Title: Uneasy Feeling
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Mike Keppler
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Rating: PG-13
Table: 1, 52_challenge
Prompt: 53, Writer's Choice - Premonition
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 Mike Keppler, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Greg frowned as he closed his locker; somehow, he had the feeling that today wasn't going to be a good day. He couldn't help feeling that a premonition loomed in the air, a feeling of doom unlike anything he'd ever felt before. It gave him the creeps.

He couldn't help feeling that there was trouble brewing, and that it gathered around Mike. His boyfriend had been distant and reticent lately; he didn't know why, and it bothered him. He didn't think it was anything he had said or done, but still, it made him worry.

He would talk to Mike about it tomorrow, when he got off work, and find out what was going on. It was Mike's day during the week to be off work; they would be able to sleep in, and Greg was sure that he'd be able to stay up for a few hours after he got home.

They needed to talk about so many things; they needed to plan for their future, now that they were an engaged couple. His hand went to the necklace that he wore under his shirt, fingers touching the ring that was at the end of the chain.

Mike actually wanted to marry him. It was still hard for him to believe that; he'd never thought of himself as being the kind of guy anyone would want to marry and spend their entire life with. And for someone like Mike to want a life with him .... well, it defied reality.

But it was real. Mike loved him, and had proposed to him. The ring that he kept hidden on that chain around his neck proved it. They were going to be together, to spend the rest of their lives as a loving couple. Just the thought of it made him smile.

Mike Keppler loved him. How many other people cast longing looks at Mike, wondering who he was with and why they weren't lucky enough for it to be them? His boyfriend -- no, his fiancée, he corrected himself -- was an incredibly attractive man.

And he had chosen Greg, of all the people he could have been with. He actually wanted them to have a life together, a life filled with love and happiness. Greg was sure that they could make that life work, and that neither of them would ever have any regrets.

Still, there were times when Mike seemed to brood so much; Greg couldn't help wondering if he was having any second thoughts about having chosen to spend the rest of his life with him. But when he'd asked Mike about it, the answer had been a resounding no.

He didn't want to think that Mike could have second thoughts, that he could in any way regret the decision he'd made. He wanted Mike to be happy with him, to be able to throw off whatever was in his past that made him so melancholy at times.

Greg wanted to make the rest of Mike's life as happy and joyful as it could be; he sensed that his boyfriend hadn't had a lot of joy in his life before, even though Mike never talked about it. But he would change all that. He would make Mike happy.

He loved to see Mike smile, loved to see those dark eyes sparkle with laughter. He wanted to see that smile, that sparkle, every day for the rest of their lives. He wanted to wake to that smile, and go to sleep with it in his mind's eye.

What was it in his past that made Mike so sad? Greg wasn't sure that he wanted to know, and it didn't feel right to ask. Some things were private; if Mike wanted him to know about his past, then he would talk about it. If he wasn't ready to talk yet, then Greg respected that.

He didn't want to push. He knew how he would feel if Mike suddenly started asking a lot of questions about is past -- though in truth, there wasn't much to tell. Still, he would feel as though he was being forced into talking about something he'd rather let stay in the past.

He wasn't going to press Mike for answers. There were some secrets that should stay buried, some past occurrences that should stay in the past. He didn't want that past to affect their future, though, and that was a cause of worry for him.

Greg couldn't keep back a premonition of danger, the thought that Mike's past could catch up to them in some way and harm their future. He didn't want that, either, and as much as hd didn't want to push his lover to talk about the past, he couldn't help feeling that maybe he should.

What if there was something in Mike's past that could crop up to hurt them in the future? What if there was something that he needed to know that Mike didn't want to talk about? He didn't think that was the case, but the worry was there, at the back of his mind.

If there was something in Mike's past that he should know about, something that could affect them both down the line, then he wanted it out in the open. He wouldn't love Mike less because of it; in fact, he was sure that it would only make him love his boyfriend even more.

Whatever those secrets were, Mike would talk about them when he was ready, and not before. Greg knew better than to push him on that subject; he already knew that Mike was the kind of man who would pull away if he was pressured.

That was the last thing he wanted to do. He wanted the two of them to be happy together, to have a future that was assured. If he pushed Mike too much about the past, then that future might disappear into thin air; Greg didn't think he could deal with that happening.

So he wouldn't push, he told himself, though he still felt reluctant about that decision. What it there was something that he needed to know, and he didn't ask about it? If something happened because of that, then he would have only himself to blame.

But pushing wasn't going to get him anywhere. Not with Mike. He would have to simply be patient and calm, to sit back and let Mike reveal those secrets about his past when he was good and ready to do it. That was the only way to go.

That premonition of disaster still felt like it was hanging over his head, though, a veritable sword of Damocles, ready to break free from the tiny string that held it and come plummeting down in the center of their world, knocking everything out of kilter.

Greg sighed softly, shaking his head, trying to push that premonition away form him. It wouldn't do him any good to worry about it; all it would do was distract him from doing his job well, and he couldn't have that. He had to focus on his work while he was here.

That was hard to do, when this premonition that some kind of horrible disaster was waiting for them just around the corner wouldn't go away. But there was nothing he could do about that uneasy feeling; if it wouldn't go away, he would just have to ignore it as best he could.

Greg turned away from his locker and headed out into the hallway, to find Grissom and see what he would be doing tonight. He had only just come in to work, and he couldn't wait for the night to be over; something told him that he needed to talk to Mike very soon.

***