A New Kind of Science / Holtzbert

Flustered

All four women sat in their chairs, enjoying every minute of it. Both Jillian and Abby laid back in theirs and Patty and Erin sat up. Patty's eyes were closed with a large grin on her face as she softly hummed. Holtzmann wouldn't stop fooling around with the buttons and she would sometimes move the recliner up and down. Abby stared up at the tall ceiling of the fire station, her mind still on the nice gesture from their receptionist and Erin wouldn't stop looking over to Jillian. 

"Hey, Kevin." Abby pressed the recliner button, sitting up. She looked to the man sitting in his uncomfortable chair at his desk. "You wanna try mine for awhile?" She wondered, finally beginning to see that he was, in fact, an attractive looking man. 

"No, that's alright." He waved his hand in front of his face with a smile.

"No, really. Come over here and try it." She stood up and pointed to the seat on her right. At first, he didn't budge. "Come on." She egged on.

He sighed and gladly stood, walking over to the woman. Yates put a hand on his muscular back, but only for a second as she panicked feeling her arm begin to shake and her face grew warm. When he sat down, he looked up at her with a grin. Abby swallowed hard while they awkwardly gazed into each other's eyes. She broke the eye contact and reached down to pick up the remote in the chair and she pushed the massage button for him. He leaned his head against the back of the chair and closed his eyes. "Yeah. That's nice." He admitted with a small nod.

"Right?" Yates nodded as well, standing beside the chair. He reopened his eyes, looking right into her gemstone green ones. They both nervously laughed and she thanked him again for the chairs.

"No problem." Suddenly, the feet began to go up and Abby panicked, not even realizing she had let her thumb down on one of the remote's buttons in her hand while she lost herself for a moment. 

"Oh." She shook her head, snapping out of her daze and pushing the button so the foot rest would go down. "Sorry. Sorry." 

Kevin chuckled and he stood up from the chair, looking down at Abby before pointing behind him. "I should, uh...get back to the phone in case it rings."

She slightly nodded with an awkward smile. "Kay." She watched him begin to walk back. "Thanks again, Kevin." She tried to sound normal again.

"You're welcome, boss." He playfully pointed at her and made it back to his desk.

Little did either of them know that all three of their coworkers watched the whole thing from their own chairs and Patty and Jillian continued to exchange the same looks. They smirked a few times and Holtzy took her yellow glasses off, biting the ends of them while she watched. Erin loved what she was watching, though her expression did not say so. She caught herself in deep thought while witnessing the moment and after Abby awkwardly sat back down, she immediately looked to the blonde on her left.

Her eyes fell to Jillian's right hand. She was wearing black leather gloves that exposed her fingers, as usual. It rested on the arm rest right beside Gilbert's left arm rest, and the brunette pictured her own left hand reaching over to hold Jill's. But instead, she brought the same hand up to play with her bottom lip for a moment before putting it down in her lap with the other hand. She had turned her massage chair off the moment she noticed Abby's heart eyes toward Kevin. Staring at the floor in front of her, she started to doze off, but she shook her head, snapping herself out of it before stretching her arms above her head. 

"So, Erin." For some reason, Gilbert internally panicked when she heard Jillian speak her name. Her head snapped to the blonde beside her. "I thought you were sick." Erin sent her an awkward grin before gulping. "Tried playin' hooky?" Holtzmann joked and waited for a response.

"Not exactly." Erin didn't know what to say. "I mean..." She looked away from the scientist. "Nevermind." She practically whispered and she began to rapidly move her leg up and down, her heel tapping loudly on the floor. Gilbert leaned to her right, propping her elbow up on the arm rest as if it would help her move away from the woman beside her. Her head rested in her hand and she stared down at the floor again.

"Welp!" Holtzmann turned her chair off and brought the foot rest down. She immediately stood. "I'm gonna go on up and work on my new bad boys." She began to head toward the stairs but stopped for a moment, getting a good look at Kevin at his desk and she looked to Abby right after. She noticed the woman seemed extremely flustered and while she passed Abigail's chair, she put a hand on her friend's shoulder, knowing exactly what she must be going through at the moment. She sighed and headed toward the stairs.

"Hey, Erin?" Patty said from the chair on the opposite side of Holtzmann's. "You alright?"

"Hm?" Gilbert looked over at Patricia.

"You good?" Tolan wondered.

"Yeah, I'm-" She didn't even know what she was going to say, but she stopped herself from whatever it was. "I'm gonna go put my stuff up in my locker." She quickly stood, grabbing her purse and heading up behind the blonde.

When she finished putting her jacket and bag in her maroon locker, she turned around, staring at the staircase and wondering if she wanted to go down. Her gaze moved to the doorway of Jill's lab and she set all her weight on one foot, pursing her lips as she wondered what she would do. She decided to just let her feet take her wherever.

She turned, looking into the cluttered room. Gilbert stopped in the doorway, watching the blonde work on one of her proton shot guns that she had been ecstatic to make months ago, but never got to it. Staring at the blonde from the side, she noticed the beauty and poise in the woman's profile while she worked. It wasn't until now that Erin noticed the small mole on the right side of Holtzmann's face right above her cheek and to the side of her eye. When Jillian blinked, concentrating on the pipe in her hand, the woman standing in the doorway deeply inhaled. Feeling flustered, she turned to leave, but heard the voice behind her. "Whatcha doing?" Holtz asked, never looking to the door.

Erin awkwardly turned back around, never knowing that Jillian saw her there. "Um, I don't know. Just bored, I guess."

Holtz finally set the pipe down and leaned both hands against the desk in front of her while she nodded. "Wanna see how awesome this is gonna be?"

NO! Erin wanted to scream, but she slowly walked into the room anyways. "Uh, sure."

Jill waited until she made it to her table before she began to speak."No, no. Come over here." She gestured to the brunette to join her on her side of the counter to get a good look at her blue prints. Erin hesitated, but obeyed. The closer she got to Holtzmann the hotter it felt in the room and she swallowed hard once again, staring at the excited woman too close for comfort. She barely listened to anything Jillian was saying as she fought back an urge to yell at her to move away. "And then BOOM! The ghost dissolves into a million pieces and the containment box sucks all of them in!" The blonde slammed her hand on the table, proud of herself, and Erin slightly jumped.

"Nice." Gilbert nodded, having only heard the end.

"I know." Holtzy looked down at her blueprints and tapped her fingers on the desk. She had her right hand on her hip and was proud because she had finally been able to stand in the same room as Erin without wanting to punch something. Not only that, but now they were standing extremely close, and yes she did feel butterflies, but she was no longer angry. Until....

The blonde felt a hole in her stomach when she noticed Gilbert's hand had reached over to rest on top of hers on the table. Jillian looked down at their hands, her smile fading and she turned her head to look at the other woman, just inches from her. Holtzmann could hear Erin taking in a deep breath before she closed her eyes and leaned in closer to the blonde.

Panicking, Holtzy stepped back, pulling her hand away from Erin's and the former scholar opened her eyes. "What are you doing?" Jill asked with a failed attempt to make a strange voice.

"I-" Gilbert felt her heart racing and she noticed herself shaking while she tried to think of an answer.