Title: A Little in Love
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Gil Grissom
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Rating: PG-13
Table: Un-themed 8, mission_insane
Prompt: 2, Waiting
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Greg Sanders or Gil Grissom, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Gil leaned back at the desk in his study, picking up the picture that he kept there and gazing at it. Greg smiled at him from the picture frame, the expression on his face bringing an answering smile to Gil's. This picture never failed to lift his heart.

There was something about the way Greg was smiling, the way he'd tilted his head just a bit when he'd looked at the camera. Gil could swear that his boyfriend had been thinking of him in that moment when he'd snapped the picture -- and that his thoughts hadn't been entirely pure.

That thought made Gil sigh and smile at the same time. He and Greg weren't lovers in the strictest sense of the word yet, and he had to admit that he was feeling a little impatient about that. But he wasn't going to rush his boyfriend into anything that he wasn't ready for.

After all that Greg had been through, he wanted to take his time with their relationship, and let Greg make all the first moves. He knew that the younger man had to move at his own pace; any sign of Gil pushing for more, and Greg might run in the opposite direction.

Still, it was hard to simply sit back and wait for Greg to decide when and if their relationship was going to get more physical. But at least they had progressed from where they'd been when they had first confessed their feelings to each other, Gil told himself.

When the team had rescued Greg from the men who'd kidnapped him, he had been wary of anyone's touch -- except Gil's. But he'd still been uncomfortable with being touched in a sexual way, and Gil couldn't blame him for that, after what he'd been through.

That wasn't like the Greg he'd known when they had worked together, when Gil had still been at the crime lab. Back then, Greg had been like an adorable puppy -- and Gil admitted to having had more than his share of fantasies about touching him.

He had forced himself to hold back his feelings, telling himself that waiting was the best thing he could do in this instance. But he'd waited too long -- and he'd let himself back away from what he really wanted, settling instead for a distant second best.

At least he'd finally come to his senses after years of waiting and yearning, Gil told himself. He had finally taken the steps that he needed to take to ensure his freedom -- and it had been a stroke of luck that Greg still felt the same about him and wanted to be with him.

He'd been a little in love with Greg Sanders from the first day the young man had come to the lab for the preliminary interview before he'd taken over the DNA lab. Gil had been skeptical of his abilities at first -- after all, Greg had been so young at the time.

But it hadn't taken him long to find out that the glowing reports of Greg's intelligence hadn't done the young man justice. That was one of the reasons that he'd agreed to let Greg move from the lab out into the field -- he had respected that keen, inquisitive mind.

And, if he was honest with himself, he'd also wanted to see Greg achieve his heart's desire -- and he had wanted to be the person to make that dream come true. He had wanted to see Greg happy; it was one of the few things he could do for the man he'd fallen desperately in love with.

There was no way that he could have kept himself from falling in love with Greg, Gil told himself, his gaze roaming over the handsome features of the man in the picture. He had tried, but he'd fallen nonetheless, and he had no regrets about that.

His only regret was that he had never told Greg how he felt when they were working together -- and that he had never gotten a clue as to how Greg had felt, either. If he had known that Greg had feelings for him, he would have revealed his own much sooner.

Instead, he'd let himself believe that he had been in love with someone who could never be what Greg was to him. He'd rectified that mistake, thank goodness, but only after spending far too much time being in a relationship that hadn't made him happy.

And he'd hurt Greg by doing that, too, he thought, regret flooding over him. He could still remember the look in Greg's eyes when he had come back to the lab for a brief visit after he and Sara had been married. He could still remember the flash of pain he'd seen in those dark depths.

He would spend the rest of their lives making it up to Greg, he vowed, slowly replacing the picture on his desk. Leaning forward, he propped his elbows on the desk, resting his chin in his hands, unable to tear his eyes away from the photograph of his boyfriend.

He'd been a little in love with Greg at first sight -- and that love had only grown as he'd gotten to know the young man better. Now, Greg was the center of his universe, the person that his world revolved around -- and maybe, in some ways, he always had been.

Gil sighed softly, reaching out to let his fingertips trail over the picture as he gazed at it. After so many years of waiting to be with Greg, it almost seemed impossible that they were actually together now. For once, fate had been kind to him.

What would he have done if Greg had turned him away, if he'd said that his feelings weren't the same? Gil didn't know how his life would have progressed if that had happened -- but he did know that he would have spent all of his days mourning what could have been.

And he would have also cursed himself for holding back, for waiting too long and letting the prize that he'd always wanted slip so easily through his fingers. The thought made him shudder; he was glad that he had finally taken those steps forward and reached for the brass ring.

True, he and Greg still had a lot to work out between them -- and Greg had his own baggage that he had to put behind him before they could be closer in the physical sense. But they were making progress, and Gil was happy with where they were at the moment.

True, they weren't physical lovers yet -- but they loved each other, and that was the most important thing. Their physical relationship would grow over time; Gil wasn't going to press Greg for a physical commitment. He would let Greg make the decision to take things a step further.

The time wasn't right yet; Gil understood that. Greg still had a lot of issues to put behind him before he could take that step -- and besides, it wasn't a race. They didn't have to be in a hurry. In this instance, he didn't mind waiting -- at least, most of the time.

There were nights when he lay in bed with Greg snuggled into his arms that he wanted to be able to do more than just hold the man he loved while he slept. He wanted to make love to Greg, to join their bodies in the most primal way possible, to make Greg entirely his.

But that would have to wait, he chided himself. He didn't want to make Greg feel as though he was being rushed into making a decision that he wasn't ready for; he was going to be patient, no matter how hard the waiting could be at times.

His fingers trailed absently over the curve of Greg's cheek in the picture; Gil found himself wishing that he was caressing the real thing, instead of just looking at a photograph of the man he loved while he waited for Greg to get home from the late shift he was working.

He might have been a little in love with Greg when they had worked together, but he was completely and utterly in love with him now, Gil thought with a soft smile. Living together had only made his feelings grow, and he knew that they would continue to deepen as time went on.

All the waiting would be worth it when he could finally make love to Greg, he promised himself. Waiting was no hardship when he knew what would happen when the waiting was finally over. And when they finally became one, he would be more in love with Greg than ever.

His smile broadened when he heard the sound of Greg's car pulling into the driveway; at least one wait was over. Greg was home, and within moments, his boyfriend would be in his arms. Pushing back his chair, he got to his feet, ready to embrace Greg the second he walked through the door.

***