boy who makes the music that the girls listen to?"

"Huh?" The husband, who Austin now knew was Glenn, turned his head back toward Austin.

"Oh." Glenn shrugged. "I don't know."

Austin raised an eyebrow, but smiled.

"Our granddaughters are such big fans," the wife continued. "Who would have thought we'd run into you here?"

"Yeah, uh, I'm just on vacation with my family and friends," Austin said awkwardly. "Anyway, our group only has ten people in it and we need twelve so we don't get split up... would you want to fill in the extra spaces?"

"We'd be happy to," she replied. "Oh, by the way, I'm Gertrude and this is my husband Glenn." She and her husband both shook Austin's hand, then Austin introduced them to everybody in the group. Everyone seemed to get on well with them, especially Dez, who declared that he loved them about five seconds after meeting them.

"So," Ally said, attempting to initiate conversation with their new friends, "What brings you guys to Disney? Do you have any family that lives around here?"

The gang listened as Glenn explained that he and Gertrude were there for their fiftieth wedding anniversary— he had taken her to Disneyland for their honeymoon fifty years ago, and thought it would be fun to surprise her as an anniversary present. They both raved on about how all of their granddaughters—they had five total, and three grandsons— were huge Austin & Ally fans, and had attended their reunion tour when they came to California nearly two years ago. Austin then told them he admired how dedicated their grandkids were, and even offered to autograph something for them after they got off the ride, like a Disney souvenir, since they hadn't brought any A&A merch to the park with them.

The time came where they got to the front of the line, and the group split up into three cars: Ally, Ava, Trish, and Maggie; Chuck, Carrie, Darrie, and Alex; and Austin, Dez, Gertrude, and Glenn bringing up the rear. When they took off, Glenn warned that since Austin and Dez were in the front of the car, they'd be getting the most wet. Dez started to cackle, slapping his hands together.

"This guy cracks me up!" Austin just shook his head, turning back to Glenn, who looked confused as to why he was laughing so hard.

"I don't really have an explanation," Austin said. "That's just Dez being Dez."


about four o'clock p.m.

Once the ride was over— which resulted in everyone being drenched, as Glenn had said— everyone gathered outside the exit and went in search for something that Austin could autograph for Glenn and Gertrude's granddaughters. Luckily they came to a souvenir shop not far from Splash Mountain that had Disneyland hats for each of them. After this, they bid goodbye— but not before Glenn asked Austin if he could get "what the kids call a 'selfie'" with him, to show his granddaughters proof he had met Austin Moon. After the selfie had been taken, they went their separate ways to hit a few more rides before the sun went down.


seven thirty p.m.

"All kids need to start getting ready for bed," Ally announced as they all piled into the RV once again. After two long days in a row, everyone was pretty much exhausted. "Mainly because I'm tired, and I want to go to bed," she added. Austin frowned a little.

"But what about—"

"We can still stargaze, Austin, don't worry," she reassured him. "The faster everyone gets to bed, the faster we get to do that." He nodded, ushering Alex over to the master bathroom to get changed. Within about a half an hour, all of the kids were in bed; Maggie and Alex both fell asleep right away, Ava read her book for a few minutes while Darrie did his nightly crossword. Finally the four of them had dozed off, leaving just the adults who were sitting outside at the picnic table, recounting the events of the day.

"My favorite part was Rise of the Resistance," Austin said without hesitation. "A hundred percent. It was just so cool."

"I kind of liked Peter Pan's adventures and 'it's a small world,'" Ally added. "They were slower, and more relaxing. I didn't have to worry about getting splashed with water, or ending up in a dark cave where you can't see anything." The rest of them offered their two cents about rides: Carrie, to nobody's surprise, enjoyed 'it's a small world' and the Tiki Room, Chuck's favorite part had been Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Trish's had been when they had to attach a monkey backpack to Dez, and the highlight of the trip so far for Dez had been, of course, meeting Glenn. The 'Fearsome Foursome and Friends,' as they had named themselves, chatted for a couple more hours before calling it a night.


nine thirty p.m.

As soon as they were done talking with everybody outside, Austin and Ally said goodnight to everyone and retreated into the master bedroom. Austin shut the door behind him, slipped off his shirt, removed the cover over the skylight, and slid into bed next to Ally. She grinned and leaned into him, grateful that they could finally have some alone time together. Austin scooted even closer, pulled the covers up, and Ally closed her eyes for a second, soaking in this rare moment of complete calm and silence.

"So... today was fun, huh?" he asked, wrapping his arm around her waste. She nodded.

"Yeah. Very tiring, but fun. I think the kids are having a blast, too."

"Definitely. Alex told me earlier that he never wants to leave— I think the rest of the trip is gonna be a bit of a letdown for him... and me, to be honest." Ally giggled.

"Doesn't surprise me one bit. He and Ava are so different, it's kind of mind-boggling that they're even related. He's so enthusiastic about everything; she's more cautious and reserved."

"Sounds like the two of us." Ally grinned.

"Exactly." They were silent for a moment as they just stared up at the stars through the small glass window in the ceiling, both of them feeling their eyelids grow heavy after two long days in a row but refusing to fall asleep. Ally pointed out what looked like the small dipper, noting the string of stars that made up the handle, and the four that lined the spoon part. Austin nodded, but seeing the stars and hearing Ally talk about them just made him think of how Ava had been so scared during Space Mountain the day prior. After a few seconds Ally looked over at him.

"Hey... you okay?"

Austin snapped himself back to reality. "Wha— yeah, I'm good. Just.. thinking about Ava yesterday on Space Mountain, how scared she was." Ally frowned, remembering how he'd mentioned it the day before, once they'd gotten off the ride, but they hadn't had time to talk about it.

"She just... she was grabbing onto my arm so tight, and wouldn't let go. She kept saying my name, and buried her face in my shirt— and I think she might've been crying, too. I don't know. I couldn't tell, it was just so loud." He sighed, pausing for a second. "She probably was just overwhelmed by... everything." Ally rubbed his arm reassuringly. She couldn't tell if it was because of the exhaustion and lack of sleep or because she was touched by Austin's love for his daughter, but she felt herself tearing up.

"...And anyway," he continued, "I got this feeling, like in my stomach, and it told me 'no matter what it takes, protect this little girl with your life.' It was like, an overwhelming instinct. Do you... ever get that feeling?"

Ally nodded. Tears were streaming down her face by this point— she couldn't help it.

"Of course. All the time. I think it's a part of being a parent, that feeling. Or just having someone that you care so much about, doesn't have to be your kid. It can just be... a spouse, or significant other." Austin grinned.

"Yeah. I remember getting that feeling on our wedding day. Y'know, in those few hours before the ceremony." They met eyes, Ally nodded. He didn't have to say it, she knew he was referring to her panic attack beforehand. She suddenly blushed, looked down towards the covers.

"We've come a long way since then," Austin added. "And especially since we were teenagers. Neither of us really knew what we were doing back then." Ally let out a laugh.

"We most definitely did not."

"I like how far we've come," he said. "I like our life now. It's perfect."

"I don't know about perfect..."

"It's our own definition of perfect," he reasoned. "Nobody's life can be, like, dictionary definition perfect. That's impossible. But look at our life; we've got everything we could ever need, and we built it together. It's messy and it's complicated, but at the same time it's perfect for me because I've got everything I'll ever need. You, the kids, our careers, our amazing group of friends. I'm thankful for everything we have and especially you, because there's no other person I'd rather take this crazy, complicated journey with."

"Gah, you gotta stop that." Ally feigned a laugh as she wiped the tears from her eyes again. "You're making me emotional!"

"Well, it's true," he said, pausing for a moment. "You know what else is crazy?"

"You?" Ally grinned.

"No. Well, yes. But earlier today, when we met Glenn and Gertrude... they reminded me of us."

"Me too," Ally said. "Them coming back here on their fiftieth anniversary, that was so adorable. And they didn't even bring their grandkids— it was just them."

"That's the best part." Austin laughed. "I hope we still love each other as much as Glenn and Gertrude do when we're their age. I hope we go to Disneyland by ourselves, I hope we befriend pop stars and their crazy redheaded friends." Ally grinned, put her head in the crook of his neck, took a second to breathe in his scent.

"I think we will."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Definitely."

"How can you tell?" he asked.

"Because," Ally answered nonchalantly, as if the answer was right in front of them, "Our love story, it's one for the ages. Like straight from a romance movie. And I like to think that a story like ours, it doesn't happen very often. I probably wouldn't have written Two in a Million if a love like that happened every day." Austin grinned, then sighed.

"I love you so much, Ally."

"I love you too, Austin."

The two of them stayed like that for several more minutes, listening to the sound of the crickets through the half-opened bedroom window. Ally thought she heard some campers talking quietly still, she imagined they probably had a bonfire lit. Soon, though, the faint sound of laughter disappeared and her eyes became heavy. She fell asleep minutes after Austin did. As she dozed off, Ally thought, I want nothing more than to stay like this forever.


Sooo, that's that, lol. Please tell me your thoughts in the comments because I would love to hear your favorite moments from this chapter! Plenty to choose from, in my opinion. Was it what you expected from a chapter about the Fearsome Foursome and Friends taking on Disneyland? Let me know. There's another chapter of Disney content coming up, where they'll be at the California Adventure park and then heading to the next destination (which will be a surprise until next chapter, i like keeping you guys on your toes ;)). see you guys next time, take care :)

-ej