Ally McBeal Revelations

by Thor2000

Cage and Fish might be haunted, and Ally falls for the ghosthunter who investigates not knowing Elaine wants him for himself. Meanwhile, Ally's dreams about Billy and Georgia have assumed comic book proportions.

She didn't know how she got there, but for right now Ally held on for dear life to the stone gargoyle jutting out off the outside of the building. She had to be a hundred feet into the air as Georgia Thomas stood on the edge in a tight, black leather bodysuit and carried a whip. The tightness of the costume made her appear feline as she laughed over the crack of thunder and the speed of the wind.

"Don't worry, Ally," she said. "It's not the fall that kills you; it's the sudden stopping as you hit the ground!"

"Georgia??" Ally looked up as she held on. "Why are you doing this? I thought we were friends?"

"Friends??" Georgia grinned eccentrically psychotic. "I'm doing this because Billy loves me! Not You!!" She laughed as the thunder and lightning lit up the sky. Within minutes, she was going to kick her husband's old girlfriend off the edge and be forever rid of her.

"Okay, Georgia." Billy Thomas himself appeared in the dreamlike sky suspended in the air beyond Ally in blue tights and a red cape and boots. A proud red "S" stretched across his chest, he was floating in the air just above Ally's head. "You can stop this game, right now." He wanted an end to this surreal role-playing.

"No!" Georgia looked at him. "You have to decide who you love. Me or her!"

"I love you both." He declared.

"Did you say both?" Georgia kicked the gargoyle and it broke loose from the impact of her boot tip. Ally's eyes went wide as she and the stone decoration fell down to earth. She felt herself falling and these distant images becoming a faint memory. The wind was ringing in her ears as she fell.

She sat up quickly up in bed. The strap of her nightgown fell from her shoulder and she woke up and realized what was reality once more. The ringing was from her alarm. Taking a minute to remember where it was, she took a moment to regain her composure as she distantly blew her hair out of her eyes. She realized her dreams were becoming even more vivid after she started working at Cage and Fish. She sat another few minutes as she reflected the dream over in her head. A brief realization came to her.

"That witch kicked me off the building!" she told herself.

Chapter Two

"I kicked you off the building??" Georgia stood in front of the unisex mirrors as she and Ally talked of her dreams. "And Billy was... you missed your calling, Ally. You should have been a writer."

"Oooooh…" Elaine was down from them at another unisex mirror adjusting her cleavage. "Billy in tights...What?" She noticed them looking at her.

"It was just a stupid, stupid dream." Ally looked at her reflection and still pictured Georgia in the leather cat suit. "I just want to forget it."

She led the way out of the unisex and across the exterior offices to the conference room. As she approached the entryway, Elaine tapped the back of her shoulder.

"Here comes your Man of Steel," She told her. The Superman movie theme began playing through Ally's ears as Billy came closer. The music in her head convinced her that he was still her true love. It became louder and louder and even more powerful as his presence came closer to her, but it turned into a scratching needle as he kissed his wife Georgia.

"Okay, okay," Richard stood at the head of the conference table. John Cage turned from a desk carrying a cup of coffee and took his seat at the end of the table. Richard eyed his staff over as they all sat down. "Beginning business, uh, Billy, be careful of the vase, it may be Kryptonite... "

Billy shot a glance of confusion as Ally covered her face. How did Richard find out and just who else did Elaine tell?

"The Constanza case, out. They settled out of court." Richard continued. "The Donner case, sticky divorce, she wants it all, prenup, Ally, you and Georgia on that. John, what's up on the Eichler vs. the plastic surgeon?"

"She's still getting bigger." John stammered. "He refuses to pay damages. Jury rules this afternoon."

"Huh," Richard clicked his tongue sarcastically for attention. "Kent...I mean, Billy...."

"Well," He wondered about the Superman references. Ally realized he was the only one who hadn't heard about her dream. "The witness gets out of the hospital. She should tell us whose car hit who."

"Sounds good, uh, who went in my office last night?" Richard panned the faces for a guilty face. "Not that I'm upset, just curious…"

"What?" John asked.

"I left last night at eleven after everyone else." Richard tilted his head. "I found my chair from my office in front of the elevators when I arrived."

"We had a break in!" Ally looked up.

"Uh, no." Richard admitted. "I mean, I found nothing stolen and the police found no signs of a break in, but someone was here last night. Had a girl here, too."

"How can you tell?" Georgia looked around.

"Cheap perfume. I can smell it." Richard sat down. "If anyone finds anything missing, tell the police..."

Everyone looked around and left the table to check their perspective offices. Richard sat by himself halfway expecting the guilty party to linger behind. Sitting alone, he wondered if it could have been something else.

"I guess they took it well...."

PART THREE

Billy Thomas was still left in the building as he worked over his deposition for the new case he had. He had won the hit and run, but now he had to defend a young miscreant being framed by his friends in a shoplifting case. The store wanted to make an example of this boy, but he was sure he could prove them wrong with strong character witnesses. Unfortunately, his mind was constantly wandering. His childhood memories of wanting to be Superman returned after hearing about Ally's dream. He grinned secretly to himself as he put his hands out and became a kid again. The floor he floated over lightly was a landscape and his desk a mountain as he flew back to it.

"Does this make me Lois Lane?" Georgia surprised him. She stood in his doorway and grinned at the little boy to which she was married. "I waited in the bar downstairs; I didn't know you'd be fighting the forces of evil."

"Oh, huh." Billy chuckled embarrassingly to himself. "Ally's dream has me reliving old superhero fantasies." He kissed his wife as they embraced against the desk. Her perfume wafted through his mind as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "I didn't even know it was so late." He checked his watch and stared out the starry night above the darkened profile of the city outside his window.

"Well," Georgia continued. "Just because nothing was stolen doesn't mean whoever got in here won't come back. I think we better head home."

"On my way," Billy kissed her again. He turned to the desk as the sound of someone on the floor got the attention of both of them. It sounded like someone was rolling a chair in the outer office. They both turned their heads to the direction of the sound as they poked their heads out and looked around the darkened law office. There was not a soul on sight as Georgia tapped his shoulder and mouthed the words to check the conference room. Gliding the way, Billy led the way for her as he apprehensively peeked into the darkened room. There was still no one in sight, but the fear was giving him a nervous stress attack. Who or what was he going to find? John? Richard? A prowler? A ghost? What made him think of that last one?

"I think we should call the police." Georgia whispered.

"No," her husband replied as he looked under the table. "I think it's just our imaginations going wild from the news this morning. It's a very creepy building..."

"I guess." She became a little girl in his eyes. He beamed back to her a smile of protection trying to be her man of steel and lightly brushed the long hair out of her eyes for her. Placing his arm around her back, he started to lead the way to the elevator, but then the sound started again. A rolling chair in the outer office was being pulled not far from them. They stopped and listened to the sound. It was accompanied by footsteps coming down from the top landing. They were obvious and heavy with the creaking of the steps coming toward them. They seemed to come closer and closer. Billy and Georgia braced expecting Richard to emerge or the building super, but no one appeared. The floor creaked in the empty room behind them. Together, their eyes went wide with fear. Yes, it was a very spooky building at night and their imaginations were both reacting together, but at the same thing? Was that possible?

"Yes, I think I'm ready to go." Billy rushed for his office and tossed everything into his briefcase. Georgia rang for the elevator and they entered it simultaneously. There hearts were still pounding as they reached the downstairs lobby adjacent to Vonda's Martini Bar and exited the building.

CHAPTER FOUR

Just before she woke up, Ally was hanging from the ledge again. Georgia was in the leather cat suit again in place of Michelle Pfeiffer and there was no sign of Billy, Dean Cain or Christopher Reeve as her man of steel. Once more getting kicked off the building, she woke with another quick start and took another few minutes to calm herself down.

"I am getting so sick of this." She mumbled to herself as she dragged herself out of bed and prepared to head for the office. She never read comic books growing up; yet she had been exposed them as a child. Her brothers Spenser and Andrew were mad about them. Spenser still collected them to this day. Why were these fictional urban legends suddenly taking the roles of her best friends and terrorizing her? She wondered about maybe she ought to consciously try changing the dream. Was that even possible? Maybe she ought to go see Tracy.

"You never read comic books?" Tracy asked her.

"Uhhhh, no," Ally admitted. "I thought they were for kids."

"But you were a kid once."

"Of course, I guess...."

"Guess?"

"I assume...." Ally corrected herself. "I just never cared for them."

"Okay," Tracy wrote something down in her pad. "Let's say to you that Billy is your hero, your man of steel, your protector, and Georgia is your nemesis..."

"But she's also my best friend."

"But deep down she's also your obstacle between you and Billy." Tracy's brown eyes stared through her glasses. "Your subconscious is reminding you of things you already know. That's who's kicking you off the ledge. You are. You need to confront dream-Georgia in order to put an end to these reminders that are bothering you."

"And how do I do that?"

"My cure is this." Tracy removed her glasses. "Buy some comics, do some research and find a way to keep Georgia from kicking you off that ledge."

Ally blinked her eyes once at her so-called solution. Hurrying on her way to the office, she noticed a rack of comic books in a drugstore on her way and purchased a few odd titles. Claiming they were for her little brothers, she hid them in her briefcase and hastened onward for Cage and Fish. From the first floor lobby of the building, she entered the elevator on her way. It was empty as she pushed the button, but as she stepped back she found herself accompanied by another presence. She briefly ignored him, but as she looked back to get a good look at him, she realized that she had never seen him before. He was a tall, very
distinguished person in a dark, pinstriped suit. His mind was obviously very centered as he stood at attention waiting for the elevator doors to open again.

"Hello." Ally tried to get his attention, but he didn't respond. He didn't seem to acknowledge her presence as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. Ally just stepped out and to the side and looked back at her fellow passenger to let him pass. He was gone! The elevator was empty! She shrieked and dropped her briefcase.

"Ally," The Biscuit John Cage rushed up as the office personnel took notice. "What is it?"

"John...." Ally looked to him, back to the empty elevator and back to John realizing she wasn't able to tell apart her imagination from reality. "I think I'm losing it!'

CHAPTER FIVE

Richard Fish was already at the morning conference table as everyone started wandering in, but today Billy was the last one in after listening to Ally's fretful story of a phantom figure in the elevator.

"Richard," he spoke straight out. "Something weird is going on around here. Footsteps the other night, a figure in the elevator, other weird things... Ally just had a bad fright a few minutes ago and I refuse to believe she's losing it."

"There's a logical reason for all of it." Richard spoke casually.

"What is it?"

"The building is haunted." He spoke matter-of-factly as everyone exchanged glances. Billy looked on in disbelief, John did a double take and Ally and Georgia exchanged glances. "Now, on this Fischer case, I think we..." Richard continued

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa…" John's quirky face had squeezed into one of mass confusion. "What do you mean, 'The building is haunted?'"

"I mean haunted - ghosts, spirits, and all that Halloween jazz. I mean, how do you think I got all this so cheap?" Richard grinned his smarmy little smile. "Now, first up, the Fischer case..."

"Screw the Fischer case!" Billy stood over the table. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Why tell anyone something they are not going to believe? Fishism, quote me if you will." Richard grinned harmlessly. "Now, this Fischer case could net us..."

"Richard!" Everyone shouted at once.

"Okay, okay," Richard dropped a defeated pen. "When I negotiated for all this office space, the owners told me the entire floor was once owned by Silvio Ciccone during Prohibition. A mobster of sorts, he and several of his so-called employees and staff were done in Valentine's Day style. Rumors say their spirits return every so often; that is if you believe this stuff, but I never saw anything. The contractors that remodeled here never reported anything. The reason these top floors stood empty previously for so long was on account they were supposed to be haunted, but I just figured it was a lot of bunk."

"Is this.... true?" Ally was hesitant believe it.

"There was an unsolved murder here, but I've never seen anything." Richard continued. "Now, on the Fischer case..."

"I knew it." Elaine glided in as if she were on strings. "I, personally, have always been, well, a little sensitive. I knew there was something special about this place."

"I didn't know you believed in ghosts, Elaine." Georgia asked.

"I am a really spiritual person." She admitted with a little grin. "Richard, I do keep in contact with other believers on the Internet and I do know a serious researcher up in Maine who would love to see this place. With your permission of course."

"Uh, well." Richard felt all eyes on him. "Why not? Just think, all those Gothic wearing little Internet freaks coming here with their expensive legal matters. It could work for me."

"I know just who to e-mail." Elaine squealed like a little girl. "In fact, I've been wanting to meet this guy for years. Ally, I'll
need to borrow your office."

"Um, uh, yeah." Ally scowled adorably one minute and then turned to Richard.

"Now, finally, the Fischer case.............." Richard finally continued.

CHAPTER SIX

Things bordered between the usual and unusual after news spread that Cage and Fish was based in a building with a reputation for being haunted. John watched the bowl of his pet frog Stefan take most of a minute to slowly slide from one end of his desk to the other one afternoon. The tiny frog however was oblivious to the whole thing. Georgia briefly caught sight of a woman in 1940's attire staring intently out the windows on the top landing. Looking up, the figure had vanished, but had left behind the scent of French perfume wafting through the offices.

Ally tried to remain ambiguous to the whole thing. It was hard enough for her to tell her illusions apart from the manifestations. Five days after Richard's admission, she was sitting alone in her office trying to cover her regular legal duties, but every several minutes, she wanted a diversion. Slyly looking around, she slid out the Wonder Woman comic book she had bought a few days before from her briefcase and picked up on a storyline. A childlike grimace filled her childlike face as she hid the thing in a law book and became a little girl again. The art was remarkable and the stories were compellingly augmented by the artwork. She read of characters with strong personalities and even infallibilities despite their great powers. It was the best merger of art and literature she had ever experienced. How could she have grown up missing these tales?

"Ally," Georgia stuck her head in.

"Yes." The petite lady lawyer quickly tucked the book in an open drawer and slammed it shut.

"Elaine's ghost expert is here if you want to meet him." Georgia continued.

"Fine." Ally looked around guiltlessly. "This ought to be worth some laughs." She mumbled under breath. Heading out, she looked across to the elevator where Elaine had someone on her arm. Richard was blocking her view for a minute then moved away.

Her eyes widened. He was not what she was thinking he'd look like. She was expecting a dark Gothic figure in dark clothes with occult symbols and a surly personality. Shaking hands with Billy, he was actually young, handsome and just her type! He resembled sort of Tom Cruise or George Clooney. Her imaginary tongue held out as she scanned his dark blue sweater framing his physique down to his tan khaki pants. If Billy was her Man of Steel, he was her Bruce Wayne.

"So, William," Richard spoke. "Please tell me you spray some stuff and make the spirits go away."

"Heh," William Collins chuckled amusingly. "If you have invisible guests oblivious to your presence, how do you get them to leave? I mean they have no idea that we're even here." He looked through the part in the crowd at Ally across the room. His eyes shone with gratifyingly approval as he too admired the endlessly lovely lawyer. She was a young lovely woman with the façade of a young girl and the demeanor of a lady. A faint tortured spark in her eyes made him want to be a knight in shining armor for her. He had never met anyone like her and his heart knew it as it pumped a bit faster. Humility forced him to grin
as Elaine squeezed his arm.

"Attractive, and smart!" Elaine gushed with proud emotion.

"So you're from Collinsport." John remained intrigued. "I actually went to college with a guy from there - David Collins?"

"He's my uncle." William looked up as Georgia and Ally came up.

"Georgia, Ally, meet my e-mail pen pal, William Collins." She acted as if she was showing off one her numerous admirers.

"Charmed." William shook Georgia's hand, but lingered a bit as his hand met Ally's. His gaze on her made her feel weak in the knees. He liked her too! She could feel it! Elaine looked the two of them over.

"A treasure... um, I mean, it's a pleasure." Ally flashed her irresistible grin.

"Will," Richard interceded as a barrier between the ghost hunter and the females. "What do you expect to tell us about the ghosts?"

"I can tell you if they're real or not or if it's just natural phenomenon." William gazed wantonly and briefly back toward Ally. "I don't have the means to remove them, but I do prefer it's best to let them stay. All I can do is start a case file and tell you if what is happening has a logical solution or not."

"You don't actually believe in this stuff, do you?" Billy asked.

"I do." William answered. "May I hang around and document anything that happens?"

"How long will you be here?" John asked.

"As long as I'm welcome." William passed his gaze back to Ally. She beamed brightly and excitedly as a jealous flair in Elaine's personality realized what was happening.

CHAPTER SEVEN

The offices of Cage and Fish were completely quiet except for the far off sounds of traffic coming and going up and down Beacon Street. The building was empty except for the main staff still mulling through the place watching Collins click a few pictures. He had wanted a camera that produced instant pictures, but Georgia just happened to have a 35MM Polaroid in her desk left over from last Christmas.

"Why are instant pictures so important?" Billy asked.

"Because developers can screw up and alter the pictures they develop." Collins unwrapped an audiotape and placed it into Elaine's cordless tape player. He hid a grin as he glanced to Ally. "I really prefer greater control and because instant pictures can allow me a more immediate feedback. Now let's check for EVP."

"Electronic voice phenomenon." Elaine grinned excited. Almost everyone was a bit indifferent to the assumed haunting, but Richard was hanging around out of curiosity.

"Now like I said earlier, no one say anything." Collins pushed RECORD on the tape and set it down on the desk. Georgia squeezed excitedly and just a tad afraid into Billy as John scowled curiously as the recorder taped for any undetected sounds.

"Is there anyone here?" Collins professionally asked the room. He stepped back while everyone gazed around or watched the recorder for little over a minute. Ever skeptical, Richard was expecting a four-piece band to march in playing "The Gang's All Here." Ally was a bit more open if but a little hesitant. She and William shared a secret grin between themselves out of Elaine's knowledge just as Richard began whistling a funeral dirge.

"Richard!!!" Everyone gasped.

"What? What?"

"Don't worry about it." William stopped the tape and rewound it. "Let's see if we got something." The tape stopped as he pushed PLAY. The white noise from the room started playing back in a static monotone as Billy stepped forward.

"Wait a second." he took it and rewound it once more. Adjusting the volume and the contrast, he played it back. "Is that big band music?"

"You're right." William noticed at as everyone took a collective gasp. Almost covered by the sound of white noise was a Benny Goodman tune. If someone was playing it in the building, shouldn't they have heard it?

"Where did that come from?" John asked.

"Is there anyone here?" William's voice came from the tape. It was quickly followed by a short curt "yes" as Richard's whistling came in the background of the recording.

"This isn't fun anymore." Georgia recanted and pulled on her coat and turned headed for the elevator. Billy headed after her as Elaine smiled ear to ear.

"Oh my gosh...." William replayed the 'yes' back several times as everyone drifted apart trying to form his or her own answers. Ally hovered him halfway in shock.

"There is an explanation for this, isn't there?" she asked.

"Oh, well, uh, sure." William looked around. "My Uncle David is the expert in this stuff, however. I want to send him everything. In the meantime, I know Boston a bit; I often play pool at a bar near here called Cheers. Would you like to get something to eat?" Ally beamed a hesitant smile as Elaine glided up.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Oh, huh, well…" Ally struggled for response.

"Would you two ladies like to get some dinner?" William offered.

"Sure!" Elaine grinned for Ally. "There's Melville's up the street; I know how you love seafood, or we can just go down to the bar downstairs. You haven't heard me sing yet." She unconsciously flirted.

"Sounds great." William gazed intently into Ally's big brown eyes a minute. The corners of her mouth mustered a brief smile as he placed the audiotape and roll of film into a pouch on his belt.

"So," John and Richard came up on the two of them as if they were a comedy team. "What's next?"

"One of two things," William responded. "Nothing at all or with their existence revealed, they could get excited and increase the amount of phenomenon."

John looked at Ally. She was smiling almost as oddly as Elaine, but he didn't think it had anything to do with whatever was happening in the offices. He thought it had something to do with William.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Pat Benatar was in the bar down from Cage and Fish. Ally explained that the firm treated it as their watering hole aside from the courtroom. Richard left on arrival to be with Whipper and Billy and Georgia took a table to be by themselves. After Benatar finished enthralling the crowd with her song, "Invincible," Elaine took center stage and staring straight at William started singing the Teena Marie one-hit wonder, "I Got A Crush On You."

"She's incredible, isn't she?" William tried to speak to Ally over the sounds of the bar. Elaine could control the sound and waves of the room as if she were a goddess controlling the elements. "I mean, from her e-mails I knew she was extraordinary, but I've never met someone who really loved life so much."

"Oh yeah," Ally was close enough to William to kiss him. "Everyone loves Elaine." She smiled a nervous grin to him as he gazed deep into her eyes.

"You know," He looked back at her. "I've got this feeling I'm falling in love with you, Ally McBeal."

"Oh," She chuckled her little laugh. "Uh, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?" Her eyes widened like a young girl.

"...I got a crush on you........." Elaine's voice filled the air.

"Heh," William chuckled. "Well, my family owns the largest non-franchise ship-building firm on the East coast, a very successful cannery and computer software agency. My father's name is Barnabas Collins; my mother is Angelique Collins. I have a younger sister named Sarah and a dozen surviving uncles, aunts and cousins. I attended Collinsport High School, majored in writing at Southeastern Maine University after deciding not to be a lawyer myself and I have never had a girlfriend."

"...I got a crush on you..." Elaine cooed once more.

"Never?" Ally asked.

"My cousin Jamison is the family lady-killer." William grinned sipping his soft drink. "All I want is one true love. I've always thought that it's a shame you can't skip the whole dating crap and just go to the good stuff, like a relationship."

The crowd was cheering as Elaine gave Mrs. Benatar the microphone back. Ally exhaled as the blonde office sexpot came back to the table skipping like a little girl.

"How was I?" she asked out of breath.

"Madonna should take notes." William heard his pager go off. Looking at it, he scowled for the first time since he arrived. "Good grief, mother," he cursed. "How is it you know when I'm having a good time?! Would you excuse me?" He turned to Elaine and looked round for a pay phone.

"Oh sure," Elaine sat down by Ally. "So what did you two talk about?"

"Oh, well, he..."

"He's mine, Ally." Elaine cut her off.

"What?"

"You don't know him like I do." Elaine continued. "William is a very emotional person with self-esteem problems. We've been friends since his Aunt Liz died and he's opened up to me more than his own mother. Don't drag him down to your level, Ally. I can do more for him than you ever could."

"Down to my level?" Ally became adorably upset.

"He doesn't see dancing babies or unicorns." Elaine replied.

"No, he sees ghosts."

"Well," Elaine countered. "At least his hallucinations are real." Elaine turned around and caught William at the pay phones. He gazed longingly toward Ally as Elaine took him away with her. Ally then had the feeling as if she were carrying the emotional baggage. Her heart started beating faster wanting to hold on to William.

CHAPTER NINE

Ally clung hard to the stone gargoyle hanging off the ledge once more. Scared for her life, she looked down the hundred stories as a familiar blonde she knew in a tight leather cat suit stood above her on the precarious ledge.

"Don't worry, Ally, it's not the fall that kills you; it's the sudden stopping as you hit the ground!!!" Georgia cackled over the wind and thunder striking the sky above them.

"I'm getting so sick of this!!!" Ally was really starting to hate this recurring dream. She had to change it. She had to will herself to do something. She needed a role herself or to bring someone else in who was impervious to Georgia's taunting voice. There was a sound of steel striking brick and the slice of something in the air. Ally and Georgia noticed a steel grappling hook hit the building attached to a rope.

Out of nowhere the huge wingspan of a man-sized bat in rubber and armor landed on the ledge. Under his cowl, he frowned discordantly and faced Georgia one on one. She struck him with her sharp claws a moment as they traded judo chops and karate kicks. Ally was just pulling herself up as one kick sent Georgia over the ledge. Happily excited, Ally watched as her nemesis took her place falling from the building but only to save herself on a lower ledge with her whip lashed to another ledge.

"Ally, give me your hand." William's voice came from the Dark-Knight Detective. He reached out to her.

"Yes!" Ally looked up to him.

"I don't think so." Another voice came. Ally noticed a pair of red boots land above her. Above her Elaine stood smiling in a red cape, miniskirt and blue leotard. Across her well-rounded chest was stretched a big red "S." Elaine beamed toward her mischievously and with a light punt, kicked Ally off into space off the ledge. Ally's face turned to angry confusion as Elaine embraced the other costumed crime fighter on the ledge above her.

Ally sat up in bed again in shock. Realizing who was replacing Georgia, she started screaming. Turning over, she began kicking and screaming at her mattress and started having a fit. After her ten-second tantrum of shaking her brass headboard and pounding her bed, she calmed down and caught her breath.

"No, no, no…" She commiserated on the changing dream. "I didn't even get a chance to pull out my golden lasso." She mumbled and twitched her head frustratingly upset as she hesitantly sat up and readied for the office. Another batch of her comic book research along the way, she noticed William in the offices upon arrival. He had promised to not let the temps and assistants know what he was doing, but for all concerned, he was just doing research on the building history and construction. Pretending not to notice him, she watched him talking to John and headed to the unisex. Glancing at her reflection in the mirror, she stared back at it for a minute studying her reflection. She wondered about William and what he saw in her over Elaine.

"Morning," he wandered in enchanted by her for some reason.

"Oh, um, morning."

"I had an idea." He took her hand. "Melville's for lunch. Just the two of us this time."

"Um, I don't think so."

"Why not?"

"Well," Ally lowered her head. "Because you're Elaine's guy and…"

"What gave you the idea I'm Elaine's guy?"

"She's in love with you."

"Elaine?" It hit William like a load of bricks. "I can't believe..." He looked back at Ally. "I never realized. I mean, I just thought we were… Ally, look, Elaine and I… I mean… have you ever seen Gilligan's Island?"

"The show with the island." Ally rolled her eyes as she remembered some scenes. "I'm aware of it."

"Now, on that show, Ginger was beautiful and exciting and fun to be with," William continued, "But despite all the guys that liked her, just as many of them wanted Mary Ann, because she was approachable. She was what they really wanted. You see, girls like Ginger or Elaine often scare away more guys than they get because they appear unapproachable. Now, as much as I like and care about Elaine, it's you I want to be with."

"Because I'm more approachable. I don't threaten you. I'm the ingénue." Ally looked up into his brown eyes. She hadn't looked into another guy like him since Billy. Their faces leaned closer to each other as they found their lips together. She felt his hands on the back her waist.

Wondering why it became so silent, an eavesdropper in one of the stall doors parted open to let Elaine peeked out. Her eyes widened at the embrace before her as she stifled a shriek in her lungs. Her face became tense at the scene and she silently closed the door again and tried to keep from being seen. Fighting back her crushed feelings and squashed dreams, she heard Ally gasp and then the door to the unisex swung closed and then again as someone else headed out. Taking her feet off the toilet, she stood in the open door and closed it as she plotted her next move.

CHAPTER TEN

It was another day and John and Richard thought they heard the theme to "Leave It To Beaver" as Elaine came to work. The often oversexed assistant had come to work in a Fifties dress with a necklace of pearls on her neck and carrying a pie in front of her as if she had just come out of a kitchen. Her curly blonde mane of hair had been pulled back to resemble a blonde Lucy Ricardo and her skirt was hanging down over her knees for the first time.

"Uh, Elaine," Richard started. "Did you lose a bet or something?"

"If Ally thinks she's getting William away from me, she's going to learn I can fight dirty too." She smirked putting the pie down. "If this is what he prefers, then I can do it too. How do I look?"

"Like an x-rated version of..." John answered.

"What was the name of the Beaver's mom?" Richard wondered.

"June Cleaver." John finished.

"That's her."

"Damn." Elaine pushed her breasts down for a change. "It took me hours to suppress my natural sexuality. What does Ally have that I don't?"

"Well," Richard was obviously coming up with one of those things only he could say and get away with. "Maybe he's gay and he loves her for her boyish figure."

"Richard! My lord!!" John scowled and recoiled. "Do you listen to the stuff that comes out of your mouth??!"

"Well," Elaine picked up the pie. "Here goes nothing." She looked around and noticed William unassumingly at a table in a corner. He was hovering over floor plans and drawing spots and notes looking for areas that showed the most activity. The sketches also showed a secret room off the unisex, but he couldn't find the door. He was scrutinizing the plans when someone put a pie down on them.

"Elaine?" He asked as he looked to John and Richard for answers. "Did you lose a bet or something?"

"I don't know what happened." She responded. "But last night I had this mad urge to bake a pie. Blueberry, your favorite." She had to fight her natural proclivity to stick her finger into it and let him lick it off her finger.

"How did you remember..."

"I looked back through your e-mails."

"You save my e-mails?"

"Printed them and filed them on a disc as per your past, history and bio along with your favorite websites." She admitted. "I was wondering if you'd like to come by my place tonight for a home cooked meal."

"Elaine." Ally walked up trying to recognize her. "Did you lose a bet or something?"

"She baked me a pie." William remarked.

"Who? Elaine???"

"Yes, Elaine." The former sexpot admitted. "I can cook. I just choose not to most of the time. How well do you know your kitchen? But then it looks like you don't eat much. "

William thought he heard cats fighting somewhere.

"Look." William dropped his pencil. "I am not worth coming between two good friends. I love you both."

Ally was back on the ledge with Super-Billy and Cat-Georgia for a second. Hovering in the dream, Billy said the same thing. It was then that Ally realized she was in another triangle where she was possibly Georgia and Elaine was she.

"I love you both." She heard Billy in the dream and realized what he had been trying to tell her. He could love them both.

"Look," she replied. "Elaine, I am not going to take William away from you. No matter what happens, I'll just be glad knowing we're all still friends."

"Really?" Elaine was skeptical. For a minute she still felt she was hanging from a ledge while a Cat-Ally and Super-William hovered over her. "I do feel silly competing like this. I did know him first."

"Elaine," William looked up with his big brown eyes and unshaved five o'clock shadow. "You know, Ally and I might not work out, but… we'll always be friends."

"We will?" She relaxed a bit and tugged at her old-fashioned dress. "Excuse me, but this dress is driving me nuts!" She reared up the skirts and rushed past Billy and Georgia for the unisex. Grabbing something out of a closet along the way, she vanished into Ally's office to change her clothes.

"Did she lose a bet or something?" Georgia asked Billy.

"By the way," Ally turned to William. "You left your wallet at my place last night." She held it up with a wry grin between them. "Us not working out??" She tilted her head up and kissed him.

11

"Well, we can forget about the Fischer case," Richard began another morning meeting. "He became all noble and decided to reward benefits to his employees. I think he was visited by three ghosts last night."

"What is this mugging case you dropped in my lap?" Ally asked.

"The mugger is suing the guy who beat the crap out of him." John filled in the details. "Some people..." He rubbed his temples as if he had a
headache.

"Ally, if you're not overwhelmed, could you sit second chair with me?" Billy spoke up.

"What's the case?"

"My client says she was dropped from the Winslow High School cheerleading squad because her chest is too big."

"And you thought of me??!" Ally wondered. "What about Georgia?"

"She's with me." John admitted.

"Ally," Billy looked to his former girlfriend. "I need a female perspective in this case and Georgia has two cases already."

"We need more lawyers here." Richard replied.

"Hello?" William rapped in the doorway of the conference room.

"William," Richard sipped his coffee and gestured him in as everyone turned their heads. "How's our resident ghost-buster?"

"Heh," William smirked at the clandestine remarks. "Well, the phenomenon you have here passes 21 out of 30 factors; congratulations, it's a level three haunting."

"Level Three?" Georgia looked up only half-interested with her soft blue eyes. "Is that bad?"

"A level one is a haunting by reputation," Elaine chimed as she wrote notes and revealed her interest in the afterlife. "A level two is one by unconfirmed testimonies..."

"Level three is supported by legitimate witness testimonies," William continued. "And level four gets into world's most haunted."

"Do we have anything to worry about?" Billy looked around for old ladies floating in the air.

"No," William admitted. "You've worked here this long without experiencing anything, I doubt you'll even know they're here. I bet most of the time you'll forget they are even here unless they do something to remind you. It occurs more often than you think."

"If ghosts are real, why is there..." Ally wondered.

"Because witness testimony is only good in a court of law." William admitted. "Scientists expect something they can prove in a laboratory. In the meantime, parapsychology will never get the respect or the funding it deserves."

"Well, I'm sure we all thank you for your help." John spoke for everyone. "Elaine can call me if anything changes." William replied as Ally looked up. He knew he'd be departing with a fond experience of this place. "I hope everything turns out okay. It's been a pleasure meeting all of you."

Ally's lower jaw dropped a little and Billy reached to shake William's hand first and he hovered over the table shaking hands. Ally looked around for Elaine then rose and left the conference room for William.

"You're leaving?" She asked.

"I have to." William picked up an envelope of notes. "My mom's going nuts because her apron strings don't stretch this far. I've got other locations with stronger rates of activity."

"Oh." Ally felt her emotions being tugged.

"But you can come see me, can't you?" William lifted her chin up as she looked down. "I left my e-mail on your desk if you want to keep in touch. I don't want to lose you."

"I don't want to lose you either." Their faces drifted closer as his lips pressed against hers. For once in her life, Ally felt she was complete. Could she ever find another guy like him? She barely opened her eyes as Elaine jealously popped up. Ally and William broke apart.

"Am I interrupting?" she grinned.

"Elaine, you're a pistol." William noticed.

"I know." She grabbed him and kissed him. Ally watched in surprise as William's face vanished behind Elaine's profile. He even grunted under the attack as she pulled back with his bottom lip still stuck between hers. It snapped back as she grinned in triumph.

"Have mercy!" William mimicked Elvis a minute as he turned into the open elevator. A silent smile and a wave and he was gone behind the sliding doors.

Ally just peered to Elaine smiling back to her. Barely amused, she turned toward her office a minute and approached her desk. She was expecting to notice a piece of paper with William's e-mail on it. She glanced across the top then looked to the floor. She picked up a file and then glanced around again.

"Elaine?" She asked out loud. "Did you see a piece of paper on my desk?"

"No, is it important?"

"It's William's e-mail."

"Oh, well, maybe a breeze knocked it to the floor."

"Yeah, maybe." Ally dove to the floor and felt under her desk.

"If you don't find it, let me know. I'll give you a copy." Elaine offered.

"Uh, yeah." Ally scrambled around on the floor desperate to find that e-mail before it became lost. Elaine turned out the door and closed it behind her. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a post-it with a e-mail on it removed from Ally's desk.

"Like hell I will." She grinned evilly.

12

Her mind had her once more hanging on a stone gargoyle on the one hundredth floor of a building towering over high city streets. On the ledge, Georgia wore a tight leather bodysuit sewn together out of misshaped bits and pieces. Her long blonde hair was wickedly strewn in the wind of the storm as she cowered over her. The sky shattered and broke over them with the threat of rain.

"Don't worry, Ally." She grinned. "It's not the fall that kills you..."

"It's the sudden stopping as I hit the ground." Ally finished her quote. "I know, I know."

"It's me Billy loves, not you!"

"I am getting so sick of this." Ally scowled adorably at Georgia as she glared back. "SHAZAM!!!"

A huge explosion shattered the dream as lightning struck the ledge. The lightning bolt striking the building had thrown Georgia inside the building through the window. The crash sent her through two panes of glass and even slid her across the floor for twenty feet before she came to a stop. She had never seen the inside of the building before. It was dark, dirty and dismal. Largely abandoned, she groaned as sparkling pieces of shattered glass covered everything. Her back ached and her nose smelled ozone and bunt leather in this musty former apartment.

"Uhhhhh…" She moaned in pain and shook the tiny pieces off her chest and out of her hair as she slowly rose. "What the heck was that?"

Looking up, a figure hovered in the open window. The nightmare had finally changed and Ally Marie McBeal floated in the air now in a red and yellow mini-skirt and blouse. Under her folded arms, a yellow lightning bolt emblazoned her now busty chest as a white Olympian cape from her shoulders flapped in the wind.

"Okay," Ally grinned enjoying this comic book stuff. "Prepare for the fight scene..........."

END