I am so sorry about the wait, I finished writing this while I was on holiday and because I went back to school a day after I got back from holiday I kinda.. Forgot I had written this... Sorry a million times over.

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or its characters.

Ziva looked towards Tony, not sure what to think, feel or do at his words, waiting for him to meet her eyes but his were fixated on watching the two men in front of them while they absorbed what he was saying. When he did, her eyes threw so many questions towards him, but he squeezed her hip reassuringly. She could only hope he knew what he was doing.

Eli looked towards Ziva. "You are marrying him?" He questioned.

She looked between Riley and Eli before looking up to Tony again, moving a step closer wrapping an arm around him and plastering a soft smile on her face. "Yes, I am," She replied.

"When is the date?" Riley asked, studying Tony carefully.

"Next weekend," Tony quickly replied.

"Next week?" Eli said, "Invites? Plans? Venue?"

"It is going to be small, few friends," Ziva said, "Everyone that is invited we are telling in person."

"We were actually on our way to talk to a few more friends and my family who live close by before going to your house," Tony said, his arm winding possessively around her, pulling her closer. He watched the two men before him warily, wanting to take Ziva away but not wanting to provoke them any more than he seemed to have.

"Why not just come to our house first?" Eli asked, attempting to catch them off guard. "We live not three minutes away." He pointed out.

"Yes, I am well aware," Ziva replied, "But we have already called Tony's family and some of his friends. They are expecting us. We were going to call home tonight; I highly doubt that we would get to see you today."

"I see," Eli stated before he paused. The thoughts seemed to tick behind his eyes, but neither Tony nor Ziva could decipher them. "I will tell your mother, shall I?"

Ziva narrowed her eyes at her father. "I do not believe that is your right," She stated, "I will tell her when we visit tomorrow."

Eli seemed to ignore her words. "She is worried about you, Ziva; she wants you to come home."

"It is too bad I do not want to come home then. Tell her to call me and that I will visit tomorrow sometime," Ziva said, "We have places to be." Ziva removed herself from Tony's arms and began walking through the park lands in the direction they had come from. Tony through them a warning look before quickly turning on his heels and catching up to Ziva.

She tired her hardest to keep her anger in check while she walked, attempting to keep her pace calm.

Tony's slow jog slowed to a walk. "Are you okay?" He asked after a moment of silence.

"Yeah, just fine. I seemed to get out of one arranged marriage and end up in another," She hissed as she reached the car, pulling on the locked door handle.

"I wasn't just going to stand there and watch them take you away from me," Tony replied, his tone tamed, "And it isn't arranged. We will do this, and then if you don't want to be married we can get annulled, no big deal. At least your father will be off your back."

"Or until he finds away to get rid of you," She murmured crossing her arms over her chest and looking out the window.

They remained silent for the majority of the trip back to Tony's apartment. Tony sighed and gave Ziva a quick glance before putting his eyes back to the road. A feeling beginning to settle in the pit of his stomach. "Do you really not want to marry me that badly?"

"It has nothing to do with marrying you." The tone in her voice changed.

"Then what's it about?" He asked as he started the car.

She shook her head. "It is nothing. I am being irrational. I know you are just trying to help. It is too late to change it now. I would rather marry you over Riley any day."

"What's it about, Ziva?" He insisted, pulling onto the road and heading in the direction of his place. "I want to know."

Her sigh made the atmosphere in the car thicker. "Tony, it is just... You do not know what he is capable of. He will find a way to get what he wants."

"As long as he doesn't get you, I don't care," Tony replied before she had finished speaking.

"And it is not organised. Unless you and Abby and Ari and whoever else is going behind my back-"

"No one is going behind your back. It was your brother's and Abby's idea. I said no because there had - HAD - to be some way else out of it."

"Then what was that back there?" She shot back.

"Panic. He wanted you, he wasn't having you. Simple," He murmured.

Ziva inhaled deeply. "You have thought about this, yes?" His lack of a reply answered her question well enough.

She looked from the window towards him, noting the determination and thoughtfulness written on his face. A small smile spread across her lips.

"If we are going to do this, we will need to make it believable," She stated.

"What do you mean?" His eyes left the road for to flicker in her direction before returning to the road.

"Everything that he said, we need to get. Aside from the invites, we have already said what we are doing with those. But we need at least most of it organised. We need to talk to the friends you want to invite; I will talk to the ones I want there. Then we can go to your parents' house and my house. Or in whatever order seems fit," Ziva said.

"That shouldn't be difficult. We don't need to invite many people," Tony replied, "Just people we're closest to, that way it would be easy to organise some of the other stuff' like just invite one or two close friends and your family."

"Most of my family still lives in Israel," Ziva stated, "So it would only be my parents and siblings."

The car pulled into a park. Ziva took a quick sweep of her surroundings. "This is not your apartment," She stated with a frown.

He smiled as he stepped out of the car and walked around to her door. "I know, but you said you wanted to make it believable. That means we need to at least have your ring on order," He said after he'd opened the door for her.

"This is going to be difficult," She stated, her eyes unwavering on him.

"I know," He replied, "But we can do a lot together."

"How do you know?" She asked, "In reality, we have not been together for very long. We have barely faced half the challenges normal couples face. I mean look at us. We are getting married because my father wants me married to someone else, someone who I don't want to marry. And he is going to try and call us out on it. We have to be unfaltering."

"It's because of all that I know we can do this," He said, holding his hand out to her.