"I trust you" She looks him over carefully, studying everything. His posture, his tone of voice, the way he's breathing. The man is everything a professional and gives nothing away about what he's really feeling. Not until...

The hug, or rather the suddenness and strength of it, truly catches her off guard. Natasha freezes, her entire body rigid for a moment until she has time to process this.

What IS this? Phil Coulson, the ultimate example of calm professional detached agent, is hugging her. And she's hugging him back. Natasha twists her arms around him, burying her head against him as though he can somehow make everything that's happened stop happening. He can't. She knows, deep down, under all that authority and skill and, hell, power...he's just a man. That's all any of them are now. They're only human.

Natasha unconsciously rubs her face against him, once again noticing things she never did before. The way he smells, how warm he feels, the way his heart's beating. She should not be noticing things like that. Not now...not...not with him.

"I should go." She mutters softly, not letting go of him at all. "We should both go."