Returned to Sender - Scarlett Johansson

Part 30

Scarlett's POV

So it's the first day back to filming today, and I have been called straight to Kevin's office, which is unusual. But it's not as unusual as the last week I had off here in Atlanta.

Sawyer spent last week smiling.

It was weird. Like something just snapped the Monday after Easter, and she was suddenly feeling calmer, I suppose. As if that moment in the kitchen when she called me her home made her realise she really did have a home, she could finally start to believe everything I had told her. It was as if she realised that I wasn't going to send her away again, that she's stuck with me from now on. Which she is.

All the promises I had made about not leaving her were true, and I think she was starting to believe that. Suddenly, she was smiling most of the day. Not the fake smile that didn't meet her eyes, that she had been smiling since I picked her up from the hospital. No, this was a genuine smile that made her dimples pop and nose crinkle slightly, and honestly, it was the best thing I have ever seen. Who would have thought she would turn out to be such a smiley child? It's fantastic.

It's not like after that day, a switch flipped, and she is magically fine; the nightmares still come, but the panic attacks and memory sessions had dropped significantly and were now manageable. She seemed happy, just pure childhood happiness, and it's been the best week of both our lives, I think. I know it's only been a week of this, but I'm optimistic that these improvements are going to last.

Anyway, I'm now sitting in Kevin's office; Sawyer was sitting on the floor by my feet on her iPad. As I said, it's not like everything is suddenly better; she is still pretty hesitant to be anywhere without me. Plus, after waking up and not finding her in the house the day after Easter, I'm not exactly fond of her being too far, either.

Jonna had given up on giving her equations because she was solving them ridiculously fast. But he had mentioned to one of his old professors that he knew someone of Sawyer's capabilities, and since then, this professor has been sending weekly questions for her to solve. Granted, it usually takes her two hours max, but it's something she has enjoyed these last few weeks. Anything that makes Sawyer happy is good in my books.

"I wanted to talk to you about a proposition. This has to stay between us no matter what you decide," Kevin starts looking at me with a smile. "The writers and I have been working on this part, and we have kinda written it around Sawyer; if she doesn't want it, the idea will probably be scrapped. But seeing her around set gave me an idea, and I ran with it," he said, looking down at a file in his hand before passing it to me. On the top of the file, in big black letters, was the name Nikita Romanoff.

I looked at the file, and then Kevin confessed. "The whole concept is that when they find the twins, they also find Nikita, an eleven-year-old Hydra experiment which turns out to be Natasha's daughter; she has super strength and is a trained assassin, but there are talks of her power growing if she continues within the franchise, maybe add some sort of other superpower to the mix that makes her unique. Obviously, this is all if Sawyer and you agree. More importantly, it's about whether Sawyer even wants the role and to act. I know she probably has a much more interesting offer out there due to her intelligence, and we could work out a schedule so that she could still do all her math and science stuff. It's just, I doubt we could find anyone better to play Natasha's daughter."

"I don't want the role just because I'm Mama's daughter," Sawyer spoke up, reminding me she was in this meeting too. I smile at her as she speaks. She has been working really hard on trusting people, so the fact that she is willing to speak up to Kevin is a big deal—proof of all the growth she has been making lately.

"I don't want anything handed to me; I want to work for it. Let me audition just like anyone else would, to people who don't know who I am, and if they like it, then I'll do it. I want to be treated just like everyone else. But I also want to grow up to be just like my Mama," she spoke clearly as she stood up and looked Kevin in the eye she spoke, something she doesn't often do, I've noticed. I watched the smile etch its way onto Kevin's face as he listened to Sawyer's condition.