Hi, everyone! This is my first time posting in the Good Witch fandom, and I hope there are some other Good Witch fans out there. I love the show, and I'm a big fan of Catherine Bell in her role as Cassie and also in her previous role as Sarah MacKenzie in JAG. This is a Good Witch story, but there are a lot of JAG references, so it will be helpful if you're familiar with both shows. I hope you like it – thanks for reading!
"Mom, I need your help!"
Cassie Nightingale had just removed a fresh batch of blueberry muffins from the oven when she heard her daughter call out from the front door at Grey House. Worriedly setting the muffins on the counter and pulling the oven mitts from her hands, she hurried into the foyer. "Grace, what's wrong?"
But Cassie's concern was instantly eased when she saw the twinkle in Grace's eye and the two pretty rose bouquets that she carried in each hand.
"Abigail put these together for the Double Date event tonight at the Bistro," Grace explained. "But Stephanie can't decide which color to use. She wanted me to ask you."
"Oh, they're both so beautiful," Cassie proclaimed, gently touching the petals and leaning down to inhale the sweet scent. The choice consisted of either deep, vibrant red roses or bright, cheery yellow roses. Each bouquet included a dozen flowers set in a clear glass vase and framed in a bed of green leaves with sprigs of white baby's breath blossoms.
"Mom," Grace said sternly. "Stephanie wants you to pick one."
"Well, the red rose symbolizes love, and the yellow rose symbolizes friendship," Cassie relayed knowledgeably. She gave Grace a little wink. "Why don't you ask Stephanie which one she thinks would best capture the meaning of a double date?"
"I guess I can do that." Grace's expression brightened. "And I'll see you tonight, okay? Everything is going to be so romantic." A blush suddenly spread over Grace's face, and her voice rose a couple of pitches in excitement. "And you know what the best part is? Noah asked me to double date with Nick and Katie."
"Oh, Grace, that's wonderful," Cassie said sincerely. "Nick and Katie?"
"They met on the decorating committee for the school formal," Grace said quickly. "And Stephanie and Abigail are dating these guys they just met at the Bistro last week. Who's your double date going to be, Mom?"
"Hmm." Cassie tilted her head thoughtfully. "I don't know yet, but I'm sure the right match will turn up just in time…don't you agree, Sam?"
Sam was no longer surprised when Cassie knew he was there before he even arrived. He had come to expect it and discover that it was one of the many things he loved and admired about her.
"Well, I didn't quite hear what I'm agreeing to," Sam said, coming up behind his fiancée and greeting her with a kiss. "But I'm assuming the answer is yes."
Grace giggled, and Cassie gave him a secretive smile, returning his embrace with a gentle squeeze on his arm. "Where are you off to today?" she asked, noticing his T-shirt, sweatpants, and sneakers.
"The gym," Sam replied. "I finally conned Nick into an afternoon of basketball with his old man."
"And what does Nick think about that?"
"Oh, he just adores the idea," Sam deadpanned with a dramatic roll of his eyes.
"You'll be back in time for the Double Date event tonight, won't you?" Grace asked.
"Of course," Sam assured her. "I mean, I wouldn't want to subject Nick to too much father-son bonding all at once." He gave Grace a friendly smile and dropped another quick kiss on Cassie's cheek. "I'll see you both tonight."
~*~o~*~
"Come on, Dad! Where's the defense?"
Nick Radford dribbled the basketball between his legs in a nifty crossover move, sprinted around Sam, and moved in for an open lay-up, only to find himself sprawled on the gym floor after a hard shove from behind. Nick hit the ground with a loud thud as the basketball bounced carelessly out of bounds.
"Hey, Dad, that's a foul!"
"It was not," Sam protested, putting his hands on his hips and panting a little from the exertion. "What is this? You're telling me you can't handle it when the game gets a little physical?"
"No, I'm telling you that my dad can't play defense without fouling the other team."
"All right, all right," Sam grumbled. "Two foul shots, okay?"
Another man on the sidelines had kindly retrieved Nick's basketball from out of bounds. He had just been passing by with a gym bag and a towel with U.S. NAVY printed in big, block letters slung over his shoulder.
"Nice move," he said, returning the ball to Nick in a crisp bounce pass.
"Thanks."
Nick stepped up to the foul line and swished the ball smoothly through the net, giving his father a smug look.
"You're a good dad for allowing foul shots," the other man remarked with a grin.
"Yeah?" Sam asked, pleased by the compliment. "Was your dad the kind of guy who always gave his son extra foul shots?"
"Don't know," the man replied somewhat cryptically. "Never had the chance to find out."
Nick's second free throw bounced off the rim, and as the friendly stranger reached out for the rebound, his knee buckled underneath him and he let out a loud hiss of pain.
Sam instantly transformed into the medical doctor that he was. "Are you okay?" he asked with concern. "I'm a doctor. I can take a look if you'd like—"
The man grimaced as he took a few stiff-legged steps, trying to walk off the pain. "No, that's okay, I'm fine."
"Looked like you might have twisted your knee pretty hard there," Sam said. "If you need medical attention—"
The man waved him off. "I'm fine. It's just an old injury, and it'll stop in a minute or two." He bent down to rub a specific spot on the back of his knee and his expression relaxed as the pain eased a little bit.
Sam observed the man closely. "Mind if I ask what you did to yourself?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"I'm a doctor," Sam explained with a shrug. "I've heard pretty much everything."
"Well, I dumped an F-14 in the drink, got my leg twisted in the chute when I hit the water, had to cut myself loose, almost drowned, then almost died of hypothermia. It was a long time ago, but my knee still likes to remind me about it every now and then."
Sam raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Haven't heard that one before?" the man asked dryly.
Sam laughed. "Well, not this week at least."
~*~o~*~
"Can I help you find something?"
It wasn't an unusual question for Cassie to ask her customers at Bell, Book & Candle. In fact, customers often spoke of the mysterious way that she always knew what they needed even before they did.
But that afternoon, as she stood behind the counter polishing two crystal figurines, even Cassie didn't expect the next customer who entered the shop. She looked up when the bells above the front door jingled, and she found herself catching her breath in surprise.
"Good afternoon," she said softly.
"Good afternoon," her customer echoed.
The two women stared at each other for a long moment, the wonder evident in their eyes as they studied the mirror image of themselves. Having never met her own reflection before, Cassie wondered just what kind of Merriwick magic was at work here.
She was the first to snap herself out of the strange reverie.
"Welcome to Bell, Book & Candle," she said kindly. "Are you looking for something in particular?"
"Oh, no, not really," the other woman replied. "I was just passing by and something drew me into your shop. I—I can't really explain it."
"Ah, well, sometimes magic doesn't always reveal its explanation," Cassie quoted wisely.
With one last swipe of her polishing cloth, she set the two crystal figurines down on the counter. The tiny pair of birds shimmered, almost creating the illusion of flight as their golden-tipped wings caught the sunlight at just the right angle.
"Those are beautiful," the other woman said admiringly. "Are they turtledoves?"
"They are," Cassie confirmed. "Handmade by a young, artistic friend of mine. She says that turtledoves symbolize true love and devotion. If they're ever separated, they can always find their way back to each other. Sometimes all we need to fly are a pair of gold wings."
The woman laughed. "Please don't ever tell that to my husband."
Cassie smiled warmly. "I don't think you'll find anyone more devoted to you than your husband." Gracefully, she lifted the turtledoves from the counter and placed them in the other woman's hand. "For both of you."
"Oh, no, I couldn't—"
The woman immediately started to protest, but Cassie held up her hand. "Consider them a gift. Let me see if I have a box for you. I'll be right back."
"Yoohoo!"
The bells above the front door jingled again, and a shrill voice carried across the shop as a familiar customer made her way past the herbs, spices, and other trinkets until she reached the counter.
"Cassie! Oh, Cassie, I desperately need your help. As you know, the inaugural Double Date event is tonight, and as the Mayor of Middleton, I'm supposed to make a speech—"
Martha Tinsdale stopped abruptly as the woman at the counter turned to face her. She had Cassie's kind, beautiful face and chocolate brown eyes, but her dark hair was tightly tied back, and she wore the green uniform of a military officer, complete with ribbons and insignia.
"My goodness, Cassie," Martha exclaimed. "Wherever did you get that uniform?"
"It's standard dress for the U.S. Marine Corps, ma'am."
"Ma'am?" Martha repeated, laughing heartily as the word rolled off her tongue. "Oh, Cassie, when did we become so formal?"
"Hello, Martha."
"Cassie!" Martha let out a loud yelp as Cassie appeared beside her, carrying a small velvet box.
"Oh, my," Martha gasped, holding a hand to her chest in surprise. Her eyes darted back and forth between the two women standing at the counter. "Am I—am I seeing double?"
"Well, there does seem to be a slight resemblance," Cassie remarked.
"A resemblance…oh, um, I see…" Martha nervously straightened the scarf around her neck and shook her head, as if that would make one of the two women disappear. "Well, as I was saying…Cassie, I desperately need your help. I'm supposed to make a speech about romance and true love at the Double Date event tonight, but I don't know what on earth I'm going to say."
"Well, I'm sure you'll think of something," Cassie said with a reassuring smile. "You always do."
Martha frowned. "Yes, but this time I'm supposed to talk about how Tom and I keep our romance alive even while he's in Chicago. He's so far away all the time, but he loves his work, and I don't want to take that away from him, but I miss him so much."
She paused as she heard a soft chuckle, and Martha narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the Cassie twin.
"I'm sorry," the woman apologized. "But I think you have your opening statement right there. When you're meant to be with someone, even when that someone is far away, it doesn't mean that you stop loving them. And sometimes," she added wistfully, "if you love someone enough, you have to let them do what they love…even if what they love most is landing twenty tons of steel on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean."
There was a long moment of silence as Martha blinked owlishly, rendered unusually speechless.
Cassie just grinned. "Well, Martha, I don't think I could have said it any better myself."
~*~o~*~
"Wow, Stephanie, the place looks great," Cassie exclaimed as she and Sam entered the Bistro later that night. She almost didn't recognize one of their favorite restaurants in Middleton, as the regular lights had been dimmed and replaced with romantic candlelight and each table was set with four places, red tablecloths, and floral centerpieces made of intertwined red and yellow roses.
Stephanie's smile was genuine. "Well, thank you," she said. "And Cassie, I hear that I have you to thank for suggesting both the red and yellow roses. I don't know what I was thinking…this is a double date event, and we should have double the roses, right?" She motioned towards one of the buffet tables. "So please come in, take a seat anywhere, try the complimentary hors d'oeuvres, and enjoy a little romance."
Cassie turned to Sam with a shy smile that brought a faint blush to her cheeks. "Shall we?"
Sam returned her smile and took his fiancée's arm in a grand, romantic gesture. "I think we shall."
As the couple made their way further into the Bistro, they waved to Grace and Nick who were chatting animatedly with their friends. Cassie pretended not to notice her daughter holding hands with Noah, and she was pleased to see smiles on everyone's faces.
"It's nice to see Grace and Nick getting along again," she whispered in Sam's ear.
"Well, it's about time," Sam muttered in response.
"For my speech? Already?"
Cassie and Sam exchanged a knowing look at the sound of that unmistakable voice.
"Martha," Cassie greeted pleasantly. Her smile widened as she noticed the man accompanying her. "And Tom, you made it."
"Well, Martha talked me into it," Tom said with a sheepish smile. "Besides, how could I possibly say no to a romantic double date with my wife?"
Just then, two other young adults approached the group and Cassie instantly recognized them. "Michael, Vanessa, it's good to see you both again."
"Hi, Cassie. Hi, Sam," Martha's son said politely, and his recent bride Vanessa echoed the greeting.
"Oh, isn't it marvelous?" Martha exclaimed, clasping her hands together with happiness. "My whole family is here to share this special event. Cassie, I guess there's something to be said for what your evil twin told me earlier today." Martha paused to reconsider her choice of words. "Well, I guess she's not actually your 'evil' twin. In fact, she seems very nice and she and her husband look positively radiant together tonight."
Martha motioned to two guests on the other side of the room, and Cassie caught a glimpse of a brown-haired woman in a red dress, accompanied by a tall, dark-haired man in a gray suit and tie.
"Oh, well, we'll have to go say hello."
"Of course," Martha agreed. "Tom, Michael, Vanessa, let's go find a table so you have a perfect view of the podium for my speech." She grasped her husband's hand firmly and herded her family away towards some of the empty seats.
"Evil twin?" Sam murmured under his breath once Martha was out of earshot.
"There's a slight resemblance," Cassie admitted.
As Sam and Cassie approached the other couple, the woman had her back turned to them, but they could clearly see the tall man come up behind his wife, wrap an arm around her waist, and press a soft kiss to the back of her neck.
Recognition dawned on Sam after a moment. "Cassie, I think that's the guy Nick and I met playing basketball this afternoon."
Sam craned his neck, but he still couldn't quite see the wife's face, as she had just moved away while making a selection of hors d'oeuvres. He saw her lay a hand on her husband's arm and lean in to whisper in his ear.
Just then, the man turned slightly and happened to catch Sam's eye.
"Hey, it's the dad who never fouls," he said with a grin.
Sam chuckled. "That's me. How's the knee?"
"Oh, it's fine. Like I said, it's just an old injury."
"Well, it's nice to see you again," Sam said, extending his hand politely. "Sam Radford. This is my fiancée, Cassie Nightingale."
As the man's gaze fell upon Cassie, his bright blue-green eyes clouded over in confusion. Cassie also stared at him intently, and there was a long silence and an uncomfortable shift in the air.
"You two know each other?" Sam asked, sensing the unusual tension.
It took a moment for the man to find his voice again, and he swallowed hard before he spoke. "No, I'm sorry, I just…had a moment of déjà vu."
Sam frowned, a little puzzled by his reaction. "Sorry, I didn't catch your name earlier this afternoon?"
Still appearing slightly dazed, the man shook Sam's hand, his other arm reaching out to rest on his wife's lower back and redirect her attention. "Mac," he murmured softly, prompting her to turn around in his arms.
Now it was Sam's turn to take a stunned step backwards.
"Harmon Rabb," the man finally introduced himself, "and this is my wife, Sarah MacKenzie."