I am just AMAZED at the response I'm getting from you guys, even the short chapters, you still find encouraging things to say. I guess it just goes to show what you all want to see...the reason we all admit to liking something as cheesy as Captain Planet has absolutely nothing to do with Captain Planet (right Jimjam?)! So here's the moment you've all been waiting for...well, one of them anyway.

The ceremony was lovely. Wheeler kept looking at Linka throughout, wondering what she was thinking, if it was reminding her of her own wedding. He was really curious to know how it ended. Or why it ended. Did Evgeni cheat on her? He's a fool if he did. There's no way there could possibly be another woman out there better than Linka. After all these years, Wheeler still hasn't found one.

When the ceremony ended, Kwame and Georgie walked down the aisle first, then the Best man, Kwame's brother, and Maid of Honor, Georgie's best friend, walked arm in arm down the aisle. Ma-Ti and Gi were the next in line. They met in the center of the alter, and then when he offered her his arm, they walk forward, Gi's daughter coming out of the pew to fall into line behind them, expecting Vera to come with her, but the younger girl is too intent on watching her mother carefully. It's not often she sees her mother smile, and when she does, it seems forced. The only thing she's forcing now is trying not to smile too much.

Wheeler and Linka were the next couple. He wonders if the others had planned it so that both he and Linka would be the third in line. He'd bet that they had, after all, it was their plotting that got Wheeler to come here in the first place. He's happy he did though. As he links arms with Linka and they begin walking down the aisle, she holds her other hand out to Vera as they go past the pew she's sitting in and the little girl hops out and takes it, continuing the trip down the aisle with her mom and her new friend.

They had been separated at the reception dinner, the groomsmen sitting to the right of the groom and the bridesmaids sitting to the bride's left. Vera was sitting next to Linka at the end of the table and waiting patiently as her mother cuts her food.

"You seem happy," Vera finally says.

"I am. It is a happy occasion. I am very happy for Kwame and Georgie."

"You weren't this happy yesterday."

"I am just happy that all of my old friends are here to share this moment with Kwame. Ma-Ti and his family could not make it until today."

"And neither could Wheeler," Vera points out.

"Da…I am most surprised about him being here. I was not expecting it."

"Why didn't you ever mention him when you'd talk about the Planeteers?"

"I have," Linka says.

"Just that there was another Planeteer that lost touch with the rest of you…you never said why."

Linka is silent for a while as she considers her next words.

"People just grow apart sometimes. It happens when teenagers grow into adults…we change."

"But everything is good now. Do you think Wheeler will keep in touch now?"

"I do not know…I hope so. I am guessing he will since he has offered to let you come visit him in Australia."

"And can he come visit us in Pittsburgh?"

"That is up to him."

"Why do you think…"

"Why all the questions sladkaya moya?"

"You just seem really happy to see him, and he seems the same. It's weird that you two seem so close…like nothing has changed, even after all these years, and yet you never talk about him like you do the others."

"Maybe some day when you're older and can understand, I can explain it to you."

"I'm not a baby!" Vera protests.

"I know that. You are wise beyond your years…but some matters are too…adult for you to concern yourself with. If you never listen to another thing I say, listen to this…Just focus on being young and having fun…enjoy your youth. Being an adult is difficult and challenging…and…just not the same," Linka says sadly.

Vera listens thoughtfully to her mother's words.

"Do you wish you could go back? Be a kid again...a Planeteer?"

"Nyet…because it would mean that I would not have you. And I would not give you up for anything."

"But if you went back, you would have Wheeler again."

"Vera…"

"You loved him didn't you?"

"Vera! Sssh, keep your voice down."

"Maybe you still do," the little girl adds defiantly.

"Stop. No more talking about personal matters. You are too young to concern yourself with such things. Just have fun and enjoy the reception."

"Ok…will you get jealous if I dance with Wheeler?" Vera teases.

"Nyet…I will be quite happy to see it if it means you are both enjoying yourselves despite your reluctance to be here. Now eat your veggies."

"Blah!"

After dinner the DJ starts playing music for the bridal party dance. First Kwame and Georgie take the floor for their first dance as husband and wife. Then the best man and maid of honor are introduced and begin dancing. Next is Gi and Ma-Ti, and finally, Wheeler and Linka are introduced and join the rest of the bridal party on the dance floor and begin swaying along to the music.

There was something that had been bothering Linka, something she needed to know.

"Why did you not at least tell your mother where you were?"

"You've been in touch with my mom? Were you looking for me?"

"Nyet…well, da…I just…asked her if she had heard from you."

"So you were in touch with her?"

"I was in New York for a while. I contacted her and asked to meet her for dinner. I never got to express my condolences on the passing of your father."

"She never mentioned that."

"I asked her not to…and I got the impression that you were not in contact with her much anyway."

"Well, I guess that explains why she'd always ask me about you...if I'd been in touch. She never asked me much about the others...just if I'd spoken to you. She practically begged me to find you...I guess you must've made a good impression on her! As for staying in touch with her, she knew I was in Australia and that I was ok. She had my email and cell phone. She could've reached me if she needed to, but she rarely tried because I hardly ever answered. She was always the first one to make contact...as was the case with everyone. I never initiated it. Plus, no one even had my cell phone number until I needed to track Gi down for something a few years ago. After she helped me out with a problem we were having on the beach, I really couldn't refuse her when she asked for a way to keep in touch...and she knew where I was living and worked, so she had my address. I never checked my email though...partly because I was too busy with work, but mostly because email was just one more link to the outside world that I wanted to avoid."

"Because of me," Linka thought to herself.

"Did you keep in touch with Gi? Did she mention to you that she'd seen me?"

"Nyet...like you, I avoided contact with most people from my past. I was too ashamed to face them. I knew they'd blame me for you running away. They lost touch with you because of me."

"They lost touch with me because of ME. I could have made an attempt...I just didn't. Besides, everyone seems to have done pretty well without me," he says.

"Nyet, not everyone," she says sadly as she rests her cheek against his chest. "I asked your mother for your contact information so I could get in touch with you. She would not give it because she said you had given her strict instructions not to give it to anyone...not even after I explained to her why I needed it."

"Why's that?"

"I needed to tell you something."

"Was this before or after Evgeni left?" Wheeler asks.

"After."

"So after your husband left, THEN you were ready to be with me? Wow…second choice. What a great feeling," he says sarcastically.

"You were not my second choice. You were my first…on my wedding day, after you left, I talked to Gi…she made me say out loud what I always knew in my heart…you were the one I was meant to be with. I went after you, but you had already gone. No one had your cell phone number to get in touch with you. So I went through with it. Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"I made it down the aisle, but I saw the way Gi, Kwame, and Ma-Ti were looking at me…they were disappointed. They knew I was making the wrong decision, but how could I turn back now? I could not say my vows…I could not go through with it…I could not promise to love Evgeni for the rest of my life when I knew that I would spend the rest of my life loving only you. So I pretended to faint. Evgeni was very understanding and willing to postpone the wedding. He rescheduled the date. The soonest we could get the church booked was two months later…it was going to be a smaller affair. We could not ask people to make travel arrangements again. I was hoping that maybe in that two month time span, that the others would have heard from you...that I could tell you that I wanted to be with you and only you...then I started giving up hope and tried to focus on Evgeni and my feelings for him. I thought I loved him before, so maybe I could rekindle those feelings again. Maybe I could feel for him the way I felt before I saw you again. I realized that I never loved him...I had just convinced myself that I did. I settled for him because I thought I had lost you once before...but seeing you again...it gave me hope that we would find each other once more...but the two months was going by too quickly."

Wheeler doesn't say anything so she continues.

"We never made it to that second wedding date."

"What? Gi never mentioned that when she saw me...although, I admit, I did spend most of my time avoiding her because I didn't want her to tell me about you. I didn't want to know that you were happily married and if you and Evegni had any kids."

"Gi did not know. As I said, the second wedding was supposed to be much smaller. Just family and friends who lived in Russia. The last time I saw Gi and the others was at the first ceremony. She probably just assumed I went through with it."

"What happened? Why didn't you?" Wheeler asks.

"He found out about us being together the night before my wedding to him."

"Oh…I'm sorry," Wheeler lies.

"Do not be…I am not. There is something else I need to tell you."

Wheeler smiles, knowing where this conversation is going.

"That Vera is my daughter?"

"You knew?"

"Of course I knew…do you think I wouldn't know my own daughter?"

"How?"

"You mean other than the fact that she looks exactly like what I imagined our kids would look like?"

"You…you have?"

He pulls her closer so that he can rest his head against the side of hers.

"Mmm, hmm. The strawberry blonde hair. Your smarts. My blue eyes. Your nose." He pulls back and holds her face in his hands, brushing his thumb over her bottom lip as he softly says, "Your lips...as soon as I knew she was your daughter, I knew she was mine too...I was just waiting for you to tell me."

A wave of relief washes over Linka when she realizes that Wheeler knew all along and he was not mad. He had gotten along with Vera and bonded with her immediately. He already loved his daughter.

"She has your smile…and your stubbornness," Linka says.

"My stubbornness?"

"Da, YOURS!"

"I think it's more like OURS."

Linka nods and concedes the point to him as she moves her hands from resting innocently on his shoulders to wrapping them around his waist and resting her cheek against his chest as they continue their dance.

Wheeler starts the conversation again,

"She said something that stuck with me…she said that you always told her she was just like her father…but that was before I knew she was your daughter. When she first came up to the Narthex of the church and we were just talking...plotting our escape, I was thinking how weird it was that this kid was so much like me."

"She reminds me of you…every day there is something new I see in her that makes me think 'That is so Wheeler.' I wanted to find you so badly…to tell you about our daughter. I wanted you to see her learn to crawl…her first steps…her first word," Linka says. "Six years Yankee...we have lost six years because I could not be honest with myself and my feelings for you. If I had only been honest that day...if I had chosen you first instead of trying to do what I thought was the right thing...you missed out on so much and it is all my fault," she sobs into his chest.

He holds her head against him, kissing the top of it, then moving on to kiss her temple before resting his lips against her ear.

"I wish I was there Babe. I wish I'd seen those things too…I'm an idiot for cutting myself off completely from everyone…but we can't go back."

"Can we start over?"

"No," he says. "I can't."

"Oh," she says, feeling like someone has just kicked her in the stomach.

"I can't start over because nothing ever stopped for me. I never stopped loving you," he says as tears begin to trickle down his cheeks.

"Oh Yankee," she says as she reaches up to wipe away his tears. "Me neither. I have loved you since we were kids."

"I know I can't get back all the things I missed with Vera…but I want to be there for everything else. School plays, chaperoning dances, first date, graduation, moving her into her dorm at college…probably something Ivy League like Harvard or Yale…and all those things I missed with her, I'll get to see with our other kids."

"Other kids?" She asks hopefully, beginning to see that there's a chance for them to have a future together.

"Well yeah…Not only did I miss seeing Vera grow up, I missed being there for you during your pregnancy."

"And I really could have used you there…it was hard."

"I know Baby, I'm sorry," he says, holding her face in his hands and wiping away her tears with his thumbs while he rests his forehead against hers.

"Hey!" Vera says, interrupting them. "You're embarrassing yourselves."

The song they were dancing to has been over for a while now, but they didn't notice. Then they hear the DJ talking,

"Well how cliché is this? A groomsman and a bridesmaid hooking up at a wedding…I guess I'll keep it going with another slow song. Everyone feel free to come on up and join the lovebirds."

"I get next dance," Vera says as she smiles at them and walks away.

"She doesn't know?" Wheeler asks.

"Nyet."

"How are we going to tell her? Do you think she'll be ok with it?"

"She likes, you…I do not see why she would not be ok with it. She has never asked about her father before, but I think she will be happy to have one."

"When can we tell her?" Wheeler asks.

"Whenever you want."

"Soon. As soon as possible. I want her to know."

"Me too. I want to start being a family."

"Me too," he says as he brings his lips down to hers for a long awaited kiss.

"I have been dreaming of this moment for six years," she says when they finally break for air.

"Me too. It's weird...you would think that when I thought of being with you, I would be sad because I knew I'd never have that opportunity again...but the only time I was ever happy is when I thought of you...like my mind couldn't accept that we weren't together...like part of me always knew that one day, we would be."

"I always hoped...and if you had moved on, I was ready to accept that...I just wanted you to know about your daughter."

"There was never anyone else...never even considered it...I tried to move on once before when I married Trish...and we all know how that turned out. I learned my lesson then...it was you, or no one at all."

"A lesson I learned as well," she says.

"So how did Evgeni find out about us? Who told him?"

"No one. He and I had still never…done anything together...and when I started showing signs of illness…symptoms of pregnancy…I took a test and sure enough…I knew immediately you were the father…there was no way I could have hid that secret…so I was honest with him. I told him it was over between you and I, that I had chosen him and you had left, but it was not enough…he did not want to raise a child that was not his. He said he never wanted to see me again and kicked me out. That is how I ended up moving to America. I found a job in Pittsburgh that allowed me to work at both the zoo and the National Aviary doing research."

"He kicked you out? A pregnant woman? A woman he claimed to love? Just like that?"

"Da…I cannot say that I blame him…would you?"

"If Vera weren't mine…if she were his and yet I found out that you were no longer with him, it wouldn't matter to me whose child she was…as long as you were mine."

"I guess he could not see it that way. I betrayed him…it was too much for his pride to handle."

"He's an idiot…not that I'm complaining. Things worked out for me. I never thought I'd see you again, let alone get a second…err, more like third chance. But they say third time's a charm…we'll make this work."

"We will? You still want to?"

"I told you, I never stopped wanting to. You're all I've ever wanted."

He brushes his hand against her cheek and takes a step back from her as he takes both her hands in his before dropping to one knee in front of her.

"Marry me?"

Linka gasps at the suddenness of it all…at his willingness to forgive her so quickly…to want to start their lives together so soon.

Their display as not gone unnoticed by the others in attendance.

Gi squeals in delight at the sight. Kwame and Ma-Ti hold their breath, waiting for Linka's answer. Vera's jaw drops in disbelief and she whispers, "Bozhe moy" as she waits for her mother's answer along with the rest of the crowd.

THE END!

Just kidding

To Be Continued...That was a good place to end it the chapter, right? I wonder what her answer will be...?