Chapter Text
Grace opens the door to apartment 9C with furrowed brows, the events of Karen’s manse never leaving her mind. She sees Will sitting on the small couch in the corner of the room, his eyes focused on the Women’s Entertainment channel. She begins to make her way towards her room, trying to avoid conversation with her best friend, but as she hears a familiar voice call her name she knows that it was never an option.
“Grace! What happened?” He lifts from the couch, walking towards the redhead.
Grace looks up at him, her hazel eyes glazed over. “I- don’t really know.” She states, her lips curled into a frown.
“What do you mean?” He asks, his chipper face falling to a look of concern. “Does she really not think you’re good enough for Sumners?” The man lifts his hand to gently touch Grace’s arm comfortingly.
Grace bows her head. “No, not at all.” She responds. “I- I think Karen might be in love with me.” The redhead turns to walk towards her room, hoping for a well-deserved night’s rest, but once again realizes that would be impossible as she feels Will’s hand grab her shoulder.
“Grace! He exclaims, his voice raising an octave. “I’m going to need more of an explanation than that.” He chuckles with disbelief.
Grace sighs, nodding towards the couch in their living room. “Fine, but you’re gonna have to be seated for this one.” The two sit, and Grace begrudgingly recites her visit with at her assistant’s Park Avenue manse. Recounting the events make the interior designer’s heart race, hearing Karen’s words echo in her head as she repeats them to her best friend. “Someone who loves you like I do.”
Will’s eyes grew wide as Grace’s unbelievable story unfolds, not speaking a word until she finishes, though when she does, all he can manage was: “Wow.”
Grace sits back into the couch, placing her hands over her face. “What am I going to do?” She mumbles.
Will rubs her back gently. “Well when she comes into work tomorrow, just act normal. I mean, by the sound of it, she isn’t keen on talking about whatever feelings she has… I’m still not one hundred percent convinced she can feel yet.” He chuckles, though he doesn’t receive similar energy from his friend who groans. The lawyer sits up to grab Grace’s hands and remove them from her face, forcing the woman to look him in his dark eyes. “Everything will be fine, Grace. I mean, the woman can barely remember what she drank for breakfast, she’ll probably be over it by tomorrow.”
Grace runs her hand through her red curls. “I guess you’re right.” She says, unconvinced, raising from the couch. “Everything will be fine.” She sighs.
Will follows her. “That’s the spirit!” He holds her shoulders and kisses her forehead. “Now get some sleep, you look horrible.” He says, lips pursed.
Grace pushes his shoulder lazily, beginning to truly feel her fatigue. As she slowly walks to her bedroom, it feels like she was lifting concrete with every step. She undresses and pulls a night shirt over her head, opting to skip putting pants on as her desire to sleep grows too strong to fight. Climbing into bed and pulling her comforter over her body felt heavenly, and as she placed her head on her pillow, she found herself falling asleep instantly.
Even after a night’s rest of 10 hours, Grace awoke feeling exhausted the next morning. She was prepared to apologize to Karen for arriving at work at noon but was surprised to find that the office was empty. It wasn’t unlike the other woman to be tardy, but even noon was late for Karen Walker. Grace prayed that her absence had nothing to do with what happened the night previous, she hoped desperately that her assistant had forgotten all about their encounter in her drunken state. But as the hours went on, and her phone calls fell on deaf ears, the redhead accepted that Karen remembered last night, and even worse, didn’t forgive Grace for stepping over the line. She sighed, looking down at her watch, her leg bouncing up and down with anxiety. The designer hadn’t gotten anything done that day, even calling off a meeting with a client to stay at the office in anticipation of her assistant’s arrival. But it seemed like her efforts were in vain as she watched the sun set on New York from her office window.
Picking up the phone, she dialed the familiar number of Will’s firm. “Hello?”
Will’s friendly voice appeared on the other line, a stark contrast from the cold mail box of Karen that she heard several times that day. “Hey, Gracie. What’s wrong? You sound flustered.”
Grace let’s out a deep breath, only then realizing that her breathing was in fact quickened. “I- uhm. Karen, she didn’t show.”
“And the sky is blue, what about it?”
“I’ve been calling her all day, Will! What if she never comes back? What if I’ve lost Karen like when I found her domanatrix film?!” Grace cries back.
“Grace, calm down. You got her back then and you’ll get her back now.” Will responds calmly.
“But this time this can’t be fixed by fishing around for porn in video stores.” Grace says, her voice falling to a regular speaking voice. “What am I going to do?”
Will sighs. “Grace, it’s not like you feel the same way. There’s not a lot you can do.” Will pauses, waiting for his friend to speak, but receives nothing but silence. “Right?” He says, his voice raising an octave.
“I-I’ve got to go, Will.”
“What?” Where? Grace, what do you mean? You didn’t answer my-“His voice is cut off as Grace places the phone back onto the receiver. The redhead sighs, looking back out at the night sky before lifting from her seat and heading towards the elevator. She was determined to get Karen back, just as she did when she embarrassed her with her adult movie. Grace knew she couldn’t live with her assistant mad at her, she couldn’t live with her never speaking to her again, she couldn’t live... Without her. Whatever that meant she didn’t need to figure out now, the only thing she cared about was getting to that Park Avenue manse. The entire taxi ride, the events of last night replayed in her head, her friend’s sweet words echoing over and over. Knocking on the manse's door, a wave of déjà-vu came over her as Rosario’s face appears, but quickly begins to fade as the maid begins closing the door as she see’s the redhead.
“Wait! Wait, Rosario!” Grace places her hand between the door and the frame. “Please, let me in.”
“Don’t make slam the door on your hand, Grace.” Rosario states in her deadpan tone.
“I really need to speak to Karen.” Grace attempts to reason. “I promise it won’t be like last time.”
Rosario sighs, looking towards the stairs that lead up to her boss’s room. “Fine, she’s in her room.” The shorter woman says, opening the door to allow Grace in. “But if you upset Miss Karen like you did last night, say goodbye to that pretty little head of yours.” The maid threatens, walking into the kitchen to allow Grace to find her own way.
After getting through the shock of the threat of being beheaded, the redhead walks up the familiar stairs towards Karen’s bedroom, her heart beginning to race as she fears that this will end the same as yesterday. As she arrives at the door that was open a crack, she swallows hard. She raises her hand to knock gently on the door, immediately hearing the recognizable voice of her assistant.
“Rosario, I told you to leave me the hell alone! I told you that I’m fine!” She screams.
Grace winces at the shriek voice before slowing opening the door to reveal herself, watching as Karen’s expression shifts from anger to shock.
“What are you doing here?” She says, forcing herself to put on a frown. “You think you’d be able to take a hint.” She says, rolling her eyes as she sips the martini in her hand.
“I was just- wondering why you didn’t come to work today?” Grace says, slowly making her way towards the other woman.
Karen chuckles. “I’m not coming back to work.”
Grace furrows her brows. “Ever?”
The brunette places her drink on her side table. “Yes, ever. God, you’re thick.”
Grace sighs, knowing that her fears of losing Karen have come to fruition. "What can I do to make you come back?"
The socialite frowns. "There's nothing you or I can do to take- what happened back." She begins, looking down. "Now all you're ever going to see of me is that. And I can't live with that humiliation... There. Is that what you wanted, Grace? To humiliate me even more?"
Grace looks down, taking a deep breath in before lifting her head to meet Karen’s dark gaze. “Karen, I love you." The redhead sighs. “I love you like you love me.”
The socialite raises from her bed to stand in front of the other woman, placing her hand on her hip. “If you think that you can come to my manse and just confess your lesbian love for me and everything will be peachy, you have another thing com- “
Grace couldn’t listen to the other woman any longer, using the age-old tactic of a kiss to shut the other woman up. And as she feels Karen detense and place her hand on her hip, she knows that it had worked. The redhead couldn’t help but smile into the kiss before breaking the two apart, her hand still resting on the brunette’s blushing cheek.
Karen’s eyes were wide as she stared at Grace, but she quickly recovered as she furrowed her brows once again, looking at the redhead’s smiling face. “Oh, so now you’re trying to seduce me? Grace Adler, how low will you go?”
Grace chuckles at her assistant’s response, pulling her into another smiling kiss that Karen hums into. “But is it working?”
Karen rolls her eyes. “Maybe a little.” She smiles, flustered.
Grace pulls the smaller woman into a tight hug, surprised as she feels Karen hugging back immediately. “I’m so glad you kept me away from Sumners.”
Karen pulls away from the hug to look at the other woman.
“Because now I can be with someone who loves me like you do.” Grace says, tucking a strand of hair from the brunette’s face.
Karen tilts her head. “Really? Who?”
Grace rolls her eyes as she laughs, kissing the other woman passionately.