"You know…" Justin started nervously, not wanting to spook Renee. She'd been very civil to him for the last day or so, and he wanted it to continue.

"I know lots of things. You going for anything in particular?"

She looked up with a wry smile and a smirk in her eyes. He was incredibly grateful for it all: every kind gesture, every gently teasing remark. With little time left on the clock, she was finally warming back up to him after his ill advised wishing. Justin appreciated it, he really did.

He appreciated it on more than one level, too. This was what he had been hoping to find when he had come into this world; easiness with Renee Anderson. Lord only knew he hadn't been at ease with his own girlfriend in a very long time, and part of him had just wanted to remember what it felt like when their interaction was easy and comfortable. Even though this wasn't romantic - he had a feeling he'd be looking for a bruising if he hit on her - it was still an improvement.

"I just… I'm surprised you're letting me come along," he said. "Or that you're even being nice to me at all."

"Well…" Renee said slowly as she indicated and made a left turn, heading towards the studio where she was due to have a photo shoot this afternoon. "You wanted to see my life so I might as well show it to you. Besides, these things are deathly boring and I could use a pal."

"That doesn't explain why you haven't tried to kill me yet."

"You forget I did this too. Maybe not on purpose, but I have a small notion of what it feels like in your shoes right now. It's not a small decision."

"True that," he chuckled ironically as he adjusted his baseball cap. "So, tell me, how do Justin Timberlake and Renee Anderson do interviews in this world?"

"Justin Timberlake and Renee Anderson don't," she responded.

"And yet we're driving to one now?"

Renee smiled from behind her oversized sunglasses. "No, you're not getting me. Justin Timberlake does interviews and Renee Anderson does interviews, but Justin Timberlake and Renee Anderson do not do interviews."

"What, not even on the carpet?" Justin was interested to know this. Joint interviews were old hat where he came from; they must have done a million of them. Half the time it was just a ploy to actually spend some time together in their hectic schedules - a joint work venture was the best excuse.

"We don't walk the carpet together," she informed him while glaring in her mirror at the guy behind her, who was far too close for her liking.

This really did pique his curiosity. "Never?"

"Never."

"Why?"

"Mainly because of him, but I can't say I particularly like the idea either. He used to do that all the time with Britney and their relationship just got way too public," she clarified. "I don't know exactly what happened, I haven't asked, but he says that was a huge contributor and it made the break up ten times worse because the world felt entitled to see the gory details."

Justin remained quiet as she made this explanation, fiddling with the zipper on his William Rast jacket - he was impressed, he wondered if the clothing line Trace was coming up with back home would produce items so comfortable. What she was saying wasn't unfamiliar; it was a criticism often levelled at him and Renee. People (mainly tabloids) claimed that by being so open and hitting all the celebrity hotspots they were letting the world in, thus couldn't complain when they wouldn't leave them alone.

She continued on with the account. "It just makes him jumpy because he got burned. He and Cameron were demons about it, got real pissed with people who asked. He's mellowed out a little now, but he still doesn't like us doing too much promo together and I tend to agree with him. If somebody asks we just kind of dodge the questions."

"Is it weird for you knowing he's been with all these really famous women?" Justin got a little nosy. He was pretty much Renee's first love and she his, so they didn't have that issue.

"I'd kill to be as tall as Cameron." She shrugged as she pulled to a stop at the lights, taking the pause in driving to push the sleeves of her sweater up to her elbows and readjust the watch that was threatening to become unclasped. "Honestly, it doesn't bother me. It used to, but it occurred to me that, you know, celebrities aren't that glamorous once you actually know how the business works. It's no different from dating a regular guy who has some exes in the background."

"True." Justin chuckled. "I know I ain't glamorous."

"Do you leave dishes in the sink for more than 24 hours before they get washed, too?"

"Umm…" He scratched the back of his neck.

"That was a yes. See? That's not glamorous, that's just gross. Why do you both do that? You just lazy asses or what?"

"Do I take it from that little domestic titbit that you guys live with each other?"

The back of Renee's neck blushed. It had just occurred to her that there was something weird going on when you were being quizzed about your relationship by an alternate version of your boyfriend. Possibly it was the lack of discomfort or awkwardness that was weird; she had come back from her little confrontation with her man upset, angry and confused, yet oddly it had made her interaction with this edition a little easier.

Maybe it was an issue of karmic balance and she could only be angry with one at a time - she still hadn't forgiven that kiss. She hadn't forgiven him for failing to avoid the other woman's lips, and the other woman was just lucky that cosmic rules forbade them to be in the same dimension. There would have been an ass whooping and some blonde hair might have been ripped out.

Still, she couldn't complain that the atmosphere around her and this Justin had softened. The previous evening they had sat up late and watched Friends reruns while playing Go Fish. Accusations of cheating still hung over Justin's head, but he claimed she was just bad at it. In a weird way it was nice to just be friends with him - as much as she liked the smooching, sometimes she and the boyfriend forgot that they could just hang out and not have sex. Heck, add some chocolate and some homemade margaritas and it could have been a girly night in.

"We don't live together, but…"

"But?"

"When we're both around, we pretty much spend every night together anyway. We just both like having our own space. Besides, it's only been a year; it'd be jumping the gun. I mean you guys don't live together, right?"

"No." Justin sighed audibly, his breath leaving a little condensation on the window he was leaning against. "We both seem to go through stages of wanting to and then not wanting to, except we never both want the same at the same time. And it certainly wasn't gonna happen in the last couple of years."

"If you don't mind me asking…" Renee began slowly, "how come you guys didn't patch everything up yet?"

"It was just awkward, after everything you told me." His fingers tapped an off kilter rhythm on the dashboard, one that wasn't quite in time with the song playing on the car stereo. "Until that point she and I had basically been play acting that everything was better, you exposed just how not better it was, and I just had a really hard time coming to terms with what she did."

"I mean… I told you why, though." Renee pushed him gently, not wanting to hit any nerves. "You seemed like you understood."

"She couldn't tell me why," he said quietly. "I mean, you were guessing. It sounded like a good guess and it made sense and all, but I needed to hear it from her. But she couldn't actually explain herself and I just got madder and madder at her for cheating on me, when she had, like, no reason for it. Then she got pissed with me, and I got pissed with her for getting pissed at me, and then…"

"Then what?"

"The pod person took over my girlfriend and now all she does is either say yes to everything or cry and leave the room."

"You know…" She began thoughtfully.

"What?"

"I do that. When I'm scared of pissing somebody off, I kind of just sit back and be all compliant and shit. I just hope that they'll cool down and if I don't make any waves for a while it'll fix it. Or I used to, anyway."

Justin mulled this over in his head. It was dangerous judging one Renee by the other, he was beginning to see that (better late than never), but still it was food for thought. "Used to? What changed?"

"My Dad." She smiled at him weakly, sad eyes hidden behind the dark lenses. "After my folks split up… I'd fight with him about the way he was being, but then get scared once he got angry with me and I'd back down. Except that the problem never got talked out and I'd still be mad at him and whenever we were together it was obvious that it was still going on under the surface. Now, I just argue with him until it's resolved. We still fight a lot, but at least it's not about the same thing over and over."

"Nobody likes Groundhog Day."

"And that movie sucked too."

On that note, Renee swung the car into the parking lot at the photography studio, haphazardly parking the car in a corner. Despite her wedged heels and her skirt, she managed to daintily jump out of the car and slam her door shut before Justin had even managed to take his seatbelt off. As he was stepping out of the vehicle was had opened the backseat up and was grabbing her oversized bag (he did not understand why with so little to carry she needed such a large bag, but she claimed it was a fashion thing).

"You ready to do this thing?" She asked.

"I basically just have to shut up, sit in the back and look pretty right?"

"Well we can't expect miracles."

He narrowed his blue eyes at her while she smiled innocently at him. "And what exactly would be the miracle?"

"You keeping your mouth shut or looking pretty."

Renee wisely decided to start running before he made the lunge in her direction, giggling manically even as she sprinted for the studio doors.

***

"Claire?" Justin called out miserably, head in his hands. He knew she wouldn't come if called and it was futile, but he was at his wit's end.

"Claire?"

It was a pleasant surprise when she acquiesced to his request, the cloud of black mist solidifying into her familiar figure a little more hastily than it usually did. Possibly he was overanalysing, but she looked a little stressed. If she had been alive, he would have imagined she'd just come in from a bad day at the office - her face and hair were just a little dishevelled, and a few frown lines covered her face. Now he thought about it, it kind of sucked that you couldn't escape lines and wrinkles even in death.

"Hi. What's up?" She asked wearily.

"I could ask the same… I thought you didn't show up on demand?"

"I don't, I just needed to make a stop by anyway." Claire sighed wearily, throwing herself into the lawn chair next to Justin's. Jealousy she eyed the cranberry juice on the table between them - she might be solid now, but food and drink was still beyond her. They were strictly for the mortal coil, but right now she could use some chocolate. "So what's making you look so miserable on this lovely day?"

It was a gorgeous day. The California sun glinted invitingly against the turquoise waters of the swimming pool. The grass looked lush and green, and whoever did the other Justin's landscaping for him had turned the garden into a riot of colour - lots of bright reds, oranges and yellows, interspersed with fresh looking white. The air was fresh and cleansing, though perhaps a little more breeze would have been better.

"Did you know she kissed me?"

"She did?" Claire groaned, pushing her fingers through the hair at the crown of her head and letting out a low growl. "That was just about the last thing I needed to hear. Why?"

"Hell if I know."

"Your best idea, then."

"Umm… delusion that I'm the perfect version of her boyfriend and I can fix everything for her? She just thinks I'm hot? How the fuck should I know?"

"Was it random or did you lead her on?"

"HEY!" Justin let out a barely contained yell, a fierce frown settling over his face. His patented Glare of Doom fell onto Claire, but he should have learnt by now that she was unfazed by these things. She merely returned his gaze with a bored, critical expression.

"I'm not playing here, Justin. I know you guys are friends and all but is there even a remote possibility that you got too cosy with her at all? Even if you didn't mean to? Best to be honest here or my advice will mean jack shit."

Justin instantly opened his mouth to protest, but the problem with such accusations was that they immediately made you paranoid. In an instant your previously harmless interaction would become laden with innuendo in your own head until you couldn't work out what was reality and what was panic.

"I… don't think so…"

"Bearing in mind of course that she's hurt and vulnerable and likely to overanalyse otherwise innocent behaviour at present?"

"Fuck," he whimpered, burying his face in his hands and rubbing it against his palms with a movement that was almost painful.

"Does 'fuck' translate to 'yes,' 'no' or 'I don't know' in this situation?"

"I don't know," he exhaled in one long breath with little pause between words.

Claire tapped her fingers against the lawn chair, and Justin would not realise until after she had gone that the reason it seemed so off to him was that it made no noise. As she took a moment to consider her next comments, he also noticed that her chest didn't rise and fall. It was strange, she seemed capable of inhaling and exhaling if she wanted to - in fact she often let out little huffs when she was annoyed - but most of the time she didn't actually breathe.

He was just about to start wondering how she could talk if no air was passing in and out of her vocal chords when she finally decided to speak again.

"I can't even tell you how dangerous this is right now."

"Dangerous?" He squeaked nervously, pulling at the collar of his polo shirt. "Why?"

"At this point I have no idea what the other Justin's going to do about this wish, but if he gets back here and she's in that kind of state it's probably going to make shit worse between them and make him do something else that's stupid. Heck, it might even make HER do something stupid."

"Is it bad that…" he started uncomfortably before halting in the middle of his sentence. He expected Claire to prompt him, but instead she patiently waited. "I feel so weird about what she did but it's not making me desperate to leave like I would've thought it might?"

She laughed ironically. "Believe me honey, after you're dead you'll never look at the concepts of good and bad the same way. Who am I to tell you that?"

"I thought you knew all the secrets of the universe."

"Not all, just a few. Just as many as I need to do this spirit guide gig."

"Fuck, what does it matter? I'm screwed either way. I feel guilty about leaving either of them and I feel bad for being such an ass about him…"

"Being an ass about him?" Claire leaned forward, suddenly interested. "Enlighten me."

"I just… assumed he was the bad guy." Justin shrugged, touching the tips of his fingers together while tapping his flip flop clad feet nervously against the patio. "More I compare us though, more I see myself in him. And also Renee - my Renee, I mean - totally bitched me out for being mean about him last night. Okay, what's so funny?"

His ghostly companion had actually laughed out loud on hearing it. For the first time, her smile seemed to have some light behind of it instead of merely annoyance.

"Just strikes me that no matter how you mix it all up, Renee Anderson always winds up sticking up for Justin Timberlake and Justin Timberlake always winds up defending Renee Anderson. It's so totally twisted of me but I kind of think it's cute."

"Glad somebody does," he grumbled. "I just… how do I end up where I belong?"

Immediately she stopped laughing, and rubbed a sympathetic hand over his forearm. "Change what you can and accept the things you can't, babe. You can't guarantee where you're going to end up at this point. To be real, it might not be where you belong - that all depends on him. But you need to take control of the things you can, and that means working out for yourself where you belong."

"But what good is that if I don't end up there?" He asked helplessly.

She struggled for a good way to put it. "If you don't end up there, at least you'll know the difference. And you'll know better than to just slot into a life that doesn't belong to you. Don't…" Claire shifted uncomfortably, aware that what she was about to say was very leading but not knowing how else to word it. "Don't just give in to this Renee because you feel bad for her or you feel like you should, or that there's no alternative. There's always another choice."

He raised an eyebrow quizzically at her. "I thought the whole spirit guide schtick was about destiny and meant to be?"

Getting up to leave, she tipped a wink in his direction. "Free will, baby. Just because they have a plan doesn't mean you have to follow it."

Leaving Justin to contemplate that, she disappeared back into the ether. He for his part slumped back into his chair, looking up at the picturesque sky. It was a perfect shade of blue, with just the right smattering of fluffy white clouds. Though he stared at it, he was actually trying to look beyond it - trying to look past it to wherever these people Claire was talking about lived, these people who had a plan for everyone.

If they'd fill him in on the one for him, he'd appreciate it. Heck, he wasn't greedy - a little hint would do.