Hey, I want to saythanks again to my reviewers! I'm glad you're liking the story...I have to admit, I'm not a fan of this particular chapter, but I figured I'd leave it how it is and let you guys be the judges...

"Aaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Jack shrieked, diving between her legs as she came at him, and suddenly she felt herself momentarily riding him, which distracted her slightly.

"Oh…poodle…this is…this is…" she purred. Her eyes narrowed. "This is not the time. Back to the program."

"Get the knife, Jack!" Will shouted, but not even a beat later, Jack went headfirst down the remaining stairs to the landing.

"Run, Jack, save yourself!" Grace cried. "Not like you wouldn't do that anyway!" She lost her footing and found herself on her back, her face parallel to the blade of Karen's knife.

"Happy Halloween, honey!" Karen chirped and brought the knife down.

Grace opened her mouth to scream, but no sound left it before Will's head connected with Karen's stomach, knocking her to the landing. The knife flew down to the next flight as Will and Karen continued to struggle.

"Why are you doing this, Karen?" Will demanded through clenched teeth as he tried to pin her arms behind her back.

"Honey, there's a new thing out. It's called boredom. Don't you know it?" Karen laughed offhandedly. "Oh my God, what am I saying, you hang out with queers who don't know what a career is and three feet of hair with a color that's never been seen in nature, of course you get bored!"

"Yeah, but not bored enough to go after them with the intent of a bloodbath!" he snapped back at her. "Have I even thought of it? Yes! But have I ever gone through with it? No!"

"You've even thought that about me, Will?" Grace asked indignantly.

"Grace, not now, I'm trying to keep Karencifer at bay so you can get out of here!"

"Oh." Grace bit her lip. "I guess this is the part where I run."

"Yeah, could be."

"Okay. See ya." Grace hotfooted it down the stairs, meeting Jack at the bottom, who was holding the knife and looking as if he didn't know which direction was left or right.

"Give me that," Grace demanded, snatching it from him. "Will! The knife! Catch!"

However, Will's attempt to catch the knife was his own undoing; as he leaned forward to seize it from mid-air, Karen took that very opportunity to knee him twice in the stomach.

"Oof!" Will pitched forward, which gave Karen enough time to reclaim the knife and crawl over to him, turning him over.

"You think I don't remember that you people couldn't catch if you were within half a foot of each other?" Karen snarled.

"Oh my God!" Will burst out angrily. "Grace told you my trying out for Little League story? I gave her a box of Krispy Kremes and a smiley face cupcake to keep it to herself!"

"What are you going on about, Sally?" Karen snorted impatiently.

"Oh." Will grinned at her. "Not much. Would you like a cupcake?"

"Shut up!"

"Karen," Will choked out. He grasped the wrist of the hand clutching the knife with both hands, his fingernails digging into her, wondering how long he could hold her off. Just as he could begin to feel his resolve slipping,

"Hah-YAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Jack leapt up on to the landing behind them, and they froze.

"Jack, what the hell are you doing?" Will wanted to know.

Jack paused in shock. "Will! Hello! What does it look like I'm doing? I'm saving you from mortal peril!" As an afterthought, he added, "You can repay me in cash. Fifties are good."

"Yeah, Jack, I'll add that to my agenda," Will retorted dryly.

"Much as I know how the queens love to chat," Karen interjected petulantly, "murder in progress here."

Jack squinted at her. "Not if I have anything to say about it." He pointed a small handgun in her direction.

Will's throat went dry. "You wouldn't…would you?"

Karen's eyes, now round as saucers, "Yeah, honey…what Wilma said."

"Wouldn't you just love to know, Kare Bear?" Jack giggled knowingly.

"If your finger goes anywhere near that trigger, the girl's getting it!" Karen warned.

Jack continued to tease her. "Wouldn't you just kill me to know--" He gulped. "Bad choice of words. Rewind!"

Karen let out a mockingly affectionate laugh. "I sure would, honey. But you'll have to be patient, I can only smear one queer at a time."

"You won't be smearing any of me, sister," Jack declared. "And maybe just like a fourth of Will if this doesn't go as planned. Now I sense a dilemma here. If I try to shoot you, we're all going to be eating Will for dinner--well, maybe just Grace, who'll be working her way through him so fast she won't even know whatshe's eating--but if Pedro tries to take a tour of Will's digestive system, then Timmy here is having none of it."

Karen looked thoughtful. "You're right, Jackie, that is a problem." She bit her lip.

"Sooooo…let's just do it this way," Jack said deliberately. "Nobody has to get hurt here, except Will maybe a little later on for that sweater that's so 1985 that he thought he could pull off and can't--so if you would just give him a little space…then I'll do the same for you…"

Slowly, Karen began to back off.

"That a girl…that's right…" Jack met her halfway, backing off as well. Will decided it was safe to try to work his way toward Jack, bit by bit so as not for Karen to notice.

Karen paused, frowning thoughtfully. "You know what, honey, I have a better idea."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Let's not." In the blink of an eye, Karen grabbed for Will, who was just beginning to get to his feet with the intent of getting down the stairs and to Grace, and in the same instance, almost as if on instinct, Jack pulled the trigger.