FIC: Call to You Across the Sky [Glee; Will/Emma, Prologue + 1/?]
TITLE: Call to You Across the Sky
RATING: PG-13 overall, PG in these parts.
FANDOM: Glee
PAIRING: Will Schuester/Emma Pillsbury
SUMMARY: After "Sectionals," Emma leaves McKinley and Will behind. A series of chance encounters, and allowing time to heal, changes things. Diverges from canon after 1.13.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The prologue and first two chapters were written back during season one. Anything after that was written much more recently.
It had been one month, two weeks and three days since she had handed in her resignation to Figgins. After the initial shock of Will kissing her - chasing after her and actually kissing her! - had worn off, it had only made her more steadfast in the fact that she believed Will needed more time to get over what Terri had done to him. As it was the middle of the school year, her job prospects were dim at best, so she was getting by on the savings she had scraped together through the years. It wasn't ideal, but it'd do until the new school year was due to begin.
It had been one month, two weeks and three days since he had kissed Emma for the first time. He still held out a thin string of hope that it was a "first" time instead of an "only" time - but with her dismissal of him and the strains of preparing the kids for regionals - more and more it seemed as if it was set to be an only time. The marriage therapy had been a disaster from the start - it was only a matter of time before one of them filed divorce papers - and he knew that as soon as he would no longer have Terri in his life, he'd seek out Emma. He had to.
Late that afternoon, Will pushed a shopping cart through Meijer. He was distracted, if only because just a short time before, the meeting he had with Terri and the marriage counselor had gone great - for Terri, that is. It looked like divorce was the only option for either of them, and more than likely, he'd be the one coming out on the other end with a few extra bruises.
Initially, it was as a figment of his imagination that he chalked the voice from behind him up to. "Will!" the voice said. "Will Schuester!"
He turned around, and for the first time in over a month and a half, he saw her: the person that Terri had ever so snidely referred to as "the other woman" in one of their previous meetings. "Emma?" He could hardly believe it was her.
A short time later, all groceries purchased and safely in their respective cars, they sat in silence at a nearby coffee shop, each one cradling a freshly brewed cup and nervously checking out the other. Emma noticed that it didn't appear as though Will had shaved in quite some time, while Will noticed that Emma's eyes were missing some of the light and sparkle he had always known them to have. Whether they cared to say the words out loud or not, they both knew that the other had changed drastically in the intervening weeks.
"How are the kids?" Emma asked, raising her cup to her lips.
"Oh, they're doing great," Will said, beaming at the thought. "We're preparing 'All You Need is Love' for regionals."
"Yeah?" She paused for a moment, wondering if the song choice had any sort of double meaning. "They'll do great."
"I hope so. Vocal Adrenaline is going to be tough to beat."
"If they do as well as they did at sectionals…"
"Will you be at regionals?" he asked, before quickly amending the question. "Since, you know, they did so well with you there before, I mean."
She set down her cup and let out a muffled sigh. "No," she said, grabbing her purse strap and standing up. "I won't be attending regionals."
"Why not? The kids would love to see you cheer them on!"
"Because I don't trust myself around you," she mentally replied. However, for her actual spoken reply, it ended up wildly divergent from the truth. "I have plans that day. Out of town."
"Oh," he said, deflating slightly. "I could at least call you and let you hear them?"
She shook her head. "That wouldn't work." Stepping away from the table, she made strides toward the door.
"I'll call you with the results?" he said as she walked away. Hopefully she hadn't changed her number. He didn't see why she would have, but she had been acting strangely enough that day that it was a distinct possibility.
She hadn't changed it.
A few days later, as she ran a cleaning cloth over the artificial potted plant hanging from her living room ceiling, her phone rang. She didn't - or perhaps couldn't - hear the ringing over the strains of jazz trumpets flowing from her stereo. She was in her own little world and nothing could pull her out - not even a phone call from Will Schuester.
When she listened to it later, a smile flickered across her face, as she heard him say that they had narrowly defeated Vocal Adrenaline. They were going to state.
She clipped the article from the next day's Lima News that said that the New Directions Glee club from McKinley High School would be headed to the state competition in Columbus next month. Will stood in the middle of the picture that accompanied the article, flanked on either side by Rachel and Finn, with the rest of the club filling out the remainder of the frame. But in her mind's eye, Will was the only one there.
The clipping made its way from her kitchen table, to her purse, to her vanity, finally ending up in the top drawer of her nightstand next to her favorite owl-shaped clips and a small bottle of hand sanitizer. Safe and sound, and near her always - that was as much as she could ask for.
The second in their chain of unexpected encounters came in the middle of the week, when Will had to go to the post office to pick up a certified letter. And, lo and behold, standing two people in front of him was Emma, who was nervously looking around the crowded, noisy post office, a large package cradled in her arms. "Emma," he said. "Need any help with that?"
She shook her head and adjusted the position of the box. "Nope," she said, grunting softly as the box began to slip from her grasp. "I don't need your help."
He glanced at the box, which was tipping precariously to one side. "Are you sure?"
"Certainly."
The person standing between them glared and huffed slightly. "Can you two take this somewhere else?"
"Next in line!" the post office employee called out. Emma realized, that in the time it had taken for her and Will to have their conversation, she had moved forward to the front of the line. She snapped her attention forward, and walked up to the counter, turning her back on Will.
The third encounter happened less than a week later, as Emma pulled up to the BP near McKinley to fill her gas tank - it was nearly on empty, as it was, and although she knew this was the station where most of the McKinley faculty and students filled up, she figured that it was a safe bet that no one would be around this time of day, since school wouldn't be out for another hour.
She hated the smell of gas stations. Always had, ever since she was a child, but after she became consciously aware of her surroundings - and the germs that came with that awareness - she grew a new detestation for the smell. A part of her wished that she didn't have to worry about things like this, but all part of not living in a major city was the care and uptake of automobiles.
As she slid her credit card, she spotted Will out of the corner of his eye, getting out of his car at the pump next to hers. She let out a sigh. What was this, three times in less than that many weeks that the two of them crossed paths? Granted, yes, there was a time when they saw each other every day - including hanging out in the faculty lounge between classes and during lunch and dodging Sue's pointed barbs in the process. But since she had left? It wasn't as though she was seeking him out, but every time she went out anymore, it seemed like he came out of nowhere. If she wasn't careful, they'd end up going down a road she wasn't comfortable going down - yet, anyway.
Will caught her eye. "Emma," he said, with a broad smile. That smile, the one that made her knees into jelly. The one she had a hard time resisting. "You left the post office in a hurry the other day."
"Yeah, uh, I had to get going. Lots of things to do, you know."
"It seems like you've been avoiding me after…"
"After sectionals?"
"Yeah. Why? We used to be such good friends, and now it's like you're afraid of seeing me."
She scooted over closer to him and placed one hand on the hood of her car, before inhaling deeply and summoning the thing she had been thinking for almost two months now, but had never said out loud. "Will, I don't want to be your rebound girl, and every time I see you anymore, I'm afraid that's what it's going to be."
"You're not my 'rebound girl,'" he said, shaking his head, walking over to her and placing one of his hands on top of her own. "I left Terri; we're getting a divorce - I'm on my way to the lawyer's office now to file the papers, in fact. I'm moving on with my life, and I want you to be a part of it."
"Yes, but you're still married to her. I'm not going to run around with you behind your soon-to-be-ex-wife's back just because you're not living together anymore."
"What about after the divorce is finalized?"
She felt her heart flutter just a tiny bit, but she had to keep her cool, at least for the time being. There'd be time enough for soliloquies to her mirror when she arrived back at home. "Maybe," she said, a small smile slipping across her face. "We'll see."
The two of them drove off, her driving west, him driving east - away from each other. One headed home, to hide away from the emotions she felt after the encounter. The other headed to his lawyer's office, to do what he had been intending to do for some time - set forth the proceedings to sever the last legal tie between him and Terri, serve her with the papers.
It'd be two months, one week, and five days before they'd see each other again.
RATING: PG-13 overall, PG in these parts.
FANDOM: Glee
PAIRING: Will Schuester/Emma Pillsbury
SUMMARY: After "Sectionals," Emma leaves McKinley and Will behind. A series of chance encounters, and allowing time to heal, changes things. Diverges from canon after 1.13.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The prologue and first two chapters were written back during season one. Anything after that was written much more recently.
It had been one month, two weeks and three days since she had handed in her resignation to Figgins. After the initial shock of Will kissing her - chasing after her and actually kissing her! - had worn off, it had only made her more steadfast in the fact that she believed Will needed more time to get over what Terri had done to him. As it was the middle of the school year, her job prospects were dim at best, so she was getting by on the savings she had scraped together through the years. It wasn't ideal, but it'd do until the new school year was due to begin.
It had been one month, two weeks and three days since he had kissed Emma for the first time. He still held out a thin string of hope that it was a "first" time instead of an "only" time - but with her dismissal of him and the strains of preparing the kids for regionals - more and more it seemed as if it was set to be an only time. The marriage therapy had been a disaster from the start - it was only a matter of time before one of them filed divorce papers - and he knew that as soon as he would no longer have Terri in his life, he'd seek out Emma. He had to.
Late that afternoon, Will pushed a shopping cart through Meijer. He was distracted, if only because just a short time before, the meeting he had with Terri and the marriage counselor had gone great - for Terri, that is. It looked like divorce was the only option for either of them, and more than likely, he'd be the one coming out on the other end with a few extra bruises.
Initially, it was as a figment of his imagination that he chalked the voice from behind him up to. "Will!" the voice said. "Will Schuester!"
He turned around, and for the first time in over a month and a half, he saw her: the person that Terri had ever so snidely referred to as "the other woman" in one of their previous meetings. "Emma?" He could hardly believe it was her.
A short time later, all groceries purchased and safely in their respective cars, they sat in silence at a nearby coffee shop, each one cradling a freshly brewed cup and nervously checking out the other. Emma noticed that it didn't appear as though Will had shaved in quite some time, while Will noticed that Emma's eyes were missing some of the light and sparkle he had always known them to have. Whether they cared to say the words out loud or not, they both knew that the other had changed drastically in the intervening weeks.
"How are the kids?" Emma asked, raising her cup to her lips.
"Oh, they're doing great," Will said, beaming at the thought. "We're preparing 'All You Need is Love' for regionals."
"Yeah?" She paused for a moment, wondering if the song choice had any sort of double meaning. "They'll do great."
"I hope so. Vocal Adrenaline is going to be tough to beat."
"If they do as well as they did at sectionals…"
"Will you be at regionals?" he asked, before quickly amending the question. "Since, you know, they did so well with you there before, I mean."
She set down her cup and let out a muffled sigh. "No," she said, grabbing her purse strap and standing up. "I won't be attending regionals."
"Why not? The kids would love to see you cheer them on!"
"Because I don't trust myself around you," she mentally replied. However, for her actual spoken reply, it ended up wildly divergent from the truth. "I have plans that day. Out of town."
"Oh," he said, deflating slightly. "I could at least call you and let you hear them?"
She shook her head. "That wouldn't work." Stepping away from the table, she made strides toward the door.
"I'll call you with the results?" he said as she walked away. Hopefully she hadn't changed her number. He didn't see why she would have, but she had been acting strangely enough that day that it was a distinct possibility.
She hadn't changed it.
A few days later, as she ran a cleaning cloth over the artificial potted plant hanging from her living room ceiling, her phone rang. She didn't - or perhaps couldn't - hear the ringing over the strains of jazz trumpets flowing from her stereo. She was in her own little world and nothing could pull her out - not even a phone call from Will Schuester.
When she listened to it later, a smile flickered across her face, as she heard him say that they had narrowly defeated Vocal Adrenaline. They were going to state.
She clipped the article from the next day's Lima News that said that the New Directions Glee club from McKinley High School would be headed to the state competition in Columbus next month. Will stood in the middle of the picture that accompanied the article, flanked on either side by Rachel and Finn, with the rest of the club filling out the remainder of the frame. But in her mind's eye, Will was the only one there.
The clipping made its way from her kitchen table, to her purse, to her vanity, finally ending up in the top drawer of her nightstand next to her favorite owl-shaped clips and a small bottle of hand sanitizer. Safe and sound, and near her always - that was as much as she could ask for.
The second in their chain of unexpected encounters came in the middle of the week, when Will had to go to the post office to pick up a certified letter. And, lo and behold, standing two people in front of him was Emma, who was nervously looking around the crowded, noisy post office, a large package cradled in her arms. "Emma," he said. "Need any help with that?"
She shook her head and adjusted the position of the box. "Nope," she said, grunting softly as the box began to slip from her grasp. "I don't need your help."
He glanced at the box, which was tipping precariously to one side. "Are you sure?"
"Certainly."
The person standing between them glared and huffed slightly. "Can you two take this somewhere else?"
"Next in line!" the post office employee called out. Emma realized, that in the time it had taken for her and Will to have their conversation, she had moved forward to the front of the line. She snapped her attention forward, and walked up to the counter, turning her back on Will.
The third encounter happened less than a week later, as Emma pulled up to the BP near McKinley to fill her gas tank - it was nearly on empty, as it was, and although she knew this was the station where most of the McKinley faculty and students filled up, she figured that it was a safe bet that no one would be around this time of day, since school wouldn't be out for another hour.
She hated the smell of gas stations. Always had, ever since she was a child, but after she became consciously aware of her surroundings - and the germs that came with that awareness - she grew a new detestation for the smell. A part of her wished that she didn't have to worry about things like this, but all part of not living in a major city was the care and uptake of automobiles.
As she slid her credit card, she spotted Will out of the corner of his eye, getting out of his car at the pump next to hers. She let out a sigh. What was this, three times in less than that many weeks that the two of them crossed paths? Granted, yes, there was a time when they saw each other every day - including hanging out in the faculty lounge between classes and during lunch and dodging Sue's pointed barbs in the process. But since she had left? It wasn't as though she was seeking him out, but every time she went out anymore, it seemed like he came out of nowhere. If she wasn't careful, they'd end up going down a road she wasn't comfortable going down - yet, anyway.
Will caught her eye. "Emma," he said, with a broad smile. That smile, the one that made her knees into jelly. The one she had a hard time resisting. "You left the post office in a hurry the other day."
"Yeah, uh, I had to get going. Lots of things to do, you know."
"It seems like you've been avoiding me after…"
"After sectionals?"
"Yeah. Why? We used to be such good friends, and now it's like you're afraid of seeing me."
She scooted over closer to him and placed one hand on the hood of her car, before inhaling deeply and summoning the thing she had been thinking for almost two months now, but had never said out loud. "Will, I don't want to be your rebound girl, and every time I see you anymore, I'm afraid that's what it's going to be."
"You're not my 'rebound girl,'" he said, shaking his head, walking over to her and placing one of his hands on top of her own. "I left Terri; we're getting a divorce - I'm on my way to the lawyer's office now to file the papers, in fact. I'm moving on with my life, and I want you to be a part of it."
"Yes, but you're still married to her. I'm not going to run around with you behind your soon-to-be-ex-wife's back just because you're not living together anymore."
"What about after the divorce is finalized?"
She felt her heart flutter just a tiny bit, but she had to keep her cool, at least for the time being. There'd be time enough for soliloquies to her mirror when she arrived back at home. "Maybe," she said, a small smile slipping across her face. "We'll see."
The two of them drove off, her driving west, him driving east - away from each other. One headed home, to hide away from the emotions she felt after the encounter. The other headed to his lawyer's office, to do what he had been intending to do for some time - set forth the proceedings to sever the last legal tie between him and Terri, serve her with the papers.
It'd be two months, one week, and five days before they'd see each other again.