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- The next morning -
I woke up even more in pain than the night before, my joints felt stiff and bruised, and my whole body felt like it had whiplash.
I slowly turned my neck to the side with some difficulty to see Bucky still asleep. His creases on his forehead were smoothed over and he never looked as peaceful as the few times I'd slept next to him. It made my heart warm at this thought.
He used to tell me about the nightmares he had every night since Hydra, but since I'd slept with him recently I'd never heard a thing from him.
I on the other hand, was a different story.
I'd just been startled awake by the feeling of being suffocated underneath the heavy body of a supersoldier above me, crushing my ribs and feeling the life being sucked away.
I felt that similar phantom pain of the knife going into my stomach, slicing me open and the adrenaline that burned through my muscles had jolted me up. Luckily, I'd obviously not been that verbal, and Bucky hadn't stirred. For that, at least I was grateful.
I wasn't sure if it was being back in the field again for the first time in a while that was having an effect on me, or just the fact that this time I actually had things worth losing if something were to happen to me or those around me.
Maybe it's that I repressed these feelings for so long and refused to process the trauma that it was now coming to the surface. Either way, it wasn't helpful to the mission, so it needed to be ignored and dealt with later.
I grabbed my clothes, quietly getting changed before heading into the kitchen area.
It must still have been early, as it was only just getting light outside and the birds had just began chirping.
I was surprised to walk in and see Zemo in the corner, drinking tea, a glass teapot sitting next to him on the table. It was a strange sight. He was in a dark brown robe and raised his eyebrows at me as I came in. I sighed, not wanting to be in his company right now.
"Are you always an early riser?" He asked in a hoarse voice, thick from sleep himself.
I flicked the kettle on myself, wanting proper tea or coffee, anything with caffeine in to ease my mind back into reality. I had my back turned to him, not wanting to engage.
"Sometimes." I muttered back, trying not to continue the conversation.
Zemo had a way of worming into your mind and I was not in the mood this morning already.
"You know Laurel, as I've said you must be very special to thaw out the Winter Soldier's heart. I can see the way he looks at you. I didn't realise an Avenger was capable of such emotion." He said, almost spitting the word Avenger in disgust.
This is exactly why I didn't want to converse with the man. I poured the hot water into my cup, stirring the teabag around a little before turning back to face him.
