That startles her. She hadn't meant to say so much, and certainly hadn't intended for him to understand, to offer that...

I don't know how well anything on... that level would take, she thinks.

She's got no reason to trust him.

She's about to walk into a situation which promises to break her down anyway.

And she's seen his shadow, seen the tight control he has, and... She envies it. If he can help her come close...

So she lets him see the damage. She tries not to force it on him, but she lets the doors in her head crack open so he can see, if he cares to look. Just how far back it goes, how deep the cracks run, how she's pieced herself together with ruthlessness and suspicion and a stubborn determination to survive, to be stronger and better than anyone who'd use her. This is what Thane did to Tosh. This is what he'll likely do to her, whether or not it appears otherwise to a casual observer, because he can, because she has no doubt he'll see the fault lines. She's counting on it, in fact.

And just for a moment, a bare flicker of thought, gone in an instant, what the Doctor did, unknowing. What Jack protected her from, despite the fact that it was the Doctor that he loved.

And that is why she's willing to endure it all over again from Thane, in order to find her Captain. Because he was meant to be one of them, and he proved her wrong.

I think Thane might need me to break. But if I can just keep enough together...

She has no idea if it's even possible, but this is hardly her area.