Ally ran into her room and rummaged though her purse for the phone number she needed. Picking up the receiver, she held it in her hand for a moment, listening to her heart thumping away in her chest. Her head told her this probably wasn't a good idea, but she was going to make the call and not think. Without further hesitation she dialed Larry Paul's cell phone.

"Hellooo"...a sleepy voice answered.

"Larry, is that you? It's me, Ally...Ally McBeal."

"Ally, are you okay? You sound upset."

"I'm okay...I hope. I just need to see you right away. It's urgent"

"Where are you? I'll get there as soon as I can?"...he offered.

"Where are you, Larry?"

"It's midnight, Ally. I'm in bed."

"Oh gosh, is Helena right there?"

"No, I moved out of the penthouse last weekend and got a small suite of rooms at the Park Plaza, close to my office."

"That'll work"...Ally said. "I'll meet you in the hotel cocktail lounge in forty-five minutes. I don't want you coming here, my roommate's home."

"Okay Ally, I'll be there."

Larry couldn't imagine what she wanted. Maybe she was trying to patch things up with Brian and needed to talk. Maybe she'd hatched a wicked plan of revenge and wanted his help. Maybe she wanted comfort and he was the only one she could turn to right now. Or, maybe she'd just gone off her rocker.

Ally threw on a pair of jeans and a turtle neck with a big warm sweater layered over it. It had started snowing so she got her hooded coat and put on some boots. "Bye Renee"...she yelled out as she left. "Don't know when I'll be back. Don't worry."

"What did she mean 'don't worry'? Why would she say that?" Renee could only imagine where Ally was going at this time of night. "Oh God, she wouldn't do something stupid and hurt him." Ally was angry and shouting when Brian was here and then with the snap of a finger she was calm and okay with it. Renee had been a District Attorney and this wasn't a good M.O.

Wait...Ally'd used the bedroom phone, all she had to do was press the redial button to find out who she'd called. Good, it was ringing.

"Hello"

"Oops, no English accent"...she thought. "Ummmm...Who am I speaking to?"

"Well, who am I speaking to?"...Larry asked cautiously, not recognizing the voice.

"Okay, this is Renee Raddick. I'm Ally McBeal�s roommate. I..I..I was worried about her. She called this number and then rushed out in the middle of the night after going through a lot of personal trauma, and, well, like I said, I was worried about her."

"Nice to meet you Renee, this is Larry Paul. I'm Helena Fisher's husband. And, Ally is on her way over here. I'm supposed to meet her in the Park Plaza bar...she said she had something urgent to talk about."

"Well, I guess that's all I need to know. I was just worried that she might be headed out to confront Brian. She was so mad at him for...well, she was mad at him and I was afraid she might be a little irrational."

"I know why she was mad at him, Renee. I found out about Helena and Brian from my wife last week."

"I'm sorry Larry. This is all pretty complicated for me to figure out and I don't want to spy on Ally or you, so I'm just gonna hang up. Promise me you won't tell her I called."

"I won't tell her. And, don't worry, she's safe with me. She's lucky to have a good friend like you. Bye Renee."

Renee hung up relieved, but confused. All Ally's talk over the last couple of weeks pointed to her disliking this guy a lot, but maybe she wants to hatch some legal plans with him. Maybe they've become allies because of this situation. Whatever, she'd find out eventually. Right now she was beat.

...at the Park Plaza...

It was so late that Ally was able to park her car right across the street from the hotel. She'd driven far too fast through the slippery streets and had arrived ten minutes early and rather frazzled.

Larry was sitting in the darkest corner booth he could find, so they'd have privacy. He'd gotten dressed quickly and headed straight for the bar, figuring he needed a good stiff martini to fortify himself before she got there.

He was nursing his drink, when he heard her voice. "I'm supposed to meet someone here in ten minutes. I'll just grab a table and wait"...she informed the bartender.

Larry watched her making her way into the room, pulling off her coat and tripping around the empty chairs that were scattered everywhere. She was so cute with those fingertip-less mittens and the Irish knit sweater. Finally, he called out to her. "Ally, I'm over here."

"You're early."

"Well, so are you. I hope that makes us even, if there's a contest on? Now, tell me, what's so damn urgent that we're sitting here closing down a bar in the middle of a snow storm after midnight?"

"You're being fresh."

"No, I'm not. I was just playing a little bit."

"I need a martini"...she announced tersely.

"Larry walked over to the bar and ordered two martinis. It was the only personal thing he really knew about her for sure...how she liked her martinis. And he liked that he could order it for her without having to ask how she wanted it.

Walking back to the table, he felt himself start to get nervous. He couldn't seem to tap into where she was at and she had gotten miffed by his bad attempt at teasing.

As he placed the two martinis down, she realized he'd remembered exactly how she liked them. "I'm sorry I was cranky back there. I've had a rough night. I caught the man I had hoped to marry in the arms of someone I thought was my friend. I found out he'd had a lengthy affair with her. Now, he's dumped me to be with her. On top of that I felt relieved that it was over with him, which really confused me. And, on top of it all, I realized within the last hour and a half that I'm probably in love with you. Well there, it's all out in the universe now"...she said, downing half of her martini and wringing her hands. What do you think of that, Larry?"

Larry was choking on his last swallow of martini, taken just as she said, "I'm probably in love with you." It was absolutely the last thing he thought she'd come here to say, and he couldn't catch his breath to say anything in return.

Ally started clapping him on the back and, then, ran up to the bar for a glass of water. "Here take a big drink of this. I didn't mean to scare you. I was going to work up to it, but it all just came rolling out." Finally, Larry cleared his throat and looked directly at her. "I'll tell you what I'm thinking. (cough, cough) The only thing I can even remember from that string of run on sentences is your saying you're probably in love with me. And, I know I should hold off on saying what I'm about to say, but life is moving fast, so here's the thing. Ally, I've loved you from the moment I saw you in that green dress...even before we spoke. I loved you more when we danced on the terrace. I adored you when I toasted you as you ran out of the party pretending to have a headache. I was totally gone after we made love in my office. And, I feel exactly the same, but even more right now. What do you think of that, Ally?"

They both laughed at the same time.

"So what do we do with all this"...Ally asked.

"Last Call!!! folks"...the bartender interrupted.

"I'd like to start back at that day in my office after you attacked me"...he said.

"You wanted to be attacked. You're the one who set up the playing field."

"Ally, it doesn't matter, does it? We both wanted each other very much that day and it was...well, amazing. But, then everything went off into some weird trajectory."

"Look, do you have more martinis in your suite?"...she asked. "I'll bet it'll be too slippery for me to drive home tonight and if I had another martini, I could probably be honest enough to tell you that I'd felt very similar feelings of love, but I got way scared."

"I would love to hear every last lovely detail"...he said taking her hand and kissing her exposed fingertips.

"Oh, but what about this big sexual attraction of ours? How will we handle that, Larry?"...she asked tugging on him to get up.

"I guess we'll have to improvise."

"I don't want to improvise. I want to **do it**."

"Is that how you always refer to making love?"...Larry asked, remembering she'd used the same phrase in his office.

"No, only when I get real single-minded about it"...she said.

Larry pulled her close and looked directly at her..."I love you Ally McBeal. I knew the moment we met that you were all I would ever want. I pretty much thought "love at first sight" was ridiculous, but that's what happened to me. Only it seemed so impossible at the time. I didn't dream we'd ever get to a moment like this."

Ally jumped up on him, wrapping her legs around his hips and kissing him passionately. It was a kiss that made the world seem right for both of them. "I love you too, Larry. My twisted mind tried hard to ignore it for a long time, but now I'm very clear."

"Jeez...this may be some sort of record for me"...she said as he put her down. "I've been dumped and picked up in the same night"

"Well, it's questionable as to who did the picking up here, but I don't care. Right now I'm just interested in going up to Suite 215. Your **do it** talk has given me some ideas as to how I might entertain you. So, let me pay the check and we'll get out of here."

Ally waited impatiently at the elevator. She couldn't believe how totally right this all felt. And there he was, walking towards her smiling and happy to be with her.