"So, you know those massive floaty leviathans?" Scott asked rhetorically to an enthralled Luis. "I went right up to one and I punched it in the face." He mimes the punch with the spatula, grinning madly. Some of the other people at the barbecue gave him strange looks. Really, it's not his fault. Luis was the one who asked. He's not even bragging.

Okay, well, he's told Cassie the whole story at least seven times, but she looked thrilled each time so she probably didn't mind.

"Dude, that is so cool," Luis says enthusiastically. Scott grinned even harder.

"Luis, don't encourage him," Hope says, coming up to them with buns and paper plates. "Scott, those burgers are burning."

"No they're not," Scott scoffs. "I just put them on the grill." He flipped over one anyways to check. It was charred black. Oh. "We have hot dogs too, right?"

Hope gave him a look that was half fond amusement and half annoyance. It was a vast improvement from the ugh you have the brain capacity of a rock look from when they first met. Now, it was more you're still really stupid but I can tolerate you.

"Yes we do," she says. "You won't be coming anywhere near them." Scott scoffed in mock offense as he unties his apron and pulls it over his head. Cassie had written 'World's Greatest Grandma' on it in black Sharpie. He tried to ignore the pang he felt when he saw the neat swirly letters and not the childish scrawl he was so used to.

"Have I told you about how I crushed Cull Obsidian under my boot?" Scott asked as he passes the apron to her. Hope wrinkles her nose. She was a tough customer.

"Who's Cull Obsidian?" Luis asked, eating up Scott's story. He helps himself to the corn on the cob. Which, Scott was proud to say, was not burnt.

"No idea," Scott says, almost bouncing on his toes in excitement. "But freaking Falcon was like 'good job with Cull Obsidian, Tic-Tac,' and I was like, 'thanks, who's Cull Obsidian,' and he was like, 'the guy you just crushed,' and I was like- wait, Hope, don't leave, I'm not done yet!"

"I need to get the hotdogs," she says, rolling her eyes. She pokes Scott in the chest with her finger before heading into the house. "After someone burnt the hamburgers." Scott sulks as Luis laughs.

"You burnt the hamburgers?" Cassie asked, departing from her group of friends and joining them. She prods one with the spatula. "Ew." Then she sits on a lawn chair and grins at Luis, eyes shining. "Has Dad told you about how the Hulk made him tacos?"

"Man, that's awesome," Luis says. Someone shoots him square in the face with a water gun, cutting off his next words. Scott watches in amusement as he yells and lunges at a flailing Dave.

"Hey Cassie," Scott says, turning to his daughter, touched that she remembered everything he told her. He pulls out a card from behind her ear in one slick motion. She laughs in that painfully familiar and endearing way. "Having fun?"

"Yup." Cassie pauses. "Although I think Lauren broke the karaoke machine."

"Oh! That's Lauren Walters? She looks so different from when I last saw her." The 'five years ago' was left unsaid.

Cassie chews on her bottom lip and swings her legs a bit. Her Converse grate against the lawn instead of dangling above the blades of grass. Just something else he would have to get used to. "It's a different Lauren, Dad. We became friends in seventh grade. Lauren Walters got blipped."

Oh. "Well, it's nice that you're making new friends, Peanut." He ruffles her hair affectionately and smiles through the painful jab he felt in his chest. Then he frowned. "They're calling it the blip?"

"The snap of the purple rock collecting alien doesn't have the same ring to it," Cassie informs him, grinning again. That was fair, Scott supposed. Someone's phone dings, and Scott reaches for the pockets of his cargo shorts before he realized it came from Cassie's phone. Her face lights up as she reads the message.

"Who's on the other end?" Scott asked. Cassie almost looked smug.

"Lila."

"I'm guessing it's not the Lila that threw up on me on the field trip to the zoo, right?"

"No, Dad." She looks up from her phone, in the middle of constructing a response. She raises her eyebrows at him. "Her last name's Barton and she lives on a farm. I added her on Instagram a while back."

"Huh." Something about that name sounded oddly familiar.

Before he could dwell on it, Hope emerges from the house bearing an impressive amount of hotdogs. "Paxton bought some, but Maggie didn't see them so she went out and bought more. Kurt brought hotdogs instead of hamburgers like he was supposed to, and I don't know why Luis brought twenty." She dumps them all unceremoniously on the picnic table and shoots a smile at Cassie, who smiles right back.

The hotdogs get placed on the grill under the watchful gaze of Paxton. Cassie had stood to the side and watched, before declaring it too boring and rejoining her friends. Scott decided to go retire from his role as grill master, choosing to lounge under the pitiful shade of a scrawny tree instead.

"It's nice to be back," Hope comments from beside him, staring up at the bright blue sky. "Even though I didn't realize I was going to go."

Scott tilts his head to look at her, curious. "What was it like? Dying."

"I was numb," Hope says, a bit quiet. "And then the world started fading away. I woke up in my bed and five minutes later, a wizard in a red cape appeared and told me to get my suit to fight with the Avengers."

Scott nodded slowly, unsure of what to say in response to someone describing what death felt like. "That final fight was awesome," he says finally. Then he winced. "Uh, except for all the death. And Tony Stark's sacrifice." He had a daughter too, Scott realized suddenly. It could've been Scott that died, it could've been him who would never see his child grow up. But it wasn't. And he was grateful for that, grateful for the fact that he wouldn't have to miss even more years of Cassie's life.

Hope's still staring up at the sky, thoughtful. "I would've liked to get to know him better," she says. "Imagine what we could've done if we combined his nanotechnology and our shrinking tech."

Scott eyes Hank, who was sitting with Janet and looking less grouchy than usual. "I don't think your dad would like that. Didn't he and Stark's dad have beef or something?"

"Pretty sure Stark already came into contact with the Pym Particles. Dad didn't seem too mad."

They sit in silence for a moment.

"You got to meet the Black Widow too, right?" Hope asked suddenly.

"Yeah. In Germany a while back, actually. She kicked my ass. Why?"

Hope sighs. "I've always wanted to meet her," she says wistfully.

"Well, I think you and Nat would've gotten along really well," Scott tells her. Hope shifts and turns to him, eyebrows raised. "It's just what everyone calls her," Scott clarifies. "If you're a friend. Which I'm not. But everyone else called her that and I did it on accident but she didn't seem mad so I think it's fine. She's nice."

Hope laughs and Scott smiles. He watches Cassie and the Lauren who wasn't Lauren Walters giggle over something on her phone, Luis tackling Dave as Kurt recorded everything, Maggie and Paxton working the grill, Hank passing a hotdog to Janet.

"We have a lot to catch up on," Hope comments. She leans into his side, smiling and watching them too. Scott was about to agree when he feels his phone buzz in his pocket. He checks it, eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"It's from an unknown number," he says. He reads the cryptic text out loud. "It says, 'please get your daughter to stop corrupting mine, thanks.'" Scott and Hope trade quizzical looks. "How'd they know I have a daughter?"

"You did lose all your contacts," she pointed out, amused. "Maybe it's someone you know. Or a wrong number." Scott shrugs, blocking the number and putting his phone away. He puts an arm around Hope's shoulders and they sit in peace for a moment.

"I haven't told you about how I went back in time and complimented Cap's ass, have I?"

"Scott."