Author's series note: This is a series of short (quite short in some cases) stories about a young girl growing up among the digi-destined we know and love. Kimiko belongs to me. Please don't use her. I've had a lot of questions on if she'll be digidestined. Right now, I don't know. Kimiko says yes, Ken says no. Ken's pulling the "older and wiser" crap, so right now, don't hold your breath. This series is m/m and f/f friendly, and same sex pairings may and do occur. In order, the stories are as follows:

The Dawning
Family Bonds
A Flash of the Past
Moment Interrupted NEW!
Secret Friends

The Dawning
by Terrie (striket@stu.beloit.edu)

Ken hung his feet off the edge of the bridge and skimmed his toes over the surface of stream. Wormmon cuddled up to him and he stroked the gentle digimon's head. "Do you think he'll be here soon?"

"I'm sure he will, Ken. But do go easy on him. You knew when you called that he's not the most punctual."

"I know. I just really want to talk to someone about this."

Wormmon looked up at him. "You could talk to me."

"I wish I could." Ken smiled down at his digimon. "But this is a human thing, and I think it's best that I talk to a human about it."

"I understand. But if that's the case, was Daisuke the best person to call?"

Ken laughed. "Maybe not. But he's a good friend. So he'll have to do."

As if those words had conjured him, Daisuke came running up, his face red and gasping for breath, "Ken, hey! I hope you haven't been waiting too long. I couldn't find one of my shoes. So, why'd you want to talk? And how come here instead of on the phone? If we'd talked on the phone, I wouldn't have wasted time looking for my shoe. Oh, hey, Wormmon!"

"I didn't want to talk on the phone, because I didn't want my parents to over hear us. I wouldn't want them to worry."

"Worry about what?"

"My mom's pregnant. She's going to have a baby."

Daisuke frowned. "Why would your parents worry about that? I thought that was a good thing."

"They wouldn't. They'd worry if they knew I was worried."

"Okay, now I'm confused. Your parents aren't worried, but they would be, because you're worried. Why are you worried? I think you'd be happy. You're gonna be a big brother!"

"What kind of big brother would I be?" Ken gestured around the park. "Welcome to the world, kid. And special for you, we have the Digimon Emperor."

"Former Digimon Emperor." Daisuke snorted. "I can't believe we're back to that. Get over it, Ken. Everyone else has."

"What?"

"Unless you're worried you're going to guilt the kid to death, you have nothing to worry about. C'mon, everyone screws up. You just... screwed up a bit bigger than most."

"I nearly destroyed an entire world."

"So? The Digital World is still there. Hey, Wormmon, you forgive Ken, right?"

"Of course I do." The tiny digimon climbed into Ken's lap.

"Wormmon has to forgive me. He's my digimon partner. He's biased."

"Well, Veemon forgives you. So does Hawkmon, and Armidillomon, and Gatomon, and Patamon. If you want anything more, we're going to have to take a survey."

"When I went to Primary Village, looking for Wormmon, so many of the digimon there hated me."

"Of course they did. You'd done some really bad stuff, and they weren't sure if the change was for real. But after everything you've done, no one could doubt it."

"Thanks."

There was a pause and Daisuke looked embarrased. "Ken... You're not Sam, if that's what you're worried about."

"How... How did you know about that?" Ken stared at him, unsure of what to think.

"I asked your mom once about the picture in the living room. She said that she sometimes thought he had to die for all four of you to really be a family. That before, it was the three of them and you left over. That's not going to happen this time."

"I hated him sometimes. Most of the rest of the time I was so angry with him. I blamed him for so much, for so long."

"What about the good times?" asked Daisuke.

"There were some. I was still pretty young when he died."

"So, use those as your model. Avoid the stuff that hurt you. Just love the squirt no matter who he or she is."

"That's good advice," said Ken.

"Yeah, now if only someone would give it to Jun."

The End