I know it's been a few years, and I don't know if anyone still reads 24 fanfiction or is interested in this story. But I realized when going through an old hard drive that I never posted the last 2 chapters of this, so I figured I might as well. Reviews are very much appreciated.
Cold, stony, indifferent. The expression on Tony's face as he is brought into a private visiting room at the Central Detention Facility in DC is one he's spent years perfecting. It's an expression designed to protect himself by concealing his emotions from the world. But when he sees Jack waiting for him, surprise overtakes him, and his guard is momentarily let down when his shock registers on his face. He quickly regains his composure, looking away and rolling his eyes with indifference, but he knows he let his guard down for long enough for Jack to see it, and he knows that unnerving him is exactly what Jack is trying to do.
"Hi, Tony," Jack says calmly, in a smug tone that says that he knows his presence caught Tony off guard and is making him uncomfortable.
Tony doesn't respond.
"Surprised to see me?" Jack asks.
"Not really," Tony says coldly. "You're like a cat with 9 lives. So why'd you come? Did they send you to interrogate me, or did you just want some closure?"
"I'm here to help you, Tony," Jack says flatly.
Tony scoffs. "If by helping me you mean trying to convince me that I should cooperate with the FBI so they can have enough leverage to cut Wilson a deal in exchange for the privilege of spending the rest of my life in jail, you're wasting your time."
"No, not the rest of your life," Jack says firmly. Once again, Tony is caught off-guard, and his face betrays his curiousity for just a moment.
"What the hell are you talking about?" he asks.
"The president's willing to offer you a deal," Jack explains. "You tell them everything you know about Wilson's group and everyone you worked with on Emerson's crew, and share all the evidence you collected, and the US Attorney will charge you with 2nd degree murder of two agents and drop all the other charges. You'll serve a flat sentence, probably about 8-10 years."
Tony scoffs with disbelief. "Yeah, right. There's no way they'd offer me a deal like that."
"I have it all here in writing," Jack says. "Take a look." He hands Tony a folder. Tony opens it and looks at the documents. He also notices the picture from his wedding in the folder.
"Ah, what's this, throw that in there to try to tug at my heartstrings?" he asks Jack sarcastically.
"No. Kim found it on her computer when she was going through some old pictures and she had it printed for you. She thought you might like to have it."
"Well, tell her I appreciate it," he says with some degree of sincerity. "And I appreciate your negotiating a deal for me, but I'm not interested."
"Damn it, Tony, do you want to see Wilson go free? Because that's what's going to happen within 90 days unless you share the evidence you collected."
"And if I do share it? They'll use it to scare him into cooperating so he can cut a deal, or he'll hire some hotshot lawyer who will get him off on technicalities."
"You don't know that," Jack insists. "Renee already got the information we needed out of him. The FBI is going for a conviction. I can't promise you that they'll succeed but you've got nothing to lose by trying. This is a no-brainer, Tony."
"Yeah? Well not to me," Tony says defiantly.
"Why not? Because you're angry? Because you'd rather just give up and let them execute you? Because that's what's going to happen if you don't take this deal. You are going to get the death penalty."
"You think that scares me?" Tony asks angrily. "Frankly, I wish you'd killed me when you had the chance. After everything you took from me, don't you think that's the least you could have done?"
"Maybe I should have," Jack says with a bitter chuckle. "I wanted to, believe me. But something stopped me. I guess part of me wasn't ready to give up on you. Part of me wasn't ready to accept that my friend who saved my life and who used to be one of the most sensitive people I knew was gone completely. And call me crazy, but I still believe that. I remember when I interviewed you for your first job at CTU 15 years ago, when you told me that your father and brother were gunned down in South Central Los Angeles when you were a teenager and you wanted to work at CTU so that you could help save other people from going through the pain you and your mother went through, and in spite of all evidence to the contrary I still believe that that person is in there somewhere."
"Believe whatever you want, Jack," Tony says indifferently, but Jack can tell that he's starting to get through.
"Tony, come on," Jack says softly. "Listen, I could never condone what you did, but I know what it's like to get so caught up in getting the job done that you get to the point where you can justify anything. You can't take back what you did and you're going to have to find a way to live with it. But you have the chance to at least make sure it wasn't all for nothing. Tony, I am giving you the chance to finish what you started."
Tony chuckles with disbelief. "Finish what I started? You're the one who made damn sure that I would never get to finish what I started. How does it feel to know that thanks to you, everyone I killed died for nothing, huh, Jack?"
"It doesn't have to be for nothing, Tony," Jack says forcefully. "You have the chance to save potentially thousands of innocent lives. And I know that right now you're too angry to think you care, but I know that you started out believing you would save more lives in the long run if you took down Wilson. Isn't that why you felt you were justified? Or was it all just for the satisfaction of pulling the trigger?"
Tony scoffs. "You're one to talk," he says bitterly. "You shot Nina Meyers when she was our only lead to stopping the Cordilla virus. What about all the innocent people who were in danger then, huh?"
"She was screwing around," Jack insists. "She didn't know anything else."
"You don't know that!" Tony yells. "You might have thought she was screwing around, but you didn't know for sure. And if there was even the slightest chance that she knew something that could have helped us find Alvers two minutes earlier, then you've got the blood of everyone who died in the Chandler Plaza Hotel on your hands!"
"You think I don't know that, Tony?" Jack retorts. Tony seems caught off-guard by his response. "You think that hasn't weighed heavily on me every day since? And you know what the worst part is? After I shot her, I didn't even feel better. If anything, I felt worse, because once she was gone I no longer had my anger to hide behind. And once I couldn't hide behind my anger anymore, I had to actually deal with the pain. I had to face the guilt I felt about the time Teri and I spent apart, about the times I pushed her away after Operation Nightfall when I should have clung to her for dear life."
Tony doesn't say anything, but Jack can tell from the change in his facial expression that he's starting to get through.
"Starting to ring a bell, isn't it, Tony?" Jack taunts. Tony just rolls his eyes, trying not to let his emotion show. "Starting to feel guilty about pushing Michelle away after you got out of prison? Starting to think about all the time you wasted drinking and feeling sorry for yourself when you could have been with her?"
For a second after Jack says that, Tony looks like he's been punched in the stomach. He struggles to regain control, not wanting Jack to see that he's getting through.
"I'm guessing it's been a while since you've let yourself think about Michelle at all, am I right?" Jack continues. He knows he's getting through and he needs to keep punching while Tony's guard is weakened. "Because you didn't want to have to deal with your guilt, or question whether she would agree with what you were doing. As long as you pushed her memory away you didn't have to think about the fact that you were becoming someone she wouldn't even recognize. That's why you reacted the way you did when I gave you your wedding picture, isn't it?"
Tony shakes his head defiantly, fighting to contain his emotions. "You don't know what you're talking about," he insists, but Jack can tell he doesn't even believe his own words.
"Unfortunately for both of us, I know exactly what I'm talking about and you know it. And that's why you can't hide from me. Everyone else might buy your cold-hearted poker face but you're not fooling me with it. No matter how much you try to hide it I can see how uncomfortable you are right now, because you're being forced to deal with things you'd rather just keep avoiding. And no matter how indifferent you act, I know how much pain you're in," Jack says, his voice softening when he says the last line.
Tony purses his lips, desperately trying to avoid crying. "I was going to be a father, Jack," he says weakly, his voice starting to crack. "We were going to start a family...then in one second it was all gone...they took everything I had..." he says softly, letting his guard down for just a second.
"I know," Jack says softly, torn about what to do. Part of him wants to go for the knock-out punch and tell Tony that one of the agents he killed had just become a father. But he realizes that Tony is starting to let his guard down and Jack doesn't want to force him back onto the defensive.
"Yeah, I know you do," Tony snaps, regaining control of his emotions. "That's why you of all people should understand that I did what I had to do. Look, I know that some of the agents in that building had families too and I'm not proud of that. But someone had to take these people down. Someone had to do it, and you were nowhere to be found," he says bitterly.
"You know what? Maybe you're right," Jack agrees, catching Tony off-guard. "But I don't think you really cared about any of that. I don't think you cared about saving a single innocent life. I don't think you were driven by anything but your own selfish desire for revenge. I wanted to believe otherwise, but clearly I was wrong."
"That's not true," Tony says defiantly.
"Then why won't you cooperate with the FBI?" Jack asks angrily. Tony just shakes his head, unable to come up with a good answer.
"You know what it is? I think you're doing this to spite me, aren't you?" Jack asks. Tony just looks at him like he's nuts. "You're angry that I stopped you from killing Wilson so you want to get back at me by letting innocent people die. I don't blame you for being angry...I don't blame you if you hate my guts right now, and if you take this deal, you'll get out of here in 10 years and you can hunt me down and kill me yourself if that's what you want."
"You think I want to kill you, Jack?" Tony asks with disbelief. "I told you, I didn't want to have to hurt you. I never wanted to bring you into this at all, but as usual, you just couldn't keep your nose out of it like I told you to. If I wanted to hurt you, I would have told my people to kill Kim when they were done with her."
"You know, Kim was the one who encouraged me to come here today," Jack tells Tony. "In spite of what you did to her and to me she still wanted me to see if I could help you." Tony looks a little surprised. "I want to help you, Tony," Jack continues, his voice softening. "You take this deal, and cooperate with the FBI, and I will stand behind you. I know what you're going through, and I can help you deal with the guilt, and the pain."
"I don't need your help, Jack," Tony says bitterly.
"Of course not," Jack snaps. "You don't need anyone's help, because you're too weak to deal with your emotions. You just want to give up and let them execute you because it's easier than dealing with your problems, right? Forget it...I'm sorry I wasted my time," he says, getting up to leave. When he gets halfway to the door he turns around.
"Michelle was what, about four months along when she died?"
Tony looks bewildered by the question. "What difference does it make?" he asks coldly.
"How far along was she?" Jack demands forcefully.
"About four months. We had just found out that it was a boy about a week earlier," Tony says nonchalantly.
"So your son would be about seven?" Jack asks.
"Yeah, I guess so. What does it matter now though?"
"Because before you decide to turn down this deal, I want you to picture Michelle telling your seven-year-old son that his father's going to die because he didn't care enough to fight for his life. I want you to picture her telling him that he's less safe going to school every day and that some of his classmates might be killed by terrorists because his father refused to do what he could to stop them. Is that something you can live with?"
Tony shakes his head defiantly. "No. Uh uh. You don't get to do this, Jack. You can't tell me that Michelle would despise me for what I did and then turn around and use her or my son to try to manipulate me into doing what you want."
"And what she would want," Jack insists. "She would want you to do the right thing. So why don't you honor her memory for once instead of pissing on her grave?"
"Don't you think it's a little late for that, Jack?" Tony asks.
"Oh, it's more than a little late," Jack says angrily. "But that doesn't mean it's too late. It is not too late to honor Michelle's life, and it is not too late to be the man you would have wanted your son to look up to."
Tony just shakes his head, unable to believe Jack.
"You have the chance to make them proud, Tony," Jack says softly before turning to go. "Just think about that."
"Hey Jack?" Tony calls as Jack approaches the door.
"Yeah?" Jack asks, turning around.
"Just so you know, there's nothing you could have done. Even if you had known I was alive and been able to preach your self-righteous crap to me earlier, I wouldn't have listened to you," he says.
"Yeah," Jack says softly. Despite Tony's sarcastic tone, he knows this is a peace offering of sorts, that it's Tony's way of telling him not to blame himself. He takes one final glance at Tony before leaving the room, hoping that somehow he got through.