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 Thirty

Eric never thought that he'd be done finals and getting ready for prom.  It seemed like forever since he'd phoned Caitlin and asked her to be his 'date'.  As he drove up in his parents' new Civic, Eric couldn't help but feel anxious.

He held the plastic container, encasing the delicate white rose in front of him.  Eric ran over his head, how he should present the flower.  He presented it forward a few times, when suddenly the door opened.  Dori stood in front of him with a huge grin on her face.  "Eric!" she exclaimed.  "Come in."

Eric smiled an awkward smile and slowly made his way into the familiar entranceway of the Lowe's house, something he'd done so many times before, except with an unusual amount of butterflies fluttering around in his stomach.  "Thanks!  Has Griffin left yet?" Eric asked tensely, smoothing out the imaginary wrinkles in his tux.

Dori nodded.  "Yeah, he went to pick up Nikki already.  I'm surprised that you guys didn't just carpool together?"

He flashed her a brief smile.  "Well, Griffin said he had other plans afterwards and my parents offered to let me use the new Civic, so what's a guy to do?  Right?" he joked pathetically.

Dori laughed airily and looked at him empathetically, like she new that he felt like throwing up, he was so nervous.  And to add to the tension, Jim walked in sipping a cup of coffee.  His face was grim and serious.  "You are going to behave right Eric?" his deep voice resounded throughout Eric's head.

Eric nodded, speechless.  Finally finding his voice he stuttered, "Uh, y-yes."

Jim looked over at Dori and then, back over at Eric.  His eyes twinkled and his lips pursed.  Suddenly the older law enforcer broke out in a fit of laughter.  He shook his head and patted Eric on the back.  "Don't worry Eric, you'll be fine.  You gotta loosen up a little!"

Eric took a deep breath and sighed.  He wiped his brow and chuckled.  "Yeah.  I know.  I don't know why I'm so worried.  It's just Caitlin right?" he babbled.

Dori and Jim shared a look and then smiled.  "I'll go run up and get Caitlin!" Dori chirped.

Eric tugged at his collar, which felt like it was choking him.  He had chosen no tie because he knew that it would make him feel like he was suffocating, like the mandarin collar wasn't enough.  Jim motioned him to have a seat on one of the chairs in the living room.  Reluctantly, Eric made his way over to the couch.  "What's taking her so long?" Eric pouted.

"Take it easy Eric," Jim replied.  "She'll be down in a minute.  Girls are always like that."

There was an awkward silence and Eric racked his brain for some sort of conversation starter.  It was eerie how everything went out of his mind at that exact moment.  He'd never had troubles talking to Jim before.  They'd joked around with Griffin lots.

"She's coming down!" Dori shouted from the top of the stairs.

Her announcement woke Eric from his reverie.  He stood up and made his way over to the stairs.  Dori bounded down the stairs with a camera in hand.  Her face glowed with pride.  "Okay.  You can come down now!"

Eric felt his heart catch in his throat when he saw the vision that made its way down the staircase.  She was beautiful.  Caitlin had her hair up into a twist, with light curly tendrils flowing down.  A sprig of Baby's Breath accessorized the auburn locks.  The dress fitted her shapely curves and Eric thought to himself at that moment, that he'd never see anyone as elegant or as beautiful as his date that night.

As he offered her his arm, Eric finally took a breath as he smiled at Caitlin.  "You look amazing Caitlin," Eric whispered.

***

Her spaghetti-strap dress was blood red and it had an empire waist.  When Caitlin had first seen it, she knew that it was the perfect dress for the prom.  The bodice was made out of a heavy, crushed velvet, and her skirt, which flowed down past her ankles was made of a light crimson organza.

Caitlin had been calm in the morning.  She didn't think that she could get nervous.  She'd spent all week worrying, and Caitlin had thought that morning she'd gotten it out of her system.  But as soon as she'd heard the bell ring that night, all of the butterflies came floating back. 

She ran around her room, trying to find her shoes and a pair of stockings without a run.  Caitlin didn't feel at all ready for this 'date'.  When Dori had come upstairs to find out what was taking her so long, Caitlin almost broke down in tears.  She tried her best to hide her nervousness from her 'almost mother', but it was no use.  But Caitlin was surprised at her reaction.

Dori broke out in a fit of giggles, rather than trying to comfort her.  Caitlin was in a state of disbelief.  "How can you laugh at a time like this?"

"Caitlin," she sighed, controlling her giggles.  "Why do you think you're so nervous?"

"Uh, because I'm not ready?" exclaimed Caitlin, who spun around in her dress without a pair of shoes.

Dori pointed behind her, to the bed that had a box with tissue sticking out of it.  Caitlin stumbled over to the box and found her satin red heels.  Caitlin rolled her eyes and sat down on the bed.  She slipped on the shoes and pulled the thin strap over her ankle and secured the silver buckle on the side of the heel.  Her hands were shaking.  "Dori, I can't believe that this is it!"

The blonde woman who'd been the closest thing she had to a mother smiled mistily at her.  "I can't believe you're all grown up!"

Caitlin stood up and double-checked her make up and her dress in the mirror.  She turned around and presented herself to Dori, who'd been the strongest, most positive influence in her life.  Smoothing the front of her dress, Caitlin smiled.  "How do I look?"

Dori rested her hands on Caitlin's shoulders.  "I am so proud of you Caitlin.  You have changed so much and I know if I don't stop talking," she sniffled, "I'm going to start bawling."  The two women laughed.

"But, before I take you down to that young man downstairs, I don't think something looks right.  I think you're missing something."

Caitlin frowned and turned to look at herself in the mirror.  She had her dress and her shoes and the hair she'd had done was fine.  What was Dori talking about?

The older woman came up behind her and placed a cool silver chain around her neck.  It held a thin small heart-shaped silver locket on it.  Caitlin fingered it lightly.  "What is it?" she whispered.

Dori turned her around and smiled.  "The chain is new, but the locket is something that your mother gave me when we were still teenagers.  It was a birthday gift.  I had almost forgotten about it, but the other day I was rummaging through the attic and came across it."

Caitlin didn't know what to say.  She had never expected this.  A locket that had been given to Dori by her mother?  Caitlin had to control every part of her that wanted to just break down and cry.  She looked up towards the ceiling, praying that the tears forming in the corners of her eyes wouldn't mess up the ton of make up they'd just applied.  "Thank you," Caitlin managed to choke out.

"I thought you'd like to have your mother with you, so I put a picture of her on the one side and a picture of the rest of the family on the other."

Caitlin threw her arms around Dori and finally gave in to the sentimentality of the situation.  When they finally pulled apart, Caitlin rushed to the mirror and checked her make up.  There was a little run of mascara, but nothing unfixable.

~ * ~

Finally as Caitlin walked down the stairs, slowly making her descent towards the trio of waiting friends and family, Caitlin couldn't help but feel happy.  It was one of the happiest moments of her life.  Caitlin felt horrible for making Eric wait, but when she made it to the base of the stairs, all she could do was blush as he complimented her.  "Caitlin, you look amazing," he had whispered.

~ * ~

There was an awkward silence in the car as they made their way to the high school.  "Sorry about back at the house," she apologized.  Dori and Jim kept chattering on and taking a large amount of photos.  Finally Caitlin had put her foot down and told them that they were leaving.

Eric shook his head.  "No.  That was fine!  I mean, like you could help that Dori's such a 'mom'."

Caitlin smiled and fingered the wrist corsage that Eric had brought her.  "Thanks for the corsage," Caitlin said awkwardly.  "It's really beautiful."

Eric looked over at Caitlin.  "You don't need one though.  It pales in comparison to how you look right now."  After the wondrous compliment, Eric quickly turned his eyes back to the road.

Caitlin felt the blood rush to her face.  "Thanks," she said meekly.

"Hey, did you hear that Brett is actually taking Taylor to the prom?" Eric exclaimed, somewhat bemused.

Caitlin shook her head.  "I can't believe they did this whole dance, when everybody knew that they'd eventually be going to the dance together."

Eric shrugged.  "I don't know.  I mean, I guess I understand why Taylor did it."

Caitlin jerked her head to her left.  "What?" she asked surprised.

Eric looked over at her and shrugged again.  "Well, she probably wanted to break up with him because of college next year.  Brett's going away on a basketball scholarship to UCA and Taylor is taking up Commerce at U of C."

Caitlin frowned.  She didn't know what that meant.  "So what?  She's going to break up with him and rub it in his face because they're going to different schools?"

Eric made a right hand turn into the parking lot.  As he turned off the engine, Eric looked at Caitlin intensely.  "Sure.  Long distance relationships don't work Caitlin.  Besides, who said that they're meant to stay together?"

Caitlin watched Eric get out of the car and run around to the passenger side door.  "Madam!" Eric joked, as he opened the door and offered his hand.  She took his hand as he helped her out of the car.

As they approached the school entrance, Caitlin stopped Eric for a moment.  "Not all long distance relationships are doomed you know?"

Eric frowned for a moment, puzzled at the statement.  "What?"

Caitlin swallowed.  "I said that not all long distance relationships are doomed to not work out."  She looked into his blue eyes that seemed to search hers for some answer to an unasked question.  "I mean, I think it depends on the people."

After a moment, Caitlin smiled and turned to face the high school doors.  "You ready to go in?" she asked.

Eric seemed frozen for a moment, but then snapped out of his reverie.  "Uh, yeah.  Sure.  Let's party baby" he joked, mimicking an Austin Power's accent.