Title: Expanded Hearts
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Ryan Wolfe
Fandom: CSI: Las Vegas/CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Table: Un-themed 7, mission_insane
Prompt: 8, Old
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 leaned his head back against the soft cushions of the living-room couch, sighing contentedly. Greg's head was in his lap; they had just watched a movie, and the credits were beginning to roll. It had been the perfect way to spend a Saturday night, at least in Ryan's eyes.

He loved the time that he had alone with Greg. He loved working with his boyfriend, as well; the two of them were a well-oiled team, and he was convinced that he would never be able to work as well with anyone on any CSI team he might be a part of as he could with Greg.

He wished that they could spend every night like this, curled up on the couch side by side, enjoying each other's company. There were times when he hated having to work the night shift, but there were also things that he liked about it, so he wasn't going to complain.

Everything here in Vegas was so different from what it had been like in Miami, he reflected. His life had changed from the moment he'd first shaken hands with Greg and looked into those beautiful dark eyes. His entire life had turned around in the space of a heartbeat.

Meeting Greg, falling in love with him, had changed everything in his life for the better. And this would be his life, here with Greg, as they both grew old and the love they shared continued to grow. He was positive that the two of them would always be together.

He wanted to grow old with Greg, to be here side by side when they were elderly, when they were grizzled old men talking about the days when they'd been CSIs and worked on exciting cases. He could just see them as they'd be then -- old and grey, but still very much in love.

Why was it so easy to picture them in their golden years? Maybe it was because he felt so safe and happy with Greg; with anybody else, he couldn't have possibly imagined spending the rest of his life with them and growing old together.

There had never been anyone else who he'd wanted to grow old with. Everyone else who'd ever been in his life had always seemed temporary; he had always known, even when he was in a relationship, that it would never end up being something permanent.

He'd never had that feeling with Greg. From the very beginning, their relationship had felt as though it was going to last forever. Their bond had been instantaneous; even though his faith had wavered a few times, it had come back stronger than ever. And it would stay that way.

"What are you thinking about?" Greg murmured, not raising his head from Ryan's lap. Ryan looked down at him; his boyfriend smiled up at him, raising a hand to stroke soft fingertips down Ryan's cheek. "You look so serious. I hope whatever you're thinking are good thoughts."

Ryan nodded, smiling down at the man he loved. "They are," he said softly, wondering if he should tell Greg what was on his mind. The words began to tumble out, without him even realizing that he was speaking until the words were already said.

"I've been thinking about us spending our whole lives together, growing old together," he said, his voice very soft and husky with emotion. "I've been thinking about how great it'll be to have you there by my side when I'm old and grey -- and how I'll love you even more than I do now."

"I can't imagine loving you any more than I already do -- but y'know, it's said that love grows the longer a couple is together," Greg mused, looking thoughtful. "If it's possible for me to love you more, then my heart is going to get a lot bigger over the years."

Ryan laughed softly, nodding as he gazed at the man he loved. "I think we're both going to have expanded hearts," he said, laughing at the idea. "That probably means that we're going to lose our svelte figures, though. Will you love me when I weigh four hundred pounds?"

"Only four hundred?" Greg teased, laughter in his voice. "As much as I'll be loving you by the time we're old and grey, I'm guessing I'll weigh about a thousand pounds, and you'll have to use a tractor to pull me out of bed in the mornings and get me to a chair."

"Then I'll have to learn how to drive a tractor," Ryan laughed, unable to hold back the sound. It felt so good to sit here and joke around with Greg -- though he knew that there was some truth to what they were saying. Their love would grow with the years. He was sure of that.

"I won't let myself get that big, I promise," Greg told him, still laughing. "I'll still love you that much -- but I'll find some way to keep myself from growing too much with love. Maybe I'll keep all that love in a big box and give it to you every Christmas. So you can open it again and again."

"I'd love that," Ryan said with a smile. "And the box would keep getting bigger and bigger, until there'd come a time when I wouldn't be able to get it open because there would be so much love inside." His voice grew softer and huskier as a lump grew in his throat.

He loved thinking about how much Greg loved him. It was almost inconceivable to him that he could be loved on such a level; it didn't seem possible that anyone could love him so much that they would give their heart and soul to him, with no questions asked.

He had given up looking for that kind of love long ago; he'd come to a point when he'd still been in Miami where he'd decided that he would be better off alone, that love was something not meant for him. And when he hadn't been looking for love, that was when he'd finally found it.

Looking for love was never the right thing to do; he'd found that out the hard way. Whenever he'd consciously tried to find someone to be with, or had set his sights on any particular person he wanted to date, that had always ended up exploding in his face.

But when he'd stopped looking for someone to love, and had decided that he was better off alone -- that was when he'd found the person who completed him, the person who was the other half of his heart. The person he would love until the end of time itself. The person who loved him just as much.

"You know, even if you did weigh a thousand pounds and have an expanded heart, I'd still love you," he said, his breath catching in his throat as he spoke. "I'd love you even more. I can't imagine not loving you, Greg, no matter what. You'll always be in my heart. Always."

"There'd just be a lot more of me to love!" Greg said with a laugh, breaking the serious mood. Ryan couldn't help but laugh along with him, nodding and smiling. Greg always had a way of being able to defuse moments that could all too easily become overly maudlin.

"And I'd love every bit of you," Ryan told him, loosening his embrace as Greg sat up and brushed his hair back from his face. "Especially that expanded heart. Even though I don't think your heart could get any bigger, babe. You've got the biggest, most generous heart of anyone I've ever known."

"I could say the same thing about you," Greg said softly, his gaze meeting Ryan's. He leaned forward, his dark gaze never wavering from Ryan's face, his lips slightly parted. Ryan knew that once their lips met, there would be no more talking.

Once he kissed Greg, all he'd be able to think about was going to their bedroom, stripping his boyfriend's clothes off that delectable body, and making love to him. That seemed like a perfect way to end the evening -- and he was sure that Greg would agree with him.

When their lips met, all he could think of was how much he wanted this man -- and how much he loved him. His arms went around Greg, and within seconds, he found himself pushing his boyfriend down onto the couch and leaning over him. Somehow, it suddenly didn't matter if they made it to the bedroom.

***