Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine…darnit!

Pairings: C/E

1 Chapter Two

As Caitlin got off the bus, she was happy as a clam. Even the stupid little elementary school boys couldn't ruin her day. Caitlin had gotten ready early and was now saddling Bandit up.

"Caitlin?" Jim's voice called.

"Uh oh, what now?" she groaned.

"Caitlin," Jim called, as he walked to Bandit's stall. "I want to talk to you."

"Yeah, what about Jim?" she said upbeat. Caitlin prayed it be about something good.

"Dori and I have been looking at your grades lately and they've been slipping," he said cautiously.

"Jim, I've never been an A+ student!" she sighed.

"I know you haven't. And we see that you've been doing really great in your English classes and Art classes. We just think you need to put the same amount of effort into Algebra and Trig as you put into the classes you like," he explained.

"Caitlin!" Will called, walking into the stable. "I've been waiting for you for 10 minutes. Are we going riding or what?"

Jim looked sternly at Will. Caitlin groaned inwardly. She knew Jim didn't quite like Will in the first place, and now he's interrupting Jim in a lecture. 'Not good,' thought Caitlin.

"Do you mind Will? Caitlin and I are in the middle of a discussion."

Will put up his hands as a sign that he was backing off. "Whatever you say, Sheriff," he said snidely.

'Oh boy! Here it comes,' Caitlin grimaced.

"I seriously don't know why you like that boy," Jim commented as he watched Will walk towards Sinbad.

"Jim, come on!"

"I'm serious, Caitlin, I don't like it that you're seeing so much of him. He's not a good influence on you."

Caitlin's temper flared, "What right do you have to tell me who I can and cannot see?" She led Bandit out of the stall and headed towards Will.

"Caitlin, don't walk out on me!" he yelled.

Caitlin gritted her teeth. She hated it when people told her what to do. It was like she was some puppet people thought they could control. Caitlin shook her head. She knew that Dori and Jim weren't like that, they'd been through so much and Caitlin knew better than to think of them like that. But part of her cringed at the way they ordered her around so much.

'I guess I've been a loner to long to break the habit so fast,' she thought to herself.

Will flashed his million-dollar smile and climbed onto Sinbad. "I thought you'd never ditch the old man!" he laughed.

I just smirked. "Jim isn't an old man Will. Besides, you didn't have to goad him like that!"

Will just shrugged like he always does when I talk about some subject he couldn't care less about. "Let's go riding already!"

Caitlin just smiled as she buckled her riding helmet on and headed towards the already galloping Will. "Hey, wait up!"

***

"Au sooo do mio!!!" Eric sang as he continued to punch the floury dough mix. He had flour smeared all over his face. It was a good thing he had an apron, or his entire shirt would have been white too.

Griffin continued to turn out the already long noodle that they were making. "We're going to do it, ya know?" he said excitedly.

"Dude I know!" Eric chuckled.

Griffin had thought this crazy scheme to get into the Guinness book of Records would get Eric's mind off his dad and out of the ranch. "Hey, I'll call the tv station. They'll sooo want a piece of this!" he said excitedly.

"Yeah! Hey I need more flour!" Eric cried.

As Eric continued to throw flour around the kitchen, Griffin watched Caitlin stroll in with an annoyed look on her face.

"What are…you guys doing?" she asked.

"We're making the longest noodle ever!" Eric yelled.

Griffin was distracted by one of the producers of the tv station. "Hey," he exclaimed. "They said they would send a camera crew by the house when we get past the record!"

Griffin couldn't believe it! They would get on tv! They just needed to be very careful not to break the noodle.

"How long is the longest noodle?" Eric asked.

"168 feet," Griffin replied as the researchers of the station. "How long to we have to go?"

"About 60 feet, give or take a few!" Eric laughed evilly.

"You guys are insane. Do you guys have nothing else to do with your time?" Caitlin chided.

"Hey, we're going to be on tv!" Eric laughed, trying to shift his eyebrows up and down like a Marx brother.

"Dude," Griffin sighed, putting his hand on Eric's shoulder. "That's sooo not cool!"

Eric looked annoyed at Griffin, and then went back to his noodle dough making. Caitlin opened the fridge like she was looking for something and then closed it. "Do you guys really think that anyone cares about a stupid noodle?"

"Well it's better than having to the homework that I know you're not done with!" Griffin accused.

Caitlin's glare shot daggers at Griffin. He just smirked and went back to making the noodle.

Caitlin stomped away and without knowing it broke the noodle. Griffin first heard Eric's scream, "Nooooo! The noodle. You broke the noodle." Eric leaned down to where the noodle had separated. He seemed close to rocking it like he had lost a dear friend.

"You did that on purpose!" Griffin accused.

Griffin just watched Caitlin turn away and run upstairs.

***

Stupid noodle. Caitlin brooded. 'Like I care about some stupid noodle.'

It wasn't like she had meant to break it. She flung herself on the bed. Sometimes she hated Griffin and Eric. They had it so easy. Jim and Dori never seemed to rag on Griff for messing up on their grades or anything.

These were a couple of things she had talked to Will about. He seemed to shrug them off too, except to put down Griffin and Eric. He didn't seem to like them much, especially since the time Griffin tried to fight Will, which really was no contest. Caitlin laughed to herself. Griff fighting for her honor? She had yelled at him at the time for butting into her business, but she was grateful that he cared enough to defend her.

"Caitlin?" Dori called from the other side of the door.

"Yeah?" she called.

The door to her room slowly opened. "Caitlin," Dori smiled. "How was your day?"

Caitlin sat up on her bed, pulling the earphones she had intended on listening to off her head. "Fine," she replied distantly.

"Are you still mad at Jim for telling you not see Will again?" she asked softly.

Dori seemed to always know what was really on her mind. "Maybe."

"Look, I know it's hard to put up with Jim sometimes, but you're his first daughter," she began to explain.

Daughter. What a weird word? She hadn't been thinking about the adoption for a while. Would he call her daughter? "Yeah, so? He doesn't have to treat me like crap. I mean, I still have a brain and can make my own choices. Just because he doesn't like Will, doesn't mean I can't," she said vehemently.

"I know," she said softly. "I just think that he's a little overprotective. Plus I have to agree that Will hasn't got the best track record Caitlin."

"Look, I know he's not a … saint," she explained. "But you don't know him the way I do Dori. Neither does Jim. He just puts it on for show. He's not that bad once you get to know him. I mean, he's even promised to help me with my Algebra and Trig. I mean, how could a straight A student be that bad?" she pleaded.

"Oh, all right. I never said you should stop seeing him and neither did Jim if you remember correctly. He just doesn't want you mixed up in all the bad stuff again. You have become a part of this family Caitlin. We've just gotten through all those trust issues you had with us and I don't want Will to be the reason why we don't feel we can trust you."

Caitlin hung her head down, thinking about what she'd just said. Dori always seemed to be the voice of reason. At the beginning, Caitlin had just thought she was controlling and snotty, but Dori had a soft side. And Caitlin knew she truly loved her. "I'll think about it."

Dori nodded and wrapped her arms around Caitlin. "I'm glad you will," she whispered.

"Aww, come on. Don't get mushy on me Dori," Caitlin said awkwardly, pulling out of the embrace.

"I'm sorry," she laughed.

***

Please R&R! I hope you guys like it! I've enjoyed writing it!