A/N: Hi guys, thanks for the reviews and the follows, I hope you enjoy the next part! I know I said weekly but hopefully you won't mind getting it a couple of days early?

Chapter Two

Wheeler crawled out of bed at midday and slowly made himself fit to be seen. It had been light before he had finally fallen asleep and though he'd made up for it over the morning, the disagreement he'd had with Linka was still pulling him down.

Fighting with his Russian team mate always left a heavy, empty feeling in the pit of his stomach until he knew everything was okay between them, but just as stubborn as she was, he was not about to make the first move towards a reconciliation.

The living area was deserted, as was the kitchen. That was not really unusual, the Planeteers were often spread about the island, but the Fire Planeteer had been hoping to see at least one of them... one in particular. Grabbing himself another bowl of cereal, Wheeler returned to the lounge and slumped down on their sofa.

When Linka entered the room a few minutes later, she took in his mood immediately and experienced a twinge of guilt. In truth she felt as bad as he did when they argued and she wondered, for the hundredth time, whether she should have woken him up earlier.

He didn't acknowledge her presence as she sat down beside him, but it was obvious that he knew she was there… for one thing he tensed up, making her feel guiltier still.

"I am sorry Wheeler." The Russian began. "I should not have taken my mood out on you, I know you were trying to help."

Not replying immediately, Wheeler kept his face in the same set expression as he leant forward and put his empty bowl on the coffee table, and then returned to his former position. Only then did he look up, and hold his arm out to the beautiful girl that was sitting so nervously (and literally,) on the edge of her seat, a slight smile creasing his lips.

Linka let out a sigh of relief and moved without thinking into the comforting strength of his embrace. Slipping her arms around him and snuggling close to his side, beginning to relax. "I want you to know that I was listening last night… I will not say anything to Mischka… at least until after I have met Svetlana again. I should give her a chance for his sake, da?"

"Da." Wheeler gave her a squeeze and planted a kiss in her hair. "It's nice to be right for a change."

Linka giggled and looked up at him. "Do not get ahead of yourself Yankee, I said I would take your advice, I will tell you if you were right when I get back."

He laughed at her teasing but his face soon fell. "When are you going? How long will you be away?"

"Not long…a few days." Her mood was dampened along with his. "You… I do not suppose… I mean, well you could… come with me?"

The lovely Russian's cheeks were flaming as she hastened to explain her invitation. "It would give me a second opinion and… maybe keep me from making fool of myself or alienating my brother?"

"I can't promise miracles Babe!" He teased back. "But I'd like to go, if you think it'd be okay with your family?"

"Of course it will!" She grinned at him and then settled back in his arms.

They remained silent for a few minutes, just enjoying the chance to cuddle without the others around to tease them. Neither were entirely sure about where their relationship was going, or even where they stood just then, but there was a connection between them that couldn't be ignored.

"I do not understand it." Linka said at last. "My brother is usually so… straight-laced. I do not know what he can find to like about her."

Wheeler nuzzled his beautiful friend's head and suggested, "Maybe that is what he sees in her. Maybe it's how different she is that attracts him."

Linka made a non-committal noise and lapsed back into silence, leaving Wheeler to restart the conversation again. "What about you?"

She looked up at him, confusion in her eyes as he continued nervously. "You're a bit straight-laced yourself sometimes… is that what you want? A partner that is just like you?"

"Nyet!" She replied a little too hastily and ended up blushing. "Y… my objections to Svetlana are not based on her… correctness, and they are certainly not based on her sense of fun. She is spiteful."

He turned his body a little towards hers and gently reached up to stroke her hair back from her face before asking softly, "Did she hurt you?"

Linka shook her head. "Not directly, but I saw the effect she and her friends had on other people. If she did not like someone, the whole pack turned on them… tormenting them, calling them names and sometimes pinching or tripping them… nothing they would get in serious trouble for but it made those people's lives a misery."

She buried her face in his neck as she added unhappily. "No one dared to say anything after a while either, because those that did just became targets themselves… I never said anything."

"Don't feel bad Babe." He hugged her close, "There was nothing you could have done on your own, I'm glad you stayed out of it."

"I… I stayed out of it too much." Linka sounded close to tears as she continued. "Susichka was my friend before Svetlana and her bullies started to pick on her. She told me not to get involved and because I was afraid, I listened to her. She started going to school early and leaving late to avoid them, she would not go to lunch but would study in the library where there was a teacher to keep an eye on her. Of course if she did not avoid them she would have no money for lunch anyway… she stopped talking to me, or anyone. I do not know everything they said to her but she stopped wanting to leave her house. In the end it got so bad her parents moved away."

"What?!" Wheeler exclaimed. "They just moved? Knowing what was happening they didn't contact the school and try to fix things?"

There were tears in Linka's eyes now. "Da, they did… but it is not always an easy thing to prove. You knowwhat is going on but… things started going missing from Susichka's locker. Sometimes they were personal things that would turn up damaged or destroyed, sometimes it was homework that she got into trouble with the teachers for not doing."

"And of course no one saw anything." Wheeler growled in disgust.

Linka shook her head. "I should have done more."

"Like what?" He asked.

Shrugging, she replied. "I do not know… something. You would have."

Wheeler grinned and tried to lighten the mood. "Yeah, but that's because I'm an impulsive hot head."

"You care, that is important." Linka sighed and rested her head back on his shoulder. "I tried contacting Susichka a little while after we joined the Planeteers. I was stronger by then and I thought being called upon to protect the planet proved that I had grown, and that because of it, that I could be a better friend and maybe make up for not being there when she needed me."

"She didn't go for it?" he asked needlessly.

Linka shook her head, rubbing it against him. "Nyet. She wrote back and said that it was too late to try to be friends, that we had both moved on and become different people and that we would not have anything in common."

"And you blame Svetlana for making you lose a friend?" He added softly. "You know it might have happened anyway, people change as they grow up, their relationships change."

"Do you… do you think it could happen to us?" She asked, changing the subject slightly. "To the Planeteers I mean, do you think we could end up growing apart?"

Wheeler's grip tightened involuntarily. "No, we won't let it. Besides, we've been through too much together, nothing is ever going to change what we've shared."

"I hope you are right, but there is so much that could happen that… I do not mean just things that could go wrong but good things… like marriage." She swallowed. "If my brother goes through with his plans it will change our relationship, just as, if you found someone…"

The word 'else' seemed to hover in the air before she continued, trying to make light of it. "Well, we could not do this again for one thing."

There was a pause and then the American asked teasingly. "Sooo, you're saying you wouldn't like it if we couldn't cuddle up on the sofa when we felt like it?"

"Why do you do that?" Linka demanded, her eyes confessing that she didn't mind as much as she pretended, but still adding. "Do you not know by now that I do not deal well with your joking?"

For once, Wheeler answered her seriously. "Because I need to hear you say it."

"I cannot answer you." She looked away. "It is all a game to you."

"No it's not!" He exclaimed, and then ever so gently cupped her cheek and drew her gaze back around to him. "It's not Linka, I swear. I can't help the teasing, it's like my get out clause," His hand fell away and he sighed, sagging back in his seat. "For when you shoot me down again."

Linka looked at him curiously. "Why do you need a get out clause? Why make everyone think it is all a joke?"

He shook his head as if he wasn't going to answer but he did, his words soft and almost sulky. "Because being a clown is better than being pitied and I'd rather people didn't know when something bothers me this much."

"Do you not think, that maybe, I needed to know that it bothered you?"

The defeated look turned to one of anger. "Do you think I wanted you to pity me?"

"Nyet!" She snapped back, sitting upright away from his arm. "I think you expected me to know when you are joking and when you are serious, and I still have no idea how I am supposed to do that!"

Wheeler opened his mouth as if to argue and then stopped and sighed. "You're supposed to play along, you know, flirt a little? Anything, just to give me the idea that I'm on the right track."

"Well you are not." Linka replied, once again sticking in the knife – or so it seemed to her fiery companion – but then she surprised him by leaning back against him. "I do not see why all that is necessary. In Russia if a boy likes you, he normally just asks you out. With all the games you play, it is a wonder the American race does not die out!"

The American struggled to keep a straight face while he answered. "We manage."

When she looked up to meet his eyes, Wheeler started to shake with laughter. It proved infectious and Linka was soon giggling with mirth. The fact that her change in mood had also seemed to make her more affectionate, was not lost on the red head and he cuddled her back naturally as she snuggled into him.

Their laughter expended, the two Planeteers continued to hold each other in a comfortable silence until at last, Wheeler said. "Sooo…"

"So?" Linka's eyes were sparkling with mischief, and a challenge.

Wheeler scoffed and shook his head but he was pleased that he finally knew what she wanted. "I like you, a lot. Go out with me?"

Despite her encouragement Linka hesitated. "You understand what it would mean for the team? Especially if… it did not work out…"

"It'll work." He answered quickly. "Trust me Linka, we can make it work!"

Hardly above a whisper, Linka replied. "Ok."

"… besides it kills me when you're with other guys, I don't think we could be more of a risk to the team than… what did you say?" her response had finally sunk in.

"What other guys?" she protested. "Just because another guy might like me…"

Wheeler shook his head. "It wasn't all one sided! What about Greg?"

"You can talk!" she pulled away again and crossed her arms, though when she leant back against the sofa, Wheeler's arm was still around her and she didn't protest.

"Flirting doesn't count! I never went out with any of them." He was glaring but in his heart, he was almost afraid to move away, not sure what it would mean for them.

Linka looked up at him. "I do not think one walk after a mission counts as a date Yankee! Da I liked Greg but… it was you making such a fuss about it that made me act the way I did… and then you backed off. What was I supposed to do? I never accepted a date from him and he did ask, several times in fact."

"Why not?" She looked confused so he clarified. "Why didn't you go out with him?"

Blushing, Linka shrugged and looked down at her folded arms. "Why do you think?"

Wheeler groaned. "Do you think we'll ever get past this?"

"We already did, you were not listening." She gave him a sideways glance, trying not to smile.

"I was listening Babe, I just wasn't sure I hadn't screwed it up again." There was a question in his voice.

Linka dropped her rigid posture and curled back up around her boyfriend. "You will find that I am much harder to get rid of now Yankee… do not say I did not warn you."

"I'm gonna hold you to that." He replied quietly and chanced his luck by dropping his lips down onto hers.

To be continued…