Chapter 12: Villainous Affairs
Linka had nearly forgotten how tiring long flights were, made worse again by her delicate condition. Shifting wearily in her seat for the umpteenth time in the last few minutes, Wheeler caught a glimpse of her as she did so in one of the Geo-cruiser's monitors and turned with a worried expression.
Though the young Russian had seemed fine last night and this morning, he had not forgotten that she had not been well the day before, missing work because of it.
As she had a past for hiding her afflictions, Wheeler murmured something to Gi before making his way down to her seat.
"You okay babe?" He asked with gentle concern.
'Babe', thought Linka, something she had not heard in quite a while...
Looking up at him, Linka smiled, familiar feelings of shyness and reserve welled close to the surface, but she pushed them back down again, determined not to let her emotions get the better of her.
"Da, I am okay. It's just very hard to get comfortable in these seats now, my back aches every now and again and I guess that I forgot how tiring traveling could be."
Wheeler nodded, smiling as he bent down beside the seat, making some quick adjustments.
"How does that feel?" he asked moving back a little, to look over the seat from a way back.
"Much better. I did not know that these seats were adjustable."
"One of the many things Kwame, Ma-ti and I added in your absence." He grinned at her, "You might say that we all needed things to keep our minds occupied."
Linka looked up at him, unsure of what he meant.
"We've all really missed you, you know." he whispered beside her ear before moving back to his co-piloting task alongside Gi.
Blight cleared her throat, getting ready to address the rabble still sat in front of her. It had been a long day with little progression, and the hot pink clad eco-villain was nearing the end of her tether. It was time they knew what was going on.
"You're all wondering what's been happening with those annoying eco-brats, it's the result of a little experiment of mine that I can't wait to tell you all about. MAL baby, roll the slides."
The large monitor, known mainly as MAL, short for Malfunction, swung down, showing a quick flash of static before a picture appeared.
A large graphic illustration of the human reproduction cycle followed, explaining how new humans were formed.
Hoggish Greedly, always quick to interrupt turned to Blight. "what makes you thing we don't know any of this Hogwash already?" he demanded. "I have a son remember? I've been there and done that before!"
"Something that continues to astound me everyday, Greedly." Sneered Plunder, but his suspicion and interest was fully aroused now, so he turned back to Blight. "Go on." he demanded.
With a click of her fingers MAL continued his presentation, the next sequence explaining how artificial insemination works.
Plunder was sure that he had caught on now, but had to clarify as Blight's little presentation ended.
"So Blight, one of the eco-brats is pregnant?Is that what you're getting at?" he demanded.
Blight grinned. "Yup. And it's torn their little group apart!"
Blight leaned in now to divulge the details, the kidnap, the Blonde Planeteer's panic, and lastly, she divulged the juciest part. The male DNA used... And Firebug's reaction that caused the girl to leave.
The three friends arrived back at Hope Island around noon, Wheeler gently roused the young Russian from her sleep in her now comfortable seat and helped her out of the geo-cruiser.
Linka was unsure of how to respond to the tender attentions she was receiving from the redhead, but figuring that tenderness was a better deal than the hostilities that had occurred before she left, she accepted his help and kind attention readily.
No sooner had Linka stepped out onto the grass, she was greeted instantly by Kwame and Ma-ti who had come running the moment they'd heard the geo-cruiser. Wrapping her in warm welcoming hugs, Kwame moved away to help Wheeler with her other bag, and the five made their way over to Linka's old cabin.
Wanting to get some time in with her best friend now, and fully aware of how tired Linka was, Gi suggested that the boys go and get an early dinner ready for them, while she helped Linka unpack. Smiling gratefully at her, Linka nodded in affirmation, and the three boys moved away to let the Girls get Linka settled.
"Have you told her?" Asked Ma-ti, as they moved out of earshot and away from the cabin.
"Nah, not yet. I wanna give her some time to settle back in and get comfortable here, you know?"
"Yes Wheeler, but the longer you leave it, the harder it will get." Kwame looked over at his friend.
"Yeah, but I don't want to just bombard her with the news and have her completely freak out either. The timing has to be right. And she has to feel safe and comfortable here again."
Nodding the three young men entered the main hut, their conversation now turning to what they should cook for dinner.
"It's got to be special." Stated Ma-ti, flipping through a book. "And something that Linka can eat, do certain foods still make pregnant women sick even in their second trimester?" asked Kwame.
"Most importantly, it's got be healthy. I want something that's going to be good for her and the baby." Interjected Wheeler, feeling a little off-put at the looks of surprise he received from Ma-ti and Kwame, which quickly turned to wide grins.
"Shut-up." he said, quickly turning away to wash his hands at the sink before either the African or Kyapo had a chance to say anything. Looking instead at each other, the two exchanged wide smiles, someone was already beginning to sound like a daddy...
Gi finished hanging the last of Linka's clothes, just as she heard the shower turn off. She heard the shower door open and close, and looking very refreshed, wrapped in her towel, the young Russian emerged, with a small billow of steam wafting out with her. Gi smiled and turned a little, giving Linka some room and privacy to pick what she wished to wear. After having done this, the young Russian moved back into the bathroom, dressing quickly, moving out again to join Gi on the bed.
"Linka, I'm so sorry about everything-" Gi began, the mounted guilt of the last five weeks weighing heavily on her. Linka smiled and held up a hand to stop her. "Do not be Gi, I do not want things to be bad or awkward between us. I don't want any guilt or hard feelings."
Gi nodded, eyes watering as she grabbed Linka's hand. "It's been so hard without you here Linka. We've all missed you so, so much. I don't think you could even begin to understand what your leaving did to the group..."
Linka nodded, "It was hard for me too Gi, but I had to do it. And to be honest, I'm glad I did. But I missed you too."
Linka leaned in to hug her friend, And Gi paused as she felt Linka's now small round stomach push a little against her own.
"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" exclaimed Gi with excitement, "I almost forgot about that!! With everything that was going on..." She trailed off, aware now that she would have to tread carefully, as keeping secrets was not her strong point, and that Wheeler had to be the one to let her know about...
"Da," smiled Linka, taking Gi's hand and placing over her belly so that the young Thai could feel the changes that had occurred since Linka's absence.
"Wow..." breathed Gi, rubbing her hand over the smooth round bump. "I can't believe there's a baby in there! That's so weird."
Linka laughed, "I know. I can feel it's movements now, when it turns over or wriggles."
The two girls talked a little while longer, chatting contentedly on Linka's bed. Gi divulged the fruitless effort to find a replacement Planeteer, retelling with particular relish and even a tiny hint of malice that last night that Tatiana had been there.
A delicious smell greeted the girls as they reached the common hut and made their way towards the kitchen and dining area. It was quite obvious that the boys had gone to a particular amount of effort and trouble to make the meal special, the table set immaculately with a candle burning in the table's center. Unsure of what would be best to serve, the boys had concocted three healthy, appetizing meals, figuring it's be best to just let Linka choose what she wanted to eat.
Looking around at the sizable spread, Linka turned to her friends, "You did not have to go to so much trouble..."
"It's no trouble Babe, we just wanted to make sure that there was definitely something here that you could eat." exclaimed Wheeler, coming up behind her to pull out her chair and help her into it.
"And of course it has to be special!" smiled Ma-ti, "It's our first meal together in over a month!"
Linka smiled, still feeling a little separated from her friends due to her circumstances, the meal helped her relax back, with the feelings of familiarity slowly returning, despite how different things now were.
Linka stretched and yawned in her familiar, comfortable bed. The meal had been great and she'd really enjoyed the movie that they'd sat down and watched afterwards. Well, not so much the movie as Wheeler, Kwame, Gi and Ma-ti's running commentary... A favorite old past-time to turn down the volume and create their own characters and storyline to the scene being played out on the screen, usually she'd join in, but had simply preferred to watch last night, tired from the days events.
She was just about to get up and shower when she heard a knock on the door.
Getting up and wrapping her dressing gown around her, she peeked through the small opening of her cabin door, surprised to see the young American standing in front of her with a platter of fresh cut fruit.
"Room service!" he called, as Linka stepped back, opening the door to allow him entry.
"Good morning!" he exclaimed cheerily, setting the tray down on her bedside table.
"I thought that breakfast in bed would be a good way to start the morning!"
Linka looked at him, "Wheeler, you do not need to wait on me hand and foot you know, I might be pregnant, but I'm sitll capable of getting breakfast together."
"Not that I don't appreciate it." she sighed, as he tried to hide his crestfallen look of disappointment.
"I guess I've probably been over doing it a bit," he looked at the ground, sitting down in her desk chair.
Linka moved over to the bed and sat facing him.
He looked up at her.
"Babe, I'm so, so sorry about that last night here – I – I never should have said the things that I did. I should have known that you wouldn't lie, and I should have trusted you."
He took a shaky breath, gathering the courage to look at her in the eyes.
Meeting his gaze, Linka could see the hurt surfacing once again, and smiled, feeling bad about how she'd reacted to the breakfast that he'd obviously put in a lot of care and preparation to, and stood to her feet.
"You know, there looks to be far more fruit on that plate than I could finish in one meal... Perhaps if you wait here while I shower and dress, then we could take the fruit down and have breakfast on the beach together?" she felt her heart miss a beat as she heard herself suggest this. She hadn't yet moved on from those feelings she had for him... Catching herself, she reasoned that this was not too forward of her – considering that she was simply responding to his kind efforts, and that surely this could not be mistaken as 'interest' with her in her current condition.
Wheeler smiled at her and nodded. "Breakfast on the beach would be great."
He waited patiently while she showered and dressed, noticing as she came out of the en suite that she had once again chosen a fairly loose ensemble, that hid any sign of pregnancy.
Thinking of this only briefly, Wheeler collected up the tray and the two friends made their way down to beach in companionable silence.
Linka and Wheeler spent the rest of the day together, talking and catching up. They had lunch with the others, but other than that, spent most of the day alone together.
As evening rolled round, Wheeler had now witnessed Linka's tendencies to hide and cover up her small frame, as if she were not comfortable with showing him, and as much as he wanted to see and understand the changes and what was happening, he made up his mind he would take it slow and wait until she was comfortable.
Linka sat out looking up at the sky as a few small stars began to appear, sitting back in the outdoor recliner under the cover of the small bamboo framed gazebo.
Wheeler appeared beside her now, two warm bowls of last night's let overs in hand. He handed her one, and sat back into the chair beside her with his.
Looking over at her he put down his fork for a moment, "You know, it is so good to have you back."
Linka smiled at him. He'd been such a perfect gentleman all day. She'd never really enjoyed her time with him so much... except on the cruise... She allowed the thought to enter her mind for only a second before banishing it away.
"It's nice to be back again, Yankee."
"And it's nice to hear that again too!" He grinned.
"I know I told you how sorry I was for what I said and did this morning... But there's more I have to say."
Linka set her own bowl down now, focusing her attention entirely on him.
"I'm sorry that I didn't believe you, and for what I accused you of with Dimitri, I just... Well I -"
He frowned now, unsure of how honest he wanted to be and just how to put what he thought he wanted to say.
"I've had feelings for you the second I saw you that first day here on Hope Island... And I know that it wasn't right, but after our time together on the cruise, and then you spending time with Dimitri, I thought – or I felt like you – like I'd been cheated on." He finished awkwardly, glad that the flow of words had finally ceased.
Linka blinked, so he drew another breath, but the young Russian broke in before he got the chance,
"You got angry at me that last night because you had feelings for me?" she asked.
"Have feelings. "He sighed mournfully, like coming clean after all this time was actually painful. He knew that he could be setting himself up for possibly the biggest rejection of his life, but for the sake of his happiness, hopefully hers and for the sake of his child's future, he had to try... Holding onto the hope that what Dimitri had told him was indeed true, he pressed on; "Linka -"
But she interrupted again, "So... Is that why you came to find me? Because you have feelings for me? Even though I'm...?"
She trailed off, whether he liked it or not, they were a package deal now, Wheeler could not say that he wanted to be with her without acknowledging that Linka now had a child to think about. And she needed to know that he could deal with that.
"Yeah, I came to find you because I don't like what life's like without you. I know that now... But I also found out something else... that made me... think."
Linka tried silently to slow her increasing heart-rate – for the life of her she just wished that he'd come out and say whatever is was that was eating him up so – the suspense was terrible.
"That male DNA that Blight used, the DNA of the father of the baby..."
Linka stared. He knew who the father was? How could he know that? And now he felt sorry for what he'd said, after finding out who it was... She got to her feet, totally unprepared to hear this new revelation.
"Nyet Yankee, I do not want to know." getting up so quickly caused a head spin and she gripped the chair to steady herself. Seeing her struggle, he jumped up too, coming over to her. "You don't want to know?" he askeda hint of hurt in his voice as he held her close, helping her steady herself.
She looked up at him, and gasped as she looked in to his eyes...
"It's not..." she breathed, a split second before he confirmed this unforeseen notion, "Yeah Babe, it's me."
He held her close as she let the information sink in, she buried her head into his shoulder, almost surprised as waves of relief spread over her, hugging him close, she wondered what this meant... How this would work...
"But-but how?" she asked, looking up at him now.
"Turns out that Blight and kept a sample of my DNA after one of our run ins. And that's what she used to impregnate you." Still cuddling her, he rubbed her back comfortingly, surprised at how well she had taken the information.
"And so, you felt like you had to come and find me...?"
Linka struggled now to determine his motives.
"No Babe, knowing I'm the Father definitely gave me a well-needed kick in the pants towards coming and finding you... But underneath it all, my life isn't worth living unless you're in it. Regardless of the circumstances you're in."
Warm tears welled in her eyes now, she'd never dared hope that anything like this could happen.
He gently touched her soft hair, placing a loving kiss atop her forehead before helping her back into her seat. "Our dinner's getting cold." He smiled and the two sat together and finished their meal in companionable silence, looking up at the stars above them.
Gaia watched the interaction of the screen in front of her, well aware of the sneaky audience trying to conceal their presence. Smiling she turned to the other three planeteers. "You know, you really shouldn't be spying." she chided.
"And what were you doing?" demanded Gi playfully, hands on hips with very obvious tears stains on her face. "My job." Said the Spirit simply. "I wish it was my job." Stated Ma-ti, "It's such a relief to see that they are finally working things out."
"They still have quite a battle ahead of them, Ma-ti." Said Gaia, letting the crystal monitor go blank. "Things are not going to be easy, and they'll both need your help and support."
"I'd give my right arm to see things turn out well for those two." Gi exclaimed, sinking onto the lounge.
"How romantic was that?" she asked the other three stood in the room around her. Smiling, Gaia ushered her Earth, water and heart Planeteers off to bed.
She needed to think. Things were going well now, but this still left her team of eco-heroes vulnerable. Especially Linka and Wheeler. And knowing that Blight knew this made her very, very uneasy.
Gaia did not have to worry about this for the next couple of weeks however. Whatever Blight was planning was obviously still in the pipeline and this gave ample opportunity for more group healing, which as far as Gaia was concerned, was great!
Linka was still quite shy, and very unwilling to expose her stomach to anyone other than Gi, much to Wheeler's unspoken frustration. Hugging was as close as he managed to get, which did allow him a little idea, but not nearly enough to satisfy his curiosity.
Two weeks after her return to Hope Island, the five friends had decided to go down and spend some time on the beach together. Linka had been putting git off and putting it off, feeling self conscious about the others seeing her in her current state. Gi had assured her that she would keep the boys in line, and Linka had finally conceded, having missed the beach a great deal.
That morning, As Kwame, Wheeler and Ma-ti stood around outside Linka's cabin waiting for the young expectant mother to emerge, Gi gave the boys a quick lecture about staring and making Linka more self-conscious than she already was. After swearing black and blue they wouldn't make her uncomfortable, Linka finally emerged from her cabin, obviously in her bathers, but with a large loose blue shirt over the top. She also held her towel up against her as if using it as an extra shield, causing Wheeler to stifle a sigh of disappointment. Gi shot him a quick look before they all made their way down to the beach.
Kwame, Ma-ti and Gi qickly threw their towels and flip-flops down running into the surf like little kids. Linka paused to pick up the beach umbrella and planted it firmly in the sand. Stretching out her towel in the shade she was about to lower herself onto it when she felt a soft touch on her shoulder. "Here babe, I thought that this might make it easier for you... So you don't have as far to get up and down." He held up the fold-up beach he'd been carrying, moving to set it up under the shade for her.
"Thank you Wheeler," she smiled shyly at his thoughtfulness.
"Do you want to wade in with me a bit and cool off?" He asked kneeling down beside her, finishing off the last adjustment to the foldout chair.
Linka smiled and shook her head, "Nyet, thank you but I will just relax a bit in the shade. But maybe we can go for a walk later?"
"Okay babe." He smiled despite her rejection, breaking into a run, entering the surf rowdily to join the others.
Linka lay back, and put her headphones in, happy to relax back with her book in the shade, eventually drifting off into a light doze.
After having splashed and mucked around for a while with his friends, Wheeler looked over to see that the young Russian had drifted off, and that the shadow of the umbrella had shifted slightly, not giving quite as good shade coverage. Moving up towards her, he adjusted the umbrella and sat down beside her, studying her beautiful features as she slept peacefully. It was then that he noticed that the gentle breeze had lifted up one side of her unbuttoned shirt, leaving it dangling down over the other side of the chair. He looked over her, just able to make out a little of her belly, wishing that the wind would do the same to other side and give him a good look. As if on cue the breeze picked up, causing the other side to lift a little before sliding off her altogether. Wheeler sat in amazement now, as he looked down at what was his baby. Seeing her swollen tummy wholly exposed with just a thin layer of Lycra stretched over it had him in complete wonder. Without even thinking about it, he reached forward instinctively wanting to run his hand over it, when he caught sight of Linka's open eyes beneath her glasses. Feeling terrible at having been caught, he was about to pull his hand back when she smiled.
"You can." She murmured softly. "Really" he asked, clearly surprised. She nodded, and he gently ran his hand over the bump. "I thought you'd be mad." he admitted resting his hand there. "It is your baby too." Linka countered.
Wheeler stopped and smiled at her.
Linka sat up a little way. "You know, you don't have to do this if you don't want."
"Huh?" he asked, unsure of what she meant.
"I mean, I love the care that you're showing and how supportive you've been but I understand if you're not ready for... everything."
"I'm not following." he admitted looking intently into her eyes.
"You can have as much or as little involvement with this baby as you like Wheeler. I do not want you to feel obligated to us – just because... well you know. You didn't have any choice in what happened..."
"Neither did you." He stated simply still looking at her.
"Babe, I want to make this work... I want... I want for us to be a family. Or at least try." He admitted, breaking her gaze to look again at their unborn child.
"I know that it's not going to be easy, and I know that it's easy to say – 'Yeah I want to do this' now – but I really do want to make this work. For all of us." He gave her belly another gentle rub, causing the baby to stir, as if exciting about the prospect of finally having a father.
Linka smiled. "Okay."
"Really? You mean it?"
"Da, if you do."
Wheeler leaned in and gave her a tight squeeze, excitement welling. "Wanna go for that walk now?"
"Da." She smiled as he helped her to her feet and the two strolled down the beach together contentedly, arm in arm.
Gi watched from her place in the rolling waves, grinning from ear to ear, before retaliating Kwames splashes with a massive dousing by aid of her ring.
Blight sighed, there had been continual meetings for the last few weeks, trying to conjure up the best attack or the best use of this time. Why, why had she ever allowed the others to get involved, this was her 'baby' – so to speak. She'd done the hard work, and it should be up to her what course of action is taken. And then, MAL interrupted her thoughts. "Doctor, there's something you might like to look at here..."
Turning Blight was outraged with what she saw... She was back! And they'd made up, to the point where they were strolling together arm in arm. His hand resting paternally on her stomach as they did so. The anger welled, and then... No, they were still week. She knew how to rock the boat, hopefully so hard that Linka would fall out again. "MAL, baby, I we have a few calls to make. I need you to find a few phone numbers for me..."
Hey, I know that I've posted two new chapters today, I'm hoping that I'll get the chance to make sure that the rest follows closely behind, But I can't make any promises!
Hope you like this one, was a bit of fun to write, mush is so much fun!
Cheers! Elibrial.
