Ally was happily asleep at home as she dreamed of marriage and wedding rings and little girls that looked just like her. In her mind, the image of her husband switched like images on a TV. First, he looked like Billy, and then Ronald Cheanie. He was even Greg Butters briefly as they kissed, but as he pulled back and Ally looked again, he was William Collins, Elaine's friend. They kissed in open field full of grass as high as her knees and surrounded by thousands of daisies stretching throughout the open field bordered by trees and wooded pastures. They huddled together under a tree kissing as their would-be five-year-old little girl picked the flowers. This was how she wanted it. This was how it should be. She didn't want to return to reality: she wanted to stay here.

It then all changed for her. It was becoming increasingly bright as a burst of light took over everything. The field, her child and her husband were erased in one huge burst as if a cosmic eraser had changed everything. The light became brighter than Ally could see past and she felt William tugged away from her. Her heart was breaking and her eyes started crying. Don't let it go away. Everything became a brilliant white, and then it all subsided to a white room where she was all by herself and alone to just her fantasies. The surrealism, hazy feel and look of her reconstructed world were replaced by that of cold isolation belonging more to a place devoid of human emotion. It was sterile and stiflingly unnerving and she soon realized she was alone. She even found herself wearing a tight white plain bodysuit that unflatteringly made her feel as if she were a guinea pig in a dimensional experiment.

"Hello!" She called out. She didn't feel as if she was asleep anymore. The sensation of the dream world had been replaced by the hard tactile touch of reality. Where was she? On board a space ship about to be probed by extraterrestrials?

She heard something. Looking behind her, a hatch opened. Sliding up in the form of a futuristic seal on a vault, it revealed a U.S. Navy Admiral in an ice cream white uniform. In his hand was a glowing many-colored object throwing off lights in different colors.

"Oh boy..." Ally began to fear she was about to be probed!

PART 2

Georgia felt a little better about herself this morning after stepping off the elevator. Billy had to go straight to court this morning and she had paper work to catch up on, but as she walked across, she noticed that John and Richard were hovering around Elaine.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Oh, good, a female perspective." Elaine turned around holding a small remote. "I have a new invention I call the inflata-bra. It's for women like yourself and Ally who are, well, dimensionally challenged."

"This ought to be good." Richard grinned a smarmy grin.

"What!" Georgia took offense.

"I, of course, don't need it." Elaine continued. "But first up, I have a setting I call the Madonna." She pushed a button as the front of her sweater became fuller, rounder and bigger.

"It jiggles, it bounces and it's perfect." Elaine continued. "Now, if you're feeling more daring, I have the Pamela Lee." She clicked again as her breasts became bigger and her sweater expanded around their increased volume.

"These are the ones that all guys seem to love." Elaine remarked as Georgia rolled her eyes. Richard's smile was getting bigger as John sank into disbelief.

"What do you know," Richard replied. "A live action Benny Hill Show!" Georgia shot him a dirty look.

"Last, but not least, if you're feeling a bit naughty," Elaine clicked her switch again. "The Anna Nicole Smith." She turned into a cartoon as her sweater stretched as far as it possibly could. It looked as if she were hiding two basketballs as Richard's eyes shone like headlights on a brand new 1957 Chevy.

"Oh," He drooled and groaned at the same time. "Can I touch them?"

"Sure."

"Richard!" John and Georgia screamed out together.

"You will notice that they feel completely natural and...hey, don't puncture the bag!" Elaine drew offense as Richard's continued and growing curiosity and persistence at her invention and clicked a switch as her chest returned to normal.

"Pokip, pokip, pokip…" John stuttered briefly trying to handle the visions of Elaine over-inflated in his head and tried to rid his memory of those images.

"Elaine," Georgia covered her eyes. She was embarrassed just being a woman. "I think, you have way too much time on your hands!"

"At least Ally may like it." She stepped forward.

"Can I see the Anna Nicole again?" Richard followed her.

"Not now." Elaine continued for Ally's office. The door was barely ajar as the two of them looked at each other briefly and realized both of them were more than capable of eavesdropping then peeked in slowly to see what she was doing. She was on the far side of the room talking and speaking to someone, but as they looked, they noticed just an empty corner then looked at each other and realized the same thought.

She was losing it again.

"Al, you've got to get me out of this leap." Ally spoke to her invisible benefactor. "I cannot be a lady lawyer...what? What do you want me to…" Somehow she knew she was being watched as she spun around and saw Elaine and Richard's faces in the door. It was almost as if her unseen guest had told her to turn around. "Uh, is there a problem?" She forced a grin.

"Ally?" Elaine spoke. "Is the dancing baby back again?"

"What?" She made a confused look as she glanced to her invisible friend in the corner. "Uh, no, I was just...rehearsing my opening statements for court." She smiled harmlessly trying to prove she wasn't crazy.

"Really?" Richard backed off.

"Was there something you had to say?" Ally asked them.

"Uhhhhhh, no." Richard pulled Elaine back. "We'll be back." He closed the door as they heard Ally turn around and ask someone what a dancing baby was.

"She's really losing it now." Elaine whispered. "First the comic book dreams..."

"Hello." John walked up as Elaine and Richard snapped to attention. "Would you part? I need to talk to Ally about our case."

"You can't, she's..."

"Don't tell me actually trying on that inflata-bra thing!" John groused even more confused and felt a bit of disappointment in Ally to even think she would try Elaine's crazy boob enhancer. Richard just swore him to secrecy and guided him to peek into Ally's office with him. They gestured him to be quiet and carefully cracked the door and peeked into another Ally moment and tried to understand her new hallucination. She was still holding a conversation by herself and getting answers on her own life and friends. Despite her back turned to the door, she was also being told that someone was watching her. She turned around and waved harmlessly to them as they traded nervous glances.

PART 3

Ally may have been alone at her apartment, but she was acting as if she were talking to someone. Clad in her sweat suit to lounge before her TV, she crossed from her bedroom to her kitchen in furious discussion.

"Yeah," she replied. "Well, you just go back and you tell Ziggy I am not barricading myself in here until I know what I'm running from. For all I know, that just might be what gets…" The front door sounded as someone knocked on it.

"Who's that?" She asked out loud and got an invisible reply. "What's she doing here?" She crossed over to her door and opened it. Elaine beamed ear to ear with two suitcases and a travel case.

"I'm here!" She grinned.

"Yes, you... are?" Ally looked behind herself.

"Ally, you didn't forget." Elaine strutted in and put her things down. "You said I could stay with you while my place was being fumigated. Did Renee come back early?"

"Renee?" Ally looked at her invisible guest. "Um, uhhhh, no…"

"Oh good," Elaine took her things into Renee's room. "We can finally get to know each other and you can tell me about your new invisible friend and…" Ally was barely a few feet away and still talking to herself.

"Would you get your mind out of the gutter!" The petite lady lawyer snapped at her invisible acquaintance.

"Ally? Are you sure you're okay?" Elaine peeked out as Ally snapped to her presence. "Are you having problems? I mean, you're really worrying me now. Is this a new, you know, thing?" She realized the best way to handle Ally's fantasies was to humor her in them.

"What?" Ally looked confused. "Uhhhhhhhh, no. I mean...You got me. I was talking to Al, my...guardian angel."

"Guardian angel." Elaine slowly grinned as if she were getting the rules in this game. "And only you can see him?"

"Yes." Ally confirmed. "He's kind of short, dresses badly and smokes a big smelly cigar."

"Does he like me?"

"He thinks you have a nice butt."

"Ooooooooooooooo... thanks Al." Elaine looked around.

"But I'd be careful, he's also quite a womanizer." Ally looked directly into empty air.

"Your guardian angel's a womanizer?" Elaine slowly unpacked. If this was anyone else but Ally, she'd been off and running.

"Don't try to explain it." Ally put her head in her hand.

"Look, Ally," Elaine escorted her out. "I love your hallucinations. All of them, really, but I think you've been going through withdrawal since William left. Why don't we go out with two of my guys? Girl's night out!"

"A date?" Ally cringed and looked at "Al."

"Trust me." Elaine looked into Ally's big brown eyes. "I know what I'm doing."

"A date?" Ally made a face as she looked to heaven. "Never make me a woman again. Please?"

PART 4

Elaine had gotten into Ally's closet and picked out her clothes for the double date. Grumbling and refusing and reneging the whole time, Ally quickly realized that Elaine did not know the meaning of the word "No." Against her will, and better judgment, she was soon stumbling in high heels like a man trying to be ladylike and on her way to Melville's Restraunt to meet their dates, but first, Ally had to meet Elaine's companion for the night. He was a tall, good-looking former baseball player who now owned the tavern under Melville's. Ally looked into his big brown eyes.

"Ally, this is Sam." Elaine gushed with feminine exuberance.

"What a coincidence. My name is..." Ally started then changed her tone. "Wait a minute, you're Sam Malone. I saw you pitch seven straight homeruns at Fenway Park back in 1976."

"Yeah," Sam put down the bottled water he was drinking. "I remember that. I used to drink a lot back then."

"Ally," Elaine began. "I didn't know you liked baseball."

"I watch a few games." Ally was turned to meet her date. He was shorter than Malone and had blonde hair and blue eyes. He looked handsome, like some sort of Brad Pitt-look-alike, but he obviously had none of the spark or the Hollywood presence of the actor.

"Ally," Elaine continued. "This is Jeff Hodge. He used to play ball with Sam."

"Good to meet you." Jeff and Ally scanned each other. He glanced her figure and she smirked uneasily. She then jerked her head toward the empty air, as if acknowledging someone no one else could see, and turned to Elaine.

"I need to freshen up." She mumbled.

"I'll go with you." Elaine piped up from eye smooching with Sam.

"I need to be alone." Ally grinned for the first time tonight. She strided toward the bathrooms on the far side end of the bar past a mailman and a fat barfly at the corner of the bar and peeked into the ladies room. A short waitress with a small afro-style hairstyle emerged and departed with her bitter chip on her shoulder. The ladies room was now empty, but for her eyes alone, her guardian angel Al popped in. He was the only one right now with the truth to the circumstances as the person inside Ally spoke.

"Sam, what are you doing here?" Al asked. "I thought I told you to hide in McBeal's place."

"I am not holing myself up anywhere." Dr. Sam Beckett spoke as Ally's reflection appeared in the mirror and perfectly copied his movements. "It's probably what gets her killed."

"You don't know that." Al watched as Sam checked the stalls and fought against the dress he was wearing.

"Al!" Sam peered into Ally's eyes in the mirror. "I'm ruining her life. I think her friends are about to have her committed after the conversations we've been having out loud."

"Nonsense." Al puffed his cigar. "I talked to Verbina and she says that Ally has a very healthy fantasy fixation. It's sort of her shield between herself and reality."

"What do you have on this Jeff Hodge?"

"Let's see..." Al pushed some buttons on his comlink to the computers of Project: Quantum Leap monitoring and linking to these time-hopping experiences around Dr. Beckett. "Jeffrey Michael Hodge, born in Fall River, pitcher for eight years with the Celtics, now a general contractor,... he's had a bit of bad luck. His sister died in a car accident, his wife died of a heart attack... uh-oh!"

"Uh-oh? What uh-oh?"

"He also knew a Michelle Suter, she vanished three years ago." Al's eyes shone with fear. "He also knew a Roxanne Rodriguez, a Kristy Whitney, Christie Vaughn, a Tina Scalf... all of whom have vanished after knowing him. My god! Ziggy never thought to check if Ally was done in by a serial killer! Sam, you need to get this guy!"

"How could I prove it?" Sam looked at the comlink. "Is there any evidence in 1998 I can use to prove it ?"

"Nada." Al pushed the button to open the door to the imaging chamber. "But my advice is this: Run! If you get tired of running, run some more. I'll check with Gooshie and Ziggy and see if we can find something." He stepped through the door and vanished.

Sam Beckett could only cringe as Ally's reflection stared back at him through the mirror. He was already making his excuse as he headed back to Elaine and his escort for the night. Elaine, however, was not in sight.

"Change of plans." Hodge looked harmless as he stood up to meet Ally. "Sam and Elaine went to his place. Would you still like to get dinner upstairs?" He stuck his arm out to escort her as a gentleman.

"Oh boy..." Ally's voice quivered.

PART 5

Ally just sat at the table as Hodge boasted and bragged on his baseball career. Sam Beckett pulling the strings on her life had gone through with the date for the free dinner, but now, she felt as if she was drifting off as Hodge now talked about his job.

"Ally?" he looked at her. "Are you okay?"

"What?" She snapped to attention. "Oh, yeah, sure, but let's talk about something else. Old girlfriends. Elaine said you've been through a lot. Problems with romance?"

"No, they just don't like being chopped up and buried in my basement." Jeff chuckled as Ally's eyes went wild.

"I'm kidding! Really… " He tried to calm her. "I couldn't hurt a fly. It's just that...well, I have a lot of problems getting extra dates. They just sort of… vanish on me."

"Just vanish?"

"This one girl stopped returning my calls." Hodge insisted. "Another moved and didn't leave an address. Am I that bad a guy?"

"Well..." Ally tried to duck the question. "You could come up for air when you talk."

"Sorry." Hodge smiled harmlessly. "Why don't we get out of here? I'll take you home."

"I'd appreciate it." Ally beamed with a cute grin. "I'll go flag a taxi." She dropped her jovial grin as Jeff turned his back to pay the check. Looking back at him, Ally looked him over and wondered if she could take him on in a fight. She picked up her jacket and headed out into the restraunt waiting area past a couple waiting for a table and then found herself waiting outside for Jeff Hodges to catch up with her and come out and join her on the front stoop outside Melville's under the canopy protected her from the rain. She flagged a taxi on the corner and watched it pulled up to her. A bad scent came from the interior as she opened the door to the back seat. It smelled like rotten eggs, but it would do for now. Jeff was on his way out to get in the cab with her, but as soon as Ally had slid in, the cab suddenly bolted from the curb before Hodge get in to it. The quick jerking of the vehicle caused the door to slam shut on Ally's long overcoat

.
"Hey!" Ally slid across the back seat as she yelled at the driver. "You left your other passenger!"

The driver didn't respond. Ally could only look back as Jeff watched her speed off without him. It didn't look the way it did, but she couldn't say anything. The taxi turned into the park as Ally started screaming.

"Where you going?" she hollered. "My place is in the opposite direction!" She reached for a door handle, but it was missing. The slamming door was still closed down and caught on her coat. Fighting to open the door, it cracked open enough for her to push against it and she was able to push it open to freedom and roll out on a grassy glen.

Rolling several feet, Ally lifted herself up. The cab had stopped, and its driver had come out. He looked into her direction and Ally looked back at his small slender body in the dark shadows of the trees blocking the lampposts. Not truly realizing what was going on, Ally turned her feet into the opposite direction and ran hard back for the main road. Not looking back, she kicked off her heels to leave them behind and ran quickly through the trees dodging shadows left and right and then came upon another walkway brightly lit and out of the open. An ascending stairway led to the main path back to the main road; she didn't look back as she hurtled the steps two at a time. At the top, she almost hit a longhaired female jogger.

"Hey," the lady stopped just inches of the collision. "Some one chasing you?"

"Yes," Ally looked back out of breath. "I think he was going to kill me." She fought to regain her breath and then realized she smelled the scent of rotten eggs again. Something was deadly wrong here, from the direction the brown-haired woman had come, she saw a cabdriver's hat and jacket strewn in the walkway where they had been discarded and then a silver razor coming toward her from the hand of her female opponent in the gray sweat suit.

An automatic response from somewhere deep within Ally created martial arts kick and knocked the blade out of the girl's hand. Surprised, the hissing woman attempted to grab Ally by the throat, but instead felt a barrage of judo kicks knocking her out and flattening her to the concrete sidewalk. Ally McBeal's martial art skills were too strong for another woman; it felt almost as if she was really a time-traveling male clouded behind the quantum-level aura of the Ally McBeal native to this moment in time. She coughed and wheezed as Ally's movements of judo and karate knocked her down to her feet.

"Ally!" Hodge's voice came running to her just a few feet ahead of a police officer behind him. "Are you okay! I told the...Lisa!"

"Who?" Ally wearily stood.

"That's Lisa Bobbitt!" Jeff admitted. "We dated in high school! What's she doing here?"

"My guess is..." Ally dropped to the bench out of breath and picked up the jacket from Bobbitt's cab driver disguise. "That's she's been killing your other girlfriends."

PART 6

After the business last night with the female slasher, Ally was looking forward to a normal day. She returned to the offices of Cage and Fish distracted and preoccupied as she looked for her invisible Admiral Kalavicci to return to her so that she could get her mind and body back together, but as she headed for the elevator to go up to the offices, John stopped her. He looked upset.

"John, is there a problem?"

"Well," He moused around a bit. "Could I see you in Vonda's briefly?"

"Sure." She scowled confusingly out of concern, but as she entered the bar, everything exploded. It was not the kind of violent disastrous kind of explosion, but the kind of unannounced explosion of people screaming excitedly and rushing to her in advanced states of glee and excitement. Everyone screamed surprise, threw confetti on her and smiled happily to her. Elaine suddenly snapped a hat on her and Ally dropped her jaw trying to think.

"What is this?" She asked bewilderingly as she forced back a grin.

"Ally," John continued. "You caught a slasher last night the Boston police didn't know they had. We're all very proud of you! Who knew you had that in you!"

"Really?"

"Yeah," Richard gently prodded her to a front table with his traditional smarmy grin trying to be clever. "You know, if you ever stop practicing law, you ought to be a detective."

"Better yet," Georgia smirked happily teasing. "You can put on tights and a cape and go jumping from roof top to roof top."

"Really." Ally looked as if she didn't get the reference. She just continuing nodding slowly and realizing she did not deserve this and then looked to an empty spot behind her. "Why haven't I leaped!" She hissed silently through her teeth.

"Ally," Elaine pushed through the merriment and drinks. "I know you've been a little bummed, so I got you a present. He's right over there!"

Ally looked to where she was pointing. On the stage, Vonda was striking the keys at her piano while a familiar male figure stood at the microphone. The recognizable visage of William Collins turned around and started singing.

"Take my hand..." He sang nervously after Elaine's coaching. "Tell me what you are feeling. Understand, this is just the beginning..."

"He sings too?" Georgia spoke over Elaine's ecstatic grin. She had coached and prodded and threatened William into singing for Ally, and now he was almost pulling it off. Sam Beckett briefly switched through his Swiss-cheesed memories and recalled William from when he was doing research work at the Universal Science Institute in New York City. They had been friend's at one time or another; he was sure of that. He was even greatly affected when he heard of William's murder in 2005, still seven years ahead in the future for the staff of Cage and Fish, but around him, the remainder of Ally McBeal had to once more listen to Becket's invisible voices again as if she needed to be reminded of who he was. She turned round to William again in time to embarrassingly share his singing predicament and turned to him coming to see her up close.

"Elaine put me up to it!" He tried to kiss her, but she stopped him from doing so to put that off. There were so many people around congratulating Ally and even asking her how she overpowered Bobbitt the night before. One figure, however, didn't come up to her but to William. It was a shapely brown-eyed brunette with a long mane of brown hair, much like Bobbitt the night before, but she was not interested in Ally; she wanted William.

"William!" She jumped into his arms.

"Paula!" William reacted to the other girl.

"This why you haven't leaped." The invisible voice of Ally's invisible angel by the name of Admiral Al Kalavicci spoke to her. "This is Paula Anderson. She came to Boston from Collinsport three years ago to pursue a singing career. The two of them get married in a year and have two kids before he and his cousin Amanda Collins are murdered in 2005. Their killer was never caught."

"It's not fair, Al." Ally whispered as Elaine tried to listen in on her whispers to Al. "I save Ally's life just for her to watch William marry someone else? He was so much in love with her."

"They can't all be happy endings."

Ally looked back to William with deep regret and sorrow. Sam Beckett within her wanted to warn his old friend of a burglar that would take his life within seven years and Ally around him sadly grieved that William was not fated to marry her after all. As William put his arm around her, she seemed to slightly swoon. A familiar sensation of her mind being overcome by ions and quanta made her feel as if she was in two places once more. Her vision dimmed out completely as someone named Dr. Samuel Beckett exited this point in the time stream and rejoined another character sitting on a palm tree in the South Pacific and getting yelled at by a fat skipper. New and old memories rushed to her mind and Ally meanwhile realized once more who she was and where she was as odd limited memories of the last few days returned to her. As her vision returned, she looked straight at William, realized who he was, and fell in love with him all over again.

"Hey!" She grinned happily, kissed him and put her arms over his shoulders. "Where'd you come from?"

"What?" He didn't follow for a minute. "I'm sorry; this is Paula Anderson. She's a real old friend of mine. Paula, this is Ally, my girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" Paula sneered and realized she could beat the stuffing out of this skinny female in direct competition with her for the son of Barnabas and Angelique Collins.

"Hi!" Ally confusingly shook her hand as an unexpected sense of rivalry came into her from somewhere. Why was this girl such a threat to her! Wasn't there something she had learned about this woman she didn't like? What was it again?

"Good to meet you." Paula grinned as non-threateningly as possible. "If anyone can get this idiot to purpose, maybe you can." She didn't really mean it.

"You better believe it!" Ally beamed magically. William was going to marry her! Not Paula and definitely not Elaine!

PART 7

The current big case at Cage and Fish was Pennington vs. Amantea. Writer Stephanie Pennington was suing noted crime novelist Diane Amantea for alleged plagiarism over a novel with obvious parallels to one of her own. While the similarities were obvious, it was almost obvious that a similar real life scenario from Court TV had influenced them both. As John and Billy discussed their strategies, they looked up and saw Elaine tramping between the desks dropping and sometime throwing the mail as she clutched a clipboard tightly to her chest. She was not smiling as was so usual for her. She seemed halfway upset and angry and the whole predicament was very obvious and even somewhat dangerous for those who knew her.

"Elaine?" Billy looked up. "Is there a problem?"

"Problem? Me?" She slightly smiled as she snapped a pencil in her hand. Realizing it, she dropped the splinters into a wastebasket and picked up a pen. "No, why do you ask?" John and Billy exchanged a nervous gaze.

"I mean," Elaine turned back. "I find probably the last decent guy in the world, and he falls for Ally. Should I be upset over that?"

The pen exploded in her hand while she snapped it in two.

"I thought you were over it." John mentioned as he pulled tissues to clean the ink on her hand.

"I am," Elaine dropped the shattered pen and cleaned the ink. "Or not, I don't know. I mean, I love Ally, and I know it's not her fault, but... I did know William first. I still think she took someone away from me that was rightly supposed to be mine."

"Well," John started to say something as the elevator across the room opened and a beautiful woman stepped out. Tall, blonde and captivating with an aristocratic poise, she looked around for some help. What she got was Richard Fish in the blink of an eye. He slid up to her as if she had commanded him. Both Billy and John placed their fingers to the rims of their faces in unison ahead of his foot-in-the-mouth remarks.

"Hello," he grinned happily. "I'm Richard Fish, this is my law firm and I will do anything in my power to meet your legal means."

"I'm looking for an Ally McBeal." She responded amusingly. A French Martinique accent danced on her words and her incredible azure eyes noticed John and Elaine more calmly and more humanely approach her than Richard did in approaching her.

"Excuse me," John started as Richard mumbled the word 'wattle' under breath. "But you look familiar, have we met before?"

"Angelique Bouchard-Collins." She introduced herself with a regal air. "My son is William Collins." She raised a proud eyebrow over her son's name.

"Wow!" Elaine grinned realizing she got to meet William's mother before Ally!

"Of course." John remembered. "We met one Fourth of July in 1976. I'm John Cage, a friend of David Collins?"

"Of course." Angelique beamed. "You've obviously done very well. Is my son here?"

"He and Ally are still gone to lunch." Elaine beamed happily now. "I'm Elaine Vassal, your son's other more devoted and most eager to marry him girlfriend."

"The face behind the e-mails." Angelique grinned until her cheeks became rosy and recognized herself in the young assistant back when she herself was determined to make someone her own. "My baby still speaks fondly of all your messages." She then hoped this young lady would not be the problem she herself had been to Joshua and Naomi Collins, her own husband's dearly departed parents.

"Please, Mrs. Collins," Richard interceded. "Let me show you around my..." He noticed John giving him that look again. "Uh, our law firm. We can talk until William and Ally return."

"I'd like that, Mr. Fish." She responded with the poise of a queen. John stood in amazement with his hand over his mouth and Billy stood in awe over the presence of this woman while Richard escorted off the incredible woman. Elaine chuckled a bit to herself.

"Now it makes sense!" she responded.

"What does?" John asked.

"John," Elaine looked to Mrs. Collins and back to him with her fore arms assuredly crossed over the front of her chest. "William's mother and I look exactly alike! He's not attracted to me because I look like his mother. It would be like incest. It makes perfect sense to me now!"

"Oh, uh, yeah," He wasn't about to bust her bubble. "For a minute there, I thought I was looking at twins!" John turned back for a moment as Georgia Thomas approached with curious intent to discover what had her husband's attention. She was speechless as she looked back to Angelique.

"Who is that lady?" she asked out loud.

"William's mother." John and Elaine chorused.

"That's his mother!" She couldn't believe it either. "Billy's mother doesn't even look like that! She's exquisite."

"Georgia…." Billy didn't cater to that reference.

"Thank you, Georgia." A small grimace on her face, Elaine turned to redelivering the office mail and memos with her spirit and ego back up to pressure and a little ink on her fingers.

PART 8

"I still like their lobster." Ally spoke about their lunch date at Melville's while she and William stepped off the elevator holding hands with each other in devotion to each other. "Will you be sitting in the room as I sit in the Amantea case?" She looked up at him as a woman in love and as a woman wanted to overpower and destroy his bachelor status.

"I'll be there." He leaned closer to kiss her, but Elaine came up out of nowhere to prevent that confirmation of his feelings to Ally.

"Ally," she grinned. "Here is a copy of your court schedule, and your mail, and, William, your mother's here." She added with an eager grin.

"Thanks Elaine." They chorused as they turned to Ally's office. A collective double take later, they reacted a bit slow and whirled around at the mention of the word "mother."

"What!" They reacted too in sync for Elaine's taste; she didn't want it suggested they were perfect for each other.

"She came up asking for Ally." Elaine admitted.

"Crud!" William panicked. "I've got to get out of here!"

"Wait a minute!" Ally grabbed his jacket to keep him near her as a shield against his mother. "What does your mother want with me!" She peered nervously over his shoulder as Richard strided up with a beautiful blonde older woman. Was that her!

"Ally, look," William hadn't seen his mother with Richard behind him yet and continued devoid in the knowledge his mother was listening. "I love my mom; I really do. She's sweet and wonderful and loves me..." Ally watched his mother embarrassingly nod in agreement.

"But she drives me crazy!" William continued as Ally watched his mother's reaction.

"Hello, darling." Angelique finally said as William's eyes went round with shock. He whirled around to her.

"MOM?" He became the dutiful son in her presence as she hugged and kissed him. "What are you doing here?"

"Well," she started, "When you and Jamison left for Bangor and he returned alone, I realized that this was the only other place that you would have come to. " She turned her head excitedly to the young lady who had her son's heart. "So, this must be your Ally." She raised a curious eyebrow on this waif-like young damsel with whom she was now competing with in her son's interest.

"Mrs. Collins..." Ally nervously and graciously shook Angelique's tiny porcelain hand and looked her over as a future possible mother-in-law.

"William," Angelique turned to her son. "Go get me some coffee, I need to a little talk with your young lady friend." Ally's eyes went into shock wondering what this was about.

"Sure, there's a coffee pot right over..."

"From downstairs, darling, you know how I prefer it." his mother grinned. "We need to be alone for some girl talk. Mrs. McBeal, your office?"

Ally and William silently mouthed words of worried interest to each other as they both felt this woman's presence. He was used to it, but Ally had odd flashbacks of the principal's office from when she was in school and her brother got her into trouble. Although she sat at her desk, she was obviously under the power of this Angelique Collins sitting before her, and automatically felt her powerful presence.

"Miss McBeal," Angelique began. "What are your intentions with my baby?"

"Um, well," Ally rolled her eyes. "I love him." They looked at each other a moment. Angelique seemed to be scanning Ally for weaknesses.

"Let me tell you about my son," Angelique continued. "He was born three weeks premature, and was not expected to live the first week of his life. By the grace of heaven and earth, he did, and he was never away from my side until he was thirteen years old."

"I didn't know that."

"When he entered high school," Angelique continued. "He fell in love with this cute, little blonde cheerleader who would have nothing to do with him. She already had a boyfriend, but William pursued her anyway with gifts and flowers…

"It became worsened when his friends told him that her best friend was in love with him. It was an out and out fabrication. That hussy led my baby around by the nose embarrassing him as she openly dated ten to twelve boys throughout high school; none of which was my son."

"He's never told me any of this." Ally revealed.

"William didn't even attend his senior prom." Angelique stood up. "He stayed home to read a book and watch TV at the main house on the estate. Finally, I had enough. Both his aunts and I realized that high school had taken all the spirit and purpose out of him. He had tasted reality behind the confines of the estate and it crushed him. His Aunt Maggie and I eventually fixed him up with this waitress in town..."

"Paula Anderson." Ally guessed from vague memories left in her memories by one Dr. Samuel Beckett.

"You've met her." Angelique realized. "The two of them hit it off immediately right before college, and he finally had a normal life, but instead of following him to college, she ran off to pursue a singing career. He never dated after her and waited several years for her return."

"I didn't know." Ally was more relaxed now and even a bit emotional.

"Ally," Angelique turned around from the window with a heavy heart. "I love my baby very much, but I will not allow his heart to be broken again. I can't take it again. If you hurt him, I will raise all the forces of Hades to hurt you in a way you did not think was possible."

Ally was a lot more scared now than before. She looked as if she meant it while William knocked on the door and slowly entered fearing the worst.

"Hi," He entered the office with two cups of copy and a capped bottle of soda under his arm. "You didn't kill each other? Good."

"We just had a little chat." Angelique smiled innocently as she took a cup. Ally meanwhile looked as if she had seen a ghost. Her cure was William's smiling face as he handed her another cup of coffee. Refusing the stuff himself, he turned up his bottle of soda to his lips.

"Now…" Angelique kissed her adult son. "You be home this weekend..."

"But I was staying the month with Ally."

"You'll be home on Saturday." Angelique repeated to clarify herself. "Your father will be home from Quebec and we'll have a nice family dinner. Bring Ally if you like."

"I'll be there." William grinned as his mother departed, but together, they both still felt her presence. He took Ally's hand while she looked back to him. "Well, isn't she special!" He mimicked comedian Dana Carvey's Church Lady persona in order to mock the situation with some humor.

"Special." Ally lightly nodded. "Very special…."

END