[He freezes at the unexpected contact -- when was the last time he'd been hugged by someone? -- but slowly relaxes into it, tentatively putting his arms around her in return.]

...Thank you... for trying so hard. I never once anticipated I would face little Athena in court, but there you were. [Wouldn't it have been so much easier for her to start a new life and forget about all the horrors of seven years past? But she didn't. She persevered, even when it terrified her to do so.]