"I get that, though. I mean - I understand that feeling, the surprise that it's working, so far," Natasha said, after pausing a moment to digest that, to parcel it out, because it was the truth, wasn't it? For herself, not just for James. Nothing had ever worked for her either, up to this point - James, he'd been taken away. Clint, her feelings hadn't been returned. Even when she'd tried something with Bruce, what felt like another lifetime by now. Romantic relationships were not things that worked out well for her, at least not long term. Maybe that was why she'd thrown herself into this one so headlong - practically from the moment she'd arrived, with an impulsivity that had never really been part of her.
Maybe it just felt like it was her last shot, to get to feel that way. Maybe she was still half convinced that she was going to run out of time here, at any minute.
Which made her a little sad, to think about, but it was a manageable sadness, and she didn't want that to encroach on them together, here, now. "But I don't think you're going to mess anything up," she said, curling a piece of his hair around her fingers. "I really don't, James. Clint - he's wild about you. You're good together. I like to think you would have worked that out even if I hadn't sort of - stumbled in between everything already happening here."