A/N: This was a request and is what REALLY should have happened in The Substitute.
Will stumbled out of the choir room, one hand flying to his forehead, the other pressing up against the wall to steady himself as a wave of dizziness fell over him.
He took a few deep breaths and waited for the hallway to stop spinning before slowly continuing forward. He kept one hand on the wall to keep himself standing up right as he slithered down the hallway keeping his focus straight ahead of him.
His whole body ached and he found it increasingly difficult to keep his muscles moving and he briefly wondered how he was going to make it to his car when all he wanted to do was lie down there on the spot to relieve the terrible feeling washing over him.
He made it to the end of the hallway, his eyes squinting at the overly bright light shining in through the window and leaned up against the wall, shuddering quietly as the room continued to spin.
He stood there for several minutes, his eyes closed tightly, willing for the throbbing in his head to die down so he could get home.
"Will?"
A sweet, angelic voice called his name and his eyes slowly fluttered open. Through slightly hazy vision he could see Emma standing opposite him, a frown of concern on her face.
"Emma." His voice was hoarse and was followed by a cough as he tried to move away from the wall but another wave of dizziness came over him and he crashed back against the tile with a soft thud, groaning quietly.
"You look terrible." Emma said softly, taking a step closer to him.
He could only groan in response and he closed his eyes tightly as his body trembled gently. A low hiss escaped his lips when he suddenly felt a cold but soft hand rest gently on his forehead.
"Gosh Will, you're burning up." Emma's highly concerned voice reached his ears and he nodded numbly.
"Think I have a fever." He mumbled, dazed.
A light giggle passed Emma's lips. "I think you do too."
"I gotta get home." He tried, with more success this time, to raise himself off of the wall but stumbled on the first step. Emma reacted immediately and grabbed onto his arm to steady him.
"You are not going anywhere like this." Emma instructed sternly. "You're going to get yourself killed if you try to drive."
Will smiled despite his misery casting his tired eyes on her. "I'm glad you care so much, Em."
Emma's cheeks flushed as she slipped her arm gently around him once he started to wobble on his feet. "Of course I care, Will." She replied softly with a shy smile.
Will's face lit up briefly before it faded into a scowl as the throbbing in his head continued to rage on. "I need to get home, Emma." He mumbled quietly.
"I know." She slowly led him over to the window and made sure he was safely up against the wall before releasing him. "Stay right here, I'll be right back."
He almost laughed at her statement. Where was he going to go when he felt like this? But he only nodded and shuddered again, groaning quietly to himself as he listened to Emma's heels quickly disappear down the hallway.
He wished that wherever Emma went she'd be back soon. He didn't know how much longer he could stand on his feet. His legs grew weaker by the second as did the chills taking over his body.
Before he knew it he felt a hand on his arm and his eyes opened to find Emma gazing at him worriedly.
"Let's get you home, Will." She hesitantly slid next to him so their sides were touching and gently pulled his arm over her shoulder.
He didn't have the energy to ask where Emma had been so he only nodded and graciously accepted her help. He tried not to lean up against her too much as they slowly walked down the hallway, he knew that if her small frame wouldn't be able to completely support his weight and took deep, even breaths to push his muscles to keep moving and his head straight.
He gasped lightly as Emma pushed the front doors open and he was met with an extremely cold burst of air. As best he could he pulled his coat tighter around him and shivered all the way across the parking lot until they reached Emma's car.
Emma unlocked the car and pulled open the passenger seat. Will furrowed his brow and stiffly lifted his neck glancing around the parking lot muttering something about his car.
"We can pick it up when you're feeling better." Emma told him, placing her hand over his shoulder and guided him into the car.
As soon as the door was shut Will slowly bucked himself in and then curled his knees up to his chest the best he could in the awkward front seat.
Emma slid into the drivers seat and glanced at Will, her heart melting at the sight. He looked so vulnerable, so like a child curled up on the seat, his head tucked between his knees as he visibly shivered.
She quickly turned on the heat as high as it could go, positioning the vents so they were aimed towards Will.
She stared at him quietly, observing him for a few seconds and then started the car and pulled out of the lot.
In the seven minutes it took to get from the school to Will's apartment building, Will had fallen fast asleep heavy, deep breaths escaping from his throat due to the congestion in his nose.
Emma couldn't help but smile at the quiet whistling that'd escape the sleeping man every so often and he looked so comfortable (and adorable) that she almost didn't have the heart to wake him up and force him back into the cold to get to his apartment.
However, Sue had only given her enough time off to get Will to his apartment safely and even that look a little convincing.
Biting down on her lip softly, Emma extended her hand placing it gently over Will's knee. She gently ran her hand in circles, stirring him awake with a gentle but firm call of his name.
Will slowly came to, lifting his head and squinting tiredly. Emma frowned at how absolutely miserable he looked, his eyes were dazed, his face was incredibly pale and beads of sweat formed on his forehead.
"You're home, Will." Emma told him quietly, rubbing his knee again. Will curled out of the ball he was in, groaning as his achy muscles stretched and stared pathetically out the window, clearly dreading leaving the warmth of Emma's car.
Reluctantly he pushed the car door open and pulled himself out slowly, wobbling slightly on his feet, shaking his head to clear the dizziness and shuddering violently at the drastic change in temperature.
Emma quickly got out of the car and shuffled around, slipping one arm around Will to aide him and pushing his door closed with the other.
She walked as quickly as she could to get Will out of the cold but made sure not to push him too much.
When they reached his apartment, Will started fumbling around blindly for his keys but Emma placed her hand gently over his to stop him and bent down to retrieve the key under the mat.
As she slid the key into the lock she caught Will smiling at her. "You remembered." He whispered hoarsely.
Emma returned the smile as the door swung open as she took him by the hand and led him inside.
Will staggered to his bedroom with Emma following quietly behind making sure he wouldn't fall. He quietly kicked off his shoes upon reaching the bed and then collapsed onto the bed with a quiet groan.
Emma quickly surveyed the room, a brief thought of the last time she was in the room flashing though her brain but she quickly pushed it aside, choosing to focus solely on Will.
Will crawled up to the head of the bed, resting his head against the pillow and closing his eyes. Emma bit her tongue, holding back her slight aversion to him sleeping with his work clothes on not wanting to bother the poor man any further.
She walked around to the side of the bed and tugged gently at the comforter tucked neatly under his pillows. Will sensed the movement under him and he lifted his body to allow Emma to pull the blanket down and then settled back onto the soft sheets. Emma brought the blankets back up and over Will so it rested under his neck. Will's body shifted under the blanket as he curled up again, his body still shivering.
Emma frowned and looked around the room and spotted the closet across the room. She padded across the carpet and opened up the doors, quickly observing the vast empty space that Terri's clothes used to occupy and focused on the extra blankets lying on the top shelf. She bit on her lip and lifted herself onto her toes grabbing the blanket between her fingers and trying to bring it down gently. She squeaked as it came tumbling down into her arms and as she turned around she saw Will now facing her, propped slightly up on his elbow, his brow furrowed. "You ok?" He called out quietly.
Her heart involuntarily fluttered. There he was sick as a dog yet he still made sure that she was okay. A smile threatened to tug at her lips as she made her way back over to the bed, muttering a "fine" under her breath.
She instructed him to lie back down and he did so without protest. She threw the extra blanket over his body and he instantly cuddled up to it, seeking the extra warmth.
Leaving Will for a minute, Emma made her way into the bathroom, searching the cabinets for a box of tissues and some tylenol. She brought the box of tissues back to his room, placing it next to his bedside and then headed to kitchen.
She maneuvered her way through the kitchen, not really sure where everything was, but eventually found what she was looking for and filled the glass up with water. She grabbed a napkin off the table and was about to head back to Will's bedroom when something caught her eye. She was drawn to a picture that was held to his refrigerator by a magnet.
It was a picture of them.
As some sort of fundraiser for the photography club the school created a makeshift photo booth and Will practically dragged Emma to take pictures with him. This was back when things were more than good between them and it didn't take that much convincing anyway. They took several pictures that day and Will paid for the package, giving half of the prints to her and keeping the other half for himself. Her set was hidden away neatly in one of the drawers in her condo but one of the 5'' by 8'''s from Will's set was now hanging on his fridge. Will's arm was around her shoulders, holding her to him as he kissed her cheek lightly. She remembered the tingles that spread throughout her whole body as soon as Will's lips came in contact her, hence the wide grin on her face in the picture.
She swallowed over the sudden lump in her throat and bit down on her lip, her heart breaking at the memory of how happy they were...of how happy she was and how they had winded up here with another man as her boyfriend and Will a lonely bachelor with nothing to hold onto but that picture on his refrigerator.
Shaking her head sadly she backed away from the refrigerator, bringing the cup of water back to Will.
She placed the napkin down on his bedside table, uncapped the tylenol and laid two pills out on top of the napkin and then placed the cup of water beside it. "Will? I brought you some water and some tylenol to bring down your fever. I have to go back to work now but I'll be back to check on you later, alright?" She paused waiting for his response and prompting when he didn't answer, "Will?"
She glanced over his huddled up form buried in the blankets to see his head resting comfortable against the pillow, his eyes sewn gently shut and his mouth parted slightly to allow air to enter his lungs.
A small smile formed on her lips and she gently ran her fingertips against his soft curls. "Sweet dreams." She whispered before leaving him to sleep.
When Will awoke several hours later, his head had stopped throbbing but a dull ache still remained in his body. He rolled over onto his side to take a look at the time and saw that it was a little past five o'clock. He briefly wondered how he got home and then remembered: Emma.
A smile formed on his lips at just the thought of her. He was honestly surprised that Emma went through all that trouble to take care of him. They hadn't been on the best of terms lately, in fact they hadn't spoken much at all since that terrible Rocky Horror fiasco and not to mention the obvious: He was sick. Really sick. He knew Carl was helping Emma with her issues but could she have improved that much that she so willingly touched him while he was covered with who knows what kind of germs?
He slowly sat up, shoving the blankets off of him, feeling gross from his sweat covered skin. He groaned quietly as he forced himself to his feet and walked over to the dresser to change into something more comfortable. In this case: a pair of sweats and an old McKinley High T-shirt. He shuffled over to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face to wash away the sweat, emptied his bladder and miserably started to head back to the bedroom.
He paused halfway down the hallway, glancing over his shoulder when he heard the faint sound of music coming from the kitchen. His brow furrowed and he shuffled back down the hallway towards the kitchen and his eyes widened at the sight before him.
Emma sat at his kitchen table, a newspaper open on the table in front of her while the radio played lowly in the background. He rubbed his eyes and even pinched himself just to see if he was dreaming but Emma didn't disappear.
He inadvertently sniffled his nose, catching Emma's attention.
"Will." Emma closed the paper and rose from her seat, starting to head over in his direction. His heart fluttered at the tone of her voice, as if his well being was the most important thing to her.
"How are you feeling?" Her brow furrowed in an adorable expression as she lifted the back of her palm to press against his forehead. "Your fever went down a little."
Truthfully, he felt miserable. His body still ached and all he wanted to do was crawl back into bed but Emma was touching him. Emma cared about him.
"I'm great." He answered but his voice betrayed him and Emma shot him a pointed look.
His nose crinkled as he felt a sneeze building and he turned into the crook of his elbow to let it out. Emma's slightly disgusted look didn't go unnoticed by Will and she even took a few steps back and he muttered an apology.
Emma's lips curled up in a soft smile. "You don't have to apologize for being sick, Will."
He sniffled again as a slight smile crossed his lips.
"Are you hungry?" She questioned. "I can make you some soup if you want."
He pondered her question for a moment and then he nodded slightly. "I'm a little hungry but you don't have to make anything for me. I can do it."
He started forward but Emma's hand shot out as she flattened her palm against his stomach lightly to stop him. "You're not doing anything mister except going back to bed."
He met Emma's eyes and let out a small sigh of defeat at her stern, motherly look. He grumbled something incoherent under his breath as he shuffled out of the room and back to his bedroom while Emma retreated over to the stove.
When Emma entered the room nearly five minutes later with a bowl of hot, steaming chicken noodle soup and saw Will propped up on his pillows.
"Thanks Em." He smiled weakly as she approached the side of the bed and he reached out to take the bowl from her.
She only smiled and pulled the bowl away from him, sitting down on the side of his bed. Will frowned, pouting his lips slightly.
"It's not nice to tease the ill, Emma." He rasped.
"Don't be so dramatic, Will." She rolled her eyes lightly with a smile. She dipped the spoon into the bowl, brought it up to rest millimeters from her lips and she blew over the steaming hot soup and then presented it to Will with an innocent smile.
Will stared at her dumbfounded, his mouth slightly ajar allowing Emma to slip the spoon into his mouth.
The hot soup felt like heaven sliding down his slightly sore throat and he licked his lips to lap up the small drops of broth that resided there.
Emma's eyes dropped down to his lips and her own tongue popped out between her lips. When she realized what exactly she was doing she blushed heavily and snapped her gaze back up to Will's eyes, hoping he hadn't seen that.
He had.
His face, despite being pale, was glowing. She cleared her throat lightly, dipping the spoon back into the soup and then bringing it back to his mouth.
After she fed him as much as he could handle, he settled back into bed and she left the soup next to his bed just in case he wanted to finish it later.
"Emma?" His asked, his voice meek.
"Hm?" Emma answered, her eyebrows raising.
"Can you do me a favor?"
"Anything." She smiled.
"In the hall closet," he lifted his arm weakly pointing outside the bedroom, "There's a TV."
Emma raised an eyebrow at him. "A TV?"
Will nodded. "Yeah." He coughed. "Whenever I was sick Terri would confine me to the bedroom and so I bought a separate TV to use in those occasions." He noticed the slightly apprehensive look and her face and chuckled lightly. "Don't worry it's on a cart, you won't have to do any heavy lifting."
Relief flooded across her face and she let out a quiet breath before nodding. "Sure, no problem."
She left the room and returned half a minute later wheeling in the TV cart. She fiddled around with the wires and trying to find the outlet to plug it in for a few minutes. After it was all plugged in and set up she noticed a DVD box sitting on top of the DVD player.
"Singing In The Rain?" She questioned with a smile as she held the box up.
Will's face automatically lit up at the sight of the movie. "It's my favorite. I always watch it when I'm sick...it makes me feel better."
Emma's smile widened and she wordlessly popped the movie into the DVD player. She found the remote and pressed play.
Will silently thanked her but even as the movie started he didn't take his eyes off of her. She planned on leaving him alone to rest some more and possibly clean up the slight mess she had left in the kitchen (messy by her standards anyway) but she could not resist the puppy dog look in his eyes. She knew what he wanted and she wasn't about to deny him anything.
She slowly walked over to the opposite side of the bed, carefully sliding on top of the blankets, smiling at Will's awed expression.
Will's lips perked upwards but instead of moving closer to her like she expected him to he moved further away, nearly falling off the edge of the bed.
"Where are you going?" She furrowed her brow.
"I'm sick, Em. The germs. I don't want to make you uncomfortable." He explained.
She couldn't ignore the sudden fluttering in her heart and she was sure her face lit up. She smiled at him, shaking her head, reaching out for his hand. "Come over here, Will."
Will blinked in surprise for a moment but then crawled over to her. They shared a small smile before Will shrunk under the blankets, resting his head lightly on Emma's thigh, pulling the blankets up to his neck as he focused his attention on the movie.
Emma froze beneath him, closing her eyes for a few moments, taking a few deep and quiet breaths to calm her self down. After about a minute or so of convincing herself that she could deal with Will and his germs being so close she rested her hand over his blanketed shoulder and started to rub up and down his arm through the blanket.
She heard Will sigh in contentment and he snuggled up further to her.
It was about thirty minutes into the movie when Emma heard his deep, even breathing and knew he had fallen asleep. Instead of panicking like she knew she should she simply ran her fingers through his slightly dampened curls and watched the rest of the movie and by the time the credits were rolling she was fast asleep.
Emma awoke in a panic the next morning. The room was dark but it was unfamiliar and it was enough to send her heart pounding in overtime.
It was then that she felt Will's presence and everything from yesterday came rushing back. A blush rose to her cheeks and she was thankful that Will was not awake to see it.
As carefully as she could she glanced over at the clock. The blaring red numbers read a quarter past four in the morning.
She would have preferred to get a little more sleep but she knew she had to get home so she could disinfect herself before work.
She bit down on her lip lightly and slowly scooted out from under Will. She thought she was in the clear until Will's head hit the bed and he was instantly awakened. "Hm, wha's goin on?" He mumbled sleepily, lifting his head.
"Go back to sleep, Will." Emma whispered through the darkness. "It's morning and I've got to get ready for work. I didn't mean to wake you up."
Will sniffled and blinked open his eyes propping himself up on his elbows to look at her. "Will you be back?"
Emma's heart leapt into her throat at the question though she answered without hesitation. "I'll be by after work to check up on you."
He nodded sleepily and his head fell back onto the bed. Emma smiled at how utterly adorable he was and started to turn to walk out when Will's hand grabbed hers.
She turned back, her eyebrows raised curiously. Will was propped up again, his eyes more awake now as he held onto her hand.
"Emma I-I don't know why you did everything you did but...thank you."
A soft smile appeared on Emma's lips and quietly she leaned over and pressed her lips to his fevered forehead. "I'll see you later." She whispered as she pulled away, glancing over her shoulder once more at his love struck expression before walking out the door.
Will flopped back down onto the bed with a sigh, reaching out for, grabbing onto and cuddling up to the pillow Emma had slept on all night. Through his clogged nose he could catch a small whiff of her scent and settling into the pillow he was sure of one thing: He had never been more happy to be sick.