Thorough

(A/N: Additional chapters are available on patreon.com/TheGreatestHunter)

..........

After the eventful dinner and his evolving relationship with Caroline now taking up a small corner of his mind, there was nothing more that he wanted to do than to go and lay his ass back down and go back to sleep.

However, he knew he had slept enough and anymore, while it might feel nice, was just over-indulgence. And over-indulgence is a sin....he thinks. He really wasn't sure.

Nonetheless, he left the cleaning up to Jenna, since he was the one to order the meal, which technically meant that he prepared the meal. And made his way upstairs to get on his laptop and see if any of his codes would work with the technology available to him.

After all, he got his brains blown out a few years after the show had finished airing, so not only was he in another world/dimension/universe/whatever, but also back in time.

Which was a thought he immediately dismissed.

He already had enough on his plate and getting involved in shit like playing the market, investing, or trying to predict the events of the common world that he could take advantage of, were not on his bucket list.

Maybe, if he were born in a non-supernatural world, then perhaps that would be the way to go.

But monetary wealth in front of individuals that could just look you in the eyes and command you to give them every single cent you owned, meant very little.

So, as he sat down, powered up his laptop, and started running programs to figure out the ins and outs of his operating system, security, and system capabilities, he began to formulate plans in his mind.

He knew searching for specific things without first establishing a secure network was a fools errand. No matter how inept the show made the people of his current world seem. He knew that there were groups out there aware of the supernatural and he would bet all of his nonexistent money that they monitored web traffic for certain keywords, like vervain or specific names.

So, he took his time.

Doing what came naturally to him, which was being as thorough as possible, and flashing back to the last moments of his previous life, trying to see where he slipped up, but only ending up frustrated in the end. Knowing that the lack of an answer would haunt him for a very long time.

Not the fact that he died, no, he had always expected that. In fact, he was surprised he made it as far as he did, since he was essentially a solo contractor just having a good ole time.

No, it was the not knowing where he messed up and how someone got the drop on him that ate away at him, and now it was bothering him again as he kept reminding himself to be precise. Be careful. Be thorough.

He knew he would have to deal with that eventually, but also knew that it was something that could only be dealt with with time.

He did not know how much time had passed as he sat there typing away. His fingers rarely resting or missing a key, despite the pain that had turned dull all throughout his fingers, to his hands, and up his arms.

But, he realized how late it was when he was interrupted by a pat on his shoulder, which immediately brought him out of his focused state and brought him back to the world outside of the screen in front of his eyes.

The first thing he noticed was the light streaming in through the window, and his first thought was, 'I forgot to sleep'.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked him, as he rubbed his face. Careful not to pull down too hard because, who the fuck wants droopy skin at a young age? Not him. Not if he could help it.

"Typing." He told her, turning around in his chair that had his ass hurting something fierce and making him want to flick his own forehead for not realizing just how outside of time he had been. "What's up? And nice hair."

His clearly sarcastic remark at the state of her bed head only earned him a narrow eyed glare from the teenager, who chose to move on instead of clapping back. "You were typing when I was going to sleep last night and you were typing when I got up. I think I even heard your keyboard throughout the night every time I woke up. Did you even sleep?" She asked, her voice somewhere between scolding and concerned, making him really want to pinch her annoying cheeks for being so typical Elena.

"To be honest, I didn't." He told her, feeling no need to lie. And then quickly cut her off when he saw her furrow her brow and begin to say some nonsense. "And yes, I know I should have, and I will. Now, you said you heard it every time you woke up. How many times did you wake up?" He asked turning it around on her, as he stood from his seat and plopped it down right in front of where she was sitting on his bed and leaning back with his arms crossed like he had any right to do the questioning.

Which he did, since she pretty much just immediately looked sad as she told him about how she was having trouble sleeping, and she didn't know what to do.

So, he let a few thoughts cycle through his mind and asked her as soon as she finished talking if she was feeling guilty.

Which, if based on how wide her eyes got and the tears that immediately appeared were any indication, then he was spot on to pick that line of questioning.

Elena is many things. Too many things. But one of the main one's is loving to those she loves. And a girl willing to let who knows how many lives end, if it will keep her and the one's she loves safe.

So, for her to feel like she was the cause of the deaths of two people she loved more than just about anyone, was a whole whole whole lot for the girl to bear.

He knew that.

So, he asked that.

And now, he held her, as she cried it out, all the while letting her know that it wasn't her fault, accentuating the point with every stroke that he did down her beautiful brown hair.

He really needed to get some sleep.