The view from her window was of Times Square. The hustle and bustle of the people coming home from work, the sound of car horns, mostly from the cabs that were lined up on the one way street were sights and sounds that she was going to miss.
From her window she watched Will walking up the street towards their hotel. She smiled to herself wondering if this was going to be the end. An end of an 'us' between her and Will, the end of their friendship, or whatever else they had or were going to have; it was just one or a few of the endless worries she had.
Ten years ago, if someone had asked her if she thought she would have endured Stan dying, her getting remarried and then going through more relationships and then finding out the her husband really wasn't dead; just being watched over by Big Brother she would have thought they were kidding. If they asked her where she would be in ten years, she was asked where she would be in five years, the answer definitely wouldn't have been a divorce from Will and trying to figure out how she was going to raise her four year old on her own.
"Mama, are we home soon?" A little voice asked behind her. At the sight of her daughter, who had just woken up from her two hour nap, Karen smiled. Elizabeth Truman was absolutely gorgeous at the age of four. With her hazel eyes, her curled brunette hair, her rosy cheeks, and her adorable smile; there wasn't a reason Karen could find not to smile.
"Soon, baby." She said before returning to the sight outside her window. Her home now wasn't in NY anymore. It was traveling all around the world, in various hotels that were family friendly. In locations that she once dreamt of as a child.
The door to their room opened and Will entered with a brown bag, something Karen had missed from her sightseeing. "Daddy!" Elizabeth screamed, causing Karen to cringe slightly and Will to stumble backwards a little. But there was a smile on his face none the less.
"Hey," Karen managed to say, without tears welling up in her eyes as they had done for a few days now. Will gave her half a smile and a nod before putting his full attention on his daughter. At the notion Karen lowered herself down into the chair and continued to look out onto the city.
"Mama." Karen heard, pulling her out of her thoughts. She looked down at Elizabeth who was tugging on the ropes of her robe. "I hungry."
"Okay," She said, reaching over, and pulling Elizabeth onto her lap. "What shall we get? Italian, Chinese, or Pizza."
At the first two suggestions, Elizabeth seemed to be unfazed, but at the mention of Pizza, her eyes grew bright and filled with excitement. "Pisa Pisa Pisa," She chanted, lightly bouncing up and down.
"Okay. Pizza it is then." Karen said with a smile, before kissing her daughter's forehead and looking at Will who seemed to be immersed in paperwork. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Karen and Elizabeth talking, it was barely a second later when Elizabeth was bounding over and jumping on to his bed, wrinkling his papers in the process.
"Daddy we goin for pisa." She said happily. Will looked at Karen with a glare, which immediately was dropped at the sight of her smiling. It was the one thing he both hated and loved about her. Her smile was able to get him to do practically anything she wanted and he hated the fact that he could never stay mad at her because of her smile. No matter the secret agenda behind it.
"Pizza? Now who's idea was that?" He asked.
"Mama's." She said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Karen pointed to the bathroom, indicating that she needed to change, which gained her another nod.
It was 2 hours later when the Truman's made their way back to their hotel. Elizabeth was asleep in Will's arms and Karen at his side scratching at the inside of her pockets. "I never thought we were going to come back." She said, speaking the first time to him in what seemed like forever. Her voice didn't surprise him, he actually welcomed it.
"It's home." He said. "Or at least it was."
"We got married six years ago. We made a choice." She said sadly. "Sure this is where we lived for God knows how long and we've become used to the car's blaring their horns and the people walking up and down streets with their phones permanently attached to their ears, but I like our life together. It's a mystery."
"We've given each other grief about it Karen. We made the choice not to through with it together. Yes we'll be asking ourselves What If for the rest of our lives, but we would be asking the same questions if we went the other way."
"True. But in a month or so we'll be asking ourselves what if we hadn't gotten divorced or what if we had." She said sadly. She stopped, turned to face him and grabbed his arm. "In ten years I don't want to be asking myself what would have happened if I stayed and fought this out with you. We went at each other's throats when we weren't married. We hated each other before anything happened. I want us to go to our daughter's wedding knowing we did something right. I don't want to dwell on losing Devon. I hate that my daughter won't have a younger brother to boss around, but I hate what's it's doing to my marriage." She released her grip on his arm as she looked for an answer in his eyes. "Karen Walker didn't fight for anyone. Karen Truman does. And you're the one I'm fighting for." As if on cue, Elizabeth began to stir, causing Karen to reach for her.
Will placed Elizabeth in her mother's arms and watched them walk towards the hospital.
Ten years ago, if someone asked Karen Walker if she would stand in the middle of the street, practically begging her husband to stop fighting with her, she'd tell them they were insane. Karen Truman, a sober mother, would have thought about it and said anything was possible.