Cassandra Fraiser had absolutely no idea who the guy with Sam was, but he was absolutely beautiful. Perfect hair – which to her meant a military haircut – and perfect teeth, with beautiful dark eyes that were almost black, and a perfect complexion. God, he even had a nice smile. She thought her heart was going to stop beating when Sam introduced the two of them.

"Cassandra, this is Ian – one of Shawn's roommates at the academy." Sam said, smiling at the look in Cassie's eyes. "Ian, this is Cassandra – Janet's daughter."

"Pleased to meet you, Ian," Cassie said, holding her hand out so he'd have to take it – she had ways of making him touch her!

Ian took her hand for the briefest of moments, giving her a smile that didn't exactly light up his eyes the same way it did when he smiled at Sam or at Jaffer.

"Hi. It's nice to meet you, too."

Yeah, she was cute, he had to admit that. She had very pretty red hair that hung in artful tangles down her shoulder and she had a great figure and looked good in the tight jeans and sweatshirt she was wearing. Her eyes were pretty, and her smile was appealing, but Ian was fairly certain that she wasn't old enough for him – even if Janet Fraiser was interested in letting him date her daughter.

"Is your mom home, Cassie?"

"She said she'd meet us at your house, Sam," Cassandra said, not taking her eyes off Ian, who knelt down and grabbed up Cassie's dog when he came running over to see who was at the door. Cassie noticed he held him easily, although her dog was a little overweight and not all that light. Probably Ian had tons of muscles.

"Is all the food ready?" Sam asked, deciding from the way Cassie was watching Ian, she was more than impressed. God, Sam wondered if she'd ever been that boy crazy when she was a teenager. Probably she had been, and just didn't remember.

"Yeah."

"Why don't we get it in the car, and get to the house? It's too cold to stand on the porch any longer than necessary." Sam said, pointedly.

Cassie blushed – and with her complexion it really showed red – and gestured for the two of them to go into the house ahead of her – which gave her a fine chance to admire the way Ian's jeans looked from behind. She shut the door, and watched as Ian set her dog back on the floor.

Yum.

"Cass?"

Cassandra turned to Sam, who was watching her with a grin, and the girl flushed even redder. Busted.

"Ian's volunteered to do the heavy lifting for us, so load him up and let's get back to the house before Jack destroys it."

Nodding, Cassandra got her hormones under control – more or less – and led the way to the kitchen.

OOOOOOOOOOO

It didn't take long to get the trunk of Sam's car filled with the groceries that Janet had left for them. There was a ham that was already cooked and ready to go – it just needed heating before it was served – and plenty of sweet potatoes in a huge casserole dish. There were cans of condensed milk and pumpkin that were going to be turned into pie at the O'Neill house that evening, and a couple of gallons of milk – with blue lids, Ian noticed, smugly. A tray of sliced meats and cheeses and another tray that was empty but would hold sliced veggies and dip – which were also in a bag that Ian carried out for the two – was put into the car and it was all topped off with what had to be twenty bags of potato chips and crackers. There was a ton of food, and it was obvious to Sam and Ian both that Janet was taking her role of helper very seriously.

Ian gave Cassandra the front seat when they were finally loaded into the car, and the girl put the visor down – presumably to keep the November sun out of her eyes – but mainly so she could watch him surreptitiously in the vanity mirror.

Sam would have worried that maybe she needed to have Jack have a talk with Ian about the availability of Cassie, but Ian wasn't really showing all that much interest in the girl, so she decided to wait and see what happened. Maybe he didn't like redheads.

When they pulled up to the house, Jack was raking the front yard, and Cassie left her Ian watching long enough to jump the picket fence and run over and say hi to him and Jaffer. The black lab greeted her joyfully, and Jack was more than willing to drop his rake and give her a big hug – something he never tired of doing, and Cassie never seemed to mind, which worked out well for both of them.

"No sisters, Ian?" Sam asked as she opened the trunk of the car.

He shook his head.

"How'd you know?"

"Just a lucky guess."

He smiled, and grabbed the heaviest of the containers – which was the bag filled with canned milk and pumpkin.

"She seems nice..."

"She is. And she'll get over the novelty of meeting you soon, so don't get too nervous."

"Nervous?" He gave Sam a cocky smile. "I never get nervous."

She laughed, and grabbed up the gallons of milk, and headed for the door.

"Hey you two, come help or we're going to just sit right here and eat it all ourselves."

Jack and Cassie came over and Cassie opened the door for Ian, while Jack took the milk from Sam, who told him she was more than capable of carrying a couple gallons of milk. Jack assured her that he knew that, and then told her that she should go find a place in the fridge for everything they were bringing in. Sam knew he was just making sure she didn't try to carry anything herself, and while it annoyed the hell out of her, it didn't really surprise her – after all, he was always protective of her, and since she'd become pregnant he'd become downright mothering.

"Did you two leave anything at Janet's house?" Jack asked, looking in the trunk when he came out for another load. "I don't see the kitchen sink."

"It's probably in there somewhere..." Sam told him, coming up behind him and wrapping her arms around his waist. He leaned back against her for just a moment – a moment that the two of them vanished into their own little world during – and then shook his head.

"I don't see it. You'd better send Ian back to get it."

Sam smiled, certain that Cassie would have loved that.

"We'll just have to make due, I suppose," she told him.