Title: Someone To Lean On
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Greg Sanders/Ryan Wolfe
Fandom: CSI: Vegas/CSI: Miami
Rating: PG-13
Table: 3, csi50
Prompt: Prompt: 42, Alone
Author's Note: Continuation of Bad Idea.
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 Ryan Wolfe, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Ryan looked around him cautiously, relieved when he saw Nick strolling through the park, hands in his pockets. If he turned his head just a little further to the left, he could see Sara and Catherine sitting on a bench and talking, only a few feet away from him.

The whole team was in on his plan; everyone was trying to protect him, to watch for the man they all wanted to be put behind bars. Were they doing it for him, or for Greg? It didn't really matter; as long as they caught the guy, he would be happy.

At least Greg was safe, he reminded himself. His boyfriend was with Jim Brass, in the parking lot, waiting for anything that might happen. Nobody was going to let Greg come to any harm; they were all watching him as closely as they were watching Ryan.

All he had to do was to meet with this man, to try and get him to say or do something that was in any way threatening. Brass and his team would take care of the rest; they would make sure that they found a way to put this man behind bars and keep him there.

Then it would all be over, and he could finally let out a sigh of relief and turn his back on that particular incident from his past. He and Greg would be able to relax and breathe freely, without having to feel that their every move was being watched.

But even with the entire team trying to bring this to an end with no harm coming to either himself or Greg, Ryan still felt more alone than he ever had. He felt exposed and vulnerable, as though all eyes were on him, as though he was the proverbial fly caught in a spider's web.

He knew that to make the plan work, to capture his nemesis, he had to be the center of attention, with all eyes on him to prevent anything unforeseen from happening. But it still made him feel self-conscious -- and more alone than he had ever been in his life.

It didn't matter that so many people were trying to help him; at the moment, he still felt alone, as though he had stepped into this situation all on his own, with no one to help him and no one to fall back on in case the decisions that he made turned out to be the wrong ones.

He couldn't afford any wrong decisions, not this time. He had Greg to think about now. If he made any wrong moves, any bad decisions, they would not only reflect on him and possibly get him hurt or killed, but they could cost Greg his safety and even his life.

He wasn't going to put his boyfriend in that kind of position. No matter what happened, he would keep Greg safe, at any cost to himself. He knew that his lover wouldn't like to hear him taking that stance, but that was one thing he wasn't going to back down about.

Ryan took a deep breath, trying to squelch all the misgivings he was having about his own plan. This wasn't going to go wrong, he told himself firmly. They were going to catch this guy, and his worries about any harm coming to Greg through his past would be at an end.

He wasn't going to let anyone take Greg away from him. He had searched all of his life to find the one person who was his perfect mate, the person who made him feel complete. Now that he had found Greg, no one was going to separate them.

No matter what happened, he had to keep Greg safe, even if it meant facing his greatest fears and being in the path of danger himself. He had to risk leaving Greg alone for the rest of his life to make an effort to safeguard their future together.

Nothing was going to happen to him, Ryan told himself, wishing that his inner voice -- and conviction -- was stronger. He had the entire team watching him, looking out for him; he wasn't alone this time. This wasn't going to be anything like his previous encounter with this man.

There were so many people trying to keep him safe, or at least monitor the contact that he had with his nemesis. He had someone to lean on if he needed them; there was an entire team of CSIs and cops behind him. He wouldn't be going into this blind and unprotected.

Yet, he still felt unprepared to deal with the situation, even though this was his plan that was set into motion. He'd never felt so alone in his life, even with so many people on his side. He felt exposed, as though he had forgotten to get dressed this morning.

It was ridiculous to feel that way, he told himself sternly. He was going to be fine; this wasn't the first time that he had undertaken something dangerous in the line ot duty, though it was the first time that such danger had been this close to his personal life.

Greg was going to be fine, too. Brass would keep him safe, as would the rest of the team; they wouldn't let him run out into the middle of things if the situation took a turn for the worse. Greg wasn't licensed to carry a gun; no one was going to let him put himself into the line of fire.

He himself had years of experience on the police force behind him; he should be used to dealing with situations like this. The only reason that he felt so uncomfortable and alone in this one was that it was so close to his life with Greg, a life that couldn't be out in the open.

What if his nemesis somehow let it slip when they were talking that he knew about Ryan's relationship with Greg outside of work? Everyone knew that he and his lover were partners on a professional basis; it was their personal relationship that had to be kept under wraps.

But that was one of the dangers of this situation, one that he had been aware of when he'd formulated this plan. He had to accept whatever risks this involved as a part of the price he and Greg would pay for taking this man off the streets and putting him behind bars.

There. That was him, striding through the park as though he knew exactly where he was going. He was apparently going to take a roundabout way to get to the park bench where Ryan was sitting; he was going to make them wait, to let the tension build.

He was already on edge as it was, Ryan thought, resisting the urge to stand up and scream. He had to stay calm, and try to remind himself that he wasn't alone in this, no matter how vulnerable he might feel. He had people to lean on. He wasn't walking into this unprotected.

Taking a deep breath, he leaned back against the park bench, trying to appear nonchalant. His future, as well as Greg's, could depend on everything that happened today, and he had no intention of this going awry and making his boyfriend spend that future on his own.

***

Next story in series - Dangerous Acquaintances.