Title: Under Wraps
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Ryan Wolfe
Fandom: CSI: Vegas/CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Table: 3, csi50
Prompt: 2, Awkward
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.

***

Greg closed his eyes as he leaned back in the chair at his office desk, feeling tired and drained. He couldn't remember ever feeling such a sense of relief; now that Santos was behind bars and Ryan's plan had worked, he could finally let himself relax.

All the tension was slowly draining out of him, but he couldn't feel completely at ease until he and Ryan were at home, safely behind closed doors. He still had to be on his guard here at work; he couldn't let anyone know just how deep his feelings for his partner went.

It was so awkward at times, having to put up such a front at work. Greg wished with all of his heart that the idiotic rule about people who worked on the same shift not being able to date wold be abolished; it didn't make any sense to him, or to anyone else.

Of course, it could cause trouble if a couple who worked together had a messy breakup, he thought, but that wouldn't apply to himself and Ryan. The two of them were always going to be together; they might not always work together, but they would always be a couple.

He hated not being able to shout his feelings for Ryan from the rooftops, to have to hold himself back from expressing those feelings whenever he and Ryan were together. He always felt as if there were a million eyes on them at work, eyes that sought to expose them.

Greg was sure that Nick already knew how close he and Ryan were; he'd been able to tell that when they had rescued Ryan from that icebox and he'd freaked out when they had found his boyfriend. It would have been obvious to Nick that they were more than just work colleagues.

But Nick had kept quiet about whatever he might know. He wasn't the kind of person to rain on their parade; Nick had wanted him to find somebody for a long time, and his friend would be happy for them. He wasn't going to be the one to expose their relationship.

If Sara had been the one to find out .... Greg shuddered at the thought, pushing it away. Sara would have been the first person to run to Ecklie, insisting that Ryan be moved to another shift. She would claim that she only wanted to "play by the rules."

But as Greg -- and everyone else -- knew, she was bitter about Gil leaving the team; she hated being so far away from him, and she took it out on the people around her. She would be happy to keep Greg from working with his boyfriend, if she knew they were together.

Not only that, but Ecklie would have a fit if he knew that two of his CSIs who worked together were having a personal relationship outside of work. Especially two CSIs who were partners. He'd send one of them to day shift immediately if he even guessed.

So he couldn't talk to anyone at work about how relieved he was that Ryan's plan had gone off without a hitch, and his lover hadn't been harmed. There was no one who he could pour his heart out to about how terrified he'd been that something was going to go wrong.

He could talk to his colleagues about his fears for Ryan, of course. But he'd have to make it seem that his concern was merely that of one close friend for another, not that of a person who would lose the love of their life if the plan had been ripped to shreds.

He wanted so badly to be able to tell Ryan exactly how he felt, to wrap his arms around his boyfriend and rest his head on Ryan's shoulder, to let him know just how relieved he was that there had been no harm done, and that Ryan was back with him, safe and sound.

It wasn't fair that he had to hold back those feelings, that he couldn't let Ryan know them here and now, instead of having to wait until they got home, Greg thought resentfully. It just made things more awkward for them at work -- as if they didn't have enough problems already.

Everyone in the lab had commented on both of their promise rings, now that Ryan had begun wearing his on his finger. It had come as a surprise to them that Greg was involved with man -- but it had seemed to be even more so for them to know that Ryan was as well.

Greg was surprised that no one had confronted them with the question of whether or not they were seeing each other; after all, it was obvious that they were close, even though they tried their best to make it seem as though they were just good friends and working partners, and nothing more.

It was a good thing that nobody had questioned their relationship -- or even seemed to notice, Greg told himself. He was surprised that they hadn't; he'd expected Hodges to start asking questions long ago, or even Henry, even though the DNA tech could be oblivious sometimes.

Even Archie hadn't noticed, and Greg had been so sure that he noticed all of the relationships in the lab. But maybe he didn't think of paying attention to the closeness between two people who were partners at work and, as such, had obviously developed a bond.

If their colleagues had noticed, it would make working together a lot more awkward -- and make working with the other people in the lab a lot harder, too. There would have been too many questions that they might not have been able to answer easily.

As it was, he could only be glad that their true feelings for each other hadn't come out publicly, and that they'd been able to hold themselves back from expressing those emotions. But it was getting harder and harder to do so; Greg didn't know how much longer he could keep up that front.

What would they do if either of them inadvertently let that mask slip and revealed their true feelings about each other? What would happen if their relationship ever came to light, and they had to face a future of not being able to work by each other's sides?

Greg hoped that it wouldn't come to that. He hoped that they would be able to keep their emotions under wraps, even though it was hard for them both. They had to, if they wanted to keep working together. They couldn't afford to be honest about their personal lives.

They would face a lot of awkward moments in the future, he was sure; there would be times when it would be harder than ever not to let their feelings show, times when they would become caught up in the emotion of the moment and be tempted to throw caution to the winds.

But they would. They had to, Greg told himself with a sigh, getting up from his chair and stretching his arms above his head. He was going to go find Ryan, wherever he was in the lab. And when they got home, he was going to show his boyfriend exactly how he felt, in no uncertain terms.

***