CHAPTER 24

TROUBLE AT THE BULKHEAD – after 6x01

Jason took a ride to The Bulkhead with Ray, they were both chatting about how Clay was finally able to continue his treatment in the U.S. next week, closer to Stella and Brian. Jason mentioned his treatment for TBI with stem cells would start on Tuesday, and how he found the clinic thanks to Clay's research for him. But Jason didn't want to keep his hopes up, because he knew that in some cases it couldn't work. He was trying hard to stay stress free and not be anywhere near exploding stuff, which was easy due to his medical leave, but he knew that once he was back to operating, he'd never be able to predict if there would be a grenade or explosion next to him.

"Stress free? You mean like relaxing at the beach with a coconut in your hands? Can't imagine you doing that, Jace" Ray told him, laughing, while he parked his car at the bar's parking lot.

"Well, there were walks on the beach and relaxing times, but no coconut so far. Maybe this weekend" Jason answered laughing and stepping out of the car.

"Oooh, I see" Ray glanced at him, as he locked the car. "You mean somebody's taking all that tension away for ya, huh" he joked.

Jason laughed, but couldn't help it, "Oh yes, but believe me, I'm taking aaall her tension away too, ok" he said cockily. They both laughed.

"Well, I have to say I'm happy for you. I thought you'd be bored out of your mind for these next weeks"

"Yeah. To be honest, I'm quite bored during the weeks. But at least I can release my creativity on the weekends, you know?" Jason said, naughty, and they both laughed as they made their way into The Bulkhead.

As usual, Sonny was the first to arrive at the bar and was at the pool table with Brock. "Well thank God, somebody who speaks. And ugly people. I don't like playing pool with a mummy model by my side" Sonny said grumpily as soon as Ray and Jason arrived, and Brock was starting to say something, being immediately interrupted by Sonny, who gesticulated, raising a hand "I told you Brock, pretty people stay silent so they don't ruin it. Keep your mysterious aura ok". Jason and Ray laughed, but they glanced at the score board that Sonny was quickly erasing, and it was obvious why Sonny was eager for other players to arrive. He was being smashed by Brock.

Sonny was rearranging the balls on the pool table "So Jace, when is it that your son-in-law is arriving? I already thought of great Navy stories to scare him until he shits bricks".

"Thanks man" Jason tapped his shoulder, appreciative that Sonny understood his mission there. "I think they'll be here in like an hour, maybe less.

Ray added "Naima is staying at the hospital until 2200 and she'll only come here after that. But she really wanted to see everyone".

"Oh great! Emma misses her. Mandy will be here earlier than that. 2100 at most, I think" Jason said.

Sonny glanced at Jason "Oh, the spook is gonna have some great stories to scare the rookie".

Jason turned to Sonny, annoyed and with a dangerous voice "Stop calling her that, ok? I don't like it"

Sonny instantly apologized "Sorry man, didn't know that. But your Mrs always liked my nickname. It's our thing"

Jason stared at him, confused and not buying it at all, and Ray intervened, asking what they'd want to drink.

About 45 minutes later Emma and Brad arrived, all smiles. Brad was a bit nervous but Emma guided him through the bar by his arm, directing him to the group.

"Jace. I don't think he'll last. Look at that face. He won't make it through Hell Week, man" Sonny said, dramatically. But he had a point, if he was this nervous to meet them, Jason wondered if he wouldn't shit his pants just by meeting his trainers.

But the group tried to be as welcoming as possible, especially Ray, who really liked him. And Ray had a great instinct for these things. After some minutes, Brad relaxed and he told them his motivation to join the Navy. Turns out he was a brave guy after all. And very smart. Just a bit green yet.

Jason and Emma went to the bar to get their drinks, and she asked how he was doing, and if Mandy was fully recovered. She was looking forward to seeing her that night. Jason opened a wide smile, and Emma noticed how happy he was.

"Yeah, she's much better, thanks. Turns out she has a bad case of gastritis, she's taking some strong medicine now, for a couple of weeks". Then Jason added, serious, "Thank God I went there Friday, Emms. She was in terrible shape. The doctor said I arrived just in time", receiving an astonished and worried look from Emma.

They glanced at the group at the pool table, laughing. "He's a good guy" Jason told Emma, smirking. She smiled back and saw someone behind him, and smiled awkwardly. Jason was about to turn back to see who it was, and Natalie touched Jason's shoulder, greeting them.

"Hi, guys!" she smiled widely, kissing Emma on the cheek and standing between them. Emma raised a bit from her stool to kiss Natalie, and quickly glanced at Jason. Emma said "Oh hey, what are you doing here?"

"Oh I'm at VA Beach since last week, staying a few more days. I have some PT lectures to attend. Your father didn't tell you?" Natalie answered, looking at Jason with wide eyes, and only now taking her hand off his shoulder.

Jason opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out, while Emma stared at him, confused and a bit annoyed. She didn't understand why he'd be talking to Natalie, and worse, keeping it a secret.

"Well, I was talking to Natalie about Clay's recovery. She knows a great PT to treat him" Jason finally answered, gesticulating a lot.

Natalie lowered her voice and came a bit closer to Jason "Did you get my message? I sent you his contact, wasn't sure you saw it".

"I saw, I saw, u-hum. Thanks." Jason was glancing at the bar, to see if their drinks were ready. He started to tap the counter, anxious.

Natalie squeezed Jason's biceps a bit, "No problem Jace. I'm so sorry about what happened to Clay. Anything you guys need, I'm here for you", then she turned back to Emma "And how are you doing? How's college?". Emma told her about it, being friendly because Natalie was always nice to her, but she was trying to find out if Natalie wasn't hitting on her dad. But mostly, she didn't know if Natalie knew that he was dating someone.

Jason saw the bartender arriving with a few beer mugs and quickly proceeded to gather them to take it to the group. Emma stopped talking to Natalie and took a couple of them "Here, I'll help you dad", and they both were about to say goodbye to Natalie, but she joined them to the group "Oh my God, I didn't see they're all here. I'll give them a quick hello".

Oh, crap, Jason thought. He wanted to get rid of Natalie but he didn't want to be a jerk to her, after all, she was being nice to him even though he broke up with her, and she got him the contact to that famous PT that could help Clay.

While Natalie happily joined the group, kissing everyone on their cheeks, Emma came closer to Jason and whispered "Dad, what the hell. How long you've been talking to Natalie? Does Mandy know that?"

"Yeah, yeah, she does. U-hum. She knows it's only because she had that contact." Jason answered to Emma, but she was still confused. "Look, she texted me telling me that she found out about what happened to Clay, so I just told her about it and she volunteered to reach out to that PT friend she has. What was I supposed to do?" he whispered back, putting the beers on the table next to the group. Emma looked at him and nodded, understanding, but added "Ok dad, you're right. Just watch out, she's obviously flirting with you". Emma walked to Brad, bringing a beer to Sonny. Natalie was talking to Ray about Naima, but then she approached Jason, who was glancing at the front door, anxious, leaning against the wall.

"So, how have you been, Jace? You seem happy" Natalie started, standing in front of him, holding her drink in a cute pose. Like a teenager would.

"I am, I am. U-hum. I'm good. You?"

"I'm ok. Just received a great job offer yesterday" she made a pause when she saw he wasn't paying too much attention, and came a little closer, lowering her voice, "You were right. You are happy operating. I'm sorry I didn't see it." she looked very understanding.

"Yeah. I'm glad I stayed. It was the right thing for me" he said, glancing at the group.

"Maybe I should've stayed too" Natalie added, looking at his eyes. Jason opened his mouth to speak, when Natalie suddenly touched his hand and interrupted "Look, can we talk outside?"

"Hey! Mandy!" Ray and Emma said loudly, almost in unison. Jason almost jumped away from Natalie, but it was too late. Mandy had passed behind him and Natalie and went to the other side of the pool table, where she was already kissing Emma on the cheek. Ray was looking at Jason, with a smile but knowing his friend was in trouble. Jason stepped away from Natalie, gluing to the wall, and looked at Mandy. She hugged Brad and stopped to talk to Sonny a bit, and Jason heard her saying "Of course you can call me 'spook'. But you're the only one who can" Mandy said, and Sonny smiled widely at her and turned to Jason "See, man. I told you. She loves it". Mandy then asked something to Brock and he smiled at her and nodded, making a model pose, leaning his arm on the wall. Jason knew that guy could seduce the Pope, if he wanted to, and he didn't like it when Mandy kept smiling at him, showing him her crooked teeth. Too friendly.

Finally Jason was the next in line around the pool table, and was ready to give a nice kiss to his girlfriend – who haven't even glanced at him once until then – when Natalie passed by him, rubbing her arm against his chest on that tight space. Jason almost melted with the wall now.

"Mandy! Hi!" Natalie friendly greeted her, opening her arms a little.

"Natalie" Mandy answered, and they greeted with a kiss on the cheek, very polite. They both seemed to really like each other, if you didn't know better. "What are you doing here?" Mandy added, smiling, without a hint of dislike or sarcasm. She is good, Jason thought. Very good at faking, indeed.

"Oh I'm attending a round of lectures in VA Beach. At the Base." Natalie answered, pointing towards somewhere. "But what about you? I thought you left the team and was traveling the world". Jason swallowed. Now Mandy knew that Jason never told Natalie that he was dating Mandy, but Jason was about to, minutes before. And on the texts, he didn't think his relationship status had anything to do with her contacts to help Clay. He regretted that now, because Mandy didn't even glance at him.

"Actually, I was. I had a great time. But then I got into some trouble and the team here helped me out" she pointed at the opposite side from where Jason was, and the team raised their beers to Mandy, while Sonny added "We got your six, spook! And I got to surf on the top of a train", and the whole group laughed, except Natalie who wasn't getting it. Jason tried to laugh too.

"Oh so now you're back living in VA Beach too?" Natalie continued her questionaire, killing Jason.

Mandy instantly noticed something that Jason didn't, "No, I'm just visiting this weekend. Why, you're back?"

"Actually, yes. I was just telling Jace that I got a great job offer to work here at the Base. This time I'd be head of the PT department, regionally. I couldn't say no to that" Natalie joyfully told her, turning to Jason and then to Mandy again. Mandy still didn't look at Jason.

"Oh, that's nice. Congratulations" she said, politely.

"Thank you. I missed VA Beach, actually." Natalie turned again to Jason, who now was just looking at the floor, with a hand on his forehead, suddenly feeling a headache coming. Then she looked back at Mandy. And stayed between Jason and Mandy. Blocking.

"Good. Good. Could I...?" Mandy gestured with her finger, politely asking her to get the fuck out of her way, so Natalie quickly apologized and took a little jump to the side, rubbing her leg against Jason now. He sighed.

But Mandy didn't seem mad at him at all and just put her hands delicately on his chest and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. Jason was relieved as fuck. "Hi" he whispered at her, when he finally looked into her green eyes. He even forgot that Natalie was right next to them. He held her waist and she smirked at him. They stayed like that while Jason asked her "Did you get here ok? Too much traffic?". "No, it was ok. I thought it'd take me longer". "Do you want something to drink?" Jason affectionately asked her, even though he knew she shouldn't drink any alcohol. "Hmm, yeah. Could you get me a diet coke? With lots of ice. I think I can drink that by now". Jason nodded and gave her another soft kiss. Natalie wasn't next to them anymore, so he relaxed and went to the bar, glancing back at Mandy. She was walking towards Emma and Brad.

Jason got to the bar and asked for a diet coke with lots of ice and a whiskey for him. He needed that.

Natalie came out of the ladies' bathroom, which was next to where Jason was, and she stood next to him, asking for a beer. She turned to him, "I'm sorry. I didn't know you guys were seeing each other" and smiled, apologizing. Jason thought she was being very nice by saying that. She continued "But you still can call me or text me anytime ok? To help out Clay". He nodded. She glanced at the group, then looked at his chest, mouth and eyes, and gently touched his biceps, "it'll be great seeing you more at the Base soon", smiling seductively to him.

But Jason now was quite aware she was not just being nice, but also hitting on him, even though it took him a while to notice. He pulled his arm a bit to get rid of her hand. "I'm sorry Natalie. But I think that I wasn't clear when I broke up with you. I wasn't happy with you. I'm sorry. I would've ended things even if you stayed here" he tried the best he could to sound polite, and her smile disappeared. "Of course not. I get it. You weren't ready for a serious relationship. Apparently, you still aren't", she said, pointing at Mandy with her eyes. She added "But we could work it out".

Jason's drinks were delivered at the counter. "Natalie, I'm very serious with Mandy. She understands me. I'm really happy with her, ok?" he was now annoyed at her, so he took his drinks from the counter.

Natalie stopped him from leaving "Ok, ok, I'm sorry. I didn't know. Jesus" she said, gesticulating in a passive-aggressive way, as if Jason was overreacting. "Look, we'll still work together. So I'm sorry I said that. I hope we can still be good friends" she smiled at him, sounding naive.

Jason just wanted to get away from there "Yeah. Sure. Take care", he grumbled, making his way to Mandy and the group with the drinks.

Mandy was facing the bar, so she saw everything that happened. But for Jason's surprise, she was smirking at him and calmly took her diet coke from his hands, thanking him. They talked a bit with Brad and Emma, but Jason had to make sure she wasn't mad at him or anything, so he guided her a bit to the side when Ray joined the group.

"Hey. Are you mad? I didn't know Natalie was going to be here" Jason asked, affectionate.

"No. That's ok. She used to come here from time to time." she simply answered.

"Really? Because she cornered me talking about her new job right when you came in"

"Oh, ok. But she didn't know we were together" Mandy stated.

"No, no she didn't. I almost didn't talk to her on the texts. Just about Clay" Jason quickly answered.

"Ok then" Mandy kissed him softly on the lips. "Why were you kinda mad at her at the bar then?"

Jason swallowed. But he couldn't lie. "Oh I wasn't mad. Nothing. I was just making it clear to her that I broke up because I wasn't happy with her. Not just because she left and I stayed".

"Oh?" Mandy raised an eyebrow. "And why did you feel the need to tell her that? Isn't that a bit harsh?"

Oh my God. Jason suddenly understood why Mandy was one of the top interrogators in the whole country. And Jason was actually trained for interrogations. But he was all wrapped up and couldn't get out of her web now.

He tried to escape with his charm "Oh, come on, do you really want to talk about that now? I was thinking we should go to my place" he said, coming closer to her and caressing her lower back.

"Jason" Mandy just looked at him. Not even looking angry. She knew she won, and she would definitely know if he tried to lie to her now.

Jason sigh. "Fine. I said that because she was hitting on me a bit. Maybe. I'm not sure if she was. Maybe she wasn't". Mandy heard, and exhaled. "Ok. Then what"

"That's all", Jason tried.

"Jason, you'd never say that to her mad. You were mad at the end. What did she say to you after you told her the reason why you broke up with her?" she crossed her arms now, officially interrogating him now.

Jason glanced to the sides. "She may have mentioned that she thought I wasn't ready for a serious relationship back then". He stopped, Mandy continued looking at him, waiting. Jason finally gave up, and started to gesticulate. "Then she may have suggested that I wasn't being serious with you as well. So I told her that I was very serious with you, and that you make me happy" he said the end smiling at her and holding her waist.

Mandy relaxed. After two seconds, she smirked at him "Good". Jason relaxed. "So she was ok with just being friends with you?" she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him gently.

"Yeah. She got it now. She was very nice about it. Just wants to be friends".

"She said she wanted to be friends with you?" Mandy asked, doubting it.

"Yeah, she hopes we'll still be friends. I'll see her sometimes, you know? I can't have an enemy there" Jason smiled at Mandy, reassuring her. She nodded and kissed him.

But Mandy knew very well what it meant when the person who gets dumped asks to the dumper if they can still be friends. With very rare exceptions, it meant that the dumped one wanted to stick around and win the dumper over. Show up at group meetings, chat a bit when they meet somewhere, text them, stuff like that. She knew Natalie was not an exception, and that she was manipulative. And had no self-respect, apparently. But Jason was naive, and even though she knew he didn't feel anything for her anymore, she thought it was very disrespectful of Natalie to hit on him like that, and planning on continue to hit on him in the future. And worse, he might be her patient again, and she would try to fuck him again. As her patient. She had to learn a lesson.

So when Jason was busy talking to the guys and Mandy saw Natalie going to the ladies' room again, she decided she needed to put some lipstick on.

She waited a few seconds to go there, to make sure she'd be in there ready for when Natalie came out of the toilet. She got in, and she calmly put some lipstick on, when Natalie came out and saw her at the sink, through the mirror. She hesitated, but approached to wash her hands. Mandy wasn't having the patience anymore for pretending to be polite, she had used all of it before, while talking to her at the pool table.

"You know I never liked you, right?" Mandy started, with a casual voice, not sounding angry or anything. Natalie glanced at her, but she was in a mood for a fight too.

"Why, because I was screwing the guy you wanted?" she smirked at Mandy, turning to her.

Mandy turned to her too. "No", she looked at her, confused. "Because you were screwing your patient, Natalie".

Mandy saw a flash of fear pass through Natalie's eyes. That's all that she wanted.

"Oh, come on, you know that's not what happened" she nodded, exaggeratedly.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe you should let the Navy decide that" Mandy slapped her with her words. But Natalie wasn't giving up, and she smiled at her.

"They knew we were together. We made it official, dear".

"Yes, you were" she stated. "After he wasn't your patient anymore".

"And how could you know that? Prove that? You'd never risk Jason's professional life just because you're jealous".

"Oh, he'd never be harmed, hun. Although technically he didn't do anything wrong; you did. But he'd never even be mentioned. Because he wasn't the first patient that you slept with, was he?" now Mandy punched her with the information she had. Natalie wasn't expecting that.

"You have no proof" she tried.

"Of course I do. Did you forget who I am?" Mandy reminded her she was CIA.

"Well, you know what? Everybody sleeps around in the Military" Natalie stated, looking at the floor, about to leave the bathroom.

"It doesn't make it ok, Natalie. You know the Navy wouldn't accept you at your new job" Mandy said, and she was actually trying to put some sense into Natalie's head. "You're giving uneven treatment between your patients, dedicating extra time and giving special... care to some of them", Mandy said, without hiding some sarcasm. She sighed, because Natalie was just looking at her, and she wasn't sure she understood. "You don't deserve your promotion, Natalie. You know that. And I'd rather not, but I'd use what I have against you if I have to. It's not about if you dated Jason, it's about you being just a bad person and a terrible professional" Mandy opened the door of the bathroom, leaving and muttering "I hate that".

Jason was slightly worried when Mandy wasn't with the group and Emma mentioned she was in the ladies' room. He searched for Natalie at the bar, and didn't find her either. But soon enough, Mandy came out of the bathroom very calm, with more lipstick on. He relaxed for a second, and only a second, because then he saw Natalie coming out of the bathroom looking serious and concerned. But at least she didn't seem to be physically hurt, which is what Jason was fearing the most. "Heeey" Jason went to Mandy, "What the hell happened in there?"

Mandy looked at him, and didn't lie, "Nothing. We just talked. Don't worry".

"Oh, but I worry Mandy. Didn't I tell you she was ok with just being friends?"

"Sure. You're so naive. But that's ok, it doesn't matter anymore" she said, raising her shoulders.

"Why? What?" Jason was very confused. Mandy explained, "I don't think she'll be accepting her new job here".

"Oh, ok. Why?" he asked, still concerned.

"I'll have to check first, I think it's classified information above your clearance Jason. But let's just say she really doesn't deserve the promotion" she said, casually.

Jason smirked. She had class. Of course she wouldn't get into a bar fight with another woman because she was jealous. But he felt a bit disappointed, he knew Mandy would take Natalie down easily.

"And if that doesn't work, I could always slap her a little bit" Mandy suddenly mentioned, "I could easily take her. You know that, right?" she looked at Jason.

"Oh. I know", Jason said, kissing her. He was proud of her.