"Are you sleeping with your eyes open? I heard it's possible." Tony said as he bent his head over, lowering it till he was looking into Ziva's eyes.

"Does it look like I am sleeping?" Ziva deadpanned.

"Well you weren't moving."

Ziva just rolled her eyes, as Tony got on all fours and crawled till he got to Ziva's side. Letting out a breath of air, he settled himself beside Ziva. He took of his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves, loosening his tie as well.

Ziva shifted a space to the right, away from him. He looked at her confusingly, as he left his clothing items where they were on the floor and shifted till he was right beside her again.

Ziva shifted away again along the perimeter of the area they were stuck in. Tony followed playfully. She shifted. He followed. He found it fun to mess with her. Until she gave up.

"Why are you following me?" She glared at him slightly.

"Why are you moving away from me?" Tony threw back smartly.

"You smell bad." She made it up smoothly.

"I do?" Tony's eyes widened a fraction as he sniffed himself.

"Oh I do." He stated distastefully.

Tony heard Ziva chuckle for the first time since they got stuck in there.

"Wow I should have done that earlier if I knew that made you smile." He told her.

Ziva smiled appreciatively back at him, but sighed.

"Are we going to get out anytime soon?" She asked as she rested her head against the hard wall behind her.

"I think so. Why are you so bent on getting out of here?"

"It is hot and dark. Why would I want to stay here another minute?"

"It's not that bad. You practically grew up in the desert."

"Can we not talk about that?" Ziva said with a clipped tone.

Of all things, he had to bring that up.

Tony was looking at her, studying her behaviour as his two hands laid palms down on either side of him. He stared at her face intently, trying to gauge her mood. Ziva had gone back to humming her happy song, now louder than before.

She knew he was staring of course. He was practically burning holes through the side of her head. She refused to turn and look at him, how ever strong the urge might have been. She cursed him in her head. Why the hell did he have to even mention the word 'desert'? She couldn't help but allow unwanted memories to assault her mind. It wasn't as strongly as before, but it was scary nonetheless.

She hummed louder, trying to distract herself. She clenched her teeth and frowned in distress as she tried to block out the creeping fear. The feeling of despair. The feeling of...being alone. Her foot started tapping seemingly interminably yet again. Only relying on her peripheral vision, she reached out for Tony's hand that was by her side and grasped onto a thumb.

Tony was baffled. Why was she like this? He stared at his enclosed thumb, and then back at the side of her face. "Why?" He asked softly.

"Why what?" She tightened her hold on his thumb, ceasing the humming.

"Why are you acting like this? Ever since we got stuck, you've been acting really weird. Really really weird. Like apocalypse weird."

Ziva said with a defeated voice."You are an investigator. Figure it out."

Tony ran through in his head all possibilities. And there was only one that he could fit nicely in this situation. "You're scared huh?"

"Yup." She sighed.

"Of what exactly?" He shifted closer to her, their shoulders barely touching one another.

"The dark. And being alone." She admitted.

"You're not alone." He wiggled his thumb in her hand.

"Not now. But I was."

"The desert?" He chose the word specifically for a reason.

"Stop that." She forced through gritted teeth, enunciating the two words.

Ah, he hit the sore spot. He was right. It was about the desert.

"Stop what?" He acted dumb.

"Stop talking about the desert!" She abruptly released Tony's thumb and pulled her hand back.

"C'mon Ziva, talk to me." He coaxed.

Her eyes stared insolently back at him.

"I promise whatever you say in here, stays in here. Cross my heart." His finger made an 'X' over his chest.

"This place is dark. That is not nice. At all." She murmured.

"You don't like the dark?"

"Maybe that elevator incident would have given you a clue."

Flashback

"Ziva, hold the elevator!" Tony quickened his footsteps.

Ziva didn't seem to have heard him since she didn't wait for him, but Tony managed to stop the elevator by slipping his hand in between the elevator doors.

"Didn't you hear me?" Tony questioned, stepping into the elevator and pressing the 'close' button.

"Yup." Ziva replied nonchalantly.

"Then why didn't you hold the elevator? My hand was this close to being squashed by those heavy metal elevator doors." Tony exaggerated jokingly.

Ziva kept mum, refusing to communicate with him. Tony realised that she wasn't keen on listening to him and thus he dived straight into the issue that nagged at him.

"We need to talk. What you said just now, in the warehouse. What did you mean by all that? You can't just leave me hanging there." Tony said.

"Hanging where?"

"Umm okay never mind scratch that, what I meant wa-"

"What do you want me to scratch?"

Tony gave an exasperated sigh. "Nobody is scratching anyone, god no. No scratching involved at all. It just means tha-wait. Ha! You think I don't see it, but I do. Oh boy, I see what you're doing. You're trying to change the subject!"

"Well it worked, did it not?"

"Okay I'll give you that. But seriously, you have to talk about it sooner or later. It's not good to bottle it all up inside you."

"There is nothing to talk about." She replied, almost using the exact words she told him in the warehouse.

"See that's where I think you're wrong." Tony stated as he flipped the emergency switch, plunging them into darkness.

Ziva's heart skipped a beat, stunning her for a split second before she flipped the emergency switch back. "What are you doing?" She demanded, slightly relieved that the lights came back on.

"Trying to get you to talk to me." Tony said with a tinge of anger in his voice, flipping the emergency switch yet again.

Being in the darkness once more, Ziva's heart rate was increasingly getting erratic. Tony was standing in between her and the emergency switch, and so she shoved him out of her way and flipped the emergency switch back. "Stop that!" She raised her voice slightly.

Tony, having been shoved into the elevator wall, was momentarily dazed. "You need to talk to somebody."

"I will." Ziva replied breathily.

Before Tony could make a comeback, the elevator doors opened having reached its designated floor. Luck seemed to favour Ziva a little bit more today. She hastily made her way to her car, while Tony just stared after her for a while before heading for his car as well. Well that plan backfired.

End Of Flashback

"Things actually make sense now." Tony nodded his head.

"That is why I am acting so weirdly, as you put it."

"Does anyone know?"

"Gibbs. And McGee."

"What! When?" Tony exclaimed.

He was her partner! Shouldn't he know about this before the others did?

"I was with McGee in the elevator when we lost power in the whole building remember?"

"Yeah."

"I freaked out, and I almost killed McGee. With my knife." She revealed as she hid a guilt-ridden face in her hands.

She couldn't stand to even show her face, after revealing what a horrendous thing she had almost succeeded in doing. Oh she remembered vividly what went down in that elevator. She remembered being held in tight coils of fear. The feeling of fear creeping up on her, grasping her with its merciless claws as she felt a twist in her gut.

She remembered the fear and shock in McGee's eyes, and how close her knife was to actually irreversibly tearing his skin. It sent an involuntary shudder through every cell in her being.

Tony's eyes flew wide open at the revelation. McGee could really keep a secret.

"I have a lot to thank him for. He calmed me down. He did not blame me for what I did. But guess what? I ended up smashing his watch later on because it was his turn to get impatient." Ziva chuckled humourlessly.

"Uhh okay." Tony was a bit speechless.

"As for Gibbs, I umm...I asked him for help."

"You know, I would have helped you if you asked."

"Of course I know."

"Then why didn't you?"

Good question. Why didn't she? She had no idea either.

"Well I umm- I think...maybe-" She tried to formulate an answer but was fortunately interrupted.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" A deep voice bellowed.

Ziva sprang up onto her feet and walked to where the voice was coming from.

"We are here!"

"We're from the fire department. We're gonna work on this doors and get you out soon."

"Thank god." Ziva heaved a sigh of relief as she plopped back down beside Tony.

One, she was finally getting out. Two, she managed to dodge Tony's question.

"You didn't answer my question." Tony piped up from his spot on the floor.

Okay, so maybe she didn't manage to dodge it. But she sure as hell would put up a fight against answering it. And so she kept mum.

"Are you gonna answer my question?"

Ziva refused to reply.

"You giving me the silent treatment?"

Ziva intentionally turned her head totally away from him.

"This is how it's gonna be?"

No reaction.

"Hey. I'm just gonna keep on disturbing you if you don't answer me."

No answer.

"You heard of the Annoying Orange? Youtube? All the kids are talking about it. Well here's the Annoying Tony."

Not a fidget.

"Hey Ziva. Ziva. Ziva. Hey Ziva. Ziva. Ziva. Hey. Hey Ziva. Ziva. Ziva."

"Shut up!" She threw her hands up in defeat as she turned to look at him again.

"You shut up." He answered playfully.

"I was not even talking!"

"Now you are."

"That is because you would not keep quiet."

"It's against my DiNozzo nature to keep shut the mouth I was blessed with."

And on the other side of the wall, snickers and small laughter could be heard.

"You hear that? Even the firemen are laughing." Ziva said as she threw Tony a look.

"Laughing at you." He frowned and pointed at her.

"No, laughing at you." She poked his chest.

"Nope, at both of you." The same deep voice came about again, soon bursting into chuckles again.

"Just hurry up and get us out of here." Tony complained grumpily.

Who were they to be laughing? They should mind their own business.

"Someone is being grouchy." Ziva commented.

"Because you didn't answer me."

Ziva exhaled and blew a loose strand of hair away from her face. "I am not going to answer your question. But if it makes you feel any better, if I were to be stuck in a place like this again, I would choose to be stuck with you."

"Really?" Tony's face brightened instantly.

"Yes really. Now will you stop looking like an old grouch?"

"Grouch I accept. But old is where I draw the line!" He declared with a laugh as he nudged her shoulder with his own.

"It is a fact!"

"Okay you know what, I'm gonna do what all the kids are doing nowadays. Be emo. Whatever emo is."

"You do that."

And hearty guffaws could be heard once again on the other side of the wall as sounds of tools working on the concrete rang through their ears.

"I almost shot Tony last night. We were stuck for almost three hours before the firemen were able to open up the fire doors." Ziva complained.

"And you loved every second of it." Tony smiled triumphantly.

She just smirked.

Reviews are welcome (: I'll be updating slower now that school's up and going faster than before!