Wow. Okay. BIG APOLOGY.

I'm sorry I haven't updated. I've been crazy busy with - you guessed it - school.

I also lacked inspiration for the longest time, especially with this story. So with that thought, I am going to tell you the worst news ever: This is the last chapter. I KNOW, RIGHT?! Crazy! ! ! As I wrote this, it felt really short and really rushed but I couldn't find places for this to go anymore because I felt that it had already gone to so many places that it just needed to come to an end now. I was also in fear that I wasn't going to finish it.

Another announcement: There's a possibility that after Fading In, Fading Out, I may no longer be writing full stories, but instead just one shots. It's not official, because I may be putting out a new story right away called "She Ain't a Rebel". So, I may be lying, don't take my word for it, but there is a small chance that my story days are coming to an end and instead being replaced with one shots or mini-stories. I just find that writing stories is hectic and such a long, difficult process.

Well, I'll stop bothering you and let you read THE LAST CHAPTER!

Austin knew that he had her back. He knew, because suddenly there wasn't a fist-sized hole in his chest. Everything felt good again. Felt good like hearing her footsteps in the kitchen and seeing his shirt all the way across the room and remembering how he lost the feeling in his finger tips while he ran them through her hair.

Austin's lip quirked crookedly. He could tell that she was trying to tip-toe in the kitchen, but really, she wasn't doing a very good job. He prayed they'd never have to hide from a thief sometime, because she'd give them both away.

He'd pulled himself out of her bed.

Her bed. A place he'd missed for a long time. A place he'd missed the smell of and the way the sheets wrinkled beneath his body. But really, it had nothing to do with the bedding, it just had everything to do with the fact that it was all Ally. Maybe he loved her too much, but he didn't want to love her any less. She was too much like freedom.

"Hey, Big Foot." Austin chortled.

She jumped, like high, like she was reaching for the roof. She turned to him, nearly ghostly pale before a sheepish smile tilted onto her mouth. Her cheeks turned red and it's funny that she still does that. That she still gets nervous and embarrassed around him. He hoped she always did that.

"Did I wake you?" For a reason he didn't know about, she was still talking quietly like she hadn't quite shaken off the early-morning.

"You did." Austin smirked. He leaned towards her, his figure like a tower compared to her small five-foot frame. Her eye lashes tickled his cheek when their lips connected.

He smelled something familiar. Something that shuddered his bones, but yet made them jump with excitement. He pulled away from her lips as her puckered ones grazed his cheek. He saw the batter sizzling against the pan, little bubbles popping here and there.

Confused, Ally looked over to the pancakes and then back to him. When he didn't say anything, her gut jumped.

Pancakes.

Pancakes were a no.

A no, no, no, no, no, no.

"Shoot! Austin, I forgot!" Ally's voice lurched out her throat so fast it startled the both of them. She scrambled towards the pan, yanking the cord from the plug in. "I'll throw it out. I'm sorry. I just, it's early and pancakes are so easy and I just thought-"

"-No." Austin shook his head, grabbing her hand to halt her from any further movements. She was surprised when she found a smile curling his lips. It was gentle, free, and small. He nodded at her. "I don't mind."

"Are you sure? I mean, I could-"

"I think I'd like to sit down and have pancakes with you." Austin said, the plug slipping back into the socket.

A smile lifted her puzzled lips.

"Okay."

And she was so freeing. The little pieces of his past that he tried to clip away, she just pulled gently from his cracked skin and then rebuilt them into something that was better. Something that wouldn't hurt on his tender sores. And where she was delicate, he only pressed gently and when it hurt too much, he kissed the darkness out of it.

And they're happy.

They're together.

They were in love.

Two weeks ago, she'd gotten off the plane, heartbroken and headed into her apartment which she wanted to be empty yet she was so glad that it wasn't. And now, it's two weeks later and she's in love again.

Isn't love funny?

Because it's the thing that tears you apart that pulls you together again. Or maybe it's not love. Maybe it's the person's hands. The hands that they pick your shelter apart and build you a castle with. The hands that aren't trying yet do it effortlessly and with everything in their world.

Suddenly, it was like nothing ever happened.

Like they hadn't spent so long apart and he hadn't pried her dreams wide open with his knuckles for selfish reasons and she hadn't let him leave.

It was just her, and it was just him, sitting at the kitchen table with pancakes and syrup making their fingers sticky.

x

"That didn't last long."

It sure felt like it did, Austin thought as he stared at Jimmy.

Austin thinks he sees a grimace, like maybe he's about to apologize for his bluntness, but he doesn't. Jimmy sobers up and faces Austin.

"Heard you found an assistant." Jimmy said. "Elliot Craig."

Austin nodded his head. He still thought nobody was as good as Ally, but hey, at least she was writing for him again. She was quick to throw all of her notepads onto the counter top and discuss new songs for him.

"Actually met the boy a couple days ago. He isn't too bad." Jimmy said.

Austin nodded his head again, but cleared his throat. "Jimmy, I didn't come here to talk about mine and Ally's reuniting." Austin voiced. "I wanted..." Austin took a deep breath, because he honestly didn't know what would come of this. "I wanted you to give Ally her record deal back."

Jimmy blinked several times. "Her record deal?"

"I heard that she...resigned." Austin cringed. He couldn't help but feel at fault. "I want her to have it. It's her dream. It's what she came to LA for and I know she can do it. I know that she deserves it."

"You want me to have Ally back on my label?" Jimmy questioned.

Austin nodded. "Yes."

Jimmy took a deep breath, eyeing Austin skeptically.

x

"Austin! Austin! Austin!" Ally pranced towards her boyfriend, throwing her arms around his neck.

Austin chuckled and looked at her. She was vibrating in excitement next to him. "What's the news?" But he had a feeling he already knew.

"Jimmy gave me my record deal back!" she sang.

"I thought you went back on that thing?" He was trying not to smile.

Ally winced. "Well, yeah, I did. I mean, I thought about it. I did. And I think...I think I've been waiting for it for too long to turn it down." A smile found her face again. "So, I took it."

His face glowed for her, but there was a seeping fear inside of him. What would that record deal do? He's known people in this industry for a while and he knows exactly what happens when there's fame involved.

He must've looked away, because suddenly her fingers were on his chin and turning him to look at her again. "And," her smile widened, "He said that I can continue writing for you."

The fear dissipated and shattered. His smile became big. Nearly as big as hers. He'd been so sure that Jimmy wouldn't allow to musicians on the same label to be songwriting partners, but Jimmy had been so full of surprises lately.

"What?" Austin said, but the sparkle in his eyes proved to her that he'd heard exactly what she told him.

She nodded. Then it fell silent. Just the two of them sitting on a piano bench and breathing in the air of victory. She broke the silence with suspicion, "Hey, Austin...This record deal wouldn't have anything to do with you...would it?" she asked, eye brow lifting.

He couldn't lie to her. He smiled slightly, eyelashes hiding his eyes shyly. "You deserved it. The world needs to hear you, Ally."

She felt the burn of tears behind her eye lids, but she refused to let them go anywhere. She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. She squeezed until she was sure he knew how grateful she was.

"Thank you." she whispered.

x

And basically, the story typically ends with they lived happily ever after.

But not Austin and Ally.

They lived wildly ever after.

With friends and tours and concerts and songwriting. They lived wildly with his reckless heart and her careful balance. They lived wildly with her albums and his albums and lived wildly with the hundreds of awards they won together and even when the awards came separate, they still won it together.

And when she married him, it was wild. She sat there in her wedding dress like a nervous wreck when people kept informing her "the first year of marriage is always the hardest!" but it wasn't. It was just wild. And free. And good.

And even when she became so famous that she needed him to grab her ankles and pull her to earth again and when the constant rumors swarmed his name on headlines until both of them lifted their hands with a shrug and wondered what was the truth, it was still good and it was still wild.

Even on their first fight as a married couple, it was wild but it was good.

Even on the sleepless nights when a very loud cry kept them up in the night, it was wild but it was good.

Everything about their lives was wild. But it was good, too.

And he doesn't think he would have had it without her. If she hadn't become his assistant. If she hadn't stepped into Starr Records. If she hadn't pounded her fists into his life and the swung into him like a cannon ball.

He was wild, but she was good.

And somehow, that made for a very perfect story.