Title: Property
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Nick Stokes
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Rating: R
Series: 1) The Word Is Out, 2) In the Light of Day
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 Nick Stokes, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

The sun was in his eyes. It was too bright. It hurt.

Oh hell, everything hurt. But he should be used to pain by now.

Greg blinked, raising a hand to shield his eyes, forgetting about the burns on his back and shoulders. He moaned softly, burying his face in the pillow again to block out the sunlight that was streaming through the window by his bed.

Sunlight? Wait .... he was sure that the nurses always kept the curtains closed. Turning his head to the side, he opened one eye cautiously, blinking away the remnants of sleep and focusing on the man sitting quietly in the chair beside his bed.

"N-Nicky?" His throat was sandpapery; the single word sounded more like a croak than a human voice. He coughed, shaking his head and reaching for the glass of water on the table by the bed; Nick moved more quickly, picking up the glass and holding it to Greg's lips.

Greg avoided Nick's eyes as he drank, sighing when Nick moved the glass back to the table. "I guess you want to talk about some of the things you saw last night, huh?" He wanted to keep his tone light, but it was impossible; he knew all too well what Nick had seen.

"And some of the things you said, too," Nick told him, moving his chair closer to the bed. "Greg .... you said Shane raped you every night. Since when? How long has he been hurting you?" Nick reached out to take his hand, the other man's fingers twining through his own.

Greg closed his eyes, as much to hold back a sudden onrush of tears as to keep himself from looking right into Nick's eyes. He'd never seen such caring and concern written on anyone's face; if only it meant more than just friendship, more than just concern for a co-worker.

"Talk to me, Greg." Nick's voice was soft, a pleading note in his words. "I need to know what he's doing to you so I can make it stop. I can't stand the thought of you going back home to that. You don't deserve to be treated like that, baby. Nobody does."

Greg focused on the endearment Nick had just used, the word that had seemed to slip out without the other man realizing that he'd said it. Baby. Shane had never called him that; Shane had called him by his name, or else called him a little bitch. That was it.

Things had been so different when they'd first started, Greg thought sadly. Shane had been good to him then; he'd been soft and gentle and loving, and Greg had enjoyed everything that his boyfriend had done to him. But that hadn't lasted for very long.

"There's nothing to tell," Greg whispered, his voice tired and defeated. "What else do you need to know, Nick? Shane and I have a .... complicated relationship. He gets what he wants, and I get wh-what I need." He didn't look up at Nick; he couldn't face the other man. Not now.

He propped himself up on one elbow, wincing as the movement pulled at the burns on his back. Thanks to the morphine he'd been given, the searing pain had been reduced to a dull throb, but they still hurt -- though not as much as this confrontation with Nick would.

"What you need?" Nick's tone was incredulous; he shook his head, getting to his feet and leaning over the bed. Greg almost shrank back from the other man; there was an implacable anger written on Nick's face that he'd rarely seen on those features before.

"Nobody 'needs' this, Greg," Nick whispered, reaching out with both hands to cup Greg's face, stroking his thumbs across the young man's cheeks as though he was wiping away unshed tears. "I don't believe for one second you wanted him to treat you like this."

"You don't understand," Greg whispered, keeping his eyes closed. "You can't."

"Try me, baby," Nick whispered. "Please. Let me help you."

Greg shook his head, the tears that he'd been trying so hard to hide finally spilling over. "You can't help me, Nicky," he wept, turning his head to bury his face in the pillow. "Nobody can help me. I made this choice, and now I've got to live with it."

"Greg, that's not true," Nick told him, his tone urgent. "You made a mistake. All you have to do is admit that it was a mistake, and walk away from it. You can start a new life, one without him in it. He doesn't own you, Greg, even if he acts like he does. You're not his property."

"He's not going to want me now, anyway," Greg choked out, shaking his head. "He'll take one look at the burns and tell me that I'm not fit for anybody to look at." He had to choke back another sob, raising a hand to wipe at the tears that were still streaking down his cheeks.

"Then they're good for something, after all," Nick muttered, pulling back the covers and sitting down on the bed. Carefully, he slid his arms around Greg's waist, handling the young man's body as though he was a fragile piece of china that could easily be broken.

Greg couldn't stop himself from nestling into Nick's embrace; after the way that Shane had been treating him for months, he needed the warmth and comfort of a loving touch. It felt like the first time in forever that anyone had touched him without an intent to cause him pain.

Shane had stopped even pretending that their physical relationship was a loving one a long time ago. He was fully aware of how much Greg feared any kind of sexual contact with him, using his size and weight to keep the younger, smaller man under his control.

"What do you mean, he wouldn't want you?" Nick whispered, stroking gentle fingers through Greg's hair as the young man rested his head against Nick's shoulder. "There's no way anybody could not want you. He's the luckiest bastard in the world to be with you."

"H-he doesn't want to see the burns," Greg whispered, his throat closing on the words. It was a few minutes before he could speak again; Nick simply sat there and held him until he could, waiting patiently for the words to come, keeping his arm around Greg's waist.

"I c-called him yesterday," Greg managed to whisper, the tears beginning to fall as he spoke. "He t-told me to shut up and stop whining like a little bitch. Th-that he'd see me when I got home, and that he d-didn't want to waste his time on seeing me when he .... when he c-couldn't ...."

"When he couldn't fuck you," Nick finished grimly, not needing to see Greg nod in acknowledgement of his words. His arm tightened around Greg's waist, pulling the young man protectively against the warmth of his body; those words were all he needed to hear.

"Forget about him, baby," he said softly, forcing his anger down and turning his head to press a gentle kiss against Greg's hair. "You're not his property, and as of right now, he's not part of your life any more and he never will be again. You're coming home with me."

"Wh-when?" Greg raised his head, a note of panic in his voice. "You can't just take me out of here, Nicky. The doctors have to sign me out. I don't think they will, not with Shane's name on the admissions form as the person I live with."

Nick shook his head, waving away Greg's protests. "We'll get that changed," he murmured, moving from the bed reluctantly and standing up. He helped Greg to lie down again, on his side this time, careful to avoid irritating the burns on his back and shoulders.

"You're nobody's property, Greggo," he whispered into the young man's ear as he leaned down to brush a kiss against the velvety softness of Greg's cheek. "Nobody's but your own." And mine, he thought, knowing that his perception of Greg being "his" was very different from Shane's.

Greg nodded, sinking back against the pillows and watching as Nick left the room, blinking back more tears that had suddenly welled up in his eyes. These were tears of gratitude, not of pain -- tears that he didn't try to hold back when they began to roll down his face.

He was nobody's property. And it felt good to finally be free.

Even if he was sure that such freedom wouldn't be his for very long.

***

Next story in series - Flames of Hell.