Author's Note: I think in order to truly capture the song used in this chapter, you need to DL the version of the song i mention...the song sounds MUCH better slower.......

She pulled out her file...or better known to other people as a psychiatric evaluation...including everything she had talked about with an old therapist of hers named Tracy. Funny as it was, none of her moments with Tracy sparked a hint of memory. What she remembered most about that file was the first day she met Larry. He had leased the office that used to be Tracy's therapy office for his own law practice and she had mistaken him for a therapist.

Ally was in need of some desperate help. The previous night, her boyfriend Brian had asked her to move in with him and she had told him she would think about it. She talked to Renee later that night and they concluded that the only person who could help was a therapist. So Ally logically went to her own personal therapist Tracy’s office.

As she walked into the room, she looked around in horror as she noticed there were boxes everywhere and a strange man rummaging through them.

He was behind a stack of boxes on a desk and then he took something over to a nearby shelf. He looked up noticing Ally and they shared a moment of peculiar silence. “Help you?” he threw in there after a moment.

“I’m looking for Tracy,” Ally came back without missing a beat.

He understood now, “Oh she doesn’t work here anymore she moved to Foxboro,” he went back to the boxes on his desk.

“Foxboro?” Ally asked incredulously. “She didn’t tell me she was moving,” Ally was appalled.

Then it dawned on him, “You wouldn’t be Ally McBeal would you?”

Ally was a bit flustered, “Yes, I, would, actually. How did you know that?”

He walked over to a large file stacked on the edge of his desk and picked it up, “She took all of her files except, one. Ally McBeal. Catchy theme song, by the way I’m Larry Paul,” Larry held out his hand and Ally grabbed the enormous file from his other hand while gasping.

Ally’s eyes were wide, “She took every file but she left mine?” she kept staring at Larry with this revolted look on her face.

Larry reached inside the file for a piece of paper, “Yeah with a note,” he read the paper. “If it’s an emergency,” he paused and raised his eyebrows, “tough.”

Ally grabbed the paper from him and he looked at her.

Ally felt the file and remembered how it was so easy to talk to him. He provided a challenge for her. They spoke of society and sex as being important in a relationship. Sex with Brian was…baaad and she had told Larry so. Larry had a habit of getting into big long speeches about society and the way it ran and he had most certainly insulted her in the process of doing so.

Ally was sitting in a chair in Larry’s office telling him what had happened with Brian earlier that afternoon. “He raised an excellent point why indict the whole thing because of sex? I mean doesn’t it seem ridiculous to measure a relationship at the last five minutes of the day before you fall asleep?” Ally asked Larry.

Larry put the lamp he had brought from a box down on the table and then preceded to lean on the table. “The reason men go into relationships is for sex. They get married so they get to keep having it over and over again without wasting time on the dinner and flowers. And if it only lasts five minutes, why are you falling asleep at all? You should be lying awake wondering what the hell is wrong,” Larry finished matter of factly.

Ally glared at Larry, “You are such a man,” Larry smirked, staring intently on Ally as she spoke. “And you typify everything that is twisted about this society.”

Larry didn’t miss a beat, “Gee, it's like we're married. You're blaming all of society on me. No wonder you want a husband, you're already a wife!” Larry widened his eyes.

Ally wasn’t amused, “You're not clever, and you're not funny,” Larry smiled at her. This society, I'll have you know over-prioritizes sex. It's in the movies, magazines, it's on TV and it has people,” Larry starts nodding in a mocking sort of way, “locating their self-worth in their physical appearance,” Ally stands up, getting highly worked up. “Do you know we have a case in our office right now where this woman wants to get her marriage annulled due to lack of passion. Annulled-- meaning it doesn't exist all because of a little void in sex,” Ally starts walking slowly towards Larry. “And when people in your position perpetuate it it's neither amusing or responsible and I didn't blame you for society. I just cited you,” she looked him up and down disgustedly, “as a sad example of it.” Ally turned around and sat back down, looking back up at him.

“Well,” Ally looks at him ludicrously. “That was a lot,” Larry stands straight up. “Though it was not my intent to be clever, I have a slight problem with your lament on prioritizing sex as you come in here, wafting of vanilla wearing a $2,000 outfit designed to punctuate every contour of your body looking very much like the women in the magazines except I don't have the luxury of turning the page,” Ally’s eyebrows rolled up as she concentrated on him. “As for locating self-worth in physical appearance I'm sure there's a mirror somewhere in your little Prada purse. And as much as you might hate,” Larry rolls his eyes sarcastically, “the idea of being the object of a man's desire what you truly loathe is the idea that one day you might not be. And the question burning deep, deep, deep down under the lip-gloss is... "Has that day already arrived?"

Ally glared at Larry as she stood up, “You are the biggest ASS I’ve ever MET!”

Larry smirked, “Perhaps this is where you kiss it goodbye.”

Ally pointed sarcastically at him and walked out.

Ally and Renee were having lunch in Ally’s office. Ally just got done telling Renee about her encounter with the new therapist Larry.

“Are you gonna go back to see him?” Renee asked, curious.

“No. Why should I? I’m not even gonna pay his bill if he sends me one,” Ally started picking at her teeth for food.

Renee was a bit disturbed, “I was talking about Brian.”

“Oh, I uh,” Ally started picking at her food with a fork and then she noticed Renee’s silence. She looked up at her perplexed expression, “What?”

“You’ve been seeing this guy for six months, he asks you to move in and all you can talk about is this new,” Renee paused, disgusted, “therapist.”

Ally’s voice got soft, “Do you think Brian is a little dull?”

“Honestly?” Renee looked at Ally, troubled.

“Of course!” Ally responded, shocked at the honesty question. Renee looked at her with a blank expression, “He’s so dull I’ve lost interest in the question.”

“Really?” Ally asked as if she didn’t ever really know.

Renee attempted to sound upbeat about it though, “But, that doesn’t mean he’s not right for you.”

Ally was insulted, “I belong with somebody dull?”

Renee tried to explain herself, “Opposites attract,” Ally rolled her eyes. “You’re so alive and Brian, he’s so-”

“Dead,” Ally finished, sounding lifeless.

Renee felt bad, “Why do you ask me this? What do you think Ally?”

“I think that he’s lovely, he’s smart, he’s kind, he’s sweet,” Ally paused. “He’s not the most boring person on earth but certainly of the ones I’ve met.”

“Keep going.”

“I’ve always wanted to live a long life and with Brian I’m sure it will feel like that.”

“Keep going,” Renee knew where this was going.

“Maybe sex does last more than sixty seconds but will it, no,” Ally rambled on.

“Keep going.”

Ally looked her directly in the eye, “That therapist was really cute,” she couldn’t help herself.

Renee knew it, “Stop there. All your life you’ve been attracted to people who make you crazy, they burn you, moth to a flame,” Renee began.

“What’s your point?” Ally asked, getting slightly annoyed.

“Maybe Brian is not the guy but,” she paused but kept the strong face, “stay away from the therapist.” Ally looked at her shocked.

Ally was in the unisex, sitting on a toilet, thinking about what had happened with Brian. All of a sudden the door was ripped back and Ally screamed as she fell on the floor.

Larry’s eyes widened in surprise, “I should have knocked.”

Ally stood up hurriedly, strands of hair covering her eyes. “What the, what the, what the hell are you doing here?” Ally took a bunch of short breaths.

“The truth,” Larry softened his voice, “I was worried about you, actually.”

Ally was stunned, “You were?”

“Yeah, break ups can be tough, I had this image of you in the toilet,” Larry rolled his eyes amused. “Who knew?”

Ally came out of the bathroom stall, shut the door and leaned against it. “If you were a decent therapist you wouldn’t be able to make house calls,” Ally walked towards the sink.

Larry stood there stunned, “I’m not a therapist, I’m a lawyer,” he turned to face her with a look of bewilderment etched across his face, everything falling into place.

Ally turned around, “What did you just say?”

“You thought, I was a therapist?” Larry laughed while getting those words out.

Ally shook her head swiftly, “Uh huh.”

“It says attorney-at-law right on the door,” Larry was getting a kick out of this.

“You’re a lawyer?” Ally was still trying to process it all.

“Mmm,” Larry shook his head.

“So why did you entertain discussions about me and my boyfriend?” Ally was raving inside.

“Well,” he walked towards her. “You seemed like you needed to talk and I’m a good listener,” he leaned against the first bathroom stall door. He couldn’t get over this. “Right on the door, attorney-at-law, is that too subtle? Should I have added, lawyer, went to law school, sold out?”

Ally was getting worked up, “This is not a good time to make fun of me Larry. How dare you presume to give me advice on something personal I was going through!”

“Because I’m a lawyer Ally. As lawyers, we tend to embrace settlements as a good thing. We settle, we celebrate,” Ally crossed her arms. “You were about to settle on a relationship and celebrate it with a marriage ceremony, NOT a good thing.” Ally looked down and rolled her eyes in agreement. “Anyway,” he smirked still thinking about the therapist thing. “You okay?” he asked genuinely.

“Yeah,” Ally said, shaking her head, smirking at her own mistake and how silly it was to assume he was a therapist.

“Kay. Well maybe we’ll, uh, meet in court one day,” Ally shook her head, half-smiling at him, thinking about how good he looked. “Till then,” Larry offered his hand to shake and Ally obliged.

“Till then,” Larry went to leave, kissing her on the side of her forehead before exiting the unisex, leaving Ally in her thoughts.

That night at the bar, she told Renee what happened. Renee didn’t say much, she wasn’t too happy about the therapist part.

In the background Vonda played an old song, in a much slower fashion, which matched Ally’s thoughts that evening. It was at mystery how Brian was farther from her thoughts than anything else.

One fine day, you’ll look at me

And you will know our love was, meant to be

One fine day, you’re gonna want me for your girl

Ally was finding herself thinking about how nice it would be to meet up with Larry again and possibly have a date, or two, or three...

The arms I long for, will open wide

And you’ll be proud to have me, right by your side

One fine day, you’re gonna want me for your girl

Though I know you’re the kind of boy

Who only wants to run away

I’ll keep waiting, and, someday darling

You’ll come to me when you want to settle down

One fine day, we’ll meet once more

And then you’ll want the love you threw away before

One fine day, you’re gonna want me

And, one fine day, you’re gonna want me

And one fine day, you’re gonna want me for your girl

Vonda finished with a great piano outro.

Ally was gently swaying at the remembrance of that song and the slow rhythm it had. She snapped out of it and put the file back in the box along with everything else that she had taken out and set it to the side.