CHAPTER 49

TRUTH BE TOLD

"What do you mean, she has to leave VA Beach's Naval Air Station?" Captain Lindell asked Jason, confused and indignant with his request.

"Yes, sir. She does. It's the best for our Base" Jason answered, erect and stern, staring at Lindell.

Lindell stood up from his desk. "You don't have the authority to make such a request, Hayes" he told him, dangerously. "I need to have a real reason to relocate her, and a very good one. Other than the fact that she's your ex-girlfriend".

Jason's face twitched, but he remained determined. "There are a lot of reasons, sir. But I'll start with the most important one. She's a mischievous woman".

"What" Lindell walked around his desk, standing very close to Jason, "How dare you say such a thing?", he asked, furious.

Jason swallowed, and turned to look into Captain Lindell's eyes. "She is. I'll tell you how I know that, and you'll agree with me".

"Jace" Ray jogged to Jason, catching him after he left Captain Lindell's office, and Sonny was jogging to catch up with them too. Jason continued walking fast, with a stern and grumpy face, his usual expression for the past week. "We need to talk, man", Ray touched Jason's arm, to make him stop. Sonny caught up with them.

"What? What's up" Jason asked, distracted.

Ray crossed his arms. "What were you doing in the Captain's office, huh?"

Jason glanced to the sides. "None of your business, Ray".

"Yes it is" Ray came closer, "if you're doing something that affects the team".

"It won't" Jason stated, looking away.

Ray sighed. "Ok. I hope you're right. And there's something else" he glanced at Sonny, who nodded. "We need to know if we're going to Uruguay".

Jason squirmed, and placed his hands on his hips. "I don't know. If you want to, then go. Obviously, I'm not going".

Sonny intervened. "We know you're not going, man. We just need to know what are we supposed to do" Sonny asked, trying to sound reasonable, and glanced at Ray, "I mean, we already have the flight tickets, clothes, everything".

Ray added, "Naima was really looking forward to it".

Jason squirmed, again, now annoyed. "What the fuck do you want me to say, huh? That you have my blessing?"

Ray and Sonny kept quiet, looking at him.

Jason sighed. "Of course you can go, if you want to. I know you're friends with her" he said, annoyed, but added, grumbling, "even though I have no idea why", and started to walk away.

"You see" Ray followed him, and Sonny too, "you say that, but you don't tell us what the hell happened. I mean, you guys fight every other week, so it's hard for us to keep tracks. And we get caught in the middle".

"It wasn't a fight, Ray" Jason said, angry, "we're over. Done. Get used to it".

Ray and Sonny stopped chasing Jason. They knew he wouldn't say anything yet. And they looked at each other, they knew that whatever decision they made, either Jason or Dianna would be heartbroken.

But Ray knew very well who was the boss at his house.

Jason made his way to the cage room, aggressively typing the password and aggressively opening the door of the room. He walked fast to his cage, noticing Clay only when he talked.

"Hey man" Clay casually greeted, while taking his t-shirt off, "Heavy training today, huh? You're pushing us lately".

Jason searched for his things in his locker. "We have to be ready for deployment", he grumbled.

Clay closed his locker and walked to Jason. "I know how you feel, man. I was like that when Stella and I broke up that time".

Jason glanced at him, anxious. "It's not the same" he stated. Then he sighed, because Clay kept staring at him. "I'm just done with it" he confessed.

Clay squirmed, and leaned on Jason's cage. "Done with what?"

"Women" Jason said, aggressively closing his locker, and when he saw Clay's look, he explained, "not women in general. I mean, relationships. Obviously I either suck at being a husband, like when I was with Alana, or I suck at choosing my girlfriends, like those last two". He couldn't say Natalie and Dianna's name yet.

Clay shook his head. "Yeah, to be honest, you seem to suck at this" he chuckled, and Jason smiled for the first time in days. "Except" Clay suddenly came closer to Jason, "I think there's more to it about the last two than you told us. Like that time you told us we couldn't trust Natalie, but you never told us why". Jason kept staring at him, quiet, and Clay now was annoyed. "She's our physiologist, man. Don't you think we have the right to know if she's not trustworthy?"

Jason swallowed, and nodded. Clay was right, and since the truth would probably come to light soon, he decided to tell him.

"She's unprofessional, and unethical" Jason whispered, even though they were alone in the room. "She pretended to be some sort of savior when I was her patient, and we slept together when she was my doctor" he said, and Clay made an intrigued look, he knew that already. And he never thought it was ok, but Jason didn't seem to be bother back then.

But Jason turned back to his cage, and continued, avoiding eye contact. "She was friend of my therapist, and I found out that she stole notes that he made from a couple of my sessions with him. She used that information to get closer to me".

"What?" Clay yelled, walking closer to Jason, "What the fuck, man? Did you report this to Lindell? Or the police?"

Jason sighed. "Yeah. Today. Minutes ago, actually. I told Lindell, and said that she should be relocated and leave our Base" he looked at Clay. "What happens to her after that I don't care. I'm just tired of being played and manipulated, and enough was enough".

"Good for you, man. I'd do the same, no doubt" Clay smirked, and Jason smirked back, feeling better. Clay decided to try. "And Dianna?"

Jason snorted, looking down. "Dianna who?" he looked back at Clay, with an empty and serious expression.

Dianna was quickly leaving Lindell's office, after being summoned, urgently, by him. Turns out that Jason decided to tell him the truth about Natalie, and Lindell asked him to appoint a witness and proof of what he said, and besides his therapist, Jason gave Ms. Veiler's name too. So she went there, told Lindell everything, and passed by Mr. Eller on her way out of the office. He was shitting bricks.

She knew Jason could still be at the Base, so she almost ran to the outdoor patio, but turns out that spring isn't the best time of the year to go out of your house when it's late afternoon. She could move her hand and arm now, but couldn't carry heavy things or drive, and she had to wear a sling only if she felt too much pain, or at least keep her arm still. So she came to Base with an uber, and now needed to call an uber to get out of there. Except, the uber driver could only wait for her on the outside gate.

She wasn't an idiot, so she brought an umbrella, but she was recovering from a recent session of torture, so she quickly discovered that the umbrella wasn't enough for her to face the heavy rain, and the gates were really far away.

She kept looking at the rain, in front of her, and glancing to the sides, to see if someone that she knew was leaving, but the building was empty. Davis was at the doctor, removing her stitches, and Dianna had an appointment in half an hour to remove her stitches too. They'd both leave to Uruguay later that night, almost at midnight. The uber driver was making his way and would arrive in five minutes, and she could wait at the security cabin for him, she just needed a ride to the gate. She heard footsteps closer and quickly turned, seeing Jason and Clay walk out of the cage room. There was a second when the three of them looked at each other and Jason and Clay stopped walking, and Dianna felt absurdly sad when she saw Jason, she couldn't even disguise it. And she also felt relieved because she could take a ride to the gate, or home, with Clay.

Jason felt a stab in his chest when he saw Dianna at the entrance of the building. She was still far away, but he could see her expression, and she looked absolutely sad. But he definitely didn't look too sad, he was bitter and angry, mostly. And empty, thanks to her. He knew he needed to get used to being around her, so he didn't deviate his path and continued walking to the entrance with Clay after a second of hesitation. Except, Clay wasn't next to him anymore.

"I'll go to the cafeteria, ok man, bye" Clay quickly said, taking a right turn after they had already passed that hallway, and Jason tried to disguise his surprise and continued to walk to the entrance of the building. As soon as Clay left, Dianna turned back to look outside, with her umbrella in her hand. She was looking exactly the same, with plain clothes, but he still felt his heart skip a beat when he saw her. That is, if he still had a heart.

Jason passed by Dianna, fast, not even looking at her properly, and made his way to his car, jogging, to escape the heavy rain. He got inside his truck soaking wet though, and from there he could see Dianna, looking at her phone. She opened her umbrella, then took a step out, then stopped, and took a step back. She closed the umbrella, crossed her arms and walked inside the building. Jason turned on his car, and he saw Clay running out of the building from another exit, further away, and he got in his car too and drove off. Jason waited, and Dianna reappeared at the entrance of the building, leaning on the wall, standing still with her arms crossed.

He decided that if she didn't want to get wet, it wasn't his problem anymore, so he drove off and got out of the Base, and on his way out, he saw an uber parking near the entrance gate and waiting, and he continued to drive to his apartment.

"Fuck" Jason grumbled to himself, because finally he realized that Dianna wasn't able to walk under the rain because of her drowning torture. The same reason why Jason thought it was odd when Dianna said that she went to get her barbecue kit outside in the rain, yet the kit was still outside the next day, or because even when Davis secured Dianna's hair into a bun, she chose to bathe instead of taking a shower.

He sighed, resigned, finding out that he was still an empathetic man, even though now he was a heartless one, thanks to Dianna, and he made a turn and drove back to the building, without thinking too much. Dianna was still there and she jumped back when he aggressively parked his car the closest he could to the entrance of the building, and lowered the passenger window. "Get in, I'll take you to your uber", he said, annoyed, barely looking at her.

She hesitated, and he finally turned to look at her. "I know about your rain thing" he simply said, and she finally nodded and got inside, with her head down. She kept it down during the long fifteen seconds it took for Jason get to the gate, then during the other ten seconds they waited until the car in front of them finally drove off and cleared the passage, and they were both quiet when Jason saw that Dianna's uber was gone, just at the same time that her phone buzzed, probably letting her know that the driver canceled because she took too long to go outside. Dianna slightly pointed at the security cabin and muttered. "Just drop me there". Jason hesitated, thinking about offering to take her home, but he didn't know if he would be able to do that, and she insisted. "Please, there", she pointed again. He drove there, parking the closest to the protection of the cabin that he could, and she opened the door and quickly got out, murmuring "Thank you" on her way out. Only then Jason turned to look to his side, to see Dianna gluing her back to the wall of the cabin, with her phone on her face, to call another uber.

Jason drove off, thinking about how it could be that Dianna felt so familiar to him, and yet, she hurt him so deeply. He couldn't forgive her for the ingratitude and the fact that she cheated on him, publicly. If she wanted to see other people, the least she could do was to break up with him; he would be devastated, but at least she would be sincere. But instead, she acted behind his back, humiliating him. He never cheated on anyone, nor he was ever been cheated, at least that he knew of, so he felt that horrible pain for the first time. Hopefully, for the last time, too.

Jason was feeling a lot better after finally coming clean to Lindell and to Clay about what Natalie did. He felt that he should let Emma know about that too, because it wouldn't be good if she kept talking to her now, but he decided to never tell that Natalie gathered information from those sessions to manipulate Emma and Mikey too. The weekend before that, after he recovered from the humiliation, he told Emma that he broke up with Dianna, obviously not telling her the reason for it, and Emma was happily making her way to VA Beach on Thursday night, to personally make emends with her dad. They were picking up Mikey on Friday morning, together, and take a quick road trip, visiting some beaches around the area.

"Hey, kiddo" he greeted Emma, as soon as she walked into his apartment, giving her a bear hug and kissing her head.

"Dad" Emma hugged him back, tenderly, and sighing, relieved.

They talked for a few minutes about her college, his training and the fact that he'd be deployed soon, probably to Afghanistan, and Emma brought up the subject 'Dianna', since she would be deployed with him.

"How will it be? Will you work with her everyday there?" she asked, cautious.

Jason shrugged. "Probably not. I'll go on ops, sometimes she'll be briefing us too, other times she'll be closed in another area, just interrogating. It'll be fine" he lied, but he added, "I saw her a couple of hours ago, and it was ok. Just awkward".

Emma didn't seem too relieved. "Are you sure? I mean, did you guys fought or are you over for good?"

Jason exhaled. "Relax. We're over, over. I'm ok with that decision. Not changing my mind".

"Oh. Okay. Good" she nodded, relieved. She kept quiet, then decided to try. "And what about Natalie? Nothing there, for sure?"

Jason smirked, and decided to tell her parts of the truth.

"No, Emma. Sorry. But there's something you need to know about her". He leaned closer on the kitchen table. "This afternoon I talked to Captain Lindell about her, and she'll be relocated from VA Beach".

"What?" Emma loudly asked, "Why?"

Jason gestured for her to calm down. "I know you really like her, Emma. And that you still talk to her, she told me that too. But maybe you should know why I broke up with her" he stopped, and Emma was waiting, suspicious. "I told you the truth that day, I was unhappy when I was with her. She was controlling me, and trying to change me, about ridiculous things".

Emma tried to defend her, "I'm sure she only meant-"

"No. Emma" Jason interrupted her, "let me finish. When I was breaking up with her, she let it slip an information that I never told her. For sure. That I only told my therapist. Which was an old friend of her" he stated, and Emma's eyes widened.

He continued, and decided to not mention Dianna's part in the situation, because Emma might not believe the story. "So talking to my therapist, I discovered that one day, months ago, Natalie was at his office, and when he left her alone in there for a few minutes, she took the notepad he kept with appointments of my sessions, and she ripped two pages. From two sessions". He said, and Emma's face was blank, so he decided to explain better. "She stole information from my therapist, Emma, and found out things from me from those sessions, information that she used when we starting seeing each other, to get closer to me, win me over. Besides the fact that it obviously is illegal and absurd. So I told Lindell that, and she'll be relocated, probably suspended, or face criminal charges. We'll still see about that".

"What… are you sure, dad? Are you absolutely sure that she did that?" Emma finally reacted, and her eyes were filled with tears, while she leaned closer to Jason, with a pleading face.

It broke his heart, but Jason had to tell her the truth. "Yes, Emma. I'm sure".

Emma squirmed on the chair. "I mean, are you sure that she did that?"

Jason stared, confused. "Yes…" he said, and as he said that, Emma's expression was of regret. "Why are you asking me that?" he quickly asked, now with an annoyed voice.

Emma stood up from her chair, and walked around the kitchen. She took a while to talk, and Jason was impatient. "It's just, that, I was talking to Natalie after you guys broke up, yes" she glanced at Jason, and started to gesticulate, "Obviously we talked about Dianna, and, well, after I posted those pictures from the barbecue on my stories, she saw them and texted me that she felt sad seeing them, because you cheated on her with Dianna".

Jason stood up, angry. "What? Why the hell didn't you tell me that? I swore to you it wasn't true, Emma".

She gestured for him to calm down. "Calm down dad, I didn't really believe her. At first. But then she said that she always had a suspicion that you guys had an affair when mom was alive, and she said that 'probably' it was when you guys were separated, but then I asked you about her work in DC and you both were acting weird, so I kinda believed her". She made an apologetic face, and Jason walked around the kitchen, with his hand on his forehead, mad.

"I told you" he said, trying to remain calm, "I swore to you, goddamn it, and you believe some random woman?"

Emma crossed her arms, now annoyed. "Well, you have to admit that you were acting suspicious, yes. But" she said, and he turned to look at her, and she was squirming, "The thing is, Natalie also told me that she also found out why you guys were so intimate and close so quickly, but she didn't tell me, at first, what she found out. But she told me that Dianna wasn't trustworthy and she'd find out more and call me the next day" she said, and Jason was digesting her words, it all making sense now.

She swallowed, and continued. "The next day, Sunday afternoon, she called me, dad, and I was pissed at you and our fight and I didn't even want to talk to her, I didn't want to think about that anymore, but she insisted. She said that your therapist, her friend, let it slip that Dianna was at his office once, months ago, and that he was almost positive that she took notes from your sessions from his office. And she made me swear that I wouldn't tell anyone, because her friend would lose his license, and you wouldn't believe her either. But she said that Dianna definitely used that information to get closer to you, and to me, probably".

Jason stood still, shocked about how Natalie quickly turned her own actions as if they were Dianna's, and obviously in a very elaborate, yet simple way. Definitely, Natalie was already protecting herself in case they told someone about what she did. He had no words, and stared at Emma.

She had tears in her eyes. "Dad, she even gave me your therapist's number and address of his office, if I wanted to confirm. She said that he didn't know that she told me that, but all I had to do was call him and confirm if Dianna was at his office one day. I never called him, though".

Jason blinked, gobsmacked. "She was, Emma" he stated, and she looked surprised, but he explained. "She helped me find out about what Natalie did".

Emma came closer, pensive, then slightly smiling. "But then, maybe Natalie told the truth, right? Dianna was there and lied to you".

Jason kept staring. "No, Emma. Natalie said to me, directly, that information that she shouldn't know. And after Dianna went to my therapist's office, she told me he confessed and that he'd help me figure out what Natalie knew" he said, and finally started to move again. "This week I went to his office and confirmed it all, and he helped me remember what those sessions were about, even though I decided I didn't want to know too much about that. But it was Natalie who did that, not Dianna. For sure".

Tears start to roll down Emma's face. "So, Dianna didn't do any of that? Are you sure?" she asked, and he nodded. She cleaned her tears with her hand. "Please, tell me you guys didn't break up because of me. I really liked her before all that".

Jason had tears in his eyes, and hugged Emma, affectionate. "No, Emma. It wasn't because of that" she started to cry and apologize, and Jason dismissed her apologies. "That's ok, Natalie fooled everyone. But now she'll be gone, ok? And all that had nothing to do with what happened between me and Dianna, so keep calm".

"Boss" Sonny got out of his car, after parking it at the front of Jason's apartment, behind his truck. Jason was placing his and Emma's bags on the trunk. "Going to Uruguay, by any chance?"

Jason smiled, shaking his head.

"No man. But seriously, no hard feelings. You can go. Go, and have fun". He tapped Sonny's shoulder.

Sonny smiled, nodding. "Glad to see that you're feeling better".

"I wasn't sick, Sonny" Jason said, now annoyed, "I'm fine. I'm going on a road trip with my kids, enjoy some time with them before I'm deployed again". He pointed at Emma, who walked to the door of the apartment and left there another small bag.

"That's good" Sonny muttered, anxious, with his hands in his pockets. He didn't move, and looked away. "There's something you should know, boss" he murmured, and Jason turned, curious. Sonny looked serious, so Jason now stared at him, waiting.

"I know what Dianna did" Sonny said, and Jason looked away, humiliated, but Sonny continued, "and it's not what you're thinking".

Jason stared at him, confused, placing his hands on his hips. "What do you mean?"

Sonny sighed. "If I hadn't overheard some things, I probably wouldn't know either. But God forbid, because Davis will kill me if she finds out that I told you this, but I think that it's your right to know. And that you should decide".

"Decide what" Jason came closer, annoyed and exploding of curiosity now. His heart was racing.

Sonny crossed his arms. "She was faking it, man. Pretending".

Jason's face twitched. "Pretending what"

"That she didn't want you around. That you annoyed her" he stated, talking to Jason with affection. "That she cheated on you".

Jason crossed his arms, stern, and his heart was pounding out of his chest. He had to make sure he understood. "But she did, Sonny. I saw her. Kissing that Jared guy. In front of me".

Sonny nodded. "Yeah man. That must have been tough. Sorry"

Jason was irritated now, and almost yelled at Sonny. "Ok, then what does that mean? I don't understand, Sonny"

Sonny saw Emma looking from the entrance of the apartment. "She did that because she didn't want to stand between you and your kid".

"What" Jason said, his face twitching again.

Sonny sighed, already regretting his decision to tell Jason. "The fuck, man. I told you. She wanted you to break up with her, so she did those things. She locked lips with that dude to make you break up with her", he gestured, because obviously Bravo One was way slower than he thought.

Jason kept quiet, staring blankly. Sonny felt uncomfortable, but waited, and finally said, "Ok. So. I'm going to the airport now. I just think you should know. Because you're too grumpy. And training us too hard. Maybe you guys can't be together, sure, but at least you know why. The truth. I'd want to know why, if I were you. Believe me".

"Emma is not" Jason suddenly said, when Sonny was turning to walk away, "Emma is not against us anymore" he murmured, still with a distant look.

Sonny stared at Jason, with his hands on his hips. Then he laughed, loudly.

"That's great, man! You guys going to Uruguay, then?"

.