In Lori's Own Words:

I have a specific person I want to thank for the inspiration for this story, but I think I'll do that at the end where it won't give away any spoilers. I haven't forgotten them though. :) I will, however, immediately thank Luba Kmetyk for basically taking my pathetic attempts to write british, scottish and german accents and rewrite them for me so they actually sound correct. And Darqstar for some plot ideas. Thank you, ladies.