The Birds

A Captain Planet Fanfiction

By

Isabelle Saucier

(isauciervideotron.ca)

Disclaimer: All Captain Planet characters are copywrited TBS/WB/etc. and are used without permission. This is a fanfiction, solely written because of my interest in the series and not to make profit of any kind.

Warning : This is pure, pointless, Wheeler/Linka mush. I just felt like writing something short and sweet. :D

On a sunny Spring afternoon, Linka and Kwame were waiting for their friends by the Geo Cruiser. This long convention weekend in New York City had been tiresome, but worth it. There had been so many lectures and activities that the group had had to split up. Each had gone to activities pertaining to their field of interest or specialty, and had agreed to give the others full reports when they were all back together.

Since the lectures did not all end at the same time on the last day, they had all agreed to meet back at the airplane at a set time. Linka and Kwame had been the first ones to finish, and had decided on visiting the Hayden Planetarium before heading back, and despite that, they were the first ones to arrive.

They opened one of the hatches on the Cruiser to let the air freshen the cabin, and settled down to play senet. Linka's logical mind had been drawn by this game of strategy and luck the very first time the young African had shown her and she was always happy to play.

Ma-Ti arrived a few moments later and sat on the wing of the small airplane to watch his two friends play. "Did you see Gi or Wheeler?" Kwame asked him.

"I saw Wheeler. He said he had to take care of a few things and he would come back here."

"Did he say what?"

"No. It probably has to do with his family."

"Well, now is the time, we cannot be much closer to his home than this," Linka commented.

The two others agreed and Kwame moved one last time on the game board, winning. "I am going to file in the flight plan," he commented, before moving to the front seat.

Ma-Ti and Linka began talking about some of the conferences they had attended, and Kwame commented from his seat. "Here's Gi," he added as he looked up from one of the Cruiser's consoles.

"Hey guys! Am I the last one in?" she asked as the handed the bag she was holding to Ma-Ti so he could put it inside the plane.

"The Yankee is not in," Linka replied.

Gi pulled her tongue out. "I'm hungry. Can we go eat somewhere before we leave? Ma-Ti, call Wheeler. He mustn't be that far off."

The young Kayapo nodded then put his hand to his head. "Ask him where we can eat Indian food," Gi added, to which Kwame nodded in a "good idea" manner.

It lasted a few moments before he broke the link between the American planeteer and himself. "He told me of a place he knows. We'll meet there instead of here."

"Good enough. Let's go!" Gi exclaimed as the others closed the hatch back and stepped down from the Cruiser's wing.

Dinner went well and the food was delicious, despite the somewhat unimpressive outside look of the restaurant. The five friends then returned to their plane and set off towards Hope Island. Linka noticed that Wheeler was quieter than usual, but thought he might have visited with his parents, and despite his relationship with his father having improved, it was still awkward to him and he preferred to keep it to himself. She respected that, but had expressed in the past that if he ever needed to talk about it, she would be happy to lend an attentive ear.

Kwame made the Cruiser bank to one side to change direction, and the Statue of Liberty became visible on Wheeler's side. Linka undid her safety belt and crossed the aisle to take a better look at the lit monument. "It is beautiful," she commented in a low voice, leaning against the young man in a companionable and affectionate manner.

Ever since the Russian planeteer had returned from her hometown and joined the team again (not that anyone really considered that she had left), she had changed her attitude towards Wheeler. She could not say if it was whether because he had stayed with her as her guardian angel, protecting her, or because he had foolishly risked his own safety, and maybe his life, to do so that she felt different. They still argued. They probably would for as long as they were together. "At least I know I will not be bored with him," she thought, then kissed him gently before regaining her seat.

He smiled back at her from across the aisle, but said nothing. With his mouth anyway. His eyes told another story. She thought with a healthy blush that there was going to be a cocooning session in front of an old movie in her near future. She hoped debriefing would not take too long.

It did not, but they were more tired than they thought and ended up falling asleep on one of the couches in the recreation area. When Linka awoke, she felt the young man's arm around her and smiled, cuddling closer to him. "This is happening more and more often, Babe," he said in a sleepy voice, nuzzling her neck, "We'll have to do something about it."

She turned her face so that she could see him. "What, stop watching TV late and go to bed like the others?"

Wheeler said nothing and looked at her, a roguish smile on his lips. "Pervert," the young woman said with a smile.

"I did not say anything."

"You thought it."

"If you say so," he concluded, kissing her good morning to prevent her from speaking further.

They rose from the couch and went to the kitchen area to eat breakfast. No one else was there and Linka realized it was much later than she thought when she looked at the clock on the far side of the area. Kwame was more than likely in his greenhouse and Gi and Ma-Ti elsewhere on the island, catching up on some of their projects. The night before, the planeteers had agreed to take the day "off" and then proceed to informing each other of the lectures they had all attended after this short rest. "What are you doing today, Yankee?" Linka asked, before taking a sip of coffee.

"I thought I might check out the Eco-Copter."

She nodded. "I remember. You had to do emergency repairs on it on a mission last week."

"Gi and I never got around to look at it with all that was going on, and we have the Cruiser anyway. Since it's quieter lately, I'll take the time to do that. What are you going to do?"

She shrugged. "I do not know."

"Knowing you, you'll go and file your reports right away in the main computer."

Blushing, Linka replied: "Maybe."

"Today is rest day, not work day!"

"I do not consider filing my reports as work. It's monotonic and relaxing. I do not have to think about anything else."

"'Kay, whatever," Wheeler said, rolling his eyes.

"Look at it this way: if I file my reports now, I have more time after for resting and I do not have to think about it anymore."

"You would have an explanation for that, too," he sighed, shaking his head and smiling despite himself.

They finished eating breakfast and after cleaning up, went to change back into normal day clothes and do whatever they had chosen to do. Later, all five reunited for lunch, then left again to their own activities; Linka decided to go read on the beach as she did not feel like being inside anymore.

A few hours went by and the young woman finished her book. She picked up her towel and headed back to her cabin to leave her things there and go help with preparing dinner. As she approached the small building, she noticed a bright yellow spot in the grass on the left side of the path. Frowning, she approached the spot, then made a little sound of surprise as she realized it was a small plush bird. "What are you doing here?" she wondered aloud, picking it up.

The small bird was cute, and made a chirping sound when she pressed on it. She could not help but laugh a bit, still wondering how it had landed in the grass, when she noticed a blue spot a little farther off.

"What…?" she wondered again, walking towards the new bird and picking it up.

When she saw the black spot even farther off, she smiled, now very intrigued. "Yankee, what are you up to?" she asked as she followed the "trail" of birds to her cabin.

This just had to be Wheeler's doing. It was too wild. By the time she reached her door, she had to use her towel as a bag to contain the little creatures and her smile was threatening to split her face in two. This had to be one of the most romantic, thoughtful things the redhead had ever done. "But why is he doing this? It is not my birthday, or Saint Valentines' day, and we did not even argue lately!" she thought as she opened the door and stepped inside the cabin.

A lone cardinal was sitting on the bed. Of course. The last one had to be red. Linka put her bundle of birds on the bed and picked up the cardinal. It had a wild tuft of "feathers" on its head and she knew at once that out of the bunch it would be her favorite. That is when she noticed that a small piece of paper was attached to the bird's leg. She untied the paper, unfolded it.

All it said was "It's in the closet," and it was not signed, but the handwriting was definitely Wheeler's. Linka looked up at the closet door. "What is in the closet?" she wondered, and walked to it.

She opened the door, and saw nothing different at first. Then, she noticed a small FAO Schwartz bag on the top shelf. "Well, now I know where you come from," she said to the birds.

She reached up to grab it and felt a small box in it as she lowered it. She froze where she was, her heart beating faster. The box was not the right size for yet another bird. In fact, it would be the right size for a few things only... "Boshe moy, Jacob," she said in a strangled voice, wondering if she would faint on the spot if this was what she thought it was.

She gently took the box out of the bag. It was bigger than she thought, but Wheeler was known for putting presents in different boxes just to confuse people. She grabbed the lid, then took in a deep breath before opening the box.

Whatever was inside the box (some fake snake-like thing, she found out later) jumped toward her face and she screamed, almost falling down in surprise. As she looked at the empty container with a half horrified, half confused look on her face, she heard Wheeler's roar of laughter coming from the cabin door. Linka blinked a few times, then let out another protestation for good measure before looking at the American planeteer, who was now laughing so hard he had to kneel down on the floor. "The expression on your face was just priceless, Babe!" he managed to blurt out before he lay down on his back in a failed attempt to catch his breath.

He wiped his teary eyes, still giggling, then let out a not so heartfelt "ow!" when he felt the box hit him in the stomach.

"What did you do that for?" she asked, fighting back tears of either anger or disappointment—she was not sure herself of which they were.

"Aw come on, princess, can't you take a little joke?"

She said nothing and stared at him. He had made such a beautiful setup—of course, his "joke" would not have worked otherwise, but still… "I should have expected something like this, he cannot be serious for ten seconds," she thought.

"What did you expect, a diamond ring?" he asked in a disbelieving tone of voice.

Linka blushed and looked down, blinking furiously. She was not going to say "yes", even if…

"Geez, Linka, you're no fun," he complained, as he dug into his jean pocket and threw whatever was there at her.

The young woman caught it in a reflex gesture and stared dumbly at it. It was another box, this one smaller and of a turquoise color, with a white bow on top. "It won't bite," Wheeler said as he sat up. "This time anyway," he added in a chuckle.

"This is a Tiffany box," she whispered, her heart skipping a beat.

She saw him shrug in what he had hoped to be a nonchalant manner, but she knew him enough to see that he was becoming increasingly nervous. "Open it," he coaxed her gently.

"Is this… is this what you had to take care of in New York before we left?" she asked with an arm gesture that included the birds.

"Maybe."

Swallowing hard, Linka pulled on the ribbon and undid the bow. "This is not happening, this is not happening, a springy will jump at my face again, I know it will," she thought as she lifted the lid.

Nothing happened, as Wheeler had said and she saw a ring box inside and gave a small gasp betraying her state of overwhelming. Dropping the outer box on the floor, she flipped the ring box cover open and closed her eyes, feeling light-headed. "I wanted to get you a big rock, but, well, when I saw the prices I almost dropped dead in front of the counter but I still wanted to give you something nice so I asked to see some other ones and then the guy showed me another bunch of rings and I thought to myself that if you had too big of a ring you'd be afraid to lose it or that someone might try to cut your finger off to steal it or something and I saw that one and I thought 'Hey, that one's nice', and all and well, so, ahm, yeah," Wheeler rambled on, extremely ill at ease and trying to fill the silence that had settled between them.

She thought the ring was beautiful. It did not have a huge diamond in the middle, but rather a few smaller ones, set up in a sober, yet elegant manner. She thought she much preferred this more discreet ring over any other priceless "rock" he could have found, but was simply at a loss for words to tell him.

Wheeler waited, unable to look at the young woman for more than a fraction of a second at a time, genuinely fearing rejection. Of course, he had thought about proposing to her several times in the past, but had never done anything about it until now. He almost regretted it. She was staring at the ring, silent, and it was impossible to tell what she was thinking. She probably hated the stupid thing and did not know how to tell him. Or she downright did not want to marry him and she was looking for a polite way to say it. This last thought hurt him more than he cared to think about.

He saw Linka sigh. That was it. "I wonder if I'll get the 'we're better off as friends' gig," he thought bitterly, fighting the lump of emotion in his throat as she knelt in front of him, and handed him back the ring box.

She held out her left hand, trembling, and asked in a soft voice: "How do you know that you are not making a huge mistake, Yankee?"

He gaped. Was that a "yes"? He reached for the ring, feeling like an idiot when he saw that his hands were trembling even more than hers. "I've been in love with you ever since we arrived on Hope Island, I know what I'm doing," he replied, his voice betraying his nervousness.

The ring fitted her finger. She wondered how he had managed that. "You have chosen well, I love it," she commented, admiring it on her hand.

"I'm glad you do, 'cause you'll be wearing it for a long time." They both looked at each other as Wheeler's words sank in. "Hopefully anyway," he felt he had to add.

"What are you talking about, 'hopefully'?" she half exclaimed, half cried before reaching forward and grabbing his head to kiss him.

As Wheeler felt Linka's fingers running through his hair, he realized that he had not exactly asked her to marry him in all of this, and that she had not exactly said "yes" either. The way she was kissing him however told him he did not have to worry much about it.

At the same moment, Gi opened the cabin door and stumbled upon her two friends as they sat on the floor, kissing passionately. A slightly embarrassed "oh!" escaped her lips—not that she had not seen them before, but this was not what she was used to... She was about to backtrack out of the cabin and leave unnoticed when she saw the flash of gold on Linka's left hand. She knew for a fact that the young Russian only wore her planeteer ring, so she put two and two together and could not help but repeat her "OH!", only louder and in an thrilled tone of voice.

She turned around and ran out of the cabin, calling Kwame excitedly when she thought she was far enough. "Well, so much for announcing the good news ourselves," Wheeler commented as they broke the kiss, wiping suspicious wetness at the corner of his eye.

The young Russian considered the situation, smiling at the fact that his hands were now stroking hers. "Does this mean that they will not mind if we are late for dinner?" she asked.

He looked at her strangely, then grinned wolfishly. "I think I'll go lock the door," he stated, to which she replied by a conspirator grin.

The End