CHAPTER 30

RAINY AND GRUMPY DAYS

"Well, that sucks" Dianna mumbled to no one, but herself, while she sat at a table of the restaurant, waiting for Davis and looking out the huge glass door that opened to an outdoor deck and patio, which now was empty. She was looking at the beach but could barely see the ocean, because it hadn't stopped raining since the day before. She hoped to walk around the neighborhood where she'd move out to soon, and enjoy the beach area that was nearby, but obviously that wouldn't happen any time soon.

Just when she thought about ordering a mimosa to the waiter, Davis finally arrived, smiling widely.

"Don't know why you're so joyful" Dianna grumpily told Davis as soon as she got to her table. Davis' smile vanished, and it changed to an annoyed expression.

"You know what, you look older when you're bitter. Maybe you should use that bitterness to even out your 'cute' face. For when you interrogate terrorists, you know". Davis stated.

Dianna got ashamed of her grumpy mood. "You're right. Sorry".

Davis sighed, and raised her shoulders, sitting down. "It's ok. You just got dumped"

Dianna was indignant, "I did not get du-"

"Anyways, I just got off the phone with Captain Lindell. He already confirmed to me that you'll be linked to Bravo, ok? Starting tomorrow".

Dianna folded the table towel, and had a sad smile on her face. "Sure. That's nice, thanks"

"Oh my God, you're not one of those idiot girls who gives up everything because of a cute boy, are you?" Davis sarcastically asked, mocking her.

Dianna felt offended, and glanced at her. "Really, huh. Heard you were sniffing around for a way to not be linked to Bravo anymore. Why did that happen?"

Davis stared at Dianna. "You know, just because you have access to all the information, it doesn't mean that you actually have to read everything about someone, ok?"

"I got bored yesterday. And a bit hungover. The weather wasn't helping", Dianna said, sighing.

"Ok, but cheer up. You still want to be back to Bravo, right?"

"I do. Of course yes. I even demanded from the CIA that" Diana cockily said.

"Good. Monday, then. Tomorrow. The guys will have training, and you'll be there to sign the papers with Lindell, ok? Nick and Jessica won't be there, but I'll see where she rotates to during the next week".

Dianna agreed, finally feeling excited. "Great! Love to watch their training"

"Davis, when you said I could watch the training, you could have told me that it would be an outdoorsy event, alright?" Dianna said, annoyed, holding her polka-dot umbrella as she made her way to the outdoor tent near the circuit.

"Ah, come on, girl. It's barely raining" Davis joyfully stated, because she was covered from head to toe with camouflaged and warm uniform, and wearing a cap.

"Yes, barely now. After two days of rain" Dianna finally reached the open tent, shaking her umbrella and putting it down.

"Well, why don't you just keep quiet for a while and enjoy their training? You'll love the circuit, it's even better when it had just rained. You'll understand why later on. Just trust me on this" Davis joyfully stated, again, to a suspicious Dianna.

Jason and the guys hated the outdoor circuit, but it was scheduled for weeks and they kept moving it forward. Now, they had to make it after two days of heavy rain, which made it a lot more grueling. The team obviously would easily make it under the time limit, but they would end up wet, muddy, sweaty, hot and cold, all at the same time.

"Come on guys, let's just do this shit" Jason grumpily told them, looking down, as they made their way to the circuits, in their fatigues and t-shirts.

"Hey, there ladies" Sonny suddenly said, to his side, in a seductive voice.

"Good morning, boys" Davis and Dianna said, in unison.

Jason felt his heart race when he saw Dianna there. She had her arms crossed and was wearing jeans, boots and trench coat, and her hair was in a braid, with some locks falling loose around her face. Jason blinked, because he thought she looked amazing and mysterious, and the CIA badge reminded him of who she was now, which enhanced the mystery. He unconsciously walked a little closer to the tent, puffing his chest.

"Hey" he said, nodding to Dianna and Davis, looking focused.

Clay and Ray glanced at Jason, and at the girls under the tent.

"Ah fuck, he's going to kill us, isn't he?" Clay asked, afraid of the grueling training that Jason would demand from them now.

"Yep. Brace yourself" Ray agreed.

"Oh, this is great" Dianna watched marveled, while the guys ran, swam, jumped, crawled and climbed through the muddy circuit. They had to do it a few times, until the guys were shuddering and couldn't feel their hands and feet anymore. But what Dianna loved the most was that Jason was going through the whole circuit, too. It was a training for all the operators from Bravo Team, leader included.

"Told ya. Great" Davis nodded, checking the boys out, but especially Sonny. Coincidentally, Jason and Sonny were pretty close to breaking their personal time records, in spite the terrible weather, as they kept saying, out loud, to everyone who was at the circuit.

Dianna noticed, amused, how a lot of the women at the Base suddenly showed up right when the guys were starting their training. "We check out their training schedule" Davis explained, and Dianna was loving how the tent now was filled with excited ladies, with their 'come on, guys' and 'aahh, that's hard' and, every once in a while, a 'he's hot' could be heard.

The guys finally convinced Jason that they had properly trained the whole circuit enough, so they made their way to the showers. But Jason wanted to greet Dianna properly before she left, so he walked to the tent, all muddy and wet. And cold.

"Hi, Davis, any news about the exchange of the interrogators?" Jason asked, with his hands on his hips, standing in front of them both.

"Huh, yeah. All good. Dianna signed her papers and started today, actually. I'll check on which groups are available this week, so that Jessica can pick one to go" Davis answered, finding it odd that he didn't want to shower immediately. But not so odd, because she had an idea of the reason why.

"Oh, good. Great. All taken care of, then?" Jason smiled, asking both of them.

"Yes, Jason. Everything good here. Davis will do her job, efficiently, as usual", Dianna told him, with a hint of sarcasm. He was meddling again, and she was still angry at him.

He noticed her sarcasm, and he got very annoyed. "U-hum. Didn't say she wasn't. Just checking. Gonna take a shower now". He walked fast out of there, ignoring the sighs of some of the ladies under the tent.

Davis and Dianna walked behind Jason and went into the building. Dianna had to be presented to the rest of the CIA staff linked to Bravo. She had already worked with most of them months ago, but she didn't remember their faces or names, only of the ones she had more contact. But they knew she was nice and just lacked that type of memorization skills, so they understood.

After that, the girls had lunch at a burger place near the Base, that opened a few months before, and from there Dianna went to her place, to finish packing her stuff. She was moving out of her tiny and tainted apartment. She hadn't slept there since the incident, and stayed in airbnbs and short term rentals, so far. She closed a long term rental on Thursday, and would move in that week, probably on Friday and Saturday, if she was in the States. The next day Dianna would have to go back to Base, because she was assisting Davis' team collecting intel, which she noticed she actually liked to do during the CIA training program. She had to analyze interrogations taped on video and information collected from the CIA, especially from their assets, to make sure they weren't lying. She'd leave the analysis of maps, rocks, stars and dragon eggs to other people from the crew.

She knew her job would now consist of a lot of working hours, with her going to Base almost every day, or going overseas with Bravo for interrogations. Even if there weren't targets to capture, she'd assist Davis and another Navy Officer on gathering and analyzing intel or planning for ops, just like all the other people from CIA did at the Navy, from interns to agents. She was a CIA Analyst and Interrogator now, so work would take up most of her life.

But she was loving that prospective. She had no life outside of her work, anyways.

Now more than ever.

"Look, boss, you know that I love you" Sonny started his sentence kissing Jason's ass, which meant that he would complain about him in a second, "but you're grumpier than my grandma at my grandpa's best friend's funeral".

Jason stared at Sonny, registering his words.

"Yeah, that's what you heard" Sonny nodded, laughing. Then he continued. "Anyways, I know that you've been grumpy because you had this whole camping shit planned with your kids and the Mrs, so I thought we'd offer you Full Metal's cabin here, if you and your Mrs would like to go and stay there for a night or two this week. It's supposed to be sunny again in a couple of days" he said, pointing at Full Metal, who nodded.

"It's a great cabin man, in the mountains. Dreamy and romantic. Chicks love it. I've Airbnb'd it a few times, but it's empty now. And it's only half an hour away from VA Beach" Full Metal proudly announced.

Jason was still staring at Sonny, squinting, while he put on his clean camouflaged pants.

"What… I'm not grumpy. I mean, it happens, it rains sometimes. Plans get canceled" he gestured, aggressively grabbing his t-shirt and wearing it. "And Natalie is not my Mrs".

"He's not grumpy because of the rain, Sonny" Clay stated, smirking at Sonny.

"Yeah, I noticed that, but you know, I can't do anything about that one. I'm just helping where I can".

"You know, I'd just love, love, if you guys could just stop meddling into my business, ok?" he loudly declared, lingering his stare on Ray. "It would make things a lot easier for me". He dramatically walked out of his cage and the cage room, violently shutting the door of his cage.

Jason walked in the hallway towards the patio, hungry and already thinking about the double bacon burger he'd order at the new place nearby, when he passed through Lindell's office, almost running into Luke who was leaving the room.

"Hey man" Jason greeted him, shaking his hand. He always liked Luke, the leader of Echo Team.

"Hey, Hayes"

"Had a bad meeting with the Captain?" Jason asked, because Luke had a stern face.

"Sort of. Don't know what to think about it yet" Luke was concerned, and now Jason was concerned too.

"Something wrong with Echo?" Jason asked, because Lindell was trying to change things on DEVGRU, demanding that the teams were more formal, which both Jason and Luke hated.

"Like I said, don't know yet. But can't tell you now, sorry. I'll let you know if I have any news I can share, ok?" Luke tapped Jason's shoulder, and walked out of the building.

Jason watched him walk away, pensive, when suddenly right in front of him Dianna and Davis walked out of the Command Center, turning to the building exit behind Luke. They didn't see Jason because he was behind them. Dianna was undoing her braid, loosening up her locks, while Davis talked to her about having lunch at the new burger place.

Jason watched, standing in the middle of the hallway, as Dianna left, happy and with her gorgeous hair down. It was longer than he remembered. He had a flashback of her dark locks grazing her nipples, and he calculated that her locks would cover her nipples by now. He blinked, to bring his mind back from that flashback.

He knew he'd probably see her almost everyday now, and he wasn't sure if he was happy or sad about that. Mostly happy, he bitterly concluded.

Jason immediately changed his plans; he'd see if Natalie wanted to have lunch now, also to help him take his mind off Dianna. Probably she'd want to eat at some vegetarian place, and he'd ask for something fried there; at least it would be greasy, and it actually tasted good.

It wasn't exactly what he wanted, but he was getting used to that feeling, by now.

Jason spent that Monday in such a grumpy mood that even Natalie was annoyed at him during lunch, which was a miracle, because she was always very supportive and patient with him, and he was the one losing his temper with her. He apologized to her that night, saying that it was because of the rain, and because they had to cancel the camping trip because of it.

"Oh… really? You're right then, I understand, I hated that too. Maybe we could reschedule for next weekend? Or a couple of days this week or the next, just for the two of us?" she seductively said.

"Oh, during the week, I don't know, the camping site is quite far, and during the weekend, well, sure, we'll see, but probably Mikey wouldn't be able to go… Emma too, I mean, I don't know" he never once thought about mentioning Full Metal's cabin to Natalie.

"That's ok then. I'll be fine just enjoying you here" she stated, kissing Jason and rubbing her whole body on his. He really liked how she was always wanting him, and how they never fight. He moved his hands on her body, but kept thinking about Dianna's body, so he stopped kissing her.

"You know, I had to take the outdoor circuit today, so I'm really exhausted, Natalie".

"That's ok, I'll do all the work for you" she naughtily said, and rubbed her hand on his member. Jason just closed his eyes and let himself focus on the sensation. But he realized that he couldn't. He got up from the sofa and, gladly, he was at Natalie's place.

"No, I really meant it. I'm exhausted. And grumpy, really not my best day, sorry. We'll talk tomorrow".

Before his surgery, Jason focused his energy on Bravo Team, his kids, and forgetting Dianna ever existed. He worked out a lot, went to bars with the guys, and worked long hours. So, when he started dating Natalie, he could have sex with her without thinking about Dianna, and it was good sex, but it was always mostly a physical thing, without any real connection. He felt satisfied, but not fulfilled. Like he had with other women after being separated from Alana. Except, unlike the other women, Natalie was right next to him, volunteering to assist, and his therapist kept reminding him that Natalie would be a great person to have a serious relationship with.

He liked Natalie, she was great, a well rounded and positive woman who really liked him, but although he saw her almost everyday, he wasn't all that excited to talk to her or be with her. He wasn't using her just for sex and to recovery from surgery, but deep down he just knew that she wasn't someone he could be with for years or feel as happy as he was with Alana. And even with Alana it didn't work out, in the end, because Alana loved Jason Hayes, but not Bravo One.

And even though he hadn't even had sex with Dianna that many times, or known her for more than a few months, those were eventful months, and he felt like he could be himself with her, and show her all of his sides. And he wanted to know all of her sides, too.

And because Jason was so eager to show her all of him, Jason Hayes and Bravo One, and he actually already shown Dianna a lot about who he was, that her rejection hurt him so deeply. Because it meant that she saw different sides of him, and she wasn't interested.

But now that he knew why she left, he allowed himself to think about her and remember their times together, having sex, talking and even fighting. And it was making him bitter and grumpy, for obvious reasons.

So, when he woke up on Tuesday, he knew he needed to talk to Dianna and apologize to her. And he also needed to find out if she still wanted him, in spite of the fact that he didn't take her word when she asked him to.

He was gathering his courage, though, because apologizing wasn't easy for him, and he was, again, afraid that Dianna would reject him.

And rejection was something that he wasn't used to, at all.

.