A/N: Alright, I have no excuses for this taking so long. If you all are still with me, I am eternally grateful. Thanks for not giving up on me. :)

Gibbs finally laid eyes on his two agents and for half a second, the entire world was set right again. They were alive. As he took a closer look though, his shining moment of confidence was squashed by the mere appearance of his agents. Ziva was pale and sweaty, Tony was favoring his left wrist, and Ziva's leg was apparently being crushed by what looked like a support beam from the elevator. There was a pool of blood on the floor around her lower half. Whether or not the pool was still growing was a question he would not vocalize, but it struck deeper fear in him than he was willing to admit.

"I never thought I'd be so happy to see you, Boss. You look good."

"Can't say the same, DiNozzo. You look like hell."

"Well we were stuck in an elevator for several hours, but no big deal. I'm sure you'd look fantastic."

"Don't give me more reasons to slap you."

"I wouldn't dare."

"How much longer until we can get out of here?" Ziva asked.

"I'll let Nelson fill you in on that."

"Nelson?"

"The firefighter responsible for getting you the hell out of there."

They nodded. Gibbs stepped away and was replaced by another man, Nelson, they inferred.

"Alright, we've been assessing the elevator, and we don't believe it's stable enough to put another person in there with you. DiNozzo, you're going to have to be the one to lift that thing off of her."

"What?"

"We can't risk putting any more weight in there. The integrity is compromised."

"Thanks for reminding me. It's very reassuring that I could fall to my death at any moment."

"Tony, shut up. The only way we will fall to our deaths is if you do not do as you are asked." Ziva snapped.

"Getting testy there, ninja."

"Have you ever been trapped in an elevator with yourself for four hours? You would be testy too."

"Both of ya, shut up." Gibbs said, stepping forward. "DiNozzo is going to have to make a tourniquet on your leg, Ziver."

"I suggested that hours ago," she said, exasperated.

"Well now there's much less of a chance that it will cause you to lose your leg," Nelson interjected.

"Told you."

"DiNozzo!"

"Right, sorry. What am I going to use to tie it off?" he asked, his focus coming back around.

Nelson handed Tony a long piece of stretchy rubber tubing.

"Alright, I need you to tie off just above the injury site."

Tony looked down at Ziva with an unsure but determined gaze. He worked quickly, threading the tube underneath her thigh, tying it off just above her knee.

"Okay, now what?"

"Now comes the hard part. You have to lift that beam off of her leg and lift her up to us."

"I was afraid of that."

"Just do it, Tony. I cannot stand to be in this box any longer."

The panic in her voice could have been mistaken as anger by anyone else, but not by him. Her eyes were growing glassy, and she was starting to shake ever so slightly. He nodded and she back at him before she squeezed her eyes shut, preparing for what she was certain would be an immensely painful experience.

He grabbed the metal beam in his good hand, threading his broken one underneath it and lifted it straight up and out of Ziva's leg as she groaned in pain. He set it aside and turned back to Ziva, whose eyes were fighting to stay open as she battled with unconsciousness

Gibbs shouted into the elevator. "DiNozzo, lift her up to me!"

Tony wasted no time picking his partner up bridal style, grimacing at the pain in his wrist. He lifted Ziva's now unconscious body up to a waiting Gibbs who quickly pulled her out and transferred her to a waiting gurney.

Nelson stepped in to help Tony, grabbing his good arm and helping to pull him out of the box they had called prison for the past several hours.

He was immediately greeted by two EMT's who were trying their best to assess his condition. It was clear, however that he was much more interested in learning about Ziva's condition than his own.

The paramedics were quick to whisk her away, shouting things about "BP dropping!" and "Surgery now!" but there was only so much he could hear with his own medics attempting to ask him questions.

As they rushed to get her out of the building, Gibbs was right behind them.

"Boss!" Tony shouted desperately.

"Tony, get yourself checked out, I'm going with Ziva. I'll give you a sitrep when I can."

"No, I want to go with her."

"You've got your own laundry list of injuries to deal with. You can't help her until you've been seen and discharged, you got me?"

Frustrated but conceding he ground out, "Yes, Boss."

Gibbs nodded sharply in response and rushed out after Ziva.

Tony watched them go, allowing the EMT's to poke and prod him all they wanted, knowing that he wouldn't be far behind them.

Nurse Rhonda had been watching Abby since the moment she stepped into the waiting room. With her pigtails, plaid pants, platform boots and gothic-style t shirt, she was hard to miss, but that wasn't the reason the veteran nurse was drawn to the young woman. No, it was much more than her superficial appearance. Abby was pacing. She had been since she entered the room, and though pacing for short amounts of time was not uncommon, she had not stopped for two hours. Even more disconcerting was that she seemed to be wavering very suddenly between incredibly emotional and completely despondent. She had tears running down her cheeks one moment and the next there was nothing but emptiness behind her eyes.

She told the other nurse on duty she was taking a break, quietly acknowledged with a small nod and wave before she approached Abby with a bottle of water.

"I think you should sit down," Rhonda said. Abby simply continued to pace. Rhonda gently reached over, placing her hand on Abby's arm as she passed. She startled, looking at Rhonda with wide eyes as she came back to reality.

"What?" she asked.

"I said, I think you should sit down."

"How long have I been up?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but you've been pacing in here for two hours."

"Oh, I didn't notice."

"I figured. Please sit. You must be exhausted."

"I think I'd rather stand. If I'm pacing then I can't think about how long it's been since I saw them wheel Timmy past me into surgery. If I sit I'll fall apart."

"You don't seem to be holding it together very well now."

"Trust me, if you knew what my normal panic mode looks like, you'd think this was toned down."

"Miss.."

"Abby. My name is Abby."

"Abby, you're not doing yourself any good, and you're definitely not doing the person you're waiting for any good." Abby looked down at the nurse sadly. "When your friend comes out of surgery he's going to need you to be there for him, to be strong for him. You can't do that if you pace yourself into exhaustion."

"You're right. I know you're right, but If I sit, I might fall asleep, and if I fall asleep I won't be awake when Gibbs finds Tony and Ziva or when Timmy wakes up or when Ducky finally calls me back."

"Well I can't do anything about your phone call, but if you fall asleep and any of your friends arrive or come out of surgery, I will wake you up, okay?"

"Promise?" she asked, squeezing Bert a little tighter.

"Promise. Now please, Abby. Sit down, fall asleep if you need to. I'll be right over there at the nurse's station."

Abby slowly lowered herself into a hospital chair. "Thank you." she whispered, placing Bert behind her head as a pillow.

Nurse Rhonda gave Abby a reassuring smile and walked back to her spot at the nurse's station. As Abby leaned back and gave her legs a break, she took her first truly deep breath of the day. There was someone watching over them. It would be okay.

Everything was fuzzy, and he wasn't quite sure why. Like there were a hundred cotton balls in his head and his hands and everywhere else. Up until this point, though he was pretty sure he was unconscious, all his thoughts and feelings had been clear. Now everything was fuzzy, and there was a big ball of heat spreading through his stomach,like a flame licking at his insides, almost burning, but not quite. Just hot. And fuzzy. Nothing was making any sense. All his thoughts were getting fuzzier and fuzzier until there was nothing. Nothing at all.

Though it was not something he often discussed, Doctor Mallard was quite often the victim of insomnia. Though he would argue that a good night's rest is the only way that he can so accurately perform his job and manage to recall the many anecdotes that pepper his autopsies, it is those very stories, those memories that keep him lying awake each night.

Ducky lay awake in his hospital bed and though it was not night, only mid-afternoon, his doctors insisted that he take a nap and rest. This task, though quite easy for some, was proving to be much more difficult than it sounded. As usual it was his overactive mind keeping his feeble being awake. He was plagued by memories of his team, his family. For all he knew, they could all be dead. He seriously doubted that any of them would give up without a fight, but there was an unsettling feeling that had taken root in his chest he could not seem to shake. The more he thought about Abby's hugs, Tony's wit, Ziva's warmth, Tim's rare but contagious laughter and Gibbs' even rarer smile, the more restless he became.

He took as deep a breath as his lungs would allow, and told himself that they would be fine. They would call him as soon as they were out of the building and safe. They had been through worse and come out the other side. They would be fine.

He needed to sleep, he told himself. Doctor's orders.

Jimmy had never been more nervous in his life. The only day that he thought may have been a contender was the first day that he became the Medical Assistant at NCIS. That day he was filling the place of Gerald, the much beloved assistant, injured by Ari Haswari. He knew on that day he had some big shoes to fill. Today, and under circumstances just as upsetting, he was filling the place of the even more beloved Doctor Mallard, Medical Examiner at NCIS. These shoes were possibly the largest he could ever attempt to fill. Those of his mentor, his friend, and the most trusted ally of Leroy Jethro Gibbs. There was no doubt that this day would be one of the most challenging he'd ever experienced.

He approached the NCIS building, taking in the smoke, rubble and chaos that remained, spotting Leon Vance through the chaos. He was tired, dirty, flustered. The weight of the world was very clearly sitting on his shoulders. He spotted Jimmy in the crowd and motioned to walk towards him. Jimmy was taken aback by the look in the Director's eyes; determined, but haunted. It was worse than he thought.