A/N: Okay, I know this is a really terrible chapter, kinda angsty too, but I needed to get it out of the way to move on with the proper story. The rest will be better! Promise?

Blackness.

It was all she could see.

From every direction.

Surrounding her.

Pressing up against her.

Drowning her.

Slowly making her lose her mind.


The tears Tony had been holding back escaped and flowed freely down his cheeks.

"Sh-she's not?" he stuttered. Ziva wasn't dead. Tony knew in his mind that he should be rejoicing, but something held him back. Something told him that there was more to it than that. "Then why…why…?" he began, barely being able to form logical thoughts. Abby looked at her distraught friend with pity. She took a big sniff, and launched into her explanation.

"When Z-Ziva hit her head against the window, it was more than just a hit," Abby started. "She hit it with the force of the plane, she basically smashed her skull," she explained sadly. Tony winced. "The sheer power of the impact cracked a bit of her skull, and from these marks here," Abby indicated a few ugly-looking purplish bruises around the gauze, "we can deduce that she has severe internal bleeding," she said. Tears welled up in her eyes and threatened to spill over again, but she willed herself to finish. "Z-Ziva's slipped into a coma…and we don't know if she'll ever…ever wake up again," Abby sobbed the last few words as she wrapped herself into a ball around her friend. Tony was in shock. Seeing and hearing Ziva, Mossad-ninja-Ziva like this broke his heart, and actually hurt him physically as well. There were sharp pains in his chest whenever he looked at her, but he could not look away.

Tony knelt down next to his partner. He brushed away a lock of hair that had fallen onto her forehead, and ran the back of his finger down her pallid cheek. Her skin was soft, but the scarring on it ruined that. He looked up at Abby.

"Abs, please…can I…" he pleaded. As soon as Abby realized what he was asking, she shook her head. She wasn't going to let go of her. Tony grabbed Abby's chin and pulled it so that she met his green eyes. The sorrow and agony in them was unbearable. She tried to look away from the pain and guilt but Tony would not let her. "Abby. Please." Abby looked so broken. It killed Tony inside. He was used to seeing her so happy. Eventually Abby sighed and let Ziva go. Gently Tony placed his arms under her, lifted her up and placed her in his lap. He looked at Abby. "Go help McGee. Before he hurts himself," he said drily, with the ghost of a smile on his face. Abby nodded and left, leaving Tony alone with his fallen warrior.

"Oh, Ziva…" he sighed. He held her close to him and pressed a kiss to her forehead, leaving his lips there longer than he should have. She would wake up. When she was ready. But this consideration reminded him of the exact same one that he had thought when Ziva was in Somalia. And they all knew how that had ended.


The blackness was beginning to annoy her. There was somewhere she was supposed to be, something she was supposed to do! But she couldn't remember…

Then, the answer crashed over her like a wave.

Images of her terrified friends, a crashing plane, Tony's hand, a blood-stained window and an unbearable pain in her head, then…nothing. That was when the blackness had come. Oh no…NO! she thought. Her friends could be dead and she was sitting here unconscious! But she had been unconscious before, and it did not last this long. What if she was in a coma? She felt herself being moved, from shaking arms to stronger ones. "Oh, Ziva…" the person sighed. She knew that voice anywhere. Tony. He was alive. She felt him hold her closer to him and was a little surprised. Then she felt soft lips on her forehead. He had kissed her? That was definitely unexpected. NO! She had to pay attention to the more important things. First on the agenda: waking up.

A/N: WOW, ANGSTY! Didn't mean for that to happen…don't worry things will look up soon…and I'm not finished this chapter yet.


As Abby reached McGee, he regarded her grimly.

"How is he?" he asked, anxiously. Abby shrugged her shoulders.

"He's…coping," she answered, trying not to give too much away. McGee sighed in relief—he had been afraid of Tony going on an angry murderous rampage.

"Okay. Can you help me try to get a fire together? It's gonna be a cold one tonight," McGee asked as he indicated the build-up of clouds on the now twilight-streaked horizon. Abby nodded as she went off with McGee to fetch sticks and wood for their campfire, trying not to think of Tony back with his partner.

The little Ziva inside her head paced backwards and forwards, irritated. She could not move. She could not help her team. She could not do anything of use! It was maddening! She had been going through ways to wake herself up but none of them succeeded. She had tried pinching herself, punching herself, slapping herself…okay so the only things she could think of involved self-inflicted violence, so what? She could not think of anything better. She was still in Tony's arms—which was a little weird. He had not moved for what Ziva had counted as six hours. God she wanted to wake up…

Although it would be strange waking up while Tony was holding her.

Yes, that would prove a little awkward.

But she would rather face that awkwardness than remain here, useless, any longer. So she did the only thing that she could think of left to do that might work.

She willed herself to wake up.


Tony had lost count of how long he had sat there. He didn't care. He would sit there forever if he had to. The only clue he had in regards to time was the slowly changing sky, that had gone from baby blue, to streaked with pink, to flecked with gold, to lilac purple, to medium blue, to pitch black. The moon cast silvery pools on everything in sight, including Ziva's face, which was the only thing Tony was paying attention to. He didn't even notice the figure until it was right beside him.

"Tony?" a voice asked nervously. Tony jumped. He pulled his gaze away from his partner to let his vision fall on an anxious looking McGee.

"What?" Tony said, monotonously. Tim looked nervous as all hell to disturb the agent.

"Uh, Abby…Abby sent me to get you to come back. It's eight o'clock, and we've got a fire going. You can't stay here forever," he said. Tony looked at him sceptically.

"Yeah, I can. And I plan to," he said drily.

"You can bring her with you. The cold all the way over here probably isn't doing her any good anyway," McGee suggested. Tony realized he was being a bit stupid and reluctantly agreed. He got up, scooping Ziva in his arms like a child and feeling her shiver slightly. He was surprised. Could a person in a coma shiver? Evidently. He hugged her tighter and walked slightly faster around the corner, spotting the familiar orange glow of a campfire in the distance. He squinted. It looked like Abby had rustled up a few blankets from the wreck.

The sand that had been so hot today had cooled down extremely, like ice on his bare feet. As he watched the ground in front of him, the sudden feeling of being watched that came with being an agent took him over. He shook it off. The island was deserted. There was no one here.

Wake up, Ziva! Wake up! WAKE UP! she willed herself. She was cold and wanted to help her team. Tony's body heat was the only thing keeping her from getting frostbite, but it was only on one side of her. She thought of McGee, of Tony, of Abby. She could be of so much use to them! She had been sent on missions that involved surviving in the wild before! Poor McGee would be going crazy without technology, Abby missing her Caf-Pow, Tony longing to watch a movie. She knew ways to find water, food, shelter. Her team needed her. So with the last ounce of her strength, she begged herself to awaken.

Ziva David. WAKE. UP!


What happened next nearly caused Tony to fall over.

Ziva's eyes opened with a gasp of air, like she had been underwater and had just taken her first breath of oxygen. Tony's jaw dropped and his legs nearly buckled underneath him with relief.

"Ziva! Ziva!" he shouted. McGee turned around and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Ziva's eyes were unfocused and it took her a while to concentrate on the only thing she could see—Tony's face. She was breathing heavily and looked scared.

"T-Tony?" she questioned, confused.


It was like she had been drowning and her head had been pulled out of the water. No more black. Colours, blurring, drifting in and out of focus. She took large breaths of air as her eyes struggled to focus on what was in front of her. It was a face, that she was sure of. And it seemed familiar. All of a sudden everything fell into place and she recognized who it was. Although, what was going on puzzled her.

"T-Tony?"

A/N: Yeah, I know. Ah well. :)