Wheeler was half-asleep in the shade of the trees when he heard someone drop into the sand beside him, gently pushing the hammock he was lying in so that he rocked ever-so-slightly in the breeze.

'Mmm,' he said sleepily, half-opening an eye and glancing briefly at his companion.

Blonde hair. Pale skin. Pink lips curved into a smile.

Wheeler couldn't help himself. He grinned back, opening his arms and pulling her into the hammock beside him.

'Yankee - ' he heard Linka begin to complain, before she clearly thought the better of it. The rest of her words dissipated into the humid island air around them as her body settled next to his, and Wheeler put an arm around her, feeling her reluctance to be close to him fall away as she nestled into him. Her skin was cool against his, and he closed his eyes again, kissing the top of her head.

'How was the big date?' He asked lazily, but Linka only sighed, wrapping an arm around his stomach.

For a time they rocked in silence, the air warm around them, the waves crashing on the nearby beach. Wheeler could hear birds in the trees above them, calling to one another, while the sound of their own breathing, deep and regular and even, lulled him into a place close to sleep. Lazily, he stroked Linka's arm, his fingers moving up and down her skin so that she hummed with pleasure, and he made a concerted effort to half-open his eyes again and bring himself out of this pleasant repose.

'You didn't answer my question,' he noted easily, moving his hand away from her arm to tug playfully on her braid.

'I did not want to,' she replied, her voice somewhat mournful, and at that, Wheeler's eyes flew open. He sat up, disturbing Linka as he did so, concern flooding through him.

'You okay, Babe?'

She nodded, pushing at him until he was lying back in the hammock, his arm once again tightly locked around her. 'I was comfortable, Yankee,' she grumbled in response.

But he knew evasion when he saw it, and disentangled himself again, staring at her.

'Answer my question,' he said firmly. 'Are you okay?'

She sighed. 'Yes,' she said. 'Of course. I am fine.'

Her voice was light, almost flippant, but Wheeler continued to stare at her. There was a certain hardness to her eyes which worried him.

'No, you're not,' he remarked, returning his hand to her skin and moving his fingers lightly across her arm. 'I know you, Lin. I know that tone of voice. What happened?' he asked. 'Want to tell me?'

'No,' she answered shortly, but Wheeler was no idiot, especially where Linka was concerned. She was his colleague and neighbour, a team-mate and friend, the only girl who could out-drink him and out-wit him, and he knew her too well. He could hear the hesitation in her voice. She wanted to tell him... but for some reason, she just wasn't sure that she should.

Leaning back, Wheeler changed tact. 'Fine. Got to say, babe, I'm surprised you're home so early. Thought your date with Brad... Chad - whatever his name is - might have lasted a little longer.'

She frowned at him. 'You know what his name is, Yankee.'

'Todd,' he agreed, resisting the urge to scowl. 'The wonderkid.'

Linka frowned again. 'He is not so wonderful after all, perhaps.'

At that, Wheeler's blood ran cold. 'He hurt you?' he asked instantly. 'He do anythin' disrespectful to you? Cause if he did - '

But Linka shook her head, pulling on his arm so that he once again lay flush against her. 'No Yankee, nothing like that. He just...' she paused, meeting his eye and holding it. 'He ended it.'

For a moment, Wheeler said nothing. Linka snuggled further into him, sighing once more, and instinctively, Wheeler ran a hand through her hair.

'Idiot,' he muttered, and she glanced up at him.

'Todd? Or me?'

'Todd,' Wheeler replied, and this time he did scowl. 'I thought he was an idiot before, you know. This only proves it. So, did he say why he ended it or...?'

Linka's face was still. To anyone else, it would have been an absolute mask that gave zero away; a beautiful face and nothing more. But this was Linka, Wheeler's best friend of five years now, and he'd learnt a long time ago how to read her many moods and faces.

'Spill,' he told her, his voice firm, although he squeezed her gently at the same time. 'You'll feel better if you do.'

Linka's face fell, the mask falling away, and she chewed on her lip awkwardly. 'He, umm, told me that I was moving things too... too fast for his liking.'

'What do you mean?'

Linka's cheeks went pink.

'I went to his home tonight to... umm... to sleep with him, Yankee. He turned me down.'

'What?' He couldn't help the disbelief in his voice, or the shocked tone of indignation. 'Why?'

Linka shrugged, but her cheeks blushed an even deeper shade of red. 'He does not like sleeping with virgins, apparently.'

Wheeler's mouth dropped open, and he gaped at her. 'I don't even... I don't know...'

'It is too messy. He does not enjoy it,' Linka tried to explain, and he hated that her voice - normally so confident and sure - shook with self-doubt.

'Idiot,' Wheeler muttered again, hugging her once more. 'You're better off without him, babe.'

'Maybe,' she looked down, away from his eyes, but Wheeler wasn't having any of that. Softly, he ran his thumb under her chin, tilting her face so that she was forced to look him in the eye.

'Not maybe,' he said firmly. 'He isn't worthy of you. Not even by half. You understand me?'

She nodded, her eyes brimming with tears he already knew she would never shed.

Linka never cried if she could help it. Never ever. It was something Wheeler loved about her but also despaired about secretly. It wasn't healthy, he often thought, for someone to keep so many emotions bottled away. In the early days, when she'd been more like an annoying younger sister to him than anything else, he'd tried to snap her out of it.

'Let it all out,' he'd say to her sharply, pulling all the authority of his eighteen years, but the fifteen-year-old Linka would shake her head vehemently.

It bothered him then and it still bothered him now. Wheeler knew Linka better than anyone, and even he'd never seen her cry. Instead, she would swallow her tears down with a glass of vodka, just another hurt to internalise and save for another day.

Sometimes, Wheeler worried what would happen when that day finally came, when all that emotion came bubbling back to the surface.

Without thinking, he held Linka to him tighter.

'You're worth a million of him, Babe. A million and more.'

She sighed again in his arms, and he rubbed at her back.

'I am going to be a... how do you say it? An old maid?'

He laughed. 'You? Not likely.'

But she frowned, her brow furrowing with frustration. 'I mean it, Yankee. I am twenty years old, and I have hardly touched a man.'

'You touch me all the time,' Wheeler returned without thinking, and felt Linka scowl against his chest.

'That is not what I meant,' she replied. 'You and I... we are just friends. It is not like that between us. I meant...'

But Wheeler cut her off quickly. 'I know what you meant, Babe. But I meant what I said too. You'll meet someone. Someone better than Todd. You're beautiful, Lin. Beautiful, smart, sharp as a tack and the best drinkin' pal this side of the Atlantic to boot. You'll meet someone, trust me.'

Linka's breath came out in a warm rush against his shirt. 'It is easy for you to say... you meet women all the time.'

He shrugged, a grin forming on his lips. 'Yeah, but I lose em' all the time too.'

She met his smile and returned it, and Wheeler's heart lightened a little to see some of her worry fade away. 'I am sure that is not their choice, Yankee. Honestly, that last one... what was her name? Cherry? Apple?'

He poked her in the stomach playfully. 'You know her name, Babe. Clementine.'

'Ah yes, Clementine,' Linka dragged out the final syllable. 'The lovely Clem. She was most persistent. And I thought you liked her too, she was around you all the time - '

'She was not,' Wheeler scoffed. 'She came to Hope Island... what? Four times maybe?'

'Ah, but what four evenings they were. You always forget my cabin is next to yours. Clem was... quite the vocalist.'

Wheeler grinned again. 'Yeah, she was, wasn't she? Maybe I should call her again. It's been awhile since I had a girl here - '

Linka sat up, and now it was her turn to poke him. She wasn't quite as gentle as he had been with her though, and Wheeler winced when her finger made contact with his ribs.

'Hey - '

'You will not call her again,' Linka told him. 'Not after we all spent weeks fielding her calls when you were... what did you tell us? Finished with her?'

Wheeler shrugged easily. 'That was months ago, and we've been too busy working for me to meet anyone else. Clem might be good for takin' care of some urges, you know?'

Linka shook her head in exasperation, before swinging her legs out from the hammock and using Wheeler's hand to come to a stand. She picked up her heels from where she'd dropped them in the sand, and stretched irritably.

'If our friendship means anything to you, find someone else to take care of your urges, please,' she said wearily. 'I do not think I can take another evening of Clem again.'

He grinned at her. 'Tell you what, I'll make you a deal. You forget that idiot Todd, and I'll lose Clem's number, okay?'

Linka sighed once more at the mention of Todd. 'It is not so easy as that, Wheeler - '

'Yeah, it is,' Wheeler said, his tone more serious now. 'Tell me somethin', Lin, are you hurt tonight because you lost Todd or simply because he hurt your pride?'

For a moment, Linka played with the straps of her shoes in her hands, her fingers tapping against the sole as she seemed to consider his words. When she looked up again, there was honesty in her face.

'He hurt my pride,' she admitted, and Wheeler grabbed her hand, using her as an anchor to pull himself from the hammock. But he didn't let go even once he'd come to a stand, and he wrapped his arms around Linka's waist, looking at her fondly.

'The guy was a jerk,' he said easily. 'But I'm sorry you're hurtin', Babe.'

'It is not just that,' Linka replied tiredly. 'I just wish I had more... well, more experience in these things, Yankee. It is tiresome. We work so often that I feel like I am missing out on all the usual experiences a girl of my age should have. I am twenty and still a virgin, Yankee. Men are a mystery to me... the only man I think I understand is you,' she paused. 'You are the only one who makes sense to me.'

Wheeler smiled at her gently. 'You're the only girl who makes sense to me too,' he said, before nodding towards their base. 'Come on... bedtime drink? Gi's in her cabin with Kenly, but I think Ma-Ti and Kwame might still be up.'

Linka nodded with a smile, and Wheeler looped an arm around her shoulder, walking with her across the beach towards the distant lights of the common room.

'A few vodkas will clear your head of Todd,' he scowled again.

'Vodka will not take my virginity though,' Linka bemoaned, before glancing at him. 'Nor will it take care of your urges either, I should imagine.'

Wheeler laughed. 'Well, maybe we should sleep with each other after a bottle of vodka. Then we can tick all those boxes.'

The silence that fell was almost deafening, and Wheeler felt Linka stiffen next to him.

Shit, he thought instantly. Fuck.

'It was a joke, Babe,' he said lightly. 'Just a bad joke.'

Linka nodded, before coming to a stop and staring at him curiously. The mask she normally wore for others was up again, and Wheeler stared back at her, trying to see beneath it to read her mood.

'It really was a joke,' he said again. 'Sorry, Babe.'

'A joke,' Linka agreed, but something in her eyes blazed, and Wheeler swallowed, suddenly uncomfortable.

'Umm, so... vodka?' he suggested, and then watched as her body relaxed and the mask fell away. She smiled at him, all camaraderie returned.

'Vodka,' she agreed, turning in the sand and walking away from him.

Relief flooded through Wheeler, but it was a relief tinted by a small degree of worry. Because Linka didn't stop and wait for him like she normally would, and he... well, he didn't try and take her hand, or put an arm around her waist like he normally would.

Something had shifted between them.

And Wheeler wasn't sure he liked it.

As he followed her along the sand, shoving his hands into his pockets, Wheeler decided to clear the air with her later. He loved her too much to let anything damage their relationship. She was too important to him. Too precious.

After all, she was his best friend.