A/N: I don't really know what time frame this is set in...is it still the early 90s and the Planeteers are in their teens? If I set it during the present time and keep to the original Planeteerdates...they'd be in their 30s...and that's just not right...I don't think Linka would have kept Wheeler waiting that long! So I guess for the sake of the story...we'll pretend that it's present time, but they're 18 and 19...just like Liliya and Walker were when they met...sound good? Works for me!

Here's the next chapter, although I don't think I'll ever be able to top that last one! They're all gonna be crap compared to that one from here on out! But I guess you still wanna know what happens, so here ya go!

They held each other until their sobs subsided. Wheeler loosened his grip on her, letting his hands rest low around her waist, giving her the opportunity to pull away if she wanted. He was so happy when she didn't. Instead, she held onto him tighter, as if she was silently asking him not to let go. Not yet anyways. He re-adjusted his hold on her and lovingly, protectively, kissed her temple. He'd hoped that he hadn't gone too far or made her uncomfortable. He wasn't trying anything, just letting her know that he cared.

"Oh good, you're still here," said a voice from behind them. They immediately recognized it as Sandi.

Wheeler dropped his arms from around Linka and stood up straight, anticipating that she would also jump away from him in order to prevent being caught in such an intimate moment...yes, for them, a simple comforting hug was as intimate as it has ever gotten. Still, Linka maintained her hold of him, only pulling away slightly to look at the psychic.

"Uh, yeah. We're still here. Is there something else?" Wheeler asks. Putting one arm back around Linka and rubbing her back to let her know that he was still there for her.

"I do not know if I can take anymore," Linka confides in him as she leans her cheek against his chest.

"After you left, I picked up some numbers...and got a sense of death. The years that Walker and Liliya died, I think."

At their silence, she continued,

"For Walker, I saw an obituary in the newspaper read 'September 26th 1989.' Does that mean anything to you?"

"Yeah," Wheeler says.

"And for Liliya, I saw a tombstone that said 'July 4th, 1990."

"Bozhe moy."

"Is that also significant," Sandi asks.

"Da. Those dates are our birthdays. Day and year."

"Well then, take that whichever way you'd like to believe," Sandi says as she walks back to the police barracks.

"Thanks again for all of your help," Wheeler calls out to her.

After resuming their previous position of holding each other close, a few minutes pass before Wheeler asks,

"So what do you think?"

"I think…I do not know what to think. It is all very strange. What do you think?"

"I think that…maybe…Walker and Liliyadid not get to be together and that sucks because obviously, they were soul mates. They were meant to be together forever and they didn't get to. But if what Sandi said is true…if I'm Walker and you're Liliya...reincarnated…they're together again…sort of."

"You mean, they are a part of each other's lives? Even if it is just as friends?"

"Yeah. I mean…it's better than nothing…right?" Even though Wheeler knew he'd never be satisfied with being "just friends."

"Da." Linka finally lets go of him and takes a step back. Just friends? He is ok with being "just friends"? Not even an hour ago, he let it slip that he was in love with her...now he's ok with being just friends. Linka felt sick to her stomach. For a brief moment, she allowed herself to hope that they could possibly have a future, that it was ok to let herself fall in love. Well, she had already fallen in love...she thought that now it would be ok to admit it...to stop denying it. But no, she was wrong. She needed to suppress those feelings...again.

"What if…" he stops, uncertain of how to say what he wants to say.

Linka touches his arm and looks up at him, prompting him to continue.

"What if…we're supposed to fix what went wrong all those years ago?"

"Fix how? Liliya and Walker are both dead…it is not like we can track them down and reunite them," she says.

"No, I mean fate kept them apart…what if fate brought us together?"

"Gaia brought us together," Linka states.

"And she's the SPIRIT of the Earth. It would explain why she didn't seem very shocked or surprised that we were asking questions about the lives of people who we'd have never even known about if it weren't for our dream."

"What exactly are you saying?" She asks.

"Remember in the dream, right after Liliya found out that Mikhail had died, and Walker said he would be there for her for as long as she wanted him to?"

"Da."

"And she said 'forever,' and he asked if there was anything longer than that. She said 'the after life' and then he said 'what about the life after that? And the one after that, and the one after that…what if we're part of that cycle? They promised to be together forever…but they weren't…even though they were supposed to be. What if we represent them and their chance of being together?"

"Wheeler, I have never heard anything so…"

"Ridiculous? Yeah, I figured you would say that."

"Nyet, let me finish...Not ridiculous…romantic."

He looks into her eyes. They're completely focused on him and she's looking at him like she's never looked at him before. She gives him a faint smile and his full attention is drawn to her lips. He brushes her bangs out of her face and slowly leans in and covers her lips with his. She is surprised at first, but then she looks into his eyes. Neither one of them closes their eyes, both searching for signs of regret or to see if the other thought this kiss was a mistake. Seeing no such things, she slowly closes her eyes and relaxes into the kiss. He brushes his lips against hers, but makes no move to pull away. She rests her hands on his hips and parts her lips, allowing him better access to lock their lips as he pulls her bottom lip between his and she responds by repeating his actions. Encouraged by her willingness, Wheeler wraps his arms around her and pulls her closer to him so that his body is pressed against hers.

He finally pulls away from the kiss, and she lets out a soft whimper of disappointment. His forehead rests against hers, the sides of their noses still touching, and he continues holding onto her.

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have...I just…"

"Sssh, do not apologize," she says as she places her hand on his cheek and runs her thumb across his lips. "Do not ever apologize for that."

"I just…wanted to see what it would feel like," he whispers as he presses his lips against the pad of her thumb.

"To kiss? Surely you have kissed before."

"To kiss you," he admits.

"And? What did you think?"

"When I was dreaming, I could feel what Walker was feeling. I'm assuming you could feel Liliya's feelings right?"

"Da."

"So I knew what he was feeling the first time they kissed…and every time after that…that feeling that I got in my dream…it was like nothing I've ever felt before…until just now."

"I know," she says softly as she tilts her head forward and places a kiss on the corner of his mouth.

"It was the most amazing feeling I've ever felt. My stomach was doing flips, like it was the best roller coaster ride ever…thrilling and exciting…and when the ride was over, all I could think was 'I wanna do it again,'" he admits.

"Then what are you waiting for? Go ahead," she says as she brushes her nose against his and tilts her head, preparing for another kiss.

Wheeler responds by placing his hand behind her head and holding her to him as he kisses her thoroughly.

"But Walker and Liliya…they lost that feeling and never felt it with anyone else, ever again. I don't wanna lose it," he whispers.

"Neither do I"

They remain like that for a while until Linka breaks the silence.

"Do you think Walker and Liliya were reunited in Heaven?" she asks.

"No. I don't think that they've made it there yet. I think that their souls are suffering too much unrest and that's the reason we had that dream, like they were speaking to us. I think…I think that they didn't want us to end up like them, and that's why we need to make things right. So they can finally rest in peace," he says as he leans in to kiss her.

"There's the other Jeep!" They're interrupted by familiar voices just before their lips meet. They jump apart and turn to see Gi rounding the corner of the building.

"Hey! You guys are here early!" Gi says. "Why didn't you wait for us?"

"Uh, I couldn't sleep last night. When I got out of the tent, it woke Linka up, so then she couldn't fall back to sleep. We just stayed up all night talking, then we decided to go get breakfast and just meet you guys here," Wheeler lies.

"You look beat," she states.

"I could use a nap," he says.

"Da, me too."

"Why don't you guys go back to the camp and try to get some more sleep. We're just going to be listening to what the psychic sees and take notes on any landmarks that might stand out and narrow the search for the bomb."

"That's a great idea…you sure you're ok with that?" Wheeler asks.

"Yeah, you're not very enthusiastic about what Sandi has to say anyways. It'd be better to have you go back to camp and sleep, than to have you fall asleep while she's talking!" Gi says.

"Ok. Have Ma-Ti contact us if we need to come back here or if Sandi locates the bomb and we need Captain Planet," Linka says.

The ride back had been quiet, with neither one of them saying anything...just staring straight ahead.

"I am going to get a drink of water, do you want some?" Linka asks.

"Sure, just bring the canteens in here," he replies.

When Linka enters the tent, she sees that Wheeler has taken their sleeping bags and zipped them together to make one big sleeping bag. He's already crawled into it and has the corner pulled back, waiting for her.

"Is this…ok? I just uh, wanted to hold you while we slept, but I didn't want anything coming between us."

Linka was relieved that he was not expecting anything, but slightly disappointed. She didn't know why, she had not expected anything to happen. Not now. Not this soon, after just a few kisses. Not while they were technically still on a mission. What she did want though, was for this mission to be over so they could go back home and take things from there.

"Da, this is fine. Here," she says as she hands him his canteen.

"Thanks," he says as he sits up to take a drink.

She pulls the corner of the sleeping bag back and sits down next to him, suddenly very uncomfortable. She doesn't know why. She knows all they are going to do is sleep, and even better, she's going to fall asleep in his arms. She just doesn't know what to say to him in the mean time. He finishes taking a long drink from the canteen, caps it, and sets it aside. He looks over at her, and sensing his eyes on her, she looks over at him and smiles shyly. He returns her smile and chuckles awkwardly,

"So…"

"So…" she sighs.

"This shouldn't be as weird as it is… I mean, before…at the police barracks…there was a moment. And now that that moment has passed, this feels…forced. We can't even fall asleep without it feeling weird? Maybe I should just undo the sleeping bags…" He goes to stand up, but she stops him by placing her hand on his forearm.

"Nyet. Leave it. We are over thinking things. We are tired. We need to sleep. Just lay down."

He does as she says, but lays his arm across her pillow. She lays down on her side and rests her head on his arm. He rolls onto his side so that he's facing her, and puts his other arm over her waist.

"Is this alright?" he asks.

"Da."

He bends the arm that her head is resting on and brushes his hand across her cheek. She moves closer to him so that her chest is against his and he tightens his arms around her. He throws his leg over top of hers to pull her even closer.

"Too much?" he asks.

"Nyet. This is nice." She rests her forehead against his and brushes her nose against his. With each stroke, their lips get closer and closer until finally, they just barely touch and both of them freeze. Neither one knows, or cares, who made the next move. It doesn't matter though. All that matters is that it happened and their lips were now more firmly pressed against each other and moving of their own accord. Wheeler and Linka's brains may not know what to do or say, but their bodies know what to do to eliminate the question of "What happens next?"

Wheeler pulls back and asks,

"So what do you say to someone before you go to bed when it's not night time? Can't say 'goodnight,' right?"

"I do not know… 'good nap'?" she proposes with a mixture of a laugh and a yawn.

"Sweet dreams?" he suggests, also yawning in a chain reaction response to her yawn.

"Da. I like that one."

"Then sweet dreams, Babe."

"Sweet dreams, Yankee," she says as they kiss before drifting off to sleep, tucked so close together, their lips are still touching.

To Be Continued...