Title: Blown Away
Pairing: hints at McGee/Ziva, but there's nothing overly romantic
Rating: K+
Genre: Gen
Cat: Angst, Drama, Friendship, Suspense, a bit of a Casefile, UST
Spoilers: None.
Warnings: None.
Summary: McGee and Ziva find themselves in harm's way while investigating a lead, forcing them to rely on each other to stay alive.
Author's Note: Written for hazelmom for the 2012 White Elephant Exchange on NFA, using her prompt, "McGee and Ziva are trapped in a building explosion. One of them is stuck under a girder and may not be able to be saved. The team and rescuers work feverishly to get to them. Ziva and McGee must keep work together to stay alive, and have to face the possibility that both of them may not survive. Can be gen or het."
"All I am saying is that I do not understand why we are here, at some abandoned warehouse." Ziva slammed her door shut and met McGee's eyes over the roof of the car. "It is highly unlikely that Rogers or his accomplice will be here. We should be out looking for them, not investigating some dead end!"
"Ziva, I'm sure Gibbs had a reason for sending us here." He waited for Ziva to join him on his side of the car, then fell in step with her as they started toward the warehouse. "Maybe this was their meeting spot."
Ziva rolled her eyes. "Why would they be using a warehouse to meet up? Why not somewhere less . . ."
"Sketchy?" McGee finished, and Ziva just huffed to herself and crossed her arms over her chest. McGee let out a breath. "Ziva, what is wrong? You've been like this all morning."
"Like what, McGee?" she responded, sounding even more put out. "And if you say anything at all about my menstrual cycle, I will run you over with the car."
His eyes widened. "Uh, no, I wasn't thinking that. . ."
"I just get frustrated with these leads that go nowhere, how we are constantly running around doing nothing to speak of, just wasting our time."
McGee stopped in front of the entrance to the warehouse, turning to face Ziva. "That's our job, Ziva. And I know you know that and yeah, it gets frustrating, but I think something else is bothering you."
Ziva let out a sardonic laugh and pushed past him to enter the building. "Are you a psychologist now, McGee?"
"No, but I can tell this is something that's been bothering you for some time. Is it about Tony?"
Ziva shook her head in disbelief. "Incredible." That was all she said before stalking away, her steps hurried and angry.
McGee let out a sigh and withdrew his flashlight, knowing he'd only succeeded in pissing her off even more, and figuring he should survey the building so they could get out of there and back to NCIS, where he wouldn't have to talk to her unless necessary.
As he scanned the building, he caught sight of a camera perched on a wall and let out a small noise of discovery. He glanced around for Ziva, but when he didn't see – or hear – her, shrugged and snapped a photo of the camera before pulling out a pair of latex gloves and pulling a nearby crate over to climb upon to reach the camera.
As he stepped onto the crate and took the camera down, he suddenly heard Ziva's voice calling his name. He turned toward the sound, but didn't respond, still annoyed from earlier. If she wanted to talk to him, she was going to have to find him herself.
Once he had the camera in hand, he began to study it, only looking up when he heard the sound of Ziva's boots running across the concrete floor. He frowned as she called his name yet again, this time more frantic, and hopped down from the crate, jogging to meet her.
"Ziva, what's going on? Did you find something? What. . ."
Ziva didn't bother to stop, just grabbed his arm and pulled him along with her as she hurried for the exit. "There's no time! We have to get out of here!"
"Whoa, whoa, what's going on?" He stopped and Ziva yanked his arm again, her eyes wild with panic.
He didn't argue with her then, just ran. . .
But it was too late.
The explosion caught them both off-guard, sending them diving to the floor, and it didn't take long for the dust to settle, but things were far from okay.
Twisted metal and piles of rubble covered what was once the warehouse floor, and somewhere amid the debris were both McGee and Ziva, buried, and only time would tell if they'd come out of it alive.