Spoilers: After cattle incident and snippets of future episodes
Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, and if I did, I would have never gotten rid of Eric! :D May indeed include fictional shops and stores.
Pairings: C/E, snippets of C/W
Chapter Twenty ThreeThe house was bustling with activity as the Lowes prepared Christmas dinner. Dori had prepared a feast of turkey with stuffing, yams, mashed potatoes, the whole works. Caitlin loved this time of the year. There was fresh snow on the ground and everyone seemed happy and filled with anticipation. Anything could happen during Christmas.
As Caitlin and the rest of the family waited for the turkey to be done, she, the family and Eric went outside and fooled around in the snow.
"Let's build a snowman!" Dori exclaimed excitedly.
Caitlin and Griffin looked at each other in horror. "A snowman Mom? Come on!" Griffin groaned. "That's so lame!"
Dori shrugged her shoulders bent down and picked up a handful of snow. She molded the wet, frozen medium into a ball. Caitlin moved away from Griffin. From the glint in Dori's eye, she knew that something was up.
"Lame?" Dori asked mischievously. "How's this for lame?"
Dori wound her arm up like a pitcher for the Mets and hucked the now firm snowball. SPLAT! The wet ball tagged it's target on the back of the neck.
"Hey!" Griffin screamed. "What's the big idea?"
Caitlin felt Jim's arm around her shoulders and looked up at her 'almost dad'. They both laughed heartily as Griffin squirmed and squealed trying to get the snow off his neck and out of his coat. "Hey, good arm Dori!" Caitlin laughed.
Suddenly out of the corner of her eye, Caitlin noticed Eric sitting on the porch step. Jim had also apparently noticed Eric and motioned with his head toward the somber boy. Caitlin slowly made her way to the porch, still smiling as Dori offered to help with the evasive snow in his coat and Griffin's wild protests.
"Hey, what's up?" Caitlin called, sitting down on the step below Eric.
"Nothing," he sighed.
"Aw, come on. You're sitting here all quiet while Griffin's…oh, getting more snow stuffed down his coat," Caitlin commented, as she watched Dori giving up and turning on her only son. "You're not even breaking a smile!"
Eric shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I'm just not used to Christmas here. I mean, we usually open presents first thing and then have dinner afterwards. My grandparents usually give us a call around dessert. It's just…well, different here."
Caitlin felt for Eric. She knew her first Christmas at the Lowes had been a little overwhelming. Caitlin had never truly experienced a 'family Christmas' since her mother had died. She knew it had to be hard for Eric and Caitlin was positive he was missing his parents a lot.
"Do you know where your parents are staying?" Caitlin asked.
Eric looked up at Dori and Jim wrestling in the snow and Griffin about to do a belly flop on both of them. "Yeah. I think they're at the Hotel Region?" he mumbled.
Caitlin reached down to the ground and picked up a handful of snow. "Do you think they would be there right now?"
Eric shrugged. "I don't know. Probably. Why?"
Caitlin smoothed the hand packed snowball in her gloved hands. "Well, would you want to call them? You know, just to say Merry Christmas? I mean, maybe they've called at the house, but you were here?"
Eric seemed to sit up a little straighter and a smile appeared upon his face. "Do you think they would mind?" Eric asked, motioning to Dori and Jim.
"I doubt it!" Caitlin replied. "Just a second."
Caitlin climbed down the porch steps and jogged over to the snow laden family. "Uh, Jim?"
The town sheriff looked up entangled in a pile of limbs. "Yeah? Did you find out what's wrong with Eric?" he asked laughing.
Griffin's head popped out from under the pile of snow on top of him. "What? Something's wrong with Eric?"
Dori got up from the struggling Griffin and brushed the snow off of her hair. "Is there something we can do?" she asked concernedly.
Caitlin shook her head and smiled. "It's not a big deal. He's just missing his parents. I was wondering if he could give them a call. I think that would help a lot."
The Lowes shrugged their shoulders. "Yeah," Jim exclaimed. "By all means. Go ahead. Give your folks a call!"
As Jim called over his agreement at the idea, Eric smiled and hopped up the stairs and into the house.
"Thanks Jim." Caitlin smiled and suddenly pulled out her snowball and hucked it at Dori.
***
Eric bid his parents farewell on the phone, when he heard the porch door slam. "Yeah, I love you too," Eric mumbled into the phone.
As he placed the phone back on its receiver, Eric peered up and found Caitlin and Griffin grabbing a couple of mugs. "Hey, are you making some cocoa?" Eric smiled greedily.
"Yeah, you want some?" Griffin called.
"Of course. Dude, did you even have to ask?" Eric grinned and sat himself down on a stool.
"Did you get to say Merry Christmas to your parents?" Caitlin asked while setting down the kettle on the stove.
"Yeah. And they say Merry Christmas to you guys," Eric stated.
"Hey, why should you get any cocoa?" Griffin whined, wiping off the melted snow off his face. "You weren't even in the snow!"
Eric smirked. "Well, I'm just lucky I guess!"
Griffin and Caitlin disappeared out the door for a moment. As they returned, Griffin huddled near Caitlin by the sink.
Eric suddenly noticed a mischievous glint pass over Griffin's face. "Don't even think about it Griff!" Eric warned putting up his hands and sliding off the stool.
Griffin slowly approached Eric with his hand behind his back. Caitlin shook her head. "Griffin, stop being so immature!" Caitlin suddenly called.
"Yeah Griff, you should listen to Caitlin!" Eric called, backing into the living room.
Eric tried to put distance between himself and Griffin but this was Griffin's house, and Eric wasn't good at maneuvering around the furniture. He walked around the couch so that it came between himself and his snow wielding best friend. Suddenly he noticed Caitlin come to his side. "You gonna help?" Eric asked.
Caitlin nodded and smiled at Griffin. "Hey! Not fair!" Griffin protested.
"All's fair in snow and games!" Eric sang. Eric turned to Caitlin to develop a strategy. "You block Griff and I'll disarm him…okay?"
Caitlin bit her lip and nodded. Eric counted to three, "One, twwwwooo, and three!"
Caitlin approached Griffin, who oddly enough, didn't run from her, Eric noticed. "I need some help!" Caitlin called as she tried to grasp the flailing Griffin.
Eric piled on top of Griffin, still firmly gripping the snowball in his hand. As he pinned down his best friend, Eric called to Caitlin. "Now get the snowball!" he smirked.
Griffin didn't seem to try to resist when Caitlin took the snowball out of his hand. When Eric was about to order Caitlin to put it down Griffin's shirt, Eric noticed a glint in Caitlin's eye, that hadn't been there before. Suddenly Eric realized he'd been played. He tried to leap off of Griffin, but Griffin had grabbed his wrists during the revelation.
The snow felt ice cold on his warm back. Eric could feel it melting down his back and he pulled out of Griffin's grasp. "You losers!" Eric cried, jumping up and down, trying to dislodge the snow from his shirt.
Finally the chunks of snow had been removed and Eric gazed on the two conspirators. "Oh, you'll pay for that!" Eric warned and gave a maniacal laugh.
Griffin made a mad dash to the door. He'd left his shoes on so he could sprint out into the snow. Caitlin on the other hand had taken off her shoes. Eric eyed the frozen Caitlin. They were at a stand off. As Eric looked around, he noticed a glass of water sitting on the end table beside the couch. He slowly made his way towards the glass, keeping his eye on Caitlin. Eric smiled widely when his fingers wrapped around the retaliatory weapon.
Caitlin made a insane sprint up to her room. Eric followed behind and quickly caught up. As she rounded the corner into her room, Eric was at her heels. Just when Eric was about to reach out and grab her, the door slammed in his face. The shock of the door, sent Eric reeling to the floor, but with the glass still in hand, although half the glass was on the carpet. "Oof!"
Eric rubbed his nose for a moment, still splayed on the floor. He noticed the door open a bit and then more as Caitlin saw Eric on the floor. He smiled to himself, stealthily sliding the glass behind his back.
"Are you all right?" Caitlin asked concerned.
Eric waited till Caitlin had kneeled beside him to see if he was all right. He nodded his head. "I'm fine!" he grinned and then he pounced. Knocking Caitlin over, Eric pinned Caitlin down and grabbed the half empty glass of water. Caitlin's arms flailed as she tried to push Eric's looming arm away. Inevitably, Eric's strong arm and determination won out and he managed to pay the conspirator back.
"You…you!" Caitlin sputtered as the water streamed over her face.
"You, you what?" Eric laughed evilly. "Payback sucks…doesn't it?"
Eric rose from the floor and reached out his arm. Caitlin looked up at him, her hair dripping with water. She wiped the water out of her face and glared. Reluctantly Caitlin took Eric's hand and he pulled her up. She didn't weigh as much as he'd thought and suddenly he was face to face with Caitlin, their noses just inches away from each other.
"Caitlin! Eric! Stop fooling around and get down here!" Dori called. "Dinner's ready!"
Tell me how this one went! R&R please!
