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Note: events do not occur in real time. Dialog may be occurring simultaneously.

FADE IN:

EXT. ARLINGTON CEMETARY - ONE YEAR LATER

Jack is standing in front of Tony’s grave while Audrey visits her father’s burial site. INTERCUT BETWEEN THEM as necessary.

JACK

You’re probably wondering what I’m doing here. I’ve actually been in the area for a while. Right after you crashed the plane and stopped the other plane from being set off, the media released a tape of President Palmer confessing his role in the raid on the Chinese Consulate. Chloe said that the four of you had arranged for him to put that in his will with instructions to contact Chloe, since she was the only one who knew how to get in touch with me directly while I was in hiding. So after the tape was released, the entire world knew I was alive so there wasn’t much sense in staying hidden. Audrey and I stayed outside the country for a few weeks because it took a little while to get the whole diplomatic mess with the Chinese straightened out, but after considerable pressure from her father and Mike Novick, President Logan picked up the phone and called the Chinese Premiere and agreed to abstain on a UN resolution condemning China’s human rights practices if they agreed to drop the matter. So we were able to come back and we’ve actually managed to live as close to a normal life as I’ll ever have for the past 12 months.

He sighs as he looks at Tony’s tombstone, which has an American flag draped over it.

cut to:

EXT. ARLINGTON CEMETARY - ANOTHER SECTION

Audrey gets tears in her eyes as she approaches her father’s grave with flowers in her hands and a sling around her shoulders.

INSIDE THE SLING is a petite two-month-old sleeping baby boy dressed in a blue sleeper.

A CLOSE UP SHOT shows the word style="font-weight: bold;">“TONY” embroidered on the lapel of the baby’s sleeper.

JACK

So as you can probably see, after my name was cleared, CTU was able to release the truth about your involvement, at which time you were all over the news being hailed as a hero. That’s why you were buried here…I knew that you’d care a lot more about being buried next to Michelle than about having a state funeral and being hailed as a hero, but in the end it was your father’s decision. I guess it doesn’t matter much. Like you said, we don’t know what happens after death, but I have to believe that you and Michelle are together wherever you are. Next time I’m in LA I promise to go visit her grave and put some fresh flowers on it.

Audrey gingerly places the flowers and the basket in front of the tombstone and kneels down beside the baby, placing her hand on the top of the marker with her father’s name.

AUDREY

So this is your grandson, Anthony David Bauer. He weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces when he was born. 

JACK

Her father hung on a lot longer than we expected…he was there to walk her down the aisle when we got married, and if he’d hung on a few months longer he’d have gotten to meet his grandson. She even talked about having the baby prematurely when she was six months pregnant, but neither her father nor I wanted her to put herself at risk. 

AUDREY

I hope you’re not offended that we didn’t give him your name. We decided that since neither of us would be alive if it weren’t for Tony Almeida, we wanted to name our son after him.

JACK

Audrey says she’s lucky he lived as long as he did, but I know it’s tearing her apart that he’s not going to be around to watch Tony grow up.

AUDREY

We thought about giving him your name as a middle name, but we figured we’d save it in case we had another boy.

JACK

He refused to resign from office until a week before he died…he had planned on resigning shortly after the day I came back but he was so angry about what happened to Audrey that he insisted on staying in office for as long as he was able to talk so he could force an investigation and make sure the people responsible were removed from their positions. I can’t say I really blame him…

AUDREY

So you’ll be happy to know that after having to call in outside help during both major crises that happened during his presidency, Logan finally decided he wasn’t fit to be commander in chief and opted not to run in his own right.

JACK

We’re taking a leave from DOD for a while…actually, I’ve been on leave since Tony was born but now she’s taking some time off too…a good friend of her father’s is challenging the acting vice president for the Republican nomination, and we’re going up to New Hampshire to work on his campaign. She says it’s a little bit of a long shot, but on the plus side, if he does get elected there’s a decent chance she’ll achieve her goal of becoming the country’s first female Secretary of Defense.

AUDREY

Jack has this notion that if Peterson wins I’m going to become Secretary of Defense…I’ve explained to him a thousand times that I’ve never served in the military and that my goal is to become Undersecretary for Policy, but he just brushes it off and says I’m selling myself short.

JACK

I know you’re probably turning over in your grave at the image of me being involved with a political campaign, but don’t worry. For the time being, I’m just going to be taking care of Tony while she works on the campaign.

AUDREY

I’m a little nervous about New Hampshire…I’m afraid that I’m pulling Jack along and I’m not sure what there is for him to do up there…I wasn’t going to accept the offer but he found out about it and joked that if I didn’t take it he’d go up there and get involved himself until I came to join him…

She chuckles slightly and rolls her eyes.

AUDREY

…we both know that Jack and politics don’t exactly mix very well so I figured I couldn’t let that happens.

JACK

There was no way in hell I was going to let her turn this down, and to be honest, I’m pretty excited about it. I think a change of scenery will be good for both of us, and not having a job for a while will give me the chance to spend some time with my family and enable me to be the husband and father that I couldn’t be the first time around.

AUDREY

We’re leaving for New Hampshire tonight…we’re going to wait out the afternoon rush and pray that by driving through the night Tony will sleep through most of the ride. Let’s hope.

JACK

Kim’s still not talking to me. I don’t even think she knows she has a brother. As hard as it’s been to accept maybe in some strange way it’s for the best. She said she needed to put the past behind her and move on, and maybe I did too. As much as I miss her, maybe not having her in my life has made it easier to build a new family and start over. Chloe checks up on her and gives me updates every now and then.

AUDREY

I’d be lying if I said the past year has been easy. As hard as he’s tried to put it behind him I know Jack still feels a lot of pain over losing his daughter and a lot of guilt over Tony’s death. Even though I didn’t know him that well I guess I have too…there’s a part of me that still can’t get past the feeling that I may have prompted him to do it. But whenever things get
rough I think about what Tony said to me before he died about how life’s too short to waste. 

JACK

There have been times when all the grief and guilt have gotten to be too much for me, and I’ve tried to push Audrey away and shut her out. I can’t tell you how thankful I am that she hasn’t let me. She somehow knows when to push me to talk and when to just hold my hand and not say anything. There’s hardly a moment when I look at Audrey and Tony without thinking about how lucky I am to have the two of them.

AUDREY

I think Tony Almeida was right about one thing: when you love someone enough nothing else matters.

JACK

I think that’s just about it for now…this is only the second time Audrey’s been here since her father died, and I know she’s going to be pretty emotional so I should probably go see how she’s doing. I’ve never really been good at this kind of thing, but I guess I just want to say thank you one more time…thank you for giving me a second chance at life. When Tony’s old enough, I’m going to bring him here and tell him how he was named after a great American hero.

Jack sighs heavily and starts to walk away, then doubles back.

JACK

I almost forgot…

AUDREY

As an avid White Sox fan, you’ll be happy to know that just as Tony predicted, the Cubs came close to the World Series but choked in the end.

JACK

It was tied in the bottom of the eleventh and Wood hit what looked like it was going to be the winning home run, and it ended up falling a quarter of an inch outside the foul line. It was pretty heartbreaking, but the bottom line is, you didn’t miss anything.

On the other side of the cemetary, Little Tony starts to fuss. Audrey takes him out of the sling and repositions him so that he is facing her, kissing the top of his head soothingly.

AUDREY

I guess I should probably go…Tony’s starting to get cranky…I promise I’ll come by again next time I’m in DC.

She stands up and looks wistfully at her father’s grave for a moment, tears filling her eyes for the first time since she arrived.

Suddenly, she senses Jack standing behind her as he tentatively approaches, standing back a little to give her her space.

When tears start gently rolling down her cheeks, he takes that as his cue to go up and snake his arms around her waste, kissing the back of her head gently.

She turns around and smiles weakly at him.

AUDREY

I can just picture my dad bouncing Tony on his knee and doing some goofy Popeye impression.

She simultaneously chuckles and fights back tears when she says this.

AUDREY

He’s never going to hear Tony’s first words or see his first steps, Jack…he always wanted grandchildren so badly…why couldn’t he have hung on just a little longer? I mean, I know he lived a lot longer than he was supposed to but I just wish…

Her voice trails off as she starts to cry.

Jack strokes her hair soothingly and kisses her forehead.

When her tears subside Jack cups her chin and looks into her eyes.

JACK

This is probably going to sound trite and it probably doesn’t make you feel any better, but I’ve got to believe that your father’s up there somewhere looking down at the three of us and smiling.

AUDREY

Yeah, I know. I believe it too…it’s just hard sometimes.

JACK

I know, sweetheart, I know.

He wipes the tears from her eyes and kisses her gently.

Tony starts to fuss again. Jack smiles at Tony and pats the top of his head affectionately. Audrey smiles a little.

AUDREY

I guess he’s saying it’s time for dinner.

JACK

(softly)

You ready?

Audrey nods and wipes her eyes. Jack takes the baby from her and gives her a minute as she walks over and places her hand on the top of her father’s tombstone as if to say goodbye. Jack can’t help but smile as she walks toward him.

AUDREY

What?

JACK

Nothing…just thinking about how lucky I am.

She smiles as he takes Tony’s pacifier out of the pouch of the carrier and gives it to him.

AUDREY

Yeah, I guess we are pretty lucky.

She kisses him softly as the baby starts to settle down. He wraps his arm around her and the three of them start heading back to the car, ready for a new location, a new adventure, and a new beginning together.