Bent, Not Broken

Chapter 2: 'Monday Morning's

Walking out of the room, she turned to see her father reach over and lightly dust one of her mother's bangs out of her face, lightly touch her cheek as he leaned in and placed a light kiss to her pale skin.

"Leanna, you need to get to your room now," her father's firm voice shook her. She turned and ran back to her room, shut the door and climbed back into bed. She wasted no time in pulling the covers over her head, squeezing her stuffed bear to her chest as she waited.

All she could hear was her breathing, loud and deafening under the heavy layer of covers. She didn't understand what was happening, but she knew her father was going to fix it. He had called for help, she didn't understand why he had wanted her to deliver a message to them, he would be able to tell them himself, wouldn't he?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the loud bang her father had told her she would hear.

Jerking up from bed, Leanna realized she wasn't in her childhood bedroom, the gun shot she heard was nineteen years in the past. It had been a nightmarish dream, dredging up the painful shadows of her past she had long ago locked away. The memory was raw, leaving her in a cold sweat. It was frightening that after all this time, after all these years, the thought of her parents still hurt so much. She missed her parents and nothing would change that. People could say whatever they wanted about the situation, none of them knew the truth.

Wiping the sweat off her brow with her right hand, she focused on calming her breathing. Inhaling through her nose and exhaling out her mouth, she concentrated on breathing in with her diaphragm, pulling oxygen deep into her lungs. She counted to ten, tension relaxing and stress releasing with each count. Slowly the memory faded back into the deepest part of her mind, dulling the pain, but not alleviating it completely.

Her left hand clutched at the silver chain around her neck, gripping tightly onto the two golden rings that resting on it. She wasn't one to wear unnecessary jewelry, but the necklace was something that she rarely ever took off. Touching it was a comforting habit she had developed all those years ago.

" ...please know that I love you more than anything..." her father's words of reassurance echoed in her ears. Every time she touched the soft metal, she would hear the words whisper in her mind and they warmed her heart.

With one more deep and calming breath, Leanna looked over at the nightstand and saw it was only four o'clock in the morning. The bright red numbers flashed at her in the dark as if to mock her. She rubbed her hand over her face, wiping her sweet drenched bangs off her forehead.

"Not the way to start a Monday morning," she mumbled as she leaned back in her bed. Knowing she wouldn't get any more rest, she began to plan out her day, thinking of everything that needed to be accomplished. It also proved a very effective way to distract her; no good ever came from dwelling on the past.

Strong coffee and a hot shower were first on her to-do list. Knowing nothing would get done while she was still in bed, she kicked the covers down and got up. Walking the short distance to the small kitchen area, Leanna pulled the coffee machine out of the corner and plugged it in. She wasn't one to consume the hot caffeinated drink every morning, but some days were better started with a cup of dark rich java. Today was one of them.

Grabbing the coffee grounds out of the refrigerator, where they staid fresh longer, she also grabbed a bottle of water. Twisting off the waters cap she took a long drink of the cool water, then pouring the rest into the coffee machine. Once the filter was set, grounds measured and scooped in, she set the timer to go off in another hour. By the time she was showered and dressed, it would be ready for her. She could enjoy the hot drink while she looked over some files before she had to head into work.

Back in her bedroom, Leanna tugged her sheets and cover up and tossing her pillows against the headboard. Once her bed was made, she pulled open her closet door. Looking inside, it only took her a few seconds to pick out what she would wear. Her wardrobe wasn't that large and her style was basic. It helped her job allowed her to dress business casual, meaning that she could wear a pair of jeans with a nice blouse and shoes.

Grabbing her dark washed jeans, white lace camisole and black collared three quarter sleeve button down shirt, she laid the outfit down on her bed. Bending down she pulled out her black flat knee high boots, and tossed them to the foot of her bed.

With her outfit picked out, she made her way to the bathroom and turned on the light and vent. She caught her reflection in the mirror and couldn't help but see the haunted eyes of her mother. Shaking her head to clear the image, she told herself it wasn't her mother in the mirror. Turning away from the ghostly reflection, she headed to the bathtub and turned on the water. Running her hand under the current, she waited till it heated enough and then pulled the plug to force that water up to the shower head. Pulling the curtain closed she started to undress, tossing her clothing into a pile on the floor.

Steeping into the steaming shower, Leanna couldn't help but welcome the burning, almost painful, temperature of the water. The hot liquid did its part in washing away the left over stress of the nightmare. After a few minutes of standing under the shower head, she poured a generics amount of strawberry apple soap onto her green luffa and began to wash off the remaining nights sweat and grime. Her left shoulder was stiff, as it had been for the last few years, but she had become accustom to the dull ache. Like all her pain, emotional or physical, she had learn early on to simply not let the pain hurt. The saying 'mind over matter' was something she lived by.

Taking the time she had, she rotated her shoulder a few times while under that hot water, testing its limits. She had been told it would be a long recovery and that she may never regain full rotation. Two and a half years after the 'event' she still couldn't raise her arm past shoulder level. It made simple tasks more difficult than they should be, like washing her hair.

Grabbing the bottle of shampoo she quickly washed her hair, only applying a small amount of conditioner to keep it smooth. Rinsing off, she couldn't help but rub her right hand over the scar that was forever marked on her shoulder. The skin was a soft pink, still healing from the damage.

"Not today," she mumbled to herself, pulling her hand away from her shoulder. One nightmare was enough to deal with, she didn't want to think or even dwell on another. Painful memories had a way of creeping up when the mind wondered, and she had far too many locked away to allow herself to lose focus.

Water washed over her, the heat fading, as Leanna reached down and turned the tap off. Stepping out, she wrapped herself in a towel, grabbing another to twist her hair up. Opening the door, she allowed all the build up steam to escape as she made her way to her room to get dressed.

Walking over to her small dresser, she pulled out a pair of lacy black panties. They were met to be sexy and seen, but Leanna had bought them because she simply liked them. There wasn't a man in her life to see them, and she wasn't the type of girl to just let anyone take a peek at her underwear collection. Slipping them on, she pulled the towel away and set it on the bed. Picking up the white lace camisole and pulling it on over her head, she was glad that her chest wasn't too large to fit with the built in shelf that the top came with.

Returning to the bathroom, she took her hair down and pulled out her blow dryer. Styling her hair was just as easy as choosing what to wear, it was simple. With mid-back brown hair, she always wore it up to keep it out of her way. She could only count on one hand how many times she had worn it down, it wasn't something she was used to, but she never liked the idea of cutting her hair.

Once her hair was dry and pulled up into a twist, she placed a small amount of foundation and applied a light amount of soft colored eye shadow on the lids of her eyes. She dusted her cheeks with a faint blush and added just a thin line of dark eye liner and mascara. Hanging up her towels, she finished getting dressed.

She could smell the coffee brewing and knew it was now close to five o'clock. She had an hour till she needed to leave for work.

In the kitchen she made herself a large cup of coffee, forgoing the cream and sugar. Strong, bold and black is what she needed. Knowing she should eat something or risk upsetting her already uneasy stomach, she placed two slices of wheat bread in the toaster. Once the bread was nice and browned, she placed a light layer of peanut butter and made her way to the small table.

Sitting down she pushed back some papers to make room for her plate and cup, her dinner table was more of her work desk than anything. Taking a bite of the toast, she opened her day planner.

Three appointments were scheduled for the day, her first one at nine. Lunch with her boss was suppose be at noon, however she wasn't setting her hopes on that. The man had been postponing and rescheduling lunch with her for the last three months, something always seemed to come up and prevent him from keeping the appointment.

Two o'clock she had another appointment followed by her last case of the day at four. If everything went as planned, she would have enough time to get home and put in some hard study time. Her upcoming test in psychiatrists had been haunting her all week, and she now only had three days left before she was suppose to take it. She had been working hard over the last few years for her degree, and she was so close. It would be nice once she no longer had to balance studying, work and her personal life - what little one she had.

Looking up at the clock that was hung in the kitchen, she saw it was only six. She normally didn't have to leave until seven, but she knew that today she would be getting in early. Finished with her first cup of coffee, she made another in a traveling mug. After placing her plate in the sink, she made sure the coffee maker was off, and everything was put back into place.

Going back to her room, she put her boots on and grabbed her cell phone that had been charging on her nightstand. Double checking to make sure her wallet and phone where in her bag, she pulled out her keys and held them while she picked up her files and mug.

Listening to the radio as she drove, sipping her coffee, Leanna couldn't help but hope her day would go much better than her night had. The drive was easy and relaxing, not having to deal with crazy morning drivers and stupid people thinking they had right-away, was an improvement to her normal days. Maybe today wouldn't be as bad as it started. She could only hope.

With her turn signal on, Leanna made a right turn off the main highway and drove a few more miles outside the city. It wasn't long before a large compound came into view, the early morning sun reflecting off the high fence and razor wire that surrounded it. She pulled up to the large entrance gate, rolling down her window and pulled out her ID badge that had been resting in the center console of her car.

"Good morning," she offered to the uniformed solider who took her badge and swiped it into the computer.

"Good morning Miss Ramsey," he responded kindly. "Thumb please," he asked holding out a small pad that scanned her thumb print.

"How was your weekend?" Leanna asked, making small talk while she waited to get clearance.

"It was fine ma'am, thank you for asking," he said with a smile. As much time as she spent at the base, it seemed like there were always new gate guards. She understood there were always changes, soldiers where coming and going, getting transferred, and enlisting all the time. There was one thing that remained the same however, and that was that no matter how many times the guards changed, they all looked good in uniform. She wasn't above admitting that she enjoyed the view from time to time.

The young brown eyed officer looked back at his partner who was in the gate house, and with a nod from him, he gave her back her badge and nodded to her. "You're all set to go on in. Have a nice day ma'am."

"Thank you," she said as she took her badge back and clipped it to her shirt collar. Rolling up her window, she drove through the gate once it opened and made her way onto the base. She was one of three civilians who worked on the base, and understood from past experience what security checks she had to go through to get in. But with the recent events that had taken place in New York, the checks and security had been improved.

Making her way to the back of the base, passing the aircraft hangers, barracks and training grounds, she pulled up to the building that held her office. Parking and leaning over to grab her belonging, she was caught off guard when someone opened her door and reached in to take her files from her, along with her coffee mug.

"Miss Ramsey, allow me to help you with that," the strange man said. He was tall, towering over her small five foot four frame at an easy six foot plus. His shoulders where broad, and the way he moved was enough to tell her that he was someone with a high level of military training. His short, almost bald hair cut, sun glass covered eyes, and well maintained suit only proved that he worked with some sort of government agency. Then there was the fact that he had snuck up on her while on a Marine Corps base. Not an easy feat.

"Thank you," she said trying to hide her uneasiness.

"It's no problem at all ma'am," he said with a blinding white smile.

"May I asked your name and what I did in order to receive this wonderful curbside assistance?" she asked, adding her own smile as she got out and locked up her car. She knew it was always better to ask questions up front and to the point, in the nicest way possible.

The man only smiled and led her into the office building, his large hand resting on the small of her back. She wanted to ask again what was going on, but knew he wouldn't disclose anything to her. She was sure he was under orders to simply escort her, she would have to wait to get any answers.

Someone opened the main entrance door from inside, allowing her and her escort to enter. Walking into the building's lobby, she saw it was occupied by other men and women who all seemed to be dressed in the same dark suites, and held themselves in the same way. Standing tall, at attention and more than likely keeping an eye out for anything or anyone unwelcome. It was hard to tell, they all seemed to be wearing the same dark tented glassed, even while indoors.

Looking behind her, she saw someone move to stand in front of the doors, in a way that made her believe he would prevent anyone else coming in rather than getting out. She was about to ask again what was going on, when someone new walked up to her. Everything about this man screamed superior, the way the man next to her, along with the others shifted told her as much. If she had to make an educated guess, she would say he was a high ranking Special Forces member.

"Miss Ramsey," he said in a voice that was oddly warm. He stood just a few inches taller than her, but was just as built and solid as the man next to her. Reaching up, he took of his dark tinted glasses and revealed bright blue eyes that held a friendly shine. "I am Agent Park, and I believe you already met Agent Goss," he motioned to the man who had meat her at her car and walked her in. "We weren't expecting you until eight this morning."

"Thought I would get an early start this morning," she answered while looking around the lobby.

"Right," Agent Park said with a nod. "It's a good thing, he doesn't like to wait." It was cryptic, but her gut told her she knew who 'he' was.

Everything started to make since, and the pieces started to fit together. Not many originations could operate on a military base without the proper authorization. Gleaning the information she had gathered and observed, she was pretty sure she knew who she was dealing with. She had heard the ghost whispers of the top secret task force like origination, who worked with other agencies and governments, nations and countries.

S.H.I.E.L.D - The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division - dedicated to the protection of humanity and defending the world as a whole. You didn't apply for or request a job with S.H.I.E.L.D., they recruited and sought out who they wanted, hand picking each and every member right down to the cooks who kept the agents fed.

If her gut was right, then the 'he' was none other than the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., a man who was both feared and respected. The origination was once thought to be nothing more than a rumor, however with the events that took place in New York, it had been confirmed that S.H.I.E.L.D. did in fact exists and was operating.

Her thoughts and speculation where interrupted by Agent Park. "Allow us to walk you to your office," he said as he led the way. Agent Goss not missing a beat, and kept one step behind her the whole way.

It looked like her Monday morning wasn't going to get any better. She wasn't sure what S.H.I.E.L.D would want with her, she wasn't anything special. She didn't have any distinguishing talents or training. She wasn't a genius inventor or wealthy philanthropist.

She should have known that waking up from a nightmarish memory was nothing more than a bad omen.

End Chapter Two

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