Daughter of the Gods Kisses in the Dark Vol. 1
short stories which complete the Daughter of the Gods series Tarnished Heroes
The second series in this saga Kisses in the Dark Vol. 2
short stories which complete the Tarnished Heroes story line
Daniel Jackson LibraryStories by other authors
Tarnished Heroes: Keep the Fire Burning Chapter Seven (Turn around) December 21st Christmas was almost upon them and Calla still wasn’t ready. Daniel promised they’d get a tree this week but he’d been so busy at the SGC she was sure he’d forgotten. Today she and Lilly went out and bought a big blue spruce, she tied it to the top of her little Integra and brought it home while the kids were either working or at school. Calla dragged the big tree up the front walk, up the stairs, through the front door and into the living room all by her onsies. Once inside she didn’t fiddle around with the stand, she just zapped the tree into place and then sat down on the couch exhausted. Seemed to her that she’d been getting winded a lot easier these days and her stomach always felt a little queasy. Still there were cookies to bake and presents to wrap, this was no time to be sick. The outside lights were packed away in the attic and she was too tired to go up the stairs and get them so she did it the magickal way and willed them down to where she was. Looking the white lights over quickly she took the box outside into the snow. No one was around, the street was empty and the nearest neighbor was over a mile away. Setting the box in the snow, she stepped back to envision the end result in her mind and then willed them into place. Within five minutes, the big house was covered in Christmas lights and sparkled in all its refinery for the season. “I should have done that with the damn tree.” She remarked to herself and then went back inside where it was warm. That was enough for now. Calla was tired and decided to take a little nap on the couch, leaving the tree decorating for when everyone gathered at home tonight. She pulled the blanket down from the back of the couch and lay there with her eyes open and her stomach starting to turn. The doctor said she’d feel ill side effects from her drug addiction for a while to come, possibly as long as a year. Lately she’d been experiencing them. Calla didn’t feel any desires or cravings for more heroin or cocaine just a general feeling of being unwell and tired. Ah, ‘Tis the Season, she thought as she lay there. So busy shopping for everyone and getting the house ready, it was Lilly’s very first Christmas and Calla wanted everything to be just perfect for her Granddaughter, who was at this moment, blissfully sleeping in her crib. Calla looked after Lilly while Colleen was off at school. The check from Sotheby’s arrived three days ago, Daniel was right, it was made out in the mind-boggling amount of 1,678,432.70 Calla had never seen that many numbers in one place at one time…ever. They took the check to the bank and added to the trust funds for the kids, set up one for Lilly and added to their own investments. Calla and Daniel left the bank with a cashier’s check for a quarter of a million dollars made payable to the Woman’s Shelter. Together they drove to the shelter and handed the check over to Angie who was, to say the least, thrilled with the gift. Calla also gave her the name of a real estate agent, Nancy Wildes along with a listing of available properties and the names and numbers of several contractors she’d been in touch with who were willing to work at a reduced price. Since then she had been helping to plan the new shelter and organize workmen. Angie wanted to have a big dinner in Calla’s honor and call the local papers but Calla politely declined, she didn’t want the fame from making a donation to such a worthy cause she just wanted to help out when and where she could. Nicholas and Annie had been easy to shop for, Daniel and Calla put a down payment on a little house for them. If they liked it then they would buy it outright and the young married couple would have space of their own to get to know each other in. Perhaps bring them another grandchild when the time was right. Colleen was harder to shop for neither of them were interested in having her and Lilly move out any time soon so instead after Nicholas and Annie departed they would move her and the baby to the new little apartment in the basement. Calla bought her gift certificates to several stores so that Colleen could fix it up anyway she liked. Perhaps Sandy would move in with her and perhaps he wouldn’t they’d cross that bridge when they got to it. Lilly was about to be pampered with a truckload of toys and clothes. It was fun to shop for a baby again. With happy thoughts of Christmas rolling around in her head, Calla drifted off to sleep. Daniel came home early and found his wife napping with her boots still on. Very gently he took them off and replaced the blanket over her shoulders. “Hey Da—“ “Shh,” Daniel said turning to look at his son. “Sorry,” Nicholas whispered. “She’s really wiped out, isn’t she?” “I guess so. So what do you want to start first? Dinner or the tree?” “I’m not touching that tree until she wakes up and if you’re smart you won’t either.” Nicholas quipped. “You know how she is about the Christmas tree.” “Dinner it is.” Daniel said happily. Through the baby monitor on the coffee table they heard Lilly stirring in her crib. “Go up and get your niece before she wakes up.” Nicholas went up the stairs to tend the baby. Kitty had been so busy lately if she wasn’t Christmas or house shopping, she was on the phone with contractors helping Angie or she was wrapping presents or taking of Lilly or going over lesson plans for the first of the year or….one of a hundred other things. If she didn’t slow down, she was going to burn herself out. Today she’d gone and dragged the tree inside—and he knew that from the tracks in the snow-- but it seemed to him she’d been smart enough to use her magick when it came to putting up the lights, which was the reason he’d come home early…to get the lights up. Sometimes she didn’t make a lot of sense to him but that was ok. Walking into the kitchen, he saw that Kitty planned on making Cheap Spaghetti tonight. There was a box of pasta, a large onion, three cloves of garlic, two jars of sauce and some hamburger on the kitchen counter, well he could handle putting that together. If he didn’t miss his guess, there was a loaf of Italian bread around here….yep there it was on the other counter. An hour later Calla was awakened by something warm and wet sucking on the tip of her nose. “Oh, Lilly.” She cried and saw Coley standing over with the baby. “I take it she’s hungry?” “Yeah and so are we, dinner’s ready sleepy head.” “Have I slept so long? I’m sorry,” Calla swung her legs off the couch and tossed the blanket aside. The smell of dinner came to her and her stomach grumbled. She reached out for her Granddaughter and together they walked into the dinning room and sat down to a family dinner before decorating the Christmas tree. Sitting around the fire and the tree Nicholas showed Annie how to string popcorn, which is not an easy task for anyone, but he’d been doing it since he was little and was quite the expert and had a very deft touch he hardly broke a single kernel. Annie, however, broke many and they laughed and ate popcorn and strung some more. Daniel put the lights on the tree and Colleen and Calla put ornaments old and new on the branches. “Here’s one for you, my darling, Lilly.” Calla cooed and held out a gold ornament which read; Lilly December 25th Baby’s First Christmas. Lilly took the ornament in her little hand and jangled it up down watching the light bounce off of it before Colleen put it on the tree and Lilly gave out a little cry of protest at having the toy taken away. Later the popcorn strung and eaten and the tree glistening with Christmas cheer Calla and Daniel called it an early night. After making love she curled up in the crook of his arm and went to sleep. ** Where am I? She looked around and noted the darkness, the lights and the city skyline. New York City. It was warm tonight and she was following Nicholas’ directions back to the hotel. Five blocks and a right he told her. Calla walked five blocks and at the sixth took a left instead of a right. Oh this isn’t right, she thought as she gazed around. Oh where am I?! She stomped her foot on the ground and bit her thumbnail while she tried to think. Calla didn’t know where she was but she knew wasn’t where she was supposed to be. This street had a long row of very neatly kept brownstones all with expensive fancy cars parked in front of them. Oh damn it! I’m so fucking stupid! Standing there on the dark street she thought about zapping herself back to the hotel and she would if only she knew where it was! “Damn! Damn! Damn!” She cursed herself. “Calla Jackson.” A voice with a British accent intoned. “Is that you, dahling?” In her daze, Calla looked up to see a man with long blonde hair and deep blue eyes. He was wearing a black walking jacket and was very well kept. “Yes,” she stuttered hoping that he would be able to help her. “It’s me, dahling, Andy.” He said with a wide smile and extended a nicely manicured hand to her. “Andy?” Calla asked while still trying to think and sort out her circumstances it was dangerous to be lost and alone in New York City at anytime never mind during the night. 
By
Lisa Beth Darling
a/k/a
Moon Mistress
Every now and then
I know you'll never be the boy
You always wanted to be
(Turn around)
But every now and then
I know you'll always be the only boy
Who wanted me the way that I am
(Turn around)
Every now and then
I know there's no one in the universe
As magical and wondrous as you
(Turn around)
Every now and then
I know there's nothing any better
There's nothing that I just wouldn't do
(Turn Around, bright eyes)
Every now and then I fall apart
(Turn Around, bright eyes)
Every now and then I fall apart
Total Eclipse of the Heart
As performed by Bonnie Tyler
Words & Music by Jim Steinham
Greenbrier, Colorado
“Yes, love, Andrew Hartley,” he reminded her, “we’ve spoken on the phone, I was just about to come and see you when Gretchen called and said you’d left the gallery. What are you doing here? Looking for me I hope.”
Calla’s hand slipped into his. The soft slightly proper British accent was familiar even if his face was not and lost in a big city such a small thing can help give one a false sense of security. “I’m afraid I’m lost.” She admitted. “I was trying to find my way back to the hotel.
Please help me, Mr. Hartley.”“Come inside, love, we’ll have a glass of brandy and take the chill off the night. My driver will bring you back to your hotel later.” Andy invited in a warm voice but Calla made no move to accept his invitation. “Right there, that’s my flat.” He pointed to the brownstone in front of her. Calla looked at the very nicely kept brownstone and the rose bushes growing behind the white picket fence. A small glass of brandy did sound good maybe it would calm her nerves.
“If you’re sure you don’t mind Mr. Hartley that does sound nice.” She smiled wanly glad for a familiar voice if not a familiar face.
“Not at all, my dear, come inside.” Andy led her through the gate and into the brownstone “Come on in. We’ve loads to talk about and the night is young!” Andy led the slightly dazed woman through the gates and into his rather luxurious brownstone. “I’m so glad you’re here, dahling.” He shut the front door to the brownstone as Calla stepped inside.
The brownstone had a large open floor plan at the first floor, from the entryway she could see the living room, dining area and kitchen. Everywhere she looked paintings, photographs and sketches hung on the walls while sculptures stood guard on pedestals around every room. “Your home is lovely.” Calla remarked.
“Thank you. Here, give me your jacket, love.” Andy’s hands landed softly on her shoulders and removed the light jacket from her. “Feel free to gaze about if you like. I shall get the brandy.”
“How did you know who I was?” Calla asked in a dreamy voice as she walked further into his lair. With every turn of her head she was more and more pleased with what she saw. Daniel liked art but their home was filled with things that were more along the lines of Old Relics and Ancient Artifacts—both of which had their artistic qualities—as for paintings and sculptures and photographs, it was mostly her own work that adorned her home.
“I saw your pictures.” Andy commented and handed her a large snifter of brandy. “I just have to say it, love, please pardon me, but, you have a very beautiful body, Calla.”
First Gretchen and now Andy saw the photographs on the Internet. How lovely. She turned away from him and toward one of the paintings on the wall while downing the glass in one gulp.
“Don’t be shy, dahling, you are the absolute pet of the Art Community at the moment...royalty really. I feel as though I should bow or something.” Andy said in an admiring voice. “Being in the presence of such a talented and stunningly beautiful woman is humbling. Refill?” Without waiting, he took the empty glass back to the kitchen and returned with a full one. “Sit down.” Andy led her to the couch.
“Really, Mr. Hart…”
“I thought we’d taken care of that, my dear. Andy, love, please, call me Andy.”
“Andy,” she sighed, “I should be getting back.”
Andy settled easily onto the couch while she stood. “Nonsense, this is New York and it’s only a little after eleven, very early indeed.” She had a very glossy look in her eye already he reached up to touch her hand and patted the cushion beside him with the other. Calla sat down. “ Yes, I think you are probably a woman of many extraordinary talents.” His hand landed on her knee and he leaned in to kiss her before she could turn away.
Before she knew it, his tongue was in her mouth and the hand at her knee was steadily working its way up her thigh. Calla pushed him away. “I should be going,” She stammered and swiped the back of her hand across her mouth. “This is very flattering but I am married….Andy.” She tried to push his hand away but he came closer to her. “Stop it! I love my Husband!”
Daniel woke up with a start, Kitty was next to him pulling on the T-shirt she was wearing and sweating. She moaning and whimpering in her sleep. In his mind’s eye, Daniel saw Hartley clear as day and knew she was remembering. “It’s all right, honey, it’s all right.” He whispered to her. “Don’t think about it, it’s over.” But his words were no good Kitty kept right on dreaming and remembering next to him.
“No,” she cried out in the bed next to him, “No, I love my Husband! Please! Don’t!”
“Come now, dahling,” he murmured in a soft voice, “you’re a part of the Community, we don’t hold with such archaic notions as fidelity. Besides, I don’t see him anywhere, do you?”
Calla stood up and fell back down onto the couch. The blood rushed away from her head to places unknown and the world turned gray and then went completely black.
“Welcome to my parlor said the spider to the fly.” Andrew Hartley slowly and deliberately stripped those bothersome items of clothing from her while she lay motionless on the couch below him. “I’ve waited a long time for you, my dear and I’m going to enjoy every last inch of you tonight.”
“Kitty wake up,” Daniel shook her but still she didn’t wake.
Now the image of an intimate picnic came to his mind while Calla dreamed beside him.
“Always glad to help.” Andy commented with a smile as he took a long drink of the warm bitter tea and so did Calla. Andy kicked off his shoes and turned on his side to look at her. In the moonlight, that soft round thigh taunted him it just begged him to reach out and run his fingertips along its curve. Andy drank down the last of the tea in his cup and waited. Just as he knew she would, Calla followed him and settled the empty teacup on the ground.
“I want to see you,” Andy whispered and pushed the hem of the skirt higher on her thigh.
“We shouldn’t…” Calla said softly.
Andy’s kiss cut off her words. “There’s no shame in reaching out.” Andy told her and brushed the hair away from her face. Taking her small hand in his own he brought it down to the hard place between his legs. “I want you, love.” Andy’s lips brushed over her lips. “Want to touch you,” those lips were covering her neck and his fingers were fumbling with the hem of the white cotton shirt covering her. “I want to taste you, make love to you.” The shirt slid up her body and over her head.
She shouldn’t, she knew she shouldn’t. But the feel of his hand was very nice and the tea was making her head spin and then… “Promise you won’t tell?”
“I’ll take it to my grave, I swear.”
Andy was slimmer than Daniel was but just as tall and if she closed her eyes maybe…
With one hand, he reached under her and unsnapped the white silk bra. Andy slid it over her arms and tossed it over in the grass with the blouse. “Those photographs don’t do you justice, love.” He whispered. His lips closed down over a hard nipple and Callas’ hand closed down over the back of his head.
“I can’t do this,” she moaned. “Andy please..”
“Yes you can.” Andy told her. “It’s all right, everything’s all right.” His hand reached under the skirt and up the space between her legs. “Come on, dahling, give it to me.”
I love you, Kitty.
“No,” her voice was weak and her mind and body filled with the hallucinogenic tea. Andy didn’t wait for her to give it up one hand firmly pushed one thigh away from the other. Her eyes rolled open as he smiled over her, his hand running endlessly over the bald patch between her legs.
“I really like that, love.” He said expectantly. “Very sexy, I can’t wait to slide my tongue in there.” The palm of his hand on that soft triangle, Andy’s fingers below, he pushed his index digit into her. Calla’s back arched.
“No,” she said again and opened her eyes. Andy was smiling down at her.
“Yes, say yes.” He coaxed.
I love you, Kitty.
“No,” Calla asserted in a stronger voice and tried to sit up.
He wedged himself tight against her. The hand that had been between her legs pinned her far arm to the blanket and his free one worked the belt at his waist. “Don’t fight, Calla, just do what I want and everything will be all right.” His hard cock dropped free of the linen trousers.
Calla tried to escape, tried to use her magick to fend him off or traverse her across the Astral to home but the drugs, the tea, the wine, or combination of all of the above had her deep within its grasp, just as deep as Andy did.
Nicholas? If nothing else maybe her powers of telepathy still worked. Nicholas!
The line in her head was just as dead as her magick.
Wiggling, writhing, squirming, trying to get away, she pushed further and further back on the blanket. Andy’s hand the one that was pinning her down was within reach of her teeth. How many times had she yelled at the twins for biting each other? She didn’t know but it seemed effective enough. Calla chomped down on the pale hairy flesh of his forearm.
“Ouch!” Andy’s grip eased as he naturally pulled away from the pain.
Calla rolled away from him and skittered away on the grass. She would have run but standing wasn’t an option. “Stop,” she told him. “Andy, don’t do this.”
Andy looked down to see that he was bleeding. “You wretched little cocktease!” He bellowed.
Cocktease. That was a very bad thing to be. Down on the ground on her hands and knees, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she stuttered and grabbed for the blouse. Andy grabbed the other end of it. “Please, I’m sorry.” Calla cried. “I can’t do this, I love my husband I would never betray him!” She pulled on the flimsy cotton blouse. As far as she could see, there was four Andrew Hartley’s tugging on the other end of the blouse.
Andy let go of it, as predicted, she fell over backwards into the soft grass. He pounced onto of her. “You can’t leave me like this.” He warned through tight lips. “Come on, love, at least give us a hummer.” His thumb played with her bottom lip. “Do this for me and I’ll make sure you get all the weed and shrooms and coke you want, love, bright and early in the morning. I’ll even throw in a few other goodies. Hum?” When her mouth didn’t readily open for him, his hand found the pressure points at her lower jaw and forced it open. “That’s it, good girl, now.”
Not knowing what else to do and hoping he would be true to his word and that he would let her go after Calla took his cock into her mouth and down her throat. Calla did so desperately need that package he was going to bring her tomorrow. If she didn’t do this for him now perhaps he would not do that for her later.
In the warm late spring night, laying in the grass, with the full moon and stars shining above, Calla gave in and blew him off as he wanted. Andy came fast and hard. His spunk was bitter and he made her swallow it even though she wanted to spit him out.
“Daniel!” She screamed next to him. “Daniel!”
That bloody fucking son of a bitch! All Daniel could do was sit there next to her awake and holding his Wife in his arms. “It’s over, Kitty. It’s over. Baby, wake up. Please wake up.” Daniel started to cry as the last images of the nights’ dream came to both of them.
Now the dream showed them both the image of a naked, stoned and drunken Calla passed out at Daniels’ desk. The window in the office quietly slid open and Andy Hartley stepped inside.
Andrew Fucking Hartley slipped open the sash quietly and turned his gaze to the monitor on Daniel’s desk looking at what she’d been looking at; the files of her and David on calliendanny.com. This one was in the bedroom with her facing the bedroom door.
Andy went over and checked the office door gave it a soft pull and twist and realized it was locked from the inside.
Andy crept around behind her and stroked the back of her head. If she didn’t see him, chances were the drugs would let her think she was dreaming of The Husband. Tonight that was fine with Andy. A few strokes and she began to move, just a little at first and then she began to make very low guttural sounds in her throat as though she were trying to talk to him.
Andy did his best at an American accent, “Sit on my lap.” He whispered in her ear and picked her up from the chair. Calla offered no resistance. For a moment, he leaned her against the desk and as he freed his cock Calla began to collapse to the ground. He caught her in time to settle her naked skin on his. One arm around her chest and cupping that tender breast, holding her close to him he reached out with the other and brought them closer to the desk. Against his inner thigh she was wet, oh god, she was so wet and ready, it just oozed from her like a well oiled-machine. The tip of his cock slid up against it.
“Daniel,” it was more a slurred rush of air than a name but Andy caught it just the same. It was the tone more than anything that caught his attention it was hot and lustful. Sweet as a Siren’s Song just as she’d uttered it so many times on those tapes. “Um, Daniel.”
The hand that had been bringing them to the desk slipped between them, grasped the base of his cock, and guided his cock inside while the one at her breast tightened holding her firmly to him. That was all she needed. She was happily hallucinating about Daniel while Andy slid in and out of her and she ground her hips down on his lap.
Leaving Calla slumped over Daniel’s desk in Daniel’s chair with the computer still on calliendanny.com Andy’s exit was just as smooth as his entrance.
Sitting next to her and holding her sleeping body in his arms Daniel felt ill, his stomach wretched and heaved and he fought to hold it back. Oh god, oh god, oh god, I swear if you weren’t already dead, Hartley I’d skin you alive. You’re worse than David ever dreamed of being you fucking bastard! I’m glad you’re dead.
Next to him in their warm comfortable bed, Calla sat straight up and screamed out his name one more time. “DANIEL!”
“I’m right here, baby. It’s ok, everything’s all right.” He threw his arms around her while she wept. “You’re safe, you’re here with me. It’s all over.”
Calla knew that the Connection between them was back in full force and that her Husband had seen the dreams in her mind. “I’m sorry,” she whimpered, “please forgive me, I’m sorry.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” Daniel told her as he held her tight.
From the tone of his voice, she understood. “You knew,” she accused without backing away from him.
Daniel had to come clean, “I knew from the painting you did, Kitty. The one where you’re asleep at my desk. That’s Hartley in that painting.” And from what Nicholas told me but we won’t go into that right now.
“No it was you.” She protested through her tears. “I was dreaming about you.”
“I know,” he said softly, “I know you were. Hartley took advantage of that.” And any number of other things! “My baby, my Pretty Kitty, it’s all over now. Hartley’s dead, he’s gone, he won’t ever touch you again.” Daniel remembered saying those very same words about good ol’ Naganti Kanan and how wrong he’d been. Not this time. That Limey son of a bitch was good and dead, Ares saw to that.
In his arms Calla whimpered and held her hand over her mouth, she jumped out of the bed and headed for the bathroom. Yeah, well, he was sick to his stomach it was no wonder Kitty was actually throwing up. He gave her a few seconds and then went after her. There was Calla hunched over the toilet bowl clutching her stomach with one hand and holding her hair back with the other while she tossed out the spaghetti dinner.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she whimpered between heaves. “Please, Danny, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Please….”
“Stop, stop it Kitty.” He soothed. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t want him, did you? Not then.”
“N-N-NO!” She cried and heaved again. Her stomach twisted, knotted and rushed forth while she held her hair back. “Not ever!” She moaned and slumped against the porcelain throne. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, please, Danny, I’m so sorry…” She sobbed. Daniel reached out for her to hold her in his arms and comfort her but Callas’ eyes grew wide and she cringed away from him. “D-d-don’t….!”
“Don’t what? I’m not going to hurt you, honey. Hartley drugged you, he made you feel guilty and he took advantage of you. The only person I’m angry with is him not you, Kitty.” When Daniel reached for his Wife again she reached back. “I love you, Calla, I’ll always love you no matter what happens. I’ll never stop loving you.”
“Won’t they ever stop?” She wept. “Why do they keep doing this to me? Why does Fate keep punishing me? I try to be good. I try so hard. What have I done? What have I done?”
“Nothing. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Yeah, well, ok, that wasn’t exactly true but she didn’t do anything to deserve what Hartley and all the rest kept doing to her time and again. “I’ll make them stop, Kitty, I swear, I will make them all stop doing this to you.”
Looking up at him with pain stricken eyes she asked him again, “Why do they do it?”
“Because you’re beautiful and they all want you and they know they can’t have you.” Daniel told her. “They’re jealous of you, of us and what we have.”
“I am not beautiful.”
“Yes you are. Inside and out.” Daniel held her at arms length so he could look in her eyes. “Through it all, Kitty, you’ve been able to hold on to….I don’t know…there’s always just been such an amazing innocence about you a wonderful, warm, sensual innocence.”
“Stupidity you mean.” Calla scoffed at herself. “I am so stupid Daniel to let Andy….”
“No, you are not stupid.” Daniel interrupted her. “There’s a remarkable vulnerability about you and some men take advantage of that and they want to take it away from you but we won’t let them. I won’t let them. Kitty, any other woman who’d been through all that you have, if she lived through it with her sanity in tact, she’d been an Ice Queen but not you. You’re very warm, giving and loving.” Putting his arm around her slender shoulders, he started to lead her out of the bathroom and back to the bedroom. “Don’t you want to come back to bed with me? You know I’ll never hurt you, don’t you?”
“I have to brush my teeth,” she stammered and wiped the tears away from her alabaster cheeks. “I know you’d never hurt me, Danny. I have such a bad habit of trusting the wrong people.”
Daniel snickered a little. That was putting it mildly. “You trust Duncan and he seems ok to me. You trust Jack, don’t you? And Sam and Teal’c?” Lord Ares was very noticeable left out of that line-up. Daniel didn’t trust him as far as he could throw him and he saw no reason why Calla should trust her Father either. Still, Daniel was trying to find some way to ease her mind and didn’t think he was doing a very good job. “You brush your teeth I’ll wait for you in bed, ok?”
“Ok,” she muttered. Daniel laid a soft kiss on her forehead and left the bathroom. Standing at the sink feeling sick, dizzy, and like some worthless whore Calla scrubbed her teeth. When she was done, she crawled back into the bed where her Husband was waiting for her. Just as she got under the covers, there was a light knock on the door.
“Mom?” It was Colleen.
“Come in,” Daniel called back and both kids walked into the bedroom.
Calla held her arms out to Nicholas who knelt by the bed and hugged his Mother. “You knew too, didn’t you? Both of you.”
“I tried to tell you to stay away from him, Mom. I tried to tell you he was bad news.” Nicholas groaned while he held onto her. “I should have told you what I suspected but I didn’t, can you forgive me for that?”
“I wouldn’t have listened to you anyway.” She mumbled and let go of him.
“That’s what I figured.” Nicholas said with a slight smile. “I love you, Mom. It’s all gonna be all right. We’re all here together and everything’s the way it supposed to be.” He encouraged.
From the room down the hall Lilly began to fuss in her crib.
“I’ll get her,” Calla said weakly and started to get out of the bed.
“No you won’t.” Daniel said and kept her next to him. “She’s fine and Coley will take care of her. Just lay down with me.”
Colleen pushed her brother out of the way. “Get some rest, Mom. I love you just as much as Stupid here, you know?” Coley wrapped her arms around her Mother and gave her a big hug. “Just for the record, maybe I suspected but I didn’t know. I would have killed the bastard. Nobody hurts my Mother…nobody.”
“You’re such good kids, both of you.” Calla said with a sad smile.
“Yeah, well, we had the World’s Best Mother.” Nicholas said.
“Oh, stop it, you did not. I was a horrible Mother.” Calla protested.
“Why do you keep saying that?” Nicholas said while his sister sat on the bed. “You were the Cool Mom, don’t you know that? Don’t you remember how all the kids wanted to hang out here? How the house was always so full of kids you were tripping over them?”
“Yes, you two are very popular.”
“Mom,” Colleen said, “they were here because of you.”
“They were?”
“Yeah,” she said with a wider smile. “They wanted to hang out here with us because they felt comfortable and loved here and that’s because of you. You always fed them. Always asked how they were doing in school and helped with their homework if they needed it. You taught them things, how to garden or paint or play piano. You always treated them like they were people and not just runts that were in the way.”
“That’s the way you treated us too.” Nicholas said. “We couldn’t have asked for a better Mom…no way…no how.” He kissed his Mother’s cheek. “You are the best Mom ever.”
“He’s right,” Daniel said easily. “You are the best Mom ever.”
“I waited so long for both of you.” Calla said reaching for the hands of her Children. “You were never in my way. I’ve always been very proud of you.”
Lilly started fussing louder down the hall. “I’ll get her,” Coley said and got up. “Just remember, Mom, it’s over now and we’re all going to walk in the Light from here on out. All of us.”
“That includes you.” Daniel said softly.
Calla let go of their hands and rested her head on Daniel’s shoulder. “See you in the morning?”
“You know it.” Nicholas said and kissed his Mother softly. “Get some sleep.” The twins walked out of the bedroom shutting the door behind them.
“You’ve got two great kids, Mrs. Jackson.”
“They really are special, aren’t they Daniel? Must because they’re your children.”
“No, it’s because they’re OUR children.” Daniel sighed. “Come with me I want to show you something.”
“What?”
Daniel reached for her hand. “C’mon.” Calla tossed the covers off, took his hand and rose from the bed. Daniel led them across the room to the dresser where he stood her still in front of it. “There now take a look.”
Calla looked around at her brush, jewelry box, deodorant and other assorted personal items but failed to see what he wanted her to. “What? I don’t see anything.”
“Up here,” Daniel said easily. “Look up here.” Calla turned around to look at him. Daniel let out a heavy sigh. “Not me, Kitty,” he turned her around back toward the dresser. “Look….here.” Daniel pointed to the mirror. In her reflection, she raised her eyes just the slightest bit but he saw she wasn’t looking directly at it. Daniel tilted her head up higher so that she had to look in it. “Do you see her?”
“Yes,” Calla mumbled and folded her arms across her chest.
“No, you don’t.” Daniel said softly. “Look at her, Kitty, really look at her. I want you to see what I do.”
Trying her best to please her Husband Calla cleared her throat and stared harder into the mirror. As the days went by this task became easier for her, still, it wasn’t something she liked doing. “I see my reflection, what of it?”
“Don’t you see her?” Daniel whispered and pointed to their reflections. “Can’t you see how beautiful she is? That beautiful hair, those sensuous eyes, this incredible little body? Can’t you see that? Can’t you see how much I love her?”
“I know you love me.” Calla said in a far away tone and wanted to look away from the glass.
“I want you to love her the same way I do; without boundaries, without limits and without condition. Can you do that, Kitty?”
Calla didn’t hesitate. “No.” She pointed at the mirror. “She is very bad, she is not beautiful and she doesn’t deserve your love.”
“Why?”
“Because she is unlovable. She is being punished for doing a very bad, very naughty thing. A thing that she can never take back or undo no matter how much she wishes it. This is why all of those men come and go why they do those things to her.”
All of them, huh? That must be some unforgivable act. “What did she do that was so horrible?”
“She,” Calla pointed harshly at her reflection, “she….laid with her Brother and stole his heart away from his wife.”
“No she didn’t.” Daniel said. “Eros tricked her twice. The guilt and shame is on him not on her.”
“She….laid with her Husband’s brother and she does not know…she does not know… she’ll never know…” Calla’s voice trailed off.
“David also tricked her.” Daniel said softly. “He used her and hurt her. Those kids are mine, Kitty, no matter what anyone says, Nicholas and Colleen are our children.”
Calla’s eyes glazed over as she tossed her head to the side and sneered at her reflection. “Ney se, nin waytak ginan Cha’Dech.” (Fool, you will always be my whore.)
“Again, the guilt is on him not on her. Naganti Kanan is dead I killed him I watched him die so that he would never touch you again. I made sure of it.”
“She…killed her Mother.”
“It was an accident…even Ares knows that. Even Ares forgives her for that for taking his Lover away. She never meant to hurt anyone all she wanted was for her Mother and Father to stop fighting with each other.”
“She….laid with her Father.”
“To save her Husband’s life, yes, she did.” Daniel whispered and then pointed to himself in the mirror. “I’m her Husband,” he leaned in close and quietly uttered three little words he had yet to tell her, “I forgive you.” In the mirror, Kitty closed her eyes and lowered her hand. “For all of it.”
Calla opened her misty green eyes. “She takes drugs, pollutes her body and her mind when the dark thoughts get too heavy.”
“That’s because when she’s afraid she won’t talk to her Husband and let him help her. If she’d do that she wouldn’t need the drugs.”
“She does not deserve to be happy or to have a family or a wonderful Husband like him.” With a quivering finger, Calla pointed at Daniel’s reflection.
“You’re wrong,” Daniel whispered and lowered his arm to stop pointing at the mirror. Instead, he put his index finger of her heart while still looking into the glass. “She deserves every happiness there is a home, a family, and a man who loves her. Just like you do. I want you to love her the way I do. Can you do that, Kitty? Can you try? She’s a really great person, honest, I swear, once you get to know her you’re really going to like her.”
For the first time in, well, possibly in Forever, Calla gazed into a mirror and thought there was a slight possibility that…maybe mind you now, just maybe… she wasn’t not pretty. That was a start. A good start. “I don’t want to let you down again.”
“I know. I don’t want to let you down either. So we’ll hold each other up and we’ll keep going forward, how’s that sound?”
“You do love me, don’t you?”
“Without limits, boundaries or conditions, I love you Calla Jackson.” Daniel turned her around to face him.
“My Husband,” she purred, “how did I ever get so lucky? What did I do to win your love?”
Daniel thought about it for a moment. “I think you let me help off the floor of a mall once.”
“I did.” She smiled. “After you knocked me down.”
Now it was Daniel’s turn to smile. Yes, in his rush to fill his stomach he had knocked her down in front of---of all places—Victoria’s Secret. He remembered, yes he did. “It was a long time before I saw you again but from that moment until then and from then until now I love you.”
“I love you too. You’re my Rock, you never turn me away.”
That wasn’t true he did turn her away once and almost lost her forever. Kitty had that incredibly gift, that ability to just Forget. This time next year she might not remember that, at a very critical moment, he hadn’t asked her to stay with him. Ares and her time in his bed, for her anyway, would also be a Forgotten Memory especially now with the painting gone.
“When I’m bad you always let me come home.” Calla wrapped her arms around him. “For you, I will try to like her.”
“That’s my girl.” He kissed the top of her head. “You can always come home, Kitty. Always.” Daniel led her back to the bed and turned out the light. “Although, you know, I’d prefer it if you just didn’t go away again.”
“I think I can manage that.”
“Good.”
“Daniel?” There was a certain lilt in her voice.
“Yyyeesss?”
“Is there… anything else… we might be able to….manage…tonight?”
In the dark, Daniel couldn’t see the sparkle in her eyes but that’s was all right, he didn’t need to, he heard it plain as day. “And you call me insatiable.” He said. “Are you sure you’re feeling up to this?”
“Yes, what about you? Are you….up…to it?”
“In that case, come here Mrs. Jackson, I got something else I want to show you.”
“Oh goodie.” She cooed and moved in closer.
End of Chapter Seven
Tarnished Heroes: Keep the Fire Burning
Continue to
Chapter Eight
This story and all stories in the Tarnished Heroes series are copyrighted to Lisa Beth Darling these stories may not be transferred outside of this URL in any fashion.