Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

A/N: New chapter! I will be updating MBFG next, and that means Izzy and Joe (or Team Matt as I like to call them) will get a chance to be in the spotlight again! Please review!

Following the Footsteps of Destiny

Chapter 69: The Calm Before the Storm

Davis Motomiya

Odaiba, Japan, Earth

"Where are Matt and Mimi?" Yolei shouted, crossing her arms and glaring angrily at the living room door. "They should have been here by now!"

Davis rolled his eyes and glanced at the lavender haired Digidestined who was sitting on the cream coloured couch between Ken and Cody. "Yolei, I did say this evening, remember?"

"Yes, but you meant this afternoon!" Yolei shot back, tugging viciously on her long braid. "Obviously you want to talk to us before Miya, Dai, and the rest of our kids show up. If Matt and Mimi don't get here soon, I'm going to call them and give them a piece of my mind!"

"In that case, I'm glad I got here on time!" Tai replied, looking amused. The former Digidestined leader was sitting on the navy blue carpet next to Sora, and the two of them smiled at each other.

"Well, at least I can take a hint, unlike some people!" Yolei sniffed, tugging angrily on her purple skirt.

Davis sighed and rested his cheek against Noriko's forehead. They were squeezed into an armchair together, and he gave her an anxious look.

What is she going to say when she finds out Dai lied to us?

He was about to tell Yolei to give Matt and Mimi a break when he heard the sound of the doorbell ringing. He quickly shut his mouth and glanced at his sister who was sitting closest to the door.

Jun raised her eyebrows and slowly got to her feet. "It's your house! You should be getting the door," she muttered, stalking out of the room.

Davis ignored his sister, and a moment later, Mimi and Matt walked into the room, followed by Jun.

"Where have you been?" Yolei demanded, leaping to her feet and giving the handsome couple a stern look.

Mimi smiled nervously at them and clung tightly to Matt's hand. "Sorry, we're late. We were having a talk with Ryoko and lost track of time."

"About what?" Davis asked, his voice coming out sharper than he had intended. Do they know Ryoko and the others have been lying to us?

Matt looked at him in surprise and glanced at Mimi. "I think I'll let Mimi answer your question," the blond said softly, giving him a curious look.

"Is something wrong?" Kari asked. The petite brunette was sitting on the loveseat next to T.K., and the two of them exchanged worried looks.

Mimi wrapped her arms around Matt's waist and shook her head. "No," she said softly. "In fact, things have never been better."

"Are you sure?" Tai asked, jumping to his feet and placing a hand on Matt's shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with Ryoko, is there?"

Matt smiled at the worried look on Tai's face and shook his head. "Don't worry, Tai. Ryoko's fine. Mimi, you better tell them what's going on before they start to panic."

"I'm pregnant," Mimi whispered. "Matt and I are going to have another child."

Davis stared at her in surprise, and suddenly everyone started taking at once.

"I can't believe it!" Sora screamed, leaping to her feet and throwing her arms around Mimi. Tears were rolling down the older Digidestined's face, and she gave Mimi a brilliant smile. "I'm so happy for you, Mimi. You've always wanted another child. Have you picked any names yet?"

Mimi laughed and shook her head. "We haven't really had time to think about names, but I'm sure we'll come up with something. I just found out today."

"We don't actually know if we're having a boy or a girl," Matt explained. "We want it to be a surprise."

"Let me know if you need any advice. I am raising three children, you know. I've got tons of names you can choose from. Ken and I made a whole list when we were trying to come up with a name for Nao," Yolei piped up, giving Mimi a tight hug. "You're so lucky, Mimi. You've been waiting for years to have another baby, and now your dream has finally come true! It's a miracle! I wish I was having another baby."

Ken jumped and raised his eyebrows. "Since when?" the former Emperor asked, staring at his wife in astonishment.

"Since now," Yolei sighed.

"Yolei, we already have three kids! You said it yourself!" Ken stammered, looking extremely embarrassed.

Yolei crossed her arms and glared at him. "What if I want four kids?"

"It looks like Yolei's putting her foot down. You better get to work, Ken!" Tai snickered.

"Tai!" Sora scolded, slapping her husband's arm.

Ken blushed bright red and stared at his feet. "As much as I'd like to have another child, I don't think we could afford it," the former Emperor muttered.

Davis grinned at his best friend and let out a yelp when Noriko suddenly hit him in the chest. "Davis, I want a baby, too!" she shouted.

"What? Are all women crazy or something? You're not serious, are you?" he replied, staring at her in disbelief. "I thought you were just joking before!"

Noriko tossed her short, dark hair over her shoulder and crossed her arms. "Would I joke about something like this?"

Davis shrugged. "Is being pregnant contagious? Well, I'm ready whenever you are, but are you sure you want another kid? Our third child could end up turning out worse than the first two!"

"And whose fault would that be?" Noriko demanded, her dark eyes flashing.

Davis laughed and kissed her on the lips. "Don't look at me. It's not my fault your kids are crazy!"

"They're your kids, too!" Noriko shot back.

"Yeah, but they got all my good qualities. The rest must come from your side of the family!" he joked.

Noriko rolled her eyes and smiled at him. "Davis, if we do have another baby, you're going to be in charge of diaper duty, and I don't mean once in a while either! That'll teach you to watch what you say!"

Davis made a face and wrinkled his nose. "In that case, I think we'll have to have a girl. Baby boys have the worst aim, if you know what I mean. It's a train wreak waiting to happen. I still haven't forgotten how hard it was to change Dai's diapers. I'm still having nightmares over that!"

"Davis, you haven't changed a bit since you were a kid, you know that?" Matt said, smiling slightly.

"Yes, he has. He's even more obnoxious than he used to be!" Yolei muttered, sitting back down on the couch next to Ken.

Davis glared at her and turned to smile at Matt. "Congratulations, Matt. What took you so long? You're lucky Mimi didn't kick you out of the house for making her wait thirteen years for another kid!" he said, getting to his feet and giving the blond a warm hug.

Matt laughed and hugged him back. "Shut up, Davis," the blond murmured, his sapphire eyes sparkling with happiness.

"I think I'm more to blame than Matt is," Mimi sighed. "It took me forever to get pregnant with Ryoko. My mother was the same way, though, which explains why I'm an only child."

"Don't be too hard on yourself," Matt said softly, pulling his wife into a hug. "We're having another baby now, and that's all that matters. Besides, I'm probably to blame just as much as you are."

"What did Ryoko have to say about his new sibling?" Mina asked curiously. She was sitting on the floor next to Izzy, and the two of them had their arms wrapped around each other.

"He's very excited," Mimi said softly. "I know he has always wanted a sibling, and now he finally has a chance to be a big brother."

"That's so sweet," Kari sighed. "I can't believe I'm going to have another niece or nephew."

T.K. nodded in agreement and quickly got to his feet. He wrapped his arms around Matt's shoulders and held his brother close. "Ryoko has always been able to bring a smile to your face, and now you have two reasons to smile. I'm glad," the younger blond murmured. "I always thought you'd make a great dad, and I was right."

"I had a lot of practice," Matt replied, gazing fondly at his little brother. "I've found it hard to be upset ever since I became a Digidestined. Tai and the rest of you guys showed me the meaning of true friendship, and Mimi showed me the meaning of true love. How can I be sad when there's so much good in my life?"

"You've done an amazing job with Ryoko," T.K. said softly, his sky blue eyes sparkling with affection. "He has his problems once in a while, but as a general rule he's a very happy kid. He knows his parents, friends, and family care about him, and that's something you weren't able to understand as a child. If you had had the same experiences as Ryoko when you were a kid, I think you would have been just as happy as he has been for the past thirteen years."

Matt sighed softly and rested his head against T.K.'s shoulder. "You were the one who showed me how important family really is, and I'm never going to forget that no matter how old I get."

"Good," T.K. said quietly, patting the older blond's back. He leaned around Matt's shoulder to kiss Mimi's cheek and smiled at her. "Congratulations, Mimi."

"Thank you," Mimi whispered, giving her brother-in-law a brilliant smile.

Tai hugged Mimi, as well, and slowly turned to look at Matt. "You and Mimi deserve all the happiness in the world," the former leader said softly.

Matt wrapped his arms around Tai and smiled softly at his best friend. "You told me not to give up, and you were right," he whispered in the former Digidestined leader's ear. "Now that I think about it, you're always right. When do I get to be right for once?"

Tai laughed and held the blond tightly against his chest. "Matt, you've been right about a lot of things, too, but this is one thing I'm glad I was right about. When you're happy, it makes me happy, and you know Sora and I will treat your new son or daughter as if he or she was our very own."

"He's right," Sora whispered, leaning over and kissing Matt's cheek. "I feel the same way about you and Mimi. It's so good to see you both so happy."

"Exactly," Tai murmured, smiling at Mimi who was currently being hugged by Jun and Rosa.

Matt's eyes filled with sudden emotion, and he buried his face against Tai's shoulder. "Thank you," the blond mumbled, his voice trembling slightly.

Davis gave everyone a chance to congratulate Matt and Mimi, and when the last hugs were exchanged, he waved a hand to get everyone's attention and instructed them all to take a seat.

"Alright, Davis, what's going on?" Izzy asked curiously. "Tai sounded extremely confused over the phone when he called me. I take it this meeting was your idea since we were asked to come to your house?"

Davis let out a deep sigh and nodded. He had almost forgotten about Dai because of Mimi's pregnancy, but now all of his fears concerning his son were coming back to him, and he felt like his heart was going to burst from sheer terror.

"Davis, what's wrong?" Noriko asked. She rested her head against his chest and gazed up at him with wide frightened eyes. She kept tugging nervously on her pale blue blouse, and her face was beginning to look as white as her skirt. "You wouldn't tell me when you asked me to come into the living room this morning. You just said you wanted to invite everyone over because there was something you wanted to tell us. You said you wanted to tell everyone at the same time because there would be less confusion that way. Please tell us what's going on. I think we've waited long enough."

"Noriko's right," Joe said softly from his seat on the carpet next to Jun. "Besides, we'd better get this conversation over with before Noah and the others show up."

"I had no idea what to say to everyone because T.K. wouldn't tell me anything over the phone. Thanks for keeping me in the dark, Davis!" Tai complained. The former Digidestined leader was sitting between Sora and Matt on the carpet, and there was a disapproving frown on his face.

Kari quickly got to her feet and motioned for Mimi to sit down on the loveseat next to T.K. Mimi gave the younger woman a grateful smile, and Kari sat down on the floor next to Matt. "T.K. and I have something to tell you guys about our sons, but we'll let Davis talk about Dai first."

"What about Dai?" Noriko asked sharply.

Davis turned to look at Ken and gave his best friend a sympathetic smile. "Ken, I think you're going to have to tell Yolei and the others about Sam. I have a feeling his odd behaviour is connected to what's going on with Dai and the twins."

"Sam!" Yolei shrieked. The lavender haired Digidestined flung herself at Ken and started shaking him by the shoulders. "Ken, please tell me Sam's alright," she moaned. "I could tell there was something wrong with him, but I wasn't a hundred percent sure until now. If anything ever happens to my sweet baby boy-"

Ken hugged Yolei tightly and buried his face in her purple hair. The former Emperor's cheeks were very pale. "You're right, Davis," he said quietly. "I didn't want Yolei to worry, but I can see now that I have no choice. Both Sam and Dai have been acting very strange lately, and it looks like they're not the only ones. We have to figure out what's going on with all of our children before they end up getting hurt."

"What do you mean you didn't want me to worry!" Yolei shouted, collapsing against her husband's chest. "I'm way past being worried! If you don't tell me what's going on right now I'm going to-"

"Davis, you'd better hurry up and tell us about Dai before Yolei throws a fit," Cody interrupted. "I have a feeling this has something to do with what happened at T.K.'s and Kari's house a few nights ago."

"In that case, I guess Matt and I had better tell you guys about Ryoko," Mimi said slowly.

Davis raised his eyebrows and frowned. It looks like Matt and Mimi have discovered that Ryoko hasn't been entirely honest with them after all.

Tai glanced at Sora and managed a weak smile. "I guess you guys want to hear about Takara, too," the former leader murmured.

"Davis, T.K.'s right. I think you'd better go first," Rosa piped up, leaning against Cody's shoulder and smiling at Yolei. The Mexican Digidestined looked extremely amused about something, but she held her tongue and contented herself with a small smile instead.

Davis held Noriko tightly in his arms and began to tell the others all of his suspicions about Dai.