The Quarterback's Bestfriend

I Do

It's been exactly 9 months to the day since I've enlisted.

Since then, I hadn't been back to Lima like the rest of my friends. I haven't had the luxury of taking a week to reunite for Thanksgiving or Sectionals or the other reasons my friends came back to visit.

Military life, boot camp, working on Base, to deployment has been everything to me. I can understand why Mamá made this her life, being apart of something like, something bigger than yourself, this was fulfilling.

The last time I saw any of them, any of my family, was when Finn left Ft. Benning after being semi-honorably discharged for accidentally shooting himself in the thigh with "Rachel", which at the time was hilarious. Then when Burt and Carole came to see me at Ft. Benning not long after Finn left.

Lima, Ohio has one event that I swore I wouldn't miss, the reason I'm here: Mr. Schue and Miss Pillsbury's wedding. I'm sitting in a completely empty pew, in the middle of the big, beautiful church on Mr. Schue's side, pulling up my long dress enough to take off my stability brace to massage my leg as instructed when I hear Finn's deep, excited voice yell, "Oh my God! Lia!"

I whip my head up, instinctually dropping my dress to cover my leg, "What?! What's wrong?"

But apparently, I wasn't fast enough for him to not notice because Finn crouched down and looked at my leg, "What happened to your leg?"

"I was shot, dummy. In the field for not even six days and I took a hit right above the knee. They're putting me through rehab and all that. They say I'm never going to fully recover. I've been honorably discharged."

"Mine was semi-honorable," Finn whines, rubbing his thigh that "Rachel" shot.

I snort at him, still finding the irony of Rachel shooting him funny, "You shot yourself, I took enemy fire. Now, What was so important you called me here early?"

Finn leans into my ear, softly whispering so no one could hear him, "I kissed Ms. Pillsbury."

"You did what?!" I gasp loud enough to earn several confused looks from attendees.

"Shhhh!" He viciously silenced me, slapping his hand over my mouth. "It was an impulsive thing. She was freaking out and the next thing I knew I was kissing her. Should I tell Mr. Schue?"

I shake my head rapidly, violently sending my curls about as he drops his hand to hear my answer, "Oh, God no. If Ms. P told you to forget it then forget it. How could you be so stupid?"

"I know, I know. You know it's good to see you, I've missed you," he murmurs into my hair as he tightly hugs me.

I exhale, happy to be in my brother's arms again after 7 months, "I've missed you too. Now go fulfill your best man duties."

As Finn walked down toward the groom, I latched on my stability brace and started messing with the cane I'm supposed to use because I'm only a month post-op. "Lia?"

"Yes?" I turn around to see Noah Puckerman staring down at me with his hair grown out, "Noah?"

"Oh my God! How are you? I haven't seen or heard from you since graduation," he asks, lowering his voice, sounding hurt at the reminder of my leaving.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I thought it'd be easier for the both of us if we didn't say goodbye. I'm good, well I'm okay. I'm going through physical therapy right now."

"Physical therapy? For what?" He asks confused.

I pull up my dress to show him the stability brace that cover the scars on my left leg from the bullet wound and the surgical incisions they made when removing it. When he sees it, he gasps as I explain, "My leg."