CHAPTER 63

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

"I thought you were kidding" Dianna told Jason when she walked outside after she got dressed and found him at the backyard, measuring her fence, the one next to Ms. Lewis' house.

Jason turned, and when Dianna stepped outside she saw he was talking to Ms. Lewis, who was standing on the other side of the fence.

"Good morning, neighbor" Ms. Lewis greeted Dianna, friendly, but Dianna suspected that Ms. Lewis didn't remember her name. "I was just telling Jason the same, he's kidding, right? What an odd place to plant trees" she playfully said, glancing at Jason, who had a measuring tape on his hand.

"Well, I'm not kidding. I'm doing it" Jason formally said, measuring Ms. Lewis' fence in front of him. He had measured in other three points already, because the backyard had a slight slope on that side too, even though it was almost unnoticeable. But Jason was a perfectionist, and a proud one.

Dianna walked closer to Jason, and Ms. Lewis maintained her smile, but checked Jason out.

"Are you a builder, Jason? Or something similar?" she asked, interested, and pointed at her house. "Because I'm in urgent need of some muscles in there. I want to do some renovations in my house" she said, unabashedly glancing at his biceps. Jason was wearing a big t-shirt and shorts, all loose on his body, but Ms. Lewis still could focus on his arms.

"No, ma'am" Jason charmingly said, and Dianna held back a smile. He just couldn't help it.

"Oh" Ms. Lewis was confused, "I saw you with your charming friends building that deck yesterday, and now you have a measuring tape. And of course, you're so well built" she said, with her hands on the fence, completely turned to him.

"That is just a hobby" Jason smiled at her, spreading his charm. "I'm a military, ma'am" Jason grinned at her, raising his eyebrows, and his spell quickly reached Ms. Lewis, because she immediately placed a hand on her chest, over her heart.

"Oh my" she loudly said, "Well, this is great. A military. There are many soldiers in VA Beach, but you must be a Captain, or Officer, then, right? Someone with authority" she asked, now resting her forearms on the fence.

"I'm enlisted" Jason charmingly said, crossing his arms and pretending to be humble, "It means that I voluntarily take the oath every two years. But my rank is high, yes" he explained, in case she didn't understand how incredible he was.

Dianna quietly sighed next to him, completely forgotten by them.

"Oh wow" Ms. Lewis, looked at Jason up and down, grinning and showing all her teeth, so white that they are almost blue. "Thank you so much for your service, then".

Dianna thought it was enough and came closer to Jason.

"Hey, did the guys answered you about the barbecue?" she asked, ignoring Ms. Lewis. She's heard enough.

"Oh. Another party?" Ms. Lewis casually meddled, a little grumpy. "You know, there was a lot of noise yesterday, with all those tools…" she casually mentioned, and Jason squirmed.

"Oh, but Ms. Lewis, you see" Dianna turned to her, and placed her hand on Jason's cheek, "Jason here is on medical leave and needs to keep himself occupied. He suffered a concussion" she said, looking at Jason with pity, and he looked at Ms. Lewis with a very vulnerable face.

Ms. Lewis immediately melted, with her hand on the chest again.

"Oh no, that's awful. Did you get injured in the battlefield?" she asked, concerned as hell.

Jason gave her a stern look, nodding. "It is war, ma'am. It was a battlefield. A giant man knocked me to the ground" Jason explained, looking to his side, as if he was remembering the Vietnam War many years ago, but he wasn't actually lying. He looked at her again. "But we won" he smiled at her, victorious, and Ms. Lewis grinned at him, relieved.

"So will you be staying here with us for how long?" Ms. Lewis asked, curious to know for how long she'd get to see Jason on a daily basis.

But Jason quickly turned to Dianna, uncomfortable. She never said anything that she wanted him to stay there.

Dianna realized that too, but she decided to take advantage of Ms. Lewis meddling and questioning.

"Well, I was just going to mention to you, actually" Dianna turned to Jason, leaning on his arm, "that I think it's best if you stay here at least for this first week, to make sure you don't have any symptoms" she charmingly said, smiling.

Jason melted, cutely smiling at her. "Oh. Okay. Sure".

"Unless you prefer that we stay at your place" Dianna asked, cautious, even though she hated that apartment. It was like a dungeon, and it reminded her that Natalie used to hang out there a lot.

"No. It's too small there, and I don't want to disrupt your routine" he said smiling and holding her waist with one arm. "And you have a jacuzzi" he chuckled, and Dianna chuckled too.

Ms. Lewis was tired of watching the two love birds, so she finally greeted them good bye.

"So. The barbecue" Dianna reminded Jason, walking back to her house.

"Oh, yes. The guys have training today, so I thought it's best if we do it tomorrow, or the other day, and then Stella could come too. Because she has to attend lectures in DC today and tomorrow" he explained, following her in and closing the glass door.

"Oh, the other day then, when Stella can come" Dianna suggested. "Will Naima be able to come then?"

"Yes, Ray said she wouldn't be able tonight, but she could tomorrow noon and the day after tomorrow at night" Jason explained, taking some time to remember Naima's crazy schedule.

"The day after tomorrow, at night then" Dianna decided, opening the front door. "You sure that I should plant things in my backyard? It's a rental" Dianna teased, and walked out the door with him. Of course she'd go pick the plants with Jason, he would choose the cheapest and ugliest ones if not.

"Yeah" Jason said, resigned. "I think it's worth the spend, to be able to truly enjoy the jacuzzi and backyard while you're here" he raised his eyebrows at her, naughty.

Dianna stood in her living room, with the glass door closed, watching Jason thoroughly mow the lawn, making perfect straight lines. He had his t-shirt on, even though it was a hot sunny day, and Dianna suspected that it was because he was getting a little uncomfortable with Ms. Lewis stares lately. She kept watching while he and Dianna planted the leafy bushes and trees, and it was so annoying to have her watching them and talking to them that they decided to plant the ones closer to her fence first. But she still could see them on a spot of Dianna's backyard from her porch, that was on a higher level, and that's exactly where Jason was mowing now. When the plants grew, they would cover that vision, so Dianna was pretty sure that Ms. Lewis was attentively watching Jason right now, to enjoy the sight while she could.

She sighed, still holding his beer, and remembered when he was taking care of her after she dislocated her shoulder, mowing her lawn too. That day they were teasing each other to the limit. That was a great day, Dianna thought.

She opened the glass door and walked to him, disturbed by the loud noise. She was glad that Jason was wearing the earplugs to muffle the noise. It was deafening, also because the mower was kind of old.

Jason looked up when Dianna was already close to him, and immediately turned the mower off, smiling.

"Hey. Thank you" he said, grabbing the bottle of beer and drinking almost half of it at once. "The water wasn't hydrating enough" he explained, when Dianna looked at the bottle of water he kept on the patio. She chuckled in response.

"You should take a break, the sun is kind of strong" she advised, glancing at her side and looking at Ms. Lewis watching them from the porch, of course. She was glad that it was just a corner of her backyard that she could see now. Jason shrugged.

"I'm almost done. Want to finish early because Sonny said he'll be here earlier too, of course" he explained.

"Davis and I will be here with him too, if you're showering then, that's ok" Dianna reminded him.

"Nah, I'm good. I'll just finish it, then shower ok" Jason sipped the beer and walked fast to the mower, waiting until Dianna walked back inside to turn the machine on again and mow the rest of the lawn. He was looking down, with his face blushed, to get the lines straight on the grass, taking his time. Dianna sighed again and walked up the stairs.

When Jason finished, after about twenty minutes, he walked inside, a little dizzy from the heat, because he didn't want to wear a cap, and walked straight to Dianna's bathroom, passing by her bedroom, where she was taking some clothes off the closet.

"Oh. Good" Dianna followed him inside the bathroom, just to show him what she prepared. "I know you'll probably want to take a cold shower now, but if you do just that, your muscles will be in pain later. So I'm filling the bathtub with warm to hot water and you should get in there after the shower, and rest for like ten minutes at least" she joyfully said, opening the water of the bathtub, that she only filled half way because she didn't know how long he would take to mow, and it shouldn't be too hot anyways.

Jason looked around, she even put bath salts in the water.

"Okay…" he said, confused, and Dianna left and quickly closed the door behind her. "Thank you" he said after she closed the door, because he was caught off guard.

He did as she suggested, and it really was relaxing getting in the warm bathtub after the cold shower. He was almost asleep there. Dianna softly knocked on the bathroom door.

"Are you asleep?" she whispered, but he opened his eyes, shaking his head.

"No. Come in" he lazily said, with his head resting on the towel that Dianna left as a pillow on the edge of the bathtub. "This feels great. Is it too late already?" he asked, alarmed.

"No. We have more than an hour until Sonny arrives" Dianna gestured, walking to him. "Would you like me to sit on you?" she casually asked, smiling.

Jason almost slid down in the bathtub. He looked up at her, and she was wearing a fluffy robe, and casually waiting for his answer.

"If you don't want to, if you're too tired and want to linger there, it's ok, it's just that I'll shower later anyways, and I'm really grateful" she casually explained, still standing up and smiling.

But for this Jason was very much awake, and all of him was waking up, in fact.

"No" Jason quickly said, then corrected, "I mean, I'm not too tired, no. Please, sit" he said, gesturing to the bathtub, as if he was asking a Captain of the Navy to sit on the chair in front of him.

"Okay" Dianna said, and took off her robe, then got inside the bathtub, kneeling to kiss him slowly. Jason held her head with his hand and caressed her body, while she caressed his chest and disheveled his wet hair. She stopped their kiss to look at him.

"Thank you for planting the trees. I wasn't much of a help" she chuckled, because he was way faster than her. He didn't even want to let her dig anything, but she insisted, although while she planted one he planted three or four small trees or bushes.

"That's ok. You're welcome" he huskily said, gazing at her freckled face. She tanned, so her freckles were a lot more noticeable now. Dianna smirked, and turned her back to him. The bathtub was narrow, she couldn't straddle him there, so she sat on his erection, slowly, while Jason hummed.

"Thank you for mowing the lawn" Dianna said, slowly moving up and down on his lap.

"You're very, very welcome" Jason moved her hair to the side, to kiss her neck, and wrapped his arms around her waist, while Dianna leaned back on his chest.

"Thanks for letting me invite Nick" Dianna said, turning her face to the side, to see him. "I know you're still a little suspicious of him" she said, and Jason moved his hand to squeeze one of her breaths.

"That's ok. You said he's trustworthy and nice. So, I believe you" He said, lazily pinching her nipple and kissing her shoulder. Dianna shuddered, also because Jason was huskily talking in her ear.

"I haven't seen him for so long, he's finally back from his long mission. And I can talk CIA stuff with him" she chuckled, moving a little faster, because she was already pulsating.

"U-hum" he hummed on her neck again. "As long as he doesn't flirt with you, I'm ok with that" Jason mumbled.

Dianna chuckled, and started to move in circles too, and Jason moaned. She loved that Jason was still jealous of her and Nick after all this time, but he had no reason for it. Still, it wasn't her secret to tell, so she just reassured him.

"He won't, Jason. I think you're a little unfair with him. He never flirted with me" Dianna said, with reason. She started to move harder, and Jason quietly grunted.

"Not sure about that" he said, and grunted again. He embraced Dianna completely, then moved his fingers to her clit, pressing hard. "But you're right, I won't be jealous" he dangerously said in her ear, and Dianna moved faster, moaning.

"I mean, you're never jealous either, right" he teased, huskily speaking in her ear, and Dianna blinked, close to her climax. He moved his fingers harder and she quickly came, loudly moaning, but Jason stood still, avoiding his own climax. He loved to feel her clenching around him, but that moment was too good to be cut short.

Suddenly Jason held Dianna firmly by the waist and raised her from his lap, bending her on the edge and covering her, both of them kneeling in the bathtub, with Jason behind her. Even though Jason was loving Dianna on his lap, it was tiresome for her, and he felt the urge to take control again.

"I still remember" Jason huskily said in Dianna's ear, and pushed inside of her while she was still contracting, making both of them moan, "When you kept interrogating me about a blonde CIA agent" Jason dangerously said, teasing her, and Dianna swallowed. She held the edge of the bathtub, while Jason had one hand on the edge, and the other around her waist.

"A leggy and tall blonde CIA agent" Jason teased again, thrusting into her deeply, but slowly. Dianna blinked, loving his moves, but hating his words.

"You like blondes. You married a blonde" she reminded him, feeling incredibly insecure.

Jason knew she'd feel like that, but he also knew how to reassure her.

"I like strong and intelligent women" he dangerously informed in her ear, and now Dianna was liking his words, a lot, "selfless and kind women" he said again, reaching deeply in her, and Dianna shuddered. "And for my luck, these women happened to be very beautiful" he chuckled, and Dianna chuckled too.

Then she was serious again, because she felt a lump in her throat, and Jason kept gasping and quietly moaning in her ear.

"Jason" she called, and he huskily hummed, making her shudder again, "I love to have you here" she blurted, and he kept quiet for a second, but she continued. "I have fun when you're around" she explained, and waited for him to say something, but he didn't. She felt bad, but then suddenly Jason embraced her tighter and moved faster, still making sounds in her ear.

"I love to be here, Dianna. I feel happy" he confessed, and she felt him smiling on her neck, and she was happy too, now. "Now I'd be happier if you could come" he playfully said, because he was moving fast and close to his orgasm, and he wanted to feel and hear Dianna coming again.

"Oh, I'm close. Just give me a few seconds" Dianna said, smiling. Jason decided to help her out.

"Yes" he huskily and slowly said right in her ear, grazing his beard on her neck, and Dianna started to clench, "Just come for me, Dianna" he huskily commanded her, and she of course came, hard, crying out loud, with Jason coming with her, loudly moaning. Their moans echoed in there.

"Oh no" Dianna looked at the bathroom floor around them, when she recovered. "Next time we should empty the bathtub a little" she joked, but she was right. Jason looked at the floor, and there was water everywhere.

"Yeah. For sure there will be a next time" Jason leaned back on the bathtub, seductively gazing at Dianna, and she just blushed while reaching for her robe.

"So… Afghanistan, you think?" Dianna tried to make Davis and Nick tell them where they thought Bravo would be deployed.

"Well" Nick squirmed on his chair, because everybody was looking at him, even Davis, "maaaybe. I mean, they're starting the draw down there, I don't know if there will be much for you guys to do in J-Bad" he explained.

Everybody then turned to Davis, and she didn't squirm, but she shrugged.

"I think there's something brewing in that region, but no one believes me in the Navy. So… I don't know. I hope we get picked to go there".

"The Navy usually lets us know about two weeks earlier. Last time they already sent us to Yemen before deploying us to Serbia, all decided last minute. I hope they don't do that again" Jason grumbled, remembering how his entire team and crew could have died during that ambush at the embassy in Yemen. Thanks to Dianna, no one was seriously injured, and the one that suffered the most was her.

"Oh I thought it was fun" Dianna joyfully said, "I mean, the interrogation part, at least" she corrected herself, because the guys were all staring at her, annoyed. It wasn't fun for them to almost get blown up and shot during a couple of hours. Stella, Naima and Nick looked at each other, curious.

"Thank God we have Nick with us now, and not Jessica" Davis loudly said, not caring about speaking ill of their former colleague, because she, as well as Dianna, were extremely suspicious of her, since what happened in Venezuela.

"Well" Nick cockily crossed his legs, turning to Davis with a charming smile, and Sonny instantly grumbled, "glad to be at your service then". Davis smirked at him, and Sonny now grumbled and squirmed at the same time.

Dianna glanced at Nick, who was in front of her, and to Davis, signaling for them to get out of the patio and follow her, to have a chat.

"Davis, I think we can trust Nick" Dianna whispered to her, while Nick was still approaching them in the kitchen, "about our suspicions of Jessica" she explained, and Davis hesitated for a second, but then nodded, stern.

"Do you ladies want a piece of this?" Nick playfully got inside the kitchen, chuckling.

The girls chuckled too, but Dianna quickly made a serious expression.

"Look, Nick. You worked alone with Jessica all those months when I was at the Farm. Didn't you notice something odd about her?" she asked, almost whispering.

Nick was pensive for a while, shrugging and looking up. "I don't know. Never really liked her that much. Got along with her, actually, but she was reserved most of the time".

"We think she was bribed by the Venezuelans" Davis quickly blurted, not even apologizing to Dianna, that stared at her.

"Ow. That's a serious accusation, girls" he said, gesturing and taking a step back.

"Look. We know" Dianna calmed him down. "But the way she reacted when we got caught… I made Jason tell me what happened a few times, and what I think is that she was feeling guilty because they captured us, probably the deal was for the Venezuelans to just get the intel in there after she knocked us down" I explain, because Nick knew what happened in Venezuela, so much that he called Dianna a few days later to check on her, when he found out.

He squirmed. "Well. To be honest, it is a bit odd that only she, and no one else, managed to get into the safe room in time" he agreed.

"Not just that" Davis added, looking at Dianna too, "she was too nervous when the guys left. And she volunteered to be the one destroying the intel. Which of course now is in the hands of the Venezuelans, because apparently she didn't have the time to take anything with her to the safe room". Nick nods, agreeing. That was new information to him.

"Something else bothers me about her, too" Dianna added, and now the other two came even closer. "She's too perfect. Nobody is that perfect" she pointed out, and both of them nodded too.

"You think she's pretending to be extra perfect because she works for the Venezuelans? But what, is she paid by them? They're not that organized to have someone infiltrated in the CIA, Dianna" Nick pointed out, with reason.

"But what if she works for the enemy? Is there a way for us to investigate?" Dianna asked, and Davis waited attentively.

Nick squirmed. "Maybe. When they are working for other governments too, they always target a specific person, whether it's a soldier, Officer, anyone, whether romantically, sexually or with friendship. Because that person is the one that holds the information that this spy, or whatever, needs" Nick explains, slowly, and the girls understand and nod. "Was there someone that Jessica approached first, showing the most interest?"

Davis quickly answered. "Brock. She hook up with Brock. I saw them" she said, and Dianna kept quiet.

"No" she remembered those first days when Jessica arrived. "Her target was Jason. She kissed his ass unabashedly, and I'm sure it wasn't just my jealousy. I'm sure of it" she said, and Davis thought for a second and nodded.

"It makes sense, Jason has clearance way higher than Brock. Probably she was asked to pass tactical information, or even information from other ops that Jason can access and the CIA can't, because we only have intel about our own ops. That would be incredibly valuable to them, for sure. They could capture any operator or kill them in combat if Jason blurted something to Jessica. Even find out about other operators and hurt them in the US. Maybe she saw that Jason didn't show much interested, and turned to Brock".

Dianna shook her head. "I think she likes Brock. I never saw her talking much of ops with him, only at first she was always talking about work and flirting with him, a lot" she explained, and they nodded.

Nick exhales. "Look, this is serious. We can't have a spy working in DEVGRU. Even though Jessica is not working directly with all special teams, she is always working with someone from DEVGRU, and it almost caused you guys to get killed.

"What can we do, then?" Jason suddenly said, from the corner of the kitchen. They didn't see him coming closer to them, because he walks so silently. "I heard you guys talking about me, and about Jessica" he explained, with an apologizing face, but they knew he had clearance for that, especially if he was targeted by Jessica. "I also believe she acted weird, Nick. In Venezuela. She was feeling too guilty".

"If she felt guilty, it's even better. Maybe she doesn't want to work with them anymore. Maybe she created bonds with us, and can't do this anymore. If she likes Brock, it's even better".

"Why?" Davis asked, confused.

"We could turn her" Dianna said, looking at Nick, and he nodded, with a naughty look.

"Brock could try to get information from her, for sure" Nick said, already excited and rubbing his hands.

"Oh, nope. Don't think so" Jason meddled. "He slept with one of Jessica's colleagues and she found out. She hates his guts now" he explained, and they all sighed in unison. And then looked at Jason, who was still holding a couple of empty bottles. "What?"

"She did flirt with you first" Davis pointed out, raising her eyebrow.

Jason squirmed, uncomfortable, and looked at Dianna.

"Please tell me you're not asking me to flirt with Jessica, right?" he said.

Dianna meddled. "I'm not comfortable with this either, no".

"That's ok. You're not the biggest flirt, too. A little rusty, probably" Nick said, gesturing and ignoring him and looking at Davis.

"Excuse me" Jason was indignant, so much that he placed the bottles on the island to gesticulate more. "I don't flirt. I conquer" he cockily said, pointing his finger at the floor, and the others were actually surprised with his seductive words.

"Then I subdue" Jason charmingly added, with a dangerous smile, walking closer to Nick.

Nick stared at him for a couple of seconds, then blinked.

"Okay. You got my vote, I'm convinced. Even I'm subdued now" he chuckled, and the girls too. Jason squirmed, blushing, and glanced at Dianna.

"Oh. I'm gay" Nick casually told Jason, and he was surprised, looking at him stern with his mouth slightly open. "But you're right with your suspicions, in a way. If I was straight I'd definitely flirt with Dianna. And Davis" he casually gestured to the girls, and they melted, smiling at him. "But since I'm not, it's just a shame that you're already taken, Hayes" he charmingly came closer to Jason, leaning his hand on the island, hovering over him, because he had the same height as Jason.

"I'm… honored?" Jason said, uncomfortable.

Nick sighed. "Thank you. And if you could keep my tiny secret, I'd appreciate it. Because you know, soldiers can be a liiittle homophobic. But everyone at the Agency knows about my preferences" he shrugged, and Jason nodded.

"Hey, are those beers coming or not?" Sonny loudly asked, walking to the kitchen, grumpy. Especially because Nick was there with Davis for too long.

"We'll continue this conversation some other time, girls. Hayes" Nick said, winking at Jason, who was still standing near the island, a little paralyzed.

"Told you you should have made some quick thinking and research after what Ray told you about me and Nick. The girls and CIA interns all knew that he is gay" Dianna smugly told Jason, who squirmed. "Oops, sorry. I threw it at our face. It took me a while, though. But you said you were okay with that, remember? When I forgave you, in Full Metal's cabin".

Jason licked his lips, raising his eyebrows. "Yes I remember. That's okay. I deserve that one" he chuckled, wrapping his arms on Dianna's waist while the others left the kitchen, taking some beers.

"Hope you're not too excited with the prospect that you may have to flirt with Jessica" Dianna said, smiling but uncomfortable, wrapping her arms on his neck.

"No. But I'm liking your jealousy" Jason admitted, smirking.

"I'm also worried, a lot" Dianna said, serious. "I don't think she was just bribed by Venezuelans, Jason. I just didn't want to scare Nick".

Jason squirmed, still holding Dianna, and frowned, curious.

"I think she's too perfect, but also, too American" Dianna explained, and Jason was still frowning, trying to understand Dianna's thinking. She sighed.

"She has an American name, American classical education, American parents, American background, American hobbies, and looks more American than Barbie" she tried to explain what her gut was telling her for a long time.

"No American is that American, Jason. Not even you".

.