Unexpected

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Once again I slept poorly, but not because of nightmares. In fact I didn't dream at all throughout the night. This was mostly because it felt like I hardly slept all night! The shower I had taken kept me cool for only so long before the stuffiness of the little closet room started making me feel overheated, so it was a fight to fall asleep and a long one at that, then there was the issue that I just couldn't seem to stay asleep. Whether it was two hours or fifteen minutes I would wake up from a heavy doze and I'd have to struggle to fall asleep again. I was actually awake and waiting for the pounding on the door this morning. It still startled me when it came, however.

I was tired, and even though I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep even if I was allowed to, I really didn't want to get up. Rolling out of bed I turned on the light, grimacing at the sudden brightness that hit my poor eyes. From my shelves I grabbed the gray t-shirt and the lighter wash jeans along with the black convers and my toiletries and crossed the hall to the bathroom. I changed from the baggy pajamas and pulled my hair into two low-hanging pigtails. Looking into the mirror at my reflection after brushing on some mascara I shrugged. It was a casual look, but I was still only half awake and didn't quite care.

I trudged the few feet from my room to the cafeteria, crossing it and entering the kitchen. Throwing on my apron I turned on my music and started on making breakfast. Since I had not left Loki until late in the evening I had not prepared anything for this morning, so I had to get cracking, and so I did by starting to crack eggs into a huge bowl. During my long night of tossing and turning I had planned my menu for today, starting with a breakfast of egg bakes. As I nodded my head sleepily to Imagine Dragons, Skillet, and Owl City I made a pan of ham and cheese egg bake, a spinach, onion, and tomato egg bake, a sausage and onion one, a spinach and cheese one, a supreme one, a meat lover's egg bake, and few other variations of egg bakes. These would bake quickly so I held off on putting them in the ovens until about fifteen minutes 'til breakfast. In the meantime I started on a mountain of toast and found a large box of bunches of green and purple grapes, breaking up the bunches into little servings and putting them into one of the buffet line containers that I hadn't turned on. The rest of set up came together just in time for the crowd.

Feeling much more awake now, having nibbled on a few bunches of sweet and sour grapes, downed a tall glass of apple juice, and moved around a bit to loud, fast paced songs, I greeted the people with a little smile as I continued my work. For dinner I had planned on making my family's special chicken noodle soup that I knew would end up as more of a stew. The first step to making this was to roast chicken, and that would take a good deal of time, so I set about it right away. There had been a few whole chickens hanging up in the fridge, so I had pulled them out earlier to thaw a bit. Now I unwrapped all three of them from their packaging and started loosening the thin layer of skin around them. Quickly whipping up a seasoning I started rubbing it under the skin, which was not a pleasant feeling, let me tell you that. The meat was cold and slimy, so as I moved my hands under the chicken's skin it made a wet, squishy sound, then there was the grit of the seasoning rub to add to the grossness.

I was just finishing up the third chicken when someone from the window spoke up. "Well that looks appetizing."

Freezing up for a second, I wondered if it was Ben and his group. Why were they here already? How had I forgotten to avoid them? Looking over at the window; however, I saw that it was Agent Barton. My muscles relaxed and I gave him a smile. "Isn't it just?"

Pulling my hands out from under the skin I picked up the chicken and plopped it into one of the three crockpots I had discovered during my first look around of the kitchen. Glancing back up at the window as I went to retrieve the other chickens, I was about to say something else to Clint, but he had disappeared already. I sighed and got the other chickens, set them up in the crockpots and then washed my hands and arms up to my elbows to get rid of the feeling of the squishy, raw meat. Delivering another hot egg bake to the buffet line I looked around the cafeteria that was hopping now. I caught sight of Barton sitting at a table alone, his eyes roaming the room as well, and I saw that Selvig was fresh shaven and eating quickly at a table with some scientists, probably eager to get back to his project. No sign of Ben, Ed, and the other undesirables that followed them around.