Title: Purple Mountains Majesty
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Ryan Wolfe
Fandom: CSI: Vegas/CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Table: 7, 12_stories
Prompt: 1, Colour
Author's Note: Spoilers for the CSI: Vegas episode "Fannysmackin'."
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, I'm okay. Really," Greg protested as his boyfriend closed the door of his apartment and turned around to face him. "I only got hit once. I'm lucky it wasn't a punch in the eye. Nobody looks good with a black eye, and I look worse than most people."

"You could never look bad, baby, even with a bruise on your face," Ryan said softly, sliding his arms around Greg. "But I don't like seeing you get hurt. And getting into a fistfight with that guy at the scene wasn't the smartest thing you ever did."

"He swung at me first!" Greg shook his head, anger flashing across his features. "What was I supposed to do, just stand there and let him beat me to a pulp? I've been through something like that before, Ryan .Even though it was a lot more people then."

Ryan nodded soberly, leading Greg to the couch and letting him sit down. "Nobody feels that way, Greg," he said quietly, sitting down beside his lover and taking his hands. "Even Ecklie doesn't think you should have just let yourself get beaten. But you flattened the guy."

"I'm glad I did," Greg snarled, his anger evident now. "I know it had to be hard on him to find out that his girlfriend had been killed. That is, unless he did it. If he did, then I'm going to find out. And I'm not going to stop until we've solved this case."

Ryan's concerned look grew more pronounced at Greg's words; he didn't want his boyfriend to go over the edge on this case. The beating he'd taken from a single person had brought back too many memories of what he'd suffered a few years ago.

This guy had been tall and well-built, a muscleman who obviously spent a lot of time working out. Greg was lean and toned, but he was no match for someone twice his size with all those muscles. He'd been able to have Greg on the ground with one punch.

But Greg had surprised everyone by getting to his feet and going after the guy, subduing him before he could get into the front door of the house. No one had expected that from one of the CSIs, and it had taken every person who had witnessed the scene off guard.

"When he hit you, it brought back all the memories of that gang beating you up, didn't it?" Ryan asked, his voice soft and gentle. "I want to say that I understand how that feels, but I don't. I don't think anybody can understand unless they've been through something like that."

"I hope you never have to experience anything like what I went through," Greg whispered, gripping Ryan's hands. "That's the worst thing I've ever lived through, Ryan. I wouldn't wish it on anybody. Not even my worst enemy. Not even the people who beat the crap out of me."

"Let me look at that." Ryan reached to turn on the light by the table; even though it was morning and the sun was shining into the window, he needed more light to get a closer look. He winced at the sight of the large bruise on Greg's cheek that was getting darker by the moment.

The purple color was stark against Greg's pale skin; it wasn't a pretty sight. Usually, bruises took on that dark hue quickly, so Ryan knew that the blow had been awfully hard for the bruise to still be coloring and spreading. "Maybe I should take you to a doctor."

"No!" Greg shook his head, pulling away from Ryan slightly. "Doc Robbins already looked at me. He said that it would get worse, remember? He said there was bruising under the skin and that what I needed to do was keep ice packs on it until the swelling went down."

Ryan sighed and nodded, getting to his feet. "Yeah, I remember. And I know Doc Robbins is good at what he does. I'm just worried, okay? I hate to see anything marring that beautiful face." He bent to brush his lips across Greg's unbruised cheek. "You're too pretty to mess up."

His words were rewarded by an angelic smile from the other man; Greg leaned his head back against the soft couch cushions, looking up at his lover. "Thanks, Ry. I know I don't look all that pretty now, but bruises fade, y'know. It won't be there forever."

Ryan nodded, going into the kitchen to take ice from the freezer and put it into a soft towel. He could feel tears rising to his own eyes; he raised a hand to wipe them away, not wanting Greg to know that he was crying over his own failure to protect his boyfriend.

He should have realized that something was going to happen. The way that guy had been so belligerent, trying to force his way past the cops -- and the way that he had somehow decided to focus on Greg as the recipient of his angry words and gestures.

They all should have realized that the man was going to try to attack Greg. He was the smallest person there who was working on the crime scene, and therefore the most likely to be attacked by some angry bystander. They should all have been more alert, more careful.

Ryan was just thankful that Greg hadn't been hurt more. He'd been startled to the point of freezing when his boyfriend had been attacked; for a few moments, he hadn't been able to move, hadn't been able to do anything but stand there and watch in horror.

Greg had crumpled to the ground at the first blow, then the man had raised his fist again -- and Greg had somehow gotten to his feet and charged him. The much larger, burly man had gone down under that charge; and Greg had started battering his attacker with his fists.

He and Nick had pulled Greg off the man, but not before he'd managed to do some damage. There had been a lot of screaming about police brutality, but fortunately, Ecklie had been there as well, for once, and he had witnessed the fact that Greg was attacked first.

Ryan had already spoken to their boss about what had taken place; Ecklie had scowled and said that even though Greg's actions didn't reflect well on the department, it was a clear-cut case of self-defense. He'd even admitted that he didn't blame Greg for what he'd done.

But at the moment, his boyfriend had battle wounds to take care of, and Ryan was going to do his best to alleviate whatever pain Greg might be in. The only thing they could do now was try to put the incident behind them, and hope that it didn't come back to haunt Greg.

Going back into the living room with the towel, he sat down beside his boyfriend again, pressing the cold compress against the purpling bruise. The area it covered was widening; it had begun on Greg's cheek, just over the cheekbone, but it had now spread to his jawline.

"I hope that isn't going to get any bigger," Ryan said, wincing as he applied the cold compress to Greg's face. "You're going to look like something out of that 'America the Beautiful' song if it does," he teased, trying to lighten the situation a little.

Greg caught on to his meaning immediately, chuckling wryly and flinching when he tried to smile. "Ouch! Don't make me laugh," he mumbled, shaking his head. "It hurts to move my face. But yeah, the whole 'purple mountains majesty' bit. It feels like a mountain."

"It's probably going to look like one for a few hours, until the swelling goes down," Ryan said regretfully. "Greg, I wish you wouldn't have done what you did -- but I've got to admit, I'm kind of proud of you at the same time for standing up for yourself."

Greg tried to smile, wincing again as he did so. "I've been beaten up by a gang of bullies before," he said, his voice firm and steady. "I wasn't going to let anybody do that to me again. Even if I knew that I should have kept my cool and just tried to subdue the guy."

"Anybody would have done what you did," Ryan told him, raising a hand to smooth Greg's hair back from his face. "It was a natural reaction. Even Ecklie said so. Nobody blames you for it, Greg. But there might be some repercussions from the media."

"Yeah." Greg pressed the ice pack against his face, closing his eyes. "That guy could sue me. Or sue the department. He'll more than likely claim police brutality, and I'll be in the middle of it. Just like I was the last time. But at least this time, I didn't kill anybody."

"I wanted to," Ryan said, anger evident in his voice now. "I wanted to rip him to pieces for daring to touch you. I shouldn't have held back. I should have beat the shit out of him. It would have been the least of what he deserved for laying a hand on you."

"Looks like he's left a mark, too, at least for a while," Greg said, lying down on the couch and trying to get comfortable. "I don't think I'll be going to work tonight, that's for sure. Not unless the swelling goes down a hell of a lot between now and time to clock in."

"Who are you kidding?" Ryan said with a soft laugh. "The swelling will be down, and you'll just have a lot of color on one side of your face. You'll be going in. You love your job too much not to. And I'll be right there beside you -- watching out for you a lot more than I did today."

He leaned down to press a kiss to Greg's lips -- and found himself being pulled down next to the other man. With a sigh of contentment, he settled down on the couch, taking Greg into his arms and resolving to spend the rest of the day right here with his boyfriend in his arms.

***