Chapter 25

Ziva was sitting at the conference room table looking through magazines with Abby again, for what seemed like the millionth day in a row. Ziva also knew that everyone was wondering why her father would want to send her any money for a wedding, especially since he didn't approve of the wedding, the marriage or the fact that Ziva was staying in the United States and would probably become a full fledged member of NCIS and not have to answer to his orders any longer. Ziva always figured it was because he thought that if he went along with things and tried to make her happy, that when he really needed a favor he could call on her to come through with it. Ziva and Tony had talked long and hard about it, and they were going to do everything in their power not to call her father for any money at all. Ziva didn't want to owe that man anything, not after everything he had tried to do to her and everything he had done to her.

"Hey, Ziva, did I tell you that a special collections box went around because everyone wants to chip in for the wedding. Don't worry, they all said they are still going to get you guys a gift, but they knew what you had been through and that if you couldn't afford certain things that you would have to go to your father, and they wanted to try and make sure that didn't happen as best as they could or that if it did happen, then you didn't need that much from him so it would be really easy to pay back or whatever." Abby speed talked her way through that whole thing.

Ziva blinked, acting like she couldn't understand a word coming out of Abby's mouth. "I don't speak Abby calf Pow." Ziva said, wondering if she had pronounced Abby's favorite drink correctly or not. She was still learning things and she knew that she had to have gotten at least the last word correct.

"Ziva, I think the only thing you really needed out of that was that we took up an office collection to add money to your wedding fund." Abby said a bit slower. Since Ziva was working on getting her English perfect, she wasn't good at picking up fast, really fast, speech like most other people.

"You all didn't have to do that." Ziva said, she was touched that anyone would do such a thing for her, but she figured they probably did it for Tony, he was like major family to just about everyone there. "Let me guess, the guys were happy Tony wasn't going to be able to flirt with a bunch of women anymore and most of the ladies that couldn't stand him, were glad he wasn't going to be able to hit on them anymore?" Ziva asked with a slight smile forming on her face.

"Must be it." Abby said as she took the hint that Tony was nearby.

"Hey, that's not funny." Tony said walking into the room. "I just stopped by to give this to you before you head out. I hate not being there, but this is one thing I can't be around for when it comes to the wedding. I am not allowed to see the dress until I watch you walk down the aisle." Tony said as he handed her a bunch of cash.

"I don't completely understand customs like this when it comes to weddings." Ziva said frowning a bit.

"It's not just a custom or tradition, it's a superstition. It's said that if a bride and groom see each other on the day of the wedding before she walks down the aisle then they will have bad luck, he isn't supposed to see her on the wedding day until she walks down the aisle towards him. Also, the groom can't see the wedding dress itself or know anything about the dress except that it's beautiful and is supposed to be white, until he sees her walking down the aisle as well, for the same reason, it will be bad luck and the marriage itself will be doomed." Abby explained, she could tell that Ziva was really confused.

"Of course." Ziva said with a sigh, well it looks like we are going wedding dress shopping.

"Yes we are." Abby said as she jumped up excited. "It won't be just the two of us either, McGee's little sister is coming with us and so is Vance's wife who said she loved weddings and since she found out that you don't really know anyone female, she volunteered to come along. Also we need to decide what you want to do about Bridesmaids, you need to have more Bridesmaids, actually you just need some."

"What are…?" Ziva trailed off getting more confused.

"All right, they are females that you consider friends or family that stand up there wearing a special dress that is chosen to match your wedding theme or colors and help you put things together for the wedding and so on and so forth." Abby said and she winced.

"I don't know…" Ziva trailed off again. She was really starting to see that she had no one in her life that she could consider a good female friend outside of Abby. "You will be one, yes?"

"Of course, you need a maid of honor and brides maids." Abby said.

"Then you will be the Maid of Honor, right? That is the important one, right?" Ziva was really confused as they walked to the SUV with loads of NCIS agents around them. McGee's sister and Vance's wife weren't far behind but they would ride in another SUV with other agents, especially since it was Vance's wife.

"That's correct. Why don't we have McGee's sister and Vance's wife be Bridesmaids?" Abby suggested. "If we do that and ask them, then we can just look at those dresses as well."

"I like that idea, we can do that." Ziva said nodding her head happily.

"All right, than we made a couple of important decisions already." Abby said, hoping that would relieve some of the tension she could feel coursing through her friend. It was clear that Ziva was overwhelmed at the thought of planning this wedding, especially since it was also clear she knew absolutely nothing about them.

He was not happy to learn that the Director of Mossad, Eli David, was more than willing to send his daughter whatever she needed for her wedding. He clearly wanted the leverage to use to manipulate his daughter into doing whatever he needed or wanted her to do. As much as he had to admire Eli's tenacity when it came to his daughter, he was annoyed. Ziva was getting married to an American, she really thought she was going to have this happy and amazing life in the United States and she was going to be married to this NCIS Special Agent, but he wasn't going to let that happen, no way. He was going to make sure that she learned immediately that he was the one in charge and if he didn't want her married to that man, then she wouldn't be married to that man.

"I will get to you soon Ziva and you will learn your lesson." He laughed as he looked at all the different photo's on the wall, the photo's that showed everyone she had contact with, people she was close to and some she wasn't. If he started off slow, killing those she barely knew or those she only ran into when she did errands or something, then she wouldn't get the hint, but it would be weird for her to arrive somewhere she always went, only to find a crime scene and a body. As he started killing those closer to her, she would get the hint, especially when he let her know those earlier bodies were her fault as well. She would leave Agent DiNozzo to protect him and then he would be able to make his move.

However, Agent DiNozzo still needed to learn a lesson about touching other people's things. Ziva was off limits to everyone, and he didn't follow the rules. He had warned the agent a couple times every month since Ziva started working there, but apparently he either didn't really read his emails or letters, or he just didn't think he was serious, but now he would have to learn the hard way, and that way may involve a very slow and painful death for Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo.