Title: Doing the Job
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Steve McGarrett
Fandom: CSI: Vegas/Hawaii Five-0
Rating: PG-13
Table: Liquids, mission_insane
Prompt: 4, Sap
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 Steve McGarrett, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Greg looked around him cautiously as he walked towards the crime scene that he'd been called to, not seeing Steve anywhere. He knew that his boyfriend had to be here; Steve had been the one who'd called him, after all. But he was probably busy doing his job.

He shouldn't feel nervous at a crime scene; after all, this was his job, what he'd come to Hawaii to do. And he'd done it enough in Vegas, when he was there. But he still couldn't help feeling that somehow, Wo Fat had eyes on him all the time, even when he was working.

He didn't like going into forests, but there was a lot of woodland around here, and somehow, quite a few people managed to be killed there. He'd had a few bad experiences in wooded land when he'd lived in Vegas, and he didn't want them to be repeated here.

But there were cops all around, and he could see the rest of the 5-0 team talking to various people around the scene. It was his job to examine the body and try to determine a cause of death, if one wasn't already obvious, though he might not be able to do that just yet.

Greg shuddered as he looked around the crime scene, and saw a tree with what looked like a large area of its bark covered with blood. Maybe that was part of the crime scene -- the man who'd been killed could have been shot in front of the tree, and that was his blood.

But it didn't look like blood. Greg frowned, walking closer to the tree, though he knew that it wouldn't be a good idea to touch the substance. It couldn't be blood, anyway, not unless the victim had managed to crawl quite a distance from being shot near the tree.

He peered at the substance, narrowing his eyes. No, it wasn't blood -- it was .... sap. A funny color for sap, though, he told himself, frowning again. He wanted to get a sample of that -- he didn't think it was supposed to be so red. It looked strange to him.

"Find something interesting?" Steve's voice came from behind him; slowly, Greg turned to face his boyfriend, pointing at the large area of sap covering the tree bark. Steve leaned closer, narrowing his eyes just as Greg had as he studied the tree.

Steve glanced up at Greg, shaking his head. "It's a Dragon's Blood tree," he said, squinting at Greg as he shaded his eyes with one hand. "It's native to Galapagos, but there are some planted here. It had red sap that looks like blood. It's fooled me before, too."

Greg let out a breath, feeling a little let down. He'd thought that he might have found the primary crime scene, but he should have known better. He was just here to collect evidence, not try to solve the case for Steve and the team. That wasn't what his job here was about.

He wasn't an intrepid crimefighter chasing down the bad guys. He was a large part of the team who did that, but he wasn't in the forefront. And, truth be told, he didn't really want to be. He was content with his role, just knowing that he helped the crimefighters.

And besides, he was a part of that team. So he helped to fight crime and catch the bad guys. He just wasn't the one who got all of the glory. And really, it was more important to catch the criminals than to bask in the glory of having done so.

"I thought this might be the primary crime scene, until I realized it wasn't blood," Greg said, shaking his head. "Guess I"ve still got a lot to learn, even though I've been a CSI for a pretty long time." Eight years, he told himself. That's a long time.

"You're a great CSI," Steve said softly, his gaze meeting Greg's. "You help us more than you know, Greg. It's good to have somebody who's actually on the team, somebody who's right there with us, so we don't have to keep making trips to somebody else's lab."

Greg nodded, feeling happiness swell inside him. Steve considered him just as much a member of the 5-0 team as the others were; he was important to them. He wasn't just a convenient prop; he helped them in their work, and his contribution was appreciated.

Coming here to Hawaii had been one of the best things he'd ever done for himself. Not only had he found the love of his life, but he was working at a job he loved. Things might not always go as planned, but he had a life here that meant more to him than he'd ever dreamed it could.

He loved this life he was leading; it didn't matter that there were times when he didn't feel as important to the success of the 5-0 team as he had to the crime lab in Vegas. It wasn't about getting credit or glory. It was about finding criminals and putting them behind bars.

And besides, not drawing attention to himself after all that had happened with Wo Fat was a good thing, Greg thought with an inward shudder. He didn't want to go through anything like that again; once had been more than enough. He just hoped that he would never have to.

Still, being part of the 5-0 team did have its dangers, and he might have to face more of them in the future. He would be willing to do so, if he had to; if that was what it took to remain a part of this team, and to be with Steve, then he would face any danger that came his way.

Being here, with a man he loved, was worth facing anything that the world could throw at him. He'd already been through one bad experience, and had survived it; that should make him tougher. It definitely wasn't going to make him slink away in fear.

He should be getting back to work now, instead of standing here staring at the sap running down the tree. It looked so disconcertingly like blood .... But he'd seen more unusual things in his tenure as a CSI, and he'd probably see other things that were even weirder than this.

It just felt so companionable to stand here next to his boyfriend, even though they weren't talking. They could be around each other without needing to fill in the space with words; it was one thing that he loved about being with Steve. They didn't have to engage in mindless chatter all the time.

This wasn't the time to either be engaging in mindless chatter, or letting himself get lost in thought. Greg shook his head, as though to dispel the thoughts that had been crowding into his mind, then heaved a sigh. "I think it's time for me to get to work."

"If you could gather whatever evidence you can find and get it back to the lab, that'd be great," Steve told him, placing a hand on Greg's shoulder. "We'll be back there in a little while to see what you've got. Here's hoping we can catch this one quickly. It's a grisly scene."

"They always are," Greg said with another sigh as he and Steve headed towards the area where the body lay. He wasn't looking forward to seeing this, especially if Steve thought it was a grisly crime. But that was part of doing the job, and he was used to it by now.

Greg couldn't help glancing back at the tree as they moved away. The sap that looked like blood was still on the trunk, and he couldn't help thinking that somehow, there was more to this than met the eye. He just hoped that the rest of the 5-0 team would find out if that hunch was correct.

***