In Sickness and in Wealth

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from the show Will and Grace, I'm just using them for my own amusement without any profit.

Summary: Everything seems to be well with Karen until one night her friends wake up to an unexpected phone call…..But is it already too late to help her?

It's been a while since I've written anything, so I'm sorry if the writing is a bit off. I'd appreciate any comments!

Chapter 1

It was almost 1 am. Grace woke up with a start to the sound of a phone ringing somewhere in the apartment. "Who the hell can it be this late?" she thought as she rolled over to see the clock on the bedside table. Will was at home so it couldn't be him…but maybe he'd pick it up, because she sure wasn't going to get out of bed. Either way, Grace lifted her head up a little to hear what was going on. After two more rings she heard Will's recorded voice from the answering machine:

"You have reached Will and Grace. We are not here right now, or Grace might be at home and is just too busy eating to pick up the phone…" Grace growled. Will had changed their message again. "…but you can leave a message after the sound."

A loud beep followed, then a short silence, and then a voice that Grace recognized to be Jack's, even though it sounded somehow different...very distraught:

"Will….? Grace..…?" He was pleading. It was almost if he was about to start crying…or had just been crying...or both. Grace immediately started to get up, but then his next words suddenly froze her to the spot: "It's Karen..…", his voice broke "She's in the hospital…the doctors say she's had an overdose..…I don't know…"

Grace couldn't believe what she was hearing. Karen? Hospital? Overdosed? The same Karen she knew who could eat a bottle of pills for lunch and come out looking barely dazed? It couldn't be true. Grace was staring into the darkness, shocked and transfixed, when she distantly registered footsteps hurrying past her room. It was Will going to pick up the phone. This realization finally made Grace pull herself together as well, and she rushed after him, still feeling oddly light-headed at the face of the news she had just heard. It just couldn't be true. It had to be a prank call – albeit in very poor taste and very well acted – but it just couldn't be true. It had to be more likely that Jack would learn to act than that Karen would be knocked out by the pills she usually popped like candy. Or was it? Grace wanted to laugh it off, but she couldn't. Jack had sounded serious.

Will was the one to pick up the phone: "Jack? Are you there?" he asked with some urgency in his voice. Grace clicked the speakerphone on so she could hear the conversation.

"Yeah" Jack swallowed audibly in the other end of the line. "Karen..…she's…..I don't know what they're doing to her right now, but nobody's letting me see her."

"What happened?" Will asked levelly while Grace standing behind him found herself on the verge of tears.

"Uh…..Rosario called me just after midnight and told be to go to this hospital..…and that they would bring Karen in soon..…and then she had to go and I don't know..…" Jack was speaking very quickly and had to pause for breath. "But I came here, and I waited..… and then they came and she was unconscious..…and they took her away..…and Rosario went with her..…and I've just waited here...and just now a doctor came out and said she had taken too many pills and..…"

"Wait...wait!", Will cut in. By this time Grace had found herself a chair and was sitting down in shock. "Try to take a deep breath, Jack. Tell us what the doctor said"

"I…he didn't say that much" Jack said slowly. "I think they're still operating on her, or trying to find a pulse or…I don't know. I just saw a glimpse of her when they brought her in and she looked so pale…so……" He couldn't finish the sentence. Now it was clear to both of the listeners that he was in tears.

"It's okay, Jack." Will tried to speak soothingly "Just try to hold on. We'll be there in a few minutes!" He hung up after Jack had managed to utter something back in affirmative, and then motioned Grace to get back on her feet.

"Get dressed, we're going now" he ordered her.

"But…" Grace was still so shaken she could barely tell her left from the right.

"Just grab anything you have in your closet. Jack needs us right now……and Karen will need us too when she wakes up."

"But what if…" Grace couldn't finish the sentence. Will stopped briefly, laid his hands on her shoulders and looked her firmly in the eye.

"She will pull through…and when she does, we'll be there for her. Now go get dressed."

Not quite convinced, but still determined to put on a brave face, Grace ran to her room, grabbed an old pair of jeans and a T-shirt and was at the door again 5 minutes later. Will was already there waiting for her, holding both of their coats.

"I called a cab", he said, while helping the jacket on Grace. "Let's go."

15 minutes later they were out of the cab and heading through the hospital doors. There was no sign of Jack or Rosario, so they moved to the front desk to ask for information:

"Has a Ms. Karen Walker been brought here recently?" Will asked while Grace was looking around, still trying to spot a familiar face. They were both scanning the room while the lady behind the desk was searching for information.

"Ah, yes" the woman said soon. "She was brought in at 00.25 and was taken to operation. These records don't show if she is out yet, but I'm sure……"

"Thank you" Will cut in. He had just spotted Jack stepping out of a room further up the corridor. He gave Grace a nudge and when she too had seen Jack, they both started speeding towards him.

TBC, please r/r!