A:N/ Thanks for all the fantastic reviews! This one's for you, LouiseX :D

Chapter 10

The door to her hut finally closed and Linka eyed the massive towers of paperwork on her desk, not without a small sigh. Vacation time was definitely over, she thought, and now it was back to normalcy. She had never been one for being too emotional at the end of a small vacation period, but this time she felt it more fiercely. Perhaps because it had been so amazing being alone with Wheeler and not having to worry about anyone or anything except nursing their love. A small smile was playing at the corners of her mouth and she blushed once she caught a glimpse of herself in the small mirror hung over the wall. She hardly recognized herself anymore, her eyes were perpetually inhabited by daydreams. She felt more feminine, more grown somehow. Already, Linka missed Wheeler's body next to hers, his hands on her skin, his attentions. The Wind Planeteer could not deny that she liked being lost in these kinds of fantasies; they caused her to feel a certain type of softness, leaving behind the jagged edges she had previously worn.

It was with a jolt that she was forced out of her reveries once a knock on her door could be heard, and again, the door opened. Thinking that her Asian friend had forgotten something, Linka turned in its direction, distractedly.

She was surprised to see it was instead the object of her daydreams who had walked in, and he closed the door behind him, leaning against it.

"Finally! I think I lost them," Wheeler was saying, rolling his eyes upwards while Linka smiled a little to herself. His lips were turned into a semi-pout she found adorable, but she forced her facial expression to remain impassive while she listened to the rest of his words. "They wouldn't leave me alone! First, they wanted to hear all about how I convinced you to get past the friend zone with me, and then they wanted to know what kind of future plans we have together! Oh my God, it was like mobsters looking after the Boss' daughter!"

Linka laughed and sat down on her bed. Happily, she patted a spot beside her and watched as Wheeler made his way across the room to join her. She studied the fading sunlight playing through his ginger colored hair, highlighting it, and the way it caressed his strong jaw line and broad shoulders.

"I know what you mean," Linka nodded, smiling as his hand immediately intertwined with her own. She squeezed his hand and saw a honey smile spreading over his face. "Gi just left and she wanted to know all kinds of details, too! She would not leave until I told her what she wanted to hear!"

Wheeler neared her and kissed her jaw line softly, and her arms went around him instinctively.

"You didn't tell her all details, did you?" he whispered good–humored. "I mean, I do have to work with this girl!"

Linka laughed before returning the kiss he'd placed on her lips. "I did not tell her the really good parts, of course."

She got lost in his touch for a while, smiling happily while resting her head on his shoulder. "But now I am curious," she let out, breathing in his familiar scent of aftershave mixed with that of his skin. "What Kwame and Ma-Ti were saying to you… what are your intentions with me, Yankee?"

Wheeler's hands were tracing the contours of her breasts as his lips took to caressing the skin of her neck, and Linka's pulse started racing as a result.

"Right now, they aren't very noble intentions," he whispered in her ear, and Linka suppressed a wave of laughter.

The blonde girl moved so that she could straddle his lap and watched his eyes become slightly darker with her contact. Her arms circled his neck and she kissed him, abandoning herself to the passion that kept bubbling to the surface whenever he was close to her. Had she wanted her old control back, it was nowhere to be found at the moment. Linka still could not believe she could kiss Wheeler like this, with such reckless abandon, without having to hide behind tiresome walls of self-composure. Her body craved his and she had secretly vowed to show him this every single time she felt desire calling.

"I will not raise any opposition to that," she whispered against his mouth with a small smile. "But… what are your future intentions with me, Jacob?" Her eyes were unblinking as this question tumbled out of her. If she had felt fearful before, now it was more intense, but all for different reasons. It was more a sense of dread over losing him, of somehow misplacing this incredible happiness that was pumping through her heart. In such a short amount of time, Wheeler had become as crucial to her as the air she breathed.

"Babe, I don't know what the future has in store for us. I've never had to promise anything to anybody before, and I don't know how good I am at it. But, I want to love you every day more than the day before. With you beside me, I think I could overcome just about anything life throws at me."

His fingers on her cheek were warm and his sincere words sent something swirling in the depths of her soul. Wheeler's eyes were shining with truth, admiration for her, and she threw her arms around him. Her eyes were moist and she closed them against the rush of emotions that were surfacing.

"That is, if you'll let me," Wheeler whispered close to her ear, as his arms locked securely around her frame.

"Maybe you have forgotten that I love you?" Linka spoke up in reply, and she felt an unfamiliar tightness in her throat. He could move her like she'd never been moved before, for there was this special, secret part to him that he only shared with her. She knew it was a vulnerable part and it was difficult for him to put it on display. She recognized the feeling all too well, it was something close to her own personality, and thus respected him a great deal more for it.

"As if I could ever forget something like that," Wheeler remarked, breathing in the scent of her hair, sounding completely content, enraptured by her.

"Tell me again," was his next breath as he sought out her eyes. Linka blinked against the intensity she found there, a stretch of ocean waters with no boundaries in sight.

She softly kissed his lips and smiled, hoping that her words contained as much of the emotion she felt in her heart as possible.

"I love you, Jacob."

"When you say that, everything else just… stops." His tone of voice was filled with as much awe as a child on Christmas morning, and when he found her lips, his kisses were fueled by the fire in his heart.

And like a spark, Wheeler's hands were all over her again and she felt flushed with desire and the room started spinning and she abandoned her will to all things coming once again. It was a wild tornado of passion that built up dangerously, creating havoc with her senses and her surroundings.

"Make love to me," Linka pleaded against his teasing lips, already sighing with the anticipation of things to come. Her pride was long buried in his presence, she had misplaced it long ago.

Wheeler grinned a little. "Have I ever been able to say no to you before, my beautiful babe?" His hands were already moving to unzip her jeans before helping her out of her shirt. She liked that he wasted little time getting down to business.

Linka moved over the bed and pulled the American on top of her, always stunned by the piercing impatience they both felt just before their bodies joined. It was like a sweet form of torture, as if they had not been with each other for years. Touches were sustenance, kisses imperative, and Linka most happily abandoned herself to pleasure and love in the arms of her beloved Yankee.

THE END