Chapter 13

Villainous Affairs Continued...

Linka looked in the mirror, turning side on to see the full effect. She was now obviously, undeniably pregnant. She'd certainly been showing when she'd gotten back to Hope island, but in the three short weeks she'd been there, she felt as though she'd doubled in size. She was now 23 weeks into the pregnancy, just past half way, and even her looser fitting clothes weren't hiding her bump any more.

She turned as she heard a knock on the door, "Come in," she called, watching familiar red hair appear through the widening gap as Wheeler peeped in.
Seeing her in her tight fitting singlet shirt Wheeler raised his eyebrows as he entered, "Wow babe!"
"Hhm," she murmured absently as she cocked her head, returning her gaze to her reflection, looking again at her ever-expanding waste line. "I look like a fat hippo."

Wheeler couldn't help but laugh at this unexpected observation. "No, you don't babe. You look gorgeous." He came up beside her, wrapping his arms around her waste and resting his chin upon his shoulder, just like that night on the cruise.
"I can not see my toes any more when I stand up straight." she sighed, a reluctant confession.
"You're pregnant honey, it'll get worse before it gets better... Hey!" He stopped short now, "Was that...?"

Linka smiled at him in the mirror. "You felt that?"

"Yeah, I did." Wheeler moved in front of her now, crouching down so that his face was directly in front of her belly.

"I didn't know I'd be able to feel anything yet!"

"Da, it kicks all the time."

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm. Usually little kicks and movements, but every so often it does a great big one. Here," she moved to the bed, sitting carefully, before swinging her legs up onto the bed in front of her.

She lay back, lifting up the hem of her t-shirt to reveal the bare skin of her swollen belly. "Watch, we have been very active today."

Wheeler moved over and watched in awe. It was about five seconds before he saw the tiny pulse like movement – quite slight, but definitely there.

"That is so cute!" He grinned, moving to sit on the bed beside her, silently running his hand over her bare skin, feeling another soft pulse as he did so. "Does that happen often?"

"Da, usually when I'm sitting quietly or resting is when I really feel it."

"Is it normal to be feeling it this early?" he asked, moving his gaze from their concealed baby to her face. She slid her top back down.

"Nyet, we are past halfway Yankee, so the movements will only start to get stronger from now on. And I really started to feel the movements around the 19 week mark... So it is not really new..."

Wheeler broke her gaze now, his eyes downcast. "I missed out on some stuff, didn't I?"

"Nyet, just the second half of the first trimester... and a little of the beginning of the second, but I think that it's really from now that things start to get exciting."

She smiled at him, feeling touched that he felt that he'd missed out on some of his baby's growth.

He smiled back, moving hos focus back to her belly, "It's so weird to think that there's a little human in there. I wonder what they'll be like. And who they're going to take after..." He paused, "How soon can you tell what the sex is?"

"I think that it is determinable around the fourteen to fifteen week mark, but I am not sure... Why?"

"Do you want to find out?" she could see the curiosity twinkling in his bright blue eyes as he said it.

"I could have found out... I chose not to."

"How come?"

"I guess, that I was only just coming around to the idea of becoming a parent, and because defining the sex made it more of a person that I was really ready to cope with. Plus Elle did not want to find out what she was having because Mark could not be there so... it just seemed right to wait..." She frowned as she relayed this to him, as though she hadn't really thought about it that deeply until now.

Wheeler' own brow was knitted thoughtfully now, as he considered this answer. "Fair enough, " he conceded, but then stopped, "Wait, you already had the chance to find out? So you've already had a scan?"

"Da, I had it done at 19 weeks."

"And I missed it?" Wheeler looked absolutely crestfallen, "The first chance to see what our baby looks like and I missed it?!"

Linka couldn't help her surprise, "You are really upset?"

"Of course!"

"Here," moving off the bed, the young Russian stood to her feet and moved to her wardrobe. She stooped carefully after opening the door and extracted a large cream coloured box. It looked like a shoe box but was about three times the size, and she set it down in front of him before settling back onto the bed herself.

"What's this?"

"You will see!" She smiled at him as she removed the lid. Inside the box were a few small items, a tiny pair of pale yellow booties, two boxes of Johnson's baby soap, a single sample new born nappy, a white bib with 'BABY' scrawling across it in a cute, curly font, and a soft, white teddy.

Linka carefully removed the items, laying them out on the bed. Wheeler saw as she did this that there was an additional item laying folded neatly at the bottom of the box, a small soft blanket. It matched the super soft teddy bear he was holding he now realised, and looked on with interest as she removed this from the box also.

Underneath that lay a small piece of black paper. A little smaller than A5 in size. Linka took it out and handed it to him, and he realised now what he was looking at.

The black was divided up into four equal sections. In the first he could make out a tiny open hand, the second showed a large cloudy white mass in the centre, the third looked like a little white foot print and the last showed a tiny white clenched fist against a black swirly background.

He ran his finger over the little clenched fist. That was his child. "That is so incredible!" he breathed, taking in the tiny features of his offspring. He looked again at the white mass in the second frame on the right – and then he realised, a small forehead, nose, lips, chin...

He was looking at a side-on view of his baby's face. So small and delicate and perfectly formed.

"That's..." he stared, awestruck.

"Da, it took about a half an hour to get that head shot. They had to keep poking my belly in order to try and get the baby un-tucked from where they were trying to hide."

"Really?"

"Da, in the end the doctor performing the ultrasound asked me to go to the bathroom to do some star-jumps in the hopes that they would come out."

"What was it like?"

"It was not hard, I just laid on the bed, the doctor applied some gel to my stomach, then they run the scanner thing over it, taking pictures of things like the spine, it's stomach, head, length of body. They record the measurements as they go to make sure the growth rate is normal."

"Could you see it moving?"

"Da, and the also zoom in on the heart and check the heart beat."

"Really? How was our baby's heartbeat?"

"Nice and steady and regular. Quite strong."

Wheeler smiled at this, un-admittedly he'd been a little worried that all the stress Linka had been through early on in the pregnancy may have had a poor effect on the baby's health.

"I'm glad." He looked at her, revealing his relief.

"Mmm, we are fortunate, I did not realise the statistics, however a high percentage of pregnancies fail before their twelfth week. Especially when the mother experiences high levels of stress."

He moved over and hugged her now, kissing her forehead as he did so.

"We are fortunate, and I'm so glad I got the chance to realise it. Thank you for coming back."

Linka tried to blink back the tears. Her voice caught in her throat, but she managed a whisper, "Thank you for coming and finding me."

She hid it well, but not quite well enough to fool the young American. Wheeler gently tilted her head up so that he could see her face, and tenderly wiped away the single tear that had slid down her cheek.

Each gazed at the other for a single moment before Wheeler closed the gap between them, kissing her finally for the first time since that evening together of the cruise.

It was soft and slow and gentle, portraying everything that he felt for the young woman sitting before him.

Linka felt his hand softly caress her face, before moving down to rest gently on her tummy, as if he was signaling to her that he was happy to acknowledge the baby in all of this.

Each were a little shaky as they withdrew, neither one really prepared as they came to terms with the situation and their emotions. But it didn't take long for Wheeler to bridge the gap of silence between them, "It's okay babe, I understand if you're worried or scared, but we'll make this family work. You'll see."

His words struck her and she blinked up at him, eyes wide. Family ? - she smiled now, entirely relieved, and snuggled back into his chest. What a bizarre outcome to such a crazy chain of events. And yet she thought, in the depths of all this chaos and drama, the word 'family' never sounded so right.

The two sat like that for a while, happy to just remain in peaceful silence together, only finally stirring at the knock on Linka's cabin door.

"Come in," called Linka for the second time that morning. This time it was Gi's shoulder length black hair that emerged, poking through as she peeked in.

"Is she ready yet?"

"Uh, woops." Wheeler looked at Gi appologetically. Gi rolled her eyes, though took note of the two sat so close on the bed together.

"Never send a man to do a woman's job!" exclaimed the young Thai, crossing the room with her hands on her hips.

"I suppose he hasn't even told you yet, has he?"

"Told me what?" Linka looked from Gi's face to Wheeler's and back again, keen to understand what was going on.

"To get up and get ready so that we can go... BABY SHOPPING!"

Linka laughed at Gi's over-enthused pronunciation of the last two words.

"I see. Well in that case, let me grab some more clothes and some shoes and we can be on our way!"

"Great! See Wheeler, it doesn't take half an hour! I'm going to go get the geo-cruiser ready with Kwame and Ma-ti. I'll meet you guys out there soon!" And with a quick wave, she disappeared back out the door.

Wheeler looked at Linka, "You know, I knew there was reason I was meant to come and see you this morning."

Linka laughed. "To be honest Yankee, it was nice that you forgot." She smiled at him shyly, her lips still tingling a little at the lingering memory of their kiss.

Unable to help himself, Wheeler leaned forward and placed a quick, gentle kiss on her cheek.

"Thanks babe, I'm glad I forgot too. Now let's get your stuff together and go shopping! Gi'll strangle me if I hold this expedition up any longer."

The mall was busy and crowded as usual, but Linka didn't fail to relish how fortunate she was to be able to drop everything and take a quick day trip to the states for some bargain hunting. She thought back to the conversation they'd had in the geo-cruiser on the way there.

"We're pretty lucky you know," mused wheeler, as he leaned over Kwame's shoulder to get an idea of how much longer the flight was going to take.

"How so, Wheeler?" Kwame had responded, swatting at the young American, never looking away from the control panel.

"How many people wake up one morning on an island of tropical paradise, decide they want to go shopping – pick any destination in the world, pack their own private air-craft; with their four best friends... and a monkey," he added at Sugi's protestant squeaks at being left out of the equation, "to arrive mid-morning, spend the day browsing through shops, hop back on their air-craft when done and return to paradise for a great night's sleep in their own beds? Damn lucky I tell you."

Linka had to hand it to Wheeler, he was right. They were lucky. That kind of freedom – to have gotten it so young, it had simply become the norm now, she thought – it's amazing what you can get used to...

Linka was rudely interrupted from her thoughts as someone bumped into her with a handful of shopping bags, and she again took in the busy surroundings of the shopping centre.

"So! Toys 'R' Us are having a HUGE sale – lots of baby stock, there's a Baby-Co here somewhere, Pumpkin Patch, Little Enphant... Um, Mother's World... And then there's stuff like Target and K-mart. Chemists too will have things!" Gi looked around at everyone, unable to hide how super-keen she was to get going with this shopping trip.

"I figure some of the main things we need to consider are a pram, a cot, a few simple items of clothing, bottles and feeding gear, change table, you know, the regular stuff you buy when you're expecting a baby."

"Oh yeah," cut in Wheeler sarcastically, "The regular stuff!"

Linka laughed now, "That is enough! At the very least yes, we should look at what is needed and see what is available, and what is necessary for a newborn."

Wheeler grinned, "You're right, Toys 'R' Us are having a massive sale!" He clasped his hands gleefully - "And look! All the Transformers merchandise is going cheap!" And with that, the red-head just about disappeared in the direction of the mega-toy store, leaving the others to trail along behind.

It had been a great, tiring morning, and now, in the early afternoon the group of friends sat together in The Coffee Club, eating and chatting and admiring the many gifts and purchases they'd accumulated over the course of the morning's outing.

Tiny articles of clothing, pacifiers, bottles, rattles, teething toys, Linka had been overwhelmed by the generosity of her friends.

Wheeler grinned as he rummaged through one of the many bags, pulling out a minuscule item of clothing.

He held up a tripple 0 sized top with "I luv dad!" printed across it, "This is definitely my favorite!" He exclaimed, holding it up over Linka's belly as if testing the size.

"Maybe a little big at the moment... but you'll grow into it!"

He then turned his attention to Linka, "How are you feeling?"

"Ready to go home, I think," she smiled, though genuinely happy and content, the fatigue she felt was obvious.

"Yeah, I think you're right babe, time to call it a day!" he smiled. The five friends finished their meals, paid and made their way back to the geo-cruiser, looking forward to some afternoon rest on Hope Island.

They were just leaving the city when Gaia's transparent head appeared in front of the geo-cruiser. Wheeler groaned inwardly. Shooting him a look, as though she knew what he was thinking even without him outwardly saying anything, Gaia addressed the Planeteers, "We have an eco-alert, Planeteers, Nukem's hi-jacked a truck full of dangerous toxic gas in a small town just near here. You need to make sure that none of the gas gets out. The damage it could cause is substantial."

Linka lay back in her seat, as Gaia gave Gi and Kwame the coordinates to reach the eco-emergency. She felt half relieved that things were finally feeling back to normal and half worried about how dealing with an ecological crisis would go being six months pregnant.

She wasn't the only one, Wheeler gave Gaia an angry glare before she disappeared and then moved his focus out the window, eyebrows knitted in a worried frown.

The situation was nearing crisis point as the quintuplet of friends arrived. The truck had been run off the road and lay stranded at the roadside while Nukem was straddled on top of the large trucks cargo. Police officials surrounded him at various intervals were shouting through megaphones for him to "step away from the truck – or else..." which only made Nukem laugh, hardly ceasing his movements along the truck's body towards the outlet valve for the gas.

Kwame sized up the situation, seeing that the police were only threatening to throw tear gas bombs at the large subhuman villain... which of course would have little to no effect on Nukem, he turned to Wheeler.

"We need to bait him off the truck and get him away from it..."

"On it!" Wheeler reacted instantly to his friend's plan, charging towards Nukem.

"Hey! Nukem! You big yellow retard, you wanna come play?"

He neatly dodged the bolt of radiation that Nukem instantly sent at him, laughing at him.

"That all you got? You must be getting old Nukem!"

This had the desired effect, as Nukem, enraged jumped down and began to persue the redhead, sending erratic bolts at him as he chased him.

This was all it took for Kwame to react now, he ran to the truck's cab and climbed in, turning the key that had been left behind in the ignition, Kwame began to back the truck back onto the road, ready to remove it from the situation all together.

Meanwhile Gi and Ma-ti had joined in the game of eco-villain tag, darting and dodging Nukem as well to take some of the heat off Wheeler.

Frustrated, Linka hung back, knowing that she had neither the speed or agility to be of any assistance in the current circumstances. She instead used her ring to begin clearing the debris scattering the road from Nukem's blasts, making a clear, easy path for Kwame to maneuver the truck out of there.

As Nukem rounded back on Wheeler who'd just darted out behind him, he saw what the others had been distracting him from and let out an angry roar, sending a blast straight at Kwame, sitting in the driver's seat.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, Nukem's hand stretched in the direction of Kwame's head, Wheeler lunged forward, pushing against Nukem's arm as hard as he could, knocking it sideways so that the blast missed Kwame completely and flew instead at the massive gas container. It narrowly missed connecting with the container's mass, hitting instead the gas release valve.

No one seemed to breath, waiting for the explosion to come, but nothing happened... And then as silence hung in the air, they heard the soft hissing noise as the toxic fumes began to escape. The police began running and diving away from the toxins, Kwame extricated himself from the drivers seat with lightning speed, shouting directions to his friend, "Let our powers combine, EARTH!"

"FIRE"
"WIND"
"WATER"
"HEART!"

The others followed only a fraction of a heartbeat one after the other and the beams shot up, combining in a bright clap of light, Captain Planet appeared before them, swooping immediately into action, moving to contain the deadly leak.

Nukem however, still angry from the redhead's taunts took full advantage of the situation. He turned, his fists clenched, "Hey Blondie!" he roared, and just as he'd thought, Wheeler stopped dead and spun on the spot.

He dove in Linka's direction to cover her, realising as Nukem's blast flew past only inches from his head that it had been intended for him. He winced with the sobering realization that they tree that had just exploded could have been him...

Roaring in frustration at having missed his target, Nukem geared up for another blast when Captain Planet swooped down with a mangled street lamp and neatly wrapped it around the eco-villain, pinning both arms firmly by his sides.

He doubled it around Nukem before knotting the end.

"That ought to keep you wrapped up for a while Nukem!" he turned to the policemen who were waiting patiently at the side to apprehend him now that he wasn't a threat. "There you go boys, he's KNOT going to be a problem for you any more!"

He then moved over to the truck, picking it up and setting down straight on the road. "Someone needs to get this safely to it's destination right away, before anything else can go wrong." The police officer in charge gave him a short smile and nod, and began barking orders for the removal of the toxic hazard, and Captain Planet, now satisfied that his work was complete turned his attention to his Planeteers.

"Well Planeteers, it's been a real gas, but I think my work here is done. Wheeler, Linka, you both okay?"

he turned quickly to check, making Linka realise that this was the first time she'd seen Cap since finding out that she was pregnant.

She nodded awkwardly and Wheeler gave him a slightly shaky grin, putting two thumbs up in answer.

"Sure Cap, came a little close, but no sweat, we're okay. Thanks."

Cap nodded. "Good to have you back Linka. Oh, and congrats guys." With a smile and a quick wink, Captain Planet flew into the air, and with his usual farewell, "The power is yours!", the single ball of light he'd become split back into five beams and returned to the rings from whence they came.

The Planeteers looked around at each other, before each moving off to finish cleaning up the chaos.

Wheeler moved over to Linka, gently grabbing her arm, "Hey babe, you sure you're okay? That came a little close."

He looked first into her eyes, his copper brows knitted in care and concern , before looking down at her belly. He rubbed it tenderly. "You're not hurt?" he frowned at her now. She smiled at him. "Nyet, i am not hurt and I'm sure the baby is fine too. But..." She looked away from him now, "You nearly got hit Wheeler. You could have died."

She saw the scene fresh n her mind, Wheeler, stopping, turning – and diving away just in time... Only a fraction of a second before Nukem's blast would have hit at full force. And then the 'what if' scenario hit her, causing tears to well in her eyes.

Though taken aback by her uncharacteristically emotional reaction, Wheeler quickly pulled her into a tight hug. "It's okay babe, we're both safe. Nothing happened."

She buried her head into his chest, getting a grip on her tumultuous emotions, savoring the closeness and how good it felt to be safe with him again. The moment lasted a good few seconds before they were brought back to reality by Nukem's gagging noises.

"Could you two PLEASE spare me your mushy, dribbly crap? It's bad enough not being able to move because of this friggin light pole, even without waiting to be arrested... But to have to sit and watch you two while I wait.."

Wheeler grinned now, releasing Linka from their hug.

"You know, as tempting as it is to stay here and fondle you – even without the effect it's having on our audience, we probably should help the others."

Linka smiled back. "Da, you are right. But just so that our audience knows that it is not him that we are sparing..." she leaned forward and planted a sweet gentle kiss on Wheeler's lips, lingering for a few seconds, just to make sure Nukem couldn't miss it. Wheeler stared as she pulled away. "Wow." was all he could manage before she grabbed him by the hand and led him away, beginning the ever-fun task of cleaning up.

The five friends arrived home tired from their busy day. "I don;t know what was more tiring," said Gi with a yawn as she unclipped her seat belt, "Shopping or that eco-emergency."

ma-ti nodded in agreement, climbing out of his seat behind her. "Yes, i think next time we should just stick with one or the other. Not try for both in the same day."

They climbed out of the cruiser, followed by Kwame who'd been the pilot for the journey.

Wheeler, who'd co-piloted lingered behind, watching Linka intently. She'd waited quietly for the others leave and was now moving slowly, undoing the clasp of her safety restraint and getting out of the seat. Every muscle seemed to protest as she tried to rise to her feet, bracing herself on the chair's armrests. Seeing the effort that this usually simple task was taking, Wheeler moved in and helped her to her feet, "Here babe," the young man gently helped her to rise before guiding her out of the aircraft, helping her down to the ground.

"You look sore." he frowned, taking the remainder of the shopping bags from her.

Linka managed a smile. "Spasiba".

The two walked back to her cabin without saying anything else. Wheeler paused at the door as he held it open for her. "Do you trust me?" he asked suddenly. Linka nodded wearily, barely even taking the bizarre question in.

"Do me a favour and put on something that you don't mind getting wet in." Linka frowned, about to tell him that she was simply going straight to bed but he'd disappeared before she'd even opened her mouth.

Sighing, she obediently changed into a dark singlet and a loose fitting pair of shorts. She's just sat down on the bed, exhausted from the effort of getting the shorts on when the sound of a motor came up beside her cabin.

Wheeler had emerged with one of the small eco-buggies – one of his and Kwame's latest environmentally friendly inventions for getting around the island.

He smiled broadly, bowing as she moved out onto the small porch of her hut before moving over to her to help her settle into the little vehicle.

After making sure she was in okay, the young amercian took his seat in the driver's side and restarting the engine.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked him, her tired eyes still purveying a small glimmer of curiosity.

Wheeler grinned, "You go to bed like that and you won't be able to move in the morning. You know that, don't you?"

Linka just looked at him.

Wheeler smiled as he looked ahead, steering his way through the tropical jungle terrain.

Linka took the chance to relax back into her seat, closing her eyes as she did so, enjoying the cool evening breeze on her face.

Wheeler steered through the brush for about twenty minutes before slowing the buggy and bringing it to a complete stop.

Linka opened her eyes to see that they'd stopped in front of a little hidden spring.

Puffs of steam sat gently on top of the bubbling pool, swirling and intertwining almost hypnotically, helping Linka's aching muscles to relax just at the sight of it.

"What is this place Wheeler?" She breathed in awe, the onset of twilight only adding to the magical atmosphere.

"It's a hot spring that Kwame and I used to use after big workouts or heavy training sessions. It's perfect for relaxing tired, tense muscles and I think that it'll help you not to feel like you've been run over by a train tomorrow morning. Come on,"

He moved around and helped her out of her seat, taking as much of her weight as he could.

Holding her hand, he gently waded in with her, leading her to a nice flat, submerged rock.

"Here, just sit there for a moment." He helped her up onto it, moving around behind her, he began to massage her sore, tense back muscles.

Linka shut her eyes, feeling more of the aches subside as he worked is way up her back and across her shoulder blades. He then moved back in front of her, massaging her feet, ankles and calves. Linka couldn't help but blush as his hands finally moved up to her lower thigh, her senses had seemed to heighten more and more throughout the young American's tender ministrations, only intensified by the romantic settings of the glade.

Sensing Linka's embarrassment, Wheeler looked at her and smiled, "Promise I won't try anything. This really is for your own good though, that's all."

Linka smiled, "Thank you. You did not have to do this."

"I know, but what kind of father would I be if I didn't take care of the woman carrying my child?"

Linka looked at him in the dark, thinking over his statement, "Is that what I am to you?"

"Huh? No babe, you know how I feel about you. But I guess in a way the fact that you're carrying my baby makes me feel like I should take care of you. And at the very least try to make the rest of this pregnancy as easy and as comfortable for you as i can."

Linka dissected his words carefully as he divulged this, she understood the actions, but she also felt that he was purposely avoiding the emotions behind them... She probed further, "Why do you still feel guilty Wheeler? We have moved on."

She felt Wheeler tense in front of her, and his voice cracked auduibly as he answered her, "You nearly killed yourself that last night because of what I said to you."

The shame and guilt that he felt hung in the air between them, and taken entirely by surprise at his answer, Linka thought back to that night's chain of events, realising now that like so many of her other issues, she'd held it at arms length, refusing to acknowledge that it had happened.

It all seemed hazy, but the tears welled instantly as the scene flooded back to her, the glass in her hand, her panic and desperation... She'd seen him dart towards her, before it all faded away.

"Wheeler I..." she choked, realising the weight of what he'd carried now. That was the last he'd seen of her before she'd left.

"I thought you were dead that morning when you and all your stuff was gone. My first thought was she's dead and now I'll never see her again."

His voice trembled in the dark and Linka instinctively reached forwards for him, cupping her face in his hand, she felt the hot tears.

"I am sorry Yankee-"

"No. I'm the one who should be sorry, I- I..." His voice caught in his throat as he relived the grief in his mind. Linka stood now and wrapped him in a tight hug, stroking his hair comfortingly.

"It's okay Yankee," she soothed, though shaking slightly herself from the raw honesty of the situation.

"I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you babe – and after I found out that the baby was mine, and what I'd said to you..."

She put her finger to his lips now, and nestled her head against his shoulder.

"I was not thinking that night. What I did was stupid and selfish – but it's over. I do not want you to feel guilty Yankee. We were both upset. We both reacted. And we have both learned from it."

He nodded, finally, for the first time letting go of some of the shame and guilt that he felt for the hurt he'd caused. He cuddled her back, holding her close, grateful that she was safe and healthy.

He moved and sat on the rock beside her, his left arm still protectively wrapped around her.

"I, I guess what scared me the most is that I never thought that you'd..."

"Neither did I." She admitted, "But I was scared and confused and angry. And I felt so violated..."

He looked at her now, understanding finally what she'd felt that night. Of course. What an ordeal.

Linka smiled at him now, having gained some insight herself on the two of them, their emotions and even on their relationship.

"No more guilt, please," She lay her head on his shoulder. "We need to let go of all this if we want to make this work."

Wheeler nodded, "You're right babe. We both got a new start and a second chance. I don't wanna ruin it with stuff from the past."

He got down off the rock now, "Come on babe, we should get you warm and dry. You need your sleep."

Conceding, Linka allowed herself to be led out of the warm steamy water and wrapped in one of the two towels Wheeler had brought with him.

He bid her good night at the door like a gentleman, before taking the buggy back and going to bed himself.

Blight looked around her usually orderly lair, thoroughly annoyed that though this whole ploy had singularly been her handy work, she now was having to share it with these incompetent, bumbling idiots. In her own private space no less.

The rowdy crowd heightened it's volume as a rather disgruntled Duke Nukem entered the room to join them.

"Awe, is little Nukey grumpy coz he couldn't handled the Planeteers, even with a MAJOR HANDY CAP?" Hoggish paused from shoving a fist full of what may have been apple pie into his mouth, long enough to taunt their returning comrade.

Nukem didn't even reply, not only was he aware that the entire party had watched his failure first hand on one of Blight's huge screens, but he'd very nearly been caught and apprehended for a second time after breaking out of that first cell. Getting caught and locked up once was annoying, but to nearly have been foiled at his escape... Well that just pissed him off. Hoggish snorted had with laughter as Nukem stomped grudgingly past, the dejected yellow villain sending a bolt of radiation that exploded the rest of the pie all over Greedly's face in retaliation.

Greedly sputtered, more concerned that he now had no more pie than the fact that the blast could have taken his head off, and sensing that things were about to get even messier in her usually pristine hideout, Blight stepped in.

"Well, Nukey, there's no use crying over spilled milk, you took a good crack, but their only slightly weakened..."

"Yeah, there are going to be plenty more opportunities to take 'em out!" interjected Sludge, rubbing his hands in anticipation.

"No, the point is that THIS little mission was a failure." frowned Plunder, who'd been frustrated ever since seeing Nukem's bungle on the screen – the fact that he was associated with this plot and that it hadn't worked made him feel downright inadequate. Which annoyed him, because he wasn't the one who stuffed it up.

"That little team building exercise has only made their little group stronger again, and given blondie some more confidence... The point of today was to strike while the iron is hot, and take them down weak. But the whole damn day's been a bust!"

Blight smiled, what was it about Plunder that made her enjoy seeing him get so hot and bothered?

"The whole day hasn't been a bust, Plunder, baby. While you all may have been pegging your hopes on our friend Nukem here, I for one never underestimated our friends."

Plunder turned to her, eyebrow cocked in an interested manner, "Really?"

Grinning, Blight turned on the large screen mounted on the wall at the front of the room, flicking until she reached the right channel.

The news presenter was just introducing the story, showing footage of Nukem straddled atop the truck, surrounded by police. Nukem groaned at having to relive his day's failure, yet again, but Blight hushed him.

The story on the gas leak was merely a brief recount, after which the journalist turned the focus from that to footage of the blonde and redhead Planeteers looking very close and intimate.

"Speculation about the Planeteers has mounted today, after seeing this footage." The camera zoomed in on the couple's close conversation, and though there was no audio, their body language was clear as Wheeler caressed Linka's obviously pregnant belly before the two shared a kiss.

"Angry calls from parents have flooded the station, concerned about the message that these once teenage role models are sending our youth."

Plunder couldn't help but laugh as the story continued, pinning the Planeteers as irresponsible, and poor role models for the youth of today's society, berating their 'squeaky clean image'.

"That was fantastic Blight!" Plunder chuckled as the item concluded. "Not devastating to them physically, but certainly well worth a laugh. The press will be hounding them for weeks!"

Blight smirked, "If nothing else, it's a distraction. One that'll make it harder for them to focus on what ever it is we decide to do now."

"Good work Blight." snorted Greedly, struggling to get onto his short stumpy legs from the chair that he'd been crushing. "I'll sleep easier tonight now."

The rest of the eco-villains followed suit, all leaving for the night, intent on getting some rest.

Glad for some space, Blight moved into the next room, not bothering to see her guests out, stopping in front of a glass door fridge. Inside were a whole range of bottles and jars filled with all sorts of colourful chemicals and concoctions, but this was not what she was interested in tonight.

Stooping down she took out the 1998 bottle of Cheval Blanc that she'd been saving, and turned to get herself a glass.

"That was some nice work, tonight, Babs."

She turned in surprise to see Plunder, leaning coolly against the wall.

She shrugged, "Was ludicrous to pin our hopes entirely on Nukem. You want some?" she gestured to the bottle in her hand.

"1998 Cheval Blanc? Nice, that's a $250.00 bottle of wine." Plunder looked impressed.

"Unlike Nukem's escapades today, some things just aren't worth doing unless you do them right."

She grabbed another glass while he popped the cork, pouring a generous amount into each of their glasses.

"A toast, to your continually surprising brilliance." Plunder raised his glass to her before taking a deep draught of the strong wine. Blight did the same, picking up the bottle and moving back out into the main area they'd been in before.

She looked around at the mess, "MAL baby, do me favour and give this place a tidy, will you? I'm going to bed. Night Looten."

And light headed she moved back to her living quarters, wine in hand.

She'd just unzipped her trademark pink jumpsuit when a noise behind her made her turn.

Plunder stood in the doorway, smiling at her suavely, drink in hand. "Is that any way to bid goodnight to a guest?"

He moved forward to stand in front of her, placing his glass down on her bedside table.

A little light-headed from her wine, Blight blinked, before figuring what the hell, leaning forward she initiated a long, hard kiss, which progressively led to him pulling off her jumpsuit...

She'd just started working to get his belt undone when she heard MAL clear his throat behind her, "Doctor," he began disapprovingly, but Blight simply hit the button on the wall beside Plunder's head, plunging the room and MAL's screen into darkness. As the pair moved their activities onto her bed, Blight smiled in the darkness, it was definitely fun to flirt with MAL, but he didn't come with all the working parts that Plunder did.

Hey, deepest apologies to all those who've been waiting for months on end... Got locked out of this site by my loving husband and he wouldn't let me back in again to update. Hopefully won't happen again before I manage to finish this fanfic! Huge thanks to everyone who wrote encouragement to keep going with the story! Will try not to disappoint!

Cheers, Elibrial