“Ally, are you okay?” came John’s voice from directly beside her. Despite his sunburn, he was kneeling right down beside her, holding her hand.

“Um, I uh, I was uh, I uh,” Ally moved her head slowly and surveyed her surroundings. Richard, Coretta, Elaine, John, Nelle, and even Larry were standing nearby, looking at her limp, frail body. “Where am I?”

“You’re in my office,” John spoke softly and began stroking the top of Ally’s hand. “Are you okay?” he repeated. “Evidently you fell and Elaine heard a crash so she rushed in and you were sprawled out on the floor behind your desk, rammed between it and your chair,” John explained carefully. “Do you wanna tell me what happened?” John knew something must have been imagined her head. He knew her all too well.

Ally pulled herself up and a hand went immediately to her head, as if to hold it on and she winced in pain, closing her eyes. “I uh,” Ally opened her eyes again. Her eyes went directly to John’s troubled expression and then to the people around her, resting on a distant Larry. He was standing closer to the door, leaning against a wall nearby. “You,” she pointed at Larry, making him stand straight up only to become paranoid. Everyone turned their heads simultaneously to look at Larry, in which he pulled at his tie, starting to sweat. “You left my office, and I saw,” Ally couldn’t find words so John stepped in.

“Can I have a moment alone with Ally please,” he addressed the group, standing up and motioning them all towards the door. As each person walked out, they stared Larry up and down, helping to further the uncomfortable feeling he had at that moment. “You too Larry,” John spoke firmly when he was the last one left. Larry eyed the both of them and then bowed his head, walking out. John walked over to the door and shut it, turning around to look at a still dazed Ally. “Okay Ally, now you know you can talk to me. What happened in there?”

Ally looked down at her hands and began playing with them. “Oh you know, me just getting in those unthinkable situations,” Ally avoided the question.

“Ally,” John warned.

“Okay, Victor and Larry showed up in my office at the same time,” Ally spat out quickly, knowing deep down she couldn’t hide anything from John.

“Ahh, and this therefore made you faint? What else?” John pursued the situation, knowing there had to be more.

Ally looked up at him like a little girl. “Do you remember the dancing baby song? That ooga chaka ooga chaka?” Ally shook her head, “Well I heard the song, just without the ooga chaka’s or the baby when Larry walked into my office. They were both looking at me strange, I made it go away, and then it came back again, they obviously knew something was going on because I was twirling around like a nut and then when Larry left, I heard it again only,” Ally paused.

“Only what?” John sat down next to Ally.

Ally turned to directly focus on John. “The dancing baby grew wings, looked like cupid, and shot Larry in the back with a heart-shaped arrow, then me with the same arrow,” Ally closed her eyes imagining it again, then shook the image clear from her mind and focused back on John. “What do you make of that?”

John was in deep thought mode and it took him a minute before he could speak. “Ally, what’s the situation with Victor? Honestly tell me where you two stand.”

“Well, I like him, I really do,” Ally said confidently.

“Larry?”

“La-La-Larry,” Ally laughed nervously. Funny you should ask me that,” Ally stuttered, still avoiding the question.

“Ally,” John warned sternly again.

“I love him,” Ally shot out quickly.

John nodded in agreement, “I knew it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Ally, you need to be true to yourself.”

“But I don’t LIKE him John! How can I love someone I don’t even like?” Ally argued.

“I’ll admit he’s not my favorite person in the world, but you both have unresolved issues with each other. There are feelings that still present themselves and you need to deal with them,” John started to explain.

“But what if we deal with those issues and I still love him, or end up liking him again? What about Victor? Victor’s been great. He’s always there, he’s great with Maddie, Larry doesn’t even know I have a child yet,” Ally slumped back onto the couch, still holding her throbbing head.

“Are you worried about how Maddie would take to Larry?” John asked.

“No, not really. She seems to adjust well to new things, it’s just,” Ally sighed. “Me and Victor just started something. I don’t want to blow him off and make him feel like I used him for sex,” Ally clamped a hand over her mouth and looked at John bug-eyed.

“What aren’t you telling me Ally?” John narrowed his eyes. “Well, I guess what I didn’t tell you before was that Victor and I, we fight like mad and then we end up kissing…only Saturday night, we fought outside, I shoved Richard, who was babysitting Maddie, out the door, and then Victor came inside, and we just did it right there on the living room floor,” Ally covered her face, waiting for a strange reaction from John. When John didn’t say anything, she added, “John I can’t believe how spontaneous I was. I really like that about Victor. He can push my buttons to piss me off, but then he can push those buttons…” Ally faded off, giggling like a high school sophomore.

“First thing you think of when you think of Larry, what is it?” John asked, trying to break the situation down.

“Left me,” Ally responded without missing a beat.

“First thing you think of when you think of Victor,” John followed up.

“GREAT in bed,” Ally’s eyes darted over in his direction, waiting for a reaction.

“Love vs. lust,” John eyed Ally. “It’s not a tough decision,” he told her honestly, leaving Ally wallowing in her bemused thoughts.

Ally was in the unisex standing in front of the mirror thinking when she heard the door open. Her eyes darted over to see who had walked in and when she made eye contact, the music started again.

I can’t stop this feeling

Ally shook her head violently and looked up again.

Deep inside of me

Ally envisioned the arrow stuck in his back, once again.

Boy you just don’t realize what you do to me

“Ally?” Larry focused in on her.

“Yeah,” Ally almost yelled, snapping out of her trance, the music stopping suddenly.

“You okay?” Larry asked politely.

“Fine, fine, I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be fine?” Ally spoke fast, whirling air with her right hand as she spoke, laughing nervously at the end as always.

“Well, you’re imagining something again, I can tell,” Larry studied her expression and could sense her eyes widening. “What, do you think that after all this time of knowing you I can’t tell when you go off into your own little world? John may see what you see, but that doesn’t mean no one else can tell,” Larry took a short pause and then finished in a quick breath, “especially those who care about you,” he glanced away quickly and made his way into a stall.

Ally’s eyes followed him and she could feel her heartbeat pick up. ‘He still cares,’ she thought hopefully, an excited smile creeping to her face. ‘Well of course he cares dummy, why else would he still be around?’ Ally took that time to remind herself of why he was in Boston. ‘Helena, of course, that sex-cream goddess bitch.’ Ally immediately scolded herself, realizing that she didn’t know Helena and that it was wrong for her to assume. ‘Must have Nelle on the brain,’ she chuckled softly.

Larry came out of the stall and adverted his eyes from her direction. Truth be told, every nerve in his body was shot and his heart was racing as well. He washed his hands quickly so that she couldn’t tell he was shaking. Ally stole a couple of quick glances before Larry had dried his hands and started for the door.

He was about to leave silently when Ally couldn’t stop herself anymore. “Larry,” she said softly, but loud enough to be heard.

Larry snapped around a little too happily for his own liking. “Yeah,” he said quickly, as if expecting her to stop him.

“Why?” Ally simply said, looking him straight in the eye, painful as it was.

It didn’t take Larry long to figure out what she meant. “I’m an idiot,” he looked at her longingly. “I didn’t know what I had,” and with that, he left.

Later that night, Ally was relaxing in her living room with Maddie when the doorbell rang. Ally raced to the door and drug Maddie with her. Ally had spent the whole night telling Maddie about what a wonderful friend and special oddball person John was so she’d be prepared for any weird things that might happen. Maddie had laughed, but then Ally reminded her that she came from blood of a weirdo and that shut her right up.

“John!” Ally hugged him.

“Hey,” he returned the hug, but his eyes immediately went to the person standing next to her.

“Hey! I’m almost as tall as he is!” Maddie grinned.

Ally turned around and glared at her. “John, this is Maddie, my daughter,” Ally couldn’t help gritting her teeth, forcing a deadly smile upon Maddie. Maddie couldn’t stop smiling. “Maddie, this is my best friend John Cage,” Ally’s regular smile was back when she looked back over at John.

John stood there with an amazed look on his face as he reached out a hand to shake with Maddie’s. “Nice to meet you Maddie.”

“Nice to meetcha,” Maddie replied, roughly shaking his hand, overdoing it like her preteen self.

John allowed himself to be shaken roughly before withdrawing his hand and staring at Maddie like she grew another head. “She definitely came from you,” John joked, not really meaning to for a laugh, getting one from Ally however.

“Hey!” Maddie complained.

“Ha ha!” Ally pointed and laughed, acting slightly immature herself, but having fun nonetheless.

Maddie rolled her eyes, “Leave it to you to have friends just as strange as you.”

“Ha ha again,” Ally poked Maddie in the stomach, causing her to cringe from being ticklish there. All of a sudden Ally leaped on Maddie, tickling her to death before she cried uncle in defeat. Ally stood up and grinned triumphantly until Maddie charged her, knocking her to the floor and beginning to turn it around, tickling Ally like crazy.

The doorbell rang and Ally managed to weasel her way out of Maddie’s grasp and opened the door, trying to stifle her laughter. Ally smiled and looked in front of her as she opened the door. In a split second, the laughter stopped and she felt weak in the knees. “Larry,” she whispered.

“Hi Ally,” Larry ran is fingers through his hair before proceeding to speak to a speechless Ally. “I thought I’d stop by and see you. I got your new address from Coretta.”

“I uh, ye-yeah,” Ally didn’t know what to say and then Maddie came to her rescue, as far as being able to speak.

Maddie wrapped an arm around Ally’s waist and looked at Larry. “Who are you again?” she asked, curious.

Larry was confused, but went with it, “I’m Larry Paul and you are?” he reached out a hand to shake.

Maddie proceeded with another one of those rough handshakes like the one she had given John just a few minutes prior. “I’m Maddie. Nice to meetcha,” Maddie repeated.

Larry couldn’t help but grin. Her personality was so spunky; he thought it was cute. “So,” he looked back up at Ally. “Can we talk?”

“Um,” Ally glanced back at John and down at Maddie then back to Larry again. “I don’t know…” she allowed herself to fade out.

“It’s okay Ally,” John piped up. “I’d actually like to talk to Maddie, tell her some things about her mother,” he added sneakily.

“Hey!” Ally protested, a smile creeping upon her face.

Maddie let go of Ally and walked towards John. “Let’s go upstairs to my room,” she led the way up the stairs with a mused John following behind.

“Mother?” Larry was totally lost now.

Ally whipped her head around quickly, acquiring a horrified expression. “Oh, uh, he,” Ally giggled slightly. “Yeah, she’s a, she’s my, my daughter.”

“Daughter? How old is she?” Larry’s expression of puzzlement didn’t change.

“She’s ten years old, and it’s a long story. In college, I harvested some eggs for money and one got used by mistake, and now I have a daughter,” Ally spoke quickly, gesturing with her hands.

“Interesting,” Larry nodded his head in a mocking sort of fashion.

“What?” Ally got defensive.

“I just always thought,” Larry stopped, looking Ally straight in the eyes.

“Thought what?” Ally questioned, placing a hand on her hip.

“I just always thought that you would get married before having a child.”

“Yeah, well things don’t always turn out the way you expect Lar-ry,” Ally responded hotly. “For example, I never thought that you-“ Ally clamped a hand over her mouth, took one last look at Larry and then fled to the kitchen. Larry followed close behind.

“Never thought what?” Larry countered.

Ally whipped around. “I never thought you would leave me again. Just goes to show you never know people the way you think they do. You know, I’m a lot different then when you knew me before,” Ally notified Larry.

Larry rolled his eyes. “Right, and I have suddenly become a woman.”

Ally gasped, annoyed. “What the hell is your problem? Do you not believe in ‘change’? Well how’s this Mr. I’m-too-good-for-anybody! You’re a leaver. You’re afraid of commitment and you can’t live without breaking someone’s heart at least once a year!” Ally was shouting by now.

“So who was that?” Maddie asked John after they had settled in her room.

“That was her last serious boyfriend,” John didn’t hesitate. Maddie struck him as the kind of person who needed to know and quite frankly, Ally would have told her eventually.

“So THAT”S the Larry she was telling me about!” Maddie exclaimed, piecing everything together triumphantly.

“What did she tell you?” John raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

“That she still loved him.” Maddie studied John’s expression. “What did she tell you?”

“Oh, well I’ve been around from the beginning and, well, he hurt her pretty bad.”

“Yeah, he just left…something about him being him or something,” Maddie searched for the words.

“He couldn’t handle commitment very well, that’s for sure. Do you know he’s got an ex-wife and then a son whose mother isn’t Larry’s ex-wife?”

“A son AND an ex-wife? Wow, talk about the baggage.”

“Well, he’s been around,” John started.

“He keeps himself busy,” Maddie laughed.

John stared at her incredulously. “Where the,” John started humming his usual tune, trying to get himself back on track. “Bdeah, bdeah,” John crossed his arms and waved a hand back and forth to stop himself. “Do you always talk like this?” he finally got out audibly.

“Like what? What other way is there to talk?” Maddie looked at him innocently. John could instantly realize what made Ally fall in love with her and he half-smiled.

“So how long have you been with Ally?”

“About three weeks,” Maddie responded.

“How are things going?” John continued.

“She’s a bit of a weirdo, but I like her,” Maddie smiled.

Suddenly a huge crash could be heard and the two of them jumped and ran towards the door, Maddie leading the way.

Larry started hollering back. “You don’t even know me!” You don’t even know the hell I’ve been going through, the hell I went through when you DUMPED me!”

“Gee, I wonder why I dumped you!”

“You never listen to explanations Ally! Why are you so damn immature? You run from anything steady, you just don’t realize it. You had something with me, we had something, and you didn’t even let me explain. You let it be over in an eye blink thanks to an assumption you made.” Larry tried calming down to explain his point.

Ally put her hand on her hip again. “Please, EXPLAIN,” she emphasized, mocking him. Larry stood there, staring at her, unbelieving of the way she was acting. It was very un-Ally like. Ally was getting more impatient. “Well? SPEAK!” she roared at him with even more vigor.

“I uh,” Larry took his glasses off and began cleaning them with the front of his shirt, replacing them back on and staring directly at her. “I wanted to be with you forever you know. I had it all planned too. I was going to ask you…” Larry stopped and ran his fingers through his hair again, turning around slowly, then coming back to face Ally once again. “I was going to ask you if forever still stood.”

Ally felt her knees grow weak beneath her again and she felt very dizzy. Not only was the yelling doing a number on her head, her eyes were stinging from tears and her stomach was doing flops, not to mention the fact that her heart was being squeezed by strong invisible hands at that very moment. She looked down at her feet and bent her knees slightly to try and keep them from locking which would then cause her to fall to the ground. “I have to, I have to, I have to sit down,” Ally walked backwards and felt for a chair or something to sit in. She ran into the cutting board island in the middle of the kitchen and her searching hand sent a container holding specialty knives crashing to the ground. Larry grabbed her quickly by the arm and pulled her away from the sharp knives that were scattered on the kitchen floor.

There was a barrage of footsteps heard coming down the stairs and Larry turned quickly to see John and Maddie rushing into the kitchen with expressions of worry etched on their faces. “Stop there!” he warned in panic, not able to move over there for he had a now passed out Ally in his arms.

“Larry, what’s wrong with Ally?” John was worried when he saw Ally noticeably unconscious in Larry’s arms.

Larry looked down to Ally’s limp body hanging in his arms and his eyes grew wide in fear. “Ally!” he shouted, shaking her roughly in panic. “Ally, honey, wake up!” Larry shook her some more. Ally’s figure was unresponsive. Larry reached down and grabbed her legs, pulling her up and into both of his arms; he carried her to the couch in the living room adjacent to where he was currently standing. He rested her head on a pillow and gently caressed her cheek. “Ally, baby, wake up, Ally,” he kept repeating.

John and Maddie were amazed at this sight. All John could think about was how much it was apparent Larry still cared for her, if not loved her. Maddie couldn’t stop wondering if Ally was all right or not.

“Is she gonna be okay?” Maddie spoke finally, apparent fear in her voice.

John looked over at Maddie and put an arm around her shoulder. “She passed out earlier in the office today, I’m sure it’s nothing too serious,” John tried to reassure her.

“If she passed out before, than you should be more worried now!” Maddie raised her voice.

Larry’s ears perked up as he heard Maddie’s raised voice. He turned and looked at her. “Why don’t you call 911, she’s not waking up,” he suggested, speaking softly.

“NO! YOU call it! You did this to her!” Maddie pushed Larry out of the way and rushed to Ally’s side.

Larry and John shared a look of disorientation.

“Ally, you gotta wake up! You gotta wake up! I can’t lose you now! What’s wrong? Come on!” Maddie urged the flaccid body, tears stinging her eyes. Maddie looked up at the two guys. “Someone call!” she urged.

Gradually Ally’s body regained life and Maddie felt her stirring. Her head turned immediately to get a glimpse of the conscious Ally.

“Maddie,” Ally whispered as she focused on the little girl in front of her.

“Mom,” Maddie crumpled onto Ally’s lap like a little baby.

Ally’s eyes grew wide. That was the first time Maddie had called her mom.’ “You, you called me, you called me mom,” she smiled, flabbergasted.

Maddie pulled away and looked at her. “I thought there was something really wrong with you! I was worried I’d lose you and I don’t want that to happen,” Maddie placed her head back down on Ally’s lap. Ally wrapped her arms around her and then ensued to survey her surroundings. Ally made eye contact with John who had a look of relief on his face. She smiled at him and reached out a hand to squeeze his in reassurance. Ally then looked over to Larry who had a look of guilt across his face; there was that familiar pain visible as well. “Larry,” she whispered.

Larry looked up at her, sad eyes, full of tears. “Every time I see you, you, something, you,” he took a breath and continued to speak softly. “Something happens to you,” he looked back down and stifled a sob.

Ally didn’t know what to say so she continued to hug her daughter. Maddie pulled away and surveyed the situation. Ally was okay she concluded, John looked like he felt out of place and Larry, well, as much as she wasn’t very fond of him, there was a true sadness to his disposition standing in the corner of the room. She made eye contact with Ally. “Are you okay?”

“Yes sweetheart, I’m fine,” Ally nodded in agreement.

“Well then I think I’m going to go to bed,” Maddie felt like removing herself from the situation. She went over to John first. “It was nice meeting you John, you funny little man,” Maddie patted the top of his head as he stood there with that open-mouthed look on his face. Ally stifled a giggle. Maddie then made her way over to Larry and stared at him for a moment, making sure she had his attention. “She breaks,” Maddie added one more thing. “Keep her in once piece. Good night everyone,” she went over and hugged Ally once more.

After Maddie had ascended the stairs, John took this as his cue to leave. “While I would love to talk some more Ally, I really should get going. I unfortunately have a lot of work to catch up on,” John sighed heavily. “Take care of yourself,” he hugged her and gave her a peck on the cheek. Ally saw John to the door and when she shut the door, she turned around and leaned against it.

Larry’s gaze had been on her the entire time. He was washed over with a shy timid vulnerability in which Ally recognized immediately. “You really believe in forever?” Ally finally asked after a minute or so of uncomfortable silence.

“I thought I was ready for it, but,” Larry sighed. “I guess I wasn’t. Not even with you, and you are my forever. If there’s a such thing as forever for me, you were it.”

“If I was forever, then why did you leave me?” Ally asked, feeling relieved she’d finally asked him what she’d wanted to know forever. Something told her the ball was no longer in her court. She could no longer make the moves.

Larry took his glasses off and started to clean them again. “I uh,” Larry started to speak while brushing his glasses with the material on his shirt once again. “I didn’t think I was capable of forever. Forever didn’t seem like something I could handle. Forever meant making promises and I have found out I’m no good at them. Wives are supposed to be forever, I’m divorced. Children are supposed to be forever, I don’t even see Sam all the time,” Larry put his glasses back on and looked her in the eye. “It was never you Ally. It was NEVER you. I couldn’t handle it. If I had stayed in it any longer, it would have hurt you more when I left.”

“Then why are you here right now?” Ally responded quickly, listening intently.

“I can’t help it. I feel something keeping me from not being away from you.”

“Well what about being with me?”

“I guess there was something that did the exact opposite as well.” Larry sighed, putting his glasses back on. “I can’t be without you, but for some reason I can’t be with you either.”

Ally had had it with him. She pulled away from the door and opened it. “Larry, I can’t deal with your games right now. I don’t know when I’ll be able to, but definitely not now. Please leave.”

The look on Larry’s face was one of heartbreak. He bowed his head and moved towards the door, feeling vastly defeated. He took a look at her as he passed by. “See you around?” he offered meekly.

Ally forced a small smile. “See you around,” she reciprocated, hoping not to. She knew that if she did, it would be hard to stay away from him.

Ally shut the door behind her, leaned against it again and fell to the floor in a heap, feeling her eyes well up.

The next night, Ally sat on her couch, dressed to go out. Maddie and John were in the room with her and watched as she bounced her legs up and down rapidly, biting her bottom lip.

Brave Maddie broke the silence. “What’s wrong? Do you not want to go out with Victor tonight?”

Ally moved her head over to the right of her in the direction of Maddie. “What? Why wouldn’t I WANT to go out with Victor?” Ally responded as if Maddie had just asked the stupidest question in the world.

“Well you just seem…” Maddie faded.

“Lost,” John filled in.

Maddie and John exchanged a glance and then focused back on Ally. Ally rolled her eyes. “I’m fine, I’m ju, just, I’m just-“ John and Maddie cut her off.

“Preoccupied.”

Ally took a double look and then shook her head. “No, I’m fine. Honestly,” she smiled hoping to reassure them and then the doorbell rang. Ally stood up fast and made a beeline for the door. When she opened the door, the face looking back at her was not the one she expected. Maddie came up behind her and stared at him.

“Are you back again?” she nagged.

“Maddie,” Ally admonished her in a raspy tone.

“Well! You’re busy tonight,” Maddie turned to look at her. “And besides, what ELSE could he want? He already made you pass out,” Maddie turned to glare at Larry who attempted to keep his head held high.

His motive was clear: get Ally alone, apologize, and try…try to get somewhere with her because God knows that’s the only way he could get on with his life…the only way was with her in it. “I came to speak to you Ally.” He looked down at Maddie and gave her that ‘get lost’ look.

Maddie rolled her eyes and walked away to sit down next to an alert John.

Ally’s eyes followed Maddie as she sat down and then she looked back over to Larry. “This better be good, I have a date,” Ally divulged, putting a hand on her hip.

“Well I was hoping we could speak in private,” Larry’s courage was in tip-top shape, at least it started off like that.

Ally looked behind Larry and saw Victor come up the steps, holding a rose, and eyeing the situation dubiously.

Ally didn’t really know what to do and found herself pushing Larry to the side and rushing down the steps to kiss an unsuspecting Victor. After the kiss, she looked back up at Larry. “Larry, you remember Victor,” she smiled this totally plastic smile.

Maddie was laughing hard in the background and John was trying to hold his composure because he too found it incredibly humorous to see Larry get screwed into the wall like that.

“Well Larry, I hate to run, but I’ve got a date,” she emphasized the ‘t,’ walked past him inside the house to grab her purse and shawl. When she passed him again, she looked him in the eyes and immediately regretted it. She could feel the weakness coming again, but she tried to fight it off. Ally turned to look at Maddie and John. “Don’t wait up, I shouldn’t be home anytime early. Sleep well honey,” Ally said to Maddie, blowing her a quick kiss and pulling the door shut behind her.

Larry had pulled himself out of the house along with Ally and was left in the presence of her and Victor, very uncomfortably by the way. Larry kept his head held high. “Well Ally, I guess I will be seeing you around,” he made his way down the steps.

“I’m sure we’re bound to run into each other,” Ally responded, trying to brush him off.

“Victor, nice seeing you again,” Larry held his hand out like a gentleman and they shook. Larry nodded slightly to both of them and then made himself disappear down the street.

I can’t stop this feeling

Ally couldn’t help watching him walk away, slowly hearing that fast-paced tune again.

Deep inside of me

There was something enticing about him that just wouldn’t go away no matter how much she fought it. She shook her head, ending the song in a record scratch. Ally looked over to Victor and smiled warmly, “Shall we?” she proposed.

Victor couldn’t help but smile. “We shall,” he held out his arm for her and she clasped on.

The two walked down the street a little towards a more populated section of the city and found a cab to drive them the rest of the way to their restaurant.

Ally and Victor were sitting at the restaurant in semi-silence. They were lingering around after having had dinner and they were on their fourth or fifth glass of chardonnay; count had been lost.

Victor had to break the ice on a subject he thought they had been avoiding since it became broached. “What’s this guy Larry to you Ally?”

Ally had been leaning on her arm in a dazed like mode but sat straight up when she heard that question. “Larry?” she slightly slurred. “Larry is an awful man. He thinks he’s so great,” Ally was swinging her wine glass back and forth, “but he’s not. He’s a loser who left. And with a note! Can you believe that?” Ally asked Victor like he wasn’t a person she was seeing. She took a swig of her wine.

“He left?” Victor questioned some more. “It seems to me like he’s still around,” Victor continued skeptically.

“NOW he won’t leave!” Ally raised her voice unintentionally. “Now that I’m finally moving on with me life,” Ally brought a hand to cover Victor’s and smiled silly-like before continuing. “He decides to wander back into my life and make me go nuts all over again.” Ally was swinging her wine glass to and fro again.

“What do you mean go nuts all over again?” Victor was feeling threatened more and more by this Larry character, but then again, Ally did appear to be a little far-gone.

“I’m seeing things again,” Ally leaned in to whisper.

Victor was really weirded out now. “See things? What kind of things?”

“Oh dancing babies, arrows, that sort of thing,” Ally rambled out like it was the most normal thing to hallucinate.

“Ally, I think you’re a little drunk,” Victor raised a hand for the waiter to come.

“I am not!” Ally protested.

The waiter approached the table. “Can I get anything else for you two?” he smiled.

“Another glass please,” Ally shoved it in his face.

“NO!” Victor was firm. “She’s had too much already,” he smiled nervously. “Just the check please.”

“Hey!” Ally slurred, slumping back in her seat, still holding the empty glass.

“Right away,” he flipped through his several receipts and placed theirs down on the table. The waiter had seen this many times. ‘Second date’ he guessed, walking away in a snigger.

“Ally, forget I asked,” Victor stood up and put his coat on, then walked to the other side of the tiny table and helped Ally into hers. When Ally stood up, she staggered slightly, but Victor was right there to catch her.

“Woo, I guess I’m a little dizzy,” Ally laughed uncontrollably.

Victor rolled his eyes and mentally reminded himself to never come back to that particular restaurant. Ally had finally got her coat on and Victor held her securely at the waist, grabbing the check before directing them both towards the door.

Once they got out into the cool crisp air, Ally took a visibly deep breath. “I just love the fresh air!” She broke herself away from Victor and ran to the middle of the street only to begin twirling around and around in a circle.

Victor couldn’t help but laugh until Ally lost her balance and fell down on her butt. “Ally are you okay?” he rushed over to assist her in getting up.

“Oh I’m fine!” Ally brushed it off.

Victor had helped Ally up and they kept walking. Victor had wanted to take a cab, but Ally insisted they walk.

“I’m sorry,” Ally said solemnly after a good ten minutes of walking.

“What do you mean?” Victor was confused.

Ally stopped walking and turned to face Victor who had also stopped walking. “I’m sorry for getting so drunk and, and, and, and, going absolutely nuts, and, and, and,” she looked up at him, feeling very much like a little girl.

“Ally, what?” Victor pried, speaking softly.

Ally shook her head and turned to keep walking, still staggering some. “Do you really wanna know what’s wrong with me?”

Victor was still nervous but affirmed that.

“Larry was my last serious boyfriend. To be completely honest, he was one of my two only serious boyfriends. Him and I,” Ally paused, nodding to remind herself. “We were great. Whenever he didn’t run away, we were great. We laughed together, we cried together, we loved together,” Ally felt her voice fade off. “But when commitment, commitment forever, was considered...he flaked out on me.” Ally stopped walking, but kept looking forward. “I wasn’t enough to make him want forever.” Ally looked down at her feet.

“Hey,” Victor whispered, brushing her cheek softly. “You’re enough to make any man want forever.”

Ally looked up and over at him. “Then why didn’t he want me?” Her eyes were teary and before she knew it, she was collapsed in his arms, crying...crying over Larry Paul...the jerk who left her with a note.

Victor enveloped Ally into his arms in a big bear hug, letting her cry freely. “You’re enough for any man,” he reaffirmed, whispering, almost to himself.

Ally’s cries subsided a bit and the two kept on walking. Victor kept his arm around her waist protectively.

When they reached Ally’s house about ten minutes later, Ally’s state of mind had changed. She was all of sudden feeling very resentful towards Larry and the situations he always put her in. Ally went up one step to her house and turned around to make eye contact with Victor. She pulled him close to her, surprising him with her change of pace. “Has anyone ever told you what a beautiful man you are?” Ally slurred, some of the alcohol still kicking inside her.

Victor sensed what was going on immediately and resolved to not let this night go anywhere, much to his dismay. “How about I take you inside and get you some coffee...let it kick that wine that’s still lingering.”

He walked up past her to her door and opened it up, grabbing Ally’s hand and guiding her inside. As soon as the two of them were inside the warm house, Ally made her move. She took one not-so-smooth motion to bring her lips to his. Victor could smell the alcohol on her breath and backed away.

“Ally,” he warned, putting an arm up in front of him to keep her at a distance.

“Oh come on. I thought you said I was enough,” Ally moaned, pushing his hand away and moving in closer, bringing her mouth to his neck and kissing it sensuously.

Victor felt himself getting weak as Ally made out with his neck, but he struggled to keep his cool. “Not like this you’re not,” he pulled away again. “Ally, you’re very drunk. You need a good cup of coffee is what you need,” he moved away from her towards the kitchen.

Ally wouldn’t have it that way. She grabbed him from the back and pulled him back towards her. “Oh come on, don’t you wanna play?” she smiled devilishly as her hands made their way down to his pants and she unzipped them.

“Ally, NO.” Victor was losing his patience now and he went to zip up his pants. Something got caught in them as he was zipping them up and both he and Ally looked down. Ally’s dress had gotten caught in the zipper.

John and Maddie had heard the commotion from the kitchen where they were having a cup of hot chocolate. They slowly made their way to the door and when they visualized Ally and Victor, the sight made Maddie crack up and John screamed suddenly.

At the sound of John’s screaming Victor and Ally looked up. Ally reciprocated the scream, and her jumping back ripped the dress out of the clutches of the zipper. This was enough to sober Ally up. “This isn’t what you think,” she tried explaining, forgetting that they probably heard every single thing she had said before and that it was exactly what they were thinking.

She looked up at Victor apologetically. “Victor, I’m so sorry.”

Victor wasn’t very happy with the situation. “Ally, I’m just gonna go home now,” he glanced over at John and Maddie real quick and then moved towards the door. “Make sure you get that cup of coffee,” he directed towards Ally and then he was gone.

Ally was stunned. She looked over at Maddie and John. Maddie slowly crept her way up the stairs, still stifling laughter. John grabbed his coat from the coat rack and looked at Ally. “I’m troubled,” he shook his head and went out the door, leaving Ally in her scrunched up dress standing in the middle of the floor, alone.

The next morning, Ally walked up the stairs to John’s office. She knocked on the door softly and found him sitting at his desk. He was playing with his sandbox thing and Ally slowly sat down in one of the chairs across from him. There was silence for a minute and then Ally spoke up. “John, I’m really sorry about last night. I was, I was drunk.”

“Oh, ya think?” John sarcastically mumbled back.

Ally imagined herself being shrunken into the ground. “John, I don’t know how to apologize...” John cut her off.

“Ally, what’s really wrong with you? Talk to me,” John couldn’t take not really knowing what was going on. “You don’t ever do that. Rarely do you get drunk and even more rarely do you act out horny moments like that and when there’s a child in the house,” John was horrified with the flashbacks of the previous night.

“I know; it was unacceptable. I realize that. What was wrong...” Ally found herself fading out again.

“Ally,” John got stern.

“It’s Larry,” she said immediately.

John nodded his head knowingly. He knew that’s what it was. “What about him?” he prodded.

“Well,” Ally took a deep breath before continuing, quickly. “You know how he was one of the two best loves my life right? Well it’s just really hard to imagine not trying to mend what went wrong with him when he seems willing to. It would be like me breaking up with Billy instead of it being the other way around, which, come on. We both know I would never have left Billy.” Ally stopped, taking a series of short breaths.

“Ally, Larry did a lot of bad things to you. He hurt you really bad. You can’t just forget that you know.”

“Well yes, but I also can’t forget how things used to be, when we were happy, and in love,” Ally snapped back quickly.

“Well it’s obvious you’re still in love,” John snuck in there.

“What?” Ally looked at him with wide eyes and then stopped, bowing her head. “I’ll always love Larry,” Ally continued, much softer. She looked back up at John. “John, Larry was it; he really was. And even if he left me and even if he doesn’t feel like I’m worth forever,” she paused. “He will always be worth forever to me,” she stifled a cry.

John leaned forward and got Ally’s full eye contact. “What about Victor? He seems like a good guy. I mean he wouldn’t take advantage of you in the condition you were in last night.”

“And that’s another thing!” Ally erupted as she stood up and began pacing. “Victor is SO good to me! I mean he’s kind, he’s sweet, he always says the right thing. I really think we could have something. The big question is whether I can subside all of my craziness and allow him into my emotional ring. I know he probably has no idea what he’s getting himself into, but I guess I remember you saying one time how that was what all of the fun was about, getting to know each other and getting a feel for each other’s quirks and moods and stuff,” Ally smiled wistfully. “I just wish it could be easy. I just wish Larry wouldn’t have popped up and if he HAD to pop up, I wish Victor hadn’t. I can’t have both, but I can’t pick just one.” Ally plopped down on the couch face-down and spoke muffled, “I’m hopeless!”

“Hey! Now quit that Ally, you are not hopeless!” John stood up and walked over to Ally, bending down to rub her back. “You’re just confused. You have two potentials and you don’t know what to do. It could have happened to anyone, it HAS happened to many people. You’re not the first one you know.”

Ally lifted her head up and blew hair out from in front of her face. “What do you think John? What do YOU think? Larry, Victor, Larry, Victor?” Ally’s eyes pleaded with his.

Ally,” John drew back. “I can’t answer that question for you. That’s all on you. I can’t and won’t make that decision for you.”

Ally rolled over on her back in a huff and looked up at the ceiling above her. ‘Larry, Victor, Larry, Victor,’ kept repeating over and over in her head.

Ally was sitting at her desk that night in her office hurriedly doing paperwork. John had been kind enough to go home to Maddie so Ally could catch up on some work. While Ally thought she’d be done by then, it was 7:00 and she was still hammering away. Much to her surprise, she had been able to concentrate for the majority of the night with little, imagination interruption, so to speak.

It was too good to be true though...that interruption by her imagination. Ally heard a thump and her head darted up quickly she saw a blurred figure rush out her door to the right and she lost sight of it. The all too familiar track of the dancing baby popped up into her head, followed by the all too familiar lyrics.

I can’t stop this feeling

Deep inside of me

Ally couldn’t take it anymore. “What the hell!” she announced out loud as she stormed up and out of her door, swinging her arms in a hasty, livid fashion. As soon as she got outside her door she announced, “Okay! Where are you you little demon!” Ally suddenly saw this little winged version of the dancing baby flying towards her slowly. Birds were chirping around it and he was holding a heart-shaped bow and a heart-shaped arrow as well as carrying two more arrows in a pouch attached to his back. Ally eyed the creature, highly disturbed. This was the second time she had seen the baby looking like cupid and she wondered why. It wasn’t Valentine’s Day or anything.

She heard the elevator door ding and her head zipped over in time to see Larry, who was holding a briefcase, exit the elevator into the office towards the conference room. Her eyes narrowed as he made eye contact with her. He stopped walking and his face expressed timidity.

“I just came to get something I left in the conference room,” he explained himself.

“I didn’t ask,” Ally retorted back. She heard a hissing sound and her head swished back up to where the baby cupid was. It was shaking its head at her and hissing. She cocked her head and then remembered she wasn’t alone in the room. She looked back over at Larry. “I uh,” she started, stuttering like she usually did when she was stuck in a rut.

Larry was amused; she was doing it again and he knew. “I know,” he responded softly.

Ally cocked her head again as she made direct eye contact; contact that was sending shivers up and down her spine. The shivers weren’t ones of fear; she was actually thrilled.

There was another ding and both Larry and Ally’s heads swiftly turned towards the elevator and Ally’s eyes widened as Victor stepped out into the room.

Victor saw Ally and a smile lit up his face. When he noticed she was smiling, he could suddenly feel another presence in the room and looked over to see Larry standing about fifteen feet away from him. The wheels in Victor’s head started rolling and he didn’t like what he was seeing.

“Hi,” he said solemnly, unable to hide his discomfort.

“Hi,” Ally reciprocated, feeling a knot start to grow in the pit of her stomach.

Ally heard chirping birds and her head darted upward again to see the flying baby again. Ally shook her head to try and make the image disappear but she was unsuccessful. Before Ally can do anything else, the baby cupid takes aim right at her and shoots an arrow into her chest, aimed towards her heart. She jumps back in a scream and gasps for air. She looks down at the arrow and sees it flashing red. The baby wastes no time in taking aim again, this time at Victor. Ally watches as the arrow hits Victor in his heart and he shows no visible sign of being hit. She watches as the heart at the end of the arrow starts to flash red more rapidly than hers and then blow up in a big cloud of smoke. Ally’s face moves forward as she watches the pieces of the arrow fall onto the floor in a pile before disappearing completely. Ally looks back over at the baby just in time to see it take aim at Larry and hit him in the heart. Once again, the heart starts blinking, but it’s a rhythmic blink. Her eyes start to focus on the flashing and the blinking becomes vocalized. She hears a little whisper repeating ‘Match! Match! Match!’ Ally looks up at the baby who smiles and nods at her before fading into the background. As soon as the baby disappears, she looks back at Larry who has no arrow in his chest anymore and then she looks down at herself to see she has no arrow either. Ally crosses her arms and begins to rub the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes and trying to evaluate what just happened.

All the while, the boys are looking at Ally curiously. Victor couldn’t help wondering if Ally had seen a shrink in the past month. This behavior was very erratic and quite different from the maturing woman he was growing more and more fond of.

Larry just had a curious smile on his face. He knew Ally was having one of her moments and all he could wonder was what it was of that time. She usually did this when she had a lot on her mind; he knew this much about her for sure. Larry decided he couldn’t stand this anymore. He started walking again and went into the conference room to retrieve a folder he had left in there earlier that evening. He stuck it inside of his briefcase and then came back out. Larry cleared his throat causing all the attention to divert towards him. “Well, I got what I came for. I’m out of here.” He looked at Victor and reached out a hand. “Victor, good to see you again.”

Victor took his hand and shook it gentleman-like. “You too Larry.”

Larry turned towards Ally. “Ally, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Ally’s head flipped up hurriedly. “What? Why? What’s tomorrow?” she spoke fast; it was obvious her thoughts were on him.

“The, office,” Larry spoke slowly, a smirk rising up.

“Oh!” Ally responded. “Yeah, sure, tomorrow.” Larry pressed the button to the elevator and it rose quickly, opening its doors in less than a minute.

When he left Victor’s undivided attention went back to Ally who was staring at the closed elevator doors. “Al-ly,” he raised his voice slightly.

“Huh?” Ally asked, her eyes not leaving the elevator. Victor moved over to accommodate her eyesight, which caused Ally to shake her head and focus more clearly on him instead of the door in which he now stood in front of. “Oh! I’m sorry Victor,” she walked over towards him. “I uh,” she paused, staring back at the elevator doors. “I need to go. I have to go catch him,” she said anxiously; all breath had escaped her body.

Victor had sensed this coming. “I don’t want you to go Ally.”

Ally’s eyes fluttered over in his direction. “What? Why?”

“I don’t want you to go to him Ally,” Victor repeated himself.

“Why?” Ally emphasized the previous question.

“Call it selfish, call it what you want,” Victor stopped. “Dammit Ally, I love you. I love you dammit.”

Ally’s eyes widened. “Oh Victor, don’t do that. You don’t even know me really,” her voice became panicky.

“But I want to,” Victor tried to argue.

“I’m weird, odd, I hear music, I have hallucinations, and do you know that’s what I just did just now? I imagined that things were going on that weren’t really going on,” Ally rattled off.

“You’ll grow out of it Ally. You may be in your thirties, but you still have growing up to do and I’d really like to be there for it,” he moved closer to her. “And I don’t mean in that fatherly way.”

“Victor,” Ally sighed. “You’re sweet, you really are, but that crazy girl, that’s me; always has been and always will be. Do you wanna know the truth?” Ally searched his face as he nodded slowly. “Larry,” she pointed in the direction of the elevator doors next to them. “He loves me,” she quickly continued before he could interrupt. “He loves the crazy girl that I am. He loves the crazy girl I always will be. You know, I bet he even knew I was hallucinating before,” Ally shook her head unbelievably. “I really need that and I’m sorry. You are very sweet and you’ll find someone, but I’m not it,” she reached over and pressed the elevator button. She stared at Victor’s unbelievable face while waiting for the doors to open. When they did, she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, for everything.” Ally got in the elevator and pressed the button to go down. Victor’s face became a memory when Ally began envisioning the blinking hearts again. It was clear to her now. Victor wasn’t it, Larry was.

“Larry!” Ally yelled as she got ran out onto the sidewalk. She looked to her left and then to her right, her eyes frantically searching for any sign of somebody walking that resembled the man she loved. Ally didn’t see him anywhere in sight and realized she had to pick a direction to go; left or right. Ally shook her hands in panic and settled on her left, feeling it would lead her to him. It had to; otherwise everything she had ever imagined had been a crock. She took off down the sidewalk, her eyes combing everything in front of her. She wrapped her arms around herself as she ran further. Although it was early spring, there was a slight flurry of snow falling down softly, slowly covering her shiny hair. “Larry!” she yelled out again. She rounded a corner and saw somebody quite a ways in front of her. “Larry!” she cried out as loud as she could. The outline turned and a sudden adrenaline overtook her as she began to run faster. It was him; it had to be him. The figure walked towards her, its’ speed picking up slightly. All Ally could conceive of was reaching that person in front of her. Every pulse in her body told her it was him. Ally could trace the contours of his face as she got closer to him. His pace had picked up some and she saw him drop the briefcase he was holding. That was the final clincher.

I can’t stop this feeling

Deep inside of me

Ally ran into his open arms and squeezed him tight. Larry’s arms found their rightful place around her waist and he pulled her into him.

When you hold me

In your arms so tight

You let me know

Everything’s all right

“Oh Larry!” Ally exclaimed softly into his ear.

“Ally,” he whispered back, holding her tighter.

I’m hooked on a feeling

I’m high on believing

That you’re in love with me

Ally pulled back to look him in the face but didn’t let go of him completely; she wasn’t quite ready for that yet.

“Oh Ally,” Larry’s strong face collapsed; tears glistened in his eyes. He stifled a gasp and pulled her back into his arms. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted this,” Larry got out, his voice was choked up.

Larry pulled away after a minute of holding each other and let go of her waist, grabbing a hand of hers. He noticed she was shivering. “Did you run all this way?” he asked incredulously.

“Yeah,” Ally responded, her teeth chattering slightly. Larry took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. He then pulled her close to him and rubbed her arms, trying to generate more heat to calm her freezing skin down.

“I’m sorry I left,” Larry began.

“No,” Ally stopped him from going any further. “I don’t want to think about that right now. You’re here now, and I’m not letting you go again.” Ally burrowed her head against his shoulder. Larry relished the feeling of having her in his arms again.

It didn’t take long before the two of them forgot they were in the middle of the sidewalk in the snow. It continued to fall around them, creating a blanket on the ground as well as on top of their heads.

“I’m sorry,” Ally spoke shakily.

“What for?” Larry was curious.

“For not seeing this sooner. You came by, you sought me out, and there was a reason. I’m sorry it took me so long to see that reason.”

“Was that what you were doing earlier?” Larry asked.

“What?” Ally picked her up off of Larry’s shoulder and looked at him peculiarly.

“When you were looking at me and Victor and doing weird things with your face. Were you seeing things again?” Larry cocked his head and studied her expression, which was one of amazement and shock.

“You, you, you knew that?” Ally gasped for breath, clearing her throat.

“Come on,” Larry laughed slightly. “I know you Ally.”

A tear rolled down Ally’s face. “I know,” she nodded, smiling happily as she felt her legs give way beneath her. Luckily Larry’s arms caught her misbalance.

“Whoa! Are you okay Ally?” Larry’s face was stricken with concern.

“Yeah, I just,” Ally looked into his eyes. “I guess you have an effect ton me,” she shook her head uncertainly.

“Hey,” Larry got her attention, bringing her chin up with one of his hands. He leaned in closer, his eyes studied hers, and then, when he felt it was fully welcomed, he delicately introduced his lips to hers once again. He could feel Ally tremble and this just caused him to tighten his grasp.

The kiss wasn’t by definition passionate, but Ally found herself breathless. There was only one other thing left to say. “Thank you Larry.”

“For what?” Larry took his glasses off and put them away; it was useless to clean them if the snow kept falling down. His gaze then fell upon her quizzically.

“For loving me just as I am. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“What other way is there?” Larry was confused.

Ally shook her head, smiling, “There isn’t.”