A/N: The other ending. Let me know which one you preferred!

Tony wasn't sure why, but hearing that Jack was ready to charge into the Russian embassy, guns blazing, made him pause. It was the deja vu; it had to be. But last time, they hadn't had a choice. Marwan had had a nuclear weapon, and Palmer had lamented that this was the only way. They had known it would be risky, but everything that resulted from that raid caused turmoil in their lives. Tony didn't exactly have much left to live for at this point. Really, there wasn't much they could take from him besides his freedom. But Jack still had Kim left, and the fact that he wasn't stopping to think about her made Tony desperate to make him reconsider. He supposed the root of this was his loyalty. He had promised to look after Kim when Jack faked his death. Tony might have gone back on that promise the last time they saw each other — although Jack would never know how much it had sickened him to do that and how he had made it very clear to the mercenaries holding her that they had to keep her alive — but right now he had every intent on reminding Jack of it.

"Jack… wait a second," he called.

They needed to get to the car quickly, but Jack had stormed off in a way that made Tony believe he was going to the embassy with or without him. Jack's lack of response further validated this.

Finally, he caught up, panting in a way that was almost embarrassing and indicative that both of them were getting too old for this shit. He grabbed Jack's shoulder. "We need to think this through."

"All the people we need to get to are in that building. If you want to go, go, but don't get in my-"

"Just think about what you're doing for a second."

Jack looked at him incredulously, almost about to laugh that he, of all people, was asking him to be rational.

"The second you set foot in that embassy, it's over. This is what happened with the Chinese all over again, except this time, Palmer isn't here to protect you. Whatever credibility you have disappears because they won't see you as a vigilante or someone trying to expose the truth: they'll see you as a terrorist."

"They already-"

"No, they don't," Tony insisted. "Right now, you're still barely the man who gets results, Guantanamo's golden boy, whatever the fuck they've called you for all these years. Someone at CTU will listen to you. Someone will help you expose the truth. Even if they throw you in prison, we both know it's not going to be for long. If the Russians start wanting you, the government won't hesitate to give you up, and that's if they don't try to put you down like a dog again."

Jack was breathing heavily, probably some combination of anger and indignance towards him as well as physical exertion. "We can't afford to stay here."

Tony had to agree. But he insisted on taking the wheel and going back to his place first. Jack protested, but Tony reminded him they needed to reload and assess the floorplans if they wanted to do this properly — even though he hoped they wouldn't get anywhere near that building. Tony was pretty sure Jack didn't give a damn about any of that and would be perfectly happy getting himself killed, but Jack went along anyway. What Jack didn't see, however, was the text Tony covertly sent with coordinates and instructions to come alone.

"Tony, we're wasting time," Jack said once they returned, voice even less patient than usual. "Most of these diplomats are going to head to the conference soon. If I'm going to get to them, I'm going to get to them now."

"And then what, Jack? Have you thought any of this through?"

"The consequences don't matter. I need to get justice-"

"If this was really about justice, you would be turning yourself in and leveraging the evidence against Taylor."

He huffed. "I already tried that. She won't listen to me."

"But she's your only ticket out of this, you do realise that? You have the power to demolish her integrity, and you can use that."

Jack looked at him with disgust. "I'm not going to blackmail the president, Tony."

"She would happily yield to your demands. You could ask her to clear your record, guarantee protection for you and Kim, and let you go back to LA like you wanted to yesterday," Tony explained, watching how Jack's expression faltered at the mention of Kim. "But that isn't what you want, is it?"

He squared his jaw. "I can't let this go on, and I'm not going to go back to LA knowing what I know now and not doing something about it."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement. However, Tony was careful not to let his eyes track as she carefully inched closer.

"You know what your problem is, Jack? You don't know when to quit. You don't know when to stop and say that's enough, it's not my job anymore. You say that you won't be able to live with yourself if you don't put a stop to it, but at this rate, I don't think anything is ever going to satisfy you. People like this, corrupt people, in and out of the government, all over the world, will always exist. If you really want to be the person who tries to stop it all, then give your daughter the decency of telling her that. I've seen the way her face lights up every time you promise it's the last time, and it's heartbreaking. She might not be a little girl anymore, but she's still your little girl, and it shatters her every time you disappoint her."

That seemed to cross a line for Jack, who drew his gun and pointed it right at his chest. Even though there was a slight tremor in his hand, and Tony could notice all the other flickers in his movement from age and the effects of the bioweapon, he wouldn't underestimate his aim. This wasn't the first time they had ended up in this situation, but this was probably only the second or third time that he had decent reason to believe Jack would shoot him for real this time.

"I am not listening to some lecture about doing the right thing from you," he gritted through his teeth.

"Isn't that why you called me? If all you needed was guns and backup, you could have forced Ricker's arm and done that yourself. You didn't need me for any of that today. I think you called me because deep down, you wanted me to stop you."

"Bullshit."

But Tony wasn't buying it. On the outside, it looked like Jack was his usual, purposeful, tenacious self, but Tony could tell he was on the verge of breaking down. If he let him leave, he would take out decades of fury, grief, and pain on those diplomats, but if he made him stay… he might just admit defeat.

"Tony, I know you're trying to look out for me, but I can't do this. I need to get to the embassy before it's too-"

"Jack, don't move," Chloe warned.

Jack's eyes widened as Chloe's gun made contact with his back. She had been wise to announce herself before doing that; otherwise, Jack might have defended himself without thinking.

"What are you doing here, Chloe?"

"Tony made me come here. I wasn't followed. If anyone at CTU is trying to look for me, I've redirected my cell's GPS somewhere else. So no excuses." She took a breath. "I… I don't know what you're planning to do, but given that CTU has already found Tokarev's body, and it looked like something out of a horror movie, I don't think it's good."

"Chloe, get out of here. This isn't about you."

"I'm sorry for making you come to CTU, but I didn't ask for any of this to happen, and I'm sure Renee didn't, either."

Jack's cheek twitched.

"I know sometimes things get insane, and you feel like it's out of your hands, or you've been forced into something, but in all the years I've known you, if you want something, you usually get it, so why haven't you ever tried leaving, Jack? Maybe it's because of what Tony said. Maybe you just don't want to because you don't know how to do anything else."

"Enough, both of you. I'm doing this because we can't trust the government to do the right thing anymore. Taylor sees the corruption and is choosing to ignore it for her own political gain."

"They're just going to call you insane, make an example out of you against CTU again, and then nothing will change, Jack," Chloe added.

"What you're planning to do isn't going to expose injustice," Tony pointed out. "And contrary to your belief, Jack, I did want to expose injustice when I did what I did, and part of why I regret going too far is that I didn't get to achieve that. When I killed Larry and tried to detonate the canister on the subway, I lost all my credibility, and nobody was ever going to do anything about my information. If I had stopped, they might have given me a chance."

Jack scoffed. "Please, the person you were at that time would not have accepted a deal from the FBI."

"Maybe it would have taken time, but I know that actually being able to help the government open their eyes would have made me feel a hell of a lot better than now."

"You are so full of shit. You're just saying that because-"

"Because it's what she would have wanted, alright?" Tony said, cutting him off, his voice breaking. It was still a struggle for him to say Michelle's name, and trying to think about her in this situation only made things more difficult. "She would have wanted me to turn myself in, and if she was here, she would want you to stop, too."

His expression softened, but only slightly. Jack would have listened to Michelle, but if Michelle had been here, Tony doubted they would be in this situation in the first place.

Before he could speak, Jack held up his hand, eyes widening slightly. One hand came to his ear. Tony furrowed his brow until he remembered that Jack had tried to bug Logan, figuring every word that came out of his mouth was a lie. Jack tensed, looking even angrier than before but not surprised. Tony could make a decently educated guess as to what he was hearing. Logan had his connections far and wide; they knew that damn well. He never would have gotten this far without them.

Finally, Jack spoke, "Suvarov. He's involved. Logan was talking to him, assuring him that I believed it only stopped with Novakovich."

"You recorded that, right?" Chloe asked warily. "Because if you did, I can do something with that, Jack. We used this evidence last time."

"But we don't have anybody we can trust at CTU," he reminded her. "Everyone we used to rely on is dead."

"I-I know. Logan already has that douchebag, Pillar trying to run things, but if I hold onto it, I can get it to the right people. Kanin would help. Morris probably has some contacts, too. I promise I will make sure something comes of this, but you have to turn yourself in." Her eyes were wet with tears. "Please."

"Jack, she's right," Tony agreed. "This is your last chance. And I know you think that nothing will come out of this. I won't give you false hope. Maybe nothing will. But after everything you've been through, you can't look me in the eye and tell me that you'd be resentful for the rest of your life if you threw in the towel now instead of trying to get yourself killed when that won't even guarantee the result you want."

Tony carefully watched his face, still slightly afraid that Jack would shoot him and run. But the anger that had been there before was fading. His breathing was starting to even out, and the hunch in his shoulders was gone. If he really wanted to leave, he would have by now. Chloe having a gun to his back wouldn't have stopped him. Hell, even if Chloe had shot him, Jack would have limped away out of spite.

"Alright…" he finally said quietly, lowering the gun. "Get me a secure line with Taylor."

"Thank you, Jack," Chloe said gratefully.

Jack didn't exactly look happy about what he had just agreed to, but he seemed to at least know it was for his own good, and that was enough. Tony could only hope he would realise he had done the right thing when he reunited with Kim. When he watched Jack with his granddaughter from afar just a couple of days ago, it had made his chest clutch to see him with such a genuine smile.

Chloe got him on the phone with Taylor while Tony slowly started to pack his things. From what he could hear, Jack was not quite comfortable with making demands like this. It was sad knowing that it wasn't about being assertive — Jack was more than capable of that — but it was about advocating for his own wants. But Taylor must have ultimately agreed without much argument because he soon hung up with a sigh.

"What'd she say?" Tony asked.

"She says there's a chopper waiting for me a few hours out of the city to take me back to LA. I… I'll get my stuff from my apartment, then I'll go."

Tony nodded. "I'll drive you."

Chloe thanked them both again, and Jack gave her the data with Logan's confession. She emphasised that she would do the right thing with it at the right time but that she wouldn't tell him because it wasn't his responsibility. Not anymore. Jack thanked Chloe for looking out for him for all these years. Sure, they would likely bump into each other again at some point, but probably not soon.

Unlike the earlier drives when he and Jack had been ready to rip each other's throats out, after picking up Jack's things, leaving the city was peaceful both because they were avoiding the raucous NYC traffic and because there was a lot less to say. Somehow, they had reached a point of contentment. They might not have gone over everything they wanted to today, but what they had discussed had been enough. Jack had softened his perception of him, and Tony had felt a sense of redemption he never thought he wanted.

Tony parked at a safe distance, not wanting to be visible to any Secret Service agents who might know him. Apparently, Taylor wanted to keep this under the table, so cameras shouldn't have caught them, either. Jack took a long breath. It was like he was still questioning if this was the right call, but just seeing the chopper seemed to cement things for him.

"Thanks…" Jack said quietly, staring out at the window. "For talking me down. A part of me hates you, but another part of me knows that it was right. So, thanks."

The corners of his lips upturned. "You're welcome. You're doing the right thing."

"I know," he said very quietly.

"Go be with your family," Tony encouraged, more warmth in his voice than intended.

Jack took a long breath. "Yeah."

As Jack finally got out of the car, Tony didn't expect to feel such great relief, knowing that he had saved Jack from something he couldn't come back from. He realised he probably could have forced Jack's hand and taken this opportunity to cut a deal for him, too, but the fact was, he didn't care. He had actually done this out of the good of his heart, care for Jack and his family, and the promise he had made all those years ago. It was sad how unfamiliar this feeling was. He had tried to tell himself — convince himself of David's words, really — that he had spent too much of his life being pushed around and bending over backwards for people who wouldn't do the same in return. He still held that belief, but it wasn't such a core ideal anymore. No, it was like deep beneath the surface, some of the old him was revealing itself, proving to him, Jack, and Chloe that it had never fully disappeared.

And maybe, just maybe, if Michelle could see him, she would believe that, too.