Nick stares around the hallway and sighs. His head hurt like hell and he still had to meet up with the others for rehearsal before the concert tonight. Yay, more chances for everyone to tell him to get his ass in gear again. He exhales deeply as he turns the corner and collides with a young woman lightly causing her to drop her papers she was holding all over the ground.

“Oh I’m sorry,” Nick says bending down to help her pick up the papers.

“It’s ok really,” she says looking up at him.

She had long dark brown hair past her shoulders with twists of hair scattered over her head twisted with orange ribbon in it. She had eyes that Nick could of sworn were purple looking, contacts probably, and pale skin almost as if it were porcelain. She was wearing a tight black t-shirt that was covered in what if sayings such as what if love was stronger then hate or what if inspiration came from odd places.

“Are you ok?” she asks Nick as they pick up the last pieces of paper.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Nick says.

“You’re in that group aren’t you?” she asks.

“Uh yeah,” Nick says.

“I’ve always wanted to ask someone from one of those groups a question,” she says.

“And that would be?” Nick asks.

“Is it worth it? Worth giving up being a normal person and living a normal life?”

“Sometimes,” Nick says, “and sometimes not.”

“Hmmm,” she says.

“What’s that mean?”

“Nothing it’s just…interesting.”

Nick stares at her and she smiles slightly.

“Well goodbye,” she says walking around him.

“Wait…I didn’t catch a name,” Nick says watching her walk off.

“Tempo,” she yells back.

“What?”

“Tempo,” she says again.

“Tempo?” Nick says to himself and continues to walk down the hall.

Tempo? Now that was a weird name if he ever heard one. He looks up at the ceiling as the lights start to flicker. What the hell was going on, he thinks as a sudden vibration of the floor catches him off guard and he goes falling into the wall to his right. He tries desperately to find something to grab onto, but fails falling to the ground. The lights continue to flicker until they finally go out completely and he is left in the darkness while the floor continues to shake. This was insane did they even get earthquakes here?

Slowly the lights fade back to being lighten up and the hallway fills with light slowly. Nick gets himself up off the ground and then stares around the hall.

“Where the hell am I?” he says to himself.

It wasn’t the same hallway.

Nick stares down the hallway, which no longer resembled the hotel with its usual tacky décor. This hallway was all white with tiles instead of carpet and the doors against the walls were plain apartment doors. Nick’s eyes get wide as he spins around and stares at the hallway as footsteps start to come from around the corner. They were soft footsteps and small shadow comes around the corner and the person stares at Nick with large eyes stopping dead in his tracks. Then Nick did the only thing he could do. He screamed.

“What did you do to him Nick?” a voice asks. It was defiantly Kevin.

“Did you like hit him or something?” another voice asks. Brian.

“Even if he did hit him he wouldn’t be able to do this to him,” says another voice. Howie.

“I didn’t do anything,” a squeakier voice says, “I swear. He just screamed when he saw me.”

“Yeah sure Nick,” another voice says. AJ.

Nick’s eyes shoot open and he sits upright. The five people gathered around him back up quickly and stare at him. Nick looks at each of their faces and screams again.

“Maybe he’s from a mental institution or something,” AJ says.

“Shutup AJ,” Nick yells from the floor as AJ’s eyes get wide.

“He knows my name? Which one of you said my name?” he looks at the others.

“Where the hell am I?” Nick asks, “Wait wait no I know. It’s your apartment building,” he points at AJ as AJ’s eyes get even wider, “Oh God it is. What the hell happened? What’s the year?” he asks as the others stare at him.

“19…1994,” Howie says.

“What! Oh God…” Nick says as he falls back again and passes out.

“Guys this is really weird,” AJ says, “Even to me.”

“Well he has to have some kind of ID on him somewhere,” Kevin says walking over to Nick and reaching into his coat pocket pulling out his wallet, “Oh boy,” he says taking out the license and reading it.

“What…he’s a mental patient isn’t he?” AJ says.

Kevin just shakes his head no, “Nicholas Gene Carter. Sex: Male. Date of birth: Jan 28 1980. He’s Nick,” Kevin says looking at the younger Nick with wide eyes along with the others.

“He’s can’t be Nick. I’m Nick,” Nick cries helplessly.

“Well he does kinda look like you,” AJ says staring down at Nick, “Well except he’s a lot bigger.”

“This is just weird,” Brian says, “Well what do we do with him?”

“We just can’t leave him here,” Howie says.

“Drag him in AJ’s place,” Kevin says grabbing Nick’s limp arms.

“What? What? No don’t drag him into AJ’s place,” AJ says as Kevin continues to drag Nick down the hall into AJ’s apartment, “Guys my mom isn’t going to like this.”

“How do we wake him up,” Kevin asks pulling Nick into the middle of the living room and leaving him there.

AJ walks over to a small table picks up a vase of flowers, pulls the flowers out, walks over to Nick and dumps the water on him.

“What the hell!” Nick yells sitting up and staring at all of them, “Oh yeah that’s right I’m here.”

“What’s your name?” Kevin asks.

“My name is Nick. I’m him,” he points to the younger Nick, “And you’re Kevin. And that’s Brian. That’s Howie and that’s AJ.”

“This is just weird,” Brian says staring at Nick, “Where are you from?”

“2001.”

“Not uh,” AJ says and starts to say something.

“Don’t even ask AJ,” Nick says, “No we don’t have flying cars or moving sidewalks or any of that shit.”

“He defiantly knows us if he knows AJ that well,” Howie says.

“Why are you here?” Kevin asks.

“I don’t know. Do you think I want to be here?” Nick asks standing up, “I was walking down the hotel hallway and bam this like earthquake hit and I end up here. Right after I met…that girl did this to me. DAMNIT! What the fuck is she thinking?” Nick yells as the younger Nick stares at him with wide eyes.

“Damn he isn’t like Nick at all,” AJ says,

“Oh that’s because I’m bigger then all of you know,” Nick says.

Nick stares at his younger self and sighs. Did he really look the scrawny back then? God no wonder the others found it so easy to pick on him. And there was Kevin with his badass haircut, Howie with basically no hair, AJ with normal hair, normal skin, normal ears and no facial hair, and Brian…Brian looked exactly the same. God did the man ever age? It made Nick smirk a little though as he stares at Brian.

“What?” Brian asks.

“You just look exactly the same. I forgot that you never change,” Nick says shaking his head.

Brian smiles.

“What about me?” AJ asks.

“You…you’re a freak literally.”

AJ stares at him oddly and frowns.

“You’ll understand later.”

“What do we do with him?” younger Nick asks, “Because my mom isn’t gonna let him stay at our house. We have no room.”

“He can be a cousin of yours then,” Brian says, “And he can stay with me and Kev.”

Kevin nods.

“Alright,” Nick sighs, “But I am not staying in Brian’s room. His room was always a mess.”

“Wait if you’re from the future,” AJ says, “Then what are we like in the future?

Nick could tell them everything that happened. How they were all millionaires. How they had gone through so much pain, but he didn’t want to affect the future because of it like it always seemed to do in the movies.

“We’re still together and very successful,” Nick says as they all smile at him.

“Awesome,” AJ says, “That’s means I gotta have like three cars.”

Nick smirks slightly, “Try five,” he mumbles to himself as Brian turns to look at him and smiles.

“Well lets go to our place then,” Kevin says walking towards the door as they all follow even Nick. He was used to taking orders from Kevin by now.

Once they got outside Nick looks around and shakes his head. Everything was exactly as he remembered it. He looks over at himself as he picks up a basketball and bounces it as they walk down the street looking over at Brian once and awhile to get his approval that he was doing it right. He had always looked up to Brian as a kid…hell he still did. It was only a short walk to Kevin and Brian’s apartment from AJ’s.

“Oh my God,” Nick mutters.

“What? What?” AJ asks stepping in front of Nick trying to see what he is looking at. Nick never realized how short AJ was when he was younger until now.

Kevin walks over and stares at Nick, “What?”

“Justin,” the younger Nick mutters as Nick nods.

There walking down the street towards them was a younger Justin Timberlake and a younger JC Chasez. As they walk up JC walks up to AJ and starts talking to him calmly. JC and AJ were actually pretty good friends back then, Nick had forgotten. They still kind of were too. AJ had always gotten along with everyone for some reason. You couldn’t help but like AJ. Justin meanwhile walked right up to his younger self and stood toe to toe to him not budging. He had never gotten along with Justin for reason. And he still remembered what he would always do to him. He would stand like he was doing right now and then punch the basketball out of his hands kicking it down the street. Of course this time it didn’t work. Nick caught Justin’s smaller fist in his own and spun him away from his younger self.

“Don’t even think about it Timberlake,” Nick says to the smaller Justin who stares up at him with wide eyes.

He lets Justin’s arm go and shoves him towards JC, “Get the runt out of here Chasez,” Nick says to JC who stares at him, “What? Don’t have a date with Polly you need to get to for once?” Nick smirks as JC starts to back away pulling Justin behind him.

“Polly?” AJ asks.

“His girlfriend,” Nick says, “She’s…not even dating him yet awww shit.”

AJ smirks, “Justin is a pain in the ass.”

“He always will be,” Nick says.

By the time they had gotten to Kevin and Brian’s Nick stares at a familiar van parked outside of the complex and sighs. The younger Nick looks up at Kevin as Kevin shrugs. Here it comes.

“Nicholas where have you been,” a female voice says from the car and his mother gets out of the passengers side.

“I…I,” younger Nick stammers.

Nick shakes his head and watches as his mother walks over and pulls Nick away from them. He looks up though and sees the side door of the van slide open and a small head pop out and look at him. Aaron. A very tiny Aaron climbs out of the van and runs up to his mom pulling on her pant leg only to have her brush him off as she talks to his younger self. Nick smiles at Aaron as he stares at him. God he was so small. Nick waves to him as Aaron raises a small hand and waves back at him before his mom pulls him off back into the van as well.

Maybe being stuck here wasn’t so bad after all.

Nick had been in the past for a week exactly and today they were all sitting in the park by the basketball court playing a few pick up games. His younger self was practicing his shots on the net as he played Brian.

“Jesus you got good,” Brian says smiling at Nick giving him the ball.

“Learned from the best,” Nick says taking the ball and letting off a quick shot.

“He’s beating you really bad,” AJ yells to Brian.

“Shutup,” Brian smiles at him, “He’s got some year over me. I get better in the future too right?”

“Lets just say this is one of the few times I have been able to beat you,” Nick says.

“Yeah you see that,” he says to AJ.

Nick had forgotten how much he missed just hanging out with the guys around the basket court like they were doing now. Most of all he missed the innocence that they all had. AJ was standing there now dancing around singing some song that was playing on the radio about a night in September. It sounded familiar. But AJ had an innocence to him now. He saw the whole world through wide eyes still like he had done in the beginning of their career, but he eventually lost it. The AJ that Nick was used to had been through hell and back with alcoholism, depression and cocaine use. This AJ…this AJ was happy whenever he had the opportunity to dance around and sing.

Brian was exactly the same down to every beat. He looked the same and acted the same. You could always count on Brian to remain the same. Of course this Brian hadn’t been through open-heart surgery that he had to schedule around a tour.

Kevin…Kevin was Kevin. He was a lot louder in the future. But the hair was still just as bad. He still gave orders to everyone and treated them like little brothers. Nick had also just realized how much Kevin had watched over him when he was younger like right now as he played a game with his younger self clearly letting the younger Nick beat him at times. He would have to remember to thank Kevin when he got back.

Howie was still Howie. He was still overly nice to everyone and seemed to get along with everyone. This Howie still had short hair and he hadn’t been through his Jesus look a like phase. This Howie didn’t have to worry about how his business was doing all the time. This Howie wasn’t constantly on a cell phone. This Howie still had his whole family.

And then there was himself. A small runt of a kid who ran around after these older guys trying to prove himself to them. He still got along with his family even though they annoyed him at times, especially Bobbie. He still got to see his little brother and sisters on a daily basis. He still had the free time to just sit down and draw and paint something he loved to do, but never got a chance to do anymore. He was still aloud to be naïve and innocent. He was aloud to be himself.

“Now December. Found the love we shared, September. Only blue talk and love. Remember true love we share today. Hey, hey, hey. Ba de ya, say do you remember. Ba de ya, dancing in September. Ba de ya, never was a cloudy day. Hey, hey, hey. Ba de ya, say do you remember. Ba de ya, dancing in September. Ba de ya, never was a cloudy day. Ba doo ba doo ba doo doo ba doo. Ba doo ba doo ba doo doo ba doo. Ba doo ba doo ba doo doo ba,” AJ sings dancing around to his small stereo. He even knew how to show off and capture all the attention even at a young age. And he still had his voice that wasn’t affected by countless performances and cigarettes.

Nick looks over at himself as he throws the basketball and it goes through the hoop. He smiles as the look of triumph that crosses his younger self’s face. He missed himself.

“So was it worth it?” a voice says from behind him and Nick spins around to see the girl with the purple eyes and orange ribbon twists in her hair dressed in hip hugging dark blur suede pants and a tight maroon t-shirt on.

“Why did you send me here?”

“To show you what you lost along the way.”

Nick turns around and stares at himself as Kevin picks him up and spins him around.

“Do you really want to keep losing that?”

“Who are you?”

“I already told you that Tempo.”

“What do you mean Tempo?”

“Tempo…Time Nick. I’m time. I control it and I had to show you this, so you don’t waste any more time.”

“I have to go back don’t I?”

She nods, “You can’t stay here. They have to live their lives.”

“But if I went back in time how come I don’t remember meeting me before?”

She smiles, “That’s my secret. I can’t just go and traumatize your younger self now can I?”

Nick stares at her.

“C’mon kid,” she smiles, “It’s time to go home.”

She raises a hand and snaps her fingers as the whole world fades into darkness.

Nick looks around as the lights start to come on again in the hotel hallway. He gets up off the floor and looks around. He was back again. He lets out a breath of hair and continues to walk down the hall. He gets to the elevator and goes down the ground floor. He gets out and immediately sees Brian sitting on the couch in the lobby.

“Practice is cancelled,” he smiles at Nick, “because of that weird earthquake. That was a trip wasn’t it?”

Nick nods, “Where is everyone else?”

“Kev is over there,” Brian motions to Kevin who is signing some autographs for fans with Howie, “And AJ…well AJ is being AJ.”

Nick looks over his shoulder and sees AJ surrounded by people singing something and dancing around.

“Hey there’s Nick,” he yells and runs over to Nick, “Nick is fun…unlike someone else whose name I will refrain from saying, but it begins with a K and ends with an N.”

Kevin looks up and smiles at them.

AJ puts an arm around Nick and smiles, “Do you remember. The 21st night, September. Love was changing the minds. Pretenders, while chasing the clouds away. Our hearts were ringing. In the key that our souls were singing. As we danced in the night. Remember how the stars stole the night away. Hey, hey, hey. Ba de ya, say do you remember. Ba de ya, dancing in September. Ba de ya, never was a cloudy day. Ba doo ba doo ba doo doo ba doo. Ba doo ba doo ba doo doo ba doo. Ba doo ba doo ba doo doo ba.”

“AJ are those the wrong words,” Kevin says as AJ continues to dance around.

“Can’t stop him now,” Howie says.

Nick smiles at AJ and then smiles widely at him.

“Sing the chorus again everyone,” AJ says, “Hey, hey, hey. Ba de ya, say do you remember. Ba de ya, dancing in September. Ba de ya, never was a cloudy day. Ba doo ba doo ba doo doo ba doo. Ba doo ba doo ba doo doo ba doo. Ba doo ba doo ba doo doo ba.”

Nick looks over his shoulder as he sees the familiar girl dressed in dark blue suede pants, a maroon t-shirt, orange ribbon twists in her hair and purple eyes.

“Whose she?” AJ asks.

“Just a girl,” Nick says.

“She’s cute,” AJ says.

“I don’t exactly think she’s your type,” Nick says as AJ shrugs.

“Have fun kid,” she says and vanishes.

Nick smiles and turns back to watch AJ. He was where he was supposed to be. He was sure of it now.