A/N: I made a mistake in chapter IX. It should be Thursday, not Wednesday. Just wanted to clear that up.


Will slung his bag hastily over his shoulder as he headed toward the school, practically at a running pace. He was late, just as Emma had predicted, but he didn't regret it for a moment. He could still feel the taste of her lips burning against his skin, and even as he hurried through the entrance doors, he couldn't help but to wish he were still back at the apartment with Emma.

As he slipped through the doors, the late bell rang, and he shuffled quickly down the halls, feeling more like a teenage delinquent than a teacher.

As he stepped into his classroom, he was greeted by the lively chatter of his students as they took advantage of his tardiness.

"You're late, Mr. Schue," Rachel pointed out the obvious as she studiously sat in her front row seat.

"Lo siento," Will muttered, trying to get himself organized. He opened up his planner, trying to figure out exactly what was on his agenda for the day.

Rachel sighed heavily, watching Will flounder in his disorganized state. "We had to complete workbook pages forty five and forty six last night for homework. You said you were going to collect them and grade them for accuracy. You said that today we would review the preterite tense endings and do an activity in pairs so that we could practice for the quiz that is coming up tomorrow."

"Thanks, Rach," Will couldn't help but to smile at his most motivated student. "I owe it to you."

Rachel smiled proudly. "If you'd like I'll collect the homework for you while you get organized."

He nodded, and Rachel rose, whispering to Will before completing her task, "So you and Miss Pillsbury were getting it on this morning?" She raised an eyebrow. After all, she did consider herself to be physic.

"Rachel, I thought we talked about not mentioning my living arrangements," Will murmured under her breath, trying to push away the inevitable blush that rose to his cheeks.

Rachel only raised her eyebrows knowingly as she began to collect the homework assignment, but she respectively acknowledged her teacher's request and dropped the topic.

The rest of Will's morning was pleasantly uneventful, and he found himself eating lunch in the faculty room once again, in hopes that he would be able to catch Bill McNavage and convince him to change his Cheerio tryouts, though it was becoming rather last minute now.

As he waited, he pulled out the neatly written list that Emma and he had been working on that morning, trying to figure out the rest of the groups.

"Hey, cowboy," a voice interrupted his thought, and he cringed when he realized that he could already connect the icy voice to the unsettling person it belonged to.

"Hi, Lilah," he muttered, not even bothering to look up as she placed her lunch tray on the table and sat down heavily beside him.

Lilah sighed, attempting to catch his attention, but Will purposely ignored her obvious huff of breath. He hoped she would take the cue to leave, but of course, she only took the chance to be as annoying as ever. "What's that you're working on?"

Will bit down on his lip, trying not to reply with a curt remark. "Just dividing my Glee kids into groups. I'm trying to mix things up a little and put them with people they don't usually gravitate toward. Emma and I didn't finish this morning…" he trailed off, licking his lips in concentration. He wished Emma were here to help him finish; she would've been able to divide them up perfectly, but Will was having a little bit of trouble getting the groups to work out exactly right.

"Emma?" Lilah asked, a tone of curiosity lining her voice, and Will cursed himself for being so careless with his words. "Is that the woman Ken Tanaka brought up the other day at lunch?"

Will placed the pen down on the table, sighing heavily. Lilah looked at him, her eyes growing wide as she stared at him innocently, and Will caved in. After all, what was the point of hiding his growing relationship with Emma as though it were some sort of sin? Though the divorce to Terri had yet to be finalized, in Will's mind, the marriage had been officially broken as soon as she had betrayed her trust.

"Emma was the previous guidance counselor before you—she resigned for complicated, personal reasons." Will looked up gauging Lilah's reaction. Her eyes were peaked with intense curiosity as she hung onto each word. "Ken and Emma had been dating—in fact, they had even been engaged," Will practically cringed as he said the words. It had been the worst match conceivable, but that hadn't make it any less painful for Ken when it had ended, and Will couldn't help but to feel increasingly guilty for essentially ruining it for Ken.

He looked at Lilah, unsure of how to continue, but Lilah smiled at him understandingly. "But you and Emma had some, shall we say chemistry, going on between you?"

Will nodded helplessly. "Is it that obvious?"

"I can just tell by the way that you talk about her that she means a lot to you," Lilah explained, a note of understanding in her words. "So whether you two acted on this chemistry or not doesn't matter. It was probably obvious, regardless, and despite the fact that you tried to stop it, fate had its way and you two ended together."

"You don't even need me to tell it," Will laughed bitterly, glancing up at Lilah, who looked quite smug as she dug into her lunch, which was once again an unidentifiable substance.

"I guess that's the guidance counselor in me," she shrugged. "But I do find you easy to read. Like we have a connection, or something."

Will's stomach twisted uncomfortably as she said the words.

"Though there is something I'm unsure of," Lilah trailed off, and Will snapped his gaze up, curious as to what Lilah was digging at. "Why wouldn't you and Emma have ended up together in the first place? Unless you are…" she trailed off, glancing at his hand in search for a ring.

"My wife and I are currently going through a divorce," Will admitted, awkwardly rubbing his fourth finger where his ring had rested for so long.

"I'm sorry," Lilah whispered, sympathetically reaching out to place her cold hand gently on top of Will's. "If you ever need to talk, I'm always willing to listen."

"Thanks, Lilah," he muttered, only to be courteous. But he couldn't imagine actually taking her up on the offer. After all, he had Emma for that. Emma was his comfort, his voice of reason, and he had only begun to realize that more and more as he went through this difficult time.

Before Lilah could reply, Will saw Bill McNavage enter through the door of the faculty room. "Excuse me," he mumbled, pulling out his chair and approaching the muscular man.

"Bill McNavage, um, I was wondering if I could have a quick word with you." Up close, Bill McNavage looked even more frightening as his muscles bulged through the sleeves of his form fitting shirt. Will gulped, chastising himself for being ridiculous. He hadn't even given the guy a fair chance yet.

Bill McNavage turned toward him, glaring down at Will. He said nothing, and Will took his silence as his cue to speak.

"I know this is late notice, but I only just found out yesterday that you already have Cheerio tryouts planned for this afternoon. I have my Glee Club on Thursday, and two of the girls who plan to try out for the team are a big part of my club, so I was just wondering if we could work out something that wouldn't conflict with either of our schedules…" he trailed off, gauging Bill's reaction. His expression remained tough and emotionless.

"No can do," the coach told him, his gruff voice matching his personality. "The time is set, and it doesn't change, Curly."

Will cringed at the nickname "I'm Will Schuester," he hastily introduced himself, and realizing that he had probably lost this one, he added "it's just for today, right? I'm sure Principal Figgins and you have worked out a schedule with your Cheerios that doesn't interfere with any other extracurricular activities that your girls might want to participate in?" He asked hopefully, knowing that even when Sue had been coach, Figgins had made sure that things were moderately fair.

"I have to pick my team first. That will determine how often I need to have practice, Curly." He turned away, opening an energy bar, and Will knew that was the most he was going to get out of him.

He sighed, returning the table with Lilah to finish his lunch. He found Lilah intently studying his list, and he gave her a curious look.

"Sorry," she apologized, pushing the paper back toward him. He saw that she had scribbled on it in her messy scrawl. "I know I don't know the students very well yet, but I couldn't help but to fiddle around with the groups a little." She looked at him expectantly, awaiting his approval.

Will glanced at the list, reading Lilah's grouping out loud as he did so. "Puck, Brittany, Kurt, and Rachel. Quinn, Matt, Mercedes, and Artie. And Finn, Santana, Mike, and Tina—those actually look pretty good," Will said, unable to hide his surprise. Either Lilah was lucky, or she picked up on people's personalities pretty quickly.

"Just one thing I want to change—I want to put Rachel in Finn's group. He's been pretty down lately, and I know that Rachel is one of the only ones who can get him motivated. Thanks, Lilah." This time, he really meant it.

And as Lilah grinned back at him, he decided that maybe her smile wasn't so frightening after all.


A/N: Ugh. Transition chapters suck. Sorry. But there is some wonderful Emma/Will goodness coming up soon. So bear with me.

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