"TK! TK, quick, come here!" Kari yelled from the couch a month later.

"What? What is it?"

"It's happening again!"

"Let me feel!" TK put his hand to Kari's stomach.

"Did you feel that?" asked Kari excitedly.

TK shook his head. "No. I guess he's still not strong enough."

"Well, give him time. You'll be able to feel it soon, I'm sure."

"Hopefully. You going shopping today?"

"Yep." Kari said.

Mimi had invited Kari to shopping today, so TK had taken this opportunity to go and see a movie with Davis to get out of the house. And speaking of Davis…

Ding dong!

"Oh. There he is now." TK let his friend in.

"Hi TK. Hey Kari. Whoa, gettin' kinda big there, huh?"

"Well I am pregnant."

"Oh yeah. Sorry. All I can think about is this movie today."

"That's because the capacity of his head only lets him concentrate on one thing at a time." TK joked.

"No, it's because your wife looks so good I totally forgot she was pregnant."

"Uh huh. Hence the 'gettin' kinda big' comment."

"Right. You got it. Now let's go, we'll be late!"

"Have fun, kids." Kari mocked and closed the door. Where is Mimi? She should've been here by now. Nori hiccuped. Oh, sure, now he moves. Come on, Mimi. The doorbell rang. That was fast.

"Hi, Kari!" Mimi cried when Kari opened the door. "Sorry I'm late, but my car broke down. Fortunately, it was right in front of Izzy's apartment, so I popped in and he agreed to drive me here… Are you okay?"

It took a minute for Kari to sort out what Mimi had said. Mimi could talk fast. "Uh, yeah. Why?"

"You just twitched."

"Oh, right." Kari motioned toward her stomach. "Baby hiccups."

"Let me feel!" Kari laid down on her couch again and pulled her shirt up over her swollen belly and Mimi put her hand on her abdomen.

Izzy walked in with his laptop and suddenly felt quite awkward at the sight of this. "Uh…I just came to see how the digimon were doing, so I'll just go to their room now…" he kind of edged out of the room uncomfortably.

Kari smiled, amused. "What's he so jumpy about? It's not like my shirt was off or anything…"

"Poor Izzy is still afraid of girls." Mimi joked. "Oh! I felt it!" she said as the baby hiccuped again.

"Well at least someone can."

"What do you mean?" Mimi sat down on a chair.

"TK still hasn't gotten to feel it. It's so weird. The baby must be nocturnal or something, because he does all the major moving around at night. During the day, I'm lucky if he rolls over in his sleep."

"Why haven't you woken TK up? Feeling your baby kick is important."

"I know, but he's been really swamped at work lately. He comes home exhausted, and I don't have the heart to wake him up at three in the morning. I try to call him over during the day to feel it, but Nori always stops when TK gets over there. So now TK thinks that Nori's still too little to be felt on the outside, even though I know that's not true."

"Wow. Too bad."

"KARI!!!" Gatomon came running into the room, furious.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"He wanted to take the digivice and crest!" Gatomon spat.

"I just wanted to study it!" Izzy defended. "See if it differed any from ours. You know, take it home for the weekend, then bring it back! I didn't mean any harm."

"Shut it, Pudge-boy!"

"Pudge-boy?" Izzy was anything but.

"You call yourself a digimon researcher! You obviously don't know that having the digivice and crest near the egg is vital to its development from now on."

"Really?" Izzy was writing furiously on a pad of paper.

"Yes. You take them away, and both Kari's baby and mine are in grave danger."

"Goodness." Kari muttered. "I had no idea."

"Apparently, neither did Computer Nerd." Gatomon stomped out of the room.

"I'm sorry Kari." Izzy apologized, "I-"

"No big deal, Izzy. You didn't know."

"Less talking, more shopping." Mimi stood up.

"We can't. TK took the car." Kari grumbled. "Why they didn't take Davis's car, I have no idea…"

"Oh, no!" Mimi wailed. "Whatever shall we do? Who in this cold, heartless world could ever give us a lift to the mall?" She looked hopefully at Izzy.

"No way. I have things to do." Mimi puffed out her lower lip.

"No." Mimi put on her sad puppy-dog eyes.

"But I can't…" Izzy got eyelash batting this time.

"My plans…" Whimpers, and Mimi genuinely looked like she was going to cry. "Oh fine!" He gave in.

"Perfect! Thank you, Izzy." Mimi's unhappy disposition suddenly disappeared. "I found this great store the other day…" Mimi chatted while she and Kari walked toward the door. Izzy sighed and followed.

Mimi took Kari to a Maternity store. "Everyone tells me about how maternity clothes are so ugly." She said. "So I found you one with all the latest styles!"

"It's so expensive…" Kari glanced at a few price tags.

"I'll buy you something. Counts toward your Christmas present, though."

"You really don't have to."

"Kari, I've seen what you call maternity clothes. And believe me, you need help."

Kari looked down. A baggy white maternity shirt and black elastic waistband pants. She couldn't deny it. She looked… bad.

"How about this?" Mimi held up a pair of hip hugger pants that looked like they were made for an elephant. Kari knew that if Tai and Matt ever got hold of it, they'd be able to fit three, maybe four, of them in it.

"How on earth can I wear hip huggers when I don't have any hips?"

"Hmm. Good point. Okay, here. And you can lend it to me if I ever get pregnant." She handed Kari a bright pink blouse that Kari needed sunglasses to look at.

"It's so… pink."

"You're right. You'll never be able to pull it off." Mimi put it back on the shelf. "Wait a minute. I'm getting an idea! Yes!" She ran off, Kari and Izzy hurrying behind her. "Formalwear!" Mimi cried when she got to the racks.

"They make formal maternity clothes?"

"Of course! Come on, admit it. You want something nice to wear to all those Christmas parties, don't you? To impress TK?"

"I'd probably only be able to wear it once or twice. I'll be seven months pregnant at the end of this month."

"Which means you'll have two months to wear it."

"Exactly!"

"But what about Valentine's Day? And New Year's Eve? Are you just going to wear jeans and a shirt?"

"Well…" Kari hadn't thought about this.

"Here, try this on." After about a thousand dresses, the girls made their purchases and dragged poor Izzy from store to store, carrying bags.

"My feet hurt." Mimi complained. "Which could either be a sign that I'm wearing the wrong shoes, or our little shopping spree is drawing to a close." They walked to the car. "Home, James." She ordered Izzy, and got grumbles as a reply.

TK had Christmas Eve off, and he and Kari seized this opportunity to enjoy themselves. They went to a Christmas party on the 24th, and TK was surprised at the magnificent dress that Mimi had bought for Kari. It was a long black dress that Mimi had described as 'very slimming.'

They had fun at the party. They danced and ate, and TK thought he was the luckiest guy in the world. There was alcohol there, but of course Kari couldn't have any. TK, like the sweet husband he is, refused it as well, not even a small glass of wine. In fact, they were one of the only couples that didn't drink. TK suggested they leave when he sensed that the party was going to get out of hand.

So they left at nine and were in bed by ten. TK also knew that Kari was having trouble sleeping because of leg cramps. TK, still worn out from work and all that dancing, fell asleep right away. Kari, however, slipped in and out of consciousness, dreaming of her new son and his future.

She officially woke up when Nori started moving around. She put her hand on her stomach. It was so weird, feeling him inside and out. She glanced at the digital clock. 11:57. Then she gazed at her sleeping husband. TK was breathing deeply, looking peaceful. Every once in a while, a muscle would twitch, and Kari wondered what he was dreaming about. The clock changed to twelve o'clock. Midnight.

Kari looked at TK's hand, on the pillow just half a foot away from her face. She gently picked it up and bought it to her lips.

"Honey?" TK murmered, eyes sliding open sleepily. But what he was thinking was, Why is she waking me up in the middle of the night?

"Shh," was all Kari said as she kissed his hand softly. (How she managed to do both at the same time, I have no idea.) Then she guided his hand down to where Nori was kicking.

Even though it was dark, Kari could see TK's face light up, suddenly more awake.

"Is he…?"

"Merry Christmas." Kari slid over to her love and put her face against his chest. They cuddled until Kari's breathing told TK that she was asleep, Nori kicking in between them all the while.

Marrying her was the best thing that ever happened to me. TK thought as he, too, drifted off. I definitely got the better half of this deal.