Chapter 2 – The Long Way Down

Ziva was the first to recover from the shock of the explosion. The world around her had gone quiet, the sound of her halting breath the only break in the silence. Tony stumbled in front of her and pushed her hands around the strap of a parachute. He was trying to tell her something, but those words were swallowed up by a deafening roar. The walls of the room groaned and twisted, then began to peel away like a tin can under a knife blade. She shoved her arms through the chute's straps and clutched tightly to the deflated wad of yellow plastic she had pulled from the shelf. Tony already had a chute strapped to his back, but was bent low next to McGee, both of them struggling to pull Abby up from the quickly dissolving floor. A thick line of blood was dripping from a gash across her head, and her eyes stayed closed. Gibbs was reaching for her, arms outstretched, the look on his face enough to twist Ziva's stomach into a tight knot. With a final lurch, the room split apart and Ziva felt the surrounding storm engulf her.

She was spinning rapidly, writhing frantically for balance to see where the rest of her team was. Rain was pelting her from all sides, sudden gusts of wind slamming her body from every direction. Tony was not far from her, limbs spread to give him a fighting chance at staying level with her. His face was strangely serene, a look Ziva was all too familiar with: he had passed every state of fear and shock, and was simply in terrified awe at his predicament.

Abby's limp body suddenly flew past her, a flash of lightning rendering her unconscious features like a ghost. Ziva's hand flew to her mouth and she felt tears spring to her eyes. Why Abby? Why not me?

She heard a muffled rustling behind her, then another body shot past her, arms pushed straight downward like a diver going headfirst. McGee was going after her! She watched him angle his body straight for Abby's rapidly disappearing form, and for a split second she thought he might have caught her, when both bodies disappeared into a fast approaching cloud.

Something grabbed her arm. Tony held her wrist, his eyes staring straight into her. He pulled her closer and wrapped his arm around her back, and she suddenly felt her heart stop.

He yelled over the wind: "I'm not dying without it."

Her question was swallowed up by his lips smashing into hers. They tumbled through the night sky, bodies intertwined for what seemed to be a lifetime, then broke apart, hands still tightly clasped.

Tony motioned to his rip cord, and she nodded in reply. Their hands drifted apart, and she pulled her cord as hard as she could. Tony swooped past her as the chute's fabric unraveled angrily into the furious storm winds. She held her breath until she saw his chute spreading open beneath her.

She swiveled her body in every direction, eyes searching the darkness for any sign of other chutes. Bursts of light danced across the clouds, giving her brief glimpses of the world around her.

No sign of Gibbs. Jenny. McGee. Abby. Only her. Only Tony.

She heard a cry below her. "Ziva! Ocean! Thirty seconds!"

She tugged the rip cord on the life raft she had managed to cling to the entire way down. It burst from her arms and inflated rapidly, the wind spinning it's ragged form all the way down to the swirling ocean below. It splashed into the water and began to take form, and for the first time since she discovered the bomb onboard the plane, she felt that she might live through the night.

The water was brutally cold, immediately sucking all warmth from her body. She cut the parachute's straps from her and barely caught her breath before a swollen wave crashed over her. The water raged in her ears, an ominous rumbling that reflected the thunderous sky. Her head shot above water and she gasped for air, but was rewarded with a breathful of saltwater that burned like fire in her lungs. She sputtered and tried to push herself above the water's surface, but her sodden clothes and exhaustion conspired to drag her deeper. A serene calmness crept over her, the dim rays of light overhead dissolving into inky blackness.

She was snatched upwards and found herself an instant later being cradled in Tony's arms as he fell backwards in the life raft. She gagged and retched up a foamy mix of water and air, her throat raw and lungs desperate for oxygen. After a few minutes of coughing fits, she curled her head into his lap and smiled when she felt his hand softly stroking her cheek.