Disclaimer: Ross and Laura and R5 or their songs are not mine. Neither is Austin and Ally.

A/N: And here's the end! Now that this is finally out of my brain, I can go back to writing my very long, almost finished Auslly story. Sigh. These two are going to be the death of me.

He thinks back to the first time they met.

He's at the final screen test for the show and there are three boys left for the role of Austin and three girls left for the role of Ally. He's the only blond in the crowd and that makes him worry for some irrational reason.

He and Laura are the first to be paired to read together and he isn't exactly nervous, but kind of anxious to prove himself. They call her name first and he watches as a short, brown haired girl wearing jeans and flats stands up. She looks like what he imagined Ally to look like, he decides.

They don't even have a chance to introduce themselves before they're thrust into the scene but not even twenty seconds into it he has this feeling that he is Austin Moon and she is Ally Dawson.

When they're done they're taken into another room and told that someone will get them when it's time to switch partners and then the door closes and they're alone.

"Hi, I'm Laura," she says, sticking her hand out.

He pauses for a second because he's never met a girl his age who introduces herself with a handshake but then he finds himself grasping her small hand firmly in his larger one. "I'm Ross. It's nice to meet you."

She smiles shyly at him and he grins back and then they're both laughing for some reason and he doesn't even have a doubt in his mind that they're both going to be cast.

"That was the best audition I've ever done," she says, when they finally calm down.

"We're gonna get it," he says. "There's no question."

"You really think so?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Positive," he says confidently. "So we should probably get to know each other better since we'll be spending the next few years together."

Her eyes widen and her other eyebrow joins the first. "Wow, you're modest," she says sarcastically, and then laughs because she definitely felt what he felt when they were on stage.

He grins back.

They end up spending the entire afternoon together because neither of them is called to read with anyone else and that makes her more nervous and him more confident. They sit on the floor cross legged across from each other and talk for hours and he finds out that she has an amazing voice and that she plays piano, she's obsessed with GoGurt, she has an older sister who's also an actress, she goes to an actual high school, and that she's a songwriter in real life.

He hears his very first Laura joke that day and she can't stop laughing as she tells it and he swallows nervously as he watches her eyes light up when she delivers the punch line because he has a sinking feeling that he's pretty much screwed.

He finds out three days later that he's been cast as Austin Moon and she's been cast as Ally Dawson and then receives a text from her four minutes later.

You were right! This is so exciting! Aren't you excited?

Then, ten seconds later, before he can even reply:

I can't wait to see you again.

Okay, totally, completely, utterly screwed.

Now, he's pretty sure he's screwed again. But in a completely different not-at-all-good way.

"Well?" she asks impatiently, her eyes narrowed. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

He snaps out of it when he hears her voice and opens his mouth to apologize, to beg for forgiveness, to tell her that he didn't really mean it, to say that his mind was taken over by an army of miniature mind-controlling orange aliens, really, anything but what actually comes out.

"I'm in love with you."

He should probably work on figuring out why his mouth doesn't seem to want to obey his brain.

Both of their eyes widen and they're both stunned into silence for a full minute before she recovers. She shakes her head and looks at the ground.

"No. You don't get to say that. You don't get to do that," she says, her voice shaky. "I can't—"

"I said it because it's true," he interrupts, and something in his voice makes her look up at him and he gets a little burst of courage. "And because I mean it. I know we're only seventeen and still figuring out who we are and maybe I shouldn't even know what that word means yet."

He takes a step closer to her. "But I'm not myself without you anymore. I know I'm better when you're there. And I know it's going to be hard. And a lot of people will say it's a bad idea and you might get hurt and I won't always be able to do anything about it."

Another step forward, and he can almost reach her hand. "But I'll try. I will try so hard. I've felt it since the day we met. We've always had this…thing between us, something that I can't explain."

He pauses. "We fit."

Her eyes are full of an emotion that he doesn't recognize and she's looking at him in a way that he can't tell what she's thinking so he forges on and takes another step closer, feeling like he has nothing to lose anymore, and takes her hand in his.

She doesn't try to resist but instead squeezes his hand almost imperceptibly and he counts that as a small victory. "I'm so sorry that I did what I did at the concert. I honestly have no idea what I was thinking. I've kind of been having trouble controlling what comes out of my mouth lately, if you haven't noticed."

The corner of her mouth turns up, just a little bit, and he can tell she's trying not to smile because she looks away and bites her lip.

He grins at her, despite everything, and she makes the mistake of looking at him because she can't keep a straight face anymore and finally gives him a reluctant half smile.

"Say something," he whispers, when her face is serious again.

"I'm still mad at you," she says. "But maybe not as much. What you said…" she trails off and searches his eyes. "That was—"

He doesn't get to hear her finish because the next thing he knows the door opens and a guy from their crew pokes his head in the door.

"Are you two ready? Hair and makeup's waiting for you," he says.

She quickly removes her hand from his. "Oh, yeah, sorry, we're coming."

The crew member nods and then leaves and they're alone again.

"Laura—"

"We should go," she says, cutting him off, and it's like the interruption made something shift in her because she's stony faced again and her eyes are unreadable and he doesn't know how to get through to her again. She walks out and he just stands there, unmoving, because he has no idea what just happened or what to do next. He finally hears his name being called and then walks out of the room in a daze, his feet automatically taking him where he needs to be.

They sit side by side as people buzz all around them and he tries to make eye contact with her in the mirror but she just won't look at him. He's frustrated and suddenly irritated and he wants nothing more than to kick everyone out of the room just so she can finish what she was going to say.

But they're working and he's nothing if not professional so he keeps his mouth shut and tries to look normal but his smile's not reaching his eyes and he knows it, even if no one else seems to be able to tell.

They shoot all day and then they're finally done and he doesn't even wait a second before he walks up to her.

"Come with me," he says.

She pauses and he waits.

"Okay," she says after a long moment, and he's a little thrown off because he was prepared to have to convince her. "Where?"

"Oh. Um, do you have your car?" he asks.

"Yeah," she answers. "I guess...I guess you can just come over. No one's home. Vanessa's in New York and my mom went with her and my dad's working late."

"Okay," he says and then sends a text to his mom letting her know that she can leave without him and they walk out silently to the parking lot to her car.

The ride to her house is silent except for the quiet hum of the radio and he doesn't think they've ever gone this long without talking and his stomach is in knots. He doesn't know if he should say anything or if he should wait for her to say something and by the time he decides to speak they're pulling up in her driveway and she's already getting out of the car. He fumbles with his seatbelt and catches up to her quickly as she unlocks the front door.

They're greeted by her dog, Velvet, who's always had a special fondness for him, and he bends down to scratch her ears as she winds around his legs.

"She still likes you," she says, a small smile on her face, and he looks up at her, surprised, feeling her eyes on him. "You haven't been here in a long time so I wasn't sure if she'd remember you."

He stands up straight and faces her. "What about her owner?" he asks softly, and then watches as her eyes widen a little bit.

She opens her mouth to say something but then she suddenly spins around and heads to the back of the house and he follows her as she opens the patio door and walks outside. She doesn't stop until she reaches the middle of the yard and then she whirls around to face him, her expression clouded.

He's seeing this side of Laura more and more, he realizes, the side of her that's serious, guarded, and maybe even a little bit sad, and he breaks down a little inside because he knows it's because of him.

"I'm sorry," he says. "I'm so, so sorry, Laura."

"It's okay," she says. "I'm not really mad anymore. Although I probably should be," she says, and she smiles a little. "But then again, how am I supposed to be? You...you told me that you loved me."

He holds his breath as he waits for her to finish because he knows that she has to get this out.

Besides, he's already done enough talking for a lifetime.

"The thing is, I'm sick of feeling like this. Broody. Emotional. Sad. That's not me," she says, pointing to herself and shaking her head. "And I think it's because I'm off balance. And it took me a while to realize it's because of you." She pauses.

He lets himself take a breath and his mind is racing as he tries to figure out what she's saying.

She looks at him hesitantly. "I...I think I'm better when you're around, too."

"We fit," she says softly, echoing his words from earlier.

And he can't breathe for a second because this girl standing nervously in front of him, this girl that he knows he probably doesn't deserve, this beautiful girl that he loves, has just given him her heart and he's paralyzed for a moment before he realizes that he would do anything, absolutely anything to protect it.

He steps forward and wraps his arms around her waist and she circles hers around his neck and it's like a scene from months ago only this time he thinks it might end a little differently.

He lowers his head and then stops, inches from her lips. "Can I kiss you now?" he whispers.

"Yes," she breathes, and then he kisses her and it's hesitant for a moment before a switch turns on inside both of them because he's pulling her closer and she's sinking into him and he thinks he's never understood what the word complete meant until this moment.

Her hands are in his hair and his fingertips are skimming the bare skin of her back underneath her shirt and she's so small and he loves the way she fills every empty part of him.

"I think I maybe love you too," she whispers, her eyelids fluttering shut as he leans in to kiss her again, her arms tightening around his neck as she presses herself to him, and he thinks he might have just found his forever.

Fin.

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