I'm so sorry I haven't been posting! I've been working really hard on this and also am having a bad case of writers block so please, if you have any suggestions feel free to PM me or put them in the reviews.

So I mentioned in my last update that I will probably post shorter, fluff ones but this one is not short or fluff... I actually did a lot research! So please enjoy for now and I won't say when I will post next because it probably won't be the time I say...


*a few months after the "10 years later" part of Duets and Destiny*

"Ally, come here!" Austin called from the living room and Ally appeared around the corner a few moments later, Austin was looking nervous as he held the phone.

"It's for you," he said handing her the phone.

"Yes, this is Ally," she said to the person on the other end, the rest of the conversation consisted mostly of Ally nodding and saying "Mhm… yes… ok…" when she hung up she looked over at Austin on the couch, her face pale and looking utterly terrified.

"M-my mom's sick… possibly fatally…" Ally muttered and Austin immediately stood up and sat Ally down before pulling her close and holding her tightly, letting her tears fall into his shirt.

"Shhh Ally, it'll all be ok, the doctors can help her, it'll be ok," Austin kept repeating and stroked her hair gently, holding her close as you would a child whose favorite toy had been taken away.

After a while Ally's tears had stopped, "Ally," Austin started and she looked up at him, "Will they allow visitors?" he asked.

Ally nodded, "My dad is already there, she was flown in yesterday to get better care here, so she's been in the hospital about a day."

"Did they tell you what she has?" Austin persisted, Ally shook her head and a few tears welled up in her eyes again, but she stubbornly wiped them away. "You stay here and watch Alex and Ava, I'm going to see her," Ally said.

"Not alone!" Austin argued, but Ally smiled a little, "Don't worry, my dad is already there, remember?" Austin considered it, then nodded and let her go.

Ally called her dad when she got to the hospital and she met him at the entrance and Lester lead his daughter to the small room her mom was laying in.

"Did they tell you what she has?" Mr. Dawson asked on their way up.

"No, they just told me it could be fatal." Ally replied

"Well she has yellow fever… it's not very bad currently but they want to keep an eye on her in case it does… she can either get better or worse from here…"

"Do they know how she got it?"

Mr. Dawson hesitated before answering, "The doctors believe it was… transmitted to her, from a mosquito or one of the orangutans. Other people at the research center brought her to the doctor in Indonesia, unluckily the people there couldn't help her so they called me and I had them fly her out to the Miami hospital for better and faster care."

Ally was silent when her dad finished, but it was only because they had reached Penny Dawson's room. Ally entered and saw her mom laying down on a bed, looking weak and her skin was yellowed a bit, though despite that Penny's eyes opened when she heard her daughter enter the room.

"Oh Ally, come here," she muttered and Ally obeyed, pulling a chair up next to the bed. "I missed you so much when I was in Indonesia, you and Austin and Trish and even Dez. Oh and little Alex and Ava, how old are they now?"

Ally smiled and answered, "Ava is six and Alex is five." Ms. Dawson nodded but suddenly stopped and laid her head on the pillow, staring up at the ceiling.

"You will tell them what happened right?" Ms. Dawson asked, for a second Ally was confused about what she meant but then answered; "I can't Mom, I can't let this worry them, they're still to young!"

"Do they understand what sickness is?" Ms. Dawson continued without an answer, "Then they will understand that I am sick. I want them to know, I don't want it to seem like I just disappeared."

"Mom don't talk like that, you will get better!"

"Honey, what if I don't? You can't get your hopes too high up, this disease killed thousands of people in the past…"

"That was in like, the 1800s! Medicine has improved drastically."

"Penny, Ally has a point if you don't think you will, you won't" Mr. Dawson added. Ms. Dawson closed her eyes, "I suppose you two are right, I'll make it through."

The next day Austin came with Ally to see Ms. Dawson, though despite her request neither of them told Alex or Ava. It seemed almost like Ms. Dawson was getting better anyways, though the doctors warned them that there was a small chance that the symptoms could come back worse.

And they did, only about 15 hours after they thought she was recovering Ms. Dawson got worse; she ached all over and was now having problems with her heart rate.

"Bring Alex and Ava," Ms. Dawson pleaded Ally again, "I want to see them, they are my only grandchildren." This time, Ally nodded and later that day Alex and Ava came in with Austin.

Alex looked at his currently-unconscious grandma almost fearfully while Ava looked around the room. There were only two chairs in the room so Austin stood, holding Alex, while Ally sat with Ava and Mr. Dawson occupied the second chair..

"You guys know what sickness is right?" Ally asked the two children and Ava answered with "It's when you don't feel good!"

Ally nodded, though she didn't continue, "Well right now Grandma Dawson is very sick… she may not live," Austin finished for her.

Ava now just stared at her grandma, several minutes later Ms. Dawson woke up and looked to the side to see her ex-husband, daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren all gathered there.

"You brought them," she whispered gratefully to Ally and then looked towards Alex and Ava.

"You two have grown up so much," Ms. Dawson said (in classic old person style), "Ava, so bold and optimistic; much like Trish, you have potential to be great." She now looked towards Alex, "And little Alex, so sweet and quiet, I think you have talents you have yet to show the world, much like your mom." She told the two lovingly.

"Will Grandma be ok?" Alex asked and Austin shook his head and avoided sugar-coating the truth again, "She may not be."

The five sat in silence, the two children understanding that this was a serious time and Ms. Dawson soon drifted back into unconsciousness. After a little bit Austin had Alex and Ava say bye to their grandparents and drove them back home.

Ally and her dad sat in silence for a little bit after Austin left, but after a few moments Ally asked Mr. Dawson something. "Dad, you still love her don't you?"

"Huh? Oh of course I do honey! Love like that doesn't just disappear, you know that too well," he added jokingly and Ally chuckled, remembering the four years her and Austin were apart.

"Yeah, I just wanted to uh… be sure," Ally said and pulled a book out of her purse, she was re-reading Harry Potter again, she was currently on the Prisoner of soon came to join her and stayed until they both left at a round 9,, leaving her dad alone with Ms. Dawson.

Around six o'clock the next morning Ally's phone rang and she answered it with a sleepy "Hello?"

"Ally…" Mr. Dawson said, "It's y-your mom, s-she d-died, just a… a few minutes ago…" he sounded chocked up by tears and his voice had cracked a few times while speaking.

"Wh-what, s-she's… d-dead?! As in n-not living? Not here? Passed away?! Th-that can't be true, it can't be!" Ally said frantically, tears starting to form in her own eyes.

"What's going on?" Austin asked beside Ally, woken by how distraught she sounded.

Ally let her hand and phone fall onto the bed, "Sh-she's dead… m-my mom… d-dead..."

Austin's eyes widened, and moved to comfort her but Ally shed away from him.

"They said she'd be o-okay," Ally whispered, then turned around quickly on the bed, "You had said she's be ok!" she yelled, tears running down her face and her voice cracking. Then she collapsed and Austin pulled Ally close, this time she didn't resist.

"You said she'd be ok, she was supposed to be ok, they said she'd be ok," Ally whispered between gasps as she cried into Austin's chest once again.

"Shh Ally, things like this happen, everything will be ok," Austin said.

Ally looked up at him, "How can things be ok after this!?" she yelled once again, "My mother is dead! Has your mom ever died? As far as I know she is still living!"

Austin pulled Ally close, he knew she didn't fully mean what she had just said, he knew the best thing he could do for her at the current moment was to be a pillar of emotional support, and that's what he planned to do.

Ally cried for a while longer and Austin stayed there, allowing her to soak his shirt with tears and leaving only once to get her a glass of water.

When Ally had used up all her tears about thirty minutes later Austin silently turned on the TV in their room, went to Netflix and turned on 'Friends.' After that step he wrapped Ally up in a blanket and went to the fridge downstairs to get some pickles and more water. Ally beamed when she saw him come back with the jar and happily munched the slices as she curled up against Austin to watch a few episodes of 'Friends.'

"I wonder if scientists have mastered cloning yet, or resurrection or something…" Ally said halfway through the second episode.

"I'm pretty sure they haven't," Austin told her.

"Maybe they can give her a mechanical heart and lungs, then she would be alive right?"

"Ally, she may as well be a robot then…"

She sighed and took another sip of water before focusing her attention on the TV again and Austin kissed the top of her head, as if doing so would get rid of all her sadness.

At about 8:30 Trish called, "Hey Ally, I heard what happened? You okay?" she asked nervously when Ally answered the phone.

"I guess I'm ok, I've been watching 'Friends.' And anyway, she can't actually be dead right? She'll come back like in all the movies," Ally answered.

"Ally th-that's not… never mind," Trish said. The two best-friends chatted for a little bit until Trish had to hang up to wake up Magnolia Rose for summer dance camp.

"I'm hungry," Ally heard Alex moan loudly from somewhere down the hall and then Ava quieting him, "Alex! Mommy and Daddy are still sleeping, we don't wanna wake them up!"

"But I do; I wanna eat something!" Alex said, though quieter now. Austin smiled, "Seems like we can't be in our perfect world forever."

Ally rolled her eyes and paused the TV before getting out of bed and walking down into the kitchen.

"See what you did? You woke Mommy up!" Ava whispered to Alex and they followed her downstairs.

"Would you like anything specific Al?" Ally asked Alex and he paused before eventually shaking his head.

Ally smile, "I guess I'll warm up some waffles then," she said, not wanting to put effort into making something.

Austin soon came downstairs with the pickle jar in hand and put it back in the fridge, when he heard the toaster pop up with the toasted-waffles he got some plates for the four of them and put one waffle on each plate before putting two more in the toaster—one extra each for Alex and Ava.

Ally ate her breakfast in silence, which was very unusual, she was usually talking about what she was going to do or telling everyone else what they had on their schedules—even if they already knew most of the time. Austin noticed this change and didn't want Alex or Ava to think anything was up so he asked, "Ally, what are we doing today?"

"Oh, uh… Ava is having a play-date with one of her friends… I think, and uh… Trish is coming over," Ally answered uncertainly. Austin sighed, the happy-spell from earlier had worn off and Ally had bounced back to her sad state.

Ava looked at the calendar on the kitchen wall, next to the sink, and said "Mommy, I'm not having a play-date with Rachel until tomorrow, can I come with you to see Grandma today instead?" she asked.

Ally's next words we just quiet, almost silent, strings of "uh… uh… um…" before Austin finally cut in, "Mommy's going to visit her alone today, that alright?" he lied. Ava paused before nodding and Ally gave him a quick, appreciative look.

"Aunt Trish and Magnolia are coming over today after lunch anyways so you'll want to be here for that anyways," Austin said, now that wasn't a lie, he had overheard Ally and Trish talking about it via phone earlier.

After breakfast Austin kept Ally in the kitchen while Alex and Ava left to watch morning cartoons. "Ally when are we going to tell them?" He asked.

Ally shook her head, "W-we can't, it's too terrible to tell them."

"What'll they think if we don't tell them?"

Ally didn't have an answer for that. "I'll tell them later," she said finally. Austin shrugged, that was probably the best he would get out of her right now.

Ally went to the living room to join her two kids in watching TV but she was paying no attention and her mind wandered.

Shortly later Mr. Dawson called again, "Ally, are you ok?" He asked this time.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good," Ally said leaving the room, "Are you sure?" He asked, "You don't sound like it.."

"Why did this have to happen?!" Ally moaned desperately.

"The doctors said that she was already growing weak from being so active and other diseases she previously had..."

"Dad, I meant that as a rhetorical question…"

"Oh, right, yes," Mr. Dawson said and went back to his original question, "You are ok though right?"

Ally dramatically rolled her eyes, "Dad do you honestly think I'm fine? How can I be fine? Are you fine? If you're not fine I'm not fine, anyways it only happened a few hours ago no one should be fine!" She rambled, her irritation level rising.

"When will you tell Alex and Ava?" He asked, which was the one question Ally did not want to hear.

"Dad I'll tell them when I feel it's right now can everyone get off my back about it?!"

"Alright honey, we'll have to plan the funeral soon, bye," Mr. Dawson said and quickly hung up.

Ally re-entered the living room, where Austin and Alex were on the couch and Ava was on the floor in front of the TV. she glanced at Austin with an uncertain look, he jerked his head towards Alex and Ava.

I better tell them now shouldn't I? If not, they'll be living a lie! Ally thought

"Ok you two," Ally started and muted the TV so that neither of them would get distracted. "Hey!" Ava protested but turned her attention to Ally anyways.

"Uh… kids… G-grandma… i-is gone…" Ally said cautiously.

"Where'd she go?" Alex asked.

Crap, I knew they wouldn't understand, I never should've told them! Ally's mind went into a panic.

"No buddy, she's gone for good," Austin explained, "She went to heaven."

"But… heaven is where you go when you die…" Ava said, sounding confused.

Ally nodded, "Yes Ava, G-grandma died this morning, you won't be seeing her," tears started forming in her eyes again.

Even though Ava didn't fully grasp the idea of death she did understand they wouldn't be seeing Grandma again and that her mother was sad, so she got up and hugged Ally on the couch, Alex joined in and Austin followed suite completing the group hug.

ok, im leaving it there, if i went on any longer it would end up being too long...


Oh my gosh I made it seem like Penny was so old XD And this is actually really dramatic for me, I've never killed off a character...I also tried adding in some of the 5 stages of grief too, I hope it was ok...