A/N: Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing, I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Chapter Four – Day 5

I cried myself to sleep last night. I actually slept pretty soundly though, maybe that is the answer… abject misery equals a good nights rest!

I have gone over and over the conversation I had with Wheeler in my mind and I still do not know why I would not accept his help. He only wanted to feel useful… I guess I am still having trouble trusting him after he would not support me with the doctor the other day. Trust has never been easy for me, and just when I got to the point where I felt like I could trust Wheeler, he turned on me… or it seemed like he did.

Thinking about it now though, I realise that he was just scared because of what happened to his cousin… he did not feel up to the job of making me better but I do not expect him to, he is not responsible for me. I really need to set things straight between us and I promise myself that I will as soon as I can. It is still early though and the Yankee is not an early riser.

"Planeteers, to the Crystal Chamber." Gaia's voice announces.

I smile. This is just what I need... to have something important to focus on besides my own problems, a little normality.

When I get to the crystal chamber though I hesitate. The others are already there and Wheeler turns around and stares. I want to walk up and stand beside them but I cannot move and it gets worse as the others turn to see what Wheeler is looking at… they did not expect me to join them! Suddenly I feel like an outsider, like I am intruding on something private.

"Oh, sorry Linka…" Gaia says. "I should have been more specific. You don't need to be here, go back to sleep and get your rest."

I am sure she is trying to be nice but, "I want to help."

"It is nothing major. We can handle it without you," Ma-Ti replies.

I am actually shocked. That Ma-Ti of all people should dismiss me like that… does he look down on me now too? I want the ground to open and swallow me up but thankfully, before I start to cry, my pride kicks in. I step up to stand beside the others defiantly… I am going on this alert!

"What is the emergency Gaia?" I ask, completely blanking Ma-Ti's comment.

The Spirit of the Earth gives me a sympathetic look and continues her explanation, but when she finishes she says. "This is no more than a routine issue however, it doesn't require all five of you. Linka if you do not want to rest, there is some correspondence that I could use your help with."

"Stop it!!" I yell. "I do not need to be babied."

"Then start acting like a mature adult instead of a grounded teenager." Kwame says. "Even Captain Planet needs time to recover when his system has been polluted, are you saying you are stronger than him?"

I swallow my retort, knowing that it will only sound childish now. Keeping my voice as even as I can, I tell him. "Nyet, but I have rested and I am already better!"

"You need more time Linka. There's no need to risk your recovery for something as simple as this. We won't need to call Captain Planet so you should take advantage of the chance to rest." Gi says.

I am losing ground in this battle and I am trying desperately to keep my temper in check. "I can do this."

"They are right Linka. We just need to go to this town and convince them that Sly Sludge is conning them, and not to buy his latest 'invention,'" Ma-Ti adds.

I am beginning to panic, they are ganging up on me and I cannot do anything about it. I am not used to feeling this way… so out of control. Usually at least one of the others agrees with me when we have a difference of opinion but this time they are all wrong. "Then if it is so simple, let me go! Let me get off this island and set my mind on other things! I can help!" I insist.

I have one more card to play, one that never fails. I look at Wheeler and give him a smile that should turn him to mush. "Wheeler, please…tell them I am fine."

"WE DON'T NEED YOUR HELP! JUST STAY HERE!" He yells out of the blue, and I remember our disagreement last night.

Stung into replying, I shout back. "STOP TREATING ME LIKE A CHILD! I DO NOT NEED YOUR PROTECTION!"

"WELL IF YOU DON'T NEED US, WE DON'T NEED YOU!" He growls back and I shrink away from him. I am not really afraid of him but I have never known Wheeler to be unkind before. Unreasonable, stubborn and just plain wrong yes, but never deliberately mean. I do not know what to say and I am not sure I could say anything if I tried.

He must have realised what he said because a moment later his voice lowers and I think he is trying to apologise… but it is too late. As soon as I see him begin to back down, I am on the offensive.

"DO NOT TALK TO ME. All this time, you have said you want to help me, and now you have the chance. All I wanted was to be treated normally and when the time comes for me to get back to normal activities, you turn your back on me... again!" I turn away from him to include the others in my accusations, spitting the words at them, daring them to contradict me. "All of you! You think I am a burden to the team! Useless! The truth comes out…this is how you really feel... perhaps it is how you have always felt!"

"No, I…" Wheeler tries again, but Kwame interrupts him.

"Linka, it is best if you just sit this one out. Maybe next time…" Kwame says condescendingly and now I know.... I was correct!

I did not want to be correct, I wanted them to argue with me. I wanted them to tell me that they did want me and agree to let me go with them. I wanted them to trust me. I needed them to trust me because it would be so much harder to let them down than just myself... or it would have been.

My anger has gone, to be replaced with a strange emptiness. There are no more attempts at manipulation on my side now, only the truth. "Just say what you all are thinking! You want me out. You want to replace me with a more 'trustworthy' team mate, someone who is not a drug addict!"

"We didn't say that Linka!" Gi says quickly.

"You did not have to," I say, trying to sound more mad than hurt as I turn and stalk out of the room. I am hurting though, more than they know and not because of the withdrawal.

As I get outside I hear Wheelers voice calling my name and I pause thinking he is going to come after me, wanting him to in spite of myself. But he does not, the pause is too long and when I realise that, I leave and head back to my cabin to pack my things. I am going to the USSR, back to my real home and my real family.

A short time later I hear the others moving around and finally there is a knock on my locked door.

"Linka," He says. "Babe, I need to talk to you."

"Do not call me that!" I shout back, my resolution to make things up between us having evaporated when he betrayed me again. There were no excuses this time and calling me Babe was just rubbing salt in the wound.

A pause, and then. "Ok, but can you please open the door?"

"I have nothing to say to you." I reply continuing to collect my things together.

He is not giving up though. "But I have a lot I need to say to you…and I'd like to say it face to face."

I ignore him, what else can I do?

He is apologising and he guessed I would leave! He knows me too well, and yet he does not know me at all! I sit down on my bed and stare at the floor, then I get up again and start to pace. He said exactly what I wanted him to say but I am not sure whether I believe him or even if I want to anymore... why does everything have to be so confusing?

"Linka, please!" he begs.

I stop my pacing at the sound of his voice, he spoke as I passed the door. He is just on the other side, so close I could reach out and touch him if there was not a barrier between us... "and a door!" I mutter quietly to myself.

I need time to think, and since they will not let me do anything else anyway, I call out. "Whatever! Just go on your mission."

I take a step closer to the door and rest my hands on it, as if I could feel him through the wood. Then I rest my forehead there and close my eyes.

His next words startle me, I had thought him gone! Was he just standing there waiting?

"Ok. I just wanted you to know that I was sorry. I know I was a jerk, and I hope you can forgive me. Goodbye…Babe."

I nearly open the door then, but I stop myself. Why did he have to say goodbye like that? What if something happened and he did not come home? What if they do need me and...? Hundreds of terrifying possibilities run through my mind and I start shivering again.

Wrenching the door open I run out to the landing area, but they have already gone. "Nyet!" I say quietly, feeling sick again. "Please come home safely Yankee."

I make my way back to my room and look at the mess I have made. Sighing, I start putting everything away, including the things I had packed. At least Wheeler wants me here. I tell myself.

By the time I have finished cleaning up, I need some fresh air so I pull on Wheeler's sweater and head down to the beach. The sun is blazing in the sky and I am sweating but I still feel cold inside.

I cannot stop thinking about the fight. How can they treat me like that? What have I done to deserve being cast aside? I would never treat any of them like that... I would not want them shut away in some facility either... How long will it be before they decide I am well? What gives them the right to decide?

It is strange, the island is usually teaming with life, especially birds, but right now everything seems dead... Have my feathered friends abandoned me as well?

How many times have I wished I could be here alone? When Wheeler and Ma-Ti are acting like children or Gi and Kwame have a new obsession... But now the emptiness is disturbing and I turn inland taking the quickest route back to my own cabin and my own personal sanctuary.

There is movement in the trees over my head. I look up but there is nothing there. "Suchi?" I whisper, but there is no response. Of course he is not the only monkey on the island so I resume my journey, if a little faster.

Something crashes in the bushes behind me and I break into a run. I am convinced there is someone there but I am too afraid to look so I just keep going until I reach our settlement and the safety of my cabin.

I run inside and slam the door behind me, locking it. Then I run to the window and close that too before curling up in the corner of my room shaking, my face buried in my knees and my arms wrapped around them.

Sometime later I wake, though I do not remember getting sleepy. I stand up and stretch my sore limbs. I realise how stupid I was being before, but even now I hesitate as I reach for the shutter. Telling myself to calm down, I force myself to open it and look out. I do not know for how long I was asleep but it is still light out so it could not be that long. I sit on the bed and sigh.

There is nothing for me to do… I cannot relax enough to do any of my hobbies and the others have done my chores… because I am a useless invalid apparently.

Gaia is leaving me alone too... she cannot even be watching me since she did not say anything when I was scared. I tell myself that is either because she is trusting me to look after myself, or does not want to embarrass me. Somehow though it just feels neglectful, she could at least have made a show of asking me to do that correspondence she mentioned. Of course I could go to the Crystal Chamber and ask her for something to do, but even though I know I am being petty, I cannot bring myself to do it.

I need her to ask. I need her to care. I need to be needed. I hate being here on my own. I hate having nothing to do!

Making my mind up, I get up, fetch my bag and begin packing it again. I am not going to wait here while the others are on a mission, if I am not needed then I can leave. As I open my wardrobe to take out the dresses, my eye falls on the framed picture I have on my desk. It is a picture of the planeteers taken by Commander Clash last year. We had to bunch up and the Yankee used it as an excuse to put his arms around me… it was a good excuse.

I told him that I would be here when he got back… I sigh and close my wardrobe door as I change my mind again… I guess maybe I am going to be doing this all day.

To Be Continued....

And don't forget, to get the full affect of the story, you HAVE TO read Wheeler's side of the story in Chapter 4 of Becks7's Co-Dependents!