Hey!
sorry this update took a little long...i promise to be more frequent with my updates!
This chapter may seem a little slow, but it sets up a basis for the ending...which is in about 4 or 5 chapters :)
Anyway, thanks to all of you who are sticking with this story...I hope you enjoy this!
Sundown xx
As he strolled down the white, clinical, echoing corridor, Will contemplated turning around and leaving the hospital. Curiosity was the only fuel propelling his legs to continue forward. Why did Michael ask me to meet him here? What does he even look like now? Is he still with 'what's his name'?
His search ended when he located the room number Michael had given him. He felt skeptical as he knocked on the wood, and closing his eyes, he reluctantly pushed the door open, bringing him face to face with his ex boyfriend.
Will gasped as he saw Michael, sitting up in his bed. A dark blue robe hung limply over the man's shoulders and seemed too harsh a contrast against the crisp white sheets.
Michael removed his focus from the magazine in his hand as his eyes settled on Will.
"Hey, Will" Michael greeted quietly as a sad grin surfaced upon his face.
Will froze, all he could hear was his own irregular breathing as he paced across the room and sat in the chair beside the bed. My Michael?...Sick?
He cleared his throat and indicated to the magazine. "I haven't read that issue of 'Who' yet…is it good?"
"Nice to know you haven't changed Will, it's really quite comforting actually"
"Huh?"
"You know that thing you always do…where you try to avoid what's really going on by focusing on the trivial things?…it just makes things easier, and I always envied you for that."
Will nodded and kept his eyes on the floor.
"Why didn't you contact me sooner?"
"Because I didn't know sooner"
"Why did you really invite me here?"
"Will?"
His speech quickened. "I mean, it's great to see you and all, but is this some kind of prank? It's funny but c'm…"
"Will."
Will gave up. He knew the truth. He knew the cause. He knew the sickness.
"How long ago did you find out?" He whispered quietly.
Michael's eyes found the window. "A week and a bit ago… but it's ok, I'm going home in a few days."
What do I do now? Do I cry? Do I laugh? Do I try to cheer him up? Oh yeah, great idea Will, lets just say, 'Hey Michael, it sucks that you've contracted HIV , but just watch me juggle some hospital utensils in the air and you will feel 110 better!'
"Michael…I…"
Michael drew his attention back to his ex-love and he shook his head, as if he was shaking the disease off.
"So how are you going?" He asked cheerfully, obviously changing the subject away from his illness. "How's Grace? How's Jack? Have you found anyone yet?"
Will felt shocked tears sting the rims of his eyes, but he gritted his teeth and forced them dry. He returned Michael's grin with a smile of his own and proceeded in keeping Michael up to date with his and Grace's life…managing to leave out the tiny detail about his relationship with Jack.
"Wow, Grace…it's really unfortunate for your hair today that hats aren't in fashion at the moment." Jack scoffed as he sat on Karen's desk, fiddling with the packaging of the gum he had pulled out of his pocket.
Karen poked him with her nail file. "Hey hey hey! This isn't Wilma's office! You can't just come in here, sprawling yourself across the desk, asking me to wear nothing but my tie and then telling me to have my filthy filthy way with you before my next big case!"
"Karen, that never hap…"
"Shhh. I think I need to be alone in my head right now" She replied, biting her lip and smiling.
Grace looked up. "Karen, that party in your head is like me and my mother when she comes down to visit…any form of privacy is non existent."
Karen giggled to herself as the dirty thoughts filled her mind. Jack rolled his eyes and jumped off Karen's empty desk and bounced over to Grace's cluttered one.
"So…are we all ready to pack up and leave in two days time, Miss Adler, professional designer?"
"I couldn't be more un-ready."
"Half baked orjust dough…you're going over there." Jack responded. He picked up a fabric sample and began fiddling with it, keeping his eyes off Grace. "Speaking of dough…how did…Will take it when you told him?"
"I can imagine that you would know better than anyone else."
Jack clutched the fabric. She doesn't know yet?
"Imagine all you want, Big Red!"
"Huh?"
"Nothing"
Grace placed her pencil down and looked at Jack, who was still avoiding eye contact with her.
"Why? What happened with you and Will?"
"We don't ask stupid questions around here Grace, it lowers the air of intelligence that is currently present within the room."
"I think the intelligence level hit its all time low the minute you walked in the door after Karen."
"Honey, I know that theThai are making all my clothes in the state of Taiwan, I visited Australia by train last year to see how the employees were going. That's all the info I need to know." And where my daughter is…
"Intelligence level is low, but obviously dosage levels have increased dramatically." Grace sighed aloud to herself.
"So…" Jack tried asking again. "Did Will do the usual flip out when you told him? Did he do his typical girly storm around with his teeth clenched and his voice an octave higher in pitch?"
"No…he just said…congratulations!"
Jack gasped and bit the material in his hands with shock. He and grace looked at each other.
"Just…congratulations?" Came Jack's muffled reply.
Grace nodded. Jack removed the sample from his mouth.
"Did his eyes go all creepy and wide, you know, when he looks like he's going to either tell you to sit in the corner…or kill you?"
Grace shook her head.
"Oh…did he do the…"
"The angry finger point? The inward eyebrows? The spitting that he claims is 'diction'?…nope. None of it."
Jack began to fan himself with the sample with one hand as he grabbed Grace's hand with his other hand.
"Something is wrong!" The two exclaimed in unison.
"It's funny when people actually care" Karen stated before resuming her grueling work on her nails.
"So anyway, that's how Jack managed to talk me into changing my haircut." Will laughed.
"Yeah, Andrew is convinced that I need vitamin pills, so for the past few years he has been trying to invent different ways to sneak them into my food. He thought he could disguise the capsule in my birthday cake last year, and I choked on it. I suppose it's nice that he cares…but God it makes me more reluctant to take them."
Will sighed. "I'm sorry I was such an ass the last time we saw each other. I suppose that it was…well…I…"
"Doesn't matter. Forgotten. I missed seeing you and I knew I wanted to see you before I…you know…"
"That isn't gonna happen…you just have to take care of yourself and stop letting daytime TV influence you!"
Michael nodded. "Thanks."
Will smiled and looked down at his watch. "It's six o' clock! I have been here for four hours…why didn't you tell me to shut up?"
"Because I was listening."
"Well, I have to go…otherwise Grace and Jack won't know what to do with themselves…and then they will try to cook for themselves…and I really do fancy my apartment…But I will visit you soon."
Will leaned over and gave Michael an awkward kiss on his forehead.
"Hey, before you go Will…can you please swing by the main desk and add yourself to my visitors list?"
Will nodded as he left. He strolled down the hallway once again and turned. He couldn't bring himself to think that the past four hours with Michael actually occurred.
Before he knew it, he had managed to lose himself amongst the corridors. Not understanding the signs, Will figured he would ask the first person that he crossed paths with where the exit was.
He stopped abruptly when he spotted a man leaning outside the door of one of the rooms.
"Excuse me?" Will asked him.
"Yeah?"
"Um…this is going to sound…well…really stupid but…I'm kind of lost, and I was just wondering where the exit was?"
"You're right, that does sound stupid! The signs aren't there to look pretty, you know. They are rather ugly actually…I could design better ones with two Crayolas."
Will smirked. He faced the man and actually looked at him, and decided to do the usual 'Man–Scan'. Hmm…Tallish…approximately 34 years, Light brown hair (bearable) Green eyes (good!) and great smile (excellent!).
"So what brings you to the…er hospital?" He asked the man.
"Well, in movies, they always make such a big deal about hospital jell – o, so when I heard that a relation was in hospital, I jumped at the chance to have a taste tester."
"Worth it?"
"Not at all."
Will couldn't help but grin, although a strange niggling at the back of his mind kept screaming What about Jack?
The man extended his hand out to Will. "Richard"
Will shook the man's hand. What about Jack? "Incredibly Lost."
"Just keep turning left at every corridor, you'll get there soon."
Jack is over you anyway. "Thanks."
"Uh, before you go…I don't usually do this, but here's my number." Richard said, pulling a pen out of his pocket and writing on Will's hand.
Will smiled and nodded, continuing on his way.
"The name's Will." He said to the man that was now behind him. He waited until he had turned the corner before he could stop strutting and return to his normal, non – flirting state.
Jack? If he has such little faith in us, then why should I always cling onto it?
Step 1 of the Healing Process: Find new target. CHECK.
"Where the hell is he? We were gonna catch a movie!" Jack shrieked as he dialed Will's apartment from Karen's cell phone.
"Honeymoon with Grace?"
"Nah…he would still answer his DAMN PHONE! If we don't catch the movie tonight, we are no longer friends. I am through with him. He is supposed to be home!"
Karen laughed.
"Is my volcanic anger funny to you Kare?"
"Of course it is Poodle!" She responded through fits of cackling. "It's just the fact that you still care and that you're too much of a woman to admit that you aren't over him."
"Gee, I see why that slice of UNTRUTH belongs to the Funny Cake" Jack said, trying to cram as much bitchiness as he could into his tone.
Karen snickered even harder. "Ah, you queens kill me!"
LJStagFlower4e: Glad you liked the twist...and im happy that it actually WAS a twist! thankyou for your interest love! xx
FadeToBlack315: Thanks! its so flattering that you like this, despite the pairing! I tried to keep a bit of the Will and Grace, Jack and Karen relationships up, and not just solely focus on Will and Jack. Thanks a bunch! xx
GracieAdler: Haha thanks! your novels crack me up, its great! As for the Will and Jack thing...i do that with the show too...and sorry they arent together currently in my story, but it makes it fun :) I wasn't much of a Glitter fan personally :) Thanks again xx
Next Chapter: Grace confronts Will about his odd behaviour, and the gang see Grace off at the airport. Jackbecomes suspiscious of Will. Karen contemplates makinga rare act ... anapology...
xx