WHAT UP!

Hey guys, so sorry that it's taken so long to update, I've had the worst case of writer's block, drama in my family, and planning my trip for the R5 concert. I'm surprised I have room to breathe! So, hopefully, this chapter will make up for it. I've also lost a significant amount of weight, so I've been getting rid of old clothes and having to buy new ones. That's more tiring than you think.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Austin & Ally

Chapter 18

Lunch with the Starr's (Part 2)

No One's POV:

Austin and Ally proceeded to follow the Starr's to the gazebo, where their lunch was set up. When they had arrived at the large, round table Ally could see a variety of food had been laid out for them. There were dishes of roasted chicken, lamb, small potatoes seasoned with garlic, jugs filled with different wines and various other sides. All of them looked to be extremely delicious and Ally could feel her stomach begin to growl. The gazebo itself was very beautiful, white beams that were holding up a spacious cover and was completely surrounded by various flowers and a small moat. Ally always felt more at home in nature, so the scenery made her feel a little more at ease.

The group walked over a small bridge to get to the gazebo and once there, everyone took a seat. Jimmy sat next to his wife, while Kira and her brother sat together, which left Austin and Ally to sit together. Austin, being the somewhat courteous young gentlemen, pulled Ally's chair out for her. Ally was a little taken aback by it, as well as most of the table, but took the seat. After Austin took his seat, lunch began.

"I must say," Kira said. "I never imagined Austin could find someone like you, Lady Ally." Ally, with a fork of chicken almost in her mouth, didn't really know how to take that. She knew that Kira had been one of Austin's many, many conquests, so it was possible that she could end up with another Brooke situation.

"Uh, in what way do you mean?" Ally asked back, trying to be cautious with her words.

"You seem more like the studious, bookish type of girl, who would rather spend time in a library than at a party." Kira explained. "She is certainly different from your usual choice of women, my king." She said, turning to Austin.

"Well, Kira," He started. "There just comes a time in every man's life where his tastes mature and he learns from his mistakes." He wrapped his arm around Ally's shoulder as if he were giving some kind of warning to Kira and it worked.

"Well, I hope I will get to know you better over time, my lady, as we both will serve in court; you as the queen and I as the representative for the Starr family." She said, her face going from a frown to a pleasurable smile. What Kira had said intrigued Ally a little as she had never heard of a girl taking over as head of her family. That was usually reserved for the first born male heir, not a daughter.

"You mean you will take over as head of your family?" Ally asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. Kira stared at her with a shocked expression as she took a sip of her wine.

"Why yes, that's how it's done here." She began to explain. "Instead of a first born son, it's the first born overall." Well, that was certainly different from her world. Ally often felt back home that some people looked down on her family, her father especially, for only being able to have a daughter instead of son. There would be no one to carry on her father's name and she sometimes felt blamed for it.

Meanwhile, while Ally was feeling down about herself, Jimmy saw an opportunity.

"Your majesty," He said, trying to catch Austin's attention. Austin turned his head, although he knew anything Jimmy would say wouldn't be nice, he had to put up with it for now. "It seems our young queen-to-be has not been brought up on the customs of our people. Makes me think about what else she has not been brought up on." The entire table, minus Austin and Ally, shook their heads in agreement. Now to say Austin was beginning to become pissed off would be an understatement.

"Jimmy, I can assure you that I have hired the best tutors to fully induct Ally into our society." Austin said. "But, I would also like to point out that she only got here a few days ago, so it will take time."

"Time that you do not have, your grace." Lady Starr said. Austin turned his head towards, shock appearing on his face. Lady Starr never talked much, in fact Austin had once thought her to be mute, but then he learned that she only spoke when she felt the need to and now must be one of those times. "In reality, your grace, your bride-to-be only has eight more months until your wedding and then her coronation. It is something that many members of the other clans, even the ones who support you, are concerned about." Ally was beginning to feel smaller than she already did.

She didn't plan on staying in this world to actually become Austin's wife, but she did entertain the idea of being an ambassador or something to that effect for the human side. She liked the idea of reuniting the two worlds and forming some kind of bond between them, but at the expense of her freedom, it is definitely something she has to think about. The man next to her was now beginning to become frustrated. Austin knew they had backed him into a corner, now he just had to find a way to get out of it. He should have seen this coming, knowing Jimmy and his family, but he didn't think they would be this hard.

"Another note, your grace," Lady Starr said. "What about relations with the other races? The elves, the vampires, the fairies and the werewolves, how do you think they will react to a human queen? After all, the vampires and werewolves tend to feed on her kind." Ally didn't know if that last part was meant to prove a point or be an insult.

"Good point mother," Kira piped in. "I mean, why would they trust or respect a human queen, especially one so lacking in magic." She gave Ally a snide look and now, Ally felt her anger rising instead of shame. What did she do to these people to make them hate her so much? Oh right, Austin chose her instead of Kira. However, she was beginning to reach her breaking point. Just one more word or phrase and she might just blow up.

"Plus," Kira said, taking another sip from her wine glass. "I can bet you she's anything that she's not even that experienced in bed. Then again, Austin, you did always say you wanted to give a virgin a try."

And with that one sentence, it broke the proverbial camels back of Ally self-restraint. All hell was about to be released.

Meanwhile, Austin was also almost at his breaking point. Jimmy knows that Ally's magic is more than strong enough to protect her, but her only flaw was controlling it. What else could you expect from a fledgling witch? Obviously Jimmy and his family were expecting a lot more. That wasn't the only thing that was bugging the fuck out of him. Since they had arrived, Kira had been making subtle advances towards him. He could feel her rubbing her foot, knees or thighs against his, her hand being placed on his thigh in what seemed like a friendly gesture, but Austin knew otherwise. This was Kira's way of flirting with almost every man she came across and, unfortunately, that was how she ended up in his bed. Now, she was making those endless comments and insults towards Ally and they had now taken it too far.

"Plus," He heard Kira say. "I can bet you anything that she's not even that experienced in bed. Then again, Austin, you did always say you wanted to give a virgin a try."

Correction, now they had taken it too far. It was one thing to talk about her magic or learning their culture, but when you bring up that subject, that was taking it way too far. Austin began to stand up to speak against them but Ally had beaten him to the punch. Ally abruptly stood up from her chair, the actual chair falling behind her, as she stared at the Starr family, red-faced and fist clenched at her side.

"Now wait just a damn minute!" She yelled. "It's one thing to call me out on my inexperience in magic and your world's politics, but when you call out my virtue, I have to stop you there!" She pointed her finger at Jimmy and his wife as she continued. "I understand your concerns, but I assure you, I'am doing everything in my power to harness my magic as well as learning your politics. I want to bridge our two worlds together and prove that we aren't so different. I may only be a beginner, but my master, Avion, says that I'm growing every day. If you can't trust the words of a master like him, then you obviously have no faith in him." What she said left Jimmy and his wife speechless. They hadn't expected this girl, a meek and shy human girl, to bite back so fiercely. They had thought she would shrink back and fault under the pressure, not fight back and even prove herself against them. Ally then turned her attention back to Kira. "Yes, I will admit I'am a virgin, but that is nothing for me to be ashamed about. I decide how I will treat my body and I decided to protect it against a broken heart." The look on Kira's face said it all. What Ally had said had been completely and utterly true. She had faced a broken heart after Austin had used her that way, even though they had parted on good terms. Maybe, there was some truth in what Ally was saying; she just wished she hadn't blown that chance. "Now," Ally said as she turned on her heel. "If you'll excuse me, we must be heading back for my lessons. It was nice meeting you all." And with that she exited the gazebo and walked the path back to where the carriage was waiting.

Austin, like the rest, was just shocked at what he had saw, but in a good way. He had thought that Ally would shrink under the pressure and rely on him to protect her, which he was more than ready to do, but she beat him to it. That little act had seemed to prove to everyone that Ally wasn't someone to be taken lightly, which did more than please him. In fact, it turned him on beyond belief. If he ever got that kind of Ally in bed, let's just say they would both be pleasantly sore for the next few days after.

Realizing that Ally had left him behind, Austin quickly jumped from his seat, thanked his hosts for a 'wonderful' lunch and then ran to catch up with his fiery fiancé. When he came to the carriage, he found her sitting in it, a shocked expression visible on her face. He jumped into it and motioned for the carriage to begin its journey back to his castle.

"Well, that was certainly entertaining." He said as the carriage lurched a little. "If they don't believe in you after that, I don't know what will." He had hoped to lighten the mood a little, but Ally's expression was still one of shock and dread.

"I can't believe I did that." She said as she placed her head in her hands, shaking it in disbelief as she did. "I wanted them to at least like or trust me a little, but every time they opened their mouths, I just wanted to…" Ally couldn't even finish her sentence because of how frustrated she felt. She wanted to be friends, but they just kept pushing and pushing her with their constant insults, that she just had to burst.

"I don't blame you at all." Austin said as Ally lifted her head from her hands to look at him.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Jimmy's family has always been like, more Jimmy himself." He began to explain. "If something doesn't go exactly as he wants it to go, he tries everything he can to sabotage it and make it go his way. You don't how many times I've had to step up to him and set boundaries between us. He's tried to control every aspect of my life from my childhood to when I became king." He finished with a sigh as he sunk into the cushioned seat of the carriage. Ally could see the stress of the situation become visible on Austin's face.

His once young, vibrant skin now showed signs of wrinkles and worry lines, something that looked odd on him. For Ally, she was starting to see another side to Austin and, for once, she wasn't afraid to see it. He looked so fragile and Ally found that to be kind of adorable. She then found herself doing something she didn't think she would ever do, especially with him.

Ally got out of her seat, carefully maneuvering herself as she did, to sit next to Austin. He hadn't seen or felt her as his head was in his hand until Ally grabbed his shoulders and pulled his head down onto her lap. Austin was completely caught off guard by this.

"Um, what are you do-"He began to ask until Ally had begun moving her fingers soothingly through his hair and scalp. He felt a relaxing sensation flow over him as his eyes began to flutter close.

"This is something my mother would do to me when I was too stressed about something." Ally said as she moved through his hair, which she had to admit was remarkably soft and fluffy. "You seemed so stressed by what had happened, so I decided to give it a try." She looked down at his face to see that it had become its normal smooth skin.

"So all I have to do is act stressed for you to do this?" He asked, a smirk lacing his face. "Maybe I should be more stressed with everything and have you do this every day." He turned on his side to burrow his head into her stomach. For some reason he could already imagine her doing this to him while he placed his head against her growing stomach, where their future child would one day be growing. It was a dream he hoped to make a reality very soon.

"Yeah, just don't expect this to be an everyday thing." Ally said as a red blush began creeping on her face. She had to admit that this did feel good, him lying in her lap like this, but wasn't this what she was trying to avoid?

She didn't want to become attached to Austin in anyway otherwise it would make escaping very hard. She knew how Austin felt about her, but she had thought that she had known how she felt about him. She was okay with the idea of friendship, but what she was feeling now wasn't that. It was different, an airy feeling that she got whenever Austin acted sweet or innocent to her. She wouldn't call it love, no it was too early at all to say that, maybe she could call it infatuation or the beginning of trust or something along those lines. She didn't want to admit that maybe, just maybe, she was coming to trust and love this life.

Where it would take her, however she still had yet to see. The future is never set in stone, like she had thought, but could definitely be changed.

Meanwhile, back at the Starr Manor, Jimmy was trying to piece together how his plan could have possibly backfired. He had everything planned out to a 'T', yet that retched human had proven them wrong. She had fought back against what they had said and made them look the complete fool. He had thought that Kira's relationship with Austin would have angered her, but the talk of her purity had been what pushed her over the edge. He had hoped to place some distance between the two, but it only seemed to bring them closer.

He had seen the look on Austin's face as the girl had walked away. The look of longing and awe he had only seen when a new cute maid had been hired or when he had a new conquest and that worried Jimmy a little. Could this human girl be the reason Austin cut his ties to Jimmy's family? If it was true, he had more work ahead of him then he thought.

He wanted his family in power, even higher than their king, and the only way to do that is throw the boy king off his throne. If he could possibly use that girl to his advantage… then maybe he could…

An evil thought began to form in Jimmy's head as he formulated a new plan. This had to work or he would be risking everything he had for nothing. He's gambled and now he'll play for all it's worth.

Again, so sorry for updating so late! I hope this chapter makes up for it, especially the Auslly feels I put into it. Anyway, I have come up with an updating schedule. Anytime I update this story, expect The Princess Bride to be updated, then TBM: A&A Style! then My Sister's Secret and so on and so forth. It's basically in that order, if it makes any sense.

Again, remember to review, favorite and follow for the next chapter!

Thanks and remember, stay ROSSOME!