Episode 85 - Date Night

"Look at you!" Zara gushed when she opened the door and saw Cassandra. She stepped aside and invited her sister, niece, and nephew into her new apartment. "Pulling out all the stops?"

Cassie just smiled and changed the subject as Zara greeted Brooke and Doug. "So, this is your new place? How do you like it?"

"It's great. I would give you the tour, but there's not much to show."

"That's okay, I can't stay long."

Zara pointed the kids toward the bedroom. "I have some movies and games in my room. Why don't you go pick out what we should do first?"

Once they were out of the room, Zara turned to her sister. "So, tonight's the big date night. Are you excited?"

"I'm nervous," Cassie admitted. "Is that weird?"

"Not at all."

"I feel like everything is riding on this date. I'm trying to remind myself to play it cool, but I know in my heart this is going to be a turning point for us. Either it's the beginning of finding our way back to each other, or it's the end of our relationship."

"That's not necessarily true." Zara tried to be encouraging. "Try not to think so black and white."

"I'm trying, but I can't help knowing what I know to be true." When the kids came back from the bedroom, Cassie declared that it was time to go. She hugged Brooke and Doug goodbye and made them promise to be good.

"Good luck," Zara said as Cassie started out the door.

"I should say the same to you," Cassie replied with a nod to the kids. She was attempting to be lighthearted, but the nervousness that had taken over her body didn't let her feel it.

Once Cassie had left, Zara turned to Brooke and Doug. "So, are you two hungry?"

After looking through takeout menus and coming to a consensus, Zara called in a food order, and Brooke and Doug broke out the games.

Ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door.

"That was quick," Zara remarked as she stood up to answer it. "No moving my pieces while I'm up," she warned them.

When she opened the door, she was surprised to see that it wasn't a delivery person in the hallway, but Ben, holding a cactus.

"Hi, Ben," she said, taken aback and still trying to recover her wits. "What are you doing here?"

"You sounded so excited when you were talking about your new apartment today that I thought you might like an apartment-warming gift." As he held the cactus out to her, he noticed Brooke and Doug in the living room. "Oh, I see you have company."

"Yes. Come in," Zara said, taking the cactus from Ben and stepping aside to welcome him to the apartment. Her niece and nephew were scrambling to their feet to greet her visitor.

"Hey, guys. How's it going?" Ben waved.

Zara made space for the cactus on the kitchen counter, as Doug started sharing information and asking Ben questions about animal facts, and Brooke watched on with a shy smile. Brooke had seemed happier tonight than Zara had seen her in a long time, but she seemed to have an extra special smile for Ben.

"Do you want to stay for dinner, Ben?" Zara called from the kitchen. "We just ordered takeout."

"Um, yeah. But I shouldn't stay too long."

As Zara got out the dishes to set the table, Brooke followed her into the kitchen.

"Want to help me set the table?"

"Okay," she agreed. As Zara got glasses from the cabinet, Brooke asked, "So, is Ben like your boyfriend?"

Zara tried not to show her surprise at the question. "No. He used to be a long time ago, but he has another girlfriend now. We're just work friends."

"I'm glad he came over. He's nice."

Zara just nodded.

"But if he was your boyfriend. . ." Brooke mused. "That would mean my mom and dad would be back together and you would have someone too." Noticing her aunt grow tense, Brooke backtracked. "But if you're just friends, that's cool too."

Zara set the glasses down and turned to give Brooke her full attention. She paused a moment, choosing her next words carefully. "Your mom and dad are just having dinner together tonight; that doesn't mean they're getting back together. Maybe they will, but maybe they won't. I just don't want you to get your hopes up yet. We just have to wait and see what they decide, alright?"

Brooke shrugged. She was a little annoyed, but mostly she didn't believe that it was possible that they wouldn't end up back together after their date tonight. "Alright. We'll see."

"Whatever happens, we all still have each other: you, me, Doug, your mom, and your dad. That won't change." Sensing that Brooke's mood was threatening to deflate, Zara changed the subject. "Will you see if the guys want anything to drink? Our food should be here any minute."

* * * * *

Cassie stepped into the restaurant and paused to survey the room. When she saw Blaine seated at the bar, she shrugged off her coat and handed it to the host, revealing the tight, low-cut red dress she had picked out specifically for this occasion. She checked her hair and then strode across the room to the bar. She could feel eyes on her as she walked through the room. She knew she looked good enough to turn heads, but there was only one person in the whole world that she cared about catching the attention of.

"Is this seat taken?" she asked as she approached the bar.

When Blaine turned to look at her, she took his breath away. He quickly recovered. "I've been saving it just for you."

"I'm Cassandra, but people also call me Cassie," she said, as she slid into the seat next to him and offered him her hand.

He blinked a moment before taking her hand and playing along. "Blaine. Can I get you a drink?"

They ordered from the bartender and made small talk as they sipped their drinks.

"It's been a long time since I've been on a first date," Cassie remarked as she fidgeted with her glass.

"Me too."

"I find that hard to believe."

Determined to keep the mood light and flirty, Cassandra continued talking. "Then you'll understand if I'm a little bit rusty when it comes to dating. So, what do you do for work?"

"I work in IT, freelance." Blaine replied. He continued on in the spirit of keeping up his side of the conversation. "Recently I have been setting up a personnel database for the Townsend Corporation, but since the project is almost finished, I'll have to decide which offer I want to pursue next. How about you?"

"I help manage a nightclub, organizing events and booking musical acts. My latest task has been helping with a birthday party for a pair of soon-to-be sixteen-year-old girls."

"You're arranging Natalie's birthday party?"

"Chloe is doing all the planning. Since they decided to have it at James' club, I've offered to help with the decorations and serving food at the party."

Blaine smiled, touched that Cassie was doing something nice for his daughter. "That's great. It sounds like we'll see each other there."

The pretense of pretending they were strangers meeting for a first date dropped; they shifted to chatting about everyday life, their kids, and their friends and neighbors. Cassie resisted the urge to bring up anything from the past, lest Blaine would feel pressured to remember, and kept the topics of discussion to the present. The future still felt too uncertain to broach as a topic, but Cassie was slowly starting to feel better about the days and months that were ahead of them.

Things were going well until a familiar song started to play over the speakers. As soon as Cassandra recognized the tune, everything else faded away. She stopped hearing Blaine's words mid-sentence, and for a moment she was afraid that her heart had stopped beating.

"Cassie? Are you alright?" Blaine asked, concerned.

"Yes, it's this song . . ." she stopped herself from saying more. What would he think if she told him that this was the song that they chose for the first dance at their wedding reception? Would he think she orchestrated this? Would he feel pressured to recall the past? She had promised him she wouldn't try to make him remember the past, not tonight. "I love this song," she said quietly. "It's been a long time."

"Would you like to dance?" he asked.

"Would you be okay with that?" she asked, unsurely.

Blaine rose to his feet, offered her his hand, and led her to the dance floor. There was only one other couple dancing; most of the patrons were focused on their dinners and conversations. He took Cassie in his arms, and they began to sway on the dance floor.

When she closed her eyes, Cassie was transported back to her wedding day fourteen years ago. She was a newlywed wrapped in the arms of the man that she loved.

It had been love at first sight for her. She remembered seeing Blaine for the first time at the door of her father's house. She knew then that he was the one, the only one for her. It was a long road for them to finally get together. At times she wasn't sure if they would ever be together, and she wasn't sure that she deserved him. Even after all this time, she wasn't sure that she did deserve him. Maybe their years together had just been one long dream. Their life together had been too good to be true.

When she remembered dancing with Blaine on their wedding day, at that moment she had everything she had ever wanted. Somehow, miraculously, she had won him, and tragically, she lost him again. During these last few months, since their fight and his memory loss, she was afraid she had lost him forever. She was afraid she would never feel his touch, his arms around her, his body next to hers. She breathed him in and wished this moment and this song would never end.

"Are you okay?" Blaine asked, leaning back to study her face and noticing tears welling in her eyes.

"We've danced to this song before," she said quietly. "It's okay if you don't remember."

"When was that?"

"At our wedding," she answered and looked away.

When Blaine focused on the music and the feeling of Cassie's body in his arms as they danced, he remembered. He could see Cassie as a bride in her long, white dress, hair pulled up in a veil adorned with blue and white flowers. Her green eyes gazed upon him with so much devotion and love; it made his entire body turn warm. As the events of that day started to come back to him in flashes with sudden clarity, the images of his imagined marriage to Reese started to slip away like sand through his fingers, dissolving into thin air. When he tried to think of Reese as a bride, the images of her marrying him were gone. He could only see her as she looked a few weeks ago on her way to marry Simon. The more he tried to hold on to his false memories, the faster they evaporated away. They had never existed, but he wasn't ready to let them go.

He gasped and took a step back. Cassie looked up at him, and he could see the concern in her eyes, behind her tears.

"I'm sorry. Can you excuse me for a second?"

"Sure. I should freshen up anyway," Cassie replied, but he was already walking away before she could finish her sentence.

Cassie retreated to the ladies' room, where she dabbed the tears from her eyes, trying not to ruin her makeup and failing. She was determined that she was not going to break down and cry, but she was afraid that she was going to fail at that as well.

When she finally left the restroom, Blaine was nowhere to be seen. She retrieved her coat from the host and stepped outside, where she found Blaine seated on a bench next to the restaurant.

"Are you okay?" she asked."

"Yeah. I don't know. I think so," he said, not sure if he was being honest or not. He rubbed his temples. "It's these memories. Sometimes I think they're starting to become more clear, but then I'm not so sure." He wasn't going to admit that he wasn't sure that he wanted them to come back. He wasn't ready to let go of what he might lose if his memory was fully restored.

Cassie sat next to him, also unwilling to admit that she too was afraid of what she might lose if he remembered everything. Yet, at the same time, she was desperate for him to remember. "I hope you believe what I said. I wasn't going to try to make you remember anything tonight. I had no idea that song was going to play."

"Maybe not trying to remember is what made some of it come back to me."

She hated to ask, but had to know. "What did you remember?"

"I remembered dancing with you to that song at our wedding," he said simply. He didn't mention what was really concerning him: losing his false memories of marrying Reese.

Cassie felt her heart leap, but she tried not to appear too excited. That he remembered them together at a happy time, when they were so in love, felt like a promising sign, but she tried to keep a level head and tell herself that it didn't really mean anything, not until he decided that he wanted her again.

"What do you want to do now?" she asked. "Should we get a table and order dinner, or do you want to get out of here?"

"I think we should call it a night. I'm a little overwhelmed," he said, standing up.

"Okay," Cassie agreed, trying to hide her disappointment.

She was pleased when Blaine offered to walk her to her car.

"I had a nice time. Thanks for inviting me out. I'm sorry for ending it early."

"Let me know if you want to do it again sometime," Cassie said hopefully. "I had a nice time too."

"Well, I guess I'll see you the next time I have the kids. Good night, Cassie."

Blaine gave her a brief peck on the lips and smiled at her as she got into her car, but his smile faded as soon as he turned to walk away. He had a lot to process.

* * * * *

Ben had been watching the clock on his drive home. Time had gotten away from him again. He told himself he was just going to drop off his gift for Zara and head straight home, but he'd gotten caught up hanging out with Zara and the kids. He wondered if Amanda would be worried or upset with him for being so late without a phone call, or if she would even notice or care that he wasn't there.

When he entered the apartment, the living room was dimly lit with candles as soft music played in the background. Amanda was stretched out on the sofa, dressed in a silky nightie, reading a magazine.

"Oh, good, you're finally home," she said as she rose to meet him. "Where have you been?"

Ben was relieved when her tone sounded more curious than angry. "I'm sorry, I had to work late."

"You did? I dropped by your workplace to surprise you, but you had already left." She raised an eyebrow and waited for him to explain.

"I left the lab early to check on some of the field sites. Then I drove around for a while, and I stopped by a colleague's place to drop off a housewarming gift. I didn't realize how late it had gotten. I'm sorry."

"It's fine," she said.

Ben was relieved when she didn't ask which colleague he had gone to visit. He knew he probably should have left that part out, but he wanted to be truthful. He didn't want to deceive her.

"But it's a shame you picked tonight to do all that," Amanda lamented as she stepped closer to him and draped her arms over his shoulders. "I was hoping you would be home early since Meghan is at Jasmyn's tonight for a sleepover. I had plans for us."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"You didn't know? How did you not know? Meghan's been talking about the sleepover all week."

Ben just shrugged. He tended to tune out a lot of what Meghan and Amanda talked about.

"I'm just sorry we missed out on this time together. We never get as much alone time as I would like." She pouted as she played with the collar of his shirt. She spoke slowly and seductively, emphasising each word. "I want to take advantage of every moment."

When she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her body against his, his breath caught in his throat. He knew they had issues they needed to talk out, but once her lips were on his, all thoughts left his mind, and he gave in to the feeling. The state of their relationship would have to be a conversation for another time.