I LOVE this chapter! And the next one! And the next one's part two! :D

Mercy

Finn's POV

Despite Quinn's insistence that something was wrong with the baby, everything was perfectly fine. I sort of dozed off when the doctors explained everything to me, but I guessed it was just a bad stomachache and Quinn's panic attack forced her to be hurt even more, somehow. I didn't know. But now we were in school two days after it happened, and Quinn was all right.

"I was thinking . . . Lyric."

"Lyric?"

I nodded at Quinn. The day before, I had gone to see Mr. Schue at the LPI upon hearing Puck had gone there. Mr. Schue had always been like a dad to me; he was really cool when he helped me and gave me advice, especially when I first found out Quinn was pregnant (with Puck's baby) a year ago.

When I saw Mr. Schue, I was allowed to talk to him for a half hour, and I used up all that time and still needed more. I explained to him that Quinn and I were expecting a boy and were going to keep him. Then I gave him the speech about how I was afraid and felt like I wasn't ready. He proceeded to tell me that I'd be a great father and that I was ready enough to take on the world if I wanted to, and it took him at least five minutes to put it into one of his famous inspirational lectures. Somehow or other, the two of us got into a conversation of what to name the baby.

Now I was standing by Quinn's locker. I had waltzed right up and said I was thinking of names for the kid, and she stopped and turned around as soon as I gave my suggestion: Lyric.

"Yeah. Lyric," I said. "I was talking to Mr. Schue last night at the LPI. When he was thinking of names for his kid—well, what he though was going to be his kid—he tried to think of things close to his heart. So I thought of things close to my heart. I could mostly only think about Glee Club. So I played around with some stuff and looked online and found the name Lyric." I looked at the ground sheepishly. "I know you probably think it's really girly and would never give a boy that name. But I saw a movie with a guy named Lyric once. And, plus, it has significance and it's something important to me and you. Unlike Drizzle . . ." I shook my head.

"Finn, I think . . . it's beautiful."

I looked up at her, and she had a small smirk on her face, her eyebrows raised above her glistening green eyes. "Really?"

"Yeah." She nodded.

"I was so sure you'd shut it down. You really want to use it for the kid?" I asked. I couldn't believe that she would actually agree with me on a name, since she'd so bitterly put down Drizzle as soon as I had suggested it. But now she was agreeing on a name that anyone else would think to be far too feminine to use on a boy.

"Of course," she breathed. "You're right; it's significant and unique and just . . . perfect."

I grinned. "Thanks." I scratched my ear and looked around awkwardly. "So . . . uh . . . Beth doesn't have a middle name, does she?"

"No," Quinn replied, shaking her head slowly. She ran her skinny forefinger along the top of her textbook, her eyes focused on that; she must have been looking for something to distract herself. Her pale pink nails just barely scratched the edges of the book. "We—um, I mean, Puck—only told Shelby that her name was Beth. And Shelby never came up with a middle name afterward; she told us."

I nodded. "So do you want Lyric to have a middle name?" It felt strange addressing the baby by a name, what would be his own name when he was born. I clenched my free hand into a fist to hold back a slightly enlivening shudder.

"If you want him to have one," Quinn answered, spinning back around to face her open locker. She put her books on the top shelf and turned to me again. "Can you think of one that might be good?"

"No idea."

Quinn shrugged as she shut her locker door. "Well, we'll think of something. If not, he doesn't have to have one." She smiled at me before heading off to her class. I grinned widely, mock-punching the air faintly as I turned and trudged toward my class victoriously.

Emma's POV

"Have a good day, Jacob. Try not to think so much about Rachel, okay?"

Jacob nodded, sighing as he stepped out into the hall, closing the door behind him. I shook my head. Jacob Ben Israel had one too many problems. His biggest predicament was his obsession over Rachel Berry; it was getting in the way of things, and it was admittedly pretty creepy. But I was used to dealing with all kinds of things kids needed help with.

I flipped through Jacob's file once more before closing it and heading over to the file cabinet. I flicked through all of the folders until I reached the I's, and I put Jacob's file in its designated place. When I turned around and looked out my glass door and into the halls—clear of students, as they were in class—I gasped at the sight and jumped at least a foot backward.

He was standing there, hands in the pockets of his brown jacket. His jeans were faded. He wore one of his infamous white tight-fitting T-shirts. Since it was a Friday—casual Friday—he had on his favorite blue-gray sneakers.

I backed into the wall and started crying immediately.

He pressed his hands against the glass instantly and said my name repeatedly. His tone was worried. I squeezed my eyes shut, shaking my head and sliding down the wall until I was sitting. I pressed my knees to my chest and hugged my knee-length yellow-and-pink flowered skirt close to me, the large yellow bow on my blouse tickling my arms. My hair fell into my face as I shook my head dynamically and cried into my folded arms.

"Emma," I heard his angel-like voice say again. I felt his breath on my arms and panicked instinctively. I crawled toward my desk and leaned my head on the cool wood feel of it. His nervous brown eyes met mine. I cried harder.

"They released me this morning," he explained softly.

"Why?" I sobbed, turning away.

He stood very slowly and took a small step forward. "It's a long story . . . Well, my sentence is over. They were going to keep me one more night, but . . . Sue came and convinced them to let me go early—yes, Sue Sylvester—and they agreed, upon taking more persuasion from someone who would visit me almost regularly."

My head snapped up and I stared at him, my eyes narrowed. "Who visited you regularly?"

He tilted his head slightly, blinking slowly, about to say something to avoid the subject, but I knew him well enough to realize when that was going to happen and prevent it. I fluttered to my feet, hands balling into fists my by sides. I gripped tightly the hems on either side of my skirt.

"Who, Will?"

"Shelby Corcoran," he responded, almost automatically. "She brought Beth to the LPI a few times just to make sure I was okay." Will put his palms up quickly. "But there's nothing going on between us, Emma; I swear to you."

"How do I know you're telling me the truth?" I demanded, my voice rising. "It's not like you haven't lied before! And I can think up a perfectly awful lie right now that you kept for months – you didn't even tell me that you killed Terri, Will! How do you think that makes me feel? I thought we were going to tell each other everything! What happened to that promise, huh?"

"Emma, please! I've changed!"

"Maybe I didn't want you to change! You wouldn't have had to change if you didn't murder your ex-wife!" I sucked in a deep breath. "By the way, I found out which of your students knows the real offense that got you arrested. I kept it to myself, because that's not the kind of secret that needs to be told. The fact that you killed someone, on the other hand, is definitely not a little aspect that you can push to the back of your mind and keep to yourself!"

"Which of the kids knows?"

"It's Quinn, but that doesn't matter right now, Will!"

"Emma, you've said your part. Now, please, listen to me!"

I folded my arms across my chest and waited uncomfortably as tears continued to fall.

Will stared at me thoughtfully. "Being in the LPI helped me, Emma. I realized just how terrible what I did was, and I was even taught how to figure out why I did it in the first place. At first, I thought I only killed Terri because I wanted her out of my life. But, over time, I found that there was something more to my methods." He took another step forward. "I did it because I wanted you. Only you. I didn't want anyone interfering with our love, and the first person I thought would do just that was Terri. So I figured that, if she was out of the picture, you and I could be together forever."

He stepped forward again. He was moving gradually as to not scare me. I liked the feeling of being close to him again, and my heart jumped at the sound of his voice.

Will continued, "My point is that I love you with my life, Emma Pillsbury. I never thought I would hurt you by doing this and, obviously, I was being stupid. You're the only one I ever want to be with. If you forgive me, I promise to always protect you and to hold you when you're scared and to never be so idiotic again. I'll apologize for every little flaw and love you with everything left of my heart." He was crying. "Please forgive me."

My stomach lurched. I felt love again. I knew this was it. I had to forgive him.

I loved him.

Slowly, I nodded. I walked toward him. My eyes fixed on his smiling face, I leaned in to hug him. He was so warm.

I never knew I could feel so safe and loving in the embrace of a killer.