Title: Other Realms
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Ryan Wolfe
Fandom: CSI: Las Vegas /CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Table: 52_challenge
Prompt: 45, Ghost
Warning: on-going series
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.

***

He didn't believe in ghosts. Not at all.

Then why did he always feel as though he was being watched, and why did he get a cold chill down his spine whenever he came to this crime scene? Greg asked himself.

They didn't really need to collect more evidence, but he had wanted to come here again, just to see if that same feeling came to him. Just to make sure.

And it had. In spades. He felt as though there was some unseen presence filling the place, that eyes were watching him from every angle, every direction. Greg glanced at Ryan, standing silently beside him; his boyfriend had an odd look on his face, a look of discomfort.

"You feel it too, don't you?" he asked Ryan, his voice quiet. "You feel like you're being observed, like there's some kind of presence here."

Ryan nodded slowly, letting out his breath in a gust of air. "Yeah, I feel it," he said, rubbing at his arms. "I've got goosebumps. It's a chilling sensation."

Greg nodded. He felt exactly the same way.

"Let's get out of here," Ryan told him, obviously uncomfortable at being in this place. "We've proven that we both have an eerie feeling when we're here. We don't need to stay."

"Wait just a minute," Greg told him, shaking his head. "I want to walk through the house and see if every room makes me feel this way. If it does, then to me, that's proof that it's some kind of presence in the house, and not a flesh and blood person watching us."

Ryan nodded, though Greg could tell that his boyfriend's acquiescence was reluctant at best. "Come on," he said, trying to keep his voice cheerful, taking Ryan's hand.

They walked through each room slowly, and Greg was sure that at times, he couldn't feel that eerie presence around him. He wasn't entirely sure what that meant.

Was there someone watching them, or not? He didn't know.

It was hard to tell if this was all just a figment of his imagination, if it was an actual person -- maybe the one who had set the fire that had killed four people in this house -- or if there really was a ghost lingering here, a spirit that wanted to set things right, to get justice.

How did he go about finding out the truth? He wasn't even sure where to start. But he was becoming more and more sure of one thing.

As they walked through the house, Greg was positive that he only felt that presence, that sensation of being observed, when they were close to the main living room.

Maybe there was a ghost in this house. He wouldn't discount that possibility. But he was also sure that there was a living, breathing person watching them, someone who'd had something to do with the fire and didn't want their part in it to be discovered.

And anyway, he didn't really believe in ghosts.

Oh, he had a healthy respect for the paranormal, Greg assured himself. But he wasn't sure that he believed in the myth of ghosts haunting the place where they'd died.

He didn't doubt that it was possible to contact the other side, and that spirits existed. But ghosts who watched and waited for justice? He didn't think that happened.

His grandmother would probably have had other ideas about that, he thought with a smile. But she wasn't here now, and even though he had learned a lot from her and respected her beliefs, they differed in a lot of ways. He was more inclined to believe in science, and in facts.

Just being here now made him more sure than ever that even if there was a spirit here who wanted to see justice done, what he felt was caused by an actual living person.

And he was sure that he and Ryan were being observed.

He could feel eyes on him, feel that they were being watched as they walked from room to room -- until they got further down the hallway from the living room.

There might be a spirit here, but Greg couldn't sense that kind of presence as strongly as he had the sensation of eyes following him.

And that only made him believe all the more strongly that this feeling was caused by a person -- and that he and Ryan were even less safe here than they would have been if they were truly dealing with something from the paranormal world. They had to leave, and quickly.

There might be two of them and only one other person, but he wasn't taking any chances with their safety. He wanted to get out here, fast.

He looked over at Ryan, to see that his boyfriend was watching him, a slight frown on his face. Greg spread his hands in front of him, shaking his head.

"What?" he asked. "You look like you want to say something."

"I don't have anything to say, other than that I want to get the hell out of here," Ryan told him, glancing around them with a shudder. "I've just got a weird feeling."

"I've seen all I need to see -- and I can tell from what I'm feeling that this isn't what I thought it was at first," Greg told him, hoping that they were far enough away from the living room for whoever might be in the house not to hear them. "I'll tell you about it later."

Ryan nodded, looking relieved. "Okay. For now, let's just get out here and go back to the crime lab. We've got work to do. We've spent enough time here."

Greg wasn't going to argue with that. He wanted out of here, too.

They walked outside and got into the Denali, Greg settling into the passenger side and Ryan driving. When he glanced back at the house, he was sure that he saw a face at one window.

But he didn't mention it to Ryan. Greg knew that neither of them wanted to go back into that house. Not today. And maybe he had just imagined seeing someone. Still, they would have to come back now, and he would have to talk to someone about his suspicions.

He'd talk to Russell tomorrow, he told himself firmly. His boss should know about what he thought he'd seen, and then they could get cops to search the house thoroughly.

He just hoped that he was right about this situation.

If there was no proof that an actual person was in the house, then he would start thinking about ghosts again. Greg definitely didn't like that idea.

He wanted to believe that this case was firmly rooted in fact. He wanted to believe that there was no paranormal presence that might be following him around.

He wanted this case to stay in the real world, and not go into other realms.

***