As the lights flickered and Ziva and Tony latched into each other's arms, she somehow knew she had a decision to make. She was more afraid than she'd been in her entire life, and although she was still young, that said a lot. She and Tony had made it this far and were so close to admitting their feelings she didn't want it to end. She didn't want all their efforts and progress to simply be washed away by the shower of debris that fell over them in the elevator.
Over and over again she played Silent Lucidity in her head, praying that she'd just went too far this time and needed to wake up. "Help me," she whispered into the silence once the rumbling had stopped. On one hand she hoped he didn't hear her because it would only worry him, but on the other, if he didn't hear her…
"Tony!?" she gasped, squirming as she felt something wet touch her arm. She repeated his name two more times and upon shaking him, she heard a groan. It was far too dark to see as the power had gone out, but somehow he managed to find her hand and grasp it. "Ziva… Ziva!?" he panicked and pushed debris away from them as much as he could, rolling her into his place as he moved.
"You're bleeding… Stay with me," he pleaded. She could hear him tear something which she assumed was his shirt and he tied it around her head. How he could tell where the blood was coming from she couldn't be sure. Only until she heard his panic did she realize…
"Ziva! No, come on… You're not gonna die on me." She could feel his lips press against hers and instinctively she tried to kiss him, but she was immobile and wracked with the most extreme case of confusion one could possibly experience. She felt his breath enter her but at the same time she couldn't grasp it, nor did she feel the need to. She felt like a balloon with all the oxygen she could ever need, but when she realized there was no way for her to receive it, a sharp pain of worry zapped through her.
Tony spoke to Ziva in hopes that somehow she could hear him. "I'm sorry… I shouldn't have let you stay with me… Why didn't we take the stairs? God, I'm so stupid!" He banged his fist down against the ground, pulling it up covered in blood but all he felt was emotional pain. Guilt. Anger. And anything in between.
Ziva felt something cold on the side of her cheek but when she moved her hand to touch it, nothing was there. She was pure energy and high on something she couldn't quite place. Like she was breathing some kind of gas from the air but she had no lungs to do so. Tony's voice and cries faded and she saw light above, but she had absolutely nothing to hold onto to keep from disappearing into the brightness. Underneath her though was a much darker place, and as she used all her power to keep from going up, she began sinking into the pit. After using every ounce of her strength she felt lightheaded and had no choice but to float.
She relaxed a little at the comforting sensation of the ride. It was not warm like the sun but actually cooler than she'd have expected. She'd been to the mountains before and it was almost like that. The higher you go, the colder you get. She didn't know how long she had traveled before she felt the heat again. Shifting around her, faint noise, signs of life. Then pain. An excruciating jolt in her chest, a thump on her foot. She didn't know which was more important but the electric shock she felt was much more difficult to ignore.
Finally, she stopped rising. Something was on her back, twice. It felt like she was in two places at once and she didn't know where to turn. Her eyes were beginning to see color though and maybe that was a good sign. To her left a faint mint green light beckoned her with happy cries and laughter. To her right, silence, but an orange color illuminated through the white light, reminding her of NCIS, the bullpen, her home. She felt she had forever to choose her path but the choice between the possibility of returning home and whatever mystery was on the other side was overwhelming.
She wanted desperately to cry as she tried making a decision. The guilt of leaving one could eat her alive later. That was if she remembered her journey. "Ziva." The calm sound of her name, quiet but audible, came from the misty green light and she felt love. In the orange light she felt fear, panic, sadness.
"Please… I need to know what's there," she pleaded to God or whoever was controlling her torture. She stepped first toward the green light, then happiness. What she saw made her happy and made her want to go into that reality, but the hint of sadness from one person drove her towards the orange. Red flashing lights, people were huddled around, grief stricken at what they saw. Another painful jolt struck her and she knew she couldn't let them down. She rushed into the orange luminescence as the most powerful jolt entered her, then small jolts followed. The smaller jolts soon comforted her as she realized her heart was beating again, and a rush of panic left them. Whether it went to the green place, she didn't want to know.
"I saw them," Ziva whispered, trying her best to ignore her pained body and throbbing head. "Saw who?" someone asked. She couldn't tell if it was Gibbs, Tony, McGee, or even Abby, but she replied. "There was a baby…"