Seven years later…

A little auburn-haired girl with wide brown eyes played delightfully with a blond-haired, blue-eyed baby. Hikari watched them with a small smile on her face, as each of the children's mothers hustled around her, adjusting each imaginary wrinkle on her white dress, talking animatedly as the put the final touches on Hikari's ensemble. In Hikari's opinion, they were almost as bad as her mother, who had stepped out just a few minutes ago to check on the flowers for the eighth time in the past hour. Hikari didn't really know what the fuss was about (as she was the last Digidestined girl to get married), but she let them go ahead and fawn over everything, completely serene herself, despite the bustle around her. She was quite certain that as long as she was married to Takeru by the end of the day, nothing else mattered. But then she supposed, after all, she was her mother's only daughter, and her mother was entitled to fuss over her.

She turned her attention to her other best friend, Miyako, who was lounging in a chair. "Are you doing all right, Miyako?" she asked, grinning slightly.

"What on earth possessed you to want to get married outside in the summer?" Miyako demanded to know, fanning herself wildly, her feet propped on another chair in front of her.

"First of all, it's still technically spring as summer doesn't start until next week," Hikari pointed out logically. "And second, it's not actually that hot outside, all things considered."

"So says the woman who is not eight months pregnant!" Miyako said, putting heavy emphasis on the last bit, waving her hands around.

"It's not my fault you and Ken choose to have a baby around the same time as my wedding," Hikari said, trying to keep her tone falsely indignant, but not quite managing it as a grin spread widely across her lips.

"Pfft," was Miyako's reply. "All I'm saying is the least you and Takeru could do, after making me suffer like this, is to have a kid right away, so that our kids can be best friends." Which promptly sent Hikari into a fit of giggles, one that Mimi and Sora joined in quickly enough. Miyako all glared at them, huffing in her discomfort, but as she turned away, Hikari saw the hint of a smile on her face.

The little girl, dressed in a pretty pink dress with her hair pulled into pigtails tied with gold ribbons (Mimi had fully embraced the color scheme of gold and pink the minute Hikari had suggested it to her), was now pulling gently on Mimi's dress. "Excuse me, Mother," she said politely.

Mimi smiled down at her. "Yes, Akiko?" she asked.

"I must inform you, Mother, that Hiroto fell over," Akiko said, pointing over to where she had been playing with the baby boy. They all looked over at the baby boy, who was indeed now lying on his back, though he wasn't crying. He was just lying on the floor and laughing at the ceiling. Sora rolled her eyes, as she gave a long-suffering sigh before walking over to set her nine-month-old son back upright, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "too much time with Taichi". She then pulled out her phone and began sending a message.

Akiko looked at Hikari and gave her an awed look. "Prodigious," she whispered almost reverently. "You look just like a princess!" Hikari covered her smile at the three-year-old girl's use of her father's favorite phrase with her hand. Akiko was a very bizarre, startling combination of her parents. She was terribly adorable, but it was rather disconcerting sometimes to hear her say "Look! There's a rainbow! Did you know that rainbows are a refraction of light through a medium? I wish I had a rainbow pony." or "I love strawberry pie. You know, the first nine digits of pi are 3.14159265. What's your favorite pie?" all in the same breath.

Hikari had always thought that it was a rather odd twist of fate that Koushiro and Mimi had been the first of the "Digidestined couples" to get married over four years ago, seeing as they were the last to start dating. Sora and Yamato had followed them two years later, with Miyako and Ken a little less than a year after them. Hikari smiled once again, still ridiculously happy that it was finally her turn.

"How's my brother-in-law?" Taichi asked, flopping into a chair and propping up his feet and resting his hands behind his head, after Yamato stepped out of the room, answering a message from Sora. Taichi hadn't really changed much at all; with his head still covered in the same bushy hair as it always had (Takeru had seen the baby pictures to prove it). Takeru had been there the one time that Sora had suggested that he cut it. Taichi had stated vehemently that they may have taken his goggles, but no one was going to take his hair from him. At which point, Yamato had pointed out that Taichi had given his goggles away to Daisuke all those years ago, so he couldn't really blame anyone for that. Subsequently, Taichi had ignored him and said that it didn't matter, he wasn't going to cut his hair…ever.

"You know, we're not actually married yet," Takeru said to him somewhat dryly, but with a wide grin on his face.

Taichi waved his hand at him and made a dismissing sound. "Technicalities," he said. "You guys have been married practically since you met."

Takeru blinked at him, a little surprised that it was Taichi of all people who was saying that. "Taichi, I wasn't even in love with your sister then," Takeru explained in a tone one might use on a small child.

Taichi sat up and his hands fell to his sides as he frowned. "Why not?" he asked defensively, as if it was a capital offense that anyone wouldn't be in love with his sister.

"We were eight," Takeru said, slightly amused.

"Age is just a number when it comes to love," Taichi said airily, relaxing again as he waved his hand again in Takeru's direction in a dismissive manner once more.

"We were eight," Takeru repeated heavily, placing a hard emphasis on the last word.

"Besides," Taichi continued as if Takeru hadn't spoken at all. "You had that whole destiny thing going for you."

Before he could Takeru could ask Taichi what in the world he was talking about, Yamato walked in carrying Hiroto in one arm and the baby's bag in the other. The little boy gave a wide smile when he saw Takeru, but began waving his arms frantically and laughing when he spotted Taichi. Taichi, grinning quite widely himself, stood up and plucked Hiroto from Yamato's arms. He threw him up into the air and caught him, causing Hiroto to squeal giddily.

"You know, seeing as he's my nephew and all, I think I should be offended that he likes you better than me," Takeru remarked dryly.

Taichi made a dismissing sound. "Like anything could actually offend you, Takeru," he said. "Besides, not even kids can resist my dazzlingly charm," he finished, throwing Hiroto up again, causing another fit of giggles.

"There's that," Yamato said, with half a grin. "Or he just sees you as a giant toy more than an actual person. He gave the same reaction to his stuffed Gabumon the other day."

Takeru laughed at Taichi's indignant frown, especially when it got even deeper when Yamato pulled out the stuffed Gabumon from the bag on his shoulder and Hiroto waved and giggled frantically when he saw it. Yamato handed it over and Hiroto gripped it tightly to himself. The toy had been a gift from Mimi when Hiroto was born, having designed and sewn it herself. She had made a stuffed Palmon for her own daughter, Akiko, and Takeru knew, through Hikari of course, that she was working on a Hawkmon for Miyako and Ken's daughter for when she was born sometime next month. Takeru's mind was suddenly taken back to a memory of a train, Yokomon, and another baby, which made a smile creep up on his lips.

"The girls are ready," Yamato was saying, bringing him out of his memories. "I think we'd better start soon before Mom has a heart attack. When I passed her in the hall, she was muttering to herself."

"At least she's not as bad as my mom," Taichi pointed out in between making funny faces at Hiroto.

"That's true," Yamato conceded. "When I went to rescue Hiroto from Akiko, she almost attacked me to straighten my tie and fiddle with my jacket."

"How was Hikari?" Takeru asked, his voice casual, but all of the sudden he felt nervous.

Yamato chuckled. "She looked like she was barely containing her laughter at her mother's behavior," he said easily. "Honestly, I think every other woman we know is more worried about this wedding than Hikari."

"It's the destiny thing," Taichi said, nodding sagely.

"I know," Yamato agreed, surprising Takeru. "They've been married since, like what—the day they met?"

"We were eight," Takeru interjected more resigned than anything else, but feeling the need to get his point across, nonetheless.

They were interrupted from saying anymore by the arrival of the rest of the Digidestined men, except for Iori, who had all been pressed into work by one or both of the wedding mothers soon after they arrived that morning. "Man, those boxes were heavy," Daisuke said, rubbing his arm. "What are we going to eat? Gotsumon?"

"They actually weren't that bad if you carried them one at a time," Ken commented.

"I wanted to get finished faster," Daisuke said defensively.

"Considering that it took you twice as long to complete the task carrying two boxes instead of one, I'd say your plan was rather ineffective," Koushiro pointed out logically.

Hoping to stop what could possibly become a full-blown argument (thank goodness Miyako wasn't there or it might have already been one), Takeru asked, "Where's Iori?"

"He went to get Gatomon and Patamon," Koushiro answered, but then he frowned. "I'd have thought he would have gotten back by now."

As if by magic, the door opened and Iori walked in with Patamon in his arms, who flew off to take his spot on Takeru's head. He looked a little disheveled and slightly out of breath. "Sorry, we're late," Iori said. "There was a slight Numemon problem on our way back to the gate. I already dropped Gatomon off at the girls' room."

"Let me guess," Yamato said at that point. "Mrs. Yagami attacked you?"

Iori shuffled nervously. "Well, I wouldn't say attacked exactly…"

"I would," Taichi said with a snort. "Now that we're all here, let's get this show on the road," he finished, enthusiastically, causing Hiroto to go into another fit of giggles.

Gatomon and Patamon watched the proceedings below, safely hidden in a tree close by. Gatomon, with her better hearing, knew exactly what was going on. So she was forced to tell Patamon exactly what was going on, or suffer his nagging every five seconds.

Takeru and Hikari had decided to minimize the wedding as much as they possibly could (it was their mothers, more than them, who, it seemed to Gatomon at least, had invited everyone the two had ever known since kindergarten). So they had decided to only have one person each stand beside them during the ceremony. Takeru had chosen Yamato, while Hikari had chosen Miyako, who was actually sitting rather than standing. Gatomon thought back to the conversation in the dressing room just before the ceremony.

Miyako had asked Hikari if she was absolutely sure that she wanted her to do it (given that she was eight months pregnant and it was uncomfortable to stand for ten minutes let alone for a whole wedding ceremony). But Hikari insisted that she wanted Miyako, saying that she didn't care if Miyako had to sit the whole time, she wanted Miyako to be the one. Besides the fact that no one else would fit in the dress now (it was pink, in going along with the décor).

Gatomon snickered when she spotted the Izumi family. Akiko sat on Koushiro's lap, with her hands clasped in front of her chest, gazing at the wedding couple with stars in her eyes. What made Gatomon snicker was that Mimi was exactly the same.

She spotted the other child, Hiroto, dozing on Hiroaki's shoulder (the man had arrived just barely in time to not be called late). She smiled wistfully as she returned her gaze back to the wedding couple, whispering to Patamon what was happening now.

Sora smiled as she watched Takeru and Hikari from across the room. They looked so happy together. Yamato walked over to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. She looked at him and noticed a certain something was missing. Or rather, a certain someone. "Where's Hiroto?" she asked. Then her eye narrowed suspiciously as she added, "You didn't leave him with Akiko, did you?" The little girl had just come up to her not ten minutes ago asking about him. For all her intelligence, she was still just three years old and not high on the list of people Sora trusted to look after her son.

"Relax," Yamato said soothingly. "He's with my mom." He followed her gaze to Takeru and Hikari. "So I guess everything turned out okay in the end," he said.

Sora nodded. "I was just thinking the same thing. We've all been through so much, it's almost hard to believe that we can all have this happy ending."

"Ending? I hardly think so," Taichi said as he walked up to the pair. "Soon there will be little Takerus and Hikaris getting into just as much trouble as their parents ever did which we will have to go rescue because despite being two of the nicest people in any world, they sure do rack up the enemies."

"I suppose you're right," Sora sighed, thinking of just how true Taichi's words were. "But we'll get through it, like we always do."

"Well, we are the Digidestined," Taichi said with a grin.

Final Notes: Thanks to all my wonderful readers, old and new.