Spoilers: After cattle incident and snippets of S2 episodes

Disclaimer: blahhhhhhhhhhhhhh...no I don't own them. Yes, darn Nikolodeon does...that's why they are not on the air anymore *sigh*

Pairings: Caitlin and Eric

Summary: Eric has arrived back in town and put a wrench in Caitlin and Will's relationship. Caitlin and Eric find themselves drawn to each other and having to deal with the emotions that were left unresolved when he moved away. They must deal with the future and whether they will remain in each other's lives, or will college and other things get in the way?

Author's notes: Hi guys. I don't know if you guys are still reading this, but hey :D Yup it's me...I am still alive and yes...wow, I've managed to pick up this fanfic again. Must have been the nog, for I found myself suddenly all fuzzy and thinking of Caitlin and Eric again. I know you guys have been extremely patient, wondering if 36 was the last chapter. Happily I can tell you that I will hopefully be picking up this fanfic again. And hopefully it will not be almost a year before I pull out another chapter! :D

 

Chapter Thirty Seven

 

"Do you really want to think about school now?" Eric looked at Caitin uncertainly, as he debated his reply to her question. "No," he sighed.

They were on the set of the movie and waiting for the lighting to set up for the next scene. Caitlin looked amazing in the black mid-thigh pleated skirt with matching black tank top. It was definitely something she would never choose to wear - he wished.

"Why the sudden interest about what we're going to do during the school year?" Caitlin frowned. "I thought we were going to take it slow?"

Eric glanced over his shoulder at Sean Kevin, the male lead of the movie, who was a couple of feet away, talking and gesturing wildly with members of the cast. Caitlin had a few lines in the movie, speaking to Sean, nothing important, but he had seemed to take an interest in her after that. It was nothing serious; she hadn't encouraged him, but watching them interact, it made him think about when he when he wasn't going to be around to remind her that she was with someone. Eric glanced up at the bright eyed girl...woman before him. "Never mind," he dismissed casually.

Caitlin looked at him like she didn't believe him.

With a stroke of luck though, Eric heard the director call the extras to the set. "We'd better head back," he motioned toward the set located in their school gym, "to the set."

Caitlin's brow furrowed in confusion as they walked towards the stage. He knew she had wanted him to answer her question, but he knew he wasn't ready to tell her that the thought of her leaving made his stomach churn. That was just too...girly.

***

What was going on with Eric?

Caitlin threw her coat onto the floor and fell exhausted onto her bed. It was 8 p.m. and they had just finished shooting for the day. She had no idea how strenuous being an extra would be; and she still had to jot down her thoughts of the day that evening.

Jason had decided they'd do a diary series in the paper, a month leading up to the opening of the film in the theatres. He had relegated her to a few photo ops for other reporters' articles, but nothing else, since she really had no time to write any other articles. The only duty she had left was, during her time off while working on the set, she had to capture some candid behind-the-scenes photos of the cast and crew. Jason had okay'd it with the director, as long as it wasn't before the film's press release date.

Caitlin groaned as she stared warily at the bright purple notebook sitting on her nightstand. Most nights she didn't have a clue what she was writing in the journal-type book; she didn't even know if she had a train of thought when jotting down her thoughts and feelings about the day. It was going to be difficult to write her articles if she didn't have a clue what she wrote. She closed her eyes; she would worry about that later.\

"Caitlin, you've still got chores to finish up; and Bandit needs to stretch his legs. You haven't ridden him for almost a week!" Dori's familiar voice bellowed through her bedroom door.

At least she had learned not to barge in and get in her face with her friendly, but nagging reminders.

"Yeah," she groaned, pulling her pillow over head.

Graduating, finding a job, and being responsible was not exactly all that it had cracked up to be.

One more week...one more week and her hectic schedule would be over, and she could go back to her normal life.

~ * ~

"Segway!" the director barked. "Come over here."

Caitlin furrowed her brow at the command. Was he talking to her? The middle-aged director, who was always running here and there, trying to get the right shot, the right angle, waved his arms irritably at her. "Uh, me?" She heard her voice stammer.

The director rolled his eyes and shook his head in disgust. "Yes you!"

Caitlin glanced at Griffin and Eric, who shrugged in bewilderment; they didn't seem to have a clue what was going on either. She slowly made her way over to the director's chair, where Sean and Tate also stood. "Uh yeah?" she said coolly, trying to hide her embarrassment from the cast and crew, who were watching intently.

What did she do? Had she accidentally offended one of the 'stars' of the movie? Caitlin ran through the list of possible things she could have done to warrant the impending conversation.

"Sean and Tate here, were telling me that you ride?" His tone was tired and non-plusse.

Caitlin blinked, unprepared for his question. She had been sure that she had done something to piss him off. That was her life story. "Um, yeah. I ride."

"Well?" His stern, scrutinizing gaze looked her up and down, as if something was depending on how she answered his question.

"Preety good; but I've ever only ridden on my horse Bandit."

"See!" Sean beamed at the director. "I told you there was no problem." He turned his attention to her. "We lost Jen, our stunt rider for Tate; so I recommended you!"

Caitlin was speechless. Stunt rider? Her? "Oh no!" she began to raise her hands in protest. "I've never done any stunts on a horse before!" Caitlin frowned as she tried to recall when she had opened her big fat mouth to Sean about being able to ride.

The director smiled, slightly amused; it caught her off-guard, since the only look she had ever seen on his face was the hard, constipated expression she received everytime she was on set. "Caitlin, right?" he asked, though he did not wait for her reply. "All we need you to do is ride across some flat fields and down some hills. Jen took care of the major 'stunts',' he made quotations with his fingers. "Her list of stunts this week is easy. We just need a little more footage of our 'girl' riding."

Caitlin bit her bottom lip, as she mulled over the offer.

"You will get paid the same wage Jen was contracted for, and maybe a little more since this is so short notice."

Caitlin knew she could use the money to add to her college fund; in fact she didn't know why she was hesitating. "Will it be extra hours, or will it be combined with my 'extra' time?"

The director seemed to hedge a little before answering her question. "Since you have a slightly larger role than a regular extra and we don't have the time to reshoot with another actor, this job will be on top of your regular hours," he explained calmly, trying to hide his obvious hope that she would take the part.

Caitlin groaned. She knew there had to be a catch.

"Aw please," Tate begged. "We're pretty much on schedule except for this snafu with Jenny. Production will stall if we have to wait for another union stunt rider to be brought in." Tate's dark blue eyes, which usually stared longingly into her leading man's eyes, were wide-eyed and silently pleading for her to agree. "Besides, you're just baout my height and size! How perfect is that?"

Caitlin felt numerous pairs of eyes staring at her, with bated breath. "I don't know," she hedged. Catilin glanced over at Eric and Griffin, who had drawn closer to the private conversation, and were now looking away, pretending that they hadn't been trying to eavesdrop on the conversation.

She knew what Griffin's opinion would be. He would most likely jump down her throat if she refused the opportunity to add another experience on her resume; on top of the fact that it was probably amazing money. Eric, on the other hand, was a different story. She had less and less time to spend with him since they had started working on the movie. Unfortunately they had been separated into different groups, and they hardly saw each other on set except when there was a need for large crowds. Taking this extra job would take more time still...

But there was this nagging voice in her head that called for her to be practical about this - strangely it sounded like Dori - reminding her that New York was only a month away and she needed all the money she could make. Caitlin closed her eyes and groaned. "I'll do it."

***

It was already happening. First, she was taking extra jobs to save up money for school; the next thing he would hear from her would be that she was too busy at school to talk or write or email. Eric groaned. He wished he could stop dwelling on it for two seconds. Caitlin was still in High River - they wouldn't be leaving for another month; she cared about him; and she had no plans of breaking up with him. It was him that kept bringing it up.

Sometimes he could be such a loser.

"Don't freak out man!" He stared at his tired reflection in the bathroom mirro, which he had been occupying since he had got home from the set.

"Eric, Caitlin's here!" his mother called.

All right dude, you've got to get a grip. Eric leaned against the cream-colored sink and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. Everything was fine.

***

"Hi!" Caitlin leaned forward and pressed her lips against his in a brief kiss.

"Hi!" he said overexcitedly. He tried to keep his body relaxed and the atmosphere energetic.

Caitlin furrowed her brow, studying her boyfriend closely. He was acting strange - strange even for Eric. She had felt it when she had told him about the stunt job earlier that day; he wasn't happy with her.

"Can we talk?" She clasped his hand in hers and led him outside; the sun had set hours ago and the rays of the full moon now streamed down upon them, as they stood on the wooden proch.

"So what's up?" Eric chirped anxiously.

Caitlin lowered her eyes and leaned against the railing; his hand still clasped in hers, as they hung loosely between her legs. He stood, his shoulders slouched, waiting for her answer.

"You have to tell me what's bothering you," she blurted out, even though she had a good idea. "It's driving me up the wall, trying to figure out what's going on!"

There she'd said it.

Eric gazed at the girl he had slowly fallen in love with over the past two years, as the silver halo of the pale moon shimmered against her fiery red hair. She had asked him a straightforward question, but he didn't know why he was having a hard time answering it. He could say it in his head without trouble.

He was afraid of losing her. He was in love with her.

"I...I just miss you," he stammered, closing his eyes and kicking himself for coping out.

Caitlin tucked a lock of hair behind her ear as she reached out and tugged at his loose shirt, so that he would move in closer to her. He did. As she stared up at him, she could smell the familiar scent she had become accustomed to when Eric was near. He smelled like a mixture of soap and musk. Caitlin closed her eyes and inhaled slowly, and deeply. She loved that smell. "I miss you too," she sighed, as she slowly opened her eyes to gaze up into his shadowed face; his blue eyes shining in stark contrast to the dark of the night.

He gently brushed another stray lock of hair from her eyes - she looked so serene, so calm and composed. Caitlin had no idea what she did to him. Everytime she drew close to him, touched him, sent a jolt of energy through his body. But it wasn't just chemistry between them; he loved talking with her, going for rides on their horses just before dusk, and just being with her like 'this'. Eric ran his fingers through her hair, allowing them to linger, as they massaged the nape of her neck.

Caitlin let the warmth of his fingers, which slowly entered her body, wash over her - starting at the base of her neck and down her back. She sighed contentedly. No one could make her body relax with such a small motion as rubbing small circles at the base of her neck. "If you keep this up, I don't think I will have any strength to go home tonight," she groaned, opening her eyes tiredly.

"That's a plan."

She looked up at him and grinned, hitting him lightly in the chest. "I'm sure," she scoffed. Caitlin let her head fall back, trying to get rid of the kink in her neck. "I've got a 6 a.m. start tomorrow." She let out a mournful cry. "Tell my why the heck I'm doing this again?"

"School," Eric replied solemnly.

Caitlin lifted her head up and saw his attempt to remain calm and composed. "You have to stop obsessing about that," she laughed half-heartedly.

"Eric nodded absent-mindedly. How many times had he told himself that? It had gotten to the point, where he wasn't even excited about his own departure for college anymore.

"It's a long time," he said softly. "To be apart..."

This topic kept coming up and as much as she tried to put it off, pretending it didn't matter, she realized it wasn't going to go away. "So what are you saying?" Her muscles tensed again, as her heart began to pound against her chest, awaiting his answer.

Eric untangled his fingers from her smooth locks and shrugged. He didn't have a solution. "I'm just saying long distance relationships have a reputation of not working." He hated the statistics, but it was true. His and Caitlin's chance of staying together was minimal...less than minimal.

Caitlin folded her arms across her chest and bit the inside of her cheek. She had heard this before, even before they had began dating. She had hoped he had gotten over it, but evidently not. "Why are you so pessimistic aobut this?" Caitlin frowned. Pushing herself off the railing, she moved in front of Eric. "It's like you don't want this," she gestured to the space between them, "to work out."

Eric was surprised at her burst of anger. He hadn't meant it to sound like that. "Caitlin, I..."

"Why can't we be one of those couples that make it work?" Her dark brown eyes held an intensity that seemed to dare him to dispute her logic.

"I'm not saying that we couldn't be," he protested.

"Then what are you saying?" Her voice raised a little, due to her heightened emotional state. Caitlin bit her tongue, reminding herself that the Andersons' were just a wall away.

"I just can't help thinking about the 'Seans' out there," Eric blurted out. His breath was heavy, as if he had been out running or herding cattle.

"What are you talking about?" Caitlin exclaimed in bewilderment. "What does Sean have to do with anything?"

Eric shook his head, wishing he hadn't opened his mouth. "Look, there's lots of 'Seans' out there and I know," he locked eyes with her, "that he doesn't mean anything to you, but there could be one in New York that could."

Caitlin pulled away, shaking her head in confusion. "You're not making any sense." Her brain tried to make sense of what he trying to say.

"Maybe there's someone you'll have more in common with, who likes to do the things you do," Eric rambled, saying whatever came into his head, not caring anymore. The floodgates had been opened. "You could find someone..."

Caitlin wanted to laugh, but thought better of it. She could tell Eric was finally getting it off of his chest; this was what formed the crease upon his forehead everytime she was with him. Taking a step towards him, Caitlin grabbed his forearm and interrupted his sudden pacing. "Eric, stop."

Eric stared at this girl...woman, who was talented, beautiful and smart. What could she possibly see in him? As if there wouldn't be hundreds of guys in New York who wouldn't clamor after her. They would be dark, brooding, and have a knowledge about Picasso, Raphael and stuff like that.

She could see his mind was still creating scenarios in his head; she stopped his physical pacing, but his mind was still running amok. Caitlin was growing frustrated, and wracked her brain on how to make him stop.

Then it came to her.

Eric's mind was working overtime when he felt Caitlin's hands grab his t-shirt and pull him against her. He looked at her, surprised at her aggressive behavior. "What..." Before he could finish his sentence, Caitlin had planted her warm moist lips on his.

Closing her eyes, Caitlin's lips parted slightly, breathing deeply, when Eric pulled away instinctively, before moving in and pulling her closer to him. She lazily draped her arms around his shoulders, as his hands snaked around her waist. A slight smile tugged at the corners of her lips, as Eric forgot all of the 'what ifs' and stood with her in the present.

When they finally had to pull up for air, Caitlin exhaled happily, as she remained in his arms. She gazed into his warm blue eyes, that looked at her with such peace of mind and joy. Then he began to trace the line of jaw down the length of her neck with the back of his hand; all the while his eyes never left hers.

"Do you know how much I care about you?" he said, his voice filled with emotion.

Caitlin leaned in close, pressing her body against his, while her lips intimately grazed his ear. "Do you know how much I care about you?" she murmured softly.

Eric pressed his together and rested his head against her shoulder, as his arms, which held her closely, squeezed gently, as if to tell her that he would never let her go. If he could just stop time, right there, right then.

"I don't want to be anywhere else...with anyone else."

Eric stepped back at arms length, studying her face for doubt or fear about the feelings she had just declared for him - there was none. He cupped her face in his hands and leaned in, drawing her into a soft, pliant kiss.

Neither do I.

TBC...

I hope :D