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Chapter 7

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"I can't wear this, Honey." Karen shook her head as she held up a horrible, fleece pajama top Grace had offered to lend her. It came with an equally awful matching pair of pants. They looked scratchy and uncomfortable. Even just pinching the garments between her thumb and fingers to hold them out for Grace to take them away from her was a little excruciating. It felt like they were trying to be soft, but ended up just feeling like the bad kind of bath towels.

Grace exhaled and grabbed the pajamas back, returning to her room to find something else, likely something equally hideous and unwearable.

Karen settled back on the couch and watched Grace go. The younger woman acted surprised that Karen wouldn't wear any of her rags, but Karen couldn't see how any of this would be shocking. She wasn't even almost drunk enough to wear these K-Mart clothes.

With a soft exhale, Karen leaned back and laid her head on Jack's shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her and hugged her close, but didn't say anything. She and Jack were situated on the couch while Will sat at the dining table. Will was still being pretty quiet. He seemed preoccupied. Everyone else seemed content to pretend everything was fine now... Which it kind of was. Beyond dwelling on things that they couldn't change, what else was there to do but move on?

"What about these?" Grace spoke as she re-entered the room. She handed Karen a t-shirt and pajama shorts.

Karen grimaced. "Are they from Walmart, Grace?" She gasped.

"No..." Grace scowled, looking down and speaking in a small voice. "Target..."

Karen shook her head and frowned. She couldn't bring herself to wear any of the things Grace offered. That wasn't surprising to her... but Grace seemed annoyed by it. Did she honestly expect Karen to wear any of this garbage? How were these fabrics even legal?

Grace stood with her arms crossed over her chest, glaring at Karen, who continued to reject every article of clothing Grace offered for her to wear tonight, as Karen didn't want to go home, and had chosen to spend the night here. Explaining this to Rosario or anyone else so late sounded so exhausting. She'd had enough mental anguish just repeating it to Grace. She hadn't even told Jack... Though from how he was acting, she guessed Will had.

"I don't have anything you're going to like, Karen." Grace frowned. "You make fun of my clothing literally every day, so I don't know what you want..."

Karen shrugged. "I'll just stay in this."

"Your tights are torn." Jack noted, nodding up toward her chest. "And your shirt."

Karen frowned as she looked down. That was true... It was kind of an upsetting reminder of everything. She didn't want to keep wearing this.

She swallowed as she fought to blink back tears before looking up again. "Just... Give me something that won't cause my skin to combust, I guess." She said in a small voice, unable to mask all of her emotions as well as she would have liked.

"Will, can she wear something of yours?" Grace asked, looking a little less annoyed than she had before. Maybe she caught on that Karen was close to tears.

"Of course." Will shrugged.

"I'll go look for something too." Jack offered, jumping excitedly up off the couch. "We'll make it into a contest, Grace. Find your top five pajama combinations - yours or Wills. I'll do the same across the hall. Winner gets to sleep in your bed."

"I'm sleeping in my bed." Grace glared at him.

"Not if I find a better outfit!" Jack laughed and ran out into the hall.

Grace stared back at Karen and Will with her mouth hanging open. "He lives across the hall. His bed is right there. Why does he want to steal mine?"

"Better find something good." Karen shrugged. She looked over toward Will as Grace stomped angrily away, toward Will's bedroom. "That'll keep 'em busy for twenty minutes at least." She noted.

Will smiled slightly, probably feeling the same way Karen did right now - that their well-meaning friends were being a little too clingy. She didn't need a babysitter. She just needed to not have to explain this to anyone else for a while. She just needed a place to exist, calmly, without questions. She was betting Will felt the same.

She frowned as Will stood from the dining table and walked over to the couch, sitting next to her. He turned toward her and stared, looking quite nervous, really.

"What..." Karen bit her lip. "What are you doing? We're not having like a heart-to-heart or something are we? I'm fine. You're fine. Let's just shut up about it..." She shrunk down slightly.

"I don't want to drag this out or anything..." Will spoke in a low voice. He looked really sad. "I just... I feel bad. I feel like I'm partially to blame for this, and I'm really sorry."

Karen felt her shoulders slump. "What?" She frowned.

She didn't want to talk about this... but did Will really blame himself? That was ridiculous. Will was the reason she was here right now and not dead in an alley... Or tied down to a couch with some freak molesting her. How on Earth could he blame himself for what happened when he was the only reason she'd managed to escape from it?

"I'm the one who suggested we walk. You said you didn't want to. I insisted... And we were out there for that sicko to find us." Will explained.

Karen shook her head, turning in her seat, drawing her feet up onto the cushion so she could face Will more fully. "It was just chance, Will. It could have happened to anyone. You can't predict stuff like this."

"You said it was a bad neighborhood. You said walking wasn't safe." Will went on.

"Okay... So... What other alternative did we have, Will? I suggested calling Driver. Or another taxi... So... Then what? We would have stood out in the dark waiting on our ride? This guy wanted to steal from someone, wanted to hurt someone... We happened to be there. It's his fault, not yours, not mine. His." Karen explained, noticing Will's hands in his lap. There were bandages wrapped around his wrists.

She glanced up toward his eyes. He was looking down. "Will?" Karen whispered. "Please don't feel bad..."

Will looked up and shrugged slightly, clearly unable to stop blaming himself for this. "He hurt you. He tried to do a lot worse. I couldn't stop him."

"Yes you did, Will. And he hurt you too." She nodded toward his hands, reaching her fingers out and running them over one of the bandages. "If that doesn't prove you did everything you could to stop him... Will, you nearly cut your own hands off trying to help me... I appreciate that."

"So you don't blame me?" Will looked up at her, appearing so uncertain. "I made you walk when you weren't comfortable walking..."

She shook her head. "I don't blame you. If anything, I credit you with saving me from him. Twice. That motherfucker had a knife, Will. He could have stabbed you, and you lunged at him. Pushed him off of me. Threatened to fight him. While he had a knife!"

"Yeah... Then I took us to a building with no locks and left us open for him to attack us again." Will frowned.

"I'm the one who didn't install locks!" Karen laughed. "I'm the one who wouldn't have called the police! Will, if I was out there by myself, I'd probably have my throat cut in that alley. I wasn't getting away from him anytime soon. I was paralyzed in fear." She laughed, not entirely sure why she was laughing at the moment, but allowing herself to continue. "I wouldn't have tried to fight. Or I would have at the wrong time. He would have killed me." She forced a tight smile and nodded.

Will closed his eyes and exhaled.

"We'll just be more careful... Sell that building... Or just condemn it. Don't officially let anyone rent it. Let the homeless have it... We'll stay out of the hellish nightmare part of the city. Problem solved." Karen suggested.

"I guess..." Will shrugged.

"You're my hero, Wilma." Karen whispered, turning back to face forward and leaning against Will's shoulder. And he truly was.

The situation they'd gotten into tonight couldn't be blamed on anyone but their attacker. It was bad luck. Blaming anyone for it would be the same as blaming a car accident on leaving the house at the wrong time. Sometimes bad things happened and there was nothing anyone could do to avoid it. They couldn't have known this guy was lurking out there... But he was, and he cornered them, threatened them, robbed them, hurt them... They couldn't go back in time and choose not to be in the area. It wasn't anything they did wrong. It was just something that happened. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Will being there saved Karen from so much worse. That man was going to rape her... Maybe he would have killed her too. Will made sure he didn't. It wasn't perfect. He didn't stop the guy dead in his tracks immediately, but through the whole thing, Will did everything possible to get them through the ordeal. He really was her hero. And not only tonight. Will helped her solve almost any real problem she ever had. He was one of the few people she could count on in life.

"I don't say it enough..." Karen spoke up. "Or ever... And I won't now..." She trailed off, hoping Will would understand how much she cared about him without her having to say it. She wasn't good with emotions. She loved and appreciated Will so much, but she couldn't just say that to him. She leaned further against him, laying her head against his shoulder as the rest of what she was thinking, almost wanting to say, got caught in her throat. She couldn't get sappy. It wasn't in her nature.

"I love you too, Karen." Will put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her close as Karen smiled, closed her eyes, and let herself relax against him. He was a good friend. Probably better than she could ever deserve. And she hoped he knew it.

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THE END

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