A/N: Please, no flames. Read and review!!
Disclaimer: I do not own Will and Grace.
Summary: Jack has been abused by two homophobic men and tries to hide. Will, noticing his friend is hurt, tries to help as best as he can. Grace is out of town with Karen because Karen wants to cheer Grace up over Leo.
Chapter 1
Will lay down on his couch, happy that he could be alone and didn't have to worry about work or anything else. Grace and Karen were at Karen's cabin because Karen had wanted to take Grace out. Will thought it was strange of Karen to be so nice, but he hadn't said anything and had persuaded Grace to go. Jack wasn't home, and Will figured he was out on a date with some guy that he had forgotten the name of.
Tired of lying on his couch with nothing to do, he got up and grabbed his overcoat. If his friends were out, why couldn't he go out too? He decided it might be nice to go to a club or maybe see a movie. Checking to make sure he had his keys and wallet, he left his apartment.
The elevator door opened and a very distraught Jack walked out, slowly. Will stared at his friend before going over to his side, his hopes of a fun evening gone and replaced with worry for his friend. "Jack?"
Jack didn't look up when Will said his name, he didn't want to. He was tired and emotionally drained. His body hurt and he just wanted to go into his room and have a good cry.
Will looked his friend over while Jack continued walking towards his apartment. Jack's clothes were torn and he had bruises forming on his face; Will was worried. "Jack, what happened to you?" If his friend didn't look so hurt, he would have joked about rough sex or something of the sort.
Jack looked at Will and smiled meekly. "I'm tired and I want to go to bed."
Will frowned; he wasn't going to be deterred that easily. "Jack, tell me what happened. I can see you were hurt; how?"
"I...I...Will it was awful!" Jack sobbed. He didn't know what to do. He had gone to a gay club and was talking to a cute guy and having a drink and the next thing he knew he was outside in an alley being harassed. He didn't know what had happened.
Will put his arms around Jack in a hug, but Jack pulled away. "Jack, I'm sorry. Come inside." He gently led his friend into his apartment. Will didn't know what was wrong with Jack, but he needed to know. Will sat Jack down on his couch and got a glass of water for Jack along with a wet cloth. Will could see tear stains on Jack's face, and he was worried.
Jack sat on the couch, not moving. He was lost in thoughts of what had happened. He remembered the cute guy giving him a drink and them laughing over something but he couldn't remember going out into the alley. He shut his eyes; willing himself to remember, even though he wanted nothing more than to forget.
He had left the club feeling a little woozy and knowing he was drunk. There were two guys across the street that yelled something at him, but Jack couldn't remember what they had said. He remembered them crossing the street and coming over. Jack opened his eyes; he didn't want to remember anymore.
Will looked at Jack, concern etched in his face. "Jack?" He gently touched Jack's face where he had a bruise. "What happened, Jack?"
Jack just shook his head and scooted away from his best friend. He was ashamed and didn't want to talk about it to Will. He wanted to forget it had ever happened.
"Jack, tell me," Will pleaded, handing Jack the wet cloth and glass of water. He had started to guess what had happened, and he was furious.
Jack hadn't heard that tone in Will's voice in a long time. He had done stupid things, and Will had been concerned about him, but it wasn't often that his friend's voice showed how much Will cared about him. He wiped his face off with the cloth and took a few sips of water before he turned to look at his friend. "It hurt, Will."
Will nodded. "I know." He gently lifted Jack's face to get a better look and he winced. The pain in Jack's eyes confirmed what he had thought. Will looked at his friend's face and noted the bruises and scrapes. He looked at his clothes, noting the rumpled and torn look to them. Jack had been harassed, no question about it. He gently hugged Jack before releasing him. "Were you drinking?"
Jack nodded. "I was at a club."
Will sighed. No wonder they had attacked him, he thought, they must have seen him slightly drunk and decided it would be easy. He wanted Jack to tell him what had happened, but he wasn't making it easy. "Jack, do you want to talk about what happened?"
"Can't you guess?" he asked, sadly. He didn't want to talk about it; that would only make it more real, and he just wanted to forget.
"Well, yes," Will admitted, "but I want you to tell me." He gently rubbed Jack's back.
Jack pulled away. "Will, don't" He rearranged himself on the couch so that he could face Will but look over his shoulder at something else. "I was leaving the club, I was drunk, and I still kinda am. Well, I was walking home because I was at the club six blocks away. There were these two guys," Jack's voice began to break. "Th-they came over to me and I started to walk away. I couldn't get away fast enough, and they dragged me to an alley." He couldn't continue.
"Jack, Jack, I'm sorry," Will said, quietly.
Jack nodded and hugged Will, not letting go. He buried his face into his friend's coat and sighed. He couldn't cry - not anymore. He wished he could wake up from this horrible reality, but he knew it was real. His body hurt and he wanted nothing more than to go to sleep and never wake up.
"Come on, let's get you to bed." Will stood up and started walking Jack to the door.
"No!" Jack cried. "No, I don't want to be alone, Will. Can't I stay here?"
Will nodded. "Of course, stay as long as you like. I'll go get you some clothes to sleep in. Why don't you take a shower or something? I should probably see how badly you were injured. Do you need to go to a doctor?"
Jack shook his head. "No, I'm not hurt that badly."
"Physically, anyway," Will muttered as he left the apartment. He crossed the hall and opened Jack's apartment. He had the key to both Jack's apartment and his own, on his key chain.
'Why' questions kept running through Will's head as he quickly grabbed some clothes for Jack to sleep in. This was a hate crime through and through. It wasn't fair what had happened to Jack, but life wasn't fair. Will shook his head; this shouldn't happen, he thought, this isn't right.
He left the apartment and locked the door behind him. When he entered his own apartment, he saw the bathroom door closed and heard water running. Will opened the door a crack and put the clothes down on the floor; he didn't want Jack to be anymore uncomfortable and upset than he already was.
Will didn't know what to do. He knew he had to comfort his friend, make him feel better. His lawyer side was taking over as well, though. He had to call the police and have Jack give a detailed report on the men that had attacked him. It was assault, and charges needed to be pressed. Will also knew that hate crimes based on one's sexual orientation weren't taken as seriously as they were when it was based on race, he hated that, it wasn't right.
He didn't know how seriously this would be treated if Jack took the men to court. He sighed, wondering if Jack would even report it. Would I? Will asked himself.
Jack opened the door to the bathroom and came out wearing his pajamas. "Can I go to bed?"
"Of course you can," Will assured him. "The bed should already be made up since Grace is staying with me."
"Oh yeah," Jack mumbled. "Is she coming home tonight? I could always go to my place..."
Will shook his head. "No, remember? She and Karen are at Karen's cabin."
"Oh yeah. Why did Karen take her again?" Jack asked, trying to prolong going to bed. He didn't want to be alone.
Will shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe Karen decided she wants to be more human. You can ask her when she gets back."
Jack nodded. "Will..."
"Yeah?"
"What am I going to do now?" Jack asked. "I don't know who those guys were."
Will sighed and crossed over to hold his friend in his arms. "We could go to the police."
Jack shook his head. "No, I don't want to."
"Jack, you should file a report. I could help..." Jack cut Will off.
"No! I don't want to. Stop being my lawyer and just be my friend!" he snapped.
Will was taken aback by Jack's tone and just nodded. "Alright, Jack, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."
"I know," Jack replied, trying to tease Will.
Will smiled slightly. "Do you want to go to bed or just sit on the couch...or something?"
"I don't want to be alone..." he started.
Will nodded. "Do you want to talk?"
"Nope. Well....not really," Jack replied, trying hard to smile.
"Do you want to watch TV?" Will asked. "We could watch a movie or something."
"Well, alright. I think that 'Serendipity' is on again," Jack said.
Will sighed. "Alright. How many times have we seen that movie?"
Jack shrugged. "I dunno. A lot, I guess. We could watch something else if you like."
"No, it's alright, let's watch the movie." Will went over to the couch and turned the TV on to the right channel. "Yeah, it's on. It's just started."
Jack nodded and sat down next to Will. He pulled his knees up to his chest and covered himself with a blanket. "I like this movie."
Will looked at his friend, ignoring the movie. "Do you want anything?"
Jack jumped slightly at the sound of Will's voice. "Huh? Oh, no, I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Will pressed.
"Yes, damn it, I'm fine!" Jack shrieked. "It's not like this hasn't happened before. You don't have to pick up the pieces, Will."
"Jack, I'm sorry..."
"No, Will, I'm sorry. Look, just forget what happened, I don't want to talk about it. I know how to deal." Jack turned his attention back to the movie.
There was a long awkward pause and Will looked at Jack again. "Jack, when did this happen before? Why didn't you tell me?"
"About three years ago I guess. You weren't here, ok? I just went home and stayed there for a few days. I was fine then and I'll be fine now. Just stop bugging me, Will," Jack snapped.
"I'm sorry for caring," Will shot back sarcastically. He winced and instantly regretted saying it when he saw the pain cross Jack's eyes. "Aw, buddy, no, I'm sorry."
Jack just shrugged. "I just want to watch the movie, Will." He was crying inside. Even though this had happened before, it hadn't been nearly as bad as it had been that night. Before he had just been yelled at and taunted, that hadn't been too bad. He had gotten over that. But this, this was just too much. He wanted to cry and have his friend hold him, but he was too ashamed. It had hurt him, what those men did, it was a blow to his pride and self esteem.
Will nodded. He could see the troubled emotions cross Jack's face. He wrapped an arm around his friend and held him while they watched the movie.
When the movie was over, Will looked down at Jack and saw that he was asleep. Will smiled slightly, noticing how peaceful he looked in sleep. Smiling slightly, he changed the channel and put it on Conan O'Brien.
The phone rang and Will grabbed a pillow and propped it under Jack's head as he went to answer the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey, sweetie!" Grace greeted him. "How are you?"
"I'm alright," Will replied, not wanting to tell Grace what had happened to Jack that night.
"Karen and I are going to stay for a few extra days." Grace told him, not noticing the sad tone in his voice. "It's really nice here. You remember coming here, right? Karen's cabin in Vermont?"
Will chuckled. "Yeah, I remember. Are you guys having fun?"
"Yeah, it's been pretty nice. I think Karen is getting a little restless, but I just gave her extra vodka and she seemed to quiet down a bit. I don't know why she is doing this for me." Grace was having a really good time. Karen was being as normal as Karen got, and Rosario was a fabulous cook.
"Maybe she is lonely," Will suggested.
"Maybe," Grace replied, not sounding convinced. "Oh! I got to go now, sweetie. Rosario is cooking a midnight snack. Bye!"
"Bye, Gracie," Will said and put the phone down, laughing. Grace loved to eat and Rosario was being nice to make something for Grace.
"Will?" Jack had woken up and found himself alone on Will's couch. He was slightly confused.
"I'm right here," Will replied, pouring himself a glass of water.
"Will, my face hurts," Jack mumbled, rolling over. That was an understatement, his whole body hurt. Nothing was broken, he knew that much, but he couldn't assess himself as well as he could someone else.
"Oh, Jack, I forgot. Let me see where you are hurt," Will said softly. He pulled out a bottle of Advil and poured another glass of water.
"It's alright," Jack mumbled again. "My whole body hurts. I still feel kinda woozy from the alcohol."
Will came and sat down next to Jack. "Let me see."
Jack took his pajama shirt off and showed Will his bruises and cuts.
Will winced in sympathy. "Oh, Jack, I am sorry. I don't know what to do for you, I'm sorry. Here, you could take some Advil."
Jack smiled and took the Advil. "It's alright, Will, I'm the nurse and you're the lawyer. If you have any aloe, it might help."
Will nodded and went into the bathroom. He rummaged around before he found a bottle of aloe used for sun burns. He shrugged, if Jack thought it might help, he would let him use it. "Here you go, Jack." He handed him the bottle of green glop.
Jack took it and rubbed it on himself. "Will, could you help me?"
Will nodded and helped Jack. "Are you tired or hungry? Do you want anything to eat?"
Jack just smiled and shook his head. "You can be nice when you want to be."
Will rolled his eyes. "I'm always nice to you."
"Liar!" Jack teased. As horrible as he was feeling, he wanted to play with his friend. He didn't want a fully serious moment, because then he would really have to examine what had happened.
Will smiled and patted Jack on the head. "Why don't you got to bed and try to get some rest?" he suggested.
Jack nodded. "Alright. Oh, Will, could you check on Claus and Guapo for me?"
Will sighed but nodded. "Alright, I'll be back in a minute." He left the apartment.
Jack put his shirt back on and headed to Grace's bedroom. He knew that was where he was to sleep, but he felt slightly uncomfortable. He didn't want to sleep in there. He grabbed a pillow and went back into the living room, deciding that he would sleep on the couch. When he lay down on the couch with the only blanket he could find, he shivered. He felt lonely and vulnerable. Sighing, he pushed himself up and went into Will's bedroom.
He curled up in Will's bed and fell asleep quickly. He felt safer in Will's room. Maybe it was because his friend was taking care of him, he didn't know.
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Will walked back into his apartment and went into Grace's room to talk to Jack, but he wasn't there. Confused, Will walked into his own bedroom, to see if Jack was in there. When he saw Jack asleep in his bed, Will smiled. He guessed that Jack hadn't felt comfortable in Grace's room and had sought refuge in his.
Will went into the living room and finished watching Conan O'Brien. When it was over, he grabbed a chair and took it into his bedroom to watch over Jack. If he woke up in the middle of the night, Will wanted to be there for him. He loved his friend very much, and was concerned about his wellbeing.
He placed the chair next to his bed, and looked out the window at the streets of New York. There were people still walking around outside and Will sighed. If this hadn't happened, he could be out there and Jack would be having a good time at the club, still. But that hadn't happened, and he had to get over it and help his friend. It was going to be a tough time for Jack, and Will hoped that they could deal with it together.