Chapter 31: Day 14, continued

When we land, I jump out of the Geo Cruiser, sights set on the beautiful blonde running towards me. She throws her arms around my neck and jumps into my arms, wrapping her legs around my waist. I give her the biggest hug ever. I set her down and when I pull away, I take her face in my hands.

"I've wanted to do this for a long time," I say as I bring my lips to hers. I speak against them, "I've missed you so much. I don't ever want to be apart from you. I love you."

"Wheeler?"

"I love you," I mumble.

"Aww, thanks Wheeler, but what would Linka think?"

Huh? Gi?

"Wake up Romeo, we're almost home!" I hear Gi saying as she shakes my arm.

I open my eyes to see that Hope Island is fast approaching and I start to get that roller coaster feeling in my stomach again.

Kwame puts the Geo Cruiser down and I can see Linka coming to greet me…umm, I mean us. We exit the Cruiser and she's there waiting. There's an awkward moment when we make eye contact. I wanted it to be just like in my dream…ok, so maybe the kissing part was a little much and too good to be true, but I want to go to her, to hold her, just to feel her and be close to her. She smiles at me, but then turns to the others and says,

"When you all get settled, come to the kitchen, I have prepared a 'Welcome Home' lunch for you."

"For all of us?" Gi asks.

"Da, of course for all of you! It would be rude to welcome just one of you home when all of you have been gone doing such hard work!"

Wow. She's chipper. And for a second, I wonder if Dr. Blight came to the island, stole the real Linka and left a pod person in her place.

"That sounds wonderful. I am starving," Kwame says.

"Me too," "Uh huh," Ma-Ti and Gi agree.

The others head towards their cabins and I fall in line behind them. Linka takes my hand and squeezes it, pulling on my arm so that I lean down. I thought she was going to whisper something in my ear, but much to my surprise, she kisses me on the cheek.

"Welcome back," she says.

"I think you mean 'Welcome home,'" I correct as I put my arm around her.

"Da, welcome home," she agrees. "Are you sure you are feeling ok? You still look sickly."

"I'm fine. Much better now that I'm back here."

"If you say so. But if you would rather just go and lay down, I will bring your lunch to you," she says.

"No, really. I wanna eat with everyone. That was really nice of you to do that."

"I wanted to show them that I am not useless…that I AM capable of doing things."

"Good idea." I'll tell her later about our conversation on the way home…well, not all of it, I'll just let her know that they're genuinely concerned for her.

She nods and says,

"I will see you at lunch."

She slips out from under my arm and heads towards the kitchen. I watch her go, a little disappointed that our reunion didn't turn out like it had in my dream.

After quickly tossing my bag in my room and taking a few minutes to wash up and brush my teeth, I hurry back to the dining area. When I get there, I'm the first one to arrive…that's the way it goes, last one to get to the Crystal Chamber for a mission brief, but the first one to get to the dinner table! I go to the kitchen in search of Linka. She's got her back to the doorway and doesn't see me approaching. I walk up behind her, put my arms around her, lean over her shoulder, and kiss her on the cheek.

She turns in my embrace and puts her arms around my waist as she looks up at me and smiles.

"Hi," I say softly.

"Hi," she replies back. "Are you hungry?"

This is it. Now or never.

"Yes," and with that, I lean down and press my lips to hers. It's nothing spectacular, short and sweet; lasting a little longer than the kiss she gave me before I left for the Philippines.

It wasn't the mind blowing, Earth shattering kiss that I'd always daydreamed about. It won't result in either one of us confessing our undying love for each other. But it was nice…a testing of the waters, if you will…something to build on…as long as she doesn't slap me and tell me to go to hell.

When I pull back, I'm not sure what to expect. I loosen my grip on her just incase she wants to run. I'm relieved when she smiles at me, and then hugs me tighter as she tucks her head underneath my chin, and says,

"I am glad you are back."

Her words are enough to make me forget the pain I am in from her tightened grip, her arm resting right overtop of my knife wound.

"Me too Babe," I choke out. I can feel the tears stinging my eyes from the pain I am in.

She pulls back and looks up with me with yet another beautiful smile. Her expression quickly changes when she looks at me though. She puts her hand on my cheek and asks,

"What is wrong?"

"Nothing," I lie, as I blink away the moisture in my eyes. "I'm just happy to be home."

I lift her up and set her on the counter so that she's at eye level with me, moving to stand between her legs. I take her Planeteer ring off my finger, take her hand, and place it back with its rightful owner. Wrong hand, wrong finger, wrong kind of ring, but the symbolism of the act isn't lost on me. As corny as it sounds, I press my lips to her knuckles before releasing her hand. She rests her arm on my shoulder and runs her fingers through my hair. It's another perfect opportunity to kiss her…one that I can't pass up. I tilt my head to the side and lean forward. I can feel her pulling me towards her. I see her close her eyes as I get closer, getting ready to accept my kiss.

"It smells great in here!" Gi calls as she enters the dining area.

Linka and I jump back, startled by the unexpected interruption. I sigh heavily and lean my head on her shoulder. She pushes me back and jumps off the counter, hurrying out of the kitchen to greet Gi.

"Gi! Hi! I hope you think it tastes as good as it smells!"

Was she happy for the interruption? Relieved? It sure seems that way. I guess I was imagining that she actually wanted me kiss her.

We all enjoy a nice lunch together. Linka asks questions about our trip, and does a really good job of pretending to care. I'm being uncharacteristically quiet. Ma-Ti uses his ring to ask me what's wrong. I tell him I'm in a lot of pain. He thinks it's from my stab wound. I'll let him keep thinking that.

It's my turn to clean up the kitchen. Linka starts to help, but I insist that she go and rest. She's done enough, clean up is the least I can do.

"Wheeler, leave that. Kwame, Ma-Ti, and I will clean up," Gi says. "You and Linka should…go talk."

"That's ok Gi. I got it."

"No, really. You should be relaxing and taking it easy," she whispers, knowing that I don't want Linka worrying about my injury.

"Fine. If you insist."

I really didn't want to be there anymore anyway. I finish washing the plate I was holding, and then let Gi take over. I leave the kitchen without saying a word to anyone.

I get back to my cabin and shut my door. I go into the bathroom and pull up my shirt to check out my wound. There is a little bit of blood seeping through the bandage. I set my duffle bag up on my bed and look for the pain pills that I was given. I make a mental note to put them somewhere that Linka can't find them…just in case. I've noticed that she seems to have taken up residence in my room. Several of her toiletries were in the bathroom, and her clothes are carefully folded at the end of my neatly made bed…I never make my bed.

I pop a few of the pills into my mouth and swallow them down with a glass of water. I have to put my bandaging task on hold though when I hear someone open then close my door as they enter my room. I already know that it's Linka.

"Wheeler?"

"In here," I say as I step out of the bathroom.

"I thought you would come to my room when you finished cleaning up…but then, I saw you come here and thought maybe you were expecting me to be waiting for you here…so I came here," she says, sounding nervous and unsure.

Probably unsure of whether or not she should be alone with me. Who knows what moves I'll try to put on her?

"Uh, yeah, I didn't really want to disturb you…if you were resting."

"I am not tired…but perhaps you are? Should I leave you alone?"

"No, I'm not tired. You don't have to leave…unless you want to…I don't want you to think you've gotta stay here."

"Why would I think that?" She asks.

"I don't know…I don't know what I'm talking about…"

"You were quiet at lunch," she points out.

"I guess I had a lot on my mind…and everyone else was talking…getting along. It's been a while since things were like that. I was just taking that in…seems like things are starting to get back to normal around here."

Normal. Back to the way things were. Back when Linka didn't need me.

"Wheeler, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I just…don't know what to do next."

She gives me a strange look, and I know I'm not making any sense, but I honestly don't know what to do or what to say next.

"Then maybe we should just pick up where we left off in the kitchen?" She says as she wraps her arms around my neck.

Really?

I pull her into my arms, lifting her off her feet as I bury my face in her neck, taking a deep breath. I'm wincing in pain the whole time, but it's soooo worth it just to hold her close like this.

She's got her arms around my neck and leaves them resting there when I set her down, leaving my hands to rest on her hips. She's playing with the hair at the nape of my neck and I lower my forehead to touch hers.

"Have I mentioned lately that I missed you?" I ask.

"It has been a few hours."

"Oh. Well then I guess I'm overdue…I missed you," I whisper.

"I missed you too," she whispers back. "It was too quiet around here without you."

"Hey!"

"I did not mean it like that…I meant that it was boring without you. You keep me excited."

I have a feeling she means 'entertained' but I like the thought of keeping her 'excited' as well, so I let it slide.

"You only want me for my massages," I joke.

"Nyet," she says, shaking her head.

Then what do you want Linka? Tell me! I'll do it.

"Well, I know it's not my cooking skills," I joke again, because it's the only thing I know how to do.

"Wheeler…" she says flatly, indicating that she needs me to be serious.

"Yeah?" I ask quietly.

Kiss me. Kiss me. Kiss me. As if thinking it will make it happen, just because our heads are touching.

She opens her mouth to speak, but looks down, just like she always does. Then she gasps.

"Bozhe moy! Wheeler! You are bleeding!"

To Be Continued…

Don't forget, in order to get the full affect of the story, you HAVE TO read Linka's side of the story in Chapter 31 of LouiseX's Codependence.