It was almost always at the same time each evening, except on the days they were rostered on night shift, because then they were already together. The two of them in sync, coffee brewed, snacks made for both, sometimes the suggestion of sitting up on the roof of the Firehouse was welcomed with an eager nod.
But when they weren't at work the walk was made, and it didn't matter the weather, she'd walked there in the snow, in the rain, and now in the heat at the end of a summer's day. Nothing mattered but the destination, the butterflies that filled her being as she made the journey. Sometimes she turned down other plans because it conflicted with her evenings, with their evenings. Sometimes she just didn't make plans because she didn't want to be anywhere else but there, walking to the brownstone with the peach coloured flowers in their pots.
As she arrived and jogged softly up the cement steps, she paused at the door, something she did every time, smiling to herself, her eyes gazing at the potted blooms, and she knocked lightly. Her hand hadn't even returned to her side when when the door opened, the blonde smiling back at her as Erin stepped inside.
'Are you okay?'
'I am now,' Erin replied.
It was the same three words they uttered each visit, a tradition that began the first time Erin turned up at Holtzmann's door.
The engineer had asked the question the first time with arms open, as a sobbing Erin fell into them mumbling her reply. Holtzmann had held her most of that night, first just in the doorway murmuring comforting words, then on the couch and then in bed. Erin's heart had been broken yet again and she'd sought out her friend for comfort. Another man treating Erin like dirt, showing her such disrespect and negativity that she would begin to believe what they would say, believing she was always the problem. Supportive words were murmured, tears wiped from eyes as Holtzmann smiled warmly at her, telling her she was amazing and wonderful and perfect, Erin nodding softly at the compliments. Sometimes there was laughter between the two because her colleague always knew the right things to say to make her smile, and sometimes there were just cuddles because that's all that was needed.
Patty and Abby were aware of these meetups, they'd long given up on their suggestions of all going out in the evening or all hanging out together at the Firehouse. The two women watched from afar as their colleagues slowly became closer and closer, watching as they slipped into a comfortable routine and it was now expected by both Abby and Patty. If the two women weren't at the Firehouse together then they assumed they were at Holtzmann's together. Questions were never whispered, nor were eyebrows raised when the pair arrived together in the mornings, coffees in hand. At times during the day Erin would sometimes wander over to the blonde's desk, making a comment that she'd stop at the store on the way over because she had noticed Holtzmann was running low on milk, or on snacks or on detergent or on Pringles.
The pair almost moved as one at work, thinking the same, laughing at the same things and exchanging little glances. Sometimes Erin would look up and over at the blonde, watching as she would create, destruct, rebuild and focus. Erin watched as the woman worked, her eyes flitting up as she looked at her and then back down to her own work, equations and numbers and theories that were usually easy and simple suddenly taking longer than usual. Holtzmann would do the same towards Erin, when the older woman wasn't aware she would look over at her, hands busy writing in a notebook, then moving to type on her laptop, the blonde watching with a smile, smirking to herself as she soldered incorrectly again, knowing it was because she was focusing on Erin, because she was always focused on Erin.
Holtzmann always wanted to protect Erin, shield her from the doom and gloom of the world from the men that built her up, made her smile, took her out to dinner and then always tore her down. Always. And Holtzmann hated it, she hated them. Erin deserved better, and she always tried to give her that herself.
