Chapter Text
“That one’s not ready, it’s yours when it is. Here, in the meantime… This.”
“Wow, what does it do?”
“It’s a Swiss army knife. No woman should walk around unarmed.”
“…I know what it does.”
Erin, Abby knew, was a creature of habit; she had seen her chew her way through roughly a hundred marker caps when they had been in college together. She bit on them whenever she got stuck in her work, and Abby was familiar of the way she often unconsciously played with pens or paperclips or whatever was within reach when she sat pouring over one of her books or when they all sat together and talked business.
She knew all of Erin’s quirks and idiosyncrasies. None of them had changed during the time they hadn’t been in contact - and so, it was quite the surprise when she realized that Erin had developed a new habit, and with quite the surprising item, too.
Abby noticed that curious new habit when they were all relaxing at HQ, after yet another successful bust; Erin was leaning against one of Holtzmann’s workbenches, looking relaxed and content, but apparently unable to keep her hands still – and playing with the army knife Holtzmann had given her what seemed to be ages ago, sliding the various tools it contained out and putting them back in over and over, without even truly noticing what she was doing.
Perhaps, she thought, this was just a one-time thing, a coincidence, maybe, she thought, the knife just had been the first thing Erin had gotten her hands on when she had searched for something to toy with; in the following days though, she noticed that Erin kept playing with the knife - even when other things she usually used to keep her hands busy were within reach, Erin fully ignored pens and paperclips in favour of the Swiss army knife.
Seeing her toying so much with the knife made Abby think back to the moment Holtzmann actually had given it to Erin; she had watched in stunned silence back then, knowing that Holtzmann had been using this particular knife for years and all too aware what it meant when she gave it to Erin so freely.
Erin hadn’t been aware of the knife’s significance back then, but Abby wondered if perhaps, she was now; they all had gotten used to Holtzmann constantly flirting with a painfully oblivious Erin, and didn’t pay much attention to this anymore, but now, Abby asked herself if maybe she should, if something in the dynamic between Erin and Holtzmann had changed and they hadn’t noticed.
Now that she knew there was something to look for, she noticed more and more things – how Erin would watch the engineer work when she thought no one was watching her, how sometimes, Erin would briefly touch Holtzmann’s back when she walked past the engineer bent over table, and how they’d look at each other just a bit longer than strictly necessary every now and then.
She wondered if something was developing between them, or already had, and if the latter option was correct, why they hadn’t said anything; she figured that she could simply ask Erin or Holtzmann, but also reasoned that, if they hadn’t said anything yet, they might have their reasons, and even though Abby was dying to know, she’d respect that.
It was hard to wait though, and she hoped that, whatever was going on between the two, they would make up their minds soon, and tell them.
“I think Abby suspects something”, Erin told Holtzmann when they were alone at HQ, “she’s been watching me… us… quite intently the past few days, but I don’t think she realized I’ve noticed.”
“I’m telling you”, Holtzmann murmured sleepily, moving a hand to caress the physicist’s naked back, “they’re not gonna freak. They’ll be happy. If Abby was gonna freak, she would have said something already.”
“Probably”, Erin had to admit, feeling quite relieved – the change in relationship between Holtzmann and her had happened almost two weeks ago, and so far, she hadn’t had the courage to tell their teammates about it, oddly afraid of how they might react.
You know Holtz is right, she thought to herself, while said woman was drifting off into a light sleep, unperturbed by Erin’s weight halfway resting on her, they won’t freak. They’ll probably squeak about how cute it is and demand to know how it happened.
Her gaze strayed to the pair of pants Holtzmann had more or less ripped off of her not too long ago and had thrown onto her workbench; in the pocket of said pants, the Swiss army knife, the knife which had been the start of all of this, oddly enough… but then, she reasoned, odd was quite fitting when it came to Holtzmann, in a weird sort of good way, so why should the start of their relationship have been anything else than odd, she thought to herself, smiling slightly as she thought back to how it all had begun.
She had been right in this room, in front of her whiteboard, and Holtzmann had been working at her desk behind her; she had been focused on her equations, and so, it had startled her a bit when she had heard the engineer curse quietly behind her…
…and it’s not the usual cursing she’d gotten used to, either, so she turns to face Holtz, frowning when she sees the engineer sucking on her index finger, a deep frown etched onto her brow.
“What’s wrong”, Erin demands to know, at the same time reasoning that at least, there’s no blood visibly anywhere, unless perhaps, the finger Holtzmann has in her mouth is bleeding; the blonde shrugs in reply, then lets out a disgruntled sound, thankfully removing her finger from her mouth before she replies. “Ah, nothing, this knife just isn’t cooperating.”
She holds said knife up, a Swiss army knife just like the one she gave Erin a few weeks ago; one of the tools is halfway out, and apparently the reason for Holtzmann’s ire, since she glares at it, as if just looking at it angrily enough will get it out the rest of the way.
“I still have the one you gave me, you know”, Erin tells her, to her relief immediately knowing where she has it, nestled in the pocket of her ghostbusting coveralls. “You can have it… back, if you like?”
Not for the first time, she wonders if perhaps, there has been more to this knife than she was aware of when Holtzmann gave it to her; already the first time she used it, she noticed how easily the various tools are pulled out, and she’s noticed the scratches and marks here and there, speaking of how heavily this knife has been used before she received it.
“Nah, it’s fine”, Holtzmann tells her, waving the treacherous knife, the new knife, Erin now just suddenly knows, around, “I’ll conquer this one, watch me.”
She starts fiddling with the knife again, not even noticing how Erin walks off; and a few seconds later, the physicist puts the knife down on the desk right in front of her nose, making her look up, and just when she wants to protest, Erin takes her face in her hands and kisses her.
Holtzmann has been perfectly aware that something between them was changing, that Erin was reacting differently to her flirting and compliments; she’s been quite sure though that it would take a while longer for something to happen, if anything ever would, and so, she’s quite surprised when Erin takes over like that.
She’s not too surprised to kiss back though, and that is just what she does, at the same time pulling Erin down onto her lap, and when Erin basically wraps her legs around her, she fears that her heart might burst out of her chest.
“Use mine”, Erin mumbles into her ear after the kiss, “and conquer me instead.”
“Watch me”, Holtzmann almost growls, comes to her feet, grabbing Erin with both hands so she won’t slip off and fall and briefly even lifting her; she sits her down on the table and kisses her again, and she feels how Erin’s hands entangle in her hair and slide beneath her shirt and she feels like she’ll explode any moment.
Erin’s not quite as far gone, but quite close behind Holtzmann; she’s still aware enough though that they are not alone, Abby and Patty are right downstairs, and so she keeps quiet, makes sure Holtzmann keeps quiet, too, by simply not allowing the kiss to stop, even though it gets difficult after a while, nobody downstairs notices what is going on up here…
“Whatcha thinkin about?” Holtzmann wanted to know, having snapped out of her light doze again; Erin smiled and shrugged, stealing a brief kiss before she replied, her answer making Holtzmann raise an eyebrow, since it didn’t make much sense to her, especially not after Erin had blown her mind with her hands and tongue.
“Oh, nothing much”, the physicist said, idly tracing invisible patterns on her stomach with the tips of her fingers, “just the significance of a Swiss army knife.”