A New Kind of Science / Holtzbert

Treasure Each Other

Several things ran through Erin's head as she made her way up to the second floor of the station. Two of the many emotions that eroded her mind were guilt and regret, of course. She remembered her behavior the last few months...years actually. Shaking her head she realized they were right. She had acted completely selfishly and she was more than determined to fix that. She knew that with the help of her newfound family, she would have no problem changing for the better. Family? It felt so strange being able to say that. 

The only family she'd ever had was her very critical parents and boy, did she and Abby fight like sisters. But now, she also had Patty, and Kevin, and they had befriended Agent Hawkins and Agent Roarke. She wouldn't exactly call them family, but they had become pretty good acquaintances. The same went for Ms. Jennifer Lynch in the mayor's office. She dropped in occasionally and they'd help her understand some of the things they did for work as well as obtaining legal advice from her. And there was some minor personal discussions between them as well. Erin considered them all a part of their friend group. Okay...they were sort of a part of the family. They were the distant cousins the family spoke to every now and then but were never close enough to to bring up in simple conversations. And of course, there was Holtzy. Just thinking about her being a part of her family gave Gilbert a violent case of butterflies. 

Making it up the last few steps, she put a strand of her wet hair behind her ear, hoping to not look nervous to the blonde when she entered her lab. Biting her bottom lip, she looked in on the quirky engineer. Jillian had yellow lensed glasses on, as usual, and she held a small circuit board up at eye level, examining it with a set of forceps. Like a spouse admiring their lover while they watched them do something they enjoyed, Erin  looked down to the floor just for a moment, smiling and thinking about how important this woman was becoming to her. When she looked back up at her, Holtz had begun to slightly sway her hips as if listening to one of her songs and she continued to work. 

She turned to see Erin slowly making her way over to her and she set the circuit board and forceps down. She resumed her slight dancing and pushed her glasses up to her forehead. With a silent chuckle, she stopped and put a hand on her hip while the other one leaned against the table beside her. They just stood for a moment, gazing at each other and all Erin wanted to do was apologize for both her behavior and for the fact that she had tortured Holtzmann with the elongation to the start of their relationship. If only she hadn't been so timid and stubborn to realize her potential with Jillian. However, she decided to save the apologies for another day and let herself, not fall yet, but trip over her feelings for Holtzmann. The warmth in her face and the shaking in her throat told her that eventually she would fall...and she would fall fast and hard. 

Finally clearing her throat, she spoke. "Th-thank you."

Jillian smiled and let out a short laugh. "You're welcome. You're welcome." Laughing once more, she shook her head and her smile faded into a look of confusion. "For what?"

With a slight giggle, the particle physicist responded. "For telling the truth down there and putting me in my place. I, uh...I deserved it." She looked down, feeling for Abigail. "Abby didn't deserve what I did to her...at all. She was all I had and I-I was completely selfish. So, thank you for speaking up and helping me see that." She knew Holtz didn't really say much to her, but for some reason, hearing her own date pointing out her flaw so quickly changed her perspective. When Holtzy nodded and didn't say anything further, Gilbert continued. "I just want you to know that I will do my best to never do to you what I did to her. I-I promise." 

She paused to see Jill's face drop when her hand reached up to pull her glasses back down over her eyes. But before the brim rested on her nose, Erin stepped closer to her, their bodies almost touching, and she grabbed Holtzy's hands, taking the pair from her and folding them closed, slowly setting them on the table. Jillian watched her security blanket moving farther from her and she gulped, feeling Gilbert's hand on her chin. Erin turned the blonde's head to face her. "See I know we've only been on one date, but I, uh...I actually feel like it's been longer." When Holtzmann didn't respond, (due to her concentration being on the fact that they were so close to each other), Erin spoke again. "Don't you?" 

"Hm? What?" Jillian blinked, widening her eyes and finally remembering that they were supposed to be having a conversation right now. She replayed what she just said in her mind and remembered the question. "Oh, yeah. Actually, uhhh..." She grinned before opening her mouth and sliding her tongue to the side of her top lip. "I've been pretending we were together since that day in the subway. You know, where you almost died?" 

"Yes." Erin's head lulled back in annoyance, even though she couldn't help but smile, trying not to chuckle. "Why do you keep bringing that up?" 

Just NOW, Holtzmann noticed that they had been holding each other's hands ever since Erin took her glasses. Before answering, she squeezed the taller woman's hands harder and the expression on her face turned serious. "Because that was the day I saved your life." 

Almost instantly, Dr. Gilbert made an audible gasp, followed by a few loud coughs as she had begun to choke. As she bent over a bit, finishing her last few hacks, Holtzmann changed the positions in which their hands were, by intertwining their fingers. "You alright?" She wondered quietly. 

"Huh? Yeah. Yeah." Erin replied with a hoarse voice. She cleared her throat a few times and stood up straight before finding the capability to speak again. "Yeah, I'm good. Umm..." After nodding, she looked into Holtzy's sincere, soft blue eyes and the tone in the room returned to feeling intense and ardent. She briefly closed her own eyes, quietly blowing slow air out of her mouth. "Hoooo." Opening them again, she fully embraced the butterflies in her stomach. "What would I do without you?" 

"You won't ever have to find out." They stared down at each other's lips, leisurely moving their faces closer to the other's. "You know why?"

"Why?" The brunette said, a little too quickly.

"Because we're gonna do what Riley said." Holtz answered.

"And what's that?" Both of their voices had grown lower and softer. 

"Treasure each other." After Jillian spoke, Erin's eyes closed again, almost as if in relief and she let out a long sigh before their lips finally met for an intense and passionate kiss.

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A/N: I'm so sad to say that we've reached the end of the story. I really hope you enjoyed it and I'm just letting you know that this may be the end, but it is NOT the last chapter. I have an epilogue in mind, so I hope you stick around for that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for reading this and I really hope you leave lots and lots of reviews. If you have any prompts for another fic (it doesn't have to be Ghostbusters), I will gladly take them and think about writing them as well. Again, thank you and I'm sorry if you wanted more out of this fic. I was just trying to get to how they end up together and though it didn't have as much fluff as I, myself, would have hoped, I am still happy with it and I hope that you are too. I do need to take a small break from writing just so I can get things done around the house and stuff and maybe find a job. Also, I didn't want this story to be as long as it got and I sure do not want it any longer. So, I hope you still enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. These characters are so much fun to write for and I know that I will definitely come back to more GB fics in the future just because I love it too much not to. I wish all of you well and can't wait to see and hear more from you later. Love you! MWAH!