Enjoy! (Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except the things I made up myself!) Ps. look for Ally's outfits posted on my polyvore! Link in my profile!

AUSTIN'S POV:

I checked my phone once again, no word from Ally and she was supposed to be here an hour ago. She didn't text me last night, but I just pinned that to she forgot and fell asleep. Even though I had that in my head I still didn't get any sleep myself. I texted her and called her multiple was time to take action now, starting at the only place I could think she would be.

Work.

I drove the short drive to her bakery, which wasn't even open yet and knocked on the door. After a few seconds a short Latino woman walked up and unlocked the door. She only opened it slightly before shooting me a weird look.

"Can I help you? We aren't open yet."

"Hi, you must be Trish, Ally has told me a lot about you. I'm-"

"Austin. Nice to finally meet you, but Ally isn't here"

My face fell. "Do you know where she is? She was supposed to meet me for coffee an hour ago."

I watched as Trish debated with herself for a few seconds on whether to trust me or not. "She is um, busy this morning. It's the 3rd."

"I'm sorry but I don't know what that means." I said, trying to get more information.

"Her mom died 5 years ago today."

"So she is visiting her mom" I said mostly to myself.

"You didn't hear it from me." She threatened before her face became friendly again, "It was truly nice meeting you, but I have to go."

She closed the door and locked it, walking back into the bakery. I sighed and got back into the car before pulling away and starting towards the only graveyard in town. Thank god my shift wasn't until tonight or else I would have called off. Nothing was worth losing Ally, she needed someone and for some reason I felt I needed to be that someone. I cared about her, deeply.

I pulled up to the curb after driving up and down the rows and spotting a mound of brown-blonde hair leaning against the headstone.

I slowly got out of the car and quietly walked towards her heaving body. She was crying, hard.

"Ally?" I asked, as quietly and sweet as possible.

She didn't respond but her sobs got softer.

"Ally?" I said again, kneeling next to her and placing a hand on her back, rubbing small circles.

Again, she didn't speak and for now neither did I. She turned into my embrace as I secured my arms around her. I would never let go if possible, I wanted to take all that pain away for her. I hated seeing her like this. She was so broken and vulnerable. On top of that, she was allowing me to see it, something she would have never done on a regular day. All her raw emotion that she keeps bottled up all year long until this dreadful day was finally released. I was honored that she was going to let me be that person, that rock, that shoulder to cry on.

"I'm sorry" She sniffled after the sobs slowed.

She just didn't get it. "You never have-"

"No, I broke our date and made you late for work and worried and.." She pulled back, laughing lightly. "..ruined your shirt."

I looked down to see a small dark spot from where her tears soaked through. "It's okay, it's all so okay. I don't have work until 5 and I would never, ever even imagine leaving you alone like this, and you can bet on that."

"Thank you" She sniffled a little before laughing slightly. "I have never met someone who was willing to drop everything to make sure I was ok and it's only been a week. I think my mom must be looking over me." Her voice was soft.

I felt my heart warm at her words. "Yeah, and I know she is so proud of the woman you've become. She has to be, now come on. You must be freezing."

I stood up and helped her up as well. She swayed for a few seconds before gaining her balance. I kept a hand on her back to guide her back to the car. After securing her in the passenger seat I ran around to hop in the drivers side.

"Why?" She asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Why what?"

"Why are you doing all of this? I mean we've only known each other for 7 days, we're practically still strangers to each other."

"Now that's where your wrong, I feel like I've known you for 7 years not days, I understand you and you understand me. It's so easy being with you and around you, I actually enjoy it greatly. I look forward to every morning now because it means spending time with you. I have never been so drawn to someone so strongly. I feel like you were meant to forget about your money that day and I was supposed to walk in just in time to lend a helping hand. I've never felt a true purpose in life, I thought becoming a firefighter would make me feel like I had a calling and it did but there was still something missing. Being with you... being around you gives me something to look forward to, and I love that. I love having a reason to wake up every morning."

I looked over to see her face shocked, speechless.

"Als?"

"You really feel that way?" She asked.

"Well, yeah. Is that okay?" I asked, feeling subconscious.

"Is it ok? Is it ok? Of course it's ok! It's amazing actually! I am so glad I met you that day, I truly believe it was a miracle and I am so thankful to have you in my life Austin Moon. I just don't know how to explain it all yet." She bit her lip and looked down, closing off again.

ALLY'S POV

Austin brought me home and even stayed with me for a while. We just sat on the couch as he held me and I cried again. It was a rough day. After, he offered to go check on Trish, luckily we had planned on this and had one of our high school students coming in at 3. He stayed and tried to help while I got a shower and freshened up.

He had called a little while ago offering to pick up lunch and coffee from the shop. I, of course, said yes. I had been waiting, pacing rather for fifteen minutes and I was starving. I couldn't cry anymore, I was out of tears and well frankly just didn't want to do it anymore.

"Food!" I heard his masculine voice ring out in the apartment.

"Thank god! I am starving!" I exclaimed running to the table as he set out the food on the table.

I instantly began to dig in as he watched in awe and amusement. "Someone's hungry." He smirked.

"I missed breakfast!" I defended with a mouth full.

"Ok, ok slow down. I'd rather not have to perform the Heimlich today."

I blushed as I swallowed hard. "Sor-"

"Ehh-eh-eh" He yelled over me. "Every time you say sorry and it's not a worthy time then you owe me…" He trailed off in thought.

"Owe you what?" I challenged before taking another bite.

"You owe me...a favor" He smiled wickedly. "Any favor I want"

"Geez, you're not gonna make me have sex with you are you?" I joked, secretly wanting him to say yes because his body on top of mine sounded so good that I would only say sorry for the rest of my life.

"No, not any time soon at least" He winked before crumpling up his trash and putting it into the bag.

I felt my cheeks blush feverishly as I looked back down at my food. "What time did you say you had work?" I asked.

"Five, and it's 2:30 right now so you have me for another 2 hours. Whatcha wanna do?"

"Movie?"

"Sure" He smiled.

I walked over into the living room and opened the cabinet that held the DVDs. "Pick your poison."

"Wow, I'm gonna have to go with step brothers. It's a classic."

I smiled and popped in the disc while he got comfy on the couch, slipping off his shoes. I settled in next to him, at a safe distance.

"I promise, I don't have cooties" He chuckled, pulling me into his side and draping his arm over my shoulders.

His fingers drew random shapes on my bicep as the opening credits rolled. I rested my cheek on his chest and laid my arm across his stomach. It was so normal to be sitting here like this with him that it felt like we had been doing it for years. He was right earlier, it hadn't been 7 days but 7 years.

When I woke up some time later and realized Austin was no where to be found. I looked at the clock to see it was 5:23. That explained it, as I walked into the kitchen I found a note on the fridge that explained even more.

Als,

Didn't want to wake you. Left for work, see you tomorrow for breakfast?

-Austin

I smiled but quickly decided that tomorrow was too far away and I needed to thank Austin for his kindness today. I turned and began gathering supplies. I found the flour and sugar and butter and chocolate chips and got to work, doing what I did best...bake.

I felt the plate in my hands start to shake as I approached the firehouse. I felt my palms to start to sweat and began rethinking this whole plan. I shook my head of the thoughts and walked in through the open engine bay. I walked towards the small group of men standing by the wall of gear and smiled as I noticed a familiar face.

"Ally. Fancy seeing you here." Dez smiled as he walked towards me.

"Nice to see you too." I laughed. "Is Austin here?"

"Yes, but to find out where you need to give me those cookies"

I smiled and peeled back the foil to offer him one, but as his hand went for a second I swatted it away.

"One, don't get greedy." I smirked.

"He's in his office. It's just down the hall and to the left." He said, taking a bite of the cookie. "Mmm, these are really good!"

"Thank you!" I said, walking away towards the direction he pointed to.

I walked down the hall until I came to the room with a placard that said 'Lieutenant Moon'. I looked in the window to see Austin hunched over his desk. He rubbed his face before scribbling down something on the paper in front of him. I took in a deep breath before knocking on his door.

"Come in." He yelled, not even turning from his paperwork.

"Special Delivery for Lieutenant Moon" I said, hoping he wouldn't find me incredibly cheesy.

He turned around and an amused smile crossed his face. "What's this?"

"These" I placed the plate down on his desk before sitting back on the small bed next to the desk. "Are for you, as a thank you for today." I smiled shyly.

"Really? For me?" He held his heart. "I'm flattered." He grabbed one and ate it in one bite.

"Slow down there killer." I laughed. "So, is this the glamourous life of a firefighter." I asked, my eyes looking around the room before landing on his paper pile.

"Well, none of it's really glamour but this is part of the job. Paperwork and more-" He was cut off by a loud beeping noise and then a woman's voice listing off numbers and words. "Duty calls, but wait here for me?"

I nodded as he ran out of the room. Within seconds sirens were blaring and the trucks were rolling out. I walked out and over to kitchen area to see Spike, the dalmatian, laying in his bed in the corner. I smiled at him, hoping he was still friendly, he looked at me with lazy eyes before closing them completely. I sat down on the couch and turned on the tv, flipping through the channels until I landed on the news. It was breaking news to be exact, live. The headline read 'Apartment Building Fire, 6 dead, 18 injured, 20 plus missing' I felt my heart drop as I saw the camera stop on a big red familiar firetruck. It was the same one that I was sitting in just a yesterday. I saw firefighters and police officers running everywhere. Then, I saw him. He was with Dez climbing up the ladder towards a window. Just as I grew closer towards the edge of my seat, the broadcast was over.

I jumped out of my seat and started to pace. My mind began to wander to places no ones mind should ever go. Places that thought of the worst possible scenario, places that thought Austin could die. I fell back onto the couch as the most agonizing minutes of my life passed. I continued to switch from each news station, hoping they would put it back on. They didn't. I felt my heart racing as I heard radio static coming from behind me and turned to see a woman walking by with a handheld radio in her hand.

"Hi..hi" I stuttered, trying not to startle her.

She turned and I saw she was a middle-aged woman, dressed in business attire. "Hi, you..you must be Ally?" She asked, looking like she had come to a realization.

I smiled. "Yeah, but how-"

She shook her head in that knowing way. "Austin won't stop talking about you. He is smitten over you."

I felt a blush cover my cheeks as the radio made a noise of men talking.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Oh, it's a radio scanner. I'm listening to the radio talk between emergency personnel at that apartment fire."

"Would, would you mind if I listened as well?" I asked, shyly.

"Well, of course not but you might get kinda confused. It took me years to master this language." She laughed taking a seat at the table and I followed. "But I can try and translate for you. I'm sure you're only listening for one reason though." She gave me a knowing look and I smiled appreciatively.

"Thank you."

"Ok, lets see...they've put the fire out. Two firefighters are still in there, from 43…" She trailed off and I got a feeling that wasn't good. "Um, they've lost communication. Multiple floor and ceiling collapses. Still no word on who they are though. Wait, it's...it's Dez and Austin who are still in there…" She looked at me with sad eyes.

"Well, what else?" I asked, feeling my heart beat out of my chest with fear.

"Um, I'm not sure. They've all been told to evacuate, no one should be in there, wait they're coming. They got trapped but they're coming out now, they're almost out-" She was cut off by a loud explosion sound and I felt my heart stop completely.

"What was that?" I cried.

"Back-draft" She said, not moving her eyes from the radio.

"Wha-what's that?" I stuttered.

"It's a phenomenon where a fire that has used all the oxygen suddenly explodes when more is made available, typically because a door or window has been opened. When they opened the door the fire exploded, it wasn't out like they thought."

"Well are they okay?" I asked, my voice barely coming out.

"I- I don't know, there's a lot going on over the radio right now. Lots of chaos, the chief is going to have a fit, I need to go call him." She stood up and I looked at her frightened.

"Why isn't he there?"

"He's away, on vacation with his family. The assistant chief is there, Ally they're gonna be fine. Austin does this all the time in an hour or so he is going to stroll through that door with an amazing story to tell you. He always does."

She gave me a small smile before walking away and leaving me in silence with my thoughts and my tears that began to pour for the thousandth time today. Only, this time I wasn't crying for my mom, I was crying for Austin.

I looked up when I heard the truck engines pulling up. I had curled up on the couch with Spike, he was a good listener after all. I sat up and slid on my shoes and ran over to the engine bays looking through the men, looking for that face.

"Ally!" Dez yelled, walking over to me.

I mustered up a smile and gave him a hug, mostly because I was an emotional wreck.

"Dez, are you okay? I heard." I looked at him after we pulled away.

"Yeah, Austin saved my ass in there today. Wouldn't be the first time though."

"Where is he?" I asked, desperately.

"Als?" I felt my heart stop, my world came to a halt, everything faded away when I spun around to face him head on.

He looked different. He was covered in soot and still had his bunker pants on. His hair was wet and messy. His grey shirt was drenched in what I expected to be sweat and possible water from the hoses. I couldn't help but fantasize about him as I stood there, I mean it was only natural. He was hot and sweaty. Then I was reminded of everything I had just gone through and the mood died.

I walked over to him and gave him a hug. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it was- Ow! Why did you hit me?"

"Because you're an idiot! I thought you were dead." I told him, trying to keep my voice down along with my heart rate.

"Als, I'm fine. I didn't die, we were on our way out when the ceiling collapsed so we had to find another way out and we did. We went out the back, the back-draft was at the front door. Some idiot from the 93 kicked it open. From what I heard he's going to be okay, but I mean the way Dez found a way out was just amazing it was so-"

"How can you be so happy and excited right now?" I asked in a low voice.

"Adrenaline, I guess?" He shrugged. "Als, it was amazing how me and Dez worked-"

"I can't."

I walked away as I tried to control my breathing. Austin was okay, it was a miscommunication. He was okay and right in front of me. Then why was there still a pit in my stomach. Why did I still feel like my heart was ripped out of my chest and stomped on then put back in? Probably because that was exactly what happened.

"Ally?"

I looked up to see I was outside of the firehouse now. I turned around to Austin, standing there with those big concerned brown eyes.

"Als?" He asked again. "What's wrong?"

"I-I can't." I stuttered, blankly staring past him.

"What does that mean?"

"I can't do this. I can't lose you. I can't." I felt a stray tear fall down my cheek as the thought crossed my mind.

"You're not going to. I'm right here." He took a step towards me and I took two back, trying to avoid the pure hurt that crossed his face.

"I thought you were dead Austin!"

"But I wasn't, I'm not. Not today, Not tomorrow, not for a very, very, very long time."

"You don't know that, you could have died today. I can't lose anyone else Austin, I just can't and from the sounds of it this kind of stuff happens a lot. I'm sorry, I just...can't." I turned away from him as the waterworks began to fall with every step I took.

In the distance I heard him call after me, but I couldn't turn back. I had to protect myself, I had to. After my mother and my father and..Tim, I couldn't bare to lose another person that I cared about. I was already growing too close to him, I had to put some distance between us. I had to, no matter how hard it would be.

I woke up the next morning surrounded by tissues and dry tears plastered on my face. I had been in and out of sleep all night. Austin was working the night shift so I had been on my computer checking news stations all night. I had even found some website that allowed me to listen in on the radios, even though I hadn't a clue what they were saying.

My entire body hurt as walked to the bathroom to shower up and get ready for my day. After I showered and changed into an appropriate outfit, sporting almost all black, I walked out and towards the coffee shop. I was so in thought that I forgot that Austin might show up to try and make amends. The only thing was that there was nothing to make amends of, I just needed some time to train my brain and heart to not get attached to a walking death trap.

"Ally?" I looked over my shoulder as I went to order my coffee and saw another new version of Austin.

He was worn and run down. His coffee in his hand shook slightly and his hair was messed up. His clothes looked wrinkled and dirty; he always had a clean pressed shirt, always.

"Austin? What happened to you?" I asked.

"You." His voice was scratchy and tired.

"Wha-what?" I stuttered.

"You, you came into my life and turned it upside down. It was perfectly fine until you showed up and ran all over it with those little heeled daggers of yours." He nodded towards my heels.

"Excuse me?" I asked in disbelief.

"Did you always plan to drop me when things started getting real?" He asked, ignoring my question.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said, looking around as people started to stare. "Why don't we sit down and talk about this?" I asked, trying to keep it civil.

"I don't want to sit with you, you're nothing but a liar. All that stuff you said, the stuff I said to you? The almost kiss? Was it all a game to you? Because it wasn't to me, so enjoy your coffee..it's on me. Just like the joke. The joke is always on me, isn't it?" He threw down three dollars before walking out of the coffee shop.

Out of my life.

And the plot thickens! I am so sorry if you all hate me for this chapter but believe me there are many more chapters to come and this is not the end. Ally is just being a little dramatic. Thank you to all who reviewed and favorited and followed! XOXOX