Author's note: this story goes out to Laura (AUS10MOON). I know the past few weeks have been really shitty for you, so I hope this makes you smile. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! :) Credits to Resi (thenamesmoon) for coming up with the name of Austin's puppy and Laura (AUS10MOON) for getting the entire twitter fandom obsessed with the AU that is Austin having a pug and just pugs in general. AND SHOUT OUT TO AJ (SassyRaptor) FOR HELPING ME WHEN THIS FILE WAS BEING A BITCH.

Austin never really minded not having any siblings. He liked being an only child. He liked always being the center of attention with his parents. But, he did get quite lonely as a kid with nobody to play with some days.

Sure, he and Dez had been best friends since before they could even remember. But Dez always talked about fun things he and Didi had done, and Austin grew envious. He wished he had someone who could be there all the time. A best friend who lived in the room next to his instead of it being just a guest room for when his grandparents came to visit.

A built in best friend who went on family vacations with you. Someone to hang out with when your parents got to be too much to handle. Someone who could side with you when your parents were being unreasonable. Someone to get excited with on Christmas morning after Santa had come. Just someone else to always be there.

When Austin was in the second grade, his class had a pet day. His teacher said they could all bring in their pets to show them to the other students.

His classmates brought all different kinds of animals; there were cats and dog, bunnies and guinea pigs, hamsters and gerbils, birds and fish, hermit crabs and lizards, one girl even brought in her pet snake!

Austin was the only kid in the class who didn't bring in a pet, because he was the only kid in class who didn't have one.

Even Dez brought in his pet rock, Pedro!

It was then that Austin decided he wanted a pet; and not just any pet. Austin wanted a puppy.

As soon as he got home from school, Austin asked his parents if they could get a puppy. They said no. They said a puppy was a lot of work and that they didn't have time to take care of him and a puppy too.

"Oh." Austin said sadly. "Ok."

With his head hung, he retreated to his room. His parents were taken aback by this. All little kids asked for a puppy at some point in their life, but Austin seemed so genuinely upset when

they told him the reasoning behind not letting him get one.

Mike and Mimi meant what they said, they literally couldn't take care of both Austin and a

puppy on top of owning and running their business.

But, it absolutely killed them to see Austin so disappointed. He was always such a happy and excited kid, he rarely got upset. Seeing Austin sad, made them sad.

They went upstairs and opened Austin's door to find him sitting on his bed, talking to his stuffed

animals.

"You guys are always here to play with me, right?" he said. "I'm not all alone. I have Mommy and Daddy, but they work a lot. I have Dez too, but he doesn't live here. I have you guys! You guys are always here to play with me! But you're not actually alive. You can't move unless I make you move."

Austin let out a sigh.

"I just wish I had a friend that could always be there. Like from when I wake up to when I go to sleep, they're always there."

Hearing Austin's words broke his parents' hearts. He was lonely. His parents worked a lot. He didn't have any brothers or sisters. Dez was his only real friend, and they only really saw each other at school or on Saturdays when their parents would arrange to drop them off and pick them up at one of their houses.

That's why he asked for a puppy.

He wanted a puppy because then he would always have someone to play with.

Mike and Mimi entered Austin's room and sat down on his bed.

"Austin, sweetie, puppies are a lot of work." Mimi said.

"We're not saying we'll never get a puppy, we're just saying we can't get one right now. But maybe when you're older we can think about getting one." Mike said.

"Really?!" Austin said, his face lighting up.

"Yes, really." Mike said.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are the best Mommy and Daddy ever!" Austin said, throwing his little arms around his parents, hugging them tightly.

Ever since that day, Austin had begun to take more initiative and show more responsibility around the house, proving he could take care of a puppy.

He also never missed a chance to remind his parents about what they had said about possibly getting a puppy.

2 years this lasted.

It was Austin's last day of school before Christmas break. As per usual, Donna Wade

(Dez's mother) picked him up from school Friday afternoon and dropped him off at

his parents' mattress store.

Austin was already ecstatic; he didn't have school for 2 whole weeks, it was almost Christmas, it was almost his 11th birthday, AND there was a pet adoption going on at the animal shelter that was in the strip mall across the street from the mattress store.

"Mom! Dad!" Austin yelled, running through the store.

"Yes, honey?" Mimi said, smiling at her son's excitement.

"There's a pet adoption going on across the street! Can we PLEASE go look at the animals? We don't have to get one, I just wanna look! Please, please, PLEASE!" Austin begged his mother.

"Ok Austin, we'll go to the animal shelter when we get off for dinner." Mimi told him.

"YES! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!" he said, hugging his mother.

Austin sat down in the back of the store and waited patiently for his parents to close the store at

dinner time.

"You ready to go, buddy?" Mike said, poking his head into the back room where Austin was.

"YES!" Austin said excitedly, hopping up from his seat and running to the front of the store.

The Moons walked across the street to where the pet adoption was going on.

There were puppies and kittens all over the place in cages, and Austin loved it.

As they were walking by the pin that was all pugs, one little pug stuck its paw between the bars and touched Austin's leg.

Austin immediately looked down at the puppy.

"Aww! Look at this one!" Austin said, pointing to the little pug. "I think it likes me."

An employee approached them, saying how the little puppy had been the shyest animal

there all day, so she was surprised when she saw her touch Austin.

The worker reached down into the pin and pulled out the little pug, handing her to

Austin.

Austin cradled the small puppy against his chest, a large grin spreading across his face.

The employee told them that she was the smallest pug they had at the shelter, she had been the runt of the liter. They had only had her at the shelter for just over a month, she had been a stray. Her mother, also a stray, had abandoned her. They had found her when she was nearly 2 months old, she was only 3 months old now.

Mike and Mimi looked at each other. After hearing the heartbreaking story of all this tiny puppy had been through in it's short life, and seeing the instant connection she had with their son, they couldn't resist. They had to get her.

"Hey Austin." Mike said, bending down to whisper in his ear. "How would you feel if we got this puppy?"

"Really?!" Austin said, his eyes lighting up.

"Yes, really." Mike said, scratching the little puppy, that was still in Austin's arms, behind the ears.

They didn't think the smile on Austin's face could get any bigger.

"You hear that little puppy?" he said to the pug. "You get to come live with me!"

Mike stayed with Austin and the puppy as Mimi and the employee went to get the paperwork.

"Ok Austin." the worker said to him. "What do you wanna name her?"

Mike and Mimi winced, knowing he would most likely say "pancake" or "syrup".

"How about Mabel?" Austin said, taking his eyes off the puppy in his arms for the first

time since his father had told him they could get her.

"Mabel is a great name. It suits her well." the worker said, smiling at Austin, writing the name

down on the form.

"Mabel Moon." Austin said, smiling down at the puppy.

"Mabel is a very nice name, Austin." his mother said. "How did you come up with it?"

Mimi assumed there must be a girl in his class that he had a crush on named Mabel.

"Well, I didn't wanna name her pancake or syrup, and Mabel sounds like maple, and it's a normal name, so..." Austin explained.

Mike and Mimi laughed.

"I love it." Mike said, placing a hand on his son's shoulders.

"Austin, can you sign your name here for me?" the employee said, holding out the form on a clipboard to Austin.

Austin wrote down his name, using his best cursive.

"You're all set, Austin. Mabel is officially yours." the employee told him, smiling.

"Thank you!" Austin said looking up at her. "Mom! Dad! I finally have a puppy!"

"You sure do, sweetie." Mimi said, touched by her son's excitement.

"Here let's go to the pet store and get all the stuff little Mabel is gonna need." Mike said.

The Moons went to the pet store and picked out all sorts of puppy things. They picked out a puppy bed, puppy food, puppy treats, a puppy dish for the puppy food, chew toys, balls, a leash, a collar, and ID tags for Mabel that said her name and their address and phone number.

Austin absolutely refused to get a dog cage. He said he would never let them trap his puppy in a cage like quote, "some sort of animal".

Mike and Mimi didn't have the heart to remind him that Mabel actually was an animal.

After they paid for all their items, they drove home.

In the car, Mike and Mimi were discussing possibly starting a line of dog beds at the store.

Mimi turned her head to glance at their son in the back seat.

Austin was in the back, still holding his new puppy. He'd been holding her for going on two hours, and both Mabel and Austin looked completely content like that. Mimi smiled.

Once they got home, Mike and Mimi brought in all their purchases, except one, which Austin was still cradling in his arms.

Mike began dinner while Mimi put the puppy things where they would go.

"Where's Austin?" Mike asked Mimi when she returned to the kitchen.

"Oh, he's giving Mabel a tour of the house." she said, smiling.

"He's so happy. I've never seen him this happy. Why didn't we get him a puppy sooner?" Mike said.

"I don't know, I think he and this puppy just have a really special connection. I'm glad we waited." Mimi replied.

"Austin! Dinner!" Mike yelled.

Austin came running into the kitchen, the small pug trailing behind him.

As Mimi set the table for their meal, Austin filled Mabel's new puppy dish with dog food and water, and placed it on the table in the spot next to him.

Since Mabel was so small, she couldn't jump up onto the chair. But that just meant Austin lifted her up and placed her on the chair.

"Austin..." Mimi started.

"C'mon Mom, how are we gonna show Mabel that she's part of the family if we make her eat on the floor?" Austin said.

"Ok, fine. Can eat with us." Mimi said.

Austin looked over at the little pug, who was standing on her hind legs, her front legs on the tabletop to reach her food.

After dinner, Austin went to take a quick shower and put his pjs on. The Moons had a tradition where the Friday Austin finished school for the holidays, they would all get in their pjs and watch "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and have hot chocolate and popcorn. It was one of Austin's very favorite parts of the Christmas season.

Austin had moved Mabel's new bed so it was right next to the Christmas tree.

Mimi made popcorn and hot chocolate while Mike got the movie set up and lit a fire in the fireplace.

Austin came running down the stairs, wearing his galactic avenger pjs.

Mike and Mimi curled up on the couch together while Austin laid on the floor in front of the

fire, playing with Mabel.

The movie started, Austin shoved handful after handful of popcorn into his mouth, his eyes glued on the screen.

Every now and then, he would lean down and whisper what was happening in the movie to the

puppy, just to make sure she was following along.

Austin could barely keep his eyes open as the credits began to roll.

They were about to head upstairs, but not before Austin "tucked" Mabel into her own bed.

He leaned down and kissed the little puppy's head.

"Goodnight Mabel, I love you." he whispered, before heading upstairs to get into his own bed.

Austin fell right to sleep when he got in bed. But, at some point in the middle of the night, he heard a faint scratching coming from outside his door.

He hopped out of bed and ran to open in, revealing Mabel sitting right in the doorway.

"Mabel!" Austin said. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be asleep!"

But the little pug ignored Austin's words and just walked right in to Austin's room and stood

next to his bed.

"Oh do you wanna sleep in bed with me?" he asked the puppy.

Austin closed the door and picked up the puppy as he got back in bed,

snuggling up with her.

"Ok, but just this once."

Needless to say, Mabel never spent the night in her own bed.

Austin couldn't wait to introduce Mabel to Dez. As soon as he woke up the next morning, he ran down the stairs and grabbed the house phone, dialing the Wade's number.

"Hello?" he heard Donna say answer.

"Hi Mrs. Wade, it's Austin. May I please speak to Dez?" Austin asked politely.

"Of course, sweat heart; let me go get him for you." Donna replied.

The line was silent for a few moments, then he heard his best friend pick up.

"Hello?" Dez said.

"YOU WILL NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY!" Austin screamed into the phone excitedly.

"Ahhh hmm let me think... Did you get attacked by aliens?"

"Nope."

"Did you meet Hilary Duff?"

"No!"

"THEN WHAT HAPPENED?!"

"I got a puppy!"

"What?! No way!" Dez replied.

"Yeah! You need to come over to meet her!"

"I'll ask my mom!" Dez said. "Hey mom, can I go over to Austin's house?"

"Sure honey." Austin heard Donna faintly reply. "I can take you when I take Didi to dance

class."

"Awesome!" Dez said. "Ok Austin, I'll be there in like an hour!"

"Cool! See ya then!" Austin said, before he placed the phone back on the receiver.

Since he had about an hour before Dez would be there, Austin ran back upstairs to get dressed for the day.

When he got to his room, he found little Mabel, still asleep in his bed, tangled in all the blankets.

He quickly got dressed, then woke the sleeping puppy by poking her in the belly.

Mabel opened her eyes sleepily, but immediately perked up when she saw Austin; jumping to her feet and wagging her tail.

Austin picked Mabel up and placed her on the floor since she was still too small to jump from the height of Austin's bed.

Austin ran down the stairs, Mabel trailing behind him.

He heard movement coming from his parents bedroom as he passed by it, meaning they were getting ready for the day.

On Saturdays, Mike and Mimi would switch off who went in to the store and who stayed home with Austin. One would go into the store in the morning and come home in the afternoon, the other would stay home in the morning and go to the store in the afternoon.

It was Mike's day to go to the store in the morning, so Mimi went downstairs to get

breakfast.

What she didn't expect to find was the dog on the table eating out of her bowl and Austin eating what resembled dog food out of his bowl.

"Austin, please tell me you're not eating dog food..." Mimi said cautiously.

"What? No! These are cocoa puffs, mom." Austin said, shaking his head at his mother.

"Oh, good." Mimi said. "You know, Mabel is going to have to start eating on the floor at some point."

"But mom!" Austin whined. "Then she'll feel left out!"

"Not if you eat on the floor with her." she said teasingly, kissing her son's head.

Austin rolled his eyes at his mothers comment.

Austin and Mabel finished eating as Mimi made her own breakfast.

"Oh mom, Dez is coming over. He'll be here in a few minutes." Austin told his mother.

"Ok sweetie, just remember not to mess up the house too much; we have company this week."

"Yeah, I know." Austin said, just as the doorbell rang.

"HE'S HERE!" Austin gasped, springing to the front door, Mabel trailing behind him.

Austin opened his front door to reveal his very best friend standing on his doorstep.

"Have fun kids!" Donna waved at the boys from the car, the boys waved back.

"So where's your puppy?" Dez asked excitedly.

Austin picked up the little pug from around his ankles.

"Dez, this is Mabel. Mabel, this is Dez." he said, introducing them to each other.

"Aww she's so little!" Dez said, reaching his hand out for the puppy to sniff.

Mabel took an instant liking to Dez, almost like she did with Austin.

The boys ran out to the backyard, playing various made up games that involved throwing things and running, Mabel just ran after them happily.

Dez left right after dinner, leaving both Austin and Mabel exhausted from their day of fun.

After taking a shower (Austin, Mabel did not take a shower with him. His parents said no), the blonde boy and the puppy curled up in his bed and fell asleep.

A few days later, Austin woke up extra early by his own choice; because it was Christmas morning.

"Mabel!" he said, poking the sleeping puppy's belly. "Wake up! It's Christmas!"

Mabel opened her eyes, and jumped to her feet when she saw Austin's excited face.

Austin jumped out of bed, grabbing the puppy, and ran to his parents room.

"Mom! Dad! Wake up! It's Christmas!" Austin yelled excitedly.

His parents sat up in their bed sleepily.

"Well good morning to you, too." Mike said.

"Merry Christmas, honey." Mimi yawned.

"Yes, yes, Merry Christmas, now hurry and get up! I wanna see what Santa brought!" Austin said, jumping up and down with excitement.

"Ok, ok, just hang on." Mimi said getting out of bed, Mike grabbed the camera.

Austin ran down the stairs, Mabel trailing behind him.

Austin looked at all the new toys and games he had received, declaring that it was already the best Christmas ever.

"So who's ready for the traditional Christmas pancakes?" Mimi asked.

"ME! ME! ME! ME!" Austin screamed, causing his parents to laugh.

The three Moons sat around the table, enjoying their special Christmas breakfast.

Austin was an incredibly talented kid. He could do pretty much anything he set his mind on. But if there was one thing Austin was bad at, it was being subtle. Which is why Mimi pretended not to notice Austin trying to subtly feed Mabel bits of his pancakes under the table.

After they finished breakfast, Mimi told Austin to go get dressed so he could help with tidying the house before the family arrived in the afternoon.

"My, don't you look handsome." Mimi said to Austin as he came down wearing the outfit she had picked out for him, khaki pants and a green polo shirt under a red sweater.

"I'm dying of heat exhaustion." Austin told his mother dryly.

"Well then we'll turn the AC up." Mimi replied. "Now go tidy up the living room while I start dinner. Everyone will be here soon."

Austin left the kitchen and went into the living room, picking up all the wrapping

paper that he had so excitedly thrown everywhere.

Mabel just sat in her puppy bed and watched Austin pick up the paper, her head slightly tilted.

Austin picked up a red bow that was the exact same shade as his sweater and decided to

tie it to Mabel's collar so she could look festive too.

Mimi told Austin to turn the tv on and watch something so he would stay out of her way and not mess anything up or get himself dirty. Mabel curled up into Austin's side as he sat on the couch, watching cartoons.

A little over an hour later, the doorbell rang.

"I'LL GET IT." Austin shouted towards the kitchen where his mother was.

He opened the front door and was greeted by his grandparents.

"Austin!" his grandma said, reaching out to hug him tightly, pressing multiple kisses against his cheek.

"Grandma! I'm almost 11! I'm too old for kisses!" Austin said, wiping off the spots where his grandmother had kissed him.

"Oh yes, you're right Austin." his grandmother played along.

"Hey buddy." his grandfather greeted him. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas, grandpa!" Austin said.

"Hey, there's some stuff in the car that needs to be brought in and they may or may not be presents, you wanna help?" his grandfather asked him as his grandmother went to help his parents in the kitchen.

Austin ran out to his grandparents car as fast as he could, wanting to be able to identify which presents were his.

He helped his grandfather carry in all the presents that were in the car and place them under the tree.

He sat right in front of the tree, trying to figure out which parents were his.

His grandmother didn't use gift tags anymore; she would use a different kind of wrapping paper for each person's presents so she was the only one able to tell who's was who's.

Mabel was sitting right next to him, sniffing the packages.

"Who's this little gal?" his grandfather said, sitting down on the couch behind him.

"This is Mabel. Mabel, this is grandpa." Austin said.

"Well hi there Mabel." his grandpa said, sticking his hand out for the puppy to sniff.

"Aren't you a sweet girl." his grandpa cooed as he scratched Mabel behind the ears.

"She likes you." Austin said. "She's normally pretty shy when it comes to new people."

Just as Austin said that, the doorbell rang, causing Mabel to cower at Austin's side.

"Shhhh it's ok Mabel." Austin said, picking her up. "It's just Aunt Monica, Uncle Matt, Abby and

Alex."

Monica was Mimi's older sister; and yes, she is the Monica Austin is named after.

Abby and Alex are Austin's only cousins. Abby is 14 and Alex is 16. They got all along fine, but they never really played together. Austin was always the odd one out, what with being so much younger and being the only boy.

Alex just played on her phone most of the time and Abby tried to mimic Alex's every move, but sometimes she would reach out to play with her younger cousin.

Needless to say, Austin had always liked Abby more than Alex. Abby was always nice to him whereas Alex sort of just ignored his existence.

His parents and grandmother came in from the kitchen to greet the new guests, then

announcing that dinner was ready to eat.

In Austin's family, they always celebrated Christmas on the Moon side on Christmas Eve; Mike is an only child, meaning its always just Austin's parents and grandparents at his grandparents

house on Christmas Eve.

Christmas day however, was spent with Mimi's side of the family. His maternal grandparents, Aunt, Uncle and cousins all lived out of town. His grandparents lived in Tampa, and his Aunt, Uncle and cousins lived in Destin (where Mimi and her sister grew up).

The family made their way into the dinning room. Since there were only three kids, there was no kids table; the whole family just ate together at the one table.

The table was made to fit eight, which meant Austin was put in the extra chair that had been brought in from the kitchen.

The food looked amazing. His mother had prepared a glazed ham, his grandmother had made fresh rolls, and there was a variety of other foods waiting to be eaten.

Among those foods was broccoli.

Austin hated broccoli.

Austin's mother knew he hated broccoli.

Yet Mimi still spooned a large pile of the small, tree-like vegetables on his plate.

There was no way Austin was going to eat them.

But he knew he wouldn't be allowed to openpresents until his plate was empty.

One of their Christmas traditions (invented and enforced by the adults), was they would always eat dinner before they opened presets, then eat dessert after they had opened presents.

Lucky for Austin, Mabel was standing bellow his chair, begging for food.

Making sure his mother wasn't watching, Austin grabbed a handful of broccoli and held

his hand down for Mabel to eat the vegetables under the table while no one was

watching.

"Austin?" his mother said sternly, causing him to jump nervously in his seat.

"Are you feeding your vegetables to the dog under the table?" Mimi asked him.

"Nooooooo..." Austin said, unconvincingly.

Mimi shook her head amusedly at him, returning to her own plate of food; letting his antics slide

because it was a holiday.

Shortly after Austin had not so subtly fed all his broccoli to Mabel under the table, his parents stood up and began clearing away everyone's now empty plates and saying that it was almost time to open presents.

Austin leaped out of his chair and ran to the living room, Mabel trialling behind him excitedly.

Since Austin's birthday was just days after Christmas, he always had the most presents to open because he received both Christmas and birthday presents from his extended family.

Once everyone was seated around the tree, they began to open the presents.

They each took turns, one by one opening a present. Going around in a circle until the only

presents that left were birthday presents for Austin.

Austin received a variety of presents: he got clothes, socks underwear (all from his grandma), new video games, all sorts of DVDs, and even the brand new "Galactic Avenger" comic.

Once all the Christmas gifts had been opened, it was time for Austin to open his birthday presents.

His Aunt, Uncle and cousins had gotten him a Disney gift card (to go with his Disneyworld season pass that his grandparents got him and his cousins every year).

Last but not least, he opened his grandparents present. It was in a large box, almost as tall as Austin.

Austin tore the paper of excitedly and opened the box. It was a guitar that was just

his size.

Austin stared at the instrument, wide eyed. He had always been infatuated with music, but he had never had an instrument of his own.

"We hope you like it, Austin!" his grandma said. "We know how much you love

music."

"Yeah, and if you ever have time, you should go check out the music store at the mall where we got it. You would love it!" his grandpa said. "In fact, the fella that owns the store even has a daughter that looked to be around your age. She would make a fantastic suitor for our Austin."

"Grandpa!" Austin said. "Girls have cooties."

"Oh yes, my bad." his grandfather said, holding up his hands in defense.

Austin thanked his grandparents, hugging each of them tightly.

Over the next several months, Austin was determined to teach himself how to play guitar. He had been taking piano lessons as long as he could remember, but they didn't have a piano in the house so he couldn't practice whenever he wanted; he could however practice guitar whenever he wanted, much to his parents dismay.

He was stay up late into the night, trying to perfect his technique. Mabel would howl and bark along with Austin's guitar playing, Austin told his parents she was his backup singer.

Once he had mastered guitar (it took a few years, but he eventually successfully managed

to perfect his skills), Austin decided he should start writing his own songs to play.

The music part was easy. Creating a catchy melody came easy to him; but the lyrics were a different story.

Austin had never been good at English, but he'd always been good at music; that was until the two came together in what is known as songwriting.

He tried and tried again to write meaningful lyrics to go along with his melodies, but he just couldn't do it. This was when Austin realized he was incapable of writing songs.

Austin then developed some insecurities with his life long dream of being a performer.

What if he never made it? He couldn't even write a simple song! How would he ever become a

performer if he couldn't write songs?

After realizing this, Austin locked himself in his room, not even letting Mabel in.

The puppy was confused. Austin had never locked her out of his room. She sat in the doorway and scratched at the door, begging to be let in.

Dez showed up, concerned for his best friend. He knocked on the door, then heard Austin get out of bed and unlock the door.

Dez opened the door and the little pug bolted into Austin's room, jumping up on top of his bed and licking all over his face.

"Mabel!" Austin said, a smile growing on his face. "Stop!"

"Dude, what's wrong?" Dez asked. "I called your house like 9 times and nobody answered."

"Well my parents are at work and I've been sulking in bed all day." Austin said.

The boys had just graduated eighth grade; they were no longer the little boys who would run around Austin's backyard playing made up games about pirates and zombies. They now

opted to play actual games such as sports whenever they were outside, and intense video games when they were inside. They also no longer believed that girls had cooties.

"Why have you been sulking all day?" Dez asked.

"Because my dad was right. I'm never gonna make it as a performer." Austin admitted to his best friend.

"What?! That's crazy! Of course you will!" Dez responded.

"Dez, I'm physically incapable of writing a song. How am I supposed to make it as a performer if I can't even write songs to perform?" Austin said.

"You could hire a songwriter?" Dez suggested.

"Please, where am I gonna find someone willing to write songs for me when I'm not even famous?" Austin said.

Dez was quiet.

"I don't know, man." Dez said. "I just know you can't give up your dream just because of this one setback."

"I know." Austin said. "I guess... The other stuff just came so naturally, I never figured

there would be anything difficult about it."

Dez nodded, understanding.

"Hey, what if we made a music video and posted it online?" Dez said. "We could film you playing a bunch of instruments and dancing, we wouldn't need an original song with actual lyrics!"

"Dez, that's amazing!" Austin said, now excited.

The boys spent the next 3 weeks coming up with possible concepts for the video. They wrote down countless ideas, which they ended up crumpling up and tossing aside carelessly, then Mabel would play with the balled up papers of discarded ideas.

They finally found the perfect concept: they would shoot Austin playing multiple different instruments, then edit it together so it looked like there were multiple different Austin's in the same room.

One night, Austin was awoken in the middle of the night; and it wasn't by Mabel constantly kicking him accidentally in her sleep, he was used to that by now.

He had felt a sudden surge of inspiration, he grabbed a random notebook and the lyrics began flowing. He had finally written a song!

Or so he thought.

A few days later, Mabel was napping on the couch. Suddenly, there was a loud pounding on the door, which startled the puppy.

Mimi answered the door to find two girls who were Austin's age, asking if Austin was home.

Mimi told them he was, pointing them in the direction of his room; she had figured

they were friends of his from school.

Mabel followed the girls up the stairs to Austin's room; once they got there, they pounded on the door and Dez opened it, letting the girls in but shutting Mabel out.

And Mabel did not like that one bit.

She did not like how the strange girls got to go in Austin's room, but she didn't.

Over the next few months, Austin was home less.

Mabel was used to him being gone from morning until afternoon every day, but now he didn't

get home until almost dinner time; sometimes even after that.

And he didn't stay home on weekends like he used to. He used to stay home on weekends and

spend the whole time playing with Mabel, but now he was out later on weekends than he was the other days.

And worst of all, there was a girl.

A girl Mabel did not like.

They met one afternoon when she came home from school with Austin.

Mabel had just been sleeping peacefully on the couch in the living room, when she heard the front door open; knowing it was Austin, Mabel jumped up and ran to greet him.

Only to find that Austin was not alone.

He had a girl with him.

"Ally, this is my puppy, Mabel." Austin said, introducing the girl to the dog.

"Aww she's so cute." the girl, Ally, said, reaching down to pet Mabel.

As soon as she felt her hand on her back, Mabel jumped away and began growling slightly, nipping at the girl's hand.

"Ow!" Ally said, yanking her hand away from the dog.

"Oh my gosh, Ally I'm so sorry! She's usually so good!" Austin said frantically, grabbing onto Ally's injured hand and examining it. "Here, let's go get a wet paper towel for your hand."

The teens walked towards the kitchen.

"Bad dog." Austin said, turning to look right at Mabel.

Mabel's tail stopped wagging. Austin had never scolded her before. Ever.

She watched as her Austin disappeared into the kitchen with the girl, hanging her head sadly.

Mabel went up the stairs and curled up in her special spot she went whenever she was sad: Austin's closet.

It was dark and cosy, due to all the clothes on the floor. And it smelled like Austin.

Mabel curled up and whimpered softly, knowing Austin wouldn't hear her; he was too busy with the new girl in his life.

"Calm down Austin, I'm sure she's around here somewhere." Mabel heard Mimi's voice faintly as she woke up from her nap.

"I've looked everywhere!" Austin said frantically, tears in his voice. "What if she ran away? I don't want the last thing I ever said to her to be me telling her off."

"Did you check your room?" Mimi asked.

"No." Austin said. "Why would she be in there?"

"I don't know." Mimi said. "But it's worth a try."

Mabel heard Austin walk into his room; since the closet door was open just a crack, she saw him check under his bed, behind his dresser, and under his desk.

Finally, he opened the closet door.

"Mabel!" he said relieved, picking the puppy up and holding her to his chest tightly. "Don't ever scare me like that again!"

Mabel licked all over his face and neck happily, glad that he wasn't mad at her anymore.

That night, Mabel slept in her favorite place in the world: wrapped up in Austin's arms.

Ally became a frequent visitor to the Moon residence, and Mabel wasn't all that fond of it.

She didn't like how whenever Ally was around, Austin completely forgot she existed.

A few months after Mabel met Ally, Austin came home one night, frantically confused.

He stayed up all night, pacing back and forth in his room, talking to himself, constantly saying Ally's name.

Mabel just sat on his bed and watched him, her head tilted slightly as her eyes followed him back and forth.

"Mabel what do I do?" Austin said, flopping down onto his bed. "I like Ally. I like ALLY. I LIKE Ally! But she likes Eliot. What am I even saying?! I have a girlfriend!"

Mabel had no idea what Austin was talking about, but she saw that he was clearly stressed, so she waddled over to curl up right on his broad chest, instantly soothing him.

A few weeks later, Austin came home stressed, yet excited.

He went through his entire closet as Mabel sat on his bed. He must've pulled out every shirt he

owned.

He finally decided to wear the suit his grandmother had gotten for him this past Christmas.

"Which tie should I wear?" Austin asked the puppy, holding up four different neck ties.

Mabel just tilted her head to the side.

"You're right; I should wear the red one since that's Ally's favorite color." Austin said, tossing the other three ties aside.

Just days after his fashion fiasco, Austin came home very sad and covered in gooey, slimy

stuff.

He skipped dinner, opting to take a very long shower, then lay in his bed and mope.

Mabel didn't know what was wrong with him. She pawed at his shoulder but he didn't move.

She looked at his face and saw silent tears rolling down his cheeks.

Though Mabel wasn't exactly sure why, Austin was sad which made her sad. She did the only thing she could, she curled up in his arms, letting his tears fall onto her back.

A while later, they heard a soft knock on the door.

Mabel looked up to see Mimi entering the room, a sympathetic expression of her face.

"Hey sweetie." Mimi said, sitting down at the foot of the bed.

"Hi." Austin said weakly, his voice hoarse from all the tears.

"What's wrong?" Mimi asked. "You haven't said a word since you got home, you skipped dinner and have been sulking all night."

"Ally and I broke up." Austin said, as the words left his mouth fresh tears began to fill his eyes.

"Oh my gosh, sweetheart! I'm so sorry!" Mimi said, genuinely shocked. "You two were so perfect together! What happened?"

"Being a couple got in the way of us being us." Austin said thickly. "We weren't ready to be a couple yet."

"Well, it seems like this was a mutual thing." Mimi said. "Why are you so upset, honey?"

"I don't know." Austin said, sitting up. "It's for the best, I mean we couldn't even talk to each other! But... I just... I want to be with her so badly. It's not like we can just turn our feelings off."

"I know, sweetie." Mimi said, rubbing his back soothingly. "But like you said, it's for the best."

Austin nodded his head, but him understanding why they had to break up didn't stop a wave of fresh tears from falling from his eyes.

Mimi wrapped her arms around Austin and let him cry into her shoulder, his arms

wrapping themselves around his mothers torso.

Mabel waddled over to curl up in Austin's lap, trying her best to comfort him.

Austin's crying stopped after a while, but he didn't move from their position; his head on his mothers shoulder, her arms wrapped around him, one arm around his mom and the other

resting on his puppy.

Austin and Ally's relationship returned to normal after their break up, although they were slightly more flirty with each other than they had been.

Ally was over more often, so often that Mabel grew used to her; but just because she was used to her, didn't mean she liked her.

About a week after Austin had finished his sophomore year of high school, he started packing

for something.

Mabel was confused. Austin was packing an unusually large amount of clothes for just a week long trip, which is what the Moons normally went on in the summertime; but Mike and Mimi hadn't packed at all.

Almost all of Austin's entire room had been packed up, including his entire stuffed animal

collection.

Austin retuned home late one night; as soon as he got home, he ran up to his room, Mabel trailing after him.

Austin sat down at his desk and began writing; he must've written 12 different notes over the course of the next 2 hours.

After he was finally satisfied with the note, he scooped up Mabel in his arms and laid down on his bed.

"I'm gonna miss you, Mabel." Austin said to the puppy in his arms. "I can't write a note to you about how I feel about you, because ya know, you can't read. And you already know that I love you. Well, I guess Ally knows that I love her, but it's just confusing, Mabel.

"I don't know how I'm gonna go 94 whole days without seeing you." Austin said, pulling the puppy tighter against his chest.

The next day, Austin didn't let Mabel out of his sight until it came time for him to leave.

He hugged Mabel tightly, whispering "I love you" over and over while he kissed the puppy's

head.

And then he was gone.

For 94 whole days.

Mabel hated when Austin was gone; she wasn't her normal self.

She would spend all day moping around the house, she would sleep in his bed alone every night because it still smelled like him.

One afternoon after Austin had been gone for over a month, Mabel was napping in his bed when she heard someone enter the room.

She looked up and saw Ally standing in Austin's room.

Mabel watched as the girl picked up a jacket Austin had hanging on his desk chair. She held the jacket in her hands before bringing it up to her face to take in his scent.

She walked over and sat down at the foot of his bed.

Mabel sat up.

"You must miss him too, huh Mabel." Ally said, reaching over to pet the pug.

Mabel didn't pull away, she let the girl scratch behind her ears. She knew how much she was

hurting.

Maybe Ally wasn't all that bad.

Two months later, Austin returned.

Mabel had been curled up next to Mike on the couch while he was watching a football game.

They heard the front door open, Mabel turned to see who it was: it was Austin.

Mabel leaped off the couch and ran to Austin as he crouched down; she jump on him, licking his face happily.

"I know, Mabel! I missed you, too!" Austin laughed as she licked all over his face.

Mabel never wanted Austin to go on tour ever again.

Unfortunately for the pug, Austin did go on tour again, almost a year later; but this time, he wasn't the one performing.

Austin was gone the entire summer, leaving Mabel lonely.

When he finally got back, Mabel noticed there was something different between Austin

and Ally. She wasn't exactly sure what it was, but something definitely had changed.

For example, Ally would come over late at night and take Mabel's place in Austin's bed.

One morning, after they had actually shut Mabel out of Austin's room, Mabel pushed the door open, since it had been cracked.

Austin had just gotten out of the shower, his hair was wet and he was only wearing a

towel, Ally was clad in just her underwear.

Austin approached Ally, tackling her onto his bed as he attacked her neck with his lips, unhooking her bra and tossing is carelessly across the room.

The garment flew through the air and landed right on the puppy's head; but Austin and Ally were too lost in each other to notice.

Mabel tried to wiggle the bra off her head, but it wouldn't move.

She decided to go downstairs and have Mike or Mimi get it off for her.

As Mabel was on her way out of the room, she saw a small, rubber, ballon like object, lying on the floor next to Austin's trash can.

She sniffed it, recoiled at the smell, then picked it up with her mouth, bringing it downstairs

with her.

Mike and Mini were enjoying a peaceful Sunday morning breakfast; well, they were until they saw their dog enter the kitchen with their son's girlfriend's bra on her head and a used condom in her mouth.

Mike and Mimi didn't know whether to laugh and take a picture or to go upstairs and bust their son.

So they decided to do both.

Although, they didn't actually want to go upstairs to bust him (the last thing any parent ever wants to see is their child having sex), so they opted to text him a picture of what his dog currently looked like to speak for them.

Not even five minutes later, Austin and Ally sheepishly entered the kitchen; Austin's hair still wet, Ally wearing one of Austin's shirts.

Mabel was sitting at the table, Ally's bra still on her head (the condom had been disposed of).

Austin walked over and removed his girlfriend's bra from his dog's head.

After the bra was off her head, Mabel ran out of the room, not wanting any part of the storm that was about to take place.

Mabel did feel a sense of pride knowing that she had managed to get Ally in trouble.

That's what she gets for taking her spot in Austin's bed.

The holiday season fell upon them before they knew it.

This year, Ally came home with Austin to participate in what would be the last year they had their "first day of Christmas break" movie night, since Austin was a senior.

Dinner was already almost ready by the time Austin and Ally got home.

Mabel eating at the dinner table with everyone else had been added to the tradition the year after they got her, remembering how she did it the day they brought her home. It was the one time a year Mike and Mimi actually allowed the puppy to eat at the dinner table with them; the other times she ate at the table were just when Mike and Mimi weren't home and Austin wanted her up there.

After dinner, Austin and Ally put on their matching pajamas they had purchased that afternoon while Mike and Mimi made the popcorn and hot chocolate.

Their traditions had aged, they no longer watched the movie on a VHS tape, they now streamed it; and they no longer had an actual fireplace, they had installed an electric one just a couple years earlier.

Mike sat on the couch with his iPad on his lap, setting up the movie; Austin and Ally were curled up in the armchair, Ally in Austin's lap, her head resting in the crook of his neck, his arms wrapped around her waist.

Mimi came in with 2 large bowls of popcorn, handing one to Mike and the other to Ally, then going back to retrieve the hot chocolate.

Moments later, Mini returned carrying a tray with four mugs of steaming hot chocolate.

Mimi handed each person their mug before taking her own and cuddling up to her husband, smiling at her son and his girlfriend.

Mabel walked in to see that her normal spot (Austin's lap) had been taken.

Mabel had grown to tolerate Ally, but she was not found on how she had been getting much more snuggle time with Austin than she had.

But, Mabel knew Ally would have to go home when the movie was over and then she would get to have all the snuggle time with Austin she wanted, so she decided to just lay in front of the

fire and take a nap.

Mabel woke up after the movie had ended, and she wasn't happy to find that Ally was still in Austin's lap, only now the pair were asleep.

Mike and Mimi had gone upstairs, the young couple must've fallen asleep during the movie.

Mabel decided to go out in the back yard to... "take care of some business". She went outside through her doggy door.

Once the puppy had finished its business, she looked up and saw a squirrel sitting on the gate.

Mabel ran to the small creature, but the squirrel was faster.

Mabel stood on her hind legs, her front paws pushing at the gate as the squirrel made

its getaway, only to find that the gate hadn't been close all the way; the wooden gate swung open and the puppy ran out of the backyard and into the night, chasing the squirrel.

Ally stirred, opening her eyes, suddenly disoriented until she remembered where she was.

She stretched out her arms, looking down at her sleeping boyfriend when an idea popped into her head.

She leaned down and began kissing Austin's neck, in attempt to wake him up.

Austin stirred, moaning as he registered what was happening.

"Is the movie over?" he asked sleepily.

"Yeah I think it's been over for a while. We feel asleep." Ally giggled against his neck.

"Too bad." Austin said. "I wanted to find out if what they said in the song was true. Did Santa really ask Rudolph to guide his sleigh?"

Ally laughed again, causing Austin to laugh too.

"You know what I've always wanted to do?" Ally whispered into Austin's ear, nipping at his lobe

with her teeth.

"Hmm?" Austin replied, overwhelmed with pleasure.

"I've always wanted to... "make love" in front of a blazing fire like they do in the movies." Ally said, still nibbling on his ear.

"Make love?" Austin questioned, raising an eyebrow at her.

"It sounded better than "bang each other's brains out"." Ally retaliated.

"Touché." Austin said, giving her a quick yet heated kiss, before pulling away and standing up.

"You turn the fire on, I'll go get blankets and condoms." Austin said.

Ally nodded and Austin ran up the stairs, taking two at a time.

A few minutes later, Austin came back downstairs with any blankets or condoms.

"Ally, have you seen Mabel?" Austin asked. "She wasn't in my room, which is where she usually

sleeps."

"No, I haven't seen her." Ally replied. "Did you check outside?"

Austin went to open the back door and walk out onto the back porch, he ran in frantically moments later, loudly slamming the door shut behind him.

"The back gate is open. Mabel is gone." Austin said, growing panicked.

"Ok Austin, calm down." Ally said, trying to relax him. "We'll find her."

"But what if we're too late?!" Austin said, tears in his eyes. "What if..."

"No, Austin. Stop thinking like that." Ally told him sternly. "We are going to find

her."

Austin nodded at her, whipping his tears away, then running upstairs to wake Mike and Mimi and tell them what was happening.

Five minutes later, they were all outside with flashlights, calling for Mabel.

"Mabel?" Austin shouted. "Mabel? Mabel, please come back!"

"Austin, it's the middle of the night." Ally reminded him. "People are trying to sleep.

"I don't care!" Austin screamed, turning to face her, taking Ally aback; he never screamed at her.

"No, Ally, I'm sorry." Austin said, his face softening. "It's just I'm really tense and stressed out and I just wanna find Mabel."

"I get it, Austin." Ally said, smiling at him.

He returned the smile, before he began shouting at the top of his lungs again, trying to summon the puppy.

They walked down to the next street, still calling Mabel's name, or in Austin's case,

shouting it.

Suddenly, the heard a loud clattering come from a nearby house.

Austin shined his flashlight on the source of the noise, seeing that it was a knocked over trash can.

And when he called Mabel's name again, said puppy popped her head out of the trash can, day old pancakes hanging from her mouth.

"Mabel!" Austin said happily, running towards her.

Mabel leapt out of the trash can and ran into Austin's awaiting arms.

Austin didn't even care that she was covered in trash and smelled absolutely rancid, he was just glad she was safe.

He hugged the puppy tightly, pressing kiss after kiss to her little head.

"Don't ever scare me like that again, Mabel." he whispered into hear ear.

"Austin, time to get up!" Mimi said, knocking on his door.

"5 more minutes." Austin groaned, rolling over to lay on his other side, Mabel curled up in his arms.

"It's almost noon." Mimi replied dryly. "And it's Christmas! Don't you wanna see what Santa brought?"

Austin sleepily rolled out of bed, Mabel following behind him.

He got downstairs and saw his parents waiting for him in the living room, the tree surrounded with presents.

Granted, there were not as many presents as they're used to be, but there was still a great deal of gifts.

After Austin had opened his presents, he gave his parents and Mabel their presents from him.

His parents constantly told him that he didn't have to get them anything, but Austin always ignored them. He wanted to buy them nice presents. Now that he had the unlimited money

to do so.

"Oh Austin, it's gorgeous." Mimi said as she opened the diamond necklace Austin had purchased for her.

"I knew you would like it." Austin said. "I got the same one for grandma, Aunt Monica, Alex and Abby."

"I even got one for Ally." Austin added bashfully, blush appearing on his cheeks. "Oh and I got new tags for Mabel that has one of the same diamonds in it."

"We'll it's beautiful; thank you sweetie." Mimi said.

"This watch is stunning, Austin." Mike said when he opened his gift.

"I don't know much about watches." Austin admitted to his father. "So I just bought the most expensive one they had, I figured that must be the best."

"It certainly is." Mike said. "Thank you."

After giving his parents their gifts, Austin pulled over a huge gift bag, filled to the brim with gifts for Mabel.

"Did you buy the whole pet store?" Mike asked when Austin continuously showed Mabel all the things he had bought her.

"No, I did not, thank you very much." Austin replied. "But they did ask me to be their new spokesperson."

After all their presets had been opened, the Moons went into the kitchen to eat their traditional Christmas morning pancakes.

After their brunch, Austin went upstairs to get dressed while his parents started making dinner.

His mother no longer picked out his Christmas outfits for him (to which Austin was very grateful for).

Austin chose to wear a green button up with a skinny red tie, paired with black jeans and his signature wallet chain, and red high tops.

He went down stairs to find that his Aunt, Uncle and cousin had already arrived.

"Austin!" his Aunt Monica said, reaching out to hug him.

"Hi Aunt Monica." Austin said, hugging his Aunt.

"Hey Abby!" Austin said, hugging his cousin. Then hugging his uncle.

Alex, Abby's sister and Matt and Monica's older daughter, had gotten married in the past year, so she would be coming later with her husband.

Austin had never met Alex's husband and was unable to attend their wedding, since it had taken place while he was on Ally's tour.

Not only would today be the first time Austin had ever met Alex's spouse, it would be the first time Austin's entire family met Ally.

To say that Austin was nervous would be an understatement.

The doorbell rang and Austin went to answer it.

"There's my little Austin!" his grandmother said, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Hi Grandma." Austin said. "Merry Christmas!"

"Hey buddy." his grandfather greeted him.

"Hi Grandpa!" Austin said, hugging his grandfather.

Shortly after his grandparents arrival, Alex arrived with her husband.

"Cory, this is my cousin Austin. Austin, this is my husband Cory." Alex introduced the two men.

"Hey man, nice to meet you." Austin said, reaching out to shake his hand.

"Nice to meet you too!" Cory said. "I'm actually a huge fan of your music."

"No way!" Austin said. "That's funny because that's actually why I was unable to come to your guys' wedding; well technically I wasn't allowed to make music at that point, but I was on

tour, but it was my girlfriend's tour, but everything's all fine now!"

"Good to know." Cory said, before Alex dragged him off to talk to her parents.

Austin shook his head at himself; he had definitely picked up Ally's tendency to ramble when he was nervous.

The whole family was in the living room, chatting and catching up with each other; Austin sat by himself nervously, knowing Ally would be there any minute.

They heard a knock on the door and Austin jumped up quickly.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." Ally said.

"No, you're fine. I'm glad you're here." Austin said before her leaned down to kiss her.

"Merry Christmas." he said when they pulled away, resting his forehead on hers.

"Merry Christmas." Ally said, giving him another quick kiss on the lips before entering the house.

Austin wrapped his arm around Ally's shoulders, his entire family's eyes on them.

"Guys this is Ally, although you probably already knew that." Austin said. "Ally this is my grandma, my grandpa, my Aunt Monica, my uncle Matt, my cousin Abby, my cousin Alex and her husband Cory, or and you know my patents."

Ally waved at all the family members she had just been introduced to, then Mimi announced that it was time to eat.

"So Ally." Monica said, once they had all sat down to dinner. "How did you and Austin meet?"

"Well that's actually a funny story..." Ally said, turning to smirk at Austin.

"Do not tell that story..." Austin said.

"Oh I'm telling the story." Ally replied. "Austin was playing the drums with corn dogs at my dad's music store the summer before our freshman year.

"I of course stopped him from playing the drums with corn dogs. Long story short, he accidentally stole my song them became famous, but it eventually all worked out and we became partners."

"When did you start dating?" Abby asked, absolutely in awe of her little cousin's relationship.

"That's a complicated question." Austin said.

"We started dating for the first time in our sophomore year, but then we broke up because it started to have a negative effect on our songwriting." Ally explained.

"We got back together at our junior prom." Austin said.

"So Ally." Austin's grandmother said. "Have you thought about where you want to go to college yet?"

"Actually yes..." Ally said.

"She's going to Harvard." Austin said proudly.

"I haven't actually been accepted yet." Ally reminded him.

"Ally, c'mon; they're going to accept you and give you a full ride and a free t-shirt with it." Austin told her.

"Ally's a genius." Austin said, turning to his family.

Austin's whole family watched in adoration as they witnessed Austin interact with who was

obviously the love of his life.

After dinner was finished, the family went into the living room to open presents.

Many different gifts were exchanged, the most exciting being Alex announcing her pregnancy (Austin whispered to Ally that she was probably just making it up in attempt to top how adorable his whole family found their relationship).

After the presents had been opened and desert had been eaten, the family members began to leave.

The only people left were Austin's grandparents.

Ally sat on the couch and talked with Austin's grandfather while his grandmother helped his parents clean up and Austin had gone upstairs to get Ally's secret present.

"He really loves you." Austin's grandfather spoke up. "Austin. He's really lucky to have you."

"I'm lucky to have him." Ally said, smiling. "He's my other half. We complete each other. We're better together."

Austin's grandfather smiled at her response.

Austin returned to the room holding a package behind his back just as his grandmother announced that they had to get going.

"Ally, it was a pleasure meeting you." Austin's grandpa said, hugging Ally. "Keep Austin in

check for us."

"Will do, sir." Ally said, laughing. "It was nice to meet you too!"

"And you." he said turning to Austin. "Don't let this girl go, she's a keeper."

"Oh I know it grandpa." Austin said, hugging the older man. "Merry Christmas, grandpa."

"Merry Christmas, buddy." his grandfather replied.

Austin and Ally waved to his grandparents from the front porch as their car drove off.

"So..." Austin said. "I actually have another preset for you."

"Oh really?" Ally said as the two sat down on the front step.

Austin handed her a fairly large package. Ally carefully tore off the wrapping paper.

Once the paper was gone, a brown leather bound book sat in her lap; only instead of being filled with song lyrics like the one she currently owned, this one was filled with pictures of them through the years: he has made her a scrapbook.

"I know it's not the best." Austin quickly said. "I actually got Brooke to help me. I almost called Eliot, but I didn't want him to think that I needed his help to impress you, because I

don't. And-"

"Austin!" Ally said, cutting his rambling off. "I love it."

Ally opened the book and began to look through the pages.

"Oh my gosh, is that the receipt from our very first date?" Ally said.

"Yep, the very same." Austin replied.

"I can't believe you kept that!" Ally said.

"Of course I did." Austin said seriously. "It was our first date."

Ally smiled at Austin just as they heard the front door open and Mabel waddle out to stand in between them.

She was wearing a special puppy hate thing that had mistletoe hanging from a long bendy stick, currently in between Austin and Ally.

Austin turned to see his parents smiling in the doorway before they closed the door to give them some privacy.

"Merry Christmas, Ally." Austin said, leaning in.

"Merry Christmas, Austin." Ally said as their lips met.

After about thirty seconds of them kissing, Mabel had had enough and pushed her way through them to sit in Austin's lap.

Austin and Ally broke apart, laughing.

"Merry Christmas to you too, Mabel!" Austin said, wrapping an arm around Ally's shoulder, scratching Mabel's head with the other.

Austin wanted to stay there forever, holding his favorite girls in his arms.

Author's note: that wasn't the end I was planning on; I originally planned to end it where Austin had found out his grandfather had passed away; but due to recent events, that ending seemed insensitive. Just letting you guys know if the end seemed slightly abrupt, it's because I wasn't planning on making that the end.

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