Ziva's mind was buzzing. She had definitely seen something in his eyes. He had been trying to say something, all right, but he didn't know what he was trying to say. She jabbed the elevator button. As soon as the elevator had been moving for a few seconds, she hit the stop switch. The machine shuddered to a halt and the lights dimmed.

Ziva leaned against cool wall. Tony had been right about one thing. It did make her think. How could it not? She was a former liason officer for Mossad who now worked for NCIS. She'd been surrounded by danger her whole life. The fact that she could be killed at any moment had never bothered her until now. But why did it bother her? Death was an occupational hazard, nothing more. Dying was no problem for Ziva. It was the people she cared about dying that bothered her.

What was it Tony said? "Life is short. Kinda makes you wanna go out and tell someone you love them before it's too late." Was that what Tony had been trying to tell her? Life is short, yes, and doubly so if you were constantly in danger. The part about telling someone you loved them, that was where it got, as Abby would say, hinky.

She flashed back to the look in his eyes. It was a look that he got when he was being especially serious. That plus something more. She couldn't shake the feeling that his eyes were looking through her, right into her soul. Wait. What if he was trying to say-? Ziva didn't get to finish her thought.

"Hey! What's taking so long?" Tony's voice, muffled but distinct, came from below her. Blushing in spite of herself, Ziva jammed the stop button. The elevator shuddered to life, and she resumed her former position, searching for the thought she had lost.