"i'm here." it's a reassuring press of the words to her skin-- kiss to exposed back and slowly, bucky's arms move around her centre too. it happens a lot, for both of them. waking from dreams, memories, nightmares. a mixture of pain and bittersweet joy. it leaves a mark, it's bound to. but bucky has come to learn when it was best to stay back, and when to move in close. this felt like one of those moments.
"it's not a memory. i'm here, natalia." lips brush against skin as he speaks, soft, quiet voice for the dead of night. "i'm never leaving. not again. nobody can tear us apart this time."
it had been a rare moment in which she'd let herself really be vulnerable. it was something she'd been trying to allow herself to do, to not just be so closed off all of the time. but it hadn't been intentional either. the safety of their little bubble had started to make her grow complacent, and she'd woken up a little too shaken up for her liking. and had it been anyone else that was here with her, she wouldn't be reacting this way.
he was giving gentle, intimate reassurance and while there was still a part of her that would handle a much colder response easier, she wanted to let herself feel this. she wanted to unlearn what they'd both been taught and to keep herself open to him. so she was trying. for a moment she was still, just feeling the warmth of him behind her, and the way his arms curled around her. after letting the quiet linger a little, she shifted, turning herself so that she could face him, even if it was too dark to really make too much out other than shadows.
and she wished she could truly believe the words he said, but they both knew better that things just... didn't have a habit of working out.
" don't give me false hope, james. " she finally spoke, and a hint of a smile was detectable in her voice. but her words were soft all the same, and genuine too.