A/N: Thanks again for reading and reviewing! :)
Chapter Nine
"Come in." Linka turned from her mirror in which she'd been admiring her sleeveless, chiffon dress of pale blue.
Wheeler paused on the threshold and stared. "You look Beautiful." He'd donned his own black suit trousers and shirt in the bathroom to give her some privacy.
The Russian laughed and the golden curls that were cascading around her shoulders shook as if blown by the breeze. "You always say that."
"Well it's always true," He grinned, stepping forward to carefully place his hands on the silver filigree belt at her waist from where the pleated top, which so neatly showed off her figure, flared out into a floor length skirt. "But it's especially true tonight. You look like a… wind nymph."
She burst into a fit of giggles at his attempt at poetry but she liked the attention, which he could tell. Smoothing her fingers over the buttons of his shirt, the collar of which he'd left undone, Linka said, "You look very handsome tonight too, Jason."
Wheeler huffed in a pretend frustration, "Damn, I was going for sexy."
Her laughter bubbled up again and he found himself thinking that he'd never seen her so happy, even if he was taking her to the dreaded engagement party.
"Sexiness is not something you 'go for'," She argued anyway, "It is something you radiate naturally."
"Do I?" he teased back, stealing a wary 'Am I going to mess your lipstick up?' kind of kiss.
Rolling her eyes (and having faith in her gloss despite it not being tested on animals,) she brought their lips back together in a manner which left them both breathless. "Does that answer your question Yankee moy?"
"Hmm yeah, kinda, but I think I'd like to explore it a little more anyway." He would have pulled her back to him but she held him off.
"After the party, it will be our second date, da?" she sounded so pleased he laughed and agreed with her, though he had a terrible feeling that neither of them were going to enjoy it.
"Nyet Babushka, there is no need for you to keep getting up." Svetlana's tone was affectionate but with an underlying hint of steel that was almost a threat. "Mischka and I will greet the guests, I have it all in hand."
Linka squeezed her boyfriend's hand a little too hard as she struggled not to say anything. He winced but squeezed back and led her over to the buffet table over which a sumptuous feast had been laid, "At least we'll eat well, let's make up a plate for Gram too."
"Because she is not allowed to move from her chair?" the Russian asked sarcastically making him grimace again. "I do not know how she got Mischka to pay for all of this, have you seen how much alcohol there is? It must be a month's wages."
"He didn't pay for it." Wheeler said, lowering his voice, "He told me that her parents insisted on paying since they can't make it tonight."
She gave him a wary look, "Do you not find that in itself a little bit strange?"
"No. I find it damn strange." He shook his head. "Her parents must be well off though."
"Not based on where they live, they are not. I still do not know where she got the money from for university either, I asked her about her job while she was there and she said that she did not have time for one." The Planeteer shrugged.
They carried some refreshments over to her grandmother and chatted with her for a while before being approached by Anatoly.
"Linka, so lovely, we miss you greatly when you are gone." He bent to give her a brief hug, or at least she'd expected it to be brief but it lingered until it made her uncomfortable enough to pull away. "And Wheeler, how are your injuries?"
"Better for having such an excellent nurse," Wheeler slipped his arm around Linka's waist and used his response as an excuse to kiss her, holding her there just a little longer than his rival's hug.
Grandmuska chuckled and the now seething young man recalled himself, bending down to greet her and give her a quick peck on the cheek.
Linka hadn't missed the way he'd looked at Wheeler however and when Mischka called him away she said, "… I am beginning to wonder if your football injury was not an accident."
"I'm sure it wasn't." Wheeler said with amusement. "But I can't say I blame the guy, if you'd picked him, I'd have been looking for a reason to do him an injury too."
Linka shook her head, "You might have openly picked a fight with him, but I do not believe you would have done something so underhanded."
Before Wheeler could respond his companion said something in Russian that earnt a soft reproof from her Grandmother, though based on the expression on both their faces she was thinking the same thing. Svetlana had pulled a young man he didn't know into the centre of the room and was dancing with him in a way she probably should have reserved for her fiancé, while Mischka stood to the side talking to one of the guys from football, pretending he hadn't noticed.
Trying to distract his girlfriend, the fire planeteer gave her a gentle nudge and nodded in the direction of two men standing a little apart from the rest. "What's their story?"
They were watching a group of women, the partners of Mischka's friends and while he could neither hear not understand what they were saying he knew their body language well enough to know it wasn't respectful.
Linka made a disgusted noise, "Krupin and Vakhrov. Two of Svetlana's 'old friends'… I remember her once saying, very loudly, that they like to share everything."
"She did say the stories about her were made up…" Wheeler hedged and then rolled his eyes as the young woman in question laughed drunkenly and began a complex search for her dance partner's tonsils with her tongue. "I don't know why I bother."
"Neither do I," Linka smiled at him, distracted by his annoyance into forgetting her own, "But it is sweet of you to try. I am just afraid that if Mischka does not see through her tonight there is no hope for him."
One or two other couples had taken to the dance floor so again Wheeler sought to distract her, "Dance with me?"
Linka nodded and settled into his arms, swaying to the music at a gentle pace and resting her head on his shoulder. There was peace there and she'd almost managed to forget her troubles when there was a crash in the kitchen and she opened her eyes to see her brother dash through the doorway. Svetlana didn't appear to notice.
There was a muffled sound of raised voices and then Mischka led a flustered young woman back to her partner saying, "Just a minor mishap, nothing to worry about."
Tucking her head back into her boyfriend's neck, Linka didn't see Krupin and Vakhrov emerge from the same direction a couple of minutes later but Wheeler did, and he tightened his arms around her protectively.
As the night wore on and the drinking continued, the behaviour of Svetlana's friends became more lewd and so did their language. There was a group of them laughing and joking together while only Anatoly remained of Mischka's guests, something Wheeler had to respect him for.
Grandmuska had attempted to go to her room when things got a little too noisy and had got very upset when she found it occupied. Wheeler and Mischka had dealt with that but it had taken Linka some time to calm her down.
"I do not think they are ever going to leave," Linka complained, drawing ever closer to Wheeler. "You know, if you were not here I would have locked myself in with Grandmuska by now."
"Thank God for that!" The tension in his body was very noticeable. "I'm surprised Mischka's putting up with it, he looks ready to kill."
Linka glared, "He is drinking too."
When Linka excused herself to go to the bathroom, Wheeler wandered over to speak to her brother, "Svetlana seems to be having a good time." It seemed a safe bet since she was sitting on some guy's lap and he wasn't entirely sure where his hands were.
"She was not like this at university," the older man said bitterly.
"Maybe you should step in…" Wheeler suggested as diplomatically as he could, "You know, save her from herself."
Mischka snorted, "She does not want saving. She is impatient with our life here, she seeks excitement."
Anatoly unexpectedly entered the conversation on Wheeler's side, "Da, but she is marrying you and she seems to have forgotten that."
That seemed to trigger something in Mischka, he suddenly put down his glass and strode over to pull his fiancée to her feet and then to the kitchen. The shouting was muffled and produced much laughter from their friends but only Mischka emerged a few minutes later and when he did, he announced the party was over.
It took a little help from both Wheeler and Anatoly to clear everyone out but finally they were able to wish Mischka's friend a goodnight. The American even suggested that they should walk him home but as he only lived across the road they were able to watch him return to his house in safety before locking up for the night.
Wheeler breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Mischka's bedroom door close behind the couple. "I think those two are going to be having words."
"I hope so." Linka agreed, beginning to sort out the food that could be kept and what would have to be disposed of.
Wanting to help, though the mess was considerable, Wheeler chose to collect glasses and plates from the various places they'd been left and carry them out ready to be washed up. On his third trip he said, "We might have to finish this in the morning, or we'll be up all night."
"Da. Svetlana should do it, it was her friends that left it like this." Linka sounded half sulky and half annoyed so Wheeler put down what he'd gathered and walked up behind to her wrap his arms around her waist and a press a kiss in her curls.
"Yeah but when it comes to cleaning up waste, we're the professionals, right Babe?"
That earned him a smile but she said, "I do not like leaving it like this for Grandmuska to find but if we are going to get up for Church tomorrow, we really need some sleep."
"Uh… Church?" he was obviously uncomfortable with the idea so she stopped what she was doing and turned in his arms. "Since when do you go to Church, Babe?"
"I always go when I am home…. Is it a problem?" she frowned.
Wheeler shrugged, "Not if I can stay here, it's not."
"Oh… ok." She looked like she wanted to ask him questions but was hesitating until he quietly told her to "go on." Linka shrugged, "I know we have not talked about it but you celebrate Christmas, I just assumed…"
"Yeah well, I was brought up to it so it'd be weird not to, and besides, Christmas is more about presents these days than religion." He looked into her eyes trying to assess the trouble he was getting himself into. "I'm sorry Babe, but to be honest, I might as well believe in Santa as God, neither of them featured heavily in my childhood."
Not wanting him to see the pain his words caused, Linka reached up to put her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder.
He held her back, giving her a few moments and then, "Is it a deal breaker?"
"Nyet of course not." She kissed his neck soothingly, but had to ask, "Is it for you? My going to church I mean?"
"No! No, Babe, nothing will ever be a deal breaker where you're concerned, certainly not something like this." He returned her kiss just above the line of her dress. Again he could feel her holding back and he gave her a squeeze, "What? Tell me!"
"It is nothing," and when he pulled back to look at her with an expression that let her know he wasn't going to let it go, "It is not a suitable conversation for a second date."
Wheeler shook his head, "Why not? This isn't just some date Linka, we've known each other for years. If it's important we should talk about it… we're building a future here, right?"
Her smile was like the sun coming out from behind a cloud, and it did away with the hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Right but... I was just wondering if… if we were ever to have any children, what would you want them to be brought up knowing? I am getting ahead of myself!"
"Nah, it's fine." He grinned at her, "I'd want them to be told the truth, that includes what I believe, what you believe and what Kwame, Ma-Ti and Gi believe too. Let them decide for themselves what's right."
Linka nodded in agreement, "That works for me."
When gazing into each-other's eyes turned into embarrassed laughter Wheeler said, "How about we leave this for now then? I'll get working on it while you're at Church."
"Ok, just let me finish this, otherwise it will smell by morning." She turned back to her task and he released her, going back to his own while he waited for her.
"You should have just gone and got ready for bed," Linka told him twenty minutes later when they finally headed towards their bedroom.
He shrugged. He'd wanted to make sure everything was locked up safely, the drunken antics of Svetlana's friends still had him a little on edge. "At least it's all quiet tonight."
"Da, although I was expecting arguing rather than… anything else." She blushed.
They entered her room together and while Wheeler pulled his shirt out of his trousers and started unbuttoning it immediately, Linka paused. "Do you need the bathroom?"
"Yeah, you want me to go in first? You have like make up and stuff to do right?" he dropped his shirt on the floor and her eyes were drawn to the firm lines of his chest.
"Da, but would you undo the clasp of my dress before you go please?" She turned around and lifted her hair out of the way, "It is always easier to do it up on this dress for some reason."
The warmth radiating from her body and the softness of her skin, as he fumbled with the metal catch had his senses on overload and as the material fell open revealing her back he couldn't stop himself from placing a few kisses there, or when she shivered with pleasure, could he help sliding his arms back around her waist and continuing the onslaught of her pale skin over her shoulder and along the line of her neck.
Linka closed her eyes, letting the dress fall from her shoulders, and with some slight help from Wheeler, over her hips to the floor. He gently turned her around so that he could claim her lips and she melted into him, her fingers running over his bare chest as if she'd been longing to do so all along. Her slip and his trousers had also found their way to the ground before his brain caught up, "Woah, we're not supposed to be doing this, are we?"
"Says who?" She gasped and then as sense rushed back in she went red, "I am sorry, you are right…"
"The one time you admit that I'm right and I'd give anything not to be," He made her laugh but as he was still running his hands lightly over curves it was hard for her to concentrate.
At last she stepped free of him and walked to the bed to retrieve her night things, "You were going to use the bathroom. Besides I need to be up early and…"
"Thin walls?" he suggested, then continued with, "Babe you don't need to make excuses, I wasn't trying anything I just got caught up in you, in us. It's gonna happen but it doesn't have to go anywhere."
"Me too." She admitted, holding her pyjamas to her, though she wasn't really trying to hide herself, her underwear covered more than her bikini had and he had seen more than that anyway. "I am just not as used to feeling this way as you are, it is ok though."
He tilted his head and gave her a quirky smile, "I'm not used to dealing with the way you make me feel. The only reason I have any control is because I'm more afraid of screwing this up than I have ever been about anything."
Linka bit her bottom lip to stop herself from smiling too broadly, "And the reason I do not have any control is that you are not screwing up anything, in fact you are getting this very right. I know that I am not ready to take our physical relationship further, I am not even awake enough tonight, but when you touch me I do not want you to stop."
She thought he looked adorable when he was embarrassed and when he started for the bathroom she added saucily, "Maybe you should take a cold shower while you are there Yankee moy?"
"No point," He grinned back at her, "The minute I see you again I'll be right back where I started."
To be continued…