Emma Pillsbury's day-to-day routine had altered drastically since Sue Sylvester had convinced her to publicly confront Will Schuester about his gallivanting with the coach of Vocal Adrenaline and April Rhodes. Before, he had dropped by during all of his free periods, made a point to swing around after school, sit with her in lunch and even sometimes slip little notes in her box of sanitary wipes. He'd call at night, he'd invite her over for a PB&J, and even with the established no-dating rule, they were always best friends. Always. But now? Now, he merely stopped by perhaps once a week to make sure she was alright. There was no longer the smile in his eyes; that had extinguished along with the realization that she wasn't childishly smitten with him any longer (or didn't appear so). Their chats lasted for no longer than fifteen minutes each, during which she would update him on her therapy sessions, he would let her know how his divorce was going, and they would delve into a discussion on the Glee kids. Neither would crack a full, genuine smile and at the end of the day, both were forced to come to terms with the fact that nothing could be done to repair their fractured relationship in order to receive that fitful night's sleep.

Thankfully, Sue Sylvester's piece of information had angered her and softened the overall blow of the sudden absence of the man in her life. This definitely proved helpful as summer rolled around, as she spent three months with nothing but one measly phone call from him on her birthday in July. Her psychiatrist had helped her move right along. Over the three months of solitude, the numbness within Emma had ceased, along with the majority of her tears and the reliving of pleasurable memories with the man.

September rolled around and she was, as per usual, completely prepared, though this time she was emotionally equipped for the impending blows as well. The first few days were reserved for teachers only and were packed full of meetings and the preparation of lesson plans; being a mere guidance counselor, half of the meetings didn't pertain to her (for they focused on Ohio's board of education requirements of the criteria each class was supposed to cover), and so she spent most of the time in her office, cleaning.

Man, a lot of dust could collect in three months time. The janitors did a rather shotty job. Then again, Emma was painfully aware that the budget cuts had forced Figgins to let people go, which meant that the janitorial staff was lacking.

It was the second day and she had seen Will exactly four times; one, when he placed a glee signup sheet outside of her office (and she hid behind a filing cabinet to avoid being seen), two times in meetings, and a final time when they had both turned down the same hallway and simply murmured passing "hello's". Still, she kept telling herself that it was alright and, as far as she was concerned, it was.

Seated at her desk, Emma reached forward and straightened out the stapler, aligning it with the tape dispenser. She cleared her throat and pushed a curl out from in front of her face, glancing up as someone knocked on her office door. The corners of her lips quipped downwards as she noticed Will standing there sheepishly, though she was quick to recover, forcing a small, polite smile on her face, nodding.

The door creaked open and he mumbled a "hi", shutting it behind him and taking a seat, as he used to, across her desk.

"Hi," she greeted nonchalantly, averting her gaze downward; butterflies had erupted within the pit of her stomach and her heart was beating nine miles per hour. Well, no one said she was completely over the man. "How, uhm, h-how was your summer?"

"Lonely," he answered immediately, not taking his eyes off of her face for a moment, "I thought I'd, uhm. Come eat lunch with you, if… If that's okay? You didn't come eat with the rest of us yesterday, so I figured you'd be eating in here." He smiled softly, and she forced herself to continue looking away.

"I was cleaning, and I w-wasn't very hungry," she responded, pumping hand sanitizer into her hand and rubbing them together quickly (a nervous habit she had acquired long ago). Then, daring to look up, Emma continued, "I don't have much of a reason to go into the teacher's lounge anymore, anyways."

Will closed his eyes for a moment to take in the hidden meaning behind that comment before continuing, "I missed you this summer."

"Really now?" Upon the realization that she had said that with an edge to her voice, she winced and backed down, taking a deep breath to continue, much softer, "I never would have guessed that, considering the fact that I came home every night with nothing to listen to on the answering machine."

It was like she had punctured a hole in his spirit and let out all of his hope, and that was displayed by his falling face. "I'm really sorry, Emma."

She shook her head fervently. "I don't want to hear it, Will. I can't… Do it this year."

He opened his mouth to question but closed it immediately, instead nodding. "I can't blame you. Just… You know where to find me, if you need anything."

Emma bit her lip for a moment, though couldn't bring herself to speak. She nodded instead, and Will took that as his cue to leave the office. It wasn't until the door slammed closed that she bowed her head and let a tear escape.

Maybe she couldn't do this.