Title: Hiding From Dreams
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Ryan Wolfe
Fandom: CSI: Las Vegas/CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Table: Liquids, mission_insane
Prompt: 6, Acid
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.

***

"That's one hell of a way to go," Greg said, shivering as he and Ryan stood outside one of the interrogation rooms and listened to Russell and Jim Brass get a confession out of a suspect. "Giving her husband an acid bath -- that isn't love, it's craziness."

Ryan nodded, fully agreeing with Greg. "It would probably still have happened sooner or later, even if she hadn't caught him cheating on her," he murmured, wishing that he could move closer to his boyfriend and slide an arm around Greg's waist. But they were in a public place.

For what felt like the millionth time, Ryan cursed the stupid rules of the lab that kept the two of them from being open about their relationship. He could understand why those rules were in place, but that didn't mean that he had to like them -- or adhere to them.

Despite the rules, he and Greg were maintaining a personal relationship -- and keeping it away from all of the people they worked closely with. But Ryan was sure that their luck would run out at some point -- and when they were found out, all hell would break loose.

Still, they'd been lucky so far, he reminded himself. And as long as they managed to keep their feelings for each other on the down-low at work, and didn't let anyone know that they actually lived together, even though they rented two different apartments, they'd be safe.

"I can't imagine anybody being so possessive of another human being that they'd have that 'if I can't have them, nobody can' attitude," Greg said, shaking his head as they turned away from the window and headed down the hallway to clock out of work for the day. "It's nuts."

"A lot of people are like that, though," Ryan pointed out as the two of them moved towards the front door of the crime lab. "I hope I never will be, though. I don't ever want to be so possessive of you that your life is in danger from me. That's going way over the line."

"I don't mind you being possessive of me," Greg murmured, lowering his voice and glancing around them to make sure that no one was near enough to overhear their words. "I'm possessive of you. But there's a line, and I hope neither one of us ever crosses it."

"We won't," Ryan told him, his voice sure and confident. "We're not like that, Greg. We'll always love each other -- but we'll never cross that line into obsessiveness. And neither one of us is nutty enough to give anyone an acid bath!" he added, shaking his head.

Greg shuddered again as he got into Ryan's car and fastened the seat belt. "I knew that acid could destroy a body -- but seeing one that was halfway eaten away by corrosion like that was disgusting," he said, making a face. "I hope we never get another case like this one."

"Me too," Ryan said, sighing softly as he started the car. He'd seen similar things in Miami, and he was sure that Greg had, too. But this had been a particularly baffling case -- and he knew that the sight of that acid-corroded skeleton was going to haunt his dreams for a while.

Fortunately, he had Greg to curl up with at night, to chase the bad dreams away. He could hold his boyfriend, make love to hm, and push those disturbing sights out of his mind. They wouldn't linger -- at least, he hoped they wouldn't. Not with love to banish them.

He didn't want to think about all of the horrible things that people could do to each other when love went wrong. That was never going to happen to him and Greg, Ryan told himself firmly. They both had their feet on the ground, and neither of them would be that obsessive.

Of course he loved Greg more than life itself. But he wasn't going to do anything to hurt his boyfriend if they ever should break up just to keep someone else from having him. He wasn't that petty -- or that crazy. He would simply slink away and lick his wounds.

What would he do if he ever lost Greg? Now it was Ryan's turns to shudder at a thought; he didn't want to contemplate such a thing ever happening. A life without Greg in it wasn't a life worth living; he didn't think he could survive without his boyfriend right here by his side.

"What are you thinking about?" Greg's voice broke into his thoughts as his boyfriend reached over to place a hand on his knee. "You looked so serious there for a minute. That was kind of scary, Ry. Whatever those thoughts are, they must be pretty dark."

Ryan shook his head, denying Greg's words. "No, not really dark, just a little disturbing, that's all," he said, wanting to reassure his boyfriend. "After seeing something like that, it's hard not to have disturbing thoughts. Let's just go home and put it out of our minds."

"Somehow, I've got a feeling that we're going to be seeing that body in our nightmares for a long time," Greg said, shuddering again. "I've already seen way too much of it. If we do have nightmares about it, I hope they don't last. I wouldn't want to see that again, even in my dreams."

"I'll protect you from any nightmares that might come along," Ryan said softly, hoping that his dreams, as well as Greg's, weren't going to be haunted by that gruesome sight. They dealt with so many things like that on a daily basis that he was surprised their dreams weren't more horrific.

Besides, they both already had personal demons to deal with that showed up in their dreams when they were least expected, he told himself wryly. They didn't need anything from work to join in with those nightmares that already existed. They already had enough on their plates.

"I know you will," Greg said softly, smiling as Ryan pulled into the parking lot of their apartment building. "And so will Wolfie. If he knows that I've had a bad dream, he always tries to put his head in my lap to comfort me. I think he does the same thing with you."

"He does," Ryan acknowledged with a soft laugh. "Before the two of you were in my life, I had to deal with things like that on my own. It's nice to know that I have someone to go to when I need to hide away from any bad dreams. Well, two someones, technically."

"I've got a feeling that we might both be hiding from dreams for a while, after seeing that," Greg told him, his voice subdued. "I've seen other things that were just as bad, and I'm sure you have too. But for some reason, this hits home more than most."

Ryan nodded, agreeing with his boyfriend. He didn't know just why such a sight would have affected them both so much, but in a way, he was glad it had. It proved that they could still be disturbed by that kind of violence, even after all they dealt with every day.

"If you have any bad dreams, you know where to run to so you can hide from those dreams," he said softly, taking Greg's hand as they walked across the parking lot towards their building. "You can run right to me, and I'll chase those dreams away as best I can."

"I know you will," Greg murmured as Ryan pulled out his keys to unlock the door. Somehow, he had the feeling that they would be doing a lot more cuddling than usual when they went to bed -- both of them needed to get rid of the disturbing images that were still in their minds.

And that was just fine with him, Ryan told himself. Holding Greg would go a long way towards making the images of that acid-corroded body disappear from his thoughts -- even though he was sure that it would take a long time for them to dissipate completely.

If they were going to hide from their dreams, snuggling in each other's arms was the best way to do it. Ryan smiled inwardly at the thought of holding his boyfriend close, a surge of anticipation rushing through his body. He was more than ready to keep those dreams away.

***