Chapter Text
Jillan Holtzmann noted the fun gurgly sound the drain made as she shut off the water in shower and reached her hand outside the makeshift shower curtain. She wiggled it around, slapping the wall a couple times, but coming up empty. She quickly pulled back the tarp to reveal the towel she thought she had placed on a hook next to the shower to be nowhere in sight.
"Ruh Roh."
Erin Gilbert sat at her desk, her third cup of coffee of the night sitting cold on top of a teetering stack of papers. She quickly glanced at the time on her phone.
1:20 A.M seemed to glare back at her from the little lit up screen and she sighed.
Looks like its gonna be another night on couch. she thought, looking over at the threadbare sofa Kevin had insisted they put in for his afternoon "dog naps" (Correcting him was no use at this point.)
She had gotten a ride from Abby earlier, but her and Patty had long since left, and she did not want to take a taxi to the other side of town at this hour. Maybe I should get a little cot upstairs like Holtz has...Erin's thoughts were derailed as a voice carried down from the second floor.
"ERINNN, ARE YOU STILL HERE?"
Erin jumped, forgetting the other woman was still in the firehouse with her. She yelled back at a slightly lower volume then Holtzmann was currently using. "Yeah I'm here, everything ok?"
"UM YES EVERYTHING IS A-OK...BUT I HAVE FOUND MYSELF IN A BIT OF A PICKLE,"
Erin sighed standing from her desk and walking over to the bottom of the stairs before calling back up. "Whats the problem?"
Erin hoped Holtz hadn't set the toilet on fire again--now that had been an interesting day.
"JUST GET YOU'RE CUTE LITTLE TUSH UP HERE SO I CAN TELL YOU WITHOUT BURSTING MY VOCAL PROCESSES."
Erin rolled her eyes but made her way up to Holtzmann's lab which appeared to be empty. She noticed a light on in the bathroom and figured the other girl was in there. "There's no way we're out of toilet paper, I just restocked it in there."
Holtzmann's voice came a bit muffled from the other side of the door. "No it's not that, I just forgot a towel is all."
Erin almost laughed. "Why couldn't you just get out and get one yourself then? I don't take you for the type to care about some water on the floor--I mean I'm anti-floor water but I'm me so--"
Holtz cut her off. "That is a fantastic suggestion Ms.Gilbert, I would have 100% done that but you see, I have a piece of highly unstable machinery situated right next to the bathtub and it may or may not implode and bring down this entire establishment with a single drop of water."
"WHAT??"
Erin could hear the mirth in Holtzmann's voice through the door. "If you could kindly get me a towel ma'am, I would appreciate it immensely."
Erin shook off her shock and ran to the cabinet a few feet away. Inside the cabinet was an assortment of weaponry,cleaning supplies, and bath towels. She decided not to question the stains covering the towel and instead bolted back to the door. "Ok I've got a towel now what."
"Now, Erin, you turn the doorknob and come inside--you're a physicist I would hope you know how that works."
Erin rolled her eyes again and opened the bathroom door, expecting to feel humidity from the shower, but instead it was the same temperature as when she was standing outside. "Do you shower in cold water?"
Holtzmann peaked her head around the tarp with a grin. "Usually. It gives you a good ol' slap in the face."
Erin inched forward with the towel outstretched, only just now noticing the piece of hunking metal the size of a small child sitting by the edge of the tub. When Erin got close enough Holtzmann reached her hand out and snatched the towel before retreating back behind the tarp. "What is that thing?"
Erin tried to focus on the sound of Holtz's voice, and not the fact that she was naked mere feet away. "Not sure yet! Possibly a nuclear weapon that could take out a hundred ghosties at a time, possibly a new toaster for the downstairs kitchen, I'm still working out the kinks." Erin was wondering how that pile of what was seemingly trash could be either of those things when Holtz threw back the tarp, wrapped in only the towel Erin had provided.
The first thing Erin noticed was Holtzmann's hair was longer than she originally thought, reaching past her collarbones. The second thing Erin noticed was the water running off her hair in rivulets down her chest and disappearing between-
Don't look at her cleavage, don't look at her cleavage --too late.
"You trying to catch flies with that mouth Gilbert?"
Erin quickly snapped her lips shut, trying to focus on anything but Jillian Holtzmann standing in front of her in nothing but a towel. "Oh--um n-no, I've just never seen you with you're hair down t-that's all."
Holtzmann glanced down at the damp strands hanging next to her face and the corner of her lips turned up. "Oh yeah, I wear it up because of some previous incidents with a blowtorch. Hair and fire don't mix let me tell you..." Holtz trailed off as she stepped out of the shower, shaking her head a bit, causing water to drip everywhere.
Erin suddenly remembered the exact reason she was in here. "Holtz your hair!"
Holtzmann glanced down again, confused. "Erin we literally just discussed this, first the door now the hair? Are you sure you're feeling alrigh--" Holtz stopped talking when she noticed Erin frantically gesturing towards her little contraption friend, which was now emitting a sound similar to that of a motorcycle revving.
"Now there's a sound I've never heard you make!" she stated gleefully.
Erin started inching towards the door. "Holtz?"
"Yes Erin,"
"Shouldn't we like leave?"
"Oh yeah for sure."
"Then why are you still standing there?"
"I just wanna see what it does for a sec," Only when the metal started sparking did Erin grab Holtzmann's hand and haul her towards the door. "We need to go right now that things gonna blow--"
"Erin wait, I want to know what happened to that piece of bread I put in it earlier--" Holtzmann was cut off when the contraption started sputtering and hopping off the ground like it was on hot coals.
Holtz's eyes widened and she turned back towards Erin.
"HIT THE DECK!"
When Erin didn't react right away Holtzmann pushed her out the door and onto the hard ground, shielding the other woman with her own body.
There was a loud bang and a pop and then--nothing. Complete silence.
After a couple moments Holtzmann slowly lifted her head and locked eyes with Erin.
And ok, Erin had never really believed in heaven-- especially with the whole other side being a swirling vortex of smoke and nothingness ordeal-- but looking up at Jillian, she was pretty sure she was at the pearly gates and this was the angel here to greet her and lead her soul off to a joyful afterlife.
Holtzmann was backlit by the light coming from inside the bathroom, bathing her in a hazy golden glow. Her hair hung on either side of her face, creating a yellow curtain around the two of them. Erin could feel Holtz's weight solid against her, and the warmth radiating from her body through the towel felt nicer then Erin was willing to admit.
"Are we dead?" Erin finally found her voice, though it came out low and throaty.
"Most likely."
Holtzmann broke eye contact with Erin to turn her head and look back into the bathroom, when she turned back around to face Erin, she had the most beautiful shit-eating grin on her face and her eyes had that manic glint she sometimes got when she caught something on fire.
Before Erin could ask what was happening, Holtzmann was climbing off her and bolting back into the bathroom--Erin immediately missed the warmth but got up anyways and followed behind the blonde cautiously.
"Are you sure that things still not gonna blow--" she trailed off when she saw Holtzmann, doubled over with laughter and quite literally slapping her knee. When Erin got closer to look at the smoking metal, she realized it wasn't the invention Holtz was laughing at--it was what was sitting directly in front of it.
A single piece of burnt toast.