Chapter Twenty-Three

All Hallows Day

Dont stop, thinking about tomorrow,
Dont stop, itll soon be here,
It’ll be, better than before,
Yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone.
Don’t Stop
Fleetwood Mac

In light of the news regarding her soul and New Life coming to Altair Ain Calla re-doubled her efforts to recover from her stroke. Soon she would have to go to the SGC for more tests and to remove more of her unused eggs and precious Ichor. She wanted to be as strong as she could when that happened.  She hated the physical therapist, Sven was his name he was loud and brash.  His idea of motivation was most other people’s idea of humiliation.  “Now you’re not cooperating with me, Mzzzzus Jackson. You must do what I tell you.” Sven insisted. “Who said you could take these braces off? They’re on you for a reason.” The big Swede huffed as he tightened the brace around her neck before moving her to the exercise chair. “You’re going to give me three reps of twenty today, you got that?  No guff.”  He practically slammed a five pound weight into Calla’s right hand. “Begin.”

Calla wanted to tell him to fuck off, kick him, spit on him, anything!  Instead she did her best to curl her almost useless fingers around the soft material of the five pound hand weight and pick it up.  With great effort she was able to bring it up to her shoulder but putting it down again was another story.  Although she tried very hard to bring it down slowly, her arm simply fell to the wooden table, once of which was attached to each side of the chair similar to the desks one might find in any high school.  Sven rolled his dark blue eyes and shook his blonde head.

“You must do it correctly Mzzzzzus Jackson or you won’t get any better. Do it again. Up slowly and down slowly.”

Summoning her strength Calla picked the weight up one more time and brought it to her shoulder only to have it crash back down again.

“Ah,” Sven said in disgust, “it’s only five pounds! A monkey could do this, why can’t you? Come on pick it up! TOUCH it to your shoulder this time. Do it right!”

One more try.  She wouldn’t say that picking up the stupid five pound weight was easy but it easier than controlling the downward motion.  Getting a good grip on it, she bent her arm at the elbow picking up the weight and pushed a little further until she felt it nudge her shoulder then she tried to bring it back down only to have the same result but this time the weight fell from her hand and onto the floor.

“Bah,” Sven huffed and bent to pick up the weight which he promptly slammed back into her hand.  “You know what I think? I think you like being in that chair. I think you like being waited on and catered to. You know what I don’t think? I don’t think you have any desire to get better. Do it again!”

Calla just sat there with the weight in her hand she didn’t even try to pick it up.

“What’s wrong with you? Go on do it you spoiled little girl.”

Nick had been outside the solarium listening when he couldn’t take it anymore. “That’s enough.” He said as he walked into the very warm room.

“We are working in here Mr. Jackson, please leave.” Sven said in his thick accent.

“You call that therapy?” Nick asked.  “I don’t think you’re the right person for her, Sven. In fact I think you’re fired.”

“You can’t fire me,” Sven protested as he put his hands on his thick hips. “Doctor Jackson hired me and only she can fire me.” He turned back to Calla as his temper started to grow. “I said pick it up now do it! Pick the damn thing up and put it down right!”

Annie had gone to a lot of trouble to hire what she thought were the right therapists for Calla but in Sven’s case it was easy to see that, impeccable credential or not, he was not suited to helping Calla regain her mobility and her strength.  “Well, since Doctor Jackson is my wife and the other Doctor Jackson is my Father and the woman you’re so hell bent on humiliating is my Mother….I say you’re fired.”

Sven looked down at Calla but before he could make a comment she stuck her tongue out at him as she stuck her left thumb to the tip of her nose and wiggled her fingers in the air.

“Looks pretty final to me,” Nick chimed and then snickered at his Mother.  “Pick up your check and go.”

“Fine if that’s the way you want it, you want the little pampered princess here to sit and rot in that chair that’s up to you.  I will talk to both Doctor Jacksons before I leave.” Sven threatened and then stormed out of the room.

Nick sat down in the chair next to Calla and took off the neck brace. She’d been holding her head up just fine on her own. “Better?”  She nodded gratefully and held her good hand to her throat, when she took it away Nick could see how red the area was from the brace being far too tight.  Putting the brace on the floor he picked up the five pound weight. “What’s wrong with that guy, huh? This thing is too heavy for you right now. All we want to do right now is get the motion and mobility back later we can worry about making you buff and cut.”  He cracked as he put it down in the rack with the other small hand weights ranging from one pound to seven.  Behind him Calla snorted a laugh that made him smile. She needed a therapist and Nick was certain she could get the hell out of that chair and start living something akin to a normal life again if she had the right encouragement.  “This music sucks, what do you say?”  Nick strolled over to the CD player in the far corner and shut off the loud hard rock Sven had rockin’ the room at near blasting levels. “Get rid of that,” he knew his Mother wasn’t in to hard rock.  He thumbed through the CDs in the carousel and in the pile. “Oh,” he chuckled, “where did this come from?” He held up a CD which read; AM GOLD and then popped it in the player. Soon the sounds of Three Dog Night and “Joy To The World” were coming through the speakers. That was better.  Nick went back to the small hand weight and picked up the one pound weight and put it in her bad hand.  “Looks like I got a new job.” He said happily. “Come on Mom, pick it up for me.”

She would like to have Nick help her and coach her along.  Calla stopped feeling put upon and picked up the small weight. She brought it to her shoulder and tried very hard to control the descent, just before her arm crashed against the wood again—she was getting heavily bruised—Nick caught it.

“It’s all right, just try again.” He encouraged.  “I’ll tell you what,” he turned away from her for a second to pick up the five pound weight and lay it on the portion of the table at the end of her good hand. “Every time you pick up this weight, I’ll pick up that one.” He got up and retrieved a 25 pound dumb bell.  “BUT every time you pick up the one pounder and put it down right I’ll pick up this one.” He pointed to a 50 pound dumb bell. “Do it like you’re supposed to five times in a row and I’ll pick up that one, ok?” He pointed to the 100 pounder. “Got it? I’ll do it with you, ok?”

“K.”

By the end of the first hour that she normally would have spent with Sven Calla was picking up and putting down the one pound weight with great regularity though neither she nor Nicholas could say she’d mastered it just yet.  However, by the end of that hour, Nicholas had picked up the fifty pound dumb bell eleven times and the 100 pounder twice. 

In the second hour Nick got her out of the chair and up on her feet on the parallel bars for the very first time.  Before getting her up he put a soft collar brace around her neck. It allowed for much more motion while still giving her the support she would probably want when standing. “Now, don’t be scared I’m right here.” He told her as he slipped an arm around her slender waist then felt of her hips and thighs. “Feel strong in here?”  While her lower legs trembled a bit her upper legs seemed solid to him even if they were a bit thin.  She gave out a small grunt and nodded her agreement. “Ok, that’s good. Now don’t worry, I won’t let you fall, keep most of your weight on your left leg, ok?  We just want to get you up that’s all and the leg brace will help support you.”  Nick stayed close on her bad side but took his hands away from her waist to see if she could stand on her own.  “Steady, that’s right, just take it easy.”

It was good to be out of the chair and on her feet once more. Calla was wobbly but leaning on her left leg and holding on to the bar with her left hand tightly just as Nick advised she managed to stay on her own two feet and it was the only time she was ever grateful to be wearing the leg brace as it kept her faulty right leg from buckling out from under her.  The soft collar also pleased her as it took away the worry of concentrating on holding up her head but didn’t feel like an iron mask waiting to be completed.  Although it wasn’t of much help to her, Calla raised her bad arm to put her fingers around the bar. She couldn’t lean on it but it helped her with her sense of balance as she stood there weaving on her feet.

Slipping one arm back around her waist to keep her steady but not holding her up Nick cheered her accomplishment while pushing her to do just a little bit more. “That’s good. See if you can take a step for me.”

From her knee down it felt like jell-o which has been left in the refrigerator too long, still a gel substance but hard and unappetizing. Leaning heavily on her left arm and putting the majority of her weight on her left leg as he said Calla concentrated very hard and was able to slide her right foot forward.

“Way to go!” Nick cheered. “Come on, can you do it again?”

For a reason she didn’t understand, and although it was still very difficult, moving her limbs seemed an easier feat to accomplish than getting words out of her mouth. She wasn’t going to be running any marathons or entering any dance competitions in the near future and although it took her almost ten minutes, with Nick’s help, she was able to make it to the other end of the bars. Calla was so happy she started to cry. Maybe she wouldn’t be stuck in that chair forever after all. Perhaps, some day, she would be useful again.  The short walk drained her and her head started to swim as she stood there looking up at him. Even with the collar it hurt to bend her neck almost all the way back and she was almost certain that if she tried to look any more it would snap like a chicken and go lolling around on her shoulders.

“Excellent!” Nick said as he grabbed the small wheel chair she used down here.  Carefully he sat her in it. “That was fantastic, Mom. I know it was hard but you did it. I’m so proud of you.”

Happy to be seated once more her head started to feel less fuzzy and she reached out for his hand with her good one.  “Ga-tor,” she stammered knowing that wasn’t his name but she still couldn’t get it right, “thanks yew.”  The hand on his reached up to his shoulder only to tap upon it.

Nick was stunned. She hadn’t done that since he was a teenager but he still knew what it meant and he leaned in close to her so that she could bestow a kiss upon his cheek.  “You’re welcome, Mom.” He said bashfully and felt his face rush with color.  Nick didn’t have the slightest idea why she kept calling him ‘Gator’ it didn’t seem to fit him at all and he couldn’t ever remember anything to do with an alligator. In fact, he’d never been up close with one a fact for which he was profoundly grateful.  “Nick,” he corrected gently and held her good hand to his throat so she could feel the vibration as he spoke his own name slowly. “N-i-ck.” Then he put her hand on her throat. “You try. N-i-ck.”

Of course that as his name!  She’d been saying it all his life. When she opened her mouth, “Ga-tor.”   Calla frowned and shook her head. She was very tired from her short walk but she wanted to get it right. Keeping her hand to her throat so she could feel if she made the proper vibration or now she tried it again. “N-i-ck-eee ga-tor.”

“Ok, whatever you want.” Nick smiled and tussled her hair. “Ready for a nice hot bath? I bet you are.”  Calla nodded and he took her back upstairs where the nurse took care of her for the rest of the afternoon.

Daniel and Annie, however, were not so happy at the end of the day.  “I can do this,” Nick protested as they gathered in Daniel’s office. “I’m on leave and I don’t have a date when I have to be back. I took leave so I could help Mom.”

“Sven came highly recommended.” Annie said as she folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.

“What? And I don’t?” Nick snapped.

“You had no right to fire him.” Annie lobbed back.

“Did you ever watch him with her? Guy’s a jackass! He was humiliating her trying to get her to do what he wanted.”

“What he wanted is good for her, Nick.” Daniel interjected.

“Fine, maybe you’re right, but his methods sucked rotten eggs. For cryin’ out loud he stood there calling her a pampered princess and he had that neck brace so tight on her she could barely breathe. He never even got her up and out of the chair. She walked today!”

“You’re just over-reacting.” Annie, who still hadn’t made love with her husband for what was going on four months wasn’t in the mood to put up with his bullheaded excuses.  Surely he just misinterpreted what Sven had said and been trying to do. “Sven knew what he was doing and you don’t.” She groused heavily. “She probably isn’t ready to walk and that’s why he didn’t get her out of the chair. Now I have to find someone else. I’ll never get him to come back.” Annie huffed. “I had everything in place and….”

“Are you deaf?” Nick nearly shouted. “If she wasn’t ready to start walking again then how come she did it?” He argued. “You should have seen her she was thrilled to get out of that damn chair and just try. I can do Sven’s job, you know. Before I joined the Air Force and the SGC I did get a bachelor’s degree in anatomy, I am a credited physical therapist and I’m only two credits shy of being a licensed physiatrist. Do you want me to go to night school and get them? I will.”

“You don’t have any practical experience.” Annie said.

“I don’t have any what?  I lead my own team for the last seven years I think I know a little bit about the proper way to motivate people in tough circumstances…especially my own Mother.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t have a plan for her recovery either. Why don’t you just leave this to the professionals?”

“I can make a plan,” Nick insisted through gritted teeth. “I do know what I’m doing here.”

Daniel sat there listening and watching the two of them bicker and he couldn’t help but feel that there was something deeper going on here.  Nick hadn’t been told that he was the fourth man in the equation and neither had Annie, Calla insisted on that.  Therefore, that couldn’t be the problem. Whatever the problem was it was strictly between them.  “You have to go back to the SGC at some point, Nick.” Daniel offered. “Maybe before she’s ready.”

Without thinking he turned on his Father. “No I don’t. My contract’s up.”  That was news to Daniel and Annie and so was…. “I’m not going back. I’ve made up my mind I’m not ever going back.”  He turned to his wife, “So you can either look at my fat lazy ass hangin’ around the house all day or you can let me do something useful.”

Useful. Annie almost laughed out loud.  He hadn’t done anything ‘useful’ in months.  It wasn’t for a lack of trying on Annie’s part.  She made him gourmet dinners and got rid of the kids for the night several times. She tried candles, she tried incense, she tried mood music and new nightgowns.  She bought newer sexier clothes to wear during the day hoping to spark his interest. She bought new perfume and got a new hair cut; she even got a makeover at a local cosmetics store and bought all of the new make up they’d used on her. Annie danced for him. Annie danced with him.  She offered him all kinds of enticing treats and all Nick could do was say he was sorry but he wasn’t interested in sex. After that he’d flop out on the couch or go for a run and she’d climb up the stairs to the bedroom dejected and lonely only to cry herself to sleep not knowing what she’d done to make the love of her life turn away from her.  Annie was almost as certain as she could get that Nick must be having an affair, some other younger woman had turned his head and stolen his heart.  He just didn’t know how to tell her. Annie couldn’t say that she’d blame him all the make-up in the world wouldn’t hide the fact that she was getting older and less attractive.  The laughter in her died away as the thoughts went through her head and tears started to sting her pretty blue eyes. “If it’s what you want fine.” She said and got up from her seat on the other side of Daniel’s desk.  “Whatever, Nick.” Annie walked out.

Daniel got up and shut the door after she left and then turned to his Son. “What the hell is going on with the two of you?”

It seemed Nick couldn’t open his mouth to take a breath without sticking his foot in it anymore.  He was too embarrassed to answer his Father’s question. “Nuttin’, Dad. Don’t worry about it.”

Daniel didn’t like the tone of Nick’s voice or the ashamed look on his face and he reached out to touch him gently on the upper arm. “Hey, I’m your Dad. You can talk to me about anything.”

Nicholas shook his head. “I don’t know. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep…I haven’t slept more than an hour at a shot since we got back from Sengul.  I just…I don’t know…I don’t have any get-up-n-go, ya know?”

Nick did look a little pale and as though he’d dropped a few pounds over the last few weeks.  Daniel never got the chance to ask Calla what happened with the Sovereign and the Vedic and how she’d managed to get Nick out of prison.  He intended to do just that when they were all home and warm here in Altair Ain but Calla had her stroke before that could happen and in all of that hub-bub other things, like the ball and Nick getting out of prison, just fell by the wayside and didn’t seem important.  “Do you think it’s got something to do with what, well,” he stammered, “with what happened on the planet? Is this what’s behind your decision to leave the SGC?”

“Yeah I guess,” Nick muttered, “I don’t want to go through the Stargate anymore, is that so bad? It was thrilling at first but now…I dunno.” Nick shook his head sadly.  “I still can’t remember what happened on Sengul and something tells me that I don’t want to.” He looked around the room as though there might be a spy in any corner. “Ever since I got back from that place I’m fuckin’ useless, Dad.” He mumbled. “I can’t even make love with my own wife.  What the fuck is wrong with me? I don’t even feel like a man anymore just this useless piece of shit that isn’t good for anything.”

Calla had insisted that whatever happened between Nick and the women he had been charged of raping that it wasn’t Nick’s fault and the Xerinium in his system pretty much proved that opinion.  Any other man would probably be thrilled to death to have six gorgeous women crawling all over him but not Nick whose heart belonged to Annie.  If he didn’t remember then Daniel didn’t know what or how much to say.  “How long’s it been…ah, if you don’t mind my asking.”

“Couple of months,” Nick admitted, “since I started taking those injections.”

“Maybe that’s it,” Daniel offered hopefully. “Maybe it’s just taking time for that stuff to wear off. You did take it for quite a while.”

“Yeah, right,” Nick said without any force and not wanting to talk about this any longer. “Look, Dad, Mom trusts me she’s comfortable with me. If you let me do this for her then at least I’ll feel like I’m doing something constructive something meaningful and, you should have seen her, she loved it.  Every time she completed five reps and I had to pick up the hundred pound dumb bell she smiled.  That guy was an ass, I mean that, I wouldn’t have gone in there and fired him like that if I thought there was any chance he was actually helping her. All she is to him is a paycheck and it looks really good on his resume to say he worked with a queen.  I’m comin’ from a different angle here and, ya know, since I am short those two credits you could even get away without paying me.”

That made Daniel chuckle.  “All right, Nick, if you want the job it’s yours.  I’m sure your Mother will like having you in there with her more than Sven.” Daniel leaned in closer. “I never liked that guy either, you’re right, he is an ass.  I only kept my mouth shut because Annie was so gung-ho on him. Did he really call her a ‘pampered princess’?” Calla always called Callestah a Pampered Princess she must truly hate having that exact phrase directed at her.  In Daniel’s eyes, nothing could be further from the truth. Calla should be a pampered princess but was too proud and too hard of a worker for such things.

“You bet he did.” Nick said quickly.  “Do you mean it? You’ll let me work with her? I helped her before, I can do it again.”

Yes, Nick had helped her when she was locked away in the Norwich Clinic, in fact, he was the only one who repeatedly stood up and said she should be taken out of that place.  In the end, he was the one who had rescued her. “Why not? I’m sure you’re right and she’ll be more comfortable with you anyway.”

“Thanks Dad!” Nick smiled wide and bright for the first time since he could remember. “I’ll start on a plan and I’ll get to Annie for her approval.” He said knowing it would have to be detailed and exacting in order to please his very displeased wife. “I can do this, Mom and me…we can do this.”

End of Chapter Twenty-Three of
Golden Years
by Moon Mistress
a/k/a Lisa Beth Darling
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Chapter Twenty-Four