"…Matt….?"

Matt woke the next morning to his love's breathtaking hazel eyes.

"Matt?"

"Are you alright Taichi?"

"Yes."

The blue-eyed boy was a little worried.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm just…a little thirsty…" Tai said. "Could I have some water?"

Matt's eyes lit up.

"Of course you can." 'If he's thirsty, he must be getting better!'

Matt gave Tai some water and he drank it all. It wasn't that much, but it was better than nothing.

"Do you feel good enough to stay awake for a while?" Matt asked. "I know the others will want to know you're awake, especially Kari. She's been worried sick."

Tai nodded.

"Sure. I don't like making Kari worry."

"Somebody say my name?" Kari asked tiredly, still half asleep as she walked in rubbing her eyes.

"Just me Kar."

Matt noticed that the speed at which Kari's head snapped up far exceeded human limitations

"Tai!?"

Tai smiled.

"Hey sis…"

"Tai!"

Kari ran over and dropped to her knees by her brother, opposite Yamato, and took his hand.

"A-Are you okay Onichan?" Kari asked a bit fearfully

Tai smiled.

"Yeah Imouto. I'm fine." Taichi looked up at Yamato. "I promise…"

Kari laughed softly.

"What's going on?"

Matt looked over at Joe and the others who were all gathered a few feet away from them.

"Tai!?"

"Funny, that's what Kari said too…" Tai tried to joke.

Joe ran over and Kari obediently moved out of his way as the rest of the group gathered around just close enough so that they weren't suffocating Tai and Matt.

The group chattered quietly amongst themselves as they all noticed that Tai looked a little better than he had last night.

Matt bent down to whisper in Tai's ear as Joe checked him over.

"Are you really alright Tai-chan?"

Tai looked into Matt's fear filled eyes and grinned.

"Yeah. I think so Yami."

Matt was about to say something else but was cut off.

"Matt?"

"Yeah Joe?" Matt asked, glancing up at the older boy.

"Can I talk to you?"

Matt felt his heartbeat pick up speed.

"Sure."

Even before he could ask, Kari was at his side.

"It's okay Matt. I got him."

"Thanks Kari."

Matt looked down at Tai.

"I'll be right back alright Tai?"

"Kay…"

Matt gently moved Taichi so that his head rested in his sister's lap.

Matt walked over to where Joe was.

"What is it Joe?" Matt asked worriedly, panic slowly edging into his voice.

"How long has he been awake?" Joe asked, not really looking at Matt or anything else inparticular.

"He woke up this morning not long before you guys walked in, but last night he stayed awake for about an hour."

Joe didn't say anything.

"He asked me for some water this morning and drank all of it." Matt said, trying to get a response from Joe.

None came. Joe just stood there in a very doctorly like way and rubbed his chin with his hand.

"Joe?" Matt was seriously considering strangling the boy at this point.

"Joe!"

"Huh? Oh, hi Matt."

"Hi!?" Matt practically screamed. He grabbed Joe's shoulders and shook him a bit. "What's wrong Joe?! What's going on? Is Taichi alright?"

Joe looked at Matt like it was the first time he'd ever seen him. Suddenly, registering the sheer panic in the blonde's eyes, he grinned and started to laugh.

Matt let go of him. 'He's lost it.'

"Matt! Tai's gonna be fine!"

"What?"

Joe became serious, but still smiled broadly.

"He'll be alright. We're still going to have to work to keep his fever from spiking any higher for the next few days and it'll take his ribs and arm a while to mend…well, a long while…but he's going to be okay." Joe grabbed Matt's shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "Matt, he's going to make it."

It took only a minute for this fact to register in Matt's mind before…

"YES!!"

The rest of the group jumped ten feet in the air and Tai winced from the sudden movement.

"Sorry…" Kari apologized, looking sheepish.

"S'okay. I'm alright." Tai assured her.

They looked over to where Joe and Matt were standing, jumping up and down and hopping in circles, laughing.

"Matt! Joe! What's wrong with you!?" Sora yelled.

"Have you two lost your minds?!" Mimi screamed.

"He's gonna be alright!" Matt screamed. "Tai'll be okay!"

Everyone looked at each other, smiled, and began imitating Joe and Matt, jumping around the cave and yelling.

Matt dropped to his knees beside Tai.

"Tai, you'll be okay!"

Tai smiled and started laughing at Yamato's elated expression.

"I could have told you that Yami…"

Tears suddenly threatened to seep into Matt's eyes as it hit him.

'I could have lost him…I could have really lost him…'

"Matt? Are you okay?"

Matt saw the worried expression on Tai's face.

"I'm fine." Matt whispered "I guess I just realized…how important you are to me Tai…" Yamato placed his hand gently on Taichi's cheek. "I could have lost you…"

Tai placed his hand gently over Matt's and smiled lovingly, knowingly.

"You'll never lose me Yamato…no matter what, never…"

"Tai…"

"Awww…."

They both looked up to see Sora snap a hand over Mimi's mouth.

"Shhh! Shut up Mimi!"

Sora smiled at the couple.

"Don't mind us."

Matt looked back at Tai who smiled evilly, if somewhat weakly, at him.

"Okay." Matt shrugged and carefully gathered Tai into his arms, locking the boy in a passionate kiss.

Everyone's eyes widened and Kari and TK's mouths dropped open.

Mimi and Izzy noticed and both quickly snapped their hands over the smaller kid's eyes.

"Hey!"

"Come on, let's go." Mimi said "You can watch them make out when you're older."

Mimi and Izzy turned and led the kids away.

Sora and Joe continued to stare.

"Joe!"

"Sora!"

They both jumped and quickly turned to follow the other two.

Matt released Tai's lips and let the other boy settle back into his arms.

"Wow." Was all Tai could say.

"Wow indeed." Matt agreed, gently brushing some hair out of Taichi's drooping eyes.

"Get some sleep, love. You still need it."

Tai smiled as his eyes began to close.

"I love you Yamato."

"I love you too Taichi."

The brunette was soon asleep.

Matt gently stroked the side of his face with his hand. Tai was still pale, but not nearly as bad as he had been.

"I love you with all my heart angel, and I'll always keep you safe."

The End

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sucked huh?

I'm sorry. I just had to get it done though. Ignore that the last chapter 6 ever happened and I think this makes sense. Hope it wasn't too bad. If anyone would like to do a remake of it or just make something up in your head of what actually happened it's fine with me.

Bye everybody!

~Broken Angel