CHAPTER 28

WHAT CHANGED


Dianna was feeling nervous about seeing everyone. She was glad that she could keep in touch with Davis during her training, because she always understood when she was out of reach or why she wasn't coming back. During her last month of training, Davis had an upgrade of clearance at the Navy, because now she was heading ops for multiple teams, and talking to assets. Still, it wasn't enough clearance for her, but Dianna made a formal request and pointed out many, many reasons why she was trustworthy, and they cleared her, but only two weeks before she finished the CIA training. Immediately Dianna called Davis and told her what she really had been doing during this whole time, and Davis was incredibly supportive. She confessed that she imagined that Dianna had left because of something like that.

Davis let Dianna know, at the phone, that the team was doing fine, Nick was being great, Jessica meh, but ok, and that Jason was 'good'. She told her that he had to have a hip surgery, and stayed away from operating for a little over a month, but that he was back for almost two months now. And kept repeating that he was 'good'.

Dianna was dying to see everyone, and she knew most of them would be mad at her, but she wanted to tell everyone, at once, what happened, and see how they were doing. Davis agreed, and said it would be fun. Dianna asked Davis to make sure they would all be there, and their wives too, because she wanted to talk to Naima and Stella again. Davis said 'good' and Dianna suggested they met at The Bulkhead, but Davis said that the fire pit and barbecue area of her house was finally done, and she wanted to make it there, and Dianna agreed, excited.

Dianna was driving her car, one that worked, because her paycheck wasn't as ridiculous now, and she was really, really excited to see everyone. Especially Jason.

She knew he'd probably be still mad at her, and hurt, but he'd understand once she told everything. And she was realistic, she knew that he probably dated other women in the meantime, but she hoped that, maybe, they could resume their 'fling' together, now officially. She would sign any forms he asked her to.

Davis asked Dianna to arrive when everyone was there, as a surprise, and Dianna did that. She parked her car, and there were a lot of trucks and big cars in front of Davis' house. Her small black car looked tiny next to them. She saw Jason's car there. She felt butterflies, and she made sure her dress was ok. She was wearing a cream dress with some flowers, because it was almost summer, but she had to put a jeans jacket over it, since it was a chilly night, and they'd be at Davis' backyard.

She texted Davis when she was at her door, and not one minute later Davis opened the door, and got out of the house to hug her. Davis looked absolutely the same.

"You haven't changed a thing, girl" Davis said, joyfully, but whispering, because she closed the door but the guys were near. "Come on, come inside behind me. They're at my backyard. Just remember to say, quickly, why you left", she joked.

"Hey guys. Look what I found" Davis said, exaggeratedly and loudly, so everyone looked at her, and were shocked when Dianna came out to the backyard, shyly waving her hand.

There was a second of silence, obviously because they were hurt, and Dianna wasted no time, watching out for her words because Naima and Stella didn't have clearance.

"I was out doing some training, guys. Had to keep it a secret, because I can't confirm nor deny. Sorry".

Another second of silence, while they registered her words, and then everyone exploded at the same time, excited, and came hugging her, Clay almost raised her up, Sonny hugged her like there was no tomorrow, Brock embraced all of Dianna, charmingly, and Trent and Full Metal hugged her, congratulating her. Then Stella and Naima hugged her at the same time, even though they saw Dianna once almost six months before. Ray hugged Dianna with affection, but looking stern. And after all that whirlwind of hugs, the crowd became silent and Dianna finally saw Jason. She didn't see him before, and she smiled as soon as she saw him. He was looking the same, maybe his beard was like a tiny longer, and she loved that look. He was kind of paralyzed and finally walked to her, serious, but gave her a bear hug, and she smelled his scent on his chest. "Congratulations, Dianna" he murmured, affectionate, and lingered for a couple of seconds.

He opened the hug, and Dianna was still looking at him, when she heard a woman's voice coming from her side.

"Hi. Congratulations" the woman extended her hand, and Dianna was still smiling when she shook the woman's hand. The woman kept looking at Jason, and Jason glanced at the woman and at Dianna, and she quickly realized what the woman was to him.

"I'm Natalie" the woman said her name, because apparently Jason lost his tongue. Dianna put her best fake smile on, because she wanted to die. "Nice to meet you. I'm Dianna".

Davis intervened and pulled Dianna with her, so she could talk to the guys and stop thinking about who the fuck was that woman.

But Dianna broke Jason's heart, so he owed her nothing. But then again, she did the only thing she could, back then. She thought Jason believed her, but apparently not.


Davis called everyone to sit on the chairs around the fire pit, to enjoy her newly built space, and to talk about the news. Dianna noticed that Jason sat on the furthest chair possible, with Natalie seated on the arm of his chair, and he kept looking at Dianna, stern, while she tried to ignore him and talk to the team guys. She noticed, from the corner of her eye, that he kept holding Natalie's hips and caressing her leg, and suddenly Jason began to interrupt Dianna, and she politely ignored him because he was being pathetic.

Finally, Jason left, probably to go to the bathroom, and she could relax a bit and truly enjoy the company of the guys.

"And what about the Dead Guy, huh?" Sonny asked, about Will, unaware about what he actually did to Dianna. She told the team guys that he kept stalking her, causing her to have the panic attack at the base and that he even broke into her apartment, and until then, they thought he did just that. Even so, they hated the guy and wanted him dead, and Sonny quickly gave him that nickname, that sticked. They knew she left Belgrade to testify against him, and his trial ended up taking a lot longer to be scheduled, because two new victims came forward and he had a very good attorney, so the case was classified and they didn't know what he did yet.

"No news yet, sorry. The trial is still pending. I heard that it's going to happen in the next few weeks, but they said that before" Dianna answered, looking at Davis, the only one who knew the truth besides her. And Jason. Davis quickly got up and went inside the house.

"Who is dead?" Natalie asked, chuckling and confused.

Clay quickly answered. "It's a nickname. Unfortunately, he's very alive, but imprisoned. It's a creep that stalked Dianna months ago. And other women, too. He was part of Echo Team. A shame for the Navy".

"And a guy who I thought that was just some hot jerk that Dianna could make out with. Thank God she didn't hear me, huh" Naima added, with an apologetic expression.

"Oh, that's ok, when you said that, he already had broken into my place, so I knew exactly who he was" Dianna dismissed, and Naima nodded, relieved.

"He broke into your place?" Natalie dramatically asked, but that was understandable.

"Hum, yes. He did that just the day before I met Naima, so I was still a little shaky" Dianna politely answered.

"How did you know so soon after the break-in it was him? Fingerprints?" Stella asked, curious.

"Yes. Exactly. Quick police work" Dianna answered, anxious.

Natalie saw her acting anxious. "An he's in jail, this guy? For stalking?" she sounded like she didn't believe they would keep him locked up just because of that.

A second of silence remained, and Ray answered, serious. "He was caught armed, stalking Dianna in another house and waking into that lot, probably trying to get into that house, too. He tried to take her gun but got shot, so the police arrested him because Dianna had already pressed charges".

Natalie noticed he wasn't saying whose house was that, and who shot the guy while he was disarming Dianna. She pretended to not notice, but Dianna saw her reaction, and some of the guys too.


Davis got back outside, bringing a tray full of beverages and some appetizers for them to eat while Sonny grilled the meat. And Natalie's vegetables, Davis loudly announced.

Dianna noticed no one seemed surprised that Natalie was a vegetarian, and she felt really miserable because Natalie probably went to other events with the team.

Dianna made herself a mix of diet coke and a lot of vocda, some kind of lazy and strong Cuba Libre, because she needed it. She made her way to talk to Stella, Naima and Davis, even though Natalie was there. They kept talking for a while, and Natalie out of nowhere mentioned that she was glad that the night wasn't too hot, because she'd go camping with Jason's kids for the weekend.

Dianna felt like a cold hand pressed her heart, because Natalie was obviously living the life that Dianna could have lived if she just signed the fucking forms. But Dianna sighed, her life was filled with moments like these, where she got one thing great in her life, and something else in her life went to shit. Considering her professional life had been great over the last years, it was obvious her love life was pure crap.

Just when she thought of that, while the other girls talked to each other around her, Jason came out to the backyard and glanced at them, making his way to the beverage table.

Dianna heard Natalie saying something about how she could help Clay and Ray too with her innovative techniques, in case they wanted to, and pointed out Jason's great recovery from his hip surgery as an example. Highlighting that his hip was in perfect condition and his physique was of a 25 year old, in a naughty way. Dianna could vomit.

"Oh, so you're a physiologist?" Dianna asked, pretending to be really interested. In a way, she was, she wanted to see if Jason was really serious with her. He kept groping her all the time, so probably he was, or just trying to make her jealous. But if he did that, he was an asshole then, and he could just fuck off.

"Yes. I'm the head of my department, here in VA Beach. That's how Jace and I met" she turned and pointed at him, who was watching from the beverage table and tried to disguise it. She pointed as if Dianna didn't know who 'Jace' was.

"Oh, I thought the military always consulted with doctors that worked with the Navy" Dianna commented, she was confused.

"They do" Natalie stated, sipping her Campari. Dianna never trusted a woman who drinks Campari. It's the beverage of psycho women. Not all Campari drinkers are psychos, but all the female psychos like to drink Campari. She was sure she read that somewhere, she'd definitely look into it later. Perhaps it wasn't exactly that what the article said.

"Oh? Are you a surgeon?" she asked, actually surprised by that. Natalie didn't look like one, nor behaved like one. Even though, a lot of surgeons are psychopaths. Now that, Dianna was sure she read somewhere.

Before Natalie could answer, Clay and Jason broke off the group, meddling. Clay moved to be next to Stella, and Jason stayed between Naima and Davis.

"So, do you know what you'll be doing now, Dianna?" Stella asked.

"Well, the idea was for me to go back to working with Bravo" she said, now hesitant. She glanced at Jason.

"Oh, serious? Did you hear that, guys?" Clay excitedly called the rest of the team guys, and all of a sudden it was a big circle of people. They could have just stayed around the fire pit.

"What's that" Sonny came quickly, standing between Davis and Dianna.

"Dianna will work with Bravo again" Clay declared, loudly, before anyone could stop.

"Starting when?" Trent asked.

"But we don't have a spot in Bravo" Jason suddenly said, cutting off the excitement. Dianna looked at him, and swallowed. Obviously he didn't want her there. That really hurt her, because she really wanted to work with the guys, even though she and Jason were over.

Davis intervened. "Well, our current interrogators are reaching the six months deadline when they can rotate, as the CIA prefers. We can even ask one of them to stay with us, but for sure the Navy and the Agency would prefer if at least one of them goes to another Team. Then Dianna could take their spot, easily".

"Nick goes, then, right?" Sonny quickly said, supported by Brock and Jason, who nodded.

"No way, he's way better than Jessica. She goes" Clay said, and Ray, Trent and Full Metal agreed, with Davis mentioning that Nick really was a lot more efficient.

"I'm not going back to Bravo" Dianna suddenly interrupted the heated voting, and everyone turned and stared at her, "unless you're all ok with that. You've been working with Nick and Jessica for almost half a year, after all" she finished, looking at Jason. She knew that the group didn't really bond with any of them, and they didn't even went out to the bar together, or had their meals with them. Davis told her all of that on the phone.

"What do you mean? Of course we're all o-" Sonny said, before Davis discreetly punched his arm.

"Sonny is right. Of course we're all ok with that" Jason said.

"You sure?" Dianna was determined that he had to confirm, otherwise she wouldn't go back to the team.

Jason swallowed, and said gently, "Yeah, we're sure".

"Ok then. I'm going back" Dianna shyly smiled.

The voting started again, and Sonny was shouting at Davis for her to be reasonable, because Nick had to go. Davis was obviously the swinging vote, but suddenly Ray was changing his opinion, and Dianna meddled again.

"Shouldn't I get a vote? I'm working directly with the person that stays, after all, right?"

Davis agreed. "You're right. We're tied, but even if we weren't, I think it's only fair that you decide". The guys all agreed to it.

"Alright. I choose to work with Nick, then" she solemnly decided, opening a wide smile and looking at Jason, who was looking away, pouting.

"Oh my God" Natalie suddenly said, touching Dianna's arm. "Your smile is just like of that actress, the british one that is kinda away from Hollywood these days. Kinda crooked, you know. The smile. But cute".

Dianna's smile vanished, and she glanced at Jason, who was looking at her. Natalie's words were kinda ok, but her entonation made it clear to Dianna that she was obviously pretending to be nice to her, but bullying her. But Dianna didn't hesitate and clapped back, quickly.

"Thanks. I was never a fan of those contacts people put over their teeth, usually they look like dentures" she stated, looking directly at Natalie's teeth, who were obviously fake and looked like dentures. Stella held a laughter.

Dianna really was disliking Natalie, and she knew that the feeling was mutual.


Dianna left the circle of people, not being able to stand being close to Natalie anymore, not only because she was fucking Jason, because that wasn't her fault, but because she kept teasing Dianna in a way, mentioning that she was glad 'latinos' were making their way legally in the U.S, and asking if her 'cute' young face didn't got in the way of Dianna to be taken serious by the terrorists during interrogations.

"Well, if it did, I wouldn't be assigned to work with a special forces elite team, would I?" Dianna harshly answered, giving up trying to be polite.

She was now making a half-and-half mixture of diet coke and vodca, but then she took a sip and it really was too strong. She lazily put some more ice cubes, to tone it down, and looked at Sonny taking forever to grill the meat. She was hungry and grumpy, a deadly combination.

"Wow, watch out there. That's some really strong stuff" Jason came closer to her, while she mixed her drink with her finger. Her drink was almost transparent.

"I'm used to handling strong stuff" she answered, not caring if he'd think she was saying that with a double meaning. She was getting drunk that night, and wanted everyone to join her, so she wouldn't feel pathetic.

"I'm really glad you got into the Agency, Dianna" Jason gently told her, and she turned to face the backyard, with him next to her. She glanced at him, but she couldn't look at him too much, because she missed him so much during those five months, she could cry. She noticed she was being a very sensitive person since she joined Bravo Team; she was always known for being a cold person at her previous jobs, even though she got along with everyone.

"Thanks. My dream job. Dream of my life. Finally happening. You can imagine" she said, first grumpily but then dramatically increasing the importance of the job, so he'd feel guilty.

"Do I grill Natalie's green stuff now or in the end, man?" Sonny yelled from the grill to Jason, and he answered he could grill the veggies later so she'd eat with everyone.

Dianna rolled up her eyes, and he saw that, obviously, but ignored.

"Glad to see your surgery went well. Not that I knew you needed surgery. Was it an injury during an op?" Dianna decided to be polite, because she noticed he ignored her rudeness now. He was rude to her before, but now he was being kind.

"Actually, it was coming and going, until I ruptured the tendon. Do you remember those days when my back hurt? At Yemen. It was the hip already, the pain was linked" Jason calmly told her, and Dianna remembered perfectly about his back pain. They thought it started because he went shopping with her the day before.

"Don't really remember. Just remember Sonny was teasing you because of your age. But hey, the hip, really, apparently age catches up with everyone at some point, right?" she lied and teased him, bitter. Her plan of being polite was being forgotten at each sip of her drink.

"It's not a normal hip issue, like old people have. I didn't have it replaced, or anything like that" Jason said, annoyed.

She looked up, frowning. "Sure it was some very technical surgery your girlfriend had to perform on you. How long were you out?"

Jason blinked. "Two months. The surgery happened like two and a half months after… New Year".

She noticed he was about to say 'after you left', and she felt happy with his guilt. She was definitely a bitter and vindictive person when she was drinking.

"Oh. Ok. So then after those two and a half months, you were benched for another two months?" she used a sports slang to show how cool she was.

"Yep" he said, refilling his glass with whiskey, but with ice now too.

They kept quiet for a few seconds, because Dianna was doing some math.

"Natalie is not a surgeon" Jason casually mentioned, right after sipping some of his whiskey and facing the backyard, right beside Dianna. They were leaning at the beverage table and just watching everyone else.

"She treated you, then? To get back out there" she gestured, with a hint of sarcasm.

"Yes. She was my physiologist. Still is, actually", he said, glancing at Dianna.

"She's a military?" Dianna asked, with disbelief, because Natalie definitely didn't look military. She looked like a blow of wind would carry her away.

"No, but she's linked to the Navy. She works at Base", he softly chuckled.

But Dianna didn't see what was so fun about it. "And you were her patient?" she asked, turning to him, after thinking for a while.

"Yes" he answered, chuckling, and turned his body to her, slightly smiling at her, like as if Dianna was acting jealous.

Dianna took a sip of her drink. "She signed some forms, then" she bluntly said, and didn't wait for Jason's reaction before she made her way to a charming Brock, that had raised his bottle of beer to her.


Dianna was joyfully talking to Brock, who was being a sweet, telling her how much he and Cerb were missing her flying with them on the plane, and during deployment. According to him, the team wasn't as fun anymore, he dramatically stated.

"Oh come on, now. I feel personally offended by that. You're with us during the ops, not with the interrogators" Jason meddled, loudly answering Brock's dramatic statement. Clay and Ray were feeling offended too.

"But I got his point. I really enjoyed playing the bad guy that one time" Clay said, and everyone laughed, except the girls.

"You were a bad guy?" Stella asked, acting impressed and moving her hand on his chest.

"Yes" he answered with a seductive voice. "I can't tell you much because it's TS, but I can tell you that Dianna was a Russian, and some of the guys were very, very bad people".

Dianna chuckled, then looked at Jason, who was looking at her. She deviated the look, but had to make him suffer.

"Yes, the guys had to rough up a prisoner, but just pretending. And I was carried around and was roughed up, too" she said, and everyone laughed, amused and remembering that day. "Jason carried me like a laundry basket" she added, in the middle of the laughter, and she perfectly saw when Jason didn't laugh, Natalie looked with a killer eye, and everyone else laughed.

"Haha, you're right. Jesus. That was funny. Yes, that's exactly what it looked like" Davis remembered, amused. "Good times".

"Good times" a lot of the guys repeated.

"Ok, meat's done. Veggies too. Come get your plates, folks". Sonny called from the grill, upset because he was missing all the fun. They were laughing a lot without him.


Dianna had her stomach filled with food, and her brain filled with alcohol, when she left Davis' house. She didn't make a fool of herself, which was great, but she did make her unable to drive home. So she said goodbye to Davis, saying that her uber was near, but she lied, she just needed to get away from her backyard, where there were only Davis, her, and Natalie and Jason left.

She was a bit more sober now, but still somewhat dizzy. She opened the uber app while walking to the sidewalk, and she tripped on a small step that she hadn't noticed before. But she didn't fall, so just her pride was hurt.

"Uber got canceled?" Jason asked, behind her. Of course he saw her tripping, her life was like a terrible rom-com movie.

"Seems like it" she lied, and she didn't turn while she searched for an uber on her phone.

Jason passed by her, with Natalie glued to him. "Want a ride?" he asked, gently.

"No" she harshly mumbled. "Uber's coming soon" she lied again. No one was accepting her ride request.

"Oh, is that your car?" he pointed with his free hand to her tiny car. The other hand had a Natalie attached to it.

"Yes. Finally can afford something that turns on" she joked, and relaxed, finally someone accepted her ride.

"Nice. But you drove here?" he asked, suspicious.

"Yeah. Why" she answered, leaning on the tree nearby.

Jason didn't seem to like it. "How long for your uber to arrive?"

She glanced at her phone. "Just under five minutes" she lied again, it said eight.

"We'll wait with you" Jason said.

"That's really not necessary" Dianna gestured. "If this uber cancels, I go back to Davis' place".

"We can wait in the car" Natalie suggested.

"Yeah, come on" Jason gestured, and Dianna joined them.

Natalie got into the car, but Jason and Dianna leaned on it. She had the feeling that Natalie meant they should wait inside the car, but Jason didn't notice.

They kept quiet for a while, and Dianna remembered she was squeezed against the side of that car, the only difference, is that it was on the passenger side. He fucked her in that car too, right where Natalie was sitting. Of course, he had it cleaned after, but still. She was feeling devilish that night.

"I really like this car" she muttered, leaning her back against it, and she stared at Jason, stern.

His pupils dilated and he came closer to her "What are you doing?" he whispered, annoyed at her.

"Nothing. Just had a memory. Didn't know it was forbidden. Last time we talked, you didn't seem to mind sharing some memories" she sarcastically said, feeling very powerful. She was drunker than she thought.

Jason's face twitched, and he shook his head. "I'll wait in the car. Good night, Dianna".

She got annoyed that he was acting very mature, so she grumpily waited leaning on the side of her own car, until her uber arrived.

She was back, but Jason was gone, apparently. He moved on.

.