"She also needs you to stop her. I had to speak to the new doctor to bench her, because she was pushing while pretty much ready to give birth. Deeks was in charge, but there was a sense of complicity there, they make some decisions together. You, she listens to. Most of the time. Sean was... just as driven. Jenna's death hit him hard after Sam, but he's Sean. He makes it up by focusing on the next thing. All of a sudden, it was training. He wasn't any better than Savannah. She got him to shoot sniper rifles. Things got a little better when Tamira arrived. She's sassy, strong, direct. She's like Sean, but without the insecurities. Her fitness is pretty good for a woman her age, but nothing compared to what we do. On the other hand, she's not going to whine about working out. Troy helped, too. He's... Troy. He's sharper, more focused. He can shoot much better than he did. We've worked on rifles as well. He won't have a problem with animals. He was strong and on point when Travis was shot. He and Nell took the bullet out so that Maura didn't have to open him up. You can rely on him, but he was still cracking the joke two seconds after that bullet came out. I don't think that will ever stop."
He realized that he was describing family first, but it was as good a system as any. "Dom has been working non stop on everything. Training, machine, physics. If we needed it, he's done it. He got worse after Jenna, literally working on that machine every second he was awake. There might have been some subtle and not so subtle reminders that he still had a son. I'd keep an eye on him now that he knows she's dead. Mike... he's Mike, you know? You know what he can do. His senses are even sharper now. Other than that, he doesn't rock the boat." It wasn't something he ever talk about, mostly because he didn't trust anyone, but if there was someone that he could talk to, it was G. "It's like being with Kensi again. We avoid anything that could cause problems, we take care of the kids. I know what he wants. He wants me to say that we're one, big, happy family; that Liam is his and Eve is mine; that my family is his family, but I can't give him that. I mean family dinners and picnics, sure, but Liam is mine. He'll always be mine and he will be raised like a Callen, and I can never feel about Eve the way I feel about Liam. She's like... like the twins, or JR, or Blaze, you know? I care about her, I even love her, but she's not my kid. But, since that's the deal breaker, we never talk about it and pretend. And that has nothing to do with the team, because we still work as well as ever in a unti, not that we've had the chance lately, but that hasn't changed."
It was time to move on to the next group, and realized that the only other person left from NCIS was Nell. "Your sweet analyst is as competent as ever, trained even better, can predict the team's need even better, but I get a feeling that she likes the field more than the office. She's gotten close to Derek. No, I shouldn't even say that since they were close before, but she and John are the only ones who can make him relax. Her more than him, which is why I put them in the same car. He needs some normal. The man is good, especially with this survivor stuff, but his PTSD could be triggered by who knows what. I think she can get to him. John could do, but if Derek has to listen to him and Brian every day, he might just shoot them and blame PTSD. And, that brings us to John and Brian. It took a while for things to improve there. It started around John's birthday and he's been spending more time with Brian and less with the laptop. Brian has been training more, actually doing stuff instead of doing the minimum necessary to get by. He'll still bitch about everything, but he's been on top of things. He'll never be a fighter, but if you need to plan, you need an administrator, that's him. Also, rings appeared when we went on vacation. They had to be his idea, because they match John's bracelet and there's no way that John picked any of that. Keep them together, and you have Brian's cooperation. Split them apart, and he's going to screw you over.