Chapter Nineteen

Life goin nowhere. somebody help me.
Somebody help me, yeah.
Stayin’ Alive
The Bee Gees

Three days later Calla returned home to Altair Ain. Well before that the news of her stroke was all over the world.  In fact, there were news crews crowded outside the SGC for the three days she stayed in the infirmary just waiting to get a picture of the once beautiful but now debilitated Queen of Altair Ain.   Even though he thought they were nothing but vultures Daniel supposed he couldn’t blame them, she was the story-to-end-all-stories, wasn’t she?  Once obscure little woman who rose to notoriety in the art world under the arm of Andrew Hartley and took it by storm, then turned out to be a Goddess the whole world watched fall and suffer through heroin addiction and then through a mental breakdown. Getting cleaned up and back on her feet she went on to establish and become Queen of her own damn kingdom.  Yep, she was one hell of a story no matter how you sliced it. The news be damned, in the end they’d gotten a lot more than their traditional pound of flesh out of Calla and the rest of the Jackson family, when they came home they didn’t pass a single camera or microphone instead opting to travel the astral from the infirmary to Daniel and Calla’s bedroom where she would be spending a great deal of time.

The first week was the most difficult as people came in and out. Medical supplies were ordered and delivered and put in place.  Daniel was quite right when he said that the UPs would form a line at his front door to help Calla. What he didn’t know at the time was just how long that line would stretch. It went from his door to the gates to the kingdom two and half miles away.  They all stood quietly talking among themselves, very patient, very serious and waited until they were called into the house where Annie went through their abilities and what would be required in taking care of their Queen. Of the UPs chosen they were to help by sitting with Calla and keeping her company, they were to do household chores and make sure everything to do with the running of the house went smoothly from laundry to window washing to meal preparation. Daniel paid the bills. The manor house in Altair Ain finally had what every other residence of a Head of State had; a full staff. She’d always been so fiercely independent and insistent that she could be Queen, Wife and Mother along with Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Calla wasn’t independent any longer. She was alert since before they left the SGC and she tried like to hell to talk but she was still largely uncommunicative. When she did try to talk she suffered from severe aphasia mixing words and sounds that made no sense at all to anyone but her. It was a common side effect from stroke and one that they hoped would get better with re-training and speech therapy. But for now it frustrated the hell out of Calla who, in her own mind, was saying exactly what she wanted to say and couldn’t understand why everyone else didn’t understand her.  She would break down and sob or reach out with her good hand and throw things to vent.

The funny part about her aphasia—and they had to find the humor in things to prevent themselves from breaking down—was that it seemed to have a pattern to it. Nick quickly became know as ‘Gator’ for whatever reason there was in Calla’s misfiring mind. Ares became ‘Stoke’, Daniel was ‘Bear’ and David became known as ‘Doc’, at least among the immediate family.  The professional speech therapist they hired warned them not to fall into that pattern around Calla. It was very important that be told the correct name or word for something and that she then was encouraged to say it properly.

While not up to walking, Calla did sit up with the aid of well-placed pillows for several hours at a stretch and made the attempt to feed herself. She got quite cross when others tried to feed her but she didn’t do a good job of getting the food to her mouth and she was quickly relegated to either a plastic spoon or her fingers for that purpose. When she used the fork she often poked herself in the lip or the cheek leaving small round marks all over her lower jaw. For the most part, Calla had control over the left side of her body but the right was still frozen in paralysis.  The eye drooped down along with her cheek and jaw as though she were some mongoloid freak. Her arm was curled unnaturally at her side at all times other than when the physical therapist or occupational therapist was working with her. The first steps toward correcting the paralysis were braces. Calla wore a very large and cumbersome neck brace with a high collar upon which her chin rested.  It forced her head upright and straight while forcing the faulty right side of her jaw to close. She wore a patch over her good eye several hours a day in an attempt to strengthen the droopy eye on the right. It was hoped that her muscles would be easily re-trained to take over their old jobs.  Her right leg and arm was a bit of a different story. There was a brace on the leg that ran from her thigh to her ankle and forced the entire leg to a straight position for eighteen hours out of the day including during the night. For six hours the brace was adjusted so that the knee bent and wasn’t sticking out in front of her everywhere she went hindering her ability to get around on the electric scooter. The same pattern was followed with the arm being in a brace which extended across her shoulder and down to her wrist. The only time the braces on her limbs were removed was for bathing and therapy.  Those were moments which seemed to make Calla very happy and Daniel couldn’t say he blamed her. It must be horrible to be locked up in those heavy braces all day and all night. However, when she wasn’t kept tight in their grasp her body sort of hung there, just hanging askew as though someone had reached up and pulled out the hinge on the right side. Soon the braces would come off for longer periods of time and it was hoped she would regain most of the use of the right leg but probably not all use of the arm.

With Daniel’s ability to transport his wife, chair and all, to any room in the house—or the planet for that matter—in the blink of an eye the stairs were no longer an obstacle. So the solarium was chosen as her new personal therapy room.  It was on the first floor and far away from the comings and goings in the main house perfect for privacy and grueling work outs.  Now, where plants had once filled the floor there was a massage bed, a work out bench, a set of parallel bars and a treadmill for when she did start to walk again and more exercise balls and equipment than he could even think about.  A free standing whirlpool tub was set near the middle of the room and a larger sunk-in hot tub now took up one corner. All very nicely set up in a calm peaceful atmosphere complete with surround-sound speakers and enough candles to light Chicago on fire in the hopes that her frustration level wouldn’t grow too quickly as she set about on the path to recovery for the umpteenth time in her life.

Annie had been right and the job of taking care of Calla was far too large for one person to handle.  A staff of professional nurses was hired to come in and care for her in eight hour shifts.  An entire array of other professionals was hired to come in during the hours she was awake.  Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the speech therapist came in and worked with her from 9am until 11am, at noon the physical therapist came in and worked with her from noon until 2pm.  Tuesday and Thursday the occupational therapist came in and worked her from 10am until noon, after lunch and a short break the speech therapist came back for an hour between 2pm and 3pm. At the end of the day on Thursday the massage therapist came in to work on her for an hour.  The schedule was rigorous and it wore Calla out, by 7pm she was usually asleep for the night.  Daniel couldn’t take watching her work with the physical therapist, the guy was only doing his job but the way he made her work was intolerable to him.  By contrast the occupational therapist was much less demanding and Daniel often sat in on those sessions to encourage her along as she re-learned how to brush her hair and bring food to her mouth without jabbing herself in the chin. The occupational therapist even incorporated the kittens into her therapy by having her pet them in long slow strokes which also just happened to elongate and use all the muscles in that injured right arm.

Over the first few weeks Calla showed more improvement than Annie had hoped for. She’d gotten very good with her scooter-- everywhere she went on that thing her two newest friends, Hercules and Atlas, were sure to follow. The kittens were always with her no matter what she was doing or where she was you could count on at least one of them being very nearby.  Calla’s vocal skills were slow to come along they didn’t have too many problems getting her point across with a series of looks, grunts and pointing at things if she had to.  She knew what she wanted and what she was trying to say or do but her brain’s wiring was screwed up at the moment and it didn’t understand how to carry out the acts she wanted to perform.  Several times she tried to communicate telepathically with them but that didn’t work either. When her thoughts did make it through to the intended party they were just as apt to be jumbled as if she’d tried to speak. Calla got frustrated easily and, as such, was prone to days of deep depression.  While she never refused to go to therapy there were days she just sat in her chair staring out the windows at the great beyond wondering if she’d ever get back out there.

By the end of the first week Daniel started to push the kids to go back to school and halfway through the second week the kids returned their respective colleges and institutes of higher learning. Christmas vacation was coming up soon enough and they could pop back here whenever they wanted. Calla would want them in class and not fussing around her. The triplets, at least one of them, popped in every other day to sit with her and chat whenever they could squeeze a half hour or so out of their busy academic schedules. Brigid and Lilly wished they could do the same they could fly back and forth on a plane Lilly from Yale and Brigid from Berkley and would do so without any hesitation. Calla wouldn’t like that and unless it was very important they’d have to settle for visiting with her over the web and until Christmas rolled around. 

Nicholas took an extended leave of absence from the SGC to stay in the kingdom, tend his Mother and try to put his marriage back together.  He was on the verge of losing Annie, he just knew it. The main reason she was still here wasn’t him or the kids anymore it was Calla, if his Mother didn’t need her so much Annie might well have packed up the kids and left.  In fact it seemed like the only times they saw and spoke to each other was when they were in the same room with Calla. They still hadn’t made love and she’d already gotten to the point where she was acting—or so he hoped she was acting—like she just didn’t care anymore.  She was tired, she was under a lot of pressure and sex wasn’t something she wanted or had time for right now.  That was what was what she said anyway. Whether or not she meant it was anyone’s guess. As a result she spent more nights sleeping in her little clinic than she did in her bed.  Now that Calla was settled in Annie intended to go to the SGC for a few days and see if she couldn’t help crack the answer to the UPs fertility problem.  She kept her ear to the ground on that one and the grumblings were good, she wanted to be there when the breakthrough occurred.

Calla’s stroke only served to harden Daniel’s resolve to find a way to save her. Every minute Daniel didn’t spend with Calla he spent with his nose in a book or on his computer searching for the answer.  Soon he would leave Earth but not for long. Daniel intended to go back to Tiberia and search for the necklace Kanan had once given to Calla. First he would go to the islands and search Eros’s Tower. That one had to be there, where else would it be?  It shouldn’t take anymore than a few hours to find and she’d be fine while he was gone for that short period of time. Kanan’s, however, could be more difficult to locate. It could be on Tiberia or it could be in the wreckage of Kanan’s ship back on whatever fucking planet they’d crashed on. Could be anywhere in between for that matter. How long he would be away on that particular search he had no idea but hoped it wouldn’t be long and that she would be alright while he was gone. If he had those and he knew who the fourth man was then maybe the solution would simply present itself to him.

During all the hub-bub something was forgotten. Well, who could blame anyone for it?  In the midst of such turmoil small things are often forgotten.  Daniel had done little over the past weeks other than make the big adjustment to the curve life had thrown them. He’d even put his puzzle aside for a while at least until Calla was settled and then he intended to ask a few pointed questions of a few pointed Olympians.  As such, it wasn’t until October 30^th that the mistake was realized.

“What do you mean no one canceled the ball?” Daniel asked as he stood in his office talking with Morgan.

“It’s pretty simple,” she said with a grin.  “It’s too late now.  People are already here in Scotland. Two of her students arrived in Altair Ain this morning.”

The ball, Calla wanted to go as Marie Antoinette and he was going to be Henry VIII but it didn’t look as though Calla would be attending the ball this year.  She’d been home almost three weeks now and she was showing remarkable improvement, she still suffered from the aphasia but it was losing its grip on her and she made more sense each day that went past. She was getting around with the aid of an electric scooter chair which she operated with a good deal of efficiency.  Still, she wasn’t up to a grand party. Certainly she wasn’t ready to put on her Queen Calla persona even if it was hidden under Marie Antoinette.

“We really can’t stop it now the most we can do is put our backs into it and get everything ready.” Morgan encouraged. “I’ve already assembled a team they’re working down at the museum right now. I’ve been in contact with the catering company she hired, everything is in place.”

The place would be swarming with media. They’d want to get a good look at the ailing Queen who wouldn’t be attending her own gala ball.  “Security has to be extra tight.” This would undoubtedly be their last chance to purchase any new works of art by Calla Jackson. The stroke affected her right side so the chances of her ever painting anything worth buying were not good. All in all tomorrow night may just be the fulfillment of Andrew Hartley’s dream; the auction would be insane. The paintings would go for a sky high amount and Daniel was already aware that Calla earmarked the proceeds from this year’s ball for something extra special.

“Already talked to Ares he’s working on it.” Morgan agreed knowing that with Calla in such delicate shape it would be doubly important to make sure that absolutely nothing unplanned occurred.  “He’s already said no masks this year.”

“Good.”  The last thing any of them wanted was a bunch of strangers wandering around in masks. “If I see one picture of her in one tabloid, Morgan, I swear I’ll hit the roof. I want guards at every door of this house inside and out.”

“Understood. No one will get into the main house.” Morgan said as she rose and nodded her head. “It’s all under control all you’ll have to do is make an appearance and we’ll take care of everything else.”

“Yeah,” Daniel smirked. “You know she’s going to understand what’s going on and she’s going to want to go.”  That was out of the question. She loved these damn things! She was going to be very upset. In order to make the time she was put-off as short as possible he decided not to tell her about it until tomorrow night.

Upset she was.  “Parrr-tee. Mah-ine.” She said in her slurred voice when Daniel explained to her what was going on. It was goddamn hard to get the words from her brain—which were perfectly fine!—to go to her lips and then through them only to come out garbled and making her sound like a babbling idiot.

“Yes, it’s your party, Kitty but you can’t go. I’m sorry, sweetheart.”  He kissed her forehead and tried to get her out of her scooter and into the bed before he got dressed but she hit the accelerator and scooted past him to the balcony doors, the little chair bobbed side to side as it went over the threshold and then onto the balcony where she stopped and looked out over the rail at the fading sun and all the people lined up outside the museum.  “Come back inside, Kitty.”  He was sure there was at least one moron down there with a telephoto lens trained on the balcony. The location of their bedroom wasn’t a big secret.  Daniel walked up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. 

“Bear go, Kitty go.” She said mournfully as she gazed off in the distance.  Down there tonight there would be music and laughter, people would dance and make new friends, new contacts, they would be introduced to new ideas and ways of thinking. They would dine on the best foods and drink the best wines. She sighed.  Again, Calla thought Death would have been a kinder fate than to be held prisoner in her own body.  She knew what she wanted to do and she knew what she wanted to say she just couldn’t make this faulty prison cooperate.  How long was she expected to endure this fate?  Half of her body worked to her command 99% of the time and the other half of her just sat there like a big old lump of melted clay.  Calla would rather be dead than suffer through the looks on the faces of her family every time they came near her. How their eyes filled with either a false sparkle as did their voices or veiled over hoping she couldn’t see through them. They all stared down at her with that same expression that would give to a poor unfortunate child.

“No honey.  Next year, ok?  We’ll both walk in there big as life next year.”  Daniel squatted down next to her and followed her gaze toward the festivities which were just getting underway.  He could feel her disappointment and frustration as they sat there watching the sunset.  This was her night and wouldn’t be part of it. He wasn’t looking forward to going down there without her, she was supposed to be with him, dancing, laughing and chatting.  Not tonight. Maybe next year she would be better. God he hoped so. “David’s going to come sit with you for a while and then Nick will come, ok?  I won’t be gone too long.”

“Doc?”

It always made him smile with some perverse humor when Calla called David ‘Doc’…Daniel was the ‘Doc’ around here and so was Annie for that matter but it was David who never stepped foot in an institute of higher learning if it didn’t concern a keg and an ounce of weed who ended up with that nickname. “It’s chilly I want you to come back inside now.” He switched off the automatic and put the chair on manual to push her back into the bedroom. Closing and then locking the French doors behind him Daniel drew the heavy curtains over the glass to keep out prying eyes.

Still, the next day several newspapers with near worldwide circulation would carry on their front pages the heart touching image of Daniel with his head leaned against Calla’s shoulder and his arm around her chair. The fading sun lent a rosy glow to the photograph in which Calla’s head was held up by the cumbersome brace, her hollow eyes were wet with tears and her face devoid of any hope.  The caption above it in the London Times would read An Aging Queen and Her Knight In Shining Armor.

Damn reporters and their long lenses.

Tucking her into bed that night Daniel decided to forego the Henry VIII costume and simply go in the Armani suit she liked so much.  David came into the room to keep her company just as the night nurse finished taking her vitals for the evening and making sure she took the last of her pills for the day. Daniel leaned over the bed and brushed a kiss over her lips.  “I love you, Kitty.  I’ll be back soon.” He looked up at David with a heavy heart. “So what are you two going to do without me tonight?”

“Eh,” David offered nonchalantly, “we’ll just watch some TV. That ok by you, Sunshine?” He picked up the remote and pushed the button which made the flat screen appear from the cabinet at the foot of the bed. “You go on, Danny, we’ll be fine.”

Calla didn’t look like she was going to be fine she looked like she was going to start crying again.  If only she could tell the people around her just how useless she felt. Instead of going to her party here she sat like a lump of forgotten clay.

It was just past 8 and he had to stay until after mid-night when the auction would begin. Daniel intended to pop back and forth a few times before he could leave the museum for the night.  Not in the mood for a big fancy party Daniel felt deflated as he was forced to leave her sitting there with David for the next few hours.

David sat next to Calla with the remote in his hand and watching the expression on her face he noticed how it matched Danny’s but was just a little more pronounced.  “Why the long face, Sunshine?”  David cracked. Calla rolled her good eye toward and gave him a nasty glare.  He always said that to her lately like an inside joke.  “Aw, c’mon, you know me. I got something special planned for us tonight.”  That glare turned into a bit of a sparkle as he fished into the pocket of his blue jeans and came back with a second remote control which he aimed at the television.  Next to him she actually bounced a little bit and was about the happiest he’d seen her in the last three weeks.

On the screen were the museum and all the people filing into it.  “I got experience with this stuff.” He cracked again and the gleam in her eye turned back into a glare but only for a moment. David wasn’t a fool he knew by that look she’d like very much to be able to tell him un-funny he was.  Wanting to laugh and hiding the smile he pushed buttons on the remote to show her that they would be able to see four different rooms in the museum including the room where the auction would be held later tonight. If she stayed awake that long she’d be able to watch her paintings—and those of her students—sell for high prices. The cameras all had microphones and could even be operated to zoom in and zoom and pan around the room. He’d been working on this since Danny told him about the party everyone forgot to cancel.  “Hey, that ain’t all.”  David sat up on the bed. “Check this out, Sunshine.” He put the remote down on the mattress, cleared his throat, sighed and closed his eyes before holding out his hands.  A moment later a very large silver tray laden with all types of foods which were no longer on Calla’s diet appeared in his hand. “We’re still goin’ to the party just the rest of ‘em won’t know we’re peekin’ in.” He turned to her with the tray extended. “Horse’s doover?”  There wasn’t a glare or a gleam in her eyes now but a tear and she tried very hard to smile for him, so hard that it made his eyes a little misty. “Now, stop that, Sunshine or we’ll miss the show.” He kissed her forehead and sat back against the pillows, tray on his lap and Calla curled up under his arm.

End of Chapter Nineteen of
Golden Years
by Moon Mistress
a/k/a Lisa Beth Darling
Go to
Chapter Twenty