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Chapter 3: Visitor

Once Sora was in her car and off she had thought it would be easy. But guilt was beginning to gnaw at her.

What's the big deal, Conscience? What's so sinister about going to visit an old friend you haven't seen in months?

If you thought about it that way it didn't seem so wrong. But for some reason, it felt wrong to just show up. So she called Kari.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Kari. Sorry. I know you're busy and everything."

"Oh, not at all! What's up?"

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm coming down there for a little while. I think I'll rent a hotel room or something."

"... Sora? Is everything alright with you and Matt?"

Damn. She should've picked Yolei. Kari could be way too perceptive sometimes.

"Of course!" Even to her own ears she sounded just a little too enthusiastic. "Matt's on tour right now and I just thought I'd get away from the emptiness of the house for a while. Maybe I could help out with the wedding or something."

"Oh. Okay." she seemed to perk up considerably. "There's no need to get a hotel room when you've got friends down here. I'm sure Tai and Tia would be glad to have you stay over their house. I'd invite you over, but it's a little crazy around here lately."

"Yeah, I get it. Thanks Kari."

"Sure. Bye."

"I'll see you soon. Bye." Sora sighed and hung up.

She'd got her invitation to come... if only it had been from Tai.

Tai's P.O.V.

"Mmmnnnnoof!" Tai grunted as his eight-year-old daughter leaped onto him.

He opened his eyes and was met with the sight of the bright red letters of his digital clock. 10:43. Ugh... why did Tia always have to get up so early?

"C'mon Dad! You promised we'd go running today!"

Tai sighed and groggily raised his head from his pillow. It was true. He had. He'd even prepared for this. He'd made sure to fall asleep in a light t-shirt and his running shorts.

He sat up and slipped off the bed and onto his feet.

Tia ran off to get her sneakers as Tai started lacing up his own. Tia's first soccer game was next weekend. Tia was a natural, but she was still determined to practice more than any other kid on her team.

His eyes slid across the walls to his bedside table. On it was his picture of Jalissa. All the others had been hidden from view, but he kept this one on his table always, if only for Tia's sake.

Her serene smile almost made him shudder. Everyone has skeletons in their closet... He sighed, stood up and began to stretch out; he was sure his daughter was doing this in the other room.

His cell phone buzzed and he caught it right before it fell off the bedside table. He'd gotten a new text from Kari.

He flipped the phone lightly onto his bed without even opening it up to read the text. Kari had sent him so many lately.

He almost rolled his eyes. Don't get me wrong, he was thrilled T.K. and Kari were finally getting married, and he was glad that Kari was so happy. She was practically glowing these days. Sure he himself had had his own wedding, but still... he was sure T.K. didn't call Matt this much for wedding advice! And T.K. had taken it upon himself to do most of the planning. He wanted Kari to stay this happy and not get overwhelmed.

Not that Kari hadn't been doing any of the work. She'd just been planning what everyone in the wedding party would be doing and wearing and where they would stand. But having so many people could be a downer. Kari didn't always get the news across in time.

A perfect example of this would be when Tai had spent hours in a store looking for a tuxedo. He'd gone home, discouraged, only to find that, when Kari texted him and hour later, that she'd already had the perfect one picked out for him.

Yeah, times like that could get annoying.

Ever since his wife had died, Sora had come to his mind more and more often. Not that she hadn't before, but this time the guilt wasn't killing him as much. It still nagged at his mind, but now it wasn't to the full extent. He no longer had to feel guilty about being married because he no longer was. But Sora's status on this hadn't changed in the least.

As his mind slid to her, he silently berated himself. A one-sided love was one thing. That could be considered okay. A one-sided love for a married woman was something else completely.

The boys had been walking to the bar. Matt's explanation had been that they didn't see each other enough.

It had made sense to Tai. The whole digidestined means team mates forever thing had always made perfect sense in his mind. He'd been glad they were going to see each other. But he hadn't understood why the girls weren't being invited.

Cody had been the first to notice.

"Matt!" he'd exclaimed.

"Yes?" Matt had drawn out the word in a suggestive way. He'd known that Cody had picked up on the engagement ring.

"You asked her!" This had been met by a chorus of congratulations and surprise.

Tai's first thoughts, though, had been of confusion. Ask who what? Then he too noticed the engagement ring.

Immediately his heart had sunk. He hadn't seen Sora in a while. So they were getting married....

The cheers had carried down the street. Tai was never much of an actor, but Matt had been in his own personal heaven and, though Cody had shot him a worried look, he hadn't noticed the almost dismal tone that had gone along with Tai's congratulations.

But any boy who'd noticed Tai's sudden change of attitude was soon caught up in Matt's happiness and it was forgotten.

Even Joe had gotten a hangover the next morning, but Tai had gotten himself completely wasted for different reasons than the rest...

He heard the doorbell ring and then he heard Tia open the door to greet their visitor.

Tai sighed. He knew Tia was just like he had been at her age, too outgoing at times. How many times did he have to tell Tia not to open the door if she wasn't absolutely sure who was on the other side? Tia wasn't tall enough yet to see through the little window on the door.

He couldn't hear their visitor's voice clearly, but he could guess that it was female.

Then Tia came running back to his room. She said the last thing he would've expected, "Dad! Aunt Sora's here!"

Review please! Just so you know, I love flashbacks so there'll be a lot of them! That and it'll help to explain Tai and Sora's story a bit better.

I don't own Digimon.

Wow, you guys have no idea how amazed I was with the amount of reviews I got. Thanks so much!