Let it be me

Disclaimer: I don't own Captain Planet or any of its characters, and I'm not making any money from these stories.

Summary: A one-shot in two halves.

Chapter 1 – How do you feel about me?

The beautiful blond adjusted her position against the tree she was leaning on, still pretending to be absorbed by her novel. In fact, she was watching two of her friends as they laughed and splashed about in the clear blue lagoon of their tropical home.

"Hey Wheeler." The pretty Asian, called to her companion. "Race you to the end of the pier!"

The handsome red head grinned in response. "Loser makes dinner!" Then before she could reply, he grabbed her round the waist and threw her behind him into the deeper water, to give himself a head start.

Gi rose to her feet spluttering, but not to be defeated, raised her arm and cried. "Water!"

In response to her command the tide rose up and washed the American up the beach, away from his goal. A much stronger swimmer, Gi was soon over halfway to the sea end of the pier, but not to be out done, Wheeler dragged himself to his feet and raced along the beach, leaping up onto the wooden boards and sprinting the last distance.

Arriving together, the two Planeteers took their tie in good part, each laughing and joking over the others antics. Wheeler re-joined his friend in the water with a large splash and their games began again.

Linka was jealous.

She told herself that she was being ridiculous, that the playfulness between them was no more than any normal friendship, perhaps even that of a brother and sister. The trouble was, she didn't believe it.

She knew Gi admired their American friend, though her remarks were normally intended to tease Linka about her own relationship with him, they did betray an interest. On Wheeler's side there was certainly no marked preference, he would flirt with any pretty girl given half a chance… but that was what bothered her the most.

I am just another girl to flirt with, to see how far her can get. It is different with Gi, he does not flirt with her, not really. He does not try to get her attention, perhaps because he always has it… perhaps because he feels something deeper. Something real…

"Is everything okay Linka? You were frowning." Gi sat down in the shade beside her friend and began applying a new layer of sun block.

Deep in thought, she hadn't heard the other girl approach and was startled out of her reverie. "Gi… I… Sorry, I was miles away, er, in my book."

"Oh." Gi grinned. "You should have come in and joined us. Wheeler is a little crazy but it's anything but dull with him around."

"I did not want to intrude." The lovely Russian replied, trying to keep her voice neutral.

Gi blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing." Linka was sorry she had said anything and tried to concentrate on her book.

"You didn't mean 'nothing' Linka… are you jealous?" Gi grinned. "We were just playing around you know, there's nothing going on."

Linka shrugged. "It is none of my business." She was good at keeping her voice level but she couldn't help but add. "Are you sure?"

Her Asian friend laughed. "Yes, of course!"

"Because sometimes I think…" Linka swallowed uncomfortably, but was determined to finish her sentence. "I think that you would make a good couple. I mean you get on so well…" the Russian kept her eyes fixed on her reading matter. "I know you like him."

Gi was watching her friend carefully, trying to decide what Linka was really thinking. "Well… I guess. I mean I haven't really thought about it before because he only ever looks at you but… yeah, I suppose if he had asked me out, I wouldn't have turned him down."

"He does not only look at me!" Linka replied, a little more forcefully than she had intended. Calming herself she added. "He tries to flirt with me, that is all."

The dark haired girl looked dubious. "I think it's more than that Linka…"

"Nyet." Linka felt an incredible sadness wash over her. "Believe me Gi, it is not. He has never given me a reason to think his feelings are more than that of a friend… he is attracted to me physically but that is a different thing."

Gi snorted. "Well then he's not attracted to me at all, and that's still necessary to some degree, for a relationship."

"I would not be so sure that he is not," Linka replied. "He just takes you more seriously."

Again Gi regarded her friend curiously. "Why are you trying to convince me that I should get involved with Wheeler?"

For the first time Linka looked around. "I am not." On the contrary, she had wanted her friend to deny it.

"Yes you are." Gi shrugged and lay down on her towel, closing her eyes. "Maybe you're right, I'll have to think about it."

Linka continued to stare at the other girl in silent horror, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. At last she looked back at her book but the words no longer made any sense. She would not… would she?

The more Gi thought about what her friend had suggested, the more it seemed to make sense. She did like Wheeler, and if Linka had no intention of returning his advances, why shouldn't she make her feelings known?

"Hi." Gi smiled at the American, and seated herself beside him.

Not looking up from the computer game he was playing, Wheeler still smiled back. "Hey Little Mermaid, come to challenge me?"

"No… I mean I'd be happy to but, I wanted to ask you something first." She swallowed, this wasn't going to be as easy as she'd imagined it to be.

"Go for it." His brow creased slightly in concentration as his game intensified.

The Asian girl hesitated for a moment or two and then blurted out. "Do you think I'm attractive?"

"Sure." Wheeler responded, still paying more attention to his games console.

"You do?" She sounded surprised.

Wheeler laughed. "I'd have to be blind not to. Why? Did some loser turn you down?"

"Not yet… not that you're a… I mean," She took a breath. "I'd understand if you didn't want to, but we have fun together and I thought… well, it wouldn't hurt to find out, right?"

The American finally turned his head to look at her, his game forgotten and the joystick limp in his hands. "Did you just ask me out?"

"Erm…" She blushed. "Yes."

Wheeler's whole body had changed from his normal relaxed posture to one that was incredibly tense. "Gi… I don't want to hurt you but… you must know I lo-like Linka, I haven't exactly made a secret of the fact."

"No." She replied. "And she hasn't exactly made a secret of the fact that she's not interested, she even encouraged me to tell you how I feel."

"She did?" Wheeler's expression hadn't changed but the hushed tone of his voice should have alerted Gi to the state of his feelings.

The Asian girl nodded. "It was practically her idea. Look Wheeler, I know you have a crush on her and I'm not expecting you to get over it just like that, but you could give 'us' a chance. You never know, it might work and you'll forget all about Linka."

Wheeler felt sick. Not at the prospect of dating Gi exactly, but because in a few short sentence's she'd quashed any hope he had of a future with their Russian colleague, and all he'd had was hope. "Okay then, sure… why not."

"Great!" Gi beamed, oblivious of the distress she had caused. "There's a new action movie out, I can't remember the title but it's just the sort of thing we both like, and then we can have dinner or something."

"Okay." The American still looked uncomfortable. "That's fine."

The pretty Asian pushed back her hair from her face. "You do want to do this, right?"

Pride coming to the fore, Wheeler smiled. "Yeah, it'll be fun."

Reassured, Gi stood and headed for the door. "I better start getting ready."

"Yeah." Her date agreed, but once she'd gone, he stared blankly at the screen in front of him.

'…she hasn't exactly made a secret of the fact she's not interested. She even encouraged me to tell you how I feel. It was practically her idea. She's not interested.' The words just kept going round in his head.

When Gi had told her about her date, Linka felt like the other girl had just punched her in the stomach, and for a few seconds she couldn't breathe. Gi had rambled on happily enough, thanking Linka for talking her into saying something and asking her for advice on what she should wear.

Responding mechanically to the questions, the Russian had longed to escape her friends company, but it wasn't to be. She couldn't refuse Gi's excited requests without betraying her own feelings and so she was forced to help the water planeteer prepare for her evening out.

Too proud to let anyone see that she was hurt by Wheeler's sudden defection, not to mention proving that all her fears about him were true, inside Linka was devastated. So much so, in fact, she had even considered asking Gaia to send her home before the couple returned from their date. She felt like her two closest friends had betrayed her, but at the same time, a little voice in the back of her mind was whispering that she had brought it on herself.

Unable to sleep, the Russian returned to the common room after Kwame and Ma-Ti had retired for the night. Sitting alone in the dark, Linka tried to bring order to her jumbled thoughts and emotions, but without much success. I let them both think that he meant nothing to me, I cannot try to come between them now… but if it does not work out between them… but if he really had feelings for me, he would have turned her down anyway…I have to forget about him.

The sound of the Geo-Cruiser returning drew Linka to the window, though she remained at the edge so that she was concealed from view, as the fire planeteer walked his new girlfriend to her door.

They were holding hands and laughing, leaving Linka in no doubt as to how their date went, but if she had needed anymore proof, she was about to get it.

Standing outside Gi's cabin to talk before they finally said goodnight, the Asian girl took a sudden step forward and brought her mouth up to meet Wheeler's. Never slow to take that kind of a hint, the American pulled her close and deepened the kiss.

Linka's face was already wet with tears as she let herself out of the door of the common room, running away from the sight of her two friends locked in their passionate embrace. When she reached a deserted section of beach, having no where left to run, the lovely Russian dropped to knees in the sand and covered her wet face with her hands as she gave way to her emotions.