It doesn't matter what she's been told or what books she's read, Elizabeth feels unprepared. There aren't any speeches she can make, or any swells of emotion she can ride and use other than her own. There isn't an enemy she can face down with her sword. There's no way to manipulate the situation other than what's already planned. Even so, she intends to meet this challenge as she has all the others: head-on and determined. As steady as she can be, alert and apparently unconcerned, she holds on to this thought until they are down the stairs and in her quarters. Then and only then does she make a gasping sound.

The space here is hers, but every day her eyes seek out and linger on the spot where Sao Feng fell and proclaimed her captain. Now is no exception. A moment passes, then another, and she looks up at Gibbs. "This isn't at all what I expected when I was young and thought of one day having children of my own."

Her lips curve in another half-smile, letting Gibbs know regret hadn't prompted her words.