[ elena should be surprised, could be, but then again it's been awhile since she heard anything she wouldn't believe, at home or here. mostly, her expression is overwhelmed, because what martha's saying is overwhelming. world-saving, probably some time hi-jinx, top secret government organizations and aliens.
and there's sympathy too.
after a moment of processing it all, elena reaches to fold martha's hand in hers. she's thinking about love's complexities, how it can complicate things in so many different ways. ] I'm not with the person I love because... I'm bound to him in a way that... affects my decisions. [ she explains slowly, and not only for martha. for herself, because she's saying it for the first time. trying to put her understanding of it in words.
she swallows; sorrow weighs down her words. ] The truth is... I wouldn't feel this way if I didn't love him. This happened because I love him and now everything that feels so real just seems... [ she shakes her head. ] It's not. [ she doesn't believe that. but it's what she's been told. ]