Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.

Author's Notes: The next chapter of C&W should be up by tomorrow night. Until I get that one up, I won't post the next chapter of this story even though it's already typed up and ready to go. I call it writer's discipline... sort of. I don't know.

I love constructive criticism.

Enjoy!

Introduction to Parenthood

Lesson Two: Role Models

It was Saturday, and Minako was already up even though it was early. However, it was the weekend, and she was not up early so that she could go hang out with her friends or go enjoy the good weather that they were having. Instead, she was up so that she could test-drive her father's new computer software program. Standing at her bedroom door, watching Mina type away at the computer and click at random icons, Izzy wished he knew how to make her get out of the house. Remiyu and Mamio had already dropped by asking her to come play with promises of freeze tag at the park, but Mina had shaken her head.

Izzy knocked on the doorframe, startling a reaction out of his daughter. Her fingers stumbled on the keyboard as she jumped in her seat before she spun around to face her father, dark red curls bouncing as she moved. The nine-year-old smiled upon seeing who it was.

"Hey, Daddy! This new program is really neat!" she gushed, grinning up at him. "I've only got halfway through the first part, but so far it's great."

He smiled sadly down at her. "I'm glad that you like it."

"It's really complex, though," she admitted. "It's going to take me a while to get all the way through it, but that's okay. You're so smart, Daddy." She beamed up at him.

Izzy could not help the swell of pride that flooded through him at his daughter's declaration. He watched as she turned back to the computer, the green bows in her hair jumping with the movement of her head. She was also dressed in a darling brown sweater, green tank top, and brown skirt; it was obvious that today, she had been dressed by her mother. Unfortunately, nobody was even going to see it if she stayed inside all day.

"This part is particularly difficult to understand," she muttered, frowning slightly at the screen, before hastily adding, "But I don't want you to tell me!"

"Maybe you should take a break?" he offered, hopefully. "Go outside, play a bit, come back with a clear mind and new ideas?"

"No way!" Mina said as she began to play with several windows on the computer at once. "I'm already in and focused! I don't want to lose my concentration now!"

"If you keep figuring out all of my programs so quickly, you're going to start making me look bad," Izzy joked.

"I doubt that," she said, smiling. "Besides, this isn't an official test. I'm only doing this for fun!"

"Fun?" he repeated. His voice sounded a little forced and even a little helpless, but Minako did not seem to notice. "You could have fun with your friends."

"Why would I want to do that? I'm perfectly happy right here."

And she sounded genuinely curious that it almost broke Izzy's heart to hear it. He had been the same way at her age; curious and seeking answers through his pineapple laptop that he could never foresee parting with. At that age, he would have rather surfed the internet than spend an afternoon with his friends. It was a fault of his that had almost lost him his friends, and one that he would never want to see his middle child have to go through.

"So, why are you still here, Daddy? Didn't you have an important meeting to get to?" Mina asked, blinking up at her father, unaware of the inner turmoil going through his head.

"I did," he admitted, crossing the room so that he was standing by her desk. "But then I saw that you were going to be here all alone while your mother was at the store with your brother and your sister was at Kinta's, so I decided to stay."

She stared at him with those dark brown eyes of hers. "You stayed because of me?"

"That's right," he nodded. "I didn't want to leave you here all alone."

"I would have been fine," she said as though it was obvious.

"I'm sure you would have," he said.

There was a pause.

"I got it!" she cried, a wide grin on her face. "Phenomenal! The data stream is a series of complex computer codes that are flowing interchangeably in order for the program to work! Amazing, Daddy! You're a genius!"

"Thanks, Mina," Izzy said, smiling down at the top of his daughter's head. "Now, why don't you take a break and go outside to play with Remi and Mamio? I'm sure they would appreciate it."

Mina stared up at her father. "But… I want to figure this out… so that when I grow up, I can be just like you!"

The father's eyes widened. "You want to be just like me?"

She smiled. "Of course! Who else would I want to be like?"

"I d-don't know," he stammered, reeling from his daughter's revelation. "Maybe Tai… Matt… Joe, even…"

"No, Daddy! I want to be just like you!"

"Oh, Mina…" And with that, he pulled his daughter into his arms, overcome by sudden emotion. He kissed the top of her head and whispered, "I'm really honored that you would want to be like me, but there's no hurry, and your friends are waiting. Why don't you go outside and have some fun for a while? It's what I would have done at your age."

It wasn't true, but Izzy said it nonetheless.

Mina pulled away from her father to look up into his eyes as though searching for something. Finding it, she smiled and nodded.

"Okay, Daddy, if that's what will make you happy."

"It will," he promised.

With that, she skipped out of the house, but Izzy was not surprised when she turned up two hours later, melting ice cream in hand, and headed straight for the computer.

Next up: "Valuable Companion" featuring Cody and his son, Zakuro.