My Very Own Winter Soldier.

Chapter 9

The next morning:

CHELSEY

It is five in the morning, an hour before my alarm goes off, and I am wide awake. The whole night I dreamt of him; the one minute he was making wild, passionate love to me, and in the next, I was fleeing from him in a panic.

I have never been comfortable around men, and the more attractive I find them, the more uncomfortable I am. Working in a predominantly male environment, I have learned early on to always appear in control when dealing with men. Otherwise, they will walk all over you. I have perfected that mask. The Avengers are all really good looking men so Sergeant Barnes should not have this effect on me, but the mix of dangerous assassin (yes I must have a screw loose to even look at him) and masculine good looks, makes Sergeant Barnes lethal to my sanity. My mask just melts away, like ice cream on a hot day, leaving me a hot, nervous mess.

I might as well get up and get ready for the day. Dr Raynor will be here at ten o'clock, and I need to make sure everything is ready for her.

After a much needed shower, I get dressed in an old pair of jeans, a long sleeve T-shirt, and a thick wool jersey that covers my ass. A pair of sneakers completes my outfit. I hide my restless night with a bit of eyeliner and a touch of lipstick. Putting my hair up in a messy ponytail, I am ready for the day.

When I get to the kitchen, I find Sara already busy preparing breakfast for the guys. Normally all the meals are being prepared at the barracks and the kitchen in the house only gets used when there are people staying in the house. For breakfast, Sergeant Barnes gets four eggs, six strips of bacon, four slices of toast, mushrooms fried in butter, and two pieces of sausage. I also put a variety of fruit on the tray and top it off with a choice between coffee and orange juice. I know it is probably too much food, but after today, I will have a better idea of how much and what food to prepare for Sergeant Barnes.

If it wasn't for the way Sergeant Barnes makes me feel, I could have really enjoyed this assignment. I love spoiling people. Having finished everything, I decide to take a photo and send it to Steve.

He replies with a thumbs up, a smiley face, and a "your nr 1".

"I don't know if he is going to eat all of that." Sara remarks while watching me trying to fit all the dishes on one big tray. "He hasn't been eating all that much since he came here. Most meals came back with only half his plate empty, and I have been giving him the same portions as the rest of the men." she reminds me again.

"Ok, I will keep an eye on him. The super soldier serum makes his metabolism four times faster than the average man, so he needs to eat proper meals." I explain to her.

After I've managed to fit everything on the tray, I put it on a trolley and head towards the passage way. Jonathan gave me the codes for the security doors the previous evening, so it takes me less than five minutes to get to the control room where Kurt is already waiting to help me.

"Morning Kurt, how are you this morning?" I greet him.

"Good, thank you and you, Chelsey?" he answers me.

"A bit tired. I did not sleep so well. How is Sergeant Barnes?" I want to know.

Walking to the security door to unlock it for me, he hesitates before he answers, "John said he had a lot of nightmares again last night, so I would think he isn't feeling too good this morning."

Caught by surprise all I could think to say is, "Oh, I didn't know about the nightmares."

Waiting before he opens the door, he replies, "Yes, he has been having them every night since he got here. I don't know how he functions with the little bit of sleep he gets."