Renee lingered in the doorway of the hotel suite, watching Justin's deep and even breathing.

She wasn't sure why she was so compelled to do it, but still she did. Maybe it was her imagination, but he appeared to be sleeping a little easier. Fewer crease lines marred his forehead, and the lips didn't seem so tight. If she could see his bright blue eyes, she imagined that there would be a touch less cloud behind them. They'd had a friendly if completely frivolous and issue-ignoring chat on the plane ride back, and the mood in the suite was a lot better than the one in which they had left it.

His presence in her bed reminded her of the last hotel suite they had shared, before she had left his dimension. After he'd discovered Renee's identity he had been determinedly sleeping on the sofa, too angry with her to share a bed but too gentlemanly to kick her out of it. Finally the discomfort had won out over his pride and he had begun sleeping in the space next to her again.

Then things much more intimate than sleeping had happened.

This situation didn't strike her as entirely dissimilar. The sofa bed provided by the hotel absolutely sucked and apart from anything else, the last thing she wanted was a maid noticing it had been slept in. The break up rumours would have started before she could even blink. Before she had been so livid with him she was willing to risk it - now she had told him he could share the master bedroom so long as he kept his distance. Justin had been more than happy with that, and had duly done so. He hadn't put a foot wrong, even coming to bed fully dressed when she knew he preferred sleeping in less.

It had been strangely easy to fall asleep in his presence; she had expected to be more uncomfortable with him in close proximity. She had still woken before he did. In the time since she had forced herself out of bed she had drunk two cups of coffee, brushed her teeth and watched some cartoons, yet still he slumbered on. Renee couldn't help wondering what he was dreaming, wondering if his dreams would shed any light on what he was thinking. Still, he was unlikely to tell her what he dreamed, so she guessed that was out. She found him oddly unfathomable.

Of course she found her own boyfriend unfathomable too, much as she disliked admitting it.

Twirling a lock of dark hair around her finger, Renee mused that this was probably the first time in her life that she wasn't in awe of Justin Timberlake - in at least some small way. When she had first met him in that alternate dimension she'd been in awe of his success and his goodness; then she had come home, met the other version and been in awe of not only that but also his incomprehensible fascination with her. She understood how pop's young ingénues had met each other at a glitzy party and had their heads turned; she still didn't quite get how some huge superstar could meet her in a studio on a day when she didn't even look cute (she'd had a nasty head cold) and be enamoured enough to spend six months shrugging off rejection.

Her Justin took risks and saw opportunities where most people saw hostile territory in a way she never could. This Justin had an incredible ability to leap without looking where she would only hesitate. Both of them seemed to see through her in a way that in some ways was reassuring and in others scary beyond all measure. There was so much about them both, about Justin Timberlake in any dimension that she wanted to understand but just didn't.

She needed to now. She needed to know what she wanted.

That was why she took a deep breath, braced herself for the unpleasant sensation of crossing dimensions and rubbed the necklace, wishing herself back into the No Man's Land where she had first been told of the JT switch.

As she landed there it didn't look any different to the hotel suite, but the way her head was spinning told her she'd got where she had asked to be. She was about to open her mouth and make another wish before a cloud of dark mist announced Claire's imminent arrival.

"Umm… what are you doing?" The ghost asked, blinking in confusion. As ever, Claire didn't go for pleasantries. "I got the big dimension moving vibes but I was damned if I knew why, so I thought I'd better check on ya."

"I need to talk to my boyfriend."

"Oh, right!" Claire slapped her own forehead. "Should've thought of that. Though, now I do think about it I'm surprised you two haven't done this more often, seeing as he worked out that clever little way for you to do it."

"I had a necklace to find and honestly I kinda think it would be salt in the wound," Renee said quietly.

"Good point, well made. Umm… do you need me or should I just…"

"Go, yeah. Thanks babe."

"Sayonara!"

Claire vanished as quickly as she had turned up, leaving a nervous Renee to gaze at the necklace. It had been but a momentary interruption, but it was enough to make her think twice. Was this really a good idea? Did she even know why she was doing this or what it would achieve? The other Justin had very little time to make his mind up and she had promised him the opportunity to make it up pressure free; was this only going to wind up being a goodbye?

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and made the wish anyway.

The air seemed to shimmer for a few seconds, and then in the blink of an eye a very surprised Justin stood half naked before her. A queasy expression masked his face and he hadn't even managed to button his jeans; she had clearly caught him in the middle of something.

"Man I can't wait until I never have to jump a dimension again," he joked weakly.

Dispensing with the traditional greeting, Renee quickly strode over to him and threw her arms around his neck, hiding her face in it - she had to stand on tip toe to do it in her bare feet. He smelt like he'd just showered, clean but without his usual cologne. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, Justin returned the hug while breathing in her hair. It was funny to him how they smelt so different, didn't even use the same perfume. Possibly if they had known they were both fixating on each other's smells, they would have laughed.

"I catch you in the middle of something?" Her voice was muffled by his skin.

"Getting dressed," he told her as he combed his fingers through her hair. "Which I see you haven't got round to yet. Cute pjs."

"Oh." For the first time she raised a smile as she remembered she was wearing cow skin print pyjamas that were far too long for her. "It was cold last night."

"It's like that in summer."

"Shut up." Her face had been pulling back from his neck, but his teasing had just sent it straight back. She had actually picked the pyjamas because she had been sharing a bed with the other Justin and they were the most unrevealing thing she had - since she normally slept in underwear or nothing.

"Hey…" Gently Justin pulled back from her so that he could take her face in his hands and make her look at him.

For a moment he chose not to speak, tracing his thumbs over her cheeks and wondering quietly to himself why his heart had started pounding a drumbeat in his chest. He had nothing to feel guilty for, right? He had been kissed, not the other way around, and he was looking at this woman now and still feeling butterflies for her. The dark hair that made her eyes pop out at him, the heart shaped face and the pink glow to her cheeks; they were familiar and felt solid to him, like they rooted him to his own life and world. That thing with the other Renee had to be a blip - that was all.

"What's up, baby? Has something happened?"

"No… yes… I don't even know, I just wanted to see you," Renee blurted out, trying not to look like she was about to burst into tears at any second. "God, I want you home."

Even as he kissed her temple and drew her back into his comforting embrace, she realised it was true. She did want him home. She wasn't sure that she wanted the other Justin to leave - which might have seemed contradictory - but she didn't think she could take much more of her boyfriend being gone.

Now it was Justin's turn to hide his face in her neck. His arms involuntarily tightened around her waist, noticing how much softer she was to hold than her skinny blonde alter ego. He felt horrible for even thinking it, but he was realising how far away his Renee and his life had become to him whilst walking in somebody else's shoes. The new world had become almost more real to him than home and he hadn't even spotted it happening. He'd started to think maybe one girl needed him more than the other…

…Until the other had wished him here and was now clinging to him as if afraid he would blow away in the non existent wind.

"How are you getting on with the necklace? Only a few more days, baby."

At least she still had enough fire to roll her eyes at him. "How do you think you got here, dummy? Found it at my Dad's."

Justin grimaced. "How is your old Dad?"

"Still screwing around with his cradle snatched plaything and being a bastard to his daughter's boyfriend."

"Good to know nothing changes," he joked.

Then a though occurred to him, one that stopped everything being funny. She had found the necklace. If she had found the necklace, why the hell wasn't he back in his own body yet? He knew he couldn't be, because if he was then he would have landed into whatever clothing his other self had currently dressed his body in. Okay, he'd been having second thoughts about going, but it wasn't like she had known that.

"Umm, baby? If you have the necklace, why aren't I home yet?"

"Umm…" Renee had to force herself to meet his eyes. "Because… well…"

"Spit it out, woman," he said menacingly, his grip becoming a little too vice like for comfort.

"Basically because it's not my decision to make, it's his, and if I force him into anything he's only going to do something else that's stupid and because I just… I… he gave me the choice, I have to do the same for him."

"And have we considered me at all in this equation?" Justin shrugged her off, drew himself away from her touch. He was almost surprised at the flaring in his stomach, the anger he was feeling. "He gets to make my decisions for me?"

"Well he does that even if he switches you back…" Renee argued weakly.

"Or do you not want me back, is that it?" He spat angrily. "You having more fun with him? I know you met him first, maybe I was just the substitute and you'd prefer the original? What have you been doing with him while I haven't been around, huh? You got feelings for him or something?"

Justin didn't expect the wounded look on her face. He'd expected her to get mad at him, the way she got mad at Louise or her father when she argued with them. The last thing he had expected was for her to take the submissive approach.

Then with horror he recognised it and remembered precisely which blonde he'd previously seen it on. Possibly he'd forgotten that it wasn't only Justin Timberlake who was the same person in any dimension.

"How can you even ask me if I want you back?" There was an almost unnoticeable tremor in her shoulders. "How could you even question that? I didn't ask for this either, Justin!"

"I don't know what's been going on when I'm not around, do I? I don't know what happened last time between you guys?"

"Well it's not like I know what's happening between you and her when I'm not around and she's a known fucking cheater, so how you can…"

"That's not her fault!"

"Oh so it was his?"

"How can you defend him after all the shit the bastard's done? He's turned her into a wreck, not to mention the shit he pulled on us!" The submissive approach had not lasted long, and now she was just mad at him.

"It's not like she's Miss Whiter Than White here pal, I actually lived her life once remember? God, since when do you condone cheating, Justin? What the…"

Renee's face became incredibly pale. His eyes had flicked to the side just one too many times, and clearly she was hitting a nerve. The tension had risen in his shoulders, which was to be expected, but he looked far too uncomfortable. She hadn't expected him to be so defensive on the other Renee's behalf - and it was also to be noted that he had taken a comment which was clearly levelled at his own hypocrisy and made it about her. The resulting sensation was not unlike being strangled.

"What the hell happened between you two?" She asked in horror.

"What are you saying?" Justin responded weakly.

"Don't give me that… oh my God. Did… did you guys… do something? Did you kiss her?"

"No." That was not a lie. She had kissed him. He'd been far too affected and confused by it, but he had initiated nothing.

"Something happened, Justin." It was a statement, not a question. "I'm not stupid and I've done this before so don't lie to me. I mean at the very least… she's totally turned your head, hasn't she?"

Justin was so angry he couldn't bring himself to speak. He was angry at Renee Anderson in all her forms, and he was angrier at Justin Timberlake in all his forms. He couldn't deny a word she was saying. What she had said also frightened him to death. Half of that was the realisation that she was right, his head had been turned and he didn't know what that meant. The other half was that if she was surmising on the basis of her own experience that his head had been turned… well, he'd just learnt what she hadn't been telling him.

His reaction was interesting - he grabbed Renee by the waist and forced his lips onto hers, taking her by surprise. For a moment she could do nothing but let her eyes bug out, too surprised to react. Weakly she pounded at his bare chest with her hands, trying to make him stop, but before she knew it she was countering his rough kisses with a ferociousness of her own. Where his grip dug almost painfully into the small of her back her nails were leaving crescent shaped dents in the skin of his shoulders, yet still their angry kissing continued.

Finally Justin pulled away, lips somewhat bruised, and relaxed his grip a little. Renee looked momentarily dazed from behind her curtain of dark hair, but slowly her breathing began to even out.

"Renee Anderson turns my head, alright?" He told her shakily. "I see her and I see you. You mean fucking everything to me, so if I see her hurting and especially because of something I or some version of me did, I want to throw some shit. I care, I admit it."

"So…" Almost compulsively Renee's trembling hand ran over Justin's bare bicep, over the cross tattooed there. "Can't you understand that I can look at him and see you? And that I can't help but feel bad for him and want to help him? That I can't… I can't just order him around? I have to respect him more than that?"

"I… I guess." Justin pushed his forehead against hers, running his hand through the hair at the back of her head and trying to relax. He hadn't realised precisely how wound up he had got himself.

"Justin?" Renee asked in a small voice.

"Yeah?"

Tears welling in her eyes, she asked him the question she dreaded. "Did something happen between you two?"

A lump in his throat, Justin nodded dumbly. "She kissed me yesterday. I think she's convinced herself I'd fix her problems for her. I've been avoiding her."

She almost laughed. She would have, if she didn't feel so much like dying. "Same thing he did, when I was there. Thought he could start all over with me and go back to their glory days when I... she… whoever wasn't all jaded."

Now it was his turn to feel like hell, but still he probed deeper. "So something did happen back then?" He hated the fact that she nodded, but he hadn't even met her so he couldn't hold it against her. "And now?"

This time the tears really did threaten to start spilling. "I only kissed him, while I thought he was you, but I feel like… I feel like I should have known. And I didn't. How could I not know, Justin?"

It stung him more than he could have thought possible when she asked him that. Her obvious guilt and confusion made it fairly impossible for him to get mad at her again - apart from anything else, it couldn't make her feel worse than she already did - but he had to ask himself the same. Should she have known? Would he have in the same situation? Clearly they were both suffering from confusion over their feelings towards various versions of the other; so what did that mean?

He took her face in his hands once again, and gave her a much softer, gentler kiss. Renee turned her face away, pushing her mouth into his palm and squeezing her eyes shut so hard that she could see stars.

"Isn't Claire always saying that each version's the same at the core anyway? How you supposed to tell if we're both the same?"

Renee finally met his eyes, gazing at him pointedly. "You agree with everything Claire says?"

"I don't know," he said truthfully after a lengthy pause. "I don't know."

They both fell silent and she sank into his arms once again. Both kept to their own troubled thoughts, but they clung to each other anyway, Justin rocking them both from side to side. He felt a small amount of wetness on his skin and knew she was close to tears if not crying. The fingers of her left hand compulsively trailed over his skin, and shot tingles through it wherever they made contact.

It then occurred to Justin that his answer to that Cosmo quiz had gone from 'never' to 'occasionally' - they had just had their first fight. Despite her presence in his arms, whether they had survived it was yet to be seen.