Salute {Leah Clearwater}⁴

thirty nine - earning justice

A smile made its way on Liam's lips, "They might hate me for keeping you a secret."

Chuckling, Josiah turned to face him, "I think they will understand. I mean I was the one that basically forced you to keep it a secret until I recovered."

Silence fell between them once again as they each were lost in their own thoughts about what would happen in just a couple of hours. All that came to Josiah's head was Leah's beautiful smile and her dark brown eyes staring back at him. He couldn't help but smile at the thought of having her in his arms once again after all this time. However, his insecurities ate away at him right away and he began thinking back to all his scars and worst of all his missing limb as well as fingers. Would Leah still love him like that?

"What's going on in that head of yours?" Liam questioned, noticing the frown on his friend's face.

"What will Leah think... of this?" Josiah whispered, looking over his left hand then down to his right leg. "It's not exactly a small change."

Raising his hand, Liam gave one hard smack on the back of Josiah's head. Letting out a yelp and reaching back to rub the back of his head, Josiah glared over to his friend, "What was that for?"

"For your stupidity."

Liam wanted to laugh at the face that his friend was making― wide eyes and gaping mouth in shock for what he had just told him. "Do you really believe that Leah would leave you because you're missing a limb and two fingers?"

Not saying anything, Josiah avoided his friend's eye. "I watched that girl suffer for the past months because you were gone from her life. It took everything for her to get back on her feet again. And still... she struggles from time to time. Because she's thinking of you and how much she misses every second she spent with you before you left."

Liam made sure to look him straight in the eye as he mentioned the girl that kept him up at night ever since waking up from his coma. "I miss her so much..." Josiah whispered, tears blurring his vision.

"I'm sure you do," Liam smiled, "And she's going to be ecstatic when she sees you again. In just a couple of hours."

If only time passed by faster. All that Josiah wanted to do was drive down to La Push and see his family again. His mother. His brother. Leah.

For the next half hour, neither said anything and simply laid back and enjoyed each other's company: slowly falling back asleep. However, their peaceful silence was short lived as Josiah's phone began to go off, startling them back awake. Reaching over to the nightstand, the Lahote sibling pressed the answer button.

"Hello?"

"Am I speaking with Corporal Lahote?" The unfamiliar voice over the phone confused him.

"Yes this is him."

"This is Lieutenant General Vance."

His eyes widened in shock which caught Liam's attention. He tried to get Josiah to tell him who it was but the latter paid him no mind as he leaned forward in his bed.

"I'm calling to inform you that your case has been forwarded and is under review. I'm looking it over and I would really like the chance to speak to you in person."

Josiah didn't really know what to say. All that came to mind was the immense frustration he had felt, along with Liam, just a couple of days ago.

"I don't need help to go to the bathroom..." muttered Josiah, Liam gently gripping onto his left bicep to help him walk back to his bed.

Liam allowed his friend to use his arm as a supporter as he lowered himself onto the bed, "The doctor said you can't be walking around by yourself; with your injured arm you can't use crutches yet. And besides," Liam sat down on the empty chair besides the bed, "I don't mind."