Humming one of Justin's newest songs as she stepped out of the shower, Renee grabbed a towel and quickly wrapped it around herself. Wiping the condensation from the mirror as best she could, she grabbed her toothbrush and got to work on her teeth.

If nothing else, having a mouthful of white foam stopped her whistling. The problem with being around Justin while he was recording was that his songs got stuck in her head, and it unduly influenced her own writing process. Spitting out the toothpaste and quickly rinsing off her brush, Renee reached for the hair dryer before deciding that she couldn't be bothered. Call her lazy, but drying and styling was far too much effort when Justin was always telling her he liked the bed head look. Possibly he liked her looking like she'd just rolled out of his bed, but either way it gave her an excuse to go the indolent way.

As she walked out into the living room she couldn't help shivering - she guessed she must have hit a breath of air con without realising it, though she couldn't see a vent anywhere near. Having wet hair and only partially dried skin couldn't help either. Shaking it off and ignoring the goose bumps which rose on her arms, she started rummaging in her purse for her hairbrush.

***

"Renee? Renee? Can't you fucking hear me?"

"Ohhhhhhh boy." Clapping a hand over her eyes, Claire still couldn't help peeking through her fingers at the poor, confused version of Justin who had just replaced the trigger -or maybe that should be wish - happy idiot version. That version who was currently in the other room, having just gone and thrown all their asses out of the frying pan and into the furnace.

"RENEE!"

"She can't hear you," Claire informed him miserably.

"Who the fuck are you?"

This version of Justin had already been looking scruffy between the old t-shirt, the sloppy jeans and the messily cultivated beard. However, in the few minutes since the wish had been granted an incredible panic had settled in behind his eyes, making him appear manic. It was quite understandable, but it did make him look somewhat like a drunken hobo.

"Okay, I know you're uber-freaked but you need to calm down, okay? I'm going to have to tell you some pretty crazy sounding shit and you hyperventilating is not going to help you deal."

"You want me to be calm when there's some psycho stranger in my hotel room? Okay." Damn, this version was just as sarcastic. He painted a pleasant smile on his face and spoke with the patented Starbucks employee fake chirpiness. "I repeat, who the fuck are you?"

"Maybe this'll go better if I just show you…fuck this is not good."

Claire was seriously torn between helping this Justin (who was the victim in all this) and popping into Renee's dimension properly so she could give body snatcher Justin what for. She hated to think it, but maybe magically finding himself in the living room in a place where his girlfriend couldn't hear him would help on that score. Considering that he was experiencing it first hand, maybe he wouldn't be so hard to convince.

Justin for his part was scared out of his wits. One moment he had been sleepily talking to Renee, the next thing he knew he was standing in the other room, fully dressed, with no recollection of how he got there and some strange woman standing next to him. She was about the same height and colouring as Renee, but her face was much rounder and olive toned; he detected some form of Latin or maybe Filipino heritage.

This was before they even got started on the fact that he suddenly had a full beard when he'd only shaved yesterday.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Okay…" She took a couple of steps towards him, wincing. "If I could just ask you to pick up Renee's bag."

"What the fuck? Why?"

"Because you're going to have a really hard time believing what I have to tell you, and I think you'll be a little more willing to listen to me if I give you a demonstration. Just try it."

He had no idea why he was listening to the crazy woman who had invaded his hotel suite, but Justin still dutifully grabbed at Renee's bag. His hand passed straight through it. Thinking he must have missed it, he tried again - the result was the same. Disbelieving, he took a further three or four swipes at it before his eyes widened in horror and he realised that his hand was passing straight through it every time.

"What… the… FUCK?" Justin screeched, becoming oddly high pitched.

"Okay, here goes…" Claire steeled herself for the inevitable ridiculousness of what she was about to say. "Long story short… alternate realities and dimensions are real. There's other realities in which another version of you is living their life but making different choices than the ones you have and so their life goes a different path. Right now you're in a holding dimension, kind of like an observatory where you can see other worlds without being in them or affecting them. I was here showing a different version of you what your life is like, but because he's a much fucking dumber version he kind of did this body swap number on you. You're in his body, he's in yours. That's why you wound up here with no explanation, that's why I'm here, that's why Renee can't hear you."

"Uhh… say what now?" He squeaked.

It was, at least, an improvement on the swearing. "I'm really sorry, I know this has to sound crazy and be really confusing but…"

"Who are you?"

"Umm…" This was her next favourite part. "Renee ever mentioned a Claire to you? That's me; I'm a friend of hers."

His brows scrunched together so much they almost looked like one. "The only Claire she's ever told me about died in a car crash or something."

She shrugged, holding her hands in the air sheepishly. "Got run down. But yep, that'd be me - told ya you'd have a hard time believing this."

For her part, what she had a hard time with was deciphering his reaction to this news; he started peering intently around the room, scrutinising the walls. The TV set, the sofas, the dining table and chairs, the cabinets, the curtains, nothing in the cherry panelled room escaped his scrutiny. He even bent down to peer under the coffee table. Slowly yet silently he paced around the room, peering intently at things.

"Ashton set you up to this, huh? No fair putting the punk on the same guy twice."

Wryly she remembered the other Justin having the same reaction when faced with the idea that Renee had been body swapped - almost word for word. The guy must have been looking for cameras.

"Oh. Denial. My favourite stage of the game..." she muttered. "Justin, Ashton's good but not that good. What, you think the bag's a hologram? You saw Renee pick it up; she look like a trick of the light to you? You think Ashton Kutcher painted an incredibly realistic beard on you while you slept?"

"Renee…"

Justin dashed into the other room, and Claire groaned. Great, all she needed was to have to go in there and deal with two Justin Timberlakes at once. They seemed to cause her enough grief on their own.

"And yet he has no problem walking through solid wood…" She hurried after him.

***

It was almost like having an out of body experience. Not being in this new body - funny, he'd expected that to be the weirdest part, that the sensation would seem unnatural or something. Amazingly enough it still felt very much like his, although his face felt oddly bare. He'd grown far too used to living with a beard. No, what felt so surreal was the way that a dripping wet, towel clad but mostly naked Renee had (on seeing he was awake) bounced onto the bed beside him, dropped a happy kiss on his lips and smiled brightly at him.

It was so familiar yet so alien. It was odd looking at her as a brunette when he was so used to her bleaching the hell out of her hair, but more to the point she was looking at him with obvious love in her eyes. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen anything but blankness in his own girlfriend's.

"So, we're actually awake this time?" She asked brightly, reaching across him to grab the hairbrush on the nightstand. She could have sworn she'd left it in her purse.

"Yep." He chuckled weakly, a little disoriented. "You showered?"

"Yes. Somebody had an option to join me except he fell asleep on me instead."

"Well then somebody's a stupid bastard."

Renee laughed, not realising that he was utterly serious. "That was cold, Timberlake. My feelings are very hurt and I think you're gonna have to make it up to me. There might have to be shoe purchases."

"Damn, couldn't we go for sexual favours instead?"

"No because that's not punishment - that's fun." She smacked his bicep, and in a daze he watched motionlessly as she jumped back up and practically skipped to the ornately carved closet. It looked like it belonged in a stately home rather than a hotel, as did most of the furniture in the room. "So were you awake enough to hear the breakfast idea?"

"Uhh…"

"I'll take that as a no."

Justin was breathing a sigh of relief that she was taking his lack of knowledge as pure sleepiness. Suddenly he had an insight into what it must have been like for her when she visited his reality; being dumped somewhere without any back story made life difficult. It made him feel guilty for the way he had initially turned on her once he had found out, the way he'd accused her of being a conniving little liar. This stuff wasn't the easiest in the world to pull off.

Possibly that should make him feel guilty about the soul he'd just evicted rather than what had gone on in the past with her, but he was trying not to think about that.

"Sorry, tired. What about breakfast?"

He couldn't help reaching up a hand to play with her hair as she sat back on the bed beside him with a pile of clothes, or letting his eyes follow the curve of her collarbone up towards her neck. He really couldn't help looking when she dropped the towel and started pulling on a pretty cute pink and black underwear set.

"I was thinking we could go back out to that Eggscentric place that was off Main Street. Those waffles are too sinfully good not to."

"We could do that." Justin yawned, his eyes never losing focus on Renee as she affectionately rubbed his arm before turning her attention back to her shirt and jeans.

"It's a plan."

Jumping up so she could pull on her pants properly, Renee did a little hop and wriggled herself in until she was happy with where they sat (they were a little tight, but she was too fond of the way they made her butt look to forgo them for comfort's sake). Finally satisfied, she clambered back onto the bed and hovered over Justin on all fours, effectively straddling him.

"Morning." She smiled as she moved in closer.

"Morning…" Justin managed to breathe out before her lips met his.

For a brief moment they hung there in time, seemingly suspended in the moment. Justin felt a dizzy head rush as he revelled in the fact he was finally kissing her again after so long - and that he was kissing somebody who wasn't his Renee. It didn't last for long however as she broke away and sat back before the kiss could really go anywhere.

The frown on her face was making him really nervous. She looked… dare he say annoyed? She was certainly looking at him like something had displeased her. Naturally his mind latched onto the idea that she'd somehow known from his kiss that he was not the Justin he was supposed to be. It was fair to say he was just a little terrified.

"My God…"

Oh he felt like he was going to throw up all over the nice sheets.

"That's disgusting. You need to go wash up like now because you have the worst morning breath EVER."

"Gee…" He responded weakly, trying to inhale deeply without looking like he was having trouble breathing (not an easy feat). "Way to make a guy feel good, baby."

"Go on." She removed herself from his lap so that he could get up. "Go wash up, lazy ass. Toothpaste is your friend."

***

Her heart was breaking for him.

He had just had to watch his girlfriend kiss another man, and the hurt was written all over his face. He looked curiously like a puppy dog, and suddenly she understood why girls had found him so appealing post-Britney. It wasn't just the suddenly being single, it was the walking wounded vibe - clearly it made females want to mother him.

Add in the fact that he hadn't really been watching her kiss another man because technically it was his body with somebody else in the driver's seat, and you had a really complicated situation. She could almost hear the conversation he was having with himself in his head: the one where one voice asked how she was supposed to know and the other which still insisted she somehow should. In any event, her sympathy was all his. Naturally she felt a little sorry for Renee who was basically being defrauded, but at the moment she was more worried about this gentleman.

The moron who had just got out of the bed, however, him she was going to bloodily mutilate. There might also be bamboo slivers under his nails, she hadn't decided yet.

"Justin?" Claire broached him tentatively, a gentle hand brushing his arm. He immediately recoiled from it and backed off, crossing his arms defensively across his chest. He moved exactly like a wounded animal - he had the same look of fear in his eyes.

"I don't… what is this?"

"Like I said to you - the body you're in now, it's still Justin Timberlake. It's just Justin Timberlake from a different world, where he's lived his life differently to you. I brought him here so he could get a glimpse of your life, here being a dimension where you can just watch things but not affect them - that's why you can't touch anything. But the bastard pulled this body swap on me when he wasn't supposed to, and now he's in your body and you're in his."

"Why? Why would he do that?"

Justin did not want to believe this woman. He wanted to believe this was some horrible but ultimately insignificant dream. However, he'd never had a dream this tactile before, he'd never dreamed of any of Renee's dead friends and he had never managed to walk through walls or grow a beard which he could physically feel. In fact, he'd never had dreams in which he could feel the things he touched - but he had felt himself, had felt this Claire chick.

So for now, he was going to play along and just hope he woke up.

"That's a long story… this isn't the first time he's dealt with this. Or the first time he's met your girl there. About two years ago Renee body swapped with the version of her from his world, except she did it by accident."

"What? How?" Not that he believed her; he just wanted to know what she was going to say.

"That necklace you're wearing? It's like the magic lamp only I'm not a genie and nobody's limiting you to three wishes. Rub it and make a wish out loud, it'll get granted. She didn't know that, he did."

"Great!" Justin smiled brightly, sensing an end to the dream and a perfect wake up point. His hand flew to the chunky pendant around his neck. He couldn't see it, but it felt ugly. "I wish…"

"It won't work," she interrupted him. Irritation dripped from her voice, although he wasn't to know that he was not its object. "Unfortunately, you can't undo his wish. He has to."

"What? You mean I'm stuck here?"

Why the heck wasn't he waking up yet? Justin really wanted to wake up now. This all sounded far too crazy and like a bad Star Trek episode (although he supposed that would involve alien meteors or something rather than a necklace, Pharrell had forced him to watch a few episodes one time). He really did not want to believe that the innocuous looking woman in the shirt and jeans was dead. He refused to believe he had really just seen himself kiss his girlfriend from a bystander's perspective - except that it was somebody else in his body. Any second now, he expected his brain to explode; this was all too much.

"Not if I have anything to do with it. I'm going to pop into your dimension and kick his ass until he wishes you back but in the meantime… I have to put his body back in his dimension. He's been here too long."

"What?" Now he was really starting to panic. He'd never had a panic attack before, but if it involved his airway constricting then he thought this might be one. "No. No. I'm not going anywhere, I REALLY want to wake the fuck up now."

"Justin…" Claire put on her best soothing voice, inching slowly towards him. "I'm going to fix this. I swear to you, I will." She purposely left out the possibility of the three weeks elapsing and him being stranded in the strange body.

"But right now, I have to put this body back in the dimension it belongs in before somebody files a missing person's and you have more than you can deal with on your hands. I promise, as soon as I've read him the riot act and checked some stuff with my bosses, I will be back to see you and we can talk and you can interrogate me all you want. It'll just be in his house, and so long as you don't leave it the only people you might have to see will be your mom or Trace. You can handle your mom or Trace, right? All you have to do is come with me, and just wait in the house. You don't even have to step outside."

"Mom…" He could use his mother's comfort right now. "But, Renee…"

He looked back towards the figure on the bed, the one stretched out across the covers flicking through US Weekly. He even had to smile a little bit when he saw her blow a raspberry at a page which contained a big picture of the two of them - rumours irritated her, even the harmless ones. God, all he wanted to do was wake up and hold her... and then it made him sick to his stomach thinking that if this Claire girl was to be believed, he'd be leaving the woman he loved to hang out with, kiss, and possibly even have sex with somebody else. He wanted to throw up.

"Trust me, I'll look out for your girl there. I love her too." Claire told him softly, holding out her hand to him.

Shaking like a leaf, Justin's still blue eyes stared at her hand, honestly afraid. Right now he was only half convinced this was a dream, and the last thing he wanted was to find it was real. Well, maybe if he took her hand that would be the signal for him to wake up. Either way, it didn't seem like he had much of a choice. His fingers gingerly stretched out towards hers, hesitating every half inch, but instead of grabbing for him she patiently let him grasp her open palm in his own time. When he took her hand he expected to see a flash of light or stars or something like that. He hoped to see Renee bouncing on the bed around him trying to wake him up, which would indicate that he'd had a real funky dream and he ought to seek therapy...

Instead, he had the odd sensation of being grabbed by the entrails and yanked through space…