"Zoom in as they burn the past to the ground and feel the heat of the future's glow" –RENT

In the confusion of the explosion, Tony vaguely remembered smacking his head on the side of the elevator as Ziva tackled him to the ground. Something had set off her super ninja senses before he was aware it had started. They landed in a heap on the cold metal floor, and he struggled to keep his arm around her as the small enclosure shook with the force of the blast. Somewhere in their fall to the ground, their hands met, and he clung tight to that as well, a security blanket as everything around them went to hell.

Thud. Thud. Several large pieces fell beside them. He tightened his grip on her waist as the debris rained down on them, filling the air with dust and the acrid smell of burning brick and metal. Ziva curled her head against his neck, shielding her face from the falling wreckage.

He cried out as a big chunk of the metal ceiling slammed down on the arm he had wrapped around his partner. She exhaled loudly as the impact forced the air out of her lungs.

The lights above them arced and shot out a few sparks, and then they were plunged into darkness. The deafening noise of the explosion gave way to an eerie quiet within the confines of the elevator. In the distance he could hear sirens and knew there must be a huge commotion outside as the catastrophe that has just happened was processed. Right now though, in the elevator, all Tony could think about was the woman breathing heavily, sprawled on top of him.

"You okay?" he managed, still holding her tightly with his throbbing arm.

"Yes," she winced. She sounded about as okay as he was, but a bit of pain was nothing compared to what could have happened. "You?" she asked.

"Yeah…" he answered, sounding as unconfident as she had.

Her breath was warm against his throat, if a bit choppy, and he took comfort in that. They were both alive and breathing, and that was most important. A nagging question loomed in his mind: what about the rest of the team? After another moment of lying there in silence, Ziva released his hand and gingerly began to push herself up off of him.

She groaned. "This—" He could not see her in the darkness, but he heard her kick angrily at the ceiling piece that had fallen on them. "—knocked the…breath out of me."

"Wind," he chuckled softly, pushing himself to sitting. That wasn't as difficult as he'd figured it would be…

"But it was the air in my lungs. My breath. There is no wind," she argued.

He slid closer, their thighs now touching. It made him feel better to be physically in contact with her once again. "The expression is getting the wind knocked out of you."

"I see."

He reached out to pat her leg and a sharp pain shot down his arm. He hissed in pain, retracting his arm and cradling it to his chest.

Ziva rounded on him immediately. "You said you were okay—"

"Yeah, I'm alive," he countered sharply, "and not, like, gushing blood. But this—" he gestured his left wrist, "—it's probably broken—or at least badly bruised."

"So are my ribs," Ziva admitted. "From this same damn tile that knocked the wind out of me".

He nodded, smiling as she over-enunciated the new phrase. He had figured she was hurting from that too. "Now, how do we get out of here?" he sighed, fishing his phone from his pocket with his good hand. The small screen provided some light, illuminating the debris around them, as well as a gaping hole in the ceiling of the car. Somehow, the floor and walls had remained intact.

"Shine that up again," she ordered. "I cannot tell if we are closer to the second floor or the ground floor."

He looked up, squinting to make out anything in the dim light. "Me either. Do you think it's safe to stand up?"

Further exploration was cut off by the phone in his hand ringing. "Boss," he quickly answered. "We're okay—Ziva and I—the elevator—I'm gonna put you on speaker." He pressed the button and held the phone between them.

Ziva leaned in and asked the question he was dreading. "The rest of them team? How are they?"

"Abby's with me," Gibbs answered. "A little cut up—really shaken—but she's gonna be okay. The paramedics are patching her up right now."

"McGee?" Ziva asked.

"We're still looking for him," Gibbs answered grimly.

"Vance?"

"Cut up, but safe." His phone beeped. "I've got a call coming in…from…Palmer? Hunh. I'm gonna answer this. We'll get someone in to you two as soon as possible. Don't do anything stupid." And with that he hung up.

"So we wait," Tony sighed. "For now at least, yeah? Probably better to not mess with whatever the hell is up there?"

Ziva nodded. "Hopefully, they find McGee soon…" she crawled around to his other side as she continued. "I mean, certainly there are casualties. You do not have an explosion of that magnitude so close to a building and not have any casualties…" She settled beside him, and curled into his side. He wrapped his good arm—now understanding why she'd moved over—around her shoulders. She was more shaken by the whole thing than she had let on right so far.

"We can't dwell on that—" he tried.

"We have nothing else to dwell on! We are trapped."

He sighed and pressed his lips to the top of her head, giving her shoulders a squeeze. "Why do you think Palmer was calling Gibbs? Shouldn't he be saying 'I do' right now?"