Title: Complexities
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Ryan Wolfe
Fandom: CSI: Las Vegas/CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Table: 3, csi50
Prompt: 48, Complex
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 stood in the DNA lab with Greg, watching as his boyfriend looked into a microscope and frowned. He loved watching Greg at work; he had one of the most brilliant minds Ryan had ever known, and he was very good at his job, whether in or out of the lab.

Greg was a good CSI; he was very efficient in the field. But Ryan had to admit that there was something about watching his boyfriend work in the DNA lab that made Greg seem invincible; his reputation for being one of the best DNA techs in the country was well deserved.

His boyfriend had such a complex mind, Ryan thought admiringly, watching as Greg removed the slides from under the microscope and loaded others in. It was one of the things he admired the most about the man he loved; that keen intelligence had attracted him immediately.

Of course, if he was perfectly honest, the initial attraction had been purely physical. He'd taken one look at Greg and felt the stirrings of lust -- and then, when Greg had smiled at him and they had shaken hands, he knew that he was already head over heels in love.

He hadn't discovered what a complex mind Greg had until they'd been together for a while -- and had been working together in the lab. Maybe he just admired that brilliant, thorough mind so much because that kind of thoroughness appealed to his OCD, Ryan mused.

No, there was more to his admiration of Greg's mental complexity than that. He'd always admired people who had a singular intelligence, people who could focus on their work and see things that others didn't. He was sure that Greg would continue to amaze him with those insights.

Greg had earned the respect of the people he worked with, too, in a way that Ryan had never managed to do during his years in Miami. No matter how good a job he did, he had always been treated like "the new guy," an interloper, simply because he'd replaced an original team member.

He'd finally given up trying to gain the acceptance he'd craved, and he hadn't regretted leaving Miami far behind him. He fit in much better here -- and besides, he couldn't regret coming to Vegas when he'd found the love of his life here.

Their relationship was complex, too. Not only were they partners in the truest sense of the word, but they worked together, as well -- and that made their relationship complicated. It got harder every day to keep himself from spilling that secret to someone at work.

It would be so easy to do that, Ryan thought with an inward sigh. By a touch, a word, a gesture. But that would be folly; if either of them were to let on what they meant to each other when they were working, they would find themselves no longer professional partners.

He didn't doubt that Ecklie would go out of his way to separate them and have them working on different shifts if he even so much as guessed that they had a personal relationship. And he wasn't going to let that happen, even if it meant never being open about that relationship.

Still, it was so hard to hold back. There were times when he wanted to take Greg's hand when they were working, or just to smile at him and let all the love he felt come shining through in his gaze. But he couldn't do that, not if he wanted to keep their working partnership.

That made their relationship much more complex than it should have to be, Ryan thought, feeling a surge of resentment within him. He wished that he and Greg could be open and honest with everyone around them about what they meant to each other, instead of having to hide.

But as long as the Vegas crime lab had that stupid rule in place about people who were dating not being on the same shift at work, they couldn't afford to let anyone know about their personal relationship. They were probably lucky that they hadn't been discovered so far.

He was sure that Nick knew, but Nick wasn't the kind of person who would run to Ecklie with that kind of information. He thought the rules were stupid, too; he'd said so before, and Ryan was sure that if he did know their secret, he would keep it.

Had things really been any better in the Miami lab, where the people who worked together were allowed to date if they wanted to? Ryan had to admit that when couples broke up, it definitely complicated their work environment, and made things much more complex there.

Maybe it was best to have that "no dating on the same shift" rule in place -- but it also prevented a lot of awkwardness, Ryan told himself. He could still remember how it had been when Delko and Calleigh had been dating -- the tension could have cut with a knife.

It was wise to avoid that here -- but at the same time, he thought that people should be mature enough to be able to continue to work together as friends and colleagues after a breakup. They weren't children in high school; they should be able to deal with consequences.

There were so many complexities to dating someone he worked with -- especially when they had to keep that relationship under wraps. But he wouldn't change things, even if he could. He didn't have any regrets about loving Greg, or about their relationship.

His boyfriend was looking through the microscope again, the frown clearing from his face. Clearly, he was seeing something that pleased him; Ryan wondered just what he was looking at, but he knew better than to ask before Greg was ready to tell.

"What are you looking at, babe?" he finally asked, shifting from one foot to another. He doubted that Greg even remembered he was here; his boyfriend's complex mind could get completely involved in his work, and he could sometimes drift off into a world of his own.

"Come and see for yourself," Greg told him, straightening up and turning to Ryan with a smile before he backed away from the microscope and indicated with a sweep of his hand that Ryan should look into it. "I think I might have made a breakthrough in the case."

"If you've done that, then the whole team's going to be grateful to you," Ryan answered with a soft laugh, stepping to the table and bending over to look at the DNA specimens Greg was studying. He stood there for a while, marveling at what his boyfriend had discovered.

The complexities he saw under the microscope were nothing compared to those that were in his lover's mind -- or those in their relationship, Ryan thought to himself. But still, they were fascinating to look at -- even if they didn't compare to the complex patterns of his own life.

***