Thank you to Aerdna for the review. The reason I haven't explained what the kidnappers want is because Charlie doesn't know yet, and Director David hasn't gotten back to Ziva yet. But that information is coming, never fear!

Do I need to put a disclaimer here? Anyone honestly think these shows are mine?

Spoiler alert here for the Numb3rs episode One Hour.

Charlie finished typing, and let loose a groan. He knew that he had done a sloppy job, but it was the best he could do when he was in so much pain. Right now, he would do anything for a Vicodin and bottle of water. Normally, he hated pain meds, they messed with his ability to think. But right now, that would be a wonderful thing.

"Finished," he croaked as loud as he could. A moment later, the door opened, and Asaf walked back in.

"Dr. Eppes! Finished already?" he asked.

Charlie just nodded, then bit back a moan, as the motion made him nauseated.

Asaf grabbed the laptop. "See how easy that was? Now, I will have to look over this, find out how well you did. You sit tight, I'll be back."

Charlie didn't even bother to nod. His mind was on the message he'd left. He made sure that Don would realize it was from him, now he just had to get it to someone who could decode it, and Charlie would be home free. There were two people that could very easily decode his code. He sighed, wanting this all to be over.

For Don Eppes and his team, the day passed incredibly slowly. None of their taps or traces did anything, since the men's phones were off, and they weren't using their cards. To make matters worse, neither Abby nor McGee could figure out Charlie's message. It made no sense to any of them. By six that evening, they were all at a loss. Finally, Colby cornered Don.

"You have to go and get some rest," he said quietly.

Don shook his head, and drank deeply from his coffee cup. "No," he retorted. Then his eyes softened and he looked at his teammate. "I have to find my brother."

Colby nodded. "I know that. But you haven't slept in days. If you don't get some rest, then by the time we find out where Charlie is, you won't be any use because you'll be too tired."

THAT hit Don where it hurt. But he stayed where he was and looked at his hands. "I hadn't wanted to believe him," he whispered, more to himself.

Colby looked at his boss, confused. "Believe who?" he asked.

"Dr. Bradford, the FBI shrink I went to see after the Hoyle case," Don told him and Colby nodded. Colby pulled up a chair, he could tell that Don needed to talk for a moment.

"Okay. What did he say that you didn't want to believe?" Colby prompted.

"He asked about each member of the team. Then he mentioned that there was one member of the team I didn't talk about."

Colby tried to follow his boss' thoughts. "Liz?" he guessed.

Don laughed. "That's what I thought, since she and I were dating at the time." Then he sobered. "No, he was talking about Charlie." Colby nodded, suddenly understanding. "I hadn't wanted to believe that Charlie was a member of the team. And I don't know why! He's more than earned his spot, more than some agents I know," Don said in an agonized whisper, putting his face back in his hands.

Colby put a hand on Don's shoulder. "He has earned it. And if there's one thing that all of us believe, it's that you don't mess with a member of this team, am I right?"

Don thought about when Megan was kidnapped, and how he felt each time one of his people was injured during a case, and his face hardened. "We take care of our own," he said harshly.

Colby nodded. "Exactly. Which is why you know we won't stop working just because you are taking a much needed rest. Go to Charlie's hotel room, take a shower, change clothes, get some shut eye, and maybe even grab a bite to eat. Then come back here, and you can start working again."

Don stood in defeat. "You'll call if you find something?" he said, partly telling and partly begging.

Colby nodded again. "I'll pick you up myself," he promised, and walked Don to the elevator.

Megan looked up after the doors had closed behind Don. "Impressive, Granger," she said approvingly, looking up from the file she held. "How'd you manage that?"

Colby grinned and took a seat. "Reminded him that just because he isn't here doesn't mean we'd stop working."

Megan smiled. "Well, good job. I was worried we would have to take him down to Ducky's and have him sleep on the autopsy tables."

Tony interjected. "They aren't that bad, actually," he said casually, laughing at the looks he got from the FBI agents. "Hey, when you need sleep but don't have time to go home, you make due."

The FBI agents smiled and nodded.

Charlie looked up again when the door opened. He could see the sun setting from his prison window. Asaf walked in with a smile. "Well, I have good news for you. We can see that you were telling the truth, that you came to DC to see Agent McGee. I also enjoyed seeing your work, it was impressive."

Charlie resisted the urge to scoff. It had not been good work, he had done it while feeling like he wanted to die. If that work impressed this man, he had zero computer skills.

"Because you have done such a good job, I will let you have a few hours before your next task."

Charlie felt himself pale. He needed more time, give the people that were surely looking for him more time to do so. He would have to wing it, and shrugged, then hissed in pain as he remembered why shrugging was a bad idea.

Asaf smiled. "I'm glad you have come to your senses. Well, rest up. We'll be talking soon," he promised and walked out.

Charlie took a few moments to think. He wasn't in the best position to be fighting back, he knew. He was exhausted, starving, dehydrated, beaten up, and tied to the chair. But, he did have, hopefully, two federal agencies looking for him. And his brother. Don wouldn't give up no matter what.

The agents had been working steadily. There wasn't much they could do, but they were running full background checks on the three names they had. Right now, David and Tim were taking a turn on the autopsy tables, with Ziva, Megan, Gibbs, and Colby working. Ducky had long since finished the autopsy, and nothing stuck out, other than someone growing up without the benefits of good health care and dental hygiene. It was two in the morning, and Megan's cell phone rang.

"Reeves," she answered.

"Agent Reeves, good," Matt from Forensics replied. "I tried to get a hold of Agent Eppes, but there was no answer."

"Yeah, he's getting some sleep." She tried to remember why Matt would be calling. "You get something off that tape?" she asked.

"One of the idiots didn't think about the cameras, took his mask off when he got in the car. We ran down the face and got a name and address for you."

Megan stood, adrenaline pumping through her now, despite the late hour. "Send it to my email, we'll get right on it," she ordered. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me," Matt said with a smile. "Amita did all the work."

Suddenly, Megan wanted to slap herself. All the hours they had spent trying to decipher Charlie's message, and they had forgotten about the person who could have decoded it quickest! "Is Amita still there?" she demanded.

Matt was surprised by the change in topic as he sent off the email. "No, she went home little while ago," he answered uneasily, wondering what caused the urgency in Megan's voice. "Why, did you need her for something?"

"Yes," Megan said loudly. "Get her back in there, tell her we need her help on something else and to call me when she's there. Do it now," she ordered, and snapped the phone shut.

Colby had come over while she was talking. "What's going on?" he asked quickly.

"Matt found a face on the security tapes from the car lot, he got a name and address to go with it," she told them, and the other agent smiled in relief. Finally, another lead. "But I realized that we've been so stupid today!"

"How so?" Colby asked.

"Who do you think could decipher Charlie's message if he had given it to us while we were in LA?" she demanded, and saw comprehension on his face. "I have Matt trying to get Amita back into the office. As soon as she's there, we'll give her Charlie's message, maybe it can tell us something."

"How did we forget about Amita?" Colby berated himself.

"I have no idea, but at least she's on her way," Megan said. "Meanwhile, let's take a look at the information Matt gave us, maybe it's someone that we don't know about yet."

Ziva and Tony had come over to see what was going on. They had no idea who Amita was and why the other agents were so upset about forgetting her. Maybe they would find out soon.

Unfortunately, the tape had nothing new. The face they saw was Ben Oded, and the address was the same one they had checked before. The face that still had a mask on it seemed to be new, but there was no way to tell. It could have been Sayar, Mazar, or someone else entirely.

Colby went and woke the two agents, and they sent Ziva home. It had been clear that her shoulder was still hurting, and sleeping on a cold and hard autopsy table wouldn't do her any favors. She fought them, until finally Gibbs gave up and ordered her to his car and drove her home himself. Colby left to pick up Don, assuming that the team leader would be too tired to drive. They really wanted to let him get some more rest, but if Amita could figure out the code, Don would want to be there.

Colby and Don walked back into the squad room the same time Megan's phone started ringing. They hurried over just as Megan put it on speaker.

"Amita?" she answered.

"Hey, Megan," an exhausted voice answered. The agents looked at the clock, and winced. "Matt said there was something else you needed my help with?"

"I'm sorry to ask you to work so late, Amita," Megan started, but was interrupted.

"Megan, don't worry about it. I would rather be doing this than be at home worried. What is it you need?" she asked, taking another sip of coffee.

Don took over. "A few hours ago, Charlie hacked into some files from NCIS and left us a message, but we think it's some kind of code, and no one here can figure it out. Do you think there's any way you could?" he asked desperately.

Amita paused, thinking. "Well, Charlie's a code machine, but he obviously would want this one to be deciphered. Send it over, I'll take a look at it, see what I can figure out."

David was already sending the email with the message. "Now, the first word, Jock. We think that was Charlie's way of addressing it, saying that it was for Don."

Amita nodded to herself. "I agree," she said, looking at the string of letters and numbers. "That makes sense, and it doesn't fit with the rest of the message." Then she growled. "It looks so familiar, and I should know this, I've seen Charlie using it before, but I can't remember when or why!" she cried.

Megan put on her soothing voice. "Amita, it's alright. Do you think you saw him using it for a class or for a case?" she asked softly.

Amita took a breath and closed her eyes, thinking hard. "It was a case, because he was using one of the clear boards at the FBI, and was writing frantically." She opened her eyes in frustration. "I just can't remember what it's used for! And as soon as I figure it out, it will seem so obvious that we'll all wonder why it took so long."

"That's okay, sweetie," Don said, then had an idea. "Would it help to go through some of our case files?" he asked her. "We nearly always put Charlie's work in the files, since its part of the case. Maybe the answer is in there." He felt bad suggesting it. There they were, in DC, with very little work they could do; and Amita was in LA with far too much.

Amita had covered the mouthpiece of the phone, then started talking again. "That's a good idea, Don. Matt said that he could help, maybe get one of the new recruits to help as well."

Everyone sighed in relief that Amita didn't have to work alone. "That's great. Can you call us as soon as you get something?" Don asked.

"You'll know as soon as I know," she promised, and hung up to get to work.

A/N: Thoughts? I noticed that traffic on this story has been falling lately. If there's something that anyone thinks I can improve on, let me know! :-)