A/N: Only this story, any original characters and the basic idea are mine. Any and all fictional characters included in this story are the property of their respective owners. I just borrowed them for a brief cameo and some fun. No harm, no foul.

Prologue – How it all started

Looking back now, I can see where it all began. It actually started much earlier than I thought, but the warning signs were innocuous, seemingly unimportant until placed in context.

I had always been an imaginative child. From an early age I was a voracious reader, actually not very surprising in my family. In fact, you could call it a compulsion. Any chance I had, I had to read, whether it was books in the bathroom, or even the back of cereal boxes. At times I would even steal peeks into other people's books if I didn't have one of my own with me. That usually didn't happen since I was always careful to keep a book on me for any spare moment.

But this vast appreciation didn't stop with books. I watched television and movies avidly. I could remember whole plot lines, minor characters, and quotable lines long after viewing with startling accuracy. What can I say? It's a talent. A good parlour trick, but not very useful! Ah well, it meant that I had a large cache of useless information to call upon at any opportunity.

Well, with this background, it's not surprising that, by age 30, I had consumed a staggering amount of pop culture, from all range of media. Unfortunately this also included music. To a lesser degree, I could, without even trying, pick up tunes and lyrics with the first listen. For crying out loud, I was my own jukebox!

At some point, perhaps it was inevitable, that it would try to take over. The question was, would I realize it when it happened, and would I fight it or embrace it?

My name is Loretta Gowain and this is the story of how pop culture took over my life.