Title: Something So Strong
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, 24) Play By the Rules, 25) Tingle, 26) You Have My Heart
Fandom: CSI: Vegas/CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Table: 7, 12_stories
Prompt: 7, Loyalty
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.

***

"I really feel like I'm getting used to being here in Vegas," Ryan said, leaning back against the pillows with a sigh as Greg slid into bed beside him. He wrapped one arm around his boyfriend's slender waist, pulling the young man close against the warmth of his body.

"Don't you still feel some loyalty to the team you used to work for?" Greg questioned, a frown furrowing his brow. "I mean, you talk about Horatio Caine like he's some kind of superman. It must have been hard for you to leave a team that was led by somebody you respected so much."

"I really did like everybody that I worked with," Ryan admitted with a sigh. "They're all still good friends, too. But I couldn't stay there, Greg. Not after everything that happened. I had a hard enough time after some of the mistakes I made, and then the incident with the nail gun ...."

Ryan's voice trailed off; he took a deep breath, closing his eyes and trying to calm his racing heart. His pulse had begun to pound at that memory -- and the others that it inevitably led to, memories that he would much rather put firmly behind him and forget about.

Unfortunately, that was impossible for him to do. There were still nights when he would wake up in a cold sweat, thinking that his mouth was throbbing where his tooth had been yanked out during that horrible time when he'd been a captive of the Russian mob.

And then what had happened with that Cuban mob boss .... Ryan's arm tightened involuntarily around Greg's waist; he squeezed his eyes closed tighter, wanting to banish that memory from his mind. That was what had really driven him away from Miami and into a new life.

But he really couldn't complain, could he? After all, that new life included Greg -- the love of his life, who he never would have met if he hadn't left Miami and transferred here. Even though his loyalty to Horatio and his old team was still strong, he had already developed new loyalties here.

At some point, he would call Horatio and tell him about Greg. A part of him had wanted to do it before now, but he hadn't felt completely comfortable with discussing his boyfriend with anyone yet. After all, he had to keep the relationship a secret from his new colleagues.

It wasn't what he wanted to do; he wanted to tell the entire world that he was involved with Greg, that he was in love with a wonderful man who meant the world to him. But for the sake of both their careers, and their futures as CSIs, he couldn't say anything.

Yes, he had a kind of loyalty to his job -- but if it ever came down to choosing between that job and Greg, then his boyfriend would always come first. Fortunately for them both, at the point there were at now, they could have the job they loved and have each other.

"That's in the past -- and your vision is okay now," Greg said softly, bringing Ryan out of his thoughts with a jerk and back into the real world. "Don't think about it, Ryan. Focus on the future, and on what you have here. The past is over with, even if you'll always have some ties to it."

"You're right about that, babe," Ryan told him, bowing his head to brush a kiss against his lover's cheek. "I'd a hell of a lot rather think about you and me, and what we have in our future. Yeah, I'll always miss some of the friends I left behind in Miami, but I haven't lost touch with them."

"I wonder if we'll ever be able to tell them about us?" Greg mused, unconsciously echoing Ryan's own thoughts of just a few moments ago. "It's not like we should take the risk right nwo. I mean, they might not mean to mention it to anybody here, but things like that get around."

"Yeah, they do," Ryan agreed with a soft sigh. "And the last thing either one of us needs is getting moved to a different shift. I don't think I could go to work and be half as effective if I wasn't working with you. I'd always worry that whoever you were partnered with didn't have your back."

"I didn't do such a good job of having yours when I should have," Greg whispered, burying his face against Ryan's shoulder. Ryan raised a hand to stroke his fingers through his boyfriend's hair; he was sure that he'd heard guilt and regret in those words.

"Greg, don't think about that any more," he murmured, wishing that he could wave a magic wand and make that horrible time never have happened. "It wasn't your fault. It was mine. I should have waited for backup and not gone charging in there on my own. I knew better."

"I should have been right behind you," Greg whispered, his voice choked. "I should have taken better care of you, Ryan. I'm always going to blame myself for what happened to you. I promised you that I'd have your back, and I didn't."

"Yes, you did," Ryan insisted, sliding his other arm around Greg's waist and snuggling closer to him. "You were the one who did the right thing when we went into that situation. You came after me -- you just didn't know they'd act so quickly to take me out of there."

"I wish I had gone in there after you sooner than I did," Greg mumbled, his voice muffled against Ryan's shoulder. "I might have been able to stop them from taking you. If I had just been a little quicker, none of it would have happened and you wouldn't have almost frozen to death."

"It didn't happen," Ryan whispered, raising a hand to stroke Greg's hair, wishing that he could comfort his boyfriend, or at least say something to divert Greg's mind from his present train of thought. "It's done now, Greg. We've both got to move on."

Greg nodded, sighing softly as he raised his head to look up at Ryan. "I know we do. It's just hard not to blame myself, you know? I think I died a thousand deaths when I saw that needle and realized they'd drugged and kidnapped you. I wanted to just break down and cry."

"But you kept it together -- and you found me," Ryan told him, hugging Greg close against him. "I knew I could count on you to be there for me, Greg. There's something stronger than love that holds us together, sweetheart. Something that's a part of both of us."

"That's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life," Greg admitted, his own arms tightening around the other man. "All I wanted to do was find you and make sure you were safe and you weren't hurt. I was sure somebody was going to guess that you're more than my partner."

"Hey, I am your partner," Ryan laughed, trying his best to lighten the mood a little. "At work and at home. But yeah, I know what you mean, babe," he added, his demeanor turning serious again. "You're a lot more to me than a partner, too."

"You're my heart and soul," Greg whispered, burying his face against Ryan's shoulder again. "You're my whole life, Ryan. If I didn't have you, I'd be lost. I think I was just kind of wandering through a wasteland and not really living my life until you were a part of it."

Ryan was overwhelmed by his boyfriend's words; all he could do was hold Greg closer, feeling tears rise to his eyes and threaten to spill over. The emotions between them were so strong that they didn't need words; he knew that Greg understood how he felt.

There was something so strong that flowed between them that they could almost sense each other's emotions. Something that bound them together more securely than love, more than their commitment to each other. Ryan didn't have a name for whatever it was.

But whatever that emotion was, it burned within his heart and soul, more fiercely than anything he'd ever felt before. He'd never felt this strongly about anyone; Greg was just as much the center of his life as he was of the other man's, the sun that he orbited around.

He'd had a strong loyalty to the people he'd worked with before in Miami, and the friends he'd made there. But there had been no one there who'd ever begun to inspire the love and loyalty within him that Greg did, or who had touched his heart and soul in this way.

His feelings for Greg were too strong to be described with mere words. They were more than loyalty, more than love, more than any other word he could bring to mind. Greg had become the center of his universe, everything he had ever wanted, the one element that he couldn't live without.

Whatever it was that bound him and Greg together so inexorably, it was enough for him that it existed. He didn't need to put a word to his feelings; as long as they were there -- and Ryan knew that they always would be -- they would wrap around both him and his lover and keep them secure.

His loyalty to Horatio and the team he'd worked with for so long in Miami would always be there -- but he now had a new loyalty to his team here in Las Vegas. And most of all, he had a loyalty to the man in his arms, the man who his life revolved around.

"You'll always be the center of my life," he whispered, running a gentle hand through Greg's hair, then down his back. "And you always will be. No matter what other loyalties I might have, my first one is to you. For now, and for always."

"And mine is always going to be to you," Greg whispered, resting his head against Ryan's shoulder and closing his eyes. Within a few moments, both men were relaxed in each other's arms and drifting off to sleep, smiling as though their last waking thoughts were pleasant ones.

***