Title: Seeing Things
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Gil Grissom
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Rating: PG-13
Table: Places, mission_insane
Prompt: 6, Alley
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Greg Sanders or Gil Grissom, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Greg looked up from the evidence he was collecting, making sure that Gil was near him. He was still feeling more than a little nervous about being back at work, and Ecklie had told him that it wasn't a problem for Gil to be here, since he'd worked for the crime lab before.

In fact, Ecklie seemed to be angling for Gil to come back, though Greg didn't think that was going to happen. Gil was enjoying the professorship he'd taken over at the university, and Greg was sure that he wouldn't want to go back to the stresses of working in the crime lab.

But he had to admit that it made him feel much more steady and confident to have Gil here, looking over the crime scene, and making quietly informed comments now and again. It was largely because of Gil that he was good at his job; he'd learned from the best.

There were times when he wished that Gil would come back to the crime lab, Greg thought with an inward sigh. But that would cause all kinds of problems; things had changed too much since he'd been gone, and their relationship would be the biggest problem of all.

What would it be like to have Gil back on the team? It wouldn't be good for him in a professional capacity; Ecklie would probably make him transfer to either day or swing shift, and he didn't want that. But having Gil back could only be seen as a good thing.

Still, he didn't think it would happen, Greg told himself as he bent over the evidence, picking up what looked like a charred piece of cloth and bagging it. Gil wouldn't want to come back; he was too happy with what he was currently doing.

He knew that the only reason Gil was here now was to keep an eye on him, to make sure that he was comfortable with being back on the job. He'd been shaky the first few days, and even Ecklie had said that it might be a good idea to have Gil around for a while.

Fortunately, classes weren't in session at the moment; Gil didn't teach during the summer months, so he had no problem coming to work with Greg. And the team members who had worked with him before he'd left had been all too eager to welcome him back.

By the time that Gil had to resume teaching, Greg was sure that he would be much more steady at work, and back to his old self again. But still, it would help if they could catch the men who had kidnapped and raped him -- or at least some of them.

He was still unsure as to how many of them there had been; it had seemed like a dozen, but he knew that there hadn't been that many. He could still hear their voices in his dreams; he knew that if he ever heard any one of them speak, anywhere, he would recognize the voice.

He wouldn't know most of the faces; he had only seen the three men who had taken him to that hellish place that he'd thought he would never escape from. If it hadn't been for Gil showing up when he had, he would have died there -- and his body might have never been found.

Greg's hands trembled at the thought; he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and trying to make himself relax. Those men were nowhere near him now, and he was safe. Gil was here, there were cops all around, and nothing was going to happen to him.

He would feel much safer if they were inside the house, Greg thought, looking around him cautiously. He couldn't see anyone in the alley other than Gil, and the policeman who was standing at the sidewalk to make sure that overly curious bystanders were kept away.

Was he going to feel like this at every crime scene he worked? He hoped not; he didn't want to keep being so paranoid and wondering if there were people watching him -- or even following him -- everywhere he went. Maybe it would just take a while for that feeling to go away.

Being out here in an alley was making him feel far more exposed than he liked to feel; he'd never been that way before he'd been kidnapped. Before that, he'd felt comfortable no matter where he was; now, it was as though so much about him had changed.

Gil had noticed that, too; they hadn't really talked about it, because every time his boyfriend brought the subject up, Greg had changed it hurriedly. Gil had let him do so, but Greg knew that sooner or later, his paranoia would become a topic of conversation between them.

His lover was worried about him; he knew that, but he didn't know how to reassure Gil that he would be okay -- because he wasn't certain about that himself. He was slowly putting what had happened behind him, but there were times when it still seemed far too close.

There had been so many times that he'd woken up in a cold sweat, either crying or screaming, or worse, with a silent scream stuck in throat, refusing to come out and blossom into sound. So many times when he'd wanted to run and hide, to make himself as small as possible.

Gil always held him and comforted him, but he was worried that his boyfriend would get tired of doing that eventually. Would there come a time when Gil would tell him that he was being far too paranoid, that he had to put the past behind him and move forward?

He didn't think so; Gil wasn't the kind of man who would push him to build walls around himself and try to pretend that he was all right when he wasn't. But at the same time, he knew that Gil wanted him to be able to grapple with those demons and finally put them to rest.

Lifting his head, he squinted towards the end of the alley; he could swear that there was someone else there, someone other than the cop who'd been stationed there. The person looked like a civilian, someone who shouldn't be there unless they were talking to the cop.

Greg couldn't say exactly why, but there was something about the person that made his stomach tighten, a sick feeling flooding through him. The man who was standing there looked familiar in a way that made him feel panic rising within him.

The man took a step forward as the cop moved aside -- and as he did, the glow from a streetlight fell directly across his face. Greg drew his breath in with a gasp, his eyes widening, the panic that he felt threatening to engulf him completely.

He had to struggle not to scream; he almost wanted to clamp a hand over his mouth, but he didn't. He got to his feet slowly, taking a few steps backwards to where he knew Gil was, wanting to shout out to the world at large to take that man into custody.

It was one of the men who had held him captive in that van, one of the men who had taunted him as they'd taken him to a place where he was sure he would live out the last few hours of his life. One of the men who had kidnapped and raped him was there, at the end of the alley.

Even as he stumbled backwards, one hand behind him, praying that he would touch Gil within seconds and he could whisper what he'd seen to his boyfriend, the man looked directly at him and smiled before turning and walking away, disappearing into the night.

It had been so sudden, so fleeting, that Greg wanted to convince himself he hadn't actually seen one of the men who had kidnapped and violated him. He wanted to ignore it, to pretend that it had only been a hallucination, that he was seeing things he'd conjured up out of the depths of his mind.

But it hadn't been. The man had been there, talking to the cop for a few moments. He had been here to let Greg know that they were still out there -- and that they might very well still be watching him. This wasn't over. It wouldn't be over until all of those men were behind bars.

Greg opened his mouth to scream, then he felt Gil's hand slide into his, felt his lover's presence, solid and reassuring. He turned to Gil, unable to speak for a moment, seeing the question in his boyfriend's eyes but unable to answer it.

All he could do was lean against Gil, wishing that he hadn't seen what he had. Was it better to know that he was still in their sights, or be blissfully ignorant of possible danger? He didn't know, but right now, he just wanted to forget about it all and sink into the shelter of Gil's arms.

***