A/N: Wow, okay, so this is...over a year coming. And I'm very sorry about that. There are a million reasons that prevented me from actually getting this chapter completed - namely my final year at university and a LOAD of writer's block. BUT I am back, and we have a new chapter! How is it at CHAPTER TEN already?! Anyway...I'm definitely seeing at least two more chapters to this story, possibly three, followed by an Epilogue. I know exactly what I want to happen, it's just a matter of getting it written properly. SO WITH THAT BEING SAID, I bring to you (finally) Chapter 10 of Willow Jane. I'm really hoping it lives up to your expectations...R&R Always greatly appreciated! Thanks for being so loyal in following this story, guys. It means a lot, really - it's one of my pride and joys. -Tayma (:

Chapter 10: How Am I Gonna Be an Optimist About This?

The morning after her conversation with Will, Emma woke up with a jolt, the words, 'Right now, I'm telling you when' ringing in her ears as the meaning crashed down on her, a cold, nervous sweat coming as a result. It suddenly hit her that Will was telling her he wanted a relationship with her; he was ready to try that with her. She'd told him that whenever he felt ready, she would be waiting, and apparently, that moment had come.

Three weeks passed after their phone call, and Emma hoped that Will would call; he never did. She got a call once from Paul, letting her know that Will had absolutely dropped the case and they were in the clear. She thanked him, hoping that once that was settled, she'd hear from the man who told her when. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She had to talk to him about what he meant, and if he wasn't going to pursue this further, dammit, she was going to have to put the ball back in his court.

It was a Tuesday when Emma finally called him, having just dropped Willow off at school. She dialed his number as she pulled into William McKinley High School's parking lot, holding the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she gathered her things. By the fourth ring, she assumed he wouldn't answer, but one ring later—

"Emma.."

"How?" she blurted out, and she heard his breath hitch on the other end; clearly that was not what he was expecting.

"I'm sorry?"

Emma grabbed the phone, holding it to her other ear while she shouldered her bag and carried her coffee, locking her car and heading to the building's entrance.

"How?" She repeated again, "You said when. I'm asking how."

"What do you mean how?" His voice was casual as he could make it, but Emma sensed a small hint of relief beneath a layer of entertainment; he knew exactly what she meant.

"How are you ready to love me, if you're really ready to love me?" She clacked into the building, walking down the hall. Turning the corner to head towards her office, she saw him, standing on his phone at the other end of the hallway. Their eyes met and she swallowed, her mouth going dry as they both stopped dead in their tracks.

"I want to love you like nobody else can," Will answered quietly, never taking his eyes from hers. "I want you to love me like nobody else can. I want to be with you. I'm ready to be with you…if-if you and Willow will have me."

Emma hung up the phone then, shaking her head and walking towards him. Will lowered the phone, stepping to her, their bodies less than a foot apart in the empty morning hallway.

"You're a coward," she whispered, shaking her head as she tried to hide the smile threatening to break out on her face. "Who the hell calls and says when, then makes zero contact for three weeks before professing his love over the—"

She was silenced, warm lips on hers as Will closed the space between them. He was warm, his hand pressing against her lower back while the other cupped her face. His hands were so soft and delicate, cradling her to him as if she were the most precious thing in that moment. Emma melted in his arms, her lips moving against his surely and slowly. She was immediately shot back ten years, and she shivered, remembering how cold the hotel room was, how warm he was against her, shielding her from the cold. It was the first time she was sure they loved each other; that they were meant to be together. Kissing him just then in that moment, and she was sure again. She was sure they loved each other. Emma Pillsbury and Will Schuester were meant to be together.

"…phone," she finished quietly as they broke apart, her eyes drifting up to meet his.

"Is that a yes?" Will's eyebrows lifted.

"Is what a yes?"

"You kissed me back."

"I did not."

"You practically melted."

Emma rolled her eyes.

"Admit it, Emma Pillsbury," he leaned in, whispering in her ear, "You're in love with me. Always have been."

"Always will be," she breathed back, shivering again as his breath tickled her neck.

"Is that a yes?"

Emma looked up at him, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards her office. She set her bag down and turned to look at him once more, biting her lip as she studied his face. Stepping up to him again, she swallowed, taking a deep breath.

"Absolutely."

With that single word, she closed the gap between them, initiating another kiss. Their lips danced together, her fingers digging into his biceps while his dig into her hips. They kissed until it was hard to breathe, Emma finally breaking the embrace. She swallowed, smoothing out her hair and stepping back, working to level out her breathing as she stared across at Will who was straightening his tie, a blush spreading over his face and neck.

"Can I see you tonight?"

Emma shook her head, "Not tonight," she swallowed again, this time, a little nervous. "I, uh…I have to talk to Willow, first."

-x-x-x-

"Do you want another piece of cake?"

Willow turned her eyes from the television and looked at her mother, a little confused. Emma was always an amazing mother, and she took great care of Willow, but tonight, she was being even nicer if that was possible. Willow was pretty sure that something was up, and asking if she wanted another piece of cake for dessert definitely tipped her off.

"But that's three," Willow said, shaking her head. "You never let me have three pieces of cake. Or even two, really."

"Is that a no?" Emma paused the recording of Gilmore Girls, setting the remote aside and standing up.

"No, no. I want three pieces of cake!"

Emma laughed a little and took Willow's plate, heading to the kitchen and cutting them each another slice of cake. She'd returned home from school that day feeling very nervous about speaking to her daughter. Instead of her usual routine of coming home, cleaning, cooking dinner, doing homework, and then shower and bed, Emma changed it up a little. She told Willow they could put off homework until tomorrow, and instead of cooking dinner, they ordered pizza while Emma baked a Devil's Food cake. Honestly, she was trying to butter her daughter up; something she'd never had to do before, but Willow was still so on the fence about her dad, and Emma actually worried about talking to her about him. Willow was her life, and if Willow asked her to walk away from Will, Emma would do it. Willow came first.

"I want to talk to you about something," Emma said minutes later, snuggled up on the couch with Willow as they devoured their slices of cake. Willow looked over at her expectantly and Emma paused the recording once more, looking over at Willow. "I talked to your dad today."

Willow looked down at her cake, stabbing it a few times with her fork. "Okay."

"I know you're still mad at him, honey, and that's perfectly fine. He acted very much like a child in this whole situation, and I am sure he knows that. It's more than okay to still be hurt by what happened."

Willow just shrugged a little bit, taking another bite of cake.

"It doesn't matter, mommy," she said quietly. "I don't care."

Emma looked over at her sadly, setting her cake aside. "Yes you do, baby girl, and yes it does. It absolutely matters. None of this has been fair to you at all and I'm really sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Willow set her cake aside and looked at Emma confused. She didn't think any of this was her mother's fault.

"I kept you a secret for a very long time," Emma said quietly, turning to look at her daughter. "At first, I did it because I felt like I had to. Your dad was married and he was on Broadway. He had everything he'd ever wanted since I'd known him and I didn't want to chance ruining his life and take away everything he'd worked for. After that, though, after that Christmas when we tried to get him for you, I used my fear as an excuse not to tell him, but I was also trying to get back at him a little bit." She bit her lip, being completely honest for the first time ever. "I hated that he lied to me before we made you, and I hated that the promises he made to me were broken. I hated that he got married to someone who wasn't me, I hated that he didn't know you, I hated that it was my fault he didn't know you, and I hated feeling like he didn't ever love me."

It was a serious thing to be talking to her daughter about, but Emma knew she had to be completely honest now. Especially with where this conversation was headed.

"I should have tried harder to bring your dad into your life sooner, Willow, and I'm very sorry I didn't."

Willow said nothing for a few minutes, thinking over what her mother said. She finally looked over at her and shrugged. "It's okay. I don't really want a dad anymore."

"Why not, sweetheart? You were so excited to have him."

"Yeah, but he left, mommy," she looked over at Emma with a frown. "You never left me, and he said he loved me after only a day and then he left and he's been mean and that means that he lied."

Emma sighed a little bit and pulled Willow toward her, rubbing her side gently.

"You're right. I never left you. I will never leave you. You are the best thing that ever happened to me, and we both have your father to thank for that." She kissed the top of her head softly. "But he loves you, too. He did leave, you're right, and he jumped the gun and told you he loved you a little bit too soon, but he tried to come back. He's tried to make an effort, and you won't talk to him or see him."

"I don't have to!" Willow said quickly, almost defensively. "You said that this is a grown up thing and you won't make me. Well I don't have to."

"And if those are your feelings, then I understand, but is it really fair to get mad at your dad and say he left you, when you won't even let him try to come back?"

Willow thought for a moment before reluctantly shaking her head.

"Because he really does want to try, Wills," Emma looked down at her. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"What about it?" Willow asked quietly, looking up at her mother.

"I have loved your dad for a very, very long time. Almost sixteen years. He always loved me, but he never acted on it. He was always with Terri except for when you happened," she smiled and tapped Willow's nose gently. "Today he told me he loves me and he wants to be with me."

Willow looked confused, "Be with you? Like a boyfriend and a girlfriend?" She made a face, still on the fence about the whole 'boy' situation.

"Yes, like a boyfriend and girlfriend," she laughed a little at Willow's face, "And if that works out, eventually as my husband."

"So what does that mean? Like, he lives here now?"

"No," Emma shook her head. "It means he's going to make an effort. He wants to come around more. He wants to get to know you more." She looked at Willow and held her face gently. "He wants to try and be a real dad to you. If we'll let him; if you'll let him."

"Can I think about it?" Willow asked, looking up at her mother. "Like if I really want a dad or not?"

"Of course." Emma kissed her head softly. "Go get ready for bed. I'll be up to tuck you in in a few minutes."

-x-x-x-

"Well?"

"I don't know. She said she needs to think about it."

Emma laid back on her bed, holding the receiver up to her ear. Will had called just after she'd crawled into bed, hoping she could put off the call until tomorrow.

"Think about what? Whether or not she wants her parents to finally be together?"

"No, no she's fine with that, I think. She, um, she wants to think about whether or not she actually wants a dad."

"And did you tell her she has no choice? That whether she wants one or not, she has one and he is going to be around now?"

"I told her that she could think about it. This is a lot, Will."

She heard a groan on his end of the line.

"When are you going to stop letting your child dictate everything in your life?"

Emma took a deep breath. "When she's eighteen and on her own. Until then, Willow is my top priority."

"Emma, come on…"

"No, Will. No, I won't come on," she paused for a moment. "I love you, okay? I do and I always have and I always will. We both know that. But you are not allowed to get mad at me for putting our child ahead of myself when you put Terri ahead of me for years."

"So what are we supposed to do then? What do we do if she says she doesn't want a dad? Where do we go from here?"

"I know our kid," Emma said quietly. "She'll end up wanting this, but we can't push her. Pushing her makes everything harder. So where do we go from here? We…we see each other at school. Talk on the phone at nights. We can have a relationship, Will, it's just a question of how often you actually come around that's up in the air."

"Emma, I don't like this," he said, but she could hear that he sounded resigned.

"And I didn't like you making love to me and then getting engaged to a girl you didn't even love three days later," she swallowed. "But things happen, and life isn't always what we want."

"I'm going to regret that for the rest of my life. Especially now, knowing what all it did to you; to Willow; to myself. We could have been together, Emma. We could have been happy. I could have been there for her first everything – I should have been there."

Emma shook her head. "Hey, no. No regrets. It's not what we want, and if we could go back, we would both do things differently. But you cannot start regretting your life because you don't like how things are going right now. I told you, the could have would have should have game is going to drive you insane. No regrets, okay? Take that feeling and turn it into motivation. Become determined."

"I'm determined," Will said after a few moments of silence. She was right; regretting would do nothing productive. He needed to hold his life on his shoulders and his head held high with pride, and just move forward; there's no going back.

"Good. Now get some sleep. We have school in the morning."

Will chuckled a little. "I love you, Emma."

Emma smiled a little. "I know."

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN GLEE, EMMA PILLSBURY OR WILL SCHUESTER. THEY ARE PROPERTY OF FOX AND GLEE, I SIMPLY USE THEM AS INSTRUMENTS TO TELL MY STORY.

I DO, HOWEVER, OWN WILLOW JANE SCHUESTER.