"Well, we're here," Claire told Justin who was feeling a little queasy from his trip.

The sensation of travelling across dimensions like this was not pleasant for the living, and she was very grateful she didn't have to go through that. She could walk through worlds the way she could walk through a room (or through walls). She supposed that would be kind of neat if it wasn't always about work.

"Cool." He tried not to retch and surveyed his surroundings, recognising the hotel suite. It was incredibly quiet, which he took to mean that the two of them were out somewhere. He was very grateful for that, because if they were out in public it was far less likely that they were having sex. "So… you think this'll work?"

"I was impressed with her coming up with it," Claire nodded encouragingly. "I don't see why it won't, it's not breaking any rules I can think of. Just remember there's only so long you can keep her here before somebody notices she's missing, and she's probably going to be freaked. Also, you better be prepared for her to… well…"

"Not believe me?"

Claire had to nod in response. Renee probably wasn't going to take too long to understand where they had brought her, having been through this before. She was, however, probably going to take some convincing about the whole body swap notion - it wasn't like you could check souls the way you could check fingerprints. He would probably have to work to persuade her of his real identity, and Claire couldn't help Justin with that because she wouldn't become visible until Renee believed it on a significant enough level. She didn't have to completely believe it, but she needed to feel it somewhere within. He had his work cut out for him.

"Do you want me to wait here with you or do you want me to go wait outside or something? I'll be able to hear you when you call."

"Outside would be good, thanks."

"Okay." She straightened his collar and then patted his arm. "Good luck."

"Okay…"

Justin took a deep breath as his ghostly pal exited the room via the wall. He was oddly nervous. He had done his best with his alter ego's wardrobe to put together an outfit that was more his style; he wanted to make himself more familiar to her. The shirt however was a little tight around the collar and the sweater vest was a slightly odd shade of teal. After their trip to the store he had actually been able to purchase a decent shaver and was looking much neater, but he felt oddly nervous about Renee setting eyes on him.

Possibly he was fixating on his appearance because it saved him fretting about what he actually had to say.

It was the waiting that was killing him. Claire had warned him to wait until she was back in the suite before wishing for her presence; they didn't know where she was, and they couldn't risk having her vanish in front of witnesses. The clock out in the corridor had informed them that it was already 2am. Between him, Renee and Claire they had worked out that later was probably better because it gave them a better chance that she was safely ensconced in the hotel room, but unfortunately it wasn't to be. He was also very aware that the other world's Renee was probably waiting up and wondering what was happening, and he was hoping he wouldn't have to keep her waiting for answers.

Finally his wish came true - no necklace required - and a very dishevelled Renee and Justin stumbled through the door. He couldn't help narrowing his eyes in a hateful glare; he thoroughly resented the fact that somebody else was wearing his body and putting his hands all over his girlfriend. He surmised that they must have been out to a party or maybe a club: Renee was in party gear and they both looked mildly sweaty.

"I'm so ready to crash," an obviously drunk Justin announced. He hoped he had a nasty hangover. "You coming to bed?"

"Gotta get my make up off first."

The observing Justin couldn't help smiling; one thing he had never been able to do was get Renee into bed until after her make up came off. She claimed it was bad for her skin and bad for the pillow cases if she neglected to remove it. It was also fortuitous; with any luck his body snatcher pal would become completely unconscious before he noticed that Renee was taking her time in the bathroom.

"Okay…" He glowered as he watched the guy kiss his girlfriend's bare neck. "Hurry back now."

As soon as the bedroom door closed behind him, Justin immediately grabbed hold of the wretched piece of onyx around his neck and began rubbing fervently.

"I wish the Renee I'm watching was in this dimension with me right now."

Well… it didn't hurt to be specific, even if it didn't make for a good sentence. It was a very odd thing to watch - Renee never moved a step, it was unnecessary for the wish, but the air seemed to shimmer around her the way it did if you stared into the horizon on a really hot day. Her fingers flew to her stomach, clutching at it, and for a moment he felt guilty putting her through the nausea of this type of travel.

Finally the shimmer faded away and Renee's hand was instead clapped to her mouth instead of her stomach.

"God, I only had three drinks…" she muttered to herself, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment before letting them flutter back open. Justin's heart skipped a beat as she finally seemed to catch sight of him.

"Uhh, babe, how did you get back here so fast… wait, you changed? Why?"

"Renee?" He spoke softly, almost inaudibly.

"Justin?" She answered sarcastically, wondering how he'd managed to sober up so fast. In fact, wait a moment, was it just her or was he more closely shaven than he had been thirty seconds ago?

"Try and touch something, baby."

"Okay, did you smoke something with JC and Tyler while I was at the bar?" The brunette couldn't help her nervous laugh. She knew he'd been a bit off kilter for the last few days but this was the strangest occurrence yet. It was a fairly rapid turn-around; he'd been perfectly normal a few seconds ago. Well, he had been drunk, but normally.

"Just do it, please."

Purely to shut him up, she blandly reached out for the lamp on the table. It was quite a surprise when her hand went straight through it. Calmly, slowly and deliberately, she attempted it again and still got a fistful of air. She couldn't believe it. Plainly magic had entered her life once again and she was not happy about it. She'd had her fill the first time.

"Okay, I'll bite." Renee tossed her head defiantly and Justin almost had to smirk at how sexy he found it. He obviously had issues. "Clearly somebody's been working the mojo. Where am I and who are you?"

"To answer your first question…" Justin stuffed his hands in his pockets nervously and shuffled his feet, feeling entirely like an adolescent school boy trying to talk his way out of detention. "We're in this weird dimension where you can watch things, but like you can't touch stuff and people can't see or hear you. As for the second…"

"Why do I have this horrible feeling I know the answer to this question?" Renee folded her arms across herself nervously, a lump in her throat. If he was who she thought he was, she had never thought she would see him again.

He shook his head fervently. "Oh you really don't."

"Enlighten me."

He stepped closer and closer to her, until he was towering right over her petite frame. Justin picked up her small hands in his, and he thought he felt a little tremble in them. Much as she tried not to meet his gaze, her eyes couldn't help being drawn back to his cerulean orbs and looking straight at him.

"I'm your boyfriend."

"No," she responded shortly, "my drunk ass boyfriend is in the other room."

"In body…" He traced a finger across her cheek, "but definitely not in spirit."

Renee's body became rigid beneath his touch and her eyes desperately searched his face, disbelieving. "You have to be lying to me."

"He switched us, sweetheart," Justin rushed ahead with his tale, wanting to get the whole thing out before she started freaking; she had a habit of incessantly talking when she did that and it was hard to get a word in. "That necklace thing that you wish on? He kept it after you left him and he wished for me and him to switch so he's in my body. I'm your boyfriend, not him, and I haven't been with you for about four days now. You need to get him to find it in your world and switch us."

"But… no… no… you can't be my boyfriend, my boyfriend doesn't even know about that cursed damn necklace!" She whimpered pathetically, desperately trying to find some other explanation for this. The dimension hopping she could readily believe because she had done it herself, but she refused to believe she had been living with the wrong man for four days without noticing.

"I really didn't know a goddamn thing about it until I found myself landed in front of your pal Claire, who is fine by the way," he told her with an inappropriately perky tone. "She'd come see you herself but until you accept that the dude in there is not who he says he is, you won't be able to see her. You remember how that works, right?"

"Okay, alright."

Renee pushed his hands away from her frame and stepped backwards, dragging her fingers through her dance snarled hair and trying to calm down long enough to have a coherent thought. Clearly the dimension hopping part of what he had said was true. However, she had absolutely no guarantee that this guy wasn't the other world's Justin trying to pull some weird stunt on her.

She didn't like to think that he would. In the three weeks she had spent with him she'd like to think she had seen a better person than that, but she could trust nothing right now. For all she knew, if she just believed this guy she might play right into whatever he was doing. It would make sense that the other Justin knew about Claire and the necklace when her Justin shouldn't (since she refused to ever tell him such crazy sounding stuff).

"So, if you're my Justin… what's the name of my first album?"

"Broken Promises," he replied promptly.

"Correct…" she told him begrudgingly before realising that he could have just looked that up somehow. "No, wait, anybody could know that… my mom's name… no, course not, don't be a dumb bitch Renee… what's the name of JC's new album?"

"Trick question, he hasn't named it yet."

"Very good. Okay, next question…"

She couldn't have sounded less thrilled that he'd got it right, but to be fair this had to be strange for her. He determined right then that he was not going to hold any of this behaviour against her. Despite the fact it was mildly irritating that she hadn't immediately seen the real him on looking into his eyes… or something like that. Justin didn't like to hurry her, but he was anxious about time.

"Try something about our relationship, baby. Something only you and I would know."

"No calling me baby until we've ascertained your identity, buster." Renee told him off, pacing across the floor. She was surprised she hadn't worn a hole in the carpet yet, she hadn't stopped her nervous walking since she had pushed him away. "Alright, how many times did you ask me out?"

"God, did YOU even keep track of the number of times I asked you out?" He couldn't resist the snort which escaped his mouth.

"Oh. Fair point." Her mouth pursed in a frown, until light dawned on her face and she rephrased the question. "Which is my favourite of the ways you asked me out?"

"Umm…"

Justin scratched the back of his head nervously. He hadn't expected her to come up with any stumpers, but this was actually a pretty hard question. He really had asked her out a zillion different ways (some more creative than others) and if she had even told him which had been her favourite he had most surely forgotten it.

"To be honest I'm not even sure you told me. I know it wasn't that whole thing with the flyers on your windshield because you looked really embarrassed about it…umm…" He really was struggling with an answer.

"You seemed to think that Garfield thing I e-mailed you was funny, and I know you still have the t-shirt I had made… I left you a lot of really dumb voice mails, and I had Trace call up your PA for that whole my people call your people and let's do lunch shit…"

Mild panic was beginning to set in. He'd been so doggedly and pathetically persistent in his pursuit of her that he really had asked her out an incredible number of times. It had happened so often, in fact, that Nick and Trace had tried to pull an intervention on him. With concerned faces they had told him that he was only setting himself for more rejection, her answer wasn't going to change and that the obsession was reaching Fatal Attraction proportions at an alarming rate. He'd proven them wrong, but the number of attempts it had taken meant that Justin had forgotten half the methods he'd unsuccessfully tried.

"Shit, you know what, I don't know what your favourite was. What I can tell you is that my favourite other than the time you finally said yes was the time that I invited you to my house for a party and there wasn't one and it took you like ten minutes to realise that nobody else was going to turn up. Anybody else would have had a bitch fit but you just laughed and told me I should be in restraints on a psych ward, and then we had a beer."

Now Renee's hands really were trembling. First they wanted to fold defensively across her stomach, then they were tugging at her hair in disbelief and stress and then they were covering her face and nose, trying to help her control her ragged breathing. There was absolutely no choice but to believe him now. There was no way in hell anybody but him could have possibly known about any of those things (with the exception of some Kinko's employee in the case of the flyers). There was too much detail, too many of the different methods described, and more to the point she had seen the way he looked at her when he said it.

That was the look her boyfriend always gave her. That was the odd thing that had been missing for the last four days - the last four days' worth of strange behaviour that suddenly meant all too much sense. It made a horrible, sickening sense. There was not a single part of her being which was happy with this conclusion. She really didn't want to believe it, but unfortunately she was going to have to.

"Oh God." Renee couldn't choke any more out before she had rushed at him and thrown her arms around his back, chest shuddering with every breath as she tried to comprehend what had just happened. "Baby…"

Justin for his part was squeezing her with superhuman force, his face buried in her neck as he inhaled deeply, almost trying to breathe her in. Renee's hands shakily made his way to his face, whereupon she tilted her face towards his and gave him a few swift, worried kisses before hiding her face in his chest once more.

"Oh God… are you okay?" Her fingers clutched at handfuls of his sweater. "I'm so sorry, I should have known. Did you… God you must have been so freaked, I know I was… have you been okay, nothing bad happened?" She was babbling, unable to quite take control of herself.

"I'm okay, baby, I'm okay." He kissed her temple, rubbing his hands over her back and trying to soothe her. "I was really freaked but Claire's been helping me understand everything. I even met the other Renee and I told her what happened and she's told me some stuff too, I was just worried about you and what he was doing in my… God, baby, please tell me you haven't…"

"Haven't…?" She looked up at his face and his terrified expression immediately tipped her off. "Oh no, thank fuck no." She clutched at him even tighter, dropping a few more reassuring kisses on his mouth. "You… he's been acting really strange and I thought it was weird but I just figured you were in a funny mood. Oh thank God... oh my God, what if I had…"

Renee's arms tightened around his neck to the point where he almost couldn't breathe, but Justin couldn't really say he cared. He hoisted her up and let her wrap her legs around him, holding her as tight as he could. He just wanted as much of her in his embrace as possible. For her part, she was filled with a gut wrenching guilt which she was trying to purge through hugging; of all people, you'd think she'd be able to spot a soul swap when she saw one.

"You didn't baby, and that's all I care about."

"I'm going to fucking kill him," she squeaked. "What's he trying to pull?"

"I don't know, but if he thinks he's having you he's got another thing coming," Justin replied darkly. "You have to get that necklace back and make him switch, baby, before this stupid three weeks is up."

"Oh, shit…" She unhooked her legs and let her body slide down his slowly, eyes staring into the distance. "I put it away somewhere, umm… shit, I put it in the attic at my mom's, and when my folks split up she took some and Dad took some and they gave some back to me… it could be anywhere."

"Well, start looking."

"I will, I will. Fuck, J, why is this happening? Everything was so damn perfect…"

"I know baby, I know."

Justin once again wrapped her up in a hug, gripping her body as close to his as he could manage and running his fingers through her hair. Guiltily he thought about how blasé he had been about such things, how he had taken it for granted that his girlfriend was there and his to hold. Well, that was going to change as soon as he got his own body back.

"Claire?" He called out. "I think she can see you now!"

"Claire?"

Renee's head immediately shot up and started looking around at her surroundings, and she gasped a little when she saw her dead best friend walk through the wall in a chunky knit sweater and sweatpants. Whatever doubt had been left was now officially gone; she knew Claire would never have colluded with such a rouse.

"Renee?" Claire ventured hopefully.

"Oh yeah, I can see you," she replied faintly.

"Hey." Claire strode on over and Renee was shocked by the very solid way in which she reached out to give her a quick hug. "How you doing honey?"

"You're… you weren't before…"

"Oh, the solid thing." Claire smiled weakly at her. "Kind of like a promotion. Seriously, are you okay? I'm so sorry about this, I feel totally responsible."

"How?"

"She was giving the bastard a guided tour of our life and he decided he liked it a little too much." Justin responded with a touch of bitterness.

"He tried to do the switch but was sloppy with his wish and won a guided tour by me instead," Claire elaborated. "I was hoping he'd get his answers that way and be satisfied. I really wasn't shy about telling him what a bad idea it all was, but he blindsided me and made a much more exact wish just when I thought he was ready to go home."

"So what do we do now?" Renee asked.

Claire straightened up with a battle ready gleam in her dark eyes. "You can see me now, which helps. You and I are just gonna have to tag team him and convince him he doesn't want to stay. I think if he sees you've realised who he is and want him gone that should help."

"Okay, I can do that." She nodded affirmatively, trying not to worry about the fact that her boyfriend's destiny now depended on her powers of persuasion.

"Great… umm… Justin, I hate to cut this short but… I really ought to put you guys back."

"What?" Her more alive friend immediately reached straight back out for the man in question and began to cling. "But…"

"Ten minutes?" Justin looked towards Claire with pleading eyes.

She might have been able to resist him, but she certainly couldn't stay firm in the face of her obviously distraught best friend. Renee looked positively panicked by the whole thing, and she figured that insisting they separate immediately would be too much. Claire knew that they, unlike the other Justin, would heed her advice - oddly enough that made her far less bothered about them doing so. Ten minutes probably wouldn't make too much difference either way. She nodded briefly at Justin, and then tactfully disappeared back out into the hall.

Renee was involuntarily shuddering in her boyfriend's arms, looking fairly wild eyed. "How am I supposed to go back in there? I have to go get into a BED with him…"

"It's okay." Once again he kissed her temple, rubbing her arms in what he hoped was a reassuring motion. "You're just going to sleep, that's all, and you can kick him out onto the sofa tomorrow. At least you know now. I don't care just so long as you know and I know you won't let him touch you…"

She made an indeterminate squeak which might have been trying to be words.

"Just do your best, convince him to make the wish and I'll be back with you before you know it baby."

"What if I can't?" Tears began slipping from her eyes, which he immediately began wiping away with his thumbs.

"Hey, my girl can do anything." With a manly sniff, he gave her a sad smile. "That's why I love her."

Renee tried to smile back at him, but when she opened her mouth to speak the words weren't coming out in the way she wanted them to - they were too quiet and worried. "I love you too."

"So, uhh…" He couldn't help a small, wry smirk. "What was your favourite way I asked you out?"

She ducked behind a sheet of dark hair, looking a little sheepish. "Don't actually have one - you asked me out a whole lot and I think it'd take me like a year to even start narrowing it down. I just wanted to see what you'd say."

Deciding that there wasn't much left to say, Justin took the opportunity to swoop on in and give his girlfriend a much deeper kiss. He was hoping he'd be able to pull this little trick again but he really wasn't sure he'd be allowed and it was entirely possible this was the last kiss he'd be getting for a while - maybe ever, if Renee failed to find the necklace or convince the interloper to go home. They had about eight minutes left, and he was going to make them count. Feverishly she kissed him back, barely stopping for air. Both were trying vainly to meld their bodies together somehow, as if that could somehow prevent the magic separating them again, but that certainly wasn't to be.

He was going to kiss his lips raw if he had to, he was not letting go of her until the last possible second.