I'm glad other late-comers like myself keep bumping up this thread.
I too am another of the hopelessly besotted "Gabrielle" admirers/lust-poodles. Some folks got to see Renee O'Connor on stage as Lady MacBeth this past summer, but as much as I respect and drool over Renee, my [i:0ed13894a3] love[/i:0ed13894a3] is really for Gabrielle: forever in the realm of fantasy.
As far as Kittens go, I had [i:0ed13894a3] one[/i:0ed13894a3] here (and on another board). We've become good friends and have even met. But w/ her "mostly straight" and unavailable self, [b:0ed13894a3] Friends It Is.[/b:0ed13894a3]
My most memorable RL crush was this grrl I worked w/ in a coffee house. I had only been out to myself for about a year, and she was really my "first." Man, she had me coming and going! She would go through lots of men, then regale me w/ stories about her past GFs.
After I'd known her about 6 months, we were working together on my birthday. It was a slow night. She brought me back into the dishwashing area (more romantic than it sounds!) and told me "You know I like you. But I am really starting to [b:0ed13894a3] love[/b:0ed13894a3] you. I wanted you to know that." God, I was in heaven! "G___, I'm nuts about you" I blurted.
A week later, she was back w/ her latest guy.

Still, I was smitten, and she could count on me to join her in all kinds of semi-romantic situations (like ski trips---heck, we even went hot tubbing together: just the two of us, in private).

She invited me up to her place once, but I was too scared to make a move, and she just got stoned and fell asleep. Similarly, she kissed me on the mouth at a Fourth of July picnic, but she was drunk at the time.
A few months after that, she quit the coffee house we both worked at (without telling me first). I saw her only in passing for a few more months, then I left that city for grad school.
I stopped in at her new job the day before I left town, to tell I was outta there. She got the most [i:0ed13894a3] deeee-licious[/i:0ed13894a3] grief-struck panicky look. "Oh [GG], don't leave, we have to get together!" I said "See ya," wheeled and made my most rico suave exit.
But maybe she got the last laugh: it's over 10 years later, and I haven't forgotten her.
GG [i:0ed13894a3] I have abandoned my search for truth, and am now looking for a good crush. Reciprocation preferred![/i:0ed13894a3]

Out