To be honest, this is not one of my favorite chapters, but I promise, there are more fun ones coming! Tomorrow there is a small cameo from season five...

-owl

When he woke up, Tony could tell that something was different than the previous day, though he couldn't quite figure out what it was. Ziva was still asleep next to him, snoring so loud he was amazed she hadn't woken herself up. Oh, right, that was what was different, the previous two mornings either Ziva was not with him, or he was on the floor and her on a bed.

He lay there for a few minutes, contemplating the night before, they had stayed up talking for hours about Ziva's mission in Eareg. Then, as Tony finally moved to get up, Ziva's snoring cut off abruptly.

"How early is it?" she asked, stretching.

Tony shrugged. "Dawn, looks like. I don't think that we have much we need to do today, though if that's the case then we should probably start working on the details for the Christmas party."

Ziva nodded. "That sounds like a good plan."

Reluctantly, Toyn got up, though not before giving her a lingering kiss. When he went to his wardrobe, he chose some of his more casual doublets and trousers, seeing as there wasn't going to be any sort of official matters for him to attend to. Even though he was in less than ornate clothing, Tony felt that he looked good. Besides, Ziva liked seeing him in the gray-blue of this particular doublet.

Behind him Ziva had also gotten up and gone to her own wardrobe. She ended up choosing a dress that was closer to the front. It was one of the ones she had brought from Meadth, one with a cream colored underdress sort of slip thing, and a blue overdress that layered over it, showing the cream material along the outside edges of her legs.

Half an hour later, after eating breakfast in the dining hall with Timothy and Abby, Tony and Ziva went to his office to start their work on the party. Ziva pulled out a piece of parchment from the shelves, and Tony grabbed and opened the bottle of ink on his desk.

"Alright." he said as Ziva sat across from him and handed him the parchment. "We will need to assign guest rooms, organize food, organize entertainment, and have additional servants prepared for the guests."

Ziva nodded. "In terms of food, there is plenty of grain and other farmed food in storage from harvest. Then we can either send out a hunting party or go out ourselves to get game."

"Ok, we just need to make sure we don't go overboard with what we have in storage seeing as we need to make it last until spring," Tony responded. "I like your idea of the two of us going hunting. Unless something comes up and we end up too busy to do so, I think we should plan on that."

Both points about the food were written down on the parchment in front of Tony, his handwriting crisp and clean and easy to read. While Tony took care of writing down their plans, Ziva was sharpening her knives.

Tony really hoped that he and Ziva wouldn't be called away for matters of state instead of hunting. They hadn't had a lot of time together, just the two of them, in a while and he was honestly looking forward to it. Then there was also the fact that Ziva was breathtakingly beautiful when she was in her element.

"We can probably ask Abby to take care of the entertainment." Ziva said, holding her knife up to look down the blade. "I know she loves to plan things like this.

"Do you think she would also help to decorate the ballroom?" Tony interjected. When Ziva nodded, he wrote that down as well. "Alright, so food should be sorted, either us or a hunting party will be sent out, Abby is in charge, assuming she agrees, of entertainment and decorations."

"Guest rooms would probably be the next most important thing," Ziva said, setting down the knife she had been holding and picking up another one. "The extent of our guests should be my family, Timothy's family, and the delegation from Operacje, right?"

Tony nodded. "Yes, in all it will be Gibbs, Jenny, Kate, Ducky, and James. Timothy, Abby, and Lord and Lady McGee. Empress Hetty, Princess Nell, Prince Consort Eric, Duke Deeks, Duchess Kensi, Earl Sam, Countess Michelle, and Sir Callen."

"And once you add the two of us to this, there will be how many, nineteen?" Ziva clarified, adding up the people in her head.

"Yes," Tony responded. "Most of those that you named will be in the west wing, though Sir Callen as a knight, and Ducky and James lacking titles will be in the east wing. Your parents can stay in the room at the end of the hall, with the large balcony. Kate can have one of the rooms that looks out to the gardens."

"We can have the Duke and Duchess of Bly in a larger room next to the Earl and Countess of Hana," Ziva added, pausing in her knife sharpening. "Abby and Timothy will obviously be in their regular rooms."

"That sounds good. Then we can place the rest of them in the remaining three rooms of the west wing." With a flourish, Tony wrote all that down on the parchment as well. "How do we want to do additional servants for the guests?" he asked then, setting down the quill he had been writing with.

"I think most people will be just fine for the short amount of time they will be here, but it could not hurt to have a few extra people in the halls should any need arise." Ziva yawned, reminding Tony of their late night, before she continued. "Empress Hetty and her delegation should only be here for two nights, right? From the fourteenth to the sixteenth?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"I am looking forward to seeing Duchess Kensi again," Ziva commented.

Tony laughed. "That's what you said the other day. I hope you guys will have time to spar again."