Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. I really enjoyed hearing all about your hate for Stephanie! Wheeler and Linka are finally getting around to their long overdue first date...well, second date if you count the night before as their first! ;)
"Well that went smoother than I expected," Wheeler says as he climbs into the taxi and slides in next to her.
"Da, the interrogation was much less thorough than I was expecting…Gi must be mellowing with age!"
"Yeah, I'm kinda disappointed actually. I thought we were really going to shock them with our news…they didn't seem surprised at all!"
"More like relieved!" She chuckles.
"Exactly. Maybe they already know what we know?"
"Which is what?" She asks, although she already knows the answer.
He leans over and kisses her.
"That it was always supposed to be you and me," he whispers against her lips, causing her to smile.
"Ahem," comes from the driver in the front seat. "The meter is running. Where to?"
"Oh! Sorry," Linka says.
"It is ok…This is Paris after all…I am used to it," the driver replies.
"Eifel Tower please," Wheeler says.
"I had a feeling you were going to say that," he says with a smile. He turns back around and leaves the young lovers to their cuddling.
The group of Planeteers and their partners meet in front of the Eifel Tower. The couples eventually split up and go off alone but agree to meet at the café across the street for a late lunch.
Wheeler and Linka made sure to get a picture together and then Wheeler led her away to a private spot away from the other tourists. He takes her hands in his and stands in front of her.
"These last…12 or so hours have been…" Wheeler is at a loss for words to describe how happy he is.
"Unexpected?" Linka offers.
"Was it?"
"Well…nyet…I was hoping that we would have gotten around to this…actually, I was hoping we would have gotten around to this the last time we met up, but life got in the way. Then I had hoped that this time we could finally get things right, but when I got here and found out that you had brought another girl…a fiancé! I had given up hope."
"That's how I felt when Kwame told me you had a boyfriend and it was pretty serious."
"I would not say it was serious…it was convenient…kind of what I had always assumed about how things would have been with us on Hope Island…that you were only interested in me because you did not have much to choose from. Gi was always more of a little sister so you were left with me as your only option."
"That's not why I liked you!" He defends himself.
"I know that now…I just could not see that when I was younger. I was always thinking negatively and preparing myself for the worst. People I loved always left and I ended up alone…my parents, my grandpa, Mishka left for university right after my grandpa died and left Babushka and me. Then I got called to join the Planeteers and I was the one who left. My life is nothing but leaving…I did not want to go through that with you too, yet my fear is what kept us apart. We ended up leaving each other when we could have been together the whole time and never had to say goodbye."
"Uh, technically, we didn't say goodbye…you totally blew me off," he reminds her for the second time in less than 12 hours.
"Ok, I get it…I screwed up," she says, frustrated with herself for all the time wasted.
He had intended for his comment to be a joke, but clearly she took it another way. He releases her hands and holds her by the shoulders.
"No…you didn't. I did…it was supposed to be a joke, but given how you'd just poured your heart out about your feelings on leaving and being left…I'm an idiot."
"Da, but you are my idiot," she says taking his face in her hands and rubbing her thumbs over his cheekbones.
"Yeah, you're stuck with me now."
"Good."
"I got you something," he says, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a bag. "Sorry I didn't get a chance to wrap it. It's not much…but it's the best I could do at a hotel gift shop. And it's kinda cheesy, but I wanted to get you something to mark the moment until I can get to a real jewelry store and get you a proper engagement ring…"
"I love it," she interrupts as she turns around in a silent request for him to place the necklace with the Eifel Tower charm around her neck. Once he has it clasped, she turns around to face him. "I love what it represents and I love that it came from you. I do not care where you got it from or how 'cheap' it was. To me, it is priceless because it represents our love. I love you so much, Yankee."
He smiles widely, happy to finally be with someone who loves him and not his money.
"I love you too, Babe. You are the only one."
She pulls him down for a kiss, which he gladly accepts and returns. They spend quite some time like that, enjoying the moment overlooking the city of love and content in knowing that their future will have many more moments like this.
The End.