Chapter 3
She was shocked, scared, and confused all at once. Precisely the reaction Tony thought would be expressed.
"Give me one reason I shouldn't call the cops on you." Kim shouted over the whipping breeze. She'd had no idea where Chloe was taking her that morning. All Chloe did tell her was not to tell anybody else where they were going. A meeting with Tony Almeida was the last thing she had expected to arrive at.
He stepped in to grab the phone from her hand, just in case she was ballsy enough to do it anyway. And he knew she was. Kim backed away immediately, the fear evident in her eyes.
"Because I want to talk to you."
A crease formed in her brow. "After believing that you'd be rotting away in a prison cell for the rest of your life, which by the way, I still think you should be, you bust yourself out so you can talk to me?"
"Yeah Kim, it's nice to see you too." He rolled his eyes.
"Kim…" Chloe interjected, giving that thin-lipped smile she always gave. "Give him a chance. I-I was angry when I found out he broke out too, but I've talked to him, and I'm…actually working with him now."
"Doing what?" Her voice jumped an octave.
"I run a mercenary group. We go about exposing all the government corruption that otherwise would go unnoticed. Including the corruption that hurt us, and you."
Kim quirked a brow at him. "And Chloe's been helping with that?"
"He's telling the truth, we really are just trying to uncover all the lies and scandals so people can put their faith in the government again." Chloe pleaded.
She tutted a little. "Even if you are trying to be Robin Hood or something, what makes you think I'm going to forgive you now? You nearly had me and my dad killed, after everything he did for you!"
Tony sighed. "Look…I have done terrible, unforgivable things, believe me, I know. And I'm sorry I got so caught up in my revenge that I put you in danger and betrayed your father. Believe me, I never wanted to hurt you or him. I can't even get over the fact that after everything that happened that day he still testified so I wouldn't get the death penalty." He looked down at the ground. "I know it's too late for me to undo any of my actions. I'm not here to demand you to let me back into your life. In fact, for your safety you probably shouldn't." He bit the inside of his cheek. "I've always thought of you as like a niece, since the beginning. Michelle always said if we had a daughter, she hoped she'd be just as strong and kind as you." Her expression softened a little. "And I want to make up for what your dad's been through by helping you."
Kim's guard immediately came up again. "I don't need your pity." She folded her arms, glaring at him, much the way her father would. "Believe it or not, I'm used to him being gone."
"Now that I'm in LA, and probably will be for a while, I'm just trying to make amends here. I'm trying to work through my emotions and my pain, the way I should have from the beginning. So…here's this."
He handed her a small envelope. She noticed how rough and calloused his hands were, the faded outline of a round scar on the web between his thumb and forefinger. With the distance between them a little smaller, she saw the authenticity in his eyes. Despite the surrounding changes, the new marks, bruises, wrinkles, other signs of age and of hardship, he was still the same Tony Almeida. The Tony Almeida who was there for her when her father couldn't be. The Tony Almeida that bought groceries for her and Jack when he was too grief-stricken to get out of bed. The Tony Almeida that went over to Chase's house after he broke up with her and gave him a piece of his mind. The Tony Almeida that always came through on his promise of any time, any day, if you need something, I'll come. Peeling the adhesive back, she found the envelope to be filled with a neat stack of hundred dollar notes.
"What is this, drug money?" Kim asked, Tony unable to tell if she was being sarcastic.
"Actually, money from a senator who enlisted me to get evidence that a colleague of hers had been sexually harassing several interns. Got him to admit his guilt, evidence was entered into court, he's behind bars now."
Kim tried to hide the approval on her face. "Why me, though?"
"I don't need half the money I make." Tony sighed. "To see you happy, to see your family happy, it would mean so much to me. It would give me some sense of hope to know that someone made it out of CTU and still managed to live the rest of her life relatively okay. So put it on your mortgage, the kids' college funds, whatever. Just put it to good use."
She smirked in appreciation, before looking up at him, her piercing blue eyes staring into him. "This is too much really, I don't need it, don't worry yourself so much over me."
He looked at her compassionately. "I'm never not going to worry about you. No matter how old you are. You're the closest thing I'll ever have to a daughter. I promised your dad I'd look out for you, and I intend to keep that promise."
Again, she smiled at him, her tension abating a little. "For the record, I am sorry about Michelle. I don't think I ever got the chance to tell you that. And I'm sorry you had to go through so much of the same crap my dad did."
Tony tilted his head in acknowledgement. It didn't matter how many years later it was, every condolence still meant so much to him.
"I'm sorry too, not just for uh, the really bad stuff I've done, but part of me has always blamed myself for not saving your mom." He ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe if I hadn't been going out with Nina, my judgement would have been less clouded and I could have stopped her in time."
Kim flinched at Nina's name, but followed it with a shake of her head.
"You and my dad I swear, both of you blamed yourselves so much for that. I've read through that file, more times than I'd like to admit. I don't think anybody could have seen what she did coming."
He was a little taken aback by her maturity. The fact that so much tranquil wisdom and reassurance could be articulated by someone who'd suffered so much. "I think that self-blame was what drove both of us to pieces. It wasn't just the big things, like the people we'd lost, it was all the little things too that were eating us up inside." His voice dwindled a little. "Michelle's death was just the final straw for me, just like Renee's was for your dad."
Their stoic silence was interrupted by the ring of Kim's phone in her handbag.
"Shit. Sorry." As she quickly pilfered through her bag to answer it, Tony moved towards Chloe. She smiled at him. "You did good. Definitely could have been worse."
"Yeah." He snorted. "Could have called the cops on me."
"That was Stephen, I really have to go." She narrowed her eyes at Chloe, playfully. "He's a little worried since I didn't tell him where I was going today."
Chloe put her hands on her hips. "Well would you have believed me if I had told you?"
Kim snickered. "Probably not."
Turning to face Tony, a bittersweet expression fell across her face. "Look…as much as I appreciate this, I-I don't think it's right for the kids to see you." His face fell a little. "At least not for now." She quickly reassured him. "It's not that I don't want you around them, I know in some ways it's helped Chloe and I wouldn't want to take that away from you. But on the off-chance one of the kids drops your name at school, I don't think it'd be too difficult for someone to figure out who 'Uncle Tony' is." Kim grimaced, but a half-smile crept up his face. The last time someone had called him that had been one of Michelle's nieces or nephews. He had forgotten how much he missed it. "And if you're really trying to do some good work now, I'd hate for you to wind up in jail before you get the chance."
"No, no I get that. That's fine."
"But, uh, here." Unlocking the phone still in her hand, she angled it so the glare wouldn't obscure his vision. He squinted a little before grinning at the image she was showing him. It was her, Stephen, and the kids. Judging by the offensively bright and cheerful surroundings, he figured it had been taken around the holidays.
He laughed through his nose. "They're beautiful. Really. Wish your dad could have been around to see them too."
She sighed, wistfully. "Don't we all."
Tony examined the picture closer. "They've both got your mom's eyes."
"Yeah…I get that one a lot. People don't see too much of my dad in them, I think it only comes out when they're angry."
They laughed at that. A good, proper laugh, something that only came about once in a blue moon for them.
"So, uh, I'll see you next time? I don't know what kind of system we'll be having here, but…yeah."
Tony was a little surprised by, but completely welcome to the hug she gave him. Pulling back from the hug, he looked at her with fondness. "Yeah, we'll figure it out."
