Karen watched, lost in the sweetness of the moment, as Ben and Laila shared their first dance as husband and wife. Soon, Will and Grace joined them on the dance floor, looking a lot like Karen imagined Ben and Laila would in thirty years.

The soft yellow glow of the candle-lit room comforted Karen as she sat alone at the round table. Absentmindedly, she dipped her finger in the water of the floating candle centerpiece, drawing little circles with her nail. Her body was tired from being out so long without a rest; her feet ached in her stilettos. She yawned, wondering when things had gotten like this. Where had her life gone? How did twenty years fly by so quickly? When did she get so old?

Ben pressed his lips to Laila's ear, whispering something that caused her to look up and kiss him. Karen smiled, remembering the first time she had held Laila as a baby, the first time toddler Ben had kissed her cheek. She looked over at Grace and Will, remembered how she had felt after coming home from spending her first evening out with them - like she had truly found people she belonged with. She sighed. This was her family.

And then, there was Jack. She felt his hand on hers, closed her eyes as his fingers laced with hers.

"May I have this dance?"

She nodded, stood slowly as he held her waist.

"Hang on, honey," she requested as she reached one hand down to pull off her shoes. "Much better."

With a smile, he led her to the dance floor. All of the other guests in the reception hall seemed to fade into the background as he twirled and dipped her - as she came alive. For a few minutes, they were 35 again.

A slow song came on and Jack pulled her body towards his. She ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair, caressed his check with her palm. A smile lit up his eyes as he pressed his forehead to hers, their bodies swaying lazily to the slow rhythm of the bass.

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After the hugs and kisses, the promises to call and the "thank yous," after the flashing lights of the party and the bubbles blown at the new couple had faded away behind them, there was just Jack and Karen. He threw his arm around her in the back of the limo as she laid her heavy head on his shoulder.

"That was fun," Jack mused.

"Mmhmm," Karen agreed. "It was nice to get out of the house for awhile."

"We should stuff like that more often."

"Well, do you know many other people getting married anytime soon?"

"No, I just mean going out into the world, doing things. Living a little."

"Ok," Karen conceded with a yawn. "We can start on that tomorrow."

They were silent the rest of the way back to their building. The penthouse they shared, which had been purchased with the money Beverly Leslie had left to Jack, was waiting for them quietly when they pushed through the front door. Rosario's snores echoed from her room down the hall as they tiptoed up the stairs.

"Hey, Kare?"

"Yeah, Poodle?"

"Sleep in my bed with me tonight?"

"Sure, honey."

At the top of the stairs they split; Karen turning left to go change into her nightclothes, Jack heading right to his bedroom. He pushed the door closed behind him, pulled his jacket off and draped it across the back of the arm chair next to the door. In a sleepy haze he kicked off his shoes, began to undo his bowtie. Suddenly, the room was spinning and he struggled to find a bedpost to lean on. When his hand closed around it, he shut his eyes tight, waiting for the spell to pass.

When the ringing in his ears finally subsided, he opened his eyes again. Everything was back to normal. A sigh of relief escaped his mouth.

"Jack?" Karen's soft voice behind him startled him, and he turned quickly to face her. "Is everything OK?"

Her frown lines were etched particularly deep, the corners of her delicate mouth downturned in worry. How long had she been standing there?

"Oh yeah, I'm fine," he lied, "just tired. You changed fast."

She shrugged and watched him suspiciously as she crawled under the covers of his bed, waiting for him to finish getting ready.

"Vince looked good tonight," Jack called through the open door to his bathroom.

"Yeah, he did," Karen agreed. Her response was less than enthusiastic, her mind still running through the possible causes for Jack's moment of weakness she had just witnessed.

"Will told me he's thinking of retiring soon," Jack told her. She heard the faucet turn on.

"Who? Will or Vince?"

Jack poked his head out of the doorway, his toothbrush jammed crooked into his mouth.

"Will," he responded. "Wants to sell the practice."

"Wow," Karen answered. Her mind flashed to Will's law office, where she had spent countless lunch hours with him, and occasionally Stanley. Their friendship had formed in that office, so many years ago, and now he was going to sell it. She didn't know what she was going to do when Grace decided to retire; Karen still liked to stop by the office every once in awhile, although she herself had officially retired as Grace's assistant nearly three years ago. But that office was like her second home. She couldn't imagine it ever belonging to anyone else.

"You look tired, Kare," Jack observed as he reappeared in the doorway, this time sans toothbrush.

"I am tired," she sighed, as he pulled up the blankets on his side of the bed and slid in. "I think the years are finally catching up with me, Jack." She forced a small smile, but he saw the sadness in her eyes.

"Tomorrow," he told her, pulling his glasses from his face and folding them neatly on the nightstand next to him. "Tomorrow we're going to start living again. Enough of this being old stuff." He reached a shaky hand out to flip off the lamp next to him, leaving them in darkness. Karen flipped over, pushed her back into his stomach, allowing him to drape his arm over her waist as he kissed her hair. "We've still got so much to do."