Bit of a filler chapter to be honest, sorry for the rambling. But be prepared for Mimi to reveal some home truths about her career and personal life!

shir .pinhas. 1 - Thank you so much for your reviews, hope you enjoy this chapter :)

CHAPTER EIGHT – Home Truths

Tai sat on the side of his bed, running his fingers through his wild mop of dark hair, his mind racing over the events of the previous day. He hadn't slept; just lain awake for most of the night wondering if Mimi was suffering from the same bout of insomnia he was being plagued with. After some thought, he highly doubted it. Considering what she's been through, she must be exhausted, he thought. Bringing himself to his feet, he walked over to the window and wearily pulled open the curtains, letting the harsh morning sunlight flood into his bedroom. He winced and turned suddenly, half blinded by the piercing rays after spending the night staring at the pitch black ceiling, deep in thought. He dropped his hands to reveal a figure standing in the doorway. At first glance, he could have sworn it was Kari, not really noticing the height difference, and was about to launch into a lecture about letting herself into his apartment all the time when his eyes began to come into focus and his senses returned to him and he found that he was faced with none other than…

'Meems?' Tai rubbed his eyes and stared at her.

'Hmm.' To say she looked dreadful would have been an understatement. But she was up and dressed, evidently, though her hair was lank and straggly, pulled up onto her head in a scruffy ponytail, her skin a ghostly shade of white, and her eyes proving to Tai that his theory of her sleeping like a baby had been horribly wrong, the dull grey circles under her eyes giving the game away. But despite her dishevelled and frankly, tragic appearance, Tai found himself looking at a woman who was holding herself together considerably well, but then, that's who she was. Who she had always been. Ever since they were kids she had been strong. Sweet and a little naive, but a fighter all the same. She had surprised the rest of the group when her quiet, girlish, shy but somewhat spoiled and bratty mask had slipped when they had first found themselves in danger to reveal a determined, clever child, fiercely loyal to her friends and skilled in the planning of battles, often helping Tai and the others put together successful plans of both attack and defence back in the Digital World. They all knew she was a fighter. But they also knew that under all of the bravery and occasional sass there was a frightened little girl, desperate to do right by the people around her.

Now, as Tai stood before Mimi Tachikawa, a grown woman of twenty eight, he wished he could hug that little girl until every last ounce of fear and uncertainty left her.

'You haven't slept,' he remarked cautiously.

'What was your first clue?' she laughed. But it sounded hollow, meaningless. He didn't answer, so she continued. 'Thank you for letting me stay here, Tai.'

'Stay as long as you need, Meems, it's no problem,' he replied. 'What are friends for?'

Mimi looked at him and smiled weakly in an attempt to hide the fact that his obvious use of the word 'friends' had made her feel as though she had been punched in the stomach, feeling taken aback by the intensity of her own feelings towards the man in front of her. She reminded herself that she was probably feeling vulnerable and slightly dependant on him, since he was the one she had first opened up to on that day in the park, and the one who had taken her in and made her feel a little safer when her home was turned into something straight out of a psycho movie. The memories of the day before were still fresh and painful, and she shivered at the thought of them.


Tai had instructed Izzy to take the rest of the day off, drive Mimi back to his apartment and to stay with her until he got back. He and Matt then returned to her house, which was still cordoned off with police tape, and after having gained permission from the police themselves (which Tai had thought ridiculous), salvaged the things they could. They found a few undamaged items of clothing, pairs of shoes and a coat. Being careful not to move too much in case something was damaged, and paranoid that they would unknowingly tamper with evidence, they hauled what they could into a few boxes, picked up her pills (Tai recognised the brand on the label immediately) and hastily returned to their cars.

Upon arriving back at the apartment, the two men were confronted by a sweating Izzy, who was pacing the kitchen, a pained expression in his eyes and worry etched onto his face.

'Izzy? What is it, where's Mimi?' Matt dropped the box he was carrying and pushed his way past Izzy into the living room, where Mimi was sitting on an armchair, her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms wrapped around her calves, and her face buried in her sweater.

'Mimi?' Matt sat on the arm of the chair and put his arm around her, hoping that she would feel better if she knew someone was physically here for her, and silently begging that he wouldn't startle her or cause her to freak out. To his relief, she fell into his side, and held onto a fistful of shirt on his stomach. Pulling her closer to him, he kissed her head and sighed.

'You're ok, Mimi. Everything's going to be ok. Everything's going to be ok. Everything's going to be ok.' He repeated the words over and over again, rocking her slowly and occasionally hushing her sobs.

Back in the kitchen, Tai looked at Izzy in wonder. Izzy kept his gaze on the floor, sheepishly.

'Seriously?' Tai stared at him. Izzy suddenly looked him and jumped to his own defense.

'Hey! I didn't know what to do, I panicked, it happens!' he snapped.

'How, pray tell me, did you manage to get yourself this worked up over an upset female? You know, instead of practically having a panic attack, you could have given her a hug or talked to her about something, anything, because you might have ended up coming off a little less neurotic than you are now.' Tai looked at his nervous friend and couldn't stop the smirk from forming on his face, knowing that Izzy's state had been caused by the fact that he literally had no idea how to deal with human beings, let alone women.

'Whatever,' Izzy grunted. 'Just give me five minutes to pull myself together.'

Tai snorted and made his way to the living room. Upon spotting Matt with his arm around the pretty girl, he felt a pang of… what was that? Jealousy? Bitterness? Either way, it made him feel uncomfortable and he didn't like it. He dropped the box of Mimi's shoes on the table and put a hand on Matt's shoulder.

'You can get off home for a while if you want, pal,' he said. 'I've got this.' Tai said quietly, hoping that his hints weren't painfully obvious.

'I'll stick around I think,' replied Matt. Damn. 'But I'm going outside for a smoke, keep this one company for a while, will ya?' He gestured to Mimi. The girl in question lifted her head from his shirt and looked him in the eye. Her face was puffy, she looked tired and her cheeks were tear-stained and blotchy.

'I don't need looking after,' she snapped.

'The big girl act won't wash with us now, sweetheart,' said Matt, trying to prise her fist from his shirt as gently as he could. 'We're not letting you out of our sights until that sick bitch is found guilty and locked away, isn't that right, Tai?'

'Uhh… yeah, sure. Go and smoke Matt, we'll be alright, won't we Meems?'

'I'll be alright when you both stop being patronising,' she muttered, bringing back up her defences, suddenly a little embarrassed that she had let her guard down so horrifically, but secretly feeling grateful for the protection of both Tai and Matt, the two strongest men she knew.

'I heard that,' said Matt, finally managing to free himself from her death grip. He headed toward the doors leading onto the balcony, pulling out his cigarettes. 'And it's for your own good, princess.'

Mimi got to her feet and sighed, walked over to the mirror spanning the length of the wall opposite her and smiled to herself. Trust Tai. He can probably just about see all of his hair at the same time in this, she thought. Staring at her reflection, she squinted.

'What are you doing?' asked Tai, smirking at her expression.

'If I kind of squint, I don't look so tragic,' she replied. Rubbing at her cheeks, she groaned. 'When did my life get so shit?'

'It's not so bad.' Tai knew it sounded ridiculous and braced himself for the barrage of abuse he was expecting.

'Not so bad? NOT SO BAD? My house got broken into and most of my belongings have been destroyed. I might as well burn the place to the ground, not to mention the fact that some twisted bitch is holding a grudge against me for NOTHING! I have nothing here now! I got none of this shit back in New York, I shouldn't have even come back to this hole!' She gasped, catching her breath and holding back the powerful sob in her throat. Tai flinched, her last comment stinging him.

'Then why did you?' he challenged.

'Because I missed my home,' she replied. 'Turns out I probably shouldn't have.' Tai felt himself stiffen and suddenly an unexpected feeling of anger rose inside him.

'If New York was so fucking perfect, why don't you just get the next flight out of this hole?' he spat, instantly feeling guilty when Mimi's hand flew to her mouth. 'Mimi, I didn't mean…'

'You just don't get it, do you?' she yelled. 'I hated it there! Yeah, I might not have been targeted by freaks, but I was surrounded by fake people, with no one to talk to, my friends were superficial and only out for themselves, my father worked twenty four fucking seven, and only when I began to think my life could be a lot worse, when I started to relax and enjoy what I could, my mother goes and dies on me and my boyfriend, the one person I had expected to console me, pushes me away and destroys my confidence, made me feel like I was jack shit to him! I lost interest in my career and I was isolated, I had no one, Tai, NO ONE and my life sucked so bad I wondered if it was even worth living, and it was Matt who made me see sense, he doesn't even know it, but if it wasn't for him listening to me rant on the phone every week I wouldn't have left that idiot and I'd probably still be there wishing that I was dead! Now do you understand why I wanted to come back? Do you?'

Tai stood and stared in shock at the beautiful tragedy standing in front of him gasping for breath. And there it was. All laid out for him. And for herself. For ages, she had sugar coated her life in an attempt to not feel depressed about it. Convincing herself that her life wasn't great, but she had things a lot of other people didn't. A busy social life, a well-paid career, and though she had all but lost faith in her looks thanks to her dirtbag ex-boyfriend, she couldn't have been too bad because they had got her this far, and she could be thankful for it. In reality, attending the social functions she had once lived for and the job she used to enjoy so much had ultimately become extremely stressful. And after her mama had died, she became so unbearably isolated that her father had all but forced her to see a shrink. She struggled to open up to him, already believing that no one cared about any of her problems, and that she had bought many of them upon herself anyway. So she kept quiet for the most part, only talking about the grief she felt at losing her beloved mama, and blocking out the mess her life had become, telling herself that there were people going through worse. It had been hard to believe, but the more she told herself that, the more she started to believe it. It was only now, while she was feeling vulnerable and had Tai pushing her buttons that she had allowed it to spew out like word vomit, and looking at Tai's wordless expression, she realised that she was just as shocked as he was. She hadn't even thought about it, pushed it to the back of her mind and yet there it was now, clear as day. She had been in denial this whole time. Her adult life really had sucked.

'Oh my God.'

Tai and Mimi jumped as they turned to face a startled Matt, standing with his mouth half open, staring at Mimi in astonishment.

'Matt, I didn't see you…' Mimi started. He held up his hand to stop her.

'Why didn't you say anything?' he asked. 'We talked on the phone every week, I knew you were stressing about things, but I had no idea you felt so low.'

'I…'

'Why couldn't you tell me? This whole time I was talking to a woman who didn't feel like she wanted to be alive anymore and I had NO idea! Oh god, I'm the worst friend in the world,' he put his hands on the back of his neck and shut his eyes.

'No, Matt… You were amazing. I didn't say anything because I suck at opening up, I didn't want you thinking I was weak, but knowing that you were there if I ever did crack was all I needed from you. And I knew I had you, but it was so difficult knowing that you were so far away. That was when I realised that you, all of you were here, my real friends, and I was just desperate to come back, to try and startyet another new life without the loneliness. I had no idea something this shitty would happen to me here. I just can't seem to escape bad luck, it follows me everywhere.'

'Meems.' Tai walked over to Mimi and put his hand on her arm. She looked at him.

'I love you both, you know that? And I since I've been back in Japan I've thanked my lucky stars every day that I have you all, and that none of you are thousands of miles away any more. Which is why it feels weird to be asking for a moment on my own. Please?'

Matt stood with one hand on his hip and the other near his face, chewing on his thumbnail. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed.

'Tai, we can go in the kitchen, Meems can have a quiet moment in here.'

'No.' Tai's voice was stern.

'No?' Matt and Mimi spoke simultaneously.

'Matt, I'll be with you in a sec, Mimi, come with me,' he offered, taking her hand and pulling her down the hallway. He pushed open the door to the spare room and gestured for her to sit on the bed. He gave her the remote control for the TV and turned back towards the door. Mimi looked at him in confusion.

'Tai, I don't under…'

'You're staying here. For as long as you need, you're staying with me because I don't want you staying in some hotel on your own. Make yourself at home.' He kissed her forehead and left, shutting the door behind him quietly.

She didn't leave the room for the rest of the night.


'What are you doing up? It's early,' he remarked, looking at the clock on his bedside table.

'Eight's not that early. I couldn't sleep, and I've had all night to think about stuff… and there's no point in moping. Are you at work today?'

'Not today, Izzy's got me covered.'

'You don't have to stay with me, you know.'

'I'm going to anyway. I wouldn't feel comfortable knowing you were here on your own.'

'Ok, Mr Stubborn. You can help me today, then.' Mimi tilted her head and smiled feebly.

'With what?'

'I'm going home.'

'No you're not. You can't, the police are probably still looking for stuff. Besides, why would you want to?' Tai looked at her as if she was an alien.

'Actually, I called about an hour ago. They've got everything they need and I can go and start to clean up the warzone I like to call my house.' She'd thought about it all night and came to the decision. The sooner she started, the sooner it would be finished. She didn't know if she would feel ok when the time came to move back in. But she'd cross that bridge when she came to it. She turned to leave the room when Tai interrupted her.

'I have paint,' he said suddenly.

'What?' she turned back to look on him, a confused smile playing on her lips.

'Paint. I have… I can paint over the paint… the red paint,' he stammered.

Amused, she nodded at him. 'Ok. Why are you acting so weird?'

'I dunno. I want to help you, I'm just not sure how.' He shuffled on his feet, feeling like he was twelve years old again.

'You're doing more than enough. Thank you.' She kissed his cheek and left, shutting the door behind her. Tai stood rooted to the ground, staring at the spot she had been standing in, then shaking his head and making for his closet to make himself presentable.

In the hallway, Mimi leaned with her back against the wall. She sighed deeply, wishing that her newly developed feelings for the man behind the door she was leaning next to would stop complicating things. She had enough to deal with right now. Make it all better Tai, she pleaded in her head. Make me happy again.