When Tim got home that night the first thing he did was search his house, looking for clue three. After pretty much trashing his apartment, he went to his computer. He constantly checked his e-mail, waiting for a new message, for hours.

Around two in the morning, he fell asleep at his desk. He tried as hard as he could to stay awake, but he just couldn't.

Tim was pulled from an unpeaceful sleep by the sound of his house phone ringing. He blinked a few times, trying to fully wake up, and looked at the clock on his computer screen.

'7am!' He thought, 'I was supposed to be at work thirty minutes ago!'

The phone continued to ring, reminding Tim about the predicament he was currently in. His head and heart began pounding as he answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Good morning, Timothy. I see you are late for work."

Tim began to panic, "No! Don't hurt her. I'm only thirty minutes late and they don't know, I-"

"Don't worry, Timothy. You needed your rest, I understand… See, you will find I am a fair man."

"Nothing you are doing is fair."

"Well, maybe not to you… but to me, it is. Now, you need to open your door and claim your gift. You wouldn't want a nosey neighbor to pick it up and take it for themselves. Goodbye, Timothy, and good luck."

Jack hung up, and Tim did the same. He looked at his door for a moment before he even stood up. 'This must be phase three! It has to be. I can tell them now.'

Soon enough he came out of his trance. He got up, ran to his door, opened it as fast as he could, and looked down. There sat a yellow manila envelope, ready for him to pick up and rip open… which he did, immediately.

First he pulled out a a picture of Sarah. She was bound to the chair, crying, with dried blood on the side of her head. He took a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm, and pulled out a piece of paper. Written on it was 'Welcome to phase three, Timothy. Now it is time for the real fun to begin.' Tim put the piece of paper, and the picture, under his arm, then pulled out the last photo. It was another green block, with a little bit of something white in the bottom right corner. On the back was written '#3 of 8'.

Tim stuffed everything back into the envelope. He ran to his living room and picked up a box, which was where he had been keeping everything he received from Jack. He put the envelope into the box then grabbed his keys and left, not bothering to lock the door behind him… or change out of his sweatpants and olive green t-shirt.

Tim got to NCIS in record time, breaking pretty much every traffic law that existed. He entered the building, breezing past the familiar faces at the front security desk. He received some odd glances, but they just shrugged, figuring that he was on Gibbs' team and, well, they did weird things all the time.

He stormed up the stairs, deciding the elevator would take too long, and headed straight for the bullpen.

As he walked towards them, Tony looked up from his desk and gave him a 'You're in so much trouble' look, follow by a 'What the heck are you wearing' look.

Tim ignored it and entered the squadroom. Ziva looked up at him, then to Tony. Tony just shrugged and they both waited to see what would happen.

Gibbs was on the phone as Tim walked over to his desk. Not even waiting a moment, Tim reached over and pressed down on the switch hook, disconnecting the call.

Gibbs looked up angrily. He stood up, "What do you think you're doing, McGee?" He asked, clearly frustrated.

"I need everyone in the conference room, now."

"Why don't you give me a reason to not fire you instead."

Tim didn't bat an eye. He stared at Gibbs, "I'm serious, Gibbs. I want everyone in the conference room."

Tony and Ziva stared, wide eyed and in shock. No one who knew Gibbs ever talked to him like that.

"What's this about, McGee?"

"You wanted the truth?" Tim asked, knowing Gibbs would understand.

Gibbs sighed and nodded, "Yeah."

"Conference room. I'll get Abby. Ducky here?"

"No."

"Okay, he can be filled in later. I'll meet you all there in a couple of minutes." Tim walked off, leaving Gibbs to break Tony and Ziva out of their blinkless shock.

Gibbs looked at them both, then headed for the conference room, "Well, come on!"

Tim arrived a few minutes later with Abby.

"This better be important, Timmy! I'm running a lot of tests right now and I have a lot of work to do and-"

"Just, sit down, Abby," He said calmly, yet firmly, to her as they walked in the door.

She glared at him for a second, then sat down. Everyone else was already seated, waiting for whatever Tim had to say that was so important.

Tim went to the head of the table and stood, the box still in his hands.

"Did you get us some McPresents, McTim?" Tony asked.

Tim didn't reply. He sat the box down, and took one of the envelopes out. He opened it, then, one by one, he laid out the pictures that Jack had taken of the team. He slid some across the table so that everyone could see from where they were seated.

"What is this?" Ziva asked.

Tim didn't speak. He opened another envelope, pulling pictures of Sarah out. He then laid those pictures out for them to see.

Tony looked confused, "Is this some sort of joke, McGee?"

Tim continued to lay out pictures until all of them were on the table. Then he laid Sarah's cell phone down too.

Tony, Abby, and Gibbs each had a picture in their hand, Ziva had two.

Gibbs looked up from the picture, to Tim, "Speak, Tim! What the heck's goin' on?"

"I'm going to tell you everything," He assured them, "But I don't want any of you to interrupt. Just let me say it all, then you can do or say whatever you want."

"Tell us, Tim," Abby replied.

And so he did. From the first phone call he received on that horrible night, up to waking up this morning to new pictures at his door.

Once he finished, he waited… He waited for reactions, for yelling, and storming out of the room in anger. But, instead, he was met with silence. No one knew what to say, or do.

After a moment Gibbs cleared his throat, "Ziva, go to Waverly and talk to all of Sarah's friends. Find out who was the last person to see her, and where that was."

Ziva nodded, stood, and left the room.

"Tim, where do your parents live in Oregon?"

"Medford."

"Tony, call Medford PD, get the McGee's on a plane to DC, now."

"On it, Boss," Tony said as he left out of the room.

"Abby."

Abby was staring at the photos, unsure of what to think.

"Abby!" Gibbs said again, louder to get her attention.

"What?" She replied with a slight jump.

"Take all of this stuff down with you and check for prints and DNA."

She nodded, "Okay." She stood up and gathered everything together. Tim handed her the box and she placed everything inside, then left without saying another word.

"What about me, Boss?" Tim asked, "What do you want me to do?"

Gibbs stood up slowly, glaring at Tim, "You aren't going to be doing anything, possibly ever again! What were you thinkin', Tim? Keeping that from us is possibly the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"But-"

"No! Don't try to make it seem like you have a good reason. There is no good reason for keeping this a secret. None! The second you got that phone call the other night, you should have called us and told us what happened. We could have caught this guy by now, whoever he may be! All that evidence, you've already contaminated. Even if we did find his prints, or DNA, it couldn't be used in court! And he's been in your house, McGee! He could have left prints in there too!"

"He didn't!" Tim exclaimed, "He's not stupid. He knows what he's doing, and everything he does has a reason to it. When he wants to be caught, he will be caught. Until then, I'm part of his game and so is my family! It may not seem like a good reason to you, but I would do anything in my power to protect my family and that includes not telling anyone about what was going on. If he had just threatened you, Tony, and Ziva then I would have told right away. You all can handle yourselves, I know that. But that's my family. If I lose them…" Tim's voice trailed off as he thought about Sarah. Tears came to his eyes, but he refused to let them fall, "Gibbs, you can fire me, and make it to where I never get another job again, even as a burger flipper at some fast food restaurant... after we find my sister, and this guy."

Gibbs was still angry, very angry, but he understood. If that had been his family, he probably would have done the same thing… No, there was no probably to it. If not telling would have kept his wife and daughter alive, he never would have spoken a word.

"We'll, find them, McGee," Gibbs said in a softer tone, "But you and your parents are going to have to stay at a safe house until then."

"What? No!"

"You don't have a choice-"

"Boss, this guy wants me. Sure he's using everyone else in the process, but I'm his endgame. If I go away, so does he, and he won't come back until I reappear. I have no doubt that he will kill Sarah if I don't continue with his game. I can't risk that. I won't risk that."

Gibbs knew he was right, and he hated that. "God, McGee, when'd you become so much like…"

"You?" Tim finished. He shrugged, "I learn from the best."

Gibbs sighed, "Alright, you continue everything as you normally would, but your parents go into protective custody."

Tim nodded, "Agreed."

They went to leave out of the room, but Tim stopped, "Boss?"

Gibbs turned around, "Yeah?"

"Can you make sure my parents don't know about Sarah? I think it would be… well, not easier coming from me, but…" He took a deep breath, "I want to be the one to tell them."

Gibbs nodded, "I'll make sure," He replied, then he walked out of the room.

Tim started to head back to the bullpen, but halfway there, he turned and headed for the elevator instead. He needed to talk to someone, and it couldn't wait.

I'm getting so annoyed with this site right now! Twice I've done spell check on a chapter (for this and for Our Darkest Moments), I've read over the whole thing and made changes, then I click save, and an error message pops up! Anyway, I tried to update this yesterday, and it wouldn't let me.

In other news: When I was at my grandma's, another idea for a story popped into my head! It's so cruel!... But, I've come to accept that I enjoy doing cruel things to Tim.

Finally: Thank you for reading and reviewing! It means a lot!