Jack stood outside of Karen's bedroom door and took a deep breath. She has been beating him up all week since Rosario's death and he was honestly scared of her at this point. He knew she dealt with grief in her own way (apparently part of that way was attacking your best friend at any given moment), but he worried about her.
He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans and raised his hand to knock gently on the door. When he received no answer from the other side, he turned the knob and slowly eased the door open. "Karen?" he quietly called out.
He peeked in and saw a small lump underneath the luxurious California King bed that was unmistakably Karen. Jack crept into the room, his heart racing in fear at the chance she would lash out at him again or worse - break down emotionally in front of him. He stepped up the two stairs to the bed and made his way around to her side.
Karen lay there under the covers, no pill bottles or empty martini glasses near by, her eyes closed tight, but her breathing uneven so he knew she wasn't asleep.
"Hey, Kare," he whispered. "I know I'm probably the last person you wanna see right now, seeing as you don't want me to touch you at all and the fact that you tried stabbing me with your high heel yesterday..." he paused and shuddered at the memory of Will having to pull the small, yet strong woman off of him the day previous. "But since Stan is out of the country this week, I figured I would just hang around here to make sure you're okay. You told us a billion times you don't need anything and I respect that, but I remember how much you were there for Grace when her mom passed away and I just..." he sighed, looking down at the Egyptian cotton sheets, his fingers fiddling with a loose string. "I want to be there for you."
He waited for a response, but none came. She didn't even twitch an eye open or anything. For a moment he really thought she was asleep, but then she popped her eyes open and he let out a shriek. His body tensed, waiting for a hit or something sharp. They stared at each other for a few moments, Karen's eyes blank and watery. She reached her tiny hand out and grabbed the front of his sweater and pulled as hard as she could.
Jack cried out as he fell into the bed next to Karen, almost on top of her. His stomach settled and his eyes widened as he felt Karen snuggle into his side, her hands clutching at him and her legs tangled between his. Then he felt small wet drops trickle onto his neck and he looked down to see Karen sniffling and burying her face in his shoulder.
He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, kissing her forehead.
"I love you, Jackie," she whispered.
Jack ran his fingers through her hair and pressed his forehead to hers. "I love you, too, Kare."