Title: Living in A Dream
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Steve McGarrett
Fandom: CSI: Vegas/Hawaii Five-0
Rating: PG-13
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, feeling a little dazed. He had gotten moved into Steve's house with lightning speed; Danny had not only wanted to sublet his apartment, he'd jumped at the chance to do so. He seemed more than happy with the place, as Greg was to move out.

It still didn't seem possible that he was actually living with Steve now. It hadn't seemed possible that he was actually in a relationship with him, either; there were moments when he felt that he was living a dream that he would wake up from sooner or later.

He prayed that wouldn't happen. The last thing he wanted was to wake up in his apartment and find out that he'd been dreaming all of this, that he and Steve weren't a couple and that they merely worked together, that Steve barely noticed him as anything more than a work colleague.

Or wose, that he would wake up in his old apartment back in Vegas, with all of the attendant problems that he had moved here to Hawaii to get away from. No, that wasn't going to happen, he told himself firmly. He was here in Hawaii. He'd left Vegas for good.

Vegas was the part of his life that should seem like a dream, not his future with Steve. Those had been good years, for the most part. He had made some close friends, and he'd been doing a job he loved. He'd learned a lot -- both in good and bad ways.

How many relationships had he moved blindly forward into in Vegas that had ended up falling apart? He sighed at the thought, closing his eyes for a moment. Too many to count, if he looked at all the dates he'd had such high hopes for as being actual relationships.

In truth, there hadn't been many that gone beyond one-night stands, or just a few dates. The longest had been his involvement with Nick -- and that hadn't turned out well. If it had, then he would never have come to Hawaii; he would still be happily ensconced in Vegas.

That whole relationship felt like a dream now -- except for the scars it had left on his heart. There were still times when he couldn't help but worry if things with Steve would turn out in the same way, and he'd be pushed into the background in favor of Steve's job and the attendant responsibilities.

He couldn't deal with being in another relationship like that. He'd gone through it with Nick, and he had sworn that it would never happen to him again. Once was more than enough, Greg told himself. He would never be with another man who couldn't put him first.

Wasn't he more important than a job? He hadn't been to Nick, he thought sadly. If that relationship had worked out, then his heart would still have been in one piece; he would never have had to know how it felt to have that heart broken, shattered into millions of tiny shards.

But if Nick hadn't broken his heart and he hadn't felt that he had to break off their relationship and get away from Vegas, then he would never have come here and met Steve, Greg thougth, brightening as his mind fastened on that idea. So it had all worked out for the best.

He wished that he could have been heart-whole when he'd met Steve, but everyone had to deal with their own heartbreaks. He'd been lucky that Nick had been the only major one he'd had in his life. There had been others, but nothing of that magnitude.

Steve wasn't going to be like that. Greg was sure of it. Steve was the kind of man who would be able to balance a relationship along with his job, without making or the other his only priority. He could manage to be in a relationship without neglecting his partner for work.

Nick hadn't been able to do that -- or was it more than he hadn't been willing to? Nick had wanted to move forward in his job; Greg didn't blame him for that. But he had been so singularly focused on that goal that he had taken their relationship for granted.

Steve had already moved to the top of his profession -- or at least as far towards the top as he wanted to go. Greg knew that Steve's job was important to him, but he was also sure that their relationship was just as important -- and that Steve would treat it as a priority in his life.

Just the fact that Steve had asked him to move in, for them to live together, was proof of that. Greg didn't think that he'd asked the question lightly; Steve meant to make their relationship the hub of his life, and Greg had every intention of doing the same.

Living together was a big step for both of them, but Greg knew that he was ready for it. He only hoped that Steve was, too; he didn't want his lover to feel that he'd made a mistake. If they broke up, it could make for a very uncomfortable work situation.

He already knew how awkward it could be to keep working with someone after a breakup that hadn't gone well; he had his experience with Nick to tell him that. That had been even more awkward because they had never been able to be open about their relationship.

At least everyone he and Steve worked with would know that they were together -- that is, when they decided it was the right time to tell the rest of the 5-0 team. Greg was all for telling them right away; he wanted everything to be out in the open and above board.

He'd had enough of sneaking around and trying to keep the relationship that he was in under wraps for fear that his work environment wouldn't approve of it. That was a thing of the past; he was going to be proud of being with Steve, both personally and professionally.

There was absolutely no reason for them to hide what they meant to each other, Greg told himself, trying to keep his inner voice firm and strong. The team wouldn't look askance at them for being lovers; he was sure that everyone they worked with would want them to be happy.

They might find it a little strange at first to find out that Steve was bisexual, but if they did, they'd get over it quickly. Steve was a force unto himself; Greg had the feeling that everyone who knew him already knew that he was an unpredictable kind of guy.

None of the team really knew him well enough yet on a personal level to have any assumptions about who he was outside of work. He felt close to them, but only in a professional way -- at least at this point. He was sure that they would get closer as time went on.

Taking a deep breath, he looked around him again, taking in the quiet of the living room, the soft breeze blowing the curtains across the window, the bright sun bathing the room in light, the neatness of his surroundings. Being in the midst of all this still felt like a dream.

He'd been living in a dream since he first came to Hawaii, in a sense. Everything around him was so new, so different, that it still felt a little unreal. He loved living here, but it was so different from Vegas that it was still taking a bit of getting used to.

Being here with Steve was more like living in a dream than anything up to this point had been. He was right on the beach; he could go for a walk and stare out at the waves any time that he wanted to. And he had a beautiful, desirable man who loved him.

This was a whole new life for him. It wasn't just a dream that would dissipate when he woke up -- he was living this dream, creating a life that he wanted to live. There was no reason to fear waking up; he could pinch himself and know for a fact that he wasn't dreaming.

It might be hard to believe that he'd gotten this lucky, but somehow, he had. Coming to Hawaii had been the best decision that he'd ever made, both for his professional and personal lives. It was time to look towards the future, and put the past behind him, where it belonged.

His relationship with Steve wasn't going to be a replay of his years with Nick. That was buried in the past, over and done with. He couldn't be afraid that one relationship would be like any other, because they were all different. The life he was living now wasn't the same as his life in the past.

Steve was the man he was with now -- not Nick, and not any of the other men he'd dated before. This relationship was fresh and new, and he was going to fling his arms wide and embrace it with all his heart. He was going to enjoy this to the fullest, one day at a time.

He wasn't living in a dream. He was living his life -- the life that he'd decided to make for himself once he had come to Hawaii. He might not have planned to meet someone so soon, but he had, and he wasn't going to turn away from this chance at happiness.

When he heard Steve's light step on the stairs, Greg got up from the couch, heading out to the hallway to meet his lover. Starting now, the was going to stop feeling that he was living in a dream. This was no dream; it was his life, a life that he appreciated more every moment.

***