He couldn't remember when this strange sensation of connection had begun. Sometimes it felt as though it had always been there. Other times, he felt like he might just be crazy. All he knew was that he kept having this strange feeling of knowing he was linked to another.

Something gnawed at the back of his mind, a memory he couldn't place, like the feeling one got when they knew a word or fact, but couldn't quite remember it. The answer sat on the outer edge of his consciousness, taunting him with its presence. He'd tried ignoring it. It hadn't gone away. He'd tried telling himself it was all in his head. It hadn't worked. He'd wondered if maybe someone had been toying with his mind, but why? There were much better ways to do it than this.

Thankfully, he had friends in inter-dimensional places, capable of sensing things he couldn't. And he got confirmation that yes, something was happening. He was linked to someone else, far away. Another reality entirely. The distance was such that the signal was weak, but the connection was powerful enough to defy physics.

Not that he could do anything with this information. It wasn't as though he could cross realities. Right?

Well, clearly he should've known better, because one morning he went to sleep cuddling his dog and the next thing he knew he was cuddling his dog and a complete stranger. One sleepy blink followed by an alarmed "Ahh!!!" later, he was on the floor, clutching Haley protectively and reaching for a weapon that wasn't there. "What the—"

Wait. This wasn't his apartment. These weren't his pajama pants. The air smelled different. But this was definitely his dog, and—

It hit him then like a sack of bricks. The overwhelming feeling of rightness. One proper look at the alarmed stranger told him everything he needed to know.

"Hi," he breathed, blue eyes wide behind his unruly bangs. "I, uh, you..." His mouth felt so dry all of a sudden. "Do we... Do I... Are we..." Words. Why were words so hard. "Hi." He'd already said that. "I'm, uh, where... Who... What?"