Chapter twelve:

A few weeks later and Karen still hadn't taken to the test, she was too scared. Jack decided against forcing Karen to do it, after her little out-burst in the restaurant, he was kind of afraid.

Jack started to focus on the real reason they were in England. He did not want to find out the truth from Bernie, but getting Karen to confess would be hard. Unless Bernie could make Karen confess? Nah that would be too harsh on Karen, but the thought of him might do it.

"Listen Karebear," Jack said when they returned to their hotel room that evening. "I went to see Bernie about 4 weeks ago-"

"What!" interrupted Karen "Oh you stupid little fairy! What you do that for!"

"I needed to find out what happened between you guys."

There was an awkward pause where they were both too nervous to say anything

"Well," finally said Jack "What's your side of things?"

"My side of things!" screamed Karen "I can tell that you bloody believe what that trashy Bernie said. He is dead to me!"

"Are you sure! Cos you seem distracted ever since we've been over here, is he really dead to u?"

"Yes I'm sure, now is the Spanish Inquisition finished? There's a mini-bar in my room with my name written all over it!"

"Should you be drinking so much?" asked Jack

"What do you mean?"

"Well, y'know…" Jack made a drinking signal and a rocking the baby signal

"Jack! Just leave me alone!" shouted Karen and slammed the door to her room.

"Do you think we could arrange a get-together?" asked Jack into the telephone

"Suppose" growled Bernie "Why? What has Karen told you?"

"Nothing, that's the point." Complained Jack

"Maybe you shouldn't keep trying to dig up the past, it's just gonna cause pain." Said an actual concerned Bernie

"I'm doing this so Karen can heal. There's something she hiding and its eating away at her."

"Well don't expect miracles, maybe there's a reason she's hiding it," said Bernie

"I don't care; can we just arrange a time please? Karen's gonna realise the bar isn't really open this early in a minute."

They arranged a time for the next day to meet at the local coffee shop. Jack spent the day in a daze and couldn't sleep that night, wondering how to get Karen there if he was doing the right thing.

Jack got up early that morning and woke Kare up with a cup of coffee, (he skipped the Baileys as there was the possibility of her being pregnant).

"Y'know what? Lets go out to town and have a coffee, yer?" Jack thought this may be the most innocent way of getting her there.

The limo ride Jack felt so guilty, she was sitting there happily. It was weird; she had gotten much happier during the last few weeks. When the limo pulled up Jack was beyond nervous. He had no idea how Karen would react but he had to give it a shot.

They walked in slowly; Karen looked around while Jack searched for Bernie. He found him. He took an oblivious Karen to the table and Jack sat down.

"Jack! What the fuck are you doing!" said Karen rather loudly

"It's ok Kare, I just want you guys to sort things out." Reassured Jack

"Are you mad? This man is crazy! Dangerous! I hate him! What are you doing with him?" Karen said while eyeing in Bernie's direction

"He's not! He's a nice guy really. I've chatted to him when I went round his house."

"You what? He's not nice! But you can't! What about! All that stuff! I can't take this-what!" Karen was breathing heavily; she was constantly shaking her head in disbelief looking from Jack to Bernie. It was unbearable pain! Jack, her best friend, who she loved, had gone behind her back befriended that…that…man! She couldn't believe it. Her childhood was wreaked because of that man and her Jackie says he's a nice guy!

Her emotions were bubbling up, her stomach was doing somersaults, she was going to throw up!

Karen turned on her heel and rushed into the ladies toilets. She banged open a door and vomited into the toilet.

Before she knew it she was slumped against the side of the cubical, sat on the floor with the door locked. It felt like she had been stabbed in the heart, all she could feel was pain! She couldn't hack it! All those years of drinking and drugs had managed to block out her past, and then it suddenly comes back all at once. It felt like she had been there forever, sitting there all alone in the toilets. Her uncontrollable crying was beginning to calm down to just sobbing, which was transformed into depression.

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She then opened her eyes and her purse tipping it upside down. She was looking for her beloved vodka. She stared at the ground; all her belongings were just spread out meanlessly onto a toilet floor. She meant nothing, her life was wrecked. No family! Her one friend had gone and so the only thing left was her drink.

As she reached for the bottle of vodka, a tub of pills were knocked over onto the floor.

T.B.C…