Seeing as how I'm kind of preoccupied at the moment, I'm going to shorten the chapters a bit to give you (I hope) less of a wait for them. Thanks for viewing and especially for reviewing though. The positive feedback really does keep me going!

"Hello? Who is it?" she called out when she picked up the receiver. She'd been in the shower and the phone had rung out 2 times already, whoever was calling was desperate to speak to her. She smiled when she heard a response, "Oh! How are you, son?"

"Mom, I'm doing well," Wheeler had responded, "what about you?"

"Things are okay," she sighed. Times had been tough. Stressful but manageable. "A little stressed but I'm glad to speak to you, it feels like ages since we last spoke."

"Yeah, it has been a while," his voice trailed off, regretting how little he'd made contact with her, "but listen mom. I've got the week off over here and I was planning to come up and visit for a couple days later this week. Do you think that'd be okay with you and dad?"

"Wheeler, that sounds great! I'm sure that will be no trouble," she was rejoicing. She hadn't seen her son in years and missed him greatly. His father wouldn't feel quite the same but she knew that he missed him too.

"But, um, mom?" he hesitated.

"Mm, what is it?"

"I was thinking of bringing Linka too," she could tell he was embarrassed by how quickly he was talking. She could barely hear what he had said.

She just smiled in response. She hadn't met Linka but whenever she talked with her son, it seemed that she was all that was on his mind. Everything that they talked about would come back to Linka somehow. "Son, there's room enough for both of you here, but you'll probably both have to stay in your room unless you want to sleep on the couch."

Wheeler had slept on that couch before and he never wanted to repeat that experience. It was quite possibly the worst piece of furniture in the history of mankind. "I'll think of something," was all he said in response, "thanks, mom. I'll call you again to confirm a time before we leave."

"Ok, Wheeler, I'll talk to you soon," she bid him goodbye, "I love you."

"Love you too mom," she heard the receiver click and hung up behind him. She immediately went to wake up her husband, and after a few minutes of complaining, he seemed happy enough to know that his son was coming to visit. She went straight out to the main living area and began cleaning up. She couldn't have Linka seeing the bomb site that they lived in, she had to at least pretend that it was an organised household.

She stirred gently in her sleep. She was a light sleeper and pretty much any noise caused her to stir. Someone knocked gently on her door but it was so soft that it didn't wake her from her rest. A few seconds later, the knock repeated but much louder and Gi's eyes shot open straight away. She called out to let the guest know that she had heard before throwing the sheet back from on top of her and rubbed her eyes softly. She'd just lay down for a little bit, for some reason she was exhausted this afternoon. She twisted and her feet dangled over the side of her bed and they found her slippers. She stood and made her way to the door, opening it slowly. The door wasn't locked but whoever was there had the courtesy to wait to enter nonetheless. When the door opened the entire way, she saw Linka standing in front of her. She must have slept for longer than she thought as the sun was quite low in the sky and it was now a lot cooler than it had been when her eyes had closed.

"Linka!" she hugged her friend, "please, come inside." She retreated back inside and Linka accepted the invitation, both of them sitting next to each other at the foot of her bed.

"Sorry to intrude on you, Gi, but I just want to talk for a while," Linka started talking.

"You don't have to be sorry, you're my best friend," Gi chuckled. Linka smiled back at her, knowing that she was right. They were great friends and Linka always seemed to be apologising for things that she really didn't need to. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, that's the thing," Linka started and didn't continue so Gi spoke back up.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't really know," Linka repeated, not clarifying at all, "my mind is a bit crazy at the moment. I'm a bit emotional and stressed and I think I just need to talk for a bit and who better than you, Gi."

"Oh.. My.. God!" Gi started, "you're not pregnant are you?!"

Linka sat upright immediately and seemed to take offence, "Absolutely not!"

Gi just laughed back at her, "I'm only kidding of course. But I know that you are Wheeler are getting close."

"What makes you say that?" Linka queried. She didn't seem upset about the question, which led Gi to believe that she was both willing to talk about it and curious as to how she knew. Gi had kind of been hoping that Linka had got embarrassed about it so that she could tease her but both she and Wheeler had really impressed her lately.

"Well, you've been spending a lot of time closer together and I don't just mean spending time together, I mean that you're pressing yourself a lot closer to Wheeler. I've known you long enough to know that you have a comfort zone and Wheeler has been inside that comfort zone for all of lunch and you never let him there."

Linka mulled to herself. She'd never thought about it that way but now that Gi mentioned it, she didn't let people get into close proximity at all, the only ones she did were all the Planeteers except Wheeler and her family. Now, it seems, Wheeler was welcomed too. Gi interrupted her thinking when she continued to speak, "and you told me earlier about your feelings for Wheeler being much more intense," she paused for grinning and continuing, "...so to speak."

Linka blushed in return but she maintained eye contact, "it feels different with Wheeler this time. It's difficult to explain."

"I understand," Gi patted her on the shoulder, "it feels like you're both ready to finally take things seriously. You know that I've seen the love that you have for each other pretty much since you first met but you've never believed me or taken Wheeler seriously enough to give him a chance."

"That's because he's a selfish and arrogant pig!" Linka yelled out, feeling like Gi had been criticising her.

"Linka, sometimes he was but you have to admit that you've closed your heart off to him on purpose for many years now and you have to also admit that you've felt something for him for a long time too. I wasn't trying to blame you for the way things have turned out, I'm just trying to say that it hasn't just been Wheeler who has made the relationship impossible." Linka frowned and nodded. She had wanted to start something with Wheeler for a while now, at least a year. Things had felt right but she never let him in.

"Wheeler can be a bit aloof at times, not being very approachable for someone like you and, let's face it, being a selfish and arrogant pig!" Gi and Linka chuckled together. He certainly could be. "But there's a lot of kindness in him and he's tried to make you see how he feels about you, I just don't think he realises how he needs to speak to girls, and especially to you, to get them to open up. Well... until now I guess." Gi winked at her, making Linka scratch at her neck uncomfortably.

"He's changed today.." Linka trailed off. Both she and Gi had noticed the distinct and dramatic change in his behaviour since just last night. He still spoke in the same voice as the old Wheeler but the tone and manner he took when speaking seemed as though he'd grown 10 years inside.

"You needn't tell me twice. He made breakfast this morning! Without prompting and he made the food well. If that doesn't tell you anything then I don't know what will!" They laughed to each other, realising the humour and the truth in the statement at the same time.

When they calmed themselves a little, Linka turned serious and spoke, "Wheeler and I kissed earlier today."

"What do you mean by kiss?" Gi's curiosity peaked.

Linka knew that skipping straight to the end of the story would simply not satisfy Gi, so she started from the start. It took her at least half an hour to recount the day with her friend, mainly due to her friend interrupting her story all the time. Gi covered her mouth with her hands in shock at the explanation of how she and Wheeler had kissed.

"So, you just broke the kiss off?" Gi was literally sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Well, I suppose so. He was really nice about it, he apologised thinking that he'd done something wrong. It was so sweet and I felt guilty, like I was hurting him just because I am inexperienced in these kinds of things."

"What did he say?" Gi asked.

"Well, he said sorry and thought that he'd gone too far," Linka explained, "I told him that that wasn't it, that I actually did like kissing him and I did want to do it. I just told him then that it all felt a little too sudden and quick. He took it so well, saying that he was happy to go at whatever pace I wanted. Now that we've agreed to slow things down though, I kind of feel like I want things to speed up a little..." her voiced trailed off.

"Linka! You are so dirty! Thinking of such things with Wheeler!" She was only teasing her but Linka's response blew her mind away. She just cocked her head a bit, raised her eyebrows and grinned, indicating that she agreed. "What can I say, he does strange things to me."

"Linka!" Gi was going to continue but she couldn't think of anything to say. She couldn't believe it, but Linka reminded her of Wheeler a bit just now.

Her demeanour changed quickly as she continued, "but in all seriousness, although I do want to take things further with him, I still don't trust my feelings completely. In all honesty, I still don't trust him either."

"Linka, don't say that.." Gi started.

"No, I just mean that I want to make sure that my feelings are real."

"I understand that, but what makes you say that you can't trust him? He's a nice guy at heart." Gi knew that Wheeler was brash but he was a nice guy, and certainly wouldn't hurt Linka.

"Yes, I know that but he's hurt me in the past, I don't want my heart broken."

"Trust me Linka. Those times you've fought have been due to both of your sexual frustration, not because he's meant to hurt you."

"But if we take things slowly I'm afraid that will happen again. I need to know that we can survive through that," Linka was trying to protect herself, Gi knew. She was inexperienced in love and Gi wondered whether she trusted her own feelings. Linka trusted logic and reason due to their factual and observable results. Feelings often weren't logical and weren't sensible. It'd take time but Linka would begin to trust her feelings.

"Linka, I don't want you to get hurt either and it's up to you as to how you want to live your life. I don't want to convince you to do something that you don't want to but you have to trust your instincts sometimes. In your heart, you can feel that you can trust Wheeler and nothing bad will happen but at the same time your mind is telling you to err on the side of caution, right?"

Linka nodded in response, not needing to say anything. Gi had pretty much nailed it. She was a cautious person by nature but she couldn't deny that every core of her being wanted to let Wheeler in, wanting her to share herself with him both physically and emotionally. "If you're still unsure, you should probably stick with what you have done in the past, though. It's got you this far and hasn't proven wrong so who's to say it won't work now? Personally though, I feel that people should just flow wherever there heart takes them. I guess that is just my naïvety."

"Gi, you're not naïve. You're a trusting person. You see the best in people and give them the chance to shine. That is your strength but that's not how I am. Your way works for you and you should continue doing so, but that's not my way and that's probably just going to end up hurting me."

"I suppose that you're right. If only we could both be somewhere in the middle."

Linka laughed, "but then where would all the fun go?" Gi smiled back at her friend and nodded. It would be pretty boring if everyone were the same. That's one of the reasons that the Planeteers had bonded so strongly and got along together so famously. Each of them were different, with different styles and characters. Each complemented the other and as a team they became much like Captain Planet himself, a true and cohesive unit.

"Linka," Gi started, "if I can offer some advice though. If you are going to take things slowly, at least be honest with Wheeler. Although his behaviour has changed so much for the better, he wants things from you and if you speak with him about them, however embarrassing they may be, then at least he won't feel rejected."

"Gi, I plan to be as forthcoming as I can possibly be. I'm not complete fool, I know that he's going to want to have sex with me, he probably already does. Heck, I already want that with him, but the time for us to do such a thing needs to be right and right now feels wrong."

"I just don't want either of you to get hurt..."

"I know you don't, neither do I. But I also don't want to feel forced into doing something that I don't want to do. I trust my feelings but I need my mind to be clear as well. That's just how I am and if Wheeler can wait and understand that need to wait then that will be better for us in the long-term anyway. I'm not going to change in the future so he'd better get used to it, and to me."

Gi laughed. She hadn't thought about it like that and that did make sense to her, "you tell him who's boss, sister!" Linka laughed alongside her friend and drew her into an embrace. Wheeler was right. She did need to talk to her friend, to clear her mind and speak of the thoughts that plagued her. Gi had a different perspective than she did and often when they spoke, each of them would see things differently and in the end they'd agree that both were right in some ways, seeing the good in each side.