Sean's long since stopped thinking of Romanova as a girl of her years, mostly out of necessity and knowledge of what she's all capable of. He'd very nearly stopped thinking of her as human for a while, but Meredith's reaction puts the scope of his actions into stunning clarity. The knowledge that he may have actually killed an innocent man while he was at it doesn't help any, and though he's heard enough from Wolverine to know that he didn't wind up going through with it either way, that wasn't actually him. Not yet, anyway.

He can't do this. He doesn't know why he ever thought he could. 'It had to happen eventually' just isn't reason enough, and he wants to get up and run, wants her to get up and run from this. Except for the part where he is genuinely afraid of what's going to become of him if he loses her. If nothing else, that's what keeps him there, bare back to the wall.

Gritting his teeth, he looks over at her against his better judgment and holds his breath. If this is it, the one thing that ends everything, then there's nothing he can do about it beyond facing it head on. "I met you."