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Why is Scott back?

"Basically, Thanos snapped half the population of the universe in half and then destroyed the stones. The Avengers disbanded and I moved to this nice private island. Tea?" Emily explains, pouring him a cup. It's insane to think that she can say it so casually now.

Scott runs his fingers through his hair, "Five years passed? Five... oh geez. And everyone? They're all just..."

"I'm sorry. I know it's hard. There are some support groups you could try. It'll take a while to adjust but it gets easier." She weakly suggests, she knows she doesn't really have a place to talk. She took the losses really hard. One could say she took it to the extreme.

Scott stands abruptly. "That's it? You've just given up? You're accepting this?! There has to be some way-"

"There isn't." Emily cuts off. She can't get caught up in all of this again. "We tried but the Stones are gone. It took a long time for me to realize that this was permanent and that they're not coming back. I went through every simulation. It's not possible."

"But look at me. I haven't aged a day. It was only five hours for me."

"Maybe you just stopped aging."

"No, listen-"

"Scott, people have moved on with their lives. The worst thing you could do is give them false hope after all this time. You need to accept that. Everyone else has."

Scott stares at her in silence, this isn't the same girl who knows. "What happened to you? You used to be so outgoing."

"I finally have something to lose. So forgive me if I don't want to throw everything away on the whim of time travel. I can't. I won't."

"Are your cats that important?"

"No, but my kids are," she snaps. The tension in the air thickens tenfold. Emily lets out a small sigh, the smallest smile crawling on her face at the thought of them. Her children. "Twins. They're four years old."

They're her whole world. She'd do anything for them.

Scott blinks wordlessly. He sputters out a weak response, "Oh. Y-you... you had a ...aren't you like fifteen?"

"Try twenty-three. But you understand why I can't risk it. My kids are everything to me. I won't apologize for that."

"Holy... you have kids. Who's the dad?"

Emily's eyes widen. Her face flushes bright red. "Um... okay moving on. Point is, my answer is no."

"What if we brought them back to right now? Five years in the future."

"You're not hearing me. We fought. We lost and I almost died. The only reason I'm not in the grave is because of literal divine intervention. That's not something I want to do again anytime soon. But I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll go ahead and drop you and your van off at the Avengers' facility. You can go ahead and risk everything but leave me and my kids out of it, 'kay?"

Emily does just that. She can't risk her kids. It's selfish, she knows that but she just can't. She's found happiness on that island. It's not something she can just throw away. Even if they could everyone back. Like Wanda, Shuri... Bucky. God, she misses them. Damn, Scott coming around and stirring up old memories. She's had her adventure and she doesn't need something new. If she did it, she has everything to lose. Everything. That's what Scott doesn't get. It's not five years ago where she could just run off to anywhere she felt like doing whatever she wanted.

She can't. She cannot do this. She needs to let this go.

"Kids! Come inside, time for lunch!" Emily opens the door, yelling out. A few cats turn their heads in question. "No, not you guys. Go away."