LOVERS: PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE

Summary: Jack has always had a thing for Will, but are the feelings mutual? Meanwhile, Grace bumps into an old flame

Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything to do with Will Grace

Chapter details: Chapter 5, EXPLANATIONS

W&GW&GW&GW&GW&G

WILL & GRACE'S APARTMENT

Will motioned for Grace to sit down on the sofa. She obliged. Grace crossed her legs and turned to face Will as he made himself comfortable beside her.

"It was… nice" Will said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Will" Grace warned, lifting her eyebrows to show she meant business.

"Okay… it was a disaster…" he began. "…I just didn't… feel anything. There I was, with the man I was in love with for best part of a decade and… nothing. He was flirting, throwing compliments at me, touching me… he even tried to kiss me outside the restaurant".

"And?" prompted Grace.

"I made out my phone was ringing, said I'd be in touch and ran off".

"Maybe this is a good thing, it finally proves you no longer have feelings for him".

"How d'you work that one out? If I can't even have a slight attraction to Michael, what hope have I got?" Will said, miserably.

"Well, when you're not interested by the advances of men, it usually means you're in love" joked Grace, laughing.

Will's eyes widened, he swallowed hard and ran a hand through his hair.

"I'm gonna go to bed… night" he said nervously, standing up and heading for his bedroom.

Grace turned her head and was about to say something when Will's bedroom door slammed shut.

"That's odd" she said slowly, getting up from the sofa and making her own way to bed.

W&GW&GW&GW&GW&G

WILL & GRACE'S APARTMENT (Tuesday)

Grace emerged from the bathroom and began walking around the apartment.

"Will?" she called.

There was no answer. She wandered into his room and out again. She walked over to the kitchen, picked up a pen and scribbled 'we have to talk' on a post it, then stuck it onto the fridge. As she left the apartment and closed the door behind her, Will came in from outside on the balcony, ripped the post it off the fridge and threw it in the bin. Will then sat down at his table and picked up the newspaper lying there. He looked at his watch, to see how much time he had left before he had to go to work. He looked up as the door opened and Jack appeared, already wearing his hospital uniform. Will immediately felt uncomfortable, but also relieved it wasn't Grace coming back, having known he was hiding on the balcony. Will's heart began to race as Jack moved towards him and sat in the chair beside him.

"William Truman" Jack said, grabbing the newspaper from Will and throwing it on the floor.

"Jack, I was reading that!" Will protested.

"Why didn't you tell me you were doing the dirty dirty with Michael again?" Jack asked angrily.

"I'm not doing the dirty dirty with him… if you must know, I turned him down, I realised I wasn't into him like that anymore. Anyway, why are you so bothered?".

"Because you're my friend and it would have been nice if you had told me… even Karen knew".

"Oh… well I'm sorry Jack, I was in a bit of a state, I wasn't thinking".

"You seem to be doing a lot of that lately" Jack said so quietly, Will couldn't hear.

Jack stood up and made his way to the kitchen, not noticing as Will closed his eyes when he brushed past him. As Jack rejoined Will at the table with a carton of juice he had retrieved from the fridge, he touched Will's shirt.

"That looks good on you, you should wear it more often" Jack said honestly.

"Oh… thanks Jack" Will said, trying to hide a smile by biting his bottom lip.

Will watched Jack as he drank his juice and he couldn't help smiling at the sight. A thought suddenly occurred to him.

"Um… Jack, why don't you make fat jokes about me anymore?"

Jack stopped drinking his juice and looked at Will.

"I don't?" Jack asked, finding Will's question rather strange.

"No, you don't" Will replied, his heart beginning to race again.

"I don't know…" Jack began thinking. "…I guess I used to have too much time on my hands with nothing better to do… you know, during just jack… jack two thousand… jack two thousand and one, you get the idea" Jack finished, taking another gulp of his juice.

Will didn't respond to Jack, he just kept watching him with a glazed expression. When Jack noticed Will staring, he flinched slightly.

"Ok, if it makes you feel better… I was probably a bit jealous, okay? You were set in your way, great job, great apartment… I was living at home… flipping from one ridiculous job to another… I've never really thought you were fat by the way… actually you look pretty good, have you been on atkins?" Jack asked, giving Will the once over with his eyes.

Will took a deep breath and was about to say something in response to Jacks speech, but Jack beat him to the post.

"Hey, guess what?" Jack said excitedly, setting his carton down on the table.

"You're gonna start paying your own rent?".

"No, silly. This really hot guy at the gym asked me out… and you probably won't believe this but… I haven't… in quite a while".

"That's great…" Will said, forcing himself to sound cheerful. "… when are you going out?".

"Next week, he's out of town on business for a few days" Jack said, still looking as though all his birthdays had come at once.

Will stood up and grabbed his briefcase from under the table.

"Well, I'm happy for you Jack" Will said playing with his tie and not looking Jack In the eye.

Will then made his way over to the door, opened it and left without so much as a goodbye, leaving Jack with a confused expression on his face.

W&GW&GW&GW&GW&G

GRACE ADLER DESIGNS

Grace entered her office to find Karen and Rosario rummaging through her boxes of materials and fabric. She wandered over to them and tapped Karen on the shoulder, causing her to jump and almost slap Grace around the face with a sample of kitchen lino.

"Honey! Don't do that" Karen said, clutching her chest.

"Karen, what are you doing?" Grace asked, settling down at her workstation.

"Oh, Rosario's making my wedding dress… she's quite a stitcher you know. We're just looking for ideas. A friend of mine got married last year, bought her dress from this shop and it was awful, made her look really fat" Karen replied, walking over to stand by Grace.

"That was me" Grace said, staring at Karen.

"Oh… well look on the bright side honey, now you can blame it on all that food your so fond of" Karen said, thinking she successfully dug herself out of a hole.

"Miss Karen, these boxes are full of crap" proclaimed Rosario, putting her hands on her hips.

"Hey!" complained Grace.

"That's a good one Rosie" Karen said, laughing.

Grace and Rosario stared angrily at each other for a few moments. Grace then turned back to Karen, who was beginning to compose herself.

"Anyway, I'm glad you're here. Have you noticed anything odd about Will lately?" Grace asked Karen.

"Um, he's gay?" Karen suggested.

"No, not that…" said Grace rolling her eyes. "..he wasn't attracted to Michael last night and as a joke I said it must be because he's in love with someone else and then he went really weird on me… what do you think that means?".

Karen sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

"I think it means you need to get a life" Karen informed Grace.

"But if he was seeing someone, or was in love with someone even, he would have told me… and he wouldn't have gone on that date with Michael" Grace pondered, more to herself then anyone else.

Grace turned to say something to Karen, only to find she and Rosario had fled the office. Just then, Jack came walking into view and stopped dead upon noticing Grace. Grace looked questionably at Jack for a few moments and then all of a sudden her eyes widened.

"Oh. My. God… Jack…"

W&GW&GW&GW&GW&G

I hope you liked the fourth chapter!

W&GW&GW&GW&GW&G

I want to say a BIG thank you to those who not only read chapter 3, but also took the time to review it.

Please note: If you're confused about something or want anything answered, just ask!

W&GW&GW&GW&GW&G

REVIEW TIME

If you're reading this, please take a few moments to review (anonymous is fine). I really do appreciate them, they make me update faster :-)