Work Text:
Over her life, Holtzmann had discovered that women have one of two reactions to her flirting. The first being rejection, and the second being very quickly entering a, often very brief, relationship. (Most of these being just one night) Erin however, was an anomaly in her system and hadn't fallen into either category. This just made Holtzmann more interested in her. Erin had never rejected Holtzmann, in fact she was pretty sure Erin enjoyed the flirting, her mind flashing back to when they first starting work together and Erin's response to her dancing and lip syncing. But then, there was the whole Kevin thing and while Holtz could never wrap her mind around it, Erin certainly had an interest. The more data Holtz collected, the more out of focus Erin's data point got. Holtz decided the only was she was going to get a clear reading on Erin was to carry out an experiment to get some definitive data. Jillian Holtzmann was going to take Erin Gilbert on a date.
~~~
Holtzmann was sitting at her desk, tinkering with her newest invention to help the team, her feet propped up on the table and music playing in the background. She was trying to get more power into the gun she was working on but she couldn't quite manage to get the umph she wanted in to such a tiny gun. She was lost in thought, humming along to the the song playing, her feet bouncing on the table.
“Hey” Erin walked into Holtzmann's office, which admittedly wasn't much of an office, more of a collections of equipment and prototypes and probably hazardous weapons scattered all over the second floor of the fire house. The physicist always checked on Holtzmann every morning, it was one of the things that had placed Erin in the 'attracted to her' category, but then Holtzmann keeps thinking that this may just be a personality trait of Erin's, checking on everyone to make sure they were okay.
“Kevin made some coffee, I was wondering if you wanted any?”
“Sure” Holtz replied as she put down the device she was tinkering with. Just as Erin turned around to go back downstairs she yelled out, “Hey Erin, wait!” Erin turned around quickly, flashing a smile at Holtzmann
“Yeah?”
“I wanted to ask you something.” Holtzmann began to shift from her seat just as the music changed on her speakers. Holtz decided this was the perfect time to dance, swinging around, carefully looking over at Erin.
“Oh, so we're dancing.” Holtz's mind immediately flashed back to when she had first done this in front of Erin and she had said those exact words. Erin was moving a little, swaying in time, but not quite comparing the the dramatic moves that Holtzmann was currently doing. She locked eyes with Erin across the room, giving her a wink. Erin's cheeks turned a soft shade of pink and a grin spread across her face. Holtzmann would do this every second of everyday if she could see that smile on Erin's face more. It made Holtz stomach flip and not just in the excited way she normally has when a good song comes on and she has to dance. The song came to an end just as Holtzmann was standing a few inches away from Erin. The few seconds silence feeling the air and seeming like a lifetime.
“Um, you had something you wanted to ask me?” Erin asked, looking down at Holtz.
“Oh yeah, there's this new placed opened up down the street and was wondering if you wanted to check it out with me?”
“Yeah sure, okay.”
“Great, it's a date.” And with that, Holtzmann quickly returned to her desk, turning the volume on her music up a notch, and getting back to working on her newest proton gun.
~~~
Holtz found this day to be one of the slowest days she had ever worked, glancing at the watch on her wrist every five minutes. Normally her mind managed to get lost in the mechanics of what she was working on, puzzling in her head different solutions and options and way to optimise different thing. Today, however, the only thing on her mind was Erin. It was actually quite distracting but Holtz couldn't quite convince herself to stop thinking about her. She thought about how excited she got about ghosthunting, remembering the first time they had encountered one and Erin grinning from ear to ear, slime dripping down her face screaming “Ghost are real! Ghosts are real!” Holtz's was grinning at the memory, her stomach giving a faint fluttering. Going through all her memories though, Holtz does seem to notice Erin is covered in slime in a significant portion of them. Gilbert was probably right, the slime did have it out for her. Holtz made a mental note to investigate that further later, once she was done with this project.
In her distraction, Holtzmann managed to connect the wrong wires together in the gun. It gave out a 'medium-big' poof, knocking Holtz off her chair and slamming her against the wall. Holtz stayed still for a few seconds, absorbing the shock, letting the bright light disappear from her eyes allowing the world to come back into focus.
“God damn it Gilbert.” Holtz blaming the physicist for this particular explosion, it never would have happened if she was focused on her work rather than thinking of Erin's smile. Just as she said these words, Gilbert appeared around the corner, as if she was summoned. The bang must have been quite impressive, normally the rest of the ghostbusters had learnt to ignore the explosions coming from Holtz's part of the fire house, knowing most of the time they were just routine. Holtz could also feel a persistent ache in the back of her head.
“Are you okay?” Erin asked, still keeping a little distance in case something else happened to blow up.
“Yeah, I'm cool, just got my wired crossed.” She looked around, assessing the damage. A lot of her equipment had been thrown around, she'd have to double check and make sure nothing got broken later. She began to stand up, but winced a little at the pain. “Hey Gilbert, mind giving me a hand?” Erin rushed over to Holtz's side, offering her hand out and pulling her up. Holtz's wobbling a bit when she first got to her feet, her vision fading for a brief second, but quickly returning.
“Thanks, sugar.” She gave Erin a wink, seeing the redness come to Erin's cheeks briefly, and returned to her work station, making sure everything was stable and there wasn't going to be a secondary explosion.
“Maybe you should take a break,” Holtz looked up to see Erin glancing over her shoulder, “Besides, didn't you want to get dinner from that new place?” Holtz's eye's lit up at the though of finally being able to take Erin on a date.
“Prepared to get your socks knocked off Erin Gilbert!” She yelled, swapping out her big safety googles for the smaller pair of glasses she wore day to day. While she (probably) wouldn't need protection from explosions on their date, the yellow tint helped to block out the harshness of the light, needed especially now with her head pounding the way it did.
“Let's go!” Holtz grabbed Erin's hand, running out off the fire house.
~~
Once they were out on the street, Holtz returned back to walking speed, still holding on to Erin's hand. If Erin noticed that she was still holding her hand, despite there not being a reason, she didn't comment on it. Holtz smiles to herself, it felt so nice, walking down the street, her hand in Erin's. It was just about starting to get dark, Holtz felt like it was the perfect atmosphere for a first date and if Erin wasn't wooed by the end of tonight, well then Holtzmann knew that she had no chance with Erin and should just move on.
“So what exactly is this place we're going to?”
“It's a little italian place, it's called The Font”
“Is there any reason why Abby and Patty aren't coming with us?” There was a moment of silence before Holtzmann responded.
“I wanted to spend some time with just you,” Holtz look up, staring in to Erin's eyes. “Is that okay?”
“Of course it is Holtz.”
“Oh, well, good. Anyway we're here now.” She gestured towards the building in front of them. It was fairly small but had quite a few people in there. Surprising as it had just opened up, it must be good.
~~~
Holtzmann tripped on the stairs leading down into the restaurant, though managed to remain standing “I'm cool” She yelled, her arms stretched out to balance her. Her vision was starting to go blurry around the edges again though, Holtz figured she should probably get to the table and sit down quickly. She hoped that this was all due to nerves, not the explosion that had just happened.
Holtz pulled out a chair for Erin, being a perfect gentleman.
“M'Lady.” She said, giving a small bow. Erin sat, a smile on her face and a hint of redness on her cheeks. Holtz then slouched in the chair across from her. Holtzmann took a moment to look at Erin, really look at her, the light shining on her face, the angle of her nose, the hair framing her face. Holtz swears she had never seen a more beautiful sight. Erin intrigued her more than any machine she could build or fix. She even swore she could see stars surrounding her.
“You're staring,” Erin spoke, breaking Holtz from her daze. Holtzmann shoke her head about. She needed to remind herself to not get too invested in Erin, she didn't even know if she felt the same way. Hell, she didn't even know if Erin even liked girls. She couldn't go through heartbreak again, especially not seeing Erin every day. Holtz couldn't do that.
“You got a new shirt,” She said, looking down at shirt Erin had on, with soft ruffles going down the centre. “No tiny bow tie with this one then?”
“This shirt didn't come with one” Erin replied, her hand playing with her collar.
“That's a shame, I kinda liked the world's tiniest bow tie.” Holtz grinned, “So..” It occurred to Holtz that she didn't really know what to talk to Erin about. From the data Holtz had acquired about first dates, you normally talk about each other and get to know the other person. She already knew Erin though, they'd been working together for nearly half a year now. It wasn't like Holtz could really go 'So tell me about yourself Gilbert'.
Thankfully for Holtz, the waiter came over to save her from the silence that was slowly consuming her.
“What will you ladies have to eat?” Holtz hadn't even looked at the menu yet. She looked down, holding the wallet between her hands, trying to read it. She was having issues though, the words were difficult to read, everything slightly blurry and moving around.
“I'll have the penne arrabbiata please” Erin chimed in. Holtzmann looked down again, trying to focus more on trying to read the menu, but after a few moment of things still not getting any clearer, she gave up and just point to a part of the menu, sending the waiter off.
“Hey Holtz, are you okay? You look a little pale.” Erin was giving her a concerned look from across the table. “That explosion in your lab didn't hurt you did it?”
“I'm fine,” Holtz replied. This couldn't be happening. This was meant to be the night she could finally find out Erin's feelings. Finally get the chance to truly tell Erin how she felt. Of course she had to blow something up right before she came out. Holtz would laugh if she didn't care so much about messing this all up. “I'm just gonna go to the bathroom.” She stood up, which in retrospect was the wrong move, because the last thing she remembers before blacking out is Erin yelling out her name.
~~~
When Holtzmann awoke, she looked around, trying to figure out exactly where she was. It definitely wasn't the restaurant she last remembers being in. She notices Erin sitting in a chair besides her, her head resting on the bed Holtz was currently in.
“Erin. Erin! Wakey wakey.” She sang, giving Erin a soft prod as she began to stir.
“Huh, what? Oh God Holtz you're awake!”
“You took me to a hospitable Gilbert.”
“You collapsed! I had no idea what was wrong! God only know what you have up in your lab, it could have been anything!” Holtz could really hear the panic in Erin's voice, it gave her a little joy, knowing that Erin cared about her so much.
“Wait, how long was I out for?” It must have been a little while for Erin to have fallen asleep on her.
“A couple of hours, the doctors said you have a concussion. Must of been from when your explosion threw you against the wall. How many time have I told you to be safe Holtz?”
“I'm sorry.” Holtz genuinely was. She never wanted to make Erin feel bad ever, it gave her a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach.
“Why didn't you just say something? If I knew you were seriously hurt I would of made you rest, we could of just ordered some takeout or something.”
“I just, I wanted to go to dinner with you. Impress you.” She finally had had a chance, and now she had messed it all up. Serves Holtz right.
“Wait..” Holtz could see Erin coming to a realisation, it was almost like she could see the little gears turning inside the physicist head. “This was meant to be a date, wasn't it?” She said softly making eye contact with Holtz, her eyebrows knitting and mouth left slightly open, awaiting an answer. Holtz looked down at the bed, not wanting to look at Erin. Not wanting to watch Erin reject her. Maybe if she didn't see Erin's face it would hurt as much.
“Yeah, it was.” Holtz said it so softly you could barely hear it. “And now I've just messed it up so could we please just forget that this all happened and we can just go back to me flirting with you and you not noticing and..” Holtz was cut off from her rambling with Erin grabbing her face and kissing her. Holtz was so surprised at first that she didn't moved, but after a moment she close her eyes, returning the kiss, her hand moving to gently grasp Erin's face. Holtz felt like little fireworks were going off in her stomach, her mouth slowly forming into a smile as she continued kissing Erin. After the kiss finished, the both stayed close to each other, foreheads touching, both just slowly breathing in and out. Holtz just wanted to take in this moment, not wanting to open her eyes in case she shattered it.
After a few minutes of them both staying like that, Erin moved away, causing Holtz's to snap her eyes open.
“You really thought I didn't care about you?”
“The data was inconclusive. I could never get a clear reading on you. You never actually did anything in response to the flirting, and there's the whole, you know, Kevin thing...”
“I never did anything about the flirting cause I never knew what to do. I'm not used to people flirting with me, it's never happened before. As for Kevin, well, he's attractive, but he's nothing compared to how beautiful you are Holtz.” Erin moved in to kiss Holtz again.
“You know, if this is what I get for nearly blowing myself up, maybe I should do it more often.” She grinned, giving Erin a wink.
“Don't you dare! I've only just got you I'm not about to lose you.”
“Don't worry Gilbert, I'm not planning on going anywhere.”