So, I almost did this kind of a chapter in chapter five, then remembered that I was going to do it for chapter ten. I hope you enjoy it!

-owl

Tony and Ziva walked side by side down to the stables. Abby had told them that her mare, Burt had foaled the previous night, and wanted them to see it. Ziva had been unable to say no to Abby for such a little request, so the pair bundled up and went outside.

When they got to the stables, though the door was closed, both of them could hear Abby cooing to the horses. As they stepped inside they were buffeted by a gust of warm air and the scent of the horses.

"Hey, guys," Abby said, smiling at the two of them. "Isn't he precious?"

Ziva looked into the stall Abby was standing in. Burt was next to her, nuzzling a foal that was standing on spindly, though strong, legs. Ziva grinned. "Yes, Abby. Are you going to name him?"

Abby looked conflicted. "Will I be able to keep him? I don't want to give him a name if he is just going to be trained to ride into war and such."

Tony nodded. "Yes, you can keep him, Abby. he's not the right breed of horse to be trained as a war horse anyway."

"Really?"

"Yes, besides, he is the offspring of your horse."

Abby beamed and hugged Burt. "See, he gets to stay with us!" she whispered to her."

Ziva then let herself into the stall and let the foal approach her. It was a little over two feet tall and lean. It was dark gray in color, with paler spots on its rump. Its eyes, as it looked around the stables at everyone there, were a deep brown, nearly the same color as Ziva's own.

"I think I'll name him Spirit," Abby said proudly, patting the newly named foal on his nose. "I love him."

"Abby," Ziva said, "I do too, but we do need to get back to the castle, there was a document that we needed to go over."

Abby nodded. "Ok, I'll see you guys at dinner."

With a final wave, Tony and Ziva left the stable, bracing themselves for the cold as they stepped outside. It had started snowing while they were talking to Abby. The gray sky that had been promising the snow all day finally made good on its promise.

In the deeper snow, off the shoveled paths were many of the children whose parents worked in the castle. The kids had been making snow sculptures when Tony and Ziva had been going down to the stables, though now their peaceful projects had become an all out war between them. Snowballs were flying through the air, from one side of the courtyard to the other, the children split into two groups.

On the east side of the 'battlefield' was a mix of boys and girls. They were wearing yellow cloaks and sweaters, and one of the girls was in the front of the group as though the leader. The west side was entirely boys, and they were wearing blue clothing, one of them was also in the front.

The snow stopped being thrown and the leader of the yellow cloaked kids yelled across to the blue cloaked. "Stand down, Fornell, king of the horse-poop Investigatii!"

The leader of the other group bit back. "Queen of DiNozzo, you will not win!"

Then the snow started flying again. Ziva watched as the one who had been called 'queen of DiNozzo' began to sneak around towards the kid who was playing Fornell. Tony and Ziva were crossing the battlefield to return to the castle when a stray snowball smacked Ziva on her right cheek.

The courtyard went silent, all the kids were in shock that their queen had been hit by one of their snowballs. Then one sound grew, from barely a whisper to a roar, Tony was laughing. He was clutching his stomach and about to fall over, he was moved to amusement at the sight of his no nonsense wife covered in snow.

His laughing was cut off abruptly, though, as Ziva bent down and scooped up her own snow. With record speed, a snowball was formed and thrown at Tony, hitting him square on his nose, and knocking him down into the snow drifts.

When he got up, he ran at Ziva and dragged her down into the snow, officially letting the children know they were not in trouble, and that their game could continue as well. Tony, however, ran to the blue side as she got up. Ziva took one look at her husband and joined the yellow group.

For the next hour, the king and queen were invested in a snowball fight with the children from the castle. And even Tony, who didn't like kids, was having fun pelting his wife with snow.

When Ziva got too cold, she suggested to the whole group that they go inside and see if the cooks would make them hot chocolate. The kids, enthused by the prospect of anything with chocolate, clamored around the king and queen as they basically herded the children inside.

The cooks were happy to indulge Tony, Ziva, and the children. So within a half hour, everyone had a steaming mug of hot chocolate in their hands, and were seated at the table in the kitchen.

Eventually, though, Tony and Ziva needed to leave and get back to work. With much reluctance, they left the kids behind, with the promise of another snowball fight another day.

"You looked really funny," Tony whispered to his wife at dinner, "when that first snowball hit you in your face."

She chuckled. "And I know that you looked equally as funny when the first one I threw knocked you into the snow."

"What are you two laughing about?" Abby asked from across the table.

"I'm not telling," Tony said with determination, Ziva nodding along with him.

Timothy smirked. "I bet if we know who to ask, like the children who were playing in the snow earlier, we'll get an answer."

Abby couldn't help but grin, looking like she had a plan.