Title: Risking It All
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Ryan Wolfe
Fandom: CSI: Vegas/CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Table: 7, 12_stories
Prompt: 9, Risk
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.

***

"I'm not willing to take the risk," Ryan said firmly, shaking his head as Greg pulled into the parking space in front of his apartment and turned the ignition off. "Greg, it's too big of a risk. We could both lose our jobs. Or, at the very least, not work together any more."

Greg sighed, resting his head against the leather seat of his car and closing his eyes. He knew that Ryan was right, but it was getting harder and harder every day for him not to tell anyone he worked with about his feelings for his partner.

Every time he looked at Ryan, he was sure that his emotions showed in his eyes. There couldn't be any mistaking how he felt about this man; his feelings were so intense that he was sure everybody around him could see them pouring from him all the time.

Especially the people who he'd been working with for so long, people who knew him so well. There was no way they couldn't see how he felt; he was sure that Nick already knew for certain, even if the others only guessed about the relationship he and Ryan shared.

"I think some of them already guess," he murmured, wondering if Ryan had any idea as to just how astute their colleagues were. "Nick probably knows for sure, with the way that I acted when we found you in that freezer. The way he was looking at me ...."

Greg's voice trailed off as he remembered the expression on Nick's face -- it had been somewhere between anxiety and surprise. It was almost an inevitability that Nick should be the first one to guess about the intensity of his feelings for Ryan.

"I've seen Nick looking at us like he's wondering about something," Ryan mused, his tone speculative. "Do you really think he knows? I trust him not to go running to Catherine or Ecklie, but who knows what anybody else would do?"

"Nick's not going to tell, even if he knows," Greg said firmly. That was one thing he was positive about; Nick would never reveal their relationship to anyone. He felt that the CSIs should be able to date each other if they wanted; he'd always said that rule was stupid.

"Even if he's figured it out since that day you two rescued me, I know he wouldn't say anything," Ryan told him, his voice firm. "Nick's a good guy. And I think he'd be the first to congratulate us. I think he's probably wanted you to find somebody for a long time."

"Do you think so?" Greg asked with a laugh. "Nick's always been a good friend, but I don't think he'd be all that comfortable with finding out that I prefer guys to girls." He looked down at his hands, wondering if he should confess something to Ryan that he'd never told anyone else.

"I used to have a crush on Nick," he admitted, his voice very soft. "I spent a lot of time wondering if I should tell him how I felt -- or if I'd ever have the guts to do it. But I never did. Something always told me that I'd be taking too big a risk with losing his friendship if I did."

"I don't think he'd stop being friends with you altogether, even if he's straight," Ryan protested, shaking his head. "Nick's not like that. But he might back off from you a little. So yeah, maybe it's best that you never told him. Even though he doesn't seem to have a problem with us now."

"Nicky wouldn't stop being friends with me, but he'd pull back," Greg said, sighing as he opened the car door. "I guess that's what I should expect from everybody, though. I mean, I've never told them that I'm into guys, even though I think they might have had their suspicions."

"There were some people I worked with who wouldn't have done too well with that idea, either," Ryan told him as he got out of the car, closing the door and leaning on the hood to regard Greg. "It's funny, but the two who would have had the biggest problem with it were women."

"Because they wanted to date you, right?" Greg asked, scowling. "That's one reason I'm glad you left Miami and came here -- besides the fact that I wouldn't have met you if you hadn't. At least here you don't have slutty women panting after you."

Ryan laughed, shaking his head as Greg walked around the side of the car and he could slip an arm around his boyfriend's slender waist. "Well, yeah, they were both pretty slutty. They made their rounds of the CSI guys, sleeping with as many of us as they could."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Catherine tried to mack on you if the thing with Vartann ever goes south," Greg told him, sounding annoyed. "She'll sleep with anything that has a cock. She tried to make her way around the CSIs here -- well, all of them except for me."

"I'm betting she thought you'd tell somebody about if you slept with her, just because you're one of the younger people on the team," Ryan said, his arm tightening around Greg's waist. "And don't worry -- if she ever tried to mack on me, I'd run away screaming."

"I don't think she would," Greg said, sounding reflective. "It's too big a risk. She'd never hear the end of it -- and I think her job means more to her than any brief relationship she could keep going with somebody who was a CSI. She knows it'd never last."

"It would never start," Ryan said firmly, shaking his head. "I'm not interested in Catherine. Or Sara, or Nick, or David, or anybody else who works with us. I'm only interested in you, Greg. I love you. I don't want to be with anybody else, Not now, not ever."

"You never will be, if I have anything to say about it," Greg said, his tone mock-severe. He pulled out his keys, smiling as he heard Wolfie scratch and whine on the other side of the door. "I think somebody is ready for their morning walk. Feel like taking him around the block with me?"

"It's a risk, going out together if any of the people we work with, or the ones on other shifts, happen to live in this neighborhood," Ryan said, smiling as he spoke. Greg laughed along with him; he was obviously teasing, considering that they always walked Wolfie together.

"I think Wolfie and I will both take that risk, if it means spending some quality time with you," Greg said as the door opened and they both went inside, Ryan bending down to roughhouse with the eager puppy as Wolfie jumped up and licked his face.

"He's ready to go out today," Greg remarked, picking up the puppy's leash and snapping it onto his collar. "Come on, boy, let's go out for a walk, okay?" He bent down beside Ryan, petting the little dog, as Wolfie jumped and barked, obviously happy that they were home.

"I think we could both use a walk around the block before breakfast," Ryan said, opening the door again and leading the puppy outside, with Greg right behind him. He waited for his boyfriend to lock the door before they both headed across the grass, towards the pavement.

"What do you mean, breakfast? I'm ready to take a shower and hit the sack," Greg said, covering his mouth as he yawned. "I don't know about you, but I had a long night. After that first 419, I was in the lab processing evidence most of the night."

"Yeah, leaving me to deal with the paperwork," Ryan teased, letting Greg take the leash as the puppy gamboled a few feet ahead of them. "I don't mind, babe. It's the way all partners work. And I'm more than happy to deal with stuff like that if you don't feel like it."

"I'll do my share of it tomorrow," Greg promised, wanting to slip his hand into Ryan's until he caught sight of a car turning the corner onto their street and heading towards them. He stiffened, the smile leaving his face. It looked like Catherine's car.

Ryan stopped walking, turning to look at him quizzically; Greg could only stand there, watching the car as it approached, until it sped down the street by them and he realized that the driver wasn't Catherine. Only then could he turn to Ryan, blinking a little dazedly.

"I thought that was Catherine," he said, his tone breathless. "I thought if I took your hand, she'd see us -- or that she'd see us walking Wolfie and put two and two together." He looked down, taking a deep breath, his shoulders sagging. "Sometimes I feel like we can't even go out of the house."

"Greg, we can't worry about somebody seeing us every time we want to go out somewhere together," Ryan said, his voice soft, slipping his free hand into Greg's. "And what would they think, anyway? That we're neighbors who work together, and we're out walking your dog."

Greg nodded, taking another deep breath and trying to calm his racing heart. "It's still a risk, any time we want to go out and be open about who we are," he said, shaking his head. "But you know something? It's a risk that I'm willing to take."

"I'll take that risk right along with you," Ryan said, twining his fingers through Greg's and laughing as Wolfie whined and pulled at his leash, obviously wanting to continue his walk. "I'm not going to live my life in fear -- and neither are you. We shouldn't have to."

Greg nodded, moving closer to his boyfriend and tightening his grip on Ryan's hand. Ryan was right -- they might be taking a risk to be together publicly, but being with Ryan was worth risking it all, no matter what might happen when their secret finally came into the light.

***