Title: One of Our Own
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Ryan Wolfe
Series: 1) Catch Me I'm Falling, 2) Sparks, 3) Holding Steady, 4) More Than Ready, 5) Talk About It, 6) Confessions, 7) Fate's Plan, 8) Exposed, 9) A Matter of Feeling, 10) Loving Every Minute of It, 11) Street of Dreams
Fandom: CSI: Vegas/CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Mentions of rape.
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Greg Sanders or Ryan Wolfe, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

"Careful," Greg warned Ryan, putting out a hand to stop the other man. "We don't know what we could be walking into. I'm more used to this area, Ryan. You should let me go first." He didn't realize that his voice was shaking; he was more nervous than he should be.

But Ryan only shook his head, frowning as he motioned Greg back. "You have less experience with taking a suspect down than I do, Greg. There's only two of us, and if we wait, they could make a break for it. We don't even know how many of them there are."

"We should wait for Brass," Greg hissed, backing up as the sound of glass breaking echoed through the empty building they were in. "Get back out to the van, call the cops, and we'll try to hold down the fort until they get here. That's the best thing for us to do."

"No!" Ryan said sharply, refusing to do as Greg told him. "I'm not going to give these bastards the chance to get away, Greg. They murdered two kids. And if we let them slip through our fingers now, they'll probably do it again. Do you want to be the one to tell more parents their children are dead?"

Greg shook his head mutely, wishing that Ryan wouldn't put him in this kind of a position. He knew that his boyfriend was right about not letting these men get away, but he didn't want to risk Ryan being hurt any more than he wanted to risk the lives of more innocent kids.

Ryan cast Greg a look that the younger man took a moment to interpret; there was so much love in that single glance that it took his breath away. He could see all the love in the world in that look, the future that the two of them were going to share.

"Ryan, wait!" he whispered as his boyfriend moved forward, disappearing through the door only a few feet away from him. For just a moment, Greg froze, not knowing what to do. Should he follow Ryan, or should he wait here and act as backup?

He only hesitated for what felt like a few seconds before he swallowed hard and followed his boyfriend more slowly, hoping that Ryan was waiting for him and hadn't forged ahead. Stepping into the next room, he looked around, not seeing a trace of Ryan anywhere.

"Ryan?" he whispered, realizing with a slight shock that the place was completely quiet now. There were no ominous sounds letting him know that the men they'd been pursuing were here; it was eerily quiet, and he felt panic rising within him when Ryan didn't answer.

"Ryan!" he called, raising his voice. There was still no answer; Greg moved closer to the door on the far side of the room, the only other place where Ryan could have gone. He was terrified of what he'd find once he stepped through the door, but he had no choice but to move forward.

The room he stepped into was brighter than the last two had been -- and it was empty, save for an open door at the far end. And a few items on the ground in front of it that made Greg's blood run cold and he made his way to the door and knelt to look at them.

Ryan's gun, his watch, a syringe -- and the necklace that his boyfriend always wore. Greg had to hold back a soft cry as he picked up the silver four-leaf clover, cradling it in his hand, studying the broken links in the chain that had held it around Ryan's neck.

Had this been torn off of him -- or had it broken by accident? Ryan hadn't made a sound -- had he been hit, or had the breath choked out of him? The thought made Greg's heart clutch in his chest; he didn't want to think of Ryan being harmed in any way.

It was obvious that he'd been subdued and then drugged with whatever had been in the syringe. Greg closed his eyes for a moment, sending out a silent prayer to any deity that might be listening that the evil-looking long needle hadn't contained anything lethal.

If it had .... No. Greg's hands trembled as he drew a pair of latex gloves out of his jacket pocket and pulled them on. He wasn't going to think like that. They'd probably used whatever was in the syringe to knock Ryan out, and then carried him out of here quietly.

That was the only explanation, wasn't it? He wanted to bury his face in his hands and sob; had he just found Ryan and opened himself up to falling in love, only to lose the man he loved within a few days? That couldn't happen. He wouldn't let it.

Fate wouldn't be so cruel as to send Ryan into his arms and then take him away so quickly. He wasn't going to let himself sink into hopelessness; the team would find Ryan, and they would take down every one of the bastards who'd been involved in his kidnapping.

Taking a deep breath to steady his voice when he spoke, he pulled out his phone, calling the lab to let them know what had happened. Would any of them really care? They didn't know Ryan all that well; he'd just joined the team. They might not really give a damn.

That thought made him want to burst into tears. No, the rest of the team would be concerned about Ryan, too -- just not in the way that he was. None of them were in love with him; none of them would lose their hearts and souls if anything happened to him.

"Nicky?" Greg couldn't keep his voice from trembling, no matter how hard he tried. "Ryan and I ran into some trouble -- the suspects we were after got away and .... and they've got him." He had to fight back the tears, forcing himself to keep an iron control over his tone.

Nick's voice soothed him,as though the other man could tell how agitated and upset Greg was. He told Greg to wait there, that the rest of the team who were still in the lab would drop what they were doing and join him as quickly as they could.

"Greg?" Nick's voice was soft over the phone. "We'll get him back, Greg. Don't worry. Ryan's one of our own, even though he hasn't been here very long. We're going to put everything we've got into getting him to us safe. I promise you we'll find him."

Greg nodded before he realized that Nick couldn't see him. "We've got to get him back, Nicky," he managed to whisper, the tears crowding into his voice again. "We've got to. I promised him I'd have his back. I promised. I can't let anything happen to him."

He could hear the sympathy in Nick's voice when the older man spoke again. "I understand that you've bonded with him pretty well, Greg. Don't worry, we'll find him. They can't have gotten far, can they? We'll do everything we can to get Ryan back."

"I know we will," Greg said, trying to hold on to Nick's words as a sort of lifeline. "I'll see you when you get here. I've already found some stuff from where they took him. I'll get it processed by the time the team is here." He hung up the phone, unable to say any more.

It could so easily have been him who was kidnapped, instead of Ryan. He could have gone in there first, and they could have overpowered him just as easily as they had Ryan, if not more so. Either of them would have been taken off guard, not expecting what they were walking into.

Why hadn't he made Ryan go back to the van, convinced him to call the rest of the team? Greg berated himself. This was his fault. If he'd insisted on what he knew they should have done to keep themselves safe, then Ryan wouldn't have walked right into harm's way.

Ryan didn't blame him; he knew that. He'd seen that look that his boyfriend had given him before he'd gone into that room. That look had been full of love, a look that promised him that the two of them would live to see another day, that they wouldn't be taken away from each other.

Losing Ryan was not an option, he told himself fiercely. They would find him and bring him back safely, just like Nick had said. And they would find the men who had kidnapped him, and bring them to justice. That was a promise he intended to keep.

What if he couldn't keep that promise? What if they didn't get Ryan back alive -- but dead? What if he had to go to his boyfriend's funeral, and pretend that he and Ryan had been nothing but friends? And what if he never got to tell Ryan exactly how he felt?

He hadn't gotten the chance to say those three words that had been on his mind for the last few days. Yes, it was soon to say them, but he knew how he felt. He knew that he loved Ryan -- and he wanted the other man to know it, as well. He wanted to say "I love you" out loud.

Ryan couldn't die without knowing how much he was loved. The thought brought the tears to Greg's eyes again; this time, he couldn't hold them back. He buried his face in his hands and sobbed aloud, not caring if there was anyone around to hear or see him.

He didn't know how long he knelt there with tears pouring down his cheeks, clutching Ryan's necklace in one hand and praying that the man he loved would be returned to him. It was only when he heard the sirens outside that he rose to feet and wiped his tears away.

Rising slowly to his feet, he headed back through the two rooms, knowing that he would have to tell the others exactly what had happened. He only hoped that all of them working together would be able to find Ryan before it was too late.

***

Next story in series - Cold Storage.