I had hoped to sleep in, but Mikey woke me like a five year old on Christmas morning.

I scowled and wiped the sleep from my eyes while he kneeled next to me atop my covers nearly bouncing with excitement.

“...What?....” I grumbled groggily. “More shark stuff?”

Mikey just grinned from ear to ear shaking his head 'No' and thrust his iPad in my face.

It was an online video of the previous day's E.T.

When I arrived at the hotel ballroom, I found no signage or indication that anything was going on inside beyond the two burly guys in tuxedos bookending the doors. As I walked up to the door, they each slid to the side, coming together to block the door. One produced a clipboard, and I announced “Ka...”

The guy looked up at me, then to his bookend, who gave him a glare like 'you have to ask?'. The bookend stepped aside and clipboard guy quickly followed betraying the trace of a sheepish look.

I actually managed to doze before we hit Hawaii. I found myself resisting Dennis' gentle nudge. Then his annoyingly coy whispering – blowing actually – in my ear. I was too sleepy to recognize his playfulness, so at the time it only registered as mild annoyance. I kept trying to flick his face from my ear as he blew into it like a roadie testing a microphone.

“Helooooo. Yoo hoo..... Earth to sleepyhead..... wakey wakey.....” blow blow blow. Nudge nudge nudge. “Rise and shine baby. We're here.” I felt him lean in really close as he whispered “Time to get laid.”

Things were settling into a groove. ...or actually a set of parallel grooves. Life was kind of mellow and comfortably predictable. Until finally Colin saved up enough and he and Kesey set back out on the road.

And I found myself in jail.

I was in the lobby of the spa 'waiting for my ride'.

In truth, my ride was discreetly nearby, waiting for ME. And I was waiting for Matt. I had given him the address and he had assured me that he would be here shortly.

While I was thumbing through an old issue of Conde Nast Traveler, my phone chirped.

It was Matt. He was outside. Apparently once he saw that the address I had given him was a beauty spa, he decided that he could not step inside. I shook my head and chuckled at the thought. I texted for our car and then texted Matt.

Mikey was quiet and somewhat sullen as we walked outside to wait for our limo. I squeezed him into a close hug.

“I know you think this is the end. It's just the end of your coming out. Your introduction. You made impressions in there. So when you come back in act two, the players will recognize you as one of their own.”

Mikey looked up at me. “Do you really believe that?”

I nodded to him and turned to Dennis, who also nodded.

“I'm family, so I'm biased. ...AND... I'm here only because you let me be your plus one on your contest prize.”

The limo was waiting when we landed downtown. Apparently Dennis called in a favor from Haute-Shot's bank, so we got to use their rooftop pad. On the way to the restaurant, I had a chance to brief the guys.

While Mikey and I were trolling the internet for customs, cultures and quirks of the various countries we would be visiting, my phone chirped with a text.

I figured it would be Dez, although I considered it might be Eoin or Kirk. A little voice in the back of my head thought it could even be Bianca.

Nope.

I swallowed hard when I saw the 203 area code.

What the hell happened?

I quickly excused myself from Mikey and curled up into a chair in the corner where I cradled the phone between my folded knees and texted her back.

Agave was a trendy yet casual place that seemed to specialize in locally sourced food. The menu was heavy on salads, veggie burgers and vegan fare, - very L.A. - but there was some dairy fish and local poultry, so our group of college students could indulge in items that almost tasted like junk-food if they were so inclined. While I think most of our crowd would have been happier with hot wings or burgers and fries from In & Out, they didn't grumble much about the healthy fare. I think they were just tickled that Eoin and I had invited them all out for a victory meal.

It was the most marvelous dream. It was like a Disney film. I was in the arms of a handsome prince being rescued from whatever spell I had been put under by the evil queen. I let out a happy little moan and sighed contentedly. I had the desire to open my eyes, tinged with the reluctance that it would mark the end of the dream and I would find myself back in my bed. I reluctantly cracked them open, squinting into the eyes of my handsome prince. Thank God, the dream wasn't over yet. I shivered with anticipation at what would come next.

“Are you alright ma'am?”

On the ride back to Casa Keller, I had time to brood over my latest near-miss with Doctor Dale. I also had time to calm down and think of ways to 'make lemonade'.

When I got home, after catching up with Dennis and Mikey, and dishing not nearly enough to satisfy them, about the soundtrack rehearsal and especially the star-fest that was the Ciregna tribute, I excused myself for a light lunch and a long soak in the Jacuzzi.

All the while, I was scheming ways to get together with Doctor Dale before we left for Asia.

Dennis had arranged for Hauteshot's on-call pilot to pick me up in a Jet Ranger the company had on retainer and whisk me to L.A. for Katherine's series of meetings.

I was sitting at Katherine's breakfast station, savoring a steaming half-caf macchiato and watching Marta the housekeeper out of the corner of my eye. She was staring at me when she thought I wasn't looking. I considered having fun with this game of peekaboo, but I figured I'd already toyed with peoples perceptions of Katherine enough, and I definitely should not start messing with the house staff.

Still, something had to give. So I finally caught Marta in one of her stares and, by my stern look, dared her to look away.

I believe I was genuinely surprised ...although maybe a small part of me went 'Aha!' when it turned out to be the gawky nerd I'd 'Kanyed' at the Piracy Conference.

Jared Kaltmarsh was apparently Valleywag's new 'it kid'. The darling of all the angel investors and 'the next Zuck' according to all the cool kids in tech bubble land.

For the officially anointed Golden Child, he was quite sweet and unassuming. And for a math whiz, he seemed pretty clueless about money.

By the time we got back to the hotel it was pretty late. I had an email from Mikey asking me to wake him up and tell him how the pirate stunt went. I decided to let him sleep, knowing there would probably be some third party coverage by morning, with that many tech folks in one room, my speech was probably already on You Tube.

I asked Dennis whether he thought it was too late to call Doctor Dale. He seemed to think the call could wait until morning.

So I had all sleepless night to toss and turn and wonder what Doctor Dale wanted to discuss.

While I scrambled to come up with a way to break free of this intolerably perky social appendage, Ani proceeded to show me every square inch of wine country and beyond.

We arrived in L.A. and dropped off Dr Dale. Matt headed back to school and I thought Dennis, Mikey and I were headed back to Monterey. However, Dennis informed me that I had a meeting with Dez, Katherine's agent Lorne Cullen and some studio execs before heading home.

The European tour was nearly finished, but after I filled Dennis in on Matt's discovery, he collaborated with me to feign a severe case of what seemed to be norovirus, and Katherine – and her entourage – were excused from the last 10 days of the press tour, to take the gulfstream back home and recuperate. ...also sparing the rest of the company from coming in contact with this possibly highly contagious digestive scourge.

As much as I was becoming obsessed with the woman whose life I was living, I became immersed in the nearly fulltime job of being the public face of Katherine Keller.

One of the highlights of our European tour was a hastily improvised performance after a chance meeting with a principal of the Vienna Light Orchestra, a group of serious classical musicians who do 'popular music' in an orchestral tradition to introduce general audiences to the experience of classical music.

We had to curtail our fox and hound games for the European leg of the press tour. The studio spared no expense. We flew private across Europe as if we were some diplomatic entourage or a ceremonial royal family of some sort... and in a way we were. Right or wrong, in the minds of a lot of the general public, celebrity is the new royalty, only without any deference. Everyone was waiting for us to trip-up.

Our merry band of travelers, reassembled for this leg, was quite impressed at the chartered plane, though I knew it was in large part to spare me from airport scanners.