This is part two of a storyline that I came up with as I watched Season 4, I hope you enjoy it! Read part one in Chapter 15, scares & scandals, for the first half of this story. I may post one more chapter about what happens before/during/after the last episode of the show, but I don't know when and I can't promise anything. Thanks for reading and commenting :)

Side note: I didn't specifically say what song is performed at the end of the fic so that you guys could imagine it to be whatever song you want it to be

"This is so bad." Austin sighed, fingers pressed against his temples as he sat in the mall food court with a tablet in his lap. Trish sat next to him, cringing at his defeated composure knowing there was no easy way to fix things. She wished she could be at home playing with her new puppy instead of dealing with a scandal.

"Should we have Ally make a statement today?" Trish asked.

"Probably, there's dozens of reporters dying to reach us right now, but she'll have to be so careful about what she says… plus we have no time to schedule an interview with the factory and our music being so busy. Right now is the only free part of my schedule for the next 2 days and Ally has zero free time. Ronnie is having her speed up on her music after she took so much of her time helping me with my comeback." Austin stammered, shutting off the ipad so that it wouldn't continue adding to his stress. He'd been scrolling through videos, articles, posts, etc. all about how he supposedly cheated on Ally with Brooke at the Beach Club, when really he'd been on a date with Ally, and Brooke set him up by having photos taken while she snuck up and kissed him. The photos of him and Brooke kissing had circulated all over the internet in just one day, and it was driving him crazy, especially since his comeback concert had been the night before. He wished the world was talking about that instead- Brooke had planned out this scandal in the most awful timing possible.

"Well the longer you guys wait to say something, the worse this looks. You and Ally both need to deny this publicly as soon as you can. Call out that crazy chick in front of the whole world! Jimmy is so mad at you for letting this happen on the night of your comeback, even though it's not your fault, so you need to prove to him that we can fix this." Trish answered confidently. Austin looked hesitant.

"I know I know, we'll find a way. I can't afford to mess things up with Jimmy and I hate how all this is reflecting on Ally- I would be so stupid to ever cheat on her. But also, I don't know if I want to call Brooke out like that… if all of me and Ally's fans turned against her once they know the truth, it could really mess up her life." Austin explained.

"Uhh, duh, that's kind of the whole point? Brooke deserves to be put to shame for what she did. She's probably loving all these rumors of you and her being together right now. It's exactly what she wanted." Trish exclaimed, seething with anger. Austin just sighed.

"I know, it's just that I want to get back at her and show her that she can't get away with this, but I don't want to expose her and ruin her life because everyone would know who she is and constantly send her hate."

"You remember that she's the one who is ruining your entire image as we speak right?"

"But we can step up and prove that it was all a setup and it will fix everything. Brooke on the other hand would maybe never recover. Let's be the bigger man." Austin finished, intimidated by Trish's expression. Trish chose to take a big breath and regroup before answering.

"Ok, fine, we'll do this your way. Tell me what steps we should take to expose her but not actually expose her, and we'll see how it goes. You and our big heart." She scoffed. With that they left for the music factory to find Ally, who was also stressed about the situation but was in the middle of giving back-to-back music lessons.

Once they'd talked to Ally about the plan, she rescheduled one of her lessons so that reporters could come into the music factory and they could set things straight. Ally agreed that they could still get revenge on Brooke without turning the world against her if they did things right. Austin was glad she could make time for the reporters today, because watching his social media followers drop by the thousands was not exactly uplifting.

"Oh my gosh, look how many of them are here. Trish, who all did you say could come to talk to us?" Ally asked hurriedly, eyes fixed on the doors of the A&A music factory, where dozens of reporters with cameras stood waiting to be let in.

"Well I sorta just left it as an open invitation… I figured the more people who hear the truth the better." Trish answered, looking regretful as she watched the cameras nearly being pushed against the glass doors in anticipation to be let in. Austin sat next to Ally on one of the sofas in the lobby, feeling very nervous.

"Let them in, let's just get it over with." He called out. Dez was in the locked recording studio, deeming it as the only place to stay safe from the madness about to enter the factory. Trish reluctantly unlocked the double doors and then ran to the side as reporters flooded in, headed for Austin and Ally.

"Is it true that you and Brooke are now an item?"

"Ally, how did you feel when you saw that Austin had cheated on you?"

"When is the A&A Music Factory expected to close?"

Question after question jumbled together as Austin and Ally tried to lean away from the video cameras and microphones in their faces, completely overwhelmed. Noticing that Ally was having trouble even making out any of their questions, he decided to speak up.

"I didn't cheat on Ally! And me and Brooke are definitely not together. It was a setup." He shouted. It only made the reporters louder.

"Who set you up?"

"We want to hear from Ally, is this true?"

"Why did you wait until now to say anything about the scandal?"

Ally tried to start talking, now able to get the gist of what they were asking, but unsure of how to answer without totally exposing Brooke.

"Well uh, we had to wait to say anything because… it's complicated. But he's telling the truth."

Ally clambered away from the cameras steadily moving in because they were almost hitting her head. Austin stayed where he was and felt anxious as he realized that Ally's cryptic response might spark even more accusations that they were lying. She realized the same thing and tried to speak up again, now standing and inching away from the mass of reporters.

"What I mean is-" She was cut off by another wave of questions. Trish realized that there were just too many reporters and equipment in the room, and that the longer it went on, the worse it would make things look.

"Ok, everyone out!" She yelled, shoving away all the people closing in on Ally. Once the room was cleared, they all realized that something even more frightening was going on outside before they could take a deep breath. Brooke had appeared and was talking joyfully to the crowd of reporters outside the doors of the Music Factory. Austin immediately began sprinting over, not sure what to say yet, but driven by his fury.

"... He doesn't like to talk about us publicly, and I don't know WHAT he's been telling Ally, but I don't really care as long as we are togeth-"

Austin cut her off, grabbing the mic she was spreading her lies in to.

"You know what? For anyone who doesn't trust me when I say that I did not cheat on Ally with her, I'm having a small concert in Miami in two days. If you've ever cared about me or my music, be there." Was what came out of his mouth, the idea popping into his head just seconds before he spoke it. Brooke looked concerned next to him, which made him smile internally. He then left the group and swung open the music factory doors, ready to get the whole situation settled once and for all with his new plan.

Hours after the reporters had left there were already new articles about how Ally's response made it seem like she was hiding something, and even though both Austin and Ally had made statements on their social medias about the situation, many people still commented negatively towards him. They claimed that Austin clearly cheated, and Ally was just holding back from dumping him or exposing him because of their careers- as many other wild perceptions about the situation- due to Brooke's interview, where she claimed that her and Austin were most definitely in a secret relationship. It hurt for her to see Austin's agitation, because he was the one who was suffering the most due to those photos. In fact, many of his fans had started "taking her side." She just wanted everything to be over so that they could go back to being excited about Austin's music and enjoying their senior year. However, after the group had talked about Austin's new idea to have a concert with a twist in Miami, Ally was feeling a lot more confident that the scandal could soon be over.

The plan was simple- Austin would have a short show in Miami in two days with just a few songs, and at the end of the last song he'd have a "surprise guest performer" join him, which would be Ally. They'd finish the song together, which would make a powerful statement of their unbroken partnership. If that didn't get the point across, they could always both talk at the end.

After two days of rapidly prepping for this unplanned show and being amazed by how many tickets were selling for it due to the scandal, it was finally the moment that would demolish any belief that Austin could have possibly cheated on Ally. Austin began his final song of the night with a lot less cheering than was typical- many people were there just to witness his defense of the scandal, not to be supportive of him. It didn't bother him as he confidently continued dancing and singing with high energy. Trish, Dez, and Ally watched anxiously from backstage.

Finally, Austin felt his heart skip a beat as his "surprise guest performer" strutted on stage, quickly joining him at the waist as they began their passionate choreography for the very end of the song. The volume seemed to have increased by ten times as soon as Ally became visible on stage, and louder still as they touched, her harmony joining his verse fluidly. The entire stadium seemed to be screaming, similarly to Austin's concert the year before when some of the crowd could see him hugging Ally backstage. The difference was that at that time it freaked him out seeing how obsessed his fans were about him and Ally being together, but this time, they both revelled in it, knowing that their performance was making it very clear to the world that they were not only not broken up over Austin "cheating" on Ally with Brooke, but very much in love.

As the lead guitarist's last note struck, they rejoined mid-stage for the finale of their choreography, giddy at their success. After they'd finished the lyrics with their faces close, Austin dipped Ally and their lips met in a passionate kiss, only for a few seconds to get the point across. And the point certainly got across. The amount of flashes and phones being held up rowdily ahead of them alongside the screaming would've been very overwhelming if they weren't so entranced in their happiness to have won the battle with Brooke as they parted. They only stopped smiling at each other to glance over at Dez and Trish backstage, who were cheering heavily with the same anti-Brooke zeal. Austin knew by Trish's motioning that he should address the crowd, so he let go of Ally and the two of them shared a mic.

"Hey everyone, thank you so much for coming out. This show was mind blowing. And for anyone who saw those pictures and believed I'm a cheater, that one was for you."

Cheers erupted, and Ally chimed in at the mic.

"It takes more than a haphazard setup to tear us and our team down. Good try, but don't try again- you know who you are. And you know in life, when things don't go your wa-" Ally had begun somewhat of a speech but Trish had run on stage and yanked her and Austin away, as often happened when she wanted to make a moment of something. Austin's body guards followed close behind as they disappeared from the crowd's view.

"Dang, it's not like they've never seen you kiss before!" Trish shouted as she, Ally, Austin, Dez, and the two bodyguards clambered through a small hallway to escape the noise.

"I guess even after a million paparazzi photos of us from summer it's still exciting to see us together somehow... I think sometimes people just need something to be happy about." Austin commented as they all rushed along, and Ally nodded with raised eyebrows and her head tilted, looking surprised that she agreed. Austin suddenly realized that he understood his fans obsession more than he thought- every day he still felt excited that Ally was his girlfriend, even after months of dating. Fans who had hoped he and Ally might date for years were living out a dream in a way too, just by seeing them finally together. They'd gone longer having feelings for each other while avoiding being together than they had actually been in a relationship so far, so that most likely added to the thrill.

"If only they realized how annoying it is to actually be around you guys all the time." Dez added sarcastically, but they could all clearly notice the bodyguards nodding their heads vigorously behind them. Ally just rolled her eyes. The "robots" had never been fans of them, especially after Austin's concert in Atlanta the year before. She often wondered why they didn't just replace them. Austin diverted the conversation back to the point of the concert excitedly.

"Uhh so guys… we just showed Brooke whose boss! There's no way she'll ever come after me again after that, let's be real."

"I know, it was amazing! Brooke was really bold to try to create a fake scandal with a guy who has the ability to expose her in front of the whole world." Ally responded with disbelief.

"If you guys had actually called her out she'd have to change her name or something. You were right, your fans would go crazy sending her hate Austin." Trish remarked, eyes wide imagining the power of his fanbase in its entirety facing Brooke.

"That would be scary for anyone… never underestimate the power of my fans." Austin said, acting shaken.

"I'm just so glad we cleared the air on that. These last few days were madness." Ally finished, and they all had to nod. They had finally reached the door in order to exit the venue as secretly as they could, so they braced for more screams and jogged to the car awaiting them. Once they were all settled into their spots with ringing ears and had blinked enough to recover from the camera flashes, Trish checked her phone to see if Brooke had responded to her defeat yet. She didn't have any message from her, but what she did see was enough to know that there was no way Brooke could ignore the statement they'd made in their performance. Headline after headline were beginning to be posted reporting Austin's sudden introduction to having Ally on stage with him, and of course, the kiss that broke the cheating rumors for good.

"Guys! This is big!"

Ally had just seen the first article being spread of her and Austin on stage that night titled "Austin Moon and Ally Dawson destroyed cheating rumors: Watch the Miami concert here -"

They didn't need to speak to or hear from Brooke to know that they'd just won. In the next few days the madness over Austin and Ally's performance on stage greatly overtook the cheating rumors in the media, and there was quickly no more doubt of Austin Moon, or of "Auslly". They all figured that it was safe to assume that Brooke would never try anything against them again, and life became happy again as Austin finally got the chance to enjoy his comeback in full.