She was going to get answers out of the Commander.
When she had first learned about the call out, she was indifferent. Then she started to get a gut feeling that something was wrong. She went to consult Abby about it and had seen Gibbs on the screen. She had overheard Ducky on the other end of the transmission telling Gibbs about the hemorrhagic fever. And her stomach had clenched at the thought of her people being exposed to the sickness.
And now she was in MTAC, trying to get answers from Commander Skinner. She had just gotten a sit rep from Ducky and she was worried sick. Not that she'd ever show it. She was pushing skinner harder than she normally would for info. Anything to help them figure out what they were dealing with.
After she'd cut him off though, she broke down. She made her way out of MTAC and into the elevator and hit the emergency stop switch so that nobody would see her in her weakness. She was suppose to be tough, but as she sat on the elevator floor, the thought of losing any of them made her weep.
Jethro, who if she was honest with herself she still loved, and Ziva who had she had taken under her wing like a daughter ever since they worked together in Cairo, and Tony, who she had grown to love like a son when Gibbs was away, and Ducky who was like a brother to her, and even Tim, who was quiet but she knew him well enough to see the hidden strength Jethro brought out in him, they were like her family.
She let herself cry for five minutes before she got up and took a deep breath. She took a tissue out of her pocket and wiped away the runny mascara using the reflective wall as a mirror. Then she put on her game face and flicked the emergency switch, getting out of the elevator to return to her office and face Commander Skinner.
Mothers were supposed to be tough and do whatever was necessary to help their families. And she sure as hell wouldn't let any man stop her from finding out what was going on aboard that boat. She needed all the info she could get if she had a snowball's chance in hell of saving her family.