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 Two

When Caitlin pulled away from Eric's soft lips, her head was buzzing and she felt like someone had wrapped her in a warm fuzzy blanket.  She never expected the kiss.  One minute they were sharing the high of actually climbing the mountainside and next she found herself in a tender kiss.

"Caitlin?"

She swallowed as he called her name.  Her gaze was lowered to the ground.  What was Caitlin going to say?  She'd kissed a guy before, sure, but this felt different.  Caitlin knew that this was something more than just attraction.  When she allowed herself to be truly honest with herself, Caitlin knew that she could actually picture herself with Eric as more than just friends.

"Yeah," she replied awkwardly.  When Caitlin finally worked up the nerve to look up at Eric, who was standing there with a disconcerted look on his face, she smiled briefly and pointed to the camera.  "Uh, I should go get my camera."  Caitlin stood there for a moment, unmoved.  Eric stood there motionless, until finally after a few minutes, he nodded his head in agreement.

"Uh, yeah," he stammered.

Caitlin smiled quickly again and jogged over to the flat peak where she'd placed her camera.  As she advanced her film, Caitlin took this time away from Eric to calm herself, trying to quiet the gambit of emotions that were overwhelming her.  How many times had Eric mentioned his distaste for long distance relationships?  And that definitely would be what they would be going through.  Caitlin had no plans of sticking around here for her college education.  NYU had practically told her that she'd been accepted, with early admittance.

Caitlin shook her head.  She didn't even know why she was even thinking about this.  It was just a kiss.  It wasn't a marriage proposal or anything of that sort.

'But this is not the first time he's kissed you,' a quiet voice inside her head reminded her.

Caitlin peered over to the cliff peak, where Eric was kneeling, stuffing his fleece into his backpack.  She closed her eyes and chided herself for indulging herself in these thoughts.  'Why not?' the voice asked incredulously. 'He's cute and he's one of your best friends.'

"Hey Caitlin?  We'd better be getting back.  I told Jim I'd have you back for an early lunch," Eric shouted, startling Caitlin from an internal debate.

Caitlin's head turned to look over at Eric and waved her hand, signaling to him that she was almost ready.  "Two secs, and I'll be ready," she replied.

Eric walked towards her and motioned her to lead the way down the mountain path.  Caitlin slung the backpack upon her shoulders and sighed.  "Do you think that anyone will believe that we did this?" Caitlin finally asked, as they made their way down the trail.

She watched Eric shrug his shoulders.  He seemed to distance himself from her again.  "I don't know," he said complacently.  "But we have those pictures if they don't?"

Suddenly Caitlin found herself broaching the subject, which had decidedly made each person uncomfortable.  "Do you think we should talk about the kiss?" she mumbled.

Eric, who was just a few paces in front of her, stopped and looked at Caitlin over her shoulder.  "What did you say?" he asked uneasily.

Caitlin tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.  "Uh, I asked…um, if we should talk about the kiss that we had…" her voice trailed off.  She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks.  Caitlin didn't know why she was the one who was asking about it, it had been Eric who'd instigated the kiss.

"Oh," was his reply.

Caitlin swallowed uneasily, as a silence had fallen between them.  Eric's face was contorting in several different expressions.  He seemed about to say something and then his shoulders would drop and he'd let out a wordless sigh.  Obviously Eric was also confused by his actions.

"So?" Caitlin asked expectantly.  "What are you thinking?"

Eric looked up, his eyebrows raised, lips parted as if about to answer, when once again he dropped his shoulders and shook his head.  Finally the blonde managed to find his voice again, though it didn't resolve the questions either of them had.  "We…" He paused.  "We should get back down," Eric managed to mumble, as he turned around and continued their trek back to the base of the mountain.

***

The drive back to the Lowe's ranch was a quite one, interspersed with moments of awkward conversation and meaningless fluff.  Eric hadn't planned to end the night like this.  It seemed like all the fun and the energy they'd built up striving for that unattainable goal, yet somehow having reached it was sapped in that one impulsive moment.  Eric had let his resolution wane and wound up kissing the girl he vowed to himself he'd never kiss again.  He felt like a complete jerk.

Caitlin didn't even blink when he didn't answer her question.  There had been so much he'd wanted to say, but every time Eric thought of how to say it, the words seemed to ring hollow.  Eric could have made up a thousand excuses or reasons why he'd so impulsively kissed Caitlin, but he couldn't lie to her.  He cared about her too much and never wanted for them to go their separate ways with a lie hanging between them, so Eric balked at the question and opted to say nothing.

Eric glanced over at the passenger seat.  All was quiet now, since Caitlin dozed off during the halfway mark of their trip home.  Her pale face was serene while she slept.  However much he wanted to create something with Caitlin, Eric couldn't deny the apprehension he felt knowing that she was going to New York.

He couldn't allow himself to fall for Caitlin, although, he already knew he felt more than friendship towards the spitfire.  Eric knew in his heart that he could definitely see himself spending eternity with this girl, except for the inevitable.  As he slowed the vehicle down and turned into the Lowes' gravel driveway, Eric stole one more glance at the sleeping beauty.

When he'd brought the car to a halt, Eric heard Caitlin's low grumble as she began to wake up from her slumber.  He smiled as the Lowe family began to trickle out of the house.  Eric opened the car door and greeted them.  "Hey!" he called waving as he approached the porch he'd so often climbed entering the Lowes' house.

Caitlin trailed a bit, as she began to rub the sleep from her eyes.  Finally when Eric had just climbed up on the first step of the porch, Caitlin had caught up to him and joined him in meeting Jim and Dori's smiling faces.  "What took you guys so long?" Dori asked.  "We were getting a little worried."

Eric shrugged.  "Uh, would you believe traffic?" he offered comically.

Jim rolled his eyes as Dori wrapped her arm around him; meanwhile Jim was doing the same thing with Caitlin.  "So, did you guys reach the top?  Or did you just sit out in the car long enough to let us think that you climbed the mountain?" the older Sheriff teased.

"I've got proof that we climbed it," Caitlin exclaimed, patting her backpack.  "Right in here."

Eric loved being at the Lowes' Ranch.  It was a second home, but right at that moment, he felt awkward pretending that nothing else happened atop that mountain peak, while everyone was moving on and sitting down for a hearty lunch.  Eric thought everyone had been invited for the lunch, but the only people in the house were he, Jim, Dori, and Caitlin.  And he didn't feel like making inane chitchat while Jim and Dori interrogated his and Caitlin's evening.

Just as Eric was about to make some lame excuse about being tired so he might eat quickly and leave, Griffin and the rest of the group from their table showed up.  "Hey!  What were you guys going to start without us?" Griffin asked in dismay.  Suddenly Eric received an excited hug from his best friend.  "Amigo!  We missed you last night." 

Eric smiled half-heartedly and nodded.  "Sorry man, just didn't want to go to the Malt Shoppe," he chuckled.

"Well you missed one heck of a party," Brett boasted.  "There were tons of people there."

Eric looked over at Caitlin who remained eerily quiet.  He shrugged.  "Oh well," he said dismissively.

"Hey, what did you guys go off and do?" Taylor asked, wagging her finger at both he and Caitlin suggestively.

Suddenly he felt a semi-circle of eyes boring into him, all curious as to the answer of Taylor's question.  Eric felt the blood rush to his face and opened his mouth to say something, but Caitlin interrupted.  "We climbed a mountain," she stated, glaring at Taylor.  "We thought we'd do something unusual for prom."

Eric sighed, thankful that Caitlin was more composed than he was in the situation.  Caitlin threw him a short smile, which made Eric relax.  She seemed to have put the kiss behind her, as they began to pass around the sandwiches and fruit.  They didn't have to talk about it there at the table.  In fact it was just something that was between he and Caitlin, no one else.

As he accepted the plate of sandwiches and selected a couple of ham and cheese to put on his plate, Eric couldn't help but feel a bit relieved.  Caitlin wasn't going to push the subject.  Maybe she didn't even want to pursue it.  After all, he had been the one to kiss her.  Maybe it was just his imagination that Caitlin enjoyed it and kissed him back.

But when that thought crossed his mind, Eric now felt a new tension in his body.  Maybe Caitlin wouldn't want to talk about it because she didn't want to hurt him.  Maybe Caitlin wouldn't be interested at all.  Suddenly Eric didn't feel very hungry.

 Maybe his feelings for Caitlin were as one sided as the conversation he was having with himself.