The shock had subsided a bit, and Tony's brain was starting to come back online as he processed the information and what it meant, what the consequences were, and how there was truly no turning back anymore. Jack appeared to be doing the same, both still standing idly after Kim had fallen out of sight. Tony wasn't sure what to do or why Jack hadn't gone after her yet. Things still seemed to be moving in slow motion, including his own feet when he stepped forward, stepping past Jack and intending to go find Kim himself.

Suddenly Jack grabbed him by the back of his collar and pulled Tony back, again tossing him against the car. "You," Jack seethed as he outstretched a finger, "are going to get in your car and leave, do you understand me? You're going to leave my daughter alone. I don't want to hear from you again."

Parts of his back stung from where it had hit the car, and suddenly Tony was angry. "Listen," he said through gritted teeth, "I'm sorry you had to find out this way, Jack. I really am. But it is what it is, and I'm not going anywhere." He paused, searching Jack's eyes. "Not after this."

"You listen to me," Jack growled, stepping forward and coming in menacingly close.

"No, Jack, you listen to me," Tony countered, meeting him head-on and looking him square in the eye. "This isn't about you or me anymore or how much you might hate me now. What's done is done, and we both have to learn to live with it."

"You're going to tell me what I 'have to live with' after what you've done to my daughter? No," Jack shook his head, "I'm not letting you anywhere near my daughter. We'll handle this. You're not going to be a part of it."

Jack had mustered his self control and was turning to walk away when Tony muttered, "She's not a child, Jack. Shes an adult. It's her decision to make, not yours."

Jack turned on his heel and charged at the other man, again shoving him against the car and taking him into a chokehold, albeit less deadly than the last time. "She's a kid!" he exclaimed, his words punctuated by the slam of Tony's body against the car. "She turned 18 two months ago! You really think she knew what the hell she was doing? She's a kid, Tony, a kid!"

This time, sick of getting shoved around, Tony pushed back hard, succeeding only in making Jack retaliate harder and tighten his grip around his throat. They struggled until they both stopped dead in their tracks at the sound of Kim's quiet voice pleading, "Please, stop it, both of you..."

Jack let go of Tony once more and rushed to his daughter's side, taking her into his arms as he whispered, "Kim, sweetheart, I'm sorry...I'm so sorry."

Eyes narrowing, she pulled back and searched his eyes with her tear-soaked ones as she asked, "What? Why are you sorry?"

"This is all my fault. I've been so distant since your mom died, I just..."

"Dad," she interrupted, pulling him back into their hug, "please, you had nothing to do with any of this. It was my mistake." She opened her closed eyes and looked over Jack's shoulder to Tony, locking sad eyes with him in the distance between them.

"Listen," Jack said as he pulled away, "we're going to figure this out, okay? Everything's going to work out, I promise."

"...So you're not mad at me?"

"No," he shook his head. "Not at you, sweetheart."

She paused, glancing over at Tony before muttering, "Dad, please don't take it out on him, he just -"

"Kim, listen to me," Jack said, his face hardening, "he's not going to be a part of this."

"Dad, he's the fa -"

"Kim," he repeated, "trust me honey, okay?"

She was so tired of fighting that she was willing to let it go for now. "Fine."

Jack nodded. "Alright. Wait here," he muttered, turning and heading in Tony's direction. She crossed her arms and watched nervously as the two men once again exchanged tense words.

"I'm taking my daughter home now. I don't want to see you or hear from you after today, do you understand me?" Jack asked tersely.

"Yeah, okay, but what if she does?" Tony asked, suppressing a roll of his eyes.

"Like I said before," Jack replied, "she's a kid. She doesn't know what she wants.

Biting back more than a few comments that would have gotten him pummeled into the ground, Tony paused and, like Kim, found himself too tired to fight anymore. "Yeah, alright."

"I'm serious, Tony."

"And I said alright," Tony countered, turning and opening the driver's side door of his car. Jack glared at him until he'd shut the door and turned on the ignition, turning and walking back to Kim as the car sped away. When it was out of sight Jack draped his arm over Kim's shoulders and pulled her close,closing his eyes as he dropped a kiss to her temple and vowed silently to never let her go again.

--------------------------------------------------------

Tony was lifting the half-empty bottle to his lips when his cell phone rang in his pocket, garnering a sideways glance from the bartender as he fished it the phone out and answered it. "Yeah."

"Hey. Where are you?"

He paused and set down the bottle, freeing his hand to lean his face into it as he muttered, "You shouldn't be calling me, Kim."

"Why not?"

He almost laughed, rubbing his eyes and wearing a sarcastic half-smirk as he replied, "I don't know, why don't you ask your father? He seems to be in the talking kind of mood."

"I've already talked to him. I haven't talked to you."

"Yeah, well," he sighed, "maybe it's best if you don't."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," he mumbled, taking a swig of the beer and drinking it down with a side of self-pity as Kim rolled her eyes on the other end.

"Tony, if this is about my dad, I know he can be scary, but..."

"But what, Kim? What? You think he's ever going to let me anywhere near you or the .." he paused, the words still seeming unreal, "the baby?"

"...Like I was saying," she replied, "I know he can be scary, but it's not up to him."

"Yeah, okay. Try telling him that."

She paused, shaking her head slightly before answering, "It might work out better if you showed him instead. I just made a doctor's appointment for this Friday, and I want you there with me. I want...I need you around, Tony."

He fell silent, staring down at the bar for a moment before reaching for his wallet. He threw a handful of crumpled money down in front of the bartender and rose from the stool he'd been perched on for half an hour, grabbing his jacket and heading for the door. "I want to be there, Kim, I do."

"Then be there," she urged softly, almost pleading.

He sighed, pausing before pushing the front door open and heading out into the parking lot, keys in hand. "How did he even find us there?"

She rolled her eyes. "It was so random...he had been on his way home and he parked half a mile from the beach and decided to go for a run. I guess he was passing by and caught a glimpse, I don't know."

Tony got inside of his car and slammed the door shut, muttering, "He broke the lock on my car door. I'm lucky he didn't tear the entire thing off."

"You think maybe we'll laugh about this someday?" she asked, hope and hopelessness equal in her voice.

He paused, turning on the ignition and checking his rearview mirror before putting the car into gear and pulling out. "No. I don't."

-----------------------------------------------------------

One week later

Her head would snap up every time the waiting room door would open, though each time she was disappointed when he didn't come walking through it. She hadn't heard from him since she asked him here, and not because she hadn't called - she had, but he hadn't answered. She couldn't even get through to his office anymore, leading her to fear, and even assume, that she'd heard the last of him. It felt stupid to be surprised by the idea of Jack scaring him away for good, but she'd figured Tony one for responsibility, as well as courage enough to face her father, however scary he might be or how many threats he might issue. Then again, he wouldn't have been the first whose character she misjudged.

She glanced at Jack sitting next to her, clearly as nervous and uncomfortable as she was, and gave him the tiniest of smiles before letting her eyes drift around the room. She saw a couple in their late twenties, probably married, and watched as the man rubbed his wife's swollen belly, a look of pure pride in his eyes. To their left sat a girl who Kim thought might be younger than she was, sitting alone with her head down and eyes cast to the floor. Beside her was a woman in her late thirties, clad in a power suit and checking her overly expensive watch for the fifth time in as many minutes.

It was times like these she wanted her mother more than anyone in the world. Jack, God bless him, he was trying - but he didn't know what he was doing. Tony, as far as she knew, had split. She was afraid to confide in anybody else, so she didn't. But Teri would have understood, she thought to herself. She would have had all the right things to say, all the natural, warm comfort of a loving mother. Now that she thought about it, Kim realized that her mother's own child would have been nearing its arrival date soon if only...

The door opening shook her out of her thoughts, but she didn't look up this time, unwilling to be disappointed again. Then she heard Jack mutter "What the...hell?" and snapped her head up just in time to watch Tony walk through the door.

Kim hurried to her feet after Jack sprung from the chair, holding him back and positioning herself between him and Tony as he growled, "What the hell are you doing here?! I thought I told you to stay away from my daughter,.you son of a..."

"Dad, stop it," Kim whispered, her eyes darting around the room and taking in the suddenly scared looks on the other patients' faces. "I asked him here, okay?"

"What?" Jack snapped, turning to her. "Kim, why -"

Tony was about to open his own mouth when a voice interrupted the mini-confrontation. "Kim Bauer?"

Kim turned around. "Yeah?"

"The doctor's ready for you now."

She nodded and slowly turned back to the two men, sighing before shaking her head and muttering, "Don't kill each other, okay?"

They watched until the door closed behind her, neither knowing what to do with themselves once she was gone. Cautiously, Tony glanced at Jack and muttered, "Hey, Jack."

Jack slowly turned his head and glared at the other man, a long moment passing before he growled, "Shut up." He then turned and sunk back into his chair, ignoring the stares he was garnering and opting to fester silently in his rage. He was so consumed that he didn't notice when Tony disappeared from the room, realizing that he'd left only when he returned seconds later and stuck a Styrofoam cup filled with coffee in his face.

Jack looked up and stared at him before reluctantly taking the cup, recognizing it as the peace offering that it was as Tony took a seat beside his.

"You know, Jack," Tony sighed, "I was going to do what you said. I was going to leave her alone, leave everything alone. I figured she was better off without me anyway, but..."

Jack looked up at him as his voice trailed off. "But what?"

"...But I'm not, Jack. I'm not going away." He looked Jack square in the eye. "As long as she wants me here, I'm not going anywhere. I know you want to protect her, Jack, but you've got to accept the fact that some things aren't up to you anymore. I'm sorry about all of this. Trust me, I am. But this is a baby we're talking about. You have to accept that I'm it's father and you can't just shove me around and expect to get rid of me. You won't."

Jack stared forward, his face softening as the faintest of shimmers reached the corners of his eyes. "She's all I have left, Tony," he murmured quietly. "You don't understand."

"Maybe I do understand."

"No, Tony, you don't," he snapped. "I lost everything. I lost my wife, I lost my job, I lost everything but her. Everything. And you? You get promoted and go on with your life. I'm glad that you came out unscathed, Tony, but we didn't. She didn't. And for you to take advantage of her the way you did..."

"Jack, I didn't ta -"

"Yes you did," Jack interrupted. "You did. And it's inexcusable."

"Fine, it's inexcusable," Tony muttered, "but that doesn't change what happened."

They looked up to the door as the doctor walked through it, her head buried in a chart as she disappeared behind the nurse's desk. Tony set his own cup of coffee down and stood from the chair. "I'm going to go in and talk to her, alright?"

Jack opened his mouth to protest but Tony cut him off. "Jack, please."

When Jack didn't lunge out his chair and tackle him, Tony took a breath and started walking toward the exam room that Kim sat in. He didn't turn in time to see the look of utter powerlessness on Jack's face.

Kim was staring at the blank walls of the exam room, feeling smaller than she had in a long time, when the doorknob twisting caught her eye and the door slowly pushed open afterwards. She couldn't help the smile that formed on her lips when Tony was the one who stepped in and closed the door behind him.

"Hey," he called softly as he approached the exam table she sat on, trying not to freak out himself.

"Hey," she smiled back, pausing a moment before adding, "My dad let you come in here?"

"It's not really up to him, Kim," Tony replied as he stood in front of her. He reached out a hand to her shoulder and asked quietly, "You alright?"

She looked down and nodded. "I'm fine, just...still getting used to everything."

"I know," he murmured, pulling her close into his arms. "It's going to be okay, Kim, I promise. I'll make sure of it."

She sunk contentedly into his embrace, enjoying his warmth and the blankness of mind it provided before forcing herself to pull away. "I...I figured you'd changed your mind. I mean, I haven't heard from you, and you never answer your phone..."

"I'm sorry," he replied as he perched beside her, taking one of her hands in his. "I've been thinking a lot. Kind of disappeared for a few days, but...I'm here now."

She smiled and leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes as his fingers stroked through her hair. She sighed when he gently lifted her chin and looked into her eyes, a short moment passing before he leaned in and kissed her lips softly.

Outside Jack had taken to pacing, half-trying to be reasonable and give them their space, half wanting to storm inside the room just to make a point, if nothing else. He didn't know what to do, how to process what he'd barely expected, or who was to blame for all of this in the end. He was a mess of thoughts, eventually switching to autopilot and finding himself heading for the exam room door.

They jerked apart when they heard the door open, neither surprised to see Jack standing there in the doorway. He stared for a minute before quickly turning and heading back into the waiting room, feeling simply overwhelmed where he once would have felt rage, snapping out of his daze only when he collided head-on with the doctor and knocked the chart out of her hands.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, dropping down to pick up the scattered papers, as the doctor quietly assured him it was fine. When he rose and handed her the papers she took them from his hands and motioned to the exam room, offering a tight smile as she continued on her way inside. He followed behind her, closing the door when they had entered.

"So, Kim," the doctor said brightly as Jack glared silently at Tony, who had scooted off the table and taken to leaning against a wall, "we ran some tests and..."

"Is everything okay?" Kim asked nervously.

"Everything's normal. In fact, Kim, you're more normal than I expected." The doctor paused before adding, "You're not pregnant."

Three pairs of suddenly wide eyes flew upon the doctor,none of them believing what they had just heard. "What are you talking about?" Kim asked quietly.

"I double checked the results, Kim, and you're not pregnant. Your hormone levels are normal, and the blood test came back negative. Home tests are often just as wrong as they right."

"But...then I'm just...two months late?"

"For a lot of women, that's normal," the doctor replied.

"Not for me," Kim replied, lowering her head into her hands. She only half-heard Jack asking the doctor to give them a few minutes alone, only half-saw Tony's concerned eyes on her, and only half-understood the conflicting emotions building steadily inside. She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"You okay, sweetheart?" Jack asked quietly, cautiously rubbing his hand over her back.

"I...I don't know, I...think so." She then looked to Tony, wondering if the seeming confliction on his face mirrored her own. She turned back to her father and didn't know why it hurt to see the look of relief playing freely on his face.

"Oh Kim," he sighed, pulling her into a hug and closing his eyes. "It's alright. It's over."

When he drew back she took a deep breath and asked quietly, "Dad, could you...give us a minute?"

Jack glanced over at Tony and seemed to debate before giving his answer. "Yeah. I'll be right outside, okay honey?"

She nodded as he dropped a kiss on her forehead. He then turned and shot Tony one more pointed look before exiting the room. Once the door closed behind him Kim sighed and rose to her feet, crossing her arms as she wandered across the room. She stopped in front of a wall and looked up at the decorative border than ran across it, observing the drawn images of children, teddy bears, everything she had tried to get used to thinking about for the last week and a half, everything that had scared her to death and yet now left her feeling bereft in its absence. She heard Tony coming up behind her and turned to face him.

"Are you relieved?" she asked, still clutching her arms tightly. "Because I think I'm supposed to be relieved, but I don't think I am."

"Kim, this whole thing has been such a rollercoaster, I..." he shook his head slightly, "I don't know what I feel yet. You don't have to either. Just give it time."

She turned back to the wall, blinking back tears as she muttered, "I guess I started to think that maybe it was a chance to start over, to have a real purpose. Like I was gaining something instead of losing something for once."

"Hey," he whispered, stepping forward and sliding his arms around her waist. "I know how hard this was on you. But you handled it so well, Kim. You're going to move on and learn from this. You'll be stronger for having gone through it."

She leaned back into his embrace, shutting her eyes contentedly at the feel of warm lips in her hair. She tried to soak him in, knowing she might not ever get this close to him again. "Do you regret what we did?"

He paused, shifting so that he nuzzled her ear. "I regret that it caused all of this. I regret that it hurt you, but...I don't regret that it happened."

She turned in his arms and brought her hands up to rest on his shoulders, looking up in his eyes as she asked quietly, "This is it, isn't it?"

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as he replied, "You need to live your life, Kim. You've got a whole future ahead of you, and I...I'd just hold you back."

"You mean I'd hold you back."

"No," he shook his head. "no, that's not what I mean." He tried to think of something to say that would ease the hurt that he saw in her eyes, but everything came up short. Finally he did the only thing he could think of and pulled her into a kiss. They took their time, making it last as long as they could before reality had to creep back in and end the stolen moment. She felt her tears return when he broke the kiss, her hands tangled deep in his hair as he leaned his forehead against hers.

"You know I'm here for you, right?" he murmured.

She nodded and pressed her eyes shut as he kissed her cheek, then her forehead. "Thank you. For everything."

He gave a slight smile before leaning in one more kiss to her lips, this time broken by the doctor reentering the room. They pulled apart and the doctor smiled as she said, "Sorry to interrupt. I have a few more things to go over with you, Kim, if you don't mind."

She nodded and walked back to the table, wiping away the lingering moisture under her eyes. The doctor motioned for Tony to step out. He nodded and glanced back at Kim one more time, returning her small smile before walking out the door and into the waiting room, where Jack was by now the only person inside, having scared off the other patients.

Tony didn't know where things stood now, or how the last hour's developments changed the situation, if at all. He vaguely recalled Kim's blurting out of her "pregnancy" saving him from Jack's initial wrath, but now that the threat of becoming family was no longer on the table, he wondered if Jack wouldn't merely pick up where he'd left off. He wouldn't have blamed him. Flashing back to when he had caught them, Tony wondered how anything was able to stop Jack from killing him then & there.

He was going to walk straight past Jack and out into the hallway when Jack stopped him, to his surprise. "Tony," Jack called, Tony's hesitation obvious as he turned at the door. Jack paused and quietly asked, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Shocked that he was even being asked, Tony nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Jack stepped closer and cleared his throat, glancing around the room before beginning as quietly as he could, "You lucked out today, Tony. We all did. For your sake, I hope you take this entire ordeal as a lesson and learn from it. I cannot begin to express to you just how much of a stupid mistake this was on your part, and I hope I don't have to." He paused and watched as Tony's eyes fell away to the floor, sighing lightly before continuing. "Take this as a second chance. Don't screw it up."

Tony looked up and was surprised to see a lack of anger on Jack's face, recognizing his look as one of...disappointment, more than anything. "So," Tony said after a long silence, "are we okay? Or is it going to be like this forever?"

Jack paused. "Tony, I can't look at you without..." he stopped himself, not wanting to replay the memory.

"I know," Tony replied. "I was just hoping that second chance applied here too."

Then the doctor's office door opened and Kim emerged, stealing both of their attentions. Turning back to Tony, Jack muttered, "We'll see." Then he turned and headed towards his daughter, a weight having been lifted from his shoulders.

Tony watched the pair as they embraced, lingering a moment before turning and reaching for the door. Kim opened her eyes just in time to watch him leave, a sad smile crossing her face as she held her father closer and braced herself for the new normal that awaited outside.