CHAPTER 14
MONDAY MORNING
"What's up" Dianna casually said behind some very tall men in fatigues, and like she planned, they almost jumped, turning to her.
"What area you doing here, Dianna Jones?" Sonny whispered to her, even though it wasn't necessary. Dianna didn't understand his tease.
"Davis called me to see if I wanted to meet Jessica already. Just to, you know, bond." she had her hands in the pockets of her vest and glanced at Clay, Sonny, Trent and Brock. "What are you guys doing here?"
Sonny didn't move his stare from Davis' office door, as if he could see through it. "We have training".
Dianna knew better, didn't pretend to believe. "Really? Where's Bravo One and Two, then?"
"In the cages" Trent answered.
Dianna stood still beside them, glancing to the hallway that led to the cages. Nobody came. "Are they in there for too long?" she said, pointing at Davis' office.
Sonny answered. "They're there for like ten minutes. But we couldn't really see her coming in, because Jason was calling us to the cages exactly at that moment", he sounded annoyed.
"They'll be there for a while then. Interviewing. Davis said she'd text me when I could meet her and stuff. I can let you know", she said, but no one was paying attention. She sighed, "I could watch you train, maybe Davis could bring her there to meet you too". They were already obsessed about the blonde woman.
The guys quickly turned, smiling, and made their way to the cages, bringing her along. She hesitated when she saw they needed a password.
"No, that's ok, you know what, I'll just wait here for you guys". Dianna said, gesticulating, and the guys agreed, letting her know they'd just get their gear and come out. When they opened the door to pass, Dianna glanced in and got to see exactly what she tried to avoid. Jason was shirtless, trying to unfold the shirt of his uniform to put on, while laughing with the guys. It was just a couple of seconds, but he glanced at her at the exact moment, and his laughter disappeared. She immediately blushed and looked away, and walked a few steps to the side, thinking if she should still watch the training or not, if it'd be too weird. She decided it would be too weird, so she walked away.
She barely walked two steps and Jason got out of the cage room and called her, smiling at her, so she stopped.
"Hey", he was still getting his shirt straight, "You're here to check out the new interrogator too?" he asked amused, so she thought that maybe it wasn't weird.
She opened a smile. "Yes and no. Davis asked if I wanted to meet her today, to bond or whatever, but she just got in. I was thinking about watching you guys training, whatever that meant, if that's ok".
He nodded, still smiling. He looked at her from head to toe. "Sure. You know, we don't train with horses, unfortunately".
"What do you mean?" she looked down at her outfit, turning a bit. She was wearing casual clothes, at least she thought so: tan pants, over-the-knee boots in the same color, a cream wool sweater, and a navy vest. She also braided her hair in a french braid, but it was a bit disheveled already.
"Well" he swallowed, looking at her, dressed like a chic amazon, casually unaware about how she stood out anywhere, "it looks like you're ready for a ride" he joked, but his tease made the sentence come out all wrong and she noticed it too, because she quickly lifted her head to look at him. "With a horse" he quickly added.
She opened a bright smile, nodding. "Ok, nice save". He chuckled, feeling his face blush tremendously.
"Ok, let's go already, so we can check out the blonde later" Sonny said, impatient, as he got out of the cage room with the rest of the guys, passing by Dianna and Jason and going to the training buildings. Ray greeted her, and Dianna stood still with Jason.
"Jesus. They're really obsessed with her already" she said, not being able to hide her jealousy now. Jason smiled and touched her back to make her walk with him behind the guys.
"They're always like that, especially Sonny. In the beginning. They like novelties". Jason gently explained, amused by her jealousy.
"Not this obsessed" she muttered, hoping she really liked working with Jessica. She never was a 'pick me up girl', but she felt sad that maybe the guys didn't like her as much as she liked them. She really bonded with them.
Jason chuckled. "Oh, no, they were obsessed. When you arrived. Believe me".
Dianna glanced at him. "You don't have to cheer me up, I don't mind it. People take a while to like me. Or notice me. I'm used to it, that's ok. I just really thought I bonded with you guys" she admitted, glancing at Jason again.
"Oh, God. For an interrogator, you're very unaware, huh" he joked, and when she looked at him offended, he continued, "Well, we all just pretty much stood outside the briefing room, waiting for you to come out, so we could check you out properly" he gesticulated, a bit shy, "Sonny was even about to get into the briefing room because he was impatient, you were taking too long to come out."
"Oh" Dianna touched Jason's forearm, happy, "You guys checked me out? That was so nice of you" she really felt honored, and not offended, which made Jason laugh again.
"Ah. You're weird", he glanced at her, amused.
"No, too slow. Again" Jason yelled, annoyed with how slow the team guys were moving and reaching the target, capturing the fake HVTs.
Dianna was standing next to him, amazed by their speed and precision, and even more amazed by their strength. They were grabbing guys that weighted the same as they did, raising them on the air, and throwing them to the floor. Over and over again, and each time they were faster and more efficient, but apparently not good enough for Jason's high standards.
"I have no words" Dianna muttered, and glanced at Jason. "I've seen stuff like that on the TV, movies and such. And NYPD trainings. It's nothing like this" she looked down again, when she heard the sound of another man thrown to a wall, then to the floor, by Clay.
Jason looked at her, proud of his team. "Well, we are the best, so".
"Oh yes. And I'm really happy that I get to work with you" Dianna casually said, glancing at him again and smiling.
"Well, you're the best too. In your line of work. So, perfect match" he said, casually kissing her ass. Although he wished he was doing it literally.
"I'll take that ego massage today" she admitted, because she was a bit down earlier.
Jason suddenly yelled at the guys, "Nope. Still not good enough, especially during the second half. Sonny, Brock, switch with them". He was watching everything, even while checking Dianna out. The guys complained, a lot.
Dianna was pensive next to him. "How do you choose who gets to be the team leader? Is it like, a vote, nomination, by experience, what".
Jason thought for a while, remembering how he got to be One. He leaned a bit more on the guard-rail, right next to her, to match her height. "All combined, actually".
"So" she looked at him, "You obviously do all of the things they're doing now" she pointed, while hearing another couple of guys being thrown, "But also leading them", she finished, with a stunned expression.
He glanced at her, then looked back down, attentively, and yelled at the guys. "Better, but still not good enough. Take a five minute break, then we'll do it again".
He turned to her, standing taller again but still very close. "You know what, you're not making things any easier for me" he admitted, serious.
She stared at his bearded face, and at his broad shoulders. A mountain of a man, definitely. She could feel her panties getting wetter by the second.
"Well" she stopped, because she didn't know if she flirted back or cut him off. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to" she sincerely said.
He remained serious while looking at her from head to toe, and she even thought about improving her posture. Then he puffed, and smirked. "I believe you". Then he passed by her, grazing his body on her a bit, and turned to face her. "By the way, I sent a request for you this morning. On insta. If you don't accept it, you may never see Emma's 'how to' video we made for you", he joked.
"Oh, they're coming. Jason" Dianna let him know, as soon as she received Davis' text, while they watched the guys rest downstairs, after finally being able to meet Jason's standards.
"Shall we tell them?" Jason whispered at her, having an idea.
"What" she noticed his look, and matched it.
He smiled. "Hey guys, you know what. You did great, like I said. But we have some new set of eyes coming to meet us. So it's on you to know if you really did your best".
The guys chatted among them for a few seconds, and Sonny looked up. "You know what, boss, maybe we could improve in one or two little things".
"Good" Jason chuckled, looking at Dianna, with his chronometer ready.
They walked to their initial positions, and Jason and Dianna waited until Davis and Jessica climbed up the stairs to where they were. Davis introduced them, politely. Jessica reached her hand to Dianna, with a polite smile, showing her teeth, and then she firmly shook Jason's hand, widely smiling at him.
Dianna felt very short between them, because she was wearing low heels and Jessica was tall, at least she looked very tall wearing her high heels. She was wearing a nude pencil skirt, nude shoes, and a white high neck sweater, golden earrings and perfectly styled blonde hair. She had big blue eyes and a big mouth with thin lips, the makeup on her face was perfect, although a bit heavy. She stood out from a mile, at least when she was walking at Base. For a second Dianna felt immensely under dressed and disheveled, but then she glanced at Davis and the sweaty guys downstairs, and she felt more like part of the team than ever.
Jason was standing next to Dianna, but a bit behind, because he thought that Jessica would like to get to know Dianna a bit more, but she talked directly to him.
"I'm very glad to finally meet 'the' Jason Hayes" Jessica smiled, amazed, and Dianna glanced at Jason, because she didn't hear him say his last name to her.
He opened a shy smile. "Well, thank you".
"You're famous" she noted, standing erect and directing her breasts towards him, a sign of attraction, as Dianna knew.
"A bit" he casually answered, then he felt the guys downstairs staring, ready for action. "Look, we're just about to do one last round of training. The guys from Bravo Team" and the guys all waved at her, and she nodded, smiling a lot, "so you could watch, if you want to".
"Oh yes" she came closer to him, excited, "I'd love that".
Jason smiled and gave the order, starting the chronometer.
Dianna walked sideways until she reached Davis, since she was completely ignored.
"So?" she asked Davis, curious to know about what she thought about Jessica Ann.
Davis sighed. "Well. It went well. She is polite, intelligent, went to great schools. Is divorced, 32, and, as you can see, very impressive".
"...But?" Dianna knew Davis felt something.
"Her answers are too perfect. Nobody is that perfect. But I guess we'll have to wait and see".
"Huh" Dianna grumbled. She knew who was too perfect. Someone manipulative. And she knew that, because she had to play that part on many of her interrogations, perfectly fitting with the expectations of the person questioned. She hoped Davis was wrong.
But at least the guys were working harder than ever, because they repeated all of their training again, but moving faster, shooting more efficiently, and throwing loudly the tangos. Jason stopped the chronometer.
"Haha! Told ya guys. Great! New record for this scenario, Team Bravo, once again" and the guys downstairs celebrated, breathless, while Jason cheered them up, then looked at Dianna and Davis, that were joyfully celebrating too. And Jessica apparently was honored to be the reason of the record breaking, putting one hand at her heart, and the other on Jason's biceps, while smiling from the balcony. Very Evita of her.
Dianna gave up bonding with Jessica when she didn't stop drooling at the Team guys, especially Jason, Clay and Brock, and she was also kissing Davis' ass all the time. Then they all started to talk about their training and shit, and Jessica kept mentioning how hard the training at The Farm was, but nothing compared to their Seals training, and Jessica even was impressed about Davis' Officer training, and Dianna just kept shut there, because the most training she had was when she was in high school dancing, or lifting light weights at the gym. She wasn't even a runner. Unless she was missing the train, or there was a flying cockroach near her.
She grabbed her phone, a bit annoyed, but remembered that at least when Jessica, more than once, said she didn't know who Dianna was, Jason told her to just 'google her' later, and then all the guys and Davis laughed and nodded, agreeing. Then she felt included.
She was opening the uber app again, next to the cages, thinking about if she wanted to go home and eat her heart out, or actually eat something, having lunch. She was hungry.
"Well, what are you doing here?" Dianna heard someone say that to her close, and she immediately shivered. It was Will, again. This time, she knew she had to keep a distance from him, because he crossed the line at the bar, already.
"I came to watch Bravo training" she answered, a bit harshly.
"Really? And what are you doing here on the hallway? The training site is waaay over there" he teased, coming closer to her.
"Waiting for them to come back. They're chatting" she took a few steps back, avoiding the wall, because he'd probably lock her in there, and nobody was there close to them. He obviously wouldn't try anything dramatic, but she didn't want to have to hurt him to get away from him.
"Keeping you away from the conversation, maybe?" he stopped coming closer to her, seeing her uncomfortable. Then he glanced at the phone in her hand, and saw her app open. "I'm on my leave, and just brought in some papers from the deployment, came to grab some of my stuff. What would you say, we grab lunch now? Or I can give you a ride home".
"No, thanks, I'm good. I've already called for an uber" she lied, now moving around him to come out on the other side of the hallway.
"Look" he suddenly sounded gentle, but she knew it could be a trap, so she continued to move a little. "I didn't mean to scare you. I know you're very reserved, keeping things to yourself. I just like working with you, I think you're great. I'm sorry".
She wasn't buying his acting, at all, so she took another step back "No, we're good. You don't need to worry. I have to go ok" and she managed to walk the hallway, out of the building. She took a step to the side then looked back, she couldn't see him, so she exhaled, relieved. The last thing that she needed was some sort of stalker, and she shivered when she remembered that one of the girls at camp, in Afghanistan, always seemed scared of him too. Fortunately, she left a week after Dianna got there, but now she was afraid it was going to be even harder for Dianna to get rid of Will, if he obsessed about her or something. She glanced to the side and saw Will coming out of the building from the other exit, like he was kind of looking for someone, then he stopped close to the gates, talking on the phone. Or pretending to talk.
Her heart was racing, and she saw Jason approaching the building, and behind him, Jessica and Davis.
"Hey Davis" she tried to smile. You're going out for lunch or something?"
Davis continued to walk to her office with Jessica. "Actually, we're going to get some lunch at a restaurant, yes. Blackburn is going too, want to come?"
She licked her lips, "Oh, I don't know. I was looking more for a ride out. Are you going somewhere fancy?" she asked, because she wasn't really dressed fancy, and Davis was wearing her Officer uniform with a skirt, fancier than the usual. Usually they hang out in fancy restaurants when she wore those.
"Dianna" Jason walked back from the hallway and was next to them, "I'm going out now, want a ride?"
She quickly accepted, surprising him. "Ok. Good. Thank you".
"Good. I'll just get changed ok, I'll be right back" Jason gestured, while waving goodbye to Davis and Jessica and getting into the room. Dianna barely saw Davis and Jessica leave, and she stood in the hallway, right in front of the door to the cages' room.
Not two minutes later, Will got into the building again, finding Dianna immediately. He walked fast towards her, and now she was terrified of him, because he had obsessive eyes.
"Hey. What did I do to you? I said I was sorry. You said you were leaving" he approached her, not yelling at all, but he was whispering aggressively with her. "What, you think you're better than me? What?" then his tone changed all of a sudden, and he was seductive again, and now she was shivering, silent. "You know that the Navy has no rules about dating between us and civilians, right", and he came even closer, she was leaning on the door of the room to the cages, and all of a sudden, the door opened with a low beep and Dianna almost fell on her back inside the room. She quickly grabbed the door, and Jason was lost, because from his angle he didn't see Will, or heard them.
"What? What the hell" he asked, as soon as she shut the door so he wouldn't see Will. She was absolutely sure that if he or any of the guys saw that scene, they'd kick his ass and probably loose their jobs. Even Davis maybe would kick his ass, too.
But she could barely breathe and looked at Jason's confused face, she was so scared and relieved at the same time, that she started to cry.
"What happened?" Jason was completely shocked, he had no idea what was going on.
Dianna couldn't even speak, so while she cried she put her hands on her face, hunching down a bit, because she knew it would make her feel better, and she felt Jason's arms around her, covering almost all of her body. She was shuddering, hard, and lost of breath.
"Jesus Christ, Dianna, are you hurt? What? Should I call the medic?" Jason now was desperate, because he didn't know if what she had was physical or psychological, so he kept hugging her for a few seconds, until she slightly stopped shuddering so much.
"I'm having a panic attack" she murmured, and he could barely hear her, so he relaxed the hug a bit.
"No" she immediately asked, "I'm having a panic attack. Don't move, please" she said, now louder.
He heard her perfectly this time, and knew, from his own experience, that a tight embrace could help. But he only had those attacks twice, and he had no idea what could've triggered her at the Base.
After a few minutes she stopped crying and slowly calmed down.
"I'm a bit better now. Thank you" she muttered, but didn't move.
"Yeah? You sure?" Jason asked, affectionate, with his face on her head. Her hair smelled amazing, he noticed.
She breathed in, to make sure. "Yeah. I'm sure".
"Ok" Jason said, and exactly when he was about to release her a bit, he heard the guys typing the password, and instinctively both of them tried to release from the embrace, but not fast enough.
So when Clay opened the door to the room, all he saw was Jason and Dianna in an empty room, trying to pull apart quickly, and she was completely disheveled, and he had a very alarmed face. He couldn't see her face, but he also acted instinctively and quickly shut the door, to give them some privacy and avoid the rest of the guys from watching that scene.
"What the fuck", Clay couldn't help to say, but after suddenly shutting the door and pushing the guys behind him, he was lost for words.
"What the fuck is what I'm saying, dude" Sonny said indignant, as he was aggressively pushed back by Clay. He was exhausted, hungry and grumpy.
"You know what? I just remembered" Clay started, trying to create any excuse to get the guys to follow him out of the building, but his mind literally went blank.
Suddenly, the team guys heard a low beep and they looked confused when they saw a disheveled and red-faced Dianna calmly making her way out of the room, but their chins dropped to the floor when they saw Jason following her outside.
"I just had a panic attack. Nothing to see here" Dianna calmly murmured, avoiding any eye contact, while Jason walked beside her, staring angry at the guys, like as if they had nothing to hide, walking with her outside of the building, with his hand on her back.
"Wait", Dianna stopped walking, grabbing Jason's arm when they got outside, because she wanted to look around if Will was there, or at the gates or something. But she didn't see him, so she started to walk, still with her hands grabbing Jason's arm, unconsciously.
"Just" Jason didn't mind her grabbing his arm, but it was weird and they were in public, so he walked behind her and put his arm around her waist. But she didn't walk and moved his hand up, to grab her shoulders. He sighed, and they finally walked to his car.
"Can't you just tell me what triggered you?" he whispered to her, "Like, the air, wind, bees, a clown?" he couldn't think of anything else, because it really was a beautiful and calm day at the Base.
"Why would there be any clowns in here?" she whispered back at him.
"It happened before. Birthdays, pranks." he muttered.
There was a couple of seconds of silence. "Jason, are you afraid of clowns?" she looked up at him.
"Look, let's not change the focus here, ok. You're the one who always tells me to talk to someone, and things like that" Jason quickly said, while unlocking his car and walking to the passenger seat.
"I told you that once" she turned to him, and opened the heavy door.
She wrongfully grabbed the handles and put the wrong foot on the step, again, so Jason sighed and once more grabbed her by the hips and threw her in there. She didn't complain this time, and just sat down while he jogged around his car.
"You know, you sigh a lot. You should check for asthma" she mumbled with sarcasm as he elegantly got into the car.
"Yes, I noticed that too. It started when I met you" he sarcastically answered.
She glanced at him, because he didn't turn on the car.
"Thanks" she muttered, quickly glancing at him.
"No problem" he muttered, still not turning on the car. "Are you really not telling me what happened?" he turned to her. "I really think I should know. Or Davis, or someone".
She nodded. "Ok. I'll think about it. I'll tell someone. But not today. Ok?".
"Good" he smiled. Not turning the car yet.
She smirked at him.
And they stayed there, looking at each other, Dianna was now confused why he didn't turn on the car. Then Jason looked at the steering wheel. "Are you better now?"
She got lost. Of course she was better. "Sure. Why?"
"No, I mean" he hesitated. "Are you ok for lunch? We could have something to eat, maybe. I mean, I was going to eat somewhere anyways" he clumsily asked, still looking at the steering wheel, glancing at her once.
She smiled. "I thought you said we could be friends, Jason. Of course we can have lunch. My fridge is kinda empty anyways".
He nodded, for a second, then turned to her, smiling. "Ok then"
Jason finally turned on the car and asked Dianna what was she in a mood for eating. She told him she ate and drank pretty much everything, except coffee, which he thought was a very weird think to not drink, so he took her to his favorite place.
.