"Not for us, no, but for others, yes, for the way they see us. We'll never put ourselves or our relationship, before the good of the team, even when we might want to," he said, "but I don't know if people will see that. Look at Spencer. He couldn't even figure out that I'd never hurt a kid. Fuck, I'd never hurt him. I don't hurt people unless there's a reason dictated by the job. Things haven't changed because we're here. I've always gone into a mission knowing that I'd kill people. I'm a SEAL, that's my job. I don't kill unless there's an order or I'm protecting someone. it should be very simple to understand, especially for someone in Special Ops, but he doesn't seem to get it." He sighed. "People are idiots, and normal is crazy," he added with a little smile, before snorting. "An example for forever? I'll have to tell G that. He might have a heart attack."
Talking he could do. The hugging still didn't come natural unless something happened or Sean initiated, but he hugged him back for a moment. "Who the hell knows what's best? Between us, we have a grand total of two relationships: mine with your mother and ours. That's it. We don't have a roadmap for this, so we're winging it. It doesn't matter in the end, because G and I can deal with anything. It's not going to change who we are as people or as a couple." He smiled at Sean. "We're not very good at putting ourselves first, in case you haven't noticed, and you, and Jenna, and Savannah, you're still going to need us. We both plan to be there."
Sam ate as he listened, and that confusion between liking the boy and wanting to have him committed continued. "He was impressed that we were pretending? Does he know that we do this as a job and have for as long as you two have been alive?"
If it had been anyone but Jenna, he'd have dismissed it. "He's a friend, and that reaction wouldn't have surprised me, because you stick up for your friends, except it was with Jenna. You don't get upset with her and even G's training doesn't override years of growing up together. Maybe in another two decades, but not yet." He stopped any pretense that they were eating and turned to look at Sean. "Lots of maybes there, lots of questions, and plenty of people will try to help you finding those answers, but in the end, we can only point you in a direction, show you what we see, but you're the only one that knows. I can give you the facts, though. You are twenty-two and you have been alone for a year. Everyone in your family is married or involved, even when they pretend not to, like Robert. You are surrounded by people that are building up families. You did stick up for this relationship with your sister. He stayed and dealt with your family even after you told him about us knowing. This is never going to be like home. None of the people you will meet will ever be at their best or even close to their best when you first get to know them. It will always take you months to get to know the real person, so that immediate spark isn't going to work so well. I can make an argument either way, baby, but I don't want you to do what you think I want you to do. I also don't want you to decide based on what we consider safe. Whoever you end up with will never be up to our standards. We'll train them."