Summary: Aiden is thrown back in time with his memory intact of everything that had gone wrong. This time he notices things he hadn't before and battles with feelings he had buried long ago. Aiden/Clara.

It had taken Aiden a few hours before he figured it out. Somehow, he had landed back in time - in the middle of nowhere. He couldn't remember how he had gotten there or when for the matter. Alcohol or drugs were out of the question - the only substance he had put inside himself had been coffee. Maybe he was extremely sleep deprived and had somehow walked from the bunker to the forest near Owl Motel. Ah, the motel - he had lost so much data in that place. Yet he had never gone back to check what became of the motel, but his data and valuable information was forever gone.

By the time, he managed to find the road to take a taxi back to the bunker, he had come across several people who were running and weeping simultaneously.

A shootout at the motel.

The gangs have shot the fucking place up!

My baby is in the room - the police won't let me go in!

So many bodies - and blown-up cars.

Aiden couldn't help but have a vivid memory of the incident after this information. At the time, he had never considered anyone, but himself important. His grief, his loss, and his revenge. For him, the entire world had centered around him and his vengeance. Everyone else was either an ally - designed to merely help him acquire those who had carried the hit or an enemy - waiting to be exterminated by his hands. Except her.

When a fixer had locked his pistol on her temple, Aiden had felt fear. It was fear - similar to the one he had felt when Lena had gone limp in his arms. He shouldn't have felt it again - no, he had been frightened to accept that she had become somewhat meaningful to him. More than an ally. And eventually more than a friend too.

The acceptance had come late - months after she had died, Aiden had admitted to himself that her loss had done immense damage to him. He could never hear the word 'DedSec' and not think of her. He could never hear a French accent or the mention of Canada and not remember the treasure tale she had narrated to him about her father. Heck, he could not even visit Lena anymore without remembering her cold and limp. Dead at his feet - bloodied and a small confession to fill the void. Something had gone amiss with him. Like Lena, she had taken a part of him with her too. A part that would never return.

She had spoken of healing him and Aiden wished he could tell her that she had. Even if their time had been brief and eventful - too quick and fast-paced for him to even consider what he had felt for her. But in those few moments, Aiden had felt some sort of contentment. He would sleep as well as he had ever in those moments when the only sound would be her typing hurriedly on the keyboard.

She had healed him. And simultaneously plunged him back into the cycle of grief and loss.

The bridge stood horizontal in the middle of the softly flowing river. Aiden knew then that there was some involvement of foul play. He had stopped putting the bridge in the horizontal position a long time ago. He no longer cared who came around the Bunker - they would still never be able to figure out its entrance. Besides, no one had been crazy enough to idolize a dirty, dull cesspit of tankers as a 'legend'. Except . . .

"There you are!" An accent - French and hauntingly identical to the one in his memory spoke from a distance. Aiden was sure his mind was playing tricks on him - he saw things when he was sleep-deprived. He had seen Lena too many times in other little girls and Clara - her face was imprinted upon his heart. He saw her everywhere - sometimes even with his eyes closed. But never had he heard her so vividly before.

"Hey, Aiden, I am talking to you!" A hand touched his shoulder, hostile and angry. Then he had turned and what he saw had him smiling. Again, his disturbed mind was playing tricks on him. It had been months now - would this pain of seeing an apparition of her hurt this much each time?

The lifelike ghost grabbed his hand, slamming a hard drive in his palm. He felt warmth briefly from the encounter, but it was enough to send his heart racing. He only remembered her cold cheek when he had stroked it a final time. Besides, the previous apparitions never touched him or even spoke to him. They would smile and stare before disappearing into the oblivion. Was his mind really so far gone? Was Damien right? Was Maurice right - was he really fucked in the head? Like all those who he had put in the ground?

"If I had known that - that - that . . ." She sighed frustratedly, small tears in the corner of her lids making her eyes look glassy. Aiden had a sudden urge to eradicate anything that troubled her. She had died thinking he had not forgiven her. She had died thinking he hated her. She had died with a troubled look on her face - not the way he wanted anyone to remember her with.

"Ah, you know what! Fuck it! Who were those men, Aiden?" She inquired - her eyebrow twitching nervously. Nervous - the forever confident and seductive Badboy17 was nervous. His lips twitched fondly when she reeled back with a surprised look. This apparition was certainly the closest he had ever gotten to her and he wasn't complaining. Now it would be mere minutes before she would disappear again - leaving perhaps a big hole in his heart second to her death.

"Y-you're laughing?" Her blue eyes were enlarged and fixed upon him as if she was seeing a ghost of him too. Then, she let out a dry splutter - the humor missing and only remnants of anger rolling off it. "You almost get me killed back there and you're laughing! Wow! You know what? Forget it!"

The smile that had ghosted over his lips was ripped off almost instantly. Yes, he had gotten her killed. She was dead because of him. Lena had died because of him too. Not because he had been careless or too ambitious like Damien, but because he had been on the wrong side. He had been selfish and greedy for money and his niece had paid the price. Then, he had been greedy for revenge and Clara had died. Suddenly, Nicky and Jacks' absence didn't hurt so much anymore. At least they were alive. And they would be if they stayed away from him. Far away from him.

She was walking away now and this spurred his legs with so much adrenaline that he had run right up to her. He was still selfish - even after her death, he could not allow her to part from him. "Don't go."

She stared at the hand on her arm with a sharply raised eyebrow. "Why not? You won't tell me who those men were! You - you killed god knows how many men and - and - just, who are you?"

Deja vu. He had felt that since she had spoken to him first. He had stood in this place seven months ago, frustrated with the loss of his data and his sister. He had told Clara that she was not his priority. Those words - how fate had turned on him.

"I - I am not sure how to answer that." His gravelly voice sounded foreign to him. But his words were not - he had said them after Clara had escaped from the Owl Motel. The Owl Motel . . .

She was wrenching her arm away from him just as his fingers stumbled to pull out his smartphone. The date - the date - the date, his mind screamed. It should have been November. But the occasional showers and the petrichor hanging in the air indicated to him that it was not. It was the end of March - Clara had passed in the last week of April. Suddenly, the impossible had become possible. Suddenly, everything made sense.

"Clara!" Something in his call made her halt and turn around with a mildly terrified look on her face. He was sure he mirrored that look for when he approached her rapidly, she stepped back slightly.

"Aiden, what...?"

But he was closing the gap between them. If this was indeed real, she would not disappear. And if this was not real, then Aiden hoped he never awoke again.

The embrace was still awkward for him. He had imagined apologizing to her and providing her relief with his forgiveness if he could change things. But he had seldom imagined what intimacy with her would feel like. Certainly, he had not expected her to push at his chest hard and send him sprawling away from herself. A long time ago, he had done this - thrown her away from him. Get away from me.

"Get away from me!" Guilt flashed in the ocean blue orbs and he knew why she had reacted that way. Even before, T-Bone had once said that she obviously liked Aiden, but something desperately held her at an arm's length from him. He understood it now. But the knowledge of this still didn't hurt any less.

"You think - you think I can't handle myself? That I need to be coddled and comforted by you!" A sniffle escaped her and she turned away from him to mask the traumatic effects the incident at Owl Motel had on her. This time, he wanted to comfort her. He longed to. Life had given him some sort of second chance - perhaps because he had shown the same favor to Maurice. He would not waste it. Never again.

"No." His hand touched her stiff shoulder. "No, I think you handled yourself well back there."

She shrugged him off - whirling around with her phone screen in his face. "Did you do this?! DedSec found another hacker in the system I provided you! I didn't think you would-!"

"I didn't, Clara." He stepped forward - so close, he could see the flecks of green in her irises. "I would never."

She held his gaze tensely - as if gauging him to detect any cracks in his statement. When she found none, she sighed, turning to the sky. "We need to trust each other." Then she glared at him suddenly - this time not as Clara, but as Badboy17 - a hacker's analytical gaze. "You're not just a hacker - I know that. Are you a fixer? Or a contractor? Why are those men after you?"

Aiden needed a second to remember where fate had suddenly spawned him. According to his memory, there had just been a shootout at the Owl Motel. Nicky was still held by Damien. The Bunker still remained inaccessible to them. Which meant that Lucky Quinn - that old scumbag still breathed. He turned to stare at her intensely and found distrust written across her face. And she was here - still alive. Still hoping for forgiveness.

"I don't know who those men were," Aiden said, this time a lie. "Clara, my sister is kidnapped - my data is all gone." You are not my priority right now. Instead, he turned to her, his emerald eyes desperately hoping she would not disappear. He would not be able to bear it this time. "I need your help, Clara."

Her eyebrows shot up with pure surprise. Before, she had egged him on to ask her for help. "Well - I - uh . . . this is a surprise." He almost laughed at the confused look on her pale face. This time, he was the wild card - someone she thought she had figured all out, but then he had come back with the entire future known to him.

"You're . . . asking for my help?" A shadow of amusement flittered across her face. "Like a team?"

As companions. As friends. As something more. "Sure. Like a team." He waited for the next words she would say. Not used to working in a team?

Instead, her smartphone glimmered with an incoming call. He only needed a second to watch the frightened gleam that passed over her pinched features before she answered the call.

"What?" She muttered, moving away from him to a plinth in the corner. Aiden - quickly hacked her phone with an old trick Damien had taught him. Even Clara, despite being an experienced hacker could not detect the intrusion. Damien was like that - smart and sneaky, but always hungry for more. He would not rest until Aiden would do what he wanted. And this time, he would not fall for his tricks.

The voice of Badboy17 filled his hidden earpiece.

Why do you keep calling? The static voice asked flatly. On her face, however, there was immense discomfort.

You know why, Badboy. Once you work with us, you can't leave.

I - what? That was a one time job! A job that I shouldn't have taken! Grief filled her ocean eyes and a quick glance towards him was enough for Aiden's own heart to fill with guilt. She had been trying to tell him from the start through her actions. But he had been blind - blind in his own hatred and vengeance to ever understand her thinly veiled apologies.

The man on the other end laughed - hollow and cold. Boss is right then, Badboy? Have you developed a conscience? Remember - you are disposable to us. If you don't listen, we can easily let the Vigilante know about your uh - direct involvement. Have you seen the Vigilante in the news recently? He is bloodthirsty for revenge . . .

She did not respond. Merely stared frozen at the mud that was caked around her boots. And then she stared straight at him - her eyes blank and completely compliant with her fate. He'll find out anyway. He deserves to. But I won't provide you any more of my services. No one in DedSec will.

With that, she cut the call. Minutes passed by and no one spoke. Aiden pretended to occupy himself with his smartphone, but beneath his cap, he had his eyes fixed upon the young woman. She stared off into the distance - towards the Bunker, but there was no joy or excitement like before. Aiden couldn't help but feel a strange dread take over his heart - the events were suddenly changing rapidly. What if - what if no matter what he did or said, the outcome would always be the same?

"I need to go." She muttered just loud enough for him to hear. "Some - er, DedSec member wants to meet."

He didn't offer her any clemency in calling her lies out. "I thought you didn't meet DedSec face to face."

"Um, er, no of course not!" Her eyes trained on her phone before looking in his direction, but not meeting his eyes. "This is - a, uh, friend."

"Sure." He said, his voice gravelly with doubt. "And what about us working as a team?"

She looked pained as if she was now doubting her decision to "help him heal". "I . . . we will. I just need to do something."

With those final words, Clara headed towards her car. Aiden knew he would be following her at a distance or spying on her through a camera, but still, a strong urge told him to say those words to her. "Clara."

"Hmm?" She muttered, looking dazed.

"You know . . . you can tell me what troubles you." This time he was uncomfortable. Some things just never changed and his social awkwardness was something he would struggle within every alternative timeline.

But it did the job for she threw her head back and let out a tinkly laugh. Aiden stared transfixed at her - she had never laughed like this before. It was always small chuckles or snorts, but never a burst of carefree laughter like this. It sent goosebumps up his spine and he decided he quite liked the sound of it.

Her confession, however, set the mood within him somber again. "This time no one can help, Aiden. . . not even you."

And with a sad smile, she was driving off.