Daughter of Elizabeth Olsen

Chapter 7

A/N- TW: there is a very brief, vague mention of suicide unrelated to our main characters.

Lizzie's POV

I'm washing my hands and scrubbing the dirt from under my nails in the kitchen sink as I look out over my garden. I've spent all day out there, getting rid of the weeds and dead plants, turning the soil and jet washing the tiled walkway. It's exactly what I needed to relax and de-stress. I feel a lot more 'me' today and it's just kind of brought me back to a calm level.

I check the time, Alexa said she was leaving the school library about 15 minutes ago. She declined my offer to pick her up, insisting on walking, it is a really nice day so I didn't make too much of an effort to argue with her. She should be here any minute now so I turn the oven on ready to throw something quick and easy in, ready for our movie night.

Joe Russo called me earlier to let me know I'm needed back at work tomorrow afternoon. Thankfully, it'll just be a few hours to record some effort sounds in ADR to go with the scene from yesterday and a slight costume alteration.

Jeremy and Robert are also organising our monthly get together for this weekend, since we have more group scenes scheduled soon it fits in nicely. It's been hard to see everyone properly with how sporadic our call times have been.

I hear the side gate at the end of our drive open and then shut and make my way to the front door, opening it to see Alexa slowly walking up the path. "Hi Mom." Alexa says softly as she walks through the front door. I give her a tight hug, lingering probably a little too long, but I needed it and I know she's a cuddle bug too.

"Hey sweetheart, how's the project going?" I ask, finally letting her out of my embrace. She puts her bag down on the floor and I raise my eyebrows at her. "I'm going to move it, I'm just taking my shoes off first." She defends herself, raising her hands. "The project, um yeah it's fine."

Fine...

"I thought you'd be more excited about it?" I push, Scarlett's right, settling for these 'fine' answers all the time isn't enough. Alexa puts her bag away and shows me some flash cards, briefly talking through some talking points. "I mean it's okay. Sarah doesn't really know the book very well, but we'll manage." She replies with a shrug and I can't help but fight a little smile away at the more than one sentence answer that has become a rarity recently.

"Well you are amazing so you will do great, as always. Mrs Lowe seems like a fair teacher, so I'm sure she'll take into consideration how much work you put in." I justify, as I walk back into the kitchen to put our dinner in the oven.

I briefly think back for a moment to the night she told me I was her mom as we laid on the grass out there, the memory pops into my head at random times and I love it. I love my daughter, it's time to step up. I've got to be her mom right now, not her friend.

~~

Alexa's POV

I yawn once again as I try to pick out an outfit for the day, a simple task overshadowed by the fact I barely slept last night and I'm so nervous about today. Why I thought it was a good idea to sleep in my own bed last night, I'm still not sure.

Between the constant reminder that I was alone and worrying about this stupid presentation, I'll be lucky if I got even an hour. I really hope Sarah pulls through today, all she's got to do is read the card convincingly... surely she can do that?

"Alexa! Come on, you'll be late!" Mom shouts up the stairs again. I groan and put on a pair of mom jeans, my joy division shirt and a big cardigan along with my docs. "I'm literally here. It's fine." I snap a little as I reach the bottom of the stairs. I grab my bag not even thinking about my lunch and walk out to the car.