Title: Never Enough Time
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: gen - Greg Sanders
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Ryan Wolfe, unfortunately, just borrowing him for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Time. That was one thing that he couldn't have enough of.

Greg drew back from the lab table, wiping a forearm across his cheek. He had been squinting into a microscope for what felt like hours now, with no results.

He loved his job, but sometimes it could be so frustrating to look at something for so long and not come up with any new ideas, only more confusion.

He had to step back from this case, maybe take a break for a while, and try to come back to it with a new perspective, he told himself firmly. He should take a break for lunch, maybe, and then come back in half an hour. Maybe he would be struck by some new inspiration in that time.

The problem was, he didn't really have time to take a break, and he wasn't hungry. So lunch really wasn't what he needed to do right now.

What he needed, he thought as he rested his chin on his hand, was to have Nick back in Vegas again. The place just wasn't the same without him.

He missed his best friend more than he'd thought he would.

Of course, Nick wasn't all that far away. It was a fairly long drive to San Diego, but it could be a weekend trip. And he really wanted to spend some time with his best buddy.

They called each other every week, and it was always good to hear Nick's voice. Somehow, it almost felt as though he was right there, in the same room, or not so far away.

And sometimes it felt as though he'd lost his anchor, the closest person to him. He and Nick had never been involved romantically, even though Greg had thought about it at times. But he was closer to Nick than he'd ever been to any of his lovers. Nick was someone he trusted completely.

He felt the same way about Sara, but there was no one else in his life other than the two of them who he considered a best friend, almost like family.

There was no one else who he trusted in the way that he could trust the two of them. And losing Nick to another CSI team had felt like a huge blow.

But Nick was happy, and he was doing what he felt that he needed to do. He wanted to advance in his career, and no one had really lost him, Greg reminded himself. He was only a phone call away, and few hours' drive. He came back to Vegas to see them. They wouldn't lose touch.

Would there ever come a day when they didn't have the time to see each other, to be there for each other when they were needed? Greg sincerely hoped not.

If that day ever came, it would be a sad one indeed. He couldn't imagine them not having enough time for each other, no matter how busy their lives might get.

Nick would always be there for them. And they'd always have Nick's back.

If only Nick was here right now, Greg thought wistfully. He would be able to look at this with fresh eyes, give him some new ideas, a new way of seeing things.

That was an impossibility, he told himself. Nick wasn't here, and he couldn't depend on others to do his work for him. He had to figure this out on his own, and he could do it.

He just needed time to do that -- time that he felt he didn't have. Every second that ticked by on the clock made him feel that he needed to get back to work, to stop standing here and brooding. He had to take a deep breath, look into that microscope again, and wait for the mists to clear.

They would, he was sure. They always did. He was a good CSI, and he would get to the bottom of this, no matter how long it might take him to do so.

There might never be enough time for him to take things slowly, but he was used to that. He could cope with it. He just needed to back away for a while, to clear his head and think more rationally.

Taking a deep breath, he straightened up and turned away from the lab table.

He had told himself that he would get lunch, and that was exactly what he would do. And maybe he would even ask for a little help. That was always a good thing.

Stripping off the lab coat, Greg left the room, heading for Sara's office. He was going to ask her for some help, and hope that her fresh take on things would give him a breakthrough.

***