Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. For the LAST TIME!

Author's Note: Yes. You read that right. Last time. WE DID IT, FOLKS. Welcome to the end! Again, another big thank you to everybody that stuck around. I'm sorry it took so long, only 6 years to complete this story, but we did it. And it tops off at 35 chapters. This is the first story I have ever finished on this site, and I must say, I am mighty proud. Things did not go as originally planned in so many instances, but I am not at all disappointed.

Lots of love. Lots, lots, lots of love.

Enjoy!

Day 3 – Part 7

"Takeru?" Nancy Takaishi called through the house as she sat her purse down on the table next to the phone and scanned the living room.

Unlike this morning when she had left the little apartment, the living room was no longer covered in dirty dishes, used tissue, and Kleenex boxes. Instead, it looked like someone had decided to come on through and clean up the place and taken her son with them. As irrational as it was, she felt a surge of fear for just a split second when she saw the room empty of her youngest.

"Mom?"

Nancy turned toward her son's bedroom door and found the object of her thoughts standing there. She smiled a bit bemusedly, taking in his much healthier and happier appearance than when she left. He had obviously taken a shower and changed clothes, and the color was back in his face. He didn't even appear to be in any kind of discomfort as he stood there, which was a real plus. She let out a small happy sigh before tilting her head.

"What are you doing up?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I was just cleaning a little."

"Should you be doing that?" she pointed out, worriedly. She walked up to him. "You might be feeling better, but you're still sick." TK resisted the urge to roll his eyes as she placed a hand against his forehead. "Still a little warm," she murmured.

"But my temperature is way down," he reassured her. "And I feel fine. But," he added when he saw her about to protest, "I was about to go to bed when I heard you come in. I'm not overexerting myself, I promise."

She studied him for a long moment before nodding. "Okay," she conceded, feeling both touched and saddened by the fact that he was able to read her so easily. "Have you been here alone all day?"

"I'm not alone," he reminded her. "Patamon." TK nodded back to the digimon who was sleeping already on his bed, a sign that he was telling the truth about being just moments away from going to sleep.

She smiled lightly. "You know what I mean."

TK shook his head, making his golden locks bounce on his head. "No. Davis and Ken were here most of the day."

The mother of two frowned lightly. "They didn't keep you up all day, did they?"

He grinned a bit as he turned away from her and moved into his room. He went about picking up the dirty laundry and putting it into a basket. She smiled lightly as she watched him work, realizing that the dishes were probably done in the kitchen as well. Not for the first time, she thanked her luck that she got one of the good kids that seemed to always be an angel, even when they didn't have to or were expected to be.

"Well?" she prodded, anyway. It was her job as his mother to hound him, after all.

"Mom," he protested gently. "We weren't wrestling or playing soccer."

"Well, that's one good thing," she said. "What did you do?"

"We played some video games, ate, played cards, stole a car, took a trip to America… You know, the usual."

Perhaps she should have been a little upset by his attempt to bait her, but she found it more amusing and refreshing to hear his good natured humor to be back. It was a sure sign that he was definitely feeling better, and that's all she ever wanted for her little boy. Except he really wasn't so little anymore. No, he was growing up, and much too fast for her taste.

"No fighting?" she asked quietly.

Nancy didn't like it, but she had been witness to TK and Davis's fights more than once. And though she knew by now to just let the two boys work it out themselves, she still didn't think that kind of stress was good for him while he was recovering from being sick. He turned to look at her, as if wanting to protest against even answering her, but stopped himself when he saw her face. He was quiet for a moment before shaking his head.

"No fighting," he promised. "We just hung out."

"Good," she said with a smile. She walked up to him and ran her hand over his hair gently before kissing his cheek. "Get some sleep. You can finish cleaning up tomorrow if you're still feeling okay."

TK looked around his room before glancing down (darn his growth spurt, she thought to herself) at his mother. "I was hoping to just focus on homework tomorrow," he admitted.

"TK…" she began.

"I'm not saying that I'm definitely going to school on Monday," he said, cutting her off. "I just think that I feel a lot better, and that I definitely don't want to walk into school without my work done."

She searched his face for a moment before giving a small nod. "Go to bed," she repeated. "I'm sure you'll have time for both things tomorrow."

He gave a small sigh before nodding. "Okay."

Nancy put her hand on his arm. "I love you. Good night."

"Love you, too," he said. "Good night, Mom."

He watched her exit his room, and he closed the door behind her. For a moment, he considered finishing cleaning anyway before shrugging it off. He could get to it tomorrow. He peeled off his socks before moving to climb into bed, trying to be as gentle as he could not to disturb his digimon partner.

"TK?" a sleepy voice murmured.

TK winced, realizing that he had woke him up anyway. He looked over at Patamon and smiled softly. "Sorry to wake you, Pata'. Go back to sleep."

The digimon shuffled closer to his partner and yawned to himself. "The last three days haven't been too bad, have they?" he asked sleepily.

TK considered the question for a moment before shaking his head. "No, not really."

"Thought it was kind of fun," Patamon muttered.

The basketball player rolled onto his side as he stared at his best friend, just one of his many best friends actually, and in the past three days, he was able to see every single one of them. They all showed up just to make sure he was okay. He reached up and ran his fingers over the spine of the orange digimon as he nodded lightly.

"It was."

His eyes fell shut as he started to feel the tug of sleep pulling at him. The last three days could have been awful with how sick he had been and the rollercoaster that his stomach and head had been playing on him, but it actually wasn't so bad when he thought about it. His friends had come through just to try to make things a little more tolerable.

Thanks, guys…