AUTHOR'S NOTE: I do not own anything having to do with CSI. Maybe one day…

I've been wanting to write a fanfic for awhile. Never really had the time… So first one! Reviews are always appreciated; positive or negative.

I have tried to "research" all I can, but I am human and fallible.

ENJOY!

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Kate twiddled her thumbs nervously. Perhaps leaving Louisiana had not been the best idea. She hated the heat, yet she chose to go to school in a state equally as hot to the one she had left. She slipped into thoughts of how cool New York is around this time of the year when the door opened to the lecture hall and in strode a tall, dark haired man. The loud class hushed when the door slammed behind him, and he looked up at the class with an almost embarrassed look and cleared his throat gently.

"Excuse me," he said in a voice slightly higher than a whisper.

He made his way over to the high table that served as an instructor's podium and gently set down a canvas bag. Reaching in, he withdrew a black binder and flipped through it wordlessly. For a few moments, the class watched him closely, waiting for him to begin. When he didn't, soft whispers began to rise throughout the room. Kate took that time to study the young man. He appeared to be in his late twenties, and he had an amusing way of furrowing his brow and wrinkling his nose as he shifted through the papers that made Kate smile. She had just begun studying the way his dark, curly hair laid haphazardly on top of his head when he looked up abruptly, making Kate jump out of her thoughts, and slightly out of her seat.

"My name is Gil Grissom," he said. "Dr. Abrahams had an appointment he had to attend to and asked me to do a guest lecture." He shuffled the papers from the binder absentmindedly, then abandoned them on the table and walked around to the front of it.

"I graduated from UCLA about…" he cocked his head to one side, "six years ago." He crossed his arms and leaned back against the table in an effort to look laid-back. His obvious lack of experience at being laid-back made the effort uncomfortable, and Kate grinned as he shifted nervously. He cleared his throat again.

"After graduating, I got a job with the LA's coroner's office. Uh, but before I went to school, I did some unofficial internship type work with the coroner's office."

The lecture passed quickly for Kate, which was unusual. Most of her professors were very dry, and Mr. Grissom was definitely dry. But there was something about the passion he put into the subject that helped keep Kate's attention. She responded with smiles when he attempted to joke and nods when he recanted an interesting story. She had to force herself to let her gaze rest anywhere other than on Grissom's face when she realized she was bordering on creepy. She silently thanked her obsessive habit of sitting in the front row as she studied his blue eyes and the cute way his brow furrowed when he was recalling a bit of information. His eyes radiated a sense of loneliness and sadness that made Kate feel deeply for him. Before he was halfway into his lecture, Kate knew she would have to make the effort to meet him. When the class began to shift and put their notes away, Grissom noticed the universal student "bell" and began to wrap his lecture up, finishing his story about cockroaches and their various uses in society. Kate stood and walked the few feet from her desk to the instructor's podium where he stood as he shoved the unused papers back into the black binder, and then the black binder into the canvas bag.

"Excuse me," Kate said.

Grissom turned at the sound of her voice and stared at her, surprised.

"Mr. Grissom," she began," my name is Kaitlyn Reilly. Your lecture was really interesting."

"Really?" Grissom said with a smile. "You like entomology?"

She returned the smile.

"Not particularly. Bugs kind of give me the creeps. I mean…I think they are fascinating when it comes to forensics. And they are extremely beneficial…"

Grissom smiled and shoved his hands in his pockets, waiting for her to continue.

"Anyway, I was wondering if you'd like to get a cup of coffee or something so I can pick your brain about, you know, the coroner's officer and entomology."

"Oh, so you like the body aspect of forensics?" Grissom asked.

Kate paused and shook her head slightly.

"Uh, no, actually…" she paused again, and struggled to keep the conversation going when a confused expression brushed over his visage. "I like the evidence aspect. I like the chemistry and physics and such."

Grissom nodded.

"Coffee sounds good," he replied tentatively. He had never been asked out before and was unsure of how to react. She moved toward the door, and he picked up his bag and flung it over his shoulder as he followed her out of the classroom.

Once outside the class, Kate stopped and stared at him. He stared back.

"I don't actually know where any coffee places are around here," she admitted, giving him a small smile. "I'm a freshman from out of state."

Grissom nodded wordlessly and motioned for her to follow him. They walked without conversation for a few blocks to a small café nestled in the back of the monolithic UCLA library.