I have to say that I truly love to write the dynamic between Abby and Ziva, as will be seen in this chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it too! Tomorrow's chapter is going to the first of a two part adaption of the 'Newborn King' episode from season nine, and I had so much fun writing that too, and I can't wait to post it tomorrow!

-owl

The next day, by the time Ziva had woken up, Tony had already left their chambers. After getting dressed for the day, Ziva began to look around for Abby, wanting to check in with her after the escape of the bandit the previous day.

After only ten or so minutes of searching, Abby was found in the library, reading a large book.

"Good Morning, Abby, how are you today?" Ziva asked, making her presence known.

Abby looked up with a start. "Ziva! You scared me!" She then set the book on the table next to her and crushed Ziva in a hug.

"Sorry, Abby. I hope it was not too bad."

"No, you're fine. But, I did have a question for you."

"And what would that be?"

Taking a deep breath, Abby spoke quickly, as though if she didn't she would lose her resolve to ask such. "I want to decorate the entire castle for Christmas."

"I do not know, Abby," Ziva responded slowly.

"Please, Ziva?" Abby begged. "Can I please decorate the castle for Christmas?"

"I do not know, Abby," Ziva said again.

"I won't go overboard, I promise."

"Let me think about it." Ziva decided, giving Abby a quick hug before she left to find Tony.

After checking their rooms for him with no luck, Ziva was on her way to the council chambers when Abby appeared, seemingly out of the wall.

"Ziva! Can I please decorate the castle?" she asked, her eyes begging more than her voice.

"I need to talk to Tony before I can give you any sort of an answer."

"When are you going to be seeing him next?"

Ziva sighed at the impatience of her sister. "I was just on my way to keep looking for him. I will tell you when we have come to a decision."

Eventually Ziva found Tony in the throne room, seeing petitioners. This was where she should have checked first, seeing as this was something that they did every day, but then again, Abby had kept distracting her. Currently a young woman was on her knees, begging Tony for help of some sort.

"Please, Your Majesty, our village is being destroyed by bandits. They come by every night, nearly. We barely have enough for ourselves, let alone for a group of bandits that must be almost the same size as our village."

Then Ziva took her place beside Tony. "How long have these bandits been piliging your village?" she asked.

"About a week, save the night before last, Your Majesty. They take increasing amounts of food each time they come."

Then the room was silent save for the hushed voices of Tony and Ziva discussing their plan of action. Finally Ziva returned her gaze to the woman. "If they have been taking more each time, I would think that they probably have enough by now, and if they have skipped at least one night, I think they would likely be done for good soon."

"However," Tony added. "If we get more reports that bandits are causing problems, we will send out a patrol to check on it."

The woman nodded, curtsied low, and left the room.

"Did I miss much? Where is her village?" Ziva asked, turning to Tony.

He shrugged. "No, not really. She is from Eareg, three hours south of here on the lake road by horseback. What made you so late, though?"

"I kept getting distracted by Abby begging me to let her decorate the castle. Oh! And speaking of which, you lost the bet, so I do not need to give up a week of archery practice!"

"I suppose you did win that one. At least I wasn't going to lose something myself when I had lost, though. But, to follow up on that, what response did you give Abby about decorating the castle?"

"I told her I would think about it, but that I was not going to give her any promises yet. I wanted to discuss with you first, if we were going to give her any restrictions assuming we gave her permission to decorate."

"As long as she doesn't go overboard, I think that it'll be fine to let her decorate. Also maybe we should tell her not to do anything to the bedchambers or the council chambers," Tony responded.

"Who is going to tell her she is allowed to decorate?"

"I guess you can, it's not like we need to make a big production out of it."

Ziva nodded. "Alright, I bet she is already decorating her and Timothy's room."

Tony chuckled. "I wouldn't doubt that. I'm not going to take up that bet, though, because I've already lost one today."

Ziva nodded as well, and with a quick kiss for Tony, she left the room.

Twenty minutes later, she found Abby, indeed, in her room, hanging garlands around the windows.

"Ziva!" she exclaimed when she was her. "What's going on?"

"Tony and I decided that you may decorate the castle as long as you do not go insane with the power of doing so." As she spoke, Ziva began to wonder if Abby would be able to contain herself, seeing as she was already nearly vibrating with excitement.

"Really?" she squealed.

"Is that not what you have been begging to be allowed to do all day, Abby?"

"Yes, but I didn't think you would actually agree!"

"Slow down, Abby, we do have one request that you do not decorate the bedchambers, or Tony's council chambers. Oh, and do try to keep it simple."

Abby gave her a mock salute with the wrong hand. "Yes ma'am!" she exclaimed with joy.

Their conversation was cut short, however, as Timothy entered the room. He didn;'t notice Ziva, and went to hand his sword in its place on the wall.

"Ha!" Abby broke the silence, making both Timothy and Ziva jump.

"I caught you under the mistletoe!"

Both looked up to the torch brackets about Timothy, where a huge sprig of mistletoe was hanging. With Timothy still stunned that Abby had caught him, Ziva took her chance to escape the room.

That night, when Tony and Ziva were laying down to sleep, Ziva spoke up. "We should be on the lookout for mistletoe. Abby already caught Timothy this afternoon."

"I'll keep my eye out for any, Sweetcheeks." Tony promised, blowing out the candle and rolling over to sleep.