"I'm glad you think so," Larry replied.

"Can you press a little harder?"

"No problem."

"Mmmm...."

Ally and Larry were sitting up in bed and he was giving her a massage.

Ally had endured a stressful day at work, so Larry took it upon himself to do all he could to relax the muscles in her body.

"Does that feel good, sweetie?" he asked.

"Very good, Mr. Larry."

He smiled. He continued to squeeze her shoulders in a rhythmic motion. Then he decided to take a little detour. He slipped off one of the straps on her nightgown and brushed his lips against the nape of her neck.

"Larry, I think your priorities are shifting."

"Is that such a bad thing?" he asked.

"No, certainly not," she answered. She closed her eyes as Larry ran his hands up and down her arms. Then he brought them back up to her shoulders and began squeezing them gently again. Larry Paul sure had a way with his hands.

Ally suddenly pulled away and turned around so she could face Larry.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked, confused.

"Actually, no. You're doing something very right," she smiled. "And that's why I want to return the favor."

Larry raised his eyebrows and smiled.

Ally tried to bat her eyes seductively. She wasn't sure if it was working though because Larry's smile just grew bigger. She started laughing and pulled him closer.

"Come here," she said. She put her hand on his arm and could feel his muscles through his shirt. Then she decided that his shirt was just getting in the way.

"I think we need to take this off," she said. She helped Larry remove his shirt. She then ran her hands down his chest, lower and lower......

"Oh, Miss McBeal. Cutting right to the chase, I see," he said, looking forward to what Ally was going to do next.

But before she could continue, music came blaring from out in the living room.

"What the --?" Ally said. She climbed out of bed so she could see what was going on out there. Larry followed her, while putting his shirt back on. He was annoyed at the interruption.

They walked into the living room and found Renee there. She was also wearing her nightgown but had a robe covering her.

"Renee, isn't the music a little loud?" Ally asked loudly, trying to let her voice be heard over the music. She covered her ears.

Renee lowered the volume. "Sorry about that, you guys. I think I just got carried away."

"What's going on?" Ally asked.

Renee smiled. "Jackson and I thought we'd dance a little out here."

"And where is Mr. Duper?" Larry asked. Ally noticed the bitterness in his voice.

"Oh, he's in the bedroom getting changed. He just took a shower. I hope the music didn't disturb you guys too much."

"Well...." Ally and Larry said together.

Renee interrupted them. "The Little Girls room beckons!" she said. And with that, she ran into the bathroom and closed the door.

Ally looked over at Larry and smiled. "She seems so happy, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, although I don't know how anybody could be happy being with Jackson," replied Larry.

"Larry, I know you and Jackson don't exactly get along. Lord knows Jackson and I don't get along either. But let's try and be civil with each other, okay?"

"Okay," he said. "But I don't like the way he's always prancing around here with his shirt off."

"What are you talking about?" Ally asked. "He doesn't prance around here with his shirt o--"

Just then, Jackson walked out of Renee's bedroom. He didn't have his shirt on.

Larry looked over to Ally, his eyebrows raised to prove his point. But Ally wasn't looking at Larry. She was too busy being mesmerized by a shirtless Jackson standing in front of her.

Jackson's body was literally gleaming. It was all wet and shiny.

"Where's Renee at?" he asked.

"Uh -- um -- She -- She went to -- to the bathroom," Ally finally managed to say.

There was a moment of silence.

"What did you do, Jackson?" asked Larry. "Take a bath in baby oil?"

"Why are you staring at my pecs in the first place, Larry?" asked Jackson.

"Well, their kind of hard to miss, Jackson," retorted Larry.

"Okay! Okay!" intervened Ally. She finally came back into reality and could sense another argument brewing between Larry and Jackson.

"Oh, here we go again," Jackson said. "Ally McBeal is coming to the rescue. Larry, I'd put a leash on your girlfriend if I were you. There's no telling when she'll run up to me and give me a big, wet kiss."

"Hey!" Ally said.

"Jackson," Larry said, his voice threatening.

Renee came out of the bathroom. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Same old stuff," replied Ally. "Jackson's trying to come between me and Larry."

"What?!" Jackson said.

"Excuse me?" Renee asked, surprised.

"Never mind," Ally said and dragged Larry back into the bedroom with her.

Once inside, Ally shut the door and let out a sigh. "Can you believe that Jackson?" she asked. "He's always trying to start trouble." She looked at Larry and was surprised to see the pout on his face.

"Larry, what is it?" she asked.

"Ally, it's getting a little annoying watching you falling all over Jackson like that."

"What?! I wasn't falling all over him!"

"Well, you weren't exactly subtle in your appreciation of his.... assets." He sat down on the bed and crossed his arms. Ally could swear that Larry was actually pouting.

She began to laugh.

Larry looked at her, surprised. "What's so funny?"

"No," she said, laughing. "You. I mean, the way you're behaving. You're so cute when your jealous."

Larry wasn't finding the situation terribly funny, though.

Back in the living room, Renee and Jackson tried to continue the little evening they had going on.

Renee brought out a couple of champagne glasses and poured some red wine into them. She handed a glass to Jackson.

"Ooh, girl. What's the occassion?" he asked.

"Us," she said, smiling. They clinked their glasses together and sipped their wine.

"You know, your friend has got some major issues," Jackson said.

"Ally? Oh, don't worry about her. Her head can be up in the clouds sometimes, but she's a really good person," replied Renee.

"She's a nutcase, Renee!" Jackson said, surprised that she was defending Ally.

"Yeah, sure. Ally's a nutcase. But she's also my best friend and I love her."

"I don't get it. I just don't get it," Jackson said, shaking his head.

"What don't you get?" Renee asked, starting to get a little annoyed.

"How a classy and sophisticated woman such as yourself can be friends with someone as wishy-washy as her," said Jackson.

"Okay, that is enough," said Renee, her voice threatening.

"Larry, I think you need to go out and cool off," Ally said, pacing inside her bedroom.

They were still in there, arguing about Jackson. Larry was not letting her forget about the oogling she had done over Jackson earlier.

"Go out? It's late!"

"I know, but this is getting ridiculous. I don't have the hots for Jackson!"

"Ally, your mouth was hanging open."

"No, it wasn't!"

"Yes, it was!"

"Larry.... honey...." she said, taking a deep breath. "Don't you know that you're the only man I can ever find sexy?"

"Hmmm, somehow I doubt that," he replied. He started pouting again.

"Okay. Fine." Ally walked over to the closet, opened it, and pulled out Larry's jacket.

"You're kicking me out?!" he asked incredulously.

"No. I just want you to go out and get some air. Then you can come back when you realize that you're being silly about this whole thing."

It was no use to protest. Ally was literally pushing Larry out of the bedroom. She opened the bedroom door and pushed Larry along the way. When they made it into the living room, she was surprised to see Renee doing the exact same thing to Jackson.

What in the world? Ally thought.

Ally put Larry's jacket on him, just like Renee was doing to Jackson. The four of them were now standing by the front door.

Ally opened it up and she and Renee pushed their men outside.

"See you later," Ally and Renee both said. Then they closed the door.

Larry and Jackson both stood outside and stared at each other.

What just happened? they both wondered.

Ally and Renee both plopped down on the couch together.

"So what happened?" they both said at the same time.

Then they laughed.

"You first," said Renee.

"Larry and I had a fight about Jackson."

"Jackson and I had a fight about you."

"Me?" Ally asked, shocked. "Why?"

"Don't worry about it, Ally. Jackson just hasn't known you long enough. When he gets to know you better, he'll come to appreciate all your quirks."

They both sat in silence for a little while.

"This is getting bad," Renee said.

"I know," said Ally. "Our men don't get along with each other. And Jackson and I have our issues as well."

"It's gotta stop, Ally. If Jackson were ever to move in here permanently, it would be like enemy war zone."

"Or World War III," replied Ally.

They looked at each other and began to laugh again.

"Hey, why were you and Larry fighting about Jackson anyway?" asked Renee.

"Oh, that. Jackson came out here without his shirt on and Larry caught me staring at his body."

"You were what ?" asked Renee.

"Come on, Renee. I was just looking. Don't think I haven't seen you checking out Larry from time to time."

Renee started giggling. "Okay, okay. You got me there. Larry's a good-looking man."

"That he is," said Ally, smiling. She flashed back to earlier that evening when Larry was giving her a massage. She wished they hadn't been interrupted.

"Well, what are we going to do?" asked Renee.

"About what?"

"Well, we have to at least try and all get along. We should all do something together!"

"What did you have in mind, Renee?" asked Ally, sarcastically. "Should we pull out the Monopoly board and play a game together?"

"Well, Larry. Trouble in paradise?" Jackson asked, almost gloating.

"Uh, I'm not exactly alone out here, Jackson," replied Larry.

They were still standing outside the door of the apartment.

Jackson knew Larry was right, so he changed the subject. He remembered the prenup case they worked on a week ago and decided to bring it up.

"So what are your thoughts about that prenup case last week?" asked Jackson.

"Oh, you mean the case you started? I'm glad it's over. This way I don't have to put up with you and your oh-so-honorable ethics," Larry replied.

"Excuse me, Larry. I am a man of ethics," said Jackson.

"You got a funny way of showing it," Larry said under his breath.

"What was that?" asked Jackson.

"Right, Jackson. You're chock full of ethics. That's why you tried to trick that woman into signing a prenup, even though you knew that she would be the one screwed over if they ever got divorced. That is just so ethical, my friend," he said, sarcastically.

"A lawyer's gotta do what a lawyer's gotta do," replied Jackson.

"And that is?" aksed Larry.

"Protect my client," answered Jackson.

"And so you can appreciate my efforts to protect mine. Also, the proposal I came up with was completely fair for both parties, but you let your pride get in the way of accepting it."

"Don't talk to me about pride. It's your pride that's putting a wedge between you and Ally. You can't stand the fact that she loves looking at me," said Jackson.

"Jackson, don't you bring Ally into this," replied Larry.

"What's the matter, man? Can't get your groove on because you're afraid she's fantasizing about me?" asked Jackson.

"No, that's not it, Jackson. I'm not threatened by pretty boys who like to spend their days soaked up to their necks in baby oil," said Larry.

"You know what, Larry?" asked Jackson.

"No, what? Jackson?" replied Larry.

By this point, they were both facing off. They almost looked like high school kids getting ready to have a fist-fight.

Luckily, Ally and Renee opened the door at that moment.

"Woah!" Ally said. She came between them and started laughing nervously. "We were hoping the two of you were standing out here. Come on, let's go inside." She took Larry by the arm and led him back into the apartment. Renee did the same with Jackson.

"So girls, why the change of heart?" asked Jackson.

They all walked into the living room. Larry and Jackson were surprised to see a Monopoly board sitting on the coffee table.

"What is that?" asked Larry.

"We're all going to sit down together and play," replied Ally.

Larry and Jackson just looked at each other.

"This is silly," Larry said.

"This is ridiculous," Jackson said.

"No, it's not!" Ally interjected. "Now we are all going to sit down here and play a game of Monopoly together if it kills us! Now, sit!"

Everyone sat down. Somehow, Ally and Jackson ended up sitting next to each other on the floor. Larry took one look at this, then lifted up Ally and moved her over to the other side of the table. He then sat down between them. Ally sighed.

"Okay," began Renee. "Since it's getting late, let's just divide into two teams so the game will go faster."

Larry put his arm around Ally. Jackson put his arm around Renee.

"Well, I guess we know what the teams are," sighed Renee.

"We got the dog!" Larry said quickly, choosing the game piece.

"No, we have the dog," Jackson said. He grabbed for the dog but Larry got there first. They started struggling with it.

"Okay! Okay!" Ally said, trying to pry them apart. Larry and Jackson were beginning to act just like John Cage and Richard Fish.

Ally managed to grab the dog away from both of them. "Jackson, Larry called it first so we're going to have the dog. It's only fair." Larry smirked at Jackson.

"It's okay, honey," Renee said to Jackson. "We can have the car. Cars are fast, smooth, and hard.... just like you."

"Oh, gross, Renee!" Ally said. "Come on, let's roll the dice to see who goes first. Whoever has the highest sum will start."

Larry took the dice, shook them around in his hand, and threw them onto the board. The sum was 10.

Jackson then took the dice and did the same thing. The sum he got was..... 10.

They all looked at each other. Ally could almost feel the start of the next civil war beginning.

"Now what?" asked Renee.

"Let's just do it again," said Larry, picking up the dice.

"Oh, no," said Jackson. "When you rolled the dice, Larry, the numbers you came up with were 6 and 4. The numbers I came up with were 5 and 5. That's a double. That means we go first." He reached over to get the dice away from Larry, but Larry held them back.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "Since when were those the rules?"

"That's how I did it growing up," explained Jackson.

"Well, the way I grew up, we rolled the dice again," replied Larry.

"How old were you when you started playing Monopoly, Larry?"

"Why? Jackson?"

"Just answer my question."

"I don't know. Around 11 or 12 I guess."

"Well, I started playing Monopoly with my sisters when I was 7."

"And your point is?"

"I began playing first, so we'll follow my rules first."

Larry raised his eyebrows.

Ally and Renee both started banging their heads against the table.

"Honey, don't do that," Larry said to Ally, stopping her. "You'll hurt yourself."

"You know what?" Renee said. "Forget it. Just forget it." She began folding the Monopoly board and cleaning up the game.

"Renee, what are you doing?" asked Ally.

"I don't want to play anymore," she replied. "Jackson and Larry are behaving like 9-year olds."

"Actually, I was thinking more like 5-year olds," agreed Ally.

"Immaturity is just not attractive, don't you think, Ally?" said Renee.

"I absolutely agree," said Ally.

"I mean, you'd think that those two would just put aside their animosity towards each other to please the women in their lives!" said Renee.

"I know exactly what you mean, Renee. It really is a shame, too, because I was really looking forward to my time with Larry tonight. We had something special planned. But now I don't think it's gonna happen," Ally said, shaking her head sadly.

"Jackson and I had something special planned too, but suddenly I'm just not in the mood," said Renee.

"I'm not either," said Ally.

"So what are you going to do now, Ally?" asked Renee.

"I think I'll turn in for the night. You?"

"I think I'll do the same."

"Okay. Goodnight, Renee," said Ally.

"Goodnight, Ally," said Renee.

The girls hugged each other goodnight, went into their respective bedrooms, and closed the doors shut.

Once again, Larry and Jackson just stared at each other, wondering what just happened.

"Nice going, Larry," Jackson said.

"Excuse me, Jackson?" asked Larry.

"If you had just let me and Renee go first, our women would still be out here with us," Jackson said.

"You're the one who started everything, Jackson," replied Larry.

"And how did I do that, Larry?"

"I seem to recall you making a play for the dog when I had already claimed it. Do you recall that, Jackson? Or has the baby oil already gone straight to your head?"

"You know what, Larry? I'm beginning to think that you have just as many issues as your girlfriend does."

Larry had enough of this. "You know what, Jackson? Let's just drop it."

"Good idea," said Jackson. "So now what?"

"Now what?? Well, since they obviously don't want us in their bedrooms, I'm going to sleep out here on the couch," said Larry.

"No, I think I'll take the couch," said Jackson.

"Excuse me, Jackson. You don't live here. I do. So you can go home now," replied Larry.

"It's too late to be wandering the streets, Larry. I'm staying here for the night."

"Then make yourself comfortable on the floor, my friend," Larry replied. He sat down on the couch and picked up the pillow. He began laying his head down on it.

"And why do you think you should get to sleep on the couch, and I should be on the floor?" asked Jackson. He grabbed the pillow away from Larry.

"Like I said before, Jackson, I live here," explained Larry. He grabbed the pillow back from Jackson.

"And I don't, which makes me a guest. And don't you know that homeowners should always make their guests feel comfortable?" Jackson grabbed the pillow back from Larry.

Larry got up and stood right in front of Jackson. They both narrowed their eyes.

Ally was laying in bed, trying to fall asleep. Suddenly, she heard the bedroom door open.

"Honey?" she heard someone say.

It was Larry.

"Can I please sleep here with you tonight?" he asked.

Ally sat up and turned on the lamp on her nightstand. She looked at Larry and started smiling. He was holding on to a pillow and he looked like a 4-year old boy asking his parents if he could sleep with them.

Ally couldn't stay mad at Larry any longer. "Come here, baby," she said, patting the empty side of the bed next to her.

Larry smiled and climbed into bed next to Ally. She reached over and turned off the light. Then she cuddled up next to Larry.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Well, did you really expect me to sleep out there with Jackson?" he replied.

Ally giggled. "I was wondering what was going on out there." She held on to Larry tighter. "So did you two make up?"

"Not exactly," answered Larry.

"Where is he now? Did he go to Renee's room?"

"No, he's spending the night on the couch."

"And why do you have this?" Ally asked, tugging at the pillow Larry was clutching on to.

"Because Jackson wanted it," replied Larry.

Ally just shook her head and laughed. Boys will be boys, she thought.

They both fell asleep.

The next morning, Ally and Larry both went into the kitchen together in search of some breakfast. Renee and Jackson were already there.

"So," Ally began. "Are things okay between the two of you now?"

"Yeah," answered Renee. "We're cool again. How about the two of you?"

Ally gave her the thumbs up sign. "So come on! Let's eat breakfast."

Larry and Jackson both helped their ladies into the kitchen chairs.

"You girls don't have to do a thing," Larry said. "I'll fix us all some breakfast. What do you say?"

"Sounds good to me!" Ally and Renee both said.

"Do we have any pancake batter?" Larry asked, opening up the fridge. "We do! How would you like me to whip us up some pancakes?"

"That would be great, sweetie!" Ally said.

"That sounds good, Larry. Thanks," said Renee.

Larry was over by the stove beginning to cook. Jackson was watching him.

"You know, Larry, you're doing that wrong," he said.

"Excuse me, Jackson?" Larry asked.

"I said the way you're making those pancakes is wrong," Jackson replied.

"Who are you? Aunt Jemima?" said Larry.

Jackson replied, "Look man, I'm just saying that.............."

Ally and Renee both looked at each other and sighed. It was going to be another long day.