After years of high emotion, confusing signals and playing hard to get, the day finally dawned when Gerry met David. But it was all a bit of an anti-climax. If anybody said they had a fantastic time, they were undoubtedly faking it.
The location couldn't have been better; Stormont Castle with its high ceilings and marbled corridors is wonderfully atmospheric. But the weather was a big let-down. A soft September morning with a hint of autumn sunshine would have been perfect.
Instead it was all rain, wind and gloomy grey skies. Not the most auspicious opening to what could be the start of a life-long relationship. Mr Trimble was evidently a little shy about his new relationship, choosing to slip in by the back door.
Not the back door for Mr Adams. He entered by the front like a man who wouldn't take no for an answer, his green ribbon fluttering in the wind. He wiped his glasses, chatted to the security guard and then addressed the media. "We're taking another important step forward," he said with a smile. Sinn Fein had a right to meet Mr Trimble and no one should be putting obstacles in that path.
There were questions about how Sinn Fein could enter government without decommissioning. When asked how the Belfast Agreement could be implemented, Mr Adams said that was a matter for Mr Trimble: "He is the legal mind. I'm only a mere punter."
A few more words and then the Sinn Fein president swept up the stairs to the room where the deed would be done, never looking back once. Alliance, the Women's Coalition and the PUP all made their way up but the DUP defiantly refused to play gooseberry. "I've business to attend to and meeting Gerry Adams isn't part of it," said Gregory Campbell.
Wasn't the DUP "already half in bed" with Sinn Fein by sitting in the Assembly and on committees with the party, one journalist inquired? That was an entirely different scenario, Mr Campbell insisted. The DUP had never been unfaithful to Ulster.
Upstairs, the business lasted just over an hour. It was, by all accounts, a polite but passionless exchange. Sources said there was no physical contact between the two main parties but a second date was arranged for Thursday which could be more intimate. No trumpets blasted as Mr Adams and Mr Trimble departed. Observers said there was no spark of chemistry between the pair even when they were only a few inches apart. But peace process romantics shouldn't lose heart. Sources close to both parties predict that, with time, they will grow on each another.