Yeah…I have no excuses for not updating sooner. Sorry about that.

Chapter 8

Living in fear was something that Emma Schuester had gotten used to. With OCD being a constant battle, it wasn't too unusual for her to become frightened perhaps more often than the average person, though, the fear of touching a doorknob after a sick teen or using the restroom and not washing your hands wasn't the same kind of fear she had become so accustomed to lately.

No, this fear was much different. It wasn't a feeling that could go away with a little bit of hand sanitizer or one compulsive ritual. It was the kind that invaded every thought, every nerve ending, every moment of every day; the fear that at any moment someone could be there to end it all. In the blink of an eye, everything could be gone.

Emma knew her thoughts were likely just a little bit dramatic, but she couldn't help it. After her first attack she couldn't help anticipating another. She felt lucky to be alive and well (and thankfully still pregnant) in the first place; she simply couldn't imagine it happening again.

Which is why a plan had been made; a plan that she and Will had come up with to make Emma's safety their first priority. It had been decided that Emma would be with either Will or Shannon at all times, with the exception of during class time. After much argument on Emma's part, Will had agreed that the school was populated enough to ensure her safety during school hours, though she would eat lunch with Will or Shannon and come to Glee practice after she was finished with work.

She knew it was for a good reason and she certainly didn't mind that her husband and best friend were willing to go to such lengths for her, but she would be lying if she said it wasn't beginning to get on her nerves. She felt like a child who needed a babysitter to function. And it was made worse by the pregnancy. She was pretty sure that Will was thinking she'd need help walking any day now.

It had only been a month since the Stalker Protection Order was called off and already Emma was going stir crazy! She wasn't sure she could take much more if she was being honest with herself.

She gathered the paperwork from her desk and placed it in a folder, organizing it so that each piece of paper lined up with the one behind it. She grabbed her purse and her coat as well as the folder, and made her way down the hall to the music room. Emma noticed the classroom was empty as she arrived, likely because she was a few minutes early, so she placed the folder and her purse on the piano and searched for her keys. She was going to work on some paperwork in Will's office so that the kids could focus during Glee rehearsal a little bit better as they had easily won their sectionals and were now focusing on regionals.

She pulled her keys out of her purse and put the spare key to Will's office in the lock, turning it over and opening the door. The sweet smell of roses filled her senses as she flicked on the light, noticing a vase of flowers on his desk. She smiled at the delicate white petals as she put her things down on his desk and placed her nose in them to take a sniff. As she leaned over, she noticed a card was attached with purple ribbon to the middle of the vase.

She momentarily scanned her brain for some sort of special occasion she could be forgetting but when the date didn't stand out in her mind, her curiosity grew. What on earth could the flowers be for? And why were they in his office of all places? Perhaps he was waiting until the afternoon to give them. Emma realized she may be ruining a surprise her husband could be planning so she stepped away from the arrangement. She looked to the clock and noticed she only had a few minutes before Will would show up for Glee. That would be plenty of time to read the card, then put it back unnoticed. At this point she was desperate to figure out what the occasion was, and to be sure it wasn't something important she had forgotten.

She untied the small envelope from the ribbon and pulled out the card to read it, smiling as she wondered what sort of silly rhyme she would encounter from her husband this time. She always loved when he surprised her. As she pulled the card out she picked up the vase from the desk and smelled them once more as she began to read.

My beautiful Emma,

Your curls are ginger red

Your skin as white as snow

Your eyes light up my life

I'll love you more than you'll ever know.

One day we'll be together my sweet. And one day, you will realize just how much you love me too. Show me you're ready. Leave your husband. You wouldn't want anything to happen to him after all. Let's raise our baby together Emma. I can promise you happiness and love. Just leave him and we can be together.

-xoxo

J

Emma's heart leapt in her chest as she dropped the roses, the vase shattering to pieces on the floor.

"Emma?" She could hear Wills voice from the entrance to the choir room followed by his footsteps rapidly approaching her. He was in the office only seconds later looking at the mess of glass, water, and flowers all over the floor and his petrified wife standing in the middle of it.

"Emma, what happened? Are you alright?" He asked as he scanned her over for cuts and scratches. He found one on her leg. "Em, you're bleeding." He said, as he tried to approach her, moving cautiously around the glass shards on the floor.

"Will…" Emma trailed off, handing him the card. "This was on your desk with the roses." She bit her lip to fight the growing panic as tears were already beginning to gather.

Will looked on, concern evident in his expression, as he reached for the note and read it to himself quickly. After digesting the note, he looked back to Emma, her face mirroring the panic he felt.

"I-I don't even know how he got in. The door was locked when I got here. We are the only people with keys besides Figgins!" Emma was trying her best to rationalize the situation.

A sickening feeling of dread was already building in Will's stomach as his mind raced. He had to stay focused though. "Emma, we need to call Officer Michaels and let him know right away what happened. You need to sit down though. There's a piece of glass in your leg and I need to remove it." He extended his arm to her, "Here, let me help you to the classroom."

"Okay." Emma said as she accepted Will's hand and stepped cautiously over the glass. Shock began to creep its way into her veins. Once they were away from the glass, Will picked Emma up and carried her to the piano bench, placing her gently with her leg extended.

He was thankful for the lose-fitting maternity dress she was wearing at this point as she would never be able to sit like this in one of her old skirts or dresses. He kneeled down to look over the wound, which had a shard of glass about two inches long sticking out of cut just below her knee.

As Will was making his assessment, Kyle and Ryan came into the room. "Whoa, what happened?" Ryan asked as he noticed a gash in his guidance counselor's leg.

"A vase fell," Will said blankly to the glee club members.

Laughter and footsteps could be heard approaching the room as Emily, Addison, and Mark were so enthralled with their conversation that they almost ran into the two seniors who had stopped in the doorway to see what happened.

"Kyle, I'm walking here!" Addison said with a bit of attitude to the boy before she looked over his shoulder and saw her teachers. "What's going on?" She asked loudly. This got the attention of the other two teens and the couple now had five pairs of eyes watching.

"Mrs. S broke a vase. She's got glass sticking out of her leg. It's so cool!" Ryan said, far more excited by the medical concern than he should have been, though nobody was surprised by his reaction. This was the boy who accidentally let loose his science fair entry of twenty African hissing cockroaches, which then required principal Figgins to spray the school for bugs, keeping students and faculty out for three days.

"It's not cool, it's gross!" Emily said, making a disgusted face.

"Shouldn't you take her to the nurse Mr. Schue?" Mark asked, his eleven years of boy scout training coming in handy.

Will was getting frustrated by this point. He was scared and worried which made it very difficult to concentrate on the problem at hand. "Guys, it's okay. I just need one of you to go get the nurse and ask her to bring a first aid kit. You can also let everyone know that Glee is cancelled for the day. I need to get Mrs. Schuester home."

The teens looked to each other, mentally questioning who would be the one to get the nurse. Addison rolled her eyes and pulled the group outside the door, just out of hearing range from her teachers. "Fine, I'll go get the nurse. But somebody better stay here with them. Mr. Schue looks freaked out and I don't even know what's wrong with Mrs. Schue."

The four glee clubbers nodded as they parted ways, leaving Mark and Ryan to stay with the adults.

Will was pacing circles on the floor while on the phone with Officer Michaels as Mark and Ryan were attempting to distract Emma from her leg. They had been around her long enough to know that although she had improved with messes, blood was not something that she handled well. Ironically, it didn't seem to be bothering her in the slightest. More than anything she seemed to be staring off into space and thinking.

Minutes later the nurse rounded the corner with Addison and Emily in tow, and Will quickly got off of the phone with Officer Michaels as she entered.

Nurse Hadley was relatively new to the school, but she was a very empathetic woman who seemed to know what she was doing. She quickly kneeled down next to the piano bench and assessed the wound herself. "Mrs. Schuester, what happened?"

"I-I dropped a vase. The glass shattered on the tile." Emma said, her focus finally on the ailment at hand. It wasn't until she looked at the wound that she noticed how painful it was.

"What do you think, Mrs. Hadley? Does she need stiches, or would a butterfly Band-Aid be enough?" Will asked as he joined the nurse at his wife's side.

"Well the laceration is quite long, but it doesn't appear to be very deep. I think she will be okay with a little bit of Neosporin and a few butterfly bandages." Nurse Hadley pulled the necessary supplies out of her bag removed the glass from Emma's leg with some tweezers. After cleaning and bandaging the wound, the nurse instructed the couple to keep it clean and dry for at least the next few days until it began to heal. The nurse was thanked for her help as she went on her way.

"Guys, could you help me get Emma to the car please? I don't want her walking on her leg." Will asked the two boys who looked eager to do something besides sit and watch.

"Sure!" Mark said, always happy to help.

"Will, I can walk on my own. It's just a cut." Emma said, as she turned her body to an easier position and stood. Will was at her side in a heartbeat helping her up.

"Here you go." He said, making sure she was steady before letting go.

"Will, really I'm fine. Let's just go home." Emma said, still trying to suppress her anxiety.

"Alright," Will agreed, turning to his two students, "Thanks for sticking around, guys. I appreciate the help. I'll see you in class tomorrow." Will said.

"No problem, Mr. Schue," both boys said as they gathered their things and headed for the door.

"I hope your cut feels better soon Mrs. S. And thanks for letting me watch!" Ryan said with a lopsided grin as he was leaving the choir room.

"Thank you, Ryan," Emma called back to him with a half-smile.

Will quickly gathered his and Emma's things, as well as the letter from the vase, and walked Emma to the car.

By the time the couple arrived back at Shannon's, Officer Michaels was there.

They politely said their hellos and Will let him in, directing the man to the living room.

They sat down, making themselves comfortable for what would likely be an uncomfortable conversation. Will had already informed Officer Michaels of the day's events on the phone, but it wasn't until the officer could sit down with them that he could take a statement. Will gave the letter to Officer Michaels who put it into an evidence bag, sealing it tightly.

"So, what happens now? " Will asked as he reached for Emma's hand. "Is the SPO re-issued? And can the police use that to figure out who's doing all of this?"

Emma looked up, anxiously awaiting the officer's answers.

"I'm afraid we can't re-issue the SPO as no threat was made on Emma's life. Typically in a situation like this we would recommend filing for a restraining order, but legally we can't do that if we don't know yet who the stalker is. I can take the letter back to the station and have the guys run it through the database to see if anything matches, but that's a bit of a long shot honestly."

Will let out a frustrated sigh. It seemed like the police, who were supposed to be there to protect, weren't doing much of anything to help.

"I know this is frustrating and I wish there was more we could do to help." Officer Michaels said, sympathetically." My advice to you would be to be extra vigilant and aware of your surroundings. Try not to take any risks with strangers or friends and we can go over your lists again. Also Will, this goes for you too. He may be planning to harm you and you need to be aware that you could be being stalked as well. Just try your best to have someone else with you at all times. Stalkers don't generally approach you if you are with somebody. I wish there was more I could do." Officer Michaels ran a hand through his hair.

"Thanks for your information. We can stop by the station tomorrow." Will said.

Both men stood and Will escorted the police officer to the door, thanking him once again for his time. He shut and locked the door, then returned to the couch where his wife sat staring off into space.

"Emma," Will said as he studied her face. She didn't seem to hear him as she continued to stare across the room. "Em, are you okay?" Will asked.

Emma finally snapped out of her haze and turned her attention to her husband.

"What? Oh, yeah. I'm sorry Will. I'm just-" She sighed. "I don't know anymore."

Wills heart melted with her somber expression. He couldn't help but take her into his arms and hold on tight for what seemed like hours, but was really only minutes.

"That's it," Will said as he pulled back, looking her in the eye. "We're going on a vacation." His statement was firm and definitive. "Tomorrow."

Normally Emma would have argued the idea as they both had school the next day, but she just didn't have it in her to stay any longer. She wanted to get away. She needed to be somewhere else where she didn't have to look over her shoulder and worry about some stranger attacking her and sending love letters. Yes, a vacation would be just what they needed. "Okay. Tomorrow sounds good." She returned, leaning back into him. He kissed the top of her head lovingly as his arms draped around her. They stayed like that for the next hour until Shannon arrived home and they explained the day's events to her.

Tomorrow would be a good day for them. Getting away would be the perfect thing for them right now. All she had to do was pack, and pick a destination.