I'm so excited to post this chapter! I have been giggling to myself the whole time I've been writing it. there are few things I want to say about this chapter, but I don't want to spoil it, so I am going to have an author's ntoe at the bottom of the chapter as well.
-owl
Ziva had been talking to Tony as they walked through the halls late that night. Rather than staying in one of their rooms, they decided that it would be more fun to walk through the castle. They no longer cared if they were seen together at odd hours, as Gibbs had sent out a letter to Tony's father, and long story short, Tony and Ziva were engaged.
That night, soon after the bell tolled midnight, as they were walking past the entrance to the dungeons, quick footsteps came towards them. Ziva gave Tony a warning look, and the pair pushed themselves against the wall as a man came running out from the dungeons.
His face had dried blood on it, and, though he was running, his gait was uneven. His clothes were, like his face, covered in blood. Ziva immediately recognized him. He was the second assassin, the one who had attacked her mother. Her father must have been trying to get more information out of him.
The man didn't see Tony and Ziva, and ran down the hall ahead of them.
"Get him," Ziva whispered, and she and Tony gave chase, following the man through the lower levels of the castle.
The man had begun to run faster when he heard Ziva and Tony's footsteps in addition to his own. When he turned corners, they were hard-pressed to catch up before he made another turn.
Then, they screwed up. The man had run back into the dungeons, probably hoping to get out the back entrance. Tony and Ziva continued the chase, and followed him. They passed the night guard that had been knocked out.
When they got to the end of the row of cells, far away from the guard post, the assassin did a fake out and tricked Ziva and Tony into the furthest cell. Then he closed the door and ran off. A solid, heavy 'clunk' sound rang through the dungeons.
"What… just… happened?" Tony asked, trying to catch his breath.
Ziva frowned and kicked the bars of the cell door. "He tricked us, and locked the cell door."
Tony looked at the door, seeing the door was clearly locked. "I don't suppose you have a key?" he asked, hope sounding in his voice.
Ziva shook her head. "No. I do not. Even if I did, this one sticks and is difficult to open even from the outside."
"Damn."
"Yup."
The cell they were in was one of the smaller cells in the castle. The door was metal bars, but the rest of the wells were entirely stone. There was a plank of wood that hung from two chains coming off the wall that made a bench. A thin layer of hay covered the floor.
Ziva sat down on the bench, her arms crossed over her chest. Tony, meanwhile, had started pounding at the bars, presumably trying to get the attention of the guard. After ten minutes, the guard had still not found them, and Ziva was starting to get a headache.
"Tony!" she snapped. "The guard is knocked out cold, he will not hear you. At this point, you are just giving both of us headaches."
Tony sighed and slid down the wall to sit on the floor. "What do you suggest we do, then?"
"As much as I hate to say it, we will have to wait."
It had been four hours, if Ziva's estimation was correct, since she and Tony had gotten trapped in the cell. The darkness of the night had begun to release its hold, and the faintest streak of sunlight was beginning to touch the sky.
Tony was snoring loudly, leaning against the wall, asleep. He had fallen asleep soon after they had realized they would need to wait until someone found them. If anything, his snoring was what helped Ziva stay awake.
Ziva was calm in the peace of the cell. Then there was a skittering sound, and Tony jumped up with a start. Ziva saw a rat tail slide through the bars of the door and out of her sight. Behind her, Tony was spinning circles, brushing himself down.
"Tony?"
"Rat."
"But you—"
"Rat, Ziva. There was a rat."
Ziva shook her head. "I do not even know what to say to you Tony."
"You know, Ziv-ah, if we are going to be stuck here for much longer, we should get to know each other better. We are to be wed, after all. I don't even know your favorite flower."
"What did you want to talk about, Tony?"
He shrugged. "What is your opinion about the whole 'arranged marriage' thing?"
"I do not know. I have always been independent, marriage has never been something I have thought about deeply before."
Tony nodded. "That's fair. I've always known I would marry. I need to, as heir to the kingdom."
"Do you resent that we are being forced to marry?" Ziva asked, standing up from the bench and stretching before sitting down again.
Tony came to sit by her, grabbing her hand. "No. I'm hopeful for us," he answered. "Why don't you get some sleep now, I'll watch for anyone to let us out."
Ziva was, indeed, tired and let herself lean her head against Tony's shoulder. In response, he gently patted her back.
"Gladiolus," she muttered as she began to fall asleep.
"What?"
"My favorite flower, gladiolus."
The next thing Ziva knew, she was being shaken awake by Tony. She had ended up laying across the bench, her head on Tony's lap. He was shaking her arm with one hand and running his fingers through her hair with the other.
"Ziva?" he asked, his face full of concern.
"Hmm?"
"I think you were having a bad dream. You were shifting and mumbling as you slept," Tony said, concern evident in his voice.
"How long was I asleep?" she asked, ignoring his comment about her dream. It had been a nightmare, to tell the truth. Jumbled images had flashed through her mind. The assassins, her real father's disappointed look, her first time jousting when she had fallen from her horse and landed on her shoulder, her new father's face when he inevitably found her with Tony.
"Nearly four and a half hours. What are you thinking about, Ziva?" he asked.
She looked at him. "We are going to hope my father is not the one who finds us."
"It's not like we aren't betrothed at this point."
"I know," Ziva said, then added another thought. "My father hates you."
Tony nodded. "Trust me, I know. My father also hates me, but I'm the only one who can take the throne. He has to deal with me."
"Does he ever hurt you?" Ziva asked.
Tony shook his head. "No, but he rarely speaks to me and for the most part ignores me. I'm mostly on my own when I'm at my own castle. That's why I am so close to Tim."
Ziva nodded. "Is your father going to step down from being king anytime soon?" she asked.
Tony shrugged. "I have no idea. I doubt he is going to let me take the throne anytime soon."
Ziva stood up and walked to the door. "I am sure you will get something figured out. However, we are getting out of here. Now." She pulled a knife out of the waistband of her dress, and stuck her hand through the bars of the door.
"I thought you said that this one stuck, wouldn't that make it harder to pick the lock?" Tony asked, standing up and moving to be next to Ziva.
She shrugged. "It does not matter. I am not staying trapped in here any longer."
She plunged her knife into the locking mechanism, and started shifting it around. The sound of metal against metal was shrill and made Tony cover his ears. She worked on it for nearly a minute, not getting anywhere, before she pulled her arm back into the cell. She threw the knife on the ground with a growl of anger.
"Have we stopped to wonder how the assassin got out in the first place?" Tony asked once the knife had finished clattering against the ground. "The guard was knocked out, and there was no way the assassin would have been close enough to him to attack."
"You would be right," a voice said, and both Tony and Ziva turned to see a tall man standing outside the cell door.
Ziva gasped in recognition. "Lady Lee?" she exclaimed.
Lee nodded, smiling and lifting a crossbow into view. "Yes. I think it's time for the kingdom to say goodbye to its princess."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
All three turned to see Gibbs with a longsword inches from Lee's neck.
The crossbow was dropped, the primed bolt shooting into the stone wall. Lee's smile quickly became a look of pure terror. "Your majesty—"
Gibbs shook his head, cutting her off. "Lee, you get no mercy from me. You have been caught aiding the queen's attempted killer, and been caught trying to kill the princess of your own country and the only heir of another."
He finished speaking and four guards came up, grabbing Lee by the arms and dragged her away.
Gibbs pulled a set of keys from his belt and shuffled through it. Finding the key he had been looking for, he approached the cell door and stuck the key. The metal groaned, but there was an audible 'clang' as the lock unlocked. It seemed that even the lock was scared of Gibbs' anger.
Gibbs swung the door open and Ziva and Tony rushed out of the cell. Ziva was immediately pulled into his arms, and Tony just got as far from the cell as he could without leaving the group behind.
"What were you guys doing?" Gibbs asked. "How did you get stuck in the first place?"
Ziva pulled away from her father to answer him. "We were walking last night, passing the dungeons when the assassin that tried to kill Mother came running out into the hallway in front of us. We gave chase, and he doubled back, somehow he tricked us into the cell and locked us inside."
"Did anyone stop him before he got too far?" Tony asked, looking at the guards.
"No," one of the guards said. "But now that we know to look for him we will do our best to find them."
Tony and Ziva both nodded. Nothing else was said and the group dispersed. Ziva went towards her room, and Tony followed her.
"Your father didn't say anything about us being alone in that cell, Ziva," Tony said once they were a fair distance from any of the guards.
She shrugged. "I think he might have been too focused on finding us —"
"You."
"— me, that he did not truly notice," Ziva amended.
Tony didn't get the chance to respond because they came into view of Ziva's room and saw her mother sitting on the floor, waiting by the door. Abby was asleep in a black night dress, her head on Jenny's lap. Jenny looked up at the sound of their footsteps and smiled, then she gently lowered Abby onto the ground and stood up.
"Ziva, you're alright!" she said, pulling Ziva into her arms and holding her close. "You too, Tony."
Tony grinned uncertainty. "Thank you, but I should probably find Tim. I will see you later, Ziva."
Ziva watched him leave, walking quickly down the hall. She turned back to her mother, letting herself be pulled into her arms. "Alright, Tony."
As his footsteps faded, Jenny looked down at Abby. "I don't want to just leave her alone on the floor. Why don't we sit and talk here?"
Ziva nodded and the mother-daughter pair sat down. Jenny carefully moved Abby's head back to her lap and sighed. "Emily was the first to realize you were missing," she said. "What happened to you and Tony?"
"We had been out walking after midnight, we ended up walking past the dungeons and saw the assassin Father caught. He had escaped from his cell. Tony and I chased after him, but he tricked us into one of the cells. We have been locked in that cell all night."
"How did he get out?" Jenny's voice was full of shock, she lifted her hand from Abby's head to touch the thin line on her neck the assassin had given her.
"Lady Lee let him out. Just as she found Tony and I, Father found us."
"I'm sorry you went through that. You are very strong, Ziva. I'm glad you're okay," Jenny said.
Then Abby shifted, rolling off of Jenny's lap and waking with a start. "What's happening?" she asked, her words garbled, eyes still closed.
Jenny rubbed her arm. "It's ok, Abby, I'm sorry if we woke you up. Ziva's back."
That woke Abby up entirely. "Ziva?" she asked, pulling herself off of Jenny and launching herself the best she could at Ziva. "I was so worried, Emily came to me first when she was looking for you."
"What time did she wake you up looking for me?" Ziva asked.
"I'm not sure, I never heard any bells, and I ended up dozing for most of the morning."
Jenny sighed, a hint of laughter audible. "It was about seven, that's when you get up normally, so that's the time Emily always brings your breakfast."
"Why don't we get Kate, and we can all have a girls' day?" Jenny suggested.
Abby nodded and ran into her room to get dressed. Ziva entered her own room to change from the dress she had been wearing all day yesterday. When she closed the door and turned around to go to her wardrobe, she saw a single purple flower stem laying on her pillow. She walked over to pick it up.
Gladiolus.
So, I sort of modeled this chapter on the episode 'Boxed In' from season three. And, yes I took Michelle Lee from season six as the person who betrays the 'team' because in the episode, the port security guy is the one who kinda betrayed them. My last thought here is that I chose gladiolus as Ziva's favorite flower because they are sometimes called sword lilies.
-owl