Season 5, Episode 23 - '23'

Karen stood by the stairs, waving her goodbyes as her friends, her family, walked out of the manse after Stan's funeral. It was getting late and she was exhausted from the craziness of the past few days. Between the divorce, Stan dying, and the panic of not knowing if she was even in the will she was ready to just lay back and sleep for days. The door closing brought her out of her thoughts and she watched as Jack turned to face her, a small smile on his face. Karen's stomach churned and she felt her face get hot with anger.

"Kare, I'm so excited about St. Barts!" he said with glee as he bounced towards her. He noticed the look on her face and he quickly became somber. "I'm sorry we are going under such sad circumstances, though." Karen said nothing, she only continued to stare at him, eyes blazing. Frowning, Jack stepped closer to her, placing a hand on her arm which she quickly slapped away. "Karen, are you okay?"

"Do I look like I'm okay?" she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well actually," he said quietly, his voice wavering. "No, you look really mad-"

"I'm furious!" she exclaimed. "How could you?"

Jack stared at her, stunned. "What? What did I do?"

Karen let out a bitter laugh, rolling her eyes. "Do you think I'm stupid, Jack? I know you and Lorraine were all buddy-buddy at the funeral." She watched him open his mouth to speak up, but she cut him off, continuing. "Don't try to deny it. I watched you, I heard you." Tears sprang to her eyes, her first tears since finding out about Stan's death, and they weren't even for him. "You know, it was one thing when you first met Lorraine - it was an infatuation, I get that." She shook her head and felt the lump form in her throat. "But to realize that your best friend, someone you love so much, only loves you for your money... that's the worst feeling in the world."

"Karen," Jack scoffed. "You only loved Stanley for his money. Hell, you ended the funeral just to make sure you were still rich!"

The slap she hit him with echoed in the foyer where they stood. He was stunned into silence, a hand reaching up to cover his stinging cheek.

"How dare you," she growled at him, her voice low. "I loved Stanley! You don't know anything about my relationship with him." She clenched her fists by her side, her chest heaving with uneven breaths. "When I first met him, he was married and poor, but I loved him. I waited ten years to be with him!" she yelled. "I may be materialistic and selfish, but I have always loved that man and I always will!" She shook her head disdainfully at him as Jack stared on in silence. "And not only do I have to deal with the fact that the man I loved for the past seventeen years is now gone forever, but then I find out that my best friend stabbed me in the back?"

"But I'm not with Lorraine, I'm with you."

"Yeah," she nodded her head, crossing her arms back over her chest and raising her chin in defiance. "After you found out that I got everything."

"Karen-"

"Get out."

Jack's eyes widened, his mouth opening and closing, not sure what to say. "But-"

"Get out!" She screamed at him and pointed towards the door.

Jack ran out of the manse as fast as he could, his face red and his eyes filling with tears at the realization that he just lost his best friend.

Later that evening, after taking a relaxing bath and packing her things for St. Barts, Karen sat on the bed of the guest room. She couldn't step foot into the master bedroom she shared with Stan. The memories were too painful, knowing the last woman he slept with in there was not her. She massaged lotion into her hands and stared at the ground, her mind drifting back to Lorraine's awful words from this afternoon.

"Too bad about your Jackie," the British woman said as she opened the door to exit the manse for the final time.

Karen frowned, her eyebrows knit together. "Why do you say that?"

Lorraine turned to Karen, a devious smirk on her foul mouth. "I just thought you'd be upset to find out that your little 'Poodle' only hangs around you for your money, that's all."

At that, Karen scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Listen, I know what you're trying to do." She placed her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows. "And it's not going to work. My Jackie loves me."

"Oh really?" Lorraine challenged. "Then why was he all ready to shove off with me the second he found out you might be penniless by the end of the day?"

Karen sputtered, at a complete loss for words to which Lorraine laughed at before bidding her farewell and walking out the door.

Karen went over the events of the day in her mind and remembered Jack suddenly disappearing after she told him about the will and then the whispered hushes behind her from where Lorraine sat. There was also Jack holding her hand when Will was about to reveal the remaining of Stan's estate, but Jack was halfway in the aisle as well, leaning towards the British slut. Then there was the confrontation in the entryway where Jack didn't deny any of it. That was the final nail in the coffin.

She sighed, shaking her head and she leaned back against the soft pillows of the bed, her vision blurred as she stared at the ceiling. There was a quiet knock on her door, but she didn't move or say a word, wanting to be left alone. The door creaked open and someone entered the room making Karen annoyed and frustrated. She sat up and turned her body to yell at whoever dare bother her, but her breath caught in her throat when she saw Jack walking towards her. His face was blotchy and his eyes were bloodshot from his tears.

"Karen," he croaked out, his voice hoarse. "I know you hate me and I know you think I only love you for your money-" Her scoffing made him pause and he looked down at his feet in shame. "But you have to know that it's not true."

"Please," she cut in, standing from the bed to face him. "Spare me the lies, Jack."

He flinched when she said his proper name. She usually called him 'Jackie', 'Poodle', or 'Honey', only calling him 'Jack' when she was really upset or angry. "Okay, you want to know the truth?" he asked, looking up at her. Karen raised her eyebrow and cleared her throat, nodding her head at him to continue. "The truth is - yes, I did suddenly want to become friends with Lorraine when I found out you might lose everything. I, too, am materialistic and selfish, Kare. Big surprise!" He gestured wildly about himself and rolled his eyes. "But that didn't mean I wasn't going to stop loving you or being around you-"

"That's not the point, Jack!" she shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. "You betrayed me the same way Stanley did!"

Jack looked horrified. "I didn't sleep with her!" he exclaimed, a hand pressed to his chest.

"No, but you cheated!" Karen yelled back. Angry tears began to fall from her eyes. "The two most important men in my life both cheated on me! Do you know how that makes me feel? I have never kept a secret from you, you know more about me than Stan did at times!" A sob escaped her and she pressed her hand to her forehead, trying to control herself, and then looked back at him again. "I can't even keep the attention of a gay man..." she laughed bitterly. "I'm worthless."

"Karen, don't say that," Jack whispered, his own tears threatening to fall. He stepped towards her, but still kept his distance, the memory of her slapping him this afternoon still fresh in his mind. "You are the most important person in my life-"

"Only because I buy you things," she muttered.

Jack felt his own anger rise within him and he snapped. "Damn it, Karen, can you please stop interrupting me for five goddamn seconds?!"

Karen gaped at him, never being to spoken like that by him before, but she said nothing more. Taking her silence as a clue to continue, Jack spoke again, his voice more calm.

"You know when we first met, I tried everything in my power to not get attached to you. I didn't want a hag and I especially didn't want to become Will and Grace." He closed the distance between them, no longer fearing the strike of her hand, and he tilted her face up to his with his finger under her chin. "But I couldn't keep myself away from you," he smiled, his eyes boring into hers deeply. "You wormed your way so quick right into my heart, Karen. I was terrified by how much I loved you. I even picked a stupid fight with you after divorcing Rosario because I was so scared. But I eventually accepted it because I realized that you make me so happy, Karen. And it's not the kind of happiness I get when you buy me things." He moved his hand down and placed his palm on her chest over her heart. "It's the happiness from being so purely loved by an amazing woman."

Karen had trails of tears running down her cheeks, her control over her emotions completely shot to hell at this point. "Do you really love me, Jackie?"

He sighed in relief at her use of his nickname. He wrapped her in his arms and kissed her forehead. "I love you so much, Karen," he whispered into her hair. "I'm so sorry."

They didn't speak for a few minutes, content with just holding each other. Karen kept her arms tight around his waist, her face pressed against his shoulder while Jack had his nose buried in her neck, his hands rubbing her back soothingly. He heard her mumble something, but it was muffled by the material of his shirt.

"What?" he asked.

Karen lifted her head and smiled warmly at him. "You came back to me," she repeated. At Jack's look of confusion, she elaborated. "When I left Stan, I wanted nothing more than for him to come back to me. I wanted him to fight for me, prove to me that he loved me," she explained. "I kicked you out earlier and it only took you a few hours to come back."

A grin broke out onto Jack's face and he leaned down to press his forehead against hers. "I told you, you stole my heart the first day we met. And nothing can ever change that."