Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey, Erin, can I talk to you for a minute?”

Erin looks up from her work to see Holtzmann standing awkwardly near her desk, a nervous expression on her face. Erin immediately turns her attention to the younger woman, worried something was wrong, she’s never seen her like this before, “is everything ok?”

“My parents are coming to visit,” Holtzmann blurts. Erin relaxes slightly, parents she could handle, she’s had enough issues with her own.

“Is that a problem?” Erin didn’t really know much about Holtzmann’s parents, what sort of people they were or what Holtzmann’s relationship with them was like.

“No…” Holtz trails off and Erin got worried again, this was very un-Holtzmann-like behaviour.

“But?”

"I told them that I have a girlfriend," Holtzmann admits in a rush, avoiding eye contact with Erin as she does.

"And you don't?"

Even through her panic, Holtzmann replies flirtatiously, "you know I only have eyes for you."

Erin rolls her eyes, "really, now?"

"Sorry, it's a force of habit," Holtzmann didn't look sorry at all, "but it's actually worse than that. I may or may not have led my parents to believe that you're my girlfriend."

"What! What made them think that?" Erin’s voice gains a panicked edge, her mouth falling open as she stares disbelievingly at Holtzmann.

“I told them that you were.”

“What!”

“I didn’t mean too, but they kept asking me if I was dating anyone and I got fed up and told them I had a girlfriend and when they asked who it was I said the first person who came to my mind.” Holtzmann loves her parents, she really does, but sometimes they can get on her nerves, especially when they bring up her love life, something that is nonexistent. So she’d lied, hoping that’d stop the questions and it’d worked, up until now where it was about to backfire in her face.

“Why didn’t you just make someone up?” Erin tries not to read too deeply into the fact that out of everyone Holtzmann could’ve picked, she’d chosen her, she didn’t want to get her hopes up that maybe her feelings weren’t so unrequited.

“I’d spoken about you to them, about all of the Ghostbusters,” Holtzmann quickly added, “so they already knew who you were, it was easier than making up a whole new person.”

“Ok, never mind how it happened, what do we do now?”

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about, they want to meet you.”

“What!”

“That’s why they’re coming to visit.” They’d expressed interest before in coming to visit to see her new job and meet her new colleagues but the news that Holtzmann was in a relationship had been the main factor in her parents deciding to visit now when they’d seen how serious it was. Which of course had been another lie.

“Nope, I can’t do that, I can’t do meet the parents while pretending to be dating you, you know how bad I am at lying.” Erin was struggling to breathe as she spoke, thinking about everything that could possibly go wrong, from Erin’s parents not liking her despite the fact they’re not even dating to Holtzmann figuring out Erin’s feelings while they’re pretending to be a couple.

“Please, Erin, please,” Holtzmann begs, “I’ll do all the talking, you don’t need to act any different around me, just don’t tell them the truth. I can’t tell them I lied, they’ll just end up worrying again.”

“Worrying?” Oops, Holtzmann hadn’t meant to say that.

“That’s the real reason I lied,” Holtzmann admits, not making eye contact again as she does, “they worry about me, worry I’ll end up alone, so I lied and said I was seeing someone.”

Erin understands that, her parents are the same, always questioning if she’s found a boyfriend yet but she thinks that’s more because they want grandkids than their worry that she’ll end up alone. But that’s the deciding factor that gets her to agree to Holtzmann’s plan, if it’ll help Holtzmann then she’ll do it.

“Fine, I’ll do it.”

Holtzmann punches the air, a large grin on her face as she throws her arms around Erin, “thank you, thank you, thank you, I owe you one.”

Erin laughs, glad Holtzmann is back to her own self again, “anything I need to know before I meet them?”

“Nope,” Holtz said, popping the ‘p’, “they really are nice people, have always supported me with my work and my life choices so I can’t complain really, I just wish they’d lay off my love life and hopefully this’ll get them to do just that.”

“When do they arrive?” Erin asks, already formulating a plan of how she’ll deal with everything that could go wrong when meeting the parents of her now fake girlfriend.

“They’ll be here in an hour.”

“What! And you didn’t mention this sooner because?” Erin was trying really hard not to panic again.

“I was hoping they’d cancel,” Holtz admits, “and I didn’t tell you sooner because I knew you’d panic about it. This way, you have less time to get worked up about it.” That was a lie, she’d mostly just been avoiding having this conversation.

“Instead you tell me with no time at all to prepare!”

“It’ll be fine, just be yourself and act normal and if they ask any questions, I’ll answer.”

“You owe me big time,” Erin says, trying to regulate her breathing, repeating Holtzmann’s “it’ll be fine” over and over in her mind, “and you’re telling Patty and Abby.”

xxx

Patty and Abby were all too eager to join in on the lie, laughing as Holtzmann explained that her parents were coming to visit and they all had to pretend that she and Erin were dating.

“You have seen Erin lie, right?” Abby asks, struggling to keep her laughter at bay, “she gets all sweaty and can’t speak properly, how is she going to pretend to be your girlfriend?”

“That does not happen,” Erin cuts in, glaring at Abby.

“I’m sorry sweetie, but it does.” Erin turns her glare on Patty, neither of them were helping her stress levels and they’re definitely exaggerating her behaviour, she hopes anyway.

“Whether that’s true or not doesn’t matter,” Holtzmann says, trying to keep Erin calm as her parents would be here soon.

“Do you have a back story?” Abby asks, deciding to leave Erin alone for now, they’d be time for lots more teasing later.

“We don’t need one, my parents won’t be here long, just enough to meet you guys, have a quick tour then we’re going out for lunch. If they ask any questions then I’ll answer them, all Erin has to do is stand there and look pretty,” Holtzmann explains, a wink thrown at Erin as she talks, “and all you two need to do is not say anything about our relationship either and then we’ll be golden.”

Completely ignoring what Holtzmann has just said, Patty starts making up her own story, “what if one night, you two were the last left here working and you got talking and one thing led to another and you realised you had feelings for each other and have been dating ever since.”

Abby cut in, enjoying seeing Erin blush, “or, what if one day Holtzmann got jealous after seeing Erin getting flustered around Kevin and she asked to speak to Erin, but instead of talking Holtz just kissed her then you guys admitted you had feelings for each other and the rest is history.”

Abby knew her friend had feelings for the engineer and maybe this would be the push they need to finally get together. Abby also knew Holtzmann had been interested in Erin from their first meeting and knew there was a reason why Holtzmann had told her parents that she was dating Erin instead of her or Patty. That’s the only reason she’s teasing them now, knows they both have feelings for each other, it’d be too cruel to do that if their feelings weren’t reciprocated. Hopefully though, her two friends would realise that their feelings were mutual and they’d finally admit them to each other.

“Ohh, that’s a good one,” Patty says, grinning, seeing how embarrassed both Erin and Holtzmann are now, “or what if one of you just asked the other on a date, simple as that.”

Abby opened her mouth and with Holtzmann staring at them in what now looked like shock, Erin knew she wasn’t going to put a stop to this so she had to.

“Nope, no more,” Erin cut her off, trying not to imagine those scenarios, or the dozens of other scenarios she’s imagined where she admits her feelings to Holtzmann, “you’re not helping. We don’t need a back story like Holtz just explained, we just need to act normal while her parents are here and everything will be fine.”

“You two should at least hold hands in front of her parents, don’t want them to be suspicious,” Patty suggests, enjoying this way too much.

“A kiss would really sell it, leave no doubt in their minds that you two are dating,” Abby adds and Erin is really going to kill her friend.

A knock at the door startles them all, stopping this conversation which Erin is immensely relieved about until she realizes exactly who it is on the other side of the door.

“You ready?” Holtzmann asks as she heads towards the door, a quick glance at Erin to check she’s ok, giving her one last chance to back out. Holtzmann is going to have to have words with Abby and Patty after this, she knows they both know about her feelings for Erin and it wasn’t fair what they just did to Erin, making her feel uncomfortable like that. She’ll apologise to Erin later too, hoping this situation won’t affect their relationship at all, that’s the last thing she wants.

Erin nods, “let’s get this over with.”

Chapter Text

Erin stands back with Abby and Patty as Holtzmann opens the door and greets her parents, each one pulling her in for a hug as they say hello. Erin is really trying not to panic, focusing on her breathing and staying calm as she takes in the scene before her.

“So, this is Erin?” Holtzmann’s mother asks after Holtzmann introduces her fellow Ghostbusters to her parents and Erin is surprised when the woman sweeps her into a hug as well.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs Holtzmann,” Erin says awkwardly as she is released from the hug.

“Please, call me Maggie,” she says kindly, and when she hears Abby calling her husband Mr Holtzmann, she continues, “and this is Robert.”

Once they’ve got the greetings out of the way, Holtzmann tries quickly to start the tour, wanting no time for questions to be asked, the sooner they leave, the better.

But of course her mother is having none of that, “let me at least talk to the woman who has made you so happy first.”

Erin’s eyes widen as she realizes this is going to be harder than they’d both anticipated (and at the fact that Holtzmann’s mother has just said that Erin makes her happy).

Holtzmann moves to stand next to Erin, to take the spotlight from her so she doesn’t need to speak, but it’s too late, Erin is already talking.

"We're dating, is a thing that we're doing," Erin says, the words coming out stilted, trying not to look awkward as she puts her arm around Holtzmann's shoulder who is now standing next to her.

Holtzmann is surprised by the arm around her but doesn’t hesitate to return the gesture and as she wraps her arm around Erin’s waist. Holtzmann is relieved when after a moment’s hesitation, Erin relaxes into her.

“You’ll have to forgive her, she’s been nervous all week about meeting you,” Holtzmann explains, trying not to think about how much of her is currently pressed into Erin.

Mr and Mrs Holtzmann smile at the couple as the stand together and Erin is surprised by how similar Holtz and her mother look when they smile. Both women hope that her parents can’t hear Patty and Abby laughing in the background.

xxx

"Don't touch anything,” Holtzmann says as they enter her work area, “that rule applies to the Ghostbusters as well,” and then she turns to Erin, voice lower as she whispers suggestively in her ear, “except you, you can touch anything you want.”

Erin blushes and steps away from Holtzmann, giving her a light shove towards her table, shaking her head as she does.

Abby and Patty look on amusedly, enjoying this way too much.

Holtzmann has showed her parents the rest of the firehouse and now they’re in her work area, saying she’d “saved the best for last.” She shows her parents a few of the things that she’s working on, mixing explanation of her devices with stories of when they have been/will be useful in their work as Ghostbusters. Abby and Patty go off to do their own thing while Erin stays and listens, playing the role of supporting girlfriend which is surprisingly similar to the role of supporting friend. She’s pretty sure that the feelings swirling inside her could never be classified as just friendship though.

She’s relieved when she hears Holtzmann wrapping things up, only one fire needing to be put out during their tour. Her parents hardly even reacted to the small explosion and Erin wonders how often things like that had happened when Holtz was growing up. She made a mental note to ask about it later.

Erin’s beginning to relax, things have been going smoothly so far, all that’s left is for them to say goodbye then it’s over, or it would’ve been if Abby hadn’t intervened. As soon as the words were out of Abby’s mouth and she saw the response it got from Mr and Mrs Holtzmann, she knew they were in trouble.

“That’s a lovely idea, why don’t you join us for lunch Erin?” Mrs Holtzmann said eagerly, Mr Holtzmann nodding in agreement.

“Oh..I umm…thanks but-“ Erin is grateful when Holtzmann interrupts her, she really didn’t know what to say.

“Erin has a lot of work to do,” Holtzmann says, shooting Abby and Patty a look, silently begging them to stay quiet.

“We’ve got you covered,” Patty says, stepping up behind them, “you all go out and have a good lunch, get to know each other better.”

“It’s settled then,” Mrs Holtzmann smiles, turning to leave, giving Erin and Holtzmann no choice but to follow.

And that’s how Erin finds herself leaving the firehouse, wondering how they ended up in this situation and hoping Holtz has some idea of what to do because she’s not sure how long she’d going to be able to keep up the pretence of a relationship when she’s this nervous.

“I’m sorry about this,” Holtzmann says quietly, much closer to Erin than she’d realised.

Erin gives her a weak smile in response, “I’m getting a free lunch out of this so I can’t complain too much.”

Holtzmann smiles at Erin’s attempt to joke even though she knows how nervous the other woman is. She reaches out to take Erin’s hand briefly in hers and gives it a squeeze, hoping Erin knows just how grateful she is for this. Erin is surprised by the contact but disappointed when Holtzmann lets go and now her hand feels empty even though they’d only held hands for a few seconds.

xxx

They get to the restaurant and order, making small talk as they do and Erin’s relieved that Holtzmann has kept the conversation from her so far, without making it obvious that that’s exactly what she’s been doing.

They’re halfway through their meal when Erin’s eyes go wide as she sees who has just walked into the restaurant. Holtzmann follows Erin’s line of sight and her eyes widen too as she sees who Erin is looking at. What one earth is Kevin doing here??

“Is everything ok?” Mr Holtzmann asks, noticing how worried they suddenly look.

Holtzmann grins, “of course, I’m finally getting to introduce my beautiful girlfriend to my parents.” Erin is amazed at how Holtzmann can do that, how well she can act when Erin can see the tension in her body and then Erin realises what Holtzmann has just said and she blushes.

Holtzmann laughs again at Erin’s reactions, watching Kevin out of the corner of her eye as she does, hoping he doesn’t see them, it could be a disaster if he did.

Erin shifts her chair, trying to move so she’s hidden behind Mrs Holtzmann as Holtzmann slips down in her chair to hide herself too but Kevin looks up and makes eye contact with Erin and she knows then that they’re doomed as he smiles widely and makes his way towards their table.

“Hey, bosses, what’re you doing here?” Kevin asks as he takes in the four people sitting around the table.

“You must be Kevin,” Mrs Holtzmann says, immediately making the connection as to who he is, holding her hand out to shake Kevin’s which he returns enthusiastically, “I’m Margaret Holtzmann and this is my husband Robert.”

“Holtzmann? Why does that name sound familiar?” Kevin asks but before anyone can answer him, Erin’s speaking.

“What are you doing here?” she blurts, the most she’s said since they arrived here.

“Hide and seek,” Kevin says, as if that explains everything.

Before Holtzmann’s parents can question exactly what he means, he ducks to the ground suddenly, falling to his hands and knees, “see you later.”

Erin and Holtzmann watch him go with relief as he crawls through the restaurant, almost knocking a waiter down in the process. He hadn’t said anything about them not being a couple, had hardly even questioned why they were here and both Holtzmann and Erin are immensely relieved.

“I can see why you’d get flustered around him, dear,” Mrs Holtzmann says, smiling knowingly at Erin as she does, “he really is quite handsome.”

“You told them that?” Erin says, turning to Holtzmann, momentarily forgetting her nerves due to her embarrassment, her cheeks flaming red again.

Holtzmann shrugs as she smiles, “what, you’re cute when you blush and it was always entertaining to watch.” It’s true, Holtzmann found Erin very cute when she blushed, like she was right now, but Holtzmann prefers when she’s blushing because of something she’s done, not Kevin. She’s always been jealous of how Erin acted around Kevin but she’s glad that over time that had changed and now Erin barely even reacted when she spoke to him.

Erin realised that “friend Erin” would have a different response to “girlfriend Erin” and so Erin’s heart pounded as she repeated Holtzmann’s words from earlier, “you know I only have eyes for you now.”

The word slipped from Holtzmann’s mouth before she could stop it, “good.” She wishes so much that what Erin was saying was true.

Mr and Mrs Holtzmann look on, amused at the small conversation that is going on between the two women.

“They’re so sweet,” Erin and Holtzmann heard Mrs Holtzmann say to Mr Holtzmann, breaking them out of the mini staring contest they didn’t realise they’d been having.

Holtzmann blushes too this time and Erin took great pleasure in that, not being able to keep the smile from her face.

xxx

The rest of lunch passed by uneventfully after that. Erin had relaxed, realising there was nothing to be worried about with Holtzmann beside her, she knew Holtzmann had her back in everything, including this strange situation they’d gotten themselves into.

“Thank you so much for inviting me to lunch,” Erin says as they all stand outside the restaurant, Mr and Mrs Holtzmann getting ready to depart. Erin was surprised to find she actually meant the words too, she’d had a good time with Holtzmann and her parents. It was nice to see Holtzmann in a different environment and how she was still so unapologetically herself.

“You’re welcome, we’ll have to do it again soon,” Mrs Holtzmann says as she hugs Erin goodbye and Erin is surprised when Mr Holtzmann gives her a hug too instead of the handshake she’s expecting.

Erin watches as Holtzmann says goodbye to her parents, using words she can’t hear, and she’s intrigued by the blush she sees appear on Holtzmann’s face. She doesn’t have time to think about it though as they’re calling out a second goodbye as her parents turn and walk away, leaving Erin and Holtzmann alone.

“You did good,” Holtzmann says, flashing a grin at her, shoulder nudging against Erin’s as they walked back to the firehouse.

Erin grins back in return, still caught up in the moment of pretending to be Holtzmann’s girlfriend and wishing it never had to end.

xxx

Abby and Patty were waiting impatiently for Erin and Holtzmann to get back to the firehouse. They knew they’d be in trouble for getting Erin invited to lunch but it’ll be worth it if something finally happens between their two friends.

As soon as the firehouse door opens, they are up out of their seats and at the door, already questioning their friends.

Erin grins and shrugs, knows how much the lack of information will annoy the two women, “it was fine.”

“Really, that’s all you’ll give us?” Patty asks, looking between Erin and Holtzmann.

Holtzmann doesn’t say anything, just walks passed them with a grin on her face, only turning at the bottom of the stairs to call over her shoulder, “you deserve it.”

“Nope, you heard Holtzmann, you don’t deserve to know anything,” Erin says as the two women turn to her and she walks passed them too, grinning when she hears them grumbling behind her. She’ll tell them eventually, but for now she was going to let them wonder what happened, as punishment for all the teasing and the fact that she’d had to go to lunch with Holtzmann’s family, which had turned out to be not bad at all.

xxx

For the rest of the day, it was work as usual, until Patty and Abby announced they were going to bed, leaving Erin and Holtzmann working alone. They’re both sure that this is on purpose.

“Drink?” Erin asks, beer already in hand as she stands in front of Holtzmann’s desk. They’ve done this before, had a drink after work together, and Erin wants things to go back to normal, doesn’t want things to get weird between them so she’s making an effort to not let that happen.

“Sure,” Holtzmann grins in response, taking the offered beer and they both move to take a seat on the couch that’s in the corner of the room. It’s not lost on either of them that this was one of the scenarios that Patty suggested on how they started dating, being left alone after work. Both choose to ignore that for now.

Holtzmann is the one to break the silence that is starting to get awkward as they sit there, “thanks again for today, you really helped me out.”

“That’s what friends are for,” Erin smiles, her stomach dropping when she realises that’s what they are again, just friends.

They descend into silence again but this time it’s less awkward, both enjoying the company.

Erin’s the one that breaks the silence this time, realising how much now she just wants to put this whole day behind her, forget about the feeling of Holtz’s arm around her, what it felt like to be almost a couple when in reality it could never happen. The best thing for her is to pretend that this day never happened and go back to being content to just be around Holtzmann every day, not imagine scenarios in the future where they could be together. “We have to think of a reason to give your parents for why we will break up.”

Holtz grinned, “my Mum's going to be devastated, she really liked you.”

“You think so?” It wasn’t even a real ‘meet the parents’ because they weren’t actually dating but she felt proud that Holtzmann’s mum had liked her anyway.

“She said and I quote, “you've found a good one Jillian, don't let her go.” Erin had wondered what her mother had said to her as they hugged goodbye and Holtzmann had blushed, this must've been it. 

“So, what’s our break up reason going to be?” Holtzmann asks, reminding them both again that the situation isn’t as real as they both wish it was.

“How about we broke up because Kevin realised his love for me and we're getting married next spring?” Making a joke out of this was way easier than imagining she was actually dating Holtzmann and then trying to think of reasons they wouldn’t work out.

“That's not believable at all,” Holtzmann laughs which Erin joins in on, “it’s really not.”

“You're right, thank God.” Erin still thinks Kevin’s attractive but there's nothing else about him that she's attracted to. There's plenty of things about Holtz that you're attracted to, her traitorous mind supplies.

“What about you broke up with me because I blew something up one too many times?” Holtzmann has seen how worked up Erin can get when she makes something explode.

“That's actually believable,” Erin pauses for a minute, thinking about it, “but I’d still probably forgive you because it would’ve been an accident.” Erin forgives her all the time for doing just that and Erin doesn’t think it’d change if they were dating.

The idea that one of them cheated, causing them to break up, crosses their minds but they know that’s not a plausible reason, neither of them would do that to the other.

The sit in silence again, sipping their beers, wracking their brains for a reason to end their fake relationship.

"How about I broke up with you because you were terrible in bed?” It was dangerous, bringing something like that up, but Erin was feeling slightly reckless after their good day together.

“Again, that's too unbelievable,” Holtz said, giving Erin a wink and Erin knew she was blushing but she couldn't care less right now.

Erin huffs out a breath, “are we honestly struggling to find a reason why we'd break up? There are millions of reasons why couples don’t work out together.”

Holtzmann laughs, “clearly we’re destined to be together forever then.”

“Can I ask you something?” Erin asks, wanting to change the subject, it hurts to think that all of this is fake, and probably just a joke to Holtzmann.

When Holtzmann nods, Erin continues, “you said you have no love life, is there a reason for that?”

“People generally aren't interested in my for anything other than my looks, that's why it's nice having you three as my friends, I know you're interested in me as a person.” That was true, the few women from her past had only been interested in her because they thought she was attractive, and it always hurt when she found that out. So now, being friends with Abby, Patty and Erin, that made her feel good about herself and she knew they liked her for her. Growing up, she’d only ever had her parents who love her but they were so different to her and now she’s found somewhere where she feels like she actually belongs, found people who understand her and love her for who she is.

“We love you, you know that,” Erin replies, her heart breaking for the woman sitting next to her as she imagines how lonely she must have been. She takes Holtzmann’s hand in her own, ignoring her nerves to comfort this absolutely wonderful person who deserves so much more than the world has given her so far, “and I'm glad we're friends, I wouldn’t change that for anything.”

“Even if you have to pretend to be my girlfriend forever?” Holtzmann jokes, not entirely comfortable with how much she’d just opened up.

“I could think of worse people to be dating,” Erin replies, looking down at their hands as she does, watching as Holtzmann flips her hand underneath Erin’s and twines their fingers together then squeezes her hand in thanks.

“Right back at ya,” Holtz says and Erin looks up as she speaks, catching the wink sent her way, causing Erin's heart to flutter in response.

Erin scoffs, “I'm definitely the lucky one in this relationship, dating you makes me seem 100 times cooler.” They’re back to joking which Erin can handle, even if what she’s saying is true.

“I'm definitely the cool one,” Holtz jokes, laughing when Erin pouts, “but I'm also the lucky one.”

Erin shakes her head, denying Holtzmann's claim but blushing all the same. 

“Come on, I'm serious, who wouldn't want to date you?” Holtzmann knew that this was dangerous, getting this close to her real feelings, but maybe Patty and Abby were right, maybe she had to step up and admit her feelings to Erin and hope that they’re not one-sided.

Erin shakes her head again, “apparently a lot of people since I haven’t had a single date in the past two years.”

Holtzmann tried to act calm when in reality she can’t remember ever being this nervous, ever, “I’d date you.”

“Haven’t you heard? We’re already dating,” Erin didn’t mean to make a joke, but she was nervous and it slipped out.

“What if it wasn’t fake though?” Holtzmann was doing this now, she wasn’t backing down, she’d been in love with Erin for a long time and maybe it was finally time to let Erin know that too.

“What?” Erin didn’t know what was happening, Holtzmann was still joking, right?

“You heard me,” Holtzmann replies, unconsciously gripping Erin’s hand tighter. Erin glances down at their joined hands, how did she forget they were still holding hands?

Erin looks back up, eyes scanning Holtzmann’s face, looking for any signs that the other woman in lying. It’s her eyes that give her away, Erin can see how truly nervous she really is. So Erin gives up then, gives up trying to hide, trying to pretend she doesn’t have feelings for Holtzmann. She removes her hand from where they’re joined and before the disappointment can register in Holtzmann’s eyes, Erin is grabbing her by the collar and pulling her in for a long overdue kiss.

Holtzmann responds immediately, her own hands moving to Erin’s hair, mouths opening and tongues exploring.

Erin pulls back, breathless, “with a tongue like that, I don't think I'd ever break up with you because you're bad in bed.”

Erin’s not sure where the confidence to say that came from but she’s glad she did when Holtzmann groans and pulls her back in for another heated kiss.

Erin’s surprised when she feels Holtzmann shift and then it’s her turn to groan when she feels Holtzmann leg move over hers as Holtzmann settles in her lap, her thighs now straddling hers.

“You’re serious?” Erin asks when they pull away, her hands now resting on Holtzmann’s thighs and how did they go from just friends this morning to this?

Holtzmann can’t find words now, can’t quite believe that the feelings she always thought were unrequited are reciprocated. So instead of speaking, she removes her hands from where they’d ended up in Erin’s hair again and cups her cheeks, thumbs running over soft skin as she nods.

Erin can’t stop the grin that spreads across her face as she moves her own hands to rest on Holtzmann’s face too, her eyes roaming over the women in front of her, “you’re beautiful.”

Holtzmann feels her heart swell at how sincere Erin sounds and she can’t help as the words tumble from her mouth after being held in for so long, “I love you.”

Erin laughs, she can’t help it as it bubbles out of her, and Holtzmann pulls back slightly to look at Erin properly as confusion settles on her face.

“I love you too,” Erin says, pressing a quick, hard kiss to Holtzmann’s lips before she’s pulling away again, holding Holtzmann back as she tries to chase her lips. Holtzmann looks confused again, so Erin quickly explains, “I was laughing before, remembering what Patty said, this was one of her scenarios for how we started dating.”

Holtzmann grins too then, “she just forgot about the fake dating part to begin with.”

Erin kisses her again then, just because she can now, before she pulls away again, Holtzmann groaning at the loss of contact, “we’re still going to need to come up with something to tell your parents.”

Holtzmann nods, “yes, but later, right now I want to think of nothing else but you.”

Instead of replying with words, Erin replies by pressing her lips back to Holtzmann’s because she’s allowed to now, because Holtzmann loves her back and she’s willing to dive into this relationship with her.

And in the morning, when they wake together, with more whispered “I loves you’s” and soft kisses, both woman know that they may not have been lucky in love in the past but they certainly are now.