CHAPTER 34

GUESS WHO'S BACK

Jason advanced at Dianna's suitcase, still on the floor of the plane, as soon as they landed in U.S. soil, grabbing it right before Nick. Dianna chuckled and made her way out of the plane in her high heel boots, which she wore for two entire days. Her feet were in pain.

"What are you doing tomorrow? And on the weekend" Jason asked Dianna, helping her walk down the ramp.

Dianna didn't sense any invitation coming, which she liked. He only seemed to be making conversation. "Well, what day is it today… Thursday, right? Then I should finish packing my stuff. I talked to the moving company and I booked Saturday, but it's very likely that I'd need to postpone it for next week. Hope not. You?"

"Not sure yet" he was about to tell her that Natalie wanted to go camping or something like that, but he'd find a way out. Besides, they had a fight, so he didn't have to think about her for a while. "Tomorrow morning I'll hand my report at the Base, then they'll give me the rest of the day off".

"Oh yes, I need to do that too. Damn, I forgot" Dianna really forgot about the burocracy that came with working for the CIA. She had to hand her report to Captain Lindell, and send the same report to the CIA, always.

"Do you need any help after that? Packing your stuff" Jason asked, friendly.

Dianna turned to him, feeling awkward. "Better not. But thanks".

She also noticed that Natalie kissed him before he got into the plane, even though it seemed like they had a fight, so obviously they still were together. Suddenly Dianna felt an urge to rub on his face that he was there, asking for another chance with her, while officially dating someone else.

"How was camping?" Dianna asked, casually.

"We didn't go" Jason quickly answered. "The rain. It's not that far, it rained there too".

"This weekend is going to be sunny" Dianna mentioned, and she took off any trace of sarcasm it could possibly have.

"Yeah, true".

"Are you going then?" she tried, but couldn't hide her annoyance.

"Probably not. We fought". He said, holding a smile, because he noticed her jealousy.

But Dianna always surprised him. "You do know that it's normal that I feel a bit jealous, right?"

Jason turned to her, smiling cockily "So you admit it, then?"

"Sure" she looked down. "I thought that we were in kind of good terms when I left, that you'd think about what I said. We weren't like, committed, but I thought of you. But obviously, since you hated me so much, you can't be jealous about anything I did or anyone that I hung out with during that same period". She purposely used the expression 'hung out', because it could mean a lot of things.

"Say that again" Jason gasped, turning completely to her.

"Well" she stopped, looking at the sunset that was starting, "five months is a long time. I was, after all, living with a lot of people, you know, my age and younger than me. All day and all night. It was really fun. Except for the torture training part" she smiled, and she didn't lie once.

Jason's heart skipped a beat, and once more, not in a good way. That woman was giving him arrhythmia lately. Her face was glowing with the orange sunlight, it was the golden hour.

He fought the urge to ask for any details, because he knew that she would gladly give them to him, to make him suffer. And really, he truly had no right to demand anything from her. So he chose not to ask, and kept quiet.

They were coming close to Dianna's car, and Jason was walking really slowly now. Dianna too.

She was thinking about what she wanted to ask him, because there were a lot of things. She knew she'd sound jealous asking any of them.

"Did you really hate me during all those five months?" she sincerely asked, afraid of the answer. "Please tell me the truth".

Jason swallowed. "Hate is a strong word. But yeah, I was absurdly mad at you for what I thought you did to me".

"And do you think it's fair" her voice was shaky now, so she just had to say it, "that you hated me so much about having something with another guy, and now you're talking about feelings with me, offering to help me pack, with a serious girlfriend waiting to go camping with you?" she looked up, and his chin dropped.

"It's not the same" he stated.

"For me, it is. At least, close enough. Probably for her too. And to be honest, the fact that you still don't want to break up with her, after asking me for another chance, makes me feel like you're also cheating on me now. Would you even break up with her if I forgive you?", she asked, leaning on the door of her car.

"What? No, it's not like that. Of course that if you give me a chance, then I'd sit down and talk to her, I mean, I feel guilty about it, because she's really been so supportive, and-"

"Oh my God. You don't even know if you'd break up with her?" Dianna looked at him, disgusted, and threw her suitcase in her trunk.

"Wait a minute, of course I know, it's just not easy to just break up-" he gestured, walking around Dianna, who was furiously opening the door of the car.

"Fuck off, Jason", she solemnly demanded, while getting inside the car, and drove off.

If she wanted to make him suffer, she was on the right path. Because, not once, he had cheated on anyone. Or at least, he thought so.

And once again, Dianna stormed off before Jason could confirm that he would break up with Natalie, so, once again, Jason would have to seek her out and calmly explain the situation.

Dianna happily drove her small car into the small parking space of her small new rental. But at least, this one was charming, had a small backyard with grass, a tree, and was close to the beach. She really liked that it had two stories, but she hated that it didn't have a proper garage. She still couldn't get used to the fact that in the U.S. most people left the cars in a roofless space, getting wet everytime they went in and out of the house and car, and put a lot of crap into the actual garage. She really wished she had one, but then she wouldn't be able to afford the rent on this house she chose, it was pricey enough.

Since she'd probably have to reschedule her moving to the next week, and she was staying at a hotel that week, she thought about bringing some small boxes to her new place and maybe some décor, so she'd imagine where the furniture would be. It already had a cute kitchen and bathroom furniture, everything else she'd have to buy herself. Some things she brought from the apartment, but a lot of them she sold, like the chairs and rug, because she was afraid that Will 'rubbed himself' or something on them, so it didn't contain his 'material' but sure as hell she didn't want to be near it. The rest of her things, that she brought, she sent them to be cleaned, more than once.

After the new disappointment she had with Jason, she knew he'd reach out to her, so she didn't take her report to Lindell, she'd go to the Base only late afternoon, and she wouldn't answer his calls, if he made any.

It was right before 11AM when Jason called her the first time, and she let it ring. She put the ringtone on mute when he kept calling, and put on her airpods while she moved and opened the boxes. She checked her phone after half an hour or so, just to see if there was something important, but it only showed notifications of texts from Jason, which she didn't even open to read. She smiled, because she knew he was suffering. Good.

She continued with her ipods, thinking about where she would put the new sofa that she bought and was due to arrive in a week, when she thought she felt something vibrate, then she remembered she hadn't checked her phone for a lot more than one hour, so she glanced at the screen and it was Davis. She grabbed it while taking her ipods off.

"Hey gi-"

"Where the fuck are you?" Davis literally yelled from the other side, and Dianna was glad she still didn't have her phone too close to her ear.

"Jesus. I'm at my new place, moving some stuff"

"Ok, listen to me. Stay inside and call Jason and give him your address" Davis quickly said, and Dianna knew it was serious, so she walked to her bag, where she had a handgun.

"Why do I need to give Jason my address? And why didn't you? You know it"

"I don't remember the number, okay" Davis loudly said, annoyed, as if she was defending herself from the same accusation that someone had made against her that day, "I just remember the street name. Jason should be arriving at your street in, like, three minutes".

"Please tell me what's going on" Dianna was terrified.

"Fucking Will is out of jail" she said, and Dianna instantly felt nauseated, and unconsciously walked backwards into a wall. Davis continued, "Yesterday his rape victim made a secret statement to the judge that she lied, and since he was all that time in jail because of that crime, for months without trial, the judge had to let him walk. The decision was a few hours ago and he was released immediately, and as soon as Captain Lindell found out he told us, and we've been trying to reach you. We went to your old apartment, we thought that you'd be here, packing".

"I was, for a few hours, then I came here to bring some boxes" she said, and suddenly she realized that she kept her back door open, to easily get in with the boxes. Almost at the same time she realized that, she saw a shadow passing by one of her windows, and got ready to shoot the perv, because it hadn't passed the three minutes that Davis said, so it wouldn't be Jason. Davis continued talking loudly on the phone, telling Dianna to call Jason and give him her house number, but Dianna was focused on Will already coming in from the back door, and she wouldn't have time to even move from where she was.

Dianna saw Will walking fast into her house, gun in hand, and Dianna and Jason screamed together, swearing, both of them holding their guns and pointing at each other with precision.

"Jesus, Jason, why the hell didn't you call my name or knocked on the front door?" Dianna's heart was racing from the scare, and also because Jason Hayes was in her house in his fatigues. The ones with the shirt that made his shoulders extra broad. He only wore them at the Base.

"I checked first, because I heard voices, and your back door was open" he lowered his gun, pointing at the floor, not locking it.

"Yes, it was me, talking to Davis on the phone" she said, annoyed, locking her gun and resting it over the kitchen countertop.

"What you doing? What are you, a british cop? Put it on your back", Jason teased, annoyed, grabbing her gun and handing it back to her, and mocking the british and the fact that not all policemen in England carried weapons, which he could never understand.

Jason breathed in, because he drove really, really fast from Dianna's apartment to her street, then got out of his car really, really fast when he finally saw her car parked there, but he was really, really glad that she was ok. And she looked completely hot in her leggings, tight t-shirt, and braided hair, a completely different outfit than the day before, but completely her, too.

Suddenly Dianna's phone rang again, and she accepted the call and put it on speaker.

"Are you okay?" Davis yelled again, and her voice echoed through Dianna's empty house, making her and Jason shut their eyes.

"Yes, Jason is here" Dianna answered, in a reasonable voice.

"Wow. Good. You stopped answering me, I heard screams, I was terrified".

"Yeah, it's all good, we'll see now what we'll do. Maybe we'll go to your place?" Jason suggested, looking around the empty house and knowing that his own house was crap and so small that they wouldn't even have where to sit down. And it was a mess.

"Sure, sure, just… Make yourselves at home. My house has a fingerprint and number code to enter, so dial the code, it's 123124" Davis whispered, and Jason and Dianna looked at each other, nodding admired, because that was an easy code to remember and not entirely dumb.

"Why aren't you going there? Where are you" Dianna didn't understand that, and Jason took a step back.

"Yes. So. We came here and knocked, and you didn't answer, so, you know, like you said it yourself, it's better to be safe than sorry, right? So I'm here just until the guy gets here and puts on a temporary lock, just so that no one comes in" Davis said, with an apologizing voice. "Ok, when it's all good here I'll see you at my house, ok? Call me if you need anything or want to know where my stuff is. You can eat and drink whatever you want, just if you drink my tequila or whiskey, buy me all again later. See you soon, bye", she joyfully hang up, now with a melodic voice.

"You kicked the door" Dianna stated, slowly putting her phone on the countertop.

"Yeah. Sorry about that" Jason said, two steps away from where he was before, already in her kitchen. "I'll pay for the new one. And for the guy. Ok?"

Dianna raised her shoulders, and crossed her arms, smirking.

"Just a shame I didn't get to see it".

Jason's pupils dilated, and he opened a cocky smile with his hands on his hips.

"So do you really think that Will would go after me? Two of the other accusations, besides the rape one, were far worse than mine" Dianna asked, concerned about the other victims.

"True, but I don't know, you were the first to report him, and the one who defended herself and got him into jail, so he could target you" Jason leaned his hand on the countertop. "I locked it" he said, when he saw Dianna glancing at the back door and starting to go there.

It was really weird for Dianna to see Jason in her new place. It was weird even for her to be there, especially with everything still empty, but she realized that she was glad she didn't pick the other house, which had a bigger backyard but a smaller kitchen. Because this kitchen was actually quite big, and yet Jason occupied a third of the space just standing there. But then again, she was much smaller than him. Then she thought that maybe the two of them in that kitchen would barely fit, so no romantic Fridays cooking together as a lot of people said they did. Then she shook off that thought, she was supposed to be angry at him.

"But would Will even go after someone? I mean, he just got out of jail" Dianna didn't believe he could be so dumb.

Jason came closer, only now locking his gun and placing it on his back. "Word is" he raised his hands, gossip mode was on, "That he paid off, or threatened, or both, the girl that made the new statement. So we don't know if it will stick, probably she'll change her mind again, or the cops will find out the truth, but anyways, he'll go to jail again. So it's kinda like, he'll probably make a run for it, but maybe he'll seek revenge. His former teammates from Echo said that he looked like he was a good guy, and very intelligent, but he was also very… determined, sometimes".

Dianna was amused about the amount of gossip that one single frogman could blurt in less than a minute. "Yeah, determined like a stalker, I remember" she said, chuckling.

Jason smirked. "I'm glad that you can laugh about it, now", he said, affectionate.

"Yeah, who would've thought" she raised her eyebrows and noticed Jason's eyes dropping to her lips, and he was stern, then she realized she was biting her bottom lip. But she did that because her blackberry lipbalm tasted good, not to entice him. So she instantly took a step back before he'd advance on her, since Jason always advanced, being a frogman and all, and changed the topic of conversation. Only then she remembered that she was mad at him, but she didn't even wanted to discuss that yet.

"So, I should go to Davis' place, right? I'm with my car, so I can go there alone, ok".

"Wow, wow, no, I was going to drive you there, but yes, then you can drive your own car, but I'll follow with mine" he stated, coming closer to her again.

"Ok, fine. I'll just go get some clothes, just in case, I have a lot here so I don't need to get any at my hotel room yet" she said, and started to walk up the stairs, "I don't understand if I'm supposed to stay there for days or what, I mean" she started to talk louder to Jason "I can't stay there forever, right?" she turned and Jason was exactly behind her, only two steps down. "Your steps are quiet" she told him, amazed, and he cockily smiled.

"Tier 1 operator here".

She shook her head, smiling, and walked into her bedroom, with Jason glued to her. "Can you just… wait here? Check if he's coming from the stairs or something" she pushed him back to the bedroom door.

Jason out of nowhere held her arms and pushed her back to the wall next to the door frame, as soon as he felt her hand on his chest. She looked at him shocked.

But Dianna had no idea how Jason's heart raced when she wasn't answering anybody's calls, for hours, and how guilty he felt when he knew she wasn't answering the calls because she was angry at him. When he admitted to Davis why she wasn't picking up at first, she almost killed him, and she didn't even hear the half of it. But when she wasn't answering Davis' repeated texts and calls, both of them were panicking, especially when Dianna wasn't in her apartment. Davis called her hotel and she wasn't there either, so her new place was their last hope. He was shivering and drove like a maniac, and just wanted to advance on her and hold her the second that he saw she was okay. And the fact that she was pointing the gun so perfectly at him, made him proud of her and very aroused.

And now that she was so close to him, distractedly biting her lip and moving her gun in her leggings, he just couldn't hold himself anymore.

"Please, kiss me. Now" Jason suddenly asked Dianna, with a husky voice, and she squirmed with his words. He was holding her against the wall, but knew that he had no right to advance at her and kiss her, but he wasn't even asking for her permission, he was asking her to do it. It was a sexy way of him being dominant and submissive at the same time.

She swallowed, looking at his cute desperate face, and she closed her eyes to think. Jason moved his legs slightly closer to her, touching both of her legs and her core.

"Just… I was so worried. I need to kiss you" he repeated, and she licked her lips to think and opened her eyes, and obviously he thought she was going to kiss him, because he was breathing hard.

"Did you break up with her?" she finally asked, exhaling.

He kept his face close, and shook his head. "No. I didn't even talk to her yesterday. I texted her that I was back just to let her know. We fought, I told you".

Dianna smirked, but her face was sad. "Don't ever ask me to be the other one, Jason. If I kissed you, what we could have after that would be tainted".

He looked at her with his eyes filled with tears, and slightly nodded.

"U-hum. You're right. I'm sorry", he said, looking down, and he took his hands off her arms.

Dianna took her hand and placed it on his bearded cheek, he wasn't expecting that and looked up. "I missed your face" she confessed, with a sad smile, caressing the side of his lip with her thumb. Jason's forearm was over her, the other hand was next to her, on the wall, his legs were around hers, and his face was inches from her lips. He nodded. For the past months he was having this overwhelming feeling that he was always having something close, but not exactly what he wanted, and that moment with Dianna was the epitome of all that. He was so close, yet he couldn't have it. And he had to give her back her space, so he took a step back, distancing from her all at once.

"I'll wait downstairs" he stated, silently walking down the steps of the stairs.

Dianna was parking in front of Davis' house, with Jason's car glued to her, because apparently he couldn't follow anyone in any other way, which would make him a terrible spy. She noticed a truck parked in front of the house, and when she got out of her car, Ray and Sonny came out of the truck.

"Hey, Jason called us while driving and told us what happened, and that you guys would be here. We were close by, having lunch" Ray quickly said, and Jason came closer, nodding.

"Yeah, so we came to be with you guys, until someone catches the Dead Man, or we make him live and die by his nickname" Sonny dramatically stated.

"But we don't know the password to her house" Ray said, and Dianna glanced at Sonny, that was looking away. He obviously knew, but couldn't tell that to Ray.

"Ok, come on, let's go inside", Jason said, after he picked up Dianna's bag, and then dialed the code to open the front door.

They made themselves very comfortable at Davis' house, with Sonny familiar with her kitchen and where she kept the beer and good food.

Jason came close to Dianna, while she was watching from a window. "Hey, come eat something, did you have lunch?", he asked, concerned.

"Actually no, but I'm not hungry" she shuddered, and continued to look through a window. One that had venetian blinds on it.

Jason touched her arm, and she turned to look at him. "We're here. He's not getting inside" Jason said, stern. "He wouldn't make it to that tree" he stood behind her, pointing at a tree that was almost where the sidewalk began. Dianna nodded, she believed that.

Suddenly Jason's phone buzzed in his pocket, and he distanced from her to look at the screen. Dianna turned to him, right when he opened and read some text, then he made an annoyed face, and aggressively texted back something. He put his phone back in his pocket, and saw Dianna looking at him, with sad eyes.

"The guys are here, you can go now" Dianna said.

He shook his head. "I don't want to. You know I'd worry. And she doesn't need me, she's just texting some bullshit" he said, annoyed.

"She's jealous of me" Dianna stated, it wasn't a question, and Jason glanced at her and nodded. "She has the right to be" she added, and Jason looked away.

He suddenly saw something outside through the window, and immediately took his gun out and pulled Dianna behind him by her waist, and Dianna saw with the corner of her eye that Sonny was looking outside and also took his gun, and both of them were aiming with precision. At Davis. They relaxed and opened the door to her as soon as she came closer.

"Where's your car? Why were you walking? You're the color of grass, Davis" Jason said, annoyed, and she really was very well camouflaged in her our Navy uniform.

"Your truck is blocking my entry, Jace" she said, getting in and locking the door behind her. Jason looked outside and squinted, and apologized because he thought her garage entry was on the other side of the lot.

Davis hugged Dianna, for no reason because nothing actually happened, and they opened some booze to talk around the kitchen island. And Jason convinced Dianna to eat some ham and cheese sandwich, olives and chips. Sonny obviously made one for himself, and Davis as well, because she also hadn't had lunch yet.

"Are you really becoming a vegetarian, man?" Sonny asked Jason, when he said he didn't want a ham sandwich for himself.

"No. Don't think so. But some vegetarian foods are kind of nice. The fried ones, at least".

Davis asked, teasing, "Is Natalie still making you follow that special meal plan?"

"She tries to, and reminds me of it everyday, but I don't like it. She says it'd make me live longer" he answered, feeling awkward, but Dianna wasn't even hearing any of it, she was talking to Ray.

"Oh yeah. The one that would make you live until you're a hundred, and operate for another twenty years?" Sonny mocked.

"Well, she said that once, but these days she actually said that she couldn't guarantee that I could operate for more than three to four years" Jason stated, sad.

Sonny was indignant. "But you're at your prime, boss. What does she know, huh. Lindell too. You're looking fine, man" he joyfully declared.

"Thanks, man. Hope so" Jason answered, and Davis just quietly observed everything, noticing how miserable Jason was from just talking about Natalie, and the difference when he was with Dianna, a lot more relaxed and joyful. So she made her way to the fridge, to get a bottle of wine, and offered some to Dianna, who accepted a glass.

"Ah, man, our girls' night will be with tequila. I forgot I only had this bottle of wine" Davis said, looking at the bottle half empty, and Dianna looked sad too, but they raised their shoulders.

"What" Sonny meddled, "It's not going to be a girls' night. It will be you girls and us boys" he gestured.

"Yeah" Jason said, like it was obvious, "did you really think that we would leave you two here alone? Especially with a perv running around?"

"Come again? You do know that I am a Navy Officer, right?" Davis dangerously asked.

Ray intervened, "We know, Davis, but we thought we all took turns, at least for tonight. I was just telling Dianna that nobody knows where Will is, but since he only has to come back to the courthouse tomorrow for his daily check, there's nothing that can be done".

"I told you not to worry her yet, man" Jason said, annoyed.

Davis turned to Jason, she obviously didn't know that, and Dianna just found out, too.

Sonny was reasonable. "Look, Ray has got a family, so I think that he should be with his family tonight, also because, who knows, I wouldn't want Naima to be alone with the kids. So I'll get my bag of clothes later, I live nearby, and Ray will stay now until Jason comes back with his stuff", Sonny said, reasonably, and Jason and Ray nodded. They obviously talked about all of that while Jason was driving his car to Davis' house. Frogmen were admirably quick to made plans and decide on things.

"Ok, so I'm going to collect some stuff, and check on Naima too, and I'll be back in a couple of hours, so Ray can go back to his house, ok?" Jason said, walking backwards.

"Wait" Dianna walked to him, "I need to talk to you first" and she made him walk with her to the living room, and sat him down. She sat next to him, still with her glass of wine in her hand. The sofa was in an off white color and the wine was white, but obviously Dianna heard Davis yelling at her from the kitchen, telling her to watch out and not spill any wine. They smirked.

"Look" Dianna said, now serious, while she put the glass of wine on the coffee table, just in case, "I know I obviously can't meddle into your relationship with Natalie, because-"

"Yes, I've been meaning to talk to you about that since yesterday" Jason suddenly said, sitting closer to her and facing her, "I will break up with Natalie, there's no doubt about it" and Dianna smiled, "the minute you tell me you forgive me and we can try again". He said, smiling affectionate to her, and Dianna noticed he really didn't see the problem.

Dianna only heard the sound of their breaths, but apparently she was deaf, because Jason pushed her down on the sofa, to her side, and put his whole body over hers, while he took his gun and pointed, with precision. At a squirrel. Which Dianna only knew what it was when he finally let her sit back up for a little, while mumbling 'fucking squirrel'.

Dianna's hair was all disheveled, her braid was pretty much non existent, and Jason was breathing hard close to her, with his gun locked but still on his hand.

Dianna looked at Jason, and concluded that she couldn't really take it anymore, because she couldn't think rationally if she could forgive him or not, when he kept standing that close to her, and in such a protective way.

But there was something growing inside of her that was bigger than her desire for Jason. It was the desire to see him happy, and she knew that until that issue wasn't addressed, she couldn't decide about her own matter.

So Dianna sat further away from Jason, but still close.

"You can't put this load on me, Jason" she said, stern, continuing their conversation.

"What load?" he asked, confused.

"I don't want you to break up with Natalie just because you want to be with me" she explained.

He sat more erect, putting his gun back in his back. "Then what? I don't get it"

"I heard you talking about her at the kitchen, and the things you said so far before today, and here at Davis' place last Friday" Dianna said, "and like I said, I don't want to meddle, but are you happy with her? Or at least do you see any future?"

Jason thought for a second, looking down, then looked at her again. "What does it matter? I want to be with you" he said, feeling extremely vulnerable by admitting that.

She noticed that, so she put her hand on his. "That's not the point. I just want you to be happy, and I couldn't be ok if you stayed with her just because I didn't give us another chance" she said, and he stared, suspicious.

She insisted, "Jason, do you really think it's ok that she tries to change you so much? I just found out that she's making meal plans for you, even though she's not a nutritionist, then making you eat vegetarian food that you 'kind of' like, just because she eats that too. And worse, she's bringing you down and saying that you should think about your retirement. I mean, obviously she was the other one pressing you to think about it, other than Lindell" she said, and he just stared, not denying it.

Jason felt that he needed to defend Natalie, because she was always so supportive of him. "Look, maybe she insists on me doing some improvements, but I understand it's for my ow benefit".

"She's trying to change all of the best things in you, Jason, and it's awful to watch" she said, exhaling.

Jason now was very defensive, "She just wants the best for me. She was there to help on my recovery, Dianna".

Dianna didn't want to go there, but he went, so... "Yes, Jason. Now tell me, how long after your surgery did you sleep with her? Or was it even before the surgery?" she bluntly and sarcastically asked.

His chin dropped. "Why would you want to know that?" he would never want to know any details about Dianna's sex life with other men. Unless if she confessed that he was, by far, the best of them all.

"You know what, it doesn't matter" she gestured, "because she was a doctor, fucking her patient".

Jason had no words, and he watched as Dianna reached her glass of wine and took a sip, annoyed.

"For fuck sake, it wasn't like that. She supported me" Jason felt defensive, he wasn't some victim there.

Dianna stared at him. "There's a reason why doctors can't sleep with their patients, Jason, and why in the Navy you can't sleep with your superiors, and why they make us sign forms". She put her glass down. "It's not just to protect the ones below in the hierarchy from abuse, but to prevent that the ones having sex receive benefits. Or are you saying that she wasn't staying long hours with you, helping you with exercises? While other patients had less hours with her? Or being extra attentive with you and 'so supportive' when you were both just flirting?" Dianna had to stop, because she felt nauseated just picturing those scenes, and Jason swallowed.

"How can someone with that kind of moral and so unethical have any say about your job, or about when you should retire? She's controlling you everywhere, with her therapist friend who cheers you on to be together, even. You do know that not just because someone is a therapist, it means they are good and ethic people, right? Especially with the kind of friends he has".

Jason's face was of disbelief. "How can you say all that? Are you really so jealous that you'd think she could manipulate me like that, so easily?"

"I am jealous, yes, but I'm a lot more worried about your happiness. So much that I honestly cannot be with you if you really think that I'd make up all these things just so you'd break up with her" she turned, preparing to stand up. "Besides, if I wanted you to break up with her anyways, I could just tell you I forgive you, right? But I really want you to see the problem. So please, when you do grab your things, maybe you should think about what I said, and if you were really happy with her, during these last months before I came back. And if you're happy with her now".

Dianna stood up and grabbed her wine, but he was tired of her storming off after saying all that she wanted to say.

"Wait. Dianna" he said, still sitting. "Sit down, please. It's my turn to talk now" he calmly said. Or at least he sounded calm, because he felt a whirlwind inside.

She was surprised, but sat again at the sofa, putting her glass on the table, and kept quiet.

"There are a few things there have been bothering me lately, yes, and from the beginning too. But I was trying to work them out, or, you know, get used to them. So like I said, she was very supportive, and maybe she was a bit controlling" he said and Dianna rolled her eyes, but kept quiet, "so it's hard for me to just dismiss her out of nowhere, for no reason".

Dianna came closer and gathered courage, because the answer to her question could break her heart. "But are you with her because you're in love with her, or because you feel too guilty to break up with her, since she supported and helped you?"

Jason stared, confused. "I'm not in love with her" he said. "We're only together for like, less than three months". He realized that he didn't really remember for how long it was.

Dianna's face first illuminated, but then she felt her heart shrink when he said that he wasn't in love because he was with her for a short period.

"I thought that you signed the form because you were serious, and in love or something", she muttered.

Jason blinked. "No, I signed it to make it official because she works with the Navy".

Dianna looked down. "I didn't know that". She took the glass of wine but it was empty, so she put it back on the table. "So, if you're not in love with her, you feel guilty, then" she stated, and he kept quiet.

And they kept quiet, close to each other, for a whole minute.

"I need to think about it" Jason suddenly muttered, "But maybe you're right" he finally admitted. "I mean, I don't know. I've been avoiding her for a while now".

"You now what, why don't you talk to her like this afternoon, and just make a decision?" Dianna suggested, but she was feeling ill with the jealousy. But she had to let him decide.

Jason nodded, and looked at her. "I could ask her to go to my place while I grab my things, so we can talk about it before I come back. But are you ok with that?"

"I told you. I don't want this load on me, it's your decision to make. I need you to decide before I can decide, so it won't affect my decision. And please, be honest with yourself, if you want a future with her, then, just let me know later" she swallowed, feeling nauseated, but it was true. She was so angry about what Natalie was doing to Jason, that she was afraid she'd choose to be with him just to keep him away from her. And she was afraid that she'd still hold a grudge on him later on, for the way he hurt her. She needed to truly forgive him, and forget.

Jason nodded again, then stood up. "Ok. I'll go there then come back here, in like two or three hours, ok? I'll come back here, then we'll talk again" he said, while she stood up too.

He walked away and said goodbye, suddenly excited to get to his house and then talk to Natalie. He felt really guilty about breaking up with her, but he barely walked outside the door of Davis' house and he already had a pretty good idea of what his decision would be. He just needed to put on his big boy pants and think for himself, for once, as Dianna suggested.

.