Here is the first chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed the prologue and continue to enjoy the story. I'm going to put my disclaimer in this chapter, and it can be assumed throughout the rest of the story: I do not own NCIS in any way, shape, or form. The plot of this story is my own though. However, there are some writing prompts that I will be using throughout this story from dumplingsjinson on Tumblr.

-owl

Abby was woken by her father's hand on her shoulder. When he had the time, he would wake his daughters himself, which was something that always made Abby's day when he did so.

"Abby," he whispered. "I have a surprise for you and Kate."

That got Abby out of bed right away. "Really? What is it?" She asked as she ran to her walk-in wardrobe, her night-dress swishing around her ankles, and quickly dressed herself.

Gibbs laughed. "If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise, Abbs."

She pouted as she re-entered the room, wearing one of her black and red knee-length dresses and tying her hair into twin pigtails. On her way across the room, she slipped on a pair of shoes.

Gibbs took her hand in his as they left her room. Kate's room was only across the hallway from Abby's, and that was where they went. Kate was already awake and dressed when she called for them to enter after their father knocked on the door.

Kate was sitting at her vanity table while her lady's maid, Serena (one of the newest members of the castle staff), brushed her hair. She was wearing a deep green, ankle-length dress with short sleeves.

"You said you had a surprise, father?" She asked, standing up and thanking Serena. "I'm ready!"

Gibbs smiled and took Kate's hand with the one that wasn't already holding Abby's. "Let's go down to the library, then." He said and the three of them left the room hand-in-hand.

The walk was uneventful, the people they passed bowed before continuing on with their business. Luckily for the excited princesses, the library was on the same side of the castle as their rooms, so the walk wasn't very long. The closer they got to the library, the more excited Abby became.

Finally they entered the library to see a pale-skinned, red-haired woman sitting on one of the couches, and a young girl with olive skin and dark brown hair next to her. The woman stood when Gibbs and the girls entered the room, the girl standing a second later.

"Jen," Gibbs said, his voice filled with an emotion that Abby had not heard from him other than when he was first speaking to Kate's mother, before they started having problems.

Gibbs took 'Jen's' hand, and turned to face his daughters. "This is Duchess Jennifer of Hadle and her daughter, Ziva."

The Duchess smiled at the girls and crouched down to their level. "It's very nice to meet you, Princess Abby, Princess Kate. You may call me Jenny, or —" she broke off and looked to Gibbs who nodded. "— you could call me Mom. Your father and I are getting married."

Abby looked from Jenny to her sister to her father. "Will she be like your last wife?" she asked, a slight tremor in her voice. "Will she try to get rid of us?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Of course she won't, Abbs. I promise both of you will be safe. I was hoping, though, that you two would start to get to know Ziva, as she will become your sister."

Kate nodded first, then Abby after another second of thought. The two princesses approached the other girl, and Ziva took a small step back. She looked at Jenny for a second, and when she was given a nod, Ziva smiled.

"I am Ziva." she said, a noticeable accent in her voice as she bowed to the sisters. "My mother is worried I will scare you off."

Abby looked at Kate before answering Ziva. "Why would she think you would scare us off?"

Ziva grinned, and an almost feral look crossed her face. She pulled a small dagger out of the waistband of her dress. "I like princely things, more-so than princess things."

Kate shrugged. "So what? As long as you don't hurt us we don't really care," she turned to Abby. "Do you think we could show her our rooms?" she asked.

Abby's face took on a dark look of jealousy or anger, but she didn't get to answer before their father cut in. "I think that would be a great idea. Why don't you three meet Jen and I in the dining hall at noon for lunch?"

Kate nodded and she and Abby left the room with Ziva trailing behind them. None of them talked as they walked, and the three girls quickly made their way to the bedrooms.

When they got to the hallway between Abby and Kate's rooms, Abby still had that mixed look of jealousy and anger, so Kate brought them into her room first.

Kate led the way, Abby directly behind her and Ziva behind Abby. The room was quite large, there were four windows on the wall that faced the castle gardens, directly opposite the door. Upon entry, to the right was the door that was the opening for Kate's wardrobe. Her bed sat against the left wall. Everything was in shades of either a light tan or a deep green.

"What do you think, Ziva?" Kate asked, turning to look at her.

Ziva grinned slightly. "I love it!" Then she turned to Abby. "Is your room pretty like Kate's?" she asked.

"Even better," Abby said, a small smile breaking through her negative look. "But wouldn't you rather see the rest of the castle?"

Kate gave her an odd look, but Abby just smiled brighter and started leading Kate and Ziva from the room.

By the time the bells rang at noon, Abby had dragged them across the entire castle and surrounding gardens. Kate hadn't been entirely happy to let Abby lead, but she followed anyway. When they reached the dining room the three girls found their parents.

Gibbs and Jenny were sitting next to each other at the table, talking as they waited for the girls. They looked up when the girls sat down at the table, Abby and Kate on one side of Gibbs, and Ziva on the other side of Jenny. No one had a chance to speak before a line of servants brought out their lunch. Once they had left, and the food was sitting on the table, Gibbs turned to Abby and Kate.

"What did you three do?" he asked kindly, a smile on his face.

Abby also smiled. "We showed her Kate's room, then we went around the entire castle and gardens."

Gibbs nodded, then turned to look at Ziva. "Were they kind to you?" he asked.

She nodded. "I had a very good time today, thank you."

The rest of lunch passed uneventfully, and after they were done eating, Abby dragged Kate away with her.

They went to Abby's room, a mirror to Kate's, but decorated in red and black. They sat together on the couch that Abby had next to the windows.

"What do you think of Ziva and Jenny?" Abby asked, her fingers playing with the skirt of her dress.

"I think that you don't like them." Kate answered, "but I don't see what's wrong with them. Shouldn't we be happy that Father is happy?"

"The last time Dad married, his wife tried to have us removed from the castle. I don't want that to happen again."

"Abby, do you really think Jenny will do that?"

Abby sighed. "I don't know," she said. "But I don't trust her yet."

Much to Abby's dismay, Gibbs and Jenny did indeed get married, about two weeks after she and Kate had met her. As of yet, she hadn't done anything, and Abby had taken her focus off Jenny and placed it instead onto Ziva.

She did not like Ziva. She was always getting in the way of her and Kate's time with their father. Ziva also hated to play the types of games that Abby did, and Kate was playing with Ziva instead of her. Overall, Abby did not like Ziva one bit. She wouldn't speak to her unless one of their parents were in the room and she had to, and 'on penalty of death' Ziva was not allowed into Abby's room. Then it all changed, Abby's hatred of Ziva.

It was the middle of the morning one day when Ziva came sprinting into Abby's room, a wild look of panic on her face.

"Abby!" she called.

Abby stood from her play corner. "What's going on?"

"Kate fell from a tree, out in the garden," Ziva answered in between labored breaths. "I can not find any of the servants or guards. Can you help?"

Abby nodded. "Where is she?" she asked, and followed Ziva out of her room and through the castle.

Kate was indeed underneath a tree in the gardens. And, while she had a few scraps and bruises, she didn't look too bad. At least the tree was a shorter one, so Kate wouldn't have fallen too far. She was sitting, leaning against the tree as she looked at her arm.

"Kate?" Abby asked. "Are you alright?"

Kate nodded. "I'm fine, Abby."

Abby nodded back, then turned to Ziva. "Thank you for getting me." She was thankful. Abby now felt that she could trust Ziva.

Ziva smiled. That was the end of the feud between the sisters.

After the incident, they went everywhere together, except when Abby had to have her training as heir of the country. They played the same games, and had sleepovers in each other's rooms.

About half a year after the three girls figured out how to get along, the Chief Royal Advisor, Sir Donald Mallard (who everyone called Ducky), welcomed his ward to the castle. James (Jimmy) Palmer was a gangly young boy, around the age of ten. He was set to be apprenticed to the royal physician when he reached fifteen years of age. Until such a time, he would mostly follow Sir Mallard around the palace.

The three girls did not know what to think of Jimmy. He had been introduced to them, and them to him, and they often saw him if they were with their father when he was meeting with Ducky. Even so, he was a boy and they were not sure what to do. Would their father expect them to let him play their games with them?

Whatever the case was, they tried to ignore him. And if on any certain day, they decided not to ignore him, they would sneakily follow him to see what he did when he wasn't with Ducky.

If he happened to spot them, he would bow and say; 'Hello, Princess Abigail, Princess Caitlin, Princess Ziva.' before continuing on his way. On the days they got caught, they would stop following him for the rest of the day.

It happened one day, that Abby had been apart from her sisters because of queen lessons, that she came across Jimmy in the hallway outside of her room. He was laying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling.

"James?" she asked. She called him 'James' and not 'Jimmy' because they were not that informal towards each other.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, standing quickly and giving a hasty bow. "Princess Abigail, I'm so sorry if I'm in your way."

She shook her head. "You were not in my way, but may I ask why you were laying on the floor in front of my room?"

Jimmy blushed slightly. "I must confess, Princess, that I often still get lost in the castle, and that I honestly did not know your room was here. As for what I was doing, well, I was looking at the stones that make up the ceiling."

Abby looked up, and did not see anything out of the ordinary whatsoever. It was the same ceiling that was always there.

"The patterns." Jimmy added. "Isn't it funny that the hallways have beautiful patterns worked into the stone, but the library and other rooms off the hallways do not?"

Abby thought about it for a second. He was right, there weren't any patterns in the ceiling in her room, or her sisters' rooms, or anywhere other than the halls. "I suppose you're right. I know there are books in the library that talk about the castle as it was being built." She turned and started walking to the library, stopping when she didn't hear Jimmy's footsteps. She looked back to see him still standing in the same place she had left him. "Well? Aren't you coming?"

He grinned and joined her as they walked through the castle side by side.

After that, Jimmy was invited to play games with the girls, and became a good friend to all three of them. He called them by their nicknames, and dropped the 'princess' — though he would still bow to them. The girls, for their part, called him Jimmy rather than James.