What Happened in the Morning...

Home Sweet Garage

After ten minutes of nonstop walking, the trio finally reached the garage. Clank nudged Ratchet on the arm.

"Ratchet?" he whispered. He turned around.

"What is it?"

"If this Lombax is Hispanic, you should try to impress her with some Spanish," he said.

Ratchet looked uncomfortable. He didn't even know his native Lombax language, let alone Spanish. But because he liked Alice so much, he decided it was worth a shot.

"Ok Clank. I'll do it," he said.

Ratchet then walked up to Alice, who was fascinated by everything in the garage.

"Um Alice?" Ratchet asked. Alice turned around to face him.

"What is it?" She asked.

Ratchet's cheeks started to burn up as he tried to make up a sentence in Spanish.

"Mi casa es su casa," he said, not even sure what he said. Ratchet just heard the sentence on a commercial for apartments on Kerwan so he had no idea what it meant. He was hoping it was something good. It turns out that he got his wish. Alice returned a gentle smile that just made his heart melt.

"Gracias Ratchet," she said with great sincerity. "I didn't know you could speak Spanish." Ratchet blushed. Her voice was so perfect with the language, it was heavenly to Ratchet's ears.

"Actually, I just heard it on a commercial and I have no idea what it means," he said, clearly embarrassed about not knowing Alice's native tongue.

"No worries," she said. "Trust me, you don't know how many people have no idea what I'm saying when I speak Spanish. Basically 'mi casa es su casa' means 'My house is your house.' It's typically used to welcome guests to your home and invite them to make themselves comfortable."

Ratchet was in awe. She sounded so intelligent in her explanation and he really wanted to learn how to speak her language. Of course, it was really embarrassing asking your crush how to speak their language so he started breaking into a cold sweat. He took a deep breath.

"............Could you please teach me how to speak Spanish?" Ratchet asked, blushing and sweating. "It sounds really beautiful, just like you." Alice smiled.

"Of course I can," she said, noticing how red Ratchet was becoming. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about." She started giggling again.

The last thing Ratchet remembered was seeing Alice giggling, becoming light-headed, and then darkness closing in on his vision. He could hear himself mentally screaming for help but could make no noise. Consciousness was fading fast. He could feel his heart beating faster than usual and his veins pumped harder. His head was pounding and his breathing was shallower. He became extremely scared. All he could do was wait for help.

....

....

....

".....Okay I think he's coming to," a familiar female voice said.

"Ratchet, wake up!" another familiar voice said.

Ratchet opened his eyes to see two fuzzy figures in front of him. He blinked a couple of times to have them come into focus and to show them that he was responsive. He then attempted to stand up. Light-headedness came back to him and darkness tried to cover his vision again. But instead of hitting the ground, a hand was there to catch him before he fell down again.

"Ratchet! Are you ok?!"

He opened his eyes to see Alice's concerned look on her face as she helped him to his feet.

"What happened?" Ratchet asked, grabbing his pounding head. Alice looked at him, one hand on her chest and calming down as she saw that he was feeling okay.

"You fainted," Alice explained. "While I was telling you that I could teach you my native tongue, you just fell to the ground. We tried waking you up but you didn't respond. You don't know how scared I was when you stopped breathing for a minute. And I literally mean 60 seconds. Lombaxes die if they don't breathe for two minutes so if another minute passed by without you breathing, you would've died. And that would the be the last thing I want to happen to you." Alice started shedding tears as she grabbed Ratchet tightly. He was speechless for a moment. Had Alice been so concerned that she thought he almost died?

"But why would I just randomly pass out for no reason?" Ratchet asked, completely confused as Alice let go of him. "I feel fine."

"Maybe your constant blushing and heating up caused you to lose consciousness," Clank said.

"Maybe."

There was an awkward silence between the three of them when Alice suddenly broke the silence.

"Ratchet, I think you should lie down. I don't want you passing out again tonight."

She reached out and held Ratchet's hand. For probably the hundredth time that day, Ratchet blushed a deep crimson. They walked together to Ratchet's bedroom. The whole way up the stairs, Ratchet kept thinking about how much Alice cared for him. She was an independent and selfless Lombax. Ratchet really liked that quality of hers. He also thought that maybe...just maybe...they could be a couple. He shook his head. 'No don't think like that.'

Although he felt awkward about thinking he and Alice could become a couple, Ratchet kept this thought at the back of his head.