Title: Black Roses
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Nick Stokes
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Rating: PG-13
Table: 5_prompts, Month of November challenge
Prompt: Day 30 - Look who's back
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 Nick Stokes, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Greg closed his eyes, leaning his head against the couch cushions, listening for Nick's key in the door. He'd had the day off today, but his boyfriend was working on a case that was keeping him at the crime lab past the time he should have been home.

He'd driven Greg home and made sure that he was safely in the house before he'd gone back to work; Nick was always very assiduous about making sure that Greg didn't go anywhere alone. He insisted that it was better to be safe than sorry, with Shane still in the wind.

Greg sighed, wondering if his ex-boyfriend was ever going to be brought to justice for all that he'd done. He was more than willing to testify to all that Shane had done to him in a court of law, even if it would be one of the most harrowing experiences he'd ever been through.

Nothing could be as bad as what Shane had done to him, he thought, shuddering at the remembrance. But all of that was over now; he was safe here, with Nick. Shane would never be a part of his life again; all that remained was to catch him and put him behind bars.

That was where he belonged, Greg told himself, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. He was sure that he hadn't been Shane's only victim; there were probably other people that he'd used and thrown away, other lives he had tried to wreck.

He didn't belong in society, not with the way he treated people. He would be better off kept away from the majority of the world, in a place where he wouldn't have a chance to hurt anyone again. But somehow, Greg couldn't help feeling that Shane would find a way.

Shane was the kind of person who always had to feel that he was stronger than those around him. Greg felt sorry for the men he would end up in prison with; there were bound to be at least a few of them who would be victimized by that bastard.

But there was nothing he could do about that, just as there was nothing he could do to change the past. It was over and done with, and he had Nick now. Nick was going to keep him safe; Shane wouldn't be able to get to him and threaten him, or hurt him, again.

He'd hated to move out of his apartment, because it had almost felt as though he was giving up a part of his independence. It had been so hard to achieve that independence; even now, his mother still wanted to protect him in every possible way.

It had been such a big step for him to move out, have his own place, feel that he was free of any of those restrictions that had been placed on him when he lived at home. Going to college had been his first taste of that freedom, and then living in New York.

He hadn't wanted to give up that freedom when he'd come here to Vegas. But even though he hadn't felt that he really wanted to give up his apartment, it had meant that he would be living with Nick. It had meant that their relationship would be solidified.

He'd done a lot of thinking about that, and had decided that in the end, moving in here and giving up his own place was more than worth it. He felt safe here, and Nick's house had felt more like home even from those first days he'd stayed here than his own apartment ever had.

Did he miss having his own apartment? Greg asked himself with a small smile. Maybe in some ways, but he much preferred being here. It felt right, in a way that living by himself somehow never had. He felt as if he had always been meant to live here.

He raised his head from the cushions when he thought he heard a step outside the door; in a few seconds, he would hear the key turning in the lock, and Nick would come in, smiling and sitting down beside him to let him snuggle into those strong, protective arms.

But Nick didn't come in; there was no key in the lock, no words of greeting. Greg strained to hear what might be going on outside, but all was silent; it was as though someone had been there, and then left. He didn't think there was anybody out there now.

Getting up, he went to the door, hesitating before he opened it. What if Shane was out there, waiting for him, knowing that Nick had worked late today? It probably wouldn't be that hard for his former boyfriend to spy on them; he might very well know every move they made.

Taking a deep breath, Greg told himself that he couldn't hide from Shane forever. Sooner or later, they would come face to face again -- though he did hope that it wouldn't be now, when he was so completely unprepared for that meeting.

He pulled open the door -- to find that there was no one there. Taking a step forward, Greg looked up and down the street; there was nothing out of the ordinary, no strange cars parked on the street, no one that he hadn't seen a dozen times since he'd moved here.

When he looked down, Greg caught his breath, the color draining from his face. There, on the porch, lay a bouquet of roses -- roses that had died, shriveled, and gone black. They were nothing more than dry, crumbling corpses of the flowers they had once been.

There was no note, but he didn't need one to realize who had left them here. Shane. He had always said that black roses were the only kind of flowers he liked; this was a sign that he intended to come roaring back into Greg's life with a vengeance.

It had to be Shane who had left these black, dead roses here. Shane had been on the porch, only a few feet away from him -- and he hadn't had a clue. He hadn't known that the man who had put him through so much pain was so close at hand.

For just a moment, he felt faint, almost as though he was going to pitch forward onto his face and pass out cold. But the second of dizziness passed; slowly, he bent to pick up the bouquet of dead flowers, though he wanted to recoil and not touch them.

Shane had come back into Greg's life unnoticed, slipping through the cracks, even though all the people around Greg thought they'd been keeping a lookout for him. He had managed to evade those watching eyes -- and he'd gotten too close for comfort.

Greg shivered as he picked up the roses, wishing that he didn't have to touch them -- then let them drop from his hand as Nick's truck turned the corner into their street. He had to talk to Nick, tell him what had happened. And from there, they would decide what they should do next.

***