Title: Silver and Gold
Author: somthng__wicked
Fandom and Pairing: CSI: Vegas, David Hodges/Greg Sanders
Rating: PG
Prompt: 'Need', character study. My table can be found here.
Notes: Takes place current time in the show's canon, not that it really matters. And the pairing is mentioned only in passing. Greg's not even actually in the story. Thanks again to caten for the beta and encouragement.
Summary: A day at the mall with David Hodges.

Never in a million years did David Hodges expect to find himself in this particular situation. A steady flow of people broke around him as he stood unmoving, staring down his adversary. He should just march in there, get what he needed, and march right back out again.

If only it were that simple.

He knew the minute he stepped inside he would be assaulted by a barrage of clerks who, even now, were hovering around their counters waiting for their next victim to approach. It would be impossible to get what he had come for without talking to at least one of them.

All right, he could do this. First step: ascertain exactly where in the store he needed to go before entering. It would limit his time inside and therefore limit just how much time he'd have to spend talking to one of the dreaded sales clerks. He walked slowly around the front of the store (which was situated on a corner inside of the gaudy mall), eyes darting along the cases. He finally located the section he needed and once again came to a stop, still outside of the store.

Step two: wait for all of the clerks to become engaged with customers before actually entering the shop. That would give him at least a few minutes to look around before being harassed.

Five minutes later, David got his wish. All of the clerks were waiting on other customers, fake smiles firmly in place as they tried to milk the suckers in front of them for every possible dollar. He almost felt sorry for the person who would end up assisting him. Almost.

Taking a deep breath, David ducked his head and snuck inside. So far, so good. It didn't appear that anyone had noticed him. He moved diligently along the glass cases, coming to a stop in front of the area that contained what he wanted. Of course he hadn't quite counted on there being so many damn options. How the hell was he supposed to pick just one?

"Hello! Welcome to Goodwin's Fine Jewelry! What can I help you find today?"

David recoiled in horror at the disgustingly cheerful greeting. He lifted his eyes from the case slowly, settling his gaze on a woman who looked like a reject from one of those makeover shows that Greg watched obsessively on cable television. Her hair was a ghastly shade of blonde that had no doubt taken several applications of bleach to attain. There were so many styling products holding it in place, David thought it resembled a helmet more than an actual hairstyle. And her make-up... dear god. David wondered if she actually thought wearing that much eyeshadow made her look better. Her lips were smeared with an almost sickly shade of mauve made even worse by the perky smile that curled the corners of her mouth.

Apparently, David was taking too much time being repulsed by her. When he didn't reply right away, she continued, seemingly undaunted by his lack of response. "Are you looking for something for your girlfriend?" He could give her brownie points for noticing he wasn't wearing a wedding band, but that would involve being nice. David prided himself on the fact that he wasn't nice.

His left eye twitched at the question. Her voice was so shrill. "If I were looking for something for a girlfriend, do you honestly think I would be wasting my time looking at men's rings?" David asked in a condescending tone.

Her smile never even wavered which made David want to throttle her. Instead of cowering, or even looking suitably chastised, she merely giggled. Actually giggled. David hated giggling. Well, except maybe when Greg did it. But really, that was like comparing apples and oranges. "Of course not, silly me! So are you looking for yourself then?"

"No," his eyes dropped to the tag she was wearing, "Stacey." He'd somehow managed to make her name sound like the foulest word ever to be uttered by human lips. "I am not looking for myself."

This obviously perplexed her as her eyebrows, which were terrifyingly enough the same shade of blonde as her hair, furrowed. David wondered how she made it through the day without hurting herself. "A gift for someone?" she tried again.

Why she didn't just ask who he was shopping for, David would never know. Not that he'd necessarily tell her, of course. "Of a sort, yes," he admitted. David ignored her now, focusing back on the rings neatly on display behind the crystal clear glass.

"Your... boyfriend?" she asked, her chipper voice sounding hesitant.

David's lips pursed as he once again actually lifted his eyes to look directly at her. "Listen, Stacey, why don't you run along and bother someone else who might actually buy into your phony attitude. If I require your assistance, which is highly doubtful, I'll let you know." David hated the word 'boyfriend' even more than he hated giggling. He was forty years-old for the love of god, not a damn teenager. Besides, it was a trivial word to describe something that was anything but trivial.

Stacey blinked at him, eyes wide as her feeble brain tried to process his words and sarcastic tone. David made shooing motions with his hands. "Go on now, leave me alone," he ordered in a voice that he'd use to command a dog. David smiled smugly as her happy expression faltered and she slunk away. He loved being a bastard to people, he really did.

Now, back to the task at hand.

David glanced over the rings and frowned. He supposed the first thing he should do was decide if he wanted silver or gold. Gold was more traditional he supposed, but then again, traditional was the last word he thought of when thinking about Greg. He looked at the silver rings and felt they all just looked... cheap for some reason.

Gold it was.

He supposed he could just pick the first one he saw that didn't repulse him completely, but decided that this would require more thought than that. If he was going to have to look at it for the rest of his life, he better make damn sure the thing wasn't an eyesore. But it should definitely be something unique. Greg was unique after all. The thought made David smile.

His eyes settled on a band that was gold, but etched into the band were two thorny vines entwined with each other. David tilted his head to the side as he looked at it more closely. It seemed a fitting symbol to their relationship which hadn't exactly started off on the right foot. And even now, some three years later, things could still get a little prickly every now and again.

David looked up and around until his eyes settled on Stacey. He beckoned her over with a wave of his hand. He was pleased to see her approach him carefully.

Before she could even open her mouth to say anything, he pointed to the ring in question. "I want that ring in a size eight. How long will it take for you to order it?"

"I can have it by the end of the week," she explained, grabbing an order book before unlocking the case and grabbing the ring. She wrote down the information and took his credit card, leaving once more to go and ring up the sale.

David picked up the display and placed the ring in the palm of his hand, studying it like he would a specimen under his microscope. He was actually going to go through with this. Despite the fact that he had always told himself he was going to be bitter and alone forever. David doubted he'd ever stop being bitter completely, but now he knew he'd never have to worry about being alone again.

It was a pretty nice feeling.