So I decided to have a go at writing a post-finale elevator fic. It ended up being longer than expected but was done for the tumblr bet about what the promised Tony x Ziva scene is going to be in the lift.

My bet: A 5000+ word Tiva one-shot centred on a word/object/feeling etc. of the winner's choice.

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters I'm just borrowing them and promise to put them back (relatively) unharmed.

Ziva was the first one to move. Having landed on top of Tony she had avoided hitting her head on anything too hard and, miraculously, the falling debris had not struck her hard enough to knock her out. That being said there were obviously some injuries, especially to her right arm which she had thrown out in an attempt to protect herself. Wincing slightly she attempted to push herself up a little but fell back with a realisation that her arm was definitely sprained and probably broken. Taking note of this she tried again to push the bulk of her weight off of Tony this time succeeding. It took her another couple of minutes to finish assessing her injuries (bruised ribs, lots of cuts and bruises on her lower legs, and a large bruise on her back where a particularly nasty piece of debris had stuck her) and as soon as she had finished deciding that they were nothing to worry about she turned her attention to her partner.

Unlike Ziva, Tony seemed to be unconscious as he had not moved or made any sound since they had been trapped 7 minutes and 42 seconds ago- not that Ziva was counting of course. His position, along with the way he had fallen did suggest a head injury as he fell rather hard against the door so Ziva was almost expecting this. She ensured that he was breathing normally before assessing the extent of his injuries. Apart from the obvious bump to the head, there were a few cuts around his feet and he would also have some bruising around his ribs as she had thrown herself on him rather forcefully but apart from that he seemed fine. Ziva's attempts to rouse him proved to be fruitless so she started looking for a way out of the elevator. This also proved fruitless; the doors were stuck, she had no signal and she was in no condition to clamber all over shaft, so all she could do was sit back, grip Tony's hand and wait for their eventual rescue, or Tony to regain consciousness- whichever came first.

18 minutes and 4 seconds later (she still wasn't counting) Ziva felt Tony's fingers where she was holding them twitch. She tightened her grip before calling his name and waiting for a response. Tony groaned slightly and she took this as her cue to let go of his hand and get into a better position in order to wake him fully.

"Tony," she called softly, thinking that he would probably have a headache, while gently squeezing his shoulders.

"Mmmmfffff," he mumbled, "Who's idea was it to take the elevator?" Despite the precarious situation the pair was in Ziva couldn't help but let out a small smile at this. True to his nature, Tony managed to cheer her up slightly even when everything seemed hopeless.

"Are you alright?" she asked him.

"Oh I'm just peachy," he replied.

"How is your head?"

"I think it's had better days to be honest. But seriously, why did we take the elevator?"

"I am not quite sure. I have been thinking over the evacuation and every possible scenario in the last 20 minutes though."

"Is that how long I was out for?"

"Just over 18 minutes actually," she told him with a wry smile knowing exactly what his response would be to that.

"That's my Ziva, keeping an exact count of everything as usual. We really need to get you to stop doing that," he responded almost exactly as Ziva had envisioned him doing in her mind. The only thing she hadn't considered was him calling her his Ziva, though she brushed it off as nothing and put it down to the situation they were in and his head injury. Still, she couldn't keep the pink tinge off of her cheeks and ended up ducking her head so as to avoid it being detected. This was probably the worst thing she could have done however as Tony noticed this and called her out on it.

"What's up Ziva?" he said whilst reaching out to take her hand thinking that she needed comforting. Ziva let him take her hand and raised her eyes again to look at him properly where he lay on the floor.

"Nothing, I am fine. Do you think you can sit up?" Sighing to himself at her change of subject Tony shrugged. He knew that her ducking her head was related to what he had said. He hadn't meant to call her his Ziva but it had slipped out. He decided to leave it be for now and give sitting up a try. After all, they would be in the elevator for an undetermined length of time and he would probably have plenty of time to revisit the topic. Groaning rather loudly he heaved himself up, keeping a tight hold on Ziva's hand all the time. Once up he sat there watching the elevator spin in circles waiting to regain his equilibrium again. Ziva noticed the pain etched on his face and gripped his hand tighter, not willing to let him slip back into unconsciousness.

"Tony," she said rather forcefully, "are you going to be alright? If you cannot sit up just lie back down. I do not want you to leave me with my thoughts again." She tried to keep her words clear and light hearted when she was saying this but Tony sensed the slight waver in her voice as she ducked her head again.

"Hey," he whispered. Catching the bottom of her chin with his forefinger so that he could look at her, "We're gonna be alright. We'll make it out. And I promise not to leave you with your thoughts again," he added with a small smile. Hearing this Ziva tried to pull her gaze from his to suck her head again as she was suddenly overwhelmed with so many emotions at once and did not want to show weakness. He wouldn't let her so she settled on simply turning her head and trying to hide behind her hair. Tony had to stifle a laugh at this as there was no way her hair would cover he face when it was still up in a ponytail and he did not want her to think he was laughing at her. "Ziva," he tried again.

"What," she just about got out but it sounded more like a muffled sob than anything else. At this Tony no longer cared about how much pain he was in, he just had to hold her. Spreading his legs a little wider while leaning back against the wall he carefully pulled her close to him. Being Ziva, she resisted a little at first but she didn't really have that much energy and it would be nice to be held she thought. She was also relieved that Tony had regained consciousness as she had had too long to worry about everyone else whilst waiting. As she had said to him, she had also played out every scenario and some of them had made her worry a lot. Her biggest fear though was definitely them not getting out of this and the thought that Tony would never wake up had occupied her thoughts for longer than it probably should have done.

Turning sideways so that she was able to keep her injured right arm out of the way she slowly leant into him resting her head against his shoulder. Tony wrapped his arms around her while Ziva carefully placed her right arm across his chest and snaked her left arm round his back. It was painful for both of them but neither of them wanted to stop- they just needed human contact. Realising how lucky they both were to still be alive and not too badly hurt Ziva let out another muffled sob and tried to pull away again in order to compose herself. Sensing this, Tony angled his face to look down at her and tightened his grip- there was no way he was letting her go now.

"Ziva," she heard his voice cutting through the walls she was desperately trying to rebuild round herself, "You're not showing weakness you know, just let it all out. I'm right here and I'm not going to go anywhere. Just let it out. I promise you you'll feel better for it. We'll all make it out you know. Just don't be afraid to let it out."

Hearing Tony say this, her Tony, was just enough to set her over the edge. Those walls that she was trying to rebuild completely crumbled and she buried her head into his shoulder in a final attempt to hide what was happening to her. Sensing her distress Tony kept carefully rubbing circles on her back as an attempt to calm her down while murmuring comforting words to her. He knew how much better she would feel if she allowed herself to cry and he just hoped that she trusted him enough to allow herself to do so. Sure enough, Ziva had got to the point of no return and was currently trying desperately for some sense of control to return to her so that she would not appear completely weak in front of Tony. As if reading her thoughts Tony reminded her that it was not weak to let it all out and that it would in fact be good for her to do so and this was all it took for Ziva to completely break down in sobs.

Tony let her get it out for a couple of minutes while slowly rubbing her back before recommencing his quiet mantra of comforting words. Looking down at Ziva's body which was racked with heart-wrenching sobs he couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of duty to protect her and subconsciously drew her closer to him. He could feel her slowly calming down as he did so, so he shifted her slightly to get a better look at her face when she finally lifted it from his shoulder, not that it looked like she was going to do that any time soon. Tony was in no hurry and didn't exactly have anywhere to go so he sat there; rubbing circles on her back, while his shoulder got wetter and wetter and Ziva gradually stopped crying.

When that happened the first thing Tony expected her to do was to pull away as it was Ziva he was holding. To prevent her doing this he kept his hold on her nice and tight but he hadn't have needed to as she tightened her arm round his back and lay her head on his shoulder looking up at him with a small, sheepish smile on her face. Tony reached up with his hand to tuck a stray strand of hair that had come loose from her ponytail behind her ear so that he could see her properly and they sat there for a couple of seconds, looking at each other with Tony's hand resting lightly on her cheek.

Ziva was the first to break the silence, "Thankyou," she told him in a small voice, "For it all," she added although Tony had realised what she was thanking him for.

"No problem. That's what friends are for," he said. The fact he didn't just want to be her friend anymore he added on afterward silently. "How are you feeling?" he asked her, "What are your injuries like?"

"They are fine. I am fine." Tony just looked at her in response to this, "Okay, okay. My arm is maybe broken but it is not too bad and I have a lot of bruises. How is the headache?"

"Oh it feels like I have an entire marching band in my head but I can deal with it," Tony attempted a bit of humour, unaware that his thumb was still moving on Ziva's back.

Ziva struggled for a moment inside her head but finally just blurted out what she wanted to say, "What if we don't make it out Tony?" She asked him the one thing that was going round and round her head, "What if they don't get us out and we're stuck or the elevator breaks or something?"

"We'll make it out Ziva, have faith. Gibbs is probably looking for us right now," Tony replied though he was secretly worried as well, "And everyone will be fine too. Gibbs will have made sure Abby got out and McGee was probably already out by the time the bomb went off. They'll get us out and then we can go and get this bastard," he finished.

"I know that Tony," Ziva said, "I just needed to hear you say it."

"Well now that I've said it how about we do something to pass the time?"

"Like what?"

"We could play I spy?" Tony asked her, needing something to keep his mind off the situation they were in.

"What is that?"

"You've never played I spy? We are definitely playing it then. One of us will say I spy with my little eye something beginning with and then will say the first letter of something they can see. You have to guess what it is that I am saying. Want to start?"

"Okay," Ziva said, unsure, "I spy with my little eye something beginning with B"

"B? Errrr blood? Boxes, not that I can see any actually" Tony trailed off, thinking hard, "Got it! Buttons!"

Ziva smiled at this, "Yes," she said, "Your turn."

"Okay. I spy with my little eye something beginning with P"

It did not take Ziva very long to guess this at all, "Plaster? It is everywhere."

"It's no fun playing with you. You're too clever."

"Well what else do you want to do then?"

Tony shrugged, "I'm not sure. Any ideas my ninja?" He hesitated slightly after saying this; he really needed to be more careful. A slight head injury was no excuse for slipping up and calling Ziva his not just once, but twice.

Ziva did have one idea yes, but it was not one that she was going to share with him. Instead she settled on shrugging (something she wouldn't be attempting again if she remembered how much pain she was in) and telling him that she had no ideas.

The pair sat in silence for a little while before Tony broke it. "When we do get out," he started.

"Carry on," Ziva encouraged him.

Tony took a deep breath and continued with what he was saying, "When we do get out… do you… is there anything you want to do… you know… a bit like a… sort of a bucket list thing… kinda?" he finally spat out.

"What do you mean Tony?"

"Well I have a list of things that I've always wanted to do and after something like this is the time that most people do them. I mean, coming close to death and us being trapped in here has made me realise that I really need to get going on my bucket list. Is there anything that you want to do?"

At this little insight into Tony Ziva smiled, "Yes," she said, "I have always wanted to settle down with someone. I also want to make my relationship with my father better before it is too late."

Tony laughed, "Ahh the good old make peace with family members. As for settling down, I wish you better luck with it than I have had so far."

"Wendy was the closest you have come yes?"

"Yep," Tony said, popping his p.

"And then perhaps Jeanne," Ziva was well aware of the dangerous territory she was entering now.

"Maybe," Not to be outdone Tony felt the need to mention some of her relationships, "Your closest was with CIRay was it not?"

"I suppose so. Do you still wish to settle down?"

"Of course. I would love to have a couple of mini DiNozzo's running around. But as you put it so nicely, my biological clock is ticking."

"I thought you said men did not have biological clocks," Ziva was a little confused now.

"We don't. I was trying to make you smile."

"Oh," was all she said before falling silent again.

"It does not matter though, I am quite happy being where I am now," Tony was hoping that she would not look too much into that statement as the truth was he was very happy in his current position; but with life in general he was more content, less happy.

"As am I. Though it would be nice to finally find someone I could trust," little did Tony know that she had already found someone; she just wasn't sure how he felt about her.

"Is there no one that has your eye then?"

"Well there is one person," Ziva decided she may as well be honest from here on.

"Anyone I know?" Tony asked this in a strangely stiff voice Ziva thought, but the truth was he really did not want to know who this mysterious person was. It hurt him enough to realise that she had already found someone after Ray.

"Oh you know him very well," Ziva said with the beginnings of a smile creeping on to her face as she looked up at him, her gaze unwavering.

As a response, this startled Tony a little as there were not that many people that both he and Ziva knew very well. Thinking carefully over his response made the pounding in his head worse so he decided to just go with the flow and say whatever came into his head.

"I do, do I? It isn't McGoo is it?" he did not think he could take it if it was.

"No." Ziva's sudden response shocked him a bit.

"Who then?" Tony could honestly not think of anybody else they both knew very well who Ziva would not mind settling down with. To make matters worse the pounding was getting louder.

"You really would like to know who I would not mind settling down with." Truth be told Ziva really wanted to settle down with said person but she was not going to let Tony know that at this point in time.

"I would quite like to know, yes." Tony said while wincing. The beating was getting louder by the second and Tony's head felt like it was about to explode. He could have sworn he was starting to hear voices to.

"Tony? Ziva? Are you there?" that was weird, why would voices in Tony's head be calling for Ziva.

"Gibbs!" Ziva almost screamed with relief, "we are down here!"

"Thank God," Gibbs called back, "don't worry, we'll get you out."

Sure enough 3 minutes later both Tony and Ziva were being checked out by medics and preparing to go to hospital. Luckily no one on their team was too badly injured though McGee had a lot of cuts from the glass windows of the bullpen. He and Abby were already en route to hospital to finish being checked out but Gibbs had refused to go until he knew all of his team were safe.

Before Tony allowed himself to be separated from Ziva he gave her one more hug, holding her tightly as he whispered in her ear, "We'll finish this conversation later," and that was all it took for Ziva to finally cheer up and realise that they were out.

"Later," she promised.