Plot: Sequel to Blood is Thicker than Water and takes place 6 months after it. Jack realizes he has feelings for Karen, but what he will do about them is the most difficult decision he will face.
Author's Note #1: This chapter is very important. Lots of Jack/Karen stuff!
Author's Note #2: Please leave me a review!
Disclaimer: I do not own "Will & Grace" or it's characters.

Part 4: Love Between Friends

A week later, Katherine was helping Amber pack her overnight bag. "Now you remember to behave yourself when you're over at your Aunt Grace and Uncle Will's," she said.

"I know Mummy," Amber said exasperatingly. "And I promise I will watch Essex."

"Okay, have you got all your stuff?" Katherine asked.

"Yes Mummy," Amber answered. "What about Essie's food?"

"I've got it ready. Let's go," Katherine said.

With the pug in tow, Katherine and Amber left their apartment and walked over to Will and Grace's. The door was unlocked, and Amber ran inside.

"Hello Auntie Grace!" Amber cried.

"Hi Amber, Kat," Grace said from the kitchen. "I hope you like Chinese food, Amb."

"Is that where Will's at?" Kat asked.

"Yep, and he went to rent some movies," Grace said. "None are going to be above PG, I drilled that into his head before he left."

"Good, well I'm off. I'll come tomorrow morning and get Amber," Katherine said. "Say hello to Will for me."

"I will. And you better show us your dress tomorrow," Grace said.

Katherine smiled and nodded. "Alright Amber, come and give your mummy a kiss," she then said. Amber went over to her and Katherine kissed her forehead. "Have a good time love."

"I will Mummy," Amber said. "Have fun at the party."

Katherine left the apartment and walked over to Jack's knocking on the door lightly. When he didn't open the door, she used the key he'd had made for her when she and Amber had lived there and let herself into the apartment.

Jack was inside the bathroom, staring at his face in the mirror. He looked horrible, and he felt horrible. For the past week, he had been thinking about Karen and what he was feeling for her at that point. He slept very little and he hadn't shaved in a while and had stubble on his face which he scratched at absently as he looked at his reflection.

"You know that Karen would kill you if she saw you like this," a voice behind him said.

Startled, Jack turned around and saw that it was Katherine standing in the doorway to the bathroom.

"I let myself in with my key," Katherine said.

"Aren't you supposed to be at Karen's getting ready?" Jack asked, turning on the bathroom light.

"I have to be there in a half hour," Katherine answered. "I thought I would come and see how you were doing since I haven't seen you since Thursday. When did you last see Karen?"

"Thursday," Jack answered, turning back to the mirror. "I told her I was feeling sick."

"I know what's going on Jackie," Katherine said, walking into the bathroom and standing next to him. "Well, at least I've got a pretty good idea of what's going on."

"How can I have these feelings for her?" Jack blurted out, looking down at the sink. "I mean, I'm supposed to be the 'Queen of Queers' for crying out loud."

"As much as I would love to answer that, I really can't," Katherine said, putting her arm around Jack's shoulders and rubbing his upper arm in a comforting way. "But I'm sure you've thought about it for a while now."

"Yeah," Jack said. "And the more I think about her... the more I want to be with her, and not as her friend."

Katherine was about to say something when her cell phone rang. She took it out of her purse and answered it. "Hello. Alright Karen, I'll come right now. Okay, bye." She hung up the phone, looked at Jack and sighed. "I've got to go Jackie, but we'll talk about this at the party okay?"

"Sure," Jack said. "I'll be at the penthouse at six."

"Don't look so sad Jackie," Katherine said, hugging him quickly. "Things'll work out for the best."

"Thanks Kat," Jack said, and he leaned down kissing her cheek quickly.

Katherine laughed and said, "Don't forget to shave."

"I won't," Jack said. "And thanks for helping me out."

"Wait until we talk later to thank me," Kat said, and with that she left the bathroom.

"I can't believe that my hairdresser canceled on me!" Karen said angrily. "What are we supposed to do about our hair?"

"Kare, I believe I've got a solution," Katherine said, trying to calm her sister down.

"You know another hairdresser?" Karen asked.

"I can fix up our hair," Katherine said.

"You?" Karen asked skeptically.

"Just let me do yours and see if you like it," Katherine said.

"Okay, okay," Karen said, rolling her eyes. "But I'm doing my own makeup."

Jack hunched down into his coat as snow began to fall on him. He walked down the sidewalk to Karen's penthouse quickly and went inside the building. He went up to Karen's penthouse and was let in by a maid.

"Hi Jackie," Katherine said, coming down the stairs.

"You look really nice Kat," Jack said as he took off his coat.

Katherine had on her green dress and her hair was in a bun with a hair comb placed into it that had emeralds in it, she also wore an emerald necklace with diamonds. "Thanks Jack," she said. "And you look great too."

Jack nodded and then said, "Where's Karen?"

"I'm right here," Karen said from the staircase.

Jack turned and felt as if he had been punched in the stomach as the all the air seemed to have left his lungs.

Karen wore her blue dress and had on a necklace which had a large blue sapphire with pearls surrounding it. Her hair was upswept on the back of her head and a few stray hairs had been curled slightly. There were two sapphire and pearl hair clips on each side of her head.

"Kare, you look fabulous," Jack said, trying to smile but not being able to. 'Oh god, how much I love her,' he thought in his mind.

"Thank you poodle," Karen answered, smiling. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, just fine Kare, don't worry," Jack said, waving his hand.

"I'm going to get my shawl and then we can go," Karen said.

When she had left the entrance to the penthouse, Jack turned to Katherine and said, "You could have warned me!"

"Well I didn't know what your frame of mind was when she walked down the stairs did I?" Katherine retorted.

"What's with the shouting, what's going on Kath?" Karen said, coming back, a shawl wrapped around her shoulders.

"Nothing at all," Katherine answered. "Let's just go.

"Karen Walker, how lovely to see you here again!" the hostess of the party, Louise Spencer cried.

"It's a pleasure to be here," Karen said, in a voice indicating that it was not.

"And who are your guests?" Louise asked.

"This is my sister, Katherine Riley," Karen said.

"Oh my, aren't you the adopted daughter of the Riley's of York, England?" Louise asked.

"I am," Katherine said. "And thank you for allowing me to come.�

"A pleasure of course," Louise said. "And who is this?"

"My friend, Jack McFarland," Karen said quickly. "If you'll excuse us Louise, I need to get something warm to drink." With that she walked into the large room being used for the party, Katherine and Jack following her.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Katherine asked.

"Well they'll serve dinner," Karen said. "And after that, they have music and I guess people are supposed to dance."

"Sounds like a great time," Jack said, his voice hollow. Since they had walked into the room, he noticed that the other men were eyeing Karen.

An hour later, Jack separated himself from Karen and Katherine and grabbed a glass of champagne before walking out onto the balcony. He walked over to the railing and leaned against it, watching the party going on inside, and he drank the champagne in one gulp.

"You do stuff like that, Karen's going to know something's wrong," Katherine said as she walked out onto the balcony.

"Are you following me?" Jack asked, anger in his voice.

Katherine looked taken aback for a second, and then she turned and saw what Jack had been watching inside the room. "Jack, we need to have that talk now," she said, turning from the view of Karen talking with a few handsome young men.

"Yeah, whatever," Jack muttered, putting his glass on the railing.

"So you've realized that you have feelings for Karen that are more then friendly," Katherine said, standing next to him.

"I love her," Jack said simply, looking into the room where Karen was now dancing with an older man.

"Then you've got to see how she feels," Katherine said. "If you don't you might take drastic actions." As she said that, her hand rubbed the scar on her left wrist.

"And how do I do that without ruining our friendship?" Jack asked.

"Go back with her to the penthouse and fine some way to kiss her," Katherine said. "And I mean a real kiss, not just some peck on the cheek. If you manage to do that and she responds, then you've got something."

"That's an awful idea Kat," Jack said, still watching Karen. "But I'll try it."

Katherine smiled and placed her hand on his arm.

"There you are Kath," Karen said, coming out onto the balcony. "This is Lord Abner, I think you know him."

"Of course I do," Katherine said, squeezing Jack's arm quickly and walking over to Karen.

"Aren't you cold out here Jackie?" Karen asked when Katherine and Lord Abner went inside to dance.

"Not really," Jack said.

"There is something wrong, isn't there poodle?" Karen asked, walking to him.

"Yeah, but let's talk about it later tonight," Jack said. He smiled down at her despite the nervousness he felt creeping up on him as he thought of what he was going to try to do later.

Karen nodded and then she spied a person walking towards the balcony. "Oh no, it's Peter March," she groaned. "He's been trying to get me to dance with him all night. Quick Jackie, let's go dance." She took his hand and led him inside and to the dance floor.

The party wound down at around twelve thirty, and Jack was more than ready to leave. He walked over to Karen and said, "Are you ready to go?"

"I sure am poodle," Karen answered. "These people are starting to get on my nerves. We just need to get Katherine."

"Oh, right," Jack said. Between his conversation with her on the balcony and until now, he had completely forgotten about Katherine. He was still feeling nervous about what he was going to do.

"There she is," Karen said. "Kath, we're ready to go home, let's go."

"Listen, Lord and Lady Abner have invited me out for some tea, or I guess I should say coffee," Katherine said, smiling. "They're going to give me a ride back to my apartment."

"Oh, well then I'll call you tomorrow," Karen said. She kissed Katherine's cheek quickly and said, "Thanks for coming."

"It was the least I could do," Katherine said, hugging Karen. Then she went over to Jack and gave him a hug. "Good luck Jackie-boy," she whispered in his ear.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Jack said as Katherine walked over to Lord and Lady Abner. "Come on Kare, let's go." He took her hand and led her out of the house and to Karen's limo.

Driving back to her penthouse, Karen noticed that Jack seemed to be nervous. "Why don't you tell me what you wanted to talk to me about poodle?" she asked, placing a hand on his arm.

Jack jumped a little in his seat and then shook his head. "I want to talk at the penthouse," he said firmly.

"Okay," Karen said, a little surprised at the way Jack was acting.

Once they got back to the penthouse, Jack led Karen straight up to her room. Once inside, he shut the door and turned to face her.

"Jackie you're starting to scare me," Karen said a little worriedly.

"Karen, I've had a problem for the last week or so," Jack said, ignoring her statement.

"What kind of problem?" Karen asked.

"I'm in love... with a woman," Jack said, holding his breath in anticipation for Karen's reaction.

"Oh," Karen managed to say. She realized with a shock that she was madly jealous of this woman, whoever she was. And then a second thought hit her like lightning, she was, after months of denying it, in love with Jack. "Well poodle, tell me who she is."

Jack walked over to Karen and stopped a foot in front of her. Staring down into her eyes, he leaned down slightly and pressed his lips to hers.

Surprised by the kiss, Karen didn't respond at first, but then she closed her eyes and kissed him back. When he pulled back from her to breathe, she said, "Good lord honey, who on earth did you visualize-" Before she could finish her sentence, Jack's lips were back on hers once again.

Jack couldn't believe that Karen had returned his first kiss. So he kissed her a second time to make sure, wrapping his arms around her waist so she would know he was being serious. He was surprised when he felt Karen's hands on the back of his neck, and she was kissing him back with as much passion as he was kissing her. 'She loves me!' Jack's brain seemed to scream at him. He pulled back slowly, the need to breathe once again ending the kiss. He opened his eyes and looked down at Karen.

"Jack?" she asked in a nervous scared tone of voice.

Not saying anything, Jack pulled the clips out of her hair and then took off the necklace. He then walked over to the night stand next to the bed and set the jewelry there.

Karen walked over to the bed and stood next to him. "Jackie, this woman you're in love with..." she whispered.

"You, Kare," Jack said, turning to her. He took her in his arms again and kissed her deeply. After a few moments, he realized that something on the back of her dress was digging into the palm of his hand, and he realized it was the zipper. He moved his hand so he was holding it in his thumb and index fingers and hesitated for a moment. 'If you do this,' he said to himself. 'You can't stop or else you'll lose her.' At that same moment, Karen pulled away from the kiss and whispered, "I love you Jack, so much." The hesitation suddenly disappeared, and Jack pulled down the zipper of the dress saying, "I love you so much too Karen." And he very gently pushed her down onto the bed, and within several minutes, they were making love.

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