"It saddens me that you cannot enjoy the simple things in life."
He awoke to the sound of waves softly lapping at the shore, sand beneath his toes, and an umbrella that was not quite doing its job. As he sat back in his beach chair, he noticed a book he had been meaning to read, and a Corona sitting near him a flimsy plastic table that had certainly seen better days. He didn't have the slightest clue what time it had been, but judging from the location of the sun, he was guessing some time around late afternoon. He smiled at the odd tan lines a few hours in the sun had made across his body. He turned to the side table again, noticing a bottle of sun tan lotion that had not been there before…
"Would you like help with that?"
He caught site of her tanned feet first and slowly made his way up the rest of her body. She was wearing a very sexy gold bikini, not unlike the black one he had seen her in before, okay who was he kidding, memorized her in before. She bent over next to him retrieving the bottle from the table; the movement caused her bikini to shift in the process revealing to him just how tan she could get when the opportunity allowed it.
"Is this simple enough for you?"
Her voice sounded far off, like she hadn't been sitting right next to him, urging him to scoot forward so she could apply the lotion to his back. He complied with her commands and decided to revel in the feeling of her hands against his back, the smell of her coconut tanning oil, and the laughter of kids playing off in the distance.
She sat back down in the chair next to him, slipped her sunglasses off her head and onto her face and reached into her bag for a book. Oddly enough, he had missed the chair upon first waking up. He still wasn't sure he had closed his mouth since he first realized he was on a tropical island with Ziva. Her voice drew him from his thoughts again…
"This really is the life, I would not mind spending my days here when we're retired."
"What do you mean? This is better than manure and cows?" Tony joked.
"I think they both have good qualities." Ziva attempted to conceal her smirk.
Rather than argue with her, Tony just nodded and continued to survey the scene before him. A few other people dotted the beach here and there, but for the most part, him and Ziva had the place to themselves. He hadn't seen a waiter, or any topless women willing to fan him with banana leaves either. A wave of heat seemed to spread over the beach like wildfire and he wondered if he had misjudged the time of day. The umbrella that half protected him earlier was no longer in the vicinity and he suddenly wondered why there seemed to be so much pressure on his chest. He watched Ziva get up and walk towards the water, she looked over her shoulder, winked, and mumbled something along the lines of 'you going to join me?" He went to lift himself off the chair and quickly became very aware that he wasn't going anywhere.
"Tony. Tony."
Was that slapping?
"Wake up Tony."
"The water, let's go in the water."
"Tony. Come on. We need to get out of here."
He blinked and her face blurred for a second and was gone. The pain that erupted in and around his head was enough for him to keep his eyes shut forever.
"Can you hear me?" Ziva lightly place her hand to his cheek and tried to adjust herself away from Tony.
"What happened?" He mumbled.
"I am not exactly sure, we're in the elevator, and my head is a little foggy."
The bomb…the evacuation…Gibbs…Where was Gibbs and McGee and Abby? The thoughts crossed his mind a lot faster than his brain was willing to process at the moment; he squeezed his eyes tighter and prepared to open them again. When he did, he noticed how scared she looked. She never was very good at hiding her emotions, her eyes told him everything.
He took in a sharp breath and tried to assess his injuries, everything seemed to be sore, but other than the sharp pains he assumed were the result of a concussion, everything seemed to be at least okay. He noticed her taking in his face and he realized he hadn't said anything in the last two minutes.
"Are you okay?" He adjusted his grip on her waist and attempted to pull them into a sitting position in the corner of the elevator. She willingly adjusted her position into his side and kept her hands across his body.
"This goes without saying, but I think I'm just a little shook up." She smiled, knowing that she had got that saying right.
He couldn't help the light chuckle that escaped his lips as he leaned his head back against the elevator door.
"So plan A was to get out of the building before the explosion, got any ideas on what plan B should entail?" He adjusted them once more, taking her hand in his, as he attempted to make them a tiny bit more comfortable in the situation they had before them.
"Is get out of this elevator too vague?" She stretched out her feet as best she could but never let go of his hand, making him very aware that that was exactly what she needed right then.
"Yes ninja, that's the plan, any ideas on how we accomplish this mission?"
"Scream?"
"Not a bad idea. Do you think we fell at all?"
"It is hard to say, I cannot tell what floor we are on."
He sensed her tense up, squeezing his hand a little tighter than before and adjusting her position again. He scanned her face for any signs of extreme discomfort and realized she was near tears. He gently ran his thumb across her fingers and attempted to calm her nerves.
"It's going to be okay, we're both fine, let's just put our two concussed minds together and figure a way out of this mess."
"What about Gibbs?" Ziva croaked out, almost childlike "And McGee, and Abby?" "What if they didn't make it out?" A few tears released from her tear ducts and dropped onto his suit.
He ran his hand up and down her back. "We won't know until we know okay?" She seemed to pull it together enough to nod and accept that they were the ones they had to worry about at the moment. "We need to focus on getting us out of a potentially unstable elevator first, then we can worry. We have each other right now. " He leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead, which seemed to considerably loosen some tension all over her body. He made a mental note to remember that for later.
"You want to try and push the doors open, they do not seem to be warm from this side."
"This sounds like a plan, I like plans." He released his grip from her and helped her stand up, albeit awkwardly in the midst of debris. It wasn't three seconds later they heard the pounding on the other sides and shouts to see if anyone was trapped. He relaxed in relief and pulled her into his side again.
"When we get out of this mess, we're definitely going for drinks on a beach somewhere, too predictable?"
"I like predictable."
Fin