September 3rd, at one of those common morning meeting at Cage & Fish.

Richard was unusually agitated, he kept on looking at his watch, then at the door, and back at his watch…He couldn’t stand still. Finally he spoke :

“Well, well…Today’s a special day : I’ve hired two new lawyers, just got out of law school and they should here by now.” He took a look a his watch and sighed “Where are they ?”

“Wh-what ? You’ve hired new lawyers ?”Ally blurted out “don’t you think you should have told us about it ?”

“Come on, Ally ! I want money. M.O.N.E.Y. And from my last evaluation, you all don’t bring enough in. Don’t worry, none of you is threatened. And by the way John knew it “ All looks turned to John who stopped eating his muffin.

“Go ahead, Richard” he said, willing to change the subject.

“Anyway, I wanted it to be a surprise. We really need some fresh blood in there. You, Ally don’t stop skulking around in the office… “ Ally cut him in a warning tone :

“Riiiiiiichard !!! “

“…Maybe one of those lawyers will cheer you up, helping you forgetting about Lar- “

“DON’T even pronounce his name ! I tell you if any of you mention His name it would be the last thing he’ll ever say.”

“Wow, do you have your periods ?” Ally shot him a killer look that advised him against going on that path.” Bygônes .Well, I hope you’ll all welcome them warmly, okay ? “ Since Jane qualified the office as cold, Richard seemed to make an obsession about that.” One more thing, those two are coming from a valued Detroit law school.”

“De-Detroit…?” Ally was speechless. It was like someone had punch her right in the heart. Any reference to this town was reminding her of…Him. And it hurt .She was interrupted in her thoughts by a knock on the door. She spin around to see Richard greeting the new additions.

“Richard Fish, welcome in the house.” He turned back to his crew “Let me introduce to your new colleagues : Glenn Foy and Jenny Shaw.”

Ally raised her head to take a look at the guy. “He is really cute,” she thought while chewing her pencil “maybe Richard was right, setting my mind on somebody else wouldn’t be a bad thing after all.” She kept staring at his oh-so beautiful blue eyes. Richard’s voice pulled her out of her contemplation :

“Ally, meet your new friends. “ That’s when she saw their hands…They were holding hands !!

“Great !” she said out loud, dryly. Then she added mentally :“the last thing I need right now is to get a crush on a married guy. Wait, who said he was married ? Maybe they’re just close friends . Billy and I used to hold hands when we were in Law School. Well, in fact we were together but…Where am I going ? “

“Ally, why don’t you put on your happy face and join us to welcome Glenn and Jenny ? “he asked with a fake smile “You don’t plan to stand on that chair all day, do you ?”

Ally heard Glenn laugh. Silly guy, silly !! She forced herself to get up to talk to Jenny. And evidently, she slipped out the forbidden word during the conversation.

“I hope it won’t be that different from Detroit. They say that Boston’s firm…” Ally didn’t hear the end of the sentence. She was focusing on that word : Detroit. De-troit…..Larry !!

« Sorry, I-I’ve got work.” She managed to say before she quickly exited the conference room. Coretta noticed her troubled expression and followed her into her office. She hesitantly knocked on the door.

“ Ally, it’s Coretta. Can I come in ?” She heard some sniffling.

“Um, no…I’m busy right now, maybe later.” Coretta opened the door anyway and found Ally with red puffy eyes, energetically searching for a tissue.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna talk about it ?

“NO !! I’d prefer you to leave. I need a moment alone” Not listening to her, Coretta sat down on the chair facing her desk. Ally wasn’t gonna get rid of her that easily. She needed to let her feelings out, but just wouldn’t admit it to herself.

“Don’t you like Glenn and Jenny ? They seem smart. “

“Yeah, anybody coming from Detroit would be smart I suppose !” she replied in a harsh tone.

“So, that’s it …Detroit. It’s just a town, Ally. You have to recognize that you’ve overreacted a little…”Ally raised her head to look at her and became sarcastic.

” Oh, sorry to bother you with my miserable life. Now tell me : what’s going on in yours ? Anything interesting ?” Coretta sent her a look that said she had crossed the line. ” Sorry…I apologize. It’s just…that I feel on the edge of a nervous breakdown I’ve been constantly under pressure lately. And I don’t need to tell you that working with two lawyers coming from Detroit doesn’t help me. It’s already hard to handle His departure…”

“Just give them a chance, Ally : you barely them. Don’t you think you should go past this Detroit thing ?

“It sounds so easy coming from you.” Ally was calmed by now. “Okay, I’ll try.” She formed a small smile on her lips : “Did I tell you that Glenn is really handsome ?”

“I deduced it from the way you stared at him earlier in the conference room.”

“Was it that obvious? “she demanded , alarmed.

“For people who know, yeah. But don’t worry, nobody noticed except me.” They shared a long of mutual understanding, then Ally simply said :

“Thank you for listening.”

“Well, I’m a good listener.” Coretta observed a shadow passing into Ally’s eyes. “You ok ?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna go back to…work. Yeah, I have to work. I’ll see you later.”

Coretta left. She couldn’t realize that Ally’s reaction was due to her last line “I’m a good listener”. Without knowing, she quoted Larry. He said that when he and Ally first met and she had taken him for a therapist. Those five little words came as a hurricane, bringing back floods of memories. Ally couldn’t do anything but banging her head on her desk :”Ill be over him. Someday, I’ll be over him.” She kept repeating. By saying the words, maybe she’ll start to believe it.

Weeks flew by and ally was getting used having Glenn and Jenny around. She really liked Glenn. He and Jenny had been involved for three years, but they were going trough a rough time since they arrived in Boston. Ally was there for him as long as he kept off mentioning Detroit. Their closeness was obvious to everyone at the firm and that made Jenny even more jealous. She couldn’t understand why Glenn would rather talk with Ally about his problems than with her. The thing is that Ally disliked her as well. She saw in Jenny the hypocrite type but put on the happy face in front of her, at least for Glenn’s sake. Their friendship grew stronger and stronger, and Ally saw him as the little brother she never had. She was able to let him know silently about what was on her mind. When she was angry, they just sat in silence in her office, no words were necessary until she was fully serene. Ally truly cherished this friendship : there was something refreshing in it and it made her forget about Him. For once in a long time, she was concentrating on something else. Glenn was there when she needed him and she knew she had someone she could count on. Of course there was John, but lately he’s been busy with his relationship with Nelle. Ally accepted that and knew it was better to back off a little.

In fact, John and Nelle were doing great, really great. On September 18th, Ally was surprised to hear that they were taking a month vacation in Vermont. They announced it at the beginning of the staff meeting :

“First up, Jackson and the sexual harassment case. How’s it g- “

“Hold on, Richard” John interrupted “ Nelle and I have something to tell you.”

“You’re getting married ? Congrats’, Bygônes. So Jackson…” Nelle hit him hard on the shoulder.

“Pokee-pokee…..Let me finish : Nelle and I are flying out to Vermont this afternoon. We’re taking a month vacation.”

“What about money ?” Richard said in a whiny voice.

“It’s not that I don’t care Richard, but it’s the least of my concern right now.”

“Right, and do we have to remind you that we’ve got two new lawyers among us ? Let’s get them to work.” Nelle added.

“But, but…” It was now Richard’s turn to stammer.” You had to tell me. I’m a partner and I had the right to know that the two of you were serious !”

“Richard…” John had an exasperated tone. “ that’s not the point. You’d be the first to know if Nelle & I were having sex…I mean getting serious. Okay, I think it’s time for us to leave.” They stood up and left. A few moments later, Ally was out of the room , running after John.

“What is it with those meeting I don’t get to finish ?…Ally, come here, you’re not allowed to get up !! Come on…” But it was like talking to a wall.

****************** “John, John…wait !” Ally grabbed his upper arm “ Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure” To Nelle “Wait for me outside. I won’t be long.” She let go off his hand and said a quick goodbye to Ally before stepping into the elevator.

“It’s not that bad “ she thought “I don’t really like her anyway.” She turned back to John :”What’s that trip for ? Was Richard right about you two ?

“Well, the truth is we both need some time alone, together. We’ll see what that unfolds. But strangely, this time I feel more confident. Things will work out, I hope in the good way.” Ally had tears in her eyes : happiness had finally found John. “Oh, Ally…don’t be sad. It doesn’t mean I’m leaving the firm. It’s just a month away from Boston. And now you’ve Glenn to tale care of you.” He seemed to think for a minute, then added : “You know someday, sooner than you think, he’ll realize his mistake and will come back. I’m sure he will.”

“Yeah.” Was all she was able to let out, looking everywhere but at him. She was still taking in the fact that another of her closest friend was leaving. Not leaving her ,but leaving anyway. When she finally got the courage to lift her head up, John was gone.

****************** She ran back into her office and closed the door behind her. There, she sat in the couch and cried.

Something went wrong, you’re not laughing
It’s not so easy now to get you to smile
You gotta be strong to walk these streets and keep from falling
But when you’re not just let yourself cry

If you throw a stone, something’s gonna shatter somewhere
We’re all so fragile, we’re all so scared.

You say you wanna learn how to live your life without tears
But we’ve been trying to do that for thousands of years…

She doesn’t know how much time she spent there, sobbing, but when she looked up at the door, Glenn was standing there with a look of deep concern.

So go on and cry
It’s the only thing to do sometimes
I’m crying too right there with you
It’s all right, everybody cry

Without a word, she walked over him and he took her in his arms, gently rocking her. After a long wait, Ally blurted out :

“ They all leave me. They all leave me, Glenn. What did I do ?”

That’s when it hit him : his feelings for Ally had changed. Holding her that way, he realized he wanted more. Conscious that his feelings didn’t mattered at the moment, he stayed quiet about it. He wanted to know why Ally was so upset. “They all leave her ? What the hell is she talking about ?” They stayed in each others arms for a few minutes until Glenn carefully asked :

“What do you mean by ‘they all leave’ ?”

“Billy, Renee, John and Lar-…..Him. “

“Him ?” Ally disengaged herself from Glenn and stared at the floor.

“I don’t wanna talk about it, Glenn. I really don’t want to think about him. Could you leave me alone, would you do that ?”

“Okay, then…I’m in my office if you want.” He left but was disturbed : for the first time he had troubles reading her. “Him ? Who’s that guy ?” Deep inside of him, he felt his jealousy raising up. He didn’t know this guy but already hated him.

The next day, Glenn broke up with Jenny. Although we didn’t wanna lie to her, he skipped the “newly realized feelings” part. It still wasn’t clear in his mind, so he had chose, to stay quiet about it.

Ally was working on some papers when Elaine came in her office, trying to look mysterious but dying to tell her something.

“Ally, you will not believe what I’ve just heard…” Ally didn’t want to waste her time with rumors. She had a lot of work to catch up with.

“Okay, Elaine : drop it ! I’m not in the mood for riddles. What’s it all about? Richard and Jane? Coretta and Jackson ? “

“It’s mean, you’re taking away all the fun of it !” she protested.

“So…?” Ally was getting curious. Elaine looked really excited over the news she was about to break.

“Well, I assume you’ll be surprised. I personally was astonished to learn that…”

“That’s it, take your time” Ally thought. Elaine was really playing with her nerves.

“……Glenn and Jenny broke up.”

“What ?!! You gotta be kidding ? “ Suddenly, Ally began feeling uncomfortable. Something was wrong. She needed to talk to Glenn about it. She stood up and added : “I have to go find Glenn. I don’t know where you heard that but I’m pretty sure you interpret is wrong. There’s no way…”

“YOU !!!” Ally turned round and saw Jenny pointing her finger at her, looking infuriated. She slammed the door behind her, which caused Ally to sat back down in her chair.

“Okay, “ she mentally told herself “the jealous girlfriend was missing in my appalling life !” She recomposed herself and tried to have the most relaxed tone : “Yeah, Jenny. Wh-what’s up ?

“You’re the one asking me ?” She didn’t lower her voice “ You know about me and Glenn. It’s all your fault !! And don’t deny it, you’ve been throwing yourself at him since the beginning !.

“How dare you…?” Jenny was becoming insulting and it was annoying her. ”What’s her problem ?” But then ,Ally saw that Elaine was still standing in the corner of the room. Obviously, she was enjoying the little scene Jenny was making. It kept Ally from answering back. “It would be better to avoid the scandal.” So she softened her tone : “You know Jenny, I never made anything to split up your couple. I was truly happy for you...” …except that I violently dislike you.

“Then why do I have that weird sensation that he dumped me because of you? Look, we’ve been together for three years, three ! And then you came in the picture and one month later he jilts me.”

“Well,” Ally didn’t like the turn the conversation was taking “that’s something you should see with him.”

“Don’t tell me what to do ! “ With tears in her voice, she added : “I love him…”

“You’ve got a strange way of showing it.” Ally told herself.

“..and if I found out that you lied to me,” her tone became aggressive, ”that the two of you did something behind by back, I will get you. Both of you.”

Ally couldn’t believe Jenny’s last words. She was almost threatening her ! Her pacific nature taking over, she took a deep breath and replied calmly :

“Jenny, I have nothing to do with that. I’m gonna talk to Glenn and try to understand what happened, okay ?” She was dying to knock her out, right there, in her office.

“Okay.” Still angry , Jenny nevertheless got back to work. When she left, Elaine spoke up :

“Wow, good point for the self-control !! If I were you I would have punch her by now.”

Ally breathed a sigh of relief : “ I’m sure she’d have punched me back, and I didn’t want to start a fight.”

That evening, Ally knocked on Glenn’s door.

“Working late?”

“Ally !What are you doing still here? It’s way past eight.”

“Late work to catch up.” she explained.

“Have a sit.”

“Thank you, but I won’t stay long. I just thought I’d stop by : Jenny talk to me today, and she was quite…angry. Wanna tell me what happened ?”

“Oh, oh…she’s suspicious.” he was afraid Ally might have find out the truth. “Well, our relationship wasn’t going anywhere. I decided to put an end at it before someone get hurt.”

“She is already hurt, Glenn.” Ally was incredulous, Glenn was different this evening. She couldn’t believe in his reply. “You stay with someone for three years, and suddenly you realize that…it isn’t working anymore ?”

“Well…yeah.”

“Stop the nonsense, you can’t fool me.” Glenn was hiding something and it perturbed her. “There must be something behind that !And don’t lie to me, I hate that.”

“I stopped loving her.” was all that came to his mind. And in way, It was true.

“You stopped……? You don’t just ‘stop loving someone’ like that !” Ally shouted. She was touched by what he said. It reminded her Larry ‘cause her secret fear was that the reason why he left was that he’d simply stopped loving her.

“You’re dramatizing . Moreover this doesn’t even regard you !!” He yelled back at her.

“……” Ally stayed speechless. Glenn had never yelled at her.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to..”

“No, it’s okay : I don’t have the right to make judgments. See you tomorrow.” Her hand on the handle, Glenn grabbed her upper arm.

“Ally, I’m really sorry. It’s not easy for me right now. I’m a little lost and I will probably need to have some space for the next few days. Do you understand ?”

“Completely, don’t worry. Bye Glenn.”

“Bye…Ally ?”She turned to face him.

“Yeah ?”

“Thanks for caring.”

“You’re welcome.” And she disappeared into the elevator.

September 25th : during a morning meeting, Glenn asked Richard if he’d be okay if of one his friend would join the firm for a few weeks, time for him to establish in Boston and find another job. Richard, agreed immediately, sensing that this new lawyer would bring him money.

“He’s a good lawyer ?”

“Yes, he’s pretty good. One of the best, I should say.”

“Well, tell him he can start tomorrow.”

Ally couldn’t help but chimed in : “Don’t you wanna see his resume first ? That’s something you should learn to do…” she joined a mocking smile to her words.

“Ah, ah….Bygônes.”

Glenn reassured her : “Don’t be anxious, Raymond’s terrific! He’s one of the best lawyer in Detroit. I’ve known him for years and I can tell you that he’s…”

But Ally was already somewhere else :“Detroit, Detroit…..Damnit !! It’s been four months, Ally and you need to go past this.”

“…sure you’ll like him.”

“If you say so.” She replied with a vacant look.

“Okay then.” Richard concluded. “When does he arrive ?”

“From what he told me, he’d be here by the end of the week.”

“Great ! So let’s go on. Coretta…”

Ally didn’t care about the end of the meeting. Her mind was set on this new lawyer. “Hope we’ll at least get along. As I seem to recall, one person out of two coming from Detroit is causing me problems. On one hand there is Jamie, Jenny and on the other hand, well, there is Glenn. I can’t put Larry on the list ‘cause he did both.”

As Glenn said, Raymond was in Boston by Friday. Besides he made a successful arrival. Everyone was attending to the staff meeting when Elaine came rushing in the room, sweating.

“The new…he’s here…waiting.”

“Elaine, catch your breath and tell us all what’s going on.”

Elaine paused for a minute, wiped off some sweat from her face and finally : “The new lawyer : Raymond Millbury…is here.” Was all she was able to say before someone knocked her on the floor by opening the door.

“Oh, sorry !” he apologized, seemingly embarrassed.” I thought you wanted me to follow you.”

“Raymond ! How are you doing ? The flight went okay ? Do you like Boston ?” Ally never saw Glenn that agitated. He quickly stood up to greet his friend, and not letting him time to respond to all his questions, they made a weird handshake. A sign of their long-lasted relationship.

“God, they look like teenagers !” Ally thought. She took a glimpse at Raymond and realized he was older than Glenn. Actually, he was closer to her age. Strangely, she had that feeling that she might like him in the end. After all, he was a friend of Glenn. As for Elaine, the job was done : she was already crawling over him. It was hard not to notice that her corporal temperature has raised from ten degrees !Elaine will never change.

“Well, I’m good. Everything’s fine and by the way thank you Mr. Fish for taking me with you.”

“Just call me Richard. Do you make money ?”

“Richard !!” Ally cut in.

“Bigônes.”

That’s when Raymond noticed her : “Hi, Raymond Millbury.”

“I know, Ally McBeal. I assume you’ve already made Elaine’s acquaintance : she’s our secretary. Here at the moment you’re in the conference room and Richard directing his daily morning meeting he never gets to finish. Looks like you interrupted him but don’t worry, it’s not a big deal.” She let out in one breath.

“Do I make her uncomfortable or is she always talking that fast ?” Raymond wondered. “ Thanks, I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“Not at all. In fact we were finished, right Richard ?” She had found there a way to escape from the meeting.

“Well…”

“Why don’t I show you your office ?” Glenn proposed. “ So you can tell what are the news from Detroit.”

“Arghhhhh ! Stop referring to that town !!

The rest of the day went smoothly. Glenn and Raymond stayed most of the time in his office. They had a lot of things to catch up with each other. Elaine tried to control her hormones, didn’t succeed. Ti was 5P;M when Ally took a break and went in the unisex. She thought she was alone so that when Glenn arrived, she told him with no reserve that Raymond made her a good impression. He seemed smart, and if he was as good as he said; there would be no problems.

“What am I good at ?”

“I knew it ! I knew it, I should have checked the stalls !” Ally was discomfited. “Wh-what ? Where are you coming from ?”

“Stupid question, don’t you think ? And I repeat mine : what am I good at ?” It looked like he enjoyed it : he had already noticed that Ally was susceptible and he was teasing her.

“Glenn said you were a good litigator, so I was telling it was a good point and that you’re aptitude in court……am I getting anywhere ?”

“No, I don’t think so.” He laughed.” Besides that, I was just teasing you. I knew you were talking about my work as a lawyer.”

“Okay,” Ally knew she had made a fool of herself. “ I will just not respond to that. Glenn, I’ll see you tomorrow. For the Carvin case, remember ?”

“Yeah. Bye Ally.”

“And don’t get any ‘I am dying to see you again, Raymond’ ?”

“Not today, you earned it.” And she walked off with a smile on her lips.

“She seems nice……Glenn ?” His friend was still staring at the place where Ally was standing moments ago.

“Oh, yeah. Very nice.”

Raymond studied him for a minute then said : “You do have a crush on her, don’t you ?”

“A crush…what? No !”

“Yes, and if you’d learnt how to lie, I’d be President of The United States by now.”

“Okay, you’re right.” He reluctantly admitted.” But I don’t wanna rush her…or me. I’ve just broke up with Jenny and I need to reflect on that. Be quiet about it…”

Raymond put his hand on his heart and promised : “Your secret will die with me.” Then , he burst out laughing “ You man have a way to trap yourself in inextricable situations !”

One week passed that way. Raymond kept making fun of Ally. In fact she found it relaxing to be able to laugh again. At last. To Ally’s astonishment, Raymond really appreciated Elaine’s company. On Monday, Ally learnt that the two of them were going on a date the following evening.

Tuesday morning, while Ally and Raymond were chatting, he got a call from his cousin. He announced Raymond that his wedding was canceled…

“……Canceled? Why……How ? You did what ? Are you crazy ?……No, okay. I’ll call you back. Bye.” When he hanged up, Raymond looked very anxious.

“What happened ?”

“Julian, my cousin, was getting married on the October 11th.”

“This Thursday ?”

“Yes. And he’s just call to tell me there would be no wedding. They split up.”

“WHAT ? I mean : why ?”

“Promise me you won’t laugh when I tell you.” Ally nodded yes. “ Well…he set her car on fire.”

“He did…fire ?”

“Yeah. Apparently they had a huge fight. But I didn’t get much of it, he was quite incoherent.”

“I’m to repeat it, but…fire ?”

“I’m as surprised as you are, if you wanna know. What in the world could have…? I don’t understand his behavior.”

“You should call him later today. Perhaps we’ll be more coherent this time.”

“I’ll see. For now, I have to tell Richard I’ll be there tomorrow : no wedding, no one day vacation.”

She watched him leave in direction of Richard’s office. “Wow, I ‘d be for nothing in the guy’s place right now. His cousin must be devastated. But burning his fiancée’s car…That one could have brought him to/in a courtroom. Well, never mind, I guess.”

Ally guessed wrong. Friday morning, Raymond came in the conference room with a preoccupied look on his face. When Richard finally finished his meeting, –he was ecstatic ! - Raymond asked everybody one more minute because he had something to tell them.

“Go on, what’s the scoop ?” Glenn was interested.

“My cousin is being sued, for emotional distress and material damages. He wants me to represent him.”

Afraid to lose his new talented addition, Richard panicked : “How long will it take ? Where’s the trial, and why you ?”

“There are several reasons. First, my cousin trusts me and I can’t refuse to help him. Second, he’s from Detroit so I’ll have to go there for a week at least…” That’s when Ally started to have that disturbing feeling that something was going to happen.”…and at last, the opposing counsel is one of the best lawyer in town. Nobody beat him, except me. Once. Moreover on an un-winnable case ! My cousin thinks I can renew the impossible. I have to try.”

“And-and what’s his name…..the opposing council ?” asked Ally, fearing the answer.

“Oh, I don’t believe you know him : Larry Paul.”

Feedback much welcomed!