"Happy"
As he ducked his head around the dressing room door Rachel's wide smile greeted him; the same smile he had grown to love as her teacher.
"Mr. Shue!" She exclaimed as she made her way towards him, her slender frame draped elegantly in a leopard print dressing robe.
"Rachel," his smile stretched as he embraced her, "I'm so happy for you, you have no idea what it is as your teacher to see your dream finally come to fruition."
Rachel smiled up at him, her brown eyes warm, "Well I hope you enjoy the show."
Will was about to reply when his phone chirped urgently, and he picked it up to hear Emma's panicked a voice on the other end. After almost two years of dating, his now wife, he was used to her panic and anxiety, but given her current state it was understandable.
"What, your water broke? Now?" He gave Rachel a panicked look and then tried to convey everything that was being relayed to him through his eyes; sorry he had to miss her opening night of Funny Girl on such short notice.
"Emma, it's all right," he reassured his wife, "just keep breathing… I'll be right there." Then he nodded at Rachel who already seem to have grasped the conversation and she was already ushering him to go as he ducked hastily out of the door, his cell phone still to his ear.
Will had never moved faster and his life! Immediately he called the airline and booked a returning flight to Ohio grateful there was a redeye available that would fly straight back from New York to Ohio.
As soon as the plane touched down he was off and running again. He went through the baggage claim at lightning speed, grabbing his bags with one hand and his cell phone that the other. In the last few hours since his departure from New York Emma had started pushing but the only consolation Will could give at the moment as he ran for his car was that he was on his way.
It struck him as he dumped his luggage in the backseat of his car and raced for the hospital he was ridiculously clichéd. He was the nervous first-time father who wanted everything to go right and he wasn't even there. Finally, Will let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding when he finally saw the hospital entrance; he parked in the first available spot and dashed inside, searching the nearby signs for the entrance to the maternity ward.
The nurse behind the desk smiled at him. She was a little younger than Emma was with light brown hair, blue eyes and a ready smile.
"May I help you sir?" She asked kindly.
"Yes, my wife came in a few hours ago… I'm sorry but I was out of town…" He said hastily unsure of why he was even explaining himself. "… Emma Schuster? I'm her husband." He added.
The nurse was already typing away on the computer in front of her.
"Yes, she came in a few hours ago. The maternity ward is up on level 5."
"Thank you!" Will managed gratefully as he nodded at the receptionist then turned in the opposite direction towards the waiting elevators.
The elevators, however, didn't seem to move fast enough and at long last the elevator finally dinged and the doors opened on the maternity ward.
"Emma Schuster?" He asked at the floor desk," I'm her husband, Will." He was beginning to sound like he was reciting a password to some secret society, something, any other time he would have found funny. Had this been any other time his kids would've laughed at him saying he was wound too tight. That at least brought a smile to his worn features.
"Room 422." The nurse replied almost without looking up but will could almost feel her smile as she watched him raced down the hall.
Finally, two wrong turns later, he made it to her room. Inside, were her stiff looking parents, her mother only giving him a slightly disapproving look as he came through the door.
Emma's features brightened when she saw him.
"Will…" She managed weakly, "you came… Oh! The-the-baby's coming!" Her eyes widened as she glanced at the nurse and then at him.
"It's all right honey," he said softly, "I'm here."
Then she was pushing again, Will thought she did excellently, but Emma was only worried about how much she was sweating and how messy she looked… Will thought she looked beautiful, she always looked beautiful.
It seems like only five minutes later he heard the baby cry; something pink with reddish hair that continued to cry as the doctor placed it on Emma's chest.
"Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Schuster, it's a boy."
That moment Emma looked at him, Will thought his heart would burst. Not just because of this moment; the birth of his son, but because of everything that had happened including Rachel's opening night on Broadway. Everything was perfect and for the first time in a long time he felt happy, truly, honestly, happy.
"Does this little guy have a name?" The nurse asked as she was now placed the baby, now clean and warm in a blanket in Emma's arms.
"Daniel." Emma replied.
Will smiled.
"Daniel," he said, testing the name, "I like it."
"Middle name?" The nurse asked.
"Finn." Will replied, "Daniel Finn Schuster."
Emma smiled at him again as she smoothed their son's fine hair with careful fingers, she knew why he had chosen that particular name. What better way to honor one of his best students that had too soon lost his life then to give his son that name, it was something strong; important.
It was sometime later he called the kids. He would always think of them as "his kids" no matter how old they got. Rachel, Sam, Kurt, Blaine, Mercedes and Artie were all in their late teens to early 20s now and starting or finishing a particular semester in college, but he would always see them as the high school misfits that were in the rundown choir his first year at McKinley.
He punched out Rachel's number which rang three times before it picked up. A chorus of excited voices greeted him.
"Hey, Mr. Shue!" Rachel greeted him, "how'd it go?"
Will caught that contagious smile spreading across his face again.
"It went really good," he replied, "made it back for the last few pushes."
The sound of Mercedes voice cut into the chatter and Will figured Rachel probably had him on speaker. "So the question everybody wants to know is it a girl or a boy?"
"It's a boy, his name is Daniel Finn Schuster. He's so beautiful, Emma is doing fine… She's resting now."
There was a chorus of cheering and Will figured they were all on some street corner standing around Rachel's phone judging by the static and the noise he was hearing on the other end. "Tell her congratulations." Mercedes and Rachel chimed in.
"I will." Will replied.
"So how does it feel?" Mercedes asked.
"It feels… Great." Will finally replied as he struggled to find the appropriate word. "For the first time in a long time I can honestly say I'm happy."
"Yeah… Happy…" Rachel replied, "me too."