Title: At the Right Moment
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Nick Stokes
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Rating: PG-13
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 Nick Stokes, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

He had a question to ask Greg. The most important question of their lives.

How long had he been carrying that engagement ring around, waiting for the right moment to get down on one knee and ask the man he loved to marry him?

Too long, Nick thought with a sigh. He wanted to ask Greg, wanted to have his answer so that he would know what their future would hold.

Well, he couldn't know for any certainly just what their future would be like, he amended. But he would know that he and Greg would be together, not only as boyfriends, but that they would be married. He wanted that more than he'd ever wanted anything in his life.

He wanted to marry Greg Sanders, regardless of what anyone else would think. He didn't give a damn about the rules of the crime lab, either.

Those rules weren't going to keep him from making a life with the man he loved. If he had to work on a different shift, then so be it. He'd make that sacrifice.

Nothing was going to keep him from popping the question.

The problem was, he didn't know just when the right moment would be to do so. He'd already thought of several romantic scenarios, but none of his ideas felt quite right.

First, he'd thought of taking Greg out to a romantic candlelit restaurant and proposing to him there. But that had seemed like such a clich´, something that so many people did. And he didn't want that. He wanted his proposal to be a very special one, something that no one else had done.

Well, nobody had ever proposed to Greg before, so anything he did would be something new, he told himself. This was ridiculous, spending far too much time waiting for the perfect moment.

Still, he didn't want to do something that was out of a romantic playbook. That wouldn't feel right, either. So he'd had to reject a few other ideas that had come to his mind.

Asking Greg to marry him while they were in bed, even though it might be considered romantic, seemed crude to him. And he wasn't going to put the ring in a drink for Greg to find; he was fairly sure that if he did that, his boyfriend would end up swallowing it, diamond, setting, and all.

So he was still searching for that perfect moment, and so far, he hadn't found it. Nick was starting to wonder if the right moment was ever going to present itself.

And he wanted it to do just that. Sooner rather than later.

Nick sighed, reaching into his pocket and closing his fingers around the velvet jeweler's box that contained the diamond ring. He had to stop waiting for the perfect moment.

If he waited for everything to be at the right moment, then he would probably spend his entire life waiting to propose to the man he loved. He would waste their lives away by waiting.

He had to seize the moment, not keep waiting until the felt that the timing was absolutely perfect. He had to go with the flow, and jump into things head first. It might not be the most romantic thing to do, but spontaneity had always been a quality that he prized in himself.

This waiting was driving him insane. He didn't want to wait much longer; he wanted his proposal to be at the right moment, of course, but he couldn't keep waiting forever.

Nick smiled, a feeling of peace settling over him now that he'd made his decision. He wouldn't wait for the perfect moment any longer. He would seize that moment and make it their own.

Whenever it happened, he would be prepared for it.

He had the definite feeling that it was going to happen soon. He didn't know exactly why, but he could just feel that the moment would descend upon him before he expected ot to happen.

When that moment occurred, he would do what he most wanted to -- ask Greg to marry him, to be his for the rest of their lives and beyond. It was his fondest wish.

Nick had no idea how Greg would react to his proposal, but he was sure that his boyfriend would say yes. He couldn't imagine Greg saying anything else -- he knew that the younger man loved him, and he thought that Greg wanted to get married just as much as he himself did.

At the right moment, the words would come out. He knew it. They would fall from his lips naturally, with no planning, coming directly from his heart.

And Greg's answer would be from his heart, Nick told himself, smiling at the thought. Then he would slip this ring onto his love's finger with a heart that sang for joy.

The right moment was coming. When it did, he knew it would be worth the wait.

***