WHAT UP!

So, now we see how Ally's family reacts to the shock of her relationship and pregnancy. Will they accept her and Austin or disown her and never talk to her again?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Austin & Ally

Chapter 6

The Talk and a Proposal

Previously:

"Look, I know this might now be the right time, but will you at least read this card that Austin and I got you?" She pulled out the card from her purse and held it out to her father. He eyed it once before taking it, ripping the envelope open and pulling the card out.

Penny hovered over his right shoulder and Elliot his left while they read the card. Once again their eyes widened towards the young couple, who just sat on the couch with their hands wrapped around the other.

"I'm also three months pregnant." Ally finally said, "Surprise?"

Ally's POV:

I watched as my parents and my brother's mouths continued to hang open with their eyes as wide as saucers. I could feel Austin shuffle beside me on the couch and his hand that was grasping mine began to sweat with anxiety. I finally couldn't stand the tension in the air,

"Well, say something, anything." I pleaded with them. I felt my fear escalate when I saw my father hand the card to my mother, who just continued to blankly stare at it with Elliot, and point at Austin. Oh no, this can't be good.

Fearing the worst, Austin immediately jumped from the couch as my dad began stomping towards him.

"This is your entire fault! You must have pressured her to have sex without any protection and now look what happened!" I had never seen my dad this angry before and I began to get very scared.

Austin was, literally, being backed into a corner as my dad marched closer and closer to him.

"Look, Mr. Dawson, I never pressured her into anything. We waited until we both were ready, you have to believe us!" Austin was now pleading with my father, "We used every form of protection we could, I swear." Honestly Austin, are you just asking to be killed?! My dad continued to berate Austin until,

"LESTER DAWSON!" My mom had practically yelled at the top of her lungs. My mom never yelled, at least not like that, so I knew some real shit was about to go down. My father's face was like a deer caught in headlights as he looked back at my mother. "You sit down right now." He did as she commanded and sat down on the couch. She then pointed at Austin, "You sit as well." He did. "Now we are going to have a polite and civilized conversation about this. No yelling, no fighting and certainly no finger pointing at anyone, DO…I…MAKE…MYSELF…CLEAR?" Each and every one of us shook our heads in understanding. She huffed to calm herself down and proceeded to sit next to dad. "Now, would one of you please tell us why you kept your relationship a secret?" I decided to start us off to try and smooth things over a little.

"We knew that you wouldn't approve of our relationship because of our age difference, but to be honest, Austin is so much better at understanding me than any other boy my age. He never took advantage of me and, like he said, we used every kind of protection we had." I took a breath to steady myself, "I also want you to know that no matter what you may say or do, I'll never regret having this relationship. And please don't blame Austin, he wanted to tell you guys about us when we started to get serious, but I didn't. Now, I have no regrets or fears about this. I love Austin and he loves me and we're keeping our baby." I finished and finally, I felt like everything had been lifted off my shoulders.

I watched my parents for their reactions, my anxiety building with each quiet second that passed.

"Mr. & Mrs. Dawson, I know this is a lot to take in at once, but I would like to say that I love your daughter and I will be there for everything; appointments, food cravings etc. Anything she needs I'll be there." I placed my hand on his shoulder to place him back down on the couch and to calm him down until finally,

"All I want to know is how this all happened?" My dad asked.

"Remember when I went on that summer trip with Trish and her family to the beach?" Both their heads nodded in a yes, which quickly turned into shock, "Well, I went with Trish, but only to meet up with Austin." I tried to make it sound better than it probably did, but that didn't work as well as I had hoped.

"Ally Marie Dawson, you not only lied to us, but you went, unsupervised I might add, with an older man?!" My dad began to yell, "Please tell me you were at least in separate rooms." I could feel mine and Austin's heads drop and our faces burning bright red. Both of my parents sighed and their heads dropped into their hands. It took a moment but my mother finally spoke up with the questions we knew were coming.

"Well, you've both agreed to accept the consequence, so we, your father and I, need to know what you plan to do now." We both shook our heads in agreement and awaited the onslaught of questions.

"Austin," my father started, "I know that you graduate in December, but do you even have a job lined up? A baby is very expensive; diapers, food, clothes and they grow out of everything pretty fast."

"I realize that, Mr. Dawson, and I actually do have a job lined. I sent a couple demos to some record labels and I recently got a contract with Starr Records. I start recording soon and will hopefully have an album out in the next couple of months." Good, start off with that, maybe it'll ease them into accepting us.

"A record contract is all good and well, at the beginning, but what about if your album falls through or doesn't sell as well as you think it will? What will you do then?" My mother said immediately shooting down the good mood Austin had set up.

"I have earned a business degree, so if by chance, my album does fall through, I will have another career to fall back on. I hope to maybe start my own music school or run my own record label." Way to shoot the mood right back up Austin because both of my parents were a little shocked by how well planned out he is about his future.

When I had found out I was pregnant, we did sit down and talk about what we would do for support. Austin agreed to go job hunting, which lead to the demos, but also for something to fall back on if he didn't get a record deal. We weren't idiots; we didn't expect Austin to get a record deal right off the bat. If that didn't reassure my parents, I don't know what will.

"Well, that's good enough for me on the subject of money, but where are you going to raise this baby?" Dad continued with his questions. "I hope you're not expecting to move into our house because we can barely afford to keep you and your brother fed and clothed."

"You don't have to worry about that either daddy. We'll be moving into Austin's apartment until we can possibly afford something a little bigger." I said.

"But, Austin doesn't Dez live with you?" My mother said back.

"He did, but when he heard we were having a baby, he decided to go and find his own place. Granted we didn't know that until a couple of weeks ago, but needless to say, we'll be turning his room into the baby's nursery and we'll go from there." Austin replied back. Maybe Dez moving out and finding his own place truly was a blessing in disguise.

"Well, I guess you've soothed any nerves I might have about this." My dad finished and I could feel a huge block of pressure being lifted from my shoulders. I looked at Austin next to me and saw his relieved smile plastered on his face. I leaned over and kissed him on his cheek and leaned into his chest to rest my head. He in return kissed me on the head and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

"Well, I'm not totally convinced." And there was the next road block. I looked at my mother with a questioning and slightly annoyed look.

"What else could there be, mom? You heard that Austin has a job and we're moving in together, what else could you be thinking about?"

My mom leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and her chin on her folded hands, as she stared intensely at Austin and me.

"Austin, hear me out please. You may have a job and something to fall back on, but that's not what I'm worried about." My mother piped in. Way to kill the good mood, mom, "Ally, you may be fine with this, so far, but what about when you start to get bigger and still have to go to school?"

Okay, I will admit that is a very valid point. I hadn't really thought about what school would be like once I did start to show. I thought that as long as Trish is with me, no one would say anything, at least to my face. But, my mom bringing up the topic really did make me start to think about it a little more.

I lifted my head from Austin's chest, his arm still wrapped around my shoulders, when I addressed my mom.

"What are you worried about, mom? Trish will be there to support me and everyone at school knows that if you make her mad, you might as well be signing your death certificate." I said trying beyond hope that she would be comforted with that, but I was wrong.

"Ally, I have no doubt that Trish will be there to support you, but there are other sides to this. Take it from someone who has had a child, it is no walk in the park as many put it out to be. As you get bigger, your hormones are crazy, parts of your body start to expand, your mood swings will be off the charts and being in high school will just make it all the more harder." She might have a point there. "Not only that your classmates may not say it to your face, but there will be people who will start rumors or call you names behind your back. That will just cause a lot of stress to your body and your baby." I stared my mom, a little taken aback by what she was saying.

It didn't sound like something she would have gotten off a TV show or the internet. It sounded more like first-hand experience. Almost like… I couldn't stop what came out of my mouth next.

"Mom, were you pregnant at a young age, too?" Her breath caught in her throat as she and my dad turned to each other with horror written all over their faces. I could see Elliot's shocked expression and stiff posture as he moved to stand behind the couch.

"Wait, are you saying I was conceived when you were teenagers? That's impossible, I was born three years after you had been married, so you couldn't have…unless…" He stopped when he realized what he was about to say. "Do we have a sibling we don't know about?" He said, almost accusingly. My dad turned back to face my brother,

"No! It was a different pregnancy and it didn't last!" Wait what?! "You were supposed to have an older sister, but when you mother gave birth to her, it didn't go as planned." I saw my mother begin to sniffle and her eyes became glossy with tears. I got up from Austin and walked over to embrace my mother as she tried to hold back tears.

"What happened?" Elliot asked. I heard my father suck in a harsh breath as his head feel into his hand.

"We didn't know until the birth, that the umbilical cord had wrapped around her neck. Normally, the doctor can unwrap it and bring the baby back, but the cord had been wrapped around her throat for too long and ended up strangling her." Now I could feel the tears coming to my eyes as I felt Austin come behind me and embrace me and my mother.

To find out this way that I had a sister I didn't know about really is a strange, happy and sad thing all rolled into one. For my parents to hold something like this in for so long is really amazing and heartbreaking. I wish they had told us so that we could get through this as a family and not have to keep it all bottled up. I sound like a hypocrite because I kept a secret from them and yet I'm berating them for keeping a secret from me. Hopefully, we can now talk about this more as a family and get through it.

My mom lifted her head from my shoulder and looked at me with her red eyes,

"I just don't want to go through what I went through. Teenage girls and boys can be some of the cruelest people when it comes to things like this and giving birth is no easy task either." Again she had a point there, but I want to prove to her that I can do this. I also knew that I had to give her some leverage with how she feels about this.

"Alright mom, how about if things really do start to become that hard for me, I will stop going to school and look up online courses to complete my education." That helped to lighten the mood just a little. My mother put her arms around me and pulled me into a hug, a sigh escaping her as she did.

"Thank you for considering it, Ally, I feel a little better now." And I have to say so do I. I stared at my dad from over my mom's shoulder and he had the goofiest smile on his face.

He got up and embraced my mom and me in a hug.

"I'm also relieved that you have a plan. When we first found out, we were scared that you were going into this blind," He pulled back followed by my mom and placed his arm around her shoulders. Austin and I followed suit. "But we know that we can trust you two and we can't wait to meet our grandbaby." I think pigs have started to take flying lessons because hell has also officially frozen over. I feel like now Austin and I can focus on what matters most; preparing to become parents to our baby girl.

There was one thing that though that still bothered me.

"Elliot, you've been pretty quiet throughout this whole thing. What's your side on this whole thing?" My brother just stood there with his arms folded across his chest. I could usually tell what Elliot was thinking from his face, but now, I couldn't tell or see anything.

He just stared at me and Austin for what felt like forever before he finally answered. What came out of his mouth next made me slightly sick to my stomach.

"I know that mom and dad may be forgiving, but I can't accept this." He then unfolded his arms and started towards the door.

"Whoa, Elliot, wait!" Austin called out to him and Elliot stopped before opening the door. "You saw that we're prepared for this baby and that I'm not gonna abandon Ally, so what's the problem?"

"You don't get it do you? It's not the fact that you knocked my little sister up or the fact that you kept it a secret." Elliot scoffed at us.

"Then what is it?" I implored with him.

"It's the fact that you kept it a secret from me. I'm your best friend, Austin, your frat brother and brothers don't keep any kind of secret from each other." He moved to open the door until my spoke up.

"Elliot Hanson Dawson, you stop right there." He stopped and turned back to face our father. "Now, we are not going to go down like this. I understand that you're mad, but for now I want us all to go downstairs and act as normal as we can. This still our anniversary party and now, with everything out in the air, we can enjoy it." With that, he and my mother walked downstairs with Elliot following behind them. That left me and Austin alone in the practice room.

Austin was actually slumped over the couch, looking like he had just run a marathon. His face was slightly red and his hair, which had been neatly combed to the side, was now flaring slightly to the sides. He had taken off his red blazer and was just lying on the couch in his white V-neck shirt, dark blue jeans and red high-tops. I laughed a little and walked over to sit beside him. He looked at me and smiled.

"You look like you just ran from your house to the mall." We both laughed at that. "What's up?" I asked.

His whole demeanor seemed to change after I asked that. He became quite serious and it was then that I realized something was about to go down. Whether it was good or bad I couldn't read yet.

Austin took my hand in his as we stared at each other.

"There is one more surprise that I wanted to give you." He said.

I don't know if I can handle any more surprises today, but I let him continue. Instead of talking, however, he pulled me up and brought me downstairs. The party was still going on and it seemed as though people were staring up at the practice room for a while because all eyes were on us as we came down. He dragged me to the check-out counter, where there were still flutes of champagne, grabbed one and raised it in the air.

He wasn't about to tell everyone was he?!

Austin's POV:

I knew it was now or never, so I decided to do it now. I was lucky that there were still champagne flutes, so I could make what I had to say official and get everyone attention. I grabbed the microphone and banged a drum stick against the side of the glass. Everyone turned their heads towards us and I felt the knot in my stomach begin to twist harder and harder. I took a breath in as I brought the microphone to my mouth.

"Uh, hey everyone, as you probably know by now, I'am Austin Moon, a good friend of the family. Some more than others right now. I just wanted to say that I can't think of another couple besides my own parents that are better role models than Penny and Lester Dawson." I smiled at them and they smiled back at me. "And it was about a year ago at this time that I met the best thing to come into my life." I looked down at Ally and we shared a quick smile with each other. I turned towards her as I reached into the inside pocket of my blazer. "And now I hope to make it a little more official." Ally's head had dropped down to the black velvet box in my hand and she instantly became speechless. I could hear a collective gasp around us as I dropped to one knee and opened the little black box, "Ally Marie Dawson, you make me happier than I ever thought I could be. I can't imagine my life without you or our baby." Again a collective gasp mixed with a few 'awws', "I hope you'll make me even happier with saying yes to this question." And now,

"I ask you, Ally Marie Dawson, will you marry me?"

OOOHHH CLIFFHANGER AGAIN! I'm so evil that way. Will Ally say yes or turn Austin down right there? You'll have to keep those reviews coming for the next chapter.

Until then, thanks and remember, stay ROSSOME!