Ally Mcbeal: The Return of Larry

Sarah Paul?

It was fall in New York, the weather was blustery and the warmth of the hazy summer afternoons were quickly fading through the changing of the seasons. Amongst all the bustle of daily life in Boston, Ally was making her way to work. She was a lawyer at Cage&Fish and somehow managed to become of the CEOs of the firm - much to the annoyance of Nelle Porter ( a fellow work colleague who Ally just couldn't stand)

Today her mind, right from the moment she woke up had been high up in the clouds. Ally was still single, living with her roommate, Renee - who just so happened to work with her and played the part of Allys confidante in all personal issues. But today, for some reason Ally couldn't help but wonder what her life would have turned out like if certain things didn't happen as they did. Like, what if her first love, Billy hadn't married somone else, what if she didn't leave the first firm she worked at before Cage and Fish. Other ideas were spinning in her mind like, what if her therapist Tracy hadn't moved out of town, which would have resulted in Ally not meeting Larry Paul. " What if he never went away?" she sighed to herself. Ally still had the goodbye note tucked under layers of items in her bedside cabinet, as well as other sentimental artefacts from other relationships.

"Ally!" Elaine, a bleach blonde woman with a sort of high throaty voice and wide eyes and always looking for a man, exclaimed as Ally stepped through the lift onto the floor of her office. " Elaine!" Ally jumped, startled out of her daydream by her secretary, "What is it?"

"You do know you had a nine o'clock appointment scheduled for today, an interview?"

"I did?" Ally blurted, she hadnt been sleeping well lately, work kept her up, she had enough on her plate being an attorney at law but being the CEO of the firm was a plate too many, "and what time is it now?"

"its nearly ten o clock," Renee voiced, leaving her office with a bundle of paperwork in her hands, she was also a lawyer at the firm too, "honey are you alright, you look abit dazed girl." Renee was always looking out for Ally, that was good considering they were best friends.

"I'm fine," Ally reassured, smiling and brushing away the negativitiy as she brushed her straight natural brownish blonde hair out of her face, "where is the applicant?" she changed the subject quickly from herself back to work. she had only just realised there was a vacancy open for a new lawyer to be hired at the company, and Ally was in charge of carrying out the interviews.

"In your office," Elaine piped up with her squeaky voice, handing Ally the necessary paper work, "this may be the one, she's the best I have seen so far anyway."

"Well I think i should be the judge of that Elaine," Ally replied, smiling back as she took the sheets and stepped into her office while fixing her blazer.

inside the office, a young woman, tall and slim with long brown layered hair and accompanying green eyes stood up from one of the chairs placed in front of the desk, "Ms Mcbeal?" she asked, stretching out her hand.

"That's right, please call me Ally." Ally nodded, returning the gesture by shaking the candidate's hand and sat on her revolving chair behind the desk, " And you are?"

"Sarah, Sarah Paul," the young woman answered, following Ally's actions by sitting back down and giving Ally a copy of her CV and the application form.

"Sarah..Paul?" Ally exclaimed, the surname was too familiar, but carried on with the interview questions trying to get it out of her mind. However during the process, she couldnt help but wonder. She only ever knew one other person with the same surname and that was not a book she was going to reopen. She couldn't ask Sarah if she knew Larry in case she didn't and in a way, Ally didn't want to be heartbroken if it turned out the Larry had married again.

"Tell me," Ally began, after dishing out the standard questions and receiving brilliant answers back, "what made you want to you want to be a lawyer? honestly." In the back of Ally's mind she was secretly hoping that the following answer would extinguish some of her concerns.

"Well," Sarah breathed deeply, a grin forming across her face as she thought of her response, "I was inspired by this wonderful man who i have known my entire life. he always spoke so passionatley about it and I guess I fell in love with it! He is self employed and has barely ever lost a case, I hope to follow in his example. I know it sounds rather cheesy but he is the reason."

Ally, her thoughts screaming in her head, stayed quiet for moment, pretending to read over some of the paperwork. The man Sarah had just described was projected in Allys imagination as Larry, she didnt know what to think. "You know what both of us have moved on, I wont let this bother me," she thought to herself, nodding slightly.

"Well your CV is quite remarkable!" Ally was highly impressed, her eyes widened at the extensive portfolio of cases, "And I dont see any reason why we can't hire you!"

"I've got the job?" Sarah leaned forward, hardly believing her good luck, she had always wanted to be a lawyer for such a prestigious firm. Ally nodded with a hum, "Congratulations! and um.. See you at work first thing tomorrow."

"Thank you!" Sarah appreciated, feeling ecstatic and grateful for this oppurtunity.

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"And you hired her?" Renee was not impressed, she was only thinking about the best for Ally, "you really want to go back there with the whole Larry thing?"

"Maybe she's not affiliated with him in any way!" Ally mused as the two friends spent their lunch, a break from their busy work day in the restaurant at the bottom of the building.

"Seriously honey?" Renee remained unconvinced, she was always sceptical about men, especially those who came into Ally's life, "Look she is a lawyer, who says she has been inspired by a 'wonderful man' whos also a lawyer? and come on her last name, Paul? it's not a difficult leap!"

"Well what am I supposed to do,not hire her?" Ally retorted,shaking her head as she took a sip of her drink, "No, and you know what ive moved on and if he's moved on too, then good on him. its been three years Renee!"

"It's been three years and you're still getting emotional about it!" Renee smirked, raising an eyebrow.

"I am not getting emotional, I'm just saying that we dont even know if they are even connected to each other," she turned to face the stage where Vonda, the restaurants live singer was performing Ally's theme song, "And even if they are, I should be okay with that!"

"But what if he comes back into your life, through this Sarah?" Renee spoke softly, taking her friends hand, Ally had suddenly become quieter, an indication to her roomate that something was wrong. "I will handle it, if when it happens," she sighed, looking at Renee and returning her attention to the song.

((Authors note: so this chapter has been uploaded a little earlier than i had planned, what do you think of the story so far?

Larry Paul (played by Robert Downey JR) is coming into the story very soon but who do you think Sarah is? and what in what way, if any, do you think the two are connected?

Please dont forget to comment as It really helps with the writing))