Never Far

Epilogue- Wedding

It was a beautiful summer day in California. With the air conditioning cranked up, Kari couldn't even feel the heat from outside as she gathered her nerves and breathed deeply. A bouquet of flowers was thrust into her hand and suddenly, the mahogany doors opened in front of her.

Kari blinked at the sudden brightness of the inside of the church and tried not to notice the pews filled with people she loved staring at her. The music was playing in the background but she couldn't hear it as she began to walk down the aisle, arm in arm with her brother Tai.

One side of the church was packed full of her friends from school, friends from Japan, rows of distant relatives and friends of her mother and grandmother. She smiled at them as she walked by and gave a slight wave or nod to several. She didn't know many of the people sitting on the other side, but many of them had become familiar faces to her in the recent months.

It was a shame her father couldn't have made it, but his absence surprised no one. Apparently he had not known of Tara's shopping addictions and terrible credit until after their honeymoon. With all of their financial issues, there was simply no possibility of his flying to America.

As it always seems to happen with moments that should be treasured, time passed quickly and Tai's pull on her arm let her know that they had reached the alter. The friendly minister smiled at her, but then raised his chin to look beyond her and the music paused.

Kari stepped to the left of the alter and turned to watch the church entrance along with the rest of the congregation. Then, Kari's mother appeared in the doorway, clad in a beautiful white gown. The familiar wedding march began to play. Kari turned to glance at Mr. Thompson, who she now had permission to call Gary, or, but only if she was comfortable with it, "Dad." Kari felt a warm feeling in her stomach as she saw the glow on her new stepfather's cheeks. The way he looked at her mother as she came down the aisle let her know that both her mother and Mr. Thompson had finally found the happiness they deserved.

In the front row of the church sat Kari's grandmother, who nodded at Kari to let her know she was thinking the exact same thing. Beside Grandma Kate sat T.K. and Matt, who were practically family nowadays. As maid of honor, Kari was supposed to give her mother her undivided attention on this special day, but Kari's thoughts could not help but wander to the boy in the front row who she knew was staring only at her.

The ceremony was beautiful, and when the minister pronounced them husband and wife, Kari found that her eyes were filled with tears. Tai, on the other hand, elbowed Mikey, who was standing beside him, to show him that Kari was crying. Her brother and new stepbrother were laughing at her as they walked out of the church, and while the guests were throwing rice at the entrance, Kari took the opportunity to punch them both on the arm.

Soon afterwards, her mother and her husband climbed into the back of a long white limo and sped off to the reception hall. While Kari, Tai, Mikey, T.K., and Matt waited for the limo that would carry them off, T.K. slipped his arm around Kari's waist.

"You were so beautiful up there," he whispered into her ear.

Kari giggled. He was being cliché and cheesy, but she didn't care. "Well, you don't look to bad yourself today." He was adorable in his black tuxedo.

The limo arrived and the wedding party climbed inside. Matt was pouring them all glasses of champagne against Kari's protests, since Mikey was not yet old enough to drink.

"So when are you two going to get married?" Mikey asked Kari and T.K.

Silence fell over the car as Kari and T.K. exchanged nervous glances and Matt and Tai awaited an answer, clearly they too had been anticipating the answer to this question.

Kari laughed, "We're not old enough to be married," she joked.

Tai snorted, "Since when has that stopped you?" Kari and T.K. both blushed and Matt cuffed Tai on the back of the head.

"Like you have any room to talk," T.K. pointed out. "I was half expecting you two to elope this week, you know, since gay marriage is legal here in California."

Suddenly Matt and Tai seemed uninterested in this conversation and decided to explore the mini-fridge and snack bar.

"You guys don't ever want to be married?" Kari asked them.

"Well, it's not that," Matt tried to explain. He looked at Tai for some help but Tai was staring out the window. "Really, what difference would it make? We're 'domestic partners,' it doesn't matter if we get married or not."

"And besides, mom would kill us if we eloped," Tai pointed out. "And the last thing we want is a fancy wedding like this." Matt nodded in agreement. Tai laughed, "But can't you just picture Matt in a wedding dress?" They all laughed as Matt threw a candy bar at his head.

Kari smiled at their brothers. Those two would never change, and that was perfectly fine with her. They were happy, they made each other happy, and their happiness made her happy. She was just radiating happiness that night.

Everything in her life was falling into place. Tai and Matt were happy in Japan now that Matt had a full-time job in the music business and Tai had a full-time job managing their finances. Yolei and Ken were soon to be married, as well as Lynn and Drew. Sora was happily married in Japan with two little girls. To no one's surprise, Joe soon got over his infatuation with Mimi and continued his stressful life as a doctor. The last time Kari had seen Mimi was when she had flown to San Francisco for a photo shoot. At that time she had been single and as flirty as always. She had heard from Yolei that Cody had just received a full ride scholarship to the University of Tokyo and would begin there in the fall. Davis, who had once gone there on a soccer scholarship had soon decided that college was not right for him and followed his dream in opening a noodle cart.

Reports from the digital world told her that all was well, but that did not stop them from visiting their friends every so often and reminiscing on old times. In her opinion, Gatomon was becoming quite lazy without having to protect the world from evil digimon. But Kari didn't mind because, for once, all of the digimon were at peace.

In a year from now, she and T.K. would both graduate from Stanford University and she would finally have her degree in elementary education and he would receive his in journalism.

Yep, everyone she loved was happy and at ease. What more could she ask for?

The music stopped playing for the tossing of the bouquet. Of all the American wedding traditions, Kari thought this one was the most ridiculous. How would catching a bundle of flowers ensure she would be the next to be married?

Even though she protested, Tai and Matt pushed her onto the dance floor beside all of the other unmarried women. She tried to catch T.K.'s eye for help, but he was laughing, amused by her reluctance.

Sighing, she turned her head towards the table on which her mother was standing. She had barely turned her head when the bouquet came flying straight towards her. Kari raised her hands instinctively to shield her face and somehow happened to grip the stems as they hit her.

All of a sudden, the group of girls around her were squealing and hugging her. "Congratulations, Kari!" they shouted, even though she was not even engaged.

"It's just some stupid flowers," Kari grumbled and threw the bouquet onto the table where T.K. was sitting.

Instead of sitting down in her chair, she plopped down on T.K.'s lap and leaned her head against his shoulder.

She sighed, breathing in the scent of his cologne. "It's been a long day."

"But a good one," he added, looking over to the newly married couple sweeping across the dance floor.

"That'll be us one day," he whispered into her ear.

The thought made her smile so she turned and kissed him on the lips. "According to those flowers, that day is going to be sooner than you think," she joked.

"That's good," T.K. said, scooting her off his lap and onto the seat in front of him. "Because I've been getting tired of carrying this thing around."

Kari gave him a questioning look as he stood up and then lowered himself to the floor in front of her. He knelt on one knee and then reached inside his jacked to pull out a small black velvet box.

Although Kari had dreamt of this day, her heart began to race now that the moment was actually here. He opened the box to reveal an enormous glittering diamond.

"I've told you a million times and I'll tell you a billion times more: I love you Kari. I always have. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

It seemed as if everyone in the reception hall knew what was taking place and paused to witness Kari's response. As for Kari, there was no doubt in her mind whatsoever.

She jumped out of her chair and threw her arms around T.K. "Of course. Yes, yes, yes, absolutely, yes."

T.K. couldn't say anything in response because she was covering his mouth in kisses, but the rest of the wedding guests erupted into cheers and applause. T.K. managed to untangle himself in order to slide the ring onto her finger.

He watched as she ran to show her family and friends. Tai and Matt were pouring glasses of champagne and shoving them into his hand, but he didn't notice. All he could see was her face and how happy she would be, how just seeing her happy made him happy, how happy they would be together. She was everything he ever wanted. A perfect ending and a perfect beginning.