Tim was exhausted as he let himself into Gibbs' house after work several days later. It had been a few days since he got more than an hour a night of sleep. He had bad nights and slightly better nights. Some nights he could get a total of three hours of sleep, while other nights he'd be lucky to get a half hour. He could only hope that tonight would be one of the better nights.

Gibbs appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. "You look awful. Come eat."

Tim slowly walked with Gibbs into the kitchen, where he found a steak and some mashed potatoes waiting for him. "You didn't have to cook for me, Gibbs. I could've figured something."

"Eat," was all Gibbs said before going over to the counter and grabbing a bottle of pills off of it.

Tim immediately went to the table and sat down. He was starving. He hadn't really eaten anything all day. He barely picked up his fork when Gibbs wordlessly put a bottle of pills in front of him. Tim pushed them away as soon as he saw what they were. "I don't take sleeping pills. I need to stay as alert as possible."

"No. What you need to do is sleep, and you obviously can't do that enough on your own," Gibbs said before once again putting the bottle in front of the younger man.

"If I take these, it will knock me out. If something happens…"

"Nothing's gonna happen tonight," Gibbs said.

"Don't tell me that!" Tim snapped loudly. It was probably the first time he'd ever yelled at the man. "I didn't think psychopaths were going to invade my home in the middle of the night, pluck me out of bed while I was sleeping, and hold me by the throat while my family was murdered! I bet you and Jenny didn't think anyone would break into her house either. Do not tell me that it won't happen!"

Gibbs nodded after a second. "You're right. I don't know that they won't show up tonight, but I do know that it's not likely. Whatever game this bastard is playing with you, it's not over yet, and he's not going to come after you physically until he's done. Right now, he's trying to torture you mentally. He's trying to drive you insane, and it's working."

"Yeah, it is!" Tim yelled as he slammed his hand down hard on the table. This time, he wasn't angry at Gibbs. He was just frustrated about the whole situation.

"Well, stop letting it! Stop playing this son of a bitch's game," Gibbs said.

"What choice do I have? He has all the cards. We've spent more than a month trying to find Jenny, and we've had no luck. There has not been a single lead since we realized Acosta was behind this because he's good at this. I can't make a move until he does. There is nothing I can do!" Tim said.

"You're wrong. There are things you can do, but you can't figure out what they are while you're walking around like a zombie. The first thing you need to do is get your head straight, which means you need to sleep. Take the damned pills."

Hesitantly, Tim reached for the bottle. He didn't like it, but he had to admit that Gibbs was right. He was losing his ability to function. He couldn't let that happen, so he poured two pills into his hand and put them in his mouth. He washed them down with some water and then went back to his dinner.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Gibbs got up around six the next morning. He immediately headed downstairs for some coffee. He sighed unhappily when he saw Tim was already there with his own coffee. "You were supposed to still be asleep.

"No, I'm good. I slept well last night. I'd say I slept better than I have in the better part of twenty years," Tim said. He'd gotten almost eight hours. He woke up once or twice in between, but he was easily able to go back to sleep. He was sure both the extreme exhaustion and the pills helped with that. "I've actually been up less than an hour."

"Still, you could sleep longer," Gibbs said.

Tim shook his head. "No, I don't think I could. I've actually been thinking about what you said last night."

"What's that?" Gibbs asked as he went to pour himself a cup of coffee.

"About me needed to stop playing Acosta's game. The problem is I don't know how. Like I said, I have no move to make right now. There are no leads. I can't even prove that Acosta is behind this. Even if I knew where Acosta was, I couldn't do anything because there's no proof he did anything wrong."

"Doesn't help that we're playing at a disadvantage. You've literally got two agents working this case when there could be at least a dozen," Gibbs said.

"I know. Trust me, that's in my head a lot. At first, I thought keeping things quiet was in Jenny's best interests. I didn't want Acosta to possibly find out about me and do something to her, but I was kidding myself. He's known all along. He's doing this because of me, because I got away from him," Gibbs said.

"And that was a mistake. He made it personal. I know I said this was a game, but it's not. It's a war. He declared war on you, but he made it too personal. You don't make war personal, not this personal anyway. That's how you end up dead," Gibbs said. War was always somewhat personal, as you were fighting for your way of life, but Acosta went too far. He'd become obsessed with Tim. That was going to be a fatal error.

"War. So then what we're at right now is a stalemate. Neither of us can make a move until the other does," Tim said.

"No, you can make a move. In fact, you need to. Acosta made his move when he attacked Jenny. You have to make the next one, and you can't do it with two agents," Gibbs said pointedly. The secrecy needed to end, regardless of what SecNav said. It was no help to anyone at this point.

"If I make the wrong move, I could be putting Jenny in more danger," Tim said.

"I don't think that's possible at this point, and even if it is, it's better than doing nothing. We don't know what's happening to her. I don't think I have to tell you that there are worse things than death," Gibbs said grimly.

"No, you don't," Tim said after a minute. Gibbs was right. A move needed to be made, and it had to be a bold one. It had to be a move that told Acosta that he was not dealing with a twelve-year-old child anymore. "I think I know where to go from here. I have to speak to SecNav first."

"I'm coming with you," Gibbs said.

"No, you're not cleared for duty yet,"

"Not planning to work, I'll just be there to have your back. You'll tell me your plan on the way," Gibbs said.

Tim nodded reluctantly before heading upstairs to go get dressed.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

"Absolutely not! That is the most reckless Idea I've heard!" SecNav said after hearing the plan his temporary director had come up with.

"That's the point, sir. We're currently not getting anywhere because Acosta is waiting for me to make a move," Acosta said.

"Plus, we're at a disadvantage with so few agents knowing about the whole thing," Gibbs added.

"I understand that, Gibbs, but I am trying to make sure this young man stays alive. As one of yours, I'd think you'd have the same goal," Secretary Davenport said.

"It is, but the way we're going about it won't accomplish that. The bastard knows he's alive. This whole thing is a mind game to torture him," Gibbs said.

"You don't know that for certain, and even if it he does, you're talking about more than just confirming that to NCIS."

"Sir, I agree with Gibbs, and with all due respect, you put made me director because you believed I could handle situations such as this. This is the decision I'm making. Even if you replace me as director, even if you fire me, it won't change anything. I will proceed with this move," Tim said firmly.

Secretary Davenport stared at the younger man with a stern look for a few seconds before smiling just slightly. "I'd say you've just proved Vance was right to recommend you for this position. He said you were the future of this agency. Alright, it's your call. I don't like it, but I don't think anyone is qualified to make this decision more than you, given who Acosta is to you. Be careful, Director McGee"

"It's Shepard. I'm taking back what's mine," Tim said in a strong tone.

Secretary Davenport smiled again. "Director Shepard then. Good luck."

As soon as the feed went dead, Gibbs gave Tim a proud slap on the back. "You did good, Tim. You sounded exactly as a leader should."

Tim snorted a little. "Tell me that when I'm done. That was the easy part."

"You got this handled," Gibbs said as the two of them headed out of MTAC.