Plot: After Karen is stabbed and left wounded in the hospital, Jack makes it his duty to find the person who did it. So he enlists the help of Will and Grace and at the same time donates blood to Karen to help her pull through.
Author's Note: I'm not really good at writing fanfic and I can't write humor. This is more like a deep look into Jack and Karen's close friendship. Also, a lot of this is based purely on my own imagination, so please don't take it literally (ex: I don't know if Karen actually lives at the Diamond Penthouses, I just made it up.) Lastly, this takes place about a year after Stan's heart attack from The Hospital Show and Jack has moved back to his own place.
Disclaimer: I don't own Will & Grace, I just love it, so please don't sue.

Part 1: The Attack

The first thing Karen Walker heard when she awoke was a steady beeping sound, coming from the upper right of her. It reminded her of the heart machine that had been hooked up to Stan a year ago after his heart attack. At the thought of Stan, Karen grew angry, then sad. Stan hadn't been treating Karen kindly for almost sixth months and she didn't know why. He had been yelling at her and taking away her credit cards and-

But she didn't want to think about that right now. So she instead opened her eyes, hesitantly at first, to see where she was. She blinked as the room came into focus and she realized that she was in the hospital, lying in a hospital bed. She gasped and moved her left hand up to her shoulder.

Thank God, she thought, feeling the farmiliar fabric of her top between her fingers. They hadn't put her in one of those awful hospital gowns.

As she pulled her hand away, she noticed two things. The first was that her jewelery was gone. Fearfully, she glanced around until finally she spotted it resting on a nearby table with her purse and coat. She made a mental note to count the jewelery later in case those sticky fingered doctors had "misplaced" something.

The second thing she'd noticed was that there was an IV tube running from her left index and pointer fingers to a bag of clear liquid. Probably some kind of medication. She glanced around, looking for a doctor, but saw that she was all alone. Well, she wasn't going to just lie around waiting to find out what the hell was wrong with her. But as soon as she moved, she stopped and bit her lip to keep from crying out in pain. A blinding, stabbing bolt of pain shot up her right side, sending her back down. She closed her eyes, waiting for the pain to subside, and fell asleep.

Jack McFarland sat down on the couch in the hospital lobby and ordered himself to calm down. Now, of all times when his best girlfriend was lying unconscious in a hospital room, was not the time to panic. Still, he couldn't help his hands from shaking a little when he recalled the phone call he'd received two hours ago, a little after midnight, after returning home from a date. It had been the hospital. Karen's husband, Stan, was out of the country, and her maid Rosario was visiting family. Jack had been the third on Karen's list of emergency contacts. He remembered the doctor's words exactly:

"Mrs. Walker was found unconscious in the lobby of her penthouse shortly after eleven. She has been stabbed below the rib cage approximately forty five minutes before she was discovered. We need you to please come down here, Mr. McFarland."

Jack shuddered. He knew he'd remember those words for the longest time. When he'd seen Karen, he'd been asked to remove her jewellery and he'd managed to talk the doctors out of putting her in one of those ridiculous hospital gowns. Then she'd gone into surgery for an hour and the doctors had managed to close her wound, though she'd lost a lot of blood and still hadn't regained consciousness.

Shortly after the surgery, Jack had phone Will and Grace and they promised they'd get there as soon as they could. As he waited, Jack watched the minutes tick by on his watch.

Finally, the elevator doors opened and Will and Grace rushed out into the lobby. They skidded to a stop when they saw Jack. He was sitting on the sofa, looking depressed. They couldn't remember ever seeing him this depressed before. They both sat down on either side of him. The minute they did, Jack started talking, voicing all the questions that he'd gone over in his mind in the last few hours.

"Why did this have to happen? Why wasn't it me? Why wasn't I there? Who would do this to her? What if someone's out to get her? If only I'd been there, if only I'd-".

He stopped when Grace put her finger on his lips to silence him. He sighed and lay back.

"Jack, Karen is going to be fine," Grace began. "Worrying won't help."

"Yeah, Jack, and besides," Will continued, "Even though it's horrible that this happened, I'm sure no one's out to get Karen. People get attacked in New York all the time. In a few months, you and Karen will be back to skipping work and shopping just like you always did, okay?"

Instead, Jack looked shocked.

"What do you mean, 'in a few months'?!" he exclaimed, jumping up. Will and Grace quickly stood up, too. "I thought she'd be better now!"

"Jack, Jack," Will said, trying to comfort his best friend. He put a hand on Jack's shoulder and then said in his most serious-yet-caring tone "You know Karen's lost a lot of blood. She may be too weak to shop for a few months, even to walk. Let's just be thankful she's alive."

Jack nodded solemnly. Just then, the door to Karen's room opened and a doctor emerged carrying a clipboard. He looked up at the three anxious faces and smiled.

"She's awake," he said after a dramatic pause. All three face relaxed and breathed inward sighs of relief. The doctor continued. "She's asked to see Jack McFarland."

Jack couldn't contain his smile as he walked past Will and Grace and into Karen's room, shutting the door behind him. The two remaining friends smiled and sat back down. Maybe now Jack would calm down.

Karen's room was a small, one person room, packed with complicated looking equipment, including a heart monitor and an IV stand, which was connected to Karen's left hand. Even in this setting, Jack was never happier to see his friend. He scooted over to her bed and pulled a chair up close. She was lying down, her head turned towards him, resting on several pillows. He reached out and took her right hand in his. God, he hated to see her like this. His anger towards her mysterious attacker grew tenfold and his eyes darkened.

Karen, ever observant, even while lying in a hospital bed, noticed this. She frowned and softly said, "What's wrong, poodle?"

Oh, even her voice was different, softer. Jack struggled to smile. He lay his hand tenderly on her cheek and replied, "Nothing, nothing. I just...hate to see you like this." Well, that much was true anyway. "Do you remember what happened to you?"

Karen thought for a moment, narrowing her eyes.

"I remember...leaving the penthouse and going to the lobby....then....then I-," she paused, thinking. Finally, she sighed and shrugged, immediately wincing at the pain it caused her.

"I don't remember." Karen looked up at Jack and squeezed his hand as tightly as she could. "Honey, do you know what happened to me? My right side hurts and I can barely move. I'm so tired," she groaned, closed her eyes, then opened them.

Jack paused. Should he tell her? Would it be right to, with her in this state? Or should he wait until she was better? No. One look in her eyes told him that she was strong enough to take it, even though she felt weak.

"Well, Kare, um," Jack began. He tried to figure out a way to break it to her. Finally, he said, "Someone-some jealous, idiotic jerk-stabbed you. They....they left you for dead. Oh, Karen. I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you!"

With this final exclamation, Jack buried his face on Karen's shoulder, sobbing. Karen put her hand gently on the back of his head and let him cry for a few minutes. Then she kissed him on the cheek and whispered, "It's okay, poodle. It's not your fault, honey."

She smiled at him and he immediately felt better. He wiped his eyes with some nearby tissues, then held Karen's hand and stared down intently at her. In his most serious voice, he said, "Kare, I promise you that I will do everything I can to find the jerk who did this to you. You have my word. In the meantime, I'd better let you rest."

He kissed her, then got up. He barely heard her voice faintly say, "Thank you, poodle". Then she was asleep.

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