It all circles back to the Red Room. To those long years of training and conditioning. Even now, there's times that she feels more like a weapon than a woman. She's always both, of course, but on good days it all sort of...balances out. There's a peace in letting all the facets of herself co-exist. Sometimes she wonders if she'd have gotten this far without that time in Ohio. Without Melina bloody on that sand washed landing strip telling her not to let them take her heart.

When Yelena finally lets go, she leans back in her chair, smiling a little as she watches her sister try to wipe her face clean. "Aww, you big sap..." her voice is low and teasing, another buffer the same way her last joke had been. They've spent so much time apart. More than they've ever spent together, really. Which means they've missed so much time that she'd be foolish not to take this opportunity for what it is. A second chance. Her tone softens as she answers, "И я тебя люблю."