November 16th 1998

"Will? Grace is here to see you."

"Uh…yeah, send her in."

Of course. Lately, Grace had a habit of showing up at the most inconvenient times. He had just gotten off the phone with Karen—she had found an opportunity where Grace was out of the office; now he knew why—and he knew that Grace would most likely have something to say about last night. She walked in and took a seat in front of his desk. She looked down at her lap, like she was almost ashamed to ask him what he knew she was going to ask. "So how was last night?"

"Confusing, if you want the truth. Why do you have to keep saying all those things to me? It's bad enough that I have my own reservations to deal with."

"What things? I don't know what you're talking about."

"You have something against her. You keep telling me that she's married and that she has strings attached. You keep telling me that she's going to hurt me. And I don't know why you can't just let me handle this relationship myself."

"Will, I don't have anything against her. Yes, I admit that I said some things to you, and to her as well. But it was only my way of protecting you. I saw how much Michael hurt you. Granted, you haven't been with Karen for seven years, but this is definitely long term. But I have to say this." Grace took a breath. "If you were truly confident with your relationship, you wouldn't have even considered what I had to say. You have to give me that."

She stood up and walked over to the other side of the desk, kneeling down to Will's level. "Maybe you should take a breather and just think about things. I'm not saying break up with her. I'm just thinking that you should take a moment and evaluate everything."

Will paused for a moment, wondering whether or not he should reveal this bit of information to Grace. "She told me she didn't love him. I said she stay with me, and we would work everything out in the next couple of days. I just got off the phone with her, and that's all she talked about."

"Did you mean all of that?" Grace asked. She tried to mask the fact that she hated this little twist, especially now that Will took her in after her break-up with Danny. She failed at hiding it.

He sighed, put his head in his hands. His reply was faint, but Grace was able to make it out. "I don't know."

She pulled him in and let him rest there for a moment. "Then maybe you should wait until you do know to bring it up again."

Grace stood up and walked towards the door after saying her goodbyes. Before she shut the door behind her, she swore she could hear Will speak out loud.

"Maybe you're right."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I honestly think that if Grace was out of the picture, there wouldn't be a problem."

Karen looked at Jack sitting next to her in a chair he stole from Grace's desk, waiting for his response. She never expected to take such a liking to him so quickly, but he took her mind off of all the heavy things looming over her. She didn't know how well he would handle a serious conversation like this, but she really couldn't go to anyone else. Right now, she needed him to listen. She needed him to tell her what he thought about everything. She needed the serious advice that would lead her to make the right decision about things.

"I still don't understand why you're with him, Kare," Jack replied matter-of-factly. "You're above him and you know it."

"Jack, don't say that. That's not what this is about." He never fully grasped the concept that she felt like she didn't belong in the life that Stan gave her. He thought that she was born into money, that she was like this her entire life. Sometimes she liked to let him think that. It gave her the opportunity to forget about her miserable childhood, the hard times she's had in the past, and make up whatever seemed like the ideal life. But now, she couldn't handle any of that. "I don't love Stanley anymore, honey. Will told me he would take me in. I think I'm going to do it."

"Are you insane? Do you know how much you're going to give up if you do that? Did he even mean it?"

"He told me he did."

"But did you believe him?"

"Yeah. I mean, I should, right?" She didn't wait for him to respond. "He's been seeming a little distant lately. Maybe he sees something in all of this that I can't. But I don't get why he would offer something as big as this to me."

"Maybe it's a last ditch attempt to keep the flame alive."

Karen stared at Jack. He didn't have to put it so bluntly, but maybe he was right. Maybe Will thought if this didn't work, then they weren't worth saving. Maybe he's expecting something out of Karen to make him feel as though all the hard work has paid off. But then what happens if she doesn't deliver? What happens when Will is not completely happy? Will they be done? And what if, by some horrible twist of fate, he didn't actually mean what he said?

"Maybe it was just a ploy to get me to stop thinking about Stan." She was surprised that those words spilled out of her mouth. "It worked," she said meekly.

"I don't think Will is the kind of person to say something and not mean it. I could be wrong. But I think I've known him long enough to know his behavior. You just need to decide what you think is real and what isn't."

"And if I can't do that?"

"I can't answer that."

Jack stood up, put the chair back in its place by Grace's desk. He looked at Karen and didn't see the bright, confident figure that he loved and, although he never mentioned this to her yet, looked up to. Instead, he saw a woman who was on the verge of breaking. He walked over to her and began to speak. "We're probably thinking too much about this," he said. "He'll call you and plan out everything and you'll move in with him and live happily ever after, or however the story goes."

Jack left Karen to herself. Maybe he was right about Will, maybe they'll have some sort of fairytale ending. Sure, it was a bit childish to think that, and she never would have thought of anything like that before she met him, but Will brought out a side in her that she never expected to come out again. Maybe she was overreacting about his sudden lack of communication.

But she couldn't help feeling a massive weight of doubt on her shoulders.