This is a continuation of chapter 14 in 'What If'. Though it could probably stand on its own, you might be a little confused as to what's happening.
This story is based off the song with the same name as the title. 'Follow Me' by Uncle Kracker. Where I don't really think its in either of their personalities to have a scandalous love affair, it's also really thrilling to write.
I'm not worried about the ring you wear
cuz as long as no one knows that nobody can care.
You're feeling guilty and I'm well aware
but you don't look ashamed and baby, I'm not scared.
Will walked into school that morning with a bright smile on his face. He waved to students he didn't normally wave to and ignored the roll of their eyes. He even said good morning to Sue as he passed the open door to her office. Sue fired back a hateful comment, that probably mentioned something about his hair, but he didn't even pay attention to it.
Will shouldn't be this happy, it was wrong for him to be that happy about something that shouldn't have even been happening. Guilt should be swarming his every thought, making him literally sick and wanting to cry but...it wasn't. He did feel some form of guilty, don't get him wrong, but not enough to stop. Especially because the feeling of joy he received overpowered the tiny bit of guilt.
Truthfully, the reason he didn't contain as much guilty as he should have, was because the only thing holding him to his marriage with Terri was the baby growing inside of her. He had become more and more unhappy as his marriage drew on and Will knew there were options to possibly fix that. He could talk about how he was really feeling with his wife, though most of the time he didn't want to risk an argument because of it. Then there was the option of therapy but the more he thought about it the more he realized he didn't want to fix it. That piece of information is what caused the guilt and it wasn't even because of his wife. It was because of his son. He did not want his little boy to have to grow up in a house where his parents constantly argued or worse, where his parents were divorced.
Before Terri became pregnant he seriously considered divorce but now it wasn't even a consideration. He would and could not get a divorce and his only hopes of giving his son a somewhat normal life was to appease Terri and give in to her demands, even if it killed him.
That was where Emma came in. Emma made him forget about his life, lifted his spirits when he felt down, made him smile and laugh when he felt like ripping his own hair out. Emma made him feel loved, she didn't demand anything from him, she didn't call him stupid or constantly point out his mistakes, or tell him what to do with his life. Oh sure, Emma gave him advice about the glee club, sometimes when he didn't even ask for it, but he was grateful for it. Emma gave him advice so it could benefit him and benefit the glee club, Terri gave him "advice" so it could benefit herself. For example, Terri tried to convince him to leave McKinley and become an accountant for monetary gains, even though he had told her numerous times that he did not want to become an accountant. Emma managed to convince him that money was not the most important thing in the world, what was important was living a life you're passionate about and Will certainly was passionate about teaching. He got a joy out of it that he couldn't describe, teaching kids, helping them grow to reach their full potential and follow their dreams. He would do the same for his son and they would be happy, despite the fact that they're trying to run a family on a teachers salary.
But they wouldn't be happy though, it would be a facade, and that was the thought that he couldn't stand. He was only digging himself into a deeper hole but it was Emma and the feeling in his gut that said Emma belonged in his life was too great to ignore.
He was running late that day, due to yet another fight with Terri in the morning, so he didn't have time to stop and talk to Emma like he wanted to. He passed her office and paused outside her window. She was on the phone but caught his gaze through the window, smiled and waved. He smiled and mouthed "I'll see you at lunch" and she confirmed his message with a nod. He waved to her and continued his walk down the hallway towards his spanish room.
When Will stepped into the faculty lounge later that morning, he scanned the room for Emma and found her sitting at one of the center tables with Ken. His heart sank at the sight, Emma had told him the day before that Ken had asked her to marry him and that she said yes. He didn't think too highly of that even though he knew it wasn't fair. He belonged to someone else and soon Emma would too and that made what they were doing all the more wrong.
With a deep breathe, Will walked towards the table and plastered a smile on his face. "Hey guys." He greeted warmly and both Ken and Emma glanced up at him. Emma's face immediately brightened and a smile spread across her face. "Mind if sit here?" He motioned to the empty chair across from Emma.
Ken opened his mouth to respond but Emma beat him to it with a quick answer, "No, go ahead."
Will smiled thankfully and took a seat, unrolling his brown paper bag. Ken raised an eyebrow and intentionally scooted his chair an inch closer to Emma. This didn't go unnoticed by the obsessive compulsive redhead and her eyes widened in horror.
Will frowned and froze, his hand still in the paper bag. He didn't know why Emma had even said yes to Ken in the first place, Emma clearly didn't want to spend time with the man. He didn't know why Ken kept moving in on Emma as well when she clearly didn't like it.
Will's eyes caught Emma's for a brief second and then Emma's shameful look turned towards the table. Will sighed and proceeded to take his lunch out of his bag.
"So Will." Ken's smug voice called out to him and Will hid a wince at the obvious topic Ken was about to bring up. Will lifted his head and raised his eyebrows questioningly.
Ken slung his arm around the back side of Emma's chair and suddenly she was increasingly interested in cleaning a spot on the table. Will's face hardened for a second at Emma's obvious discomfort and he wished he could go over there and protect her from all the germs she surely felt were crawling all around her. Then his lips twitched in a fake smile as he waited for Ken to continued his thought.
"I don't know if you've heard but Emmanem," Emma visibly winced at the nickname and Will clenched his jaw, "and I are now engaged."
Will's eyes flickered to Emma's ring finger and saw that it was completely bare. His eyes travelled back up to the couple sitting in front of him and he forced a smile. "Uh, yeah, Emma told me yesterday." Ken's smile faltered for a second but then it relit at Will's next seemingly convincing words, "Congratulations! Really, that's great news. I'm really, really happy for you guys."
Ken grinned smugly and then released Emma's chair, returning back to his lunch. Emma's body visibly relaxed and she slowly lifted her head to meet Will's eyes. Once he was sure that Ken was not looking, Will's lips curved up into a knowing smirk and she tried to hide a smile.
Ken was grinning because he thought he won and he now had a claim on Emma that Will couldn't touch. However, despite their engagement, Emma was far from claimed. If she truly wanted to be married to Ken she would not let anything stand in her way, including Will. She did not want to marry Ken though, she wanted Will and since she wanted Will it was easy for her to stray.
Will took a bite of his sandwich and continued the painful subject to avoid suspicion. "Did you guys set a date yet?"
Emma seemed surprised by Will's question and she slowly shook her head. Ken glanced quickly at Emma and then shrugged, shaking his head. "We haven't talked about it. Emmanem what do you think?"
Emma's eyes fluttered closed in annoyance and let out a sigh. "I don't know Ken." She tried to keep her voice even.
"Do you have a favorite season?" Ken inquired.
"No." Emma blatantly lied and Will knew it. Emma had mentioned a few times that spring was her favorite season. She loved all the new life that was being born, all the flowers that started to blossom and grow, how the weather wasn't too warm or too cold, and how despite all of the pollen floating in the air it was one of the cleanest seasons. Emma even had confided in him that one day, if that day were to ever come, she would want her wedding day to be in the middle of spring. The fact that she would not tell Ken that spring was her favorite season made Will realize how much she truly did not want to marry Ken.
"Oh." Ken sighed dejectedly and he returned his attention to his lunch, dropping the subject all together. Emma let out a small sigh of relief and caught Will's look from across the table.
She shot him a small smile and then slowly began to uncover her food containers. As she took out one single grape to start cleaning it down, Will couldn't help but notice Ken's strange look. Ken was looking at her like she was doing something wrong, like she was crazy for cleaning her fruit that most likely she had cleaned that morning before she left for school. Will didn't like that Ken saw her in such a negative light and thought that he definitely did not deserve to have Emma as his future wife.
Emma was the most adorable person on the planet and where most of the time Will didn't even take notice of her cleanly habits, when he did he did not think that she was any less than adorable and perfect.
One day into their engagement and Ken wasn't doing a good job of proving himself worthy to be Emma's husband. He knew it was wrong but Will saw himself as Emma's safe keeper, her protector. He knew he could never be with her like he really wanted to so if he had to let her go to belong to another man like he belonged to Terri, then he would prefer for that man to be the right man for Emma. The only problem was: Will was fully convinced he was the right man for Emma.
If it could not be him, than he'd at least prefer for it to be somebody who treated Emma like the angel she was. Someone who respected her enough to not push her beyond her comfort zone, someone who looked at her like she was the most beautiful, adorable and perfect person in the world. Not someone like Ken Tanaka.
"So Emma," Will began and Emma lifted her head from her intense fruit cleaning, "The kids are really excited to have you in glee."
Emma caught the glint in his eyes and knew that when he said "the kids" he really meant himself. She grinned and continued to clean the piece of fruit in her hand.
"I'm really excited to be a part of it Will."
Ken set suspicious eyes on his new fiancee and pursed his lips. "You're in glee club now?"
Emma looked at him with a smile and nodded. "Mm hmm. Figgins asked me to co-direct with Will."
Ken turned his eyes on an almost smug looking Will and pointed at the spanish teacher, while looking back to Emma. "You're going to be working with him?"
"Um, yes." Emma nodded again. "That's what co-directing means."
Will stifled a chuckle and then cleared his throat when Ken's glare landed on him. "Figgins thought it would be a good idea for me to have a co-director." Will explained. "He thought Emma would be a good candidate for the position and I couldn't help but agree. Plus," His voice grew softer as his eyes locked onto Emma's, "She has a lovely singing voice."
Emma smiled shyly, her cheeks flushing and she popped a freshly cleaned grape into her mouth.
"I've never heard her sing." Ken murmured, turning a mournful glance at Emma.
Emma shrugged sheepishly and after she finished chewing replied, "No one really has except for the glee club and they forced me into it." She shot a look at Will and he grinned.
"Guilty." He held up his hands in mock surrender and she giggled quietly.
"Though it worked out well in the end." Will continued. "We certainly got a treat yesterday."
Emma blushed and glanced down at her container of fruit, fiddling with the ends of the plastic cover.
Emma cleared her throat slightly to clear the awkwardness in the air. "We have practice again today right Will?" She asked, lifting her head to ask him.
"Yeah." Will nodded and flashed her a charming smile. "Three thirty sharp. Don't be late or you'll get a Rachel Berry verbal thrashing."
Emma cringed for effect and Will laughed, a matching grin then spreading across both of their faces. Ken observed the two suspiciously, anyone could clearly see that the two were falling for each other, if they had not fallen already. Every word, every laugh shared between them was accompanied by a look. A look that Ken only dreamed Emma would give him.
Emma and Will continued to discuss glee club while Ken stared at Emma's empty left hand. He had bought her a ring, a ring that he thought she'd like but still she refused to wear it, she said she didn't feel comfortable wearing. If Will Schuester had gotten down on one knee in that very instantly, Emma would undoubtedly say yes and would be wearing his ring instantaneously.
He tore his thoughts away from the ring to dip back into Will and Emma's conversation. Still, they were on the topic of glee club. Emma never had shown an interest in talking about football or anything else that he was interested in but she could talk for hours to Will about how the paint on the walls look.
Ken narrowed his eyes slightly and cleared his throat, catching their attention and causing Will to pause mid sentence.
"I should get going. I have a gym class next period and I wanna..set up and stuff." Ken explained.
"Oh." Will straightened in his chair a little and shot a friendly smile at his co-worker. "Alright."
Ken waited a few seconds for a response from Emma and then prompted one himself. "Bye Emma."
"Bye Ken." Emma replied genuinely with a quick smile in his direction. As he turned to leave he caught a shared look between them. He shook his head slowly and bustled out of the room, leaving the two lovebirds how they wanted to be: alone.
They talked about glee club for the rest of the hour. Will went through all the rules that he had set up for the club so Emma would be aware if she ever had to take over him and he ran over what they usually did during practices. He also told her all the future songs he had planned and who he'd give them to, asking Emma's opinion on each of them.
Once the lunch hour ended, Emma packed up her tupperware and Will threw out his paper bag and then they both headed out together. Will walked Emma to her office even though it was out of his way and he had to be in his classroom for his next class. He ran the risk of possibly being late but it was risk he was willing to take to spend any extra time with Emma.
Emma paused in front of her office, pushed the door open a crack and turned to him, smiling shyly. "I'll see you later?"
"You can count on it." He winked and she giggled quietly, biting down on her lip. Will's breath caught in his chest and it took all that was him not to kiss her.
Emma blushed under his intense gaze and she fiddled with the edges of her colorful skirt. She began to get lost in his smoldering stare but out of the corner of her she noticed that the hallways were becoming increasingly empty.
"Aren't you supposed to be in a class?" She whispered, unable to breath enough to talk any louder.
Will nodded lazily, his mind not registering her words and then his face fell and his eyes widened.
"Damn." He muttered.
Emma smirked and giggled. "Go Will. I'll see you at three thirty."
Will's face brightened as a grin over took his face and then he raced off down the hall. Emma sighed to herself quietly and leaned against the doorway, swooning at his retreating backside.
At a quarter to five, Will and Emma watched with pleased smiles, as the twelve kids danced around the room. It was a number they had been working on for a couple of days and they had just put the finishing touches on it at the beginning of the meeting and Will asked them to perform the song for Emma and himself towards the end of the meeting.
The performance was practically perfect and Will looked on in a proud grin. He'd occasionally glance over to Emma and saw that she enjoyed the performance just as much as he did.
The song ended with a belted high note from Mercedes and the other kids were scattered across the floor in different standing positions, all panting heavily.
Emma sprung out of her seat, Will following her a second after, and grinned, clapping wildly.
Will chuckled under his breath at Emma's enthusiasm and grinned along with her. "Great guys!"
Rachel stepped out from her place in the front of the group and grinned at her teachers' praise. "Mr. Schuester I think we should run it again!"
A collective groan echoed among the remaining eleven kids but Rachel's grin never faltered. She gave Will a nod confirming her thoughts and he chuckled, stepping over to place a hand on her shoulder lightly. "I think they've had enough for today Rachel."
Rachel's smile faded and her brow furrowed. "But-"
"We can run it again next week." Will told her and released her shoulder, turning to the rest of the group. "Okay, guys glee is dismissed for today! I'll see you back here next week."
All the kids, in their own little cliques, grabbed their belongings and shuffled out of the room. Rachel was the last one to strut out of the room with a huff and as per Will's request, slammed the door behind her.
Will spun around to face Emma and a wide grin spread across his face. Emma smiled brightly up at him and he closed the distance between them in two large steps. He gently cradled each side of her face in his palms and brought his lips down to meet hers.
Emma tensed for a brief second but then melted into his touch, bringing her hands up to rest on his warm chest.
They kissed slowly and chastely and it never got more heated. Since their first kiss the day before, both of them had been craving more and it took all the restraint they had to wait until after glee was over. Despite his desperate need to kiss Emma, Will did not need to kiss Emma roughly. He knew that she was already not too keen on the idea of there being a 'them' when they both were bound to other people and he did not want to push her past her comfort zone. It didn't bother him though, he was perfectly content kissing Emma in any way, shape or form.
Will started to take a few steps forward, pushing Emma backwards until her back tapped the piano with a light thud. She whined against his lips and suddenly broke off the kiss, shyly glancing up at him.
Will's eyes fluttered open and he met Emma's anxious stare. Emma licked her lips and sucked on her bottom lip for a second or two before sucking in a deep breathe and speaking with a shaky voice, "W-Will, we shouldn't be, um, shouldn't be doing this."
Will's heart sank, even though he knew she was right. His disappointment must have been evident on his face because soon Emma continued, "Not that I don't like it because I do. I really, really do. I've dreamed of nothing more than to be with you but...not under these circumstances." She shook her head and Will could see the tears starting to form in her eyes. "I told myself that I'd never get involved with a married man. I don't want to be 'the other woman' and I still don't and then there's Ken, and though I don't particularly feel anything romantic towards Ken, I am still engaged to him and therefore technically cheating and I-I can't do that, I can't...I can't." She finished her rant in a whimper and Will reacted quickly to wipe the single tear that had started to make its trek down her cheek.
Will sighed heavily and nodded his head. "I know. I told myself I'd never cheat on Terri for anything."
Emma's guilty eyes glistened with more tears and her lips trembled quietly. Will could practically hear the whimper starting to rise in her throat and he caressed his thumb gently across the skin of her cheeks in attempt to soothe her. The attempt was in vain though and a bubbling whimper escaped Emma's slightly parted lips.
Will slowly leaned his head forward and gently rested his forehead against Emma's. "You're so much more than anything." He whispered and not only heard, but felt, Emma's sharp intake of breath.
Another whimper escaped her lips and Will swore he heard his name in the midst of the small cry. He lifted his head and tilted Emma's head upwards. Emma looked at him through wet eyelashes and he continued to gently stroke her face which sent shivers up and down her spine.
"I know this is frightening for you, Emma. Hell, its frightening for me too. I know that its wrong and I know that I should feel horribly guilty for going behind Terri's back but I don't. I think the reason for that is because," he paused and Emma stared up at him, curiously. Will sucked in a breath and locked onto her eyes and he was sure he wouldn't be able to pull away even if he wanted to, "because I don't love her anymore."
Emma's eyes widened slightly and her breath caught in her chest. Against her fingertips she could feel Will's heart beating at hyper-speed and knew that her own was beating in perfect sync.
"I don't Emma and do you know why?" Emma shook her head slightly, even though she had a feeling that she did know why.
"I think..." He started slowly, keeping his eyes on Emma and then shook his head, correcting himself, "I know I am falling in love with someone else."
Emma swore that her heart stopped beating for a second and when Will's lips descended on hers again in a sweet, loving, tender kiss, she realized that doing something so wrong could be the rightest thing in the world.
A/N: So what did you think? Should I continue it? There will be some fluff and also some drama when all hell breaks loose.