Title: The Heart Knows
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Ryan Wolfe
Fandom: CSI: Las Vegas /CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Table: 1drabble
Prompt: 32, Cherry
Warning: on-going series
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.

***

"Does it bother you that I wasn't cherry the first time we made love?"

Greg's question took Ryan by surprise; he blinked, lifting his head from the pillow and staring at his boyfriend. "Why would you ask me that, Greg?"

Greg shook his head, color flaring in his cheeks. "I just .... wondered if you would have liked to be my first," he mumbled, looking shamefaced. "It doesn't matter to me that you'd had other lovers before me. I just wish you could have been the first man I'd been with."

Ryan rolled over onto his side, taking Greg's hand and bringing it to his lips, kissing his lover's fingertips and gazing into those dark, soulful eyes.

He knew exactly what he wanted to say.

"Greg, if you had been a virgin, it wouldn't have made the slightest bit of difference to me," he said softly, cupping Greg's cheek gently. "I just didn't matter to me."

"I just ...." Greg looked down, blushing again. "I feel like you're the only man I ever want to have touched me. And this might sound a little silly, but the way I see it, you're really my only lover. The first time I had sex, it wasn't something that I wanted. You know that."

Ryan nodded, wishing that he could do or say something to alleviate the pain that he knew Greg had to feel by talking about his horrific first experience.

"I wish you'd been the only man who had ever touched me, that I didn't have that black spot in my past," Greg finished, his voice barely a whisper. "That's all."

Ryan shook his head, pulilng him boyfriend close against him and holding him tightly. "Greg, if you had been cherry, I'd have loved you just as much, and have been just as gentle with you," he began, choosing his words carefully, cradling Greg in his gentle embrace.

"It didn't matter to me that you'd been with somebody else, especially not after I knew what had happened," he said. "I love you, baby, no matter what your past was like."

He was rewarded with a smile from Greg, that beautiful smile that he loved.

"We both had lives before we met each other, baby," he said soft, bowing his head to press a gentle kiss against Greg's parted lips. "But you're the only one for me."

"And you for me," Greg answered, his voice very soft and loving. "I knew in my heart that it didn't matter to you whether I'd been cherry or not, Ry. I just .... I guess I wanted to hear it in words. I needed the reassurance. But my heart always knew. And it always will."

"And my heart will always know that we're meant for each other," Ryan whispered as he pulled Greg close against him and ran a hand down the other man's back.

Within seconds, they were no longer thinking of anything but each other.

***