CHAPTER 12

REUNION

Dianna was in the uber getting to The Bulkhead, really excited to see the Team again. She missed them a lot during the month they were away, but she was glad she got to work with Echo Team. They were great guys too. They were a bit younger, in general, than Bravo, but then she reminded that Bravo and Alpha were the 'oldest' teams, but they were also the most experienced ones. But Echo's youthful demeanor suited her well, they embraced her ideas from the start and it paid off. They took down an important terrorist cell in Afghanistan, apparently maybe the last one. Although she suspected that the fact that they started to call back the American soldiers from that area would cause another cell to take their place there. It would never stop.

Suddenly she realized, she worked a few more days with Echo Team than with Bravo. It didn't seem like it, though. She had deeper conversations, and connected more, with Bravo. Maybe because she was getting old, she sighed. Maybe not.

The uber stopped, and she almost jumped out of it. She was really late, but since the last time the Team was late too, she calculated that maybe not everyone was there.

She got into The Bulkhead and everyone was there, already drinking their beers. The place was crowded, it was Friday night after all, and they didn't see her coming in. She barely walked three steps, and was blocked by a tall guy. She just noticed the chest and didn't see who it was, instinctively deviating from him, but then she heard a familiar voice.

"Hey Di. Long time, huh".

Dianna looked up, smiling at Will, the second in command in Echo Team. He was joking, because she just saw him a week earlier, when she left Afghanistan and came back to the U.S.

"Hi" Dianna greeted him, and he hunched down to give her a kiss on the cheek. And a hug. She felt weird, but she thought maybe he was a touchy guy. In Uruguay that way of greeting women was pretty common, but not in the U.S.

"So" he started, "How you've been doing?"

"Good. Good" she nodded, then glanced at Bravo's table. They saw her there, and now they were all staring, suspicious. It made her uncomfortable. "You?"

"Great" he leaned on the wall next to them, opening a wide smile. He was really charming, with his light brown hair and green eyes, very American. She liked that type, but she thought that Will was a bit too flirty with all the girls at the camp, including her. She felt uncomfortable around him sometimes. And she also was in a mood for talking to the guys from Bravo, so she didn't know how to cut their conversation off before Will got too comfortable.

"I didn't know you came here" Will started the conversation, and Dianna looked at him, confused.

"Oh, I thought you heard that story. You guys kept teasing me about how I called it The 'Bulkbar'".

"Oh yes, yes" Will 'suddenly' remembered. He was a bad actor. "Completely forgot. So… What are your plans for the next few days?"

"Oh my God! Dianna" Davis suddenly appeared. "I thought that was you" she gave Dianna a hug, and Dianna knew exactly what she was doing, but she was kind of relieved. Dianna hugged her back tightly. They hadn't seen each other since Dianna went to Afghanistan to work with Echo, but they hang out a couple of times while Bravo was in Manila. Davis stayed at the base during that time.

"Davis". Will greeted, they knew each other, obviously. Davis worked with them too, and Will resented how she always kept her link with Bravo strong, even though she wasn't supposed to work only with them.

"The guys are dying to talk to you" Davis said, after nodding to Will. "Come"

"Sure, let's go. Bye Will, I'll talk to you". Dianna waved goodbye, and he waved back, with his beer in hand.

"Hi guys" Dianna smiled when she saw that everyone of the team was there. She was about to sit on a chair, but suddenly they all stood up and Brock gave her a tight hug. "Oh, ok" she muttered, then proceeded to give a quick hug to everyone, receiving very tight ones from Brock and Trent, and one of the charming smiles from Jason while he hugged her. She melted a bit, then proceeded to sit on an empty chair next to Davis, that she obviously reserved for Dianna.

"So" Clay started, sitting on the other side of Dianna. "How you've been?"

"Good. Ok" she answered, smiling a lot. "It was good. I mean, the job, not the place, much" she pouted a bit when remembering of the dry weather there. Her allergies were off the chart with the sand and dust too. "Had to take a lot of allergy medicine" she joked, and they all nodded, because they all been there, many times.

"Well, you're tanned" Clay noted, but respectfully looking at her pink and slightly tanned face. It was almost winter in VA Beach, and she was wearing a white high neck wool sweater, which highlighted her tan. "For those who don't know, they might think you went on vacation".

"Oh, not so much. The guys were doing most of the ops at night, so after interrogating I didn't have much to do during the days. So I joined some of the girls there and we tanned a bit, on the girls' area", she gesticulated, casually, while saying so. Most of the guys stood still with a dreamy look. They were all picturing the women at camp tanning in bikinis or shorts.

"Do they always do that?" Brock had the courage to ask, looking at Davis and Dianna.

Davis had a confused look. "Of course. You guys are always running around shirtless and in your boxers there too. Why wouldn't we tan in our tops? We don't want to have t-shirt marks when we get back to the States" Davis giggled, looking at Dianna, who giggled too. It was so obvious.

Sonny said, confused, "How did we never know that?"

"Well, because I'm black, so, obviously, you don't notice that much. But the sun highlights the golden tone" Davis casually said, while grazing her hands on her collarbone, and the guys stared at her cleavage, "And the area where we usually tan is very private. You guys can't get in, anyways" Davis dismissed, smirking.

A few seconds of silence later, Jason said, offended. "I don't run around in my boxers".

Everyone looked at him, offended by the lie, except Dianna, who raised a brow.

"I don't run. I walk. And with my jacket. One thing cancels the other". Jason finally admitted, gesticulating.

"Ok" Davis changed the subject. "Well I was waiting for everyone to get here, so I could share some news. Or gossip, whatever" she said, but she didn't know if she should smile or not. "Oh, you know what, let's get you something to drink" she said to Dianna, and she nodded, both of them standing up.

"I'll get me something too" Sonny said, and Jason stood up too after taking the last sips of his beer.

Davis and Dianna made their way through the crowd, but they are short compared to the military men that hang there, so it was a bit difficult, especially because all of a sudden the guys in front of them turned and saw them, but didn't move an inch to let them pass. Instead, kept blocking them and smiling at them. Sonny and Jason quickly turned their protective mode on and stood beside them, with stern faces, which miraculously made the guys in front of them open a passage to the bar counter.

"Thanks" Dianna glanced at Jason while he guided her to the counter, with his hand grazing her lower back.

Jason quickly smirked. "Tequila tonight?"

"Oh, please. Always" she smiled, then she asked Davis and Sonny, and they were up for it too.

The bartender quickly made his way to Sonny, asking what they wanted. Sonny was one of the best customers of the bar.

"Hey, lets take a shot here and then take the second one at the table. Two shots to warm up" Davis instigated, and they all agreed.

"Just that, then, I'm driving tonight" Jason let them know.

"Oh, I'm free to get wasted. My car broke down or something, so I called for a uber" Dianna said. "That's why I was kinda late".

"Oh no, seriously? What happened?" Davis asked, concerned. She knew that Dianna couldn't afford a serious car issue. She saw her payroll.

"I don't know. I think I wasn't supposed to let the car stay still for this whole time I was away" she giggled, because she had no idea what happened. "It just didn't turn on".

"Maybe the cold weather" Davis suggested, but what she really meant to say is that her car sucked and of course it wouldn't turn on, ever again.

"Maybe" Dianna nodded, hopeless, then she looked to the other side of the bar, and Will was staring at them while sipping his beer. She looked down, feeling uncomfortable and turning a bit to Jason, to avoid Will's stare.

"How was Manila?" she asked, casually looking up to his face. He leaned a bit on the counter, so he wasn't so much higher than her. She thought he looked very manly with his plaid green shirt and stubble. He was also a lot bigger than she remembered. She liked that.

He sighed. "Boring. Like, really boring" he admitted. "I don't like it when they make us train for so long. I know that we make good friends every time, but I miss the adrenaline".

She smiled, holding her cheek with her hand and facing him a bit more. "I can imagine. You sign up for doing ops and then go back to BUD/S. This I say that right?"

He smiled. "Yes. That's right. It feels pretty much the same".

"Well, I was really bored here too. I had to give a lecture that I wasn't in the mood for that first week, then thank God the Echo guys needed me there, or else I'd have to do something else".

Jason thought she was exaggerating, "You could go on a quick trip".

Dianna rolled her eyes up. "With what money?"

Jason's face turned serious. "They don't pay you when you don't work?"

Dianna frowned. "Of course they do. I get paid by the month. Unless, of course, I don't work for a month. And of course, when I don't go on ops with you guys, or deployed like I was with Echo, I don't get the extra hours" she casually said, gesticulating on the counter. Then she looked at Jason again, serious. "The extra hours really matter. I learned it the hard way when I was with the NYPD".

Jason swallowed, and the bartender was serving two tequilas for each of them.

They all prepared themselves to drink it, and Dianna first took a small sip so the glass wouldn't be so full, avoiding the problem she had the last time she drank tequila.

The four of them then turned their shots, all at once, none of them drooling, this time.

"Yes. Haha" Sonny loudly said. "I'll just ask for a bit of whiskey, since I'm already here. Neat" he lift a finger to the bartender, who already heard him.

"So" Jason turned to Dianna again, who was cleaning her lips with her fingers a bit, and he realized that Will was staring at her from the other side of the bar. He didn't like it, because he seemed a bit obsessed. "How was it like working with Echo? We're all really glad you guys could take down that cell, we all knew about them but it was always hard to find their leader".

Dianna nodded, then she glanced to the side and turned completely to Jason, with her hand on her cheek again. He noticed she was trying to escape from Will's continuous stare.

"Like I said, I liked it. They're good guys. A little younger, true" she teased Jason, and he chuckled, "But Luke has a lot of experience, I think he's really a great team leader".

"I like Luke" Jason sincerely said, "I don't know him that much, but he's really great. I teased you that time, about them. I don't think they're spoiled. You too. I mean, I don't think you're spoiled. At all", he smirked, leaning down a bit more to look into her eyes. Her freckles were more noticeable now that she was tanned.

"I know" she softly said, looking into his eyes when she remembered their absurd fight. She regretted it sometimes, but she actually got to know him better after that. She looked down and was going to tease him about him being a bit of a drama queen, but when she looked up he was serious, and suddenly she noticed that he was completely turned to her and she was turned to him too, even excluding Davis on her side, and anyone looking at them would think they were romantically or sexually involved, or something like that. And she didn't want him to have that reputation, or hurt his partner. And she didn't want to have that reputation either, so she turned back to the bar, casually.

"Sonny, is your whiskey in hands?" she loudly said, and he looked at Dianna, confused, because he was drinking it for a while now, while talking to Davis. Dianna saw that, so she got her glass of tequila and started to make her way to the table. "Come on, I want to catch up with the guys". They all followed her, now a lot easily, because getting out of a bar is always easier than reaching it.

They took their seats again, and Clay complained, "Hey if I knew you'd take so long at the bar, I'd ask you to tell us the news before, Davis. We're dying here".

"Oh my God, I completely forgot" Davis admitted, and Dianna, Jason and Sonny actually forgot about it too.

Davis then gave a sassy smirk to the group, then she remembered that she didn't know how they'd react to the news, so she turned serious again. "Well, turns out that the week before last, when you guys were in Manila, and Dianna was in Afghanistan, I received a visit from a very upset David Jefferson" she raised a brow, and everyone at the table was like 'uuhh', knowing exactly what it could be about.

"Yes, somehow he found out that we… kept him in the dark about the way that interrogation was conducted". Davis continued. "He was pretty pissed off, but then I reminded him that we were actually just using the spare time while he interrogated the guard to take a different approach with the other guy. To see what would come up from it".

Dianna was curious, "And?"

"Well, he didn't like it anyways. He said we should at least have told him what was going on, or at the very least, told him the truth about Umar and stuff". Davis stopped, because she knew that Jefferson was actually right.

"He's right" Dianna admitted, with a pout.

Clay didn't like Jefferson, so he couldn't care less about his feelings. "I don't like him. Couldn't care less about his feelings. If we told him and he ruined it, because he didn't agree, or was a bad actor, it would have fucked up everything". He stated, reasonably.

After all, as soon as Jefferson mentioned Umar, the Tango gave Jefferson everything he could possibly want, and they didn't even have to go for an op, the Mongolian Navy just sent his own group of soldiers there and easily got the truck, bombs and material back. It was inside a warehouse, inside a compound, close to the Russian border, with just a couple of Syrian terrorists guarding it. But they'd never find it otherwise.

Davis sighed, "I know. You're right. But of course, he's right too. The thing is, he said he doesn't feel too comfortable now working with Bravo, at least not for now". She looked at Dianna, and she understood that Jefferson meant he wasn't comfortable working with her, with their partnership.

Dianna nodded. "That's ok. I understand" she swallowed.

"Well, it's his loss" Sonny said, indignant.

"Yep. Ok" Dianna said, with tears in her eyes, and Davis continued. "Sooo…"

Dianna interrupted, because she was about to cry, and she didn't want to, she hated crying. She wanted to give her goodbye speech before that. "So… it was great working with you, guys. I really liked it. U-hum. It was a short period of time, but-" she dried a tear with her finger, a bit annoyed by that.

"Wait, no" Davis interrupted her, touching her arm. She didn't see that Dianna was emotional, because she was beside her. She would have been clearer if she saw that. "You don't have to leave us" Davis explained.

Dianna still was emotional, because if she stayed working with Jefferson, she knew it'd be worse. "No, that's ok. I don't want to jeopardize the team. He can't trust me, I get it. It was my fault" now a couple more tears rolled down her face, and she dried them with her sleeve. She was sad to leave, but sadder because it was her own fault.

"Why can't Jefferson leave?" Jason was indignant, and he hated to see a woman cry.

"But yes, that's what I'm saying, I offered him to go to another team, and he accepted" Davis quickly said, because obviously she thought it was clear before.

Dianna sniffed, still not sure what it meant, because Jefferson was linked to Bravo for more than half a year. "What? But isn't he the first interrogator?"

"He is. But to be honest, he never was like, close to us" Davis explained, and Sonny muttered 'puffy dude' next to them, but she ignored, "but more than that, for the past couple of months before you arrive, I thought he wasn't handling the interrogations very well. He was doing a crappy job, to be honest".

"That's true, you told me you had issues with him" Jason quickly said, to convince Dianna and the others that the problem was with Jefferson, and not Dianna. Her face was red and wet, and he wished he had a handkerchief to offer her, because there wasn't even a paper napkin at the table.

"Here" Brock charmingly handed a handkerchief to Dianna, which she accepted, smiling affectionately at him.

"Where did you get that from?" Ray turned to Brock, suspicious.

"I carry it. For moments like these" he smiled at Dianna, who tried to give the handkerchief back to him after drying her face, but he charmingly gestured to her that she could keep it.

Clay interrupted the 1810's scene. "Well, if you had issues before, Davis, then that's that. Is anybody against the guy leaving?" Clay asked to the table, and nobody moved a finger.

Dianna smiled, nodding, finally accepting that Jefferson had to go.

"Good" Davis smiled. "So, now what happens is that since Dianna doesn't have clearance to access the CIA database, she'll always have to be the second interrogator, unfortunately, like they've been doing in Team Charlie for many years" she explained, and most of the guys nodded, they even knew the second interrogator of Charlie, he was a former LAPD with great skills and have been acting as an interrogator for the Navy for a decade now, and he's been for almost half of that time with Team Charlie.

"So now we're getting someone else from the CIA" Ray said, not asking, because he knew how it worked. "So who's coming? Do you know?" he asked Davis.

Davis sighed. "I was looking into it for the last week. The CIA nowadays has been having problems with keeping always the same person linked to a special team, they are preferring to rotate a bit. You know, to avoid too much friendship and possible classified information being leaked during a heavy drinking" she mentioned, because it obviously happened, not with Bravo, but with another team, "and also, they work with the Rangers too" she continued, but then almost all the guys rolled their eyes, "so, turns out we'll get a woman that was interrogating with one of the Rangers team until a month ago".

Dianna was excited. She knew a woman would probably bond with her more, and accept her ideas. At least she hoped so. "Is she young?" she asked, and most of the guys came closer to hear the information. But Dianna was asking because if she was, she was also more likely to accept her ideas, especially because maybe she knew Dianna.

"About our age. Mid 30's, I guess. I don't remember exactly. I haven't seen her yet, just read her file" Davis answered.

"She hot?" Sonny asked, receiving a very killer eye from Davis.

"I don't know" she dangerously answered, "We'll have to wait and see".

"When is she starting?" Dianna was still excited. Especially after she thought she was leaving Bravo for good. These were all excellent news.

"She'll start when Bravo's deployed in two weeks, unless you have an op that requires interrogation. Then, she'll be called. I'll interview her Monday morning" Davis explained, fully aware that Monday morning the guys would suddenly feel the urge to do something at Base. They were on their leave because they stayed for a month in Manila, and would be deployed soon and stay away for two to three months, so they'd probably get called only if the other teams, except Echo, were busy.

"Why did she leave the Rangers?" Suddenly Ray asked, suspicious. He was the only one that realized that she was free to come to Bravo even before Jefferson left them.

Davis stared at him, thinking. "I don't know. I assumed she was taking a vacation, or something. But it didn't say so on her file", she answered. But she was curious now, too.

The Team kept talking and drinking until late, and Dianna, a bit tipsy now, declared she needed to 'take a walk around', which was a girls' code to going to the bathroom, gossiping, then getting a drink, then gossiping, and then coming back. Davis instantly took the hint and stood up too, going with her.

Once the table was a boyzone, they also started to gossip between them.

"We should ask Davis the name of the woman. We could find her on insta, or google her" Sonny gave the idea, and all the guys agreed. It didn't matter if they were committed or not, they were curious to find out who she was, why did she leave the Rangers, and, if possible, if she was hot.

"We should google her, or find her on insta" Dianna immediately said to Davis, in the bathroom. Davis was already thinking about that.

"Jessica Ann Gibson. Here" Davis wrote, and Dianna couldn't avoid frowning her face.

"Well, she's American, definitely" Dianna said, bitter. She had the most American name, ever.

"Yes, she is" Davis stated, looking at Dianna while showing her the picture of Jessica's instagram. She was blonde, tanned, had blue eyes and sharp features.

"Oh no" Dianna said, "I hope to God that she's nice. Because I kinda hate her right now" she admitted, and she was already envious of the woman. It was like Farrah Fawcett had given up acting on Charlie's Angels and decided to interrogate people, but with a more contemporary hairstyle, very put together.

Davis sighed. "Yeah. That's not good".

Dianna was taping her fingers on the counter of the bar, now a lot more empty than before. She was discreetly glancing at her table, because Sonny pretty much summoned Davis back to the table to talk a bit more about the new interrogator, and Dianna was in charge of getting their drinks. And she knew exactly what was going on at the table, because all the guys, even the married or committed ones, were looking at their phones, checking out Miss Jessica Ann. Dianna was watching, attentively, their reaction, and she saw when Jason raised his eyebrows, surprised, and laughed at something that Sonny said. They all laughed, sassy laughs. But Dianna knew the woman was obviously very, very, beautiful. There was no way of denying that. She sighed.

"What you're waiting for?" Will appeared next to Diana, leaning on the countertop very, very close to her. She took a small step back.

"Oh, just drinks. For me and Davis" she casually answered, but noticed that Will's speech was a little slow right now.

He smiled, coming closer. "Well, that's no way to treat a lady. You know, in Echo Team we always invited you girls for drinks. Always on us. Gentleman style" he gesticulated and tried to touch her arm, but she managed to politely take it off.

The bartender suddenly delivered the drinks, and Will barely took his eyes off Dianna while he talked to the bartender, "These two you put on my tab, man. My treat", he pointed at the drinks, and the bartender nodded.

"Oh, you didn't have to, honestly. But thanks" she didn't want to owe him anything, but she knew that she wouldn't convince him otherwise, and she just wanted to get back to her table. So she took another small step back and took the drinks, ready to say goodbye and get the fuck out of there.

But Will had no intention to let her go, so he put his hand on her forearm and the other hand on her back, not holding her completely, but she'd definitely would have to ask him to take his hands off her if she wanted to leave, or shake him off. In both cases, she was going to be clear that she had no interest in him, which she didn't mind doing, but she didn't want him to have a grudge with her if they worked together again.

"I really liked the time we had together" he said, seductively coming closer to her face, while Dianna was practically bending backwards to avoid him. She felt something grazing her other arm.

"Hey man" Jason greeted Will. "Long time no see, huh".

"Hey… Hayes" Will took a while to recognize him. "Whats up, man"

Jason extended his hand for a shake, forcing Will to remove his hand from Dianna's back.

"Let me get that for you" Jason took the drinks from Dianna's hands, glancing at her, and she managed to quickly release her forearm from Will's hand.

"You know, I'm paying for those drinks. We, from Echo, always take care of our girls" Will teased Jason, who turned to face him, annoyed, but suddenly opened a smile. A fake one. "Well, thanks, man. You didn't have to. We're inviting our girls, too". Will looked annoyed.

They quickly got out of there, and Dianna glanced at Jason. "You don't have to pay for our drinks, Jason". She knew that they weren't really going to invite her drinks.

"What do you mean? We always take care of it. I do, at least. For Davis too" he casually said.

Dianna raised an eyebrow, and Jason stopped. "The other time we were here did you pay for anything?" he asked.

"Well, no… But because it was my first time with you guys" she stated, and she wanted to pay for herself at that time, but Jason and Sonny pretty much pushed her away from the line and made her wait with Davis, close to the door.

Jason started to walk again "We always pay. Don't worry".

"Oh" she grabbed Jason's arm, "I didn't know that. I drank a lot today" she felt ashamed for her heavy drinking. Jason chuckled.

"Nothing compared to Sonny. And we paid for his bill many, many times", he dismissed her concerns.

Dianna sat on the table and now was pretty aware that this was going to be the last drink she'd have that night. But she wasn't sure about how to proceed the next times. She usually drank a lot when she wasn't driving, because she had developed alcohol resistance, so for her to feel its effects, it took a while. She watched Davis sipping her drink, she drank the same amount that Dianna's, but she was pretty drunk by now. Only the guys who weren't driving where ok, the rest of the group was pretty wasted.

Dianna was calling a uber to get home, while Jason, Sonny and Ray were paying their bills and, apparently, her bill too.

"Jason or Ray can give you a ride home" Davis stated. "Sonny and I are going with Ray, if you live close, he can take you. He wouldn't mind".

But Dianna knew she didn't live close to Ray's. Her place was to the other side. Closer to Jason's, probably, since she saw him at her grocery store that day. She didn't want to risk it, but she couldn't find any uber available, they were either busy or weren't accepting the trip.

"Hey, want a ride home?" Jason appeared between Davis and Dianna.

"Oh, that's ok, I'll take the uber" Dianna answered, desperately looking at her phone.

"Don't you live next to my place? I saw you at the grocery store that day".

"Oh, you live in that area? I didn't know" Dianna lied. She thought about lying about where she lived, but if he found out later, it would be terrible.

"Yeah, come on" he started walking when he saw Sonny and Ray coming outside, and they all said their goodbyes. Dianna was still a bit further behind Jason at the parking lot. "Are you sure it's ok?" she had to ask, because after all he was a committed man, she didn't think he was married, because he never wore a ring. Although, they did have to take them off during ops, so maybe it was easier to never wear any.

"Yeah, no problem, let's go" he casually said, unlocking his huge black car.

She sighed, and reminded herself that Ray was married and always gave car rides to Davis, then maybe it was really ok. She never thought it was a problem if her boyfriend gave a ride to a co-worker, but apparently a lot of women did. She opened the door and had to throw her purse on the passenger seat to have both free hands and grab the handles to climb the stairs and get into that thing. She wasn't really drunk, but she imagined it wouldn't be possible then. Or wearing a dress.

Jason looked at her, amused, from the driver's seat. She finally sat down and closed the heavy door. "Practical" she joked, looking at him after catching a breath.

"Yes, well, at least it works" he teased, smiling at her while he turned on the car with the push of a button.

They started to drive and Jason asked where she lived, and she answered that he could go to the grocery store and she'd guide him from there, it was easy.

"And you?" she asked.

"Actually, it's two blocks from this main road, to the right".

Dianna thought for a second. "Pretty houses around here. You must have a cute garden"

"Actually, I do. The backyard is really nice. But because our gardener is really great". He stood silent for a couple of seconds. "Here, let me show you. We'll be selling, I think, so you may never see the house" he turned right before Dianna could say anything, and she looked attentively as they stopped and he pointed at his house.

It wasn't a huge house, but it was very pretty and quite traditional. American, just like him. It seemed cozy, and had a beautiful tree on the front.

"It's really pretty, Jason" she said, while looking out his window. She was standing a bit too close to him, so she distanced herself and he said he'd turn there so they could get the main road again. He turned and she could see the house better from her window.

"Why are you selling it?" she turned to him, and he had a sad face.

"I have to. You know, bills. College, boarding school. I don't really have a choice".

She felt sorry for him. "Yeah. I never understood how difficult it is to pay for student loans here. Some of the best universities in Uruguay are for free. Of course, there are amazing private ones, but all the free ones are great".

"I'm still thinking if I sell it or not. Maybe if I had something with a better paycheck… I don't know". He was looking down.

"But then you'd be giving up something you love doing? I don't know, it would be hard for me. And maybe your kid could feel guilty about it, watching you do something you don't love. I know I would.".

Jason nodded. He started to drive again and was pensive.

"Why did you mention my groceries that day? In Mongolia" he suddenly asked.

"Oh" Dianna blushed, because it was a ridiculous thing to mention, but at that moment, it felt right. "I just don't understand how you got to Base so fast, after buying your groceries. You know, faster than me".

Jason looked at her, with a frown. "I have a cooler in my car. I always keep it, as well as a bag with clothes".

Dianna chuckled, "That's a great idea. I'll do that".

"Why, did you think I came here and put them away that day? I'd have to be superman to be that fast".

"No, you're right, I thought someone put them away for you, but maybe it would still take a lot of time, to take it out of the car and stuff".

Jason looked at her, amused. "Who would put them away for me?"

Dianna felt awkward, but simply answered, also to let him know that she knew he was with someone. "You know. Emma"

He chuckled. "Trust me, if I ask Emma to do that I'd probably end up with the ice cream melted on the countertop. She'd either forget or pretend to not listen to me".

Dianna thought that was a little unfair of him to talk about her like that. But maybe it was true and then she was being a bit unfair, acting like that.

"And I have to get used to her not being at home anymore. After all, she'll be in college next semester" he chuckled. "If I can afford it".

Now Dianna felt it was too weird. No way he was selling their family's house to pay for his wife college. She decided to dig deeper. "Is her college around here?"

"I wish. New York".

"Oohh. Emma is your daughter" Dianna was so surprised to finally understand that she forgot to rethink about her words before saying them.

Jason looked at her, confused. "Yes. I have two kids, Emma and Mike. She's going to college, and he wants to go to hockey boarding school".

Dianna noticed his look and changed the subject. "Hockey boarding school? Is that a thing?"

Jason stared at her for a few seconds. Then he calmly answered. "Yes. It's a thing. To my surprise too".

"Here, you can turn right on thaaat street" Dianna quickly said, even thought they were still quite distant from the grocery store and said street.

Jason glanced at Dianna, then tried to sound casual. "Hey, Clay told me he follows you on insta".

Dianna glanced at him. "Yeah. U-hum. Now this street to the left" she pointed.

Jason glanced at her again, now feeling left out. After all, if Clay, who was in a serious relationship, could have her on insta, as a friend, he didn't understand why couldn't he. "Well, can I follow you? On insta"

Dianna softly chuckled, then looked at him. "Of course. You don't have to ask. Just send the request on the app. I didn't think you had it". She saw they were almost passing her street, "Oh, here, to the left".

Jason turned abruptly to the left, slowing down a bit. He started to notice the houses getting smaller and the buildings a bit taller.

"Why wouldn't I have insta?" he was a little offended.

Dianna smiled. "Here. Park here. I don't know, I just thought you were all serious. At first. And you're not much into technology".

He raised his shoulders, because the last part was true. Then noticed her building. It wasn't an old building, but it had zero charm. And the apartments had a really, really small balcony.

"Thanks for the ride. You know how to get out from here, right?" She smiled, and he nodded. She opened her door, with a bit of difficulty, then when she could finally open it, Jason was already standing there, outside of his car, to help her come down. She had to accept his help and support her hand on his hand.

"You're not supposed to come down on your side" Jason teased, watching her clumsily make her way down. In the most difficult way imagined.

"Well, I'm short, I don't know how I could do it any other way, you're tall, so shut up".

"Emma's shorter than you and she loves to drive it. So you have no excuse" he chuckled.

She finally came down, a bit disheveled. "Really? Well, then please send me a video of her getting in and out of it, because I really don't understand". She took her lock of hair from her face, and crossed her arms.

"U-hum, I will, actually. I'll send you on insta" he laughed, opening once again his charming smile, and she laughed back.

They stood quiet for a couple of seconds and Dianna took a step back for comfort. "Well, thanks again for the ride. And the drinks. Sorry for the drinks, actually. See you" she walked backwards, then she turned to walk away.

Jason closed the passenger door and watched her walk to her building, also because he wanted to make sure she got in safe.

.