Mettle of Honor (gxg)

Chapter 10

When they'd left the apartment, Justice had been so frazzled that she hadn't even driven in the right direction, having gone north towards the Virginia border instead of back towards her father's house in Charlotte. Neither of them had even realized the mistake, they were in too much of a daze, until they saw the 'Welcome to Virginia' sign.

               Mentally slapping herself, Justice had pulled into the nearest motel, grabbing a room, and helping Sara into it. She didn't think she was in any condition to drive after that mistake, and they both needed some time to just work past what had happened over the last few hours. Luckily, the room had a pair of queen-sized beds for them to spread out in to decompress a little.

               Sara sat on the edge of the hotel bed feeling numb. She'd gone into the apartment with Justice with high spirits knowing that they were finally coming home to their wives, and then left feeling like a wrung out rag. Kate had been her first everything. She'd given up her virginity to her, given her heart to her, and spent years loving a girl who evidently was in love with Elsie the entire time, and faked it all with her. Did anyone truly love her? She felt even worse for Justice though, because it was obvious that Elsie had truly loved her, and that it still wasn't enough. Considering that Justice, for all her power, had always felt like the odd one out because of her size and appearance, it was a crushing blow to lose the girl who had shown her the love she never thought she'd get.

               Over on the other bed, Justice lay flat on her back, her head on a pillow as she stared at the ceiling. She was under the covers, in a pair of army boxers and tank top that was what she usually slept in back in the barracks. Finding out about Kate and Elsie had been a complete shock to her, and she couldn't stop herself from crying a little as she remembered all the good times they'd had together. In her Ming, they no longer mattered, because they'd been with someone that she didn't even like any more. And yet she loved her still. Elsie had been the first person to look at her with love in her eyes, and she appreciated her size instead of assuming she was a big, dumb brute of a girl like most others did. She'd felt sorry for people that didn't have the kind of love that she and Elsie had, and yet now she realized that it was all for naught. Whatever her reasoning, whatever her thinking, Elsie had decided that Justice and the love they shared just wasn't enough, and that she needed to be with Kate too.

               Her sadness overcame her, and she turned to her side, burying her face in the pillows as she curled into a large ball as long overdue sobs made her body shake. Hearing her distress, Sara turned to see Justice in a state of misery. Sara wasn't in any better shape, but seeing her best friend in such pain, she rolled across her own bed, and then put her good foot down long enough to support her over the gap between the beds and then slide under Justice's sheets. She moved closer, spooning the larger woman and wrapping her arms around her in a fierce hug.

               "We're going to get through this J, I promise you," Sara whispered into her ear. "It's just like being back in Lithuania, we keep leaning on each other."

               "She left me," Justice blubbered. "I wasn't good enough and she went to Kate instead."

               "I didn't leave you though. I promised you when I was carrying you, I'm never leaving you. I'm by your side forever." It was easier for Sara to focus on Justice's pain and push hers to the side. She'd always been a problem solver, working through things until they were done and cleaned up. The current issue wasn't so simple though, and maybe it never would be clean and done, but that didn't mean she couldn't help Justice feel better. She was not only her best friend, but she was also the best woman that she'd ever met, and the one who had motivated her to keep moving when it felt like it would be easier to just roll over and give up. No. Justice deserved to be happy, and she'd be damned if she'd let their wives ruin them. "Whatever happens going forward, I want to do it with you, J. If there is any change in my life, any big event, any new happening, I want it to happen with you."