Chapter One

Love the girl who holds the world in a paper cup, drink it up,
Love her and she'll bring you luck.
And if you find she helps your mind, buddy, take her home,
Don't you live alone, try to earn what lovers own.
Danny's Song
Kenny Loggins

  With the holidays mercifully over with life returned to a more normal pace in the Jackson household. Nick and Annie were thrilled with their new house. As promised, Daniel and Calla closed on it giving them title to the property. The newlyweds made plans to move out by the end of next week, which was just fine with Colleen who was busy buying all the new things she’d need to decorate her own little apartment. Daniel returned to work at the SGC as a non-active member of SG-1 for the time being. That meant he went to work at 7:30 am and returned home every night at 6:30 pm. Calla was waiting to start her new job as Head of the Arts & Culture Department at University Colorado Silver Springs—just as Nick and Annie were waiting to start class at the same. Ten days from now four members of the Jackson family would take over the university campus. Gods help them all!

Calla was waiting for something else as well; her morning sickness to subside. In fact she had no idea why the Mortals called it ‘Morning Sickness’ when clearly it was not reserved for the morning hours! No, she was sick morning, noon and night even more so than when she was pregnant with the twins. Always did her head throb, just the slightest bit and her stomach never sat still it was constantly grumbling, rumbling or jittering. The slightest odor could send her into fits of vomiting that were previously unheard of or cause the dull throbbing in her head to become a horrid stabbing blade and as such, no one in the house was allowed to wear perfume or cologne, there was no air freshener allowed and the laundry soap had become of the Unscented variety. Dr. Adams kept telling her that it would all go away in another month or so but that’s what Janet Fraiser said as well and she felt ill almost all the way through, Calla held out little hope that this time would be different.

Dr. Adams had been unable to give her an estimate for a due date. Calla couldn’t give him any estimate as to the date of conception, it wasn’t like she had a cycle to keep track of. Everything came to an awful bloody head on November the third. They made love for the first time in months on November the sixth and hadn’t stopped until Christmas. As far as his best guess went, in Mortal terms, she was thirteen weeks along at the time he examined her and pronounced her pregnant just before Christmas three weeks ago. Six months was a normal gestation period for an Olympian. When she carried Kanan’s children she was pregnant no longer than that before going into labor. But Daniel was Mortal when Calla became pregnant with and carried the twins seven to a term of a half months. Colleen carried Lilly for eight months and there wasn’t anything premature about darling little Lilly. Now that Daniel was Immortal she wondered if that would change and the time in which the baby would take to arrive be lessened. Perhaps Monday they would find out that was when her next appointment with Adams was, Daniel was going with her. It was quite a change from last time.

It was cold out there today the radio predicted a whopper of a snow storm moving in late today bringing up to three feet of fresh snow. Upon hearing that, Calla used her powers to fill the woodbins in the house with new stacks of ready wood for burning. She went around and tightened the windows as well, took stock of the refrigerator and decided she’d better go shopping by the end of the day just to be sure that they had enough of everything.

Calla called Daniel to ask if there was anything he wanted while she was out, he told her to stay home and he’d stop at the store on his way back to the house in an hour or so. It was already snowing hard and he didn’t want her caught in it especially not in that crappy little Integra of hers. Not when his new Jag had all-wheel drive. Over the phone she gave him a list. Just the basic necessities really; toilet paper, milk, eggs, bread, butter, cookies, something chocolate, oh yes, marshmallows and graham crackers, perhaps a bit of ice cream, grape juice (something she couldn’t get enough of lately and she’d never really liked it before) and cereal, Frosted Flakes please. Daniel jotted down the items with a smile. “That’s it, honey? You sure you don’t want, oh, I dunno, pickles or something? Barbecued ribs? Goat cheese?”

“Don’t tease,” she said back with a laugh, “if we’re going to be snowed in this weekend we might as well be comfortable. I’ve brought the wood in, “she heard him sigh and very swiftly added, “don’t worry I didn’t carry it.” He didn’t say anything that meant he was still upset that she’d done work he thought he should do. “Mr. Ramis called again.”

On the other end of the line Daniel let out a heavy sigh. He’d been meaning to call Mr. Ramis back for days but hadn’t gotten around to it. “I’ll call him tonight. Stay inside and don’t do too much. I love you, honey”

“Love you too. Drive safe. Bye.” Hanging up the phone Calla made her way up to the mailbox and pulled from it next semester’s schedules for the four of them along with a large package which contained her Budget Guide for the coming semester. Oh, joy. Plopping the kids’ mail down on the kitchen table, she made her way up to her attic to play around with her lesson plans and try to figure out what she was going to say to everyone at the Teacher’s Meeting on Monday morning. Calla always attended the Teacher’s Meetings but she never had to be in charge of one before. The college wanted her to talk about ways to save money—of course, hence the new Budget Guide—and it was mandatory that she go over each professor’s budget and general class overview with them. She wanted to do something a bit more exciting than that, she was supposed to inspire these teacher’s so that they in turn would go to inspire their classes. Right now, as she sat slowly munching on Ritz crackers, she didn’t feel very inspiring or exciting. Classes started on Wednesday and she didn’t have any idea what she was going to teach.

The wind was picking up speed. She looked up at the roof as the wind whistled loudly as it skipped across the eaves. The little window across the attic was white with frost and she couldn’t see anything through it. With a bit of concern Calla crossed the room to gaze out the window. Great big flakes of white snow were falling at an increasing rate while the wind blew them around creating near white-out conditions. “That doesn’t look good.” A sinking coldness crept over her. Suddenly a blur of Candy Apple Red pull into the driveway. Why was Nicholas home so early? The front door opened and she traveled the Astral to the bottom of the stairs.

“Geez! Mom!” Nicholas grumbled and clutched at his heart. “Why’d you do that?”

“Why are you home so early? What’s wrong?”

“Wrong? Early? Don’t you pay attention to the outside world?” He hitched his thumb toward the window as he slipped out of the back leather jacket. “They closed the gym the roads are getting really bad.”

“What about Annie?” Calla asked.

“I already called but that moron manager won’t let her out early.” Nicholas huffed. “I swear that guy’d hock donuts in a typhoon.”

“Perhaps you should go and get her anyway.” Calla suggested. “It’s not as though she needs the job any longer and they never did treat her very well so if they get pissy over it…well….just….fuck them.” She said. “Go and get your wife bring her home.”

“You talk to Dad?” Nick was slipping his coat back on.

“He’s supposed to be home in an hour or so.” Calla sighed. “He’s stopping at the store for me…” She gazed down at the watch on her wrist to see it was after three in the afternoon and she’d talked to Daniel almost two hours ago. Where did the time go? He should have left the SGC by now if he wasn’t sidetracked, which of course he was often apt to do.

“Lemme guess, you wanna make s’mores over the fire while we’re all snowed in here?” Nicholas asked with a big grin. “Maybe tell a ghost story or sing a song around the piano? Have some hot chocolate?”

“You know me so well.”

“You are my Mom.” He said with a smile Mom always made being snowed in such fun with her s’mores and her hot chocolate.

Calla gazed back toward the window. “I should tell him to come straight home. He’s late.”

“Y—" the front door opened.

“Man it’s colder than a witches’ tit out there!” Colleen bitched loudly and slammed the door shut behind her. “It is really nasty!”

“Go and get Annie I’ll call your Father.” Calla said to Nicholas.

“See ya in a bit, Mom.” He bent down to kiss her forehead. “Did I ever tell you I think you’re pretty cool?”

“Maybe once or twice.” She said with a blush and reached for the phone. The line was dead. “It’s out.”

“What?” Colleen asked and got the cell phone out of her pocket. No good. “The storm can’t have knocked down all the cell towers.”

Calla and Daniel hadn’t practiced this very much and over the years he never did like it when she poked around in his head but there wasn’t much choice. The weather was getting worse and she was getting worried. “Go get Annie,” she said for the last time and watched Nicholas walk out the door. Daniel? Daniel? Can you hear me, my love?

Daniel Jackson was just reaching the check out counter at the local Stop & Shop when his head started tingling. Standing there with the cashier in site, he swore there was phone ringing in his mind. Daniel picked it up. Hello?

Oh, hello, Beautiful! Calla said with a worried lilt.

I know it is. I’m on my way in just a few minutes. I got everything you wanted and I’ll be home soon. Hoping he didn’t look like he was having a conversation with someone else in his head, Daniel started putting the items up on the cashier’s conveyor belt.

Even though they were talking mind to mind and he couldn’t hear her voice, she felt a bit confused to him. I’m getting ready to pay and leave. Is everything all right, Kitty?

Good, stay there. Nick will back soon and then we’ll all sit around the fire for a while, how’s that sound? All the items on the belt and being rung up, Daniel pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and found no available signal. “Phone’s are out.” He mumbled to the cashier while slipping it back into his pocket. The electricity would go next and he definitely wanted to get home before that happened. Calla greatly enjoyed being snowed in just as long as the electricity didn’t go out.

His words didn’t seem to ease her mind. Very soon, Kitty.

Calla clicked off the line in her head, went to the utility closet in the kitchen where she gathered several candles and took them out to the living room where she sat down in the chair by the window to wait for Daniel and Nicholas while Colleen took Lilly upstairs for a nap. Sitting there alone Calla couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong or about to go wrong.

“Hey, handsome!” Annie said with a big grin. She leaned over the counter and pushed the paper hat further back on her blonde head. “What are you doin’ here?”

“Come on, Annie, the roads are bad and they’re just gonna get worse. It’s time to go home.”

“Excuse me,” the snotty manager, Jeff, said in his nasal voice said, “her shift isn’t over for another three hours. If you’re going to wait for her you have to buy something.”

“I’m not waiting for her, we’re leaving.” Nick snarled.

“She isn’t authorized to leave, Nick, don’t go throwing your weight around here or I’ll toss you out on your ass.” Jeff threatened. “If you go Annie you’re fired.”

“I gotta stay Nicky.”

“No you don’t. You’re gonna stay here for this prick and wait until the roads are so bad you can’t get outta here? For what? A lousy 6.75 an hour? C’mon Annie.”

Annie looked from her manager to her husband and back again. Screw this. She tossed the hat with the Dazzlin’ Donuts logo on it at Jeff. “If you’re gonna be such an asshole then I quit. Everyone else is closing down, Jeff.” Annie pointed out the big picture windows at the mini-mall across the street in which, all the stores were either closed or the last customers were walking out. “Try to be smart for once in your pathetic life and just send everyone home.” The rest of the staff of the donut shop stopped working and were waiting to see what the manager had to say, they’d all like to go home as well. It wasn’t as though there were any customers, this part of Colorado was closing up shop until the storm passed.

Jeff, the nasal voiced pock-faced manager didn’t like people telling him what to do. When he was on duty, he was the Captain of the Ship and he wasn’t going to take orders from any pissing lackey like Annie Jackson. “Leave and you’re fired.”

“I already quit.” Annie returned. “If you’re smart,” she looked past him to her co-workers, “you’ll do that same thing.” Annie turned to look back at the manager who’d given her so many headaches over the last two years. “Some of us have families, that means, that unlike you we have something better to do than sit around waiting for the latest porn DVD and choking our chickens hoping to God that some day we’ll stumble across a fat cow so drunk she'll let us fuck her.” Annie hopped over the counter and took Nick’s hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

The co-workers watched her go and within a few minutes, two of them followed her lead leaving Jeff with only one staff person. No one came in for the rest of the shift, seemed no one wanted any donuts tonight. When the shop closed for the night, the snow was so deep even Jeff’s Escalade couldn’t get through it. But that was just too bad for Jeff and his chicken-shit underling because by the same time all the members of the Jackson family were happy and warm at home.

Calla was much relieved when Daniel, Nicholas and Annie walked through the front door at the same time. “Hello, Beautiful.” She held out her arms to her Husband.

It’s always so good to come home to her. She always has a smile and warm hug for me. Daniel put the sack of groceries down on the hall table and embraced her.

“That’s right,” Calla whispered in her ear. “I always have them for you.”

“You heard that? Yeah, well, obviously you did.” Hugging her tight, Daniel half-smiled and half-frowned while he mulled over the implications of this power between them. “I guess I need to be more careful.”

“Only if you’re thinking something bad. Perhaps we should practice.” Calla stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek before letting him go.

Upon her stepping back, Daniel’s hand rested on her tiny belly. “Hey in there, Daddy’s home.”

Calla let out a giggle. “Hello, Nicholas. Hi, Annie I’m glad he brought you home early.”

“Yeah, well, you might not be.” Annie said as she looked down at the floor. “I got fired.”

“Fired?” Nicholas, who helped his Father bring in the groceries handed her over the bag he was carrying. “She quit.”

“You did?” Calla cried. “Oh, good for you Annie!” She reached out with her free arm to give her daughter in-law a hug. “You’re better than that place.” Annie, who was more than surprised by Callas’ reaction, accepted the hug gratefully. “I guess everyone better get comfortable we’re going to be here for a while.”

“You better take that from your Mother.” Daniel scolded. “I don’t believe you did that.”

“Hu-wh—Oh,” Nicholas grabbed the grocery bag away. “Sorry little mama, I’ll take this in to the kitchen,” he grabbed the bag sitting on the table. “This one too, come on Annie let’s see what we got.”

“I could have done that,” Calla said with a light frown. “I’m not helpless.”

“Neither is he. How was your day?” Daniel said easily changing the subject.

“Unproductive,” she groused and followed him to the living room. “I got nothing done.”

“Looks like we’re going to do a lot of nothing over the next few days.” Daniel said and stoked the fire. “That’s good we deserve the downtime.”

“What do ya do with these?” Annie asked Nicholas as they came into the living room with a box of graham crackers, bag of marshmallows and several Hershey bars. The two of them settled on the floor by the fire.

“You make s’mores,” Nick said opening the box and assembling the items in the proper order. “You roast the marshmallow then put it on the chocolate and put the other cracker on top.” Four s’mores ready to go, Nick popped marshmallows onto a metal roasting fork and stuck them over the fire. “Trust me, you’re gonna love these.”

“Didn’t you ever go camping, Annie? Girl Scouts, Brownies, Fire Flies?” Daniel asked.

“No.” Annie said with a huffed sigh and watched her husband roast the marshmallows. “My mother wouldn’t sign me up for that stuff she always said she didn’t have the time to drag my butt around creation.”

None of the Jackson family, other than Nicholas, had ever met Annie’s mother and it was beginning to look as though they didn’t want to. “Well, the next few days are bound to be like one big camping trip. You’ll like it.” Daniel told her.

“Camping trip?” Calla asked. “My dear Husband, we haven’t had a storm like this since the children were very small.” She said in a reminding tone. “I doubt we’ll all be sleeping in the living room tonight, I don’t think Nicholas and Annie would appreciate that very much.” Annie’s mouth dropped open in a little ‘o’ and Calla laughed.

“They’re ready.” Nick said and with his fingertips put one hot marshmallow onto each s’more then put the caps on. “Try it,” he handed one over to Annie whose face lit up immediately on first bite, she wiped the marshmallow and melted chocolate away from her bottom lip.

“Umm, this is good.” She said with a grin.

“Hey!” Colleen shouted from the stairs. “No fair! You’re supposed to call me.” She shunted Lilly to the other hip while she strode into the living room and took her place among the family. “Gimmie one, big guy.” She held her free hand out for one of the gooey treats. Colleen smeared a line of melted chocolate on Lilly’s lips and watched the baby’s eyes grow wide as she licked it off. Everyone laughed. “Yeah that’s good stuff, huh, kid?”

Gazing at her family with a prideful smile Calla eased her way off the couch. “Where are you going?” Daniel asked.

“To fix some hot chocolate.”

“Sit down, I’ll get it.”

Calla’s emerald eyes rolled around as she let out a sigh. “I can make hot chocolate,” she protested. “I’m just going into the kitchen.” When she was pregnant with the twins she wished time and again that Daniel was there with her but he was not…well, not for a long while and even then not as he should have been. Now she was starting to wonder if they both wouldn’t be better off if he didn’t spend so much time at home hovering over her. There he was looking at her with a sour puss. “Really, Daniel, I’m not dying of some horrible disease, I’m just pregnant.”

“Just pregnant?”

“Uh-Oh,” Nick said finishing putting a few more s’mores together. “Hey, don’t argue, it’s bad for the baby.” He told both of them. “I’ll get the hot chocolate, ok? Here, you munch on this.” He handed his Mother one of the warm gooey treats.

“Nicholas really…..” Calla intoned grumpily.

“Ma, just let him get it.” Colleen said. “I know you don’t like people making a fuss over you, it makes you feel incompetent, doesn’t it?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “That’s not what we mean to do especially Dad.” Daniel gave a satisfied little grin. “We just want to help you out and make sure that we have a happy healthy new addition to the family. That ok with you?”

Taking a bite out of the s’more and looking around at the four other people in the room, Calla sat down. “All right I see I’m out numbered here. Go on Nicholas, you know how to do it.”

“Yeah, ya just rip open the packets and….”

“Oh brother!” Colleen griped as she stood up. “That’s not how ya do it, egghead. I’ll do it.” She handed Lilly to Nick who looked up his sister in bewilderment. “You need practice,” she said and walked out of the living room.

“Here you take her,” Nick said to Annie and handed the baby off to his wife. “You need practice too.”

“Babies aren’t contagious, Nick.” Annie huffed and took Lilly from her Uncle.

“No?” Nick asked with a grin, “take a look at her.” He pointed to his pregnant Mother.

“Uncle Nick’s just silly that’s all.” Annie said to the baby. “Very silly.”

“Aw,” Nick blushed, “it’s just that she’s so tiny that she gets lost in my arms.”

Calla snickered and Daniel laughed. Annie smiled and shook her head.

In the kitchen, Colleen put a saucepan of milk on the stove and was scooping Dutch cocoa into mugs and adding in powdered creamer, a touch of sugar and three pieces each of milk chocolate. That’s how her Mother taught her to make hot chocolate. Only Nick and Dad ripped opened those powder packets and then added hot water! Ick. At least if she or Calla had to do it quickly they did it with hot milk instead of water.

When it came to being snowed in there were several Jackson Traditions, Colleen looked in the freezer to see if she couldn’t produce one of them. “Yes!” She exclaimed happily, as she pulled the cartons of frozen fried chicken and macaroni and cheese out of the ice box. Colleen tossed them on cookie sheets and then into the oven. Dinner would be ready in just about an hour. The milk just shy of boiling she took it off the stove to pour it into the mugs and bring them out to the living room.

“Here we go,” Colleen said as put the tray of mugs down on the coffee table. “I got dinner going.”

“Thank you Colleen.” Calla said with a smile and sipped off the cup. “Perfect, just right.” She complimented. Hot chocolate was always the perfect compliment to fresh s’mores, no matter what the weather was like. “What are you making for dinner?” The news surprised Calla, Colleen wasn’t much of a cook and never cared to learn.

“I’ll give ya one guess,” Coley said resuming her place on the floor and taking Lilly back from Annie.

“Found the chicken, did you?”

“You know it.” Coley said with a wink. “Hey, big guy” she said to her brother, “how about getting us the weather channel or something?”

Nicholas picked up the remote and flicked on the TV to get the latest weather report. The weatherman was telling them that the blizzard would pass sometime late tomorrow leaving them with three feet or more of fresh snow. That was the good news. The bad news was that before it all ended it would turn to freezing rain, which would cover the entire mess with a hearty layer of ice before it was all said and done. According to the weatherman it was best to baton down the hatches and hold on tight because it was going to be a bumpy night and slow going over the next day or two.

If there was going to be an ice storm then the power was sure to go out. Outside the wind was howling and whipping the snow into frenzy. On the couch, Calla snuggled a little closer to her Husband and drew the blanket around her legs. “It sounds cold and angry out there.” That nagging feeling that something was terribly wrong returned to her. Something out there was riding the storm.

Everyone was home and…..

“We’re warm and safe in here.” Daniel told her and put his arm around her shoulder. “Don’t worry, honey, everything’s all right.”

Maybe it was just her. Calla was prone to little bouts and spells especially now that she was pregnant. Still, it didn’t feel warm or safe and Daniels’ reassurances didn’t ease the heavy feeling weighing down her heart. In the far recesses of her mind, someone whispered her name. She looked around to see if Nicholas or Colleen heard the faint voice but they had not. The twins were sitting on the floor, Colleen with Lilly in her lap and Nicholas with his arm around Annie, all of them sipping hot cocoa and talking about the classes starting next week.

“Your schedules came today,” Calla told the three of them, “they’re on the kitchen table.” Annie went to retrieve them while Calla put the mug on the table, drew the blanket from her legs to around her shoulders and then got up to look out the living room windows. The storm was getting worse, the wind roared and lightning crackled overhead and booming thunder followed on its heels. The raw energy of it coursed through her though she barely felt it as she laid her hand against the cold glass, Calla leaned closer to get a better look. Another harsh flash of lightning struck. Someone was out there standing across the way facing the house. Or was he? Probably just a bush or an animal highlighted by the lightning strike. The massive fir tree in the front yard was swaying side to side with the gusts of wind.

“Hey, Ma!” Nick said sharply. Calla turned around. “Geez, finally, that’s the third time I called you.”

“I’m sorry, what’s up?” Calla asked and resumed her place on the couch. “I must have been day dreaming.”

“I was saying isn’t there some rule against this?” Nick repeated and saw by the blankness of her eyes that his Mother hadn’t heard a single word he said. “You being my teacher?”

“What?” Calla reached for the paper he was handing her. Introduction to Fine Art—Wednesday 11:00 am—Prof. C. Jackson. “Oh this isn’t right at all.” She groused.

“Then mine isn’t either.” Coley said and handed her schedule over to her Mother.

“What’s wrong?” Daniel asked and leaned in to look at the papers in his wife’s hand and read it. Fine Art 202-Thursday 8:00 am—Prof. C. Jackson. “I see. Nick why are you even taking art?”

At first, Nicholas was insulted by the question as though his Father thought he shouldn’t take the class or something. “I like it,” Nick said. “Besides, I thought it would be an easy credit.”

“Hum,” Daniel murmured. “And why did you think that?”

“I dunno, ‘cuz I already know a lot about it,” he pointed at Calla.

“I can’t be your teacher it’s a conflict.”

“What about me?” Annie asked and then handed her schedule over.

“You too?” Sure enough when Calla looked at the paper it read; Introduction to Fine Art—Wednesday 11:00 am—Prof. C. Jackson. “Who makes these things up and what are they thinking?” She asked no one. If she’d looked at the big package which came for her earlier in the day she’d already have this information but she’d pushed it aside not wanting to deal with it. “I’ll call the university on Monday and straighten this out for all of you. You two will probably end up Shaughnessy and you’ll probably get Callahan, all right?” Calla said.

“I had Callahan last semester,” Coley complained bitterly, “he sucks.”

Calla cleared her throat and sipped from her cocoa before replying. “He’s a bit, um, brusque,” she agreed, “but he’s a good teacher. As for Shaughnessy, he’s a total idiot I’m sure you’ll both love him.”

“What are you going to do with Lilly while you’re at school?” Daniel asked his Daughter.

“Mom got her into the university day care,” Coley said with a nod of her head and looked very pleased.

“I thought that was only for faculty and staff.”

“I have pull,” Calla purred with a Cheshire grin. “Lilly will love it there while Cole’s in class, they’re very good and it’s very clean.”

“And very free,” Daniel remarked, “aren’t you lucky?”

“You bet.” Coley agreed and looked down to see that Lilly had fallen asleep. “I’ll put her in the crib, that chicken and stuff’s probably ready.”

“I’ll get it.” Calla said and stood up. She looked around waiting for the chants of ‘no don’t’ but heard none and felt satisfied as she wandered off to put the chicken on a platter and then onto the dining table. Sometimes it was nice to have a cheap and easy meal, well, so long as it still tasted good anyway. At least the aromas from the s’more and hot chocolate hadn’t bothered her and she was a little hungry tonight so the mac & cheese would feel good in her stomach.

End of Chapter One
The Cradle Will Fall
Continue to
Chapter Two