Tony turned around to see his best friend standing at the door and walked up and hugged her teary eyed.
"I love Ziva so much Jeanne," Tony said, trying to hold back the tears.
Jeanne told him she will pull through and hugged him tightly for security, and Tony knew he had to strong for Ziva but he loved her too much.
He felt his eyes starting to water; and he knew that he had to let it out or it would just build up. A tear trickled down his face, and then a whole bunch more tears just ran down, then he eventually broke down at the thought that Ziva may not survive.
Tony remembered feeling this way the day Paula Cassidy had died.
Tony remembered how much Paula had meant to him, and all the things they had done together, and working together. Paula had sacrificed her life for all of them in that room. Tony even remembered all the times that he and Kate also had working and fighting even... he missed it all. He telling himself that he would not let the same thing happen to Ziva and have to fill his head with more painful memories... but yet Tony was grateful to be alive and if it had not been for Paula, he would not be alive right now to have this chance.
Jeanne sat on another chair and comforted Tony while he sat by Ziva's bedside... watching a machine breathe for her.
A couple of minutes had passed and Tony had said nothing.
" I remember when this happened to me... not this exactly but someone standing by me." Tony said holding Ziva's hands gently.
" What do you mean? " Jeanne asked Tony looking at him with a raied eyebrow.
" When I had Pneumonic Plague... Kate stayed with me every minute, she risked her own health to watch over me... but that is what a good partner does for their team mate... they look out for each other. " Tony said watching Ziva with tears running down his face.
Tony felt a wave of survivors guilt wash over him... he knew that it wasn't his fault... and he did try to stop her, but Tony still felt bad.
Jeanne told Tony she would stay with him all night if he needed her.
Minutes turned into hours...
that turned into days...
that now turned into 1 week.
Tony had fallen asleep on Ziva's hand, still holding it tightly.
Ziva was still pale and had no colour to her skin.
Tony woke up to a tiny squeeze on his hand... Ziva was waking up.
" Doc...Doctor! " Tony yelled as the doctor came in.
The doctor told Ziva to take a deep breath and he took the tube out and put on a oxygen mask to help her breathe better.
But she was still breathing the same... weak, slowly, but the breathing had gotten better from not hardly breathing to a partially stable rhythm.
Ziva smiled weakly at Tony and he knew that meant thank you.
The doctor left after checking her vitals and blood pressure and recorded her progress, which as only the fact she was awake.