Title: The First Move
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Ryan Wolfe
Fandom: CSI: Las Vegas /CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Table: 3, csi50
Prompt: 25, Make a move
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.

***

"Do you remember the day we first met?" Greg asked Ryan, leaning back against his boyfriend's chest with a sigh of contentment. The two of them were sitting under a tree in the park, throwing sticks for Wolfie to chase, which the puppy was doing with enthusiasm.

"Of course I do," Ryan said softly, nodding. "That was the best day of my entire life. It was like being hit by the proverbial ton of bricks when I looked at you. I knew from that first second how I felt about you. I fell in love -- really in love -- for the first time in my life."

"What would you have done if I hadn't asked you to come over that night?" Greg asked softly, turning his head slightly to look up at Ryan, a question in his eyes. "Would you have made the first move if I hadn't done it? Or would we have danced around each other for a while?"

Ryan considered the question, his mind going back over the events of that day. He could remember every word that Greg had said, every expression on his face -- and he could remember his own feelings with a crystal clarity that brought the memories flooding back.

"I think I'd have made the first move and invited you out to dinner. Or at least for coffee," Ryan told him with a smile. "I'd have found some way to spend time with you. All I could think of was how much I wanted to be with you. It was like being mesmerized."

"I felt the same way," Greg said softly, his gaze still on Ryan's face. "That was why I made a move. I kept telling myself that if I didn't, somebody else would -- and I'd lose any chance i might have had with you. There was no way I was going to let that happen."

Ryan was a little startled by Greg's words; he hadn't thought that anyone else in the Vegas lab had really noticed him the first time he'd been there. If they had, they'd hidden their interest well; Greg was the only person who'd shown any interest on more than a professional level.

But then again, he hadn't had eyes for anyone but Greg, he thought with a smile. He hadn't been able to make himself look at anyone or anything else once he'd seen that face; Greg had been the only person he could concentrate on, the one thing that had filled his mind.

"What are you smiling about?" Greg asked, his own smile mirroring Ryan's. "You look like the cat who swallowed the canary. And got a whole saucer of cream, too." His laugh rang out as he shifted his position in Ryan's arms, reaching for another stick to throw for Wolfie.

"I was just thinking about that day," Ryan said softly, his arms tightening around Greg's waist. "About how I couldn't see anybody but you. It was like you became the center of my existence from that day on. And you always will be, Greg. You're my world, do you know that?"

"And you're mine," Greg murmured, leaning back in his arms and raising his head so their eyes could meet again. He raised a hand to stroke Ryan's cheek, his touch soft and gentle. "You've been my world since the first time I ever laid eyes on you."

"It's amazing how two people can meet and fall in love like we did, isn't it?" Ryan mused, a smile curving his lips. "You think that you're never going to meet the person who makes you feel complete, and then .... they're right there in front of you, and you don't know how you lived without them."

"I thought I was doing fine before I met you," Greg sighed, settling himself more comfortably against Ryan's chest. "I had a job I loved, some good friends, and I figured my life was going along pretty well. But I always knew there was something missing."

"So did I," Ryan said softly, nodding in agreement. "I thought I was doing okay, especially after I decided to transfer from Miami to Vegas. I knew I was going to start fresh with a whole new life -- but I never dreamed that I'd find the love of my life here. I never expected you."

"I never expected to find you, either," Greg whispered, his voice husky with emotion. "I'd kind of resigned myself to being alone for the rest of my life. I was tired of pretending to be straight, and I didn't think I was ever going to find a guy I could fall in love with."

Ryan hugged Greg more tightly against him, resting his cheek against the softness of his boyfriend's hair. Greg's words tugged at his heartstrings; he hated to think that the man he loved had ever been unhappy, or had ever felt that he would always be alone.

He was thankful beyond words that he'd come into Greg's life when the man he loved had needed him most; he had been able to save Greg from the thought of spending his life alone. He couldn't bear to think that Greg had been that lonely, that he'd ever felt so alone.

His lover would never feel that way again, Ryan vowed, closing his eyes and inhaling the soft scent of Greg's hair. He would always be here by Greg's side, loving him, supporting him in every way. He would never be alone, never have to feel that he had no one to lean on or to love him.

"My life changed the day I met you," he whispered against Greg's hair. "I didn't know if making a move was the right thing to do at the time, but I know that if neither one of us had done it, we were both going to regret not taking that chance for the rest of our lives."

"I don't even want to think about what my life would be like without us being the way we are now," Greg declared, a shudder going through his slim body. "I can't imagine working with you and just being friends. That would never have worked for me. I'd have always wanted you."

"I've wanted you since the first second I saw you," Ryan murmured, correcting himself a moment later. "I didn't just want you, Greg. I fell in love with you in that first second. That was all it took to know that you were the love of my life and that I couldn't live without you."

"Funny, because that's exactly how I felt," Greg said, his voice very soft. "And that's how I'll always feel, Ry. I'm just glad that one of us decided to make that first move, because without it, there's no telling where we might be now. I just hope that we'd have eventually ended up together."

"I believe we would have," Ryan told him, smiling as he raised one hand to stroke his fingers through Greg's hair. "I don't think anything could have kept us apart, Greg. We were meant to be with each other. Destiny, if that's how you want to look at it."

Greg nodded, his dark eyes misty when he looked up at Ryan again. "And we'll always be together," he whispered, his words echoing what Ryan felt in his heart. "Our destiny isn't going to change. We're both right where we belong. Where we'll always be."

Ryan could only nod; his throat had tightened too much for him to speak. He reached for Greg's hand, twining their fingers together and squeezing gently -- just as Wolfie bounded up to them with a stick and dropped it, barking and wagging his tail.

Both Greg and Ryan sat up, laughing at the puppy's antics and throwing the stick for him to chase as they both got to their feet. No matter who had made the first move, it had brought them to where they were now, Ryan thought with a smile -- and he couldn't be happier.

***