Melt Your Heart

So, I'm sulking. The new season of Good Witch starting airing last night, and I still haven't seen season 6 yet. Instead, I shall continue here in AU land, making up Cassie & Sam's storyline as I go along (and sticking pins in my Netflix voodoo doll).

This chapter is a bit longer and delves into Cassie's abilities a bit more, oh and it's kinda angsty, because you know I love some angst.

Hope you enjoy, I love knowing what you think :)

Also, big shout out toxfphile for the stellar beta job. As always, much appreciated :)

Chapter 18: A Sense of Feeling

Cassie likened it to a dripping faucet finally being turned to full blast, when she stood in line at the Bistro the following morning. The final puzzle piece in her identity seemed to have slotted home. Feelings she had taken for granted now made perfect sense to her, and she realised this was something she could work with, something she could use to help people and to finally feel useful again outside of her role of the twins' mother.

It also made sense why Abigail had chosen to hold this back from her. Cassie liked to think she was a rational person, but she wasn't sure how she would have reacted if her cousin had told her truth upon her arrival in Middleton. If it had made her decide against making a home here, she and the twins would have missed out on so much. And she never would have gotten to know Sam.

She smiled a little as she thought of him. She could not have predicted that she would feel this way ever again, hadn't even been sure that she wanted to become entangled with someone else after the pain of losing Jake. Sam was making her want to take that risk, and she knew he felt the same way about taking a chance on love again. They'd both been burned before, but in different ways.

She sensed rather than felt the presence behind her, something she wouldn't have been conscious of only days earlier. And it was Ryan. Oh. It wasn't that she didn't like him, she barely knew the man, but she could feel his interest in her and it was very much not reciprocated.

Well, at least now she knew why she already knew that, rather than just wondering if she was self-absorbed.

"Morning, Ryan," she chirped, light and friendly.

She realised she could actually feel his surprised, but delighted grin, and nodded to herself; this was something else that finally made sense..

"Hey Cassie, how are you this morning?" He moved next to her in the line as they stepped forward.

She felt good, she realised. The ups and downs of the last couple of days had evened out. She had a new home in a town she loved, her kids were happy here, and she was falling for a wonderful man. Things between her and Abigail were better again now, though Cassie still felt a hint of resentment at having to find out about the Merriwick lineage for herself. She had faith that it would all work itself out, though, and now she knew that she could trust those feelings as something more concrete than mere gut instinct.

"I'm very well, thank you," she told Ryan. "I'm happy to have moved here."

"We're happy to have you here," he replied, and Cassie wasn't sure if it was her imagination but he seemed to have lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper.

"Uh, thank you," she replied. "Everyone has been very welcoming."

Some more than others, she thought with a smile that was just for her. God, was it stupid that she missed him? He lived next door to her, for crying out loud!

She nearly missed what Ryan said next because she was thinking about Sam, and had to ask him to repeat it.

"I said we should do brunch again sometime, I enjoyed that last time." He would rather have invited her for dinner, but he didn't want to show all his cards at once. It had been a long time since a woman like Cassie had settled in Middleton, and he was not going to ruin his chances with her.

"Yes, it was," she replied, because it was true.

She had enjoyed sitting with him and sipping green tea while he devoured pancakes and told her more about himself than she really needed to know about someone she'd just met. She could sense his insecurities and his need to be seen, and loved, and she sensed that he was a good man. She just had her eye, and her heart, focused on another man. She would be his friend, but she worried that she was going to have to be more explicit in making him realise that was all they were ever going to be.

"Great, let me know when you're free!"

Startled, Cassie wanted to protest, but Stephanie was asking for their order and...oh, damn, she thought they were there together. She and Sam had been keeping things pretty low key, but things were never truly under the radar in a town the size of Middleton. Abigail and Stephanie were close too, so Cassie had just assumed that the blonde already knew about her and Sam.

"Mine is to-go," she stated firmly. Did Ryan think they were going to share brunch together, today? The way his expression changed from hopeful to kicked puppy in the space of a millisecond confirmed that Cassie's intuition was right again. This was exhausting, but she had to remind herself that she had always been doing this. It was only now that she was aware of what was happening. Maybe being in Middleton was making her gifts more potent, though? She filed that away to quiz Abigail on later.

"Thanks, Stephanie," she said, gratefully accepting the cardboard container of tea. "See you around, Ryan!"

She strode purposefully towards the exit, needing to be away from where so many people were...thinking and feeling. Wow. She took several breaths of cool autumn air and started to feel more like herself again. She was going to have to find a way of being able to handle these competing demands for attention again and suddenly wondered if it was why Abigail wasn't the most social of butterflies. She hoped not. Cassie was a people person, and she didn't want to stop being around people just because she had discovered her true nature.

Especially as there didn't appear to be an 'off' switch.

Not again.

She looked up and huffed her bangs out of her eyes.

"Ah, we meet again," she said to Ryan in a jolly tone she hoped didn't sound too forced.

"I remembered what I wanted to ask you," he said, balancing a brown paper sack on top of his coffee. "You didn't see any smoke billowing out of anywhere the other night, did you?"

Cassie truly was flummoxed now.

"Nope, can't say I did. Why, did somebody have a fire?"

"I saw Sam at the supermarket; it looked like he was going to cook. I feel sorry for the poor lady he was entertaining, but at least he'd know how to treat her food poisoning!" Ryan chuckled at his own joke.

Cassie paused. Part of her wanted to wipe the smug grin from his face, but the rest of her realised that she wanted to live in this town for a long time so she didn't want to cause any bad blood.

"Nope, no flames." She raised her cup of tea in a half salute and carried on down Main Street. Sam's cooking might not have required a 911 call out, but the evening had certainly caused a few sparks to fly. She certainly wasn't going to share that information with Ryan, though, especially when she'd barely shared any details of her date with Abigail yet.

Ryan watched Cassie walk away, his grin fading with every step that took her further from him. Why did he have a feeling that he'd already missed his shot with her?

Sam had fully intended to stop turning up at Grey House quite so often, and to play it cool where Cassie was concerned. Things had heated up between them considerably, but their real lives had intervened and they had moved from a boiling point to a simmer. He thought that might be a safer place for them, until they had both had time to process how they felt for each other, and where this entanglement was leading.

But he'd had a hell of a shift at the hospital, and he just wanted to see her.

He didn't even bother to drop off his bag at home, or change out of his work clothes. He headed straight for Grey House, with nothing on his mind but Cassie.

He all but barged into the kitchen, with only a brief rap on the door with his knuckles for proprieties' sake. But, damn it, she wasn't alone.

"Ah, Samuel!" Martha greeted him with delight. "We were just saying that we needed a man around here!"

"Were we?" Cassie replied, and Sam could see from the twist of her lips that she was trying very hard not to laugh at his predicament.

"Well, it was implied," Martha concluded, throwing up her hands.

Sam felt himself relax; there was nothing quite like an encounter with Mayor Tinsdale to pour cold water on your ardour.

"You can stay if you want to," Cassie said softly as Martha headed back to the dining room. "But I'll understand if you don't."

Sam weighed his options. Did he want to go back to empty house all alone and stew over the events of the day, or did he want to spend it with Cassie - even if that meant sharing her with Martha and the rest of her guests?

Really, it was a no-brainer. And she'd probably feed him, too.

"I'd apologise for that, but I did give you an out," Cassie said later, when it was just her and Sam left in the kitchen.

The kids were asleep, Abigail was out, and it was just the two of them. Finally.

"The canapés made it worthwhile," Sam conceded, snagging another salmon puff from a nearly empty tray and popping it into his mouth. He stepped closer to her. "The company was okay as well."

"Just okay?" she fired back, her eyes dancing with amusement.

"Well, it's better now," he murmured, before kissing her, slow and sweet.

"Mmhmm," she was forced to agree. "Definitely better now. So, what brought you here in the first place?"

"Apart from doing that?" Cassie nodded. "I had a really shitty day, but I also wanted to make plans with you for our next date."

Oh, the butterflies who'd been snoozing in her stomach took this as their wake up call. Cassie couldn't help but think about their previous date, and all the things that had - or hadn't - happened.

"Okay," she said, slowly. She tried to push her newly discovered senses out, but she was frustrated to find nothing.

"On my way back from Hillcrest, I saw a sign to the annual pumpkin festival," he began, watching as Cassie's eyes narrowed a little. Oh, so she thought he was going to be predictable and suggest dinner, and maybe a movie. It gave him a little shot of male pride to realise that, for once, he had been able to surprise her. "It's this Sunday," he added, just in case she had other plans, of course.

"Pumpkin festival?" she repeated, wondering if she was missing something.

"Yeah," Sam replied carefully, he was starting to lose confidence now, but he ploughed on. "I thought we could pack a picnic, take the twins, and spend the day together."

"Oh, Sam," she whispered, wishing the primary feeling she was experiencing right now was not panic. This was...it was so sweet, and considerate and yet…too much. "I don't know, I mean..."

He tried hard not to let his disappointment show, but Cassie was so perceptive he knew he couldn't hide it from her.

"Just think about it, okay," he asked softly, and brushed back her bangs as he pressed a kiss to her brow.

He really didn't want to leave, but he'd thrown down the gauntlet and the next step had to be hers. To his surprise, he found he didn't mind waiting; he just wished he could have some degree of certainty that it would all work out.

But he knew better than most that life didn't give you those kinds of guarantees.

"Goodnight, Cassie."

"Goodnight, Sam."

Even with this realisation, his solitary walk back to his empty, darkened house was one of the hardest things he'd ever had to do.

When Abigail returned home, she was not surprised to find that Cassie was still up but she was concerned when she saw that every kitchen surface was gleaming. Even without her Merriwick gifts, she would have known that something was up with her cousin. It also didn't take a genius, or a witch, to figure out that their next door neighbour played at least some role in this. Abigail had practically felt the waves of despondency radiating out of Sam's house when she passed by.

Something had happened and, whatever it was, it wasn't good.

If Abigail had to give her cousin a little push, well, she had these gifts for a reason, right? And while you weren't supposed to use them for personal gain, this was for Cassie and Sam so, in her opinion, it didn't count.

"Hey," Abigail greeted, slipping out of her leather jacket. "Wow, it's a mess out here."

Cassie's lips quirked into a grin in spite of herself. Right now, they probably could have eaten supper off the kitchen floor tiles.

"I couldn't settle down, so..."

Abigail knew she had to tread lightly, which wasn't really part of her M.O., but she didn't want Cassie to push her away. Again. This relationship was new for both of them, and when she factored in Cassie's recently acquired knowledge of her Merriwick inheritance, well, it was a bit of a minefield.

And that was putting it mildly.

"What did he do?"

"Nothing," Cassie sighed. God, she was out of practice at all this. She could barely remember the early days of her and Jake's courtship, and looking back on their married life, everything just seemed so...natural.

"So," Abigail began, placing her hands on her hips, not used to occupying the 'big sister' role, but not totally hating it either. "He did nothing wrong yet he's not here, and the kitchen looks like a crime scene cleaning crew blasted through it?"

"Abigail."

The warning in her tone was quiet, but firm.

Her cousin raised her hands, palms up.

"You don't want to talk about it. I get it. But maybe you should."

It was really starting to irritate Cassie that her younger cousin kept being so…wise and reasonable, when that had usually been her territory.

"He wants to take me, and the twins, to the pumpkin festival in Blairsville on Sunday."

"How dare he?" Abigail's outraged tone was so over the top it actually won another of the briefest smiles from Cassie.

"I know, I'm being ridiculous."

"You're being human," Abigail shot back. "And yes, you are still human."

"I miss him so much." It was barely even a whisper.

Oh.

Abigail suddenly realised that they were no longer talking about Sam – that this conversation wasn't really about Sam at all. And she should have known, because sometimes she felt Cassie's grief so acutely that it nearly wrenched her in two.

"I know you do," she soothed, laying her hand on Cassie's arm.

"But I'm falling in love with Sam," she moaned, putting her head in her hands, and letting her long hair cover her face. "How can I love them both?" She demanded tearfully, peering through the gaps between her fingers.

Neither the woman nor the witch in Abigail knew the answer to that.

"You should go see him." It was the only thing that made sense to the younger Merriwick. "Tell him how you feel. I'll watch the kids."

Cassie levelled a look at her, and neither of them spoke for several minutes.

"Are you sure?" she finally asked, with the kind of uncertainty that made Abigail ache for her.

"Yes, and I promise no popcorn this time."

They smiled as they were reminded of the last time she had tried to have some alone time with their neighbour before Cassie blew out a breath and attempted to straighten out the hair she had disarrayed.

"Okay," she agreed. "Okay."

Abigail sighed as she watched Cassie slip out of the kitchen door. She wished there was something...anything… she could do to help them realise just how perfect they were for each other. When your natural instinct (and ability) was to stir the pot, it was hard to stand back and watch something play out. But, really, both of them only needed the slightest nudge in the right direction, and in that, Abigail was only too happy to oblige.

"Sam?" She tapped on the glass panel in his front door, but there was no welcoming light shining through. Perhaps he'd already gone to bed? She pushed with her senses, closing her eyes and trying to hone in on him. No, he was still awake.

The hall light flicked on and he was standing in front of her all too quickly. She almost lost her nerve.

"Hey," he said softly, looking perplexed, and, if anything a little concerned, to see her. Worse still, he didn't seem at all happy about it.

Cassie didn't need any gift to know that she had hurt him.

Wiping suddenly clammy palms on her jeans, she looked him directly in the eyes.

"Can I come in?"

Only a stupid man would send her away, and Sam Radford was a lot of things but stupid was not one of them.

"Of course you can," he said softly, stepping back to let her inside.

She led the way to the kitchen as she always seemed to do.

Maybe it was because she always felt at home in one.

He said nothing, clearly waiting for her to speak, and Cassie couldn't blame him. He had shown his hand, and now the ball was in her court.

Oh, wow. She was so fraught that she was even mixing her metaphors.

It was a little disorienting to acknowledge how much this man affected her.

"I'm sorry about...before," she murmured, still holding his gaze by some miracle.

Sam's expression softened ever-so-slightly. "It's okay."

"No." Cassie shook her head, dismayed to find herself close to tears once more. "No, it's not."

She paced the length of his kitchen, while Sam leaned against the counter and watched her.

"I don't know why this is so hard," she finally said, coming to a stop several feet away from him.

"I do." His calm statement caught her complete attention and her eyes searched his face, looking hopefully for the understanding she'd just heard. "And I know you do too, Cassie. And I get it, I… just wish you wouldn't push me away."

"I don't want to," she whispered as she closed the gap between them, taking his hands in hers, and felt relief envelop her when he gave them a gentle squeeze.

"Then don't," he said simply.

She let go of his hands and wrapped her arms around his neck instead, pulling his face down to hers. After a long moment of hesitation, he held her to him, hoping that the tighter his grip, the less likely she was to try and worm her way free from him again.

The kiss was desperate, intense…passionate. Cassie found herself pouring her grief, her longing, her fear into it. All of things she was starting to feel for Sam seemed to leak out of her and into their kiss. She didn't want to stop.

She didn't want it to ever stop.

"Cassie," Sam gasped as they broke apart, his heart was pounding in his chest and he didn't think – no, he knew – that a kiss had never moved him quite like this before.

"Please Sam," she begged, and the tone of her voice was nearly his undoing, but he could see all of the raw emotions swirling in her eyes, threatening to overwhelm them both at any moment.

"If we do this – you and me – there's no going back…" he began to explain to her as rationally as possible, even with the blood still rushing in his ears.

"I don't want to go back," she said, kissing him again – briefly, but brutally. "I want you."

Sam realised he had been wrong – walking away from Grey House earlier that evening was not the hardest thing he had ever done. This was.

He took her gently by the shoulders, disentangling them from their fierce embrace.

"Cassie, I want you more than anyone…more than anything I've ever wanted," he explained, his eyes blazing into hers. "Which is why I'm sending you home now."

"Sam, I…" Cassie started to protest, but it was as if the fog was lifting and she had to admit that he was right. She was letting her guilt and her grief overwhelm her, and, if she wasn't careful, she could do irreparable damage to the bond they were building.

She wouldn't do anything to jeopardise what she had with Sam.

He cupped her face in his hands, and gave her that slow, easy smile she loved so much.

"When we do this," he reiterated firmly – because, if Sam had anything to do with it, they would. "It will because we both want to…and for the right reasons, okay?"

Cassie nodded, surprised that the words sent a shock of desire-tinged anticipation through her system.

"Okay," she replied, belatedly appreciating that Abigail had been right again – going to see Sam was just what she needed.

"So, I'll be there to pick you and the twins up on Sunday morning at nine," he told her, the subject change nearly giving Cassie whiplash, even with her newly awakened senses. "All you need to bring is yourselves."

She found herself grinning as she kissed him goodnight and walked back to Grey House. Now that she was able to think it through rationally, without the underlying anxiety that things between her and Sam were moving too far…too fast, she could appreciate the thoughtfulness of his gesture. Spending an autumn Sunday with her children and the man she was falling in love with, picking out pumpkins, going on tractor rides, and, no doubt, eating a lovely picnic prepared by Stephanie sounded pretty perfect to her.

She just hoped the twins would feel the same way.