Ally Mcbeal: The Return of Larry

All's fair in the court of law

It was eleven in the morning the next day and Sarah was prepping her client before the court proceeding began. But her partner, in the case, Corretta, was nowhere to be seen - where was she? It didn't help that Sarah had no way of contacting Corretta seeing as she forgot to give her that tiny detail.

"Something wrong?" Larry's cheerful voice sounded in front of her. It wasn't fair! How was it that Sarah become quite panicked while Larry felt at ease and confident in his creaseless suit covered, for now, by his long woollen coat that was left open.

"Nothing that can't be dealt with!" Sarah forced a smile, hiding any and all indications of her stress. Larry was clever, extremely clever, he knew her weaknesses and so Sarah had to ensure that she was always on top of her game to avoid giving Larry any leeway or assisting him in winning the case.

"Corretta not joining you?" Larry looked around curioulsy, a faint frown appearing as he searched for the familiar in the large hallway outside the courtroom. "I can't find her! I have no idea where she is!" Sarah blurted out, not thinking? Damn.Why did she say that? He always caught her off guard, but the annoying thing was that Sarah couldn't hate him!

"You'll be fine, you don't need her," he reassured, trying to rid her nerves. Sarah may have been his opponent, but personal connection meant that he couldn't let her feel initmidated by him. He loved her too much for that.

Sarah laughed, "You're just saying that because you know you're going to win!" ,kicking herself in her mind, why did those words come out of her mouth? He had a feeling Sarah was feeling nervous and her reply all but confirmed it!

"True," Larry straightened his tie, "but I must admit you are a worthy adversary," he glared at Sarah daringly, egging her on, they always did want to outdo each other, "Sarah Paul."

Sarah stood up to Larry, they were more or less the same height, "Oh you're going down," she said in mock-fight, "Larry Paul."

"Am I interrupting something?" an oh so familiar voice spoke behind them. They both turned instantly in it's direction, both of them surprised for different reasons..

"Ally, hey, umm.. No we were just talking about the case," Sarah automatically responded, stepping a length away from Larry. What was her boss doing there? Had this been part of a plan? The entire firm had got word that Larry was part of the case, and maybe Ally wanted in, Sarah deduced in her mind.

Ally, remaining upbeat, putting on a brave face in front of Ally, trying to show him that she didn't need him anymore, but seeing him there.. Her heart said otherwise. "Great," she replied, "the hearing's about to start so we really need to head in," she urged, keeping eye contact with Larry to a minimum. She couldn't even look at him without having all the hurt rush back to her.

Larry wasn't exactly comfortable either, this was the exact situation he wished he would never be in. The panic he felt was written across his countenance, he didn't know how to handle this, Larry had tried so hard to avoid being noticed by Ally but now she was right there in front of him! "Hey Ally," he greeted nervously like a shy child, "sorry, er Ms Mcbeal."

Ally pierced her lips so that they became thinner and in a line, "Mr Paul," she forced out through gritted teeth. This was not going to go down well at all.

Was it getting hot in there? or was it just Larry? He might as well have got a shovel and dug his own grave because there was no right way of getting out of this. According to Larry, Ally had every right to be angry at him, he left the city without any notice, he broke her heart only to turn up out of the blue, quite by accident but without any sufffiecient excuse for his previous actions. "Are you okay?" Sarah nudged him once Ally started making her way into the courtroom, there was no point in hiding that they knew each other. Larry, who was still surprised, replied, "I'm absolutely fine, although she could have given me some warning instead of turning up like that!"