This is the chapter I have been waiting for all month! I had so much fun writing this one, and adding the L.A. groups was so much fun! Please, please, please let me know what you've been thinking of my story, I'd really appreciate it.

-owl

Abby just knew that the Operacja group had arrived. No one had told her or anything, but when she woke up on the day of the party, she knew. Rolling out of bed, she dressed quickly in the red dress she had commissioned for the ball when she had met Tim.

Tim, meanwhile, hadn't stirred, still sleeping soundly. Abby sighed in a fond way and laid out some of his nicest clothes on the chair for him to find when he eventually woke up. She also wrote out a note.

'No training today! We have the Christmas party at five this evening, and your parents should be here by noon. ~With love, Abby'

Then she blew him a kiss and quietly left their room.

Throughout the castle, servants were cleaning, lighting candles, and preparing the dining room for the party the coming evening. Abby went to the library, where she could see into the area of the courtyard where foreign carriages were kept. Indeed, a second carriage was next to the one that her father had brought.

With a grin on her face, Abby ran through the castle to the west wing. Ziva had told her that Nell and her husband were going to be staying in the room next to Kate's. Once at the door she knocked lightly enough that if Nell or Eric were asleep, they wouldn't hear, but if they were awake, they would not mistake it for a normal sound of the castle.

After a few seconds, Abby heard footsteps from inside the room. Then the door opened, Eric standing there.

"Good morning, Abby," he yawned. "What can I help you with?"

"Is Nell awake?"

He turned back towards the room and peered at the bed, where there was a lump under the blankets. "I can wake her up for you, if it's something important." He answered at last.

Before Abby could tell Eric that it was fine and she would see Nell later, the lump that was Nell moved and sat up, revealing her face.

"I'm up," she announced, stretching. "Abby, give me a few minutes to get dressed and I will be right out."

"Ok, sounds good!" Abby said, backing away from the door and letting Eric close it. For ten minutes she waited, leaning against the wall. Some of the servants, as they passed, gave her odd looks, though none of them said anything to Abby. Then, finally, the door swung open again and Nell stepped out, wearing a dress of green silk with a high collar embroidered in gold.

Abby launched herself at her friend, pulling the smaller girl into a hug. "Nell! I'm so excited you're here!" she squealed.

Nell smiled. "I'm happy to see you too, Abby."

Meanwhile, Ziva was in the middle of an activity with Kensi. While Ziva had assigned servants to show the Operacja delegates to their rooms, she had pulled Kensi aside to plan a spar in the early morning.

Now they were at opposite ends of the training grounds, in their trousers and shirts, boots and cloaks, ready to spar. Callen and Deeks were standing off to the two sides, serving as officials, to make sure neither of the women stepped out of bounds, and they would also start the rounds.

"First round," Deeks called across the training grounds, "hands and feet only, no weapons. First to fall loses."

Then Callen took over announcing.

"Ready?"

Both women dropped into a low stance, ready to launch themselves at each other.

"Fight!"

With a loud cry, they sprung. Kensi was upon Ziva before the latter could process it. Even so, she held her own. Punches were caught, and kicks dodged. Neither Kensi nor Ziva could get an edge over the other. At least, not until Ziva blocked a kick from Kensi and the latter couldn't catch her balance.

With a thump, Kensi fell to the ground, gasping for breath. Ziva bent over to check on the duchess, and determined that Kensi just had the wind knocked out of her. Offering a hand, Ziva pulled her up.

"Are you alright?" Deeks asked, starting to run towards the women.

Kensi, though, held out her hand in a signal to 'stop.' "I'm fine," she said, "just getting my breath back."

Deeks nodded and returned to his spot. Once Kensi could breathe normally again, the women also returned to their own starting places.

"Round two," Deeks announced, "daggers. First to fall loses."

The woman each grabbed a dagger and again moved to get ready. Once again, Callen started the fight.

"Ready?"

Both women dropped into a low stance, holding their daggers ready.

"Fight!"

Cloaks flapping behind them, the woman, for the second time that day, fought. The daggers were blunt, and though they would bruise if one of them got a good hit, they shouldn't draw blood. The daggers flashed in and out of the cloaks, Callen and Deeks unable to keep an eye on them for more than a second.

The fight was longer than the first. It was harder to unbalance the other when they weren't kicking. Kensi's dagger flashed between the cloaks, the sun glinting off of it and into Deeks' eyes for a second, before Ziva was pushed to the ground, cradling her left arm in pain.

She stood up quicker than Kensi had, brushing snow off her cloak. She held her left arm in front of her and pulled up the sleeve. A red welt was forming on her forearm, a deep purple bruise forming around it.

"Are you good to do round three?" Kensi asked.

ZIva nodded. "Yes, and I hope to get round three done, for once."

Kensi laughed. "Yeah, I suppose that we always get called away during round three."

"Round three," Deeks called, causing the women to separate, "swords. Fight to first blood."

Ziva grabbed the sword she had been using since she had been old enough to fight with one. Her father had commissioned it for her, and she had taken very good care of it. However, it was quite old and it was starting to get run down.

Kensi grabbed her own sword. In reality, it was Callen's, but as Kensi didn't often fight with a sword, she had no use of keeping one with her at all times.

"Ready?"

Ziva glared at Kensi. Kensi glared back. Winning the final round meant so much more than winning, it would decide who was the better fighter.

"Fight!"

And they were off. Ziva, used to the weight of the sword, was able to cross the 'area' to Kensi faster than the other woman who was slowed by the weight. Kensi barely had time to raise her sword to block Ziva's swing.

With a low growl, Kensi was able to shove Ziva away. Ziva managed to stay on her feet, and swung again, using all her weight to slam the sword into Kensi. The other woman dodged the blow, though, and Ziva had to scramble to not let her momentum pull her to the ground.

Kensi then rushed her, trying to hit Ziva's legs. With one quick sidestep, Ziva avoided Kensi, and the other woman collided with the ground without any sort of stop that making the hit would have given her. Just as Ziva was about to make a final blow, a clear voice rang across the courtyard.

"Ziva!"

Ziva turned to see Timothy running towards her and Kensi. Both women let their swords hang at their sides as Timothy approached.

"What is going on, Timothy?" Ziva asked once he was close enough.

"I haven't seen Abby since last night, and she's not in our room. I think she might be missing."

Ziva sighed. "You know that Abby enjoys exploring and doing who knows what around the castle, I am sure she is not lost."

Timothy shook his head. "But Princess Nell is also missing, and Prince Eric said that the pair of them had gone off together early this morning."

"Again, I do not think that it is such a big issue. Abby will turn up, she always does."

Now there was desperation in Timothy's voice. "Even Empress Hetty can't find them."

That got the attention of everyone in the courtyard. Callen, Deeks, and Kensi couldn't help their words of surprise.

"What?"

"How?"

"Is that even possible?"

"I have one idea," Ziva finally said. "I will go to find them."

Tony smiled to himself as he watched from the balcony of his and Ziva's room. He could see down to the training grounds, where Ziva and Kensi were sparring. Deeks and Callen were on the sides, watching. So far Ziva had won one, and Kensi had won one. Now, as long as nothing got in the way of their spar, there would finally be a winner. The swords flashed, shining light from the sun around the walls of the castle and into the sky.

"Ziva!" a loud voice cried, though Tony couldn't see who it was, there had to be something wrong if they were yelling loud enough for him to hear it.

The spar stopped short, both women letting their blades hang at their sides. A figure came running from the castle, and Tony recognized it as Timothy by his signature hat. His yellow cloak practically floated behind him as he ran.

There was a knock on his door, then, and Tony pulled himself away from the window to see who needed him.

Hetty and Gibbs were standing outside his door, wearing matching expressions of stoicness. "We would like to discuss the recent actions of Investigatii with you," Hetty said.

Tony nodded and followed them from his room, then led them to his office.

That evening, as they all gathered around the table, Kate could not have been happier. She had missed her sisters ever since they had left to live in DiNozzo, and Christmas time was never the same without them. And though she was never as close to Timothy or Tony, there was something to be said for being around family, even if they were only brother in laws. Her parents were happy as well, which was a nice change for Kate, seeing as they had seemed down quite a bit lately.

Timothy's parents were much of what Kate had expected them to be. His mother was the silent, proper lady of society, and his father had given him at least three lectures on the behavior he should be using when surrounded by so many people above his station. That in itself was enough to make Kate want to slap Lord McGee in the face. Timothy was a grown man, with a wife, who was the daughter of one of the kinds, and sister to one of the queens in the room.

Kate was happy to see the Operacja group. She had been happy to see them at the wedding of Ziva and Tony, and hadn't seen them since. She had become fairly good acquaintances with Sir Callen and was looking forward to speaking with him again.

So, for a while, Kate let herself sit and enjoy the meal that had been prepared. Abby had been boasting about Ziva the previous day, so Kate knew that the venison on the table was caught by Ziva and Tony. Obviously the cookies had been made by Kate, her sisters, and their mother.

While she ate, she listened to the many conversations around the table. Ziva was at one of the heads, talking about how she had found Abby and Nell while they had been missing. In reality they were at the hot springs that Ziva and Abby had found while mapping the tunnels under the castle during the siege.

Tony, Gibbs, and Hetty had their heads bent together and were talking in hushed whispers. They were carrying on an earlier conversation, as they had entered the room in a similar manner.

Kate had chosen a seat next to Callen. For the most part, he was as silent as she was, preferring to watch the people around them, listening, than speaking. Eventually, as the day became dusk, and people finished eating, they began to meander away, more than likely to go to bed.

"What have you been up to, Princess?" Callen asked her, when they were the only ones still in the room who were not drunk. (Jimmy had long since fallen backwards off the bench he had been sitting on, too drunk to stay awake).

Kate smiled at the way Callen said princess, he almost always called her that, never Kate, or even Caitlin, always Princess. She also shrugged, not caring that it was highly unladylike. "Not too much. The castle has been getting lonelier and lonelier the longer Ziva and Abby have been here. Not that I begrudge them their happiness, but I do miss them."

Callen nodded. "I know what you mean. I am a knight of Operacja, and as such, am always at the castle. Kensi is my sister, did you know that? She married into the Bly duchy."

Kate shook her head. She had not.

"I get to see her quite often, because the duchy she is now a part of, works closely with Hetty. But, there was a time, before Deeks began to take her with on his business trips, that I saw her much less than I appreciated."

Kate nodded, Callen was right, he did know what she meant. "When do you all leave for home?" she asked.

"Tomorrow, I think. Hetty wanted to get home before the new year."

Then the pair continued talking until the bell struck midnight, and even past then. Kate's next conscious thought was waking up in her bed.

Ok... so I left this open ended. Could it be interpreted that Kate and Callen have something between them? Yes. Does that have anything to do with this story? No. Please don't hate me. They can be just friends if that's what you want to see it as.