Title: Finding His Own Niche
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Rating: PG-13
Table: 5_prompts, Written in the Stars challenge
Prompt: K4, Decide what you want to achieve
Author's Note: Slight spoilers for the CSI: Vegas episode "Bloodlines."
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, unfortunately, just borrowing him for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Greg frowned down at the DNA report on his desk, wishing that it was a report from the field and not one that a machine here in the lab had given him. He'd already filled out a few field reports from the times Grissom had let him get out of the lab, and he enjoyed doing it.

It wasn't that he didn't like his job here in the lab. No, on the contrary, he loved it. But here, he was only one very small cog in a very big wheel. It was like he'd told Grissom so long ago -- when he was here, his world became much smaller. Out there, it was a lot bigger.

He wanted to move from the lab to the field. He wanted to become a CSI, working cases outside of these four walls. He enjoyed his work in the lab; he wouldn't still be here if he didn't. But lately, now that he had actually been out in the field, it felt too .... confining.

Greg couldn't really say what it was that called to him so imperatively to get out of the lab and work in the field as a CSI. Maybe it was because he wanted to be more respected by the rest of the team. Or maybe it was just because the lab didn't seem to be enough for him any more.

He knew that he would have to go through a lot of training -- but he'd already done a lot of that, and he had been told that he was good at working in the field. Surely Grissom had seen that -- and his enthusiasm for the work had to count for something, too.

It might have been enough for some people just to be allowed to get out of the lab here and there, and work out in the field on a semi-regular basis. But it wasn't enough for him. He needed more; he needed to be acknowledged as a CSI, not just a lab rat.

Propping his chin in his hands, Greg contemplated the report in front of him, wondering how he was going to convince Grissom to let him train to be a CSI, and then move out of the lab into the field. It wouldn't be easy; he knew that. Grissom was a hard man to please.

But that was how he should be, Greg told himself firmly. If he was too easy on the people who worked for him, then this wouldn't be the best crime lab in the country. He was proud to work here, in whatever capacity he could, whether in the lab or in the field.

Knowing that he was part of the best crime lab in the United States still didn't make him feel any less determined to start working full-time in the field, though. As much as he enjoyed working in DNA, he didn't want to spend his entire career here.

He couldn't keep from feeling that he was meant for more than this, that he wasn't meant to spend all of his professional life between these four walls. Other people might be satisfied with that, but he had always needed to set his goals higher, to achieve new heights.

When he had first come to the lab, he'd been amazed at how quickly he seemed to fit in. It hadn't been like that in either New York or San Francisco; New York had taken him a while to get used to, and the lab he'd worked in when he was in San Francisco had never really felt comfortable.

But here, he was a valued member of the CSI team; he'd carved out a niche for himself, one that he could stay in comfortably for years, even decades. Still, that wasn't what he wanted to do. He wanted to move ahead, to do more than he was doing now.

He was sure that Grissom would be able to understand why he wanted to move out of the lab -- he just didn't know if his boss would be willing to let him do so. And there was Ecklie to consider, too. He wouldn't want their DNA tech to leave the lab and have to hire someone else.

That was going to be a problem, Greg told himself, wincing at the thought. Hiring somebody else would be a major expense, one that Ecklie wouldn't want to deal with. Greg was absolutely sure that he wouldn't think it would be worthwhile to have another CSI on the team.

Even though they were all overworked, Ecklie would still balk at giving him the green light to move out of the lab and into the field. He was positive of that. But if anyone could talk him into it, it would be Grissom. Somehow, the boss always managed to get what he wanted.

So really, it was Grissom who he needed to convince that he could be just as much use to the crime lab -- if not more -- in the field than he could here in the lab. Besides, he would still be spending some time in the lab. He just wouldn't be here all the time.

If he could convince Grissom that he would be just as useful to the crime lab as as CSI as he was being the head DNA tech, then he would be well on his way. It took a lot of time and effort to train a CSI, and he had to make sure that Grissom knew this wasn't just a whim of his.

It wasn't, Greg assured himself. This was something that he'd been wanting to do for over three years now. He had really wanted to be a CSI from the beginning, but he had known that he was better placed in the lab when he'd first begun working here.

Now, it was time to move ahead, to do something different and expand his horizons. He had already made up his mind what he wanted to achieve -- he just had to convince his boss, as well as all the people who worked with him, that he could achieve it.

They all respected him for being a good DNA tech. He knew that. They had all encouraged him at his job, and they always praised him when he did particularly good work and helped a lot with breaking a case. For some people, that would probably have been enough.

But it wasn't enough for him. He wanted to be out there in the field, working with the other CSIs, actually being at the crime scene and discovered the evidence that was brought back to the lab to process. He wanted to be right there, in the thick of things.

Here, he was still involved with everything that went on in a case, but it didn't have that sense of immediacy, of being right there when evidence was discovered and the case was pieced together. He felt that he was missing a vital part of what working here was all about.

It was different being in the lab than being out in the field. Anyone who had done both jobs knew it. There was a sense of freedom when he was out there working on a case -- as though the whole world opened up to him in a way that it never could within these four walls.

Greg squared his shoulders, sitting back in his chair and taking a deep breath. He was going to talk to Grissom today about starting to train for a full-time position as a CSI. He wanted to find his own niche in the field too badly to keep putting that talk off.

His mind was made up about what he wanted to achieve. He wanted to get out of the lab, even though he knew that even once he became a full-fledged CSI, he would still spend a lot of time here. But he had to move forward, to step up to the next challenge in his career.

Looking up, he saw Grissom walk down the hallway past his office, looking preoccupied, as usual. Greg got to his feet, grabbing the DNA report and heading for the door. He had to talk to his boss before he lost his nerve -- and there was no time like the present.

***