CHAPTER 16

A BREAK-IN AND HEARTBREAKS

Dianna was exhausted after giving four lectures at one of the Police Stations in DC for the past two days. They were exhausting because lectures required her to talk, a lot, for a long time, and to answer questions that had nothing to do with the lecture itself. They asked a lot of things about cases that she worked on. And she was terrible with names, numbers and dates, so they sometimes mentioned some case by the victim's or criminal's last name, and she was supposed to remember, out of hundreds of cases, which one was that about. Then they looked at her, thinking she lacked empathy or something, for not remembering. She felt they were unfair, because during those cases she usually didn't sleep or eat properly, until she could extract the information she needed from the suspects, while most of the cops and detectives there just clocked out and then came back in the morning, fresh and ready.

But she was glad it was finally being over, because she had been doing lectures like these for almost two weeks now. She was soon being deployed with Bravo in a couple of days.

She had to give the lectures because unfortunately for her, Bravo was called for only one op overseas during their leave, a quick and urgent one, to retrieve some bombs or whatever somewhere, nothing involving the need for interrogations. It was a purely tactical op.

And she hadn't seen most of the guys because they took their time to travel with their families and loved ones, including Jason, who spent more than a week with his kids camping somewhere. But she kept in touch with all of the guys through texts and insta, looking at their pictures and sometimes DM'ing them, and even Davis was away for a few days and she only talked to her on the phone. When Davis would be back the next day, they'd all get together at The Bulkhead again, like one last party at a bar before heading to their deployment. Davis was still checking where they'd be most needed, because apparently there were three regions that could really need DEVGRU Teams, and the CIA was analyzing all of them to pick one.

But when Dianna got out of her elevator, and walked to her door, she felt a shiver in her spine. Her door was unlocked, with both of the locks opened, and slightly ajar. She was sure she closed both of the locks. Jason scared the shit out of her showing how easy it was to pick simple key locks, so she called the locksmith and he changed them for her the week before, installing special keys.

She hesitated about getting inside or not, then she opened the door a little more, staying in the hallway. She turned the lights on, still from the hallway, and her apartment seemed ok. Then she received a message on her phone and almost screamed from the scare. It was a text from Jason, asking her to confirm if she was still going to the bar the next day, and if Davis was too.

She couldn't gather the courage to get inside the apartment yet, so she got back to the hallway and texted Jason, casually confirming the reunion at the bar and, 'just to confirm', if a normal criminal could open the special locks, or if any special tools were necessary. You know, normal things. Then she almost jumped, again, because he was calling her.

"Hi there, whatssup" she tried to sound casual, but sounded from the hood.

"Hey. Why are you asking me that?"

"Oh, nothing. Just curious. I googled it, couldn't find the information".

Moments of silence.

"Where are you?" he was already suspicious.

"At home. Why?" she was sure she sounded casual.

"Inside your home?"

She hesitated. "Well, I just got into my building. I'm in the hallway".

"Dianna, if your lock was messed up, please don't go in there. Just don't. Seriously".

"Ok, now you're really scaring me" she sincerely said, terrified.

"You're supposed to be. Wait for me at the main hall. Just stay away from you apartment, ok"

"Ok. Bye".

"You didn't get in, did you?" Jason got out of his car and jogged to her.

"No, I just turned the lights on from the hallway. And took a peek. Then you texted me".

"Ok. Good."

"Why, you think the guy is in there?"

"Well" he started, and didn't want to scare her, but it was a possible scenario. "The tools to really mess with that kind of lock are really hard to find. You know, to not break the lock or the door, and just open it. There's no reason why a criminal would go all this way to break into your house, he'd just kick your door anyways, or go elsewhere. So probably it was someone who knew you work with classified intel with the Navy. Or knows your job. So they could have put something explosive in there, or were waiting for you in there, something like that".

"Oh my God" she was terrified, and then she didn't know if she felt better or worse. "Could a Seal have access to those tools, too?" she was already shaking.

Jason put his hands on his hips, suspicious. "Yes. We have it with our special gear kit, when we need it. Why?"

She swallowed. "Look, what if I call my friends from DC and they tell me who they know around here to take a look at my place? I just got back from there. Or the guys I know from NYPD. To see if it's safe, and if anything was moved around?"

"Actually yes. It's a great idea. But just in case, you shouldn't be around here. Maybe whoever did this is still around".

"U-hum, ok". She was already walking to Jason's car, to get the hell out of there. "I can do it" she told him, when he was going to grab her hips, and she finally learned how to climb the steps properly, thanks to the video Emma and Jason sent to her, almost two weeks before. He got into the car, locked it from the inside and turned to her.

"Is it ok if we go to my place then?" Jason asked her, gently.

"Yes. No problem. Davis is out of town until tomorrow".

Jason swallowed. "Emma and Mikey are in my parents' house tonight. They'll stay there during my first week of deployment" he stated.

"Jason, I really don't mind; if you don't want me to go there it's fine, I'll go to a hotel. Just please, let's go. I'm really scared", her voice was shaky, and she hated feeling this vulnerable, but she really couldn't help it.

"Sorry. We're going to my place, ok. Don't worry" he turned on the car.

She called to her friends in DC and they quickly sent some of their people to her apartment to check it out, assisting the local police department, but it would take a few hours, and if they found anything, they'd call her and contact the Navy.

Jason and Dianna got to his place in record time, and she waited for him to be next to the passenger's door to open it and climb it down, without his help.

She got into his house as soon as he allowed it, and she kept her arms crossed while he locked his door.

"Don't you have alarms, things like that?", she asked.

Jason turned to her. "I do. The exterior one is already on".

"Good. Good". She was feeling more relaxed.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Jason walked to his bar next to the kitchen.

"Yes. What do you have? That has alcohol" she smiled slightly, standing next to him while he showed her his drinks, feeling a lot more relaxed and very protected.

They chose to drink whiskey, and this time she got the glass and wandered to the living room, looking at the décor and photos there. He sat on his sofa and she sat really close to him, to Jason's surprise.

She noticed his expression, and tried to explain, casually. "I'm really, really not like this, sorry. I'm not clingy or anything. I'm just a bit shaky".

"That's ok" Jason chuckled, and loved the fact that she was comfortable being this close to him. He tried to relax her a bit. "So… what did you do today? Before getting to your place".

She sighed. "I gave lectures all day at a DC police station. It's really exhausting. And I really needed a drink" she raised her glass.

"Oh, that's why you're all fancy then" he smirked, because she was actually looking amazing, wearing a navy dress that was close to her body, tall brown boots and a trench coat. She looked British.

"Well… thanks" she looked down, she wasn't even remembering what she was wearing. She looked up, loving what he was wearing. A red plaid shirt over a dark gray t-shirt, and jeans.

"And you're looking very…" she started, thinking about the best description, and Jason chuckled, because he knew he was basic. She decided he looked very manly, but she also knew that as soon that she said that word, she would entice him. And she didn't want to be his one night stand, especially so close to their deployment. So she just mentioned he looked very American.

He gave her a quick smile, and she felt there was still a lot of tension between them, just from the closeness, so she got up to take off her coat and sat further away, asking if it'd be ok for them to watch a movie or something. He quickly agreed.

"That one. Your smile" Jason found the actress he talked about almost two weeks earlier, in one of the movies from the streaming catalog. It was Keira Knightley.

"Oh" Dianna liked her, so she was really glad. "I like her smile".

Jason nodded. "U-hum. Told ya. Almost the same as yours. Cute", he said, affectionate.

She smiled at him, pleased, and again, she needed to cut off the tension. "Choose any movie you want. Something with a lot of action, perhaps. I could really use some distraction". She said without looking at him, because she knew she could be distracted from her apartment break-in while being ravaged by Jason.

Jason chose one of the Batman movies.

Dianna and Jason were sitting on the sofa keeping a considerable distance between them, lazily watching while Heath Ledger's Joker was scaring the shit out of the girl, as usual, when Dianna's phone rang. She had it on the coffee table and quickly grabbed it, while Jason paused the movie and gestured for her to put the call on speaker, because it was from the guy she knew from the DC Police Department. And he didn't trust Dianna's word to tell him the whole truth after the call.

"Hey, Ralph, what's up" Dianna answered her phone, anxious.

"Dianna" the guy sounded stern and awkward, "we're not finished yet. But I'm sorry, there's something we found out already".

"Okay..." she was shaking again, and Jason came closer to her, putting his hand on her knee.

Ralph made a pause. "Please. Tell me" she pleaded. She needed to know what it was.

Ralph sighed, and answered. "We used the black light in here, almost as soon as we came. You know, it's kind of protocol, but we prioritized that."

Dianna waited, and now her mind just went blank as he paused, and then continued.

"We found traces of semen" he finally said.

She was shaking uncontrollably, because she hadn't even slept with anyone there, but she needed to know exactly what he meant. Jason turned to look at her, already concerned.

"Where" she could barely say, her lips where trembling.

Another pause. "Well… in a lot of places. Your bed… sofa… some of your clothes… in your underwear drawer." Ralph paused, but Dianna didn't even notice his pause; she ran to Jason's bathroom and shut the door, barely raising the toilet seat before throwing up in there, already starting to cry. She quickly ripped her panties out of her, then her dress and her bra, then she threw up again. She clumsily took off her boots and crawled to the bath, opening the shower above. She was shaking and crying while scrubbing the soap bar on her whole body, and even on her hair, because she felt like she was dirty all over. She had no idea if the disgusting guy got into her apartment only that night, but considering how easy it was to pick her lock when there were only the two simple ones, she was very aware that he could have done it during that week before she changed the locks. And she felt dirty just from imagining him roaming around her apartment, touching her things, touching himself. Then touching her things again.

In the meantime, Jason was so shocked and disgusted that when Dianna ran out from there he grabbed the phone quickly, and asked Ralph "This is Jason, I'm a friend of Dianna. She's at my place. Do you know how long ago… he did it? And who was it?"

Ralph quickly answered, "Hi Jason. We don't know who. But we swabbed everywhere, to see if we can get the DNA. And we'll need at least one day to figure out when ...this was done" Raph paused, and continued. "Is she near?"

Jason got up with the phone, he was shuddering with rage and heard her throwing up in the bathroom. A lot. "No. Tell me what is it". Jason knew Ralph had something more to say.

"The guy who did this. He picked these two special locks, left them unharmed, man. He had to have special tools, he could have bought them at the black market, but they cost a fortune. Dianna knows this guy. We're afraid that it's one of the guys she helped to put in prison, and maybe escaped, or finished his sentence. Who knows. We're checking it with the FBI. Please, watch out for her, ok? We're getting to the bottom of this in the meantime. Believe me".

Jason thanked Ralph and immediately came to the bathroom door, because now he could hear Dianna sobbing and opening the shower. His heart was breaking in a million pieces while his mind was filling with thirst for revenge against whoever did this to her.

"Dianna" he knocked on the door. She didn't answer. "Please, just tell me if there's something I can do".

She continued to sob.

"Dianna" now he was even more concerned, and his eyes were filling with tears, "do you need me to come in?" he asked, gently.

"No" she quickly answered, with a shaky voice. "I just… no, please. I'll be out… I'll be out".

"Ok. No problem. Take your time" he answered, not moving.

"Jason" she suddenly called him. "Could you please… Lend me, hum, something for me to wear? Maybe a t-shirt" then she started crying a bit again, "Or PJ's? I just..." then she cried again.

He leaned his forehead on the door, he imagined how she felt about her gorgeous dress now. The creep ruined it for her. Probably her underwear too. He felt nauseated. "Yes. No problem. I'll bring you a clean towel and a few options, ok. Don't worry".

Diana almost used all of the soap there was while scrubbing herself in the shower, three times at least, then she took some shampoo she found, probably Emma's, because it was very feminine, and she washed her hair three times too. Then she stayed for at least another half an hour under the shower, with the water running over her. During that time, Jason knocked on her door and asked if he could open the door a bit to put the towel and clothes on the vanity, she told him it was ok. She noticed she trusted Jason, and felt safe with him in there. Which was a very comforting thought. He opened the door just enough to pass his hand with the things, put them on the vanity beside the door, then quickly closed it.

She finally turned off the shower, now a bit calmer, because she decided to think positively, that the guy probably had just got into her apartment and did that stuff during that day. She was praying for it. And she trusted Ralph and the police to find out who he was, and even though she had many enemies between sexual offenders, she was thinking it couldn't be a coincidence that she saw Will two weeks before that day, and how obsessively he acted.

She took the towel and dried her body, then she wrapped it on her hair while she looked at the pile of clothes and stuff Jason left. On the top of the pile he left a new toothbrush for her, probably one he bought for himself to take to deployment, and a new toothpaste; there were some t-shirts, all apparently his, because of the size, a pair of shorts, full length gray plaid PJ's, also his, a pair of socks, and a white boxer brief. Also his, and seemed pretty new. She didn't have to put on underwear, but she thought it was cute of him to offer, and now she knew what underwear he used. She put on his underwear, then his long pajamas, they were comfy and huge. She brushed her teeth and realized her long hair was going to get tangled quickly, so she opened the door of the bathroom to look for Jason. He was sitting on one of the dining chairs, close to the bathroom door. She smiled at him.

"Thanks. For all of this"

Jason swallowed. She looked gorgeous, without any makeup and wet hair. And also cute in his huge pajamas.

She gave his pile of clothes back, and muttered, "I don't mean to meddle… but do you have a comb, or brush? Or something like that". He nodded, and quickly went to his ensuite and came back with a men's brush, obviously his too. It would take a little longer, but she'd be able to untangle her hair. She did so with the bathroom door opened, in front of the mirror, and Jason watched her, trying really hard not to. When she finished, she asked if he had a thrash bag, and he brought one for her. She threw in there her dress and underwear, and Jason saw when she did it with disgust and washed her hands after she closed the thrash bag. He threw the bag outside, with the rest of the thrash, in a mood to kill the creep. He pretended the thrash bag contained the remains of the guy's body after Jason was done with him.

When he came back from outside she was still waiting for him in the middle of the living room, in his pajamas. He really didn't know what to say and how to act. He also didn't know, but she felt the same way.

"Are you hungry?" he tried.

"No" she murmured, glancing at him. "But you obviously can eat something if you want to".

He was so nauseated by what happened to her that he wasn't hungry, at all.

"Something to drink?" he tried again.

"Yes" she quickly answered. "Do you still have that whiskey?"

"Sure" he got the glasses they used before and filled them with more whiskey. They both almost drank it all at once. "Ralph will catch the creep" Jason assured her, finally having the courage to talk about what had just happened.

She nodded. "He's good. I'm just really glad I'm going to deploy with you guys this Sunday".

"Do you have any idea of who it could be?", he asked, reminding of Ralph's alert.

"No" she lied, "Because the truth is there's a lot of options for me to choose as suspects" she told him the truth, and she felt her heart racing again, but tried to avoid a panic attack. So she drank the rest of her whiskey and gestured Jason to fill the glass up again. He stared at her, serious, but poured her the whiskey, she obviously needed that.

They drank in silence, both of them standing near the kitchen island with their glasses of whiskey in hand. Dianna drank almost all her whiskey again.

"Look, you know what" Jason told her, "if you wanna go to bed, it's okay, you're probably exhausted. And I can text Davis if you want, tonight or tomorrow, canceling our night out with the team at The Bulkhead".

Dianna nodded, feeling the effects of three full glasses of whiskey drank in an hour, so she put her empty glass on the island and sat on the sofa. "U-hum. Ok. I don't know. Maybe you guys and Davis can go, and I'll just stay. In a hotel or something. I don't mind, I just don't want you guys to cancel anything because of me".

Jason followed her and sat next to her, determined. "No way, Dianna, u-um. This creep is obviously obsessed with you. I'll be glued to you until you deploy. We'll stay here, or at Davis', we'll see, ok?"

Dianna slightly smiled at him, feeling incredibly protected again. "I don't want to be a burden to you" she said, sincerely, already feeling like one.

He looked into her eyes, showing that he was serious. "You could never be that" he said, affectionate, and opened a wide charming smile at her.

Dianna finally couldn't resist Jason's cuteness and protectiveness anymore, so she advanced at him, kissing his lips and finally feeling his stubble deliciously scratch her face. He took a second to react, but opened his mouth and she felt his tongue slowly massaging hers, both with the taste of whiskey. She put her hands on his neck and touched his hair, disheveling it, and she was already shivering, now with desire.

Jason was caught completely off guard by Dianna when she kissed him, he thought he was dreaming when she pressed her soft lips on his, and felt her warm cheeks against his face. He slowly massaged her tongue with his, and when he felt her hands on his hair, his erection started to rise.

Dianna felt the urge to climb that big mountain of a man, so she straddled Jason, and he breathed in while still kissing her, putting his hands on her wet hair. Dianna kissed him for a few more seconds then had to feel him, and she lowered herself on his lap, feeling his erection under his jeans. She moaned, dizzy with lust and whiskey, and decided to not fight her feelings anymore. She needed to feel his body against hers, and inside too, even if it was just for that night. She'd worry about how he felt about her later on.

Jason gasped in response to her moan, so she moved her hips to graze his member, regretting not have chosen the t-shirt as a sleepwear for easier access. Jason immediately grunted, moving his hands down on her body, then to her round butt, squeezing it, hard, and Dianna released a high-pitched moan that drove him crazy. But he had to be sure that she wanted to follow that path as much as he wanted to, because he didn't want her to regret it later on, so he moved his hands back to her face, and gathered all the strength he had to pull her face and lips away from him.

"Dianna" Jason looked into her eyes, "Are you sure you want this? I need to know", his voice came out husky.

Dianna was looking at Jason's lips and couldn't stay still, she was anxious, and kept slowly rubbing her body against his and messing his hair, making him shiver because her body movement was one of the sexiest things he thought he ever seen. And felt.

"Dianna" he called again, and now his voice was shaky and desperate.

"Please Jason" she kept moving, "let's just have this night. I need this. I need to forget it". She noticed that he just kept staring at her, serious, so she reassured him that she wouldn't pressure him about it later on. "I won't talk about it again, ok? We'll be friends and everything. Please, just…" and she moved her hand to his bulge, rubbing it harder.

Jason felt his heart break because she just wanted to have a one night stand with him, then be friends with him after that. And worse, she wanted to have him because she wanted to forget about that horrible thing that just happened. He felt nauseated now, he'd never want their first night to happen because she was afraid and disgusted, and drunk. He'd never forget how that night was linked to a creep. But she kept rubbing her whole body against his, and now she grazed her hand on his erection too, and Jason felt like he was about to explode.

"Wait" he tried to remove Dianna's hand, but then she kissed him again when he took his hand off her face, "Wait, I can't-" Jason was desperately trying to make her stop, but she wasn't even listening. So he used both his hands to grab her hips and raise her of his lap and sit her beside him on the sofa. She was absolutely confused when he did it, but he could finally breathe and think straight.

"I'm sorry" he finally said, when he could gather his thoughts, "I can't. You're scared, and a bit drunk, and I understand ok, I just don't think this is right".

Dianna was sitting on the sofa, still with her legs a bit open, and she felt incredibly ashamed for pressuring Jason like that. He was right, she was a bit drunk, and very scared. And now heartbroken.

"You're… you're right" Dianna finally said, stuttering and avoiding eye contact. "I'm just so scared. Oh God" she put her hands on her cheeks, glancing at him. She felt her face blushing because of what she was pressuring him to do, and he rejected her in the nicest possible way. "I'm so sorry Jason. You're being so nice to me and I'm just here advancing on you like that".

Jason looked at her, now feeling awkward for making her feel so guilty.

"No, Dianna, please don't say that, I understand ok, don't feel guilty". He wanted her to understand that he wanted all that as much as she wanted too, but it was the wrong time, and he wanted her for more than just that night. But he felt his courage come down with his erection. He didn't think he could face her again if she rejected him afterwards.

Dianna's eyes filled with tears from the rejection, because he was being so nice to her that she couldn't even be mad at him. So she got up from the sofa, so he wouldn't notice.

"You know what, maybe I should go to bed, I am really tired".

"Well, if you really want to, then just let me change the bedsheets in the main bedroom, real quick", Jason quickly got up too, feeling guilty about her feelings of guilt. There was the smell of guilt all around that house.

"Oh no, I can sleep here on the sofa" Dianna was feeling guilty again, and was blocking his way to the bedroom.

"No way, no, you'll sleep there and I'll sleep on Mikey's bedroom ok" Jason passed around her, walking fast. He really needed to get to the main bedroom, because not only he needed to change the sheets for her, but the bed wasn't made, and he remembered he left a bit of a mess over it.

"There's no reason to change the sheets, seriously, I'll sleep there tonight and then you change them tomorrow ok, I'll help you take them off", she followed him to the bedroom.

"Wait, no, just, I'll go, quickly-" Jason was making his way into the bedroom and Diana finally reached him and grabbed his arm, and he stopped moving, because she already got in.

She looked at his bed and it was a mess of sheets falling to the side, and clothes thrown over it, a couple of plaid shirts, a couple of jeans. There were seconds of silence, and Dianna started to chuckle.

"You know what" she teased him, after she saw his face of shame, "I'll let you change the bedsheets ok. I'll just… wait over there" she walked backwards out of the room, because she couldn't even see the bed under that mess. Jason started to laugh too, guilty as charge. He really regretted not taking the time she was under the shower to clean up his mess.

.