Hello, pretty readers! Hope you enjoyed last chapter! =)

This is something I've been thinking for some time… it thought about making it angsty, but honestly I wasn´t in the mood for that, so I've softened it down. Like chapter VII, I'm gonna split this in two-or more-so it´s not too long.

Before I forget… I just realized Emma and Will have been dating for less than a year and it´s kinda soon for them to get married, that´s why I've written this chapter… to delay things a little bit ;)

Again, thanks to Taylor (purple-wemma) for being my beta! 3

xoxo

Agata

IX (Changes)

Classes re-started in less than a blink and after a couple of weeks, a thought came to Emma´s mind; something it never occurred her before; yet something very possible and at the same time, something she wished it never happen.

Lying on the bed, while Will was taking a shower she remembered that time, two years ago, when Terri had taken the nurse position at McKinley. She was probably the most unpleasant person she had ever met; she was selfish, controlling, manipulative… However, Emma understood why she was like that and why she had taken that job at school. Terri felt threaten and scared she might lose her husband. But she didn´t think that by working together, by spending the whole time together, their relation would wear away.

What if that happens to us? Emma asked herself, with fear. She certainly didn´t want that. Yes, they were engaged, but she didn´t want him to stop living an exciting life just because they were going to settle down and start a home (and maybe a family?, she thought blushing). She wanted him to have a thrilling life, not hold him back from it.

Will appeared in the bedroom, soaking wet. "Hey, you" he said with a wink, "you ok?" he sat on the bed, next to her stroking her naked thigh.

"Yes… just thinking" he remained silent, waiting for her to continue. His lips curved into a gentle smile, "Will… do you, uhm, do you ever want to do something else with me…?"

"Something else?" he repeated confused

"Yes, something different from what we usually do…" he didn´t seem to understand what Emma was trying to say, so she spat the words quickly, "do you get bored with me?"

"Oh, yes, sure…" he replied ironically, "that´s why I wanna marry you… because you bore me to death…" an unbeliever look appeared in his eyes, "Emma, are you insane?"

She let out a shy giggle. "Just checking" she told him embarrassed

"Emma Pillsbury" he called her name half playing, half serious, "don´t you dare think that. I wanna spend the rest of my life with you, is that so hard to believe?" he joked, "And I´m sorry the wedding is taking so long" Will added stroking her cheeks, he had taken a seat right next to her resting body. Almost two months had passed since his proposition and still they hadn´t talked about setting a date. Actually they hadn´t talked about anything at all. "I know I told you we´d get married soon-"

"Will, no… don´t apologize. Its´ ok…" Emma stopped him sitting up.

"No, it´s not ok" he rubbed his nape with tiredness, "I want you to have the most perfect wedding, sweetie. And maybe it takes me a little longer to give you that but I promise I will"

-xx-

Job Offers.

The advertising window wobbled next to her inbox. Emma pleated her eyebrows with curiosity. Will wasn´t at home yet.

6.58 pm and he wasn´t there yet. He had started working extra hours at school and teaching private Spanish classes and singing classes to save money for their wedding. Emma sighed feeling a little bloom; she didn´t know if she wanted him to work that hard for something it was supposed to be for both of them.

She stared at the screen again and clicked the advertisement. If he was going to work extra hard, so was she. Emma filtered the search and her eyes wondered along the site for almost 30 minutes until she run into an interesting announce.

Psychologist educator/guidance counselor required for position in important private HS. 6 years experience essential. Not younger than 30. Sex indistinct. Send CV to:

Without a second thought, she emailed her work references.

And suddenly she was hit by the realization of what she had just made. Leaving McKinley? That was something Emma never considerate before. She loved her work. She was happy there. That was where she met Will. And the kids were wonderful, she really cared about them. For a brief moment she worried about sending that email. What if she was called? Extreme changes were something Emma couldn´t handle very well in short periods of time. What if she had to leave the school? That scared the hell out of her.

What about her OCD? Everyone in McKinley was used to it; everyone understood it and accepted it. But her cleaning habits were source of discomfort for most of strangers.

Relax, Emma, relax. This is not about you. This is about you and Will. This is for both of you.

She breathed deeply, trying to calm down. If this was meant to happen, Emma would shot to birds with one shot. She would help Will saving money, which she really wanted to because his fatigue was becoming more and more obvious as days passed. And secondly she would add a twist in their relationship.

Will´s words still echoed in her head.

Don´t you dare think that. I wanna spend the rest of my life with you, is that so hard to believe?

It wasn´t hard to believe. She could tell Will loved her, but she feared he could eventually get bored because every day, since they started living together, their routine was exactly the same. Work together, lunch together, come back together, go to the store together, cook together, have dinner together, do the dishes together… she could be there for the rest for the evening describing their daily routine. There wasn´t anything exciting she could possible offered him.

This couldn´t be a bad idea.

-xx-

"Hello, my princess" Will greeted her during the lunch recess. Almost two weeks had passed since the email was sent. He walked in the teacher´s lounge looking tired. Very tired.

"Will, you look terrible" she let out without thinking. "God, that sounded awful" she closed her eyes, "but you do…" she confessed with concern, "let´s relax tonight, ok?"

"That´s what I wanted to talk to you about…" he took a seat next to her, as he unpacked his lunch, "I have additional classes after school. I´ll be home late today…" he took a big bite of his peanut butter sandwich. He was starving.

"Will…" his name came out almost in a whisper. She couldn´t hide her disappointment. "Ok… dinner will be ready when you get home"

"I'm sorry, Em" he gently took her hand between his. "All this effort will pay off, I promise"

They had the rest of lunch quietly; their fingers tangled together sending each other the relief they desperately needed.

When Will returned to his classes Emma sat behind her desk, waiting for the next student to come. No news from St. George´s High School what so ever. She didn´t know if she should feel glad or blue. Maybe they sent a reply, she thought opening her email. After all it´s a couple of days since I last check my inbox. The truth was, she was scared of finding a respond from them.

9 new messages. Publicity; an email from her brother; one from Jannet and the last one from St. George´s High School.

Oh my god, oh my God, oh my God…

She clicked on it to open it. It had been sent two days ago. The email was written by principal Johansen. She had an interview today. At 4.

Shoot.

Was she actually ready for something like that? Certainly not. She wasn´t emotionally ready for a change of that magnitude. She wasn´t even prepare for a job interview.

She couldn´t chicken out now. They were actually considering her to take that job. She had to go. Will would arrive home late, so she´d have time to go to St. George´s and then back home to have dinner ready by 7.

Emma didn´t tell him about what she had been thinking. She was almost positive about him wanting to discuss the business. And there was nothing to discuss. Emma couldn´t see him like that for too long. It wasn´t fair for any of them.

-xx-

Principal Peter Johansen was waiting for her at the school gate. It was an elegant establishment; it looked pretty much like a university building.

"Mrs. Pillsbury?" he asked gently, "it´s nice to meet you" he greeted her shaking her hand when she nodded. Emma was surprised to see how young he looked; he was probably forty, maybe forty-five.

"It´s nice to meet you too" she respond kindly following him inside the building. The hallways were neat and luminous; the whole style was copying the classic British education institutes. When they entered into his office, he offered some tea which she gladly accepted.

For the first 50 minutes Mr. Johansen asked Emma about her working experience, her current job and her working methods. She was a little shocked when she found out what was the position to occupy. The vacancy to occupy wasn´t regular school counselor. If they hired her, she´d be directing the rest of the school tutors and coordinating special programs for the students.

"To be perfectly honest, Mrs. Pillsbury, you´re the best candidate for this position. I´ve interviewed three more people but you´re the one who had more working experience and the best references. Now…" he added crossing his arms on his desk, "I´d like you to ask you, why are you interested on working here?"

The question startled her; she had no idea what the school policy was, what kind of people the rest of the stuff were. She had no reference from the place at all. "Well…" she began clumsily, "actually I had no intention of taking another job-"

"You still work in McKinley?" he interrupted her, "I´m sorry, please continue" he offered his apologize with a smile

Emma giggled lightly, "Yes, I do… I came across your announce just by chance… and well, sometimes chances are good". That´s bullcrap, Emma.

"Yes, I agree with you. Well, I'm glad you came across our announcement" he said with a beam. "Now, about formalities…"

They talked for another 30 minutes about school schedules, its policy and the pay she would get if she accepted the position. Emma almost had to hold her face together so her jaw wouldn´t drop. The salary was much more substantial than the salary she got by working in McKinley; this was certainly a job that carted more responsibilities and more extra hours, but it seemed to be worth it.

"So, we´ll be having the pleasure of having you in our staff?" Mr. Johansen inquired politely. He appeared to be a kind and gentle man to Emma.

"Well, the offer seems to be quite tempting" she joked with unfamiliar confidence, "I, uhm, can I call you in a couple of days? I need to talk about this with my fiancée…"

"Of course. Shall I expect your phone call by the end of the week?"

"Yes, sure"

-xx-

After stopping for some Chinese, Emma drove quickly to the apartment. She was already running late and she really needed some time to think about the best way to tell Will she was leaving McKinley. She could already imagine his reaction; which was going to be worst because of the fact that she had been hiding something from him instead of talking about it.

But her stomach twisted when she saw Will´s car parked in the street. Relax, relax, she told herself, is not that you´re cheating on him, for Heaven´s sake.

Her cellphone vibrated inside her purse. And when she took it out, the screen lightened up: one message and one lost call.

You can do this, Emma.

She didn´t know by then, the effort she was making wasn´t to convince Will about this being a good idea. But it was to convince herself.

Will´s POV.

Will took a beer from the fridge the minute he got to their apartment. It was 6 pm, and Emma wasn´t home yet. His eyebrows had creased with unease, wondering where she might be. He had been trying to call her since 5, to let her know he´d be home earlier but she hadn´t answer his calls, not even the text messages.

His concern grew as minutes passed. What if something happened to her?

He shook his head, demanding himself to calm down. She´d be home soon, he thought. And indeed, almost fifteen minutes later, he heard the keys unlocking the door and Emma stepping in with Chinese food.

"Hi…" She greeted him with a smile. "What are you doing here so early?"

"Em…" he walked toward her and planted a kiss on her lips, "the kids cancelled their Spanish class. Are you ok? Thought you´d be already here when I got home…"

"I´m perfectly fine. Had to do some errands… I bought Chinese" A slight grin appeared on her lips, but Will immediately realized something was going on.

"Are you sure you ok?" he asked again, cupping her cheeks with both hands.

"I, uhm, I´m… but… there´s something I wanna talk to you about" Her speech was low, almost like she was ashamed of speaking those words out loud.

"Ok… let´s set the table and we talk"

After sharing a quick meal (both of them were tired and anxious about the talk that would come afterwards), Will made some tea and walked in the living room carrying a tray.

"What was what you wanna talk about?" He asked sitting next to her. He saw Emma moving nervous next to him by the corner f his eye, "Hey, hey… " Will took her hands between his, staring at her lovingly, "what´s going on?"

"Will…" Emma began slowly, "the reason I came late today... I wasn´t doing errands, uhm, well, you can call it errand if you like, but-"

"Em, just say it, what is it?" he cut her gently. Rambling was something she did when stress was about to take over her.

"I had a job interview"

When did she start looking for another job? Why was she looking for one? What the hell did I miss…?

Will expression must have been quite stunned, because Emma continued, "I had no idea the interview was today… I, uhm, got lucky to check my emails in school and read their respond…"

Emma leaving McKinley? He had never imagined school without her. He didn´t want to. "When did you start looking for a job?" He managed to ask and swallowed hard when he notice how selfish he was being.

"I didn´t plan it, Will. It just happened…" She explained, "Two weeks ago, I was waiting for you to come back from work, and I saw this announce on the internet. I sent my work references and they call me to have an interview. And…They want to hire me" she finished; her lips curved showing a shy smile.

"Does this-" he started rubbing his forehead as he tried to put his thoughts in order, "I don´t understand, Em". He didn´t. He had no idea what had possessed Emma to make such a radical decision. "Did you have any problem in McKinley that you didn´t tell me…? Is something bothering you…?"

Stop it, William. Why are you making such big fuzz about it?

"No, no! Nothing happened, Will. It´s just… I can´t see you work like this anymore… you´re exhausted all the time, you´re coming home late… You´re making such a big effort to give me a perfect wedding and I just feel… I'm not reciprocating… I want you to have a perfect wedding as well…" she concluded squeezing his hands. He hadn´t let go hers since the conversation had started.

"Em, you don´t have to…" Will came closer to her, "I want you to enjoy-"

"No" Emma stopped him calmly, "This is for both of us Will and I refuse to see you work like that. I just can´t handle it… you´re stressed up, tired, you´re not enjoying this… Let me finish, please" she asked when he attempted to say something, "This is supposed to be our wedding, not just mine. Our. And I want to help you make it perfect, for both"

"Em… why didn´t you tell me about this before?"

"Because this is how you´d react…" Emma explained softly. He remained silent. Trying to process what just happened. He didn´t know if he was upset because she had been hiding this from him, or because she´d leave McKinley. She´d leave the job she loved just because of him? It wasn´t fair. "What are you thinking?" Emma´s voice came out her mouth smoothly.

"Erm… the decision you´re about to make" his reply was simple, but then he added, "Em, I don´t want you to stop doing what you love because of me"

"I won´t. It´ll be the same job. Different school. And, Will… I´d do anything for you"

Will detected something in Emma´s voice. Doubt? It couldn´t be. She seemed to be certain about what she should do. But still, her body resting on him sent him a signal he couldn´t ignore. If he was attentive, if he breathed softly, he could sense Emma´s chest waving just a little faster than usual.

"What else, Em?" he asked; his voice had a tint of acquiescence. Will felt her body slightly tensing in his embrace.

"It´s just- oh my, you´re gonna think I'm some kinda idiot" she buried her face in the bend between his neck and shoulder.

"What…?" He rubbed her back, encouraging her to continue.

"Maybe… maybe having another job is gonna, uhm, add something new to our relationship…" her words came out choky as her mouth was pressed against his skin.

"What…?" he gently pulled Emma away to meet her eyes. Suddenly, he remembered something his fiancée had asked him concerned. "Emma, has this something to do with the question you made me some weeks ago…? About me being bored…?" She didn´t reply immediately.

"I don´t want us to happen the same that happened to you with Terri" she simply answered, her cheeks going reddish. "But that´s not the reason I contacted them… it´s something extra we get-"

"Em…I don´t want you to be hunted by the ghost of my ex-wife… " He kindly interrupted her, "And I told you, I love spending every minute of the day with you... You´re all I need"

"You´re all I need too… And that´s why I need you to understand this… please. Forget about what I say about Terri. Will, I wanna give you the best wedding ever; would you let me help you?"

"With one condition" he said softly, "let´s not keep secrets from each other"

"Let´s not" Emma kissed him with passion, brushing her tongue against his bottom lip. And Will kissed her back lovingly.

He didn´t want her to feel guilty for the way he had reacted to her news; but still, he couldn´t help to feel overwhelmed by her decision.

"I´ll talk to Figgins tomorrow" she mumbled on his lips, pressing herself against his body.

That´s all for now! Don´t hate me for the cliff, please! I intend to update soon!