Hello again. I had this idea kicking around in my head for about a week, so I decided to do it. This is an alternate ending to "If Only They Could" if Takato survived AeroVeedramon's attack. Read chapters one through three of IOTC if you want the full backstory, but it's not really necessary. There's cake for reviews, if you want it. Delicious, moist cake. Anyway, here's what could have happened. I'm still working on owning Digimon too. Don't worry, it'll happen.

Well Now They Can

Takato was hurting everywhere pain could manifest itself. He saw nothing but blurred dust, and he heard nothing but a piercing ring. He tried to keep his eyelids pried open, but his body refused to do anything. His eyelids slowly drooped, until he drifted into unconsciousness. He felt himself being shaken after a few minutes rest, but Takato was unable to move, even just to open his eyes. He couldn't remember the last five minutes of his life. He remembered fighting the AeroVeedramon, but in the middle of his memory of the battle, the film cut off. His hearing was coming back, and he heard muffled cries that were unrecognisable, but slowly his hearing returned and he was able to make out what they were saying.

"Takato, wake up! Come on, Takato! Please! Wake up Takato!"

Takato strained to open his eyes. It took all his energy, but he finally pried them open. Obscuring his vision was a large brightly-colored blob that once he focused revealed itself to be Rika.

"Ri…ka..?" Takato managed to croak.

"Don't talk. Save your strength," Rika said on the verge of tears.

"Ri…ka, what…hap-pened?" Takato asked.

Rika looked downright pissed off. Tears in her eyes, she screamed at Takato. "You idiot! Why did you do it?" she sobbed.

Takato finally remembered seeing the attack heading straight for Rika, and pushing her out of the way just in time. Unfortunately, that had put him directly into the path of the blast.

"Be-cause…I…I…" Takato tried to say, but he was losing consciousness again.

"You what?" Rika said in a hoarse voice.

"I…I…I…lo…I lo…" Takato couldn't finish the sentence; he fell back into the void of insentience. The last thing he heard was a loud shriek.

"TAKATO!"

Takato could only see white as he came to. He focused, and objects began to materialise in the whiteness. Bedsheets, walls, machinery, curtains, and tables came into view. He looked to his bedside table and saw a vase of flowers and a few get well cards from his classmates. He shifted in his bed, getting attention from Guilmon, who was sitting silently on a white couch at the foot of Takato's bed.

"Guilmon?" Takato said dazed.

"Takato! You're awake!" Guilmon danced happily.

A doctor walked in to check on Takato. "Ah, you're finally up. I'm Dr. Kurosawa. I'm just going to check on you, it won't take long."

The doctor asked Takato a myriad of questions, followed by reflex tests, oral examinations, temperature readings, and a few…uncomfortable checkups.

"Okay, you seem to be doing great," Dr. Kurosawa said, "I'll update your medical chart, and you can go in about an hour, how's that sound?"

"Pretty good," Takato said sleepily, "but how long was I out?"

"Well, you gave us a pretty good scare when you came in: Low heart rate, weak breathing; we thought you were having a cardiac arrest! We put you in the ICU, and you've been out for two and a half weeks. Your family will be overjoyed! I'll give them a call soon. Oh, and a friend of yours too. She came in every day to see you and find out if your condition had improved. She just left an hour ago actually. They'll be delighted to hear the news, or did you want to tell them yourself?"

Takato smiled. "I think I'll tell them."

Rika heard her mother call for her from the kitchen. "Rika, can you answer the door?" Rumiko said, as her hands were full with cooking dinner for the family. Rika picked herself up from the floor, where she was improving her card deck, and headed for the door. She opened the door, and dropped the newly-formed deck of Digimon cards. Takato.

"Hey there Rika, how have you been?" Takato said casually, but the smirk on his face gave the game away.

"I…I…It…You were…How…" Rika babbled, unsure what to say. She wanted to scream and throw her arms around him, but there were people around, so she silently stewed.

"Can we talk? I…need to talk to you." Takato said nervously.

Rika nodded, before turning to her mother. "I'm going out for a while!" she shouted, before leaving without hearing her mother's response.

Rika led the way to the hideout in silence, trying to figure out what to think. Takato remained just as silent, unsure why she was being so nonchalant about his return. "If she came to visit every day, why isn't she happy I'm back?" He thought.

They continued to walk in silence, and they entered the old concrete building, upon which time Rika turned and…

SMACK!

Takato reeled in pain, wincing and rubbing his cheek. "What the hell was that for?" He said, before noticing the tears streaking down Rika's cheeks.

"I can't believe you!" she shouted through sniffles and sobs. "You're stupid enough to jump in front of an attack from an Ultimate Digimon for me, you're in a coma for two weeks, we all thought you were going to die, and you walk up to me and say hello, like nothing happened?"

Takato was now terrified of the monster he had unleashed. "What do I do now?"

"I…I just thought…I didn't think you would-"

"What? That I would care? You don't think I have feelings? You don't think I would have cared about you being gone? Well guess what Takato. I. DO."

Takato sweatdropped. He was at a loss for words. He kind of wanted to yell back, but figured that wouldn't be such a good idea. Instead, he backtracked.

"Well what the hell was I supposed to do?" he said uneasily. "I don't think there's a generally accepted course of action in these situations!"

"You fucking Gogglehead! ANY course of action would have been better than just walking up and striking up a conversation like nothing happened!" Rika seethed, adding as much anger as she could muster into her words.

"Okay, I'm sorry, alright?"

"No! I have been worried sick! I checked in every day, and I always got the same answer! 'He's in stable condition, but it doesn't look good.' DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT'S LIKE? DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE NOT KNOWING IF YOUR BEST FRIEND WAS GOING TO BE DEAD THE NEXT DAY?" Rika screamed, losing control of her rage.

"What do you want me to say? I'm sorry!" Takato was legitimately scared of Rika at this point.

Rika ran out of anger. Suddenly, she burst into tears in Takato's arms. "Don't ever scare me like that again, okay?"

Takato felt it was an appropriate time to make physical contact with the beast. "I promise," he said, rubbing her back comfortingly.

The two sat on the concrete floor, talking calmly. Takato recounted the only time he came to in the two weeks he was out, which was soon after the accident, they were fitting him with a urinary catheter, which he called the single most uncomfortable moment in his life. They soon ran out of things to talk about, and instead lay on the floor, looking up at the stars through a hole Guilmon had made not too long ago.

"Takato?" Rika broke the calm silence.

"Yeah Rika?" Takato responded.

"What were you going to say to me, right before you passed out?" Rika asked.

Takato tensed up. "Uhh, nothing. Nope, nothing at all. It really wasn't important." Takato babbled.

"Come on, what was it? You said 'I lo…' but you couldn't finish. What were you going to say?" Rika had already theorized what he intended to say, but refused to jump to any conclusions before he confirmed her suspicions.

"Uhh, I was going to say…Uhh…I…lunch."

Rika rolled her eyes. "I lunch?" she said. "Yeah right. What were you actually going to say Takato?"

Henry's words were echoing in Takato's mind. "You need to tell her. If you don't, you'll spend the rest of your life wondering what would have happened."

Takato sighed to himself, before packing up the courage. "I…was going to say…"

"Just spit it out, Gogglehead! Jeez, what could you-"

"I love you, okay?"

Rika froze. She had half expected him to say that, but up until now, she still didn't really think he did. "W-what?" she said.

"I…love you. I always have." Takato broke eye contact and lowered his head.

"…I…I don't…You…Why?" Rika spluttered.

"I'm sorry." Takato said, pushing off from the ground, intending to head for the exit. Takato was stopped however by a hand grasping his forearm firmly.

"Where are you going?" Rika asked him seriously.

Takato refused to look her in the eyes. "I'm going home."

"Why?"

"Because I already know what you're going to say," Takato said dejectedly.

"What do you mean? I don't understand."

"It's pretty obvious you don't like me back, so I'm just gonna-"

"Pretty obvious? What the hell are you talking about?" Rika said.

"Well, you're you, and I'm me!" Takato responded, finally making eye contact again.

Rika didn't know what to say. She stared into his eyes for a minute, before slowly moving in toward him. Her lips brushed up against his, and they held the kiss for an eternity. Takato was the one to break away, eyes wide.

"W-why did you do that?" He asked.

"Because…I love you too." Rika said quietly.

Takato looked at Rika in disbelief. "Really?"

Rika pulled him into another kiss. Shortly after breaking away, she whispered in his ear.

"Really."

The two left the hideout a few minutes later, holding hands. They walked down the road in silence, Rika resting her head on Takato's shoulder. As they arrived at the Matsuki bakery, Rika leaned in and pecked Takato on the cheek.

"You know," she said softly, "I'm still mad at you."

"I know." Takato said cheerily. "I'm mad at me too."

"Why is that?"

Takato turned to Rika and kissed her one last time. "I'm mad I didn't tell you sooner."

Rika smiled as their fingers parted. Takato looked back one last time to see Rika walking away, head held high. "Man," he thought, "why is Henry always right?"

~FIN~

What do you guys think? I think it turned out okay, just a simple fluffy one-shot. I had a metric shit ton of time this weekend, so I'm posting this alongside chapter nine of IOTC. I hope you guys like it.

~-~RemEMBeR tHE caKE~-~