A/N – And now we come to the second chapter.
Many thanks to OzQueene and mudget for reviewing. Special thanks to mudget for the corrections.
This seems to be turning out to be my least well received story. But hey, I love a good angst and a twist in the tale
Hope you like it.
Disclaimer - As before, I am in no way profiting from this.
Kwame squinted through the gathering darkness as he carefully guided the rental car through the wide street. Despite his frequent trips to a dozen different countries, both during and after his Planeteer days, it still felt unnatural for him to be driving on the right side of the road. The 'wrong' side according to the South African traffic system. Finally conceding that he didn't have the slightest clue as to where exactly they were, he spoke up, "Amanda, are you sure we are in the right place?"
His fiancée resisted a delicious wisecrack about men never asking for directions and leaned forward to scan both sides of the street.
"There," she said suddenly, pointing to the skeletal silhouette of an unfinished building looming ahead of them in the darkness. "Gi said that her apartment complex is just opposite to a construction site. Must be that one. Go ahead and take the first left."
"Alright, should be this one," Kwame muttered a minute later, bringing his car to a stop in front of what he assumed to be Gi's apartment building. Both of them exited the car and climbed the stairs silently, each one lost in his or her own thoughts. For Kwame, it had been a long time since he had seen anyone other than Wheeler and Linka. For Amanda, it had been too long since she had been in Florida.
"This must be the one," Amanda said at last as they stopped in front of a door decorated with two lines of Chinese characters. At Amanda's encouraging nod, Kwame rang the doorbell and stepped back with an uncharacteristic apprehensiveness that mildly surprised him. Almost immediately, there was a sound of footsteps, quick and light, before the door flew open. Kwame had a brief impression of a stunning dark haired woman in a full length red dress before he and Amanda were both swept into a tight hug.
"You're here. Oh it is so good to see you. How was your flight? Did you have any hassles? They've been giving storm forecasts for a week now. It's been playing hell with my field surveys. I was afraid that your flight might be delayed or something. But obviously, you're here so…" Gi babbled.
"Gi, air," Amanda squeaked. Gi stopped and released them at once, her face flaming almost as red as her dress.
"Sorry… so sorry." She said blushing furiously. Kwame chuckled before enveloping her in a loose hug. Both of them took a step back and took a moment to observe each other critically after a gap of several years.
"You look good," Kwame said finally, with a twinkle in his eye. Even though the two of them had occasionally exchanged photographs over the Internet, Kwame still remembered her as a young soft-hearted soft-spoken girl with close cropped hair dressed in her usual shorts and oil stained purple shirt. Looking at the self assured adult standing before him now, it suddenly made him aware how much time had passed and how much they had all changed since.
Changed beyond recognition.
"You look great too," Gi said beaming.
"You don't have to exaggerate, Gi," Kwame said with a roll of the eyes. "I see myself in the mirror every day."
Truth be told, the passage of years had not been as kind to Kwame as they had been to Gi. Unlike Gi, who looked younger than her years, Kwame looked older than he actually was. Always the most serious minded of the group (except maybe for Linka), his features had now grown positively grim. The lines on his face bore testament to the enormous burden of responsibility that he bore in his position. However the pressure which could have caused a lesser man to cave in had only served to make him tougher. It was his eyes that gave him away, Gi thought. There was steel in those eyes. It was the look of a man who had built an entire life by overcoming obstacles and was calmly assured of his own ability to dispatch off any problems as fast as they arose.
"No. I think it suits you," Gi insisted. "You look…debonair."
"Debonair?"Kwame asked with a pained look. He turned to look at Amanda who was trying, and failing, to keep a straight face.
"Don't worry dear," she said between giggles. "I still think you're handsome."
Kwame opened his mouth to retort and abruptly closed it again as footsteps sounded outside the door. Too heavy to be Linka, too brisk to be Wheeler. A moment later there was a short knock on the door and a shaggy head poked inside.
"Umm, Gi?"
"Ma-Ti." With another delighted squeal Gi flung herself at him. Her greeting was a bit less enthusiastic than the one she had given Kwame. She had seen Ma-Ti only a few months ago and they had already done their catching up.
"Easy there." Ma-Ti chuckled. His eyes lit up when he saw Kwame and Amanda.
"Ah, it is so good to see you again, my friends," he beamed, walking towards them and pumping Amanda's hand. "It has been too long."
Kwame chuckled. "Same here, old friend," he said as they exchanged a one armed hug. "Same here."
Stepping back, he took a moment to observe Ma-Ti critically. The passage of time had been less severe on Ma-Ti than it had been on Kwame. But he had not escaped unscathed either. Once the shortest of the team, he now topped Kwame's height by an inch, though his girth had not increased in proportion, giving him a lanky look. The earlier innocence and placidity had gone from his features entirely. His eyes revealed skepticism and disillusionment borne out of years of seeing the inefficiency, and worse the apathy, of bureaucracy and hearing promises which were more often unfulfilled than not. But despite all that, there was as smile on his countenance. Not his earlier bright and optimistic smile. It had changed tone over the years, becoming less exuberant and more knowing. It was the smile of a man who had seen much in a relatively short time, good and bad, joyful and painful, and who still considered that there was enough good in humanity to make life worth living.
A high pitched scream jerked Kwame rudely out of his reverie. It took him a moment to realize that it was a squeal of girlish delight and not a scream of distress. And the screamer turned out to be Gi who was fawning over the large rock on Amanda's finger which announced to the world that she was taken.
Here we go again, Kwame thought ruefully. Turning back to Ma-Ti he spoke drily, "We might as well set up camp here. It'll take hours for them to resurface."
"I heard that," Gi called from across the room, throwing Kwame a dirty look.
Ma-Ti snickered. "Okay, so the four of us are here," he said glancing at the clock. "That just leaves the awesome twosome." He winced as the expression on Gi's face soured for a moment on hearing Wheeler and Linka described as a 'twosome'.
"Think we should call and see what's keeping them?" Amanda asked, not sensing anything amiss. "By the way, wasn't Linka supposed to be in New York today?"
"Wheeler said he'd pick her up and drop her back afterward." Gi said, suddenly overcome by a wave of irrational jealousy which surprised her. Why now, after all these years? She asked herself. She couldn't believe that she was still a bit jealous of Linka over Wheeler, after all this time. She and Wheeler had been married for years. What reason did Gi have for being jealous now all of a sudden?
But no one had ever accused the human race as a whole of always being rational. And Gi, scientist though she may be, was still human.
A loud high pitched mechanical whine cut into her thoughts causing her eyes to widen in recognition and disbelief. She hadn't heard that sound in years, but she would recognize that pitch anywhere. Not surprising considering that she once knew that sound better than her own heartbeat. Kwame and Ma-Ti wore identical looks of astonishment. After a moment of standing frozen in disbelief, all three of then rushed to the bay windows just in time to see a familiar small yellow aircraft touch down in the empty plot next to Gi's apartment building. One of the side doors opened and a familiar redhead clambered out and made a sweeping bow to the other occupant in the aircraft, holding out a hand to help her out. His blonde companion gently swatted his hand aside, climbing out without any assistance.
"The Geo-cruiser," Ma-Ti breathed. "I thought our successors still use it."
"They've upgraded to an amphibian," Gi murmured, gazing at the trusty aircraft that had been through so much with them. "I thought they had junked this thing."
The sound of the door flying open made them all jump. They whirled around to find Wheeler standing grinning in the doorway, large as life and twice as cocky.
"I'm baaaaaack." He sang out in his best Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation, eliciting a roll of the eyes from Linka. He moved forward in a fluid movement, so different from the brash roughneck style that the others remembered, and grasped Kwame in a one armed hug.
"Kwame, my man, it's great to see ya. Now where is this lady that you can't stop talking about? Oh, there," he said, suddenly catching sight of Amanda standing next to Ma-Ti. Striding forward, he extended his hand. "You must be Amanda. Kwame's told me a lot about you," he said, flashing Kwame a wicked grin. "In fact you are pretty much all he talks about."
Amanda shook herself out of her speechless state, mentally hitting herself for acting like a starstruck fan. But it's not everyone who gets to be on first name terms with an A-list celebrity. "Really?" She drawled, shooting Kwame a coy look. "He's given me an earful about you as well."
"Believe every single word he said," Wheeler snickered. "Especially the bad ones." Turning to Ma-Ti he exchanged another hug and looked him up and down.
"I see you're finally as tall as I am," Wheeler remarked. "Even though you'd still get blown away by a stiff wind." It was true. Adults now, both men stood eye-to-eye. But Ma-Ti still felt minuscule compared to his muscular American friend.
Gi allowed the banter to continue for what she deemed was a reasonable amount of time before she loudly, and pointedly, cleared her throat. Both men fell silently and turned to look at her. Ma-Ti warily and Wheeler sheepishly.
"Umm, hi Gi," Wheeler said casually and somewhat awkwardly. Gi crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Wheeler with mock sternness.
"You're late." She said primly.
Wheeler shrugged, his smile stretching into a lazy grin that made her think of the old Wheeler. From before their disbanding. "It's called being fashionably late. It was important that everyone else arrived before me in order for my entry to have maximum impact. What can I say? I'm a showman. Professional habits die hard."
Almost against her wish, Gi's lips curved into a smile. "Well, do I still rate a hug?"
Wheeler chuckled softly. "Of course." He reached out with both hands and gently enveloped her in a loose hug, his jaw briefly resting against the side of her head. Nothing like the rib crushing hugs he used to give her once. Gi suddenly missed those days. She missed the banter and the intimacy that she had once shared with Wheeler. And God, how she had missed him. But things were different now. Now there were invisible walls between them. Walls and walls that just wouldn't come down.
Walls that she had, at least partly, been responsible for creating.
Repressing the sudden wave of regret that threatened to overwhelm her, Gi looked past Wheeler at Linka. Of all of them, Linka had perhaps changed the least. Appearance-wise and personality-wise. She still had the drop dead gorgeous looks that had attracted no small amount of male attention over the years. She still had the same cool, brisk and business-like demeanor that she had maintained throughout their duration as Planeteers.
"Hello, Linka," Gi said somewhat awkwardly. "How have you been?"
Linka smiled. "I am doing fine, Gi. It is good to see you again" Her smile was genuine, but there was something else. A stranger might have missed it, but Gi had known Linka for a long time.
Was that jealousy in Linka's eyes?
And resentment?
This was crazy. Linka couldn't still be mad at Gi over Wheeler. They had been married for years. Why would Linka still be mad at her? The very thought was ludicrous. And Linka prided herself on always being composed and thinking all her actions through logically.
Except where Wheeler was concerned. Linka had never been rational when it came to Wheeler.
This was stupid. Linka couldn't possibly still be mad at Gi over Wheeler after all these years.
Could she?
Coming up in the next chapter - The Way We Were . The first flashback telling how it began.
As before, feel free to point out any flaws in my writing. And please review. Even if it is to tell that you don't like my writing. I can't improve if I don't get any feedback. And lack of reviews is not feedback.