Chapter One: Tickets

"Come on Noriko, your flight's tomorrow!" Taichi all but shoved the two parents both into their apartment to pack, tickets in hand and Kei under an arm. He had bought them with his new, fancy, diplomat salary. (Hikari had joked about it since he had started the program but she never figured he would do something this absurd. Not that she could blame him.) and was not taking no for an answer. "Give me Kei's stuff and we'll get out of your hair so you can get up in the morning! It'll be fine!"

Kei giggled with delight. Noriko, however, was not amused. Hikari looked somewhere in between. Looking back, however, she couldn't exactly complain. It was free.

It was the twenty-second day of December and Kawada Noriko had just been planning to go home after taking Kei and Nyaromon to the bookstore and cuddle with Hikari to enjoy their short time off before all of the family dragged them for a Christmas Eve date night exchange.

Of course, Yagami Taichi, being the anxious big brother that he is, had to get involved. He saw her while walking home. (He knew she hated cars, he knew she hated big fancy transportation, so of course, what did he do? Invite Kei to sit in the shiny thing because he realistically couldn't walk to work. Manipulative jerk.) They were barely in the car for more than two minutes, little Kei being happily occupied by Agumon's claws and the faces the little dino was famous for making in the middle of serious meetings, when Taichi asked that question:

"How long has it been since you or Hikari has taken a vacation?"

Noriko stared at him for a moment, even as he continued his sedate drive. She'd never known anyone that wasn't a truck driver to go this slow. "A while," she finally said. "The school years are pretty taxing with the parents and all. I don't remember to be honest."

"And that's a problem," Taichi declared. He would have gestured dramatically if he wasn't driving, Noriko was positively sure of it. "You know what happens when Hikari overworks herself."

"Yeah, she cuddles with me and watches cheesy dramas for six hours, what's the problem?"

"The problem is that neither of you go out." Taichi paused at a stoplight. So they were going to get Hikari from the training she had been dragged to about the recent field trip choices for her grade. She was a kindergarten teacher, not a high-school coach. However, Hikari being Hikari, she had nodded eagerly and listened along. She was more than likely bored out of her skull right now. "Kei is six. The Digimon are around, heck, we're around, I fail to see the problem. You walk him home and he's six."

"I ask her and Mom to do it!" Kei chimed from the backseat. Taichi made a playful scowl into the mirror.

"Not helping, buddy."

Kei grinned wider and Taichi reflected that the kid really had inherited his mother's penchant for teasing him. Brat. "Look," he continued, focusing on the road again. "I know your jobs are important, and the family is important. I probably shouldn't be talking because Ayame and I are just trying for a kid."

"Probably shouldn't be talking about this with Kei around," Noriko interrupted, folding her arms.

Taichi, as was customary when he flt he was doing the right thing, talked over her. Ayame was so getting a text once she had some breathing room. "But you guys are pretty young." He mussed his short hair, probably wishing it was the floof he had grown up with and slowly trimmed. "And busy. You need to make some time for yourselves or you'll both be grumpy and I dunno about you but!" He winked at Kei. "I don't think Kei wants two grumpy mothers instead of just one."

Noriko grinned a little. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Whatever you want it to." He slowed in front of the parking structure. "So, come on. For Hikari."

Damn it. He always knew that would work. Bastard.

She let out a sigh. "What did you have in mind?"

Taichi smirked and the smug look meant he had been planning this for a while. She decided not to punch him though. Hikari wouldn't want to see her brother with a black eye, funny as it was. He pulled out his phone and started texting. "Mimi wanted Ayame and I to fly out to New York. Apparently she's working with Daisuke for a New Year's special on what noodles are healthy alternatives that are affordable. Unfortunately, Ayame's got a lot of health appointments for the two of us planned for next week and the rescheduling would be a nightmare."

Noriko blinked. "She got a timeslot on MSNBC?"

Taichi grinned, now watching human and dinosaur play mini magnetic checkers under Nyaromon's curious watch. "Somehow. I think Hiroaki-san knows somebody who works there and they were looking for someone to take the place of one of the older shows. So a few days before is her premiere, and she said she was hoping for a couple of us to be in the audience. I heard Michael's supposed to be there, and Wallace, at least. So you wouldn't be alone with Daisuke and Mimi."

"You make it sound like that's a bad thing." Noriko controlled her deadpan, if only so she could smile and wave at Hikari as she hurried to the car. How no idiots decided to drive by and hit her, she could not figure out.

Kei, at the sound of her footsteps and Nyaromon's swaying tail, looked up from the game and waved. Tailmon leaped from her shoulder and pulled the door open.

"Easy, Tailmon," Taichi joked. "We just had this thing cleaned."

"Don't give me incentive," grumbled the cat. "That meeting was a nightmare. If I have to hear one more complaint about the restrictions of water and the right headgear I will Neko Punch that person into the next century."

Hikari laughed and shook her head, sidling in after her cat. Kei would have jumped her if he wasn't, thankfully, wearing his seatbelt. Nyaromon had no way to avoid it, and naturally leaped into her lap. "I didn't expect an entourage."

"We're going home and packing," Noriko informed her. "Taichi insists we take a vacation."

"We're taking Kei and I bought tickets, if you need persuasion," Taichi offered. "Ken and Miyako were going to but Ayame wants practice."

Hikari laughed. "Give her my thanks, but Kei's not at the age where he wakes you up in the middle of the night anymore." She looked over at Kei. "Will you be okay being with Uncle and Auntie for a little while?"

Kei only grinned. "I'm a big tough Chosen, Mama!"

Hikari mussed his hair. "Indeed you are."

That settled that then.

A/N: FIRAGA YOUR SHIPPING TRASH HAS ARRIVED. *coughs* Anyway, I have finally started this fic that she dropped a headcanon of for me back in december. It inspired me a lot but I've now actually written it down and it will be short! Ish! Anyway, please read and review and if you aren't caught up with my sanctuary, go for it! Thanks!

Challenges: For the Pairing Diversity Boot Camp prompt 50: happily ever after (Noriko/Hikari), 28 days of love challenge day 28 write your current OTP, I Kissed a Girl and I liked it Challenge For the prompt: concerned, valentines and white day advent 2015 day 3. write about a 'true' and unyielding' love, and Diversity writing Challenge I16. Write a sidestory to one of your other stories.