Well guys, here's the end. Hope you guys liked this! Thank you, every single person who ever reviewed either story!

If you really like this, try a fic I've started called Digimon D-Force. It's got a bit of a future-DigiDestined twist like this, and I wanna know whether I should continue it or not. Gimme some ideas!

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Do you?

The Future's Course

Epilogue: Tying a Few Loose Ends

With a flash, Kari and Hikaru appeared in the stark-white hospital room in England. The sun was shining, it was about 2:30 PM by the clock on the wall. Kari groped for the light, and clicked it on when she found it.

The blonde-haired boy lay motionless in the bed. His eyes were closed and he was still in the disgruntled blue school uniform he'd been wearing the night he was found. Hikaru leaned forward, interested. "Dad?" he asked curiously.

"Quiet now." Kari held him back a moment.

Taking the cap off the bottle, she approached T.K.'s bedside, careful not to disturb any of the equipment around him. She paused a moment, looking lovingly at his face, then lifted the bottle to his lips and poured it in.

There was a beep form the computer. "Kari!" someone called.

She looked back. A DigiPort had opened, showing a transmission of Izzy and the younger DigiDestined, crowded around Izzy's laptop. "Guys!" she gasped. "Hey, what's up?"

"Something important." Izzy's eyes had a strange look to them. "It turns out there's something else you have to do to reconnect the spirit with his body."

"What?" Kari asked, leaning over the screen. "What is it?"

The others started snickering to each other, laughing to themselves. "Well… You've gotta give him a little of your energy to wake him up." Izzy explained, glaring at the others over his shoulders.

"So?" Kari looked at the others on-screen. Hikaru stuck his head up to see better. "What's so funny? How do I do it?"

Yolei burst out with the answer: "You gotta kiss the boy, lover-girl!"

Kari froze, face turning a deep shade of red. "Kiss?" she asked slowly. "What is this, sleeping beauty?"

"Well, the mouth is the most vulnerable place to energy transfer." Izzy shrugged, pushing Yolei back out of the way. "And there's really not much problem, is there? I mean, he is your boyfriend."

Kari, still red, glanced around at the boy, still lying still. Then she turned back. "If you're playing a trick on me, you'll be sorry!"

"Well, go on!" Yolei urged, leaning forward and pushing Izzy down out of view. "Plant one on him!"

Kari glanced around another moment, then spotted something useful. She disappeared from view, then re-appeared with an empty folder. This she set across the screen, so the others couldn't peak.

She heard a couple of them muffling an "Aw, man!" and trying to see around it as she reached her boyfriend's side.

"Hikaru, look away for a sec." she said, glancing back. "You're too young to see this."

Hikaru nodded and sat down in the corner, waiting. Kari took a deep breath. With no one watching, she had no problems with leaning down and kissing him gently, in fact relishing the long-sought-for feeling of his lips against hers.

As she pulled away from him, his eyes slowly opened. He groaned a moment, then gazed up sleepily. "Hey Kari-mama." he whispered.

Kari's eyes lit up. "T.K.…You're alright!"

"Yea, dad!" Hikaru exclaimed, running forward. "How do you feel? Back in one piece?"

T.K. sat up and rubbed his head wearily. "Yeah, I think I'm back to normal." then he smiled down at the young boy, scooping him up. "Come 'er you little squirt."

He swept Hikaru up onto the bed and tickled him under the ribs. The little boy laughed and giggled and squirmed until he managed to wriggle away and scramble to the floor, still laughing.

The door opened suddenly. The group looked up, at the two surprised faces that had entered the room. "My god…T.K.!"

T.K. grinned, looking up through his bangs. "Hey mom." he shrugged. "Long time no see."

Nancy stared at him a moment, then let out a stuttering sob and flew at her son, pulling him into a hug so tight he could hardly breath. "Oh, my boy…" she was sobbing over and over, switching back and forth from English to Japanese as she did. "My baby… My little boy…"

The nurse, quite wisely, took a few steps back out the door and then ran for a doctor.

"Mom…" T.K. groaned, good-naturedly embarrassed. "I'm okay…Really…Not in front of Kari…"

That brought Ms. Takaishai around. She released her son, turning to Kari and Hikaru. "Kari dear…" she whispered. "How in the world did you get here?!"

"It's a…long story…" Kari muttered sheepishly.

"Yeah, long story…" Hikaru giggled nervously.

Nancy looked down in curiosity. "Who's this little one?" she asked, leaning down for a closer look. "He reminds me of you, T.K.…"

T.K. and Kari both laughed nervously. "Really? Well how about that…" Kari giggled, hiding behind a blush and pulling Hikaru back a bit. "This is my…cousin! Yeah, my cousin, Hikaru…T.K. met him before you left, and he took a liking to him!"

Hikaru, at the same time, was smiling serenely and trying not to look as nervous as he was. Because of the…well, incidents with Daemon in his own time, he'd never had a chance to meet either of his own grandmothers or grandfathers. (As a matter of interest, the only DigiDestined family members to make it through Daemon's reign in one piece were Cody's mother, Izzy's father, both of Mimi's parents, Jim, Jun, and Yolei's eldest sister, Naomi. Mr. Motamiya actually lived through it, but he lost an arm in the process)

"Oh." Ms. Takaishai nodded. "I see.…but that still doesn't explain how you got here."

Before anyone could answer, the computer started flashing and beeping, bright blue light shining out from behind the folder. Everyone stared, then Hikaru grinned. "That's my signal to come home." he explained, rising. "We gotta go now…bye!"

He scooped Roarmon up and gave Kari a kiss on the cheek before running back to the computer. When he lifted the folder away the light was blinding, and when it cleared they were both gone.

~ * ~ * ~

"Well well well." Cosmosmon laughed, gazing down through the portal in her staff. "Looks like they didn't need my help this time after all, eh, Azulongmon?"

The unclassified Mega Digimon sighed, curling his tail around them both. "I concede, Cosmosmon." he admitted. "You were right. Those kids can take care of themselves."

Time's eternal guardian laughed, leaning back against the keeper of hope and light. "And to think, big, powerful Pandoramon beaten by sweet little Roarmon. He's a quick thinker, he is."

"Gets it from his father, of course." Azulongmon said, a deep laugh crossing his voice. "His mother lives too far in the past…"

"Oh, really?" Cosmosmon sat up and punched him playfully. "And where do you think he figured out that to defeat Pandoramon you have to destroy the box? It was his hidden knowledge of time and history, which you know he got from me."

The dragon guardian laughed and the two were in silence for a moment. Then, rubbing her head against him affectionately, Cosmosmon spoke again. "It's nice to see our boy growing up, isn't it Azu-papa?"

Azulongmon smiled. Neither had ever been able to explain, at least satisfactorily, the birth of that little cat. And, only being able to get together twice a year or so, they'd decided that he needed a human partner…to take care of, and to take care of him. And it wasn't by coincidence that Hikaru had been the one. A child of Hope and Light…the power of those two could be unimaginable.

"It is nice." he sighed. "Very nice indeed."

~ * ~ * ~

There was a flash through the hospital's registered DigiPort. The nurse manning it turned back in surprise. No one was supposed to come through at this time of day!

A little blonde-haired boy and a small white Digimon sat sprawled on the ground below the port. The nurse recognized him immediately. "Why…You're the Takaishai boy!" she gasped. "Dr. Kido! Hikaru's back!"

But before the blue-haired doctor could respond, Hikaru was on his feet and running for the room he'd left. "Mom! Dad!"

Kari stepped out, dropped to her knees and pulled her son into a hug. "Hikaru… You did it!" she whispered, stroking his hair lovingly. "Oh Hikaru…"

Her husband, finally awake after all this time, appeared in the doorway. "Dad!" Hikaru cried happily, breaking away from his mother and wrapping his arms around his father.

"Hikaru…" T.K. whispered, smiling broadly. "We're so proud of you, son!"

"Hikaru…"

The father and son separated at the familiar voice. Carie was sitting up in her bed, smiling warmly at her little brother. Hikaru bubbled with a rare happiness. "Big sister!" he cheered, running to her for a hug.

Carie gripped her little brother lovingly. Gatamon and Roarmon rubbed against each other. "You did it…" Carie whispered. "Thank you, Hikaru…You saved me…"

"Anytime, Carie." Hikaru whispered, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "Now we'll be together…Forever and ever…"