A/N: Another chapter in the seemingly useless story. Oh no! How will Batman and Batgirl get out of this? I actually have no idea yet, but we'll see. This is pretty much a surprise for me to. I'm honestly not the kind of writer who plans, I just... do. So, read and enjoy!

I don't own anything.

What happened now would be critical.

He didn't know how long they'd have left.

He didn't know if they would ever fight, side-by-side, again,

Or what would even become of them in the end.

And so the world hung in its balance,

As tears escaped his eyes and blood escaped her wounds.


"Ziva. Zee," Tony spoke suddenly, shifting his arms gently and as painlessly as he could. He still felt as if every part of him was on fire, only keeping his head knowing that he was oh-so-lucky. So lucky he hadn't ended up like Ziva was now. She probably would never be in the field again.

Oh God. What would happen to the NCIS team then? Would they fall apart? Would she leave, and never speak to him again?

Control yourself, DiNozzo, he thought, still attempting to get an oblivious Ziva's attention. This time he moved his hand cautiously down the side of her face until she looked up at him, puzzled.

"Mmm? Tony, what?" she asked, slightly annoyed at him for having moved her (if only a little bit) and pulled her out of her thoughts. At the same time, it was nice, in some strange way, that he'd cared just enough to check on her. If that was what he'd planned anyway.

Well, at least she'd replied. He hadn't exactly had anything else to say to her, besides 'Ziva. Zee.' He could choose to say one of a million things, really, if he so wanted to. But none of those million things would really mean anything right now, not in their current predicament.

If they only had a while left to live… then why waste it saying useless things?

Stop it, DiNozzo, you're being an idiot. Of course Gibbs will find us. Alive.

"Tony? What?" Ziva asked again, more insistently this time. She looked at him, concerned more than annoyed now. He'd been known just to say things that bugged her just because he wanted to speak. If he was doing that now, surely Gibbs would have no objections if she killed Tony herself. That man was so juvenile.

Secretly, she knew that she gave him too little credit. If it wasn't her job to keep him on edge, maybe she'd let him know what he really was more than once in a yellow… no, that was wrong… once in a blue moon. That was the saying, was it not?

She was getting annoyed at him. Fine. Tony shifted more, though soon wished he hadn't as she gave a small gasp of pain. Each movement he made would affect her - why didn't he remember that whenever he was uncomfortable? After all, he was almost as uncomfortable and almost in as much pain as she.

"Tony!" One more time, she persisted. If he'd just speak and tell her what was on his mind, she could stop pestering him!

Of course, Anthony DiNozzo was never an easy one to get to speak. He'd dance around the topic, she knew. He didn't ever stay in the same place.

"Ziva?" he asked, leaning down to look at her. It aggravated her that he was pretending he hadn't noticed her raspy, but loud enough replies. Perhaps he really was playing with her, trying to annoy her. He could be trying to remind her of their normal banter, but she didn't need that right then.

She rolled her eyes at him, her voice having an even more obvious edge to it now. "You spoke. What, Tony?"

"Honestly? I don't know." Tony grinned at her, the childish grin she'd seen so many times spreading across his handsome face. His eyes seemed to sparkle, though she still couldn't understand him.

He was so happy.

So damned happy when they were stuck there, both crippled in pain. He could probably walk - his feet weren't even near the state that hers were in - but hadn't. How could he be so happy, smiling?

Damn it, DiNozzo.

Ziva knew she needed to calm down, she knew that being in her current state of mind and swinging back and forth between moods would be bad for them in the end. But how could she help it with a companion like hers?

"Ziva?" came his voice again. She nearly rolled her eyes but stopped herself in time, forcing a small smile for him.

"What, Tony?"

"I don't know," he replied again, his laughing voice suddenly turning serious. "I don't know. I don't know what to do or what to say or even if we're gonna get the hell out of here."

"I don't know what's gonna happen to us. I hate this, Ziva. Damn it, this is so stupid. We're supposed to be catching criminals, not sitting here in this hellhole!"

She stared at him, unsure more than ever now.

Maybe she'd been right from the first moment.

There was no reason left to smile.


She would wish, later, that she'd reassured him.

His faith was hers and her faith was his.

But she only sat in silence, staring,

Tears streaked across his face,

And blood streaked across her own.

A/N: Yes, I realize I made a reference to blood twice. :'o