If It Was Meant To Be-Ch.3
Will's Apartment-
Will was cleaning food crumbs off his coffee table when Jack walked in.
"Hey Jack, where ya been all day?" Will said returning his attention to cleaning.
"Oh, I was with Karen" Jack said walking into the kitchen and getting a water bottle out of the fridge.
"There's something new" Will replied sarcastically "Ha Ha" Jack said back.
"Anyway, what have you been doing all day?" Jack asked.
"Oh you know, I've been doing the law thing" Will said smiling.
"uh huh, uh huh, I think I have romantic feelings for Karen, uh huh. So hows your law thing going??" Jack said very quickly and somewhat nonchalant.
"Well...WHAT?!?!" Will burst out. "...what?" Jack said trying to hide his embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, I must of heard you wrong. Because I thought I heard you say you think you have romantic feelings for Karen.....K A R E N.."
"Yeah. No you heard me correctly" Jack said staring at the floor suddenly the stitching on his shoe had become extremely interesting. Wow I have to go back to the Gap and buy more of these" He said referring to his shoes.
"Jack you can't be serious" Will began.
"No really, these are nice shoes" Jack said.
"What!? Jack! I'm talking about your feelings for Karen not your shoes!" Will said annoyed.
"What you feel for Karen is not love, you just love that she's rich and buys you things."
"Thats not true!" Jack said, offended. "Look I came here to talk to you about this because I thought you'd understand but obviously I was wrong and your chunky around the hips!" Jack turned quickly on his heals and began to walk towards the door to leave.
"Jack wait.." Will began. "Look I'm sorry, I'll listen. Come sit down." Will motioned for Jack to sit next to him on the couch.
"Alright tell me all about it" Will said
"Well....I'm just really confused Will. I keep getting this fluttery feeling in my stomach when I'm around her. Kinda like when I see a hot Banana Republic guy, but its different...its more intense. I've never felt it before with anyone. I keep thinking about her too. Whenever I'm bored or just sitting around her face always pops up in my mind." he said smiling and looking off in the distance. "Lately I've even caught myself admiring how beautiful she is. There's just something about her...I don't know... I mean I'm supposed to be gay! 150 percent! There isn't anyone gayer than me! What's happening Will?" Jack asked looking a bit frantic.
"It sounds to me like your falling in love with a woman, and not just any woman; Karen." "Look" Will said "If it happens, it happens. You can't help who you fall in love with, love doesn't care and it doesn't discriminate."
"I mean it kinda makes sense now that I think about it...." Will said looking at Jack.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked confused.
"Well, you have about...what, five dates a day. How many long term relationships have you had Jack? Thats not counting the ones that lasted two weeks."
"..none" Jack said looking down.
"Maybe you've been looking for love in the wrong place?" Will said. " But I'm not sexually attracted to any other women at all!" said Jack.
"Well then maybe....and I can't believe I'm saying this but....maybe Karen and you were meant to be..?"
Jack stared at Will for a moment and then got up and walked quickly to the door.
"Jack?" Will began
"I..I gotta go" Jack said and with that he rushed out.
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Jack went back to his apartment and went to bed so that he could forget about things for a while. But he couldn't fall asleep...he missed Karen..
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Back at the penthouse Karen was having similar problems. No matter how many times she tossed and turned she couldn't get comfortable....she needed Jack. She looked around her room and her pink carebear that Jack had given her caught her eye. She got up and went over to it, picking it up off the chair she brought it to bed with her. She held it tight and closed her eyes falling asleep quickly.
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The next morning Jack was actually feeling a lot better. Sleeping had helped and when he awoke he wasn't as stressed out about his feelings.
He made his way up the familiar Puck Building and into Grace Adler Designs. He opened the door, and immediately looked to Karen's desk, but was disappointed when he didn't find her there.
"Hey Jack" Grace said looking up from her blueprints.
"Hey Grace" Jack said smiling "Where's Karen?" Jack walked around the office and began picking up things and playing with them, then moving on to something else.
"Oh you know Karen, somewhere out there, theres a waiter, or a department store assistant just waiting to be fired, and she's going to see that they are."
"Uh huh...so do you think she'll be here soon?" Jack said swinging a tassel off a colored pencil.
"Who knows" Grace said. "Well I'll just wait until she gets here" Jack said walking over to Karen's desk and sitting down.
"Alright" Grace began "You couldn't be any less help then Karen" she said smiling and then walking into the back room.
Jack looked at all the things on Karen's desk. Nail polish, a mirror, Vogue magazine, one of those giant calendars that you could write all over. Of course there was nothing important written on it. Jack opened the center drawer and pulled out a pen. He then wrote "Hey Karebear, who's your daddy?" on one of the Saturdays. He smiled to himself and then put the pen down next to nail polish bottle.
Grace walked back into the room and began moving things around on her desk. Just then Karen walked in.
"Hey kitten! where ya been?" Jack asked excited that she was finally here. "Hey poodle! I was out shopping. What are you doing here?" She asked.
"I've been waiting for you, I was bored at home." Of course he wasn't so much bored as he just really missed her and couldn't wait for her to get off work to see her. But he couldn't say that.
"Hey Grace whatya working on?" Karen said walking behind Jack, she leaned over and wrapped her arms around his neck wresting her head on top of his.
"Ugh I have this new client, the lady is driving me nuts...." Grace began, Jack watched as Karen picked up the pen next to the nail polish. "She's wants this fabric, then she wants another fabric, then she changes her mind and doesn't like any of them...." Grace continued to talk and Karen nodded her head at her and began to write on the calendar on her desk. Jack watched as she drew a heart near the Saturday were he had written earlier and inside it she wrote "you are, poodle" Then she placed the pen back down. Jack giggled and smiled up at her.
"So anyway this lady should be calling soon, I swear I can't wait to be done with her" Grace ended, not realizing that Jack and Karen hadn't really been listening to a word she said.
"Yeah so Grace I'd love to stay here and chat with you but..." Karen began "Karen" Grace said, "You just got here, you can't leave now!"
"But Graceeee..."Karen whined "Jackie's here, we have to go."
"Noooo" Grace said going back to moving things around on her desk. "Ugh, devil!" Karen said making a face and then looking down at Jack. "Kare if you want I could stay here with you? I mean I don't have anything else to do, and its just not as fun messing with the Barney's assistants without you"
"Aww you'd really stay here with me poodle?" Karen said smiling. "Of course!" He said, happy that he was going to spend more time with Karen. Inside Karen was just as happy, she had really missed him last night, she hid it well though.
Karen walked over to the coffee maker and pored herself a cup. She then opened the mini bar and got out the Baileys, poring some into her coffee. She walked over to her desk and then sat herself down on Jacks lap. She took a bunch of colored pencils out of the draw and began to color designs onto her calendar.
Jack wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned back in the chair.
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Two hours later Karen and Jack were in the same position except Jack was now leaning his head on Karen's back. He had the most bored expression on his face.
"Karen Grace's office is sooooo boooring" He whined. "How do you put up with this everyday??" He asked.
"Well honey, my friend Mr. Vodka helps take that away." She said smiling to herself.
Karen got up and started gathering her things. "Come on Jackie lets go, I've put in my time for the day." "Yay!" Jack exclaimed, jumping up from the chair. Karen grabbed Jacks hand and they left.
The rest of the day they spent together, shopping, drinking, shopping, napping in the limo and then shopping some more. When they finally returned to the penthouse it was late and they were tired. They walked in hand in hand and made there way up the stairs, suddenly they stopped..
"Karen?" Stan stood at the top of the steps, an annoyed look on his face.
"Stan?" Karen said, obviously surprised at him being there, he wasn't supposed to be home until tomorrow night.
"I got home early, my plane came in this afternoon. Where have you been all day?" Stan said. Karen was now not only surprised but confused. He never cared before if she was gone all day. Hell she was always gone! So was he! Why was he bringing this up?
"I've just been out shopping with Jack" she said "You've been with him all day?" Stan replied back suspiciously. "Yes" Karen replied "What's the big deal?" "Is it a big deal?? You've been with him all day and then you bring him back here..?! For what Karen!? " Stan said beginning to get visibly upset. Karen turned around to face Jack. "Jackie why don't you go home, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" She said. "Are you sure your okay?" he said a bit wary of leaving her with an angry man five times her size. "Its okay honey, I'll be fine" She said trying to sound reassuring. The truth was she didn't know if it would be okay, she had never seen Stan act like this before. "Alright, goodnight Kare" Jack said as he squeezed her hand and then walked out the door.
Karen turned back around to Stan an annoyed look on her face. "What's the matter with you!?" "Me?! What's the matter with you?! Running around with a guy all day and then bringing him back at 11pm at night?! I bet you've been with him the whole time I was gone!"
"Stan we are not going to get into this again" Karen replied as she walked up the stairs, just as she was about to pass him he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"Yes, we are." He said anger clearly written across his face. "I wanna know why your always hanging around him, huh?" "Because he's my best friend! I've told you this a million times Stan there is NOTHING going on between us! He's GAY for godsakes!!" Karen said walking away from him and into her room. Stan followed. "Don't walk away from me like this conversation is over, its not!!" Stan yelled.
"What are you so afraid of Stan?! That somebody might actually treat me better than you do?!" Karen yelled back. "That maybe someone else could give me something that you could NEVER give me no matter HOW MUCH money you had!" Karen yelled, smirk on her face.
Before she even saw it coming, Stan's fist collided with the side of her face, knocking her to the ground. Tears streamed down her face as she cradled her head in her hands. She was shocked and angry but most of all she was afraid. She didn't dare move.
"I'm sorry" Stan said "But you need to learn your place" he said forcefully and with that he turned around and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
When she was sure he wasn't coming back in. She walked into her closet and picked up the bear Jack had given her she walked over and laid down on the bed, curling up in a ball and clutching the bear to her chest as she cried herself to sleep.
"Jack..." she whispered as she closed her eyes.
Will's Apartment-
Will was cleaning food crumbs off his coffee table when Jack walked in.
"Hey Jack, where ya been all day?" Will said returning his attention to cleaning.
"Oh, I was with Karen" Jack said walking into the kitchen and getting a water bottle out of the fridge.
"There's something new" Will replied sarcastically "Ha Ha" Jack said back.
"Anyway, what have you been doing all day?" Jack asked.
"Oh you know, I've been doing the law thing" Will said smiling.
"uh huh, uh huh, I think I have romantic feelings for Karen, uh huh. So hows your law thing going??" Jack said very quickly and somewhat nonchalant.
"Well...WHAT?!?!" Will burst out. "...what?" Jack said trying to hide his embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, I must of heard you wrong. Because I thought I heard you say you think you have romantic feelings for Karen.....K A R E N.."
"Yeah. No you heard me correctly" Jack said staring at the floor suddenly the stitching on his shoe had become extremely interesting. Wow I have to go back to the Gap and buy more of these" He said referring to his shoes.
"Jack you can't be serious" Will began.
"No really, these are nice shoes" Jack said.
"What!? Jack! I'm talking about your feelings for Karen not your shoes!" Will said annoyed.
"What you feel for Karen is not love, you just love that she's rich and buys you things."
"Thats not true!" Jack said, offended. "Look I came here to talk to you about this because I thought you'd understand but obviously I was wrong and your chunky around the hips!" Jack turned quickly on his heals and began to walk towards the door to leave.
"Jack wait.." Will began. "Look I'm sorry, I'll listen. Come sit down." Will motioned for Jack to sit next to him on the couch.
"Alright tell me all about it" Will said
"Well....I'm just really confused Will. I keep getting this fluttery feeling in my stomach when I'm around her. Kinda like when I see a hot Banana Republic guy, but its different...its more intense. I've never felt it before with anyone. I keep thinking about her too. Whenever I'm bored or just sitting around her face always pops up in my mind." he said smiling and looking off in the distance. "Lately I've even caught myself admiring how beautiful she is. There's just something about her...I don't know... I mean I'm supposed to be gay! 150 percent! There isn't anyone gayer than me! What's happening Will?" Jack asked looking a bit frantic.
"It sounds to me like your falling in love with a woman, and not just any woman; Karen." "Look" Will said "If it happens, it happens. You can't help who you fall in love with, love doesn't care and it doesn't discriminate."
"I mean it kinda makes sense now that I think about it...." Will said looking at Jack.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked confused.
"Well, you have about...what, five dates a day. How many long term relationships have you had Jack? Thats not counting the ones that lasted two weeks."
"..none" Jack said looking down.
"Maybe you've been looking for love in the wrong place?" Will said. " But I'm not sexually attracted to any other women at all!" said Jack.
"Well then maybe....and I can't believe I'm saying this but....maybe Karen and you were meant to be..?"
Jack stared at Will for a moment and then got up and walked quickly to the door.
"Jack?" Will began
"I..I gotta go" Jack said and with that he rushed out.
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Jack went back to his apartment and went to bed so that he could forget about things for a while. But he couldn't fall asleep...he missed Karen..
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Back at the penthouse Karen was having similar problems. No matter how many times she tossed and turned she couldn't get comfortable....she needed Jack. She looked around her room and her pink carebear that Jack had given her caught her eye. She got up and went over to it, picking it up off the chair she brought it to bed with her. She held it tight and closed her eyes falling asleep quickly.
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The next morning Jack was actually feeling a lot better. Sleeping had helped and when he awoke he wasn't as stressed out about his feelings.
He made his way up the familiar Puck Building and into Grace Adler Designs. He opened the door, and immediately looked to Karen's desk, but was disappointed when he didn't find her there.
"Hey Jack" Grace said looking up from her blueprints.
"Hey Grace" Jack said smiling "Where's Karen?" Jack walked around the office and began picking up things and playing with them, then moving on to something else.
"Oh you know Karen, somewhere out there, theres a waiter, or a department store assistant just waiting to be fired, and she's going to see that they are."
"Uh huh...so do you think she'll be here soon?" Jack said swinging a tassel off a colored pencil.
"Who knows" Grace said. "Well I'll just wait until she gets here" Jack said walking over to Karen's desk and sitting down.
"Alright" Grace began "You couldn't be any less help then Karen" she said smiling and then walking into the back room.
Jack looked at all the things on Karen's desk. Nail polish, a mirror, Vogue magazine, one of those giant calendars that you could write all over. Of course there was nothing important written on it. Jack opened the center drawer and pulled out a pen. He then wrote "Hey Karebear, who's your daddy?" on one of the Saturdays. He smiled to himself and then put the pen down next to nail polish bottle.
Grace walked back into the room and began moving things around on her desk. Just then Karen walked in.
"Hey kitten! where ya been?" Jack asked excited that she was finally here. "Hey poodle! I was out shopping. What are you doing here?" She asked.
"I've been waiting for you, I was bored at home." Of course he wasn't so much bored as he just really missed her and couldn't wait for her to get off work to see her. But he couldn't say that.
"Hey Grace whatya working on?" Karen said walking behind Jack, she leaned over and wrapped her arms around his neck wresting her head on top of his.
"Ugh I have this new client, the lady is driving me nuts...." Grace began, Jack watched as Karen picked up the pen next to the nail polish. "She's wants this fabric, then she wants another fabric, then she changes her mind and doesn't like any of them...." Grace continued to talk and Karen nodded her head at her and began to write on the calendar on her desk. Jack watched as she drew a heart near the Saturday were he had written earlier and inside it she wrote "you are, poodle" Then she placed the pen back down. Jack giggled and smiled up at her.
"So anyway this lady should be calling soon, I swear I can't wait to be done with her" Grace ended, not realizing that Jack and Karen hadn't really been listening to a word she said.
"Yeah so Grace I'd love to stay here and chat with you but..." Karen began "Karen" Grace said, "You just got here, you can't leave now!"
"But Graceeee..."Karen whined "Jackie's here, we have to go."
"Noooo" Grace said going back to moving things around on her desk. "Ugh, devil!" Karen said making a face and then looking down at Jack. "Kare if you want I could stay here with you? I mean I don't have anything else to do, and its just not as fun messing with the Barney's assistants without you"
"Aww you'd really stay here with me poodle?" Karen said smiling. "Of course!" He said, happy that he was going to spend more time with Karen. Inside Karen was just as happy, she had really missed him last night, she hid it well though.
Karen walked over to the coffee maker and pored herself a cup. She then opened the mini bar and got out the Baileys, poring some into her coffee. She walked over to her desk and then sat herself down on Jacks lap. She took a bunch of colored pencils out of the draw and began to color designs onto her calendar.
Jack wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned back in the chair.
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Two hours later Karen and Jack were in the same position except Jack was now leaning his head on Karen's back. He had the most bored expression on his face.
"Karen Grace's office is sooooo boooring" He whined. "How do you put up with this everyday??" He asked.
"Well honey, my friend Mr. Vodka helps take that away." She said smiling to herself.
Karen got up and started gathering her things. "Come on Jackie lets go, I've put in my time for the day." "Yay!" Jack exclaimed, jumping up from the chair. Karen grabbed Jacks hand and they left.
The rest of the day they spent together, shopping, drinking, shopping, napping in the limo and then shopping some more. When they finally returned to the penthouse it was late and they were tired. They walked in hand in hand and made there way up the stairs, suddenly they stopped..
"Karen?" Stan stood at the top of the steps, an annoyed look on his face.
"Stan?" Karen said, obviously surprised at him being there, he wasn't supposed to be home until tomorrow night.
"I got home early, my plane came in this afternoon. Where have you been all day?" Stan said. Karen was now not only surprised but confused. He never cared before if she was gone all day. Hell she was always gone! So was he! Why was he bringing this up?
"I've just been out shopping with Jack" she said "You've been with him all day?" Stan replied back suspiciously. "Yes" Karen replied "What's the big deal?" "Is it a big deal?? You've been with him all day and then you bring him back here..?! For what Karen!? " Stan said beginning to get visibly upset. Karen turned around to face Jack. "Jackie why don't you go home, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" She said. "Are you sure your okay?" he said a bit wary of leaving her with an angry man five times her size. "Its okay honey, I'll be fine" She said trying to sound reassuring. The truth was she didn't know if it would be okay, she had never seen Stan act like this before. "Alright, goodnight Kare" Jack said as he squeezed her hand and then walked out the door.
Karen turned back around to Stan an annoyed look on her face. "What's the matter with you!?" "Me?! What's the matter with you?! Running around with a guy all day and then bringing him back at 11pm at night?! I bet you've been with him the whole time I was gone!"
"Stan we are not going to get into this again" Karen replied as she walked up the stairs, just as she was about to pass him he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
"Yes, we are." He said anger clearly written across his face. "I wanna know why your always hanging around him, huh?" "Because he's my best friend! I've told you this a million times Stan there is NOTHING going on between us! He's GAY for godsakes!!" Karen said walking away from him and into her room. Stan followed. "Don't walk away from me like this conversation is over, its not!!" Stan yelled.
"What are you so afraid of Stan?! That somebody might actually treat me better than you do?!" Karen yelled back. "That maybe someone else could give me something that you could NEVER give me no matter HOW MUCH money you had!" Karen yelled, smirk on her face.
Before she even saw it coming, Stan's fist collided with the side of her face, knocking her to the ground. Tears streamed down her face as she cradled her head in her hands. She was shocked and angry but most of all she was afraid. She didn't dare move.
"I'm sorry" Stan said "But you need to learn your place" he said forcefully and with that he turned around and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
When she was sure he wasn't coming back in. She walked into her closet and picked up the bear Jack had given her she walked over and laid down on the bed, curling up in a ball and clutching the bear to her chest as she cried herself to sleep.
"Jack..." she whispered as she closed her eyes.