Chapter 3: Without regret
Tony pushed his apartment's door open and entered. He didn't even know how he managed to get there; the last thing he remembered was Jack crying by Kim's bed in medical.
Tony dropped his keys, badge and gun on the table. He remembered the last time he used his gun; he shot the assassin that was trying to kill Teri. He saved her only to let her die in the exact same place he thought she would be safe in. He brought her to CTU; he was the one who asked Nina to look after her.
His body started to shake when he recalled the events of the last 24 hectic hours. He was angry and frustrated. He wanted to be - actually he needed to be – with somebody who loved and cared about him, he let his body fall on the couch as he picked the phone and dialed his parents.
The phone rang for a long time then his mother answered. He tried to talk but he felt a lump rise in his throat, as his mother was about to hang up, he whispered: "mom".
It took Margrette Almeida a long time to recognize her son's voice and when she did, she got scared; it was 2 a.m and Tony's voice was barely audible.
She pushed her fears away: "Tony, is something wrong?", her husband John turned to her when he heard his son's name, he looked at her questionly as she waited for the response nervously.
Tony tried to answer his mother; he didn't want to scare her but he was overwhelmed with emotions, suddenly every thing came back to him and out of no where, he started crying.
He could hear the panic in his mother's voice as she asked: "Tony, what's wrong? Just tell me……..ok, doesn't matter, where are you?", he hardly answered: "my place", she quickly answered: "ok, sweetie, just hang in there, I'm on my way"
Tony nodded and hanged up. All he had to do now is to wait, his parents were coming so he just buried his face in the couch and tried to collect himself.
10 minutes later, he heard the front door being opened and a lot of voices; he recognized his parents' and some of his siblings' then someone switched on the light and his mother gasped as the others froze.
Tony was thrown on the couch, curled up, shaking and crying. Nobody had seen him like this before; he had always been the tough one, the one who controlled his emotions no matter what, even after Dean's death, he composed himself some how; he fell apart but never cried.
Margrette sat on the couch and pulled her son to her lap. Tony buried his face in her chest and cried even harder. She said nothing; she just ran her hand up and down his back while stroking his hair with the other one.
Tony calmed down after a while, he raised his head and looked at his mother who wiped away his tears and kissed his forehead. He rested his head on her shoulder refusing to leave the warm embrace; he was so vulnerable and he felt safe around his mother.
John sat next to him and gently asked: "Do you want to talk?", Tony replied with difficulty: "I discovered I was the dumbest person on Earth, I gave my heart to the wrong person, I should've known better, I practically offered her Teri on a golden plate".
John was puzzled, he knew that the problem was Nina, John never liked Nina; he thought she was using Tony to satisfy her own needs. What he couldn't understand was what Teri had to do with Nina and what Tony meant by "offered her Teri on a golden plate".
He put his hand on Tony's shoulder encouraging him to continue, Tony took a deep breath as new tears formed in his eyes: "Nina", his voice broke and he started sobbing again but he continued: "she was dating me for information. She was a mole; we discovered she was working with the terrorists who tried to kill Senator Palmer, she killed Jamey and Teri, just like that, without regret"
Margrette tightened her grip on Tony as her own tears started to fall. She was helpless; she didn't know how to comfort Tony. She looked at John hoping he'll know what to do.
John stood up and forced Tony to his feet: "Get some sleep, you have worked a lot tonight, don't think about what happened now"
He helped Tony to change then sat next to him until he was sure he was asleep.
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