Title: Play By the Rules
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, 12) One of Our Own, 13) Cold Storage, 14) Life Or Death, 15) Hole in My Heart, 16) Someone To Pull the Trigger, 17) Every Beat of the Heart, 18) No Promises, 19) Perfect Morning, 20) Everything Works If You Let It, 21) Dark To Light, 22) Into Temptation, 23) Covered in Cappuccino
Fandom: CSI: Vegas/CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Table: 7,12_stories
Prompt: 3, Rules
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 Adam Ross, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Greg leaned back as he pulled the seat belt across his chest and fastened it, closing his eyes. It had been a long night shift, and he'd had to deal with far too many things that had annoyed him. He didn't want Ryan to feel that he was complaining, but he needed to talk.

Still, he didn't say anything as his boyfriend got into the driver's side of the car, fastened his own seat belt, and started the car. He didn't open his eyes and turn his head to look at his boyfriend until Ryan had pulled out into the stream of traffic, heading for home.

"What is it, Greg?" Ryan asked quietly, glancing towards him as he slowed to a stop at a red light. "I know something's been bothering you for most of the night. Don't tell me it's nothing -- I can tell when you're in a bad mood, so don't try to hold it back."

Greg opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again, amazed that Ryan could already know him so well that his boyfriend could read his moods. But then, he and Ryan had seemed to have a connection since they had first met, so he shouldn't be too surprised.

"Come on, tell me. Spit it out," Ryan urged, frowning as the traffic moved forward again and he turned his attention back to driving. "You've been looking more and more like a thundercloud all night. I'd have asked you about it before, but we were in the lab."

"I hate having to follow the rules," Greg mumbled, unwilling to state the reason for his annoyance out loud. He was afraid that it would make him sound like a pouting child, and he didn't want Ryan to remonstrate with him. Not after the tiring night they'd had at work.

"Since you don't seem to have any problems following the rules that we have to work by, I'm guessing you mean the rules about personal relationships," Ryan said, sighing. "I don't like them either, Greg, but we have to follow them. We could get split up if we don't."

"I know, and that's the only reason I'm keeping quiet." Greg's fists clenched in his lap; he was feeling more and more angry and unsettled about what he thought was utter stupidity on the part of the lab. "Why can't people who work together be involved with each other? It's not fair."

"Because if two people have a personal relationship outside of work, it might make them focus on just one person if the team is in trouble," Ryan said softly, stopping at another light and reaching out a hand to rest it on Greg's knee. "You know that, Greg."

"I know, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with," Greg grumbled, looking out of the window as Ryan turned a corner. "The whole team is like a family, anyway. I don't see why they frown on personal relationships, when they know how close we all are."

"I wish we didn't have to hide our relationship, either," Ryan said with a sigh as he swung into the street that their apartment complex was on. "But that's the way it is. And unless the rules change -- and I don't think they will -- we'll have to keep quiet about it."

"But we shouldn't have to!" Greg burst out, his fists clenching again. "Catherine doesn't have to keep it hidden that she's screwing Vartann -- so we shouldn't have to stay under the radar. We should be just as free as she is to date whoever we want."

Ryan was silent as he pulled into the parking lot, then stopped the car and sat still for a moment. When he turned to Greg, he took one of his boyfriend's hands in his own, twining their fingers together and speaking softly, trying to pour oil on the troubled waters.

"We are free to date whoever we want, Greg," he said softly, wishing that he could put his feelings into words more eloquently. "We just can't be as open about it, because we're dating someone we have to work with. We have to be discreet. Even secretive."

"We shouldn't have to keep who we love a secret," Greg told him, catching his bottom lip between his teeth. "I hate having to do that, Ryan. I'm proud to be with you. I want everybody to know how I feel about you, and that I'm dating the greatest guy in the world."

"I love that you feel that way about me," Ryan whispered, raising his other hand to cup Greg's cheek. "But it's safer to keep how we feel a secret, Greg. We don't know how everybody else is going to react to us being a couple. Some people might not like it."

"You mean Ecklie," Greg sighed, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "I know he'd blow a gasket if he had any inkling that any of the guys working for the lab was gay. It'd be okay with him if it was two girls involved with each other, but two guys? He'd have a fit."

"I get the feeling that he's not very gay-friendly," Ryan said with a nod. "And besides, I don't want people to know about us because I want to keep you to myself. I don't want prying eyes trying to dissect what we are to each other. It's none of anybody else's business."

"I'd feel that way, if I wasn't so proud of being in love with you," Greg murmured, looking down at their linked hands. "I feel like keeping what you mean to me a secret makes it seem .... I don't know, wrong, somehow. Like we're not allowed to tell people who we really are."

"I don't think it'd be a bad thing to tell people that you're dating a man -- well, as long as it doesn't get around to Ecklie," Ryan said with a frown. "I might not have been here long, but I already know that he'd be out to get you fired if he knew you're into guys."

Greg rolled his eyes, sticking out his tongue. "Let's not talk about him. He's one of the biggest banes of my existence. Did I ever tell you that after I got beaten up by that street gang, he actually told me I was the one who should have died instead of the guy I ran over?"

Ryan's grip on his hand became tighter; Greg was startled to realize that his words had angered his boyfriend. When he looked up at the other man, Ryan's face was tight with anger, his moss-green eyes smoldering with an inner fire. Yes, he was definitely upset.

"I don't think I'm ever going to be able to look at him again without wanting to beat the crap out of him," Ryan whispered, his voice vibrating with an anger that he was having a hard time keeping under control. "He had no right to say something like that to you."

"It would have saved the city a lot of money if I'd been the one who died," Greg said, looking down at their clasped hands again. "I hate him for saying that to me, but at the same time, he's trying to do what's best for them. So I guess he felt like he had to express how he felt."

"He wasn't trying to do what was 'best' for anybody," Ryan growled, his grip on Greg's hand tightening until the other man winced and almost pulled away. "He was just thinking about the financial aspects of what happened. Not about the person involved."

"I know," Greg sighed, shaking his head. "And I know that Ecklie would give a lot to have me out of there. Finding out that I'm involved with a guy would just add fuel to whatever fire he's got burning in his gut against me already. So yeah, I know that I can't come out."

"And if he found out that we're seeing each other, he'd be only too happy to move you to a different shift and make you miserable," Ryan pointed out, relaxing his grip on Greg's hand. "Sorry, babe," he said by way of apology. "I hope I didn't break any fingers."

"You might have," Greg told him, holding his hand up in front of his face and flexing his fingers. "But you can make it up to me by giving me a massage. Put those hands of yours to good use." He winked at his boyfriend, opening the door of the car to get out.

"Greg, we have to play by the rules -- at least for now," Ryan said softly when they were both out of the car and heading for the door of Greg's apartment. "I don't like keeping us a secret, either, but for now, we don't really have much of a choice."

"You're right," Greg said with a sigh as he pulled out his keys and unlocked the front door. "But it's so damn hard not to want to tell the whole world how I feel about you. And it's really hard to keep it from my friends. I want them to know how happy I am to be in love."

"We'll be able to tell them one day, baby," Ryan murmured as he followed Greg inside. "It might be a long time from now, but eventually, everybody we care about is going to know how we feel about each other. I'm looking forward to the day when we don't have to hide any longer."

"So am I," Greg said as Wolfie came bounding towards them from the kitchen, turning their attention from the constrictive rules they had to follow at work to their life together at home. At least this was one place where they didn't have to play by the rules -- a place where there was no hiding, and no secrets.

***

Next story in series - Tingle.