After supper, the designers had all gone back to their apartments, accompanied by the assistants. They had received the packets Heidi had mentioned, along with the HP EliteBooks they would be using. Kurt was ecstatic. He had never had a laptop with a touch screen, never even hoped to have one. It was so much better than a tablet because it also had a keyboard, so it was perfect for sketching and the blogging that the producers wanted them to do. He wanted to try it out, but that could wait until after he called his dad, and maybe a few of his friends. Marisol was in the midst of a tearful conversation with Henri, so he decided go to the lounge to give her some privacy.

He settled into an armchair in the corner of the deserted room, and pressed 'call'. "Hey, Dad!" he said cheerfully when Burt picked up.

"Kiddo, it's so good to hear your voice!"

They talked for quite a while. Kurt told Burt the cake story, and Burt told him about an incident in the garage when a customer assumed Becca didn't know how to fix his car. He thought about telling Burt about the scoring mistake, but decided that it wouldn't serve any purpose and would just get Burt upset. He talked about Annie's shepherd's pie and promised to get the recipe and make it for Burt when he got home, and he told Burt what Ernesto had tried to do for him. By the time they got off the phone, it was nearly 10:00, so Kurt sent texts to several friends to let them know he was fine and wouldn't be contacting them again for a while. He didn't know how much time he would be allowed to spend on the phone, but he intended to spend every minute of it talking to Burt.

When he got back to the apartment, Blaine was sitting in the living room alone.

"I'm sorry, Blaine. Are you waiting on me?" Kurt asked.

I'm early because I hoped to see you for a minute. "No, not at all. It isn't 10:00 yet, and I want to give everyone as much time as possible before I have to take their phones."

"Speaking of time, aren't you working awfully long hours? It seems like you don't get any time off."

I'd gladly stay longer if I could spend the time with you. "It's kind of a funny job in that respect. We work hard when we're filming, but we get lots of time off afterwards. It suits me because I live alone, so no one is missing me now, and I'm free to do whatever I want when I have time off. If I had a family, it would be different. Besides, the pay is commensurate with the amount of effort the job requires. It supports my fabulous and extensive wardrobe," he said, wiggling his eyebrows at the last part. When Blaine's phone beeped, he silenced the alarm and sighed. "This is one job I don't like. Sometime it goes well and sometimes it's terrible."

"So that's how you afford the bowties." Kurt powered off his phone and handed it to Blaine with a smile. "Do you want me to get Marisol? She was having a pretty intense conversation with her fiancé earlier. That's the reason I left -- to give her some privacy."

"Yeah, thanks. Annie let me in earlier, so she and Jen know why I'm here, but Marisol doesn't." Blaine knocked on the door of the other bedroom while Kurt went to talk to Marisol. "Annie, Jen, it's Blaine. I'm sorry, but I need to get your phones now."

Jen came out with both phones in her hand. She looked a little tearful, but there was a smile on her face. "Don't mind me, Blaine. I'm just a big baby. I don't feel too bad, though. Annie's not much better. She really misses her Mum."

"It must be hard to be so far away from home. You can tell her that you'll all have another call time soon. I'm going as soon as I get Marisol's phone, so I'll say good night."

"Night, Blaine. Will we see you tomorrow?"

"Oh, yes. We have a makeup lesson to go to. I'll be back about 8:40."

"Oh, good." Jen went back into the bedroom just as Kurt came back with Marisol's phone. "How was she?"

"She's okay. Henri's ship is leaving port tomorrow, so it will be more difficult for her to reach him."

Oh, that's rough. Poor Marisol. And poor Henri, too. "I'm glad you told me. I'll let Heidi know. If we need to schedule her calls differently to coincide with times he will be available, we can certainly do that. If we need to let her use e-mail or Skype, that's an option, too. She shouldn't have to suffer because he is serving our country. Tell her to get with me about it tomorrow." He took out his phone and made an entry on his task list.

Kurt gave Blaine a grateful smile. "That will make her feel so much better! Thank you. I'm going to bed now, so you can finally go home. See you tomorrow?"

You can count on it! "Yes. Good night." And sweet dreams.

"Good night, Blaine."

When Kurt got back into the room, Marisol was already in bed, though still awake. He was rewarded with a happy smile when he delivered Blaine's message about making sure she would be able to talk to Henri. She seemed ready to sleep, so Kurt took his packet out to the living room. The first thing he pulled out was the model dossier. His model was named Lars Svenson, and he looked like a 'Lars Svenson'. He was Scandinavian in coloring, with blond hair, blue eyes, and skin that would be fair when it wasn't tanned. He'll look good in jewel tones. His hair wasn't too long, but it was long enough that it could be styled a number of ways. He had good facial structure, but he wasn't so distinctive-looking that he would distract from the clothes. He was just under six feet tall, which was a little short for a model, but he was well-proportioned. As far as Kurt could tell from the photo, he was fit, but not too muscular. Thank goodness. I won't have to figure out how to adjust for any strange bulges. There was a short biography, but Kurt decided to read it later.

Overall, Kurt was pleased with his model. He set the dossier aside and pulled out the next sheet, which turned out to be his Internet user name and password. 'khummel okay, that's not a surprise, but what's with this password? 'bA<3kHN&f' Oh, it has a heart in it! Cool! He reached for his phone to record the information, but remembered that it was gone. Darn! I'm going to miss my phone more than I thought. He started reading over the rules and guidelines, but when he couldn't suppress the yawns any longer, he put everything back into the envelope and went to bed. He needed to be up early to meet Ernesto in the fitness center before breakfast.

When the alarm went off, Kurt put on his workout clothes, skipping most of his morning routine. There wasn't much point since he would shower after his workout. He checked his hair in the mirror before going into the kitchen.

Annie was making tea, and Jen already had coffee. There was more in the coffeemaker, so Kurt grabbed a mug and sat down at the table.

"Are you working out this morning, Kurt?" Annie asked as she filled the teapot with hot water to warm it.

"Yes, I'm meeting Ernesto there in about 15 minutes. Want to tag along?"

The teakettle began to shriek, and Annie emptied the teapot before spooning in the loose tea and refilling it with boiling water. "No, thank you! I'm not a morning person in the first place, and the last thing I want to do is exercise when I'm groggy."

Jen laughed. "It might wake you up. Not that I have any intention of going. We'll wait for you to get back, Kurt, so we can go to breakfast together."

"Thanks, Jen. That would be great. I'll see if Ernesto wants to join us, if that's okay."

"Sure! The more, the merrier. Did you guys look at your Internet passwords yet?" Annie asked.

Jen frowned. "I did. Why?"

"They don't seem to care much about security. Mine is all lower case, and it's an English word and it gives me a good hint about what yours might be."

"Oh, I see what you mean. I wonder if we can change them. I guess it doesn't matter; it's mostly just for verification. It's not like anyone can steal our identity or get into anything important with them. If you're concerned about it, though, you should ask Blaine when he gets here."

"Annie, what kind of tea is that? It smells flowery," Kurt asked.

"It's called Earl Gray, and you're smelling the bergamot."

"What's bergamot? I've never heard of it." Jen crossed the room to inhale the steam from the teapot.

"It's a citrus fruit. The tea has oil from the rind. Help yourself; I made plenty. I prefer it with milk."

Kurt finished his coffee. "I'll get some later if that's okay. I've got to run. I'll see you in about an hour."

Ernesto was talking to Mandy when Kurt got upstairs. They exchanged greetings and chose their equipment, Kurt returning to the elliptical and Ernesto jogging on the adjacent treadmill.

"What did you think of your model?" Kurt asked.

"I think I got really lucky," Ernesto replied with a big grin. "Leah reminds me of my sister. They don't have the same coloring, but they have the same eyes, and the same cute nose. Their body types are similar as well, so it will be easy for me to design for her. I just hope she's a sweet person like Serena. Her bio said she's a painter, and she volunteers with Big Brothers and Big Sisters. What about you?"

"That's great, Ernesto. I think I'm in good shape, too. I haven't read his bio yet, but Lars looks like someone I can design for, and his complexion suits my color pallet, although it looks like he either spends quite a bit of time outdoors or in a tanning bed."

"What do you think about the talent show? Are you going to perform?"

"I was considering it. I was in glee club in high school, so if I do anything, it will be singing. What about you?"

"I play a few instruments. I don't know if anyone would be interested, though."

"The whole idea is for us to get to know each other better. I think you should perform. What do you play?"

"Mostly woodwinds -- bassoon, oboe, and clarinet. Banjo, too, but not as well."

"Wow, that's a lot! A bassoon is that tall wooden instrument, right?"

"Yes. It's a double reed, like the oboe. I played the woodwinds in band, but the banjo was just for fun. Andrew says he's going to do a stand-up routine."

"Oh, that will be priceless! You should have heard him talking about his lost luggage. It was hysterical! Is he in your apartment?"

"Yes, he's my roommate. I heard you're in with the girls."

"Yeah, I'm sharing with Marisol. She's so sweet. I can tell she wants to mother everyone. Annie and Jen are fantastic, too. I haven't had a chance to ask Jen about her ink, but I'm sure the story will be interesting. They fixed lunch for me yesterday, and it was wonderful. I think I'll get to try food I've never eaten, since Annie's English, and Marisol is from Louisiana. I got the impression that she knows Cajun and Creole cuisine."

"You're lucky. No one in my bunch likes to cook, so we'll be eating a lot of pizza." Ernesto made a face.

"I'll make sure we have you over soon. Oh, that reminds me -- we're going downstairs for breakfast after I get back. Do you want to join us? I'll have to shower first, so it will be about 30 minutes after we get done here."

"I'd love to. Can I invite the rest of my group, Andrew, Marcel, and Ash?"

"Of course. It will be good to get to talk to them. I haven't had much chance to visit with anyone so far."

Ernesto crossed the room to use the weight machines for a while, making conversation difficult, so Kurt turned on some music and concentrated on his workout for the rest of the hour.

After he showered, Kurt and the girls went down for breakfast. The four young men were already there. Once again, the topic of conversation was the upcoming talent show. "I think Jonny plays bass guitar," said Ash. "He mentioned something about it when we went to How to Succeed. Maybe you could find enough people to put a group together, Ernesto."

"I play sax," Marcel said eagerly. "If you can play clarinet, and we get Jonny, that would almost be enough for a jazz band. I wonder if there's a percussionist around."

"Right here!" Annie chimed in. "It would be better if Jonny could play the upright bass. I wonder if he can. If not, we can probably make it work."

While Annie, Ernesto and Marcel discussed song possibilities, Marisol turned to Jen. "The only talent I have is quilting, and I don't think that would be too entertaining, so I guess I'll be playing the role of the audience in this production. What about you, Jen?"

"I was a twirler in high school. I guess I could do one of my old routines."

"A twirler? Like a dancer?"

"No, with a baton. I guess not a lot of schools have twirlers these days."

"I'm impressed, Jen. I've tried twirling and I can testify that it takes quite a bit of skill. I didn't keep a good grip on my batons and almost did some damage to the cheerleader sponsor." Kurt smiled at the memory. Sue had not been happy with him. "I guess I'll be singing. At least it doesn't involve any flying objects."

After breakfast they returned to the apartment. Kurt rushed into the bathroom to check his hair while the girls visited with Blaine in the living room, Annie sharing their plans for the talent show and receiving Blaine's assurance that a drum set could be obtained, as well as instruments for the other band members. He made a note to contact Jen's mom to get her to send Jen's batons and costume so she would have them in time to practice. "What about Kurt?"

"He said he was going to sing, but he didn't say if he needed anything," Jen replied.

“Hey Blaine, not to change the subject, but do we have to keep the Internet passwords that were assigned to us? Mine doesn't seem very secure," Annie said, "and I think I could guess other people's, so they could probably guess mine."

Blaine's eyes widened in shock, and he fought to control his expression. Did I change Kurt's password back? I don't remember. In an uncharacteristic moment of juvenile behavior when he was setting up the Internet accounts, he had played with Kurt's password. He tried frantically to remember the last one he had entered before Heidi asked him to run an errand. Let's see, 'beautifulblueeyes' was the first thing, and then it was 'iwantu', and I remember changing it to 'perfect'. He realized Annie was waiting for an answer. "Oh, sorry. I just thought of something I was supposed to do yesterday. You must not have logged in yet. The first time you connect, you'll have the opportunity to change it. You don't have to, but you can if you want." Oh, well. It's too late to do anything about it now. He doesn't know I set up the accounts, so even if it is odd, he won't suspect anything. "We need to get going. Can someone get Kurt?"