Does it matter?

She nodded and Drake continued.

"Next I'm going to give you Mrs. Ashcroft's memories. I've been told this process isn't as unpleasant as personality changes." He once again lowered his face and the room fell silent.

Claire braced herself again, but no surge came. She watched the fixer work, wondering if something was going wrong. Finally he looked up again and spoke. "Tell us how you feel now."

She shrugged. "Not any different, to tell the truth. This whole business seems a tad melodramatic."

"Please try to stay in Claire's personality." he instructed politely. "I think that will help stabilize you as we perform more work. Who was your 4th grade teacher?"

The question caught her off guard. "Mr. Danielson. No, wait, Mrs. Morrigan. Wait, am I- what's the- I've got her memories!" She laughed. "Holy shit, this woman has had a lot more sex than you'd think! She just gave a hot waiter a handjob last weekend. What was his name? It started with a T."

"Very good. More importantly, do you remember who you are and why you're here?"

The answer came effortlessly. "I'm Claire Eisen, and I'm here to sedu- wait a minute, I shouldn't be telling you that!"

"That's right. Never forget it, but never say it either. Now, the next few pieces are going to be very difficult for you. I'm going to try to coach you through them but you'll have to work with me. Most importantly, you have to hold on to Claire. Ok? You're Claire Eisen. You'll be other things too, but never forget that you're Claire Eisen. Now, are you ready to take on Mrs. Ashcroft's mind?"

She nodded and he began to concentrate again. This felt less like an onslaught and more like a slow drip. Like she was being poured into an undersized container. No, she thought, like something's being poured into me. She felt herself trickle into... herself? Finally, the flow ended abruptly and she took stock of her mind. The men in the room were staring at her, and of course they were. In a dress like this- well, she'd never worn a dress like this because she never had the body for it.

But she did! She had the body right now! Or at least the form. She stared ruefully at the lump of material on the bed. That used to be her! Or Mrs. Ashcroft. And now this other person had taken-

"Claire!" She was snapped out of her reverie by that handsome man. Drake. He was Drake, and he was helping her... helping her do what? She was supposed to spy on someone but-

"Claire!" He was snapping at her now, trying to get her attention. She scowled.

"What? What the fuck is it?" She was shocked to hear that kind of language coming out of her own mouth, except it wasn't her mouth.

"Tell me your name, please."

"C-Claire. Claire Eisen."

"And what do you do?"

She laughed. "Oh, what don't I do? I have a number of bird sanc-"

"Wrong. Claire, what do you do?"

"I'm- I'm an agent. I infiltrate. I'm infiltrating tonight."

He patted her hand condescendingly reassuringly. "You are, Claire. Now, just one more little thing before you go. I need to give you this new identity."

A new identity? Oh no, that sounded horrible. After everything she'd been through already, Rachel didn't know if she could handle that.

"I don't think-"