A/N: And the angst continues...don't worry, next chapter will get better. Many thanks to all who reviewed! Remember, reviews make me happy. Happiness makes me post sooner. Savvy? Usual disclaimer applies, and ONWARD!

Chapter Three

"So be kind
And don't lose your mind
Just remember that I'm your baby"

Ryan tried to calm down as he paced around the apartment, but he was finding it rather difficult. Greg was flirt; Ryan knew that. But he didn't have to flirt with any human with a pulse. Ryan wasn't the jealous type, he really wasn't; he just knew that he and Greg had to lay down some ground rules.

The door banged open and Greg stepped in, hiding something behind his back. He smiled hesitantly at Ryan before pulling a bouquet of red roses from behind his back with a flourish. "For you," he said simply.

Not even Ryan's anger could stop his heart from melting as he took the roses. He smiled slowly. "Thank you," he said. "Was there a reason for these?"

Greg grinned sheepishly. 'Well, I figured I did something to be in the doghouse, so I thought I might as well try to atone for whatever it was that I did."

Ryan's smile became quite fixed as his eyes narrowed slightly. "So you don't know what you did?" he asked, voice deceptively calm.

Greg's grin faded slightly. "No, Ryan, I don't," he said, trying not to sound exasperated. "I may joke about familial connections with the occult, but I'm not a mind reader."

Jaw clenched, Ryan turned away from Greg. "Well, if you don't know what you did, I'm not going to tell you."

Groaning loudly, Greg pinched the bridge of his nose. "Can we please not do this right now?" he pleaded. "I had a hellish day and this is not exactly helping."

Ryan whirled around to face him, eyes narrowed in anger. "Oh yeah, you had such a hard day," he said scathingly. "I don't know how you possibly managed to find time to hang out with Calleigh, Delko and Cooper."

Arching an eyebrow at him, Greg asked calmly, "Am I not allowed to have friends now? Is that what you're mad at me about?"

Ryan shrugged airily. "You should know what you did."

Greg threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "For Christ's sake, Ryan, just tell me what the Hell I did! You sound like my high school girlfriend!"

Tears welled in Ryan's eyes. "Oh, so now you're making fun of how I feel?"

Sighing, Greg stepped towards him, taking both his hands in one of his. "I'm not making fun of you, baby, I promise," he whispered, running his thumb over Ryan's cheek. "I just can't fix whatever the problem is if I don't know what it is." He looked him square in the eye. "Let me fix it, Ryan. I want to fix this."

Blushing and looking away, Ryan said quietly, "You'll think it's dumb."

"No I won't," whispered Greg. "I promise I won't."

Ryan looked back up at Greg. "Ok…I'm mad because you were flirting today."

Greg looked at Ryan and blinked. "Um…ok…" he said slowly. "Um...if you say so."

Ryan looked back at Greg, eyes growing darker in frustration. "You were," he said defensively. "You flirted an awful lot today."

"Sure," said Greg, still looking at Ryan as if he thought Ryan was hallucinating. "Um, could you…maybe tell me who I was flirting with? Cuz, um, I don't remember flirting with anyone today."

Ryan's jaw dropped open. "You don't remember flirting with anyone?" he asked incredulously. "How can you not remember flirting with anyone? You flirted with practically everyone!"

Greg fixed Ryan with his best I-don't-know-what-the-hell-you're-talking-about-but-I'm-going-to-smile-and-nod-and-pretend-I-do-anyway smile. "Ryan, hun, I'm sure you may have seen something that you misconstrued as flirting, but I promise you, I didn't consciously flirt with anyone. Maybe if you just told me who you thought I was flirting with…"

"Thought you were flirting with?" exploded Ryan, jaw tight with fury. "Ok, well how about Calleigh? And Cooper? And Delko? Hell, even Mike or Michelle or whatever he calls himself?"

Greg's eyes darkened, a dangerous sign, and he said slowly, "I'm sorry that my friendship with Calleigh and Dan and Eric and Mikey seemed like flirting to you, but I promise you, I wasn't flirting with any of them."

"Bullshit!" exclaimed Ryan. "I saw you. How about you and Calleigh in the lab, huh? And you and Cooper giggling like teenage girls over something? And what was with you fingering Delko's shirt like some girl trying to pick him up at a bar?"

Jaw clenched, Greg said calmly, but in a dangerous tone, "My working relationship with everyone may be a little lighter than yours, Ryan, but that does not mean that I was flirting with them."

"Oh, so I suppose you and Calleigh's impromptu tickling match was only so you could deliver her results, then," said Ryan scathingly.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" exploded Greg. "I didn't realize that I was under scrutiny every time I did something today. Just so you know, when I was delivering results to Horatio, our conversation didn't once stray from the case. Oh, and when I went down to talk to Alexx, I promise I wasn't trying to get in her pants."

Ryan sighed. "Greg, that's not what I meant—" he started, but Greg cut him off.

"Regardless of whether or not that's what you meant—and that's debatable at the moment—that is sure as hell what you just said," said Greg icily. He turned away and said stiffly, "I'm going out." He turned back and looked at Ryan, hurt evident in his eyes. "Just so we're clear, I'm not going to go try and hit on someone."

He grabbed his keys off the table and left, not even pausing as Ryan called, "Greg, wait!" The door slammed behind Greg and Ryan sank onto the couch, head in hands. What had he done?