Title: Complete
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Ryan Wolfe
Fandom: CSI: Las Vegas/CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Table: 3, csi50
Prompt: 43, Missing
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 awoke with a start, blinking and wondering what had yanked him away from the province of sleep so abruptly. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes, looking around the room until he spied Wolfie sitting by the door, his tail thumping as he regarded Ryan with hopeful eyes.

He held back a laugh, glancing over at Greg, who was still sleeping peacefully. He didn't want to wake his boyfriend, but he knew that they would have to get up in a few minutes, get dressed, and take Wolfie for his afternoon walk. That was their daily routine.

It was one that he'd grown comfortable with, Ryan reflected as he lay back down, keeping a cautious eye on the puppy. He had never been one to like routines all that much, but there was something soothing about knowing that some things didn't change.

Of course, they did mix it up a bit when they took Wolfie out, he told himself with a smile. They didn't take the same route every day; they let the puppy lead them where he would. Neither of them wanted their pet to be bored, so they went out of their way to entertain him.

The little dog had brought them closer together, in ways that he'd never dreamed of, Ryan thought as he turned over on his side to gaze down at Greg. Wolfie had become almost like their child -- they'd become a family, now that there were three of them.

There had always been something missing in his life, something that he was searching for without realizing just what it was. And now, he'd found it, in as improbable a place as Las Vegas. Who would have thought that his long search would end here, in a city of broken dreams?

He'd always wanted to have someone to come home to, someone he loved who would love him back just as much. It was one of the big disappointments of his life in Miami that he'd spent so much time alone, feeling that he had so much to give -- but that nobody wanted it.

That was really an ego crusher, Ryan mused, a rueful smile quirking his lips. He'd felt like the odd man out on the Miami team, even though most of the others hadn't been dating anyone special, either. But none of them had seemed to have a problem with that.

He had tried to find someone to love -- no one could deny that. And he'd made far too many mistakes in that search. The people that he'd chosen had invariably been the very ones who were wrong for him -- people who had not only hurt him emotionally, but had hurt his career as well.

Ryan pushed the memories of those people away, slamming a mental door on them and refusing to let them back into the forefront of his mind. He had left them all behind; they were nothing to him now. They were part of the past, and had nothing to do with his future.

No, his future was with the man who was sleeping beside him, the man who had been everything to him from the first moment their gazes had met in the Vegas crime lab. He had fallen head over heels, and he never wanted to get back on his feet again.

After searching for so long, he'd finally found what was missing in his life. Love. The kind of love that could move mountains, the kind of love that took his breath away, that made his heart feel as though it was being squeezed in his chest every time he looked at his lover.

He felt that love whenever he looked at Greg, or looked up and caught Greg looking at him. Whenever their gazes met, his entire body was flooded with emotions so strong that they almost made him shiver. His love for Greg was the most powerful emotion he'd ever felt.

That was what had always been missing from his life. Oh, he'd had love from his family; they weren't as close as some families he knew, but there was a strong bond between them. Still, that wasn't the kind of love he'd always wanted to find.

He'd dreamed for so long of finding someone who would melt into his arms, someone who would lose their heart when they looked at him -- just as he would lose his at first sight of that person. By the time he'd left Miami to head for Las Vegas, he'd given up on ever finding that love.

But then he'd met Greg, and his entire perception of the world had turned upside down. Greg was not only the love that he'd been searching for, but finding someone to shower with all the love in his heart had changed the way he looked at everything around him.

Colors seemed brighter. The world seemed like a much happier place. He smiled more, and his heart felt so much lighter. Even the dreams that always plagued him seemed to have taken a back seat to the wondrous love that he'd found, the love that permeated every fiber of his being.

Falling in love had been the most powerful experience of his life; it had been like falling and flying at the same time. He'd made a few missteps, but somehow, things had worked out; he and Greg were closer than ever, and he could only see them loving each other more in the future.

He had never realized that love was what he had been missing in his life -- until he'd finally found it. Maybe that was because he'd never experienced this kind of love before; he hadn't known what it was like to be able to miss it. But now that he did, he knew that he couldn't bear to ever lose that love.

If he ever lost Greg, his life would be over. Oh, he would go on existing; he would walk around like a normal human being, smiling at people, making jokes, doing his job as well as he could. But there would be an emptiness inside him that could never be filled again.

Ryan pushed the thought of losing Greg out of his mind, not wanting to dwell on something so morbid. He wasn't going to lose Greg, he told himself firmly. His boyfriend was in his life to stay; they would be together for long decades, for the rest of their lives to come.

Now that he'd finally found what had always been missing in his life, he had no intention of letting it go. And he knew that Greg felt the same -- his boyfriend had said words to that effect often enough. Neither of them were going to let what they shared fall by the wayside.

They might not always have an easy time of it, but they would always work out whatever differences and problems they might have, Ryan thought with a soft smile as he looked down at the man sleeping beside him. This was where he belonged, where he'd always been meant to be.

There wasn't anything missing from his life now, Ryan thought as he closed his eyes and settled back more comfortably into the pillows. He had all that he needed to make him happy, as long as Greg was in his arms and in his heart. His life felt complete, in more ways than he'd ever thought it could.

***