The world had finally stopped shaking. Slowly, and using more effort than it should have taken, Ziva opened her eyes. She winced, the sharp intake of breath making her ribs hurt. She lay very still for several seconds, trying to determine how badly she'd been hurt. She lifted her head as much as she could. Whiplash, she thought to herself before groaning out loud. She looked around her and found that not only was her left arm twisted at a funny angle, dislocated shoulder, but also that her wrist was contorted in a way that only came from a nasty break. She hissed as the room started to spin before her eyes. Bruised ribs, concussion, whiplash, dislocated shoulder and broken wrist. It could be worse. She mused. If it hadn't been for… She gasped, wincing as the expansion of her lungs aggravated her ribs. The events of several minutes ago came flooding back to her: she and Tony had been in the elevator- she mentally head-slapped herself, who takes the elevator in an emergency? - the world had started to collapse around them and they had been thrown to the ground. Tony had wrapped his arms around her. It was only then that she realised that while she was still on top of him, he was no longer holding her.
"T-Tony?" She managed to ask quietly. Her voice croaked enough to make her wonder how long she'd been inhaling dust before she'd come to. "Tony?" She asked slightly louder. She got no response and suddenly the word was swimming. "Tony! Wake up!" She pushed herself off of him the best she could with one arm. She'd managed to slide her knees either side of his thighs, ending with her straddling him. She sat back on his knees, lifting her body weight off of him. "Tony?" She pressed two fingers to his neck; the veins fluttered steadily beneath them. She heard him groan in pain and felt only slightly guilty that it was music to her ears.
"Five more minutes." She actually laughed in spite of the pain before taking his hand and squeezing it.
"No, come on, time to wake up now." His eyes flicked for a moment before opening fully and finding hers.
"Why are you always on top of me?" She chuckled again before grasping her poor rib cage with her right hand and wincing. "Zi? What's the matter?" She shook her head, taking shallow steadying breaths. He moved his hand slowly to rest it on her knee and stroked comforting lines on the thigh with his thumb. "What hurts?" He asked softly.
"Everything." She murmured tearfully and the sound was barely loud enough to reach him. He squeezed her knee gently as he dragged his eyes across her, trying to ascertain what was hurting her.
"Your arm looks pretty bad." She nodded, pain etched across her features, something she couldn't have hidden even if she had been trying to. "Hit your head?"
"Yup." He smiled sadly.
"I'm guessing at least bruised ribs, given how shallowly you're breathing." She nodded. "Okay. Can you move, do you think?" She shrugged with the one shoulder still in its socket. Tony sat up and gently wrapped his arms around her waist, taking all of her weight before swinging his legs out from under her, ending with her on his lap. "You doin' okay?" She nodded wordlessly, worried that if she verbally answered him that she would give into the nausea. "Okay, once more." He carefully lowered her so that she was sat beside him, resting her uninjured arm against him. "Comfortable?"
"Y-yes. Thank you." He smiled gently. "Are you injured?" He did a quick mental check.
"I've got at least one broken rib, but that's what I get for cushioning a ninja's fall." He joked but watched her face fall out the corner of his eye.
"I'm sorry." He shook his head and squeezed her hand.
"Don't worry about it. Apart from a banging headache I'm good. Looks like the ceiling did more damage than the floor." She smiled before closing her eyes and resting her head against the wall behind them. "Zi? You trust me, right?" She nodded, not even having to think about it. He thanked her silently for keeping her eyes closed as he quickly switched sides and took hold of her upper arm and elbow firmly.
"T-Tony?" She asked wearily.
"This is gonna hurt, but it'll be better than leaving you like this." With a quick shove her shoulder popped back into place as she cried out in agony, tears slipping down her cheeks. "I'm sorry Sweetheart." He pressed a kiss to her temple before resting her wrist in her lap. "It'll get better soon." She whimpered until he let go of her and returned to his place on her right side. She leant against him heavily, silently trying to breathe through the already lessening pain. "Do you hate me?"
"No. You were right to do it. I'm just not gonna thank you for it just yet." He smiled, placing another kiss to her temple.
"That's okay. You don't have to thank me." He felt her squeeze his hand and smiled. "I spy with my little…"
"Tony DiNozzo? What are you doing?" He chuckled.
"Distracting you, now, I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with P." She hummed gently, slowly, carefully, looking around her.
"Plaster, from the ceiling." He laughed.
"Okay Smarty Pants. Your turn."
"I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with, B." Tony looked around the small room.
"Button?"
"Nope."
"Brake?" She shook her head. "Bulb? Bar?" She shook her head again. "I give up."
"You cannot give up after four guesses."
"Yes I can, I just did. What was it?" She carefully pointed beside her.
"Blood." Tony grimaced.
"Okay two things. One, how very morbid and gross of you and two; where's that coming from?" She pointed at her wrist and then at the gash on her head. "Ah. Okay, you beat me, your turn again." She smiled.
"Umm, okay. L."
"Zi, you have to say the whole sentence." She shook her head with a chuckle at the childish tone he'd taken.
"Okay, okay. I spy, with my little eye something beginning with L."
"Hmm, light?"
"Guess again." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye.
"Okay, hmm, la-ces?" He asked unsurely. Ziva nodded with a wince. "You okay?"
"Aside from being trapped and in pain, yeah, just pear-y." He laughed gently.
"Peachy." He corrected softly. "New pain or the same pain?" She shrugged.
"I think it's the same pain." She winced slightly. "I cannot be sure though." Tony wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
"You wanna stop playing?" She nodded against the side of his chest. He nudged her gently. "Hey, don't fall asleep now will you. I need you up." She smiled gently.
"Are you bored already?" He chuckled.
"Just looking out for you kiddo." She snorted at the term.
"Kiddo?" He was glad the indignation had remained in her voice.
"There's the Ziva I know and love. Yes. Kiddo. You're ten years younger than me Zi. That gives me every right to call you kiddo." She snuggled closer into his chest.
"You are warm." He carefully wrapped his arm around her more fully.
"You cold?" She nodded into him. "Hang on." He sat her up properly before slipping off his jacket and wrapping it around her shoulders. "Better?"
"Much, thank you." He encouraged her back into his embrace and she was quick to oblige.
Two hours post explosion
"Hey, Ziva?" He whispered, she'd been quiet for a while and it was starting to worry him.
"I am not asleep." She murmured. They lapsed back into silence for several minutes. "Do you think anyone knows we're here?"
"I don't know. I guess so, I hope so." She stroked her fingers up and down the small of his back while she thought.
"Do you think the others are okay?" Tony gulped. He hadn't let himself think about their team mates.
"Well, Gibbs would have got Abs out. Tim was in the bullpen so I'm sure he got out too." She nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer, that or she was just too tired and anxious to argue.
Three hours post explosion
"Tony?" She started slowly, struggling with how to put her thoughts in order.
"Yeah, Zi?" He asked quietly, too tired and in too much pain to put volume behind it.
"When we get out of here, I think we should tell the team the truth about Paris." He smirked.
"Which one?" She smiled.
"The real one, that you took the couch until I woke you with my nightmare. How you held me until I fell asleep again." He smiled sadly, toying with one of her curls.
"You sure you wanna tell them about your nightmare?" She nodded slowly.
"They are family. Besides, they should stop wondering if we slept together." He smiled.
"Okay. When we get out, we'll tell them." She sighed painfully.
"Thank you." He took her left hand gently in his right, gasping inaudibly at how cold her fingers were.
"Does your wrist still hurt?" She rolled her eyes.
"It is broken, naturally it hurts, why?" He interlaced their fingers slowly; watching her for any signs of discomfort, there wasn't any.
"Just wondering." He sighed, equally as pain-felt a gesture as hers had been.
Four hours post explosion
"How long do you think it's been?"
"Three hours, give or take." She replied confidently. "They will be looking by now." He rested his cheek on the top of her head. "Will you think less of me if I say I am scared?" He shook his head against hers.
"Not at all. Will you think less of me?"
"No." They lapsed back into a comfortable silence, holding each other close.
Five hours post explosion
"I was twenty when Tali died. I wasn't in the country but I heard about it and caught the next plane home." They had started sharing stories to pass the time and naturally, Tony had carefully asked about the Israeli's little sister. "It was horrific."
"I can imagine. The only person I've known, like really known, that's died was Kate. I mean, I knew my mom but I was only eight when that happened." He rubbed his cheek into her hair comforting them both. "Well, I guess I knew Jason's little sister, in some form." Ziva gently pushed her hand into his back in comfort. "Kate still hurts, now and again." Ziva shook her head gently.
"I am sorry that I didn't stop him sooner Tony." He turned his head just far enough to press a kiss to her curls.
"I have mixed emotions. I am sad she died, devastated even. She was my friend and if she hadn't've then who knows, we could have been married by now. But if she hadn't of died, we wouldn't have gotten you." She smiled softly.
"I am glad you got me."
"Me too, Zi, me too."
Six hours post explosion
"Dumb dee, dumb dee, dumb." Ziva chuckled at him.
"Bored Tony?" He nodded.
"Yup. What time is it?" Ziva shrugged.
"Late. It'll be dark by now." He sighed shallowly, finally having learnt how to do it without causing himself more pain. "Say Tony?"
"Yeah?" He asked tiredly, leaning more heavily onto her head.
"Take me to dinner, when we get out." He smiled.
"Yes ma'am." She gently tapped his back at the term.
"I mean, you don't have to. Just if, you know, you want to." He stroked her bent knee gently.
"I wanna." She smiled.
"Good. At least…" She paused, swallowing the tears forming in her eyes.
"Ziva?" He asked worriedly, turning to face her for the first time in hours.
"At least we have something to stay alive for." He gently turned her head so he met her eye.
"You have everything to stay alive for Ziva David." He watched her gaze flicker from his eyes to his lips and back. "Do you hear me? Everything." She nodded.
Seven and a half hours post explosion
"Tony?" She asked slowly, breaking him out of his silent reverie.
"Yeah?" She sat up awkwardly and kissed his cheek, perilously close to his mouth.
"Thank you for popping my shoulder back in." He smiled.
"Finally ready to thank me huh?" She nodded before looking him in the eye again. "Ziva…?" He asked slowly as she leaned closer to him. There were mere millimetres between their lips when they heard shouts from above.
"Hello? Anyone down there?" The fire chief's voice filtered through the air.
"Yes! We're here." They shouted in unison.
"Tony? Ziver?" Their boss shouted back. "We're gonna get you out! Just hang on." They took each other's hand and held on tight. They would hang on for dear life until they were both safe. Neither was leaving without the other.