A/N: Early update! Wooooo! :) Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter, y'all are awesome! :D And thanks for those of you that congratulated me on my learner's license :)

Austin's back! YAYAYAYAYAYAYA! :) Hope you enjoy this, it's pretty cheesy, but I'm sure you guys love cheesiness haha I know I do.

Disclaimer: Don't own A&A.

Ally POV

"That's great, Ally," Trish smiled as I told her about my phone call with Austin. "I knew he would come through."

We were sitting in my bedroom flipping through magazines while Maci played with her toy piano. She had been at Dez's previously, but he had dropped her off here because he said he was doing something.

"Well, I kind of pleaded for him to come back," I admitted.

Trish looked uncomfortable. "Actually, Austin told Dez and me that he was planning on coming back before, but he didn't know what to say, or what you would say, so he stayed longer. He got over the Jesse thing like, three days after he left."

I gaped at her. "You mean to tell me that for four days, he's just been sitting at Dez's place? And he didn't even call?"

"Um... yes?" she laughed nervously.

"What! Why are you telling me this now?" I exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, Ally, I should've told you sooner," she said guiltily.

I sighed. "I guess it doesn't really matter. He's finally coming home." I paused. "So then I actually didn't beg? Or I did?"

"Technically, yes. But theoretically, no. So let's just go with the second one!" Trish told me.

Maci slammed her hands down on the piano keys, making Trish and I jump at the guttural sound it made.

"You go, girl," Trish laughed at her. "She's already starting to play an instrument."

I smiled over at Maci, who was busy giggling like a maniac every time she hit a key. "Yeah; I think she's going to be exactly like Austin. Looks and all."

"What makes you think that?"

"I just have a feeling. She already looks like him."

"You're crazy. She has your eyes and nose, but she'll definitely have Austin's hair color. Unless it darkens up as she gets older."

I shrugged. "Guess we'll find out."

Trish's phone rang, and she answered after I gave her the okay. "Hello?" She paused for a few seconds. "Whoa, whoa, Dez, slow down." She clenched her jaw and screeched, "You did what?"

This can't be good, I thought.

"I'm coming to your place right now, you are so dead," she said angrily before hanging up.

"What's wrong?"

"Dez wrecked my car again. This time he slammed it back into that big tree by his driveway!" Trish was fuming. "He's paying for it again, I swear to it."

I winced. "Tell him it was nice knowing him for me."

"Oh, I will," she said, grabbing her jacket. "I'll call you later, girlfriend."

"Bye," I waved, and she walked out the door. I heard the front door slam a minute later, and I turned to Maci. "Auntie Trish is on a murderous rampage. I don't know if you'll ever see Uncle Dez again."

"Unca Dez?" she repeated.

"Yeah, baby. Eh, he should be fine. I hope." I stood up and straightened my shirt. "Ready for your supper?"

"No!"

I laughed and bent to scoop her up. "No, no, no!" She yelled, trying to push out of my grip.

"Sadly, you don't have a choice, Mace, you need to eat. Come on, you can play with Barbie after."

"Momma, noooo! I wanna play wif ma tooooy!" She struggled the whole way to the kitchen, where I set her down on the ground so I could get the food ready. What was with her?

"God, where's Austin when I need him?" I groaned. "Maci Harmony, you stop it right now," I said sharply as I hurried to grab her. She had been trying to crawl away into the hallway.

"No food, momma. No!" I set her in her play pen so she couldn't get away again.

"Maci, play with Boo right now, please?" Boo was her stuffed bunny.

While she cried in her pen, I rushed around trying to get her food ready, and when I finally did, I was ready to rip my ears off so I couldn't hear anything.

"Maci, do you want a time out?" I snapped, setting her in her highchair with much difficulty. I grabbed her food and stuck the spoon in. "Open up."

She rubbed her fists in her eyes and shook her head. "Maci, you need to eat. Come on, do it for mommy."

She had never done this before, but she actually reached out and pushed the spoon away from her. I gasped. "Maci, you don't do that!"

She started screaming again, so I gave up and took her out of the highchair, only to set her back in her play pen, taking the toys out. "Fine, you can have a time out instead. Pancakes, supper!"

Pancakes came into the kitchen, tail wagging, and I poured her some food. "Maci, you'll be in there longer if you don't stop crying!"

"I want dadda!"

So that's what this was about. I guess she had finally reached that point. "Well, he's not here," I said distractedly. "So tough luck." I flopped down on a chair and sighed tiredly, throwing my head in my hands. "Maci, stop," I begged. "You're never like this. I know you miss your dad, baby."

For the next half hour, I listened to her screaming and crying and kicking in her pen, until she finally ended up crying herself to sleep.

"Thank god," I sighed quietly, gently scooping her up and bringing her upstairs to her bed. After she was tucked in safe and sound, I looked down at her sleeping form. Her eyes were still red and blotchy, and I felt guilty for putting her through this. She wasn't even two yet and she already had to watch her parents separate for a bit, not that she knew what was happening. But one thing she did know was that Austin wasn't around, and she didn't like it one bit.

Kissing her forehead softly, I walked through the door to our bedroom and changed into black sweats and a blue t-shirt, throwing my hair up into a messy bun. I washed my face in the bathroom and examined it in the mirror.

Since I hadn't been getting lots of sleep or been eating much, I looked malnourished. A face with dark under eye circles and a paler complexion than usual stared back at me. "Lovely," I muttered.

Slipping on slippers, I went back downstairs and into the living room, only to yelp in surprise.

Austin was sitting on the chair looking at the photo album I was looking at a few days after he had left. He looked pretty tired, like he hadn't sleep much either. Pancakes was at his feet, a happy girl again.

He looked up when he heard me. "Hey," he said.

"Um, h-hi," I said in shock. "You almost gave me a heart attack; I didn't even hear you come in."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said. He looked at me closer, face filled with worry. "Ally, you look like you've lost five pounds and haven't slept in days."

"Yeah, well, you know why. I could say the same for you." I slowly walked into the room and sat on the couch, staying silent.

"Where's Maci?" Austin asked.

"I just put her to bed; she was screaming and crying for over an hour."

"Really?"

"She didn't want to eat." I looked at him. "And because she missed her daddy. She asked for you."

He gave me a pained look before looking down at the book again. He smiled lightly. "These pictures bring back memories." His brow furrowed and he glanced at me. "Are these tear stains?"

"Yeah. I was looking at it, too." I looked him in the eye. "I needed to see pictures back before I screwed everything up."

Austin cleared his throat. "I did a lot of thinking when I was gone. I may have gone overboard about the whole Jesse thing. I said some things that I know I shouldn't have, and I'm really sorry, Ally."

"Trish told me you got over it shortly after you got to Dez's, so why didn't you come home?"

"I didn't know what to tell you," he admitted. "I was scared of what you would say."

"What I would say? Austin, this is my fault, not yours, and I'm sorry I put us in this position in the first place," I said quietly. "I was an idiot, but you have to believe me, I was just trying to be friendly."

"I know, Als," he said softly. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

"You were spying on me!" I burst out, tears threatening to form. "I can't believe you would do that!"

"I shouldn't have done it," Austin admitted guiltily. "It was completely wrong, and I'll never, ever do it again. I just... I didn't like the thought of you being associated with any guys except for Dez and Jace. I trust them, and I don't know this Jesse guy."

"But I love you," I said. "You and only you."

"I know you do. I guess I got jealous." He looked at me with tears in his eyes. "I just don't want to lose you, Ally. You and Maci mean everything to me."

I put my face in my hands and started crying. "Oh, Als, don't you cry, too," Austin said.

"I can't help it," I said thickly, wiping my eyes. "I'm sorry about everything, Austin, I truly am. I wasn't trying to hurt you, but I obviously did badly, and I'm so sorry for it! I love you so so much, and I missed you when you were gone. Everything reminded me of you and I couldn't take it. And that news story; that wasn't what it looked like, we just went for coffee because Jesse wanted to talk to me, and that's it!"

I heard my boyfriend get up. I took my face out of my hands to see him standing in front of me so I jumped up and threw my arms around him, bursting into fresh tears. He wrapped his arms securely around me in return. I hadn't touched him in so long, and it felt so good to be back in his strong, warm arms.

"I missed you, too," he said gently into my hair. "You and Maci both." He rubbed my back. "I love you."

"I love you," I replied into his chest. "Forever."

He rocked me gently and rested his chin on my head. "I guess we both need to work on some things. You need to become less nice and I need to work on my jealousy issues."

I giggled and bent my head back so I could look up at him. "Deal."

He wiped my eyes and smiled before he bent his head to kiss me for the first time in a week. It was well needed.

"I guess I should tell you that Jesse likes Quinn," I sniffed when we pulled apart.

"Seriously?" I nodded. "Well, that's good. Maybe I will end up liking this guy after all."

"He's a good guy, Austin. He feels bad for what happened."

"I'll talk to him."

I looked at my boyfriend. "Don't kill him."

Austin chuckled and kissed my forehead. "Relax, babe, I won't get physical."

"I'll take your word for that. The last thing I need is you being thrown in jail. Again."

"Hey, we didn't technically go to jail when we were caught in the ice cream shop! We almost did. There's a difference."

"Not a huge one," I told him. "But anyways, are you hungry? There are leftovers since Maci didn't eat anything."

"Sounds great," Austin smiled, putting his arm around me as we walked to the kitchen. "I missed your cooking."

I grinned, and a thought struck me. "Oh yeah, how did Dez end up crashing Trish's car again? She was here earlier when he called her."

Austin laughed nervously. "Um, it's a long story..."

A/N: Wow, we've got a grouchy Maci in this chapter! The end is NOT a cliffy, just saying. It might sound like it is, but it's not. The next chapter will start somewhere completely different haha. Review it up, guys, you're all awesome and I love you all! Update will probably not be as soon as this one was, I'll do it as soon as I can, I always do :)

Joelle xx

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