The prompt was, "color." I don't own NCIS. Enjoy!

The color slowly drained from his face. Why was this happening to him? Him of all people. After everything he had done, and now they were telling him that there was no hope? That there was no way that she would recover? No. He could not believe it. He would not believe it.

They had close calls before, but they never had anything like this. The only other time that someone had ended up in the hospital was when Gibbs lost his memory. But that was from a bomb exploding. Not from a gunshot wound.

He wouldn't let her die. Not after Kate. He wasn't going to let her leave him and Eli behind. She couldn't. She had a family now; she had a family that loved her. And Tony was going to try his damnedest to keep her alive. He would do anything; hell, he would even pray if worse came to worse.

Every day was spent by her side. Sometimes he had Eli, but most of the time, Eli was with Abby or McGee because the three year old didn't understand what was going on.

"Daddy, why is Mommy sick? Daddy, is Mommy going to be okay? When is Mommy going to wake up, Daddy? I have to tell her about my day with Auntie Abby!"

It was too hard for Tony to sit there with Eli by his side while he waited for Ziva to get better, to wake up.

He had been living at the hospital for the past two weeks. Nothing new had happened; she wasn't getting any better, but at the same time she wasn't getting worse, which, Tony could consider to be a good thing. It was almost like she was stuck in limbo, like they were stuck in the movie Inception. The senior field agent was pulling all nighters, waiting, hoping for any kind of news.

Four weeks passed without any new developments. Things were getting harder by the day. Eli was practically living with Abby now, and Tony was drinking coffee like he was Gibbs. DiNozzo took her hand in his, stroking her palm with the pad of his thumb. "Ziva, please. Wake up. You can't leave me. You just can't leave me," he whispered.

It killed him inside. How could she just waltz into his life, make his life turn upside down, give him the most amazing memories, and then let this happen? It just wasn't fair.

It had been about a month in a half, when a miracle happened. He was there, like always; he never left. Stroking her palm with the pad of his thumb, Tony was watching her facial expressions. And then, everything changed. She slowly opened her eyes, blinking furiously to adjust to the light. Color returned to her pale face slowly. And Tony was there, holding her hand, smiling from ear to ear.

The doctors even said it was a miracle. They never had a case anything like it. But Tony didn't care. She was okay, she had survived. The color returned to both of their faces, and he felt alive again. All the endless nights spent at the hospital by her side were worth it. She was still there with him, with Eli, with her family.