NOTE: After a month of writer's block and finishing up this college semester, I finally was able to write a new installment. Now that I have a good idea of where I'm going with this, I should be able to get a chapter a day up here.

April 10th 1997

As a child, Karen would step on every crack on the sidewalk. She was partial to that childhood superstition; "Step on a crack, and break your mother's back." It was why she always saw her classmates jump from one block of concrete to another. She could never understand why they would ever do that. It only took her a couple of decades to realize that they actually had some semblance of respect for their mothers.

This is what Karen figured: if she was able to make this superstition work, then Lois' back would break and need a certain amount of recovery. Which meant that they couldn't move for a while. Which would give Karen plenty of time to make her case about whatever place they were living in at the moment.

It never worked. As hard as she landed on the cracks, she could never get her mother to break.

Until tonight.

Karen was outside their Washington Square apartment, staring at the park, the arch. She was going to do it; she was finally going to defy her mother's orders and cross into the park. Her mother would never notice; it was dark enough so that Lois couldn't see who it was walking along the grass. As far as Karen knew, she was asleep. There was nothing stopping her.

She waited until a taxi floated down the street. It was oddly quiet for a night in downtown Manhattan, but it didn't faze her. At seven, Karen was forced to go to bed at an early hour; it was easy to sneak out, but she was never bold enough to do it until now. She stepped onto the street and began to make her way towards the arch when she heard a voice.

"Kiki! Get back here!"

No. She was so close. She wasn't about to turn around now. She made it to the sidewalk on the other side of the street and turned around to see her mother crossing the street. "No!" She screamed, and jumped on the crack underneath her. Lois stopped. She seemed frozen. Karen wasn't satisfied; she stomped on the crack again and again. After a few tries, Lois simply shattered in the street. Karen watched as her mother broke into a thousand pieces, and knew that she wasn't about to start cleaning them up. She started running towards the arch.

But before she got there, she woke up.

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When Karen woke up, Will wasn't in bed. Lately, if she woke up in the middle of the night, he would be there to talk it out, so she would have an easier time falling back to sleep. But when she felt around his side of the bed, she didn't feel his skin. She turned around to find messy sheets and the door all but closed. They usually kept the bedroom door open; no one else lived here, so there was no reason to hide. But the small crack of light let her know that he was in the living room, and he didn't want to wake her.

Karen got out of bed, let her eyes adjust to being awake. She heard his voice, faint but he was definitely speaking. Probably a late night phone call to his mom or something, she thought. But then she heard a voice that didn't belong to him. Someone she didn't know.

A woman.

She opened the door slowly, doing her best to avoid making it creak. She took small steps down the hallway, hoping to leave her presence unknown. Karen found them on the couch; Will with some redhead next to him. Their backs were turned; his arm was around her shoulders as she rested her head on his. They were silent for a moment before the woman spoke.

"I should go."

Will turned his head towards her. "Are you sure you don't want to…"

She shook her head. "I shouldn't be here. I mean, you've got…"

"Sweetie, she's asleep. She doesn't even know you're here."

Karen should have known. She was cheating on Stan. She shouldn't have expected Will to be faithful when she wasn't. She quickened her pace back to the bedroom, put the door back in its place. She climbed into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. And as Will finally went back to bed, a tear rolled down her cheek.

She shouldn't have expected him to be completely faithful. But that didn't mean she wouldn't shatter when she found out. He might as well have stepped on a crack.

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He went to the kitchen to get something to drink. He looked over at Karen before he left; she was so peaceful in her slumber, and he didn't want to wake her. He closed the door so the light wouldn't bother her and went to get a glass of water. When he was about to go back into the bedroom, he heard a light knock on the door.

He opened it to reveal Grace in tears. "What's going on?" he asked.

"I don't know if I can take him much longer," she said softly.

Another problem with Danny. Will always thought that she should break up with him, but he never had the courage to say it. He knew that somehow, after all of the stuff he's put her through, Grace still holds a torch for Danny. They sat on the couch as she told him her latest problem. He did his best to mediate. And once the tears dried and she calmed down, Grace brought up Karen.

"So, you really like her, don't you?"

"Look, I know she's married. And I know it's not the most ideal relationship. But to look into her eyes, to hear her laugh and know that at that moment, it's only meant for me…that's all I need. She's beautiful, Grace."

She rested her head on his shoulder, let the silence take over for a moment before speaking again. "I should go."

"Are you sure you don't want to…"

"I shouldn't be here. I mean, you've got…"

"Sweetie, she's asleep. She doesn't even know you're here."

She shook her head and stood up. "Go back to her. I'm fine," she said with a smile. Will stood up and walked Grace out before going back to the bedroom. He wrapped his arms around Karen and kissed her cheek before settling in. He heard her softly speak, so faint he thought he imagined it for a moment.

"If I knew that's how it was going to go, I wouldn't have felt so bad about Stan."

Will regarded it as Karen talking in her sleep and didn't respond. He rested his head on the pillow and slowly drifted off to sleep.