"Are you here, Karen?" Jack walked into Will and Grace's apartment to find Karen lying on the floor. She had her feet up on the couch and her eyes were glazed over. "Oh, shit. What happened to you?" He leaned down and placed a hand on her cheek. Her eyes darted to meet his and it was as if she had just noticed that he had arrived. "What are you doing?"

"Watching the ceiling." He looked up to the ceiling to see what was so interesting about it, but there was nothing different. "Have you ever noticed how pretty it is, honey?"

"You're high, aren't you?" She laughed bitterly.

"Why, do you want some?" He rolled his eyes and put an arm beneath her knees and the other behind her back, lifting her from the ground. She weighed virtually nothing in his arms and he carried her to Will's bed. When he laid her down she put her hands on each side of his face. "I love you, Poodle."

"I love you too, Kare." He rolled his eyes again and tried to move to pull a blanket over her, but her hands didn't let go of his face. She pulled him in for a kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck. He had had plenty of experiences with a high Karen in the past, but that time was different. She wasn't giggly or happy, she seemed sad. Her lips left his and he pulled back to look into her glossy, hazel eyes. They were full of tears and with one blink the tears fell.

"I fucking hate myself, Jack." She began to uncontrollably sob and he leaned down to hug her. She clung tightly to him and her tears stained his shirt. He could count on one hand the times he had seen her cry, and her sudden outburst scared him. "I want to die. Please let me die."

"No, Karen, don't talk like that. I love you. I don't want you to die."

"Hold me, honey. Lay with me and hold me. Please." Without further thought, he climbed onto the bed and pulled her so close that they could have been conjoined. He cried along with her until her eyes closed and she had finally cried herself to sleep.

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Will walked into his apartment, whistling. He had 'killed' in his meeting and he felt like he was walking on air. He closed the door and hung up his coat when Jack rushed into the room with a determined look on his face. His eyes were red, as if he had been crying, and he acted scared.

"Jack, what were you doing in my room?"

"She said she wanted to die. She was stoned out of her mind and she said that she wanted to die. What's happening to her?" He put his hands on his hips and waited for a response.

"Karen?"

"Who the fuck do you think?"

"Calm down. I'm sure you misunderstood. I told her to stop doing illegal drugs, and she promised that she would." He loosened his tie and walked to his room to change. Jack followed him, but stopped when they ran into Karen. She was trying to walk out of the room at the same time that they were walking in. Her eyes were red and she had dark circles underneath them. She looked horrible and Will had to look deep to see if he could find the real her. "Karen, what's going on?"

"I'm going to pee, that's what's going on." Her words were of a lower tone than she usually used and she sounded empty. She pushed past them and grabbed a bottle of vodka from the coffee table before walking into the bathroom.

"Will, I told you. You need to do something before she gets worse."

"You're her Poodle."

"Exactly, but you're the one who can help her. You know whatever secret she's been hiding from everyone else." Grace walked through the door and smiled at the guys.

"Why are you hanging around the bathroom like that? We have two." She sat down on the couch and put her feet on the table, exhausted.

"Will's going to talk to Karen about how stoned she is all the time, even though she promised she would stop." He joined Grace on the couch and her eyes widened.

"Good luck with that. She's going to freak out on you." Will knocked on the door, but he didn't receive a response. Grace and Jack remained on the couch, neither of them wanting to miss the argument that was sure to ensue. He walked over to the kitchen and took a knife from the counter to pick the lock. He was successful and hurriedly walked into the bathroom. He found Karen sitting against the wall in the large shower, clutching a bottle of vodka in her hand, and crying.

"Karen, what the hell is wrong with you? I thought you told me you'd stop doing illegal drugs."

"How do you know it was illegal, honey?"

"Because I've seen you on heroine before." Her eyes met his, coldly, and she stared at him while bringing the bottle to her lips. "Maybe you should go and sleep it off."

"I'm fine. Get away from me." He walked closer to her and looked down into her eyes. "I said…" She was interrupted when he turned on the cold water of the shower, drenching her. He stepped back so he wouldn't get wet as she rushed to her feet and turned the water off. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"You need to stop all of this, Karen! You will never feel better if you don't!" She threw the bottle of vodka at him, barely missing his head as it smashed into the wooden door. "What if that would have hit me?"

"Maybe then you would have stopped talking!" She tried to push past him, and the shattered glass, to walk out the door, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him. "Leave me alone!"

"No. I care about you way too much to just leave you alone." She bit her bottom lip and looked into his eyes. His tone of voice and the connection through their eyes had an odd calming effect upon them. He brushed his hand over her cheek.

"God, honey, I just want the pain to stop." Her whisper barely found its way to his ears. "Let me deal with this the way I know how."

"No."

"You can't treat me like a child, honey. I'm a big girl and I know what I'm doing." He pulled her into a hug and she accepted.

"You have no idea what you're doing." She held him closer and began to cry into his shirt. He kissed her head and comforted her, never wanting to let her go.