The day I met him, it was a shock to find that I was in love at first sight. From the very first time I saw him - I wandered into the lecture hall early, to find a handsome man standing at the front, behind the podium, sorting through some papers.

He glanced up at me, and we made eye contact. I froze as I looked into his eyes. Cool blue, and so piercing. I looked down at the floor and shuffled quickly over to take a seat in the third row from the front.

I could feel his eyes on me, but I didn't dare look up. I knew I was blushing, and it didn't help that as I pulled my notebook from my bag, papers flew everywhere, and I cursed quietly, standing up to collect them.

A moment later, I felt his presence near to me, and I glanced round to find that he had begun to help me pick up my papers.

I stood up straight, and he glanced up at me, crouched down, getting my papers up off the floor.

We looked into eachother's eyes, and he paused before standing up, handing me my papers, and waiting until I had slotted them away before saying softly, " I'm Gil Grissom..."

" Yeah, I know," I smiled slightly, gesturing to the screen behind the podium that had, in big letters, the words ' Dr. Gilbert Grissom - Applying Entomological Timelines to Forensic Science."

" Oh," he too looked behind him, nodding slightly.

" I'm Sara Sidle," I replied quietly, and he gave a crooked half-smile, which I thought was just amazingly adorable, and gently shook my hands.

I smiled as I looked into his eyes. This man was definitely an enigma. He looked so serious and rough, but he had manners. He spoke in a soft, welcoming voice, and he had a gentle touch.

During the lecture, I couldn't help myself from grinning. When Dr. Gilbert Grissom spoke about insects and such like, his face lit up, and he made it all so interesting - he wasn't like a lot of my other lecturers, who literally had students falling asleep at the back of the hall.

After the lecture, I stayed seated until everybody else had gone, and I was gathering my things together when I heard him ask loudly, but still with a softness to his voice, " Have you got a question?"

" Uh, yeah, actually," I nodded " I have a few."

Once I had finished asking him all my questions, and once he had had a chance to answer them all, he paused, gazing at me intently, before stating, " I also have a question."

I looked up at him, and he took this as a signal to carry on.

" May I take you out for some coffee?" he asked.

I gasped, and then nodded. " Sure..."

" Fantastic," he gave me a boyish smile. " Just let me gather everything together and we can..."

" I know a great little coffee place down the road," I said.

" Oh, sure," he nodded.

" Their coffee keeps me awake during many a night," I added.

He chuckled softly, quietly gathering his things together.

" I mean, sometimes I can just go straight through a night without getting tired at all, but whenever I do need a little boost, instead of doing what normal people would do, and going to bed, I have a quick walk down the road and grab a coffee. They open all night, you see," I gushed. I knew I was over-talking - I always seemed to do that when I was around certain people. I still do that to this day, although mainly only around certain entomologists...

So that day, we went for a coffee. I found out that he was originally from California, here for a month, this being the end of his firdt week. He told me all about his work - of course, he didn't have to explain who he was and how important a role he had, I already knew all that from reading articles about him.

We talked and talked, it was as if we were long lost friends, and then that night, he walked me to my room just off-campus, and as we said good-night, he proposed that we went out for dinner the next week.

I agreed, and that's where my endlessly deep love for Gilbert Grissom stemmed from. That one day, that one coffee, that one dinner proposal...