Title: Not So Simple
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Ryan Wolfe
Fandom: CSI: Vegas/CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Table: 5_prompts, Month of November challenge
Prompt: Day 28 - That would have been a much simpler problem
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 sighed, looking down at the test results he'd just gotten from the DNA lab. They were problematic, to say the least. These results were telling him that the suspect he and Greg considered their most viable hadn't committed the crime.

That had been happening a lot lately -- not just to the two of them, but to everyone in the crime lab. It felt as though their first suspects, the ones who seemed the most guilty, were the ones who could most easily prove their innocence.

But they would solve these cases, Ryan told himself firmly. They always did. There weren't many homicides that came through their crime lab that remained cold cases; they had one of the best success rates in the country when it came to putting criminals behind bars.

If only the problems he and Greg had now could be so easily solved and put aside, he thought wryly, running a hand through his hair. Somehow, murders seemed a much simpler problem to wrestle with and solve than the dilemma they were facing.

His nemesis from Miami was proving just as hard to find here as he had been when he was working with the Miami team; Ryan knew that there had to be some Cuban mob connection here in Vegas that was hiding him, and more than likely working with him.

He had to have connections here in the city to remain so well hidden, Ryan told himself, propping his chin on his hands and giving himself up to contemplation of the problem that he and Greg faced. If only they could find out who those connections were!

And even if they did, would that be such a big help? The man would still be hidden; somehow, anyone in the mob seemed to have ways of slipping away and hiding even when the whole of the police force was out looking for them. They were like rats, Ryan thought disgustedly.

They would have to employ a lot of ingenuity -- and have a lot of luck on their side -- to track this man down. But he was determined to do so; he wasn't going to let anyone get away with threatening Greg. He would make sure that their enemy was brought to justice.

Ryan's hands curled into fists as his anger grew. How dare that bastard have laid a finger on Greg? He was going to pay for that. Nobody was going to threaten Greg in any way without having to deal with the fallout from what they'd done.

But first, they had to find this guy, Ryan told himself, taking a deep breath and trying to calm down. And they weren't going to do it by him sitting here in the office he shared with Greg, thinking about revenge. They had to get out there and actually look for him.

That wasn't the way of the crime lab, though. Sometimes it was hard for him to remember that he wasn't a cop any more; he couldn't simply follow a lead and go out looking for a criminal. He had to follow all of the protocols of the lab first, and the police force second.

Well, he was still a cop inside, he told himself. He always would be. But his work with the crime lab was different, more devoted to science than to action. He had accepted that when he'd left Miami to come to Vegas, and most of the time, it wasn't a problem.

Still, there were times -- like right now -- when he wanted to jump back into being a cop, to use every possible resource at his disposal to catch this man and throw him in jail, to make sure that he wouldn't come anywhere near Greg again.

Ryan sighed, leaning back in his chair and taking a deep breath. He wasn't really a cop now; he couldn't go out searching for this man on his own, using a badge as his excuse. He'd have to wait for the cops here in Vegas to do the job. He couldn't take it on himself.

Sometimes it was so hard for him to hold back, to keep himself within the confines of his job as a CSI. It had been easier in Miami; the lines were much more blurred between their jobs, and what the actual police force did. They were connected, but not quite the same.

Besides, he'd been told that he was too close to this, that he needed to take a few steps back and let others protect the two of them. Maybe that was the right thing for him to do; maybe he was too personally involved in this to have clear judgment.

All he could think of was Greg, and keeping his lover as safe as possible. Ever since that moment in the park when their adversary had stepped from behind the tree and grabbed Greg, he'd worried about his boyfriend; he didn't want something like that to happen again.

He'd never been as terrified in his life as he'd been when he had seen that man wield a knife in front of Greg's face. The thought that he could lose Greg within seconds had been foremost in his mind; that was why he had frozen in shock and fear.

If only he'd had his gun with him, then he would have felt more able to take control of the situation. But even if he had, then he wouldn't have risked trying to shoot the man. Not when he'd had Greg in front of him, using his boyfriend's slender body as a fragile shield.

What he wanted was to meet this man face to face, when he was prepared for the confrontation, Ryan thought, his eyes narrowing and his hands clenching again. Then they would see who could best the other in a fair fight, when both of them were on equal footing.

That would have been a much simpler problem than the one they were dealing with now, Ryan thought, sighing aloud and raising his head. Picking up the paper with the DNA results on it, he got to his feet, knowing that he had to find Greg and show it to him.

How he wished that their own problems could be solved in the same way that the cases they dealt with at work could! But it seemed that their own personal difficulties had been built up to monstrous proportions; the cases they worked with didn't have the same enormity.

Of course they didn't, Ryan thought with a rueful smile. Their personal problems would always seem to loom a lot larger than any cases they worked with. They didn't know the people involved with those cases personally; the situations weren't the same at all.

Life would be so much easier if they could take care of all their problems in the same way, Ryan thought as he headed out of the office. But he'd learned the hard way that the problems that faced them in their personal lives were not so simple -- though he wished it was the other way around.

***