'Hey you're sitting on my folder'

'Oh?' Wormmon exclaimed embarrassedly as he shuffled over.

'I have to finish my lesson plans' said Ken as he opened the folder. 'I've already been back a whole week but I'm still so behind, maybe I'm still in vacation mode'.

'Maybe its because you spend so much time talking to Davis'.

Ken stopped working for a moment to look at the caterpillar-like digimon.

'Wormmon... Are you...jealous?' Ken said in a half joking tone.

'What?..no' Wormmon replied awkwardly. 'It just seems like since you got back you're always messaging him and you haven't got as much time for other things, I'm just worried is all'.

Kens face lit up slightly.

'That's because Davis is my best friend' he replied. It was surprising how quickly saying things like that began to feel natural again.

'I...i thought I was your best friend' Wormmon said as he cast his eyes down at the wooden desk that he was sitting on.

'You and Yolei will always be my best friends' corrected Ken as he realized how what he said may have come across.

'You both have always been there for me, you were even there for me back when I was the digimon emperor'.

'Well' Wormmon replied 'I knew that you had a kind heart, you just needed some help'.

'Exactly, you always believed the best in me and for that, you'll always be my best friend'.

'You'll always be my best friend too Ken' Wormmon said.

'Ken my darling!'

'What is it?' He called out from the other side of the house.

'Kari just invited us over for lunch today, do you want to go?'

'Ok sure' Ken replied as he walked into the lounge room where his wife stood.

'He said he'd love to...OK great...wonderful! We'll see you at 11 then, bye!' Yolei turned to face Ken as she hung up the phone.

'I'm glad she invited us over today, I feel kind of like a bad friend, I told her we would catch up when I got back from vacation but its been over a month since then. I kept meaning to invite her out to coffee or something but I've been so overwhelmed with everything that I have to do'.

'I'm sure that she understands' Ken reassured, stroking yoleis upper arm. 'she knows how busy you are with the kids, not to mention you just started studying again'.

'I know...I just worry' Yolei said 'I almost feel like watching how much effort you've put into staying in touch with Davis in the last month has made me think I should be trying harder'.

'It feels like everybody grows up and accepts friendships becoming more distant as an inevitable part of that, as we get jobs, kids, responsibilities, its like we all thought we didn't have time for our friends to be a big part of our lives anymore, at least, not like they were when we were teenagers. But you've got me thinking maybe it doesn't have to be that way'.

Yolei could be very serious when she wanted to be.

'Well its never too late' Ken said as his phone beeped. 'I'm sure that Kari would love to see you more, if you want to go over to her house to visit more often I could watch the kids, or we could have her over here more'.

'Aw this is why I love you' Yolei said warmly as she pecked her husband on the lips to show her gratitude.

'I love you too' Ken said as he opened a message from Davis and Yolei left to get ready in the bedroom.

Davis had sent him a selfie where he was pulling the most ridiculous grossed out face he could while standing in front of a shop display that was an arrangement of vitamin supplement bottles that were simply labeled 'sheep placenta'.

He had captioned the photo "found this at the chemist".

Davis regularly sent ken little updates on things that he found funny or interesting, even if they were quite small.

Ken smirked as he looked at the message and took a selfie to reply, he pulled a silly grossed out face, it was more reserved than the faces that Davis sends him, but it was still fun that Davis could bring out that side of him, it kind of made him feel young again.

"We're going to Kari's for lunch today" Ken texted to Davis.

After half a minute his phone beeped and Ken opened the message.

"Wow tell her I said hey, Veemon says hi too"

"I will, I should probably go get ready before Yolei comes to hurry me along"

"Have fun :)"

'Hi everyone!' Kari said warmly as she welcomed the Ichijoji family into her home.

'You arrived at the right time, lunch is a minute away' Kari informed them as she made the last preparations to the dining table.

'Great, I'm starved' commented yolei cheerfully. 'How have you been Kari?'

'I've been great, I've been teaching Dimitri how to cook, so we've been having lots of fun with that, haven't we?'

'Yes! I even helped make lunch today!' Replied her son excitedly

'Is that so? That's wonderful said Ken to Dimitri I'm sure it will be great'.

Betty and Noah sat down at the table first to ensure that they would be sitting next to each other and everybody else followed except for Kari who went into the kitchen to serve up the meal.

'Would you like a hand carrying plates?' Ken called out to her.

'Yes please!' She replied.

A minute later Kari and Ken exited the kitchen and placed a ceramic plate with cats painted around the edges in front of each guest. Then they ladeled a serving of salad to each guest.

Wow, this looks great!' said Yolei.

'Aw thank you' Kari replied. 'Anyway how was Australia, you have to tell me all about it, I didn't have time to ask you on the phone'.

'It was so amazing!' Said yolei wistfully.

'We went to the beach and I saw a crab' added little Bobby.

'That's right' said Yolei smiling down at Bobby. 'We stayed on the gold coast in Queensland where there are beautiful beaches. they were a bit more crowded than I would have liked but that was alright and Bob had never been to the beach before so that was really nice.'

'Oh wow, I wish I could get away to Australia or anywhere, I sure won't be able to afford it any time soon though'.

'You would have loved it, there were so many things for us to do as a family, but you'll never guess who we ran into at the beach'.

'Who?'

'Davis moutomoya'

'What!? No way, really?' Kari exclaimed looking at Ken for confirmation.

He nodded 'yes really'.

'Trust me, it was the last thing that I was expecting too' Ken added.

'What's he doing in Australia!? I thought he said he was moving to germany , that is, before he stopped letting us contact him' Kari asked.

'Apparently the whole Germany thing didn't work out for long, he really fits in there though, he's like an Australian surfer now' Yolei replied.

'That Davis has a lot of explaining to do for the way he treated us, especially you Ken'.

'Actually we kind of sorted things out'.

Yolei scoffed 'kind of? Its like they were never apart, he's texting him every day, if I didn't know better I'd be jealous' She chuckled.

'We're just making up for lost time i guess' Ken explained. He felt a little bit embarrassed and he could feel himself blushing slightly but he didn't quite know why, he hoped that nobody would notic

'Well...that's great then' concluded Kari after hesitating for a minute. 'I'm glad that you guys could make up, did he tell you why he stopped talking to us though?'

'Well...um it's complicated...' Ken struggled to think of the right way to explain.

'He was going through some stuff and he...well he just needed a new start I guess, I don't think he was thinking clearly at the time...but he's really sorry now, I think he's doing a lot better than he was then and he just needs a second chance'.

'It's good that he's trying to make up for what he's done, I really hope it works out, I'd just hate to see him hurt you again, because you know I care about guys so much' Kari reminded them.

'I know, don't worry it will be fine, hey have you seen much of TK lately?' Ken said in a deliberate attempt to change the topic of conversation.

The car ride home from Kari's house was more quiet than usual for Ken. Yolei was talking with the children about their favorite TV show as she drove and Ken was absently staring out the window.

He had this nagging feeling of guilt that he couldn't quite put his finger on.