All Hope remembers was her impending loss of consciousness, then falling to the ground, and mere minutes later she wakes up and finds herself and her parents lying on the ground. She frowns, not understanding what had happened and it strangely felt like she was in a dream.

"Scott?" Hope looks around and realises that the van with the Quantum Tunnel and their equipments had all mysteriously vanished. She panics, remembering that they were supposed to bring Scott back from the Quantum Realm.

She pulls herself up, trepidation creeping into her soul, afraid that her worst fear had come true, that they had left Scott inside the Quantum Realm. "Scott? Scott, please, come on, this isn't funny, where the hell are you?!?" Hope glances around, rubbing her hand over her forehead. This is not happening. She looks at her parents, both looking perplexed.

Suddenly, orange sparks or a portal of some sorts appears in front her. "Mom, dad, are you seeing this?" Hope blinks twice to make sure it's real, and it's not a light trick that's playing with her vision. She reaches her hand out, almost touching it when a man with a red cloak walks right through it, startling her.

Hope is a scientist, so she doesn't believe in magic (but reluctantly changes her mind because of Scott's close-up magic, damn him) and then she remembers there were alien portals in New York in 2012, but the man standing in front of her doesn't look like an extraterrestrial being. He looks like her.

"Hope Van Dyne? You need to come with me now."

She doesn't ask how the strange man knows her name, but she senses the urgency from the tone of his voice.

"There isn't much time to explain, but the safety of the world is at stake, and they need us now." The red cloak he's wearing seems to have a mind of its own, because it's hastily tapping on the man's arm.

"They? Who are they?" Hope peers at him, curiously.

"The Avengers," he replies with such gravitas, that she believes him immediately. He briefs her quickly and she almost, almost grasps all of the information and eventually learns that his name is Dr. Strange. He opens another portal and politely asks her to walk through it and she does, without hesitation. Halfway through, she looks back but he isn't following her.

"You're not coming?" She questions.

"I'm off to get the others," he simply responds, urging her forward and the portal closes.

...

The magnitude of the war zone was at an even larger scale than Hope had ever imagined, making no time even to digest the mounting emotions she's experiencing. She appears along with thousands of others, presumably heroes and warriors. The first thing she does, she glances around for Scott, and then as if on cue, he comes to sight, emerging as Giant-Man from the rubbles of the bombed building, saving several of his friends.

Her heart double trips all over itself.

Her chest swells with pride when she sees him, knowing he's safe (not exactly in the current situation) and the heavy weight she's been carrying on her shoulders comes off. Hope wants to fly to him immediately, but the moment she hears Steve Rogers say 'Avengers Assemble', this is it. This is the final battle.

So they charge, they charge towards the swarm of enemies, fearless of death.

Hope shrinks and re-grows flawlessly, and she tackles an alien with a flying triangle choke, pulling off one her blasters straight at the head. And then she's off to another one, and another.

"Hope?" Scott notices Hope zipping in and out as he runs into the battlefield.

She's back. She's back!

He's regained more control of being giant and he's never being so confident as he charges through the army of aliens, and oh boy, the purple blob is going to pay for what he has done. It gives him a surge of triumphant energy that he brings down a Leviathan that's coming his way with a mean left hook, the sound of his punch attracting Hope's attention, and she watches in amazement as the intergalactic beast crashes to the ground. She's extremely proud at how far he's come and she hopes she'll be able to let him know.

They both hope they survive this.

...

Scott's taking cover under one of the rubbles, keeping an eye on the van with the Quantum Tunnel, after he receives order from Steve to get the tunnel up and going. He hears a familiar whirring of mechanical wings (actually organic), and then a gentle brush on his arm and he knows that Hope's right beside him. He had spotted her on the battlefield, being absolutely bad-ass, as usual, but they had been too caught up for a reunion. He can't describe how happy he is to see her.

"We're on it Cap," Hope replies with a twinkle in her eyes. This is, cool.

It stuns Scott for a fleeting second when he hears the last word of her sentence. She's calling him Cap. He turns to look at her, and he gives her the softest knowing smile, and he thinks it's the first time in weeks that he's smiling, genuinely happy from the depths of his heart.

She's here.

And it's all that matters.

He wants to pull her in for a quick hug, and even slip in a kiss, but he figures he'll save it for later, when this is all done, and if they survive. It's morbid, he knows.

Hope meets Scott's gaze and she returns a subtle 'let's do this' nod with a small grin and closes her helmet. It's an unspoken moment, conveying more than words can say, both knowing what  they got to do, together. They both shrink in synchrony and he lurches towards her, and she takes and holds his hand firmly, and flies off with him together to the van.

Look at us, Ant-Man and The Wasp, teaming up.

They land in the van and Hope reaches behind, "It's a mess in here," she mumbles while flipping on the necessary switches to turn on the Quantum Tunnel, but the circuit seems broken.

"It's dead!" She hears Scott gasp.

"What?" Hope swivels around to look at him and Scott's holding up two broken electrical wirings.

"It's dead!" Panic rises in his chest. "I'll need to hotwire these!" And he does, expertly, and Hope's secretly thanking his masters in electrical engineering and the Quantum Tunnel starts firing up in no time.

They still have a minute or two, as Brunnhilde clears Thanos' minions away or when the alien armies catches up to the van but they both retract their helmets back at the same time, catching their breaths.

"Hey."

"Hey."

They know they're doing it again, getting lost in each other's eyes.

They're in the middle of a battlefield with an overcast, grim sky, with the air reeking of death, and there's explosions everywhere and the others are still fighting, but at that moment, they just want a quiet moment for themselves.

"This is insane huh," Scott adds. I thought I lost you, he wants to say, but he doesn't know where to start. He wants to tell her that a rat had miraculously released him from the Quantum Realm, that Cassie's grown really big now, that he had pitched the idea of time traveling and he did a time heist (oh my god, he did a time heist), there's a talking racoon, and he got to hang out with The Avengers, even though they're not really the same as before.

Most importantly, he wants to tell her how much he had missed her. He hasn't seen her in a few weeks, but it felt like a million years.

And then he remembers when he can't even bring himself to tell Steve and Natasha that Hope's his partner, because she was gone and thinking about it brought nothing but a heavy, suffocating pain in his chest.

He thinks he's going to choke in his own tears before he's able to tell her all of that.

Hope nods. She could see the tears welling in his eyes but she doesn't call him out.

She wants to tell him she's so proud of him.

Scott reaches his hand out and gently caresses her cheek with the stroke of his thumb. She's warm, she's real and she's here, and she's giving him all sorts of warm, fuzzy feelings.

What the heck.

They could die any minute, Scott doesn't want to waste a single second, so he tugs her in, and hugs her tight, hoping to never let go. It doesn't take her by surprise because she knows how sappy and cheesy he is, but also because she's been wanting to do that too.

"We're in this together, partner," Hope whispers in Scott's ears.

He hugs her even tighter.

...

They win the war, but not without sacrifices.

It breaks Scott apart because he got to know Tony Stark, even only for a short period of time. He wants to tell Hank that he's wrong about the Starks, this Stark particularly. He was a different man, but Scott figures Hank probably already knows by the look on his face when he sees little Morgan Stark.

Scott understands what's it like, because he'd do anything for Cassie, securing a better future for her, even if it means dying. He thinks that's what Tony had on his mind too.

Everyone knows, that his death wasn't in vain.

...

Scott rings the doorbell and waits patiently for Cassie. They had just returned from New York, right after attending the funeral. Scott turns to Hope, who's beside him and he gives her hand a light squeeze. "She's going to be so thrilled to see you again," he stares at her affectionately, gently tucking away a stray hair behind her ear. "And I gotta tell you, she's grown big, like this big," he moves his hand from the level of his waist to his chest.

"You're ridiculous," Hope laughs.

"Dad?" Cassie appears at the door. Scott still can't get used to the fact that she's older now. He won't be able to pick her up, carry and hug her or give her piggyback rides. He's going to miss those times, badly.

"Peanut!" Scott pulls her in for a huge hug which Cassie returns in the same manner. "Look who's here," he grins widely and glances at Hope, whose eyes are widened in shock and she understands that Scott wasn't exaggerating.

"Hope?" Cassie couldn't believe her eyes, and then tears start forming, and she's going to cry. First her father shows up, and now Hope, whom she had loved and missed so much. "Hope!" Cassie cries out again, her entire face lighting up despite the stream of tears and she throws herself at Hope, hugging her in a warm embrace. It's been so long.

"You've gotten so big," Hope strokes the back of her head, smiling, still surprised at the fact that she was just ten-years-old on the day of the snap and then suddenly, Cassie's almost as tall as her.

"That's what I said!" Scott chirps.

"Are grandpa Hank and grandma Janet back too?" Cassie asks a little apprehensively.

"Yes, Cassie, they're both fine," Hope smiles softly as she and Scott put an arm around Cassie at the same time as they walk into the house together. "I want to know everything that has happened in the past five years..."

...

"So, Cap?" Scott glances at Hope teasingly, his signature lopsided smile spreading on his boyish face. They're both sitting on the couch, facing each other, just the two of them, with Scott telling Hope about the events from the past few weeks.

"You're definitely not going to let me live that down, aren't you?" Hope tilts her head, a wide smile animating her lips. She knows he's going to remind her about it for the rest of her life, but she's  also going to tease him about his never-ending fanboy crush on Steve Rogers.

"No, I won't," Scott quips cheekily. "But have you seen his ass?" He lowers his voice into a whisper, his eyes gleaming mischievously. "That's America's ass." Laugh creases forms around his eyes as he starts chuckling.

"Scott," she arches a brow.

He stops laughing. It amazes him that she's able to call his name so affectionately at a certain point of time, and then at another point of time, it's just plain annoyance.

"You're such a bad influence," Hope smirks and crawls toward Scott, turns around and lays her head on his lap and makes herself comfortable on the couch. He lets her take his hand, and she intertwines her fingers around his, placing them on her stomach. "But he's really something huh."

"He is," Scott starts toying with her hair, combing his fingers through her soft curls. The weight and warmth of her on his lap feels extraordinarily good.

"But you know who's really something else?" Hope asks. She's extremely proud of him because he had figured out time travelling through the Quantum Realm, that he didn't give up in trying to bring her and everybody back, that he managed to pull the whole thing off with the rest of The Avengers.

"Who?"

"You."

He stops playing with her hair, and his ears turn a shade of pink. Hope stares at him with those piercing green eyes of hers and Scott understands quickly that she's not pulling his leg and that she's indeed praising him.

"I'm proud of you," she lets go of his hand and strokes his stubbled cheek, beaming with pride. "You did great." There's an honest, sincere twinkle in her eyes.

"Just great?" He questions a little too cockily. "I thought I was excellent," he's grinning like a giddy child.

"You're so full of yourself Scott," Hope rolls her eyes theatrically.

They stare at each other straight in the eyes, and they can't help but burst into laughter.

God, how he had missed their banter.

"I thought I lost you," Scott turns solemn in just a split second and he's overwhelmed with a whole lot of emotions. Ever since the war had ended, he needed to remind himself that it's not a dream, that Hope and Cassie is here, and he's thanking his lucky stars every day.

He takes a deep breath, hoping to calm himself down. "I thought there was no hope in bringing you back because he...he had rejected the idea of time traveling, but then we'll all here now, because of him."

"Scott...," It alarms Hope that he's suddenly so serious so she sits up and wraps her arm around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder. She understands the impact that it had took on him because she was only gone minutes compared to him. He had come back to an almost apocalyptic world, alone and Hope's glad that the snap hadn't got Cassie, because she couldn't imagine what would Scott be like without his daughter.

"You're so important to me Hope. You're, very, important," he reinforces the three words by kissing the crown of her head three times after every word. "I'm not letting you out of my sight, ever, and don't even think about leaving me." Even though he was staying with The Avengers, he still felt empty inside, like there was a void that couldn't be filled, because she wasn't by his side.

"I know. I'm not going anywhere. And don't you dare leave me too," Hope smiles contentedly. Because he's important to her too.

"You know what, this would really be a great story to tell our children."

"Our children?" Hope quirks a brow.

"Yeah, I mean, uh..."

"Dad! Hope! The fireworks, they're starting!" Cassie calls out from outside the house.

"Coming peanut!" Scott hollers back. Hope gets up from the couch and extends her hand to Scott and he takes it, smiling, and they walk hand-in-hand to the porch, where Cassie was waiting for them.

"They're beautiful," Cassie looks up to the sky in awe, at the celebratory fireworks.

It had obviously been five years since the whole world had ever felt so alive.

Hope takes a seat beside Cassie while Scott sits at a step above them, wrapping his arms around the two loves of his life while they lean onto him, and it's a wholesome feeling he can't fully describe. Hope curls her fingers gently around Scott's, clasping their hands tightly, while he places a soft kiss on her forehead and they both look at each other, with the widest grins they could ever have.

It feels amazing to be back home and it's time they have some absolutely deserving peace and quiet.

And, all is well.