Y/N: Yes! We finally get to learn Miyako's answer to Ken's question. I won't hold you any longer than this. It's a bit late, but I hope you won't mind.

Title: Digimon Adventure: Moments

By: YukiraKing

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or its characters.

Year: 2009

Chapter 25: Unwelcome Surprises

Miyako:

"Oh God," Momoe gasped as we neared our childhood building. I couldn't see too much damage, so I had to assume she was speaking out about the fear she was feeling.

"Calm down," I told her. "It's not like we're going up there to reveal that we're serial killers or something."

"No," Momoe agreed. "I'm just going up there to tell them that I've avoided them for months on end, dropped everything to travel the world, and neglected to warn them that they were going to be grandparents. Our parents are old fashioned. They're going to hate me."

"They won't," I tried, but she only shook her head sadly. "They can't hate Emiko at least."

"Not you too," Momoe said, but I could see she was hiding a soft smile. "I can't believe Jou let someone else name our baby."

"Emiko is an adorable name," I told her.

"Yes," she said. "For the most adorable baby I've ever seen in my life too."

"I don't know if I'd go that far," I teased, laughing when she glared at me. "See, I knew you'd calm down. Are you ready to meet Grandma and Grandpa Emiko?"

"You know what?" Momoe said suddenly sounding much more confident than before. "We have to do this. I can't risk being called a hypocrite later in life. If Emiko was involved in anything like either of our situations—be it saving the world or having a baby out of wedlock—I would want her to tell me. No matter how crazy it was. And I'd want to know right away."

"Good to hear," I said. I opened the cold, metal door that lead to the lobby of the apartment building. How much longer would this be my home? I couldn't help but wonder. I wasn't in school anymore, but I was moving my life forward. I'd find a program I wanted to take in the next year and do what my older siblings did before me: move out. They couldn't handle the pressures of living with our parents after having a whole year to themselves. I liked the sound of freedom, but I knew I wasn't going to be alone. I wouldn't need to be alone ever again.

"Let's take the elevator," Momoe suggested.

"Yes!" I said a little too excitedly. I was tired. It had been a few days since the battle, but I was still exhausted. I couldn't wait to have my body back on a regular schedule.

"We're in luck," Momoe said shakily. "The elevator's on the ground floor."

"Great," I said, but I was feeling anything but. I was suddenly so nervous. I'd worked hard on getting Momoe out of her funk, that I'd let myself fall deeper into my own. I couldn't help but be upset that the elevator was still working after the threat of our world. I didn't want to take the stairs, but having the elevator sit there, while we were shaking in our boots was like watching Fanglongmon or Dragomon mock us from beyond their non-recycling data graves.

I shouldn't have been so scared. I'd already been home, I'd talked to Mom and Dad, but this was different. I knew it was different. I was here for moral support for my sister. My favourite sister, who clearly didn't feel the same way about me, or she'd have told me about the baby before she was captured by a rogue digimon. But whatever, I was going to be the better person and brave the talk with Mom and Dad with her.

I hoped there wasn't going to be much yelling.

I was so over fighting.

We climbed into the elevator, and reluctantly hit the button to our apartment's floor.

"So," I said casually. "How was your trip?"

"My world escapades? They were fun," she said softly. "I got to see the Rocky Mountains in Canada, and I saw the Eiffel Tower in France, and I even went to New York to see a play on Broadway. Jou saw one without me when you all went to New York to visit Mimi, so I thought I'd return the favour. It was the same one I think, but it wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be. None of it was as much fun as I thought. I was tired all the time and grumpy, because I was pregnant, I didn't like walking long distances, and I didn't understand the languages. And people kept looking at me with pity when they saw I was a pregnant tourist and all alone in my travels. But the places were exciting and I did quite a few things I'd always wanted to. I couldn't go zip-lining through the South American rain forests, for obvious reasons, and I didn't get to see the Great Migration, because I couldn't risk it, but I saw the Coliseum, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I saw the Mona Lisa, Miyako. I couldn't believe it. It was much smaller than I'd thought it would be, and I got a picture of it. Not a very good one, since you weren't allowed to use the flash, but it was so beautiful."

"But…" I said, because I could see one coming.

"I missed Jou. I was lonely," she said. "My baby wasn't very good company at the time. She'd just kick me to let me know she missed the sound of her father's voice, and keep me up at night. And she couldn't talk back. Not many people could. They didn't understand what I was saying, so I spent a lot of time writing in a journal, just so I'd have an outlet."

"Next time, bring someone with you," I suggested. "Like Jou, or you know…me!"

She laughed. "I'll think about it. But I don't have the money right now. I don't know when I will. I spent a lot less than some people might have, but it cost a lot, and I mean a lot, of money. It will be a long time before Jou and I could afford a trip. And I might just wait until Emiko is older anyway. I can't see myself being able to be away from her for too long."

"Yeah," I snorted. "Just wait until she hits her terrible twos. You'll be begging me to take her for a week so you can have a vacation."

"You'd do that?" she asked astounded. "I didn't think you liked her very much."

"It's not her that I don't like," I said. "I love my little niece. And Mom and Dad will have to feel the same."

"God, I don't want to do this. I won't do this. They won't have to know," she said.

"What happened to the whole 'I'd want to know' attitude from before?" I asked with a laugh.

"I left it downstairs. I'm scared. If they don't like Emiko, I don't know what I'd do. Jou's father has practically disowned him because of her, and I can't handle if Mom and Dad do that to me."

"They won't. They'd be too scared that someone would find out," I told her. "They want the perfect little family, but they'd rather people thought you were just a terrible child or that university changed you than to have people think that they were bad parents. Disowning you is something they wouldn't be able to do. You know that. They're kind of dumb that way, but they love us all."

"Loving me won't make me feel any better if they don't love my daughter," Momoe said firmly.

"Then we'll march in there and we won't take no for an answer," I promised just as the elevator door opened. My courage all left me when I spotted our apartment door at the end of the hall. I gulped and held my head high. It wouldn't do to let her think I was afraid. Not after all of my talk to make sure she wasn't.

"Do we knock?" Momoe asked when we reached the door. "I don't live here anymore. Does that mean I have to knock now, or do we just walk right in? Oh God. What do I do?"

"Stop panicking," I said feeling good about being the one to say that instead of the one that needed to hear it. "We can totally knock, if you want. That way they'll know they have visitors or something."

"Okay," she said. "We're going to knock."

She stared at the door. Emiko squirmed in her arms. I could tell she wasn't going to be knocking any time soon. So I did it for her.

"Miyako!" she hissed. "I was working up some courage."

"Work it up fast then," I retorted. Mom opened the door right then.

"Oh, Miyako, Momoe darlings, I thought you were someone else. You don't need to knock dears. It's your home just as much as mine," she said pleasantly. It was a good sign. But then her eyes narrowed in on the baby. "Babysitting?"

"Not exactly," Momoe said. "Can we talk? Like a family meeting or something?"

"Right away," Mom said though her voice lost its cheerfulness. It was cold and suspicious now. I squeezed Momoe's shoulder and guided her to the living room. She was a shaking mess. "I am most relieved to see that you're well, Momoe. You could have called me, to let me know you weren't dead or kidnapped or lost. Do you know how worried a mother can get?"

"I will soon enough," Momoe muttered.

"Speak up dear, muttering isn't attractive," Mom told her. Momoe and I snorted. Out of her three girls, Chiziru was the one she needed to have this kind of talk with. Momoe had a serious boyfriend, and a daughter with said boy. Chiziru thought flitting from boy to boy was exhilarating. I doubted she even knew all of their names.

"Darling," Mom said loudly. "You're daughters are here, they'd like to speak to us!"

"Is it important?" I heard Dad ask.

"I'd say so," Mom said wryly, her eyes still trained on Emiko.

Dad put down whatever it was he was working on in the kitchen and came into the living room. I watched as his face went from apprehensive to ecstatic as his eyes landed on Momoe.

"Momoe, sweetheart," he exclaimed running over and pulling her into a tight hug. "Where have you been? You didn't call, we had no idea where you were. All we knew what that you were on a trip somewhere."

"Dad," Momoe said softly. "Could you loosen your grip, please?"

"Sorry," he said. "I've just missed you."

"I missed you too, Dad," she said, and started to bounce Emiko before she could cry.

That's when Dad noticed her. His excitement melted away to a suspicious anger.

Things were going to blow up soon, I could feel it.

"I've been on a trip," Momoe said, pretending not to notice, though her voice faltered. "It was amazing. I've tried some of the best foods in the world, but nothing can compare to Mom's sandwiches and you're chocolate cake Dad."

"That sounds lovely," Mom said in a forced voice.

"What else happened on that trip?" Dad asked, looking at the baby and nothing else.

"I met a bunch of people from a bunch of different countries. I saw loads of famous landmarks, and I got a refrigerator magnet from every big city I visited. I'm going to need a bigger fridge soon."

"Wonderful," Mom spit out, looking for all the world like she was going to explode due to her forced niceties.

"I even got a few recipes I'd like to try out," Momoe continued. But then Emiko giggled. Just a tiny little gurgling noise from the tiny baby and suddenly our parents couldn't take it anymore.

"That had better just be a baby you're watching for a friend," Mom demanded.

"It's not," Momoe said confidently.

"It better be a child that boyfriend of yours had because of an affair then," Dad said. "It can't be yours. Do you hear me?"

"Emiko Kido," Momoe said. "That is her name. And she's my baby. She's my perfect little baby."

There was absolute silence for all of two seconds before my parents were yelling.

"How irresponsible—" Dad started.

"You are ruining everything your father and I worked for—" Mom interrupted.

"—can you be? You can't take care of a child on your own—"

"—how could you throw away the life we worked so hard for? We set everything up perfectly—"

"—you're not ready for such a big step. You can't take care of yourself, how can you—"

"—you are bringing such shame to your family! Do you ever think?"

"—take care of a child? You can't. You need to think before you make such stupid—"

A loud wail from Emiko was able to silence our parents once again. My poor niece started crying because of the noise.

"Look what you did!" Momoe shouted at our parents. "It's okay baby, Mommy's alright. They aren't hurting her. Were they being too loud for your itty bitty ears? It's okay. Mommy's got you. Auntie Miyako is here too. You like her don't you?"

"Can't you see that you've ruined your life?" Mom asked, without yelling this time.

"What's going on out here?"

Chiziru and Mantarou came running out of their bedrooms to see what the fuss was about.

"You're sister went and got herself knocked up, that's what," Dad growled.

Chiziru smiled with a vicious sort of grin and Mantarou looked worried.

"She looks fine to me," Mantarou said. "Shouldn't you be focussed on her health and not the repercussions you will have to face?"

"She has destroyed everything we worked for," Mom insisted. "She's ruined her life. Just look at her."

"I haven't ruined my life. Emiko is the best thing that's ever happened to me," Momoe said, cradling her baby protectively.

"The bliss of a newborn parent will wear off soon enough," Dad said calmly. "And then you'll be regretting that you didn't give the baby up for adoption or terminate it in the first place."

As if she knew what Dad was saying, Emiko started wailing louder. Momoe, Mantarou and I stared at Dad in shock.

"Could you have done that to any of us?" Mantarou asked him.

"No," Mom insisted. "But we were ready. Momoe isn't."

"I am," Momoe told them. "I am ready for her. I love her. And I could never do that to her."

"Momoe," Mom said softly. "You're not ready."

"Jou and I can handle this. We can," Momoe insisted, she was rocking Emiko back and forth and up and down, trying to get her to stop crying. But the yelling just wouldn't stop.

I knew what I'd have to do.

I'd wanted to keep it to myself until we could settle on a date and maybe even booked a venue, so that Mom and Dad wouldn't try to stop it, but Momoe needed my help.

"Ken asked me to marry him!" I shouted as loudly as I possibly could.

I was successful.

Everyone stopped yelling and turned to look at me. Momoe flashed me a grateful look and continued to rock her baby.

"You had better have said no," Dad said in a dangerously calm voice.

I should have kept my big mouth shut. I was shaking now that their attention was on me. How did Momoe not break out in tears when they were yelling at her?

And I couldn't exactly lie to him. I started laughing hysterically. Mom gave me a sharp look. She recognized the early signs of one of my attacks.

"What did you tell him?" she asked. I couldn't ignore it. She was giving me that look, the one that made you say you'd taken the last cookie even if you didn't do it.

"Yes, I said yes!" I screamed.

I saw my parents were shaking. They were either furious or about to panic, and as they didn't have attacks like me, I knew it was the former. I looked to Momoe and motioned sharply for her to flee while she still had the chance. She looked like she didn't want to leave me alone, but I looked to Emiko, who was still crying and she nodded. She slipped out without our parents even noticing. Mantarou and Chiziru were looking at me with wide eyes and started backing their way down the hallway, back to their rooms.

"Are you pregnant?" Dad asked in that same low and steady voice that made me want to start crying.

"No," I told him honestly. "We're just getting married. We're not ready for a family. We don't have steady jobs or anything yet."

"Then why get married?" Mom demanded.

"Over the past couple of days, we realized just how easy it would be for us to lose each other. I want to live life to the fullest so that I don't regret anything if that happens. Ken feels the same way. Iori taught that to us. And if you two can't accept my decision that I made as a fully grown adult, then you can just kiss your invitation goodbye."

"We'll go," Mom said quickly, just as I knew she would. What would the neighbours think if she didn't go to her own daughter's wedding?

"But you're going to try to talk me out of it," I surmised.

And judging by the look in her eye, I hit the nail right on the head.