path through payment process

[DrByte]

I already used the authorize.net module as the one to go from. I'm confused about how to get the payment page to my CC provider without going to the confirmation page.

You're not supposed to go to the gateway from that page. Wait til the confirmation page.

It seems that the way the authorize.net module works, is that on the payment page, you type in the CC info.

er, well, you're not supposed to use that "onsite" mode (it's not a PCI-compliant approach). To collect card data offsite, you're supposed to only use the "offsite" approach, where ALL the payment data is collected by the gateway and none of it via your site.

I don't see how to get the 'Payment Method' page to go straight to my CC provider, without 'hacking' it to do so. but could confuse customers potentially.

Don't.

I have the module all built wherein on the 3 of 3 order confirmation page, that form will post to my CC provider and they are given the return url. My original question is where do I sent them. If that's checkout_process, awesome. That's where I'll send them.

Yes, that's where you send them.

Is it OK to have the customers CC info for only that one iteration of a submit, the CC info is only in a session variable - is this safe?

In the strictest sense it's best to never hold it -- ever. But most solutions, even those PCI certified, typically do end up reading and forwarding it, but with a number of very important secure processes protecting those operations (too much detail to go into here).