He figures she would. Not that he knows that much about Natasha's past, neither has he ever invested much of his time in trying to find out, but he knows just about enough to figure - well, they all have their ghosts, don't they? Some just linger more heavily around and inside them.

The words are met with surprise on his end, and some of it he can't really hide from his face either. His eyebrows arch as he looks back at her, shoulders tensing, and for a while he doesn't know what to say. Frankly, he doesn't even know what to think.

He bites the inside of his cheek and turns his gaze away, the one word enough to bring those memories back to the surface. Not a time he's particularly fond of, really. "For... SHIELD, I take it."