"I have three dress choices" I tell Ziva, handing her the ripped out pieces of magazine. "Gibbs said it was okay for me to wear black" I say with a smile. Ziva laughs and looks at Vampire Kisses as she climbs in my hearse.

"Wow Abby… this one is just… amazing" I look over at her as I start the hearse.

"Look at the price Ziva" I yell her. She looks down then swears in Hebrew. "Yep" I say and look over at her, shaking my head. "Sadly, I don't think I could ever be able to afford it" I say, shrugging as I pull out of the NCIS parking lot.

"I could pay for it" offers Ziva. As much as I want to take her up, I can't.

"No Ziva, it's okay. The two dresses are cheaper and I love them just as much" I say driving for about twenty minutes before I stop.

"Abby this is a way Alley" Ziva says. I smile and correct her.

"It's kind of an underground shop" I say and open my door. She frowns and opens her door.

"And it's a shop for wedding dresses?" she asks as we walk down they alley way.

"Yeah. It's like Disney meets Tim Burton" I explain. She looks at me oddly and I'm reminded again that she is Israeli. I shake my head and keep walking. I knock on a large silver door twice then wait. The door opens and a woman dressed as Sally from Nightmare before Christmas appears.

"I'm Abby Sciuto… I called earlier about the dresses" she smiles and opens the door for Ziva and me to walk in.

"Yes, you called about the three dresses right?" she asks, walking me to the back.

"I narrowed it down to two of them. 'Vampire Kisses' and 'Corpse Bride'" I tell her. She puts me in a dressing room and leaves to get the dresses. From my bag I pull out my wedding folder/notebook. "How do you think I should do my invites? 'Abigail Luanne* Sciuto and Leroy Jethro Gibbs invite you to their wedding on June 23, 2009' or something more informal like 'Abby and Gibbs ask you to attend their wedding on June 23, 2009 and witness two souls become one'" I ask for her opinion in a 'dreamy' voice.

"Both. Coming them" Ziva says. I smile and tap my feet. "How will you wedding look?"

"Normally actually" I admit. Sally comes in with the dresses and hands them to me. "Jethro wants all that nice typical wedding stuff and I'd do anything for a smile from him" I pick up 'Vampire Kisses' first. I never noticed before but the top of the dress is like a corset with ribbons and a few buckles. Now I see why its $2,121.39. "Look at this thing! I don't even know what to do with it!" I say. Sally smiles at me.

"It's actually simple. If you strip down I can help you get in and show your friend how to do it" She hangs it up and gets it open as I pull off my clothes. I'm scared to try it on because I fell in love with it the moment I saw it and trying it on will make it worse. I turn to her in my skivvies and she has the dress held open for me.

"I'm going to put it over your head. Keep your arms up since there are not any sleeves" she says. I raise my arms and she puts it on me. As she did up the back of the dress I could feel the corset in it. It tightened my abs and my breasts were lifted, but I didn't have trouble breathing. She finished and I turn to look in the mirror. "Wow," she says breathless. "It's like it was made for you"

"Oh…my…god…" I mumble, running my hands from my breasts down. I'm definitely a cup size bigger in this. I shake my head and tears fall down. "God, I wish I could afford" I say, tears falling down.

"Abby please let me cover it" Ziva begs, standing behind me. "I want you to have this dress. I want to get it for you Abby" she tells me. I give in.

"I am going to pay you back. Down to the last penny" I turn to look at her. She smiles and hugs me tightly. I can't believe I was upset about her being here. She really has become my best friend. I smile and squeeze her. "Thank you Ziva" I mumble and let go. "Gibbs is going to die seeing me in this"

"Tony definitely would" Ziva said before she could think about it. "Sorry Abby" I smile and tell her its okay, maybe he'll show up. Her cell phone rings and she tells me she needs to go. I tell her to go ahead, I'm just going to get invites down then go back to Gibbs and do other stuff for the wedding. She pays for my dress and we go our separate ways.

^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***

I push open the door, dress in one hand, and a stack of invitations in the other. I kick the door shut and put the invitations on the table. I press play on the answering machine then lay my dress on the back of the couch. I pull my leg up and start untying my combat boots.

"Hey Jethro its Susie… Shannon's mom…" I stop, halfway down the combat boot and look at the machine. "I know we haven't talked since the funeral but… Saturday is the twentieth anniversary of their death… but you know that…We were wondering if you would come out to house… it's the same one we used to live in… call us back Jethro…"

I sit on the arm of the couch, blinking. There's temptation to delete the message, but I don't. I chose to take the dress up instead.

I hang the dress on the closet door in the quest room; he never goes in there anyway. I look at the dress and imagine myself walking down the aisle in this dress and my combat boots. I smile and go to my room.

I go down to the living room and grab my bag then go into the kitchen. I set my bag down on the table and grab a beer. I tap my foot as I drink it, trying to keep my mind of the message. I grab my notebook, a bag of bite size cookies and two more beers and head to the living room.

When I moved in, Gibbs didn't have any furniture except his bed upstairs. I redecorated; black leather couch and chairs, a 53 inch flat screen LCD T.V that would make Tony jealous and a black coffee table. Gibbs lets me do whatever I wanted, except painting the walls black… and I had to give up my coffin *sad face*

I chose to sit on the floor so I had a hard flat surface to write on. I popped a cookie in my mouth and check my to-do list. All I had to do was the seating arrangements (which I couldn't do until I got the invites out and the RSVP's were answered) and chose the cake. I make a mental note to make Gibbs do those with me. I planned the rest of this thing on my own, he can help do something.

I think I hear Gibbs pull up. I stand and look out the window and there he is, shutting the door with his leg. He's got black roses in one hand and a suit in the other. I giggle and run out to meet him.

"Hezzo babe" I say, leaning up to kiss him.

"Hey you," he responds, handing me the roses.

"Thanks," I say and wrap my arm around his waist as we walk up the driveway.

"Did you get our dress?" he asks, opening the door for me.

"Yes, I got the perfect dress. I got six sample invitations too. We need to chose those, then we'll have to do the seating and then the cake" I tell him as he sets up his suit in the closet. "How does chicken fried rice sound?" I ask as I go into the kitchen.

"Delicious Abs. Any messages?" he calls to me. I hear him open one of the beers. I feel temptation to not tell him, but I do anyway.

"Just one… for you" I say, pulling out vegetables. I can faintly hear the message playing as I throw the vegetables in. I hear him delete the message shortly after; I don't think it got done. I pull out day old rice from the fridge. My mom always said that the best way to make chicken fried rice is with day old rice. The rice is already chilled so I can go right to making it. Gibbs comes in the kitchen and kisses my shoulder. I don't ask about the message.

"Can you call the cake place and set up an appointment?" I ask sweetly. He nods.

"Where's the number?" he asks.

"Next to the home phone in the basement. When you're done you may work on your boat until dinner is ready" I tell him. He smiles and gives mock thanks. I laugh and he runs down the stairs as I boil water for the eggs.

^^^***^^^***^^^***^^^***

"Gibbs, dinner!" I yell from the basement door. I walk back to the kitchen and dish myself up a bowl. I go into our living room, grab the wedding invitations, spread them out on the coffee table and sit on the edge of the couch, looking at them. About ten minutes later, Gibbs joins me on the couch. He kisses my cheek and then looks at the.

"Those the invites?" he asks. I nod.

"We have to chose one of them… or two and send one half one of them and the other half the other" I say. "Which one do you like best?" Gibbs leans over and picks one up.

"This one" he says. I look at it and smile. It's the one Ziva suggested.

The paper is white, the border covered in light blue lace. Our names are written in our own handwriting (I took in a sample of his handwriting) it reads.

"Abigail Luanne Sciuto and Leroy Jethro Gibbs

Invite you to their wedding on June 23, 2009

At St. Elizabeth's church to witness

Two souls become one"

I smile and kiss his cheek.

"I like this one too" I tell him and take another bite. I pull out my cell and dial the number. Gibbs laughs at me and leans back to eat.

"Yeah we made our decisions. The third one yup. Wednesday? I'll come pick them up then… thanks… you too" I hang up and pick up my to do list and check this off. "Okay I'll pick those up on Wednesday so I'll need all the address'… McGee can gets Maddie's off the internet… do you have Franks? What about you da—"Gibbs out his hand over my mouth.

"Abby we're not getting married for another eight months" he says, pulling his hand away slowly.

"Two hundred and twenty two days to be exact mister!" I tease. "I want everything to be perfect Gibbs" I tell him. He sets his bowl down.

"And it will be cause it will be you and me up there" he tells me. I smile and kiss him.

"When's our cake testing?" I ask, grabbing my bowl.

"Saturday" he says, grabbing his. I stop.

"But… that's the dinner at Shannon's parents" I say.

"I know. I'm not going"

"Why not?" I take another bite.

"Because you are my life now. I'm trying to get away from it; not get drawn back," he says, laying a hand on my knee. He looks at me. "Every time you leave the building or the house without me, I wonder if it's the last time I'll get to kiss you or hold you. I never want to lose you or leave you Abby" he says leaning over to kiss my shoulder then my neck. I smile and kiss his forehead.

"You are my life now Abby" he says again. He sits up and goes back to eating. I laugh and pull my legs up, eating more.

Suddenly, Gibbs puts his bowl down and then takes mine. "I'm not done yet mister" He smiles and picks me up, throwing me over his shoulder. "Gibbs!" I squeal. He slaps at my bum and carries me to the bedroom.

He throws me on the bed and smiles at how pathetic I must look. He crawls on the bed, hovering over me.

"Jethro" I gasp slightly. He runs a hand up my thigh then squeezes tightly.

"It's time for desert Abby" he steals a kiss and I submit to his power.