Ice and Defenders- Book 2 of the Frostbite Series

Late Night Assignment

I quickly sit up in bed with beads of cold sweat trickling down my forehead. The covers and sheets on the bed have a thin layer of frost over them and I throw them back, then look at the clock on the bedside table. 

2:13 AM 

I climb out of bed and walk over to the closet, roll out a portable heater and point it at the bed. I turn it on then walk to the kitchen, quietly, careful not to wake the other person living in the apartment. When I reach the kitchen I flick on the light and start towards the fridge when a piece of paper on the counter catches my eye.

Couldn't sleep. I'm downstairs at the gym, I should be back sometime in the morning, help yourself to the cinnamon rolls on the counter that I bought last night for breakfast.
-Steve.

I sigh, walk to the spare room, and see that the bed is empty. I nod and walk back to my room, turn off the heater and change into a t-shirt, hoodie and sweat pants. Before I leave, I grab a cinnamon roll from the box on the counter and head for the apartment gym. 

While standing in the elevator I enjoy the sweet and chew roll, waiting for the elevator to reach the first floor. I walk to the gym door, take out my key card and swipe it into the door scanner.

As I walk in, Steve is facing away from me at a punching bag, four more bags are lined up on the ground next to him. I walk around and sit on the bench across from Steve, he glances up at me while throwing punches at the bag.

"You're supposed to be sleeping," He says.

"So are you," I say back.

"I have," Steve replies. "For 70 years. I'm sure you had trouble sleeping after getting out of Cryo."

"I did, but you've been back almost a month, it took me two weeks before I got a good 7 hours of sleep," I stand up and walk over to a treadmill. I stop for a moment looking at the machine, my legs feel like jelly, so I changed my mind and sat back down. "I'm starting to think that you don't sleep at all."

Steve went back to punching his bag. I stand up and begin to stretch, reaching down to touch my toes slowly, my legs were still shaking. It's too early for this. I should have stayed in bed.

"Was it a dream?" Steve asked.

"Huh?" I look up from the floor.

"Did you have another dream that woke you up?" Steve asked again.

"What do you mean another?" I stand up straight.

"You wake up a lot and go to the kitchen to eat a cup of yogurt, and then take one of those.. Mel- mela-"

"Melatonin," I said the sleep drug's name.

"Melatonin, then go back to bed. I notice you do that when you wake up from a nightmare," Steve explains. "But since I left a note you came down here. Was it the same one you have told me about?"

"About Wes?" I asked.

"Yeah," Steve nodded.

"No," I reply and Steve stops punching his bag. "It was kind of more than that."

"Tell me," Steve said.

"At first it was Erskine getting shot at the lab, that scene replayed maybe three times before it moved onto the failed mission with Wes," I explain. "The bullets shooting through the door at Wes and I, Wes getting shot, again and again."

"He got shot three times, right?" Steve asked, recounting what I had told him when it was still the 1940s.

"Yeah, but in my dream, it seemed he was shot ten times," I replied. I pause for a minute and swallow. "Then I watched Bucky fall again."