A/N: If the end is too cheesy I apologize I tried to make it as non-cheesy as possible. Anyway, I hope you like it!
Also I do have a Spanish phrase somewhere in this chapter…I took Spanish for four years in high school and I'm still in Spanish now in college but I still don't know Spanish that well so I looked up the phrase on the internet and how to write it and this is what they gave me so if its wrong I'm sorry!
Will had been acting weird all day, Emma noticed. In the morning while at the breakfast table he was awfully quiet. He talked to her, asked her how she had slept but he seemed distracted. It was like his mind was somewhere else.
In the past year that they had been a couple Emma came to know all of Will's different facial expressions mostly from not being able to keep her eyes off of him. He had different levels of emotion. He had a couple of different facial expressions for happiness, for sadness, he rarely ever got angry but often a little frustrated. But the one on his face now meant he was physically there but mentally a million miles away. When she would talk he would listen and make comments about what she said to prove he was listening but in his eyes she saw the distance.
The car ride was much the same. Silence in the car was not unusual to them. Sometimes they would talk, sometimes they would put on the radio or a CD they had, bust most of the times they would just sit in silence. Emma kept her eyes on the road but out of her peripheral vision she could see Will staring at her the whole ride there. At first she would blush but it soon become a normal occurrence and so the blushing stopped but the butterflies in her stomach never ceased to exist.
But that day Will wasn't staring at her. He was staring out the window and he was slouched in his seat, his chin rested in his palm. To break the unusually awkward silence she flipped on the radio and smiled upon hearing one of Will's favorite songs. However Will didn't react to it at all except the tapping of his foot to the beat of the song.
When they reached the school, Will took her hand as usual and together they walked to Emma's office. However, instead of sitting down with her for a couple of minutes before the students started to arrive, he simply kissed the side of her face and went down to his room.
Up until lunchtime Emma's mind was constantly on Will's odd behavior. Even when she had a student, her advice wasn't as up to par as usual.
She wondered what could have Will acting so odd. She just didn't understand. Will had had bad days before, days where a lot was on his mind but when that would happen he would usually talk to her about it. Not avoid her and distance himself.
She decided then that she would ask Will at lunch if he wanted to talk about whatever was bothering him because something had to be bothering him. But only ten minutes before their lunch period began she got a phone call from Will telling her that he had a student who needed his attention during lunch. A phone call.Him leaving her for lunch wouldn't have bothered her, he has done it before and she understood that some of his students needed his help sometimes. But he would usually come down to her office personally to apologize for not being able to go, never, not once, had he ever given her a phone call. It wasn't even on her cell phone either, it was her work phone. The phone that the teachers use to communicate, the phone that is used for business purposes only.
So she sat alone at lunch, at a table in the far corner, trying to avoid everyone. She took out her gloves and sanitizing wipes and started to wipe down every grape which she had been doing less and less often whenever Will was around. She knew that Will didn't mind her odd rituals, in fact he treated it like it was normal to do, but still she wanted to improve herself for him. Will was the only man in the world to make her forget about messes even if only for a little while. So she would try to forget cleaning things, especially food, while he was around and concentrating on him instead of the germs really helped her. But now Will wasn't there and today the table and her food seemed extra dirty. She didn't even want to sit down in the chair and she contemplated going back to her office to eat. But then she realized she would then get her desk dirty and decided to stay in the cafeteria.
As she sat in silence she began to think about reasons why Will would want to avoid her. Had she done something to upset him? He rarely ever got upset at her and when he did they would usually talk it out, sometimes it would have a small argument but that only lasted a couple of minutes and it would end with a happy make up. She could not think of what she might have done to cause Will to be so distant.
When she came up with nothing that she might have done she began thinking about other people around him. Did something happen in glee club? In one of his Spanish classes? Did, she hated to think, he run into Terri somewhere?
She was about to pop a grape into her mouth when she suddenly paused. A feeling of dread arose in the pit of her stomach as she remembered something her older sister had told her when she was a teenager: "There's only one reason for a guy to avoid you. He's going or planning to break up with you."
Emma lowered the grape back into the container and sat staring blankly at the wall. The feeling of dread intensified when she remembered that Will had once been this distant before. Not to her, but in general. When he was divorcing Terri.
She suddenly had lost all her appetite and continued to stare, horrified, at the wall. What had she done? Had Will finally had enough of her crazy mysophobic tendencies? Did he realize that she wasn't worth all the extra work he had to do just to not make her uncomfortable?
Some of the other teachers noticed her sudden expression and started whispering to each other, wondering if they should go over to her and ask what was wrong. But then they figured she was just having another mini panic attack because something was dirty and decided against it.
Only Ken Tanaka, who was sitting on the other side of the cafeteria and was watching her the entire time, knew there was something wrong. He debated in his head back and forth whether or not he should go over there to ask her what was wrong. In the past year and a half he had been avoiding Emma and Will at all costs. He was slowly getting over the heartbreak Emma had put him through but he didn't want to deal with the awkward tension that would surely come from talking to either of them. But the part of him that still cared made up his mind for him and so he got up and walked over to her table, sitting down across from her. She didn't even seem to notice him.
"Uh...Hey Emin..." He paused and cleared his throat, "…Emma."
His voice seemed to pull her out whatever trance she was under and she looked at him, blinking back tears that had started to form in her eyes. "H-hi Ken." She muttered.
"What's the matter?" He cut right to the chase.
"Nothing." She quickly responded, swallowing hard. "N-nothing." She nodded once, letting out a deep breathe, obviously not believing her own words.
"Is it Schuester?" Ken asked bitterly. "Did he hurt you?"
Emma's eyebrows shot up and she shook her head. "No! No…" not yet… "Will is great."
The skepticism was obvious on Ken's face but she couldn't handle anymore of the questions. She packed up her lunch and slowly rose from her seat, "I've got to go." She whispered to him and brushed past him and towards the exit.
She got to her office and put her Tupperware in the bottom desk of her drawer and sat down, letting out a breath. Her eyes travelled immediately to the picture of her and Will that sat on her desk. It was only a couple of weeks ago; Emma had gone to the glee room after she thought all the kids had left. The room was empty except for Will who was putting away some sheet music. Somehow Emma had ended up sitting on top of Will's lap with her arms around his neck and his arms securely around her waist. They both were smiling and laughing and then they saw the flash of the camera and then the giggling and scurrying away of some of the glee kids. The next day she found the picture on her desk and so she found a frame and it has been there ever since. Every day she would look at it and smile to remind herself of how happy they were and how this was her dream come true.
Apparently, they weren't as happy as she thought, if Will was going to break up with her. She felt herself starting to choke up at even the thought. What was she going to do if he did? She could barely handle it when he wasn't hers to begin with but how could she handle it when he was hers and then she lost him. Oh the heartbreak would be endless she was sure of it.
She shook her head and closed her eyes. No, she could not think about that. She was jumping to conclusions. Her sister had told her that fifteen years ago and she was still a teenager herself, what did she know about the male mind? Emma was the guidance counselor now, out of anyone she should know that Will wanting to end things was not the only possible reason he was avoiding her.
But the question was, if that was not it, then what was?
Rachel came to see her towards the middle of the day and the whole time she was grinning even more than usual. She talked about herself as usual not really letting Emma get a word in edgewise. Not that Emma really minded, if she could just half listen to Rachel and not give advice she could try to think of the reasons why Will was avoiding her.
After about fifteen minutes of Rachel talking, Emma had to cut her off short because she had an appointment with another student. As Rachel was leaving, she gave her a big, happy grin and she even squealed a bit before leaving the room which left Emma pondering what had caused that? Rachel and Finn had started going out months ago and if anything big happened between them surely Rachel would have mentioned that in her talk but she didn't. Perhaps Will gave her a big solo for glee but she would have mentioned that too. So Emma was completely baffled by her actions.
Later on while Emma was cleaning the windows to her office, Finn and Rachel passed her open doorway and Finn called in, "Congratulations Miss P."
Emma paused in her cleaning to give Finn a questioning look. Rachel slapped him on the arm hissing, "Shut up Finn!"
"Ow...what'd I do?" Finn mumbled rubbing his arm as Rachel dragged him down the hallway once again leaving Emma dumbfounded.
Now she had two things to think about. Why Will had not talked to her all day and why Rachel was overly happy, Finn had congratulated her and why Rachel was trying to be secretive about it.
While she was with her last student for the day, her eyes were drawn to outside her office where Will had stopped. His normal smile was on his face and he waved at her through the glass.
In that instant all her silly fears and insecurities disappeared and she smiled back. He looked around the empty hallway and then walked closer to the glass. His face scrunched up in remorse and he clearly mouthed 'I'm sorry' and then 'I love you'. He pointed down the hallway to say that he was going and then he kissed the inside of his hand and turned it around and held it inches from the glass. She bit her lip, trying to hide her smile and then he disappeared down the hallway. She knew she was just being ridiculous. Will was just busy all day and that's why he had been not talking to her. She couldn't believe she actually thought he was going to break up with her.
But her relief was only short lived. When she met Will after they had both finished for the day, he was slightly more talkative and more himself than earlier but still he looked distant.
In fact, in the car ride home he was uncharacteristically chatty. He talked about everything and anything that popped into his mind and often went off topic and Will was not one to ramble. So her nerves reared their ugly head again.
When they got home, once again Will was shying away from her. He would stay in the same room with her but he would never look at her for more than a few seconds. Eventually though he just plopped himself down on the couch and turned on the TV. She really started to worry when she realized he was watching a channel dedicated to infomercials….Will hated infomercials.
She realized, as she was pacing around the kitchen, that they were running out of food. She had a couple of hours before she started to prepare dinner so she decided to run out and do a quick shopping errand.
She grabbed her coat and bag and headed towards the front door, pausing only a moment to look at Will who was still watching the infomercial channel. "Will?" She called out to him.
"Huh?" He looked up and over to her.
"Um…we're running low on groceries so I'm just going to go run over to the store to pick up some things."
He nodded once. "Alright." Then he returned to his infomercials.
She frowned and headed towards the door but then she backed up. "Will?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you alright?"
Will looked up again and gave her a small, yet unconvincing smile. "I'm fine Em."
She sighed quietly. "It's just…" She took a few steps into the room. "You've been acting strange all day…"
His eyes widened in alarm and then his face returned to normal. "Really Emma there's nothing wrong."
"You know that you can tell me anything…right Will?" She asked quietly.
Will's face softened and he rose up from the couch, walking over to her and pulling her into his arms. He rested his head on top of hers and she rested her head against his chest. "Of course I know that Emma and if something was wrong I would tell you, I promise but its nothing." He pulled back to look down at her and she met his eyes. "Okay?"
She nodded and he smiled and kissed her forehead. "I love you." He pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear and she smiled up at him, still not fully convinced that Will was really alright.
She took her time shopping, letting her mind wander again. Part of her had ruled out the 'Will breaking up with her' option but the other, more insecure part kept coming back to that. She knew she trusted Will and if he said that nothing was wrong that she should believe him. And normally she would if all evidence didn't point to the contrary.
About an hour later when she returned home, Will was waiting for her by the door. He ran outside to help her bring in the groceries and her mind was once again boggled because Will now seemed completely back to normal.
When they were putting away the groceries, he was smiling all his regular smiles, telling all his regular jokes that could make her laugh, just being the Will she knew and loved. While she was cooking, he set the table as usual and then stood behind her, nuzzling his nose into her shoulder.
During dinner they talked about the usual, although Emma tried to focus on Will mostly because she did not want to tell him about the fears she had of him breaking up with her or the fact that she felt lonely during lunch. What she did tell him was that Ken had come over and talked to her. Will seemed surprised and he got a protective edge to his voice when he asked her what he said. Emma reassured him that he was only coming over because she was by herself and he wanted to see how she was, which was the truth, and that they didn't talk long.
After dinner when all the dishes were cleaned and put away, Emma was looking forward to their cuddle time on the couch but Will apparently had other plans. He was seated at the kitchen table with a huge stack of papers.
Emma walked over and stood behind him as he looked over the papers. She slid her hands up his back and rested them on his shoulders and started to massage neck and shoulders. "Are those all Spanish tests?"
"Yeah." Will sighed. "I tell you this is the last time I ever procrastinate on grading these tests."
Emma glanced at the abundant amount of tests on the table and moved to stand beside him. "You know I took Spanish all through high school and college I still remember most of it. I can help you if you want."
Will looked up, the obvious relief on his face. "Emma, you are a life saver."
She smiled at the comment and took a seat across from him. He shuffled a few papers around and then took a quarter of the pile and placed it in front of her.
She and Will shared a small glance and a smile before staring to work on the papers. She graded the first paper and found it to be relatively easy. And after a few papers she realized that some of the kids didn't understand Spanish. At all. Most of them, by glancing at the names, were girls. She wondered if Will being the teacher had any effect on that. She knew if her Spanish teacher was Will she wouldn't be as good in Spanish as she is now.
As she graded she noticed out of the corner of her eye that Will kept glancing at her and when she looked up to see what for, he would quickly turn away like some junior high kid who got caught staring at his crush.
She ignored the nagging feeling at the back of her mind and focused on grading the papers.
She suddenly came to a sheet that only had one question on it. She furrowed her brow and looked behind that sheet of paper to see the other tests. They were exactly the same as the ones before it but yet this one was different. She shrugged it off, thinking that maybe it was another quiz that got messed up in the pile of tests. So she started to read the question and the answer the student gave.
¿Quieres casarte conmigo?
I want a taco?
Well she knew right away that that was not the answer. So she looked into the question and tried to translate it.
Will you mar-
She gasped and dropped the paper onto the table. Her eyes widened and she glanced over to Will, who was not in his seat anymore but instead on one knee right beside her chair.
Her hand flew to her mouth as she continued to stare at him with her wide, brown eyes.
"Emma…" He started, his gaze locked onto hers, "You're my best friend but you're also so much more than that. You're the one person I can turn to without feeling that I'm being judged. I trust you more than I have ever trusted anybody, I trust you with my heart and I trust you with my life. You are the one person that I have been waiting for all of my life. It took both of us thirty years and a lot of heart break to find each other but we finally did and this past year that I have been with you has been the most wonderful experience of my life. I never want it to end, I want to wake up every morning and see your smiling face, I want to go to bed every night hearing you say that you love me. I want you forever."
Tears started to well up in her eyes and she could only stare at him in shock as he turned, pulled a small velvet box out of his pocket and opened it, revealing the most simple yet gorgeous ring she had ever seen in her entire life.
"I love you with all my heart. Emma," Her eyes were drawn from the ring to his face when he said her name, "Will you marry me?"
A single tear rolled down her cheek and time seemed to stand still. She could see Will's anxious face staring back at her patiently awaiting her answer and how she longed to respond but her body was unresponsive. Just when Will's face started to grow a little worried, she lowered her hand, a breathing taking grin spread across her face and she threw herself at Will.
The force of her body sent them both flying onto the floor but Emma, for once, could care less. She grabbed Will's face in both of her hands and kissed him with more passion than she ever had before. "Yes." She mumbled against his lips after a moment. "Yes. Yes, oh God yes!"
Will didn't waste anytime, he kissed her back with the same amount of passion and she could feel his smile against her lips. She knew she probably had the exact same smile on her face.
Reluctantly, after a minute, Emma pulled away and looked down at him. Her vision was slightly blurry from the tears that had filled them but she could clearly see the happiness that radiated off of him. He sat up, pushing her off of him slightly in the process and they both remained sitting on their kitchen floor. Will took the ring out of the box, took her hand and slid the ring onto the fourth finger of her left hand. She smiled tearfully down at the ring and admired it for a few seconds before glancing back up at Will. Where as the ring was gorgeous and she loved it the REAL prize she wanted and received was the man sitting in front of her.
"Do you like it?" Will asked even though he knew the answer. She smiled and linked her fingers with his, nodding.
"I love it." She whispered. "But I love you more."
He grinned and the newly engaged couple leaned in for another kiss.
"Em?"
"Yes?"
"You know we're on the floor."
"Who cares?"