Let's recap at what happened in the last few moments with our favorite heroes. Izzy needed some help from Tai and informed him about the digi egg found on the internet. But a virus infected and created a new species of Digimon out of it and started eating data in the World Wide Web. So, Tai made many attempts to get in contact with his fellow Digidestined where unfortunately they are all scattered all around form visiting family, school and a vacation to Hawaii. And to make things worse, his "really good friend" Sora, was pretty mad at him for getting a sunflower hairpin for her birthday. Talk about overreacting on the little things. Anyway, they were contacted by Genai and their Digital partners, Agumon, Tentomon, Biyomon, Gabumon, Gatomon, Gomamon, Patamon, and Palmon. Agumon and Tentomon were sent to the internet to have their first encounter with the Digimon who now digivolved into Keramon. And not a few minutes later they were overcome by the now Ultimate level Infermon and pummeled Greymon and Kabuterimon before they go Ultimate themselves. To make matters worse, both Agumon and Gabumon Warped Digivolved to WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon and were about to put an end to Diaboromon for good, until all the email's that Izzy was receiving around the world and witnessing the event, slowed the Mega Digimon to an alarming rate, sending them into a near comatose. Their one last attempt didn't fare any better, Diaboromon multiplied himself into over a billion copies of himself and sent a devastating barrage of Red Wreckers on the two Megas. And although everything seemed lost, the bonds that Tai and Matt have for their partners grew so strong to the point that they were able to bend reality and revived them with all the hope and strength they could lend them. But they weren't alone, the emails also somehow gave their strength to the Megas and allowed them to fuse into the all-powerful Omnimon. They soon wiped out the copies and were able to stop the original and deactivated the nuclear missiles that were hurtling towards their neighborhood.
Now everything seems all calm and peaceful for both Digidestined and the world. That is until Tai tried his mom's "cake". Before he could even protest of even touching his mother's creation, he was already given a slice while Izzy gave him a reluctant and sympathetic smile as he walked out the door. Tai is still not convinced of the slice he was handed and now tempted to give his honest, if not rude, opinion to his mother.
"Um,...Mom? I'm not really hungry right now. Can I have this for later?"
"Now sweetheart, you know how much effort I put into this." She said with a straight face.
Switch to the present. Tai's POV
"How much 'effort' did she put into that cake?", grumbled the bearer of Courage, "Ugh,...*burp*. Never...again"
Pulling the covers over his head and laying still on his back, isn't enough for the boy to relax. It was hard enough that he had to stomach his mother's cooking, but it is even harder NOT to vomit in front of her and hurt her feelings. At least he did it in the kitchen sink, and his mother was now aware of her "culinary skills" needed some improvement. After helping her son to bed and helped him change into his pajamas, she called her family's physicist and had him looked over. Given some time to recover and medicine to calm his stomach, and a now approaching fever, he now lays in bed thinking over and over of why he was stupid enough not say no to his mother of her "cake". His thoughts were soon interrupted by a violent cough and brought back the pain on his forehead and stomach. Reaching out his glass of water his mother left him, he slowly brought it to his lips and took small sips of cool liquid. The sensation of calm returned to him and put back the glass on the small table before returning to his warm bed covers. Laying on his back again, he finally allowed himself to be enveloped in darkness of dreamless sleep.
'Maybe now I can take a break from the crap I went through', he thought, 'and some peace and quiet would do some good.'
Although it was only a couple of hours passed as he slept, he felt like it was seconds, before realizing he had a cool wet cloth on his forehead. Letting out a small moan of protest of figuring out who was in the room with him, he was shushed by his newly arrived caretaker. Relaxing to the gentle touch of a small cloth wiping away the sweat on his face, he slowly opened his eyes the only red-head he knew as a kindergartner. He was given a gentle smile as she wiped the sweat off his upper lip and proceeded to move some of the now down angled hair away from his face.
"Hey", he managed to say, "you're here."
She kept her smile on before replying, "Yeah, I am. How're you feeling?"
"Like hell", he said letting out a weary sigh, "Mom really outdone herself this time."
"Really? What did she make you eat?", she paused for a quick thought, "or drink for that matter?"
"Oh, it was a piece of cake. There's still more in the kitchen if you want any."
Looking on his smirk, she replied with a simple, "No." She leaned in to feel his temperature.
"How long were you sick? Did you get my message?"
Tai looked at her and slowly shook his head and leaned it back on his pillow.
"I've been sick for a couple of days. I haven't really touched my emails or done anything but lay here trying not to throw up on myself."
Before the red-head could say anything else, the sick brunette let out a another violent cough as he lurched forward out of his bed covers. As he was trying not to fall off the bed, there were a set of gentle hands steadying him and having to let him lean on her shoulder for support. She began rubbing his back in small circles and could hear his breathing beginning to slow. She brought up the glass of water to his lips and waited until he could no longer wanted to take in any more. Bringing up the cover sheets to his shoulders, she carefully set her friend down on the bed and brought the newly dampened cloth unto his forehead.
"Thank you, Sora", he moaned out, "and...I'm sorry"
She could only blink to his comment, "For what?"
"He sighed, "You know."
The hairpin. He still wanted to apologize for whatever offense he gave on her birthday. He could never really understand girls too much, but he knew he had try make things right, no matter how confusing his friend can be. He felt a small hand on his cheek and was turned slightly towards to his friends face, and saw the same hairpin he gave to her.
"I already done that. I read your apology email", she said while stroking his hair, "and I love you for it."
A small gasp escaped form the ill brunette, "You love me? For...apologizing?
"Well," she thought for a moment, "that and you said so on that letter."
"Oh." He could only managed that one word.
'Love? Didn't I tried to change that?', he thought, 'maybe the battle with Diaboromon made some changes?'
"Tai?", Sora called out worriedly, "what's wrong? Are you okay?"
"Huh?...Oh, yeah, I'm okay. I was just thinking", he said with a smile.
But she wasn't buying it. Not one bit. "Did you...not mean it?"
He looked at her with worry, "What?"
"Did you not mean what you wrote to me?"
"No. It's not like that", he replied, "I just...I'm just surprised"
Sora looked more serious at him, "Why are you surprised?"
"I'm surprised, because I didn't know that my email finally got you to see me again"
He put a little more thought after saying that, he wanted to just tell her that Kari was just messing around with him and messed up him his original message. But how much harm would that do now? If he tells her now, she might leave all hopped on anger and judgement on him.
"You thought I wouldn't see you again?", she asked.
He turned away from with a hint of shame in his glazed eyes, "Yeah. I thought...maybe, you didn't want to be with my friend anymore."
She eyes widened a bit to his reply, "Friend?"
"I really did put 'Love' at first, but I kinda freaked that maybe I sounded a little...", he can't say it.
"Desperate?", she finished. Tai looked at her with sorrowful eyes and slowly nodded and sighed heavily as he closed his eyes. He felt a slight churning in his stomach and began to squirm a bit to get a good feeling of comfort-ability. He let in a sharp inhale through his nostrils and felt his heart racing, fearing what may come out of his stomach.
Tai's bedroom, Sora's POV
He wasn't looking too good. Having her to look on his face full of pain and his breathing becoming heavier, she felt like she was going to be sick too.
"Tai?", she asked, "what's wrong? Please, let me help."
She looked at him with worried eyes and laid one of her hands on his shoulder. He turned to her and, to her surprise, they were tears streaming down his face.
"Sora", he said, "I'm sorry. I really did feel bad about making you mad. I didn't what I did then and I didn't want to feel like I let you down. I was afraid that I was going to lose one of my best-friends and...*cough* *cough*", he rolled up into a ball having his back facing her and holding his shivering body together. He does his best to catch his breath and tries to grab his bed sheets and cover to bundle up in. He felt something else, though, he felt something warm against his back. Sora was leaning on him, ensuring him while rubbing his back that she was still there for him. The sheets and covers are finally up to his neck and his shoulders are being touched by the same gentle hands he felt earlier. Being turned over to face the one girl he knew as a kid, all he could do was look at her with pained eyes. The pain of feeling sick and the pain of shame he felt for hurting her and the fear of losing her from his life. The damp cloth that fell off his forehead was renewed in the bowel and set back on him. He feels her hand on his cheek again, only for her to use her thumb rub gently and smoothly against it.
"Sora", he began as he was interrupted by her.
"Shhhhhh, no more talking. Just relax. I'll be here for you."
He leans forward to her warm touch and felt the rhythm of attention she was giving him. Relaxing himself and having his breathing coming to a slower rate.
He tried again to ask her, "Can you stay?"
'Am I hearing right?', she thought. "What was that?"
"Can you stay...with me?"
He asked again while looking at her. Pleading for her with his puppy-dog eyes, she couldn't help but comply.
"Alright." She said. As she carefully and quietly got unto his bed, she took off her favorite hat, revealing the long argued topic shining on her hair. Tai looked at it and then at her and gave a smile of relief to himself that finally she accepted his small gift to her. She smiled back at him for having him to notice.
"I kept it", she pointed out, "it really does look nice"
"Yeah, you are", he said absent-minded, making her blush.
She leans him up against her as she was against another pillow behind her. Cradling him in her arms like a child to a mother, she moved his head into the crook of her neck. Moving the strands of lose hair away from his face and re-positioning the cloth on his forehead, she continued to stroke him by the hand. She could hear a soft sigh coming from him, and his tensing body is now becoming more loose and relaxed. He was actually about to fall asleep in her arms, feeling that maybe that this is what he really needed. Comforting love and support from the one person who he knew for such a long time, would actually do wonders than any modern medicine could.
"Sora?", he called out.
"I'm here Tai. You need to sleep." She cooed.
He was losing consciousness, he needed to say it now before he passes out.
"Sora,...I love you, I really...do", he said in a more quiet voice. He felt her warm hand hold his head and gently brought up to her.
She kisses him on his forehead and then on his lips as they slid down from the pillows and lay their heads against them. She could hear a deep relieving sigh escape from his lips followed by a small smile forming. She brings him closer to her chest letting his head rest above her breasts. Stroking his hair, she leans close to his ear with a quiet whisper.
"I love you, too, Tai", she said giving her last kiss on his head, "I always have."
And they both drifted off to peaceful sleep.