Guess who is starting to panic? Me, because I'm only to the point of working on chapter ten right now and I am not sure how easy it will be for me to keep posting everyday... I promise I am doing my best to make sure I post everyday.

I hope you've been enjoying the story, here is chapter seven!

-owl

This was the third night in a row that Ziva had seen Tony after dusk. As much as she was enjoying the time getting to know someone other than her sisters her age, she knew that rumors would begin to circulate if she kept meeting up with him whenever he didn't have anything else to do. To be honest, most of the time Tony sought her out.

Ziva also knew that what Kate had said the night before was true. If her parents were to find out about Tony stopping by after dusk… Well, she didn't really want to find out what would happen.

Either way, Tony had just begun walking towards the balcony where he would climb down and travel through the garden. He had arrived quite soon after Ziva had returned from dinner, and they had ended up talking for nearly an hour. Tony liked to reference plays that Ziva had never seen, often prompting her to hit his shoulder.

Just as Ziva was going to enter her wardrobe to change into her night dress, there was the sound of a scuffle coming from her balcony. She turned to check it out, and when she heard a grunt of pain, began running. She grabbed her sword from where it lay on her desk as she passed.

By the time she got outside, the fight was over, and two bodies lay on the ground. A masked man, with a bloody knife in his hand was laying on his back, not breathing. The other body was Tony, laying face down but noticeably breathing. Bloody daggers were clasped in both hands.

"Tony?" Ziva shouted, dropping her sword on the ground and approaching the fallen prince. "What happened?"

He groaned and slowly, carefully, rolled over to face her. "I was about to start climbing when I saw this guy in the darkness. I grabbed my daggers from my boots and attacked him." He shifted again and blood began soaking through the arm of his shirt. Another patch of blood was beginning to soak through his pant leg.

"Stay right here, Tony," Ziva said, standing up. "I am going to go get the physician."

"Not going anywhere, Ziva," he answered as she left him on the balcony.

Ziva ran through the castle, ignoring the occasional guard in the halls. No candles lit her way, but she knew her way around the castle like the back of her hand. The physician's chambers were in the base of the tallest tower. When she got close to the physician's chambers, there was already the bright glow of candles. Ziva threw open the door and saw only Jimmy in the room.

Jimmy looked up, a startled look on his face at her entrance. "Ziva?" he asked, bowing quickly. "Are you alright?"

She nodded. "I am, but Prince Tony is not. He has been hurt in a fight."

Jimmy grabbed his bag of basic supplies. "Where is he?"

"My room," she answered, leading the pair of them through the castle. They ran together, Jimmy struggling to keep up with Ziva. He nearly tripped when they turned a corner. Ziva had left her bedroom door open, and the candle glow was seeping into the hallway.

They enter the room to see that Tony was still laying where Ziva had left him on the balcony. Jimmy grabbed a candle from her desk as he crossed the room to check on Tony.

Ziva was hovering near Tony, watching anxiously as Jimmy worked. Her attention shifted, though, when there was a knock on the open door. She turned to see Kate standing in her night dress, a candlestick in her hand.

"Ziva?" she asked, entering the room, her eyes on the three men on the balcony. "What happened, are you alright?"

"I am OK, Kate. Someone was going to sneak in though. He had a knife, and I wouldn't have noticed in time to grab any of my weapons had he gotten far enough to attack me."

"Who else is on your balcony?" Kate asked, entering the room and closing the door behind her.

"Tony was just leaving when the attacker was trying to come in. He got hurt, so I went to get Jimmy to help."

"I think he will be OK," Jimmy said, walking over to the sisters, interrupting them. "Firstly, the arm wound. It's not too deep of a wound, so in a few days it should be healed and begin to scar. Secondly, the leg wound. It's also not too deep and in theory should heal well. Unfortunately, I don't know if I have addressed this correctly, and want to have Max check him over as well. Could one of you please help me get him to the medical rooms?" When he finished speaking he returned to Tony.

Ziva nodded and joined Jimmy next to Tony. "I can help you," she said, leaning down to grab Tony's arm.

Jimmy grabbed his other arm and together the three hobbled towards the medical rooms. There were a few guards that they passed that gave them odd looks, but none of them questioned the three. That was largely in part that Ziva's face was displaying her most annoyed look.

When they made it into the medical rooms, there was a small group huddled around one of the beds near the back of the room. Maxwell, the chief physician, was standing over a lady laying on the bed. Two men were standing on the other side of the bed than Maxwell.

Jimmy and Ziva helped Tony onto one of the beds closer to the entrance of the room. As soon as Jimmy made sure Tony was settled, he rushed over to see if he could help Maxwell with his patient.

Ziva took another look at the group that Jimmy had joined. It was her parents and Ducky. Her mother was laying on the bed, her father holding her hand. And Ducky stood next to her father, his hand on his shoulder.

Tony was asleep, snoring softly, when Ziva looked down at him. Knowing that, she joined Gibbs and Ducky. When she got close, she could see a thin line of blood on her mother's neck and down the length on her left arm. Maxwell was working on the latter of the wounds. Gibbs had a few flecks of blood on his face, most likely not his, though.

"Dad?" Ziva asked, drawing his attention away from Jenny. "What happened, is Mom OK?"

Gibbs dropped Jenny's hand and pulled Ziva into his arms. "I'm so glad you're alright. The man who was after your mother said he had an accomplice who was tasked with killing you. I sent guards to your room, but that was only moments before you arrived here anyway"

"I was lucky that Prince Tony caught the assassin before I could be hurt."

"What was Prince Tony doing with you this late at night?"

"Ziva?" Jenny's voice stopped Ziva from needing to answer. "Is that you? Are you alright?"

Ziva pulled herself from her father's embrace and stepped towards her mother. "I'm fine, I did not even get hurt. Will you be OK?"

Jenny nodded, reaching her right arm out to touch Ziva's face. "I'll be alright, Ziva. Your father was able to fight my attacker off of me."

"You are fine to return to your own room tonight, your majesty," Maxwell said, stepping away from the bed. "King Gibbs, you did not sustain any injuries during the scuffle?"

Gibbs shook his head and Maxwell and Jimmy went to check on Tony. Jenny began to sit up, throwing her legs off the bed and using Gibbs to help stand. Once she was standing, she was fine, and she and Gibbs left the room together.

Ziva, meanwhile, made her way to Tony's bed once again. Maxwell had left Jimmy there, changing a bandage. Tony himself had woken again, and was watching Jimmy work.

When Jimmy was finished and had left the area, Ziva spoke. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

Tony's gaze darted to hers. "According to Jimmy, I'm going to be just fine. By the way, you're indebted to me for life, Ziva."

His words were accompanied by a smirk, letting her now he wasn't being entirely serious.

"Damn you," Ziva uttered softly.

Tony's smirk just grew wider, he had clearly heard her.

Jimmy came up to them. "Prince Anthony, you are cleared to return to your own room for the night. There doesn't seem to be any issues with either your arm or your leg. I would suggest that someone accompany you just in case something happens."

"Ziva can help me, I'm sure," Tony said, a smirk on his face.

Ziva rolled her eyes but agreed and held out her arm to help Tony stand up. He took her arm and they walked from the room together.

"Thank you for saving me, Tony," Ziva said as they walked down the hall.

"Anytime Ziva," he responded.

The next morning, Ziva woke to her shoulder being vigorously shaken. When she opened her eyes, she saw Abby leaning over her with Kate a few feet behind her.

"What, Abby?" Ziva groaned, sitting up with her back against the headboard.

Abby launched herself at her, smothering Ziva with a hug. "I'm so glad you're alright!" she exclaimed. "I slept through everything and only found out about it from Kate just now."

Ziva's room was still dark, as in pre-dawn dark. "What time is it, Kate?" she asked, looking at her other sister.

"Half an hour before dawn. Ducky wanted to gather the five of us because he said he found something about why you were attacked." Kate's words were quick and she pulled Abby off of Ziva as soon as she spoke. "He wants to explain everything soon, so he can get a little more sleep before he has to be up for the day." in response to Ziva's questioning look, she added to her statement. "He's been awake since you saw him in the medical rooms."

Ziva nodded and stood up. She had not ended up changing into her night dress, so she was already ready to leave.

Kate gave her an odd look. "Isn't that what you were wearing yesterday?" she asked.

"In all the excitement from last night, I was too tired to change before going to bed," Ziva said, running her hands down the front of her dress, trying to smooth out wrinkles.

Abby yawned. "I don't really need to be there for the meeting. Why don't you come find me when you're done talking to Ducky, Ziva. I'm going back to bed."

She left the room, her sisters watching her go.

"I'm not too surprised, to be honest. We'd better go, though," Kate said. "Father is probably getting impatient."

Ziva nodded and the two of them made their way to Gibbs' office. There were more guards in the halls then the last time Ziva had navigated them. There would be no sneaking around now, there were simply too many guards.

Kate knocked on the office door.

It was opened by Jenny, who ushered them inside when she saw who it was. The door was closed immediately.

"Caitlin, Ziva," Ducky greeted the sisters when they approached the desk. "As everyone is now here, I believe I can begin. The attack was centered on Jennifer and Ziva, but why would someone be after you two, the country loves you both. However, the assassin that Jethro was able to capture had an assignment letter that was signed by adversaries of Ziva's father."

"Will we be able to find them?" Gibbs asked.

Ducky nodded. "If they are in the same fortress as they were fifteen years ago, they should be right outside the duchy of Hadle."

While Gibbs, Jenny, Ducky, and Kate continued to talk about a plan of action, Ziva left the office. The light from the sunrise brightened the sky, and the east facing windows lit the halls they were in. The halls were unsurprisingly still crawling with guards, and there were two outside Abby's room when Ziva passed it.

The first thing she did when she returned to her room was put on a new dress for the day. The dress she chose was deep green with an ankle length skirt and a darker green corset. There weren't proper sleeves on it, and the neckline was a little lower than she normally wore.

Looking around for her sword, she remembered leaving it on the balcony. When she retrieved it, she saw that someone had taken the body of the would-be assassin away. Whether it was the previous night or that morning, Ziva didn't really care. There was still a blood stain on the stone where he had lain.

Leaving her room, Ziva took a peek into Abby's. She was asleep, snoring softly, so Ziva left her alone. Her next order of business was to check in on Tony. On her way to his room, she could smell food cooking in the kitchens. Her stomach growled.

Resolving herself to a small detour, Ziva made her way to the kitchens. Once there, she was greeted by a smiling cook.

"What can we do for you, Princess?" She asked, curtsying.

"I was hoping to get a few pastries to take back upstairs," Ziva answered, stepping to the side as another cook brushed past her with a muttered apology.

The first cook nodded and disappeared among the others in the kitchen. After a few minutes she returned holding a small parcel. "Here you are, Princess," she said, curtsying again.

"Thank you," Ziva said as she left the kitchen.

Now that her detour was resolved, Ziva resumed her journey to Tony's room. The guards he had brought were standing in a tight formation around Tony's door. They parted silently for Ziva. She knocked on the door, and when Tony called for her to enter, she did.

His room was the same as the night of the ball. The only difference being Tony laying on his bed, looking intently at a paper. Ziva sat on the edge of the bed, and Tony looked up at her.

"Ziva? What are you doing here?" Tony asked, setting down the paper, sitting up and sliding closer to Ziva.

Making no comment about how he was now sitting right next to her, she held out the parcel of food. "I thought you might be hungry, and that I should update you on the assassins from last night."

Tony opened the parcel to reveal two croissants and two apple tarts. "There was more than one assassin last night?" he asked as he grabbed one of the croissants.

Ziva nodded. "The other bed in the medical room was occupied by my mother. My father caught the man responsible for the attack." She grabbed one of the tarts and started eating it very slowly.

"Do you know why they were sent after you and your mother?"

"Ducky thinks it is because of my father's adversaries."

"Oh, at least, then, you have a place to start investigating."

The pair lapsed into silence after that. Both of them ate their breakfast without acknowledging that they were sitting entirely too close to each other for a pair that was not to be wed. The windows were closed, but outside the trees shook in the high winds.

Tony then began grinning. "Ziv-ah," he said, drawing out her name. "As you are in debt to me as I have now saved your life, I humbly ask that you accompany me on a date."