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❝ It's been a year now but... it's still fresh in my mind whenever I think of him. ❞
la push, washington june 14, 2007
THE RECOLLECTION of the tragic day that Josiah watched one of his closest friends die right in front of him almost made him break down, but he managed to stay composed. During his telling of Nate, Josiah maintained his eyes locked on the lake. He didn't think he could look at Leah and see the pity in her eyes.
"It's been a year now but... it's still fresh in my mind whenever I think of him."
Warm hands wrapped themselves around his hands that were resting out in front of him. This made Josiah look over at Leah who was looking at him with an unreadable expression. Josiah tried to smile but wasn't able to.
"I'm sorry about your friend," Leah's voice was soft and quiet, "I know what it's like to lose someone you care about." Josiah smiled sadly, waiting for her to continue what she was saying, "Seth and I lost our father a year ago as well. He had a heart attack caused by a blood sucker." Josiah watched Leah's eye's harden and a sneer taking over her face as she mentioned the blood sucker. The soldier didn't say anything but simply squeezed her hand in reassurance.
Silence fell between the two, a comfortable silence.
Time passed before Leah asked, hesitantly, "Can... can you tell me more... about Nate?"
Surprisingly, Josiah didn't feel his heartbeat speeding up in anxiety at the mention of Nate's name. Weirdly he felt happy that Leah was willing to ask about him, wanting to know more.
Thinking back to all the happy memories with Nathan, Josiah found himself smiling, "He reminded me of Paul. He was like a little brother."
"Liam and I met him at military school; we all signed up for the army together. After that we became closer than ever. Us three did everything together. From bunking together to pranking our other friends both at school and at our base in Afghanistan."
Leah couldn't help but smile at the happiness that radiated off of Josiah as he spoke of Nathan. The way her imprint's eyes seemed to brighten under the moonlight caused a warm feeling to bubble deep inside her. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and kiss the daylights out of him ― she managed to hold herself back. Her eyes focused on Josiah, hanging onto every word that left his mouth, as he continued to tell her stories of him, Nathan, and Liam during their time at military school and then their time in the army.
Josiah finished telling her another happy memory he had of Nathan when he asked her about her father; the Clearwater jumped in with her own storytelling of happy memories that included her father. She told him about the time her father took both her and Seth fishing with him. And how she pushed her younger brother in the lake which caused her father to push her in with him as well ― Josiah laughed with her as she told the story.
Time passed with both Leah and Josiah sharing stories that dealt with the people they had lost; the soldier felt a major weight get lifted off his shoulders as he continued to talk to Leah about Nathan. He had never felt more relieved and at peace than the moment he opened up to Leah ― maybe that's all he ever needed.
A yawn escaped his lips before he could stop it which caused Leah to chuckle and stand up from her position on the log next to him, "Come on let's go." Josiah grabbed onto her hand once he stood up as well.
Instead of walking back to Sam and Emily's, the imprints made their way to Josiah's house in comfortable silence. When they were right outside his door, Josiah faced Leah and pulled her in for a kiss. She happily kissed back, making him smile in the kiss. Pulling away, Josiah looked down to Leah's dark brown eyes, that he had grown to love, and smiled softly. Her arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him down for another kiss.
"I should head back," Leah pulled away after a couple of seconds with a smile of her own, "I have patrol with Sam and some of the other guys. Sam wants to make sure no other leeches are roaming in our land."
Josiah nodded without letting his smile falter, "Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow." Leah nodded without pulling away making the soldier's smile widen, reaching his eyes.
Sighing, Leah finally unwrapped her arms from Josiah's neck and stepped back. With one last goodbye, Leah disappeared into the tree lines. Making his way inside, Josiah headed straight for his room where Ollie was laying on his bed with a sock in his mouth, playing. The pup noticed his owner enter the room causing him to jump up and down on the bed before jumping off the bed.
The soldier picked up the puppy and placed a kiss in between his eyes, "Hey Ollie."
Josiah placed the puppy back on the floor before walking over to his duffle bag and pulled out a picture from one of the compartments inside. No matter where he went, the soldier always made sure he had the picture with him. The picture was of Liam, Nathan, and him standing outside their base ― all had smiles on their faces. Smiling, Josiah placed the picture back in his duffel bag with a lighter heart.
The pack remained silent even after Liam finished telling them the story behind the name of Nathan Taylor.
"Josiah doesn't like talking about him. It brings up too many painful memories." Liam's voice broke through the silence, glancing over each of the pack's somber's faces. He couldn't help but feel guilty as he shared the story that took Josiah a lot of time to bring up to his best friend.
"So Jay's tattoo...?"
"It's Nate's name and the date... it happened." Liam nodded at Paul, who had an unreadable expression on his face.
Paul muttered something under his breath before standing up and walking straight for the door; Liam didn't wait a second to go after him. Outside, Paul stood with his back to the front door and simply stared out into the night sky ― a troubling look on his face.
Without saying anything, Liam stood next to the youngest Lahote and stared up at the dark sky filled with stars.
"I remember... when were kids," Paul took a breath, "I looked up to Jay. He was my older brother, he always made me laugh, he protected me. When our father came to take him away, I was devastated because I didn't just lose my brother, I lost my best friend. And when he called to tell us that he would be joining the army after military school, I was angry. I was angry that he chose to leave farther away than return back to my mother and I ― I kind of alway resented him for it... Of course when he came home, I was so happy to see him; I hadn't realised how much I missed him. "
Liam remained silent while Paul spoke, hearing his voice dripping with emotion.
"We used to tell each other everything... I realize now... how much he changed. He doesn't talk to me about his nightmares, which he doesn't think I notice, and didn't bother to tell me about Nathan." Paul felt a rush of emotions: frustration, anger, and sadness. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath when he started to feel himself shake, his inner wolf desperate to break free.
Liam frowned watching the young Lahote glaring up at the sky in order to control the emotions written all over his face. Feeling the sudden desire to defend his best friend, Liam kept his voice calm and steady, "You can't hold that against Josiah, Paul. It took a lot for him to actually tell me anything about what happened that day. We're both soldiers and we see a lot of fucked up shit over there that you can't even imagine. Give him time."
Paul's frown seemed to deepen at Liam's words, "How come you don't seem all that affected? I mean he was your friend as well, was he not? And you said so yourself, you both have seen a lot of traumatic things over there."
At Paul's questions, Liam tensed and avoided the youngest Lahote's gaze. Believing he wasn't going to get an answer, Paul began his way back inside the house when Liam answered in a whisper, "We all deal with trauma differently."
