Thank to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. M ratings always make me nervous (well, writing them, anyhow) and I appreciate all the kind words and constructive criticism. Here's a whole boat load of Wemma fluff for you as a reward. Alex is making it hard to do anything but stay in and write, so expect another chapter sometime this weekend...

"Man I don't know where the time goes, but it sure goes fast…we were brave, we were crazy, we were mostly young." – Kenny Chesney

Emma finished the last of her paperwork for the day and took a deep breath. The end of the school year always brought on more work than anyone ever wanted, but her overly organizational ways had her finishing tasks as others around her were scrambling. She tucked a folder into her cabinet and stood, grabbing her cardigan and purse. She wiped her desk once – a step forward from the thorough cleaning her departure would normally require – and locked the door behind her.

After a wonderful weekend of just getting reacquainted, she and Will had agreed that during the week they would keep their relationship low key – no middle of the week dates, no PDA at school. They had lunch together in the lounge just like before, and Will would sometimes come to her office on his free period to talk about glee or, if the door was closed, his impending divorce.

She knew he hadn't worn his wedding ring since he filed for divorce months ago, but she also knew he kept it in a box on the top of his dresser at home. She helped him through his struggles as best she could but, as she constantly told him, she had a bit of a biased opinion on the matter. He'd politely declined her offer to talk to her therapist; according to Will, she was the only therapy he needed.

Her heart fluttered as she remembered the morning she'd first awakened in his arms. At first, they'd simply laid there in each other's arms, reveling in the comfortable silence. He'd hopped out of bed to brush his teeth quickly before returning and smothering her with kisses for the better part of an hour. They'd cooked breakfast together and then, over toast and eggs, he'd talked to her about Terri and the baby and how utterly worthless he'd felt the night it had all come out.

Saturday had been full of tears of hurt and acceptance, and she caressed him and made him feel able to just cry over what he'd lost. Dinner had been simple and they'd fallen asleep on the couch watching old movies.

Sunday morning was a quick breakfast and a light talk about glee and what they were planning for regionals. The rules had just been announced, and the rumor of celebrity judges had been confirmed. Though no one knew just who was going to be there for fear of set lists being tweaked to gain favor, Will was excited for the kids to perform in front of professionals. Unfortunately, the rules were also requiring a theme for the set lists, so the three songs the kids had decided on were out the window.

They'd been working on it for a few days, but neither of them could come up with anything that seemed to work. Now it was Thursday and Emma just wanted to go home, eat something small, and take a long, relaxing bath.

"Miss P!" she heard Mercedes' voice and she looked up from digging through her bag for her keys. The sight before her made her stop in her tracks completely. Every member of the glee club was dressed in an outrageously ridiculous costume, and she couldn't help but giggle. Will was grinning as he coasted Artie to a stop in front of her.

"What's going on?" she asked, taking in each wild outfit. "Is there a costume ball I'm not aware of?"

"No," Finn answered, attracting far more attention to himself in a brashly red dress. "It's just our glee assignment for the week," he looked at his club mates before laying a hand on Kurt's shoulder. "It's about standing up for yourself, whoever you are." Emma gave them an impressed look, then turned to Will. He held his hands up in front of him and shrugged.

"Don't look at me…it all started because of Tina. She discovered a whole new side of herself as well as inspired the rest of us to explore our wild sides a bit."

"You know, Mr. Schue," Artie looked over his black pleather shoulder pads, "I seem to remember you telling us once that we're all a team."

"Yeah, where's your insane outfit?" Tina chimed in.

"I left it in the phone booth in case someone needed rescuing," he deadpanned, earning eye rolls and groans from the group.

"Can we go change, now?" Puck asked, trying to scratch an unreachable itch on his back. Matt clapped him hard, both to silence him and help him out. Will laughed and nodded.

"Yes, go, rehearsal's over. We're not meeting again until Tuesday, so keep practicing your runs and harmonics." He stepped away so Artie could join the departing group. Finally, only Rachel was left.

"Mr. Schuester," she started determinedly, "We desperately need to start practicing for regionals. Now that we know the rules –"

"I'm working on it, Rach. Just relax this weekend, have fun." She gave him a look of confusion before storming off down the hall. Emma laughed at the expression on Will's face as they watched her leave.

"She's certainly dramatic," Emma noted, and Will chuckled.

"You have no idea," he looked sidelong at her as she gave him an incredulous look. "Or maybe you do. What are you doing tonight?" Emma sighed mostly teasingly, but he just flashed a charming smile. "Can't blame a guy for trying. Walk you to your car?" She nodded and allowed him to take the files she was carrying as they continued down the hall. He finished up what he needed to in the choir room, then retrieved his things from his office before joining her in the hall.

"How's the end of the year stuff going?" he asked, resisting the urge to reach out and grab her hand like a love struck teenager.

"Hectic, but manageable. I don't know how people who procrastinate get it all done in time."

"Ah, but that's part of the fun," he teased. "Waiting until the absolute last minute to do that assignment for class, then the frantic rush to complete it before the bell rings. Good times," he laughed as his eyes gained a faraway look, and she knew he was remembering his times in these very halls as a teenager.

"What were you like then?" she asked. "I mean, I know you were in glee club and you dated Terri, but other than that…" He held open the door for her and let her precede him out the door.

"Well then, I know what we're doing tomorrow night," he said finally. "You come over to my place. We'll eat and pull out my old high school box." He opened her car door for her and let her sit before he leaned down and stole a kiss.

"Will," she protested weakly as he pulled away. He could tell by the look in her eyes that she wasn't mad at him, but he apologized anyway.

"I couldn't resist. See you tomorrow. Drive safe. I love you." He dropped his voice to a whisper at the last and shut her door, not missing the endearing look she gave him through her window. He waved as she drove off, resigning himself to a night of pizza, beer, and Spanish quizzes.

Friday was a blur of final reviews and signatures, and when the bell rang the students were surprised to see their teacher out the door before anyone else. Finn and Puck sitting the back row just smirked to each other, but said nothing as they gathered their things and got ready to leave.

Will raced down the hall, skimming by cheerleaders and dodging jocks. He halted momentarily by Emma's office, sad to see a young freshman weeping into her hands as Emma tried her best to console her. He caught her eye and held up six fingers, and she nodded to let him know she understood before he waved and continued on his trek out the door. He smiled to himself as he caught Emma laying a hand on the girl's back out of the corner of his eye, and secretly praised her once again for her strides in overcoming her fears.

Dinner was easy enough – baked potatoes and a salad – so he opened the hall closet and grabbed the step stool. There were several printer boxes on the top shelf that hadn't seen the light of day in many years, and he coughed as dust drifted down in the dim light of the single bulb. After a few boxes – and two more coughing fits, he really needed to dust – he found his high school box. He brought it down and cleaned it off as best he could before setting it on the coffee table. He hadn't opened that box in what seemed like forever, and he was suddenly very afraid of what he and Emma would find in there.

Before he could talk himself into talking her out of this, the oven dinged and the doorbell rang. He dashed to the door and unbolted it before running to the kitchen. He heard the door open as he pulled the potatoes out of the oven, and the soft padding of socked feet on his carpet.

"Will?" her sweet voice made him smile involuntarily, and he turned to just look at her. "What?" she asked, looking behind her for a second before turning back. "What are you smiling about?" He set the hot pan down on the stove and let them cool before striding over to pull her into his arms.

"This," he answered, leaning down for a kiss. Her hand gripped the back of his neck lightly, and they stood there for a moment just locked in embrace. After a few more seconds, Will pulled away and smoothed her hair away from her face. "Hi."

"Hello," she laughed, pushing away from him. "Potatoes?" She moved around him to start on the salad, which had been laid out just for her to prepare as he finished up with the main course.

"It was easy, and I was craving an overstuffed mound of starch. How was work?" She knew he was asking about the crying girl, and she sighed.

"Sometimes freshman don't realize how stressful finals can be; she was just struggling in one of her classes. I talked to her teacher and got her some extra credit work she can do, but I doubt she will."

"Procrastinator?" he teased, remembering their conversation from yesterday.

"Hmm," she agreed as she shredded the lettuce by hand. "You left in a hurry."

"I had some errands to run. I was going to stop in and tell you but…" he made a general gesture and she nodded as she topped off the salad. He cut into the potatoes and put one on each plate. They finished preparing dinner in a companionable silence, but when she turned toward the table he stopped her.

"We're going to eat in the living room tonight, like a picnic." She stared at him for a moment, completely in shock, before shaking her head.

"Will, I don't think –"

"Come on, Em," he coaxed, "I got my high school box out and everything. I thought we could eat and rifle through it." She was frozen for just a moment, but as soon as she looked at his encouraging smile, she relented.

"Okay," she breathed, following him out to the living room. He set a couch pillow on the floor next to the coffee table and sat down on it, handing Emma one to do the same. She hesitated for only a moment before joining him on the other side of the table. She'd managed to convince him over the weekend that - as sweet as it was - he didn't need to give up dairy just for her, and she only grimaced a little as he mixed the butter, sour cream, and bacon bits into the potato.

"Go ahead," he nodded toward the box, and she took a bite of salad before pulling off the top of the printer box. The first things she pulled out were old annuals, and he sighed in mock embarrassment as she opened the freshman book.

"Oh, look at you!" she cried, covering her mouth with her hand as she found his square inch picture among the throng. He closed his eyes and groaned as he devoured his potato.

"We're two minutes in, and I'm already regretting it," he moaned as she flipped through the pages.

"Oh hush," she shot back. "Look, here's the glee club photo." She turned it toward him and pointed to the picture, where a very young, very gangly Will Schuester was grinning goofily at the camera from the back row. "Aren't you adorable?"

"Yes, this was a great idea," he intoned, putting his head in his hands.

"Is that Bryan Ryan?" she asked with awe. "Look at that mullet!" Will actually shared a laugh with her on that, remembering how horrid mid 90's hairstyles really were. She was still giggling as she flipped through more pages, stopping when she recognized another face. "Terri?"

"Yeah," Will said, his tone cautious. This was the one aspect of reminiscing he wasn't looking forward to – remembering how so full of happiness and life Terri had been.

"I can see why…" she trailed off, looking a little uncomfortable. She cleared her throat and turned a few more pages. "Look, there's April…" He couldn't really decipher her tone, Will felt himself flush further, realizing this was probably not his best idea.

"Look, Emma, if this is uncomfortable for you…" he held out his hand to take the book from her, but she just shot him a confused look.

"Will, we've talked about April, so there's really no awkwardness there. And you and Terri had a lot of history, so it's only natural that you would think I would feel weird about discussing her. But you and I have worked through so much, and I don't feel…threatened by her anymore." Will just stared at the incredible woman across from him and withdrew his hand.

"You are amazing, you know that?" He shook his head in wonder. "I have no idea what I did to deserve you, but I'm glad I did it."

"Me too," she returned his smile, their gazes locking for a moment, before she shook her head and looked back down at his yearbook. Will reached into the box and pulled out a few medals from glee club wins and certificates for achievement that were worn and brown with age.

"You played soccer?" she asked suddenly, causing his head to snap up. She was in the athletics section now, and he smiled fondly as he remembered his first few years of high school.

"Huh? Oh yeah, for my first two years. I didn't make varsity, so I stopped to focus on glee." Emma nodded as she took in the soccer club's picture. He had been gangly then, but she could see some muscle definition in his legs and arms.

"Did you ever take dance lessons?" Her question seemed to come from left field, and it took Will a second to answer.

"Um, a little. My mom wasn't really the maternal type, and Dad was working a lot at the time. I knew Mom wouldn't understand, so I, uh, I told Mom it was karate lessons." Her jaw dropped in shock at the thought of Will ever lying to his parents. He seemed to catch on to her look and continued hastily. "It was only twice a week. I didn't really start concentrating on dance until college." He rubbed the back of his neck in an uneasy gesture, and Emma stopped to look at him in question. "Terri didn't really know either," he admitted. "When she found out my junior year of college…let's just say she wasn't happy about it. So I stopped. I wish I'd kept up with it…I love dancing." Emma smiled at him comfortingly.

"Well, if it's any consolation, you're really good at it." She remembered standing in an absurdly large wedding dress as he jived around her, swaying and sweeping in perfect time. He beamed with pride at her compliment, and Emma was reminded once again just what Will had gone through with Terri. That woman had never really told him how wonderful he was, how lucky she was to have him, and Emma knew then and there she would not make the same mistake. She stood up and grabbed her pillow, depositing it right next to his. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders happily and pulled her close as they flipped through the remaining three yearbooks.

"President of the Spanish Club," she said as they thumbed through his senior annual. "Big surprise." He nudged her lightly and turned the page. When they were done with the Thunderclaps, he pulled the box closer and began pulling out more memorabilia. There was an old dusty photo album his mother had given him, and they spent another hour laughing at various pictures from Will's high school days.

"I can't believe your graduating class started the slushie wars," she told him.

"Well, I was never slushied in high school thanks to glee, Spanish club, and Terri," he admitted. "But we were teenagers, and we all do things we regret."

"Will, you never slushied anyone?" she asked with horror in her eyes.

"No! I would never," he looked almost offended, but when she relaxed he sighed. "But I didn't encourage any of my peers to stop either."

"You're not responsible for their actions, Will, even if you were a popular kid. Teenagers are very, very stubborn, and they'll do what they want no matter what you tell them." He knew she spoke from experience, so he just kissed the side of her head and kept pulling things out of the box. There was a framed photo of the glee club from their National win in 1993, as well as a few awards he'd received for citizenship.

An old t-shirt was lying in the corner, and Will's face lit up as he unfolded his senior shirt. On the back was a screen print of McKinley High with the words "GO TITANS" scrawled underneath. Just below the neck line was his last name, printed jersey style in capital letters. The front simply had "CLASS OF 96" on the right breast. Every other square inch of fabric was covered in signatures from his classmates, and he smiled to himself as he read the words of his classmates all these years later.

"You were very popular," she noted, taking in the sheer amount of ink on the shirt.

"Only my last two years. I was a pretty average kid my freshman and sophomore years; I played soccer, got A's and B's, and sang in the glee club. My junior year was when everything kind of exploded. I started dating Terri, I got more leads in glee because Bryan had graduated, and things started going great. Pretty soon, everyone knew who I was." He read a few more lines, then folded the shirt back up.

"Something wrong?" she asked, her hand rubbing a comforter circle on his thigh.

"No," he told her. "It's just…things were so simple in high school. You got up, went to school for eight hours, hung out with friends, did some homework, then went to sleep. Everything was black and white then. When did things get so complicated?"

"It's called growing up, Will," she giggled. "Trust me, not everyone's high school experience was as golden as yours." He sensed a greater story behind her words, and turned an inquisitive eyebrow toward her.

"What was yours like?"

"Besides begging my parents to home school me practically every day so I wouldn't have to deal with hundreds of germy teens? Just peachy," she drawled. He huffed in amusement at her attempt at humor and squeezed her shoulder.

"Seriously, Em," he goaded, and she heaved a sigh.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you," she wagged a finger at him. "Let's see…my freshman year I didn't really talk to anyone. I lived in a relatively small town, mind you, so most people knew about my…problem. I didn't really have a friend until about half way through my sophomore year. There was a new boy in town, a year older than me, and he moved in two doors down. We started walking to school together after a week. A month later, he took me out for ice cream."

"Aww, your first romance," he laughed. She glared and elbowed him lightly, and he wisely closed his mouth to let her continue.

"Yes, well, if you remember, I don't do dairy. So ice cream turned into a three hour sobbing fest. Needless to say, I walked to school alone the rest of the year." Will's laughter died in his throat and he pulled her closer.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely, but she just shrugged.

"It's okay," she told him, but he shook his head.

"No, it's not. You missed out on so much…but we're going to fix that." She looked at him in confusion, but he just stood up and bowed. "Emma Pillsbury, would you be my date to prom?" She rolled her eyes at him and stood up.

"Will, prom was weeks ago," she reminded him in mock exasperation. He just huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You really are a buzz kill," he joked. "Fine then." He reached into the box and closed his fist around something before darting off to his bedroom. She stood in the middle of his living room now thoroughly confused as to what he had planned. He returned moments later, his hand still fisted around something tightly. He directed her to the couch and sat down next to her, motioning for her to turn around. Still confused but willing to play along, she turned her back to him. He pulled her hair up off her neck and asked her to hold it. His hands then went over her head, then back around her neck, and she felt something heavy land on her chest. As he clasped the necklace just below her hair line, she looked down and smiled through her tears at the sight of his class ring hanging on a silver chain.

"Go steady with me?" he asked, kissing her neck lightly. She turned back toward him and laughed.

"You are such a goof," she said lovingly, pulling him to her for a kiss. "And yes, I will." He leaned her back on the couch, following her with his lips as they proceeded to make out. She actually felt like a teenager again as he hesitantly increased the pace and depth of their make out session, and she felt his fingers dancing at the hemline of her shirt. They shifted so they were lying side by side on the cushions, and she let her hands do some exploring of their own.

She felt him gasp as her fingers slipped underneath his shirt, tracing the contours of the muscles she knew were there.

"Emma," he breathed, breaking their kiss. "As much as I love that feeling, if you continue I'm not sure I'll be able to stop myself from ravishing you thoroughly." She giggled at his attempt at being serious as her hands stilled on his abs. With a wicked gleam in her eyes, she moved her hand quickly to his sides, where he'd admitted only a week ago to being ticklish. Just as expected, he jumped and let out a bark of laughter. She squeezed the muscles of his side lightly again, and he squirmed to put some distance between them. Unfortunately for Will, the only direction to go was backward, and he tumbled off the couch onto the floor. She was laughing by now, her eyes tearing up, and when his head poked up from the floor he smiled at the happiness on her face.

"You know, of course, this means war," he told her, and she shrieked as he began attacking her with his hands, trying to find any spot on her that was ticklish. He finally found it on her thigh just above her knee, and when he grabbed her she squealed and jumped up. She tried to bolt from him, but his arm snaked around her waist and pulled her flush against him.

"Let me go!" she yelled as she laughed, his hands trying to reach her ticklish spot again. She twisted an arm behind her and pinched his, causing his grip to loosen enough so she could get away. He began chasing her all over the house, but it was in his bedroom when he finally caught up with her. She'd cornered herself behind his bed, and when she scrambled over it to get away he tackled her into the pillows.

They lay there catching their breath for a moment before he snuggled down and hummed with contentment. She let him hold her for a few moments before squirming out of his grasp. He groaned at the loss of her, but she swatted his shoulder.

"Come on, we need to go clean up." He sighed and heaved himself from the bed in one motion, following her out to the living room. As they tidied up dinner and Will's box of memories, he caught her fingering his ring every few moments. Suddenly, his mind filled with images of her playing with an entirely different kind of ring, but he shook his head to clear it. Now was not the time start thinking about that; they'd just started dating, he reminded himself. But as the night wore on and they settled down to watch television, he just couldn't get that image out of his head.