Secret Pleasures

Disclaimer: I make no money from these fics and recognise the sole rights of the original creators to do so.

Summary: Linka's having some unusually vivid dreams that might just help her with her feelings towards a certain red-headed American.

A/N: With thanks to Becks7 for the inspiration to write this, and to Miss Mango and Ellibrial for the inspiration to post it.

Rated M: for implied intimacy (consensual only) and mild references to domestic violence in later chapters

Chapter One

Captain Planet swooped low and then dodged quickly to the right, just missing the nuclear blast that Duke had sent his way. In the background Dr Blight was shrieking at her fellow eco-villain to be careful where he pointed his rays, lest he damage her latest invention.

"We have to get out of here!" Wheeler exclaimed, straining at his restraints.

Linka glared. "Do you always have to state the obvious Wheeler?" Not getting a reaction, she continued, "And stop struggling Durak! You will rip out the needles that mad woman stuck in your skull, you could cause permanent brain damage, though I suppose in your case no one would notice!"

She was upset and taking her feelings out on him, and he knew it. Sometimes it would ignite his fiery temper and cause an argument that would last for days, sometimes he would ignore it making her even more angry, but occasionally, like now, he would see through it and attempt to comfort her.

The battle continued around them but he stilled and spoke softly to her. "Cap'll get us out."

"I know." Her eyes welled up with tears she refused to shed.

"Linka?" He turned his head carefully to the side so that he could see her.

The Russian refused to meet his eyes. "Do not look at me!"

It was then he realised what had his normally calm and collected, not to mention control freak, friend so upset. "It'll grow back, Beautiful."

"Do not call me that... Not now." Linka was trying not to think of her golden curls lying discarded on the floor but it was hard, it was more than vanity, it was a part of her self-image and she wanted to run away and hide.

Wheeler silently swore revenge on Blight for hurting his lovely teammate, but he wasn't giving up, "Seriously Babe, you'll always be beautiful, and it's not like you're on your own here."

"Do not! You do not understand." It was almost a sob, but it turned into a scream as one of Nukem's stray bolts hit the machinery they were connected to.

Both Planeteers started to convulse as Blight's device activated.

The evil doctor screamed too, in anger, yelling for Mal to help her shut it down. It was supposed to let her re-program them into environment hating polluters by accessing their sub-conscious, but the commands hadn't been entered yet and it wasn't supposed to work on them both at the same time, she'd only just begun to map their neural pathways.

It was sometime after the pain stopped that Wheeler was able to think clearly again, and his first thought was, "Linka?"

"She's okay, Wheeler." Gi lay a restraining hand on his shoulder. "The doctor is with her."

He gazed confusedly up at his friend. "Doctor? Blight? Hey, you're free!"

The young Asian shook her head. "You're in hospital and Blight's in jail. Though, Captain Planet took care of Nukem while Doctor Blight got her machine under control... She saved your lives."

Wheeler gave his friend a disbelieving look and she laughed. "Okay, she was trying to save her machine, but in the process she saved you too. Cap caught her and made her unhook you and then he came and got us and we brought you here."

The American grunted derisively but before he could comment a nurse and an orderly arrived to take him for a brain scan.

Linka had been quiet all the way home, though Wheeler had done his best to draw her out. The doctors had said there was no permanent damage done and released them, but it wasn't the physical damage that had the American worried. Linka was building up walls and shutting them out.

"I think I will go straight to bed." She announced coolly when they landed. "It has been a very trying day."

"Sweet dreams Beautiful." Wheeler was looking at her intently and didn't miss the slight grimace at his chosen term of endearment, what made him sigh though, was the way she walked away without commenting.

Once the Wind Planeteer was out of earshot, Gi turned on him. "Do you have to bait her like that? Can't you see she's upset?"

"I'm not trying to upset her Gi! She's hung up on Blight shaving her hair off, well I can't say I was too happy about my new look either," Wheeler glared, running a self-conscious hand over his bald scalp. "But I'm not giving her the silent treatment because of it."

"It's different for girls." Gi said defensively.

The American shook his head. "No it's not, and would you rather I didn't call her beautiful and let her think it makes a difference to me?"

"Of course not…" The Water Planeteer frowned.

"Trust me Gi, no one knows her like I do!" he insisted. "She'll pounce on any little thing to justify shutting herself away, I'm not going to give her any excuses!"

Gi's frown gave way to an amused smile and she held her hands up. "Okay, Okay! Handle it your own way."

The American stomped off towards his cabin leaving the others to exchange glances. Whatever they might have thought about their friend's volatile relationship, each one was determined to keep an eye on them this time, just in case there were any lasting side-effects from the accident.

Linka climbed into bed and curled up, pulling the covers up over her head and muffling a sob as, for the 10th time, she tried to adjust hair that wasn't there anymore. The blanket felt strange against her scalp but she hoped the blackness would allow her to forget her physical form.

Tears leaked from the lovely Russian's eyes and though it wasn't like her to wallow in self pity, this time she couldn't seem to help it. Of course it didn't help that she felt guilty for taking her feelings out on her teammates, one of them in particular.

Linka didn't know why she'd given Wheeler the cold shoulder, after all, he'd been through the same thing as her, in fact she would have loved him to put his arms around her and hold her until all the bad stuff went away... It never seemed to work out that way though, she was too independent and his kindness just seemed to make her bristle. He just takes it, however I treat him, I wish...

Her thoughts slowed as she drifted off to sleep, half promising herself that she'd make it up to her friend when she woke.

It was pitch black when Linka opened her eyes again, and even as they slowly became accustomed to the pale light of the moon that was seeping in through her blinds, the things in her bedroom appeared to be fuzzy. For a few seconds she was confused, and then worried that Blight's invention had caused some damage after all, but as she concentrated everything began to come into focus and she decided it was simply the after effects of the deep sleep she'd been in.

Sighing softly, she climbed out of bed and made her way to the door, opening it to look out and instinctively seeking out the cabin of her American team mate. It was in darkness.

The lovely Russian hesitated. As much as she wanted to see her fiery friend, waking him up in the middle of the night wasn't exactly the best way to apologise. The more she thought about it though, the more she needed to be close to him and to know that, despite her pushing him away again, their friendship was intact.

Even before she'd fully made up her mind, her feet were taking her across the distance to the American's cabin and she slipped inside without knocking. For a moment Linka had the odd impression that the bed was empty but then the shadows resolved themselves into the image of her sleeping friend and some of the tension she had been feeling eased out of her.

Sitting carefully on the edge of the bed and wondering what she should say, the wind Planeteer jumped as its occupant suddenly opened his eyes.

"Linka? You okay Babe?" He propped himself up on one elbow, and put the other loosely around her waist.

"Da, I…" She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and shrugged. "I just wanted to, um…"

He grinned and sat up, pulling her into a warm embrace. "Me too."

Linka chuckled quietly and snuggled against him, her arms slipping around him with one hand unconsciously reaching up to play with the strands of hair at the nape of his neck.

As wonderful as it felt, there was a little voice niggling at the back of Linka's consciousness that was telling her something wasn't quite right. It took her a few moments and then she gasped. "Hair!" Pulling back to stare up at him, "You have hair!"

He blinked as if seeing her for the first time, then nodded towards the mirror on his wardrobe door. "So do you Beautiful."

Linka turned her head slowly as if she was afraid to look, but then just sat there staring until he asked her if she was ok. "Was it a dream? Or…" She demanded, her voice choking on the question. "Or is this a dream?"

"I don't know… I think maybe this is."

She turned to look at him for a moment and then buried her face in his shoulder, clinging to him as he wrapped his arms back around her and held her securely. "This feels so real… I want this to be real."

Wheeler pressed a kiss to her head but he sounded sad when he spoke. "I know Babe, and I wish you would come to me like this for real."

Linka let out a sob and burrowed closer, knowing that he was right and that all of this was in her imagination. After a few minutes she calmed down, and surprised him by turning her head so that she could press a kiss to his neck, followed by another, and another.

"Er, Linka?"

"Shhh Yankee." She pulled back just far enough so that she could rest her forehead against his, and brought her hands up to cup his face. "This is a dream, we can do anything we want in a dream. No consequences."

"Is that what you want?" He sounded surprised which wasn't at all what she had expected. Normally the Wheeler in her dreams had only one thought on his mind, and she was always disappointed that she could never remember what happened when she woke up.

The lovely Russian sat back and shook her head. "Nyet, not in real life. There I want you to want me forever, and not just for a quick tumble in the straw."

"Hay." He corrected softly as she continued.

"That is why I cannot give in to you, it has to mean something." Her look turned saucy and she put her arms around his neck bringing them closer again. "That does not stop me from wanting you though."

Wheeler laughed and tilted his head, leaning in to bring their lips together.

Linka sighed and melted into him, amazed at how real it felt. Her body was tingling with pleasure where they touched and as she parted her lips to allow him to deepen the kiss she wondered how she could imagine so much detail when she'd never let anyone to do so before.

Fumbling with his blankets while trying not to pull away from his wandering hands, she managed to crawl into bed next to him, only to find herself immediately enveloped. A little while later Linka realised that their clothes were gone, though she was sure they hadn't removed them.

More evidence that this is only a dream. She sighed.

"Are you okay with this?"

Again she was surprised by his concern, but she supposed that in her previous fantasies he had been the insensitive seducer she'd tried to convince herself he was, to protect her heart. She no longer thought of him that way and her sub-conscious had finally caught on… though if she was honest, she'd always rather liked the idea of him coming to her room and taking her, but going by the sensations he was creating in her just then, this Wheeler was definitely superior.

Instead of answering him directly, she pushed him back on to the bed and followed to straddle him. Finally raising her gaze from his chest to his face, she found him looking at her with a wonder that was rivalled only by the passion burning in his eyes.

Leaning down to once more bring their lips together, in the back of her mind, Linka worried that she would cry out in her sleep and have the others coming in to see what was wrong. What would they find if they did?

It was light when Linka woke again and Wheeler was gone… so was her hair.

Curling into a ball beneath the covers, the young Russian girl sobbed, though this time it was because she had woken up alone in her own room, and not due to the events of the previous day.

Despite her distress she felt a contentment that started in her lower half and spread throughout her body, though there was no other indication that what she had experienced had been more than an extremely vivid dream, which in many ways she was relieved about, but there was a lingering sense of disappointment.

She continued in a sombre mood as she got washed and dressed, and it followed her to the kitchen as she prepared her breakfast. Linka was completely lost in thought when she was suddenly enveloped from behind by a familiar figure, and given the nature of her thoughts it wasn't surprising that she yelped in alarm.

"It's only me!" Wheeler said quickly, releasing her and stepping back. He'd gotten up early especially to catch her alone. "I didn't mean to make you jump Babe, I just… I wanted to know we were okay."

She turned and eyed him cautiously, her mind still on her dream. "Ok?"

"Yeah, you know… after yesterday." He shrugged, thinking it wasn't wise to say she'd been in a mood. "It was a rough day."

Linka giggled in relief, much to his amazement and confusion, and then surprised him even more by stepping forward and giving him a hug. "Thank you for understanding Yankee."

He hesitated one moment longer and then returned her embrace, sighing with contentment.

To be continued…