Chapter 7

Linka woke with her back snuggled up against Wheeler's side and her head on his outstretched arm. The glow of the early morning sun lit the room through the closed curtains and the Wind Planeteer sighed at the thought that she would have to get up soon.

Her mind drifted back to the night before, and she smiled as she remembered how loving her partner had been as he'd lifted her and tucked them both under the covers after their first love making... and the gentle way he had drawn her into a second.

Her reverie was broken by the telephone ringing on the bedside table, making her jump. The only effect on Wheeler was to make him turn into her, gathering her back into his arms and burying his face in her hair.

Linka laughed softly and reached for the receiver, "Hello?"

Her voice was a little croaky from sleep but Gi did not seem to notice. "Hi Linka! I'm so glad I caught you before you left, how's the work going?"

Linka tried to moisten her lips and responded, "it is going well..."

Her friend cut her off, not giving her a chance to give any details before she launched into her next question, "Will you be home today?"

"I am not sure..." The Russian was reluctant to discuss their plans before she had had another chance to talk to Wheeler. It seemed like they had been caught up in a romantic haze, and though she secretly wanted to go through with their somewhat crazy plan, she wouldn't hold him to it if he'd come to his senses.

Gi continued, "it's just that we thought it might be fun to go out on the yacht tonight, all of us together? The rest of Pontus's family won't be here until midday tomorrow and it seems pointless to have two separate parties for just us."

Linka frowned, counting the number of people involved in her head, including Gi's parents. "We would not all fit, where would we sleep?"

"The guys can camp out on deck," Gi said enthusiastically, "they won't mind."

Privately Linka thought that they would mind a great deal, her boyfriend especially. "I do not mean to put a dampener on things Gi but I am not sure what time we will be leaving... It might be very late by the time we get back. Maybe you should go without us?"

"Well..." Gi hesitated, "I wouldn't mind going earlier and making a day of it, but I hate leaving you out! You've done so much to make my wedding perfect, and you took the mission for us too, it seems so mean to just go enjoy ourselves without you." She lowered her voice, "and you're stuck there alone with Wheeler too, are you getting along ok?"

Since the Fire Planeteer was on the verge of waking and he was becoming affectionate, it was all Linka could do not to laugh. "It is all good Gi, I promise, and we will not at all mind being left behind."

"Oh?" She could hear the laughter in her friend's voice, "You can tell me all about that later."

"Gi!" Linka responded instinctively, "I meant that it is good to relax after a mission."

The Water Planeteer laughed, "I know I know, and I'm grateful so I'm not even going to suggest that maybe you should think about that."

Wheeler kissed the back of her neck and Linka let out an involuntary giggle, "I am thinking about it."

Gi gasped, "Then I definitely want to hear about it!"

"We will talk when you get back from your honeymoon, I need to get ready for work now." Linka held her boyfriend's arm around her middle, loving the comfort of it. After she'd hung up the phone she turned onto her back to look into his eyes. "Good morning."

Wheeler lowered his head to kiss her gently, "Mornin' Babe." He had the soppiest grin on his face and it made her laugh with happiness. She reached up and guided his head back down to continue the kiss.

When they finally parted again Linka sighed, "We really should get up."

"Yeah," His eyes sparkled, "We have plans, right?"

"Da," She blushed while her heart leapt at the confirmation.

With another brief loving embrace, they dragged themselves out of bed. They took turns using the bathroom as usual and it wasn't until Wheeler was finishing dressing, and Linka was putting the finishing touches to her makeup, that the American thought to ask about the phone call.

Explaining Gi's plan, Linka laughed at the look of horror on his face before telling him that she had excused them both.

"You had me worried there Beautiful," He shook his head and sat on the bed, waiting for her. "You don't mind missing it though, do you?"

She chuckled, "Nyet, I feel claustrophobic just thinking about it."

"And last night…" he was trying to sound casual but she heard the worry behind it, "You're ok with it? And, I mean I didn't make you feel pressured, with the proposal and everything?"

Finishing what she was doing, Linka got up and went to stand between his legs so that he could put his arms around her, "I am the happiest I have ever been because we are together, and what we did had nothing to do with what we are going to do today. I had no idea we were going to end up discussing marriage, but I had been planning the rest all day."

The simple way she stated it made him burst out laughing, but when he got himself under control he said, "I love you."

Linka smoothed back his hair and gazed down into his eyes, "I love you too."

One of the search team dropped the last of the samples off at the lab, while Wheeler checked in with the clean-up teams. The work had gone well and they were hopeful that the areas would recover quickly. They would be monitored regularly over the next year, or longer if need be.

Wheeler had been hoping Linka would be ready to leave by the time he got back but she told him she had a couple of hours more work to do, and although her lab partners could handle it, she wanted to see it through.

"That's ok, I have some stuff to do anyway... Unless you need my help here?"

Linka raised an eyebrow, "what stuff?"

"Suspicious much?" He teased, guiding her away from the others and lowering his voice. "I want to call my uncle and give him a heads up, and I figure I should get something other than my Planeteer shirt to wear later. You might want to do that too before we leave?"

"Oh," the lovely Russian's cheeks took on a faint blush, "I was going to wear the other dress I bought yesterday, it is a sundress but it is pretty."

Grinning, "Cool, then I guess you don't expect me to get a tux."

She chuckled, "Nyet, a nice shirt should be enough, and you can use the phone in the office..."

"Ok, I'll do that first. Can I borrow your laptop?"

She nodded and went to get it from the desk she had been working at.

"Thanks Babe," He would have kissed her but he knew that she didn't want to attract attention to their relationship while they were working, so he lightly squeezed her hand instead.

Getting himself comfortable in the office chair, Wheeler pulled up his e-mails on the laptop. It was where he kept all his contact numbers and it didn't take him long to find his uncle's.

The muffled sound of laughter made him look up through the glass partition, and he smiled as he watched Linka interact with her new friends. It struck him that she probably needed more normal interaction with female friends. No matter how well she got on with Gi, they were isolated and she probably spent more time with Pontus now anyway.

He frowned over the problem for a moment. Maybe we all need a few more 'normal' missions. At least Georgie might be around more often now.

Sensing his gaze on her, Linka looked up from her work and smiled at him quizzically. He grinned back and then picked up the phone to dial his uncle's number.

It was just over two hours later when Linka entered the office. He'd been out shopping, got them all lunch and was now deep in contemplation of something he was writing on a notepad. "Jason?"

He jumped and made haste to tear off the paper and put it in his pocket, "Hey Babe, ready to go?"

"Da… what were you doing?" she asked, consciously trying to sound more curious than suspicious.

He grinned. "I'll tell you on the way."

It didn't take long to get their things together but it felt like everyone they'd met, even in passing, wanted to say goodbye. Wheeler breathed an audible sigh of relief when the Geo-cruiser finally took off. "So, I found a chapel on the outskirts of Vegas, and booked us in. There's shops nearby so we can get rings too. Don't worry it's not tacky or anything."

Linka watched him as he piloted their craft, her lips curved into a slight smile, "You have everything organised then?"

"Yeah… that's what you wanted right?" he glanced at her, suddenly wondering if he'd done too much.

"Mmm," She suddenly laughed and nodded, "You know, I think that is exactly what I wanted." He gave her another dubious look, and she laughed again, "You found out how I felt and then made things happen. You also stopped me focusing on the details and made it about what is important... I need that sometimes."

Wheeler finally relaxed, "well maybe you can put that in your wedding vows."

She looked alarmed, "You want me to write vows? Today? Now?"

"It's optional." He shrugged sheepishly, "It's not like I'm into anything mushy, I just thought you might want to decide what you say… but hey 'Love, honor and obey is fine with me."

Linka snorted, "I am not promising to obey."

"Better get writing then," he teased, letting her know that he was, at least partially, playing with her.

"Is that what you were writing in the office?" he nodded and she continued, "I would like to read it?"

Wheeler laughed, "You show me yours…"

Huffing and rolling her eyes, while trying not to laugh, Linka changed the subject. "Did you speak to your Uncle?"

"Yeah, he said he'd do the legal work for us."

"But he was not happy about it?" she guessed, catching the tone in her fiance's voice.

The American looked round at her, his expression surprised, "Yeah? Why wouldn't he be?"

"There is something…"

He sighed, "You don't miss a thing, do you? It wasn't bad, he just wanted to make a big deal out of it. He was trying to convince me to go for the big family wedding, like we've ever been big on family."

"I am sorry."

"It's fine, he was trying to be nice. It did make me wonder how your family are going to feel about it though?"

He sounded a little worried but she smiled at him, "Mishka will give us a hard time, Grandmuska will insist on throwing a party and they will both be very happy."

When he grinned back she took up her laptop and began trying to compose her vows.

The chapel was exactly as Wheeler had promised. On the edge of Las Vegas, on the way out into the desert, it was a tasteful building with a rock garden carefully designed to look natural.

The cacti and other native plants were in full bloom, and it made Linka exclaim as they came in to land, "it is beautiful! How did you find it?"

"Google?" he said it like he thought it was obvious.

"You should take pictures before we leave," she told him, ignoring him.

Wheeler brought them down in the designated parking area opposite. Fortunately, since it wasn't that large and encroaching further into the desert was discouraged, there was only one car there.

There were a few other businesses, including a hotel and the Fire Planeteer was a little sorry that they couldn't stay there, but he knew they needed to stick to the plan if they wanted to avoid messing up Gi and Pontus' big day.

Beside him Linka sighed, "I am not sure I can do this."

"Oh." His voice sounded flat, and when she glanced up at him she could see the panic in his eyes as he tried to rapidly think of something to say.

"Oh! Not this!" she waved her hand around to indicate them and the chapel and then lifted her laptop up, "This! I feel like such a durak. I am not any kind of writer and I do not like making a public spectacle of myself."

Recovering slightly, Wheeler took her hands, "Babe, slow down before you give me a heart attack. Firstly, this isn't public, it's just you and me and a couple of people we'll never see again," That drew a smile and he continued, "Secondly, it doesn't have to be perfect."

"Do you know me at all?" She asked sarcastically.

He laughed, "Ok, but look, it's not about the words you use, it's just about meaning them. That's what will make them perfect." Seeing that she was wavering he added, "We agreed that what mattered was the promise we made to each other right? So I figured, let's make it matter... But it's not worth it if it makes you unhappy, so we'll just stick to the basics ok?"

Linka reached up to cup his cheek, "do you mean that lyubov?"

"Of course I do."

She placed a tender kiss on his lips, "give me a few minutes, I will make it work."

"Huh?"

She laughed and shrugged. "I do want it to be special and it will make you happy, so it is worth the effort… and the embarrassment."

"Thanks Babe. Take your time, we're early anyway." He looked about, "I think I'll head over and let them know we're around, and maybe take those photos..."

Linka made an affirmative sort of noise but her concentration was back on her notes.

To be continued…