Maddie came rushing down the stairs. Her hair was pulled up in a twist and she was wearing a dress. “Great! You’re home! Get ready so we can go!” Maddie exclaimed excitedly as she moved towards the door, fumbling through the assorted shoes that had found their way into a pile that had accumulated by the front door.

Ally looked at Maddie with a look of total utter bewilderment. Her eyes were averted when she heard a deeper voice from the top of the stairs. “Ally, great; get dressed, let’s go.”

Ally eyed Victor as she made her way up the stairs cautiously. “What’s going on?” She reached the top of the stairs and Victor backed up some, making room.

“We’re going out; Maddie’s laid out a dress for you on your bed. Our reservation is in half an hour, so get ready quick,” Victor smiled sweetly, almost mysteriously, and then made his way past her and down the stairs to keep the hyped up Maddie company.

Ally walked into her bedroom to find this stunning white dress she forgot she had still attached to a hanger and resting over the footboard of her bed. She picked it up and fingered the silky material. This dress brought back memories. The last time she wore it, well she couldn’t remember, but she knew it was special. Ally wondered what was going on, but got dressed as instructed and made her way back down the stairs almost ten minutes later.

“Ally, wow, you look great!” Maddie smiled as she eyed the dress. “I’m glad I picked the right one out,” she beamed with pride, proud of herself.

Ally smiled and bowed her head shyly.

“You look amazing,” Victor said casually.

“Thanks,” Ally brought her head back up. “Is anyone gonna let me in on what’s going on?”

“I thought we’d go out to dinner tonight instead of eating in like we usually do. I made reservations at this Greek place I know. I didn’t know if you’d ever had Greek, I know Maddie hasn’t, but it’s absolutely wonderful food so I thought I’d treat,” Victor spoke relatively slow and easy.

Ally took a deep breath, “Well it would be stupid of me to pass down exotic food, so let’s go,” she wrapped her shawl around her and then moved towards the door, wrapping an arm around Maddie.

Maddie smiled, ‘So far, so good.’

Ally leaned back in her chair, tossing her napkin on the table. “I’m stuffed,” she got out, before taking a big breath to surcease a burp.

“I told you you would like it,” Victor smiled, wiping his mouth and then taking a sip of his red wine.

“Well I know I liked it, I’m so stuffed I can’t even move,” Maddie slumped in her chair. Maddie watched the eye contact that was subtly being made between Ally and Victor. She wasn’t quite satisfied with the way things were going. You could say that it wasn’t progressing the way she’d hoped for. Sometimes girls have to take matters into their own hands, which is exactly what she decided to do. “I’m going to the bathroom now, I’ll leave you two alone,” and before Ally could object, Maddie got herself up and left the table.

Ally looked back after her for a second, a bit flustered. “I wonder what’s gotten into her,” Ally spoke absent-mindedly.

“I don’t know,” Victor murmured softly. “She a strange one, and who would have thought it be,” he smiled mischievously.

Ally’s head snapped around, “Hey watch it buster!” she yelped out quickly, pointing her finger at him accusingly.

“Hey! If the shoe fits,” Victor held both his hands up in protest, a sneaky smile still playing across his lips.

Ally leaned back into her chair again, looking at him, a half-smile spread across her face. She knew he was kidding, but he really knew how to push her buttons. “So why’d you do this anyway?” she asked after a few seconds.

“Do what?”

“Take me and Maddie out to dinner? You didn’t have to do this you know. I haven’t cooked in a while, it would have been a nice change of pace,” Ally spoke quickly, almost indicting.

Victor leaned in towards Ally, placing his elbows on the table, crossing his arms over each other. “Well going out is also a nice change of pace.”

Ally smiled. “Well it was very thoughtful of you,” Ally leaned onto the table herself.

Maddie plopped back down in her seat. “Okay, I’m ready to go now,” she said matter-of-factly.

Ally and Victor eyed each other and then turned towards Maddie simultaneously. Ally was the one who spoke up. “Well you’re rather demanding this evening. First it’s, ‘let’s go eat’ then it’s ‘let’s go home,’ why don’t you make up your mind already?”

Maddie grinned, “Let’s go home,” she grabbed stood up and grabbed Ally’s hand. “Come on!”

Victor stood up and left a tip, then the three of them left the restaurant and began walking down a chilly Boston street, looking for a cab. Maddie stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled really loud as she saw a cab coming down the street in the opposite direction. Ally and Victor watched as it did a u-turn and pulled right up to where Maddie had them stop. Ally and Victor looked at each other peculiarly, but opened the door, letting Maddie in first.

The cab ride was only about fifteen minutes and when they got out of the cab, Maddie rushed up the steps to hers and Ally’s home. “I’m tired and going to bed. Night! Thanks for dinner,” and she disappeared before Victor or Ally could say otherwise.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into that girl,” Ally mused as she turned her head back to Victor who was looking at her semi-adoringly. “What?” Ally’s expression twisted sideways a bit as she observed Victor’s gaze.

He took a small step towards her, not losing the eye contact for a second. “You know, as much of a nutcase as you are,” Ally objected to that, “hear me out,” Victor shushed her. “ As much of a nutcase as you are, I find myself,” Victor contained himself. “Enjoying your company more and more,” Ally seemed satisfied by the end. “But can I ask you a question?” Victor went on.

“Um, I, I guess,” Ally answered, uncertain.

“Why are you so picky about everything? Why do things always have to go a certain way? Have you ever experienced spontaneity in your life?”

Ally took extreme offense to the questions he was asking. “Why are you so pig-headed? A woman has every right to be the way she is! I shouldn’t have to explain myself to you or anyone else and for your information I have been spontaneous, I made love in a car wash dammit!” Ally clasped a hand across her mouth after she realized what she had just told him. Talk about embarrassing herself, Ally was pretty damn good at it.

Victor couldn’t help but smirk, “A car wash huh? I bet that was wet,” he joked.

“You’re an incredible ass, do you know that?” Ally retorted back, trying to remember the last time she said that because it sounded oh so familiar.

“And you sniffed it, so you would know,” Victor didn’t miss a beat.

Ally glared at Victor. “I’m going inside now, you can leave,” Ally turned away from him.

Victor grabbed Ally’s shoulders, whipped her back around, and pulled her towards him, their lips meeting in the middle, before she could make it up the stairs.

This kiss was hungry, passionate, and very short. When their eyes were focused in on each other, Ally realized what had just happened and she pulled away from him. “What the hell was that for? You call me picky and make fun of me and then you kiss me?” Ally spat out.

“It was,” Victor paused, concentrating on her lips, “spontaneous. Forgive me for the-“ Ally cut him off by pulling him towards her with one hand, their lips meeting once again, this time, tongues involved. This time it was longer, more involved. When Ally pulled away, they were both slightly out of breath and a bit stunned. ‘Oh my God, what did I just do?’ Ally couldn’t help thinking.

“I uh, I need to uh, I need to get inside, and, and uh, and tuck, and tuck Maddie in,” Ally fumbled for words.

Victor looked up and saw a pair of eyes from a window. “I think you might have to do that,” he pointed up.

Ally whipped her head up and the eyes shot away instantly. Ally brought her gaze slowly back down to Victor. “Um, I think this was just, a, planned evening?” she questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“No, not really, Maddie had been talking about how much she wanted to go out, she’s been doing it for at least a week now, and so I thought, what the hell, it’s a Friday night, why not?” Victor wasn’t stupid, he knew Maddie’s game and he was willing to play, but he wasn’t prepared to succumb like he was doing. As much as Ally bothered him with the picky little fetishes she had, her neurotic tendencies, not to mention the way she gets mad so quickly, he couldn’t help feeling drawn to her. He always thought of it like that expression ‘like a moth to a flame, burned by the fire.’ Ally was the flame and he was moth. He knew he was going to get burned, he had this feeling, but something about the night, the situation, whenever he chose to let go of all saneness, it was usually completely spontaneous.

“I’m gonna go now,” Ally repeated herself. “I’ll uh, I’ll, I’m sure I’ll talk to you later,” she started backing up the stairs, grabbing the railing for support.

Victor watched her run away, like she usually did. He could tell she was the type to run away from situations. It was in her blood or something. “If you say so,” Victor turned away and started walking down the street. Ally just watched him walk away, wanting to say something, wanting more, not knowing what more was, but remaining numb…completely numb of all feeling.

‘Damn’ she whispered as her fingers found her lips, his touch still lingering.

The next day, Ally was sitting on the couch, curled up in a book when the phone rang.

“Hey, how’s it hanging?” Ally smiled.

“Short, shriveled, and slightly downward.”

“Wow, what have I been missing?” Victor jokes right back.

“What’s up stranger?” Ally immediately felt comfortable.

“Oh I just thought that maybe we could get a bite to eat tonight.”

“But we all went out last night,” Ally started.

“I meant you and me, I think we have some things to talk about.”

“What is there to talk about?” Ally immediately got defensive. “Are you upset about ‘losing control’?”

“Hey! That was not what I called for. We don’t need to argue over the phone; can we just go out tonight? You can banter at me then,” Victor smoothed over.

“Fine,” Ally retorted back, still stuck in defensive mode.

“I’ll be there at eight,” Victor hung up.

“He thinks he’s SO smart!” Ally sneered out loud to herself, or so she thought.

“Who was that?” came Maddie from behind her.

Ally whipped her head around. “Oh, that was just Victor,” then it dawned on her, what was she going to do with Maddie? “Hmm, care to have some company tonight?”

“What kind of company?” Maddie veered closer to Ally.

“Well, Victor asked if I wanted to go out to dinner with him,” Maddie’s face lit up, “and that would be tonight and so I thought I could call one of my friends to watch you while we’re gone.”

Maddie grinned. “Suuuure, no prooooblem, go out and have a greeeeeat time,” Maddie emphasized, making Ally wonder, but she shook it off.

“Great then, I’ll see who’s not busy.

After many a phone calls later, the only person she could muster away from Saturday night plans was Richard and she managed only because she was able to convince him that the wattle out there tonight would still be there in the morning.

By the time eight o’clock rolled around, Richard and Maddie were settled in front of the television and Ally was waiting for Victor.

“So Ally,” Richard started. “Does this have any potential for, you know,” Richard made a forward motion with his hand and Ally smacked it.

“Not in front of my kid Richard!” she hissed back at him.

“It’s not like I don’t know what he’s probably talking about Ally, I’m familiar with the concept,” Ally looked at her befuddled. Maddie pointed in front of her, “T.V., everything’s on it,” she couldn’t help grinning that know-it-all grin she seemed abundant in possessing.

The doorbell rang and Ally snapped out of her gaze at the television set. “Okay, now remember what I said Richard, bed by eleven and no Cindy Margolis under this roof,” Ally pointed her finger accusingly at him.

“Who’s Cindy Margolis?” Maddie asked.

Richard was about to answer when Ally smacked him upside his head. “Richard, NO!” she focused her attention back to Maddie and bent down to kiss her head. “Have fun, don’t give Richard any problems,” she gritted her teeth slightly, “and tell all in the morning, bye,” Ally opened the door and exited through.

Ally and Victor had settled into the restaurant, which wasn’t Greek by the way, and ordered when Victor started the conversation with those dreaded words…”About last night…”

Ally put her hand up and shook it at him, bowing her head and shaking it at the same time. “Don’t even go there Victor, I don’t want to hear you make excuses,” she looked up. “Why did you bring me out if you were going to give me one of those ‘it was an accident’ type speeches?” she rambled on.

Victor leaned back in his chair, running his fingers through his hair. “Do you ever let a man complete his sentences? Is that why I never see you go out on dates, because you chase them away before they have a chance to say anything?” Victor took his chance to ramble.

Ally was appalled. “I go out on plenty dates thank you very much!” mentally reminding herself that the last date she had was with ‘the boy.’ “And why do you always pick fights with me?”

“Why don’t you let me continue what I was going to say?” Victor proposed.

Ally was about to add another mindless comment, but declined and slumped back in chair, signaling for him to go on.

“About last night,” Victor waited for her to interrupt and when she didn’t, he went on. “That definitely wasn’t something I had planned, but,” he watched as her expression changed, “I liked it,” Ally’s expression was much softer now and he actually smiled.

Ally was at a loss for words, which didn’t happen often, but she tried to speak, stuttering along the way as usual. “I uh, I uh, I don’t know, uh, what to say,” she added a little laugh at the end as if to hide the stammering she was doing.

“Why don’t we order?” Victor picked up the menu and opened it, casually looking through it, all the while enjoying that Ally was stuck on words.

“Um, uh, ye-yea-yeah,” Ally picked up her menu and worked her jaw a bit, as if to work out the muscle spasms that were occurring because of the clicking.

They got through dinner talking mainly about stupid things, actually stuff that you would talk about on a first date, movies, books, work, etc. Ally asked why he became a plumber and Victor asked why she became a lawyer and they were both surprised at the easy conversation.

By the time they reached Ally’s house at the end of the evening, the peacefulness was too good to be true and they both knew it in their own little ways.

“I had a nice time tonight,” Ally smiled, brushing her hair from her eyes and giving that smile she always gave when she wanted more.

“Didn’t you say this last night?” Victor joked.

Ally was set off once again. “What, so I can’t have fun two nights in a row? Is that like not, allowed, or something? What do you take me for?”

“What the hell is your problem? You have some major issues Ally! Do all of your friends attack you or something? Is that why you jump down my throat every time I try and joke with you? Mental note, don’t joke with Ally! She’ll bite your head off!” Victor shouted.

Ally pictured biting his head off and spitting it down the street. “You ass!” Ally got out quickly.

Suddenly the front door opened and Richard presented himself, leaning against the doorframe. The two of them turned to face him, both of them heated with anger. “What the hell do you want Richard?” Ally bellowed.

“Oh, don’t mind me, I just heard the arguing from inside and thought I’d get a single-handed encounter,” Richard smiled that know-all smile.

Ally rushed up the stairs, grabbed Richard’s coat from the coat rack, shoved it at Richard and pushed him down the stairs. “Thank you very much Richard, I won’t be needing your services again,” she glared at Victor. “Good night,” and with that, Ally had slammed the door.

Maddie had heard the commotion and made her way out of her room towards the top of the stairs to listen. She heard the door open again after the slam and then crash shut again. She crept down a couple of steps slowly, peering out into the front room.

Ally turned around to face who had just come through her door. “What the hell do you want? I said we were done!” Ally and Victor stared each other down for about two seconds flat before Ally jumped up in his arms like a ravenous wild cat, their lips meeting eagerly, clothes being ripped off every which way.

Maddie couldn’t help smiling, and tried really hard not to laugh her head off as she crept back up the stairs and into her room. “It worked,” she whispered out loud.

At about six in the morning, Ally felt the sunlight hit her face and she started twitching. She opened her eyes slowly and realized she wasn’t alone. As her brain started to function, she realized she was curled up in Victor’s arms on the couch, both of them had nothing on. ‘Oh my God!’ she thought to herself. She looked up and saw Victor’s eyes shut, his mouth curved slightly upward in a half smile. She looked away and smiled herself. She remembered last night, bickering, shoving Richard out the door, Victor coming inside, and them having the wildest sex she had ever imagined. As she smiled against the sunlight, it dawned on her. She shot straight up, knocking Victor’s arms out from around her, which caused him to stir lightly before his eyes soon fluttered open. Ally looked down at him and spoke in a hushed whisper, “Maddie! You’ve got to get out of here! She can’t see us,” she realized they were butt naked, “like this!” Ally’s voice was panicked.

Victor wrapped his arms around her again and brought her back down to where he was laying. “It’s early Ally, she probably won’t be up for at least another couple of hours,” a smile was glued to his face. He too remembered the sensational sex they had had the previous night.

Ally sighed, “As good as this feels, you need to go! What kind of mother am I if I let men have sex with me in the living room and then stay the night, naked of all things!” Ally mainly stated, not really posing the question.

Victor looked at her reluctant face and gave in. “Okay, but only cause you’re absolutely beautiful when you’re panicked,” he let her go and reached over to kiss her lightly on the lips.

Ally couldn’t help but give into the kiss, surrendering to his relaxation. She stood up afterwards and reached for her dress, then slowly made her way up the stairs to get dressed, not wanting to wake up Maddie.

Ally reappeared wrapped up in a robe and approached a fully dressed Victor. “I guess I’ll see you later?” Ally asked.

Victor turned around and kissed Ally on the nose, “I’m sure we can work something out.”

Victor walked towards the door, Ally on his heels. He opened the door and as soon as he was about to leave, Ally whipped him around so that their noses were barely touching, “Last night,” she paused for effect, deepening her voice slightly, “was incredible,” Ally finished with a mysterious smile. Victor nodded subtly and turned around to leave as Ally let go of his jacket. She watched him walk down the street, hands in pockets until he was no longer in sight and then she shut the door, turning around to lean against it, a smile stuck in place, her heart fluttering. Despite their bickering, there was something about making love, even if it was hot and horny, that changes things. From then on, she knew, their relationship would never be the same.

Later that morning, much later, Ally was making eggs for Maddie, who had requested them for breakfast.

“So,” Maddie was all grins that morning, which had Ally a bit suspicious, but she chose to ignore it. “Have FUN last night?"

Ally looked up at Maddie strangely, “Dinner was nice,” she spoke slowly, pronouncing the syllables carefully.

“Is THAT what you call it?” Maddie asked, stifling a giggle.

“What are you talking about?” Ally didn’t beat around the bush.

“Well all I can say is, I never thought of you as a wild cat,” Maddie’s grin got wider as her eyes sparkled from the deviousness she was enveloped in. She loved teasing Ally, Ally teased so well dontcha know.

“Maddie!” Ally gasped, then she knew, “You, you…” Ally faded out.

“Uh huh,” Maddie nodded. “You’re lucky you’re light, you might have knocked him over by that jumping trick you pulled,” Maddie erupted in laughter and Ally swatted her with the spatula.

“Okay, okay, so I got a little, crazy, last night,” Ally tried to explain herself.

“Don’t worry Ally, I went back to my room almost immediately after you jumped him,” she kept giggling.

Ally flipped the finished eggs onto a plate and shoved them in front of Maddie, “Eat,” she ordered with her spatula before tending to the toast that had just popped up behind her.

“What’s the rush?” Maddie shoved a forkful of scrambled eggs into her mouth.

“I thought we’d go out today. It seems rather warm for a February afternoon.

Maddie wrinkled her nose, “You’re gonna make me walk?” she complained.

Ally started buttering the toast, “You’re gonna walk and like it,” she said matter-of-factly. “I thought, clothes shopping,” Maddie jumped up.

“Yippee!” she finished her eggs and excused herself to get dressed.

Ally sat down at the kitchen table with her toast and the paper. She couldn’t help but smile; she always got like this when she had sex of any kind.

About twenty minutes, Ally and Maddie had made their way out of the house and onto a busy Boston sidewalk. Sundays tended to be deserted because of church as far as pedestrian traffic was concerned, but that particular Sunday, there happened to be quite a lot of people. Ally and Maddie were walking pretty fast, Maddie was talking and Ally was mainly up in the clouds. They made their way in and out of a few stores and while Maddie had bought a couple of outfits, Ally hadn’t been so lucky. All of that didn’t seem to matter, Ally was literally on cloud nine. It couldn’t quite be described, you would think it would be easy enough to simply say sex, but that didn’t seem to be the situation here.

As Ally was imagining herself walking about five feet off the ground, she was thrust backward. Maddie jumped over to the side in surprise before helping Ally up. Ally’s hair was covering her face and when she brushed it out of her way, huffing and puffing the whole way, she got a good look at who had knocked her down.

Her eyes focused in on the intruder of her fantasy and she suddenly couldn’t breathe. “Ally,” Maddie tried to get her attention. Ally stayed dazed, not losing eye contact with the intruder. “Ally!” Maddie snapped her fingers in front of Ally’s face.

Ally shook her head and looked down at Maddie. “Yeah!” she snapped out of it.

“What’s going on? Are you okay?” Maddie looked at Ally puzzled.

Ally looked back up at the stranger still standing in front of her and then back down to Maddie again. “This uh, this is uh…” Ally couldn’t finish.

“An old friend,” the stranger finished for her, holding out a hand to Maddie, “Larry, and you are?”

Maddie shook his hand, staring at him oddly. “Maddie.”

“Nice to meet you Maddie,” he firmly shook her hand, let go, and then focused back up at Ally. “Ally, nice to see you again,” Larry maintained composure, knowing damn well his emotions were going for a loop, as he knew Ally’s were. She never did have a knack for hiding her emotions.

“Ally, what’s going on?” Maddie asked again, not satisfied with the way she answered the first time.

Ally stepped outside herself and eyed the situation; her and Maddie, her daughter, and Larry Paul, her ex-boyfriend, the only other serious thing in her life after Billy. ‘What to do, what to do,’ she pondered silently as she continued to eye the situation.

“So where have you been hiding? I thought you were in Detroit?” Ally finally asked Larry.

“I was. I uh, Helena hired me for a case she has,” Larry answered.

“Nothing like jumping whenever an ex needs you,” Ally snapped back, without even thinking.

Maddie’s head was whipping back and forth; she was definitely missing something.

“What does this remind me of?” Larry mocked, not really smiling.

“Isn’t it just like you, waltz right back into someone’s life, forgetting everything that’s happened,” Ally retorted.

“Ally, we bumped into each other on a street,” Larry looked around as if to emphasize it wasn’t a purposeful meeting. “This wasn’t how I imagined seeing you again,” he added.

“Oh, so you thought you would see me again huh?” Ally snapped. “Well think again,” she brushed his shoulder, bumping him out of her way and she took off down the street, leaving Larry standing next to Maddie, not really surprised at all. Ally turned around and walked back, grabbing Maddie’s hand and setting off yet again.

“Ally, what was all of that about?” Maddie questions Ally again as they’re silently having dinner at home.

“What was all of what about sweetie?” Ally took a sip of water.

“That guy, what was his name, Larry, today on the street. How do you know him?” Maddie couldn’t help being curious.

“Oh, him,” Ally growled. “He’s just an evil ex, likes to leave with notes, you know how it goes,” she shook her hand in the air as an indication.

“Actually no, care to explain? What happened with you guys?” Maddie persisted.

“He left me with a note after things were supposed to be going well. No big deal, I’m over it,” Ally shrugged it off and got up to put the plates in the now working sink.

“You are such a liar!” Maddie exclaimed, laughing right along. “When did this happen?”

“About nine months ago.”

“Why?”

“Hell if I know.”

“Do you still love him?”

“Hopelessly,” Ally clamped a hand over her mouth when she realized what she said. “I don’t mean that,” Ally shook her head violently as Maddie kept grinning.

“Ally, admit it, you’re crazy. What I want to know is what was so great about this guy. Can you tell me?”

Only a few words came out of Ally’s mouth, “Yummy…funny …loving… soul mate.”

Maddie always knew her mother was complicated, but she never realized how complicated until you involved men. “What do you want to do with him right now?” Maddie strategically asked.

“Make out with him like a love-sick teenager,” Ally clamped her mouth shut again with her hand while she looked at Maddie bug-eyed. “Why do I keep saying these things?” she mainly asked herself.

“Don’t worry, if you’re afraid of setting a bad example. I know not to follow your lead in love,” Maddie giggled.

“Hey!” Ally protested.

“So you really don’t know what happened?” Maddie focused back in on the subject at hand.

“Nope, he just, he couldn’t handle it. Obviously we were serious, and I guess he couldn’t handle it. Something about himself,” Ally kind of questioned herself in that explanation. Now everything she wanted to say to him became clear as day. All she wanted to know was why…and maybe if he still loved her too.

Monday morning Ally made her way to work half-hoping to run into Larry again, half dreading it. What good could come of it she asked herself? Nothing, just more heartache, she answered. She made her way into the elevator and onto the floor of Fish & McBeal. Interesting, every time she thought of that, her being partner, she got excited like a little girl again.

Elaine quietly handed Ally her messages as Ally made her way into her office, closing the door behind her. She leaned against the door and banged her head backwards against it. “Forget him, forget him,” she chanted over and over again. Ally finally made her way towards her desk after a minute of literal head banging and sat herself down, prepared to gather her notes up and move into the conference room for the morning meeting.

When she got in there and sat down, everyone was looking at her with half-smirks lingering. Once everyone was settled, Ally stood up, “What’s going on?”

“Well there’s three things,” Richard piped up. “Two good, one to be determined. First, congratulations on having sex this weekend with what’s-his-face,” Richard gave a thumbs up and Ally eyed the rest of the table. Nelle rolled her eyes, Coretta was smirking, and the youngins were smiling.

“Alright, alright, I had sex, what next?” Ally rolled her eyes alongside Nelle.

“Second, John’s back from Mexico, sunburned and all,” Richard smirked. “He wants to see you in his office after the meeting,” he added.

“Okay, assuming those are the good, what’s the bad?” Ally was dreading what was coming next.

“Well,” Richard hesitated before plowing through. “Larry Paul has rented out our conference room for a deposition that starts today after lunch.”

Ally imagined herself pulling out a shotgun and shooting Richard right through the window behind him. She shook her head and looked at him. “Why here? Why the hell can’t he find a conference room somewhere ELSE?” Ally complained.

Richard walked over to Ally and pulled her outside, shutting the conference door behind him. “Ally, remember the trouble that we’re in, uh, financially? Well, he’s paying a generous sum of money in which will be invested into the firm. In our position, I won’t turn down money cause an ex-lover decides to stroll in.”

Ally slumped, defeated, and followed Richard back into the conference room and array of curious faces as they got through the rest of the meeting without too many fishisms or Nelle outbursts, she sure was full of an unusual amount of bitterness lately.

Ally made her way up the stairs to John’s office and found him hanging upside down, red as a beet. “John! What happened?”

“The sun rejects white people,” John retorted back before pulling himself up and dismounting.

“Aww,” Ally cooed softly. She watched as John took off his leg braces. “How are you John? I’ve missed you,” she sat down next to him and rubbed his shoulders, which caused him to twinge.

“Ally, don’t even breathe on me.”

Ally couldn’t help but coo again at the poor defenseless John Cage. “It must hurt like hell.”

“You have no idea,” John sat completely straight up, as if to lessen the pain. “I’m sorry I left without saying anything,” John spoke after a moment of silence.

“I was worried John. Not only have you been going away a lot, but you agreed to make ME partner,” Ally smiled. “Now why would you go and do a crazy thing like that?”

“Well Ally, you deserved it. You’ve been here longest, and you are a great litigator. You truly were the best person for the job,” John patted Ally on the back, then cringed and stood up, straightening out his back and lowering his arms to their sides.

“You know you’ve missed a lot,” Ally changed the subject.

“Really?” John cocked his head sideways towards her. “Like what?” John moved towards his desk and started to sit down.

“Well,” Ally sighed. “I have a daughter I never knew about,” John completely missed the chair and fell flat on the floor, his sunburned back scraping the front of the chair, letting out a scream in the process.

“You have a daughter?” John asked as he peeked his head out from the back of the desk.

Ally nodded. “Her name’s Maddie and she’s ten years old.”

“What else have I missed, if I dare ask,” John slowly made his way back into the chair, making sure he made contact.

Ally took a deep breath, “Well, I had sex with my plumber, and I saw Larry yesterday while me and Maddie were out shopping.”

John’s eyes got wide. “Sex, Larry?”

“Not together,” Ally laughed.

“Well, but, I thought Larry was in Detroit…who did you have sex with?” John was flustered.

“My plumber, I don’t know if I told you about him. His name’s Victor, does that ring any bells?” All of a sudden Ally smacked herself mentally. Here she was obsessing over Larry when Victor and her might have something going on. Now while Ally has been known to have the ‘strictly sex’ fling from blue moon to blue moon, it’s not normal for her to leave it at that afterwards and here she was, not even dealing with feelings she WAS having for Victor; very abnormal for Ally McBeal.

“I don’t recall him, but that doesn’t matter. What’s Larry doing back in Boston?” John couldn’t help but wonder as much as Ally. There was no one he had seen her happier with than Larry, even though he personally thought Larry was a pompous ass note leaver. Sometimes he could strangle Larry for leaving such a great thing. ‘Down John, don’t go there,’ he warned himself.

“Apparently it’s some business with his ex-wife, you remember, the whipped cream queen. Anyways, some case, he’s supposed to be renting out our conference room today. Didn’t you know?” Ally looked at John, bemused.

“No, see, Richard seems to think telling me things isn’t important anymore,” John rolled his eyes. More and more he was getting sick of Richard. He hated how Richard seemed to think floating through life was possible forever.

Ally shook that remark off, she didn’t want to set John off on more Richard nonsense. Richard was getting to John; she knew it. “Listen John, I hate to cut this short, but I have to go now, I’ve got a ton of work to do and I leave the office everyday at five to be home for Maddie. Why don’t you stop by tonight and we can talk some more. I want to hear all about Mexico,” Ally smiled. “Does that sound good?”

John smiled his first smile, “That sounds great.”

“Oh!” Ally exclaimed. “I almost forgot! I bought a house too!” she laughed, not believing she forgot to tell him. “It’s a beautiful two story, I’ll have to give you directions,” John just looked at Ally with an open mouthed surprised smile.

“You’re just full of surprises aren’t you?”

“Well, I’ve been making a lot of changes in my life I guess,” Ally shrugged it off as she stood up. “You take care, and make sure you put lots of Vaseline lotion on that sunburn,” she added in a more strict tone before leaving.

Ally walked out of John’s office and down the stairs with a smile on her face. Oh how she missed their long talks. She often wished she could be there for him more, but it was almost as if he had built a wall up against the world, closing most everyone out, including her. She shook her head, concluding that tonight, things would change, they would talk, figure things out, and she would help him in whatever it was he was personally going through and had decided not to share. As she opened the door to her office, she gasped and jumped a bit, seeing Victor having stood up from sitting down in one of the chairs in front of her desk.

“Victor, he-hey, wh-what brings you here?” Ally stammered.

“Well I haven’t talked to you in a day, so I thought I’d see how you were,” he smiled warmly.

Ally walked over to Victor and he bent down to kiss her cheek. She felt herself get stiff and mentally told herself to calm down. “So how are things?” Ally asked absent-mindedly as she made her way around to her desk chair and sat down.

“Oh, I’m alright, I wanted to know if you wanted to have dinner tonight or something? Bring Maddie along, wouldn’t want her to feel left out,” he smiled.

Ally’s head snapped up. “Actually, I have plans.”

“Oh,” Victor looked slightly hurt, if not a bit surprised.

“John’s back in town and I invited him over to see my new house and meet Maddie and just catch up. He really is my best friend and we’ve drifted big time. This is very important,” Ally explained, hoping he would understand. Ally wasn’t quite in the right state of mind to be turning him down just yet.

“I understand Ally,” Victor answered simply. “It’s not a problem. Maybe tomorrow,” he smiled back reassuringly.

“Tomorrow would be great,” Ally smiled.

Elaine knocked on Ally’s door and peeked inside slightly. Victor turned around and Ally made eye contact with Elaine. “Yes Elaine,” Ally gritted her teeth, forcing a smile. Elaine had the WORST timing on interrupting a conversation, then again, that’s what she did best.

“There’s somebody here to see you,” Elaine raised her eyebrows at Ally’s behavior and then glared at Victor.

“Who is it?” Ally asked, distracted by a fly that was buzzing in front of her face.

“See for yourself,” Elaine smiled sneakily as she opened the door and Larry made his way inside the office.

Ally looked up annoyed and froze when she saw Larry standing slightly behind Victor. All of a sudden, she heard the familiar dancing baby tune of “Hooked on a Feeling.” She shook her head stared at Larry a little longer. The tune was still playing. Victor turned and looked at Ally who had suddenly gotten very pale. “You okay Ally?” Victor asked, looking puzzled.

“I seem to have that effect on her,” Larry smiled.

“Hey!” Ally snapped back at Larry, breaking from her daze, the music ending in a record scratch.

“Am I missing something?” Victor asked, looking back and forth from Ally to Larry.

“Oh, I’m Larry Paul,” Larry reached out his hand to meet Victor’s. “I’m just an, old friend,” Larry said after a moment.

“You are no friend of mine!” Ally piped up, joining the conversation again.

Larry’s head snapped back over to look at Ally. “Somebody’s still sore,” he half-smiled.

“Well gee, I could never guess WHY,” Ally spat out.

Victor noticed this was looking familiar. “You two fight like you’re married,” he couldn’t help but crack.

Larry bowed his head and Ally gasped, insulted. “We are not married, never have been, never will be, never in a million years. He’s just a sorry ass!”

“There go those run-on sentences again,” Victor cracked. Ally and Larry both looked at him quickly, catching Victor off guard. “Did I say something wrong?”

Larry was the first to speak. “No, it’s just, it sounds familiar, that’s all.” He set his briefcase down on one of the chairs in front of Ally’s desk and started wiping his glasses with his tie. When Larry put his glasses back on and looked up at Ally, their eyes made solid eye contact. Ally heard the tune again and looked up and around, twirling fast, searching for the dancing baby, figuring that’s what it has to be.

“Ally?” Victor questioned Ally’s peculiar actions.

Ally’s head darted over in his direction and she lost her balance due to her wrapped up legs, falling down on the floor. Larry and Victor’s eyes followed her downward as she quickly stood up, brushing herself off, pulling her hair back from in front of her eyes. “Yeah, yeah,” she mumbled.

“Are you okay Ally?” Victor asked, a little worried. He always knew Ally was weird, but this was a little abnormal, even for her.

Larry on the other hand, knew exactly what was going through her head. He assumed Victor was a possible someone she might be seeing or might be about to see, and she was nervous at the combination of the two. “Maybe I should go,” Larry said after Victor asked that last question.

“I should actually go too,” Victor chimed in. “I have a couple of appointments. I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked Ally.

Ally blinked as she stared numbly at Victor. “Uh, su-sure, to-tomor-tomorrow.”

Victor left the room, leaving Ally and Larry tense in each other’s company. “I should go,” Larry repeated, still staring at Ally.

“I do have work to do,” Ally replied softly.

“And I have a deposition to prepare for,” Larry added.

“Then you should go,” Ally repeated Larry’s previous statement.

Larry nodded slightly and slowly turned around to go.

As Larry walked away, she heard the baby tune once again. This time, she saw the baby, but he was done up like cupid and he shot Larry in the back with a heart shaped arrow, and then he shot Ally with one. All of a sudden Ally fell to the floor with a loud thump, sending her chair flying back, making a loud sound against the glass window behind her, which then sent Elaine inside.