November 15th 1998

"Grace Adler Designs?" Karen chirped into the phone.

"Is she there?"

"No, she's out to lunch, she'll be back in a few minutes. Will, why don't you just come over to the office? I haven't seen you here for weeks. I miss you." She realized how odd that sounded. "I mean…I know I see you at night, but it's not the same. The reason I took this particular job, aside from the fact that you set it up for me, was that I thought I would get to see you in daylight and not have to worry about anything. You know, since Grace knows about us."

"I know, and I wish I could, it's just…I don't know if it's such a good idea anymore."

Will never told her about the conversation he was cornered into by Grace a few weeks ago. Something along the lines of "It really pisses me off that you're constantly here to see her, but I never get any time with you, and wasn't I the reason you started coming here in the first place?" He couldn't remember exactly how she worded it, but he got the gist of it. And as much as he wanted to see Karen during the day, he knew that Grace would be upset. He didn't want to lose her, and he didn't want Grace to take out her anger at him towards Karen. He couldn't tell Karen about any of this; she would blame herself, and that was the last thing he wanted.

Karen was taken aback by Will's bluntness. "Oh. Okay."

Oh, god, the sadness in her voice. He was never able to handle the fact that he hurt someone, especially her. He made it his personal goal to make sure that she was happy whenever she was in his presence. He never wanted to lie to her, and he knew this omission would most likely come back to bite him in the ass later. He had to make it up to her.

"Can you meet me in Washington Square before sunset? I want to take you somewhere."

He could hear the smile in her voice. "Where are we going?"

"Well, if I told you that, it wouldn't be a surprise. I promise you'll love it."

Karen heard the door open, footsteps coming closer. She knew she had to end the call before Grace found out who it was. Karen knew she wasn't too fond of the relationship, and as much as she wanted to throw it in her face that they were still going strong, she wanted to keep as comfortable a work environment as humanly possible. "I guess I can wait," she whispered as Grace made her way to her desk. "I have to go. But I'll see you soon."

Grace saw the smile on her face and knew who it was on the other line. She knew Karen wouldn't tell her the truth. And when she hung up, Grace asked, "Who was that?"

Karen jumped at her voice, not expecting Grace to talk to her right after she got off the phone. "Oh, don't worry about it, honey, it was for me."

Sneaky little thing. She expected Karen to do that, but she let it go. She knew she was the reason Will wasn't coming by the office anymore, and although she missed his visits, she was happy. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she was insanely jealous of Karen. She had what Grace lost. She had what Grace wanted back for so long after she lost it. She had what Grace still wanted, even if it's subconscious, even if she thinks she's suppressed those feelings. She was like a child; even though she was content with the way things were before, once someone else had it, she wanted nothing more than to get it for herself.

Will broke her heart. Granted, their relationship lasted mere months, but she fell fast. She thought she would marry him. And when he proposed to her, she was sure that this would last. But then there was the bombshell, and she kicked him out. She was humiliated, but even though she knew she couldn't have him anymore, she couldn't get over it. And when she thought she did, she moved on to others, while Will went from one to another until he found Michael. She was never threatened by the men in his life. Only until Karen came along did Grace feel something against the one Will was dating. And she could never figure out what it was about Karen, until now.

Karen was a woman. She hadn't seen Will with another woman since they broke up. Grace could have been Karen.

Grace realized that she had been staring at Karen when she heard her voice. "Is something wrong, honey?" Karen asked in a slightly irritated tone.

"What do you see in him?" she heard herself say. She surprised herself with that one.

"What are you talking about?"

"He'll break your heart, sooner or later," Grace said as she started making her way to the swatch room. "He won't show up to one of your little dates, or he'll say something he shouldn't, something he doesn't really mean, and you'll catch on to him. I've seen it happen. I know you don't want to think of him like that. But don't say you didn't see it coming when it happens. I've known him for years, I've seen almost every relationship he's been in, I know what he does. Just wait."

Grace walked into the swatch room. She didn't see Karen's tears starting to roll down her cheeks. She felt bad for saying that, for a moment. She tried to tell herself that she was only warning her, but she knew better than that. Grace walked back out into the office and stopped at Karen's desk. She knelt down to her level and took Karen into her arms.

"Oh god, Karen, I'm so sorry I said that. It's a long story, but I dated Will for a little while back in college. I just know how much he hurt me, but I'm sure he won't do that to you. Forget I said any of that, okay?"

Karen put her arms around Grace, returning the hug. "Don't worry about it, Grace. It's fine."

That was enough of an acceptance of her apology for Grace to return to her work. She figured Karen would forget about it. She figured Karen would go on about her business, meet Will tonight, and be so completely absorbed in him that she would forget that interaction ever took place.

But when the day was over and Karen was waiting for him in Washington Square, she couldn't get what Grace said out of her mind. In all honesty, she didn't know that much about Will when they started out. And she didn't make an effort to learn more about him during their time together; she thought she knew all she needed to in order to make it work with him, and up until now, she was right. But what if Grace said would turn out to be true? What if he didn't show tonight? Or if he did, would she be overanalyzing every last word of every sentence he spoke? Would she believe anything he says tonight?

Karen felt arms wrapping around her waist. "Found you," Will said before he kissed the nape of her neck. "If you want, we can come back here to the park after we're done. Ready to go?"

She nodded softly and let Will lead her to the subway station, to the F train, to the mystery destination. But she was somewhere else tonight. She would go through the motions, say what Will needed to hear tonight, but she couldn't stop thinking about what Grace said. She couldn't stop thinking that this would be the last time she would be with him like this.

She didn't want to be right.

But she figured she probably was. It was only a matter of time.