The dreams last night were horrible but, in the end, Daniel was right things were better this morning and Calla supposed it was good to know the truth about Andrew F. Hartley. Daniel didn’t want to go to work today but she’d insisted on it and now the house was quiet while Calla finished wrapping the last of the Christmas presents, arranging contractors for the Women’s Shelter and baking Christmas cookies. Calla was just about to take the first batch of chocolate chips out of the oven when the doorbell rang. Lilly was upstairs having her afternoon nap. Still feeling a bit light headed and queasy, she’d thrown up this morning after Daniel left for work, Calla wiped her hands on her apron and went to the door. She almost opened it before shutting off the alarm Daniel had installed when they came back from Scotland. Calla didn’t understand the need for the alarm and she asked him about it but Daniel just said that it was a precaution and he thought it was a good idea. Of course what he really thought was that if Andrew Fucking Hartley could slip into his office so easily in the dead of night why then anyone could. It was a bit like closing the barn door after the horse escaped but in this case he was trying to make sure that no other horses got into the barn.

Opening the door Calla was greeted by a blast of cold air. “Good afternoon,” said an elder man she didn’t recognize. “My name is Harold Ramis and I’m looking for Daniel Jackson, do I have the correct residence?” He was dressed very nicely in a light blue winter coat, dark slacks, heavy winter boots and a gray fedora on his gray head.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Ramis.” Calla said. “I’m afraid my Husband isn’t home. Is there something I can do for you?”

“Perhaps you could invite me in for a moment? It’s dreadfully cold out here.” He remarked with a twinkle in his brown eyes.

With some trepidation she stepped aside and allowed the older man into the mud room.

“I understand Doctor Jackson is in possession of several notebooks and manuscripts belonging to his grandfather Nicholas Ballard, is that right?”

“Yes.”

“I’m interested in buying them.”

“Oh,” Calla said thoughtfully, “Oh, um, well, I don’t think he’s interested in selling them, Mr. Ramis. However, I will tell him that you stopped by. Do you have a number where Daniel can reach you?”

“Of course,” the elder gentleman said with a kind smile and fished in his pocket for his wallet. Producing a business card he handed it over to her. “You will see that Doctor Jackson gets that and my message, won’t you, Calla?”

“Yes, I wi….how did you know my name?”

“My dear, I’ve seen you on the television and I even bid on one of your paintings,” the smile faded, “alas I was out bid by someone else. You’re very talented, Calla.”

“Ah, why thank you.” Calla stammered. “I will see to it that Daniel gets your card and your message but I’m sure he won’t want to part with the notebooks.” She explained. “If you don’t mind, I have to get my cookies out of the oven before they burn.” Calla started herding Mr. Ramis back toward the door.

“Well, one can always hope.” Mr. Ramis said and put his fedora but on his gray head. “You have a lovely day, Calla and a very merry Christmas.”

“You as well, Mr. Ramis. Thank you for stopping by.”

Mr. Ramis tipped his hat to her and then left without any trouble. Thinking the short visit rather odd Calla stuffed the business card into her apron pocket and went back to baking cookies. Calla supposed she could just zap fresh hot cookies into the kitchen but where was the fun in that? She liked baking and doing for her family, besides ‘zapped’ cookies didn’t taste anywhere near as good as hers did. She hummed a little tune while putting the second batch of chocolate chips into the oven and starting on a batch of sugar cookies. All this baking and wrapping took her mind off the fact that she still wasn’t feeling up to par.

With the last of the chocolate chips out of the oven and the first batch of sugar cookies going in, Lilly woke up. Calla went up the stairs to tend her Granddaughter. Lilly was changed and brought downstairs to be fed. She sat in the little jumping/rocking chair on the kitchen counter watching her Grandmother bake. “Does that smell good, my darling, Lilly?” Calla asked and shook her hair in the baby’s face. Lilly laughed and grabbed it the baby loved this little game they played. “No cookies for you I’m afraid but here,” she dipped her finger into the cookie batter and let Lilly lick a bit of the sugar cookie dough from her finger. “That’s not bad, hey?” She asked and Lilly laughed again and sucked the last of the batter from Callas’ finger. “Soon you’ll have teeth and you can eat all the cookies you want.” Calla promised. Lilly and her Grandmother baked sugar cookies, ginger bread cookies and jelly filled cookies. While they baked Calla reminded Lilly that tomorrow was Christmas Eve and Santa Claus would soon be coming down the chimney with an armful of presents for the little girl.

However, later that night Calla was all baked out and didn’t have the desire to cook dinner so she ordered take-out from the Chinese place a few streets down. The whole house was overjoyed when that place opened up three years ago until then they couldn’t get food delivered to the house as it was too far out of the way. Calla ordered a big dinner, hung the Christmas stockings by the fireplace and then sat down on the couch with Lilly in her little playpen to wait for her family to return home for the evening.

Dinner was very informal tonight. No gathering in the dining room when the food arrived Calla simply put all the boxes and goodies on the kitchen table and let everyone serve themselves buffet style…very unlike her. Another thing which was unlike Calla was that she allowed them all to eat wherever they wanted including the living room, which is where they all gathered around the warm fire, bringing boxes of lo mien, fried rice, and assorted finger foods with them.

“You feeling ok today, Kitty? You hardly ever let us eat in here.” Daniel said as he scooped another spoonful of fried rice and General Tao’s Chicken onto his plate. It wasn’t just today, Calla hadn’t been feeling up to snuff for the last few days. In fact, now that he was thinking about, maybe for the last few weeks.

“I’m fine, it’s been a long day, hasn’t it Lilly?” Calla asked the baby who was sucking on an egg noodle. Lilly was just over a month old and already on her way to solid foods, she didn’t like being kept to a liquid diet she wanted to eat what everyone else did so now and then Calla slipped her a little bite-size of something soft. “We did a lot of baking today and wrapping presents and….oh!....I almost forgot.” Calla stuck her hand in her pocket and came out with Mr. Ramis’ business card. “This gentleman stopped by today,” she handed the card over to Daniel.

“Harold Ramis.” Daniel read.

“Do you know him?”

“Nope, what did he want?”

“Mr. Ramis said that he’s interested in purchasing your grandfather’s notebooks and manuscripts, he’d like you to call him.”

“Sell him…..how’d he even know I have them?”

“I don’t know perhaps he’s an archeologist like you. He’s an older gentleman and he seemed pleasant enough.”

Daniel cleared his throat Calla wasn’t always the best judge of character. “I’ll call him later and tell him I’m not interested in selling.”

“That’s what I told him but he was very insistent upon hearing it from you, my love.”

“So he will.” Daniel said with a smile and put the business card in his breast pocket. “Why don’t you come over here and curl up on my lap like a good Kitty?” He coaxed.

“Oh Christ,” Nicholas moaned, “let’s get outta here, Annie, they’re gonna get mushy again.”

“And you love it,” Calla told her Son.

“Yeah it’s pretty cool that even old married folks like you can still get it on.” He said with a wide smile.

“Old…married…folks?” Calla said with her hands on her hips. “I’ll show you whose old, Nicholas Ares Jackson. You can clean up the dinner dishes.” She quipped. “Your daughter needs a bath,” she said to Colleen. “Grandma’s off duty for the night.” Sitting down on her Husband’s lap she rested her head against his shoulder. “It’s been a long day, Grandpa, want to go up to bed with me?”

Daniel kissed her forehead, it was warm but maybe that was from sitting by the fire. She looked tired and worn down to the bone even though she was trying to be chipper. “Why don’t you go on up, I’ll give Mr. Ramis a call and then be up in a bit after I locked up the house.”

“All right,” she sighed, “see you soon?”

“Very soon.” Daniel agreed.

“Is she all right, Dad?” Colleen asked as they watched her slowly head up the stairs. “Mom’s been going to bed early a lot.” She put Lilly back in the playpen.

“I know,” Daniel stammered. It wasn’t totally out of character for Calla to turn in early and she had been very busy lately. Still, it was only 9:30 and she didn’t look so good to him. After all the work she’d been doing and those wicked dreams last night he was growing more and more concerned about her and the possibility that she might fall back on old ways. “She hasn’t said anything to you?” Calla wasn’t apt to lean on her children in anyway but he hoped she might have let something slip, just a little something that would give him a clue as to what was going on with her. Calla hadn’t said anything about the dreams in fact she didn’t want to talk about them at all and Daniel wasn’t about to let her keep everything all bottled up so that it could fester and become a bigger problem down the road.

“No.”

“What about you?” Daniel said to Nicholas.

“No. The doc said something about her feeling bad now and then,” he reminded them.

“You guys finish cleaning this up I’m going to call Mr. Ramis and then go upstairs.” Daniel said as he made his way to his office. Mr. Ramis was not happy to hear that Daniel had no intentions of selling his grandfather’s books and the more Daniel said ‘no’ the higher Mr. Ramis raised the price. “I’m sorry Mr. Ramis but they’re just not for sale.” Daniel said finally. Mr. Ramis was very displeased but wished Daniel and his family a merry Christmas, saying he hoped Daniel would change his mind after the first of the year. Barring that, perhaps Daniel would allow him to come by after the holidays and look at the notebooks? “Are you doing some type of research, Mr. Ramis?”

“Yes, I am, Doctor Jackson and those notebooks could be very important.” Mr. Ramis said.

In that case, “All right, I’ll call you again after the first of the year and we’ll set something up so that you can come and look them over but they are not for sale.”

“Good enough,” Mr. Ramis said in a happier voice. “I look forward to your call and to meeting you Doctor Jackson.” The line went dead.

Daniel stopped in the kitchen and made two cups of mint tea before he went upstairs to their bedroom. “Calla?” He called out as he entered the dark bedroom and heard noises coming from the bathroom. Putting the tea cups down on the nightstand he knocked on the bathroom door. “Cal?”

“Don’t come in,” she called back in a weak voice. “I’m all right,”

Bullshit. Daniel opened the door to see Calla hunched over the toilet bowl tossing up the Chinese dinner.

“Go way,” she muttered and grabbing her stomach with one hand and her hair with the other she hurled again.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Daniel told her and squatted next to her to hold back her hair while he rubbed her back. “What’s wrong, honey?”

“Just the flu,” she offered.

“Just the flu?” He mocked. “I hate to remind you of this but we don’t get the flu.”

“I think I’m done.” Calla said and rose unsteadily to her feet. She went to the sink and brushed her teeth. “I don’t know what’s wrong, Daniel,” she as he stared at her from the mirror. “The doctor said….”

“That you might have spells and times when you didn’t feel so well, I know.” She’d been feeling poorly since before last night that much he was certain of. “I don’t think they’re supposed to last for days at a time. Are you still upset about Hartley? It’s only natural if you are, Kitty, you can tell me.”

Calla sighed, rinsed the brush and went out to the bedroom. She didn’t want to talk about Andy anymore…ever. “I’m just tired, I feel a little worn down and my stomach’s been giving me problems.”

“If it keeps up promise me you’ll go in and see Adams.”

“After Christmas if I still feel poorly I’ll consider it, now stop fussing.”

To him she seemed annoyed. “Why do you always do this?”

“Do what?” Calla pulled the covers back and stripped off her clothes.

“Make me feel like I’m doing something wrong when I show concern for you?” Daniel huffed. “You’re my Wife and I love you, Calla. I know the dreams last night upset you, honey, please just talk to me. I’m not angry with you, I swear to god I’m not.”

Calla stopped with the bed and her clothes, half dressed she stood there and looked at him with wide eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel that way, I just don’t want you fussing over me, that’s all.”

“Why not? You’re my Wife I’m supposed to fuss over you.”

“I’m sure you have better things to do.” Now she started undressing again.

“I might if you weren’t so old and sick,” he quipped.

“Is that your way of showing concern?” Calla asked and climbed into the bed without a nightgown.

Daniel kicked off his shoes and stripped off his shirt. “Kitty, maybe you should rethink the job. You’re doing too much too soon…as usual. All this stuff with Christmas and the house hunting and the shelter, Hartley….it’s too much you need to slow down.”

“Then Life will pass me by.”

“No it won’t but you’ll get to enjoy it more.” Daniel countered and got into the bed. “Promise me, after Christmas, you’ll go in and see Adams and that you’ll slow down.”

“If it’s that important to you….”

“You’re that important to me.”

“All right,” she gave in, “I’ll make an appointment for after Christmas.”

“Before if it gets worse.”

“Yes, before if I feel worse. All right now?” She asked and cuddled up next to him.

Calla who was normally chilly at his side was like a little furnace. “You’re burning up.” Daniel got out of the bed, went to the bathroom and came back with the thermometer. Her little lips were clamped shut. “Open your mouth, don’t make me do it the hard way.”

Callas’ jaw dropped open and he stuck it inside. She sat there rolling her eyes and moving the thermometer from side to side. “Stop that.” Now she crossed her arms across her chest and heaved a sigh. “Oh, god. You’re worse than the kids.”

Beep. Beep.

Daniel took it out of her mouth. “102.6? Nice. We’re going in to see Adams first thing in the morning.” He held up a hand to silence her. “Don’t even try it I don’t want to hear it.” Daniel put the thermometer back in its case and got back into the bed.

“Oh, Daniel, please! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! Can’t we wait until after Christmas? I don’t want to spoil the holiday…..if there is something wrong, I mean. I’m sure there isn’t.” She added quickly. “It’s just a bit of stress that’s all.”

“No.” Daniel reached up and turned out the light. Stress my ass it’s more than that. “Get some sleep.”

“Daniel?” She said in the dark.

“What?” He returned in a ticked-off voice.

“Are you angry with me?”

“I’m angry that you don’t take care of yourself, that you’re always doing things for other people and that you won’t let me help.”

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, “I just don’t want to be a b…”

“Don’t you dare say it!” Daniel sat up swiftly and snapped on the light. “I swear to God, Kitty if you say that one more throughout the entire course of our life together I’ll scream.”

“Then I won’t say it again.” She said in a demur voice.

“Good.” Daniel hissed and looking at the sorrowful expression on her face he then tossed his hands in the air. “I’m sorry, Kitty, I don’t mean to snap at you. I love you, I don’t want anything to happen to you and you promised you would let me help you.”

“If I need it…”

“And you do so we’ll go see Adams tomorrow, we’ll find out what’s wrong, we’ll fix it and then we’ll have a very merry Christmas, all right?” Daniel coaxed.

“All right. You know how I hate the doctor.”

“I know,” he said easily. “It won’t be so bad. Come here and lay in my arms. Let’s get some rest.” Maybe he could talk her into seeing Dr. Willie a few times. Yeah, well, Fat Chance on that one but he could hope there was nothing stopping him from hoping, was there?

End of Chapter Eight
Tarnished Heroes: Keep the Fire Burning
Continue to
Chapter Nine