Title: Avoiding A Scandal
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Ryan Wolfe
Fandom: CSI: Las Vegas/CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Table: Un-themed 4, mission_insane
Prompt: 1, Scandal
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.

***

Ryan glanced up from the paperwork on his desk, surreptitiously watching Greg as his boyfriend worked on his own report of the crime scene they'd been to. They both disliked doing paperwork, but it was an essential part of what they did, so they put up with it.

Besides, Ryan told himself with an inner smile, sitting here at their desks doing paperwork gave him a chance to be close to Greg at work, which he usually couldn't do unless they were out at a crime scene. And they usually weren't alone when they were out in the field.

Of course, they weren't alone here, either, he thought wryly. Anyone could walk past the door of their office, and even if it was closed, it was never locked -- anyone could come into this room at any time, so they had to be careful about how they acted around each other.

He hated that, but they had no choice. They couldn't very well be open about their relationship, not if they wanted to keep working together. And Ryan knew that he wouldn't be happy doing the job he loved if the man he loved wasn't right by his side.

If they didn't work together, he would spend all of his time at home worrying about Greg -- and he knew that Greg would do the same and worry about him. So for their own peace of mind, they couldn't tell anyone what they were to each other -- though it was hard not to.

It would create a scandal within the crime lab if the two of them admitted that they were not only a couple, but that they weren't simply next-door neighbors, as everyone thought -- but that they literally lived together, and were in a steady, committed relationship.

Neither of them wanted everybody in the crime lab talking about their relationship, dissecting it as though it was a cadaver laid out on Doc Robbins' table. And they definitely didn't want to lose the privilege of working together, so they had to keep quiet about their personal lives.

But that was getting harder and harder to do with each passing day, Ryan thought with an inward sigh. There were times when he wanted to rebel against what he considered a stupid rule, and times when he resented that rule so much that he wanted to scream.

Then again, he'd seen how hard it was for people who had been dating and had broken up to work together. It had happened more the once in the Miami crime lab, and it had made for some incredibly strained working relationships. He didn't want to see that happen here.

Even though Calleigh and Delko had broken off their relationship, when he had left the crime lab, they still had acted as though they were the only ones who mattered, and that the rest of the team always came second. Ryan didn't want to see people here developing that sort of attitude.

Least of all himself, he thought grimly. He didn't want anyone to think that his personal relationship with Greg would make him neglect the rest of the team if anyone needed help -- and he was positive that if everyone knew about the two of that's exactly what they would think.

And he didn't want to have that kind of strained relationship he'd seen others in the Miami crime lab have after their relationships had gone down the drain, either, he thought, glancing over at Greg again. Though he couldn't imagine the two of them ending up like that.

He and Greg weren't going to break up, he told himself fiercely. They were going to be together for the rest of their lives -- and if holding on to that relationship meant that they had to leave their jobs here and go to work elsewhere, then that's what they would do.

They'd spent a lot of time talking about that, and Ryan knew that Greg agreed with him. Their relationship came first for both of them; if anyone found out about them and created a scandal around the fact that they were together, then they would both resign and go somewhere else.

That probably wasn't going to be easy, especially for Greg, Ryan thought ruefully. He'd worked long and hard at this crime lab, and he was established here. But he had a stellar reputation, both as a scientist and as a CSI, so he would have no problem finding another job.

He wasn't so sure about himself. He had already withstood a lot of scandals when he was at the Miami crime lab, and it had only been through Horatio's good recommendation that he'd managed to land the job here. He doubted that he could emerge unscathed from yet another scandal.

He didn't want to deal with things like that again. He'd had more than enough of it in Miami; there was no way that he could change what had happened in the past, but he could avoid those kinds of scandals in the future. He didn't need any more of them.

Thanks to some of the choices he'd made, he had garnered something of a bad reputation in Miami, even though his CSI work had been exemplary. Maybe that was one of the reasons why the Miami team had never really accepted him into their inner circle.

He definitely didn't want Greg to go through anything like what he'd had to endure in Miami, Ryan told himself. His boyfriend had dealt with his own problems in the past, but compared to him, Greg's reputation within the crime lab was spotless. He didn't want that to change.

Maybe it wouldn't cause a scandal amongst the people they worked with if they simply told the truth about their relationship, but he wasn't willing to risk it. The two of them had too much to lose, and he didn't want to jeopardize their futures here.

He wasn't going to take a chance on starting a scandal, or even on having their names linked romantically. As far as anyone they worked with knew, they were partners and next-door neighbors, good friends and nothing more. That was how it had to be.

But maybe there would be a day when that ridiculous rule about colleagues in the crime lab not dating would be lifted, and they could finally be honest with the people closest to them about what their relationship really was. Ryan couldn't wait for that day to arrive.

That would be a great day, he thought, that inward smile manifesting outwardly by a slight curving of his lips. He couldn't wait for the time when he and Greg could be honest about who they were, and what they meant to each other. He hated having to hide.

But if they wanted to avoid a scandal within the crime lab, and problems that could follow them for the rest of their careers, they had to be discreet, no matter how hard that was becoming. If the choice was between that discretion and risking their relationship, then he knew which he'd choose.

He glanced up at the clock on the wall near the door, sighing in relief when he saw that it was almost time for them to clock out and go home. Home, where they could be together behind closed doors, with no risks, and no one the wiser as to what their relationship really was.

For now, they had to hide behind decorum to avoid a scandal, and to keep things at work on a professional level. But it wouldn't always be like that, Ryan told himself as he looked down at the papers on his desk. And when they could finally be open and honest, he'd be a lot happier.

***