Multiplied Surprises

My twin and I stood before our parents hoping against hope that the awkward silence between the four of us was going to end soon. Leah and I had just told our parents that we were getting married. Now to add to the awkwardness our father who always had something to say was being awfully quiet. It was clear that our mother’s Israeli temper was coming out. Leah and I had learned quite well over the past twenty-three years that when mom was mad, she tended to mix her languages.

            At this point Mom was so mad that she was beyond mixing up her languages. Every word was in a different language.

            “Occupé????  Che cosa מה و Sie два pensiero obtenir מאורס en Ihr גיל?” Our mother questioned.

            “Ziva, hun; you’re mixing your languages up again.”

            “Mom, just calm down. Hannah and I said yes when we were each proposed to cause we’re in love. We want to settle down now that we’re out of Georgetown. With everything in our lives set; we believe it’s time to have what you and Dad have.”

            “Ah, voi due siete troppo giovane per sapere cosa sia l'amore davvero.”

            At this point mom had calmed down a bit and the Israeli temper was beginning to ease away somewhat.

            “Vous êtes tous les deux trop jeunes pour vous marier. Pour pourquoi pas attends jusqu'à ce que vous êtes tant un peu plus fermes financièrement que vous tous les deux avez été à votre emploi pour quelque temps.”

            “We don’t want to wait. Mom, I love Chase and Leah loves Dylan.” I said.

            Dad, Leah and I were waiting for Mom to revert back to English. When Dad saw that wasn’t about to happen any time soon he took matters into his own hands.

            “Girls, let your Mom and I have a moment or two.” Our dad had instructed.

            Usually when Dad had said this to us in the past Leah or I would then joke with them telling them not to conceive anymore twins in our absence, but under the circumstances it was better for Leah and I to keep our mouths shut. Especially if we wanted to see our respective wedding nights. Leah and I left the house to go see what JD was up to.

            “Che diavolo c'è di sbagliato in loro? Dire sì a una proposta alla loro età. Sono troppo giovane e sai che Tony, quindi non cominciate con me. Non adesso.” Our mother said as she switched over to Italian.

            “Drop the Italian, Ziva; the girls are gone.”

            “Fine. Just don’t tell me that I am overreacting to all of this.”

            “You kind of are. You weren’t much older than Hannah and Leah are when we got married.”

            Leah and I eventually returned to the house when we figured it was safe enough to. With our mother's Mossad training along with her extensive skills with knives it was one of those things that we learned early on from dad to not make mom mad.  When we had left the house we had gone over to JD and Dave’s. JD, Leah and I had been the three musketeers of NCIS for the past twenty-three years and counting. Needless to say what Leah and I found out from our best friend was going send a major shockwave through the overall collective.

            When we arrived back at our parents’ house; my twin and I had been a bit hesitant to walk through the front door. We weren’t sure if Dad had been able to calm mom down. We weren’t sure if she had armed herself with one of her knives or her gun. The only thing we were sure of was that our mother, Ziva David, would never unleash her “crazy, insane ninja skills” as Dad affectionately called them; on us. If there was one calming thing that always pacified Leah and I; it was that since our mother became NCIS Special Agent Ziva David towards the end of her fifth year at NCIS a few years back that she had calmed down quite a bit which was only perpetuated further when Leah and I came around.

            “The knives are still locked up right?” I asked as Leah and I peeked into the family room.

            “The sig too?” Leah inquired.

            “Girls, it’s more than safe; your mother isn’t armed.”

            “Girls; please sit down. I need to have a word at you”

            When mom had made her idiomatic mistake this time we tried to mottle our laughter since we were still unsure of what may occur. It had also been a while since our mother had made one of her mistakes. Hell I believe the last one she had made was almost seven years ago when she had been put on the spot by Fornell. And as usual Dad was right there in the moment to correct mom’s faux pa just as he had and always will be.

            “Its “have a word with you” not have a word at you, hun.”

            “Oh shut up.”

            As my sister and I waited for our parents to stop bickering like brother and sister just like Dad and Kate tended to Leah noticed the notorious orange beanie resting on couch lounge chair.

            “Damn, it’s that time of the year again.” I said to Leah in a hushed tone.

            “I hate it when this day comes around. Mom is always completely unbearable to the point where she makes Jethro look like a saint.”

            “We should have known it wasn’t our respective engagements that set her off. That it was the anniversary of Lt. Sander’s passing. How the hell could we have missed that one? Anna?”

            “LJ, you know I don’t have an answer to that.”

            Mom then apologized for how she acted to our news earlier. She also told us that she was more than thrilled that we both had found our soul mates. Then she had reminisced about the time when she realized that Dad was her soul mate back in the fall of 2007 after the case they had with the Burundi cab driver with two wives. After the trip down memory lane was over mom had switched to wedding planner mode which was fine with us. We just had one minor request for both of our weddings and the various events that preceded the day Dad walked us down the aisle to our respective grooms. That request was to not have Abby plan a major party.

            After the insane party Abby had planned for JD on the sly which had succeeded the even more insane bachelorette party Abby had apparently planned for Jen. Leah and I knew that if we didn’t cut Abby off now than Jayden, Jocelyn, Jayla, Addie, Jaliayh, Ashleann, Bella and Liza would be screwed when they had their turn to walk down the aisle.