Issey woke up around 11 and found herself covered under a soft blanket from the back of the living room sofa. She wandered inside and found Darren in his bathroom, door open, wearing sweatpants and nothing else, taking out his contacts.

"I'm sorry about earlier, very unprofessional of me. I swear I've never done that before."

The smile was a light in his eyes before it reached his lips, "I'm honored to be your first. You needed that sleep." He put his glasses on and put away his toothbrush in his case.

"Not just the sleep, the talk, I'm not usually so …"

"Open? I appreciated it; your process is pretty fascinating. If you're gonna ask me to trust you then I'm gonna expect the same from you." He squeezed her shoulder, "You want to go to bed, start fresh in the morning, or are you going to make good on your promise to work me all night?"

They left the bathroom, she stopped at her bedroom door, "We have too much to do and my little nap cost us time we don't have, sorry but we have to work. Let me get into something more comfortable and I'll meet you out there."

She showed up a few minutes later on the deck, he had dimmed the lights almost completely so they were just in moonlight. She was in cookie monster sleep pants and a white tank top. "Cookie Monster, excellent choice! Seriously though with the hair?"

She reached up and felt the bun on her head. "What about my hair?"

"Do you never just take it down?"

"I didn't think about it. I wear it down, I just happened to have it up today."

"Please?"

She laughed "Earn it."

"Challenge accepted, where do we start?"

"Silly Love Songs, you want me to play?"

"Yeah, you play." He stood facing her and she went right into it. They ran it through a couple of times, her coaching him past the places where he would strain his throat rather than just opening up to the notes. When she had the tone where she wanted it she began on the nuances.

It was somewhere around 3:30 in the morning and she found herself with her hand flush against his (naked) stomach trying to get him to understand the sound she was looking for, where he needed to breathe from. They had done Raise Your Glass and returned to Silly Love Songs. He took his glasses off and rubbed at his eyes, clearly getting frustrated.

"You aren't feeling me." She stood up, stretched and took his hand. Close your eyes and follow me. He laughed a little and closed his eyes, "Wake me if I start sleepwalking."

The suite was dark but she knew her way. She pushed open the door to her room and backed in holding both of Darren's hands in her own. "Keep your eyes closed, it's important." The room was pitch black, opening his eyes would have done him no good but it was the experience that mattered. She took his right hand and opened his fingers with her own. Flattening his palm she placed it against the cool, smooth, black lacquered wall, inlayed with abalone shell. She took the other hand and curled his fingers around the dark, crushed velvet of the curtains, realizing she had trapped herself within his arms.

"Sing it." She placed her back to him and tapped the hand against the wall with a fingertip, "Smooth here, cool, hard, almost slippery. Match it with your voice." He started to sing and hit the tone, exactly as she'd wanted; smiling in the dark she removed her finger, "Keep singing, normal tone." He continued, softly, in her ear, his breath warm on the back of her neck. When he reached the right portion of the song she slid her fingers around his left hand and encouraged him to feel the velvet on his skin. "Just like this, make it happen with your voice." He did, and it was exquisite.

Just as he finished the song, arms still on either side of her, eyes still closed, he felt her hair fall, as she removed it from the bun and backed closer to him. It tickled his shoulders, whispered by his chest. He wrapped his left arm around her, pulling her into him, using his right to brace them away from the wall and let his lips rest on the soft skin where her neck gave way to shoulder. He didn't kiss her, just, breathed with her, enjoying her slight tremble, holding her.

Issey allowed it for longer than she should have but then took his hand from its place on her stomach and side stepped away. "That was perfect. You do that on stage they'll be putty in your hands. I think I'd better let you sleep."

She walked him to the door of her room and tried not to see the look in his eyes. He left, but then returned knocking softly. She didn't open the door; she needed to regain her composure before facing him again. "Yeah?"

"Hey Issey? Thank you. You are the strangest teacher I've ever had, but Jesus, I love what you do."

"We'll see how much you love it at 8 in the morning. We're starting with Teenage Dream. Be up by 7:30, no coffee, no tea, and no milk."

Then she flipped open her laptop and started watching video of her next victim.