Sisters of the Heart

Ziva, Delilah, Abby, and Breena have a girls' weekend: April 2030.

Chapter 1: Friday, April 5

** Mid-January 2030: Breena laid the brochures out on the table for her sisters of the heart to examine. "It's two nights and two days of no kids, no husbands, no household chores; just us four getting some relaxation and pampering. What do you say ladies?"

Abby looked at the pictures of the amenities at the spa resort. "I'm in for sure. Come on, Ziva, Delilah, you guys deserve this." Leon supported Abby in her time with her sisters of the heart. He encouraged her to spend time with them.

"I'm in," Delilah looked at Ziva. "Say yes, Ziva, we have all earned this time to ourselves!" Her twins were twelve and they and Tim would be okay on their own for a weekend.

Ziva thumbed through the brochures, chewing her finger as she thought about it. "Okay, I will go." Tony would be okay with the five kids for a weekend; LJ, the youngest, was eight, and all the kids were good about helping out around the house.

Breena pulled up the website on her computer and the four women signed up as a group for the first weekend in April. Jimmy would be glad to hear that she and the others had followed through on his suggestion to her.

All four women marked 5 April through 7 April on their phone calendars. They were looking forward to a weekend of their own. **

~Sisters~

Breena, Delilah, and Abby each took a half day off on Friday; they would be leaving at 1230 for the three hour drive to the resort. Delilah offered to use her minivan for travel, so the others arrived at the McGee house about 1215 and put their travel bags in the vehicle. Abby had picked up Ziva on her way so that Ziva could leave the family van at the DiNozzo house. Breena arrived about the same time as Abby and Ziva.

Abby shared the latest pictures of Kayla's stepchildren and of Kayla's baby bump. Ziva noticed how Abby spoke lovingly of both Kayla and Jared and was glad that her friend had found a family. The four women chatted as they drove to the resort. Ziva and Delilah were in front, and Abby and Breena in the middle row of seats. Traffic was not bad for a Friday afternoon and they arrived at the resort in just over three hours.

They checked in to the front desk and were shown to their suite. There were two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a sitting area and a kitchenette. Ziva and Delilah shared a room and Abby and Breena shared the other room. The entire suite was wheelchair accessible and Delilah navigated with ease. The hostess who had shown them to the suite told them that they would have about an hour to get settled in and then their personal assistant for the weekend would come and help them plan their activities for the stay as well as get their meal selections for Saturday's dinner banquet.

Ziva put her bag on the stand by the twin bed nearest the window. Delilah had picked the bed closer to the door and bathroom, which suited Ziva just fine. She liked the view out their window of the trees and a small lake. Delilah checked the bedroom and sitting area for an internet port for her computer. Finding none, she used her phone to check for a Wi-Fi signal. No Wi-Fi either.

Delilah looked over at Ziva sitting and staring out the window. "Ziva, do you have a Wi-Fi signal?"

Ziva broke her musing and looked at her phone, "No, but I remember something about disconnecting from devices in the confirmation letters we received. I do not think we will be able to connect."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. I guess Tim was right when he insisted that I didn't need to bring my computer!" Delilah put her laptop bag on the chair by her bed. "I guess I should pay more attention to what I read!"

Ziva chuckled, "We will have to truly disconnect for the weekend, I guess. We are so accustomed to our instant access with our devices; maybe we are too dependent on them."

Delilah laughed with her sister, "Can you even imagine trying to get Tim and Tony to disconnect for a weekend? Tim would be trying to get connected within two hours."

"Tony would be okay with it, if he knew ahead of time. But, if it meant that he could not watch his movies, he would be like a two year old about to have a tantrum." Ziva smiled at the mental image.

A sharp rap at the door for the suite interrupted the conversation. All four women moved into the sitting area as Abby opened the door.

"Hi, I'm Chantal and I'm your personal coordinator for the weekend." Ziva and Delilah exchanged glances; Chantal looked to be about twenty years old. "May I come in?"

Abby motioned to her and opened the door further. All five took seats in the sitting area as Chantal smiled at them. She looked at her list: Abby, Breena, Delilah, and Ziva. "Let's start by introducing ourselves. As I said, I'm Chantal, and I'm your personal coordinator. I love working here, and this is my first job out of college. I have a degree in sports and nutrition, focusing on wellness and overall health maintenance. I'm twenty four and engaged to be married to my best friend from elementary school. I've known her since we were six. Who's next?"

Abby spoke up, "I'm Abby Sciuto-Vance. I am a forensic analyst for NCIS, and I love my job. My husband, Leon is the Director of NCIS. I have two step-children, Kayla and Jared, and two grandchildren, with another on the way. I LOVE Halloween and all sorts of geeky things. And, no, I am not a Goth; I am ME!" Ziva, Delilah and Breena smiled at Abby's last statement. Abby would always be uniquely Abby!

"I'm Breena Palmer. I am the business manager at Slater's Funeral Home. I work with my dad, who is a mortician. I have two teenagers; Victoria is almost fifteen and Charles just turned twelve. Jimmy, my husband, is the Chief Medical Examiner at NCIS." Chantal nodded at Breena and checked her list.

Delilah spoke next, "I'm Delilah McGee, and I work for the DoD. I am a security analyst. My husband, Tim is Senior Special Agent and supervisor of the Major Case Response Team at NCIS. We have twins, John and Katie, who are twelve years old."

Chantal looked at Ziva expectantly. Ziva responded to the question, "I am Ziva DiNozzo. I was born in Israel, but I am a United States citizen. I am a translator for NCIS. My soul mate and husband, Tony works at FLETC training agents from many organizations. We have five children: Tali is almost sixteen, Anthony is almost thirteen, Rivka and Beth are ten, and LJ is eight."

"NCIS… seems to be a common thread with you four. What is the organization?"

"Naval Criminal Investigative Service." All four responded in unison. Chantal grinned at them.

"We have a bigger common thread, if you want to know." Abby piped in. "We are family of the heart. Gibbs is our father of the heart. We are sisters." Chantal looked from Abby to Breena to Delilah to Ziva. All four were smiling and nodding.

Chantal thought to herself that an interesting story must be behind this family, but that would be later. She spread out the lists of activities that the guests could choose. "We have several types of activities here: exercise, wellness, relaxation, group discussion, creative expression, music, and arts and crafts. You may choose any or all of the types and within each type are multiple options. For example, in the exercise activities, you may choose swimming, yoga, aerobic dance, weight training, hiking, cycling, canoeing or step aerobics.

"The schedule of activities includes some of each type for each segment. Each segment lasts approximately ninety minutes. Lunch and dinner are at the times noted on the schedule. There are two lunch sessions and one dinner session. After dinner, there is a group activity that is for all guests and then more individual choices until nine o'clock.

"Breakfast is between six thirty and eight thirty on Saturday morning and between seven thirty and nine on Sunday. We also have interfaith services on Sunday at nine fifteen. I will need your meal selection for dinner tomorrow as that is a catered meal. All others are self-serve food bars.

"Any questions?" The four looked over the lists and Ziva asked, "When do we have to make our choices of activities?"

"You can decide at the beginning of a session. The only things we ask are that you be prompt to any activities and don't leave in the middle of a session unless there is an emergency.

"Dinner tonight is at six o'clock in the main dining room. All of the weekend guests will be there and you will have an assigned table. There will be at least three others at your table, so you can get to meet the others. The only other meal with assigned seating is dinner tomorrow."

Each of the four chose her meal options for Saturday's dinner banquet and handed the sheet to Chantal. Ziva reviewed the selections for sessions that night and made several check marks next to ones that sounded interesting. She wondered what the group activity would be after dinner.

Abby asked if there was any specific dress code for the weekend and Chantal replied that all except the dinner on Saturday were casual dress or appropriate clothing for the specific activity. Saturday night's dinner was "church attire."

Chantal left the group discussing the evening's activity. About half an hour later, Delilah noted that the time was 1730 and suggested that they head towards the dining room. Ziva, Abby and Delilah headed to the dining area; Breena said that she would follow shortly.

Ziva and Delilah found the table assigned to the sisters. Abby spotted an acquaintance at another table and went over to say hello. Ziva noticed Breena entering the room and waved her over to their table. The three chose their seats at the table, and waited for Abby and the four other guests who were assigned to their table to be seated.

As Abby made her way back to the sisters' table, the other four women approached from the entrance to the dining room. Two of them looked very much alike and when they introduced themselves as cousins, Abby remarked that they could be sisters. Their names were Stefanie and Rebekkah and when the Gibbs girls heard the names, each one smiled to herself! The other two women, Dianne and Jenn, were in the same suite as the cousins but did not know any of their suitemates. Abby and Ziva exchanged looks; this was too weird! Abby whispered to Ziva, "Rule 39!"

The Gibbs daughters introduced themselves, and Abby, who was the last one, added that the four were sisters. The other four looked from one to the next. Ziva smiled, "We are sisters of the heart. Our father of the heart thinks of all of us as his daughters."

"Sounds like an interesting story," Jenn remarked.

"Oh, it is!" Abby bubbled. Ziva and Delilah looked at each other, smirked and rolled their eyes. Abby was ready to tell the story, but a woman stepped up to the podium at the front of the room and called for the groups to quiet.

She looked around the room and welcomed them all to the resort and the weekend of relaxation and fun. She introduced herself as one of the co-owners of the spa and resort. She told an abbreviated story of how she and her business partner had founded the resort and developed it as a retreat for women. She finished by encouraging the guests to have fun, unwind and refresh. As the group applauded, wait staff started serving the dinner.

As all of them enjoyed the grilled salmon, rice pilaf and broccoli, cauliflower and baby carrot vegetable medley, the women chatted with each other. Each shared what job she had, and those who were parents shared about their children. Abby showed pictures of her grandchildren as did Dianne. Rebekkah was a single mom of two teens, Jenn had twin five year old boys, and Stefanie was single, no kids, just fur babies.

After a dessert of cheesecake with raspberry sauce, the group was divided into four smaller groups. Each of the smaller groups went with one of the personal coordinators. Chantal led the eight from the sisters' table, another eight from a second table, and four from a third table to a room down a short hallway from the dining room. As each woman entered, she was handed a sealed envelope.

Chantal told the group to have a seat to begin the activity. She explained that they would be doing a "get to know you" exercise to learn about the other guests. She handed each of them a piece of paper with questions to ask so that each one could gather information to introduce a partner to the rest of the group. To determine who each one was partnered with, they had to find the person who had a matching piece to the one in their envelopes. She told them to open the envelopes and pair up.

Ziva opened her envelope to find half of a picture of a cat. Delilah opened her envelope and smiled, turning her picture towards Ziva; she had the other half of the cat! Abby opened her envelope and started laughing. When she turned the picture towards her sisters, they also laughed. Abby had a picture of half of a hippopotamus! Breena's picture was of half of a horse. Breena and Abby went to look for their partners, while Ziva and Delilah moved off to the side to work on the question sheet.

Delilah looked at the first question on her list and laughed out loud. Ziva gave her a questioning look. "You asked for it… If you could be any Disney Princess, which one would you be and why?" Delilah couldn't think of her own answer to this question and wondered what Ziva would answer.

"What? Disney Princess? Well, our girls have been through all of them at one time or another, and Tony has made sure we have seen every one of the movies… Let me think on this one." Ziva was stumped; she had never thought about being a princess, let alone a Disney princess. While she was trying to come up with an answer, she glanced at the first question for Delilah. "Uh, oh, you have one just as crazy. What movie describes your life and why?"

Delilah grinned at Ziva, "Tony should be answering that one! I have to think on the answer, too."

"What are the other questions? Maybe we can answer some of the others first, and come back to these," Ziva suggested. "Your next one is: what is your greatest life accomplishment?"

"That one's easy; my family and my marriage." Delilah didn't even have to think on that one. "Here is your next question: what do you consider your spirit animal? Dang, Ziva, you have some weird questions to answer!"

Ziva thought a minute, "The eagle is my spirit animal. The eagle mates for life, and is fiercely loyal to its chosen mate. The eagle soars above the storms that drag others down and the eagle is resilient and resourceful."

"That's you to a T, Ziva! I like it." Delilah had not thought about her sister as an eagle until Ziva described the characteristics of eagles. "What's my next question?"

"What is your favorite animal? Why?" Ziva thought she knew the answer, but kept quiet while her sister thought about it.

"Hmm, my favorite animal is the squirrel. A squirrel is smart enough to save food for times when it is not available, so it is resourceful. A squirrel also knows how to get food from humans and to socialize when it needs to, so it is adaptable. Plus, squirrels are cute," Delilah surprised Ziva with her answer. "Don't tell Tim that, though, after he spent all that time trying to get them out of our trees!"

Ziva smiled; she remembered that fall when Tim had essentially declared war on the squirrels, and had tried to trap them and move them elsewhere. He swore that several of the wily creatures had kept coming back to the McGee backyard just to taunt him.

"Here's your next one Ziva: what is your greatest accomplishment?" Delilah was pretty sure she knew Ziva's answer to this one.

"Redefining myself and changing who I am. My family, my marriage, my life as it all happened. I would not change any of it, Dee. There are some parts that I would rather not revisit, but each one was necessary to get where I am today." Ziva was probably more content with her whole life than most people. Delilah nodded, she understood exactly what Ziva meant; she herself had some parts of her life that she would not relive, but they were a necessary part of her journey to today.

Chantal reminded the women that their time for question and answers was almost up; next they would be introducing their partner. Many of the pairs, such as Abby and her partner, a drummer for a band, had answered all of the questions. Most of the pairs, such as Breena and her partner, had answered the majority of the questions. Breena's partner was a high school English teacher. A few of the pairs had only answered two or three questions, but had discussed them in depth, as Ziva and Delilah had. After the introductions, Chantal sent them to the last activity for the day.

All four of the Gibbs sisters chose to go to the relaxation activities that included working on jigsaw puzzles, board games and card games. Ziva, Delilah and Breena worked on a jigsaw puzzle that had a picture of a meadow of wildflowers. Abby played gin rummy with a group of seven other women, and the other three could hear Abby's squeals when she won a round.

At 2100, the groups were told that they could stay and visit with others in the main sitting room or go back to their own suites. Abby and Breena stayed to visit with some of the others, but Ziva and Delilah chose to go back to their suite. Delilah remarked to Ziva as they headed down the hallway to their suite, "I need some down time away from people to recharge!" Ziva nodded in agreement.

Both Ziva and Delilah changed into pajamas and curled up on their beds to read. They left a light on in the sitting area for Abby and Breena to be able to see when they came in. Delilah fell asleep before Ziva; Ziva fell asleep before the other two came in for the night.