The sun felt great on her back. She often found herself sunbathing some time in the hours after lunch and today was such a beautiful day that she couldn't resist. Wheeler and Linka hadn't been at lunch with them and Gi had worried about them. Linka was in such a state earlier and Wheeler seemed different too, she hoped that they were with each other, figuring out the issues between them. Gi turned herself over, readjusted her bikini top to be both more comfortable and more concealed and lay facing up towards the sun. She gently brushed the sand off her stomach, shoulders and chest and put her sunglasses on. She closed her eyes and soaked up the warm day.

"Gi!" she heard someone call out to her. She sat up and turned in the direction of the noise, seeing Ma-Ti walking towards her. She quickly raised her hand and waved at him and saw him wave back straight away, "Gi, I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Why? Is there something wrong?"

"No, but I was wondering if we could talk a little about some plans for the anniversary party. We've got 6 days left to figure it out remember, it'll be next Saturday night!" Ma-Ti clapped his hands together and he seemed more excited than anyone else about it. Gi did have some ideas but she'd decided and changed her mind on them hundreds of times already, maybe it'd be good to share a few of them to see what another mind thought about them.

"Sounds great Ma-Ti, but did you want to meet up at the lodge in a few minutes? I'm gonna go head back to my place and freshen up a little."

"See you soon!" he stood straight away and hastened back to the main building. She watched him walk away and couldn't help but smile at the youngest Planeteer. He'd grown up so much since joining them, he was only a little kid when he first started out. Each of the Planeteers had left their mark on Ma-Ti and he became a man that had the best of each of them. She began standing and brushed most of the remaining sand from herself, making her way back to her room and heading back towards the lodge. She opened the door to the kitchen and saw Wheeler and Linka at the counter, preparing themselves some food.

Wheeler and Linka had both agreed to make themselves some rolls for lunch using some ingredients from Kwame's vegetable garden. They had each shared the duties in the preparation, laughing at each other and being very friendly towards each other. Wheeler had put a hand on Linka's hip to gently push her slightly sideways to reach into a drawer to grab a knife and she'd teasingly bounced her hip back at him. He laughed but he didn't touch her any more beyond that, figuring that she may have found it inappropriate or uncomfortable, especially given that any of the other Planeteers could walk in on them at any moment. Not a couple seconds later, Gi had walked in the door.

"Gi!" Linka called out to her, "how's your afternoon? We're making some rolls, did you already eat?"

Gi was glad to see that Linka's mood had improved and, given her proximity to Wheeler, surmised that he had something to do with that. "No, I already had some soup for lunch but thank you anyway! Have you guys seen Ma-Ti?"

"Yes, he's in the other room," Wheeler pointed towards the lounge and started slicing some tomato. Gi started to make her way towards that door.

Linka said something quietly to Wheeler and turned to call back out to Gi. "Gi, can you wait up for a second?" Linka dropped what she was doing and put her hand on Wheeler's forearm. Gi tried not to think anything of it but the action seemed romantic more than friendly. When Linka had approached her, she continued talking though much more softly, presumably not to be overheard, "I have something to tell you, but not now. What are you doing now?"

"I'm gonna talk to Ma-Ti about some anniversary ideas."

"Oh! Fantastic, did you want to talk about it here while we eat. Wheeler and I would surely have some ideas to share too."

Gi smiled back, "sure, I'll just go and get him then. What did you want to talk to me about?" She hated secrets.

Linka blushed, "I'll tell you later." Gi was suspicious but decided not to push it. She'd already opened up to her earlier today and maybe she'd had something else awkward happen. Linka would tell her eventually, she just hated waiting to hear it.

"Alright then, keep your naughty little secret!" Gi teased her while laughing, but when Linka started blushing deep red, she knew that she mustn't have been far from the mark, "I'll be back soon." She gave her a quick hug and went to speak with Ma-Ti. Linka made her way back to the kitchen bench and began assembling her roll. Wheeler had already finished the preparations, all that was required was to assemble the roll.

"So, did you tell her?" Wheeler had guessed as to what she'd planned.

"Niet, not yet. It didn't feel right," Linka sighed and closed the top of her bread. She didn't even realise that she hadn't mentioned to Wheeler about what she had been meaning to tell Gi, he had just guessed for himself.

"Don't worry, babe, you'll know when is right," he put a hand out to guide her to the table and they both sat down to eat. He changed the topic to that of her recent studies. He liked the way she talked about quantum theory. Even though he had no idea what she was talking about, she seemed happy to talk and he was happy to listen.

"You're not even listening to me!" she yelled at him. She'd been talking for at least a minute and had simply been watching her.

"Of course I am," Wheeler put his hand on her chin, "I just like listening to your voice."

"Oh," she turned away and brushed her hair over her hair, embarrassingly. He reached his hand back to her chin and pulled her face towards him, leaning forward to kiss her. Just as their lips were about to touch, they both heard the door behind them click.

Ma-Ti was sitting on the lounge flicking through the channels without really paying much attention. He was just passing the time while waiting for Gi. He'd walked in the kitchen before and he'd felt a rush of happiness when he saw Linka and Wheeler together, his ring felt warm around his finger and he'd never felt such a thing from it before. He had greeted them and their smiles proved infectious and he couldn't help but smile along with them. They spoke briefly before he excused himself to the other room, leaving them to continue their meal preparations. He didn't understand how women could take so long in getting ready, for him it only took at most 5 minutes to freshen up but Gi and Linka seemed to take at least half an hour every time. He shook his head as another channel flicked over and hastily turned his head when he heard the door behind him creep open.

"Gi!" Ma-Ti stood and switched the television off, "you're finally here!"

Gi looked at him disapprovingly, "it was not that long, and I was held up a little."

"I'm only kidding, of course," Ma-Ti laughed at her. She took offence so easily.

"Hey, listen, Linka suggested that we join them in the kitchen as they have some ideas to share too. Shall we?" She'd phrased it like a question but somehow Ma-Ti knew that it was a command.

"Absolutely," he smiled, "the more the merrier!" They both made their way towards the door to see Linka and Wheeler pulling themselves away from each other quickly. Gi was behind Ma-Ti so she probably didn't see as much as Ma-Ti saw but from what he could see they had either been whispering to or kissing each other. Judging from their history, he erred more towards them whispering to each other as whenever they seemed to get close to one another, they'd break out into a huge fight and take weeks to become friends again.

Both Gi and Ma-Ti made their way to the table and sat opposite the wind and fire Planeteers. They were both blushing and were trying not to look at each other. Linka grabbed her sandwich and began taking small bites. Wheeler had already taken some large bites and seemed content to just talk for the moment.

"So, you guys are brainstorming about the party next week?" Wheeler started, "what ideas did you have?"

"Well.." Gi started, "we are just now talking about it for the first time, so we haven't really decided upon anything. I figure that since it is our party it should be all of our decisions, not just one or two of us."

"In that case, shouldn't we go and get Kwame?" Linka queried.

"Oh, you missed lunch didn't you," Ma-Ti said, "Kwame took the cruiser out to Africa for a couple days. He's going to visit his family while he has some spare time. He said he'd be back by Tuesday."

"Can we really make plans without him?" Linka worried.

"We asked him that already," Gi assured her, "and he told us not to worry and that he'd be happy with anything that we decided."

Wheeler chuckled, "yeah, that does sound like something Kwame would say." The others joined in his laughter.

"I guess the first thing we should decide is where do we want it?" Ma-Ti started. They talked for at least an hour about many aspects of the party. They didn't finalise many things but they did decide that the party would be held at Hope Island on the Saturday and that all their families could come along. It was going to be an evening affair with a light dinner followed by an after-party with drinking and dancing. They didn't know what style they were going to go for and whether they'd allow alcohol but they decided that it should be a unanimous decision from all 5 Planeteers if they were going to make decisions like that.

Wheeler stood and collected his and Linka's plates to take them to the kitchen sink. He began washing up and sensed someone coming up to join him. He turned to see Gi next to him.

"Hey, mermaid, how you doing?" Wheeler turned back to his dishes and scrubbed at the plate before him.

"I am well," Gi hesitated, "hey, Wheeler." Her voiced trailed off and Wheeler turned to her again, letting her know that she had his attention, "what's going on between you and Linka?"

Wheeler was taken aback. He quickly turned away and responded, "that's something you should be asking her."

"Why can't I ask you? I'm asking about both of you."

Wheeler sighed and put the plate upright on the stand to dry. He dried his hands and leaned against the bench and faced her. "We have been working out our differences today and it's been hectic and emotional and I don't want to get into any of the details about it, those kind of things are best left to Linka to discuss with you when she's good and ready. It's not your business what is going on between us, and I don't want that to come across as rude but until she is ready to talk about it then I'm not willing to talk about it either. I'm sure you can respect our privacy in that regard. I will say one thing though, please don't try to push anything out of her. I've spent the last 7 years trying to force her to open up to me and it has done me no good."

"I'm not trying to upset you Wheeler, I just want to understand," Gi answered him, "I care deeply about both of you and I just want you both to be happy. This morning, Linka was a mess, but now she seems fine and I don't want her to be quite so unstable. I want to be there for her."

"Gi, you are there for her. She wants to open up to you, so just give her some time and space and above all give her a calm environment. I'm only now just realising how important that is with Linka. She's a great woman but she is stubborn. Boy, is she stubborn."

Gi and Wheeler both laughed, "Yes, I definitely can agree with that." They both turned to look at Linka. Her shoulders were bouncing as she laughed at one of Ma-Ti's jokes. Her fringe blew across her face with the warm air flowing through the windows, making her constantly run a hand over her ear to try and hold her hair in place. "Whatever happens Wheeler, don't hurt her."

Wheeler stared into Gi's eyes and nodded back to her, "Not a chance," he promised. She nodded back to him and went back to the table to join the others. Gi didn't know what was going on but she was no fool. She must have suspected that they were more than friends, or planning to be more than friends. She didn't want either of them to get hurt, especially Linka who was like a sister to her. Wheeler turned back to the sink and continued the dishes, finishing shortly before hearing that Gi and Ma-Ti were going to their huts for the remainder of the afternoon. They shared farewells and left Linka and Wheeler to each other.

Linka looked over at Wheeler and gave him an awkward smile before taking his hand in hers. He squeezed back, letting her know that he was there for her but didn't take any further move of intimacy. He opened his mouth to speak before stopping and shutting it again.

"What is it, Yankee?"

He had no choice but to tell her now, "Gi asked what was going on between us before." He turned his head towards her and continued, "she is worried about you. I think that she feels she's not there for you enough. Maybe you should go and sit down with her later and just.. talk, about whatever comes to mind."

Linka pursed her lips and nodded back. She knew he was right but still felt uncomfortable about it. "I will."

"She suspects something between us, you know," Wheeler continued.

Linka laughed, "Da, of course she does, she's been trying to get us together for years."

"You know what I mean," Wheeler let her hand go and swivelled to face her, "she suspects something more than that. She told me not to hurt you."

"Oh really," Linka smiled, "and what did you say to that?"

"I told her that there's not a chance that I would," Wheeler grabbed both of her hands in his and held them up in between them, "and I never will."

Linka's eyes glazed over, her tears forming but she didn't cry. She moved forward and rejoiced when his warm lips touched hers, their kiss confirming their love for each other, "and neither will I, Ogon moi."

Wheeler hugged her to him and then started to walk with her back to her hut. He didn't know why but he wanted to take her there. "Ogon moi, huh? What does that mean?" He asked her as they walked.

She rested her head against his chest and teased him, "maybe one day I will tell you."

"You realise that I could just go on the internet and translate it."

"You wouldn't dare!" she stood upright.

Wheeler only laughed, "it has moi in it so I'm not too fussed. I know that means that I'm yours."

Linka smiled again, "Da, you are mine." He felt her squeeze him tighter and a fuzzy, tingly feeling surfaced in his stomach. He'd waited so long to hear her say things like that and the love she had for him made him feel on top of the world. Before long, the couple had reached her place and they stood awkwardly at the door.

"Um, did you want to.. come inside?" Linka tentatively asked him. She had wanted it to sound like a friendly gesture but by the end she had feared that she had sounded somewhat more provocative that that.

While Wheeler had really wanted to share more time with her, he knew that he should give her some space. "I would love to, but I should give you some time to yourself this afternoon. I'll see you at dinner though." Linka had felt sure that he would jump at the chance to come in, but felt surprised when he declined. In a small way, she felt proud at the same time. He was respecting her wishes to take things slowly but in some respects she felt he was trying to take things slower than she wanted. All she could think about was holding him and kissing him for hours, sharing their embraces throughout the warm summer days and waking up in each other's arms in the balmy mornings.

"Da, okay, I shall see you later," she instinctively responded to distract herself from her thoughts. Wheeler smiled back to her as he watched her close her door. He turned back towards the main lodge and made his way there. He had a phone call to make.

I hope everyone is enjoying the read. Sorry for the delay in this chapter and for the lack of storyline. I've been busy and don't have as much free time as I'd like. More to come of course and I have a few ideas that will leave you on the edge of your seat.. or the edge of your bed.. or the edge of your couch, wherever you're reading this from!