Coming Home- Scarlett Johansson

Part 3

Archer's POV

When Kevin told me he was sending someone to fly with me to Atlanta, I thought it would just be a personal assistant or something, maybe even some random person hired to watch me and make sure I didn't get kidnapped or something. As if that would happen, I am a master at self-defence, thanks to Bear and the team.

Anyway, what I wasn't expecting was Florence Pugh to appear at the entrance of the base at five a.m. She smiled as she waited patiently for me to get my act together, metaphorically because Florence Pugh was in front of me and physically because I had a large duffle bag and my backpack with me.

All my belongings fit neatly into the two bags. My life is easily packed away, knowing that I might have to move at a moment's notice, sometimes to go join Daddy on a base, sometimes because he has to go on a mission and leave me again. The point is packing my life up and moving isn't something new for me, so when Florence goes to take my bag, I just give her a polite smile before doing it all myself.

I know this drill.

"It's really nice to meet you, AJ. I must admit, apart from your name and that we are flying together today, Kevin hasn't told me much," Florence said to me once we were settled into the back of the car. It seems like she has a driver. I mean, of course, she does; she's Florence Pugh. "Kevin didn't even tell me you were who was picking me up; I thought it would just be a member of the crew or maybe a personal assistant, maybe even a babysitter or nanny. I wasn't expecting for it to be a cast member, especially not someone like you," I confess, glancing at her briefly before looking out of the window and watching as we join the motorway.

"I'm sorry you had to come out of your way to pick me up; you're from Oxford, right? You basically drove past Heathrow just to get me," I apologised, working out that collecting me must have added around an hour to her journey. She just smiled at me kindly and shook her head. "It's no problem at all, AJ; now I can brag to the others that I met you first, and we have plenty of time to get to know each other so that you have at least one friend on set. I know how daunting it is to meet everyone, and I think knowing someone on set will make that easier for you. I mean, I have only met most of them briefly, so I know I will appreciate another friendly face," she assured me, making me smile slightly; she seemed really lovely.

We didn't say much more during the drive, both still sleepy from the early awakening to make our eight a.m. flight. Once we got to the airport, it felt weird. Usually, when I travel, it's on a military plane, so while I am used to all of this, I'm not at the same time.

Florence was friendly about it all and insisted I stuck my bags on a push thing with hers, which one of her security team wheeled through the airport as I followed them, Florence slightly in front of me. I could see her glancing behind her every so often to check I was still there, which made me smile. Getting through the bag bit was a little weird; they seemed confused about Florence flying with me, and since I didn't have a signed letter from Daddy because it was too last minute, I had one by the Marines in general, since technically while he is away they are my guardians, it's complicated and I don't understand how it works, but it does.

The poor lady seemed really confused and tried to say I couldn't fly with Florence, but I insisted the letter was more than enough. And when she still refused, I huffed before looking up at a perplexed Florence, who just shrugged. I pulled on her sleeve slightly so that I could talk to just her, not wanting to talk to that stupid lady anymore.

"You need to ask to speak to her manager and tell him to ring the number on my form. They need to ask to speak to LC Shields; he will clear it all up. I would tell her, but she isn't listening to me," I explain, watching as she nods before repeating precisely what I said. Her manager came over, and we had the same problem before he phoned the LC; it was all of two seconds before the phone was put down, and the man was personally escorting us through security, apologising profusely for the mix-up.