A/N: Here's the final part. You may like it, you may not. You probably won't. In fact, you'll probably hate me for it. But enjoy anyhow! Disclaimer is in the first chapter.
"Wow…it's…very clean." Will Schuester commented as he stepped into the apartment of Emma Pillsbury, reinstated guidance counselor of William McKinley Senior High School. Emma, on the other hand, had just hung up her soldier coat and white beret on their proper wooden hooks. "It suits you." He smiled.
It was a picture in teal—at least, the walls were. The colors were actually quite muted for someone who dressed so colorfully, but Will had to hand it to her, she did have good taste and an eye for placement. It could have easily been argued that she practiced feng shui, for her door was a stop sign red with a gold colored knocker on it, shiny like the morning sun's first rays upon the world every morning.
"Thank you." She made a beeline for the kitchen, far away from where Will was wandering to. "But…would you like something to drink? Water, tea? Oh, just take a seat on the couch."
"Tea's fine." She began to pour filtered water into an electric pot. It wasn't as noisy as a regular teapot, with the whistling and whatnot, and although the electric pot was a tad more expensive, it was better than having to endure the untidy noise. She then pulled out two mugs; two white ones that had been stored in the back, used sparingly compared to her more colorful mugs. Now, white didn't pain her to look at so much.
Unknown to her, Will had been watching her every move. It seemed that after that kiss, he had begun to realize how hard he had really fallen for this woman. There were these dreams he used to have when Terri blocked him away from her; it was always holding the hand of some mysterious woman, or just having a picnic with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. When those dreams began to become colorful and vivid, and also included dancing, which happened after he had helped Emma with her own dancing needs, well…it began to really unnerve him. But these dreams were kept to him, even away from Terri, because she might infer the horrible connotations.
Once she had clicked the button to begin boiling the water and put two tea bags inside the white mugs, he eyed the green soldier coat and white beret. She had already taken off two articles of clothing; would she take off more? His urges were quickly put in motion by the two items, and maybe if he had enough time—
"It's chamomile tea. Do you mind?" She was sitting on the plastic covered gray couch, a healthy distance away from him, just barely longer than his arm's length. He shook his head in response. "We need to talk about this."
"I left Terri." He simply stated, just as he did at the cancelled wedding.
"I—I know, but you shouldn't just—just—" She sighed and looked down, trying to form the right words. "You're still married to her, Will." She looked up and smiled crookedly at him. "And there's still a chance you can save your marriage."
"I don't think I can. She said it herself; I'm slipping away—" He inched closer, making the plastic squeak a bit.
She was losing ground, fast. So she edged away from him simultaneously. "I have a friend who's a marriage counselor. We were in the same germaphobia support group. I still have his number, I can—"
"His?" A hint of jealousy made itself known in his voice.
"I, um, dated him before working at the school. But the point is that you need help, Will. Just because you've lost touch with Terri doesn't mean you can't get it back." Click and the water had boiled. "Excuse me." And she abruptly jerked up from the couch and stiffly walked to the kitchen to pour the scalding water into the two cups. Gingerly, she walked back to the couch and set the two mugs down on the already set coasters. She then sat back down on the couch, still an arm's length away from Will.
"Why are you doing this?" He looked at her with sorrowful eyes.
"What are you talking about? I—I don't—know what—" She inched away even further, all the while thinking that she should've walked out of the school while she had the chance.
"Emma…" He skimmed her hand lightly as he was suddenly really, really close to her, and her breath hitched faintly. "What are you afraid of?"
She tried backing away again, but found she was at the armrest of the couch. She began panicking in response. I can't be the rebound, I can't be the rebound—"You can't act on your impulses. It—it only gets more complicated along the way, and—and we can be b—can get—" If this were anywhere else, at any other point in time, she'd be walking or running away, to make sure no one could see her cry. And now, her home was no longer a safe haven. It was hell, and she couldn't get away.
But at the same time, he understood what had troubled her for so long, what had made her go to Ken, why they hadn't been cleaning the bathrooms in the Science Wing together three months ago—so he pulled her away from the end of the couch and closed the gap between their bodies.
And as he kissed her deeply and passionately with all of the promise in the world, that she was by no means the rebound, but what he had been looking for all along, he realized—she wasn't kissing back. When he looked at her, her skin was even paler than usual, her eyes were closed shut, and her body was limp as a noodle.
But what made him cry and scream in anguish was that he couldn't smell the lavender of her skin lotion, or the ocean breeze in her hair, and couldn't feel her warm breath on him at all. It was as though the senses had left him all of a sudden.
A man shot up out of bed in the dead of night, clad only in red boxers and nothing else. He ran a hand through his curly hair and silently groaned in guilt and utter loss before plunging back into sleep.
"Will—" Emma whispered after regaining her voice.
"Don't leave." He whispered softly. "Please."
"I—I—" She picked up her green and white box and stepped away from him. "I'm sorry. But I can't stay." I'll kill myself that way, she thought to herself.
"But we can still get to Figgins; you—"
"You have the kids to get back to; they need your help." She nodded. "I can't help anyone anymore, not here. Goodbye."
He was frozen in place as she walked down the stairs to the first floor exit. It was a few minutes until he managed to make himself smile realistically again and made himself go back to the kids.
A/N: We've reached the end! This was just my little take on the finale, nothing too far into the future. Thanks to all who have alerted, favorited, and most of all, reviewed! But anyhow, did you hate the ending or like the ending? Something else that bothered you? Well, that's what reviewing is for!