"Eliot, don't you dare!" she said firmly. "You will never be useless, don't say things like that about yourself. You are valuable to us, to me, in so many more ways than just being able to help us get out alive in case of an attack. You're valuable because you're you, and because without your support and friendship I don't know how I would have been able to handle everything that has happened here," she said. "You're the most important person in my life here. You're my best friend. You'll never be useless."
As she spoke, her voice got softer, warmer, the depth the emotions she didn't speak creeping into the tone of her voice. She wished she could make him see himself with her eyes, see for himself just how important he was.
She listened carefully when he recited his schedule trying to find the places to cut time. The playing with the dogs was obvious, though she wouldn't suggest him cutting it all or he'd never agree. She'd seen the expression on his face when he played with those dogs, the same one he wore around the house when he played with Cody and no, she wouldn't want to deny him that outlet, still something had to go.
"You could shift your schedule a bit," she suggested. "For instance, you don't need to do all your exercise at once, divide it in two or even three. Cut playing with the dogs down from 45 minutes to half an hour and that gives you fifteen minutes, do some exercises after dinner before the evening meeting, take Wednesdays off since we're training escape drills anyway, and yes, I know it's not the same but one day off a week is not going to make that much of a difference," she said, though she knew it wasn't enough and she knew him too well to not guess another part of the problem.
"Have Tim help you more," she said. "I've seen him walking around the farm at daytime and he's always at training while you only have time to come occasionally. So why doesn't he work as hard as you do? If he did, then you'd be finished earlier and you'd have time to do your exercises or join advanced training. Either way, you would be able to sleep longer in the mornings. If that isn't enough, then clearly there is too much work for two people and you need another set of hands at least during the winter season. Have you considered asking for more help, even for just a couple hours a day?" She already knew the answer, Eliot would never have considered asking for help, but maybe she could show him how unreasonable it was that he'd have a day from 3-9 without pause.