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In Julia Riley's family there were two tenets. If inclined, which most were, the children went into the medical field. At a suitable age, which was given to the individual to decide as long as it was under 35, they got engaged, and married as soon as possible, providing grandchildren. For Julia, the first was a lot easier to achieve than the second.

Medical school wasn't for her, and nursing didn't feel right. After looking at her options, she qualified as a paramedic, ending up in a job at a Boston firehouse. Her family were very happy, and even happier when she met Lieutenant Daniel McGee when she was 28. While she had been dating women in her twenties, and her parents were okay with that - they'd even had the conversations about how she and a wife could have a child together or if adoption was an option - she could almost hear the collective sigh of relief the night she brought Danny home to meet her family.

Unfortunately, while he was a wonderful man, and Riley did love him, there were some areas they just weren't compatible. They had spectacular arguments, and even more spectacular make up sex. But after five years, Riley knew that this was never going to work. It wasn't quite so fast that she got out of the relationship - they had a place together and even though she knew it wouldn't work, saying so would never be enough for Danny.

She bided her time. Took all the seminars she could, slept with women when she got the chance, even though she was terrified someone would figure out she was cheating on Danny - not that she thought of it as cheating. Then one day, she came home early from one of the seminars she'd taken to get some time away to think. She walked in on him and another woman in bed. Acting on instinct, she took pictures, and told him it was over. He accepted it, and six months later, married the woman she'd caught him with.

It was the one way for her parents to fully accept the relationship was over, and she moved back in with them immediately. She didn't make a production of it, but she began dating women exclusively, though never settling down into a relationship. Life with her parents wasn't working, but soon enough she found a woman who she enjoyed spending time with. Jules was a little older, an ex-army officer, she'd met at a party given by a mutual friend. Their chemistry was immediate. After a while, one more complaint about her parents, and she ended up accepting an offer from Jules to move in with her - while they were involved, they both knew they weren't ready for anything too deep, so Julia was given her own room and they lived as roommates, though they often ended up sharing the same bed.

While miracles are a staple of life as a paramedic, a few months ago, Julia saw something she can't explain. It was like a white sheet of light enveloped the victim she was working on, and helped her survive. She is still not sure what happened, but she's seen the same sheet of light a few times since, and she's trying to figure out exactly what it might be.