I know you are asking Vektek for her thoughts on this but would like to make sure the rest of us are following the correct direction you are wanting to go.
When Jesus hung on the cross and He told the thief next to him that today he would be with Him in paradise. Everything changed. No longer would the people who died and slept in the earth, stay there if they where in Christ. Those that know Jesus and believed in Him are the first fruits...they will rise just like Jesus did and go to be with Him.
The bible says that the dead know nothing...so those that are in the grave will not know anything about the length of time they are there. Those that God found righteous even though they did not know Jesus as we know Him (for Jesus is God), people like Abraham, more likely stayed in the grave until all things were accomplished by Jesus on earth. (edit) However this can be debated as in the transfiguration of Christ, both Elijah and Moses appeared.
Dying and going to the grave is the first death. Judgement day for some will equal the second death. That would be those that rejected Jesus/God and were not found righteous by God. Others who loved the Lord and were found righteous will see everlasting life.
1 Peter 3:18-20 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.”
1 Peter 3:18-20 is scripture for where some people believe that people are now in hell. Perhaps someone can pull out an concordance and we can see what things like "spirits" and "prison" actually mean. Are these spirits people or disobedient angels? What was the proclamation that was made to the spirits? Is prison hell or the grave? What does the family of Noah represent as they were brought safely through the water?
Just thought I would add these thoughts, but wasn't sure I was going the same direction as you were or not. I just think that you can't find a perfect little scripture that will wrap it all up into a nice little bundle of truth. We take the bible as a whole to find what the Holy Spirit wants us to know about these things.