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
The
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!