The news came early that morning.
Holtzmann just finished her new product that she stayed up half the night creating. Varying from her other mess of creations, this one would actually come of some use, on the plus side this creation shouldn’t blow up. It was a simple slime repellent, or as Holtz liked to name it as “Slime Be Gone”. She couldn’t wait to show Erin because she made it specifically for her girlfriend, she knew the slime just loved her. Holtz smiled to herself thinking of Erin’s reaction, she wouldn’t have to worry about the slime anymore. As she moon walked over to turn the radio off, she turned around to see Abby standing in the doorway of her lab.
“Hey there Abs. What’s shaking bacon?” Holtz pulled her aviator goggles up into her head, putting the goggles atop her messy nest of blonde curls. She sat down in her stool and turned to face her friend standing a few feet away. Abby’s face was pulled into a frown and she kept fidgeting with her glasses sitting atop her nose. Holtz raised one eyebrow, but waited for Abby to speak, she clearly had something important to say.
“Holtz, maybe you should take a seat,” Abby gestured to Holtz’s stool, which Holtz was currently sitting in, “I have to tell you something.”
Holtz let out a small laugh, “Uh Abs, I’m already sitting. I’ll sit if you insist.” Holtz stood up for a brief second and sat right back down, eyes trained on Abby again.
“Oh right, sorry.” Abby shook her head and looked around Holtz’s lab trying not to make eye contact with the blonde, “Holtz, I have to tell you something important. It’s about Erin, but promise me you won’t freak out before I explain?”
Holtz’s eyes widened at Erin’s name being mentioned in Abby’s sentence. “Abby, what happened?” Holtz’s voice came out in a somewhat alarming tone.
Abby lowered her gaze as she continued to speak, “Its Erin, she’s been in a really bad car accident. Her doctor called a few minutes ago and it doesn’t sound too good. She is currently at the hospital, still being tested and examined.”
Holtz felt like someone punched her in the gut, feeling the air get knocked out of her. No, please not Erin. She slowly slid off of her stool onto her knees, unable to process correctly what Abby had just said to her. She was struggling to catch her breath, her eyes becoming blurred along with everything around her. She was briefly aware of Abby running up beside her and rubbing her back comfortingly. Holtz couldn’t process anything; all she could imagine was Erin’s broken, lifeless body lying in a hospital, various wires attached to her body.
“Hey Holtz, can you look at me?” Abby tried to help Holtz back onto the stool. She rubbed Holtz’s back some more in hopes it would help her calm down. Abby rubbed at her now watering eyes, she was just as worried as Holtz was about Erin, she was her best friend.
Holtz couldn’t speak a word; all she did was let out small shaky breaths. I need to see Erin right now, her thoughts were clouded with worry. Holtz jumped out of her stool suddenly and started frantically looking for the keys to the new Ecto-3, they could be anywhere in her cluttered mess of a lab. Holtz threw her waistcoat on the floor in frustration after a few seconds of searching with no luck finding the keys; Erin could be dead before she even got to her. Where are those damn keys?! she thought.
Abby walked over to Holtz and grabbed her hands to stop them from rummaging around any longer. “Holtz, take a deep breath. I have the keys; we can go see Erin together, alright?” Abby looked into Holtz’s watery blue eyes, eyes that were normally bright and filled with so much happiness. She squeezed her hand gently, “It’s going to be alright. Erin is strong as hell.”
Holtz gave a small nod as she followed Abby to the Ecto-3.
0o0o0o0o
By the time they arrived at the hospital it was late afternoon.
Abby and Holtzmann was directed by the lady at the front desk where Erin’s room was located. As they were walking through the dim hallways, Holtz got a bad sense of familiarity. Hospitals were no good in her past and she had a particular hate for them, hospitals always brought death and sadness. Holtz’s stomach got queasy just thinking about Erin being confined in a place like this.
The two finally arrived at Erin’s room. They were greeted by a tall, middle-aged man in a white coat, who they could only guess was Erin’s doctor for the time being. Holtz took a deep breath, preparing herself for what she would be told.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Grey and I will be Erin’s doctor while she is currently here. I am going to discuss her current condition with you and how she is physically and mentally doing. But first may I ask your names for visitation purposes?”
Abby decided to do all the talking as she began to speak, “I’m Abby Yates, one of Erin’s closest friends and this is Jillian Holtzmann, Erin’s girlfriend. We spoke on the phone earlier. You told me we could come down and see her.”
If Doctor Grey thought anything of the girlfriend part, he didn’t comment on it as he spoke up, “Does Erin have any family living close by? Anybody else we can call for her?” Dr. Grey wanted to make sure to call the family first before letting Erin’s information out to her friends.
Holtzmann crossed her eyebrows in frustration, “No. No family worth calling anyway, they don’t care what happens to her. We are her family and forever will be her family. If you want family, here we are. So please do continue Doctor.”
Dr. Grey cleared his throat at this women’s hostility, forgetting he even asked about the family part. He wrote down their names and their relations to Erin and then started to speak, “As you both are probably aware, Erin was involved in a bad car crash this morning. It came to our attention that she got hit by another car that ran a red light. Erin was in pretty bad condition when she arrived here, her leg was broken and she needed some stitches from the glass that came from her windshield that had cut her. She had a pretty bad head injury from hitting her head from the impact, which results in her being in a temporary coma. We aren’t sure how long this coma could last, but we are doing the best we can to make sure she is comfortable. We are giving her the best we can, in hopes she will wake up eventually.”
Holtz sucks in a harsh breath at the word coma, her eyes beginning to water once more. She feels the sadness, but also the anger boiling inside her, somebody hit her girlfriend by reckless driving. Holtz feels Abby place a comforting hand on her tense shoulder and give it a small squeeze.
Abby gives one last glance at Holtzmann to make sure it’s okay to continue. She can’t imagine what Holtz is feeling, all this information on her at one time. Abby can barely register the news herself, the sadness welling up inside of her. “So we are allowed to see her, right?” Abby finally speaks up.
Doctor Grey gives her nod. “Of course you can. She is in a coma so she won’t be able to communicate with you, but you may see her.” Doctor Grey writes down a few more things on his clipboard and speaks again, “I’ll be back later to give you more information on Erin’s tests,” with that final thought he leaves the two of them alone.
“Are you sure you want to see her Holtzy?” Abby speaks up after Dr. Grey leaves, seeing Holtzmann’s uncertainty in her face.
Holtz gives a small nod. She walks up to Erin’s door and takes a deep breath before opening it. Holtz opens the door and her eyes widen at the sight of Erin lying there. Erin is attached to many Iv’s connected to many different machines and her leg is being held in traction. Erin’s head is bandaged and so is various spots on her arms from the cuts, she looks so broken lying there. All Holtz hears as she walks in is the sound from the machines hooked up to Erin.
Holts slowly makes her way across the small room to Erin’s bedside. She looks down at Erin, as tears start forming in her eyes. Holtz gently takes her hand, careful not to unhook any wires and grazes Erin’s jawbone with her knuckles. She looks around the room and spots a small looking chair in the corner; she carefully drags it across the floor and places it close to the bedside.
Holtz doesn’t like seeing Erin in this condition. All she wants is to see Erin happy and healthy again, defiantly not lying in this hospital bed, all broken. It hurts her to know she can take Erin’s pain away or be able to get her outta the coma she is in, she is useless to her. I’m so sorry Erin; this shouldn’t have happened to you, Holtz thinks to herself.
As Holtz sits down in the small chair, she takes in Erin’s whole body, feeling more tears welling up in her eyes. Holtz grabs for one of her hands and rubs the back of it with her thumb, needing to feel her touch.
Abby clears her throat from the doorway in which she is still standing, witnessing what just occurred. She wants to give Holtz some time alone with Erin; she would rather not see her best friend like this anyway. “I’m going to go call Patty and tell her what happened, you stay here Holtz. I’ll bring you some food up later on, okay?”
“Okay,” Holtz manages to say as she watches Abby leave. She looks at Erin after Abby leaves, she can’t help but think she won’t wake up. Holtz rubs her face with her hands, she finally lets the tears start falling.
0o0o0o0o
It’s been six days.
Doctors and nurses have been rushing in and out of Erin’s room, giving as much insight and information they can to reassure Abby, Patty, and Holtzmann. Abby and Patty have visited every so often to check on Holtz and see if there was any news on Erin, they wanted to give Holtzmann as much time alone with Erin as she needed. Holtzmann never left Erin’s bedside, she ate and slept in there. Abby and Patty made sure Holtz was eating and sleeping okay because she refused quite a bit of times. They both made her stay healthy because they said Erin would want her to take care of herself as well and that got Holtz to start eating properly.
It was currently night time on the sixth night. Holtz sat by Erin’s bedside on that uncomfortable, rickety chair that she had called a friend ever since she got there. She was quietly munching on some Pringles while 80’s music was softly playing in the background. Holtz glanced over at Erin and tears started to appear in her eyes, she frowned suddenly feeling angry. Why did this have to happen to you? she thought in frustration.
“Listen Erin, I know you probably can’t hear me right now but there is a slight chance you can, I want you listen to what I have to say. This whole thing,” Holtz gestures to Erin’s whole body, “This wasn’t your fault, the asshole who did this to you will pay for it, but I need you to wake up now.” Holtz balled her fists in anger; she took a deep breath and sighed.
Tears started falling from Holtz’s eyes as she continued to speak, “I miss you Erin. I miss your awkward little laughs and the way you blush when I make a stupid flirty comment, even though we have been dating for months now. I miss your smile and the way your nose does this cute crinkle. I miss the way your eyes light up when you are happy. I miss how cute you get when you start talking about your equations and what you love the most. I miss busting ghosts with you; it’s not the same without you here. I’m not the same.”
Holtz wipes at her eyes and looks at Erin, she gives a small smile. “I miss all of you, everything about you. I never really believed in love until you stepped into my life, stick up your butt and all. I never thought a girl could love me as much as you do because they never have loved me as much as you do. I’m so glad you came into my life; I don’t know what I would do without you. I’m not me when you aren’t here, it’s like half of me is gone. Erin, I really need my other half back. Please come back to me. I love you.”
Holtz wiped the rest of the tears from her eyes and got up to turn the music off. She placed her can of Pringles on the stand beside Erin’s bed and positioned herself on the chair as comfortably as she could. “Hope you heard me Erin,” Holtz said as her eyes started to drop, finally closing as she fell asleep, holding Erin’s hand.
0o0o0o0o
It was the morning of the seventh day.
Erin slowly opened her eyes, taking in the surroundings before her. She looked around to see she wasn’t in her own bedroom, the colors were much duller and it smelled like stale air. Where am I? she wondered. Erin flexed her fingers and noticed someone’s fingers were intertwined with hers, looking down she saw Holtzmann’s sleeping form beside her. Erin studied Holtz closely noticing the bags under her eyes and her hair was more of a mess than usual. She then looked at her body and her eyes widened, seeing all the bandages and her broken leg. Erin reached up to rub her face, to make sure she wasn’t dreaming when she felt the bandage on her head, when she touched it she felt the pain pulsing through her head. She looked around some more and concluded she was definitely in a hospital, but why?
Erin squeezed Holtz’s hand a few times to try to wake her up. “Holtz wake up,” she whispered, trying not to startle her awake.
“Uhhh,” Holtz groaned as she drowsily opened her eyes and lifted her head up. She came face to face with Erin, who was looking at her with confusion clouding her features. Wait, Erin’s looking at me? Holtz’s eyes widened as she rubbed them to make sure this wasn’t a cruel dream of hers.
“Holtz?” Erin said slowly, her voice a bit raspy. She didn’t know what else to say, hoping Holtz would say something about this situation.
Holtz eyes widened some more and then broke into a huge smile. Holtz pulled Erin as far as she could into a big hug, “Erin! The apple of my eye, my little slumbering bug, my cute nugget...”
Hugging Holtz back Erin smiled and shook her head, “I’m glad to see you too Holtz, but what’s going on? How did I get here? The last thing I remember is driving my car to the firehouse this morning.”
Holtz stared open mouthed at Erin. “Erin you literally got in a car crash and you don’t remember? You were in a coma for like six days, which was the worst week of my life may I add.”
Erin stared wide eyed at Holtz. A car crash? For six days? “I was in a crash? That explains why I am in so much pain, but the coma? It still feels like it’s the same day and I feel like I was just in my car. I can’t believe all this happened. I’m so sorry Holtz, I can see this affected you. I hope I didn’t cause too much trouble.”
Holtz crawled carefully into the bed with Erin and put her head on her shoulder, “It’s not your fault Erin. Don’t sweat it sweet thang, I reallllyy missed you though. I was so scared because I didn’t think you were going to wake up. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t, you uh really mean a lot to me and I love you a lot,” Holtz took a deep breath to stop from crying again, her speech seeming to go faster with every word, “I’m just really glad you are uh awake and doing okay.”
Erin grabbed for Holtz’s hand and held it, looking straight into her eyes, “I won’t ever leave you Holtz, not unless I can help it. You are the best thing that ever happened to me and I love you so much. I’m always going to be here for you.”
Holtz smiled at Erin’s words. “You worried me a lot though, everybody was worried about you. Abby and Patty were here often to see you too, of course you weren’t awake, but still. Speaking of Abs and Patty Cake, I better call them to let them know you are awake,” Holtz pokes Erin in the stomach and reaches over to get her phone.
While Holtz makes the call to her two friends, Erin realizes how hungry she really is, she then she spots the can of Pringles. She reaches over to grab Holtz’s Pringles off of the stand and starts eating them. She looks over to see Holtz staring at her; no longer talking on the phone. She slowly puts another chip into her mouth while making eye contact with Holtz as she does so.
“Well Dr. Gilbert, stealing my can of Pringles I see. That’s an offence in my book,” Holtz smirks.
“Well how can I say no to these salty parabolas?” Erin pops another chip in her mouth; she smiles feeling satisfied with her answer.
“Now you are quoting me? This is really touching my heart Erin,” Holtz grabs at her heart dramatically and wipes away a fake tear, “I won’t give you a ticket anymore for stealing my Pringles. Officer Holtz is letting you go with a warning.”
Erin slaps her lightly on the arm and laughs, “You are so dramatic sometimes.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s why you love me. It’s more like all the time,” Holtz grabs two chips from the can and turns them into a duck bill. She gives Erin a flirty wink.
They were interrupted a few minutes later by a knock on the door, Abby’s head popped through the doorway. Once she saw Erin was awake she gave a huge smile, Patty was following close behind. Many hugs and “I miss you” were passed between them all. Dr. Grey came in and was happy Erin was finally awake and feeling better, he said she had to stay for a few more days to recover. Everyone was more than happy she was awake and recovering well. Holtzmann of course stayed with Erin for the next few days while she recovered. She never left her side unless she needed something, until it was time for her to finally leave the hospital.
0o0o0o0o
After Erin got discharged from the hospital, she and Holtz made their way back to the firehouse. She got a big greeting and a “Happy Birthday” banner, most likely Kevin’s doing. Abby, Patty, and even Kevin were there to hug her and celebrate on her recovery, even though Kevin kept saying happy birthday to Erin they whole time. Erin was happy to be back at the firehouse and to her friends again, she couldn’t ask for a better family in her life.
That night Erin found herself sitting in a chair in Holtz’s lab, just watching her tinker away on a proton pack. Holtz stopped working all of a sudden and face palmed herself. She left the room in a hurry, not telling Erin anything. I wonder what she is up too. Erin wondered.
Holtz came back a few minutes later with a small box in her hand, wrapped in newspaper. “I’m such a silly goose, I forgot to give you this present when you came back. Sorry it’s not in the best wrapping paper but uh that’s all I had. Hope you like it,” Holtz’s cheeks turned a soft shade of pink as she handed the present to Erin. She rocked back and forth on her heels as Erin opened the gift.
Erin ripped the paper, she then opened the box. She pulled out a bottle inside and read the label with Holtz’s messy scrawl, “Slime Be Gone”. Erin smiled as she looked up at Holtz, who was looking quite nervous. “You made this for me?”
“Yes I did,” Holtz quickly said as she averted her gaze towards the floor.
Erin sat the repellent on her desk. She tried to walk over to Holtz, but with some difficulty because of the crutches she had to use. She stumbled a few times, then stopped and whined, “These crutches suck.”
Holtz ran up to Erin to stop her from falling. Erin stumbled into Holtz, but she was there to catch her. Holtz smirked, “Hey Gilbert, come here often?”
“As a matter of fact I do,” Erin smiled and dropped her crutches, wrapping her arms around Holtz’s neck.
“Her Er, did you ever hear me talking to you while you were in that coma?” Holtz asked curiously.
“No I don’t, but you talked to me? That’s sweet Holtz,” Erin gave a smile, but she felt bad she couldn’t remember anything.
“It will just make it all the more sweeter when I tell you what I said to you later on,” Holtz wiggled her eyebrows.
Erin said nothing but just stared into Holtz’s eyes. She really couldn’t imagine life without this woman.
Holtz gripped Erin’s waist harder and pulled her closer, she looked into Erin’s eyes and kissed her. Erin reacted to the kiss immediately, melting into the engineer. It had been just a short kiss but it was full of passion and pure love. After they broke apart Holtz pressed her forehead to Erin’s and smiled, “I’m so glad you came back to me Erin, I love you so much.”
Erin kissed Holtz again and whispered in her ear, “I love you too. I won’t ever leave again.”
The End.