Chapter 10

"Planeteers, wake up!"

The sun was barely peaking above the horizon, and Linka didn't feel like she'd had anywhere near enough sleep but she fought her way to consciousness, only to yelp and grasp at the blankets that were already covering her. "Gaia! We...that is... We are… um..."

"Gaia?" Disturbed more by Linka's alarm than their leader's call, he looked up at the semi-transparent figure with confusion, "What are you doing here?"

"There has been an accident, you must come home." She was obviously upset and disappeared without giving any further details.

Linka sat up, still holding the bed covers to her chest, "Bozhe moy'! What can have happened?"

Wheeler was already fumbling with his Planeteer ring, and passed his wife's to her as he said, "Ma-Ti? Can you hear me? What's going on?"

~ Wheeler! I tried to call you... We are on our way to Oceanus. ~

~ Why? What happened? Is everyone ok? ~ Linka joined the conversation having slipped her hand into Wheeler's and moved to lean against his side.

~ There was a storm, the boat was damaged. We got everyone off but Pontus hit his head when it lurched... He is unconscious. ~

"Bozhe moy'!"

Wheeler squeezed her hand. ~ Are you ok little Buddy? You sound… off. ~

~ I hurt my arm, it is not serious my friend. My concern is for Pontus, and we had to leave Georgie behind with Gi's parents and they were not happy... Will you be home soon? ~

Linka broke contact and scrambled to gather her things before heading for the bathroom, too in a rush to be conscious of her nakedness. Wheeler watched her with a sense of unease.

~ Wheeler? Is something wrong? ~

The American shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, ~ No, nothing's wrong. We're on our way, don't worry, just take care of yourselves ok? ~

The Heart Planeteer promised to keep them informed and signed off with some relief, while Wheeler waited for his turn in the bathroom.

He didn't have to wait long as Linka emerged with a towel around her after a short but efficient shower. "If you leave the door unlocked when you get in the shower, I can clean my teeth."

"Sure," he wanted to say more but figured they could talk on the flight home, and things would go more smoothly if he didn't keep her waiting.

He didn't hear her come in but her things were gone from the bathroom when he stepped out of the shower so he decided to finish in there too before going out. When he did go back into the bedroom she was looking out of the window, fully dressed and her things packed neatly in her bag.

Wheeler didn't say anything but started getting dressed. He only had to find a clean t-shirt when she finally spoke, "How am I going to face her?"

Thinking back to their rude awakening he said, "Gaia? I don't think she cares about our sleeping arrangements Babe."

Linka shook her head, "Gi... I am supposed to be her best friend. This was to be her wedding day and instead of being there to support her I was,"

"Hey!" He interrupted, not wanting to hear how she was going to describe their time together, "Don't start re-writing history, you know she was happy that we took the mission and she was fine with us not making it back last night."

"Da, but if Pontus…"

Wheeler cut her off again, "Is going to be fine!" She didn't reply, but kept staring out over the sea. He flopped down onto the bed and did a not so great job of keeping his voice neutral, "So, you're having regrets? About us, about what we did?"

The lovely Russian sighed and dropped her head making his heart sink to his stomach, but then she shook her head and turned towards him, moving to sit on his leg. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder, "I just feel so guilty. When Gaia said there had been an accident my first reaction was relief that you were safe."

He was feeling some relief of his own and held her close as he responded, "I think that's kinda how it's supposed to work Babe, I always think of you first, that didn't start today. It's just how it is."

"Da I know, for me too, but today… I just know that if it were the other way around I would not be understanding. She will hate me." He hugged her tighter and they were silent for a few moments before Linka finally lifted her head and kissed his cheek, "I will never regret us Yankee, I promise. I did not mean to make you think that."

He gave a soft chuckle, "I know, I'm being paranoid."

"Which is also at least partially my fault." She said regretfully as she remembered all the times she'd denied that anything had passed between them.

That made him laugh more easily, and tease her, "Anything else you want to blame yourself for?"

In a small voice she said, "…I could have warned them about the storm."

"Oh Jeez, no." all trace of humour left his face and he leant back so that he could look into her eyes, "Stop that now. If you could have warned them so could Gaia, but you didn't because neither of you knew what was going to happen. It was an accident, that's all. You hear me?"

She rolled her eyes but a smile crept up at the corner of her mouth, "Fine. We should get going, at least we can help out back home."

"Hey," He spoke softly, which made her turn back to him as she rose. "It's going to be ok."

Smiling now, she said, "What would I do without you?"

The newlyweds were silent for most of the ride back to Hope Island because they couldn't find a topic of conversation that didn't feel awkward under the circumstances. When it appeared on the horizon however, Wheeler surprised his bride. "Were we going to tell them that we got married today?"

"Yesterday." She corrected him, "Why would we not tell them?"

"No… yes, we got married yesterday." He explained disjointedly, "But were we going to tell them today? Like on their wedding day, if things had gone ahead… I mean wouldn't that be kinda stealing their thunder?"

She stared at him, slightly incredulous. "you think of this now?"

"I wouldn't have changed anything, I just don't think we would have ended up telling them, that's all." He shrugged.

"Okay?" she was still waiting for him to make a point.

He sighed, "You were worried about Gi's reaction, I was thinking about it. I guess… I don't know. I don't wanna make things worse for her. She'll be fine when she knows he's going to be ok but… oh hell!"

"So you think we should keep this a secret?" she asked, not sure whether to be hurt or relieved.

"Not really, I mean I don't want to hide that we're together and have to sneak around." Wheeler shook his head and reached out to hold her hand, "But even I'm not insensitive enough to make a happy announcement right now… and I don't want to make it an apology either."

Linka nodded in agreement, "So we keep it between us, for now. Like the ceremony, special and private."

"That sounds much better the way you say it… it's not, but yeah," he shook his head again, clearly unhappy. "I think it's the right thing to do."

She leant over and kissed his cheek, "I love you."

That made him smile, "Love you too."

Taking her hand back she undid the necklace she always wore under her uniform and after a long pause, removed her wedding ring to thread it on the chain before replacing it. Wheeler didn't object but he was scowling.

"I can find you a chain too…?" She offered.

They were coming in to land and it took their full attention but once they were down, instead of answering, he took his wedding ring off and put it on the same finger on the other hand, one away from his Planeteer ring. "No one will notice, and if they do and I'm pushed I can always say it's a family ring or something."

"Some cultures wear it there anyway," she said, clearly pleased by his compromise.

Wheeler met her gaze, getting lost there a moment before noticing that their guests were coming to greet them. "Show time."

"Have you heard from Gi?" the Water Planeteer's mother was the first to speak as Linka jumped down from their craft. "Do you know how Pontus is?"

Linka shook her head, "We have not heard from them since before we set out."

"This is ridiculous!" Gi's father said with some vehemence, "What exactly is our daughter marrying into? Why all the secrecy? That boy should be in a proper hospital not in some superstitious, paranoid commune! Do they even have medical care or are they going to perform some sort of religious ceremony while Gi is alone and broken hearted."

Linka's eyes widened at his speech and Georgie gave her an apologetic shrug from the sidelines, letting them know she'd been dealing with it all morning without finding a way to calm them down.

Putting down the luggage he'd been unloading from the 'cruiser, Wheeler stepped over to join the girls saying calmly. "Mr Tran, Pontus' people are not a cult, they're an advanced civilisation that is very wary of outsiders, but they've taken Gi to their hearts, she won't be alone and Pontus will receive the best of care."

"But we are her parents," Gi's mother said, her voice trembling, "If they can accept her, why are we not welcome? We should be with her, can't you tell them that? "

Her husband put his arm around her, not looking particularly mollified by Wheeler's assurances. "They let you go there don't they?"

Bristling a little at what Linka thought was a dig at her husband, she stepped in. "The Planeteers have earned their trust da. If Gi had taken you with her they would have let you in, but they might not have let you leave. It is politics, it is not fair but it is the way it is and there is nothing we can do about it."

Wheeler placed a hand on her shoulder, "Look, we understand you're upset, we're worried as well. Give us a little while and we'll see what we can find out, ok?"

"Why don't you take a walk along the beach," Georgie suggested hopefully. "I promise to come and find you the minute we have any news."

Gi's mother smiled at her and agreed, thanking the others and convincing her somewhat reluctant husband.

When they were a little way away the three friends breathed a collective sigh of relief and began picking up the baggage to take to Linka's room.

"I'm so glad your home!" Georgie told them, "I was running out of nice things to say."

"Did not Gaia help?" Linka asked in surprise.

The other girl shook her head, "I think this whole thing really upset her… um and I'm sorry about your cabin."

"What about my cabin?" Linka asked, slightly alarmed. They'd stopped outside it and she now looked at the door wondering what she'd find behind it.

Georgie shrugged, "I got on really well with Alda so I offered to share with her when Gi's parents arrived so that they could have the double bed, and Ma-Ti said Wheeler wanted us to put all his stuff in your room…"

Linka opened her cabin door. Her bed was piled high with Wheeler's clothes, guitar, magazines and she didn't know what else. "Bozhe moy'!"

"What?!" Wheeler leant past her to look in, "Jeez, I said for him to clear some space in my wardrobe not empty the entire damn room!"

The Russian had walked inside and was dismayed to find her desk likewise cluttered. "Babe I'm really sorry, if I'd known he was gonna…"

"It is fine." Linka said, with a controlled effort. "We will sort it out later. We should go and talk to Gaia."

"I'll put it all in Ma-Ti's room, you won't even know it was there." Wheeler continued, genuinely concerned that her need for neatness and the privacy of her own room, might trigger a meltdown.

Certainly she was struggling because she snapped out, "I said it is fine! Just put the bags in there and come to the crystal chamber, I will deal with it after."

"Ooo…kaaay." He put the bags inside the door, taking the one Georgie was holding before closing the door on the mess.

Kwame's girlfriend was actually looking a little scared and he threw her a lifeline. "Any chance of some drinks? It was a long flight."

"Drinks. Yes! Good idea… I'll just go." She practically ran towards the kitchen.

He turned to Linka but she had already started for the Crystal Chamber so he followed.

To be continued…