“Ally! Wake up!!” But it was no use, Ally was fast asleep and dreaming about Larry’s return and Renee knew that. She decided that she’d ring Cage and Fish to let them know that Ally wouldn’t be coming in today.

“Larry, I’ve missed you please don’t ever go away again, stay here with me forever ok?”

“I know and I will sweetie, I missed you more than I’ve ever missed anyone before in my life, and I was stupid for staying away for so long, but I’m here now…” Ally’s dream world was much better than the real one. She woke up with a smile on her lips, looked to the vacant space next to her and the smile vanished. ‘Damn, it was so real that time’ she thought to herself. Ally had slowly been going further and further into herself recently. She didn’t talk about her problems as much as she used to and she felt further depressed by the snowman stood in her fridge with Larry’s glasses and scarf on. It still faintly smelt of him and she would sit for hours wrapped up in one of his old jumpers he’d left at her place, in front of the freezer staring at it and wishing for him to come and wrap her up in his arms but she knew that it wasn’t going to happen for while yet.

They spoke twice every day without fail, and the phone bill had made Renee faint when it came through, but it was worth every penny because she could hear his soft voice. She’d been ok at first, only one or two hallucinations here and there, but other than that – fine! But it was just the past 2 weeks where Renee had noticed a definite decline in Ally – like behaviour. She was eating very little, and countless times she’d heard Ally up and about in the middle of the night, once she’d gotten up to see what was going on, and after poking her head round the door and seeing Ally sat I front of the freezer, she had just gone back to bed, leaving her to it.

Ally got up and went into the kitchen to get a glass of orange juice, and noticed the note stuck on the fridge by Renee:

‘Bless her’ Ally thought and carried on getting her juice. The phone rung ten minutes later and Ally rushed to it willing it to be Larry every step of the way.

“HELLO LARRY!?” she cried into the phone when she lifted the receiver.

“Er, Ally, no, it’s John, heard you were ill today, I was just ringing to see how you were…’

“Oh John…hi…thanks, no, really, I’m ok, the extra hour or so rest has helped. Hey maybe I could come in in about an hours time?”

“No, don’t worry Ally, we got it all covered here, stay home – you deserve the rest anyway.”

“JOHN!” Ally heard Richard calling him in the background.

“I’d better go Ally, take care and get some rest. Seeya later.”

“Yeah, er..bye John”

She hung up and went to lie down on her bed. She must have fallen asleep because before she knew it, it was midday! She sat up in bed and looked around her. ‘Nope, still no Larry’ she thought to herself. She got up, and still in her pyjama’s went to the bathroom to have a bath. She started the water running and looked at herself in the mirror. She couldn’t help but notice how drawn and sad her face looked. She was pale and her eyes seemed huge from lack of eating. She stripped off and got into the bath. It was only a few minutes later when she heard a clicking at the door, then the door opening, then footsteps then

“Hey Ally! I take it your up – where are you!?” Renee.

“Hi Renee, I’m in the bath, give me 2 minutes and I’ll be right with you.” She called back. She got out and dried herself, put fresh underwear on and slipped her soft robe around her and went out to greet her friend.

“Hey you, how you feeling?” Renee asked her with a smirk on her face. Ally answered with a smile and a slight laugh.

“Hope you didn’t mind me pulling a sickey for you, you were so fast asleep and I thought that you needed the rest and extra sleep what with your almost nightly visits to our freezer these days…”

“How do you know about those?!” Ally asked, suddenly going a deep red colour.

“Well girl, if you’re gonna make that much noise…”

“I didn’t make that much noise did I!?” Ally interrupted

“No, I just heard you get up one night and I investigated as a good friend should do”

“So you were being nosy?” Ally asked inquisitively.

“No no no!! Just worried that’s all babe”

“Hmmm, ok” Ally said sceptically, “so you think I’m sad right?”

“No, of course not…” a smirk appeared on Renee’s face, “No, not at all, you just miss him and it’s sweet that you can get a good feeling from sitting and looking at a snowman who is living in our freezer.”

“Ok, so I’m a little sad, but is it really that bad?” Ally answered defensively.

“No…” Renee began answering, but Ally had already walked off to her bedroom. Renee followed her.

“Sweetie I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“No, it’s not you, it’s…” but before she could finish, a head poked round the door.

“Hi guys…”

“Larry?!” Both Ally and Renee said at the same time.

“Yeah, it’s only a flying visit I’m afraid, but er, HI!!!” Ally was up out of bed and had her arms flung round his neck faster than Renee could get out of the way and she was flung by the g-force on to Ally’s bed, but Ally hadn’t noticed, her Larry was here.

“I’ll see you two later then?” Renee asked, leaving with a grin on her face. “mm-hmm” was all ally could muster up for a reply.

“So how are you honey?” Larry asked, bringing a hand up to her face and brushing away the hair from her face.

“I’m hmm…why didn’t you tell me you were coming here?” Ally asked him bringing her hand up to his hand and holding it in place on her cheek.

“Guess I wanted to surprise you. You weren’t at your office so I came here, what’s wrong – you ill?” Larry by now was tentatively placing kisses all around her neck.

“No, I slept in and Renee rung work and told them I was sick…” ally couldn’t finish the sentence, she rolled her head back and opened her mouth slightly and let out a tunnel of air. She had missed him so much, and she wanted to show him how much.

“So what you wanna do?” he asked her gently sitting down on the bed and bringing her with him.

“Hmm, I don’t know, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t mind it’s up to you”

“Well what ever you want to do is fine with me…” and they were away, Ally was back in her happy place. And before long they were making love and as they lay in bed afterwards Ally began to feel worried about how long they actually had together. She questioned him about it, and it turned out that he had flown in for a few days over the weekend, just a quick visit; apparently he couldn’t stand to be without her for a moment later. They fell asleep in each others arms and when she woke up, Larry had already gotten up and she could hear some soft music coming from the sitting room. On closer inspection, it was an Elton John song.

She got up and wandered over to the door and leaned her head against it wondering whether t was just a dream and if Larry would really be in there when she went in. But she could hear a phone call taking place.

“No Jamie I haven’t told her yet…..YES! I will!......ok ok…..Hi buddy…..yeah I’ll be home in a few days, just gone to see Ally, remember ally yeah?...” she tuned out after that and decided to listen to the song until the call was finished

“I used to be the main express
All steam and whistles heading west
Picking up my pain from door to door
Riding on the storyline
Furnace burning overtime
But this train don't stop,
This train don't stop,
This train don't stop there anymore"

Ally decided that it was over and stepped out of her hiding place. She’d been wrong.

“Shit, ok mate, I have to go now...yeah bye!”

“Hello” Ally said walking sexily over to him and he smiled at her. But something was wrong. She stopped.

“what’s going on?” she inquired.

“Nothing, why do you ask?”

“Well you turn up unannounced, you’re finishing phone calls with a ‘mate’ the moment I walk in the room and something’s wrong – I can see it in your eyes.”

“Well you’re worrying totally unnecessarily” Another song had started up on the stereo…

There's some things I don't have now
Some things I don't talk about
These things are between myself and I
In my thick skull the joker hides

There's consequences I'm scared to taste
Cold hard truths I can't face
These days are different than the past
Reflections change in the looking glass

‘How appropriate’ ally thought to herself. He was hugging her and smiling then he was laughing and he said something but she didn’t hear it because she was totally wrapped up in her own thoughts ‘He was talking to Jamie. That evil bitch had better not have got her claws back into him…Ok Ok, trust him, maybe it is nothing, maybe whatever it is, is a good thing! Let it go, time will tell won’t it. He said he’d tell me…’

“ALLY!??” Larry had been trying to get through to her for ages but she obviously couldn’t hear him from the Kitchen. She snapped out of it.

“Hmm, err what Larry?”

“Did you want a coffee or not?” Larry called from the kitchen.

“Yes please” Ally called back.

Time passed quickly that evening and Ally had soon forgotten about Larry’s phone call earlier and they were sat together in a restaurant and Larry was feeding her some of his main course and had you been watching a minute or so previously you would have seen Ally feeding him a morsel of hers’ too. He hadn’t liked her taster and he had pulled a face which made ally laugh and they were both in hysterics over something that they both knew was the sheer happiness of being together, but everyone else thought it was because of Larry’s face pulling antics so they were getting a few funny looks, so they finished up, paid and left the place.

“Shall we go for ice cream” Larry asked.

“Hmmm…we could get it to take away” Ally replied smiling and then winking at him.

“I like that idea sweetie” Larry replied and moved his face down to hers and kissed her tenderly and sweetly. They were interrupted by someone coughing loudly behind them.

“Jamie!!” They both cried loudly, Larry the loudest and he soon began babbling like he always did when he was nervous.

“What are you doing here, did you fly? How was your flight? How did you find us here? Who has Sam? Did you get your hair cut? Looks nice….” Ally and Jamie both looked at him, but Jamie with a smirk on her face, Ally was clearly not amused.

“Yes, I did fly here Larry and no, the flight was awful – I hate air plane food and I had my dinner on there. Urgh” She pulled a face to demonstrate her disgust. “I was just walking to get a coffee from that shop over there, pure coincidence that I should bump into you here, Sam is with my friend from work and no, I just styled it different, thanks for noticing.” Larry gave a nervous smile. “Hello Ally” Ally just gave her a quick smile and turning to Larry she said,

“I think I’ve just figured something out, I had er…better be err leaving now. Bye.” And with that she put her head down and half walked, half – ran away from the scene. She couldn’t believe it, Larry turns up for a weekend visit and Jamie just has to come and ruin it for them. Suddenly the earlier phone call made sense to her, and she began to cry.

She ran in, slammed the door behind her, lent on the door and slowly slipped down to the floor. Renee came out from the sitting room and saw her sat in a foetus position on the floor. Her silent snuffling and crying was obvious because of a slight shudder every so often.

“What’s wrong doll?” Renee asked, kneeling down next to her to comfort her.

“That bitch is back and she has her claws in him!!!” Ally cried, slightly hysterically.

“What bitch?” Renee didn’t bother asking who ‘he’ was because she knew that there was only one man Ally would react about like this.

“The Bitch, Detroit’s answer to Satan, Jamie”

“Ahhh, right. What do you mean she has her claws back into him?”

“It’s obvious, I heard him on the phone earlier and she just turned up out of the blue and he went all babbly and was talking fast like he does when he’s nervous” She said between sniffs.

“Have you actually been told that yet?” and then there was a knock at the door.

“Ally let me in, we need to talk.” It was Larry.

“GO AWAY!!!” Ally yelled. But Renee stood up, opened the door and slipped out side of the apartment to talk to him.

“Look Larry, I love Ally and I used to think you did too. You turn up out of nowhere and immediately her life is a mess again. Now, tell me straight why is Jamie here and what is she to you!?” Renee gave him her ‘better be honest with ME boy’ look.

“Oh my God, does Ally think that something’s going on between Jamie and I?”

Renee hit him with another look that this time said ‘uh-huh’

“Oh God, nooo!! That’s not it at all!! Jamie knew that I was here for a reason and she wanted to make sure I went through with it.”

“You wanna elaborate on that a little, like what were you here to do that was so important that Jamie had to fly all the way to Boston from Detroit to make sure you did it?” Larry sighed and looked at her.

“Can I please just talk to Ally….please?” Renee opened the door and it stopped as it hit Ally.

“OUCH!” Ally yelled out.

“Ally honey, we need to talk, you’ve got the wrong end of the stick.”

“Oh have I?!” Came Ally’s muffled reply.

“Yes, you have and I really need to talk to you about something before this blows totally out of control.”

“Well you had better come in then.” Ally said huffily and slid out of the way.

“I’m gonna go to the bar and leave you two alone for a while k?”

“Thanks Renee” Larry said as Renee picked up her coat and left, closing the door behind her. Larry followed Ally into the sitting room where Ally sat down, hugging her knees as if they were there as a substitute for her mum. Larry kneeled down in front of her.

“You got it wrong honey” he said in a soft, delicate voice that he knew Ally would respond to.

“So what is she doing here?” Ally said huffily.

“She came to make sure I went through with something that I’ve wanted to do for a while but keep putting it off. ‘Oh here we go’ Ally thought, ‘he’s going to dump me and run off to play happy families with Jamie and Sam.’

“What’s that then?”

“Well to be honest Ally, I’m not sure I want to under these circumstances because it doesn’t quite fit in to what I had planned out.” He smiled to himself and got up and walked away from her and then starting pacing back and forth on the same few feet of the floor. He was thinking hard about whether he wanted to or not, and he wondered whether he should tell her the full story or not, and more than anything, he thought about all the rows he and Jamie had had recently because of it.

“Well what is it Larry, if we’re going to get past this I need to know because until I’ve heard a good enough reason I can’t trust you.”

“Okay! Fine, I’ll tell you. As I said, I had hoped to tell you this in a romantic way but under these circumstances, I guess I’ll have to tell you anyway” He paused, and walked back over to Ally, he kneeled down in front of her. He raised his hand to her face and cupped her chin, feeling the smooth texture of her skin on his hand. He smiled at her and looked her right in the eye and he opened his mouth to start talking, but found he couldn’t. He tried again, but the words wouldn’t come. He thought to himself for a moment or two and then he found the right words…

“Ally I love you more than words can express, I’ve never felt this strongly about anyone before in my entire life and I can tell you now that you make me happier than anyone or thing in this entire universe. I would give up everything for you – and more! You couldn’t have been more wrong this evening, for once Jamie is actually being nice and is actually showing that she has a heart. Ally I came back to Boston to ask you to marry me and Jamie knew I wouldn’t do it because I was too afraid of your answer being one I didn’t want to hear…” Ally stuttered her reply in the form of a tear forming and a smile appearing on her lips. She felt a bit ridiculous for coming to her former conclusion.

“The more I thought about asking you the more terrified I became of you saying no. these past 6 weeks have been hell for me, and the only thing that’s kept me in Detroit is Sam and waking up to see him smiling at me eating breakfast with him in the mornings. There isn’t a minute goes past in the day where I don’t think of you and I find myself needing you more than I do food, sleep or anything!! So, Ally McBeal, will you do me the greatest honour of being my wife?”

Ally’s face split into a huge grin and she was crying tears of joy and she tried to say yes but she couldn’t because she was so happy and choked up. ‘He has such a beautiful way with words’ she thought to herself as she nodded her reply, and Larry pulled out a black velvet box and upon opening it, Ally saw the most beautiful diamond ring inside of it. He took it out of the box and slid it delicately on to her finger.

“Thank you” he said as he leaned into kiss her sweetly on the lips and she could only reply by melting into his arms, a euphoric feeling welling up inside of her.