Author's Note: For a change pace, this chapter is mostly dialogue with some poignant silence. Here's hoping it doesn't suck. Also, continued thanks to my reviewers. Your speed and diligence would make a super hero proud. And if that doesn't make sense, forgive me. I've been reading a lot of Batman fanfic lately, so I'm a bit off.

Theme Ten: Quiet

"So Suzie-"

"Shuichon," she corrected dully, looking at him without any discernable expression on her face. "Not Suzie. Only my family and friends can call me that." The way she said the word friends implied very heavily that he was not one of her friends. He was nothing more than a psychologist to her. And she didn't just roll her eyes at the offer of candy, she gave him a look that implied he was an idiot. "No, thanks. I'm not three." The unspoken implication that he was the immature one cut through the room like a throwing star.

He shifted in his chair. "Shuichon," he amended. "How do you feel about what Rinchei did?"

"He'll be fine." She replied thoughtfully. "He has Jaarin. It's going to be alright. They're…"

The psychologist, Dr. Yamada, looked genuinely interested. "They're what?" he asked, and for a moment she met his eyes and saw something in there. He cared. He wanted to understand the family to make sure this didn't happen again. So she continued.

"They're partners, like Henry and Terriermon, Lopmon and I, like our parents are for each other. They used to be, anyway. They were close. Now they are again. So it'll be okay." She looked at the table solemnly. "So long as they have each other they'll make it."

"Do you think it was them not being close that caused this?" He had avoided using the words suicide attempt ever since Rinchei was admitted to the hospital. Those words sound too clinical and after school special. He used other terms. He treated this like it mattered. Perhaps that was why Suzie had agreed to talk to him at all. He wanted only to stop this from reoccurring. "What happened to them that divided them?"

"It's not something I can share. That's their secret."

A sigh. Frustrated, he looked at her imploringly. "Suzie – I mean, Shuichon. Please. I'm just trying to help, but I need to know what's going on."

"It's a secret."

She was not as mature as he thought she was. He could feel the way she was beginning to back up, avoid letting him in. For a few moments she had let him have a glimmer of the truth, phrased awkwardly and childishly. He could not decode what she meant. He wanted to. He wanted to make sure that everything was alright, that the family would pick themselves back up after this, that Rinchei was truly recovering. But she wouldn't let him have the pieces of the puzzle. He gazed at her, suddenly very tired and feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on. Her eyes were pink-taupe and steady.

"It's not my secret to tell. Why do grown ups have to try to know everything? They're getting along now. They're friends again. They don't fight over the milk and Jaarin turns down her music when Rinchei asks and they even played Digimon Explorer: Part Sixteen: The Brave New World: The Attack of The Seventy Foot Kunemon together." She tilted her head at him. "Why can't you just let them have fun?"

"Worry. Fear. I don't…" he tried to explain the stress of being a psychologist. "I don't want something terrible to happen and know I had a chance to stop it, and I didn't. I don't want to get a phone call one day saying Rinchei's dead because then every night I'll lay awake knowing that if I'd just questioned you more thoroughly he'd be alive."

"Doctor Yamada…" She gave him a look that was part pity and part reassurance. "That's not going to happen. Not this time, not with those two. They're closer than they've ever been before. All of us are. Henry and I have been playing games with them, like we all did when we were littler. We're not bestest friends, but we're working on it." She reached over and touched his hand. "It's going to be okay this time. I promise."

"It's my job to make sure everything's okay. I haven't always been successful." He rubbed his head, glancing wearily at the clock. "I just want everyone to keep on living, and to be happy and healthy and sane. It's my job. That means sometimes I have to know people's secrets, Shuichon. Do you know why? It's because people can't see their own problems very well. We can always see other people's problems far more clearly than our own. Humans always have been better at helping other people than helping themselves. That's why compassion is so important. That's why I became a psychologist. I want to help people. No matter what horrible secrets I have to hear or what nightmares people have to share with me."

"You don't need to know these nightmares. The problem's over." She smiled faintly. "To quote my friend Kouta, the only problem left is whether tacos or nachos are better." Suzie's smile faded. "I know you want to make sure we're all okay, and it's your job to be nosey. I know you have to be a busybody to help people. It's a weird job, but I get it. I just don't think you want to know all the stuff behind this. The thingy's over. There's no problem left to solve."

The girl looked so utterly convinced of her own words that the dark haired doctor felt a twinge of reassurance. Her confidence was contagious. But there was something bothering her, something unrelated lurking beneath the surface. Years of experience had taught Dr. Yamada how to see the tension and thoughts of people written and displayed in every action. For a moment they just looked at each other, both lost in their thoughts. Suzie had to say she liked this psychologist a lot more than the other ones she'd seen at the hospital and he seemed nice. She thought he'd made a good daddy to some lucky kid. It was about then that he noticed her D-Arc around her neck. The silence stretched. Finally, the tense child asked a question.

"What would happen if… if I just vanished one day? Would that make Rinchei want to… again?" she asked uneasily, shifting and squirming, clearly not liking to even think about this. The words had to be forced out. She clutched her D-Arc. "Henry and I could have to leave at any time, any day, and we might not get a warning, Mr. Yamada. We aren't going to get to call home or anything. So what if one of us vanishes? What if we both do?" Then, softer, just above a whisper, she asked, "What if we don't come back?"

He said nothing.

In that quiet moment, watching the emotions on the doctor's face, Suzie truly knew what fear was.