It helped. It did, for whatever reason, somehow that had been the right thing to say: the admittance that it was complicated at the same time as he shifted the view on it a little, that perhaps it wasn't entirely quite as bleak as it felt. Along with the admittance there there was no specific magic word or turn of phrase that would set it all to rights, except for the fact that he wanted to be here. That he wanted to stand next to her in it. Maybe sometimes that was the best thing that could be offered, a promise that she didn't have to do it on her own.
Whatever it was, though, it eased the low ball of tension that had knotted itself around her insides in the last few weeks. It helped that there was no recrimination or anger. Acceptance, that wasn't usually something Natasha struggled with, but it seemed easier to find her way towards it with James's fingers stroking along her back.
"You know, it's been a long time since I've been able to talk to someone like this," she told him, and this time when she leaned in, she kissed his mouth. A soft kiss, a slow one, something like gratitude contained in it; unspoken, but she wanted to show him that his words had worked, that his offer was a good one. That she would be okay, that it was a passing storm. "I was in the market for a best friend. I think you may fit the bill, James Barnes. Though I like the addition of talking like this while nude."