From the first moment

7.

The next morning was different, and Erin crawled out of bed as soon as she woke, jumping in the shower, her eyes not one hundred percent back to normal but she smiled at her puffy reflection anyway. She tossed through clothes in her wardrobe, wanting to find something special to wear for Holtzmann and she decided upon tight black pants, a long white shirt and her oversized black and white checked blazer, and she tied her hair up in a ponytail. She also added a little bit of make up, hoping it would cover the puffiness of her eyes and as she looked at herself she remembered Phil. And she exhaled hard, hating herself for what she had done, but at the same time hating the fact that he just ran with it, no talking or even noticing she was clearly upset, then rolling over after he was done, not even noticing her leave. Erin knew she had only herself to blame and hated what her grief and jealousy had made her do. Was Phil going to call her, she thought, was he going to want to see her. She shook her head, not wanting to think about it, or think about him and she exhaled at herself in the mirror, finishing up her makeup before looking at her watch.
She walked over to her front door, opening it and closing it behind her, jogging down the stairwell and out of the front door, stopping on the top step to see Jillian at the bottom, a cup of coffee in each hand and a long stemmed rose between her teeth. Erin laughed out loud at the sight, clasping her hand over her mouth as she walked slowly down the steps, taking the rose from the blondes mouth and kissing her softly, then bringing the rose to her nose to smell.
"Erin Louise Gilbert," breathed Holtzmann, handing Erin her coffee, looking her up and down, "don't you look gorgeous today."
Erin blushed, looking down at her outfit then back up to the blue eyes that were still gazing at her. "Thank you, and and how did you know my middle name was Louise?" Holtzmann chuckled, "Everyone's middle name is Louise, even mine." Erin laughed and stepped back to the bottom stair, sitting down and Jillian joined her, this time the pair sat close to each other, their thighs and shoulders touching and Jillian leaned in to Erin's shoulder, sipping her coffee.
"You know," Holtzmann said, as Erin laid a small kiss to the blonde's hair, "I liked to think these were little coffee dates with you."
Erin smiled, putting the rose down at her feet, and putting her arm around the engineer.
"Abby told me you don't live around here."
"No, I don't."
Erin laughed softly.
"I wanted to welcome you to the team that morning, do something special for you, and after I did it once, I kinda didn't want to stop." Holtzmann lifted her head, cupping her coffee in her hands, "I like our mornings together, it honestly is the best part of my day."
Erin nodded as Jillian looked at her, and they shared a smile. "It's my favourite part of the day too. Every morning I wanted you to be there waiting, but I think I was also waiting for the morning when maybe you wouldn't be."
Holtzmann shook her head, "I would have always been here Er, every morning."
"Jill," Erin said softly, "Why didn't you ever say anything? If you had feelings for me too?"
"I don't have an answer to that Er. Honestly." Erin nodded.
"I guess maybe coz you'd mentioned that guy, we were newly working together, getting to know each other. I just don't think I realised it was more than just adoration I had for you." Holtzmann shook her head, "I don't think I knew what I really wanted Er, I've never really had options."
"Well I"m glad you chose option Erin."
Holztmann laughed, "Why didn't you say anything Er?"
Erin looked down at her coffee cup, "I don't think I was sure what I was feeling, but you know you started talking about your date and then I'm also older than you, and I was just really confused with how I was feeling, I just felt overwhelmed I think." Erin shook her head, looking back to the blonde, "Plus I told you I'm no good at this love stuff."
"Well I do love an older woman," Holtzmann said, raising her eyebrows with a laugh. Erin smiled, shaking her head and finishing her coffee,  she stood up, taking Holtzmann's hand in hers.

They walked arm in arm to the firehouse, and upon entering they saw Kevin was already at his desk, Patty and Abby looked up from the kitchen table as they walked in.
"Erin," Abby called out, standing up, and rushing towards her, the woman's pace slowing as she noticed Holtz's arm hand moved from being linked in Erin's to the small of her back and then her waist.
"I'm sorry about last night," Erin said, looking from Abby to Jillian, then turning back to her childhood friend.
Abby shook her head, "I was just really worried, Patty even took the Ecto out looking for you," and Abby motioned to the blonde, "Holtz and I were so worried Erin." Erin looked confused for a moment, and Holtzmann spoke.
"I," she paused, "we don't have each other's numbers Er. So I came here looking for you, Abby said she'd tried calling you and you weren't answering so I got your number." Erin nodded, pulling out her phone, "The missed calls, they were you." Holtzmann nodded, "No one had seen you and it had been two hours since Abby had been with you and we were worried. I mean I know where you were now but," Jillian's voice trailed off and Erin couldn't help but think of Phil again, and she closed her eyes briefly, pushing her phone back in her pocket.
"We were really worried," Abby said, looking at the two women. Jillian nodded, pulling Erin closer to her, "It worked out in the end. It really did." Erin smiled at Holtzmann, twirling the rose in her fingers.