Thank you guys so much for the support! I really appreciate it. :)

finnssmallfry: haha thank you, that totally made my day! I'm trying my best.

Llamagal: Your review made me smile so much. I'm glad you're interested in this story! There's only a few chapters left, I wanted it to be a short story. I know how I want the story to go, it's just a matter of writing it! Haha but I hope this doesn't disappoint. Thank you. :)

Seriously, thank you guys so much for all the support, reviews, follows, and favorites. It makes me smile so much, thank you.

Heart Beat – Chapter 3: "Bows & Arrows"

"Every talk leads to a battle, playing tag with bows and arrows…"

Dez sat beside Ally and held her tightly. He had arrived in the waiting room moments after Ally had been rushed in and he watched her collapse to the floor. Her sobs were silent but he saw the ways her shoulders violently shook. Even when tears blurred her vision, he could still sense that she stared at the ER doors.

He had ushered her to one of the uncomfortable waiting rooms and placed himself in the one beside her. Her tears leaked through his shirt as she cried into his shoulder and he couldn't register how uncomfortable the random wet droplets truly made him feel. He kept his mouth shut and focused on comforting the girl who had become like a sister to him.

"I'm glad you're okay," Trish whispered to him when Ally had managed to cry herself to sleep. Dez looked up to see the very pregnant Trish standing in front of himself and Ally, two coffee cups in her hand. "I got one for you… the other was for Ally but she obviously isn't having it anytime," she muttered. Needing something to keep her hands still, Trish held onto one coffee and handed Dez the other. His scratched up hand gripped the Styrofoam coffee cup and he slowly took a sip as Trish sat on the other side of Dez.

"I'm worried about Austin," he said, his voice hoarse. It was the first time he had spoken since the accident a few hours prior and the shock was beginning to wear off. "Trish, what if he doesn't make it?" The crack in his voice broke Trish's heart and she reached her hand out, placing it on top of the one on the chair armrest, giving it a slight squeeze. If they had been fifteen, Trish would have shuddered at the thought. But times have changed drastically since then.

Dez returned the squeeze and if possible, that broke Trish's heart even more. In drastic situations, Dez was unlike himself. He was removed sometimes and was a completely different person.

"What happened?" Trish was able to ask quietly. She had been so uncertain of asking the question. Dez glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. "I'm sure I want to know," she said, more confidently. As the team grew older, much like Austin and Ally, Dez and Trish had developed a silent language. Dez sighed and returned his gaze to straight in front of him.

"Okay," he whispered.

…

"Honestly Dez, I don't know what I did wrong!" Austin exclaimed as he threw open the driver's door to his black truck.

"Women are crazy, kind of like that kangaroo I ordered when we were fifteen," Dez responded, happiness in his voice as he remembered some of the earliest adventures with Team Austin. He heard Austin chuckle as they clambered into their seats. It had the first time he heard Austin laugh in the past couple of weeks. Things had been rough with Ally, her blowing up at every little thing that went wrong.

Austin started the car and made his way through the empty streets. "Make a left here," Dez directed. The singer didn't question his best friend, only nodded and made the left as told. It had become a habit, a tradition of sorts as well as second instinct, to go to a new pancake house every time they needed to talk.

"I don't know what to do…" Austin whispered to his best friend as he spotted the small diner a few hundred feet away. The car stayed silent as the blond pulled into one of the many empty parking spots, no one really went out to eat around three in the morning.

"What was the fight about this time?" Dez asked as he picked up the menu. He watched from the corner of his eyes as Austin let out a frustrated sigh and ran a hand over his face.

"I've been recording a lot lately, she knew that. I have a deadline and we're nowhere near done but I've been trying to finish it before her birthday-"

"Because of track 5?" Dez questioned.

Austin nodded. "I wanted to surprise her. But it's been stressing out the both of us and I guess she feels like I've been neglecting her which, I may have been…" Austin trailed off sheepishly for a moment. "Only because I want to finish this album for her!" he quickly exclaimed. In no way did he want Ally to ever feel like he neglected her, she was his world. She was a treasure like no other and he was glad that he happened upon her. God, he doesn't know what he would do if he didn't walk into Sonic Boom with Dez on that fateful day.

"Are you sure track five is worth all this trouble?" Dez didn't mean to upset Austin, as he could tell he did slightly when he glanced at his friend's eyes. His fists tightened but slowly relaxed as the plates of food were placed in front of them.

"Dez, track five means everything to me. It's definitely worth it to me." A moment of silence passes between the two. The tension is high as both men begin to eat. "But… I don't think she thinks it's worth it." Austin's voice cracks even more as he continues talking. "I think she hates me."

Not once in his life had Dez seen his best friend so… broken.

"Ally doesn't hate you Austin, she never could. You guys-"

"She wants to talk tomorrow. About us, our life together, our future. Dez what if she wants to break up with me?"

Silence.

Stares.

Dez had no answers. He wasn't as close to Ally as he was to Austin and he had never heard either of them want to talk about things like that after a fight. Sure, he had their many conversations on maybe getting married one day and getting a small house with a white-picket face and a small dog, but those were happy talks. The way Austin put it didn't seem too good for the couple.

The ginger took a swig of his water before looking around the diner and lowering his voice, as if the brunette of subject was nearby and could hear. "Does she know about track five?"

Austin shook his head. Track five was his special project, a surprise he planned months ago for Ally. He didn't know how he had kept it a secret for so long but he wasn't going to give up on it, never. But now, he was uncertain.

"God," Austin began, placing his head in his hands. "The last thing she said was how she never wanted to see me again." He dropped his hands to the table and played with the rings on his fingers. "Then when I tried to call her later to try and makeup and apologize, she texted me about the talk."

Dez caught the sight of a tear sneaking its way out of Austin's eye before he quickly wiped it away. They finished their meal without another word.

"Don't think about tomorrow man, try to relax. Think happy thoughts! Like the amazing animals we've had in your music videos!" Dez brought up as they returned to the car. 3:55 AM flashed on the dashboard.

"What about that baby alligator that followed you back to Shiny Money's boat?" Austin mentioned, chuckling as he started up the car.

"Oh yeah, baby-gator. I miss that little fellow…"

"How's Trish's little fellow? Has she picked a name out yet?" the blond asked as he merged onto the road. He looked over his shoulder as he moved to the left lane. His crazy best friend shrugged.

"Not that I know of."

"I tried suggesting 'Austin' to her but she declined."

"Hey! If she doesn't name it 'Dez' then why would she name it 'Austin'?!"

Chuckles echoed around the car and Austin pressed his foot to the brake to stop at the red light at the intersection. He groaned as his rearview mirror sparkled and brightened. He looked behind him and was instantly blinded.

"Jackass has his brights on. I can't see anything in my mirror." Dez looked behind them at the oncoming car.

"Is he even slowing down? Does he not realize this is a red light?!"

Austin shrugged as they both looked ahead and waited for the light to change. The car was currently in the middle lane and seemed to be slowing down. There were only a few other cars on the road, most of them going east, unlike Austin and the car with the bright lights who were going north. A sigh escaped his mouth as the light seemed to talk forever to change. Glancing into his rearview mirror again, Austin saw the other car, which was very close now, swerve and merge into his lane.

"Shit." Austin muttered. He looked to his left to see more cars coming and speeding through the intersection, wanting to beat the red light as the green turned to yellow. He was a sitting duck with nowhere to go. Dez sat beside him, oblivious to the situation at hand, which he was grateful for. If Dez was relaxed, there was less of a chance he'd be seriously injured.

A sudden jerk forward from behind sent the car surging into the intersection and the boys flew towards the dashboard. As the car entered the intersection against their will, a car from the left that had been speeding to beat the red light didn't have enough time to break.

Austin heard the screeching of tires and the crunching of metal before he felt it. He heard the glass on his car door window shatter before it dig itself into his untouched skin and he felt the burst of air from the surrounding airbags before they bombarded him.

The car swiveled and swerved, traveling into the other lane of traffic just as another car from the opposite way hit Austin's side once more. One tumble later, the car lay in the center of the road, upside.

Blinking in and out of consciousness, blood being the majority of what his sight took in, Austin thought of only one thing to bring him peace. As his eyes felt heavy and the temptation to close them won over, Austin moaned in pain the one name that seemed to make everything even a little bit better, no matter how horrible that situation.

"Ally." It was strangled and his voice was doused in pain but he couldn't stop saying it, his voice lowering and getting weaker each time he spoke.

"Ally."

Silence.

"Ally.."

Silence.

"Ally…"

There was no answer back. A with a groan in pain, and one last muttered "Ally", Austin closed his eyes.