Eight
The elevator doors slid open to reveal the pumpkin orange walls of the bullpen and Tony and Ziva stepped out.
"You do not have to come up here with me Tony, I just need to grab my book out of my desk. You can stay here." Ziva said, referring to the area outside the elevator where the rest of the team would not see him.
Tony shook his head. "I'm okay." He said.
He followed Ziva toward their desks.
McGee stood up and turned off the plasma, which had Tony's pictures on it. Tony wasn't paying enough attention to notice.
"Hey Tony." McGee said as Tony leaned against the bookshelf behind Ziva's desk.
"Hey McGee." Tony said quietly.
"What're you two doing up here?" Gibbs asked as he walked into bullpen behind Tony.
Ziva grabbed her unfinished book out of her desk drawer and locked it again.
"I forgot my book yesterday." Ziva told him, reaching for Tony's hand. He was shaking.
"We are just going to go see Abby and get out of here." Ziva said.
Tony nodded. "Good idea." He said quietly.
"DiNozzo." Gibbs said as they started toward the elevator.
Tony turned around.
"It's good to see you." Gibbs said simply.
Tony nodded, smiling slightly and allowed Ziva to lead him toward the elevator.
Ziva pressed the elevator call button and watched as the doors slid open, and Tony ran inside. Ziva stepped into the elevator.
"Are you alright Tony?" She asked.
Tony shook his head no as he slid down the wall. "Can't… breathe… dizzy… chest… help…" He choked out.
Ziva reached out and hit the emergency stop button. She squatted down beside Tony.
"You are having a panic attack Tony." She told him calmly. "Can I touch you?" She asked.
Tony nodded.
Ziva sat down on the floor, sitting so that Tony was between her legs, and she wrapped her arms around him. She guided his head to her chest gently.
"You are going to be okay Tony, just try to breathe. Feel my chest moving, breathe with me." Ziva told him.
Tony nodded.
Ziva took a deep breath in, held it for a few seconds, then let it out. Tony tried to match her breaths, and struggled somewhat for the first few minutes, before he managed to slow his breathing.
Ziva ran her hand through his hair. "There you go, that feels better, just sit and relax for a few minutes Tony, everything is okay."
He was still shaking.
"I'm sorry." Tony said softly.
"Sorry for what?" Ziva asked, genuinely confused.
"All of this." Tony told her quietly.
"You have nothing to be sorry for Tony. You did nothing wrong." Ziva said.
They sat in silence for a few minutes before Tony spoke again. "I hope no one's tried to use this elevator."
"I do not especially care if they have." Ziva said. "Are you okay?"
"I think so. I thought I was having a heart attack." Tony said.
Ziva nodded. "It is a scary thing to experience."
"We should get down to the lab, shouldn't we?" Tony asked.
"Are you okay? Because if you are not, we can stay right here until you are." Ziva said.
Tony nodded. "I think I'm good. It was just, being in the squad room, there were a lot of people around, and I felt… I'm not actually sure how I felt." Tony told her.
"Scared? Anxious? Vulnerable?" Ziva asked.
"Yeah."
"How do you feel now?" Ziva asked.
"Better." Tony said.
"Do you want to stand up?" Ziva asked.
Tony nodded. "Yeah."
Ziva stood up and held her hands out for Tony. Tony pulled himself off the floor of the elevator and pulled Ziva into a hug.
"I think if I were alone when that happened I would have suffocated." Tony said.
Ziva kissed his check softly. "I don't think so. Are you ready?" She asked.
Tony nodded, and Ziva reached over and hit the emergency stop button again. The lights in the elevator turned back on and Ziva pushed the 'LAB' button on the panel.
The doors slid open a few moments later and Tony let go of Ziva's waist, taking her hand instead.
They walked across the hall to Abby's lab. Abby was standing at her computer, listening to loud music through headphones. Ziva walked over and tapped her on the shoulder. She took off her headphones and turned around quickly, and smiled when she realized it was Ziva, and hey eyes jumped to Tony.
"Tony!" Abby yelled, running toward him. She skidded to a stop about three inches away from him. "Can I hug you?" She asked,
Tony smiled and held out is arms. "Of course." He said before stepping forward to wrap his arms around her.
Ziva smiled softly as she watched the two interact. She could see that Abby wanted to squeeze him tightly, but she was stopping herself, because she had seen the photos of his injuries.
"How are you feeling?" Abby asked.
"I'm okay." Tony told her.
Abby smiled. "Are you ready?"
Tony nodded, and Abby lead Tony and Ziva back into the office portion of her lab. She grabbed a chair for Tony, and Ziva leaned back against the corner of the desk.
"I'm not really sure how much I'll be able to help you Abs." Tony said.
"Anything is better than nothing." Abby told him.
Tony nodded silently. Ziva reached for his hand, and he took it. Ziva gave him an 'are you okay?' look. Tony nodded.
"Let's do the first one and see where we get, okay?" Abby asked.
Tony nodded. "Okay."
"Let's start with face shape." Abby said as she opened the program on her computer. "Was it round, square, oval?"
"Round, I guess." Tony said.
"Okay." Abby said as she clicked her mouse. Ziva watched as the faceless head on the screen changed shape slightly. "Does that look right?"
Tony nodded. "I think so, it's kind of hard to tell without the rest of the face."
"Is the skin color okay?" Abby asked.
Tony nodded. "Yeah."
"Okay, how about hair color?" Abby asked.
"Brown."
"Dark brown? Light brown?" Abby asked.
"Dark." Tony told her.
Abby nodded. "Alright." She said as she clicked a button on her screen. Hair appeared on the computer-generated man.
"How about length?" Abby asked.
"Short, but longer than mine." Tony said.
"Okay, how's that?" Abby asked as the hair style and length changed.
Tony nodded. "Good."
"Okay, eyebrows next. Can you remember what they looked like?" Abby asked.
"Kind of flat." Tony said.
Abby nodded, and the eyebrows appeared.
"Yeah, like that." Tony told her.
"Okay, do you remember the shape of his eyes?" Abby asked.
"I think they were kind of round, but like, not round at the same time." Tony said.
"Okay, like this?" Abby asked.
"Yeah, and they were a little farther apart."
Abby rearranges the eyes.
"There." Tony said.
"Great." Abby said.
Tony looked up at Ziva, who smiled back at him.
"Do you remember his eye color?" Abby asked.
"Not really, it was dark, they might've been brown, I'm not sure though." Tony said.
"Okay, well about eighty-three percent of people in the USA have brown eyes, so let's assume that half of those people are men in the age range we're looking for, and we'll give him brown eyes until you remember something else?" Abby asked.
Tony nodded. "Alright."
"How about his nose?" Abby asked.
Tony shook his head no. "Not really. I think it was long, maybe pointed."
Abby added a long, pointed nose to the man on the computer. "Good?"
Tony nodded.
"His mouth?" Abby asked.
Tony shrugged. "It just looked like a normal mouth."
Abby nodded. "Aright, any identifying marks?"
"Not that I saw." Tony told her.
"Alright, does this look somewhat accurate?" Abby asked.
Tony stared at the photo for a few minutes, then nodded slowly. "Yeah. That's him."
"Okay." Abby said. She clicked the 'PRINT PAGE' button and left the paper in the printer.
Ziva could feel Tony's hand starting to shake.
"Do you want to take a break Tony?" Ziva asked.
Tony shook his head. "No, I just finish and go home."
"Alright, let's try to get this second one done as fast as possible, so you can go." Abby said as she opened up a new template.
Tony nodded. "Please."
"Skin color?" Abby asked.
"He was white."
"Face shape?" She asked.
"Kind of square, I guess, I'm not really sure how to describe it."
"Okay." Abby said as she clicked her mouse. "That?" She asked.
Tony nodded.
"Hair color?" Abby asked.
"Kind of light blond." He said.
"How long?" She asked.
"About as long as mine." Tony said.
"How's that?" Abby asked as she changed the length of the hair.
"Good." Tony said.
"Okay, what did his eyebrows look like?" Abby asked.
"They kind of pointed up, and then down at the ends." Tony said.
"And his eyes?"
"They looked kind of square, but they weren't like the other guys, they looked, softer…" Tony told her.
Abby changed the eyes. "Like that?"
"Yeah."
"What color were they?" Abby asked.
"Blue." He said.
"What about his nose?"
"Round, I guess." Tony said.
"Was there anything different about his mouth?" Abby asked.
"No."
"Okay, identifying marks?" Abby asked.
"A birthmark on the right side of his neck, and up his chin." He said.
Abby added a birthmark. "Like that?"
Tony nodded. "Yeah."
"Alright." She said as she hit the print button again.
The printer gurgled for a moment before printing the page.
"Okay, I'll get these up to Gibbs." Abby said. She took the photos out of the printer and lead Tony and Ziva back into the lab.
"Can I hug you again?" Abby asked.
Tony nodded and opened his arms to Abby. She walked into his arms and rested her head on his chest. "I love you Tony."
Tony smiled. "I love you too Abs." He said as he kissed the top of her head.