Returned to Sender - Scarlett Johansson

Part 26

Scarlett's POV

She was doing so well yesterday with the flight and everything. She had stayed calm; she even walked around for a while.

Then that bastard thought he could touch Sawyer in the hopes of what, getting a picture of her face? I mean, who does he think he is?

Any child would have freaked out after that, so I was shocked when Sawyer didn't go into a memory spiral. Her panic attack, however, broke my heart. In between her wheezing, I could hear her muttering. "Don't take me away from Mama." It was heart-shattering that she was still so worried about me leaving. That bastard was lucky I was carrying Sawyer; otherwise, I would have killed him for even looking at her, let alone having the audacity to touch her. I hate that my job means Sawyer has to go through this, the attention, the travelling.

I wish I could give her the normal life she deserves.

After she fell asleep in the car, she had a restless night. She woke me up twice with nightmares, and she was up before me, although she stayed in bed just staring at the ceiling. I'm not sure how long she had been up, but I'm sure it had been a while. I'm conflicted over whether to still take her to the Easter event the others have planned now we're all in Atlanta. I'm supposed to be at Roberts for eleven for brunch, but I can see on Sawyer's face how exhausted she is already. Between Jimmy calling her sweetheart the other night and that bastard touching her, I fear she's going to go back to having several attacks a day, something I really hoped we had moved past.

My thoughts were broken by Sawyer playing with my hair; as soon as I woke up, she crawled onto me and hadn't let go. After what she was mumbling during her panic attack, I'm almost positive she had that dream about her fake father and Cooper taking me away.

"Princess, we can cancel today if you want?" I offered as I sat her on the bathroom counter so we could brush our teeth. She just looked at me as if to ask what the hell I was talking about. "Remember? We are supposed to celebrate Easter with the cast; Robert, Lizzie and all the others will be there. Plus, some people you still haven't met yet." She looked puzzled at me before spitting out her toothpaste. "Like who?" I thought for a minute, not wanting to scare her off but also wanting her to be prepared.

"Well, Robert, his wife and son Exton will be there. Hemsworth, his wife, his daughter India and his sons Tristan and Sasha. Mark, his wife Sunrise, his son Keen, and his daughters Bella and Odette. Jeramy and his wife Sonni, daughter Ava. Then Evans and Lizzie," I explain, trying to remember everyone off of the top of my head. I could see the nerves at the list of people, but she nodded along anyway. I could tell today was going to be one of her quiet days where she didn't say much. "We don't have to stay the whole time; we can leave whenever you want, baby," I say before moving us back to my bedroom.

I had gotten us changed into similar sundresses hoping to cheer Sawyer up, knowing she likes it when we match. She hasn't said anything today, but she has let go of me and walked around a bit which had me hopeful that as she wakes up, the fear from her nightmares is slowly lifting.

I grabbed both Nat and her blanket and stuck them in her backpack along with her iPad, notepad and pencils in the hopes that if she got bored, she had something to do or something to calm her down if she got overwhelmed. I also got her comic, the one she had me sign the first day on set, and placed it gently into her bag after promising her she could get it signed today. I also threw in bathing suits, knowing that the others planned on having a water fight and chilling in the pool.

Slipping on my shoes, I went on my search for Sawyer; I hadn't shown her around yet as last night she was asleep, so she didn't know where anything was, so I didn't really know where she could be.