Chapter 24 - At The Beginning

Wheeler opened the door to his room and ushered the others in, "I won't be long I'm just gonna check on Linka." He waited until they were inside and then knocked on his girlfriend's door. "It's me Babe."

Linka let him in almost immediately, as if she had been waiting for him and although she was outwardly composed, he could see that she'd been crying. As soon as the door was closed Wheeler pulled her into his arms, surprising a soft sob from her. "I've got you." He told her, hugging her closer.

"I am sorry, I know I am over-reacting." The Russian gasped out, returning his embrace, "But we just put things back together and I cannot lose you again!"

"You won't lose me, Linka." He promised, "The press being here has nothing to do with us this time. I get why you don't want them to see us together, I don't want to risk getting them interested again either, but this isn't your fault."

"You would not have been saying that, three months ago." She pulled back to look up into his eyes, fear in her own. "Are you sure you are not… wondering?"

The American gave her a wry smile, "If I can trust you? If you knew about this all along? If it's all some elaborate plot of our governments?" She nodded, her eyes never leaving is face. "You're right, three months ago that's the first thing I would have thought of, but not now… now I know you better than I ever did, and I'm not sure I would really have believed it even then. Babe, I don't care if they catch us anymore, I don't care if the whole world knows that I love you. What matters to me is that you love me too, that you want to be with me and only me."

"I do!" she exclaimed, but she needn't have.

"I know!" Wheeler grinned at her. "What we have is real, it always was, I don't doubt that anymore. I mean sure, I can do without nosy reporters prying into our private business and the last thing I want is our past dredged up and paraded about for peoples entertainment, but even if the worst happens, they won't come between us. I won't let them."

Linka reached her arms up around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder, "And I will never let anyone hurt you again, including me."

He hummed as if he was considering her words and when he spoke his usual cheekiness was present, "You won't ever leave me? Even when I'm grey and wrinkly and can't control my bodily functions?"

The lovely blond laughed, "You have such a way with words."

He gave her a squeeze. "Answer the question."

"I will never leave you." She said softly serious as she once more met his eyes. "If you get fed up with me, you will have to do the leaving."

"That'll never happen," Wheeler replied, equally as serious but he wasn't done teasing her. "And you'll still make love to me? Even if I've lost my rugged good looks and boyish charm?"

Linka's eyes twinkled with amusement, "Even if you are an ugly, grumpy old man da, we will still make love… at least until you lose control of your bodily functions."

"Ha ha," he began to tickle her, rejoicing in the way she squirmed in his arms. "Shhh, don't squeal, Karen and Olga are next door."

"Then stop!" She laughed and relaxed back into him when he showed mercy.

Wheeler kissed her tenderly but pulled back before she had a chance to deepen it. "Will you still love me? After a lifetime of jealousy, and arguments, and probably a few failures?"

Cupping his cheek in her hand, the blond replied, "You mean a lifetime of needing each other so much it is frightening, of making up after misunderstandings and supporting each other through all the difficult times a normal couple faces? Da I will still love you… but Yankee if you can really see our future in such bleak terms perhaps that is not really what you want?"

"Yeah it is." He responded with a quiet confidence that made her heart glow. "You're what I want, and our future is anything but bleak, I was just testing the water."

"Trying to see if you could frighten me away?" Linka asked, half teasing, half concerned that he really did have some insecurities about their current predicament and its ties to their past.

Wheeler grinned and shook his head, "Nah, just trying to work out if it's too early to give you a little something I picked out before we left home. Right now though, our friends are waiting for some sort of explanation and I kinda feel we owe them at least part of the truth?"

Her mind trying to grapple with what he had just implied, while attempting to stop her imagination from running away with her, Linka said, "I agree… I will support whatever you choose to tell them, but I would rather that it came from you."

"Sure, don't worry, I got this." He kissed her and then turned towards the door, taking her hand. Linka would have followed him but he paused again and looked back, once more speaking seriously. "Are you sure you don't want to brave the press? I don't want to take credit for anything you've done, and the project wouldn't be where it is if it weren't for you. I swear I won't let anything come between us this time…"

Linka smiled, "I know you mean that Jason, and I am grateful but… I have all the recognition I need and I do not want fame. If I had to face them for the sake of the project, and it was what you wanted, I would, but there is no advantage to any of us in us my doing that. In fact I think it could be potentially detrimental, it would shift the focus away from what we are trying to achieve."

"Yeah, I already had one run in and that was bad enough." Nodding ruefully, he gave her hand a squeeze. "To be honest, I wish I could hide up here too."

"I wish you could too, and not just to save you from the nosy reporters." She winked making him laugh.

Wheeler cocked his head towards his room, his expression still affectionate. "Come on."

They entered Wheeler's bedroom through the connecting door, the Russian not wanting to be seen out of those joint quarters. Tom rose and came forward immediately to ask how Linka was feeling but as her boyfriend put a possessive arm about her shoulders he couldn't do more than briefly clasp her hand.

"I am fine, thank you… all." She looked around the room, at each of her friends scattered about the furniture and floor. "I am sure you must have thought I had gone crazy but…" she shook her head and looked up at Wheeler for assistance.

"It's like this…" Wheeler said, moving to perch on the edge of the desk and pulling Linka down beside him. "I'm sure you worked out from the reporter we encountered in the bar that I was quite well known a few years back, well as it happens, so was Linka. We both feel that the work we have all been doing together is very important and we don't want it to be overshadowed by the kind of gossip that might be generated if the press found out Linka and I are working together."

Linka couldn't help but note how much more diplomatic her Yankee's language had become in their time apart. She loved the man but found that she still experienced a twinge of regret for the impulsive teenager he'd been.

He continued, "I know that we all want to give her the credit that she is due for her work but Linka feels that it would be better if no one knows that she is involved in the project and I think we should all respect her wishes."

Tom nodded, "Of course, if you are sure that is what you want Linka?" She said that it was so he added. "Well then, what say we order room service and eat up here rather than leaving Linka to spend the evening alone?"

Everyone agreed but the look Wheeler gave his girlfriend was one of irony, their friend's intentions were good but it meant that they still wouldn't get any time alone. She smiled back, clearly more relaxed now that everything had been agreed, and they were soon absorbed in making their dinners selections.

Under the cover of general conversations, while they waited for their orders to be delivered, Karen managed to separate Linka a little from the main group. "Can I ask you something?"

"Da?" The Russian woman was a little surprised at her friend's hushed tone.

"Maybe I'm putting two and two together and coming up with fifty six, but I wasn't born yesterday… your reaction earlier was more than being afraid of being seen with someone who used to be famous, and the way you have been looking at each other lately… only I haven't forgotten what you said about being in love either or how the two of you behaved before Christmas..." She paused and Linka refused to react, waiting to see what conclusion the woman had come to without giving her the slightest hint. "It was Jason you never got over all along, wasn't it?"

Linka blushed and her eyes strayed briefly to where he sat joking with Alexi and Nicolai. "Da."

"So all the grief he was giving you last year really was personal!" Karen kept her voice low but she wasn't happy. "Why did you put up with it?"

"Because I gave him reason to be angry." Linka explained calmly, "It is better now though, we have said the things we should have said back then."

Karen tilted her head slightly and observed the younger woman closely, "Are you back together?"

Linka tried not to smile but her lips twitched upwards anyway.

"I knew something was going on between you!" Her friend found her evident happiness infectious but said, "But are you sure you know what you're getting into, Linka? I doubt he's the same person he was back then… or you either for that matter."

"You are right, but we have been getting to know each other again and our feelings for each other have not changed." The Russian smiled, "Are you thinking of his reputation? You need not, he is still a good person Karen."

"Well he'd better treat you right, or he'll have the rest of us to answer to." She smiled as Linka chuckled and shook her head. Then giving the Russian a conspiratorial look, Karen leant forward and whispered a question in her ear.

Wheeler turned to look as Linka burst into laughter, and grinned, happy that she was able to relax. He heard her tell Karen, "Da." But didn't get a chance to ask what it was about because their food arrived.

Filling his plate from the selections on the cart, Wheeler found a spot on the floor next to the desk, where he could lean back against it. He was pleased when Linka came to sit next to him, but since she was drawn into a conversation with Alexi and Anna, he still couldn't talk to her and the situation continued after dinner as she almost immediately fetched her notes and went to sit with Jack.

Wheeler knew that she had to hand over the things she was going to talk about at the conference if she wasn't going to take part in it and he also knew that Jack was in the best position to stand in for her, but he still didn't like it. He didn't realise that he was staring at them however until Nicolai joined him and said quietly, "There is nothing between them Jason."

"I know…" He looked around sharply, "I mean, who? What?"

The Russian rolled his eyes, "You are not very subtle my friend, your interest in Linka has been plain since we first joined your team, though some of your attempts to hide it were painful. I am not sure I understand why you treated her as you did, or why she tolerated it, but since Jack joined us you have been almost possessive of her."

Wheeler gave him a sheepish look and rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. "She means a lot to me."

"We have sometimes speculated on whether you already knew each other, there were times, even at first, when it seemed that there was an impossible rapport between you…" He left the question hanging.

The American swallowed. He'd said their friends deserved the truth and he'd meant it but he didn't want to bring up too much of the past either. "We met when we were teenagers and didn't part ways until about four years ago, which is why we don't want to be seen together now." He met Nicolai's gaze, "I apologised to Linka for last year. It was an old argument and I shouldn't have let it affect me the way it did."

His colleague nodded slowly, "Olga is concerned for her. She has also noticed the way you look at each other when you think no one is watching and she does not think you can be trusted."

"I guess I've given her reason to think like that, huh?" Wheeler sighed as Nicolai agreed, and sat watching Linka for a few minutes in silence. She looked very serious as she went over her notes, totally focused on the task in hand and oblivious to anything else going on around her. It was so like the Linka he remembered, and just as he always had, Wheeler felt a very strong urge to distract her and gain her attention for himself.

Abruptly getting to his feet, the young man climbed around the others to get to the wardrobe and the bag he'd thrown inside when they arrived. He retrieved something from it and then went to stand by Linka. "Er, guys? I have something to say."

The various conversations ceased and everyone turned to look at an unusually nervous Wheeler with curiosity. Linka especially seemed interested, or perhaps worried about what he was going to say.

"I er," He cleared his throat. "I know some of you have guessed that there's been more going on between Linka and me than we've let on and you'd be right. I'm not going to explain the ins and outs of it but I don't want you to think that I don't know how special she is… believe me I know that better than any of you. We haven't always understood each other and we've definitely given each other hell more times than I can count, and for far too long, but underneath all that is something that is too strong to ever really be lost or damaged."

Linka's eyes shimmered with unshed tears but she was smiling up at him so he continued, "It started with the sort of friendship you can trust with your life, and became the sort of love that lasts longer than life." Her eyes widened as he knelt in front of her and took her hand with one of his. In the other he held a small black box. "I won't say you're perfect because we know each other's faults too well and you'd call me on it, but you're perfect for me Babe, I love you. I know you probably want to hit me right now for embarrassing you in front of everyone, but I hope you won't hold it against me 'cos I can't live without you anymore and I don't care who knows it. So, will you marry me?"

There wasn't a sound in the room as their friends held their breaths. They hadn't a clue that the relationship of their two young leaders was so advanced, despite their various suspicions, in fact they would have guessed that something so permanent was a long way from the American's thoughts.

Her face burning, Linka cupped his cheek with her free hand and smiled, "I love you Yankee, I always have, and da… I will marry you."

Their friends cried out congratulations and broke into a round of applause as Wheeler pulled his fiancée into his arms to kiss her deeply. Linka's face grew redder as they parted but she didn't pull away, either then or when he took the heart shaped diamond ring from the small box and slid it on her finger.

Their impromptu party then became a celebration and though the happy couple avoided any searching questions about their past they did admit to living together in the present. They were teased of course but somehow Linka didn't find that so bad when she was tucked safely in Wheeler's arms and since he chose not to release her for more than a few minutes for the rest of the evening, they were both content.

"Mad at me?" Wheeler asked after they closed the door on their last guest.

"For getting so jealous and impatient that you proposed marriage in front of all our colleagues? Her lips twitched, "Nyet I am not mad, you reminded me too much of a certain immature teenage boy I used to have a crush on."

He laughed and walked over to her, taking a plate that she had retrieved from the floor and putting it on the side so that he could take her back in his arms. Linka put her arms up around his neck and kissed him softly.

"How did you know I was jealous?" he asked.

"You were staring," she chuckled, "I could feel your eyes on us, but Jason, we were talking about work."

He nodded and gave her another brief kiss, "I know, I just couldn't stand it any longer… not just Jack but all of them. I wanted them to know that we're together, I wanted to be able to hold you, and I didn't want them thinking I would use you, they had to know how much you mean to me, that this is forever."

"And proposing was the natural means to accomplish that." She teased.

"Worked didn't it?" he teased back, lifting her up into his arms. "I admit I hadn't planned to do it quite like that when I bought the ring, but then I figured it was about as romantic as this weekend was likely to get with the reporters camped out downstairs. Do you like the ring by the way? We can change it if not."

She kissed him, "It is perfect, I would not consider changing it. Jason, where are you going?"

He'd started walking towards the connecting door, still carrying her but he paused, "I thought that was obvious."

"We should clean up this room first…" Wheeler knew when she was in the mood to dig her heels in and he knew when she could be persuaded otherwise, in this case he continued moving towards the door. "That's what housekeeping is for."

Linka smiled and shook her head but didn't argue, "Fine then, put me down and I will get ready for bed."

"Do I get a say in what you wear?" He asked cheekily.

"I did not bring much of a selection." She shrugged apologetically.

"I was thinking that I'd like to see my fiancée sleep in her engagement ring." He told her, laying her down gently on the bed and sitting beside her.

Linka gave him a curious look, "I was not planning on taking it off?"

"Just your engagement ring, Babe." His grin widened as she pulled him down to her lips, a look of promise in her eyes.

Hours later, wrapped comfortably in each other's arms, but not yet ready to sleep the ex-Planeteers talked quietly to each other. At first it was about nothing in particular but then the American thought to ask, "What did Anna say to you when she left?"

He was referring to the way Mrs Sawyer had hugged the girl in congratulations and said something that only she could hear before releasing her and leaving with her husband.

Moisture collected in Linka's eyes as she replied but her smile showed that they were happy tears, "She said, 'I will not tell anyone who you are my dear, but I will say that I think Gaia would be pleased.'"

"You know what, Babe?" Wheeler swallowed – a little choked by the woman's thoughtfulness - and tightened his embrace. "I think she's right."