Chapter 1

She sank wearily back into the cushioned seat of the rocking chair, feeling the tension from the day start to seep away. This was her favorite time of day.

It was twilight, the light from the sunset streaming through the half closed curtains. She could sit here forever it seemed. She snuggled the small warm body closer to her as she looked down at the small mouth nursing at her breast.

Feeding her son before she put him to bed for the night was the best part of the day, when there was nothing there but the two of them.

"What are you doing here? And what are you doing," questioned an angry male voice from the doorway.

She sighed to herself as she looked up. "Hey," she half-whispered. "Do you mind giving me a couple of minutes, he's almost asleep."

The very angry man let his gaze drop from her face to the child snuggled in her arms. "What is going on here," he questioned again.

"Really," she asked sarcastically. "I'm feeding our son and he's just about to fall asleep. Please go downstairs and I will be there in a couple of minutes."

He swallowed hard and turned from the doorway to trudge down the stairs. He stopped in the living room and drifted over to the couch.

Wasn't this an interesting evening. First, his parents told him he had to stay at a hotel and then they didn't want him to come to the house. The house he grew up in. He was supposed to meet them at his hotel a little while ago, but he had wanted to see what they were hiding from him.

And now he knew. They were hiding her. Her and a baby. His baby, if he was to believe her. And why wouldn't he believe her. She'd never lied to him before. It felt like his life was spinning out of control.

He let his head fall into his hands as he rested his elbows on his knees. And that is how she found him when she came downstairs after putting the baby into his crib.

"Hey, Austin," she breathed, just wanting this moment to be over.

He lifted his head slowly and then snapped his gaze to her. "Ally," he said coldly. "What is going on?"

She dropped her eyes from his as she made her way to a chair facing the couch. "I didn't want you to find out this way..."

"Find out what exactly," he furiously exclaimed. "Are you seriously sitting there calmly telling me that that…that that child up there is mine!?"

Ally sighed again as tears welled up in her eyes. She shook her head and tried to put her thoughts in order. As she thought back over the events of the past year, however, she found herself getting angrier and angrier.

"How dare you come in here and question me about this," she spat at him, her eyes going darker than he had ever seen them. "If you hadn't abandoned me, or if you had even taken one my phone calls then you would have been made aware of everything."

She was seething suddenly, how dare he put this all on her.

He was taken aback. He had rarely seen her so angry, and then it usually had something to do with him touching her precious book. He didn't know how to react to this Ally.

"I...I just want to know what's going on. Is that really my child upstairs?" Austin tried to control his anger, but was losing that battle.

"I am not in the mood to discuss any of this with you tonight." She was trying to be calm, but seeing Austin again brought everything right back to the surface. All of the pain she had suffered because of him was simmering inside her, ready to boil over at any moment. "I'd like you to leave."

He was astonished. "You can't kick me out," he yelled. "I live here."

"You used to live here," his mother, Mimi, said from the doorway. "We asked you not to come here. We asked you to meet us at your hotel. We asked you to respect that decision and now..." She let her voice drift off.

"Ally, I'm so sorry. We should have informed you that Austin was back in town. We were just trying to protect you," his father continued.

"Told her...protect her...," Austin spluttered. "You are my parents."

His parents turned their angry faces toward him.

"Someone had to be there for Ally," his father angrily answered him. "You were certainly nowhere to be found when she needed you!"

Austin ducked his head. He knew he was treading on thin ice here, but he was having trouble wrapping his head around what was going on here.

"It's time for you to go, son," his father said. "This house has been disrupted enough for one night. You may come back in the morning for breakfast and to continue this discussion."

"But," Austin began as he shot to his feet.

"No buts, young man," his father insisted. "We'll see you in the morning."

Austin glanced over at Ally, who had been silently sobbing in her chair. She had a hand pressed to her mouth and she wouldn't look at him. She looked...she looked broken. He sighed then, in defeat.

He had already caused her so much pain, he couldn't bring himself to do any more. He said softly "I'm sorry... I guess I'll see you in the morning."

He turned and quietly left his childhood home.

Ally continued crying softly as she heard the door close behind him. Mimi moved to rub her shoulder. "Ally, sweetie, I'm so sorry."

Ally shook her head and tried to control the tears. "No Mimi, I should have expected this. I knew the tour was over. He was bound to show up sometime."

"I'm going to go upstairs to bed now. I'll see you in the morning." Ally got up and moved through the living room to the stairs.

She slowly climbed the stairs and dragged herself to her room. Austin's room. So many memories swept over her as she entered the room and closed the door.

She went to the crib and looked down on her sleeping son. A smile graced her face for the first time since Austin had appeared that night.

It was a miracle, how much joy this one small person had brought to her life. He absolutely filled her soul with happiness.

She frowned to herself when she heard a buzzing sound from across the room. Her phone.

She crossed the room to the dresser and checked the message. Dez was going to show them the video he had made after they both arrived. She smiled to herself, a tiny bitter smile.

She set the phone down gently and began getting ready for bed. It would be interesting to see what happened next. Tomorrow morning was just the beginning.

How would Austin react to the video? She had seen it and Dez had done an amazing job condensing the last year. It was painful to watch for her, but she hoped that Austin and Trish would be enlightened by it.

Her phone buzzed again and she looked back down at it. Work was wondering if she would be available tomorrow for a meeting at 1pm. She thought for a minute before answering in the negative.

The morning was going to be an emotional roller coaster and she was going to need time to recover.

Her phone buzzed again, but this time she frowned at the text. She ignored it and turned her phone off. She was in no mood to talk to Trish tonight either.

She set the phone aside and changed into her pajamas. As she slid into bed her mind drifted back to the night her son had been conceived...

It was the night of graduation. Austin, Ally, Dez and Trish had all graduated from High School and it was about a week before Austin and Trish would be leaving on Austin's first World Tour.

They had gone to Sonic Boom where their parents had held a massive joint Graduation party for them, but soon enough the four friends had escaped to the practice room. They just listened to the noise from the party begin to wane as people made their way out of the store.

"Let's get out of here and do something crazy," Austin exclaimed as he paced around the room, too full of energy to sit down.

Dez said he had to go home with his folks so he could feed his pet turtle and Trish said she had to get started on her packing as they both left the room.

Ally turned around on the piano bench and said "Austin settle down."

"But I can't," he whined. "I just really want to get out of her and go do something fun."

"A party for us is fun Austin," Ally smiled. Before he could counter her argument she held up a hand. "What do you want to do? I'm up for anything."

"Anything, Ally?"

She smiled at him and nodded. "Let's make the most of our Austin and Ally time while it lasts."

He stopped in front of her an pulled her to her feet. He leaned down and kissed her softly. "Let's do that."

They went to the beach, it was one of their favorite places to be together. He pulled the sleeping bag out of his trunk as she grabbed his hand. They walked toward the water and spread out the bag. They lay there together watching the stars light up the sky.

She turned to him and whispered, "I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you, too," He whispered back.

She leaned into him and he leaned into her and they were kissing. Kissing as if their very lives depended upon it. Kissing to forget. Kissing to remember. Kissing...

They fell asleep connected and still kissing, the love they had shared filling them both even as it created a new life that neither of them had been aware of that night.

The next morning they woke up entwined in each other. As the sunrise broke over the ocean, they kissed again.

"This was the best night of my life, Als," Austin breathed into her mussed hair. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too Austin," She answered as she pulled his head to hers for another kiss...

Ally began to cry again as those memories, those feeling filled her up again. She cried herself to sleep.