A New Kind of Science / Holtzbert

Hidden

In a pair of light blue jeans and a maroon hoodie that was slightly large on her, Erin finished closing her locker and headed for Jillian's laboratory. She yawned once again upon entering the room and blinked a few times to keep her eyes open. Looking over at the engineer's desk, she saw her with massive rubber gloves on, working on one of the ghost pagers. "Oh." Holtzmann finally noticed the presence of the other woman and she set down her tools before oddly walking over to Gilbert.

"What is it you had to tell me?" 

The blonde slapped her gloved hands together before pulling the large pair off one by one. "Follow me." She turned, leading Erin further into the back of the lab. 

Rolling her eyes, the other woman hesitated to adhere to the blonde's request, but eventually gave in. She was too tired to see any of Jill's new inventions at the moment. Her constant enthusiasm toward the wacky scientist's toys would be deemed unsuccessful in such an exhausted state. But she followed her anyway and wished it was something easy to fake excitement about. 

They made it to the far end of the lab, closest to the large windows and Erin just now realized she'd never been back here before. Usually because Holtzy wouldn't let anyone passed the ghost containment unit. She claimed it was due to the possibility of being overexposed to too much radiation. Soon, Gilbert would find out the truth.

They turned right, leading them to the very back corner of the lab, which was a surprise to Erin as it was blocked from the sight of anyone in any other part of the room. She watched Jillian with confusion before her leader stopped in her tracks, causing her to halt as well. She turned her gaze to where Holtz was looking and now she understood. They stared down at a small sized couch that contained a disheveled blanket and pillow. "You should get some rest." Jill spoke and turned to leave, still holding the rubber gloves in one of her hands.

"Wait a minute." Gilbert grabbed her by the arm, stopping her from leaving. "What is this?" She wondered aloud before quickly releasing the other woman from her grip.

"Nothing, I just....sometimes I need a nap after a lot of brainstorming or I just really don't wanna go home." She pointed to the sofa. "So, I moved this in here from the sleep hall over there." She pointed out the door to the large room by their lockers. 

"Oh, wow. I didn't even know this was in there." 

"Nobody did. I moved it when we first moved here and kept it hidden so you guys didn't think I was sleeping on the job." Holtz stood with her arms crossed over her chest and she stared down at the couch, remembering the first week there. Erin nodded, remembering as well. Jillian wouldn't let anyone upstairs until she finished putting all of her equipment exactly where she needed it. "You take a nap, I'm gonna finish my babies." Holtz turned and left Gilbert in the far corner of the room. 

Taking a deep breath, Erin decided to obey her and she immediately moved closer to the sofa and laid down on her stomach. She hugged the pillow to her head with a light grin, not even bothering with the blanket, and in no time, she was out.

About an hour and fifteen minutes passed and the brunette slowly opened her eyes. She was shocked to find that she hadn't changed positions while asleep. This confirmed how tired she really was and she blinked her eyes open a bit more before turning over to lay on her side for a moment. As she did so, she felt the blanket on her and stopped moving in the realization that Jill had covered her at some point. She sighed, recalling her crude behavior toward the woman today. She then hugged the blanket to her chest before nuzzling her face in the fabric. A loud puff of air escaped her mouth before she uncovered her face and slowly sat up. She took a deep breath and stretched, looking around the dark section of the lab and wondering how long she'd slept for. 

As she removed the blanket from her lap, she thought of the reason she had awoken in the first place. A nightmare. She had had another nightmare. Though this time, it was of being kidnapped and tortured again. Only, for real this time and Abby was the one taken and she, along with Holtz and Patty, had to search for Yates only to find it was too late. Gilbert had to regroup before attempting to stand. She didn't know what she'd do if she ever lost Abigail. Just those few years of not talking after they had their falling out had really been too painful. What would she do without the possibility of just talking to her protective companion ever again? Not wanting to think about it anymore, she pushed herself up off the couch and walked around the beam that hid the corner. 

She stopped in her tracks when she watched Holtzmann work. The concentration and pure focus from the blonde had always seemed to fascinate Erin. The action of her habit returned and she began to bite her bottom lip while she gazed at the engineer. Instead of walking around the ghost containment unit like she had planned, she leaned against the beam to her left and rested her head on it, watching Holtzy's every move. 

"I'm glad you're up." Jill said without even looking away from the gadget in her hand. 

The brunette moved away from the wall and walked closer to the center of the lab. "How'd you know?" 

"You stopped snoring." The inventor pushed her glasses up to her forehead before setting the technology down and looking up to the other woman. 

Erin chuckled. "I don't snore." 

"Oh." Holtz nodded. "Yes, you do. It's not loud, but you do." 

"Oh." She felt herself blushing and she looked down to the floor in embarrassment, now knowing that Abby was right at all their sleepovers in high school.

"But, hey! Now I can finally show everyone the finished results of my ghost-uh-pagers." She did a small dance. 

"You finished them?" Erin asked.

"Oh, yeah. I finished them a long time ago." The shorter of the two picked up one of the beepers and pretended to shake it by her ear like a small hand maraca. It took all of her might while the particle physicist slept not to whoop with joy the minute she was done and it took even more for her to not go downstairs and brag about the devices to the other three. "I was waiting for you to wake up." She stopped shaking the one she held and placed it back on the table near the others. 

Knowing the woman's excitement, Erin asked, "Why didn't you just wake me up?"

Holtzmann's smile slowly disappeared into a shy look of slight embarrassment. Looking at the desk in between them, she replied. "You look so peaceful when you're sleeping."  

Unsure of how to respond, Gilbert just leaned against the table, eventually looking down as well. She pictured Holtzy standing near the couch in the corner, looking down at her while she slept. Though the concept seemed a bit creepy, Erin couldn't help but smirk, knowing how sweet it actually was. "Well, uh...I'm up NOW. Let's go show them. Can I-?" She mimed to reach for them, asking Holtz's permission to touch and when the blonde nodded, she took two. Jill grabbed the other two and they headed for the first floor.