A/N: Sorry, guys. This is possibly the worst chapter so far… I just don't like it…

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This chapter will, hopefully, clear confusion about Will's actions. And Rachel's… and their relationship.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Thank you to my amazing beta BuffyAnne. She is to thank for the coherency of this story! No, really…

When I arrived home, I expected Will to be waiting for me. I took a deep breath and turned my key in the front door, ready to drill him about what the hell is going on with him. But, as I entered the house, I got the distinct feeling that it was empty. Every light was off, there was no music playing softly, no TV playing an ancient sitcom complete with laugh track. "Wait here." I muttered to Puck, before padding softly upstairs and into the guest room, thinking maybe he'd just fallen asleep.

I pushed the door open gently, calling Will's name in a hushed voice but got no response. I walked into the room, and instead of finding him curled up on the bed snoring quietly, I found all of the drawers half open or on the floor, the bed perfectly made, and the closet empty. "Oh no…" I whispered, before turning and flying down the stairs.

I searched every inch of the house for him, but both he and his stuff were gone. I was getting worried; this was so unlike him, to just run away from me. Something was wrong, and I needed to figure out what. I pulled Puck out of the house with me and barely gave him time to close the car door before I threw the car into drive and sped off down the road. Maybe he'd just gone back to his apartment.

I ran up the stairs when I got there, having told Puck to wait in the car, and groped around the top of the doorframe for the spare key I knew he left there. When I found it, I flung his door open but got the same atmosphere. No one was here. I searched the rooms quickly, hoping superficially that he'd be in one of them. I got the same result as I did in my house and, huffing out an annoyed breath, pulled out my cell phone as I went back to the car.

I called him 6 times before deciding to give it time. He was old enough to take care of himself; he'd get back to me eventually.

When I went to school the next day and had still received no response from Will. I decided the best thing to do would be to check his office and classroom periodically. When I hadn't seen him in either by 3rd period, it became obvious he wasn't in, and I got slightly more worried. It was so unlike him to miss school! Something was definitely wrong.

I went to Miss Pillsbury's office after third period and asked her to attempt getting in touch with him.

"Please, Ms. Pillsbury. He's not in and he's not at my house or his apartment. He's been ignoring my calls and messages since yesterday and you know he doesn't do that!" I begged.

"Alright, Rachel. Calm down, I'll call him now." She reached for the phone and quickly tapped in his number. She hung up a minute later.

She kept trying. Every time it disconnected, my heart grew a little heavier and her face got a few more worried creases. After what must have been her twentieth attempt, she gave up.

"He's not answering, Rachel."

"Thank you Captain Obvious, I guessed!" I snapped, dropping my head into my hands.

"Calm down." She was speaking monotonously - never a good sign.

"Oh God, Ms. Pillsbury, this is all my fault!" I sobbed, but my eyes were dry. "We had a huge fight yesterday and he stormed off. Oh God, I'm so stupid. I've been putting him under so much stress! I've been so selfish! He never needed this - he has enough problems without my idiotic teenage drama!" I was getting angry at myself now, and I could feel tears prickling my eyes. Ms. Pillsbury came around her desk with a box of tissues, dropping them beside me, and wrapped me in an awkward hug.

"It's ok, Rachel. It's not your fault. It could have been any number of things; you can't know for sure what set him off. You said you couldn't find him at his home address or at your house?" I nodded weakly, "Ok. Well, we'd better go and report him missing." I nodded again, and we collected our stuff to leave.

Will's POV

I could feel myself fracturing from the inside out. Everything was getting so messed up. I had all of these feelings all of a sudden, building up inside of me. At first, I was just worried about Rachel, but when we got over the initial problems, I'd thought I'd been helping her and I stopped worrying somewhat. I admitted that I had feelings for her, deeper than a teacher should have with a student and things changed. Then I started noticing how she wouldn't tell me what she was actually feeling. There was no communication. Sure, she told me when something happened, and I'd hold her while she cried and make her dinner or put on a movie to lighten her spirits. But that rarely happened. That's when I started feeling protective. She mostly sat in her room or in front of the television, and the worry came back full force. I wanted to talk to her, ask her to open up, but I couldn't gauge her general emotional atmosphere. So, I didn't know if it was the right thing to do. I got confused. I just sat in silence and watched her try to keep it together, with everything the glee club put her through recently and all the feelings that were still so obviously fresh in her mind. It distressed me to see her like that and not be able to do anything.

I felt worried, protective, loving, confused and somewhat depressed that I wasn't actually helping her, even though I'd promised her fathers I would. Then I got so angry at myself for breaking a promise, for being worthless, for not getting Rachel to open up; and at her, for not opening up. I made it obvious I was always there, but she never took my help, not really.

Then Noah Puckerman walked in the door and swept her off her feet, and I got even angrier. I hadn't made my affection obvious enough clearly. She was driven into the arms of another man for comfort. No, not a man, a child. Noah Puckerman, of all people. I just lost it. I hit a student, lied about Rachel and hurt her feelings. I said horrible, horrible things. And I don't really know why I did it. The guilt set in when I looked at Rachel's heartbroken face in my office and at Puck's bloody face and t-shirt sprawled on the linoleum floor. I came back to myself somewhat, but realized this wasn't going away for a while. So I ran. Just like always. I have always - and probably always will - run from my problems instead of dealing with them.

Ms. Pillsbury and I left the police station glumly. We were told he couldn't be reported missing officially until there had been no contact for 24 hours. They'd put it on the system as a missing persons case after that time.

So I went home early, deciding I wasn't up for school the rest of the day. I felt awful. Will had been driven away by my idiocy. I do love him, but how could I tell Puck that? Puck is wonderful. He's been amazing to me recently, when I had very few others. I've always had feelings for Puck, but I know they will never go as deep as the ones I have for Will. I shouldn't forgive Puck for everything he's done and jump into his arms just because he's been there for a few weeks, but I've been feeling really vulnerable. And Will and I - We just aren't getting anywhere. It's like this wall has thrown itself up between us and I don't know what we can do about it. I want to reach out and just tell him that I do love him – that I need him – but he's been so withdrawn. I don't know what he's thinking most of the time, and I don't know how to approach him. We don't really talk. It feels like we're walking on eggshells around each other – both having realized how unorthodox this relationship is and how much we're going to struggle – and we've become hesitant.

I threw myself onto my bed, thoughts a mess and emotions the same. I needed to get Will back. I needed to sit him down, tell him how much I love him. I need to tell him how difficult things have been and how difficult they will be, but I have no idea where he'd even go.

At that moment, I realized how little I actually knew about Will and became determined to fix that. When he came back - because he would, he had to - I'd work harder at our relationship.

A/N 2: I know that it seems like the W/R relationship is about to be mended, but, believe me, there is a rocky road ahead before that happens! Shit's about to go downnnnn. Hope you liked it! See that little link down there? Yeah, that one that says review… click it! Because I love you! =D