It was such a shame to close the curtains and shade his sleeping face. He was magnificent, Emma was desperate to wake him and tell him so, and he would have to listen this time. Unlike the countless times before when he'd argue back with some outlandish compliment, today he literally would have no voice. She's heard it disappear late last night over the phone, when he promised with a crackle, that he would be home soon.
She adjusted the pillow under his cheek and raked her hand through his hair. Will was too deep in sleep. She surrendered with a sigh and went to congratulate the others.
"I'm so sorry you had to sleep on the floor!" she affirmed, pouring coffee from the plunger while Mercedes and Puck sat exhausted but beaming at the kitchen table. "If had have known you were coming I would have made up beds". Emma was genuinely mortified to find the teenagers curled up on the living room floor, beside her husband who'd dismantled the sofa cushions and distributed them as makeshift pillows. It was hardly the welcome back they all deserved. They were National Glee Champions now after all.
"Don't sweat it, Mrs. Schue. We just had a few drinks on the bus coming home. You know what he's like, there is no way he would let us drive home", Puck rubbed his eyes and Emma thought he looked like a child then, not the hardened senior with a bad reputation and a heart of gold. She put her hand on his shoulder and slid two warm mugs across the table.
It was always so calming to see the Glee kids out of school, Emma loved getting to know them next to the piano in the living room or like now, over breakfast in their kitchen, it made her feel part of a family, a family that this morning she was so proud of she didn't know whether to bite her lip or smile, so she did both as she headed back to the stove dipping bread in egg and making the room smell perfect.
"Don't feel like you have to feed us, Mr Schuester told us you haven't been feeling well, he's been all crazy about it", Mercedes soothes but Emma was already shaking her head in dismissal.
"Yeah, I mean the dude is always kinda crazy but lately….man…", Puck chimed in with his trademark cynicism.
"Nonsense, of course I'm going to feed you both. You're heroes, and I want to hear all about it. Los Angeles, what was it like?". Emma heard them huff and snicker, but as she seared almost perfect French toast in the pan, she knew they loved their teacher, they respected him, and he adored them.
Sometimes he just needed to talk about them, worry about them late at night with the local news in the background. It went on for hours. In the early days it was wistful chattings about Rachel and Kurt getting into the right college, about Quinn and Beth and where Shelby fit in all of it. Lately ofcourse it was all about Nationals and the cost of the bus and the dance moves and making sure everyone could follow them.
There were other things too that he talked about, moments that took her breath away.
"Son of a biscuit!", she yelped as the pan caught her wrist.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, just clumsy….", she sighed running her hand under the cool water and flashing back to a time when she rinsed everything like this. She had come so far, they both had. No longer timid with each other, Emma and her lover were strong and willing and taking on the whole world from his tiny little house in Lima that had become hers too.
"Let me see that", she heard the gas switch off after his voice that was so strained and gentle, but surprisingly present. Then he arms were around her, she knew the feel of his nightshirt, and she'd committed it to memory, leaning back into it.
"You smell like sleep…", she said, loving the way she felt young and vibrant when he touched her. Emma could almost feel Puck and Mercedes rolling their eyes.
"Better?" Will whispered, studying the little red inflammation under the water.
Emma nodded, shut off the faucet and held his hands with hers.
"My hero" she swooned with a hint of that dry humour he'd ached for all week during the endless stress of dress rehearsals and tech runs. Will felt her lips brush against his neck, like a secret only they knew. Her secrets he liked.
"You finally did it! How do you feel?", her voice was so sweet, he wondered how he ever convinced himself he could do without it. But he needed to stop it just this once.
"Ssshhh… stay like this for a minute", but he contradicted himself, his lips finding their way to the hair line at the back of her neck. "I want to remember everything like this". His hand fell to her stomach. "You're so stunning in the morning."
When Puck cleared his throat and caught them out, Emma was blushing when she turned to face the students with Will's hand in hers.
"You guys are ridiculous, you know that right?" Puck jested, leaning back on his chair.
Will just smirked and saw Emma doing the same. They knew it.
"Well Mr. Puckerman, I saw you getting pretty ridiculous with Quinn on the bus…"
"Yeah, I think we all saw that" Mercedes agreed with a kind chide.
Will thought he saw a faint blush as Puck lifted his hands in defeat, sheepishly.
"Hey Schue, I'm not the only one with a secret. Sharing a hotel room with you reminded me of that week I dated Rachel Berry… you never stopped talking in your sleep."
Emma laughed, loudly. She loved his adorable, mostly incoherent ramblings in the darkness.
Why is it… ketchup?
We need yellow ones…
Emma! Emma! I can't find the hammer!
Will put his hand on her back as Puck shook out his manic Mohawk and kept talking.
"At first I couldn't figure it out. You just kept mumbling 'Twins, twins…'. Now, let me just say, when I dream about twins, it's not a dream I wanna have when there's in another dude in the room. But Schue's so unbelievably whipped, he wasn't having… that kind of dream."
"Ugh, gross Puck we're about to eat", Mercedes' faces screwed up with distaste.
"Then I noticed he kept making all these lame jokes with us and how he kept feeding us all the time. I mean the dude was one step way from forcing us the take those Flintstone vitamin things. And add that to the way you two act, for years I've been thinking it's a miracle Mrs. Schue doesn't get knocked up just by the way you look at her in the choir room". Puck was smug as he scanned their faces, dragging a metaphorical elephant into the room.
"Wait, what?", the accusing disbelieve was cutting in Mercedes' tone, but Puck just bantered on, enjoying the way he had captivated them with his winning theory.
"So Schuesters, I don't know if there is two little jelly beans in there, or if that's just what Mr. Big Shot over here with the strong swimmers is hoping for, but I'm calling it first. You two are pregnant…".
They weren't telling anyone. They'd argued about it for a week until Will had come home to find her violently ill and clutching at the kitchen sink because she wouldn't dare contaminate the bathroom. "Okay you win. We'll hold off on telling people until you feel better, until you're showing", she knew it was a cheat's victory, that he'd only given in because her face was so pale he could see veins running through her cheeks, but it all felt safer while it was just their secret, like nothing could touch them or take it away. "Oh Em, I'm sorry…" he's whispered and pulled her hair back.
But she wasn't. It had only been a little over two month but Emma loved being pregnant. She yearned for the way Will's face came alive as he flicked through a book of baby names and how he bounced around the house with wild theories for what seamed like days after Emma mentioned her Mother was a twin. "You know they skip a generation?" he'd pondered, while drying the dishes late one night, "and I swear I can see a little bump there already. That means there is two, right? And I heard that multiples always cause more morning sickness and you've been raphing all day and night-"
"I love you Will, but you are going to make me insane! One is enough to think about right now... let's wait and see what the doctor says alright?" she'd offered, handing him a soapy salad bowl in rubber gloves.
"… You're going to be an excellent mother" he'd said with a cheeky smirk, having just been cautioned by a women so adorably strong.
He eyed her in the kitchen when he knew they were being watched. She smiled sheepishly at him, happily defeated. The secret was out.
"Whoah, hold up!" the teenager help up her finger to stop her thoughts. She said something that Emma couldn't hear and she knew Will didn't want to.
"It's not twins. Probably not, it's just… I always wanted a big family… and I guess my subconscious got carried away", Will gripped her hand tighter and she fell harder for him, again.
"I like it when you get carried away" and just like that she was timid with him again. She brought his hand to her stomach that was still flat and thought that it might always be a little bit that way. They'll get carried away, with each other, with their strength and then they'll recoil with disbelief and hope and bewilderment, because it was amazing that they had so much and each other.
Emma flicked the gas stove on and resumed her post at the stove, "Sit down at the table and let me make you breakfast" she said firmly kissing her nose. He did as he was told; he let her get carried away with freshly squeezed orange juice, French toast and waffles even though she hated the awkward texture of the griddle, because he loved it when she got carried away.