Chapter 7 - Trapped
Kwame and Gi were fussing over Trish as they left on the alert. She was into her third trimester now and the heat was causing her problems. "Promise me you will stay in the shade and take it easy." Kwame was saying.
Trish smiled affectionately up at him, "Kwame I can take care of myself, besides this is the safest place in the world."
"Promise me." The earth planeteer re-iterated and she nodded happily in response.
Wheeler took the controls as they entered the geo-cruiser and Kwame glared in his direction, annoyed once again at the lack of interest he was showing in his child and it's mother. Linka noticed but said nothing, unconsciously touching the hidden pendant she was still wearing, before she realised what she was doing and put her hand back in her lap.
Locating Sludges operation wasn't hard, his mining activities were all too visible in the mountainside. "How terrible!" Gi exclaimed as she saw the damage that had been done. "We have to shut this down!" The others agreed but it took Wheeler a little while to find a safe place to land.
As they reached one of the mine shafts, Linka moved into the entrance way to examine it. "This is not safe at all." The Russian announced, "It is not shored up correctly," moving a little further in and indicating, "you see this beam…"
Wheeler saw movement at the edge of his vision and realised that the mine Linka was examining was more dangerous than she realised. "Look out!"
Linka turned to look at her friend in enquiry, not seeing the danger above her. Wheeler had no choice, he couldn't pull her out before the ceiling caved in, so running towards the beautiful girl, he threw his weight against her, catching her in his arms and carrying them both further down the tunnel. The American hadn't acted a moment too soon, as they hit the ground so did the roof of the cave, just w here Linka had been standing.
Laying on top of the Russian, Wheeler did what he could to protect her as the rubble kept falling, until all sounds ceased and they were in complete darkness. Waiting a couple more minutes for the dust to settle before he spoke, Wheeler asked, "Are you okay?"
"I have a few bruises, but Da, I am okay." Linka answered close beneath him. "Though I think my pride might take a while to recover, I cannot believe I was so stupid, Papa and Mishka would be very angry with me." Then after a second she added. "Thank you Yankee."
Linka couldn't see him, but she knew he was grinning as he answered. "You're most welcome Babe."
"I think it is probably safe for you to get up now." The wind planeteer suggested, "But do not go too far, I don't want you to fall through anything and we don't know if the floor is any safer than the ceiling."
"Maybe we should just stay like this until they find us then?" he teased. "For safety."
She told him to "Get up!" but he could hear the smile in her voice. As he did as the Russian asked, she said, "Can you make a light without a flame?"
An orange light appeared suddenly from the fire planeteers ring, making Linka blink and giving her after images. "Yes." Wheeler replied.
"You could have warned me." Linka complained, though she was glad she could see again. The light was only strong enough to illuminate the immediate area, but it was enough to see each other, which the Russian found very reassuring.
"Should we try digging ourselves out do you think?" Wheeler asked.
Linka shook her head, "Nyet, it is too dangerous, we must wait for rescue. If we knew the mines better, there might be another way out..."
"And even if we did know the mines better, we could break our necks trying to find the other way out!" Wheeler replied, though the truth was that if he were alone he would have tried it anyway he just wouldn't risk Linka's life.
They sat in silence for what seemed like hours, but in reality was only about 15 minutes. "Penny for your thoughts?" Wheeler asked finally, needing to hear her voice.
She hesitated for a moment, considering making something up, then shrugged. "I was wondering why you do not seem to want anything to do with Trish and the baby." She waited a moment and then said. "You know it annoys Kwame?"
Linka could see her companion glaring in the pale red light, "Yes I know it annoys Kwame." Then he sighed. "I'm sorry okay, I guess it's not fair on him, I've let him do all the work."
"He does not mind looking after her," Linka interrupted quickly, "in fact I think he likes doing it, he just cannot understand why you would want so little to do with her and… your baby."
Wheeler noticed that she'd had difficulty in saying that last, but he didn't comment. "To be honest Lin I'm having trouble caring about anything much right now."
"Why?" she asked, not sure that she really wanted to know.
The American lifted his eyes to meet hers, "Because…" he looked away again. "It doesn't matter."
"Of course it matters." She replied. Worried now, Linka reached out to place her hand on his arm. "Please tell me."
He sighed, "Alright. Look, this might not make any sense but… for years my old man told me I was worthless. Even when I got old enough to work out that his opinion wasn't worth much in the state he was in, I couldn't ignore it completely."
The Russian started to interrupt but he stopped her, "No Lin, if you wanna know, just hear me out okay?" she nodded and after a moment he continued. "Being a planeteer helped me get over it, you helped me, but now I know you feel the same I can't…"
"What?" Linka closed the distance between them to sit at his side, "What are you talking about, I have never said you are worthless," she blushed but it was hidden in the reddish light, "I have certainly never thought it!"
Wheeler looked into her eyes, his pain no longer hidden, "No you didn't say I'm worthless, you said you knew 'what I was like'… like someone who would spend four years trying to get his best friend to fall in love with him and then jump into bed with an old girlfriend at the earliest opportunity… hell, maybe more than one, I'm not entirely sure what was going through your mind."
She was silent so he added, "You and Kwame both just assumed that Trish's baby was mine but you were wrong."
"If that is true why did you not just tell us?" Linka asked, anger colouring her voice as her eyes filled with tears, furious that he hadn't said anything about it in three months.
The American frowned, "After what you said to me? You made it clear you didn't want anything to do with me, you didn't even give me a chance to explain, either I was a creep or an idiot or maybe both and you were obviously just happy that I'd have to leave you alone."
"Nyet! I thought that you loved Trish, you talked so much about her when you came home and you seemed to be avoiding me. She was so wonderful and beautiful and funny and talented and I do not know what else. Why would I think she was lying?" Linka's voice rose with her temper, though she was more hurt than angry.
Wheeler shook his head, "Did she lie? Trish was surprised that you thought it was mine, she said she told you that she was looking for me because she was pregnant and needed my help but that's all…"
Linka's anger drained away, and so did all of the colour in her face, as she realised that he was right. She looked down at the floor unable to speak or look at her accuser.
"You assumed it was mine, but not just that, you never asked me for the truth. I was so angry, and hurt, I couldn't tell you and I told Trish not to tell you either, but I kept hoping you would come and ask me… something, anything! But you didn't". The fire planeteer paused for a moment but as his companion made no answer, he continued. "You were so sure of 'what I am like', and I don't know how to stop caring Lin. I can't write off your opinion like I did Dad's, even though I know you're wrong about me, I respect you too much and…"
Wheeler paused, unsure if he should continue, unsure if he even wanted to, but ultimately he needed her to know the truth. "I love you, I've tried not to, I've even considered trying to make things work with Trish but that really would be stupid because I just don't feel about her, the way I feel about you, I never did. She doesn't love me either so it's okay, I'll still help her with the baby out of friendship, but I'm not gonna pretend there's something there, that's not."
The silence seemed to go on forever, but just as Wheeler was beginning to give up hope of his beautiful companion ever speaking to him again, Linka finally found her voice. "I am sorry." She swallowed. "I have never been sure how you felt about me because you always make it sound like a joke." He started to protest but she put her index finger against his lips, and he nodded that she could continue. "You might not have intended to but I could not tell if you meant the things you said, and I wanted you to mean them so I was not sure if I was reading more into it than was there."
She took a deep breath before continuing, needing to admit something that wasn't easy for the very private young girl, "I was jealous of Trish. I have been since you first mentioned her and when she said she was pregnant it was like my worst nightmare coming true. I could not stand the humiliation, I did not want the others sympathy and I did not want you to make up an excuse. So I made one up for you. I decided that you never meant to hurt me, that you had never really cared for me in that way and that it was all a game that you thought I was in on, because I could not bear the alternative. It never occurred to me that I had jumped to conclusions, to the wrong conclusion."
Tears were flowing freely down the wind planeteers face as she spoke and she couldn't look at Wheeler. "I understand you wanting to move on, and it is difficult if we have to see each other everyday so... There is a conservation project, in England that I was considering joining when the baby is born." she took a breath before continuing, "If you cannot forgive me, tell me now and I will take the job when we are freed to give us both some space. I will stay away as long as I can to give you time to get over me, but when you do, please be kind to me because if all this has taught me anything, it is that I will never stop loving you."
Wheeler's face had softened as she spoke, the despair clearing from his eyes. Now he gently raised her chin with his index finger to make her look at him. "I'd have to be crazy to let you leave me after what you just said! I'm in love with you and that's not ever going to change."
Leaning down to bring his lips to hers. They had barely brushed against each other before they heard the sound of people digging at the entrance to the tunnel and they both pulled back. "I don't believe it!" Wheeler exclaimed, understandably frustrated.
"Why not?" Linka said, beginning to giggle as the ridiculousness of the situation caught up with her. "It always happens. Maybe we should have tried it to start with?"
"No. We shouldn't." The fire planeteer said firmly, taking her head gently in his hands and closing the distance between them.
Linka surrendered to her feelings for once, kissing him back and, as he allowed his hands to creep down to encircle her, to relax into his embrace. They finally broke apart, gazing into one another's eyes in the dim light as the sounds of their rescuers grew closer.
"You still haven't asked me who the baby's father is." Wheeler pointed out.
The Russian shrugged, "What difference does it make, if it is not you?"
"But you believe me right? That it's not mine?" The American asked.
"Of course, I know you would not lie to me." Linka said with a simple confidence that made Wheelers heart swell with joy.
Then the young man thought of something, "Er, what you said earlier about me avoiding you when I came home?" she nodded. "I was," he said guiltily, "During everything that happened, we lost our best friend Frankie, but I saved Trish's life and she kissed me, and I kissed her back… It was just a reaction to the stress," he explained quickly, "comforting each other you know, and I swear it never went any further, that's why it couldn't be my baby… I mean she'd have had to have been pregnant longer than an elephant!"
"Too much information." Linka protested, startling her lover. "I do not care what you did before you met me and I do not want to know."
He grinned at her, "Okay Babe. The thing is, I felt awful after I kissed her, like I'd betrayed you. I guess that's another reason I reacted so badly to you thinking I'd slept with her… like it wasn't entirely unjustified, even though it really was."
Linka nodded, "I understand. I do not like it, but I do understand and I am fine with it, just do not do it again." She raised her lips to his and he pulled her tightly against him.
"No more secrets?" Wheeler asked when they came up for air, "We tell each other everything we are thinking and feeling, and we are together as a proper couple, totally exclusive and completely permanent."
Linka nodded happily, "Da, I would like that." but added, "But you must tell Trish first."
"She wont care Lin, in fact she's been telling me for weeks I should tell you all the truth, we even had a massive row about it. I've told you, there's really nothing between us…" Wheeler protested.
"I know LyubOv' moyA, but I'd feel better about it that way, please?" She nuzzled his face, making it clear she knew exactly how to win every argument they had, and the American couldn't have been happier.
"Anything you say beautiful!" He went to kiss her again, but the sound of rubble breaking through was heard, and Kwame's voice followed it.
"Linka? Wheeler? Are you okay?" the concerned African asked.
"What took you?" Wheeler teased, his whole demeanour transformed back into his normal self.
Shaking her head at her boyfriends sense of humour, Linka moved towards the new entrance, "We are fine thank you Kwame."
"Be careful as you come through, we have made it as stable as we can, but it is not entirely safe." Kwame advised. He backed down the tunnel so that they could exit.
"You first Babe, you're smaller than I am." Wheeler urged.
Before Linka followed the earth planeteer however, she turned to Wheeler. "If you are going to speak to Trish first, we will need to act as if nothing has changed until then…"
The fire planeteer hesitated, hating what she was suggesting but finally said, "I really don't like it, but I'll do as you ask, just don't go changing your mind on me."
"Never." The beautiful Russian promised, before once again pressing her lips to his.