Author: Regency

Title: Just Us Now

Pairing: Will/Karen-ish, vague Will/Grace friendship-ness, Leo/Grace,

Spoilers: The Series Finale, a possibility

Summary:  Two years after the series finale, Will is on the way to having everything he could possibly want.  With Karen instead of Grace. Their life together in snapshots.

Author’s Notes: Bette as in Midler not Bette as in Davis as far as pronunciation..

Disclaimer: Yeah, I own nothing.  I just came up with an idea about characters I never created and that I don’t own.

~~~

 

                He listened to her.  She was sitting on the couch beside him, alabaster legs tucked under her and a drink in her hand.  She’d been swishing her wine for some time.  It was a gesture he’d come to associate with Karen deep in thought. 

 

                Over the past two years, he’d come to the conclusion that she spent a lot of time that way.  It used to unnerve him, seeing her so quiet and unassuming.  Sometimes, she would close her  eyes and whisper her thoughts to him.  He had grown attached to that hazily thoughtful woman.

 

                She opened her eyes and pursed her perfectly painted lips.  Then, she said the unimaginable.  “I wanna have a baby.”  He choked on his Merlot, spitting what escaped his cashmere v-neck back into his wineglass.

 

                “What? What the hell?”  She had the nerve to laugh at his bewilderment.  She nodded to him serenely, clasping her fingers together as innocent as Snow White.  He was thrown for a loop and forced himself to put aside whatever feelings he might’ve had for her sake.  This was the second time the ‘woman’ in his life had swung for motherhood.  It scared him that this might be the second time it stole her from him.  Those racing thoughts assailed him until she reached across the proverbial canyon between them and touched his shoulder.

 

                “I want to have a baby with you, Will.”  He was stunned, and flattered.  She sounded so earnest and sincere that his immediate impulse was to give her whatever she wanted.  Remembrance of painful experience slowed him though.  He’d been here; it hadn’t ended well.

 

                He stumbled for a response, then.  What if Stan comes back and you want him?  She sighed, looking away.  Something like there’s a time for everything and it doesn’t last forever passed between her lips.  He questioned her further and she took it in with her head held high.

 

                After several minutes of near-interrogation, she held up her hand to silence him.  She’d been humoring him. 

 

                “Listen to me.”  She wet her lips and tucked her dark hair behind her ear.  “I’ve wanted to be a mother for a long time.  I’ve wanted it for about as long as I’ve known you.   After a while, I just assumed it wasn’t meant to be.  But, recently -- recently, something’s changed.”

 

                “What?”  He’d pulled his best dense straight guy face.

 

                She laughed at his straight man expression.  Acting was not his forte.  “I have.  I’ve been pretty much by myself since the whole thing with Grace, and with Jack finally having his dreams come true.  All I’ve had is you and you’ve been wonderful.  Thanks to you, I don’t need to drink or to have the pills.  Oh, they’re still fun, but I don’t need them.  I haven’t had any in days and I’m drinking this for the flavor, not the buzz.  I have so much more than I’ve ever had and, even still, there’s one thing missing.”

 

                He templed his fingers together.  He looked so much like Spock just then.  “A baby?”

 

                She smoothed her dark skirt anxiously.  “Yeah.”

 

                “Why my baby?”

 

                “Because Grace got it right.”  He’d tensed and flinched at that particular mention of their friend long gone and rarely spoken of.  “And because, there’s no one else I’d trust.  We‘re the only ones left.  There’s no Grace to take care of or Jack to buy for.  We don’t have to be there for them, we can’t be.  They don’t need us anymore.  It’s just us now, Will.  All we have is each other.”

 

                She sighed and swung her shapely legs off the couch.  She wasn’t done making her case, but she needed her space to move and think.  The blood flowed better at a steady pace.  So, she paced.

 

                “I never thought we’d be close, you know.  Circumstances fixed that.  I think of you as my best friend now, my last friend.  Other than Rosario, that is.  When I let myself imagine what a family life would be like, you’re the only person I can see as the father of my child.”

 

                “Grace said that.”

 

                “And I’m not her,” she said sharply, aiming dark glaring eyes his way.  “There’s no Leo out there for me, Will.  I’m not waiting for one.  This is what I want and need and I don’t have much of a chance, but I do have to try.  I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t.  Besides, you deserve the baby of your dreams.”  She sauntered back to him.  “A little girl to teach the basics of foundation to, a little boy to turn ‘mo right in the womb.  Come on, don’t pretend it doesn‘t appeal to you.”

 

                He looked up at her with his tired eyes and took her petite hands in his.  “There is some appeal to having a little Anastasia around.”  Karen beamed.  “She’d be the most adorable little girl in the world.  Just like her mother.”  She blushed, dropping her eyes.  “I’d be honored to have a baby with you.  I just don’t want to lose what we have if you change your mind.”

 

                “Oh, honey,” she set herself down, uninvited though not unwelcome, in his lap.  “It can only get better from here.  Just think about it.  You and me, a really cute kid…guys swarming towards you like so many bees to honey.”

 

                “Bees to honey?”

 

                She nodded slyly.  He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight to him.  “Let’s do it, Momma Karen.”

 

                She whooped with happiness, clinging to him as tightly as he did to her.  “Yeah.  It’s gonna be great.”

 

~~~

 

                Karen was asleep on his couch.  She had curled up in his lap as usual, but it wasn’t on a usual day.  Today was the day he found out he was going to be a father.  Today was the day they had sealed the deal.  Whatever happened, they were in this for the long haul, together.  And there was a baby with Will’s fashion sense and Karen’s Prada obsession to prove it.  At least, in nine months there would be.

 

                Will brushed her hair away from her face and silently pledged his life to her and to their child.  He owed her that much and he couldn’t imagine giving this baby any less.

 

                She snuggled up close against his chest.  Warmth blossomed in his heart.  It started here, right now.  This was his family.

~~~

 

                “How about Hillary,” Will offered for their daughter’s name.

 

                “Hillary like Clinton or Hillary like Duff?”  She was not having her kid named after a Disney has-been turned pop star. Though, the life itself was appealing.

 

                “Hillary like Swank.”

 

                Karen perked up.  “Oooh, just gay enough for both of us.”  She jotted it down on the list of names they were definitely considering.  The paper was divided between that and the ones that there was no way in hell they were naming the kid.  Ashley, Ben, and Sam were on that list.  After discussing each of their past romantic and familial escapades, they decided that their daughter didn’t need that legacy to carry around.

 

~~~

 

                She felt stretched to the extreme. Her inner thighs burned and her knees had to be creaking.  Her chest, boobs and all, ached from the effort it took her to bear down on her belly.  Though, she had sworn she wouldn’t, she cried.  The pain was intense and unrelenting.

 

                Will stood beside her and let her squeeze his hand in an iron grip.  He supposed it was an improvement on her punching him in the chest.  He blinked fast and hard not to cry himself.  He hadn’t realized how grueling this would be for her.  He mopped her furrowed brow and tried to be comforting.

 

                She sniffled, biting her lip until it bled.  She wasn’t ready yet, she needed more time.  The doctor told her three more good pushes.  She wasn’t sure she had three more anything left in her.  It felt so impossible.

 

                One, the doctor counted.  She forced  herself to lean forward and pushed.  She didn’t feel a difference in the baby’s position, but the damned doctor smiled at her and told her how great it was going.

 

                Two, he announced again.  She wasn’t ready.  It hurt!  She imagined dying right then and everything turned black momentarily…Will jostled her and she was spurred to work by the fear in his eyes.  She clung to his hand and commanded her body to be strong and get this kid out of her, and now.

 

                Three, Will whispered.  She was overcome by the most undeniable urge to shove her loved but excruciating child out of her body.  Intently, she curled herself around her stomach and willed herself to be this strong.  She screamed as their daughter made her final entrance into their world.

 

                Immediately, she began to cry.  It was high-pitched and angry.  Karen could relate. She’d been pulled out of bed in the middle of the night to give birth.  She didn’t particularly appreciate the sentiment.

 

                Resting and just barely awake, she was handed her newborn daughter.  She was warm and soft and light pink.  She was scared as she held her; her arms felt weak and heavy.  Will must’ve known what she was thinking.  He slid behind and slipped his arms just under hers, so their girl rested securely.

 

                It was a perfect moment.  The result of a lot of dedication and love.  The result of a lonely pact between two lost people.  And there was no one else to see it.  Just them, just the two that mattered.

 

                And, then, there were three.

~~~

 

                Karen crossed the green grass at a fast walk, keeping a close eye on her quick-stepping twelve-month old.  Bee thought she was getting away with something.  She obviously loved a good escape.  Her mother could relate, but there was no way the kid was getting too far without her.  In seventeen years, maybe.  Today? Not happening.

 

                Before the former Mrs. Beaverhausen could reach her, she was swept up into the constant arms of her father.  Will spun her around, suspending her in the air like a kite.

 

                “That’s my girl.”  Bette squeed and kicked her legs out behind her.  Her inky hair blew every which way and her cheeks turned a soft pink.  Her mom paused to look at her up there.  This was her dream.

 

                He turned to her and waved her over.  She jogged his way and, upon arrival, stood on her toes to kiss his cheek and tickled her girl’s chin lovingly.  This was her life.  She hadn’t been this happy before.  She doubted she would ever find anything more wonderful.

 

                “Hey, Bee, you want some ice cream?”  Those were the magic words.  Bette’s cola-shaded eyes widened and her chubby face split into a grin.

 

                “I cwee!!!!”  Close enough.  Will wrapped his free arm around Karen and they headed towards the ice cream truck parked nearby. Thank God he’d already fed her.  Based on the look she’d just given him, Karen was likely to kill him if he’d spoiled her lunch.

 

                Having bought their daughter a tiny cone filled with strawberry ice cream, they sat down in the shade under a tree and basked in the cool spring day.  There were people everywhere; babies and toddlers and preschoolers running amok just like their little one.

 

                She licked at her pudgy fingers, wearing more of the sticky sweet than she’d managed to get into her mouth.  Bath time was gonna be so much fun today.  Karen glared half-force at Will.  He shrugged.  He wasn’t one for saying no to the moppet.  She was his baby.

 

                She shook her head in resignation.  That wouldn’t ever change.  Not that she wanted it to.  She was proud to have the only father in a forty mile radius willing to attend Mommy & Me class with his daughter.  She handed him a wipe from Bee’s Prada diaper bag, deciding that if he was gonna help her make a mess of her he was gonna clean her up.

 

                He took her hold of her clinched fists and wiped them clean.  Bette drew her eyebrows together as she shoved said extremities back into her mouth and found all the sweetness gone.  She was not pleased.

 

                “I cwee,” she muttered with dissatisfaction.

 

                Will shook his head at her, continuing to clean up her chin and the front of her checkered pink and white dress.  “No more ice cream.  It’s time to go home.  It’s naptime.”

 

                Karen covered her ear before the wailing could start.  She loved him, but he still forgot the one basic rule of childrearing.  Never use the n-word in the presence of toddlers.

 

                Bee’s eyes just welled up, she filled her tiny lungs with air and she let out a screech that set the dogs to barking in their sleep.  Will looked panicked and worried that he’d hurt her somehow.

 

                She could only grin and pat him on the shoulder.  She picked up the remnants of their earlier picnic and threw them away in the trash cans as he consoled Bee as only a daddy can.  When she came back empty-handed, their chicklet was already settled into her stroller with her binky secured firmly between her lips.  She was all innocence when her mother peeked in.

 

~~~

 

                He didn’t notice her when she first walked into the café.  His little girl was working her way towards a new word and he was captivated.

 

                “Can you say ‘Chorus Line’?  Say ‘Chorus Line’ for Daddy.”

 

                “I don’t think she’s there yet, Will,” she interjected, ripping him from his life in a new old way.  He turned slowly and when their eyes met she realized just how much time had passed them by.  She didn’t even know him anymore.

 

                “Grace.”  A word, a name, a greeting; it was everything and nothing at all.  Maybe it was exactly what she deserved.  Between them they had two daughters who’d never met--funny since they’d been best friends once--and a lifetime of what might have been.

 

                The entrance bell tingled as the door swung open to admit the chicest of patrons: Karen herself.  She had a set of bags in hand that she bore like a happy burden.  She saw Will and her girl and smiled.  She saw Grace and that smile wasted away.  It was strange for her to see an apparition of something from a former life.  It was even surreal.  For a time, they’d been best friends, too.

 

                “Grace.”  There came the word again, not accusing or longing or scathing, just a word, nothing more.

 

                “Karen.”

 

                Will looked between them uncertainly before standing up.  He picked up Bee’s bag to give Karen a place to sit.  He pulled a chair over from a deserted table and offered it to the woman who’d been nothing less than his soul mate for most of his life.  “You wanna sit down for a minute?”

 

                Grace looked sideways at Karen who didn’t seem to mind either way.  She sat down.  What could she say?

 

                “Gwacie,” Bee, the cherubic icebreaker, squeaked.  Her new word had been unveiled.

 

                “Yeah, sweetie, that’s my name.”  Grace caught her waving hand.  “What’s yours?”

 

                “Bette Walker-Truman, the light of my life,” Will responded proudly.

 

                Grace smiled wanly.  “I know the feeling.  I have a baby girl of my own, Lyla.”

 

                Karen and Will shared a look.  “Maybe we should set up some play dates for them.  You know, so they can meet and maybe we can all catch up on what we’ve missed.”  Karen was willing to try; part of her did miss her friend.

 

                Grace felt like a putz for the tears welling up in her eyes, but she was used to it.  She nodded, too choked up to speak.  “That sounds like a great idea.  I’d love that.”

 

                And then there was more.

 

                “We have to invite Jack,” Karen chimed.

 

                Will groaned, but relented.  The gang was coming back together; things were settling into place., he could feel it.  Karen touched his hand.  He looked at her smile and knew that while he had everything to lose nothing would be lost.  This was their life; Jack had his and Grace had hers.  Their paths had simply come to cross again.

 

                “This is going to be a very interesting play date.”

 

                “I’ll say, Kevin Bacon loves to play tea party.”

 

                Grace blinked, knowing she’d missed some inside joke, but certain she’d hear of it soon enough.  After all, Jack never could keep a secret.

 

 

General Disclaimer: Every character, with the exception of those specified, belongs to their respective writers, producers, studios, and production companies.  NO money was made during the conception of these stories or their distribution.  No copyright infringement is intended.