Title: An Old Married Couple
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Ryan Wolfe
Fandom: CSI: Las Vegas/CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Table: The Romance of Tropes Challenge, tv_universe
Prompt: Like an old married couple
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Greg Sanders or Ryan Wolfe, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

"Here, let me get that for you." Greg jumped up to get a napkin for Ryan before his boyfriend could get up to do so. They had just sat down to lunch, and Ryan was so focused on his food that he'd forgotten he might need the napkin, as usual.

Greg didn't mind doing little things like that for his lover. He had simply forgotten that they were at work, and that he was supposed to be just a friend, a neighbor, and a work colleague to Ryan, nothing more. It was easy to forget that at times.

"You guys are like some old married couple," Sara quipped from where she sat on the couch. "You do all these little things for each other without even thinking about it. I guess that's what comes of being partners for a while, huh?"

"Yeah, it is," Greg said quickly, getting the napkins and tossing them over to Ryan. When their eyes met, neither of them could suppress a smile. If only she knew that she was close to the truth! They might as well be an old married couple.

He and Ryan had grown so close over the time they'd been together that he couldn't imagine his life without his lover. Not having Ryan with him simply didn't compute. He could feel like half a man, like he didn't exist at all, if Ryan wasn't by his side.

Whenever he thought of his future, Ryan was always in it. The two of them growing old together, loving each other for all of their lives, and even beyond. Greg was sure that even death wouldn't part the two of them; their relationship was too strong for that.

But of course, it wasn't like he could let anybody know about those feelings. All they could know was that he was dating someone; they couldn't know who it was. They couldn't know that he was in love with the man who was his professional partner.

Would it really be so bad for the two of them not to work together? Yes, he told himself as soon as his mind asked the question. Of course it would. If he wasn't working with Ryan, he would worry about his boyfriend for every moment that they were apart.

It didn't matter that Ryan had been a cop before he was a CSI, and that he could obviously take care of himself in dangerous situations. He'd already been kidnapped by one dangerous psycho since he'd been in Vegas; Greg didn't want to take the risk of it happening again.

A chill swept over him at the remembrance; he didn't think he could deal with having something like that happen again. Seeing that hypodermic needle and knowing that Ryan had been taken, and then finding him in that freezer .... No, he couldn't deal with that a second time.

He'd already made it obvious, at least to those who had their eyes open enough to see, that he had feelings for Ryan. He was sure that Nick had known about them since that day, but Nick wasn't the kind of person who was going to breathe a word.

No, Nick would keep their secret. He would joke about them acting like an old married couple, say that it was because they were partners and had grown to be close friends through their work, and then leave it at that, even though he knew there was more.

Nick would keep their secret, but he didn't think anyone else at the crime lab would. Maybe Henry, but then, Henry was an odd kind of person. He wouldn't want to get them in trouble, and he'd be happy to see two of his friends so happy together.

Sara would run right to Russell, even though she had broken pretty much every rule the lab had, and more. But she was the kind of person who thought she was above reproach, while everyone else had to obey the rules and live by them. She couldn't be trusted.

Hodges? Oh yeah, Hodges would be one of the first to betray them, Greg told himself. He hadn't been able to pursue his romance with Wendy when she'd been at the lab becaues of those rules, and he wouldn't want anyone else to have their chance at happiness, either.

No, Nick was the only person they could trust. He didn't dare let their secret slip to anyone; even Nick might not be absolutely sure about the two of them, and honestly, he didn't want anyone to know. Their personal lives were nobody's business but theirs.

Still, even though he wouldn't trust Sara to keep their secret if they told her, Greg liked the idea that she thought they were like an old married couple. It only confirmed what he already felt, that he and Ryan were perfect for each other in every way.

They had blended into each other's lives so well right from the first, as though they belonged there and had always been together. It still surprised him sometimes just how well his personality and Ryan's fit, as if they had been made for each other.

Maybe they had, Greg thought with a smile. Maybe he and Ryan had been born to find each other and be together, just as they'd talked about. Maybe they really were kismet, fated to be with each other even before their corporeal bodies had ever existed.

He liked that idea. He liked thinking that he had belonged with Ryan even before he was born, long before the two of them had come together. It made everything that he'd been through in his life before he and Ryan had met seem like it was all worthwhile now.

If they'd had to go through so much trauma to be ready for each other, then he could accept that. He just hoped that they never had to deal with such horrible situations again; he wanted them to have a happy life, not one that was punctuated by trauma and pain.

Their life together wouldn't be like that, Greg told himself firmly. They were already happy together, and he was sure that they would stay that way. After all, like Sara had said, they acted like an old married couple. Somebody, they would even be one.

"You guys even look like an old married couple," Sara said with a smirk as she got to her feet. "You're starting to look like each other. That's a little scary, Greg. I never thought I'd meet anybody who looked like you." She winked, heading out of the room.

Greg looked across the table at Ryan, his brows lifted, seeing the same expression on his boyfriend's face. The two of them burst into laughter, looking at each other with love in their eyes. Greg had never wanted to touch Ryan as badly as he did at that moment.

But they couldn't touch, he told himself with a sigh. Not here. They had to wait until they were behind the closed doors of either of their apartments; they couldn't be open about how they felt. Not yet. But hopefully, someday, they would be able to be open about their relationship.

"So we look like an old married couple, huh?" Ryan said with a soft chuckle. "If only she knew the truth -- that we practically are an old married couple. I wonder what she'd think?" His voice lowered to a mere whisper, a sliver of sound. "There's nobody else I'd rather be married to."

"Me either," Greg said softly, wishing more than ever that he could reach across the table and take Ryan's hand, squeeze it gently, and let his boyfriend know by his actions how much he cared. But this wasn't the time or the place for such a display.

But once they got home, they could act like an old married couple all they wanted to -- and they would, he thought with a smile. He didn't mind feeling like a married couple at all -- in fact, he was comfortable and happy with that feeling. Hopefully, one day the appearance would actually be real.

***