Disclaimer: How many times do I have to say it! They don't belong to me!

Pairings: C/E with little snippets of C/W

1 Chapter Five

"Have you ever planted seeds with your own hand after cultivating the earth for weeks? Do you know what it's like to watch the stalks of grain poke through the dark soil and know that you planted that? Do you know what it is to walk through the waves of golden barley and watch it bend beneath the force of the wind? It's like watching a sea of gold before you. And you can just picture carving a half-pipe in it so perfect that you never could dream of a better place," Eric whispered in the ear of the struggling Will.

Eric grinned from ear to ear as he sat on Will, his arm, twisted behind his back. "You're going to meet me at the crop circle."

"And what makes you think I'll do that?" Will grimaced.

"Because if you don't I'll let everyone know that it was you," he smirked.

Will somehow scrambled from underneath Eric and gripped his shirt. "As if!"

Eric gripped his bare arm, and looked at his hand. "What? Hey, what's wrong with your tattoo?"

Will looked at his bicep, the ink was smudged.

"It's fake. You drew it on!" Eric exclaimed. He started to laugh hysterically. "You're such a poser. You're such a poser, and if you don't want others to find out, you'll come to the ranch."

Will shoved Eric onto the asphalt and walked to his horse.

A drawn on tattoo? He knew Caitlin could do better than him.

***

"So we have to go to Eric's ranch, right?" Caitlin asked.

"Yeah. But I'm not going to let him make me grovel and grope. If he thinks he can get away with that, I have something to say about that," he replied, smugly.

"But you have to go! How else are we supposed to make up for the damage of the crop?"

"I'll just pay him his thousand dollars," he answered non-chalantly.

"And where are you going to get the money to do that?" she asked incredulously.

"I've got my trust fund from my Dad. He had set it up for me when I was little and then when he died, I didn't want to touch it. It seemed dirty," he whispered.

Caitlin nodded. "Don't you think your mom will find out?"

"Yeah, so? I could care less what she thinks. She's the one, who killed him," he spat.

Caitlin was taken off guard. "What do you mean?"

"She's the one who convinced my Dad to ride Tango when he and I both knew that he wasn't broken. He was still too wild. But she was convinced and then he had the accident and died. She killed my Dad."

Caitlin reached out her hand and took it in hers.

***

"Here!" Will said as he threw a piece of paper into the flattened barley.

Eric reached down and picked up the cheque. "What's this?"

Will grabbed Caitlin's hand. "It's a cheque for a thousand dollars. It should cover the cost of the barley."

Eric gritted his teeth. "Don't you get it?" he yelled as he watched them walk away. "It's not about the money. My dad and I planted this grain and you destroyed that. What right do you think you have to walk onto my land and destroy something that we worked hard for?"

Caitlin stopped Will. "Wait."

Will turned around and walked over to Eric. "Then give me back the cheque if it's not about the money."

Eric hesitated. He knew his father needed the money. He closed his eyes, holding onto the cheque.

"I thought so," Will said snidely.

He walked away and pulled Caitlin along with him. She stopped in her tracks. "I can't go Will. That thousand dollars might have paid for you, but it didn't pay for me."

Will looked stunned. "What are you talking about? Of course it paid for you."

"No, Will. It didn't." Caitlin turned back and walked back to where Eric and Griffin stood.

"You aren't the person I thought you were," he reflected.

"I was always this person. You just didn't want to see that," Caitlin replied.

And she watched him walk away.

***

Caitlin's hands were raw from days of cutting barley. They had had to pick up the flat barley and cut it by hand. "Oh, I'm never going to do that again," she said out loud.

She flung herself onto her nice comfy bed. "That's good to hear," Griffin said.

Caitlin jumped. She hadn't noticed him walking in. "Get out of my room."

"Caitlin!" he coaxed. "You did the right thing."

"Yeah I know," she whispered. "I just hate the fact that Will, a person I thought I knew, didn't understand what I was trying to say."

"Look, he doesn't deserve a friend like you. If he doesn't understand that Eric and I are your friends too, then you're better without him!" he exclaimed.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Caitlin asked, burying her head into her pillow.

"I guess," Griffin shrugged and walked out of the room.

***

Grade 12! I can't believe we're in Grade 12 this year. Graduation. I never thought it would ever get here. But strangely it's a mix of emotions. Sadness and excitement all intermingled together. Like a collage of pictures.

A lot has happened since the crop circle fiasco. Eric's parents moved, leasing their ranch to a couple. It hasn't been the same without Eric. I'm surprised to say. Griffin moped around the house and school for at least a month. They still kept in touch through email though. I've even gotten a few. And sent a few too.

Brett has gotten back together with Taylor, don't ask me why. I've sung in a musical of Romeo and Juliet, something that I thought I'd never do. I even beat out Taylor for the part. And lastly, Will is back in my life.

I can't say it's been the easiest year and a half of my life, but I've gotten through it. There was a close call with Will when there was an accusation that he had burnt down a stable, but it got sorted out and I realized that Will had finally changed. He wasn't self-destructive anymore. Griffin and Will even get along now. Jim doesn't even "hate" him. That said, Will and I are "together" now. It's weird. I've liked him for so long now, and now no one's standing in our way of being together.

Yup, a lot has changed here I the last year. The adoption process was started last year too. I'm almost a Lowe now for real. It's really scary. I thought last year was a season for changes, but until I stepped into this school year. I had no idea what "real" changes were about to enter my life.

"Griffin! What's your hurry?" Caitlin groaned, pressing her pillow against her head.

"It's time for school!" he yelled excitedly.

Caitlin looked at her clock. "It's 6:45 a.m. Why are you dragging me up at 6:45 in the morning? The bus doesn't even get here until 7:30!

Griffin entered Caitlin's room. It was overflowing with clothes strewn everywhere. "Come on Caitlin, get up. Dad said he would drive us to school today!"

"What? Why? We only do that when we're late!" she moaned.

Caitlin felt a tug at her covers and suddenly she felt a cold draft of air. She sprang at Griffin. "Give me my covers back! I want to sleep some more. You get Jim to drive you. I'm sleeping in and catching the bus!"

"Can't do that Caitlin!" he smiled a wicked little grin. "There's a surprise waiting for you at the school!" he sang.

Caitlin stood in her room, groggily rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "What surprise? And why at school? It's not my birthday and you Dori already made a huge deal about the anniversary of my first day here. What surprise?"

"You have to get ready and dressed first. Then you'll find out! It's a great surprise! Oh! We're leaving in like 20 minutes!" he yelled running down the stairs and humming.

Why the heck is he humming? Griffin never hums.

Caitlin quickly showered and dressed. What surprise? She was so confused. Caitlin clamored down the stairs with her backpack slung over her back. She set it down beside the kitchen counter in pursuit of her daily cup of coffee.

Mmmmm! Coffee! What she'd ever do without the substance was beyond her!

Caitlin felt a tug at her leather jacket and out of the corner of her eye she saw Griff grab her backpack and run. "Let's go Caitlin!"

Oh boy. It's going to be the start of a very long day!

Caitlin leaned against the backseat cushion, trying to get a little shut eye before entering her first day of her senior year. Senior year. I'm a senior!

Caitlin had talked to Will last night about their first day of school. Both were upset that the summer was over, but they both agreed it'd be nice to see everyone at school again.

She had hung up giddy with excitement. Part of her still got the chills speaking with Will, but part of her knew it might not the real thing. I mean, what is the real thing? She had asked herself last night. Caitlin was only 17 and they had been dating for almost six months now. It was getting pretty serious. Not you know that kind of serious. She shook her head.

"Hey! Aren't you even the littlest bit excited?" Griff shouted from the passenger seat.

"About what? You guys won't even tell me what the surprise is. And you won't even tell me why there even is a surprise!" she groaned.

"Here you guys go! First day of your senior year!" Jim said chipperly.

Caitlin and Griffin got out of the car. Griffin took off in a mad dash. "Hey Griff, wait for me!" Caitlin called.

Caitlin took off following Griffin in a light jog. The new schoolbooks were heavy and she didn't really feel like breaking out in a sweat.

She walked towards the entrance of the school. Her last year. Caitlin took a deep breath and entered the familiar halls.

She headed towards a wall with several pieces of paper fun tacked to the wall. Homerooms. Caitlin searched for her name. She knew she would be in Mr. Laughterly's class this year. It was all about alphabetical order. Griffin would be in Mrs. Peters homeroom because his last name starts with L.

Caitlin would see him though in some of her classes. The homerooms mixed with students wanting to take different classes. As she headed towards her homeroom, Caitlin finally spotted Griffin. "Hey Griffin!"

He waved her over to the small crowd that was gathering beside the water fountain. "Caitlin, come on!"

Caitlin walked over to where a crowd of a few of Griff's and her closest friends were. Brett, Jordan, Taylor, and Nikki just to name a few. As her friends parted to let her through, Caitlin found herself standing beside Griffin who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Caitlin!" a familiar husky voice greeted her.

Her eyes adjusted to the messy blonde hair, the scruffy face and the piercing blue eyes. Eric?

He looked exactly the same. A little taller, broader in the shoulders, but the same mischievous smirk on his face. "Eric?" she exclaimed, finally finding her voice.

"Yup!" he nodded, biting his lower lip. He smiled a cheekly little grin.

"I can't believe it!"

Caitlin didn't know what to do. She wanted to hug him, but with the amount of people around, Caitlin decided against it. "So what are you doing back? I thought you guys had left for good!" she cried, punching him in the arm.

He shook his head. "I don't know. Things were great in Montana, I mean, I was still getting used to school and stuff. But one day my parents told me that we were moving back. The lease was up from the couple that took over our ranch and my dad decided not to let them renew it," he explained. He seemed still in shock over it all.

"I can't believe you're back!" Caitlin found herself saying it again. He looked at her with an understanding.

They had both missed each other.

***

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