Tellingly, she looks away after a few seconds. She'd thought Fury retired. How ill-informed she turned out to be. She wonders if she would've left had she known what Steve knows, and feels a bit bitter that she didn't know until now. But she'd sworn off this kind of life when she'd left...A mistake, considering this kind of life is all she has ever known.

"Yes," she says, sounding faintly surprised at her own answer. "But I think I'm going to come back regardless. I think we both knew that when I walked in the door." She sighs, resignedly, and finally meets Steve's gaze with a small smile on her lips. Probably the first genuine one she's managed in months.

"They were smart, sending you to retrieve me."