Humming thoughtfully, Natasha leans into him just slightly—a silent cue that she doesn't mind the physical contact, even as his grip tightens. In a way, she appreciates his need for comfort. It gives her something else to focus on. Of course, it still means she has to come up with something to say.

"I was thinking the other day," she says in a voice that makes it clear that what follows isn't a serious thought. It may or may not even be true. It might start a conversation, though. "Maybe I should have tried to work for you when I first got here, instead of for a school. I know most of your dancers are men, but... I was trained in ballet once, a long time a go. I figure I could probably manage to work a pole."

Natasha certainly never had any intention of working pole, and if she did think something along those lines, it was only because it would have kept her out of politics.

But she figures he can appreciate the image—and it does offer him a little bit of the truth, about her life. She had been trained in ballet once, even if only as cover for her work as a spy.