<div dir="auto"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Mission: Lights, Camera….Action?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Day: 1</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Stardate: 2446.01.01/2025.06.30</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">(Toronto, Canada - Kyle & Genevieve's apartment - CSO Lt Erin Cortez/Genevieve Rhodes - 1620)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">After speaking with the detective the doctor at the hospital had recommended, Erin walked around the flat for a few minutes. Not knowing what to do, she wandered into the bathroom and stood at the sink.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Sighing heavily, she turned on the faucet and leant forward, splashing water on her face. ~I still don’t know what this place is. How are we here? I… part of me likes the way I feel here. Respected, liked and no-one questions me. People look up to me. Back home, I'm a wreck.~ she thought to herself as she grabbed a towel and wiped her face dry.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Looking in the mirror, she saw her face and shook her head. "What are you thinking?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~you know exactly what you are thinking but you just don't want to admit it. You like it here and, quite frankly, who could blame you?~ The voice in her mind posed.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Looking at herself, the face in the mirror smiled. "Gen…. But how?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Well, I'm part of you. Always have been and always will be. I'm the side of you that is carefree. So, no surprise you got my life here, is it?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Stepping back a step, Erin closed her eyes. "It's finally happened. I've lost it."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"No you haven't lost it. Although, with the amount of shit you've been through, it wouldn't be surprising if you did. No, this isn't you. You have my life so, of course I'm gonna check in. Look, I play you on the show. I know you. You want this life more than you are admitting even to yourself. This is your dream. "</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Erin shook her head. "You don't know me.." she started and then stopped. This voice, this woman, did know her and she was right. She did want this life. She had felt for a long time, that she wasn't respected, not really. She knew what some of the crew thought about her. But, she loved the Exeter and her crew. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"See, I knew it. You want to stay and who could blame you."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Knowing that she was almost talking to herself in a sense, Erin took a breath, "I… love my job but here…"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Here, you are liked, respected… no-one thinks you're crazy. That girl, Jamie. You felt it then. The feeling of respect. I get it. After playing you for a season, I can understand why this life here would be alluring."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"That's one word for it. No-one second guesses you here. No-one looks at you and thinks there's the girl that is so damaged she can't be with anyone."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Oh hunny, don't think like that. You have friends."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"Friends. I do but they have their own problems. They don't need mine too."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"I can understand why you would think that. If you want this life, that's your choice. It's always been your choice. I'm always here. Always been a part of you. You just need to own it."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Erin closed her eyes, took in a deep breath and said, "I want it."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">(Reply none)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"times new roman";background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">(Posted by Jackie)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;background-color:#ffffff;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p></div>