A/N: Thank you again to those who have been reading and reviewing. This is the last chapter so it might be a little while before I post again. I hope you've all enjoyed the double story.

Chapter 16

"I must admit I thought you would make an effort for a little longer... 'The honeymoon is over da?'" The beautiful Russian said sarcastically but without venom.

Wheeler rolled his eyes and concentrated on the Geo-cruiser's controls. "Give it a rest Linka."

Nettled she responded, "You know how I feel about it, did you even give that a thought?"

"Are you gonna be like this all the way home?... Oh wait, you already were." He replied with sarcasm of his own.

"Wheeler..." She began but he interrupted.

"Buckle up! We're coming into land."

"My seat belt is already on, I am not the irresponsible one." Since she didn't get a reply, when they had landed and she stood to exit the 'cruiser she threw another comment over her shoulder, "perhaps we have spent too much time together over the last week."

Sounding serious and a little hurt, the American asked, "Do you mean that?"

It made her pause briefly but then she heard someone call her name and, distracted, she jumped down without replying.

The pretty Asian was obviously excited to see them but whilst Linka accepted her hug, Wheeler stalked past carrying their luggage with barely a nod in her direction.

Gi frowned. "Problems?"

Linka waved it aside dismissively, "I do not like waking up to a mess, and he is sulking. How is Pontus?"

Gi blushed with happiness at her fiancé's name. "He's great! You would never know he was hurt, except he is getting impatient about being fussed over. He wants us to get married as soon as possible, but we're going to keep it small this time. Alda came back with us but his parents are going to just come for the wedding, next week!"

She ended on an excited shriek which made Linka laugh, "I am happy for you."

"It'll be your turn next." Her friend teased, but didn't wait for her to reply, "By the way, Kwame said he'll start taking turns with you guys on the missions. Ma-Ti's arm is still healing and I don't think I should leave Pontus right now, but it's not fair that you two have to do everything."

Slightly alarmed, Linka shook her head. "We do not mind."

"Three back-to-back missions though, I know they were only minor ones but..."

"Four, with a day back here in the middle, but three of them were really just diplomatic missions and educational appearances." Linka's eyes were alight with amusement as she continued, "Which means we had a week with most evenings free and only each other to care about. We had dinner, went dancing, went to the cinema... It is good of Kwame to want to take his turn, and when one of you can go with him, perhaps we will take some time off, but for now it is better that we just carry on as we are."

"Are you sure? Wheeler looked like he might not agree..."

Linka sighed, "I might have said something I should not, you know what I am like when I am irritated."

Her friend grinned, "Yep, but fortunately so does Wheeler. Did you pick the mail up on the way home?"

"Da," Linka's eyes drifted to her cabin, "I will go and get it and bring it to the kitchen."

Gi laughed, "No rush."

Smiling back, the Wind Planeteer gave her another hug, "I am glad you are home."

When Linka opened the door to her cabin she saw Wheeler lying on their bed with his arms behind his head, trainers kicked off on the floor and eyes closed. Their luggage had been dumped by the wardrobe and he'd obviously made no effort to unpack. Despite what she considered to be deliberate provocation, her first instinct was to go to him and curl up against his side... she resisted it.

Shaking her head, she asked, "What did you do with the mail? Gi wants it."

He didn't open his eyes. "On the desk."

Biting down on the desire to point out that he was now trying to annoy her, she emptied the mail bag onto her chair and began sorting it into 5 piles on the desk.

"Did you tell Gi we got married?" his tone was neutral but she knew that he was anything but indifferent to her answer… and that he wasn't going to like it.

"Not yet..." a slight pause, "They are planning their wedding for next week, it is better that we wait until after that to tell everyone."

"Always one more excuse." He sighed.

"It is not an excuse, Jason. It was your idea to keep it a secret in the first place and I thought we agreed that we are the only two people who matter in this relationship?"

He gave a reluctant "Yeah," and she continued encouragingly.

"It does not change what is between us, we will be just as married in a couple of weeks as we are now. After what happened with Pontus, I just want everything to be perfect for them and…"

Her sentence ended in a delighted squeal that made Wheeler sit up in surprise, to see her tearing open a letter. "What's that?"

"My new bank card has arrived!" She said, glowing with happiness and nearly vibrating with excitement.

He swung his legs over the bed to put his feet on the floor, not sure if he should go over to her. "If you were short of money or something, you could have just said so, you know I'd..."

"Durak! I do not need money." Linka laughed, her eyes full of affection, and practically threw herself into his arms as she moved to sit astride his legs and embrace him.

Inevitably cheered by her mood and automatically wrapping his arms around her to hold her in place, Wheeler responded to her kiss without hesitation, his grievances forgotten.

"Do you still love me?" she asked at last, sitting back so that she could see his face.

"Always." The sentiment was so plainly reflected in his eyes Linka blushed slightly, but she held the bank card up for him to see.

She watched his momentary confusion transform when his eyes scanned the name at the bottom. It read:

MRS ALINA WHEELER

"Oh wow, that's..." It wasn't just the card, but his realisation of what her reaction to it had been, that was fuelling his feelings and he pulled her close. "Wow."

She giggled and snuggled back into him. "I love you Jason…and I am sorry I overreacted this morning."

Getting himself under control he said, "I'm sorry too, about the mess. I was just so tired last night after the mission, you were asleep when I got out of the shower and the only thing on my mind was joining you."

She winced, "I should have thought of that, I will try to be more reasonable in the future, I promise."

"I don't care about that, you know I don't." he pressed a kiss to her neck but she wasn't fooled.

"That sounded like it had a 'but'?"

Wheeler took a deep breath, "Are we spending too much time together?"

"I did not mean that." She put in quickly, leaning back again to meet his gaze.

"Didn't you?" he asked seriously, "Because I don't think it came out of nowhere… I need to know, Babe. If you need some space or whatever, just tell me. I'll do whatever it takes to make this work."

She leant forward and kissed him lightly, "Me too." She sighed and shook her head, "I was just pinching at you when I said it. I love every moment we spend together, I would not give it up for anything."

"But?" He added helpfully, his voice soft.

She sighed again, "I am not used to never having any time alone, and this last week has been… intense."

"How did you manage to share with Gi?" He asked, "I mean we've been on longer missions and I'm pretty sure she talks more than I do."

Linka chuckled, "That is true. But you must know that I always went to bed earlier than all of you, and got up earlier too. I did it more for peace and quiet than my preferred sleep patterns. Also - do not repeat this - sometimes I would say or do something to start an argument so that she will ignore me for a while, but Gi and I are not more than friends."

"Thank god!" her husband told her through his laughter.

She dug him playfully in the side, "I do not want to do that with you. I want to share things with you, I would not change anything about these last few days, I just need to adjust to having less time to myself."

"Or you could tell me when you need some peace and quiet and I'll try and give it to you?"

"I did not know how to say it without it coming out badly." She said ruefully. "Besides, it is not always safe to go off somewhere when we are on a mission, I would get no peace if I am worrying about you."

He laughed affectionately, relaxed now that they were talking. "You're not making this easy."

She leant in to kiss him, "Thank you for trying, I know we will work it out." Their embraced deepened and lingered but eventually she pulled away again. "I need to take the others' mail to the kitchen. Gi will be waiting."

"You know," he replied thoughtfully, "I should probably go make nice with Gi and Pontus anyway, how about I take it and let you chill for a while?"

A slow smile spread over her face and she nodded, "Spasiba."

Wheeler entered the common room, took one look at the ribbons, flowers and sparkly flotsam spread across the room, grunted, and turned to walk out again.

"Hey!" Linka held her hand out to him while the other women giggled.

He walked to her and let her pull him down for a kiss but said, "you're not going to make me help with any of this are you?"

She smiled and shook her head, "you can go now."

He chuckled and kissed her again before sauntering out of the room, "Later ladies."

"O.M.G. you guys are so cute together!" Gi exclaimed, making Linka roll her eyes. She laughed, expecting her friend's response. "Well you are. If you'd told me a couple of months ago that you'd be back together, let alone living together, I'd never have believed it."

"Me either." Linka was glad only Georgie and Alda were present because she had a feeling she knew where the conversation was going, and Gi's mother wouldn't like it.

"Speaking of room sharing, how's that working out for you?" Gi pursued, "I mean, Wheeler likes to give the impression that he's hot stuff in bed, is it true?"

"Gi!" Georgie and Alda exclaimed together, not as used to their friend's inquisitiveness as Linka.

"Like you don't want to know too!"

Both girls disclaimed but not very convincingly and it made the Russian laugh. "I do not ask you about the intimate details of your love life."

This time Georgie answered, "well of course you don't. My love life still doesn't have intimate details, Alda's hasn't got past the besotted gazing stage and Gi shares way too much already."

"Hey!" Gi protested in mock indignation, while Alda just blushed.

Again Linka laughed, "you already know I love being with him, what is it you want me to say?"

They didn't get a chance to answer because Gaia appeared at that moment, "would you join me in the crystal chamber please, Planeteers." She looked at Georgie and Alda and extended the invitation, "all of you might find this interesting."

The women exchanged curious glances and then quickly rose, and headed for the main hut that was their command centre.

As the eight young people filed in they automatically took up a position next to their partners, with Ma-Ti and Alda keeping an awkward distance despite being clearly conscious of the attraction growing between them.

Wheeler casually slung an arm around Linka's waist as he asked, "so what's up?"

The Spirit of the Earth gave him an enigmatic smile which convinced him she was up to something but he didn't comment as she began to speak.

"A team of highly organised criminals tried to access the World Defence Program facilities earlier today, using the Planeteer's identities." There was a series of gasps around the room and she nodded, glad that they understood the seriousness of the situation. "Fortunately they were apprehended but it seems to have been a matter of luck, or at least bad timing on their part. The representative of the World Defence Agency said they are going to be implementing some new technology based security and will need you all to visit in a couple of weeks to register the biometric data."

"As long as it's after our honeymoon," Pontus said; half joking, half serious. "Gi will not be available until then."

Everyone laughed and agreed, and Gaia assured the young couple they would have plenty of time before they were needed.

Ma-Ti, always curious about unsolved mysteries, asked eagerly, "you said they were caught because they made a mistake? Do you know the details?"

The air of mischief that Wheeler had detected earlier returned to Gaia's eyes, "I was just coming to that. It seems they got Linka's name wrong."

The Russian's eyes opened wide as her brain, always a few steps ahead, filled in the missing pieces.

"They asked me to extend their thanks to you for keeping them up to date when you changed it." She was now openly amused as she saw the confusion on the others' faces, "I must admit to being a little surprised that your closest friends can't say the same."

"Linka? What is she talking about?" Gi complained.

"Yeah, Linka, what is she talking about?" Wheeler echoed, obviously deciding not to be helpful.

Kwame frowned, "Wheeler does not know either?"

"He does know." She gave her husband a look. "He is just grumpy because I did not want to say anything until everything is back to normal. This time should be about Gi and Pontus."

Gi shrugged, "you changing your name isn't going to interfere with our wedding. I don't see why you..." She caught the smug look on Wheeler's face and the penny dropped. "Oh my god! You got married?!" And seeing the confirmation on Linka's face, "why wouldn't you tell me that!"

"Or any of us?" Kwame added gravely.

Wheeler's arms slid around his wife protectively and he kissed her head, ready to take over if she needed him to.

"Because I was your wedding planner, and your best friend and I chose to run off to Vegas with my boyfriend instead of be there for you on the night before your wedding, and then you ended up in hospital." Linka blurted out. "It just never felt like a good time to mention it."

Georgie broke the silence that followed, sounding like she wanted to laugh. "Well, when you put it like that..."

"Unbelievable." Gi said stalking over to her friend, and ignoring the way she lowered her eyes and Wheeler stiffened. She threw her arms about them, "you can be completely clueless sometimes. I'm sooo happy for you two!"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief but none of them, including Gi were completely sure that she would have reacted the same way if things had turned out differently.

When the round of congratulations ended, they started talking about having a celebration for them but Linka declined. "You all knowing and being happy for us is enough, everything is as it should be."

"Nearly." She looked up at Wheeler in surprise and then laughed as he retrieved her ring from the chain around her neck with practised ease and returned it to her finger, and she did the same for him. "Now everything is perfect."

Linka nodded and kissed him back when he pulled her into his arms, only vaguely aware of the cheers of their friends.

The End.